1. The AIM of studying English literature is the formation and development of intercultural outlook because English literature is one of the most significant components of English culture.
2. Lecture 1. English Literature of the middle centuries(5th -11th centuries)
2.1. Anglo-Saxon Literature began as an oral tradition. Stories, poems, and songs were all told aloud and passed from generation to generation orally through minstrels. Poems traditionally had a strong beat, alliteration, and no rhyme.
2.2. Bede is known as the ‘Father of English history’. Bede, also known as Saint Bede and as the Venerable Bede, was born in around 672 and died in 735.
2.2.1. Bede’s great work is Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, or History of the English Church and People, which he completed in 731.
2.2.1.1. The book charts the establishment of Christianity in the British Isles, particularly in England. In 1899, Bede became the only English born person to be recognized as a Doctor of the Church.
3. Lecture 2 The highest achievement of old English literature-Beowulf.
3.1. Beowulf tells the story of a warrior named. Beowulf comes to the aid of King Helthgar, whose kingdom is being terrorized by a monster named Grendel. Beowulf later becomes the King of the Geats and rules for a peaceful 50 years.
3.1.1. Beowulf is an old English epic poem, which ansists of 3, 182 long lines. One of the most important book in Anglo-Saxon literature. The only known existing copy of Beowulf is now in the British Library in London
3.2. Characteristics of an epic poem it includes long lists It features long and formal speeches it shows divine intervention on human affairs.
4. Lecture 8 The subjects of Shakespeare's historical chronicles.
4.1. A chronicle is a historical account of facts and events arranged in chronological order, as in a time line.
4.1.1. Many of Shakespeare's plays have historical elements, but only certain plays are categorized as true Shakespeare histories.
4.1.1.1. The Shakespearean histories are biographies of English kings of the previous four centuries Shakespeare's sonnets are poems that William Shakespeare wrote on a variety of themes.
4.1.1.1.1. When discussing or referring to Shakespeare's sonnets, it is almost always a reference to the 154 sonnets that were first published all together in a quarto in 1609.
5. Lecture 9 English Literature of the Restoration period
5.1. The English Civil War from 1642-1651 was a civil war between the people of England that wanted to change their government from a more traditional form of government to a more Republican government that involved the people.
5.1.1. Between 1642 and 1660 Cromwell outlawed theatre because of its connections with the monarchy and according to his Puritan values were immoral.
5.1.1.1. Bunyan came from the village of Elstow,near Bedford.He had some schooling and at the age of sixteen joined the Parliamentary Army during the first stage of the English Civil War.
5.1.1.1.1. John Dryden made prose acceptable to literary circles,and helped establish writing as a legitimate career.
6. Lecture 10 Enlightenment in the English literature "The Age of Reason"(18th century)
6.1. The history of England of the second half of the 17th century and during the 18th century was marked by British colonial expansion.
6.1.1. Periods of English Enlightenment: the early period, mature Enlightenment, Sentimentalism.
6.1.1.1. The second period was the most mature in English literature and lasted from 1740 to 1750. it was marked by the development of the realistic social novels by S. Richardson, H. Fielding and Tobias Smollett."
6.1.1.1.1. Henry Fielding(22 April 1707-8 October 1754) Henry Fielding an English novelist and dramatist known for his earthy humour and satire.His comic novel Tom Jones is still widely appreciated.He and Samuel Richardson are seen as founders of the traditional English novel.
6.1.1.2. The first period of Enlightenment lasted from the glorious revolution (1668) till the end of 1730. this period was characterized by Classicism in poetry. The greatest follower was Alexander Pope, Richard Stern. The end of this period was marked by novels of D. Defoe and Jonathan Swift.
6.1.1.2.1. English novelist, pamphleteer and journalist Daniel Defoe is best known for his novels 'Robinson Crusoe' and 'Moll Flanders.' The importance of Robinson Crusoe to English Literature is that it is considered to be one of the most important precursors of the novel as a genre.
6.1.1.3. The third period refers to the last decades of the century. It was marked by a new trend within Enlightenment called Sentimentalism. It is typified by the works of O. Goldsmith, L. Stern and the rise of the realist drama by Richard Sheridan.
6.1.1.3.1. Oliver Goldsmith (1730-1774) Anglo-Irish essayist, poet, novelist, dramatist, and eccentric, made famous by such works as the series of essays The Citizen of the World, or, Letters from a Chinese Philosopher (1762), the poem The Deserted Village (1770), the novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766), and the play She Stoops to Conquer (1773).
7. Lecture 7 The characteristic features of William Shakespeare's brilliant comedies
7.1. William was born on 26 April 1564 and died on 23 April 1616
7.1.1. Shakespeare's Plays Before the publication of the First Folio in 1623, nineteen of the thirty-seven plays in Shakespeare's canon had appeared in quarto format.
7.1.1.1. The exception of Othello(1622), all of the quartos were published prior to the date of Shakespeare's retirement from the theatre in about 1611.
7.1.1.1.1. Shakespeare produced most of his known works between 1589 and 1613.
8. Lecture 3 English literature of Middle Ages from 11th to 14th centuries
8.1. The medieval period (1066-1485) During this period many important features of our modern world were born including parliament government, common law, present day languages and modern nation states.
8.1.1. Norman England. Norman had considerable effect on English literature. Before this period English literature was mainly characterized by homeless, parts of the Biblies, rules for an honest religious life.
8.1.1.1. The medical time was truly fascinating but wasn’t just dark. After the fall of the Roman Empire, a new system called Feudalism was made to support Europe. It created society, which then made a notion.
9. Lecture 4. The writers of Norman period
9.1. Geoffrey Chaucer “The Canterbury Tales” He was the greatest-writer of the 14th century. He was born in London. He held a number of positions at the English King’s court and several times visited in Italy and France on diplomatic missions.
9.1.1. An English author, poet, philosopher, bureaucrat, courtier and diploma. Father of the English poetry, who made a crucial contribution to English literature in using English at a time when much court poetry was still written in Anglo-Norman or Latin.
10. Lecture 5 Renaissance in English literature. Elizabethan Age. Thomas More (1552-1599) Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593)
10.1. Main facts about the Renaissance. The Renaissance was a Golden Age of a Western Europe. It was influenced by contacts made with the Middle East during. The Renaissance began and was antered in Florences, Italy.
10.1.1. Elizabethan Age During the Renaissance ( 1485-1603) Rebirth of the Arts, sciences and humanities. Leonardo da Vinci and Michaelangelo changed the face of art. During this time, William Shakespeare was born
10.1.1.1. Sir Thomas More was born in London and lived from 1478 to 1535. He was a lawyer, humanist, statesman and author as well as advisor to Henry VIII. More studied at Oxford University, where be learned Latin, wrote comedies and studied Greek literature. Then he studied law before standing for election to Parliament in 1504. Thomas More was a devout Catholic. He saw the Protestant reformation as being evil and dangerous. He believed that the Catholic Church was the only true Church.
10.1.1.1.1. Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593), was the first great Elizabethan writer of tragedy. His most famous work, “The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus”, is an imaginative view of legendary scholars fall to damnation through lust for forbidden knowledge, power, and sensual pleasure. Marlowe was born in Canterbury and studied at Cambridge. Evidently at some time during his university years, he did secret service work for the government.
11. Lecture 6 William Shakespeare (1564-1616)
11.1. William Shakespeare was an English playwright and poet.
11.1.1. William Shakespeare was the eldest son of John and Mary Shakespeare. John Shakespeare was a glove-maker, who married Mary Arden, the daughter of a farmer from the nearby village of Wilmcote.
11.1.1.1. At the age of eighteen, William married Anne Hathaway, a young woman from the village of Shottery, just outside Stratford-upon-Avon.
11.1.1.1.1. William and Anne Shakespeare had three children.