Post on 24-Feb-2022
Culture
Arts
Archi-tecture
FilmsMuse-ums
Litera-ture
“Culture… is that complex whole which includes knowledge, beliefs, arts, morals, law, custom and any other capacities and habits acquired
by man as a member of society.”
Learning Objectives
Famous writers and their representative works in different periods
Arts
Museums and libraries
Architecture
Films
Literature: Introduction
many ways to categorize English literature
“periods” used by literary historians
In each period, Great Britain has produced
many world famous writers. e.g. Shakespeare,
Jane Austen, J. K. Rowling
Old English Period
around 450 – 1066
prior to the seventh-century --- oral
literature;
Beowulf: written between 8th and
late 10th century
a warrior fight against a monster
the oldest surviving epic https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beowulf
Middle English Period
1066 - 1500
much of writings religious in nature;
from 1350 onward, secular literature
began to rise
Geoffrey Chaucer --- Father of
English literature
The Canterbury Tales: 24 storieshttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ge
offrey_Chaucer
The Renaissance
1500-1660; also called “Early Modern” period
subdivided into four parts:
Elizabethan Age (1558-1603),
Jacobean Age (1603-1625),
Caroline Age (1625-1649),
Commonwealth Period (1649-1660).
The Renaissance: The Elizabethan age
golden age of English drama (* play for theatre, radio
or TV )
Francis Bacon, Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare
Shakespeare (1564-1616), Stratford-upon-Avon
greatest English poet, playwright, and actor
38 plays, 154 sonnets and others
a detailed list of his works
The Renaissance: The Elizabethan age
Shakespeare’s major works
tragedies (Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello,
King Lear, Macbeth)
comedies (All’s Well That Ends Well, As You
Like It, Love’s Labour’s Lost, Measure for
Measure, The Merchant of Venice, The Merry
Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
Much Ado About Nothing, Twelfth Night)
historical plays, such as Julius Caesar
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wil
liam_Shakespeare
The Renaissance: the other three ages
The Jacobean Age --- The King James translation of the
Bible (began in 1604 and completed in 1611).
The Caroline Age --- covers the reign of Charles I. John
Milton, Robert Burton, are notable figures.
The Commonwealth Age, so named for the period between the
end of the English Civil War and the restoration of the Stuart
monarchy --- the time when Oliver Cromwell ruled the nation.
The Neoclassical Period
1600 – 1785; subdivided into ages
The Restoration Age --- Comedies of manner
developed; Satire, quite popular. Notable writers:
John Locke, an English philosopher and physician
The Augustan Age
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745), Gulliver’s Travels
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731), Robinson Crusoe
The Romantic Period
1785 – 1832; The beginning date often debated.
Writers: William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge,
John Keats, Percy B. Shelley, Jane Austen
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814),
Emma (1815)
The Victorian Period
1832 – 1901
reign of Queen Victoria --- a time of great
social, religious, intellectual, and economic issues
prose fiction truly found its place and made its
mark
Charles Dickens, The Brontes, and others.
The Victorian Period: Charles Dickens
a famous English writer (1812 - 1870)
The Pickwick Papers, in 1837
lived through Industrial Revolution
wrote about how life was changing, especially
for poor people.
Oliver Twist (1837), The Old Curiosity Shop(1840), David Copperfield (1849), Bleak House(1852), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Charles_Dickens
The Victorian Period: Bronte sisters
Charlotte (1816-1855); Emily (1818-1848);
Anne (1820-1849)
Raised in Haworth, Yorkshire
Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, and
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall.
produced a cast of unforgettable characters
such as the devoted governess, Jane Eyre,
and the lovers, Heathcliffhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bront%
C3%AB_family
The Edwardian Period
1901 – 1914; a short period
named for King Edward VII and covers the period
between Victoria’s death and the outbreak of WWI
novelists --- Joseph Conrad
poets --- William Butler Yeats
dramatists --- George Bernard Shaw
The Georgian Period
1910 – 1936
the themes and subject matter
rural or pastoral in nature
treated delicately and traditionally rather than with
passion or with experimentation (as would be seen
in the upcoming Modern period)
The Modern Period
1914 - ? (after the start of First World War)
Common features: bold experimentation with subject
matter, style and form, and encompasses narrative,
verse, and drama.
James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, D.H. Lawrence,
Joseph Conrad
The Postmodern Period
1945 - ?
Some say the period ended about 1990, but it is likely
too soon to declare this period closed.
Poststructuralist literary theory and criticism developed
John Fowles (1926 – 2005)
The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1969)
The Arts A long history of excellence in the arts
The Beatles
an English rock band, formed in Liverpool
in 1960
Members: John Lennon, Paul McCartney,
George Harrison and Ringo Starr
Popular songs: Yesterday, Imagine, Let it
be, Hey Jude and so on.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The
_Beatles
The Arts: The Beatles
The Beatles
break-up in 1970
Lennon shot and killed in 1980
Harrison died of lung cancer in
2001
followed by the Rolling Stones, The
Who, Elton John, and StingThe Beatles Story Exhibition in Liverpool,
2006
Museums and Libraries
Britain is world famous for its outstanding
museums and libraries.
Most located in London
Museums and Libraries: The British Museum
one of the most
spectacular museums
renowned for its extensive
and diverse collections,
from Egyptian mummies
to important historical
documents
Museums and Libraries: N.H.M
Natural History Museum
Plant, animal, and mineral
specimens from all over the
world
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natu
ral_History_Museum,_London
Museums and Libraries: Madame Tussaud
popular with
tourists
a collection of
lifelike wax
figures of famous
people, both
living and dead
Museums and Libraries: outside London
at Oxford University
Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology
contains a diverse collection of rare art and
relics
at Cambridge University
Fitzwilliam Museum
Museums and Libraries: outside London
The National Gallery of Scotland in Edinburgh
a collection of fine European paintings
The National Museum of Wales in Cardiff
focuses on Welsh life, history, and culture
In Belfast, the Ulster Museum
a diverse collection that mixes the arts, history, and
sciences
Architecture
Latin architectura, both the process and the
product of planning, designing, and constructing
buildings and other physical structures
Architectural works, in the material form of
buildings, often perceived as cultural symbols
and as works of art
Architecture: Anglo-Saxon buildings
Some of the oldest examples of British
architecture include a few small, squarish Anglo-
Saxon buildings.
Architecture: Romanesque
After the Norman Conquest in 1066, Norman
architecture became prevalent in the British Isles.
The Normans built monumental castles and churches
with enormous arches and huge columns.
called Romanesque on the Continent.
The greatest structures, the White Tower
Architecture: Gothic
From 12th to 15th century
gracefully soaring spires and arches marked
the development of the great Gothic cathedrals
e.g. Westminster Abbey in London
Architecture: Baroque
in 17th century
the architecture of the late Italian Renaissance
was introduced in England by Inigo Jones
Jones, the first of the great British architects
to be influenced by the ideas of Italian
architects
Architecture: Baroque
Jones in turn influenced Sir Christopher Wren
Britain’s greatest architect, who studied the
baroque style popular in Europe in the mid-
17th century
Saint Paul’s Cathedral in London
Architecture: Baroque example:
Saint Paul’s
Cathedral
in London
Features of
baroque: ornate -
-- richly decorated
Architecture: rococo
In the 18th century
rococo architectures used in Europe
Feature: much elaborate decoration
Architecture: Victorian architecture
borrowed from a variety of styles, including
classical, Gothic, and Renaissance
characterized by ornate decoration
Parliament, built between 1840 and 1870
Architecture: Scottish
In Scotland
In the early 20th century, famous Scottish
architect Charles Rennie Mackintosh
His work influenced 20th-century architects
and interior designers.
Films: History
a long history
noted for many critically acclaimed productions
and actors
in recent decades, largely international
Films: during 1930s; quota
film industry developed
government established a quota
requiring that a certain percentage of films
shown in British cinemas be made in Britain
Films: during WWII
many working in film industry immigrated to
USA
London-born director, Alfred Hitchcock,
moved to USA in 1939 and continued to
produce popular films
e.g. The Thirty Nine Steps
Films: late 1940s and early 1950s
tended to be literary
drawing upon classics from Dickens and
Shakespeare
Genevieve (1953)
The Belles of St. Trinian’s (1954)
Films: by the mid-1950s
Free Cinema Movement had begun
Shooting low-budget films that illuminated the
problems of contemporary life
so-called new cinema films began to present anti-
middle class views with social realism using working-
class themes and characters
Look Back in Anger (1959)
Films: after 1960s
London
for a brief time, the film production capital of
the world
a number of important films made there