Evolution of British Literature

Introduction

The purpose of the research paper is to examine the revolution of British literature from the perspective of history, events and people. The British literature has gone through many phases of development and changes which has given it a unique position throughout history. The modern trends in literature are the result of the events, leaders and the history that shaped up a distinct British literature society.

History

The 18th century

The importance of the didactic role of literature was evident in the British imperialist attempts to shape the English curriculum in the mid-1800s . In the late 1800s the primary focus on the didactic role shifted towards the Romantics valuing of the artistic, aesthetic power of literature to foster cultural understanding and appreciation, as argued by Matthew Arnold (1993) in Culture and Anarchy and Other Writings (Young,42-64).

At the turn of the century, the importance of literature as providing moral instruction served to elevate the role of drama or theatre production in schools, moving away from an earlier suspicion about its corrupting influence, leading to the organization of the Drama League of America in 1910 and the increased use of oral reading of texts (Applebee, 1974). At the same time, while the focus of English instruction in higher education in the 18th and first part of the 19th century revolved around oratory and recitation as essential for preparation for becoming politicians or ministers (Daiches,David,25-36). In the last part of the 19th century, with the need to prepare people for specialized work in an industrial society, higher education English shifted to a focus on written texts, leading to a long-term privileging of the written text over the oral (Young,42-64).

Geoffrey Chaucer

In the late medieval period (1,200 - one thousand five hundred), the ideals of courtly love came to England and authors began to write romances, both in verse and prose. They were especially popular topics related to King Arthur and his court (Engell, 6-11). The poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight shows many of the characteristics of literature from this period, situated in the days of legendary Arthur, the work emphasizes the behavior of men with religious overtones . At that time, the works of mystery is represented in towns and cities to celebrate the major holidays, but also less formal representations were made with religious themes (Wynne,5-13).

The first great English author Geoffrey Chaucer (1,340 - 1.4 thousand), wrote in Middle English. His most famous work is the Canterbury Tales; a collection of stories narrated by disparate genres a group of pilgrims traveling to Canterbury (Tillotson, 215-261). Although Chaucer is an English author, his work was inspired by the changes and developments taking place in Europe, especially Italy. The Canterbury Tales are clearly indebted to the Decameron of Giovanni Boccaccio. The Renaissance was making its way in England (Wynne,5-13).

Elizabeth Era

The Elizabethan Era witnessed the flowering of literature, especially drama: producing the so-called Elizabethan theater. The Italian Renaissance rediscovered the classics of theater Greek and Roman who began to move in mystical subjects ...