European Literature

• As we turn westward, Europe emerges as the colossus of culture
• Literature emerging from this tiny continent has dominated classrooms, literary research, and scholarly discussions for several centuries
• From archaic times to the present, European literature has been leading a literary tradition of the world
• How the Growth Occurred


  1. The dominance of European culture is reflected in (and even partly brought about by) its literary tradition

  2. Since ancient times, writers from Europe have produced landmark works of literature

  3. Today, European classics are studied, appreciated, and emulated worldwide
• In our exploration of this staggering literary tradition, let us take a historical approach; that is, let us look at the emergence of European literature across different time periods
• Beginnings of European literature

  circa 750 BC
• Important works from this time

  • Old Testament of the Bible
  • Iliad
  • Odyssey
• Old Testament


  Composed of 39 books written originally in Hebrew, consisting of several genres including tales, lyric poetry, and histories
• Different authors composed the works that would make up the majority of the Old Testament


  Between 750 BC and 350 BC
• Iliad and Odyssey

  Great Greek epics traditionally attributed to Homer, believed by some scholars to have been composed across centuries by poets using the oral tradition
• While the Old Testament was primarily religious and moralistic, Iliad and Odyssey chronicled the destinies of Greek heroes, like Achilles and Odysseus, who embodied the war culture
• In addition, the Greek tradition at this time boasted of Hesiod, whose Theogony and Works and Days were important archaic texts
• As the dawn of the Common Era (CE) approached, Greece continued to be a cultural juggernaut
• During the 5th and 4th centuries BCE, the Greek drama blossomed
• Playwrights of the time

  • Aristophanes (comedy)
  • Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides (tragedy)
• Lyrical poetry was also strong, thanks to writers like Pindar and Sappho
• The legacy of the Greek culture was later preserved by the Romans, who modelled their empire and civilization after the Greeks
• When Rome became an empire in 27 BC, the ruler Augustus Caesar needed a literary work that would embody Rome's greatness
• Nearly a decade later, Virgil was renowned for Aeneid, an epic modelled on Iliad and Odyssey
• Another prominent name during this time was Ovid, who wrote a very long narrative poem entitled "The Metamorphoses"
• Literary giants in Rome

  • Horace (poetry)
  • Seneca, Plautus, Terence (drama)
  • Cicero, Apuleius (prose)
• Middle Ages


  Period marked by the fall of the Western Roman Empire (around 476 CE) and the fall of the Eastern Roman Empire (Around 1453 CE)
• During the Middle Ages, Christianity and Islam rose to become political, social, and cultural institutions
• St. Augustine


  Whose The Confessions and City of God remain spiritual pillars to this day
• Dante Alighieri


  Whose three-part Divine Comedy envisions a Christian soul's journey in the afterlife
• Warrior cultures, which traced their roots to the Homeric epics, also endured during the Middle Ages
• Epics from the Middle Ages

  • Beowulf (Old English)
  • The Song of Roland (French)
  • The Song of My Cid (Spanish)
  • The Song of the Nibelungs (German)
• Chivalry


  Tradition that emerged in the works related to King Arthur, including Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur
• Geoffrey Chaucer

  Earned the title "Father of English Literature" with his crowning achievement, The Canterbury Tales
• Renaissance

  Period from the mid-14th century to the mid-17th century when cultures across Europe shifted their focus towards humanism and classicism
• Political changes during the Renaissance

  • Collapse of the Roman Empire
  • Emergence of England, France, and Spain as political powers
• French writer during the Renaissance


  • Michel de Montaigne
• Spanish writer during the Renaissance

  • Miguel de Cervantes
• Michel de Montaigne was the pioneer of the essay
• Miguel de Cervantes wrote Don Quixote
• Neoclassical Period


  Mid-17th century to the late 18th century
• Neoclassical Period

  • Reason was thrust into the foreground and dominated all aspects of European society
  • Philosophies like rationalism and empiricism shone in the limelight
  • French writers were prolific, with the likes of Voltaire and La Fontaine excelling in multiple genres
  • English writers were ably represented by Pope, Dryden, and Swift
• Romantic Movement


  Late 18 century to mid-19th century
• Romantic Movement

  • Came about as a response to Neoclassicism
  • Prioritized individuality and innovation over reason, authority, and conventions
  • English poets such as Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelly, Byron, and Keats found their voices
  • England also had fictionists such as Austen and Scott
  • Germany saw the emergence of story-tellers Goethe and Grimm
  • France marvelled at the works of Rousseau and Hugo
• Realism

  A philosophy that aimed to present life as it is