TRAMA
Type : Epic
Work : Beowulf (449-1066)
Trama :
The protagonist Beowulf, a hero of the Geats, comes to the aid of Hrothgar, king of the Danes,
whose great hall, Heorot, is plagued by the monster Grendel. Beowulf kills Grendel with his bare
hands and Grendel's mother with a giant's sword that he found in her lair.
Later in his life, Beowulf becomes king of the Geats, and finds his realm terrorized by a dragon,
some of whose treasure had been stolen from his hoard in a burial mound. He attacks the dragon
with the help of his thegns or servants, but they do not succeed. Beowulf decides to follow the
dragon to its lair at Earnanæs, but only his young Swedish relative Wiglaf, whose name means
"remnant of valour", dares to join him. Beowulf finally slays the dragon, but is mortally wounded
in the struggle. He is cremated and a burial mound by the sea is erected in his honour.
Type : Ballad
Work : The Canterbury tales (1066-1485)
Trama :
Is a collection of various stories, so let’s talk about the author
Geoffrey Chaucer was born in the fourteenth century (1340) in London. His father was an
important wine merchant. He was connected with the court: he became a page in the household
of one of the King’s daughter-in-law; he was taken prisoner in France during the hundred year’s
war. Chaucer began writing the Canterbury Tales when he was about forty and he hadn’t finish
writing it when he died in 1400.
Type : Novel
Work : Romeo and Juliet (1066-1485)
Trama :
An ongoing feud between the Capulets and the Montagues breaks out again on the streets of
Verona. Both sides are warned by Prince Escalus that they must not disturb the peace again, on
pain of death.
Romeo, love-sick for Rosaline, is comforted by his friend Benvolio. Capulet tells Paris that he may
not marry his daughter Juliet until she is older. Romeo and his friends learn of a party being held
by the Capulets, and decide to go to it as masquers. At the party, Tybalt sees Romeo, but is
prevented from fighting him by Capulet. Romeo meets Juliet, and they instantly fall in love. After
leaving the party, Romeo eludes his friends, returns to meet Juliet, and they exchange vows of
love. Romeo tells Friar Laurence what has happened and he consents to marry them.
After some more events Paris goes to Juliet’s tomb to mourn her, and encounters Romeo , he kills
Paris. Romeo then drinks the poison and dies by Juliet. The Friar arrives to see Romeo dead and
Juliet waking. She refuses to leave, and kills herself with Romeo’s dagger. Officers arrive, and
rouse the families and the Prince.
Type : Novel
Work : Robinson Crusoe (1700-1798)
Trama :
Robinson Crusoe, as a young and impulsive wanderer, defied his parents and went to sea. He was
involved in a series of violent storms at sea and was warned by the captain that he should not be a
seafaring man. Ashamed to go home, Crusoe boarded another ship and returned from a successful
trip to Africa. Taking off again, Crusoe met with bad luck and was taken prisoner in Sallee. His
captors sent Crusoe out to fish, and he used this to his advantage and escaped, along with a slave.
He was rescued by a Portuguese ship and started a new adventure. He landed in Brazil, and, after
some time, he became the owner of a sugar plantation. Hoping to increase his wealth by buying
slaves, he aligned himself with other planters and undertook a trip to Africa in order to bring back
a shipload of slaves. After surviving a storm, Crusoe and the others were shipwrecked. He was
thrown upon shore only to discover that he was the sole survivor of the wreck. Crusoe returned to
England and found that in his absence he had become a wealthy man
Type : Poetry
Work : Fire and Ice (1700-1798)
The speaker brings us into the middle of an argument between people who think the world will
come to a fiery end and people who think the world will freeze. He could be talking about the
literal end of the world, but he's also talking about the power that human beings have to harm or
"destroy" one another.
The speaker's experience with romantic desire has taught him that passionate or "hot" emotions
like love and lust would probably have the power to turn the earth into a big fireball. But he has
also experienced the other extreme, and he knows that colder emotions like hate have great
destructive power. Love gets all the publicity, but hate is the silent killer. It may not have the same
grandeur as the fireball ending, but it'll do the trick.
