Introduction to English

and American Literature

By Jerry Glenn L. Castillo
 1.
The United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great
Britain and Northern Ireland

Commonly known as United

Kingdom or Britain
» 9th largest island in the world
» a sovereign state (in the same
way as France or the USA) but
is made up of four countries
namely- England, Scotland,
Whales, and Northern Ireland
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 The Republic of Ireland: An independent
country that is not a part of the United
Kingdom.
Northern Ireland: A country that is a part
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of the United Kingdom.
 England

» The name "England" is derived from the Old English

name ENGLALAND, which means “LAND OF THE
ANGLES“
» It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and
Wales to the west; the Irish sea is to the north west, the
Celtic Sea to the south west, while the North Sea to the
east and the English Channel to the south separate it
from Continental Europe.

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6
 England
London

» Its capital is London.

» The largest country in
Great Britain

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 The Land of Britain

» For a vast stretch of time the area which became the

British Isles was a merge bulge on the western coast of
Europe.
» About 8,000 years ago, water from the melting ice sheets
of the last glaciation made the sea level rise until the
North Sea and the Atlantic Ocean flowed together,
creating the English channel and making Britain an island.

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The Land of Britain: Its Influence on
Historical Development
» The land formations of the country have been of very great
importance throughout British history:
» The island faces Europe with open arms, is it were, and
welcomes invaders as well ads traders and refugees into the
gentle low-land country, so fertile, open, and easy either to
conquer or traverse. So, it is not surprising to find that the eastern
coasts of England have always had contacts both friendly and
hostile with the European countries.

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The Land of Britain: Its Influence on
Historical Development

» The whole of low-land England, therefore, has been subject to

continental influences, whether these were introduced by
invaders or by friendly travel and trade.

» Although the western and northern coasts where the mountain

country fronts the Atlantic with cliffs and rocky promontories is
wild and tempestuous, like all such coasts it has many coves
and inlets offering good harborage to small ships.

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The Land of Britain: Its Influence on
Historical Development

» By referring to a map, we can see that these shores of Devon,

Cornwall, Wales and Ireland, and Scotland can be reached
without any very long voyages out of sight of land by seafarers
feeling their way northward from Spain and Portugal and
southward from Norway and Sweden.

» These Atlantic coasts were used by small groups of people

coming to Britain to raid or settle, so they provided a sort of
back-door entrance to Britain, the main entrance being
southeast England.
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12
 Nature and Literature

» Britain has a temperate climate. It gets more that its fair

share of rain, and this gives it an atmosphere which is
seldom hard and bright even in spring and summer,
while autumn is a “season of mists,” and winter is one
of mist, fog, and heavy downpours.
» Many people believe that this accounts in part for the
strong poetic element which has always underlain the
matter-of-fact nature of the British and given them so
many poets.
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 Nature and Literature

» The British character possesses a misty, romantic

tendency in great contrast to the sharp logic and more
prosaic intellectual power of the Latin people living in
southern Europe.
» Certainly, mush English poetry and fiction reflects the
greenness of the English countryside, the abundant
streams, and great quantities of flowers- all of which
result from wet and temperature climate

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 Nature and Literature

» English literature abounds with buttercups and daisies,

daffodils and cowslips, honeysuckle and violets,
streams, and fertile valleys, and green meadows.
» All this rejoicing in verdant nature is perhaps
characteristics of English writing, and especially
English poetry.

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Famous Landmarks in England

White Cliffs of Dover

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Famous Landmarks in England
Buckingham Palace

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Famous Landmarks in England

St. Paul Cathedral

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Famous Landmarks in England

Ben Clock

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Famous Landmarks in England

Coast of Cornwall

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Famous Landmarks in England

Canterbury Cathedral

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Famous Landmarks in England

Stone Henge

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Famous Landmarks in England

York Minister

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Famous Landmarks in England

Windsor Castle

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 2.
The United States of
America
The United States of America

» Commonly known as United

States (U.S. or US)
» is a country primarily located in
North America.
» It consists of 50 states, a federal
district, five major
unincorporated territories, 326
Indian reservations, and some
minor possessions.
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The United States of America

» it is the world's third- or fourth-

largest country by total area.
» It borders Canada to the north
and Mexico to the south.
» With a population of more than
331 million people, it is the third
most populous country in the
world.

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The United States of America
» Washington, D.C., formally the
District of Columbia and also
known as D.C. or just Washington,
is the capital city of the United
States.
» It is located on the east bank of the
Potomac River which forms its
southwestern and southern border
with Virginia, and shares a land
border with Maryland on its
remaining
28 sides.
 The United States of America

Often simply called New York, is the most populous city

in the United States.
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American Symbols

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American Symbols

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American Symbols

Eagle = Strength and Freedom

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American Symbols

Statue of Liberty = Freedom, Hope,

and Friendship between Countries

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American Symbols

Washington Monument

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 American Symbols

Lincoln Memorial

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 3.
English Literary
Periods
 last

second

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The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period
450-1066
» The term Anglo-Saxon comes from two
Germanic tribes: the Angles and the Saxons.
» This period of literature dates back to their
invasion (along with the Jutes) of Celtic
England.
» The era ends in 1066 when Norman France,
under William, conquered England.
» Language was closer to modern German than
modern English.
» Frequently reflect non-English influence.
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 The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period
450-1066 (cont…)

» Genres (Epic Poetry, hagiography, Bible translations,

sermons, riddles)
» Four Manuscripts (Caedmon’s Hymn, Vercelli Book,
Exeter Book and Nowell’s Codex)
» Poem (generation to generation through oral tradition
read with accompaniment of the harp)
» Caesura – frequent pauses in each verse
» Alliteration – represents meaning more than the literal
» Kennings - metaphor

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The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period
450-1066 (cont…)

Representative Writer/Works

The Venerable Bede

• A monk
• Greatest Anglo Saxon Scholar
• Wrote “Ecclesiastical History of the
English People”
• Father of English History

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 The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period
450-1066 (cont…)

Representative Writer/Works

Alfred the Great

• King of Southern Anglo
• Saxon Kingdom
• Encouraged scholarly translations from Latin into
Old English
Caedmon
• Gift of poetic song
• Caedmon’s Hymn (9 line alliterative praise poem
for God) 41
The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period
450-1066 (cont…)

Best Literary Works

» Caedmon’s Hymn
» Beowulf
• The national epic of England
• Most notable example of the earliest English
poetry
• Blends Christianity and Paganism
• Beowulf’s 3 fierce fights (Grendell, Grendell’s
mother and the Dragon)
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 The Middle English Period
1066-1500

» The Middle English period sees a huge transition in

the language, culture, and lifestyle of England and
results in what we can recognize today as a form of
“modern” (recognizable) English.
» The era extends to around 1500. As with the Old
English period, much of the Middle English writings
were religious in nature; however, from about 1350
onward, secular literature began to rise.

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 The Middle English Period
1066-1500 (cont…)

» Works frequently of a religiously didactic

content and written for performance at court
or for festivals.
» Rambling love stories presenting knight
fights and courtly love
» Religion dramas (Miracle plays, Mystery
plays and Morality Plays) became popular

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 The Middle English Period
1066-1500 (cont…)
Representative Writer/Works
» Pearl Poet
• Best remembered on Sir Gawain and the
Knight
• Wrote the best example of Romance in
middle ages
» Geoffrey Chaucer
• World’s greatest storyteller
• Canterbury Tales
» Sir Thomas Mallory
• Le Morte d’ Arthur (Arthurian Legends)
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The Middle English Period
1066-1500 (cont…)

Best Literary Works

» Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
» Everyman – Best morality play

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 The Rennaissance Period
1500-1660

» This period is often subdivided into four parts:

Elizabethan Age (1558–1603), the Jacobean Age
(1603–1625), the Caroline Age (1625–1649), and
the Commonwealth Period (1649–1660).

» The Elizabethan Age was the golden age of English

drama. Some of its noteworthy figures include
Christopher Marlowe, Francis Bacon, Edmund
Spenser, Sir Walter Raleigh, and, of course, William
Shakespeare.
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 The Rennaissance Period
1500-1660 (cont…)
» The Jacobean Age is named for the reign of James I.
It includes the works of John Donne, Shakespeare,
Michael Drayton, John Webster, Elizabeth Cary, Ben
Jonson, and Lady Mary Wroth. The King James
translation of the Bible also appeared during the
Jacobean Age.

» The Caroline Age covers the reign of Charles I

(“Carolus”). John Milton, Robert Burton, and George
Herbert are some of the notable figures.
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 The Rennaissance Period
1500-1660 (cont…)
» Finally, the Commonwealth Period was named for
the period between the end of the English Civil War
and the restoration of the Stuart monarchy.

» This is the time when Oliver Cromwell, a Puritan, led

Parliament, who ruled the nation. At this time, public
theaters were closed (for nearly two decades) to
prevent public assembly and to combat moral and
religious transgressions.

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 The Rennaissance Period
1500-1660 (cont…)

» John Milton and Thomas Hobbes’ political

writings appeared and, while drama suffered,
prose writers such as Thomas Fuller, Abraham
Cowley, and Andrew Marvell published
prolifically.
» Literature came into full bloom

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 The Neoclassical Period
1660–1785

» The Neoclassical period is also subdivided into

ages, including The Restoration (1660–1700),
The Augustan Age (1700–1745), and The Age
of Sensibility (1745–1785).

» The Restoration period sees some response to

the puritanical age, especially in the theater.

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 The Neoclassical Period
1660–1785 (cont…)

» Restoration comedies (comedies of manner) developed

during this time under the talent of playwrights like
William Congreve and John Dryden. Satire, too, became
quite popular, as evidenced by the success of Samuel
Butler.

» Other notable writers of the age include Aphra Behn,

John Bunyan, and John Locke.

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 The Neoclassical Period
1660–1785 (cont…)
» The Augustan Age was the time of Alexander Pope and
Jonathan Swift, who imitated those first Augustans and
even drew parallels between themselves and the first set.

» Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, a poet, was prolific at this

time and noted for challenging stereotypically female
roles. Daniel Defoe was also popular.

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 The Neoclassical Period
(1660–1785) (cont…)
» The Age of Sensibility (sometimes referred to as the Age of
Johnson) was the time of Edmund Burke, Edward Gibbon,
Hester Lynch Thrale, James Boswell, and, of course, Samuel
Johnson.

» Ideas such as neoclassicism, a critical and literary mode,

and the Enlightenment, a particular worldview shared by
many intellectuals, were championed during this age.
Novelists to explore include Henry Fielding, Samuel
Richardson, Tobias Smollett, and Laurence Sterne as well as
the poets William Cowper and Thomas Percy.
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 The Romantic Period
(1785–1832)

» The time period ends with the passage of the

Reform Bill (which signaled the Victorian Era) and
with the death of Sir Walter Scott.

» American literature has its own Romantic period,

but typically when one speaks of Romanticism, one
is referring to this great and diverse age of British
literature, perhaps the most popular and well-
known of all literary ages.

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 The Romantic Period
1785–1832 (cont..)

» This era includes the works of such juggernauts as

Wordsworth, Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron,
John Keats, Charles Lamb, Mary Wollstonecraft,
Percy Bysshe Shelley, Thomas De Quincey, Jane
Austen, and Mary Shelley.

» There is also a minor period, also quite popular

(between 1786–1800), called the Gothic
era. Writers of note for this period include Matthew
Lewis, Anne Radcliffe, and William Beckford.
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 The Victorian Period
(1832–1901)
» This period is named for the reign of Queen Victoria, who
ascended to the throne in 1837, and it lasts until her death in
1901.

» It was a time of great social, religious, intellectual, and

economic issues, heralded by the passage of the Reform Bill,
which expanded voting rights. The period has often been
divided into “Early” (1832–1848), “Mid” (1848–1870) and
“Late” (1870–1901) periods or into two phases, that of the
Pre-Raphaelites (1848–1860) and that of Aestheticism and
Decadence (1880–1901).
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 The Victorian Period
(1832–1901)

» Period of stability and prosperity for Britain.

» British society extremely class conscious.
» Literature seen as a bridge between Romanticism and
Modernism.
» Generally emphasized realistic portrayals of common
people, sometimes to promote social change.
» Some writers continue to explore gothic themes begun in
Romantic Period

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 The Victorian Period
(1832–1901)

» Finally, prose fiction truly found its place under the

auspices of Charles Dickens, Charlotte and Emily
Bronte, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot (Mary Ann
Evans), Anthony Trollope, Thomas Hardy, William
Makepeace Thackeray, and Samuel Butler.

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 The Edwardian Period
(1901–1914)
» This period is named for King Edward VII and covers the
period between Victoria’s death and the outbreak of World
War I.
» This era includes incredible classic novelists such as
Joseph Conrad, Ford Madox Ford, Rudyard Kipling, H.G.
Wells, and Henry James (who was born in America but
spent most of his writing career in England); notable poets
such as Alfred Noyes and William Butler Yeats; and
dramatists such as James Barrie, George Bernard Shaw,
and John Galsworthy.
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 The Georgian Period
(1910–1936)

» Refers to the reign of George V (1910–1936) but

sometimes also includes the reigns of the four successive
Georges from 1714–1830.
» Here, we refer to the former description as it applies
chronologically and covers, for example, the Georgian
poets, such as Ralph Hodgson, John Masefield, W.H.
Davies, and Rupert Brooke.

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 The Georgian Period
(1910–1936) (cont…)

» Refers to the reign of George V (1910–1936) but

sometimes also includes the reigns of the four successive
Georges from 1714–1830.
» Here, we refer to the former description as it applies
chronologically and covers, for example, the Georgian
poets, such as Ralph Hodgson, John Masefield, W.H.
Davies, and Rupert Brooke.

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 The Georgian Period
(1910–1936) (cont…)

» Georgian poetry today is typically considered to be

the works of minor poets anthologized by Edward
Marsh.
» The themes and subject matter tended to be rural or
pastoral in nature, treated delicately and traditionally
rather than with passion (like was found in the
previous periods) or with experimentation (as would
be seen in the upcoming modern period).

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 The Modern Period
(1914–1945)

» The modern period traditionally applies to

works written after the start of World War I.

» Common features include bold

experimentation with subject matter, style,
and form, encompassing narrative, verse,
and drama.

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 The Modern Period
(1914–1945) (cont…)

» Some of the most notable writers of this period

include the novelists James Joyce, Virginia Woolf,
Aldous Huxley, D.H. Lawrence, Joseph Conrad,
Dorothy Richardson, Graham Greene, E.M. Forster,
and Doris Lessing; the poets W.B. Yeats, T.S. Eliot,
W.H. Auden, Seamus Heaney, Wilfred Owens, Dylan
Thomas, and Robert Graves; and the dramatists Tom
Stoppard, George Bernard Shaw, Samuel Beckett,
Frank McGuinness, Harold Pinter, and Caryl
Churchill.
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 The Post-Modern Period
(1945–Onward)

» The postmodern period begins about the time that

World War II ended.
» Poststructuralist literary theory and criticism
developed during this time.
» Some notable writers of the period include Samuel
Beckett, Joseph Heller, Anthony Burgess, John
Fowles, Penelope M. Lively, and Iain Banks. Many
postmodern authors wrote during the modern period
as well.
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 4.
American Literary
Periods
 Overview

» During its early history, America was a series of British

colonies on the eastern coast of the present-day United
States.
» Therefore, its literary tradition begins as linked to the
broader tradition of English literature.
» However, unique American characteristics and the
breadth of its production usually now cause it to be
considered a separate path and tradition.

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 Native American Period
(40,000 - 20,000 B.C.)

» Oral literature: epic narratives, creation myths, stories,

poems, songs.
» Use stories to teach moral lessons and convey
practical information about the natural world.
» Deep respect for nature and animals
» Cyclical world view
» Figurative language/parallelism

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 Puritanism Period
(1600-1800)

» Wrote mostly diaries and histories, which expressed

the connections between God an their everyday lives.
» Sought to “purify” the Church of England by reforming
to the simpler forms of worship and church
organization described in the New Testament
» Saw religion as a personal, inner experience.
» Believed in original sin and “elect” who would be
saved.
» Used a plain style of writing

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 Puritanism Period
(1600-1800) cont…
Famous Authors and Works:

» William Bradford (“Of Plymouth Plantation”)

» Anne Bradstreet (poetry),
» Jonathan Edwards (“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry
God”)
» Edward Taylor (“Huswifery”)

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Rationalism (Age of Enlightenment)
(1750-1800)

» Mostly comprised of philosophers, scientists, writing

speeches and pamphlets.
» Human beings can arrive at truth (God’s rules) by
using deductive reasoning, rather than relying on the
authority of the past, on religious faith, or intuition

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Rationalism (Age of Enlightenment)
(1750-1800) cont…

Famous Authors and Works:

» Benjamin Franklin (Autobiography)

» Patrick Henry (“Speech to the Virginia Convention”)
» Thomas Paine (“The Crisis”)
» Phyllis Wheatley (poetry

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 Romanticism
(1800-1860)

» Valued feeling, intuition, idealism, and inductive

reasoning.
» Placed faith in inner experience and the power of the
imagination.
» Shunned the artificiality of civilization and seek
unspoiled nature as a path to spirituality.

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 Romanticism
(1800-1860) cont…

» Championed individual freedom and the worth of the

individual.
» Saw poetry as the highest expression of the
imagination.
» Dark Romantics: Used dark and supernatural
themes/settings (Gothic style

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 Romanticism
(1800-1860) cont…

Famous Authors and Works

» Washington Irving (“Rip Van Winkle”)

» Emily Dickinson (poetry), Walt Whitman (Leaves of
Grass)
» Edgar Allan Poe (“The Raven”)
» Nathaniel Hawthorne (The Scarlet Letter)

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Transcendentalism (American Renaissance)
(1840-1860)

» Everything in the world, Including human beings, is a

reflection of the Divine Soul
» People can use their intuition to behold God’s spirit
revealed in nature or in their own souls.
» Self-reliance and individualism must outweigh external
authority and blind conformity to tradition

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Transcendentalism (American Renaissance)
(1840-1860) cont…

Famous Authors and Works

» Ralph Waldo Emerson (Nature, “Self-Reliance”)

» Henry David Thoreau (Walden, Life in the Woods)
» Louisa May Alcott (Little Women)

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 Realism
(1850-1900)

» Feelings of disillusionment
» Common subjects; slums of rapidly growing cities,
factories replacing farmlands, poor factory workers,
corrupt politicians
» Represented the manner and environment of everyday
life and ordinary people as realistically as possible
(regionalism)
» Sought to explain behavior (psychologically/socially).

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 Realism
(1850-1900) cont..

Famous Authors and Works

» Mark Twain (Huckleberry Finn)

» Jack London (Call of the Wild, “To Build a Fire,”)
Stephen Crane (“The Open Boat”)
» Ambrose Bierce (“An Occurrence at Owl Creek
Bridge”)
» Kate Chopin (“Story of an Hour,” The Awakening)

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 Modernism
(1900-1950)

» Sense of disillusionment and loss of faith in the

“American Dream”: the independence, self-reliant,
individual will triumph.
» Emphasis on bold experimentation in style and form
over the traditional.
» Interest in the inner workings of the human mind (ex.
Stream of consciousness).

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 Modernism
(1900-1950) cont…
Famous Authors and Works

» Lorraine Hansberry (A Raisin in the Sun)

» F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby)
» William Faulkner (“A Rose for Emily”)
» Eudora Welty (“A Worn Path”)
» Robert Frost (poetry)
» T.S. Eliot (The Waste Land, “Love Song of J. Alfred
Prufrock”)
» John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men, Grapes of Wrath)
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Harlem Renaissance (The “Jazz Age”)
(1920-1940)

» Black cultural movement in Harlem, New York

» Some poetry rhythms based on spirituals, and
jazz, lyrics on the blues, and diction from the
street talk of the ghettos
» Other poetry used conventional lyrical forms

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Harlem Renaissance (The “Jazz Age”)
(1920-1940) cont…

Famous Authors and Works

» James Weldon Johnson, Claude McKay

» Countee Cullen
» Langston Hughes (poetry)
» Zora Neale Hurston

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 Contemporary (Post Modernism)
(1950-present)

» Influenced by studies of media, language, and

information technology
» Sense that little is unique; culture endlessly
duplicates and copies itself
» New literary forms and techniques: works
composed of only dialogue or combining fiction
and nonfiction, experimenting with physical
appearance of their work

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Contemporary (Post Modernism
(1950-present) cont…
Famous Authors
» Alice Walker
» Wallace Stevens
» E. E. Cummings
» Maya Angelou
» Anne Sexton
» James Baldwin
» Richard Wright
» Sandra Cisneros
» Amy Tan
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Thank You!
Any questions?

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 Credits

Special thanks to all the people who made and released

these awesome resources for free:
✣ Presentation template by SlidesCarnival
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 References

https://www.google.com/search?q=timeline+of+British+literary+History&clie
nt=firefox-b-d&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiG_-
fo5sPxAhVnzIsBHbFIBkIQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1047&bih=472#imgrc
=bAO_Mf5b6AHEaM

https://pedagoglog.wordpress.com/2016/05/06/american-literature-timeline/

https://www.thoughtco.com/british-literary-periods-739034#old-english-
anglo-saxon-period-4501066

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