English Literature

English Literature

by Professor Josue Quispe

Overview

In this class we will discuss: Literature. History of English Literature. Periods in the History of English

Literature. Divisions of Periods.

“ History is a nation’s

biography… and it’s literature is its autobiography…”

Literature Expression of life in terms of truth and beauty. Written record of man’s spirit, his thoughts,

emotions and aspirations. It is a curious and prevalent opinion that literature,

like all art, is a mere play of imagination, pleasing enough, like a new novel, but without any serious or practical importance. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Literature preserves the ideals of a people; and ideals love, faith, duty, friendship, freedom, reverence are the part of human life most worthy of preservation.

Qualities of Literature

1. Artistic QualityAll art is the expression of life in forms of truth and beauty; or rather, it is the reflection of some truth and beauty which are in the world, but which remain unnoticed until brought to our attention by some sensitive human soul, just as the delicate curves of the shell reflect sounds and harmonies too faint to be otherwise noticed.A hundred men may pass a hayfield and see only the sweaty toil and the windrows of dried grass; but here is one who pauses by a Roumanian meadow, where girls are making hay and singing as they work. He looks deeper, sees truth and beauty where we see only dead grass, and he reflects what he sees in a little poem in which the hay tells its own story:

Yesterday's flowers am I,And I have drunk my last sweet draught of dew.

Young maidens came and sang me to my death; The moon looks down and sees me in my shroud, The shroud of my last dew.

Yesterday's flowers that are yet in meMust needs make way for all tomorrow's flowers.

The maidens, too, that sang me to my deathMust even so make way for all the maidsThat are to come.

And as my soul, so too their soul will beLaden with fragrance of the days gone by.The maidens that tomorrow come this wayWill not remember that I once did bloom,

For they will only see the new-born flowers.Yet will my perfume-laden soul bring back,As a sweet memory, to women's heartsTheir days of maidenhood.

And then they will be sorry that they cameTo sing me to my death; And all the butterflies will mourn for me.

I bear away with me the sunshine's dear remembrance, and the low soft murmurs of the spring.

My breath is sweet as children's prattle is;I drank in all the whole earth's fruitfulness,To make of it the fragrance of my soulThat shall outlive my death.

2. Suggestive QualityThe second quality of literature is its suggestiveness, it appeals to our emotions and imagination rather than to our intellect. It is not so much what it says as what it awakens in us that constitutes its charm.

Won't you come a little closer?I'm not getting any youngerI can hear static, but you've never looked lovelier.

Call it sensuality, if you dare pleaseNot sure what you like, but I'll try gracefullyTonight is the night to rival all nightsSay that you're wrong, but I'll make you feel right

Many men have fallen, but united they standIt's not a home run, a touch down, or a grand slamIt's you and me, it doesn't have to

mean foreverJust means we're both good, at liking each other

Oh man, you know I'm nothing but a dose of painBut dopamine is having a party in my veinsInviting his friends and kicking the monsters outSo dope, I'll lose consciousness, kiss me on the mouth

Yes, won't you come a little closer?You see, I'm not getting any youngerNot a whore for the masses, just a curious lover

3. Permanent QualityArising directly from the other two, is its permanence. The world doesn’t live by bread alone. Notwithstanding its hurry and bustle and apparent absorption in material things, it does not willingly let any beautiful thing perish. This is even more true of its songs than of its painting and sculpture; though permanence is a quality we should hardly expect in the present deluge of books and magazines pouring day and night and to know him, the man of any age, we must search deeper than his history. History records his deeds, his outward acts largely; but every great act springs from an ideal, and to understand this we must read his literature, where we find his ideals recorded.

Importance of Literature

It is a curious and prevalent opinion that literature, like all art, is a mere play of

imagination, pleasing enough, like a new novel, but without any serious or

practical importance. Nothing could be farther from the truth. Literature

preserves the ideals of a people; and ideals love, faith, duty, friendship, freedom, reverence are the part of

human life most worthy of preservation.

Every civilization is founded upon ideals. Every human action springs from an ideal.

Literature preserve such ideals. Therefore literature preserves civilizations and human actions.

What is literature? What is the nature of

literature?What is the value of literature?

Why do we study literature?How do we study literature?

History of the English Literature