LiteratureKathryn, Claire, Grace and Devon
William Shakespeare 1564-1616
38 plays
154 sonnets
Christian Holy Trinity Church
The Globe
Theatre
The Plague In 1593, the plague was terrorizing the city of
London.
Reflected in his work:
The Rape of Lucrece in 1594
Romeo and Juliet in 1594-1595
Elizabethan Era He reflected England’s patriotic enthusiasm
Richard II: “This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea, Which serves it in the office of a wall Or as a moat defensive to a house Against the envy of less happier lands…”
John Milton December 9th, 1608- November 8th, 1674
The most educated poet of England
His Life at the University of Cambridge
He was very intelligent, but argumentative
Radical beliefs
His long hair led his peers to call him the “Lady of Christ”
Radical to New Official During the Stuarts’ reign he was thought of as a
radical, but this changed when England became a commonwealth.
When Cromwell came into power in the 1640s, Milton became a new official in his office.
His Losses reflected his Writings
He had lost his father, a good friend, and many of his children and wives
In 1652, he lost his sight
When the commonwealth died within England, he was forced to go into hiding for writing propaganda
His Radical Beliefs in Writing
Paradise Lost
A Treatise of Civil Power and Ready and Easy Way To Establish a Free Commonwealth
Divorce Tracts
Jonathan Swift 1667-1745
Born in Dublin, Ireland on November 30th, 1667
Died on October 19th 1745
Church of Ireland
Political pamphleteer, satirist and
poet.
Works A Journal to Stella
Drapier’s Letters
The Battle of the Books
An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity
Gulliver’s Travels
A Tale of a Tub
A Modest Proposal His signature
Drapier’s Letters Drapier’s Letters were seven pamphlets
Written to turn the public against privately created copper coins.
William Wood
Condemned by Irish government
A Modest Proposal “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the
Children of Poor People in Ireland From Being a Burden on Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Public”
Published anonymously
A satirical essay
Gulliver’s Travels Told from the perception of Lemuel Gulliver
Originally published as “Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World”
Swift’s most famous piece
Religious turmoil
English and Irish government problems.
Excerpt “I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir: for as I
happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down I the same manner. I likewise felt several slender ligatures across my body, from my armpits to my thighs. I could only look upwards, the sun began to grow hot, and the light offended mine eyes. I heard a confused noise about me, but in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky." (Swift)
Excerpt Analysis Shows the restrictions of the British government
Helplessness of people
People felt as if they could not truly see what was going on
Visual http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhoktf7X0a
Q
The Time Period’s Impact on Swift
Created/Fuelled Swift’s motives for writing
The whole reason for Swift writing at all.
Swift’s Impact on His Time Period
Some took his work as a joke, although many were able to see through their comical exteriors
People took his political messages to life
Saw government in a new light
Drapier’s Letters succeeded in turning the public agains William Wood, which soon turned into a national boycott.
Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616)
Spanish novelist, poet, and playwright
Considered by many to be the Shakespeare of Spanish literature
Lived during the Spanish Golden Age
His influence on the Spanish language has been so great it is often called “la lengua de Cervantes”
“The Prince of Wits” (El Príncipe de los Ingenios )
Wrote books of critiquing chivalry
Cervantes’ Life Cervantes was wounded at the Battle of Lepanto
in 1571 and lost use of his arm Battle of Lepanto: Holy League v. Ottoman Empire
Winner: Holy League (Catholic maritime states) Spain was part of the Holy League at this time
1575 he was captured by the Turks and carried to slavery in Algiers
He returned to Spain in 1580 after many attempts to escape, after paying a ransom
He goes to prison many times…never found guilty of his crimes
Excommunicated for seizing grain belonging to the cathedral authorities of Seville in 1587 over-zealously carrying out his responsibilities, which were to gather provisions for the Spanish Armada)
Historical Background Spain had been at its height of European domination during
his time Also suffered some of its worst defeats
Many of these are retold in Don Quxiote
Later in Cervantes’ life: Spanish bankruptcy- Philip II went bankrupt in 1596 from
excessive expenditures on war and his successor, Philip III, did the same in 1607 by spending a fortune on his court
Armed forces were out of date Government was inefficient Problems between classes that led to a series of internal
revolts
Don Quixote Published in 1605
Considered the first modern novel
Serves as a prototype for the comic novel
A classic of Western literature
Satire on chivalrous works
About an old man with old armor, etc. who believed he was a young knight travelling with his squire, fighting crime
Caused a demand for more that led to a plagiarist prints in 1614--causing Cervantes to complete the real second volume by the end of 1615
No work (except for the Bible) has been translated more
Terms Don Quixote coined
"the proof of the pudding is in the eating" (por la muestra se conoce el paño) “the proof is in the pudding”"
“who walks much and reads much, knows much and sees much”(quien anda mucho y lee mucho, sabe mucho y ve mucho).
Excerpts “In short, our gentleman became so caught up in
reading that he spent his nights reading from dusk till dawn and his days reading from sunrise to sunset, and so with too little sleep and too much reading his brains dried up, causing him to lose his mind. His fantasy filled with everything he had read in his books, enchantments as well as combats, battles, challenges, wounds, courtings, loves, torments, and other impossible foolishness, and he became so convinced in his imagination of the truth of all the countless grandiloquent and false inventions he read that for him no history in the world was truer.”
“Those you see there," answered his master, "with the long arms, and some have them nearly two leagues long.“
"Look, your worship,'' said Sancho. "What we see there are not giants but windmills, and what seem to be their arms are the vanes that turned by the wind make the millstone go.“
"It is easy to see," replied Don Quixote, "that you are not used to this business of adventures. Those are giants, and if you are afraid, away with you out of here and betake yourself to prayer, while I engage them in fierce and unequal combat."
I, Don Quixotehttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEnDOXmyU-o
A musical take on Don Quixote
Other Works Novelas Ejemplares ("Moral or
Instructive Tales"). They are unequal in merit as well as in character. Variety of styles: anecdotes,
romances in miniature, serious, comic
All, however, are written in a light, smooth, conversational style
“Los Tratos de Argel” (The Traffic of Algiers)
“La Galatea”
Moliére (1622-1673) Actual name is Jean-Baptiste
Poquelin (Moliére is his stage name)
French playwright and actor
Great master of comedy in Western literature
Considered to be the creator of modern French comedy
Wrote highly controversial works
Considered France’s ‘answer’ to Shakespeare
Aristocrats (such as Philippe I, Duke of Orleans—the brother of Louis XIV) paid for Molière to perform before the King at the Louvre
Molière was thereafter the official author of court entertainments
He was admired by the court and other Parisians
•Molière's satires attracted criticisms from moralists and the Roman Catholic Church. •Trartuffe ou L’Imposteur(Tartuffe or the Hypocrite) and its attack on religious hypocrisy received condemnations from the Church, while Dom Juan was banned from performance.
Historical Background Versailles built Fronde
Which led the French people to believe the best hope for stability was in the crown
Dutch/French war French-Spanish Wars
Montaigne
Background Wealthy French family
Lived with a peasant family for the first 3 years
All house help could only speak Latin or German to him
Important Elected of Mayor of Bordeaux during the plague
Kept balance between Catholics and Protestants (Moderate)
* Education should be learned through concrete measures such as experience
Time Affecting his Writing
Religious turmoil Disgusted by it moderate Can never be certain of anything “What do I know?”
Time Affecting his Writing
Plague Don’t be so emotionally attached to things No point in pursuing lasting fame Be ready for death when it comes
Of DrunkenessNow, among the rest, drunkenness seems to me to be a gross
and brutish vice. The soul has greater part in the rest, and there are some vices that have something, if a man may so say, of generous in them; there are vices wherein there is a mixture of knowledge, diligence, valor, prudence, dexterity and address; this one is totally corporeal and earthly. And the rudest nation this day in Europe is that alone where it is in fashion. Other vices discompose the understanding: this totally overthrows it and renders the body stupid.
Quotes I quote others only to better express
myself.
I do not care so much what I am to others as I care what I am to myself.
Even on the highest throne in the world, we are still sitting on our ass.
Our eyes are bigger than our stomachs
Famous Today Father of skepticism
Wrote short essays Rather blunt
Quoted for the influence in Black Swan
Sources Jackson J Spielvogel’s Western Civilization Textbook
http://www.online-literature.com/swift/
http://incompetech.com/authors/swift/
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/french/photos%20events/Spring2010/montaigneOld.jpg
http://hua.umf.maine.edu/Reading_Revolutions/pictures/Montaigne/Montaigne2291wl.jpg
http://post.cloudfront.goodinc.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/10/essays_montaigne.jpg
http://www.nyu.edu/gsas/dept/french/photos%20events/Spring2010/montaigneOld.jpg