Historical Development

English Poetry

Anglo-Saxon Period (0450-1066)

Middle Ages (1066-1500) The Renaissance (1500-1660) 17th century (1600-1700) 18th century (1700-1800) Romantics (1785-1830) 19th century (1800-1900)

English Drama

Middle Ages to 1642 (1660-1700) (1700-1750) (1750-1800) (1800-1850) (1850-1890)

The Anglo-Saxon Period (0450-1066)

No printing existed – handed down orally

Various devices used to facilitate memory, for e.g. alliteration and rhyme were used to make poetry easy to remember. Most work written in Latin.

18th century blind Serbian narrative singer …

Oral tradition is still in practice all over the world until today…

Language during the Anglo Saxon period

Old English, sometimes called Anglo-Saxon, was the language spoken under Alfred the Great and continued to be the common language of England (non-Danelaw) until after the Norman Conquest of 1066 when, under the influence of the Anglo-Norman language spoken by the Norman ruling class, it changed into Middle English roughly between 1150–1500.

Old English is far closer to early Germanic than Middle English. It is less Latinised and retains many morphological features (nominal and verbal inflection) that were lost during the 12th to 14th centuries.

Poetry during the Anglo Saxon period

Contained themes of battles and religion. Epic is the most famous form = a poem of historic scope.

Famous work: Beowulf (the longest as well as the richest of Old English poems). Found in a manuscript of the early eleventh century but composed 2 centuries earlier.

The Middle Ages (1066-1500)

Christian moral poems began to surface Not only in English and Latin but French as well. Epic and elegy gave way to Romance (tales of

adventure and honorable deeds) and lyric. First printed English book appeared in 1476, and

language assumed its modern form except for spelling.

Popular poet during this period is Geoffrey Chaucer (narrative poem)

His masterpieces are Canterbury Tales and Troilus and Criseyde

Middle Ages and the conflict of the church

People think of the Middle Ages as a very religious period, when the Christian Church was the most important institution and everybody prayed all the time. Certainly this is the time when the great cathedrals of Europe were built, and also when the Church began the great universities at Paris, Tubingen, Cambridge, and Oxford. This is the time when the Pope might officially exclude a king from participating in a church, and when the king might be very upset about it. Some of the most powerful men and women in the Middle Ages were involved with the Catholic Church.

The Renaissance (1500-1660)

Experienced a revival of intellectualism because of renewed interest in ancient Greek and Latin language and literature

Invention of printing press This revolution encouraged the composition

of poetry by great poets such as Sidney (The Shepheardes Calender), Spencer (Fairie Queene), Shakespeare, Marlowe, Lyly and Nashe.

The invention of the printing device by William Caxton circa 1471

The Seventeenth Century (1600-1700)

Two main groups of poets: lyrical poets and metaphysical poets

First group consists of Herrick, Lovelace and Suckling (wrote according to the conventions of Elizabethan lyricists)

Second group consists of Donne, Herbert and Vaughan who produced works by ‘intense feeling combined with ingenious thought; elaborate, witty images; an interest in mathematics, science and geography; an overriding interest in the soul; and direct, colloquial expression even sonnets and lyrics’

The Eighteenth Century (1700-1800)

The rise of the novel and consequently, the beginning of the end of epic poetry

Marked the disappearance of the patronage system

Poetry writing became a less lucrative endeavor.

Poets such as Blake and Pope became aware of the social problems

The emergence of sensibility - Gray

The Romantics (1785-1830)

Can be characterized by: A return to nature A shift of focus to the country side A return to a life of senses and feeling Not confined to logic and reason Its appeal to emotions and imagination

The Romantics (II)

Also a revival of interest in the Middle Ages, the medieval, and the supernatural

A common word associated with the Romantics is ‘the Sublime’ which refers to “religious awe, vastness, natural magnificence, and strong emotion”

Overwhelmingly a poetic one Poets of this era are: Wordsworth, Coleridge,

Byron, Shelley and Keats

The Nineteenth Century (1800-1900)

Known also as the Victorian Age (1880) Industrial Age and the modern age of science Middle class was brought into power,

reducing the powers of aristocracy Poetries often expressive, mournful,

descriptive, of nature and of domestic and urban life

Poets emerged during this period: Tennyson, Browning and Arnold.