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 […]
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Primary sources and editions Bennett, D.S. (ed.) (1960, reprinted 1972) Chaucer, ’TheParlementofFoulys’, Manchester: Manchester University Press. Benson, L.D. (ed.) (1988) The Riverside Chaucer, Oxford: Oxford University Press. Benson, L.D. and Andersson, T.M. (eds) (1971) The Literary Context of Chaucer’s Fabliaux: Texts and Translations, Indianapolis and New York: Bobbs-Merrill. Blake, N.F. (ed.) (1980) The Canterbury Tales […]
CHRONOLOGY
Early 1340s Geoffrey Chaucer born, probably only son of John and Agnes Chaucer, wine merchants 1346 Battle of Crecy 1348 Black Death reaches England Edward in founds Order of the Garter 1356 English victory against France at Poitiers King John of France captured, French court begins civilised imprison ment m England 1357 ^ GC a […]
CRITICISM
In some ways Chaucer started off the criticism of his own works, not least by ensuring we would know that he wrote them by including himself in his texts (e g as ’Geffrey’ m House (729) or as one of the Canterbury Pilgrims (Tales, VII 695) [109, 138]) and by listing his works (m the […]
WORK
\ \ WORK (a) SHORT VERSE In his Retraction [149], commonly printed at the end of The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer refers to ’many a song and many a leccherous lay’ which he has written over the years. While the impression of prolific output created by this phrase fits with similar phrases used for Chaucer by […]