British literature - British literature - timelinetimeline

Old English literature

Medieval English literature

Renaissance and Reformation

Revolution literature of 17th century

English literature of 18th century -

Classicism

Romantic literature

Victorian literature

Modernism (20th century literature)

Literature – warm upLiterature – warm upWhat is literature influenced by?

What literature genres do you know?

What is fiction and non-fiction?

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Literature – warm upLiterature – warm upWhat is literature influenced by?- historical, political, social features of the

period – war, social pressure and injustice, moral degradation, uncertain future…

What literature genres do you know?

- poetry, prose, dramaWhat is fiction and non-fiction?- Fiction – an invented story made up by

the author´s imagination

Literature – warm upLiterature – warm upWhat is fiction and non-fiction?

- Fiction –- Non-fiction –

Literature – warm upLiterature – warm upWhat is fiction and non-fiction?- Fiction – an invented story made

up by the author´s imagination – novels, tales, romances, novellas, short stories, whodunits, adventure stories, spy stories, thrillers, police novels

- Non-fiction – literature of fact – biography, autobiography, travel books, history books, diaries, textbooks, memoirs

Literature warm- upLiterature warm- upWhat type of books children like?

- fairy tales, stories, fables, children´s rhymes, juvenile literature

Are books better than films?Are books better than the Internet?

Literature warm-upLiterature warm-upMatch the authors and the period: Shakespeare, Dickens, Chaucer, Austen, Wilde,

Christie, Defoe, Shaw, Orwell, Boewolf

Old English literature

Medieval English literature

Renaissance and Reformation

Revolution literature of 17th century

English literature of 18th century - Classicism

Romantic literature

Victorian literature

Modernism (20th century literature)

Literature warm upLiterature warm upMatch the authors with their titles1)Shakespeare a) Pygmalion2)Geoffrey Chaucer b) Robinson Crusoe3)Daniel Defoe c) The Importance of

Being Earnest4)Charles Dickens d) Oliver Twist5)Jane Austen e) The Midsummernight´s Dream

6)Oscar Wilde f) the Cantenbury Tales7)G.B. Shaw g) Pride and Prejudice

Old English literature Old English literature (700-1100)(700-1100)

Beowulf [beiouwulf]

the oldest English literary work from the Anglo-Saxon period.

It was written by an unknown (anonymus) poet probably in the 8th century.

It‘s an epic poem of heroes and myths. The events are set entirely in Denmark and Sweden.

The poem provides a picture of old Germanic life. It is written in alliterative verse.

Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table

Medieval English literatureMedieval English literature(1100 – 1500)(1100 – 1500)

John Wycliffe (1320 – 1384)

a professor from Oxford university

translated the whole Bible into English

Geoffrey Chaucer (1340 – 1400)

the father of English poetry

The Canterbury Tales - his famous work

it´s an unfinished collection of comic and moral stories told by a

group of pilgrims (poutníci) while travelling from London to the

grave of Thomas Beckett at Canterbury

the tales are full of gossip (drby) and are often rude

Renaissance and Reformation Renaissance and Reformation (1500 – 1600)(1500 – 1600)

Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) the greatest philosopher of that time Utopia - famous book, it describes an imaginary island with

perfectly organized society.

William Shakespeare (1564 – 1616) the world’s greatest playwright in England was born in Stratford upon Avon he wrote historical plays about the kings of England

( Henry IV, Richard II…), comedies (A Midsummer Night´s Dream …) and tragedies (Hamlet, Macbeth …)

he is also known as a poet for his 154 poems,The Sonnets.

They start by giving advice to a young man about marriage.

Revolution literature of 17th Revolution literature of 17th centurycentury

(1600 – 1700) (1600 – 1700) John Milton (1608 – 1674)

his life is connected with the Civil War in England at that

time. He wanted to punish a king who was a tyran.

His famous epic poem Paradise Lost deals with (vypráví

o ) the worst side of human life.

English literature of18th English literature of18th century Classicism (1700 – century Classicism (1700 –

1800)1800) „the novel“ was born

Daniel Defoe (1660 - 1731)

a politician, traveller and journalist Robinson Crusoe - his famous work about a castaway (trosečník)

on a deserted island

Jonathan Swift (1667 -1745)

a sharp critic, he wrote satirical prose

he criticized politics in England, kingdom, corruption, armies, bad

polititians

Gulliver Travels - an allegory of Lemuel Gulliver´s travelling

through imaginary countries (Lilliputians, the land of Giants, the

flying island of Laputa,…).

Henry Fielding (1707 -1754)

a journalist and lawyer

Tom Jones - a realistic novel about a lot of adventures of a

foundling (nalezenec) Tom. He is a fine, strong and carefree

character.

Fielding shows that Tom´s true love was in the end more

important than his lifestyle.

Romantic literatureRomantic literature(1780 – (1780 – 1832)1832)

Romantics of the Lake School a group of poets settled in the Lake District:

William Wordsworth, Samuel T. Coleridge

Lord George Gordon Byron (1788 – 1824) a poet, the author of Childe Harold´s Pilgrimage

Sir Walter Scott (1771 -1832) a Scottish novelist and poet

he took inspiration from folk, ballads and Scottish history

„historical“ novels: Waverly, Rob Roy, Ivanhoe,…

Jane Austen (1775 -1817) she wrote „domestic novels“ dealing with family life her best-known novels are: Pride a Prejudice, Sense and

Sensibility the novels deal with social life of the upper classes

Mary Shelley (1797 -1851) wrote a novel Frankenstein

Brontë sisters Charlotte (1816 -1855) is famous for her love novel Jane Eyre Emily (1818 -1848) wrote love novel Wuthering Heights

Victorian literature Victorian literature (1832 – 1901)(1832 – 1901)

Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870)

a representative of critical realism

he described the life of poor people in England in the 19th century.

he used humour in his novels too. He often uses his own

experience from his childhood .

The novels are set in London.

novels: David Copperfield, The Pickwick Papers, Oliver

Twist,…

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 – 1863)

novel Vanity Fair – discribes a vivid picture of early 19th

century society

Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 -1894) romantic adventurous stories: Treasure Island , Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde …

Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900) writer, dramatist, poet born in Dublin he is a representative of English decadence and symbolism he wrote novels: novel The picture of Dorian Gray

fairy-tale The Happy Prince

comedies An ideal Husband, The Importance of Being Ernest

Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936) he was awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907

the best known are The Jungle Book and The Second Jungle Book

- vivid stories of life in India, for children

Modernism (20th century Modernism (20th century literature)literature)

„experimental novels“: Virginia Woolf (1882 -1941) – a woman writer, novel To the

Lighthouse James Joyce (1882 -1941) - wrote short stories The Dubliners

novel Ulysses

detective stories: Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930)

- he brought the figure of Sherlock Holmes into English literature:

The Hound of the Baskervilles Agatha Christie

- she gave life to the figure of Belgian-born detective Hercule Poirot and

Ms Jane Marple

sci-fi stories: H.G.Wells (1866 – 1946) – The War of the Worlds, Time

machine

John Galsworthy (1867 – 1933) the Nobel Prize for literature in 1907 Forsyte Saga – about the Forsytes which is an upper-class

family

George Orwell (1903 – 1950) born in India a political allegory Animal Farm

- satire of the politics of the Soviet Union

William Golding the Nobel Prize for literature novel Lord of the Flies – he fights against negative

powers in people

20th century drama20th century dramaG.B.Shaw (1856 -1950) the Nobel Prize for literature in 1925 Anglo-Irish dramatist, he criticized the false morals of the society his play Pygmalion (a film musical „My Fair Lady“) „Angry young men“ = a group of young writers who hated social

system: John Osborne - drama Look Back in Anger

- famous for the concept of „kitchen sink drama“ ,set in ordinary interiors

Kingsley Amis - novel Lucky Jim (describes a rebellious spirit at university)

„Absurd drama“ (in the 1950s) - there is almost no action nor plot:

Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot - two people are waiting for Godot who has no identity, so the whole work is full of absurd nihilism.