Lecture 1 theme: introduction. Literature of middle ages

In every country the history of literature is closely connected with the history of class struggle and social contradictions within nation. This refers to the English literature too.

In the history of English literature we may trace the following periods:

1. Early literature;

2. Middle Age (IX -XIII);

3. Period of Renaissance (XIV-XVI);

4. Period of Restoration (XVIII);

5. The Age of Enlightenment (XVIII);

6. Period of Romanticism (XIX);

7. The End of the 19th and beginning of the 20th (1871-1917);

8. 20 century. Here we distinguish two sub-periods, that is:

a) period between 1917-1945;

b) period between 1945 - up to nowadays.

First of all we have to mention that the bourgeois revolution took place much earlier (1649) in England than in France (1789-1794).

In the second half of the 17th century the industrial revolution happened and the development of capitalism proceeded in more rapid speed and reflected the growth - growth of literature.

• In the second half of the 17th century the industrial revolution happened and the development of capitalism proceeded in more rapid speed and reflected the growth - growth of literature.
• The first period of English culture begins, as is well known, with the series of attacks and forcible settlements upon the island in the 5th century. The invaders were tribesman from the Germanic territory, that is: a)Angles, b)Saxons, c) Jutes, expanding from the lower Rine region north-eastwards along the shore lands as far as the Southern part of Denmark. In this connection it's worth to mention that the British islands had been attacked not once by various tribes before the arrival of Anglo-Saxons and Jutes from the continent.
• In the 4th century before our era the British Isles were occupied by Celtic tribes. In the 1st century A.D. Britain had been seized by Romans and their dominion lasted up to the 5th century. Then the invasion of Anglo-Saxons occurred, which longed up to the 11th century. Angles, Saxons and Jutes, who had occupied the British Isles formed seven Kingdoms: a)Kent; b)Sussex; c)Essex; d)East Anglia; e)Wessex; f)Northumbria, and g)Mercia. Each of these kingdoms wished to take the upper hand over others. The decay of tribal system and the making of Christianity (21st century) were, probably, the main course of strengthening of the state. This process was accompanied with the class differentiation of the society.