ANGLO- AMERICAN

LITERATURE
ANGLO OR ENGLISH
LITERATURE
Anglo is a Late Latin prefix used to
denote English. The word is derived
from Anglia, the Latin name for
England, and still the modern
name of its Eastern region.
Literary Periods
In Anglo
Literature
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE (450-1100)
Encompasses literature
written in Old English
Genre or Style: Epic Poetry,
Hagiography, Sermons, Bible
Translations, Chronicles

Sample Literary Masterpiece: Beowulf

OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE (450-1100)

Beowulf
Beowulf is an Old English epic poem,
it is possibly the oldest surviving
long poem in Old English and is
commonly cited as one of the most
important works of Old English
literature. It was written in England
some time between the 8th and the
early 11th century.
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE (450-1100)

Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to

the aid of Hroðgar, the king of the
Danes, whose mead hall in Heorot has
been under attack by a monster known
as Grendel. After Beowulf slays him,
Grendel’s mother attacks the hall and is
then also defeated. Victorious, Beowulf
goes home to Geatland (Götaland in
modern Sweden) and later becomes king
of the Geats.
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE (450-1100)

After a period of fifty years has

passed, Beowulf defeats a
dragon, but is fatally wounded in
the battle. After his death, his
attendants bury him in a
tumulus, a burial mound, in
Geatland.
Author of Beowulf:
The Anglo-Saxons were a cultural
group who inhabited Great Britain
from the 5th Century, and the direct
ancestors of the majority of the
modern British people. They
comprise people from Germanic
Tribes who migrated to the island
from continental Europe, their
descendants, and indigenous British
groups who adopted many aspects of
Anglo-Saxon culture and language.
MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE
(1100-1500)
 In this period, religious literature
continued to enjoy popularity
and Hagiographies were written,
adapted and translated.
 Genre/Style: Romance, Bible
Translations
Sample Literary Masterpiece: Sir Gawain
and the Green Knight
MIDDLE ENGLISH LITERATURE
(1100-1500)
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
It is an important poem in the medieval
romantic genre, which typically involves
a hero who goes on a quest that tests his
prowess. It is around the legendary King
Arthur that the chivalric tradition of the
Middle Ages developed. Sir Gawain and
the Green Knight as Arthurian
romance/courtly love poetry.
Author of Sir Gawain and the Green
Knight
The "Gawain Poet", or less
commonly the "Pearl Poet",is the
name given to the author of Sir
Gawain and the Green Knight, an
alliterative poem written in 14th-
century Middle English. Its author
appears also to have written the
poems Pearl , Patience, and
Cleanness; some scholars suggest
the author may also have composed
Saint Erkenwald.
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE (1500-1660)
The Renaissance saw the rise of
English Theatrical Drama, most
notable William Shakespeare but also
from authors such as Christopher
Marlowe.
Genre/ Style: Vernacular Literature,
Comedy, Tragedy
Sample Literary Masterpiece: Book of
Common Prayer
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE (1500-1660)

Book of Common Prayer,

liturgical book used by churches of
the Anglican Communion. First
authorized for use in the Church of
England in 1549, it was radically
revised in 1552, with subsequent
minor revisions in 1559, 1604, and
1662.
Author of Book of Common Prayer
Thomas Cranmer
The work of producing a liturgy
in the English language books
was largely done by Thomas
Cranmer, Archbishop of
Canterbury, starting cautiously
in the reign of Henry VIII, and
then more radically under his
son Edward VI.
NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD
• The 18th century literature reflected
the worldview of the Age of
Enlightenment: a rational and
scientific approach to religious,
social, political, and economic issues
that promoted a secular view of the
world and a general sense of progress
and perfectibility.
NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD
• Genre/ Style: Pastoral and Mock-
heroic
Sample Literary Masterpiece: Gulliver’s
Travel of Jonathan Swift
NEOCLASSICAL PERIOD

Gulliver’s Travel of Jonathan Swift

Gulliver’s Travels, original title Travels

into Several Remote Nations of the
World, A keystone of English literature,
it was one of the books that gave birth
to the novel form, though it did not yet
have the rules of the genre as an
organizing tool.
Author of Gulliver’s Travel:
Jonathan Swift, pseudonym Isaac
Bickerstaff, Anglo-Irish author, who
was the foremost prose satirist in
the English Language. Besides the
celebrated novel Gulliver’s
Travels (1726), he wrote such
shorter works as A Tale of a
Tub (1704) and “A Modest Proposal”
(1729).
MODERN PERIOD
oEnglish literary modernism
developed out of a general
sense of disillusionment
with Victorian era attitudes
of certainty, conservatism,
and belief in the idea of
objective truth.
MODERN PERIOD
oGenre/ Style: Modernist novel
using the stream of
consciousness technique;
Science Fiction
Sample Literary Masterpiece:
The Sound and the Fury by
William Faulkner
MODERN PERIOD
The Sound and the Fury is
a novel written by the
American author William
Faulkner. It employs a
number of narrative styles,
including stream of
consciousness.
Author of The Sound and the Fury:

William Cuthbert Faulkner

was an American writer and
Nobel Prize laureate from
Oxford, Mississippi. Faulkner
wrote novels, short stories,
screenplays, poetry, essays,
and a play.
Literary Periods
In American
Literature
AMERICAN LITERATURE

It is the literature written or produced

in the area of the United States and
its preceding colonies. During its
early history, America was a series of
British colonies on the eastern coast
of the present day United States.
 COLONIAL (1650- 1750)

 Instructive and reinforces

authority of the Bible and
church.
Genre or Style: Sermons,
diaries personal narratives
Sample Literary Masterpiece:
Rowlandson’s “A Narrative of the
Captivity”
COLONIAL (1650- 1750)

Mary Rowlandson was a colonial

American woman who was captured
during an attack by Native Americans
during King Philip's War and held
ransom for 11 weeks and 5 days. After
being released, she wrote A Narrative
of the Captivity and Restoration of
Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, also known as
The Sovereignty and Goodness of God.
Author of A Narrative of the Captivity

Mary Rowlandson, née White,

later Mary Talcott was a
colonial American woman who
was captured by Native
Americans during King Philip's
War and held for 11 weeks
before being ransomed.
AGE OF REASON (1750-1800)

 Patriotism grows; instils pride;

creates common agreement
about issues; National Mission
and the American Character
 Genre/Style: Political Pamphlets;
Travel Writing; Persuasive Writing
Sample Literary Masterpiece:
Franklin’s Poor Richard’s Almanac
AGE OF REASON (1750-1800)
Poor Richard's Almanack (sometimes
Almanac) was a yearly almanac
published by Benjamin Franklin, who
adopted the pseudonym of "Poor
Richard" or "Richard Saunders" for this
purpose. The publication appeared
continually from 1732 to 1758. It sold
exceptionally well for a pamphlet
published in the American colonies;
print runs reached 10,000 per year.
Author of Poor Richard’s Almanac
Benjamin Franklin was an
American polymath and one of
the Founding Fathers of the
United States. Franklin was a
leading author, printer, political
theorist, politician, freemason,
postmaster, scientist, inventor,
humorist, civic activist,
statesman, and diplomat.
ROMANTICISM (1800-1860)

 Value feeling and intuition over

reasoning; Journey away from
corruption of civilization and limits
of rational thought toward the
integrity of nature and freedom of
imagination. Helped instil proper
gender behaviour for men and
women
ROMANTICISM (1800-1860)

Genre/ Style: Character Sketches;

Slave Narratives; Short Stories
Sample Literary Masterpiece: Poems
of Walt Whitman
ROMANTICISM (1800-1860)

Leaves of Grass is a poetry collection by

the American poet Walt Whitman.
Whitman spent most of his professional
life writing and re-writing Leaves of
Grass,revising it multiple times until his
death. This resulted in vastly different
editions over four decades—the first, a
small book of twelve poems and the
last, a compilation of over 400.
Author
Walter "Walt" Whitman was
an American poet, essayist,
and journalist. A humanist, he
was a part of the transition
between transcendentalism
and realism, incorporating
both views in his works.
American Renaissance/
Transcendentalism (1840-1860)
Transcendentalists: True reality is
spiritual; Idealists; Self-reliance &
individualism
Anti-transcendentalist: Used symbolism
to great effect; Sin, pain, & evil exist
Genre/Style: Poetry; Short Stories;
Novel
Sample Literary Masterpiece: Nathaniel
Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter Poe's
"The Masque of the Red Death" and
"The Black Cat"
American Renaissance/
Transcendentalism (1840-1860)

“The Black Cat" is a short story by

American writer which was first
published in the August 19, 1843,
edition of The Saturday Evening
Post. It is a study of the psychology
of guilt, often paired in analysis
"The Tell-Tale Heart".
 Author of The Black Cat:

Nathaniel Hawthrone
was an American
novelist, dark romantic,
and short story writer.
He was born in 1804 in
Salem, Massachusetts.
 REALISM (1855-1900)

• Social Realism: aims to change a

specific social problem
• Aesthetic Realism: art that insists on
detailing the world as one sees it
• Genre/ Style: Novels and short
stories; Objective narrator
Sample Literary Masterpiece: The
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
REALISM (1855-1900)

On its surface, Mark Twain's The

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a
straightforward story about a boy and
a runaway slave floating down the
Mississippi River. But underneath, the
book—which was published in the U.S.
on February 18, 1885—is a subversive
confrontation of slavery and racism.
Author of The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn:
Samuel Langhorne Clemens better
known by his pen name Mark
Twain, was an American writer,
humorist, entrepreneur, publisher,
and lecturer. Among his novels are
The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
(1876) and its sequel, the
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn
(1885).
 MODERN (1900-1950)

o Optimism and importance

of the Individual
oGenre/ Style: Novels; Plays;
Poetry
Sample Literary Masterpiece:
The Great Gatsby
MODERN (1900-1950)
The Great Gatsby is a novel
written by American author F.
Scott Fitzgerald. The story
primarily concerns the young and
mysterious millionaire Jay Gatsby
and his quixotic passion and
obsession with the beautiful
former debutante Daisy Buchanan.
Author of the Great Gatsby:
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was
an American fiction writer,
whose works helped to illustrate
the flamboyance and excess of
the Jazz Age. While he achieved
popular success, fame, and
fortune in his lifetime, he did not
receive much critical acclaim
until after his death.
HARLEM RENAISSANCE (Parallel to
modernism) 1920s
Allusions to African-American spirituals ;
Uses structure of blues songs in poetry
(repetition) Superficial stereotypes
revealed to be complex characters
Genre/Style: Gave birth to "gospel music"
Blues and jazz transmitted across
American via radio and phonographs.

Sample Literary Masterpiece: Poetry,

short stories and novels of Hurston and
Hughes.
HARLEM RENAISSANCE (Parallel
to modernism) 1920s

In "Let America Be America

Again," Langston Hughes openly
shares his thoughts on the
American Dream. Hughes
composed this poem in 1935
and it was published in the July
1936 issue of Esquire Magazine.
Author
Zora Hurston and Langston
Hughes both offer their own very
different and unique perspective
of post slavery life and black
culture . Zora Hurston was born
in the deep south where racial
discrimination an prejudice was
still very much alive, perpetrating
poverty and misery for blacks.
Author
While Langston Hughes by
comparison was born in
Missouri. His writings would
show the world that the black
culture was very proud, and
had contributed to building
and shaping this great
country, it wasn't just for the
white society.
POSTMODERNISM (1950 to present)

Insists that values are not

permanent but only local or
historical; Mixing of fantasy
with non fiction
Genre or Style: narratives,
metafiction, magic realism
Sample Literary Masterpiece: Catcher
in the Rye
POSTMODERNISM (1950 to present)

The Catcher in the Rye is a story by

J. D. Salinger, partially published in
serial form in 1945–1946 and as a
novel in 1951. A classic novel
originally published for adults, it
has since become popular with
adolescent readers for its themes
of teenage angst and alienation.
Author of The Catcher in the Rye:

Jerome David Salinger was an

American writer known for his
widely read novel, The
Catcher in the Rye. Following
his early success publishing
short stories and The Catcher
in the Rye, Salinger led a very
private life for more than a
half-century.