Literature is a written work considered to be an art form as long as it shows creative or artistic merit. It is usually made up of written words, even though those words were first transmitted orally. It may take on different forms such as poetry, drama and prose ; of course these categories have sub-types for instance sonnets, novels, dramas, fables, autobiographies, science fiction, etc. They often share common components : characters, setting, plot, themes, narrative point of view, figurative language, etc.
Now we may wonder what the purpose of literature is. As an art it has always been crucial to society, it allows us to learn about new ideas and concerns through the experience of fictional or real characters. Therefore it also reflects our cultural values and historical landmarks. More generally, literature helps us to understand each other and open up to the world.
Geoffrey Chaucer (born in the 14th century) is referred to as the Father of English literature. From that time indeed, literature started to be written thanks to the Gutenberg’s printing press (1440), and then we can notice an evolution in its genre through the centuries.
The first period corresponds to the Renaissance which covers the Elizabethan age. Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey brought the love-poetry and the sonnet to English literature. During that period its dominant forms were the poem and the drama. William Shakespeare best illustrated that trend; and among the several varieties of poetry to be found in sixteenth century England were the lyric, the elegy, the tragedy, and the pastoral.
Then came the Enlightenment during which three concepts were developed : the use of reason, the scientific method and progress ; it aimed at creating better societies and people. In literature it was marked by the metaphysical poets (Donne, Bunyan, Milton). During the Restoration, poetry was still the most popular form of literature yet it saw the beginning of fiction which was to develop later. Sentimentalism began as a fashion in both prose and poetry fiction in the 18th century. Romanticism was born with the help of a group of poets (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron) and then the novel developed as a new genre which became more accessible thanks to serialisation in periodicals. Realism through detailed description became an asset of the Victorian age (Dickens, Hardy, Eliot). Finally, modernism started at the dawn of the twentieth-century.
A plot : une intrigue
A landmark : un repère
A trend : une tendance
The Enlightenment : le siècle des Lumières
The Restoration : la Restauration anglaise (XVIIe siècle)
An asset : un atout
At the dawn of : à l’aube de
