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Anne Besnault-Levita

2018

MEEF 1- Enseignement

Textes

Terminologie

Contextes

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DOSSIER 1

Texte 1 : – Walt Whitman, “I hear America Singing,” (1860)

I hear America Singing

I hear America singing, the varied carols I hear,

Those of mechanics, each one singing his as it should be blithe

and strong,

The carpenter singing his as he measures his plank or beam,

The mason singing his as he makes ready for work, or leaves off

work,

The boatman singing what belongs to him in his boat, the

deckhand singing on the steamboat deck,

The shoemaker singing as he sits on his bench, the hatter singing

as he stands,

The wood-cutter’s song, the ploughboy’s on his way in the

morning, or at noon intermission or at sundown,

The delicious singing of the mother, or of the young wife at

work, or of the girl sewing or washing,

Each singing what belongs to him or her and to none else,

The day what belongs to the day—at night the party of young

fellows, robust, friendly,

Singing with open mouths their strong melodious songs.

Texte 2: Claude McKay, Harlem Shadows, 1922

America

Although she feeds me bread of bitterness,

And sinks into my throat her tiger’s tooth,

Stealing my breath of life, I will confess

I love this cultured hell that tests my youth.

Her vigor flows like tides into my blood,

Giving me strength erect against her hate,

Her bigness sweeps my being like a flood.

Yet, as a rebel fronts a king in state,

I stand within her walls with not a shred

Of terror, malice, not a word of jeer.

Darkly I gaze into the days ahead,

And see her might and granite wonders there,

Beneath the touch of Time’s unerring hand,

Like priceless treasures sinking in the sand.

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DOSSIER 2

Texte 1 : William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Act III, scene 2, 1599

First Citizen Stay, ho! and let us hear Mark Antony.

Third Citizen Let him go up into the public chair;

We'll hear him. Noble Antony, go up.

ANTONY For Brutus' sake, I am beholding to you. 65

Goes into the pulpit

Fourth Citizen What does he say of Brutus?

Third Citizen He says, for Brutus' sake,

He finds himself beholding to us all.

Fourth Citizen 'Twere best he speak no harm of Brutus here.

First Citizen This Caesar was a tyrant.

Third Citizen Nay, that's certain:

We are blest that Rome is rid of him. 70

Second Citizen Peace! let us hear what Antony can say.

ANTONY You gentle Romans,--

Citizens Peace, ho! let us hear him.

ANTONY Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears;

I come to bury Caesar, not to praise him.

The evil that men do lives after them; 75

The good is oft interred with their bones;

So let it be with Caesar. The noble Brutus

Hath told you Caesar was ambitious:

If it were so, it was a grievous fault,

And grievously hath Caesar answer'd it. 80

Here, under leave of Brutus and the rest--

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For Brutus is an honourable man;

So are they all, all honourable men--

Come I to speak in Caesar's funeral.

He was my friend, faithful and just to me: 85

But Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

He hath brought many captives home to Rome

Whose ransoms did the general coffers fill:

Did this in Caesar seem ambitious? 90

When that the poor have cried, Caesar hath wept:

Ambition should be made of sterner stuff:

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And Brutus is an honourable man.

You all did see that on the Lupercal 95

I thrice presented him a kingly crown,

Which he did thrice refuse: was this ambition?

Yet Brutus says he was ambitious;

And, sure, he is an honourable man.

I speak not to disprove what Brutus spoke, 100

But here I am to speak what I do know.

You all did love him once, not without cause:

What cause withholds you then, to mourn for him?

O judgment! thou art fled to brutish beasts,

And men have lost their reason. Bear with me; 105

My heart is in the coffin there with Caesar,

And I must pause till it come back to me.

First Citizen Methinks there is much reason in his sayings.

Second Citizen If thou consider rightly of the matter,

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Caesar has had great wrong.

Third Citizen Has he, masters? 110

I fear there will a worse come in his place.

Fourth Citizen Mark'd ye his words? He would not take the crown;

Therefore 'tis certain he was not ambitious.

First Citizen If it be found so, some will dear abide it.

Second Citizen Poor soul! his eyes are red as fire with weeping.

Third Citizen There's not a nobler man in Rome than Antony. 116

Fourth Citizen Now mark him, he begins again to speak.

ANTONY But yesterday the word of Caesar might

Have stood against the world; now lies he there.

And none so poor to do him reverence. 120

O masters, if I were disposed to stir

Your hearts and minds to mutiny and rage,

I should do Brutus wrong, and Cassius wrong,

Who, you all know, are honourable men:

I will not do them wrong; I rather choose 125

To wrong the dead, to wrong myself and you,

Than I will wrong such honourable men.

But here's a parchment with the seal of Caesar;

I found it in his closet, 'tis his will:

Let but the commons hear this testament-- 130

Which, pardon me, I do not mean to read--

And they would go and kiss dead Caesar's wounds

And dip their napkins in his sacred blood,

Yea, beg a hair of him for memory,

And, dying, mention it within their wills, 135

Bequeathing it as a rich legacy

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Unto their issue.

Fourth Citizen We'll hear the will: read it, Mark Antony.

All The will, the will! we will hear Caesar's will.

ANTONY Have patience, gentle friends, I must not read it;

It is not meet you know how Caesar loved you. 141

You are not wood, you are not stones, but men;

And, being men, bearing the will of Caesar,

It will inflame you, it will make you mad:

'Tis good you know not that you are his heirs; 145

For, if you should, O, what would come of it!

Fourth Citizen Read the will; we'll hear it, Antony;

You shall read us the will, Caesar's will.

ANTONY Will you be patient? will you stay awhile?

I have o'ershot myself to tell you of it: 150

I fear I wrong the honourable men

Whose daggers have stabb'd Caesar; I do fear it.

Fourth Citizen They were traitors: honourable men!

All The will! the testament!

Second Citizen They were villains, murderers: the will! read the will. 155

ANTONY You will compel me, then, to read the will?

Then make a ring about the corpse of Caesar,

And let me show you him that made the will.

Shall I descend? and will you give me leave? 160

Several Citizens Come down.

Second Citizen Descend.

Third Citizen You shall have leave.

ANTONY comes down.

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Texte 2 : George Orwell, Animal Farm, chapter 1, 1945

"Now, comrades, what is the nature of this life of ours? Let us face it: our lives are miserable,

laborious, and short. We are born, we are given just so much food as will keep the breath in our

bodies, and those of us who are capable of it are forced to work to the last atom of our strength;

and the very instant that our usefulness has come to an end we are slaughtered with hideous

cruelty. No animal in England knows the meaning of happiness or leisure after he is a year old.

No animal in England is free. The life of an animal is misery and slavery: that is the plain truth.

"But is this simply part of the order of nature? Is it because this land of ours is so poor that it

cannot afford a decent life to those who dwell upon it? No, comrades, a thousand times no! The

soil of England is fertile, its climate is good, it is capable of affording food in abundance to an

enormously greater number of animals than now inhabit it. This single farm of ours would

support a dozen horses, twenty cows, hundreds of sheep--and all of them living in a comfort

and a dignity that are now almost beyond our imagining. Why then do we continue in this

miserable condition? Because nearly the whole of the produce of our labour is stolen from us

by human beings. There, comrades, is the answer to all our problems. It is summed up in a

single word--Man. Man is the only real enemy we have. Remove Man from the scene, and the

root cause of hunger and overwork is abolished for ever.

"Man is the only creature that consumes without producing. He does not give milk, he does not

lay eggs, he is too weak to pull the plough, he cannot run fast enough to catch rabbits. Yet he

is lord of all the animals. He sets them to work, he gives back to them the bare minimum that

will prevent them from starving, and the rest he keeps for himself. Our labour tills the soil, our

dung fertilises it, and yet there is not one of us that owns more than his bare skin. You cows

that I see before me, how many thousands of gallons of milk have you given during this last

year? And what has happened to that milk which should have been breeding up sturdy calves?

Every drop of it has gone down the throats of our enemies. And you hens, how many eggs have

you laid in this last year, and how many of those eggs ever hatched into chickens? The rest have

all gone to market to bring in money for Jones and his men. And you, Clover, where are those

four foals you bore, who should have been the support and pleasure of your old age? Each was

sold at a year old--you will never see one of them again. In return for your four confinements

and all your labour in the fields, what have you ever had except your bare rations and a stall?

"And even the miserable lives we lead are not allowed to reach their natural span. For myself I

do not grumble, for I am one of the lucky ones. I am twelve years old and have had over four

hundred children. Such is the natural life of a pig. But no animal escapes the cruel knife in the

end. You young porkers who are sitting in front of me, every one of you will scream your lives

out at the block within a year. To that horror we all must come--cows, pigs, hens, sheep,

everyone. Even the horses and the dogs have no better fate. You, Boxer, the very day that those

great muscles of yours lose their power, Jones will sell you to the knacker, who will cut your

throat and boil you down for the foxhounds. As for the dogs, when they grow old and toothless,

Jones ties a brick round their necks and drowns them in the nearest pond.

"Is it not crystal clear, then, comrades, that all the evils of this life of ours spring from the

tyranny of human beings? Only get rid of Man, and the produce of our labour would be our

own. Almost overnight we could become rich and free. What then must we do? Why, work

night and day, body and soul, for the overthrow of the human race! That is my message to you,

comrades: Rebellion! I do not know when that Rebellion will come, it might be in a week or in

a hundred years, but I know, as surely as I see this straw beneath my feet, that sooner or later

justice will be done. Fix your eyes on that, comrades, throughout the short remainder of your

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lives! And above all, pass on this message of mine to those who come after you, so that future

generations shall carry on the struggle until it is victorious.

"And remember, comrades, your resolution must never falter. No argument must lead you

astray. Never listen when they tell you that Man and the animals have a common interest, that

the prosperity of the one is the prosperity of the others. It is all lies. Man serves the interests of

no creature except himself. And among us animals let there be perfect unity, perfect

comradeship in the struggle. All men are enemies. All animals are comrades."

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STUDY AID FOR FICTION : VOCABULARY

A few useful phrases

Where and when in the text

At the beginning / at the end of the extract / scene / episode / story

In the first / last line / sentence / paragraph of the passage — in the opening

paragraph

Midway through the passage / in the middle of the extract

In the preceding/ previous sentence — following / next paragraph

All through / throughout the first paragraph / the passage ...(not : all along)

From the first line / sentence down to the last ...(not : as soon as / until)

Structure (passage taken as a whole)

The passage / extract / excerpt falls into 2 / 3 / 4 ...parts corresponding to the

different stages of the plot / of the character’s description

The passage starts with..., it then concentrates / focuses on ....before moving to ...

The scene builds up to a climax

The overall structure of the passage is based on striking contrasts / parallels /

antitheses

The text focuses on a conflict between ......

The suspense / tension in the passage is increased by...

In this extract from Moll Flanders, dramatic intensity is conveyed by ....

The text is arranged in strict / linear / loose time sequence

Narration

This is a first-person narrative (in which the narrator is looking back on his childhood / in which a

personalized / subjective narrator tells his own story...)

In this passage, the third-person narration allows the narrator / the author-as-

narrator to make didactic comments on his characters...

The passage is entirely in the third-person, there is little direct or indirect speech...

The narrative agent is here anonymous and omniscient / and relates the story / incident as a mere

observer.

From the choice of such a narrator we may infer that the author wants to ....

Characterization

The characters are focalized from within

The narrator leads us into the consciousness of his characters / allows us to identify with them. The

character’s thoughts or feelings as not commented upon by the narrator.

The characters are focalized from without the narrator keeps a distance with his

character(s) — sometimes passes a moral / intellectual judgement on them.

The narrator gives a physical / moral description of his character / portrays a

character and his background / quickly delineates / sketches a character

Setting

The setting of this passage is realistic / detailed / concrete — gives a precise / detailed / realistic /

referential image / picture of ...

The accumulation of precise / vivid / referential allusions / details allows us to visualize the scene

The setting is kept minimal / is merely suggested

The setting is focalized from within / is seen through the eyes of X. Its description thus gives us

access to a character’s feelings / mood...The setting here mainly serves a realistic purpose / fixes

the story in a specific social / historical /cultural backgroundThe use of imagery in the description

of ... contributes to the building up of a specific atmosphere (gloomy / dreary / melancholy...), and

gives the setting a symbolical function

Style

it can be : broken, jerky (saccadé) as opposed to fluent (fluide), concise, clear /

straightforward, matter of fact, rambling (décousu), suggestive, allusive, elliptic, elaborate,

entangled, lengthy, cloyed (surchargé), curt (sec), didactic, high flown

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(grandiloquent), vivid / picturesque (pittoresque), colourful (imagé), incisive, analytical...

Stylistic elements

repetition :

The word x occurs three times in the text / throughout the passage / the narrative / The

passage relies on the recurring use of the word x / the image of ...

The text is structured around an elaborate pattern of lexical / sound echoes

The recurrence of many words belonging to the semantic field of light creates ....

imagery :

the simile (X = Y) / metaphor conveys the feeling / the idea that.....

In contrast, this other symbol strengthens the impression that .../ renders (the immensity of

nature...)

Some metaphors are associated with the observer’s eye / look

lexical elements :

The vocabulary might be : simple or complex / formal or colloquial / descriptive or evaluative,

analytical /

The adjectives might refer to visual / physical / auditory / colour / referential / emotive ...attributes

The verbs might be stative (referring to states) or dynamic (referring to movements) / might refer to

movements / speeches / psychological states ..

Grammatical elements (rappels)

indefinite / definite articles — first-person/third-person pronouns — demonstratives (this / that /

those ..) — prepositions / postpositions — coordinating conjunctions — subordinating

conjunctions — auxiliaries — modal auxiliaries — verbs — relative clauses — adverbial

clause (complément circonstanciel) — verbless clauses (propositions nominales) —

General

The passage deals with / focuses on / is concerned with

This sentence / metaphor / description : shows how / sheds light on / highlights /

brings out / throws into relief / exemplifies /aims at (+ ing) refers to / evokes / alludes to ...

A similar effect is achieved by / conveyed by ...

This recurring image / phrase ....calls attention to (our attention is caught by...)

The author / the narrator places the emphasis on / lays the stress on / draws

attention to ...

He first presents a detailed setting then moves our attention to ...

Perhaps the most notable / striking feature of this passage is ...

The use of adjectives / complex clauses ...is particularly remarkable...

Other general expressions

From text to discourse

to pinpoint (indiquer, désigner) to impart (transmettre, donner une

atmosphère )

to testify to (témoigner de) to pertain to (se rapporter à )

to stem from (provenir de) in the course of the description

to set forth (mettre en avant) consequent to (inhérent à)

to probe into the text (examiner de près, fouiller) the text outwardly (en apparence) reads

like

to partake in (participer à) / to partake of (tenir de) this is evinced by (manifesté par)

the accumulative use of adjectives serves a similar purpose

From text to text

to overlap (coïncider, se chevaucher)

an interplay of / between (interaction)

the sentence progresses by means of

it runs counter to (va à l’encontre de)

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to counter (neutraliser contrecarrer)

this is latent in...

this corroborates

this is manifested in the sentences ..

this generates...

Transitions

in this regard,

in this connection (à ce sujet / égard, )

a closer examination shows that….

At this stage,

Accordingly, (en conséquence)

To put it differently

By the same token (de la même façon, et donc..),

Similarly,

Conversely, (à l’inverse)

Thereby, (par là même)

Arguably, (sans doute, on peut soutenir que) ….. I would argue that… (il me semble que ….)

It is arguable whether (on peut se demander si )

Autres expressions

Annonce de plan :

The central thesis I wish to explore is…

I shall first begin by examining…

Looking first at…., I shall explore the way….

I will then explore the way / uncover the links between … and …

From there, I will turn to …

Examining … leads me to a consideration of ….

Drawing on an analysis of …., I would like to show how.. to suggest that…

Débuts de partie, ou paragraphes :

Also important is..

Alongside this aspect,

In contrast to this line of thinking / to this interpretation, one might want to focus on…

This (aspect/subject / theme) is also tied to…

On first examination

Connectors : as a result, as a consequence, Thus, consequently, Conversely… toujours suivis

d’une virgule

INTRODUIRE UNE CITATION

1) Dans le sens texte commentaire

— Line x, (the use of repetition) suggests that / conveys an impression of / suggests the idea

that / imparts an impression of

— In the following paragraph, the syntactic inversion achieves a similar / different effect

— Further down in the excerpt, the recurring use of ….. emphasizes …. / sheds light on ……

2) Dans le sens argument texte: (dans les phrases suivantes, A = l’argument que vous

développez)

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— A: this is shown in.. / conveyed by … (the metaphor, line x…. / the comic contrast line

x…°

— this is manifested in

— this idea / notion / argument / conclusion / hypothesis / .. is made clear by ……

— this idea / notion / argument / conclusion / hypothesis is emphasized by

LIRE UN POÈME

(A few guidelines)

REPÉRER

l’auteur / le siècle / le genre (verse form and poetic genre)/ le code = la convention / le

thème associé ou non à cette convention

Ex : Shakespeare Sonnet 130 :

My mistress’ eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips’ red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damasked, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress when she walks treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.

RESSENTIR (« De la musique avant toute chose » …)

1- Rythme (rhythm) :

Scansion : lire le poème à voix haute pour faire l’expérience de sa musicalité : cela suppose que

vous sachiez en prononcer tous les mots et que vous sachiez scander un vers (to scan a line) (voir

Introduction to the rudiments of metre). Attention : la scansion n’est pas une science exacte, mais il

est toujours intéressant de savoir repérer les moments de régularité) rythmique (tout le poème ou

certains vers du poème et les irrégularités, l’alternance et/ou les jeux de contraste entre régularité

rythmique (rhythmic regularity, rhythmic irregularities). Comme toujours, il est important

d’associer ce repérage à un / des effet(s) de sens possibles. Il ne sert à rien de constater que le poème

est irrégulier sans faire entrer se constat en cohérence (ou en incohérence) avec les autres éléments

du poème (date, genre, conventions, sémantique, rhétorique, images, sonorités … ).

Ex 1: My mistress’eyes are nothing like the sun,

Coral is far more red, than her lips red

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun:

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head:

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Le rythme dépend aussi des pieds employés (rythme ternaire, binaire) et du type des rimes

(féminine = rythme descendant / masculine = rythme ascendant)

Iambic rhythm : unstressed – stressed (two syllable feet = binary rhythm)

Trochaic rhythm : stressed unstressed (two syllable = binary rhythm)

Spondaic rhythm: succession of stressed syllables

Anapestic rhythm: unstressed stressed stressed (three syllable feet = ternary rhythm)

Dactylic rhythm: stressed unstressed unstressed (three syllable feet = ternary rhythm)

2- Sonorités : sound patterns : les rimes sont-elles riches (full rhymes) ou pauvres (half rhymes),

plates (couplet rhymes), croisées (alternate), embrassées (enclosing) ? Est-ce le simple résultat

d’une convention ou y-a-t-il un effet de sens associé ? Quel est l’effet produit par l’association

sonore à la rime, à l’intérieur du poème (internal rhymes)

Ex 2 : sun / dun

White / delight

cheeks / reeks

rare / compare

quels sonorités pour quels effets ?

plosives [p/b/t/d/k/g] = hard, abrupt sounds

fricatives or sibilants [f/v/s/z/ ] = hissing, sibilant sounds

nasals [n/m/ ] = nasal sounds

liquids [l] = sounds with a liquid quality

EX 3 : roses / see/ cheeks / mistress/reeks / speak

Breasts / dun / black / grow / head / damasked / red /

ANALYSER

• Voix poétiques (poetic voice or speaker) , interlocution

(addresser / addressee), personnages (characters) — who speaks to whom,

— which personal pronoun(s) is/are used the most ? Why ?

— What is the speaker’s tone of voice / mood ?

— How many other characters / voices ? How are they involved ?

Ex 4 :

my mistress’eyes / her lips / her breasts / her head / her cheeks / the breath ; / her

spek / she walks and treads / my love as rare

I have seen - no such roses …see I / I love … yet I know / I grant I never saw …

and yet I think …

• Argument

— Is the poem a description, a monologue, a dialogue, a lyric about the

persona’s feelings … ?

— study the semantic fields

Ex 5 : the body / sense impressions (synaesthesia) / colours

IMAGERY

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— list all the similes, and metaphors, and symbols and clichés (hackneyed

images) = to be linked with the lexis

Ex 6 : a series of comparisons (see the noun “compare”)

Eyes / the sun — lips / coral — breasts / snow — cheeks / roses — breath / perfumes

— voice / music — pace / goddess

— what are the other figures of speech ?

— How far does the title help you elucidate the argument ?

• Structure — study the form of the stanzas, their regularity, the coïncidence between the

lines and the syntactic structure (effect of this correspondence or

dissociation ?)

— study the logical links or their absence

Ex 7 : But no … / and yet … / And yet …

PETIT GLOSSAIRE DE VOCABULAIRE LITTÉRAIRE

ABSURD (theatre of the) (/K'bs3rd/) fr. : absurde

A type of theatre that reflects the existential view according to which life is senseless and people are

rootless, perplexed and isolated in an alien world with which they cannot cope rationally. This is

often conveyed through absurd situations, characters and dialogues.

e. g. : the plays of Samuel Beckett (for instance Waiting for Godot, 1953) or Harold Pinter.

ALLEGORY (/ÂÕlIgKrI/) fr. : allégorie

In an ALLEGORY, the characters and actions of a text have further meanings outside the text. The

story can therefore be read on two levels: that of the text, of the surface story, and that of the further

significance which may be political, religious, social, etc. The principal technique of allegory is

personnification, whereby abstract qualities are given human shape - as in public statues of Liberty

or Justice.

ALLITERATION (/K£lItKÊreISn/) fr. : allitération

1) The commencing of two or more words in close connection with the same letter or sound.

' Landscape-lover, lord of language ' ( Tennyson )

2) The commencement of certain accented syllables in a verse with the same consonant or

consonantal group, or with different vowel voices.

AMPLIFICATION (/"ÕmplIfiÊkeISn/) fr. : amplification

Restating a former statement and adding to it.

ANACHRONISM (/K'nÕkrKnIzm/) fr. : anachronisme

An error in computing time, or fixing dates; the erroneous reference to an event, circumstance or

custom to a wrong date.

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ANACOLUTHON (/£ænKkKÊlu:T^n/) fr. : anacoluthe

A want of grammatical sequence; the passing to a new construction before the original is completed.

For example :'You know what I - but let's forget it !'

ANADIPLOSIS (/£ÕnKdIÊplKUsIs/) fr. : anadiplose

The repetition of the last word of a line or clause to begin the next one.

ANAGNORISIS (relief scene, recognition scene) (/ænæÊgn^rIsIs/) fr.: anagnorisis (recon-

naissance)

A scene in which a character discovers some important information which changes the course of

events for him or her; for instance, the discovery of his/her origins.”).

ANALEPSIS (/"ÕnK'lepsIs/) fr. : analepse

A flashback or retrospective narration within a story, an incursion into the past.

ANALOGY (/KÊnÕlKdZI/) fr. : analogie

Another word for a literary paralell.

For ex, Gloucester 's relationship with his two sons in King Lear is an analogous to Lear's relationship

with his daughters (Gray)

ANAPHORA (/K'nÕfKrK/) fr. : anaphore

The repetition of the same word or phrase in several successive clauses or sentences :

ANASTROPHE (/K'nÕstrOfI/) fr. : anastrophe

A change in the usual word-order ( usually inversion ) for rhetorical, metrical or sound effect.

…………………for never read

Strangers like you that pictured countenance…

( Robert Browning )

ANTAGONIST (/"Õn’tÕgKnIst/) fr. : antagoniste

The character the hero or heroine is in conflict with.

ANTHROPOMORPHISM (/£ÕnTrKUpKUÊmO:fIzm/) fr. : antropomorphisme

The description of animals or objects as if they were human beings, with emotions and human forms.

Most gods are described in an anthropomorphic way.

ANTICLIMAX (/£ÕntiÊklaImÕks/) fr. : chute, gradation descendante, relâchement de l'intérêt,

contraste inattendu

A sudden effect of banality either intentional, in prose or verse. By extension, anticlimax refers to a

similar effect in the action of a play or plot of a novel, when some high point of excitement is not

achieved, or the seriousness of a literary work is dissipated by a comical, digressive, meaningless or

boring development. (Gray)

A writer may manipulate this kind of apparent anticlimax to add rather than to destroy suspense (cf:

the porter scene in Macbeth).

ANTIHERO (/ÊÕntI£hIKrKU/) fr. : antihéros

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Protagonist who lacks the heroic and noble qualities usually associated with a hero.

ANTITHESIS (/Õn'tITKsIs/) fr. : antithèse

A general word referring to contrasting words, clauses or ideas which are balanced against each other

in parallel structures.

APHORISM (/'ÕfKrIzm/) fr. : aphorisme

A terse statement of a truth or a dogma; a pithy generalization, which may or may not be witty.The

proverb is often aphoristic; so is the maxim. For instance, the anonymous 'Conscience is a cur that

will let you get past it, but that you cannot keep from barking.'

APOSIOPESIS (/£ÕpKUsaIK'pi:sIs/) fr. : aposiopèse

A figure in which the speaker suddenly halts, as if unable or unwilling to proceed, it is often used to

express strong emotions. For example : 'Thus I… but lo, me !'

APOSTROPHE (/KÊp^strKfi:/) fr. : apostrophe

A figure of speech, by which a speaker or writer addresses pointedly some person or thing either

present or absent. An exclamatory address.

Figure de rhétorique par laquelle un orateur interpelle tout à coup une personne ou même une chose

qu’il personnifie.

ARCHETYPE (/'a:kItaIp/) fr. : archétype

A symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be recognizable as an element

of one's literary experience as a whole. For example, the snake is an archetypal image (or figure); so

is the tricker.

ASIDE (/KÊsaId/) fr. : aparté

Something spoken by an actor, intended to be heard by the audience, but not by the others on the

stage.

ASYNDETON [<s'IndItKn] / Asyndète

Absence de mot de liaison ("et"…) entre différents éléments en rapport étroit, laissant souvent la

place à une virgule. Exemple: Je suis venu, j'ai vu, j'ai vaincu.

BALLAD (/ÂbÕlKd/) fr. : ballade

A song transmitted orally, which tells a story. Typically, the popular ballad is dramatic and

impersonal: the narrator (who is unknown) begins with the climactic episode, tells the story tersely

by means of action and dialogue ( sometimes, by means of dialogue alone ), and tells it without

expressing his personal attitudes or feelings.

A literary ballad is a narrative poem written by a learned poet in deliberate imitation of the form and

spirit of the popular ballad. For example: Coleridge's Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

BARCAROLE (/bA:kKÊrOl/)

BILDUNGSROMAN

Genre du roman d’apprentissage (date de la fin du 18e siècle. Ex. : David Copperfield, de Dickens)

BLANK VERSE (/£blÕNk Êve:s/) fr. : vers blancs ou non rimés)

Unrimed iambic pentameter.

BURLESQUE (/b3:Êlesk/) fr. : burlesque

17

A work designed to ridicule a style, literary form, or subject matter either by treating the exalted in

a trivial way or by discussing the trivial in exalted terms (that is, with mock dignity). Burlesque

concentrates on derisive imitation, usually in exaggerated terms.

CHARACTER : personnage

(1) Any of the persons involved in the story.

(2) The distinguished moral qualities and personal traits of a character. They may perform actions,

speak to other characters, be described by the narrator, or be remembered (or even imagioned) by

other characters.

Developing (or dynamic) character : a character who during the course of a story undergoes a

permanent change in some aspect of his/her personality or outlook.

Flat character : a character who has only one outstanding trait or feature, or at the most a few

distinguishing marks.

Round character : a character who is complex, multi-dimensional and convincing.

Stock character : a stereotyped character ; whose nature is familiar from prototypes in previous

fictions.

Static character : a character who is the same sort of person at the end of a story as he/she was at the

beginning.

CHIASMUS (/kai'3zmKs/) fr. : chiasme

Figure by which the order of words in one clause is inverted in a second clause. Placer en ordre

inverse les segments de deux groupes de mots syntaxiquement identiques: "Je jouais avec Juliette et

avec lui, je causais".

cf aussi: manger pour vivre / vivre pour manger.

COMEDY : a light form of drama which intends to amuse and entertain and which has a happy

ending (the comedy with a serious purpose attempts to teach and reform through wit and humour).

COMEDY OF ERRORS : comic effects derived from mistaken identities, misunderstandings and

imbroglios.

COMEDY OF HUMOURS : popular at the end of the 16th century , satiric and realistic in manner.

COMEDY OF MANNERS : satirical comedy dealing with the manners or fashions of a social class.

COMEDY OF MORALS : satire and ridicule are used in order to expose and reforms the morals of

the time.

COMEDY OF SITUATION = comedy of errors = intrigue comedy.

COMPARISON or SIMILE [ sI'mIlI]/ Comparaison

Mise en rapport de deux termes ou de deux notions à l’aide d’opérateurs (as ou like).

CONCEIT (/kKnÊsi:t/) fr. : trait d’esprit, vanité, suffisance

An elaborate, usually intellectually ingenious poetic comparison or image, such as an analogy or

metaphor in which, say a beloved is compared to a ship, planet, etc. The comparison may be brief or

extended.

CRISIS (/ÊkraIsIs/) fr. : crise

The moment or event in the Plot in which the conflict is more directly addressed : the main character

“ wins ” or “ loses ”; the secret is revealed ; the ending of the story becomes inevitable, etc. For

18

example, in Cinderella, the climactic moment of the plot occurs when Cinderella fits her foot into

the glass slipper, thereby “ winning ” the marriage with the Prince. In many stories, there are several

points in the plot which are plausible crises. This is especially truce when there are several almost-

equal major characters.

DENOTATION (/£di:nKUÊteISn/) fr. : dénotation

The denotation of a word is its basic, dictionary definition.

DYSTOPIA ["dIs'tKUpIK] / Dystopie

Construction imaginaire d'un monde dans lequel les idéaux meurent, le souvent dans des régimes

totalitaires. Antonyme d'utopie.

Ex: 1984 de George Orwell

ELEGY, ELEGIAC / Elégie, Elégiaque

Poème lyrique, d'origine grecque, composé de distiques (ou dipodies) exprimant une plainte

douloureuse, des sentiments mélancoliques.

ELLIPSE ( / I'lIpsIs / ) fr. : ellipsis

The omission of one or more words in a sentence which would be needed to express the sense

completely " Je t'aimais inconstant, qu'aurais-je fait fidèle?"

EPIC

An extended narrative poem recounting actions, travels, adventures, and heroic episodes and written

in a high style ( with ennobled diction, for example ) It may be written in hexameter verse, especially

dactylichexmeter, and it may have twelve books or twenty four books.

EUPHEMISM (/'ju:fImIzKm/) fr. : euphémisme

A figure by which a less distasteful word or expression is substituted for one more exactly descriptive

of what is intended "eliminate" for kill.

EXPOSITION

The first section of the typical plot, in which characters are introduced, the setting is described, and

any necessary background information is given.

FARCE : a form of low comedy in which the laughter arises from absurd or improbable situations

and exaggerated character-types.

FOIL fr. : faire-valoir

A character who sets off the main character or other characters by comparison.

FREE VERSE fr. : vers libre

Verse that has neither regular rhyme nor regular meter. Free verse often uses cadences rather than

uniform metrical feet.

GRADATION (/grK'deiSn/) fr. : gradation

Présenter une suite d'idées ou de sentiments dans un ordre tel que ce qui suit dise toujours un peu

plus ou moins que ce qui précède, selon que la progression est ascendante ou descendante.

Le terme anglais est CLIMAX qui, par suite d'un mauvais usage, désigne "the last term of a rhetorical

climax" Si elle est descendante, il s'agit d'un ANTICLIMAX.

19

HAMARTIA [ hK'mA:tIK]* / Hamartia

Faille tragique qui conduit le héros à sa chute; point faible du personnage (passion, cupidité ou erreur

de jugement) qui dans les circonstances imposées par le destin déclenche la catastrophe. Cf Hubris

= tragic flaw

HUBRIS / Hubris

arrogant pride (tragedy)

Orgueil excessif qui mène le personnage à sa perte.

Dans la tragédie grecque, ce terme renvoie à ce défaut (the shortcoming or defect of the hero, the

tragic flaw) du héros qui l'a poussé à transgresser les codes moraux des Dieux ou à ignorer leurs

avertissements.

HYPALLAGE

A figure which the natural order of words or phrases is inverted, especially for the sake of emphasis

ex: "echoed the hills" pour "the hills echoed"

En français, le terme revêt un sens différent: "alors qu'une phrase paraît finie, on y ajoute un mot ou

un syntagme qui se trouve ainsi fortement mis en évidence. Ex: La nuit m'habitera et ses pièges

tragiques.

HYPERBOLE (/hai'p3:bKlI/) fr. : hyperbole

Exaggerated statement, used to express strong feeling, or to produce a strong impression, and not

intended to be taken literally "un bruit à réveiller un mort".

LITOTE ( litotes / 'laItKUti:z / )

A figure in which an affirmative is expressed by the negative of the contrary: " a citizen of no mean

city", " Va, je ne te hais point!"

LYRIC

A literary genre characterized by the assumed concealment of the audience from the poet and by the

predominance of an associational rhythm distinguishable both from recurrent metre and from

semantic or prose rhythm.

MASQUE

A species of drama in which music and spectacle play an important role and in which the characters

tend to be or become aspects of human personality rather than independent characters.

MELODRAMA : a play which strongly appeals to the emotions and which is based on a romantic

and thrilling plot.

METAFICTION (Métafiction)

Oeuvre de fiction qui réfléchit sur la nature et les techniques de lafiction, sur son proper

fonctionnement. Ex. : Tristram Shandy de Sterne ou The French Lieutenants Woman de Fowles.

METAPHOR fr. : métaphore

A relation between two symbols, which may be simple juxtaposition (literal metaphor), a rhetorical

statement of likeness or similarity (descriptive metaphor), an analogy of proportion among four terms

(formal metaphor), an identity of an individual with its class (concrete universal or archetypal

metaphor), or statement of hypothetical identity (anagogic metaphor).

MOCK EPIC

20

Treating a frivolous or minor subject seriously, especially by using the machinery and devices of the

epic (invocations, descriptions of armour, battles, extended similes, etc. )

METONYMY ( metonymy / mI't^nImI / )

A figure in which the name of an attribute or adjunct is substituted for that of the thing meant.

Ex: sceptre for authority

Autre exemple cité par Dupriez: "le phallus en ce siècle devient doctrinaire" pour "l'instinct sexuel

sert aujourd'hui de principe moral"

Il existe une grande variété de métonymies, selon la nature de la substitution: du signe pour la chose

(sceptre), de la cause pour l'effet ("sa plume éloquente") de l'instrument pour celui qui l'emploie ( le

second violon), de l'effet pour la cause (boire la mort pour boire la cigüe), du contenant pour le

contenu ( "boire un verre"), du lieu pour la chose ( "un bon bourgogne"), du physique pour le moral

( " Rodrigue, as-tu du cœur?").

MONOLOGUE INTERIEUR ( stream of consciousness)

A technique which seeks to record the random and apparently illogical flow of impressions passing

through a character's mind. The best-known English exponents are Dorothy Richardson, Virginia

Woolf, and James Joyce. For them it was a fresh weapon in the struggle against intrusive narration.

By recording the actual flown of thought to avoid the over-insistent authorial rhetoric of Edwardian

Novelists.

Some critics distinguish between "stream of consciousness" and "interior monologue", preferring to

use the latter to refer to the strict attempt to reproduce the flow of consciousness in a character's

mind, without intervention by the author, and perhaps even without grammar or logical development.

In practice, the terms are usually interchangeable.

MYTH (/mIT/) fr. : mythe

A narrative in which some characters are superhuman beings who do things that "happen only in

stories"; hence, a conventionalized or stylized narrative not fully adapted to plausibility or "realism."

An unverifiable story based on a religious belief. The characters of myths are gods and goddesses,

or the offspring of the mating of gods or goddesses and humans. Some myths detail the creation of

the earth, while others may be about love, adventure, trickery, or revenge. In all cases, it is the gods

and goddesses who control events, while humans may be aided or victimized. It is said that the

creation of myths was the method by which ancient, superstitious humans attempted to account for

natural or historical phenomena. In Homer's, The Odyssey, the Greek hero, Odysseus, is thwarted in

his attempt to reach home by an angry Poseidon, god of the sea and patron of Troy. The Trojan horse,

the trick the Greeks used to gain entrance into the city of Troy when a ten-year siege had failed, was

the plan of Odysseus' creation. Poseidon, in his anger,

kept Odysseus from reaching home for ten years after the war ended.

NATURALISM : a form of realism.

NOVEL : a long, fictitious prose narrative. Novels of action, of character, of manners, of sensibility,

of the soil.

NOVELETTE : a fictional work between the short story and the novel in length.

NOVELLA : a short prose work popular in medieval times. modern novella = short novel = novelette

ONOMATOPOEIA (/"^nKU"mÕtKÊpi:K/) fr. : onomatopée

A literary device wherein the sound of a word echoes the sound it represents. The words "splash."

"knock," and "roar" are examples. The following lines end Dylan Thomas' Fern Hill:

Out of the whinnying green stable

OXYMORON (/"^ksI'mO:r^n/) fr. : oxymore

21

A rhetorical figure by which contradictory terms are conjoined so as to give point to the statement;

e. g. darkness visible

(Milton)

PALINDROME ['p<lIndrKUm]/ Palindrome

Mot (ou phrase) qui peut être lu dans les deux sens, de gauche à droite ou de droite à gauche.

Ex: Esope reste ici et se repose ; Live not on evil

PARADOX

A situation or statement that seems to contradict itself, but on closer inspection does not.

PARODY

A satiric imitation of a work or of an author with the idea of ridiculing the author, his ideas, or work.

The parodist exploits the pecularities of an author's expression - his propensity to use too many

parentheses, certain favorite words, or whatever.

The parody may also be focused on, say, an improbable plot with too many convenients events.

Fielding' s Shamela is, in large part, a parody of Richardson' s Pamela.

PARONOMASIA (/pÕrKnKmeIzIK/) fr. : paranomase

A playing on words which sound alike; a word play; a pun.

Rapprochement de mots dont le son est à peu près semblable, mais dont le sens est différent (Littré)

Ex: Tu parles, Charles ou Lingères légères ou Qui vole un œuf vole un bœuf ou Cool Raoul ou

Tranquille Emile ou Pervers pépère ou It’s not what you think, Dick ou You bet my pet, etc.

PATHOS

A Greek term for deep emotion, passion, or suffering. When applied to literature, its meaningis

usually narrowed to refer to tragic emotions, describing the language and situations which deeply

move the audience oe reade’r by arousing sadness, sympathy, or pity.

PERIPHRASE (periphrasis / pK'ri:frKsIs / )

Consists in expressing the meaning of a word, phrase, etc…, by many or several words instead of by

a few or one; a wordy or roundabout way of speaking; circumlocution

"C'était l'heure tranquille où les lions vont boire" pour "le soir" (HUGO) (cit. Dupriez)

PERSONA

The persona was the mask worn by an actor in Greek drama.

In a literary context, the persona is the character of the first-person narrator in verse or prose

narratives, and the speaker in lyric poetry.

PERSONIFICATION

A figure of speech in which something nonhuman is given human characteristics.

PLEONASM (/Êpli:KUnÕzKm/) fr. : pléonasme

The use of more words in a sentence than are necessary to express the meaning; redundancy of

expression.

Redoublement de l'idée dans deux mots du même membre de phrase ("son poids pesant")

PLOT

The structure of a story or the sequence in which the author arranges events in a story.

22

The plot may have a protagonist who is opposed by antagonist, creating what is called conflict.

A plot may include flashback or it may include a subplot, which is a mirror of the main plot.

POINT OF EPIPHANY

PRETERITION (/"pri:tK'rISn/) fr. : preterition

A figure by which summary mention is made of a thing, in professing to omit it.

Feindre de ne pas vouloir dire ce que néanmoins on dit très clairement, et souvent même avec force

(Dupriez)

"Je ne me défends pas, d'ailleurs. Mon œuvre me défendra. C'est une œuvre de vérité…" (Zola)

PROLEPSIS (/prKU'lepsIs/also procatalepsis) fr. : prolepse

A figure by which an opponent's objections are anticipated and answered.

"Vous me direz: à quoi sert cet appendice caudal ? Mais c'est purement décoratif !" (Claudel, cité

par Dupriez)

PUN

A play on words wherein a word is used to convey two meanings at the same time.

RESOLUTION

The part of a story or drama which occurs after the climax and which establishes a new norm, a new

state of affairs – the way things are going to be from then on.

RHETORICAL QUESTION

A rhetorical question implies that the answer is obvious – the kind of question that does not need

actually to be answered. It is used for rhetorically persuading someone of a truth without argument,

or to give emphasis to a supposed truth by stating its opposite ironically.

RISING ACTION

The second section of the typical Plot, in which the Main Character begins to grapple with the story’s

main conflict ; the rising action contains several events which usually are arranged in an order of

increasing importance.

Realistic comedy romantic comedy

SATIRE

A piece of literature designed to ridicule the subject of the work. While satire can be funny, its aim

is not to amuse, but to arouse contempt, and to denounce vices and follies.

SETTING (/ÊsetiN/) fr. : cadre

The total environment for the action to a fictional work. Setting includes time period, the place, the

historical milieu, as well as the social, political, and perhaps even spiritual realities. The setting is

usually established primarily through description, though narration is used also.

SHORT STORY

SIMILE (/ÊsImIlI/) fr. : comparaison

Directly expressed comparison between two objects. Most similes are introduced by “as”, “than” or

“like”.

Mise en parallèle de deux sens, par l'intermédiaire de "comme" ou de l'un de ses substituts."

"Le bonheur des méchants, comme un torrent s'écoule."

23

SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF : a phrase used by Coleridge to describe the need for the reader to

withhold any doubts or questions about the reality of what is portrayed in a work of art (imaginative

world).

SYNECDOQUE (/sI'nekdKkI/) fr. : synecdoque

A figure by which a more comprehensive term is used for a less comprehensive, or vice versa, as

whole for part, or part for whole. Une voile pour un navire, l'airain pour les canons.

La partie pour le tout (des épis pour des blés), la matière pour l'être ou l'objet (être dans des fers pour

en esclavage), le singulier pour le pluriel ou l'inverse (la grandeur des Colbert), l'espèce pour le

genre, l'abstrait pour le concret, etc…

TAUTOLOGY. : tautologie

Needless repetition, often to be mellifluous or emphatic. (e. g. I walked to the village on foot.)

Vice logique consistant à présenter comme ayant un sens une proposition dont le prédicat ne dit rien

de plus que le thème. (Littré)

Ex: "Les choses étant ce qu'elles sont et le monde étant ce qu'il est" (Ch. de Gaulle)

TONE

Tone expresses the author’s attitude toward his or her subject. Since there are as many tones in

literature as there are tones of voice in real relationships, the tone of a literary work may be one of

anger or approval, pride or piety – the entire gamut of attitudes toward life’s phenomena.

TRAGEDY : a serious play relating the events in the life of a person and leading to a catastrophe. +

a tragedy requires a tragic hero, histragic flaws, a sense of fate and dilemma, catharsis.

TRAGI-COMEDY a: a play which combines the characteristics of tragedy and comedy.

TRAVESTY

VAUDEVILLE : a musical or variety entertainment (United States).

ZEUGME (/'zju:gmK/) fr. : zeugma

Comic / comedic Devices

“Slapstick comedy” : is a type of comedy involving exaggerated physical violence.

Absurd comedy: reflects the metaphysical / philosophical idea that life is senseless

Comedy of manners: satirizes the manners and affectations of a social class, often represented by stock

characters, such as the miles gloriosus in ancient times, the fop and the rake during the Restoration, or an

old person pretending to be young. The plot of the comedy, often concerned with an illicit love affair or

some other scandal, is generally less important than its witty and often bawdy dialogue

Comedy of humours : popular in the 16th century, one character embodied by his main humour,

stereotypical characters, usually satiric and realistic / of character: a modern version of the above

Farce: is a kind of 'low' comedy, and its basic elements are exaggerated physical action (often repeated);

exaggeration of character and situations, absurd actions and improbable events, suprises, unexpected

appearances, complex plot, rapid changes in action

Comedy of situation or errors: intricate plot and the study of characters, plots, subplots, unexpected

events, disguises, mistaken identities

24

Black comedy: A sub-genre of comedy where topics and events that are usually treated seriously (death,

disease, domestic violence, drug abuse, terrorism, etc.) are treated in a humorous or satirical manner.

Comic effects

Repetition: of a scene, word, jke, gesture: effect of mechanization, characters appearing as puppets

Double-entendre: a spoken phrase that can be understood in either of two ways. The first, literal meaning

is an innocent one, while the second, figurative meaning is often ironic or risqué and requires the hearer to

have some additional knowledge to understand the joke.

Blunder : an actor makes foolish, yet funny, mistakes

Repartee: speech with witty comebacks and clever

Caricature: A drawing or portrait that exaggerates or oversimplifies certain traits in a person's

looks in order to make him look funny or stress a certain part of that person's character.

Confusion: Classic comic device in which people mistake somebody for somebody else and an

embarrassing situation occurs.

Exaggeration: Humour often depends upon exaggerated characters, events or situations

Incongruity: When something happens out of place or it is not in its normal environment. This

can also be a person acting out of character.

Juxtaposition, contrasts: can be ironic, or comic

Mistaken identity (often of one twin for another) is a centuries old comedic device used by

Shakespeare in several of his works. The mistake can be either an intended act of deception or an

accident.

British cultural history

Anglo-saxon period (450-1066): religious poetry, alliterative poetry (The dream of the Rood

(qu’on date du 7ème siècle); Beowulf, 10th cent, Bede The Ecclesiastical History of the English Peole,

7th cent.

early middle ages, (1066-1290) : verse romance and courtly love

late middle –ages (1290-1485), Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (14th cent.), William Langland

(Piers Plowman), Chaucer (Cantorbury Tales)

25

Dates Histoire Dynasties

Périodes MOUVEMENTS

CULTURELS

Littérature

1509

1520

1534

1558

1588

1593

1603

1625

1626-9

1649 England

A

Republic

1660

1685-88

1689

Tudors

R Accession of Henri

VIII

E

N

ADébuts de la réforme

I en Europe

S (1534)Act of

supremacy

S

A 1547- Edward VI

N 1553- MaryI

C

Accession of Elizabeth

I

E

Spanish Armada

defeated A

Plague in London

T

H

A

I Stuarts

N Accession of James I

E

Accession of Charles I

1629 :Parliament

abolished1642 The Long

Parliament closes down

theatres

Trial and execution of

King

1653 : Cromwell,

Lord protector of

England

1658 : Death of Cromwell

Charles II restored

1679 Habeas Corpus Act

James II (catholic)

accession and exile

The Glorious

Revolution William III and Mary II

Renaissance

HUMANISME

(XIIIè-XVIè)

.

.

.

ELIZABETHAN

LITERATURE

Jacobean Drama –

Revenge tragedy (Kyd-

Webster)

The Republic :1649-

1658

Restauration

RESTAURATION

LITERATURE

1516 Thomas More, Utopia

1564 Birth of Shakespeare and

Marlowe

1576 first permanent theatre built in

London

1588 Marlowe, Dr Faustus

1590-96 Sidney, Arcadia /

Shakespeare’s first plays

Spenser, the Faerie Queene,

Sidney, Asprophel and Stella

1609 Ben Jonson, Volpone, 1610 The

Alchemist

1613 Webster, The Duchess of Malfi

1616 Death of Shakespeare

1625 : Bacon : essays

1633 : Milton : Poems

1666: Margaret Cavendish, A

Blazing World; 1670, Aphra Behn,

The Forc'd Marriage (1670)

1667 : Milton : Paradise Lost

1678 : Bunyan : The Pilgrim’s

Progress

26

1702

1714

1727

1760

1776

1789

1805

1820

1830

1837

1901

1910

1914

1918

1936

1939

1945

1952

Accession of Anne

Hanoverians

Acccession of George I

Acccession of George II

Acccession of George III

American Declaration of

Independence

Luddite Riots (1779)

French Revolution

Battle of Trafalgar

Acccession of George IV

Acccession of William IV

Acccession of

VICTORIA

Accession of Edward VII

WWI

Georgians

Accession of George V

End ofWWI

Accession of George VI

WWII

end OF WWII

Accession of Elizabeth II

Restauration Comedy-

comedy of manners

Eitheenth-Century

AUGUSTAN

LITERATURE

THe Rise of the

NOVEL

Gothic age 1764-1820

The Age of Sentiments

Romanticism 1776-

1830s

Victorian Age

Early and middle-

VICTORIAN

LITERATURE

AESTHETICISM/

DECADENCE

Edwardian years

MODERNISME

(1914-1939)

POST-WAR

LITERATURE

1700 Congreve The Way of the

World,

Locke: Two Treatises of

Government/ An essay concerning

Human Understanding

Addison and Steele : The Spectator

(1711)

Defoe : Robinson Crusoe,1719

Swift, Gulliver’s Travels, 1726

Pope, An essay on Man, 1734

Richardson, 1740 – Pamela or

Virtue Rewarded

Sterne, Tristram Shandy, 1759-67

1764: Walpole, Castle of Otranto

Gothic romances (Radcliffe, Lewis,

Walpole, Mary Shelley …)

Romantic poetry (Wordsworth,

Shelley, Keats, Byron,

Jane Austen, psychological realism,

marriage-plot, social satire ( 1811:

Sand S; 1813, PandP, 1815, Emma,

Persuasion and Northanger Abbey,

1818)

Romance: Gothic and historical

novel (Walter Scott, Waverley

novels, 1814-29)

1840-70: early Victorians and the

Condition of England Novel

(Dickens, Thackeray, Gaskell,

Disraeli) + The Brontë sister: post-

romantic and Gothic revival

Mid-Victorians (1870-90): George

Eliot, Meredith, Stevenson, Hardy

New fictional genres: urban

gothic, science fiction, children’s

literature, detective novels

Late Victorians: Decadence,

Aestheticism: Wilde, Rossetti,

Swinburne, Stocker

Virginia Woolf, DH Lawrence,

James Joyce, TS Eliot, Beckett

27