WESTERN LITERATURE

• Western Literature


  The literature written in the context of Western culture in the languages of Europe, as several geographically or historically related languages
• Indo-European Languages


  • Greek
  • Celtic
  • Latin
  • Romance languages
  • Germanic
  • Finnish
  • Baltic
  • Hungarian
  • Slavic
• Ancient Literature


  • The use of clay tablets and papyrus paper scrolls paved the way for the writing of the Holy Scriptures which is very much influential in European literature
• Influential Works of Ancient Literature


  • The Epic of Gilgamesh
  • Iliad and Odyssey
  • Aeneid
• Medieval Literature


  • The Fall of the Roman Empire marked the beginning of the Medieval or Middle Ages
  • Also called as Dark Ages
  • The use of vellum (goat skin paper), parchment (sheep skin paper), and wooden tablets covered in green or black wax to fashion books which are more durable than scrolls became widespread
• Popular Books during Medieval Period

  • Beowulf– Anglo-Saxon Tradition
  • Divine Comedy- Dante Alighieri
• Renaissance Literature


  • This period marked the reawakening of a new spirit of intellectual and artistic inquiry, which was the dominant feature of this political, religious, and philosophical phenomenon, was essentially a revival of the spirit of ancient Greece and Rome
  • Scholars searched for and translated lost ancient texts, whose dissemination was much helped by developments in printing in Europe from about 1450
  • Written short stories, novellas and tales were born in this period
• Influential People during Renaissance

  • Johannes Gutenberg
  • Martin Luther
• 17th Century Literature


  • The 17th century was a period of unceasing disturbance and violent storms, no less in literature than in politics and society
• Influential Works of 17th Century Literature

  • The Tragedies of William Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet, Othello, Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra)
• 18th Century Literature

  • The 18th century was marked by two main impulses: reason and passion
• World-class Masterpieces of 18th Century Literature

  • Robinson Crusoe- Daniel Defoe
  • Poems of Scottish Dialect- Robert Burns
  • An Essay on Understanding- Alexander Pope
• 19th Century Literature


  • The century was one of the most vital and interesting periods of all
• Literary Giants of 19th Century


  • William Wordsworth- Lyrical Ballads
  • Sense and Sensibilty- Jane Austen
  • Guy de Maupassant- The Diamond Necklace
  • John Keats- Ode to Psyche
• 20th Century Literature


  • Features an interest in the unconscious and the irrational was reflected in their work and that of others of about this time
• Famous Works of 20th Century Literature

  • Arthur Conan Doyle- Sherlock Holmes
  • James Joyce- Ulyses
  • Virginia Woolf- Mrs. Dalloway
• Ancient Literature 


  Songs, poems, fables, anecdotes, and parables were all invented during this period
• 20th Century Literature

  In the 1930s these qualities of 20th-century thought were not abandoned but, rather, were expanded into a political context, as writers divided into those supporting political commitment in their writing and those reacting conservatively against such a domination of art by politics
• 19th Century Literature 


  Influences that had their origins or were in development in this period – Romanticism, Symbolism, Realism
• 18th Century Literature 


  The cultivation of the feelings stimulated philanthropy, exaltation of personal relationships, religious fervor, and the cult of sentiment, or sensibility
• 18th Century Literature 


  The rational impulse fostered satire, argument, wit, plain prose
• 18th Century Literature 


  The other inspired the psychological novel and the poetry of the sublime
• 18th Century Literature 


  Novel and satire were born in this period
• 17th Century Literature 


  This includes the ascertainment of the grounds and relations of knowledge, faith, reason, and authority in religion, metaphysics, ethics, politics, economics, and natural science
• 17th Century Literature 


  Hence, this period is also known as Age of Reason
• Who invented the movable printings press

  Johannes Gutenberg
• Reformation in Europe


  Martin Luther