24-09-24
Introduction
focus on literature after 1800 → enlightment →humanist discourse
market forces, meant to entertain/educate/beauty
literature→ piece of writing with lasting merit and influence
how do we judge literature? character author, reasons for writing, artistic value
what is literature
poems → pamphlets
plays → science fiction
stories → epics, fantasy etc.
novels → YA
Literature in English not English Literature
The canon
the literary canon is a list of the books that are felt, at a given time and by a specific
group of people, to represent the notion of literature as it functions in that group at
that time
defined by teachers, literary prizes, anthologies, bookshops, etc. (subjective)
not really representative/diverse
Reading list
- Mary Costello → Barcelona
- Jacqueline Woodson → Brown girl dreaming
- James Baldwin → Sonny’s blues
- Ocean Vuong → On earth we’re briefly gorgeous
- Kazuo Ishiguro→ Never let me go
(27 maart Mary Costello)
@backpagemag
Boeken Groene waterman
- The Norton Anthology of English Literature:Shorter 11th edition vol 1&2 (NEL)
- The Norton Anthology of American Literature: shorter Tenth edition vols 1&2
- 3 books
prepare= read and highlight key ideas/short summary
read the pages on the syllabus
look up vocabulary
,bring the books to class
powerpoints and notes during class, for exams
seminar questions (1 exam question)
knowledge and skills
evaluation
- writing assignment 5/20
- exam in june 15/20
- tweede zit augustus/september
- optional resubmission writing assignment
blackboard forum
1-10-2024
Middle ages 1, Old English Poetry, Beowulf
The Middle Ages ca. 1485
The three literary periods in which the middle ages are divided
- Anglo-Saxon (450-1066) → Beowulf 8th-10th century
- Anglo-Norman (1066-14th)
- Middle English (14th-15th)
16th century = start of ‘early modern’ period
(43 - ca.420)
Roman conquest of Celtic Britain
- Most relics found around wales and cornwall because of pushback by romans
- Province of Roman Empire →Britannia
- Christianization in 4th century (Constantine)
- Cultural crossover (pagan/christian)
450
Anglo-Saxon (the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) Invasion of Britain
- Fall of west roman empire by germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes)
- Heptarchy (7 kingdoms)
- Re-Christianization in the 7th Century ( St. Augustine) → after two centuries of
paganism
End of 8th-10th century
- New invasion of Germanic tribes →Vikings (Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden,
Denmark)
- Wessex and its dependencies pooling together to stop the Danes
- King Alfred the Great→ King of West Saxons (871-899), started keeping
literature, not only in Latin
, - eventually many trades and intermarriages, the crown gets switched
- King Canute (1016-1035) : king of both England, Denmark and Norway
- Norman conquest (1066) → william the conqueror
Beowulf
Germanic heroic poetry
Beowulf (8th-10th) one of the first examples of written literature → before only oral
Written in Old english/Anglo-saxon → germanic and celtic
Action → what happens
When? The early 6th century
Where? Scandinavia, border of Denmark and Sweden
- Beowulf is a Geat and helps the Danes
What?
- 3 great fights to defend human society against evil
- 1. against Grendel
- 2. against Grendel’s mother
- 3. against the Dragon → Beowulf’s death and funeral
- many intermissions
Story → how it is told
Who? Oral poetry: the scop (bard)
- often sung or intoned (harp)
- Christian poet (?) → Pagan
Written manuscript (unique):
- Rare: mostly religious texts→monasteries, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle → King Alfred
etc.
- Mercia dialect, translated into Wessex dialect (formal)
- Damaged by fire in 1731, no copies because it was kept in private possession
When? 8th-10th century
Pagan & Christian tension
- Pagan values → heroism & revenge
- very few references to heathen deities (idolatry: the worshipping of false idols)
- Christian values → based on forgiveness
- ‘forgive those who trespass against us’ (The Lord Prayer/Our Father)
- ‘all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword’(Matthew 26:52)
Tension/convergence: mixture of 2 modes
, Oral→Pagan hero invokes heroic code
Written→ the Christian poet invokes God and the Bible
Ironic tension with Christian values
Wer-gild →man-price → deathprice
Traces to oral tradition
- call to attention
- insider perspective
- tendency to digress (beowulf is not named at all at first etc.)
- tendency to foreshadow (keep the attention)
- circular structures (funeral→funeral) → elegiac
- parallel and appositive expressions (keep the attention make people remember)
Stylistic features
- Verse forms → two balancing halves with a break (caesura) and a change of
rhythm after the break, no rhyme!
- Alliteration
- Litotes (ironic understatement)
- synecdoche (pars pro toto, metonymy: description of something by naming a certain
part)
- elegiac (sad, mournful, lament)
- kenning & compound words
8-10-2024
Middle Ages 2
The three literary periods in which the middle ages are divided
- Anglo-Saxon (450-1066)
- Anglo-Norman (1066-14th)
- Middle English (14th-15th)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ca. 1375-1400)
1066 Battle of Hastings: Norman conquest by William the conquerer
Edward the confessor dies–> Harold Godwinson appoints himself–> killed in battle : Old to
Middle English period
Invasions of the British Isles
- the Romans
- the Anglo-Saxons
- the Vikings
- the Anglo-Normans
Introduction
focus on literature after 1800 → enlightment →humanist discourse
market forces, meant to entertain/educate/beauty
literature→ piece of writing with lasting merit and influence
how do we judge literature? character author, reasons for writing, artistic value
what is literature
poems → pamphlets
plays → science fiction
stories → epics, fantasy etc.
novels → YA
Literature in English not English Literature
The canon
the literary canon is a list of the books that are felt, at a given time and by a specific
group of people, to represent the notion of literature as it functions in that group at
that time
defined by teachers, literary prizes, anthologies, bookshops, etc. (subjective)
not really representative/diverse
Reading list
- Mary Costello → Barcelona
- Jacqueline Woodson → Brown girl dreaming
- James Baldwin → Sonny’s blues
- Ocean Vuong → On earth we’re briefly gorgeous
- Kazuo Ishiguro→ Never let me go
(27 maart Mary Costello)
@backpagemag
Boeken Groene waterman
- The Norton Anthology of English Literature:Shorter 11th edition vol 1&2 (NEL)
- The Norton Anthology of American Literature: shorter Tenth edition vols 1&2
- 3 books
prepare= read and highlight key ideas/short summary
read the pages on the syllabus
look up vocabulary
,bring the books to class
powerpoints and notes during class, for exams
seminar questions (1 exam question)
knowledge and skills
evaluation
- writing assignment 5/20
- exam in june 15/20
- tweede zit augustus/september
- optional resubmission writing assignment
blackboard forum
1-10-2024
Middle ages 1, Old English Poetry, Beowulf
The Middle Ages ca. 1485
The three literary periods in which the middle ages are divided
- Anglo-Saxon (450-1066) → Beowulf 8th-10th century
- Anglo-Norman (1066-14th)
- Middle English (14th-15th)
16th century = start of ‘early modern’ period
(43 - ca.420)
Roman conquest of Celtic Britain
- Most relics found around wales and cornwall because of pushback by romans
- Province of Roman Empire →Britannia
- Christianization in 4th century (Constantine)
- Cultural crossover (pagan/christian)
450
Anglo-Saxon (the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark) Invasion of Britain
- Fall of west roman empire by germanic tribes (Angles, Saxons, Jutes)
- Heptarchy (7 kingdoms)
- Re-Christianization in the 7th Century ( St. Augustine) → after two centuries of
paganism
End of 8th-10th century
- New invasion of Germanic tribes →Vikings (Scandinavia: Norway, Sweden,
Denmark)
- Wessex and its dependencies pooling together to stop the Danes
- King Alfred the Great→ King of West Saxons (871-899), started keeping
literature, not only in Latin
, - eventually many trades and intermarriages, the crown gets switched
- King Canute (1016-1035) : king of both England, Denmark and Norway
- Norman conquest (1066) → william the conqueror
Beowulf
Germanic heroic poetry
Beowulf (8th-10th) one of the first examples of written literature → before only oral
Written in Old english/Anglo-saxon → germanic and celtic
Action → what happens
When? The early 6th century
Where? Scandinavia, border of Denmark and Sweden
- Beowulf is a Geat and helps the Danes
What?
- 3 great fights to defend human society against evil
- 1. against Grendel
- 2. against Grendel’s mother
- 3. against the Dragon → Beowulf’s death and funeral
- many intermissions
Story → how it is told
Who? Oral poetry: the scop (bard)
- often sung or intoned (harp)
- Christian poet (?) → Pagan
Written manuscript (unique):
- Rare: mostly religious texts→monasteries, Anglo-Saxon Chronicle → King Alfred
etc.
- Mercia dialect, translated into Wessex dialect (formal)
- Damaged by fire in 1731, no copies because it was kept in private possession
When? 8th-10th century
Pagan & Christian tension
- Pagan values → heroism & revenge
- very few references to heathen deities (idolatry: the worshipping of false idols)
- Christian values → based on forgiveness
- ‘forgive those who trespass against us’ (The Lord Prayer/Our Father)
- ‘all they that take the sword shall perish by the sword’(Matthew 26:52)
Tension/convergence: mixture of 2 modes
, Oral→Pagan hero invokes heroic code
Written→ the Christian poet invokes God and the Bible
Ironic tension with Christian values
Wer-gild →man-price → deathprice
Traces to oral tradition
- call to attention
- insider perspective
- tendency to digress (beowulf is not named at all at first etc.)
- tendency to foreshadow (keep the attention)
- circular structures (funeral→funeral) → elegiac
- parallel and appositive expressions (keep the attention make people remember)
Stylistic features
- Verse forms → two balancing halves with a break (caesura) and a change of
rhythm after the break, no rhyme!
- Alliteration
- Litotes (ironic understatement)
- synecdoche (pars pro toto, metonymy: description of something by naming a certain
part)
- elegiac (sad, mournful, lament)
- kenning & compound words
8-10-2024
Middle Ages 2
The three literary periods in which the middle ages are divided
- Anglo-Saxon (450-1066)
- Anglo-Norman (1066-14th)
- Middle English (14th-15th)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (ca. 1375-1400)
1066 Battle of Hastings: Norman conquest by William the conquerer
Edward the confessor dies–> Harold Godwinson appoints himself–> killed in battle : Old to
Middle English period
Invasions of the British Isles
- the Romans
- the Anglo-Saxons
- the Vikings
- the Anglo-Normans
