History Of Literature In The United Kingdom

The north Germans that settled in England after the fifth century was the first to speak English. They also learned from the Roman Missionaries the Latin alphabets that they used in English. It is assumed that before being written English was practiced orally and it was passed on from generations to generations.

A few names are known who practiced writing English like King Alfred and Elfric rest all are unknown. The old English literature is typically in poems, chronicles and lyrics. At some places it is found to be expressive or in form of epic. The English language was an unfamiliar and uninteresting language until literacy became common. There were no successive developments in the English literature until the nineteenth century by a great poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.

In the year 1066, English language to scholars was recognized as Middle English. Geoffrey Chaucer from the period 1343-1400 was the first great author of English literature, and before that all the literature available was from the concepts and ideas taken from the Celtic and French literature. The rhyming couplets, iambic pentameter lines and the other rhymes were the first to be introduced by Chaucer. These were taken from the Italian poetry which is much easier to rhyme that the English language. Chaucer’s work is categorized into writing style and poems which is commonly description that can be found in The Canterbury Tales, Troilus and Criseyde. William Langland’s work Piers Plowman, the Pearl, the Green Knight and Gawain is the other prominent work in history of English Literature.

In the sixteenth century, Henry Howard, Sir Thomas Wyatt and Earl of Surrey introduced contemporary lyric poems. Sir Thomas Wyatt was immensely inclined to Petrarca Francesco an Italian writer who inspired Thomas to write verses and short lyrics to English. The well-known English writer William Shakespeare from 1564-1616 who wrote enormous couplets came in this same era.

More Articles :

• Characteristics Of American Literature
• Example Of Foreshadowing In Literature
• History Of Literature In The United Kingdom
• History Of Philippine Literature
• Modernism Literature
• Most Important Literature In History
• Summary Of Chinese Literature
• Types Of Literature
• What Is A Critical Literature Review ?
• What Is Literature Based Approach ?
• What Is Symbolism In Literature ?
• What Makes Literature Important ?

Sponsored Links :