An Outline of British Literary History
Early and Medieval English Literature
Beowulf, epic in old Briton
Romance: The Arthurian Legends; Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (about 1375)
Ballads(a story told in song): Robin Hood and Allin-a-Dale
Geoffrey Chaucer, the founder of English poetry: The Canterbury Tales (influenced by Italian writer acio’s Decameron)
The English Renaissance (16th—first half of 17th)
Characteristic of Renaissance: 1) a thirsting curiosity for the classical literature; 2) keen interest in the activities of humanity (humanism)
Thomas More, the greatest of the English humanists: Utopia
Poets in this period: (The , an exact form of poetry in 14 lines of iambic pentameter intricately rhymed, was introduced to England from Italy by Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard)
Sir Philip Sidney (1554-86), love s: “Astrophel and Stella”
Walter Raleigh (1552-1618), “Discovery of Guiana”
Edmund Spenser (1552-99), The Shepherd’s Calendar (a pastoral poem in 12 books); The Faerie Queene (his masterpiece dedicated to Queen Elizabeth). He is the first master to make Modern English the natural music of his poetic effusions.
John Lyly (1554-1606), a romance writer for the gentle reader: Euphues
Prose Writer: Francis Bacon (1561-1626), Essays (58 ones). It covers a wide variety of subjects, such as love, truth, friendship, parents and children, beauty, studies, riches,
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