Middle-English or Anglo-Norman <strong>period (1100 -1500)</strong>
The Normans, who were residing in Normandy (France) defeated the Anglo-Saxon King at the Battle of Hastings (1066) and conquered England. The Norman Conquest inaugurated a distinctly new epoch in the literary as well as political history of England. The Anglo-Saxon authors were then as suddenly and permanently displaced as the Anglo-Saxon king. The literature […]
THE ANGLO-SAXON OR OLD-ENGLISH period (670-1100)
The earliest phase of English literature started with Anglo-Saxon literature of the Angles and Saxons (the ancestors of the English race) much before they occupied Britain. English was the common name and tongue of these tribes. Before they occupied Britain they lived along the coasts of Sweden and Denmark, and the land which they occupied […]
RELATION OF LITERATURE TO LIFE
There is an intimate connection between literature and life. It is, in fact, life which is the subject matter of literature. Life provides the raw material on which literature imposes an artistic form. Literature, as we defined in the previous section, is the communication of the writer’s experience of life. But this connection between literature […]
Romanticism and Classicism
There are two distinctive tendencies in the history of literature-Classic and Romantic. At some period in the history of Literature one tendency dominates, and then it is followed by the predominance of the other tendency, and in this manner they appear alternately, one following the other. In the history of English literature, the Elizabethan period […]
LITERATURE AND THE WRITER’S PERSONALITY
Every work of literature is intimately connected with the personality of the author who produces it. There is always a man behind a book, and the judging of the quality of literature becomes vital to us if we try to think of the author not as a mysterious disembodied force but rather as a man […]
<em>LITERATURE AND MORALITY</em>
There are two schools of thought holding opposite views about Literature or Art in general. The view of the moralists, philosophers and Puritans is that the writer does, and inevitably does, influence the lives and character of his readers; and therefore he should try to be a good influence. -The view of aesthetes, who believe […]
LITERATURE AND SOCIETY
Literature is intimately related to society. Viewed as a whole, a body of literature is part of the entire culture of a people. The characteristic qualities that distinguish the literature of one group from that of another, derive from the characteristic qualities of that group. Its themes and problems emerge from group activities and group […]
THE FUNCTIONS OF LITERATURE
Critics have been discussing from very early times about the function or functions of literature. Though they differ among themselves regarding the other functions of literature, they are all agreed on one point–that the main function of literature is to entertain the readers, or, in other words, to give them pleasure. Longinus was the first […]
<strong><em>Introduction</em></strong>
Literature is one of the Fine Arts, like Music, Dance, Painting, Sculpture, as it is meant to give aesthetic pleasure rather than serve any utilitarian purpose. It consists of great books which, whatever their subject, are notable for literary form or expression. It is the aesthetic worth alone, or aesthetic worth combined with general intellectual […]
A Critical History of English Literature by B R Malik
Part 1 Literature in General INTRODUCTION THE FUNCTIONS OF LITERATURE LITERATURE AND SOCIETY LITERATURE AND MORALITY LITERATURE AND THE WRITER’S PERSONALITY ROMANTICISM AND CLASSICISM RELATION OF LITERATURE TO LIFE Part 2 the History The anglo-Saxon or old-English Period Middle-English or Anglo-Norman Period The Renaissance Period The Puritan Age The Restoration Period Eighteenth Century Literature The […]