English Literature: Reflection of Life by Enchanting Words
English Literature is a rich testimony of diverse cultures, societies, traditions and language that is written by writers who belong to different countries but they scribble their experience and the nuance of culture in an aesthetic and intellectual way.
Different writers came from different ages have enriched it, here we will see brief overview of this literature along with writers and their masterpieces.
The Anglo-Saxon period (670-1100)
The Anglo-Saxon period marked by two tribes, which is popular by works of battles and their ancestral heroes like ‘Beowulf’ and ‘The Flight at Finnesburg’, highlighting the theme of battle and adventure. They were brave and fighters, contained love and glory that is reflected by their works
The Medieval period (1100-1500)
The Anglo-Norman Period, that started in England when Norman conquered at the battle of Hasting, was different from Anglo Saxon Period, characterized by its Miracle and Morality plays in which the struggle between good and evil had been shown.
Chaucer, the great father of English Poetry, belongs to this period with his popular works like Canterbury Tales, a collection of stories in the form of poetry, regarded as a milestone in this rich literature. During this period French and Latin became the language of courts and old English Poetry became disappeared
The Renaissance Period (1500-1600)
A period of great discoveries, the period of Revival and rebirth, it is not wrong to say that it was the age of Shakespeare, with his lofty plays and poetry. He was a great dramatist who explored the complex human nature in his plays.
Some of his great works that are universally acknowledged are ‘Macbeth’, ‘Romeo and Juliet ‘ and Hamlet; all are plays. His plays were beyond time limit and connect the reader’s mind emotionally and mysteriously. humanism and rationalism are major subjects of this era.
The Puritan Age (1600-1660)
This age is known for Milton, a remarkable poet with his great epic poem,” Paradise Lost”, through which he criticized the corrupt and evil elements of society. Many poets, from different group of poetry enhance and evaluate their culture like John Donne, Ben Jonson, and Spencer. They focused on religious themes such as Biblical illusion, and create a sense of fear in reader’s mind.
Summary
English literature is regarded a masterpiece collection from different countries written by different writers who belonged to different countries, Shakespeare, Chaucer, T S Eliot, James Joyce, Joseph Conrad, Edgar Allan Poe, Vladimir Nabokov are some names among many writers. It encompassed all the social issues of human life and universe including the themes of social reality, connectivity, identity, globalization, cultural evolution, tradition and other movements.
The richness of it bound with its time period, different time period raised different themes and subjects and thus informs people diverse cultural movements and opinion like the old English period, marked the beginning of English Poetry, the Shakespearean era, the era of discoveries and evolution of sonnet and many literary techniques especially drama, The classical age, emphasized on reason and wit, The Romantic Age, that focused on natural beauty and common pastoral life style.
All eras are important, enhanced this literature thoroughly. The function of it is defined by different scholars and philosopher like Plato, who comments against poets. Aristotle, gave a new way of literature by giving the concept of catharsis and tragedy in his book poetics. To sum up English literature educate people intellectually and aesthetically and gives a new way of thinking and living.
The Restoration Period (1660-1700)
The Restoration period, characterized by its simplicity, preciseness and directness. John Dryden had contributed a lot for the development of this age. The writers of this age focused on human nature and placed great emphasis on Greek and classical literature. The revival of drama is also an important feature in this age.
Eighteenth Century English Literature
The Age of Augustan or the Age of reason characterized by great writers like Pope and Johnson. In this era the dominated features of writings were satire, controversial issues and criticism. The most important contribution of this era is the beginning of modern novel. Goldsmith, Richardson and Henry Fielding are some of great novelists of this age.
The Romantic Age (1798-1824)
The roots of Romantic age can be found in William Wordsworth lyrical ballads which he wrote with the collaboration of T S Coleridge. This age emphasized common pastoral life style and admiration of the beauty of nature. John Keats, P B Shelly, Coleridge, Wordsworth and many other writers enriched this era of literature by their power of imagination and mysterious way.
Unlike classical age which operates on reason and intellectual wit, this age admires beauty, emphasizes on emotions and sees world with imagination and aesthetic way.
The Victorian Age (1832-1900)
The Victorian Age combines two ages, classical and Romantic and follows reasons as well as imagination in order to create a unique kind of literature. The writer of this age portrayed the dark side of society with a beauty of nature. Tennyson is the representative poet of this age, who wrote on intellectually and spirituality of life.
Tennyson ‘s poetry reflects the agitating spirit of England and the condition of mankind. Through his works he highlighted the problems of England which emerged due to the new scientific discoveries the development of industries.
The twentieth century Literature
The twentieth century Literature or the modern literature reflects the true picture of modern society such as ugliness, sophisticated life, depression and burden of city life and the rapid progress in science and technology.
The writer of this age had used symbolism and other literary techniques in order to show the hard realities of life. Some important poets of this era are T.S Eliot, W.B Yeats, Ezra pound, Henrik Absen and many other writers.
Conclusion
To conclude the whole discussion, English literature reflects diverse perspective all over the universe because writers from different ages belong to different regions, they illuminated different problems like race, identity, war, ugliness of modern society and comparison of different culture in their works and thus adore and enriched it.
They connect the reader from classical to modern and digital world, and mirror society with a unique way and beauty of world. Through the themes of love, humanity and loss they highlighted the universal issues and make their work masterpiece.
