A Glimpse of the World through World

Literature

7 continents
1. Asia HOMER
2. Africa - In the west, this age is known as the
3. North America Classical period of Literature. Some writers
4. South America known in this era include Homer who wrote
5. Antarctica the great epics
6. Europe
7. Australia - “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey” are two
epic poems attributed to the ancient Greek
THE CLASSICAL PERIOD poet Homer.
- Tragedian playwrights such as Aeschylus,
- This period is the home for great Greek
Euripides, and Sophocles; notable poets
and Roman mythologies, epics and
such as Virgil and Horace; and Greek
ideologies that still interest people even
philosophers such as Plato, Socrates, and
nowadays.
Aristotle.
- The first stories that propagated the world
were about Gods and Goddesses. ARISTOTLE (morals and emotion)
- The classical period is a term that can
refer to different aspects of ancient and - Greek Philosophers are Plato, Socrates
modern culture, such as art, music, and Aristotle. This period also a time when
literature, and history. Literature was deemed necessary to teach
- We also have epic poems such as Homer morals.
- In fact, Aritotle’s Poetics which
Epic of Gilgamesh distinguished the elements of drama, was
the foundation of our understanding of the
▪ The very first written work of literature.
genre until today.
▪ Was written in Mesopotamia
- The goal of literature is catharsis or
▪ Centers on the hero, Gilgamesh an purgation – the cleansing of one’s
abusive ruler in Mesopotamia who was emotion as an effect of the
sent to a journey by the Gods to teach consumption of art and literature.
him a lesson.
THE MEDIEVAL PERIOD
Ramayana and Mahabharata
- Known as the Dark Ages.
▪ Both were religious in nature were also - An era that comes after the fall of the
sleeping India and the rest of Asia. Roman Empire.
- Themes centered on chivalry,
▪ Two greatest epics from India that have
featured knights and courtly love.
influenced the Hindu way of thinking
- Printing technology was not yet
and belief system.
invented.
▪ Similar plot: - People use the phrase “Middle Ages” to
1. Royal princes are exiled describe Europe between the fall of Rome
2. Winning the hand of a princess and the beginning of the Renaissance. It
through a skills contest tells us more about the Renaissance
3. Great war to defeat the enemy - Middle” or even “Dark” age in which no
scientific accomplishments had been
▪ RAMAYANA – the journey of Rama / made, no great art produced, no great
Long poem containing 24,000 verses / leaders born.
Idealistic story - It was a chaotic period embodied by wars
▪ MAHABHARATA - rivalry between two fueled with different reasons such as
bands of brothers / Very long poem territorial dispute, feudal concerns,
containing 100,000 verses / Less religions and others.
idealistic, more realistic - The themes centered on WARS
BEOWULF - Some notable writers of this time are:
1. John Milton – Paradise Lost / depicting
- Much of the romantic tropes that we know the biblical story of the fall of man.
today, such as KNIGHT SAVING A DAMSEL- 2. Christopher Marlowe – The Passionate
IN-DISTRESS, is a direct influence of the Shepherd to his Love
Medieval Age. 3. William Shakespeare – Sonnet / Father of
- Features the hero Beowulf and his journey English Literature
in fighting monsters. - Johannes Gutenberg – german printer
- Earliest surviving and complete Anglo-
Saxon epic told in a language now regarded
as Old English.
- A knight saving a damsel-in-distress
THE ENLIGHTENMENT PERIOD
RENAISSANCE PERIOD
- Paved the way for the development of
- The French word renaissance means
literature.
“rebirth”.
-Known as the age of Reason, marked by
- This cultural rebirth took place earlier in
pursuits in the different fields of science,
Italy and Southern Europe and a little later
mathematics, astronomy, physics, medicine
in Northern Europe and England.
philosophy and politics.
- This era is also marked by several
- Thinkers such as: Rene Descartes ,
changes and milestones.
Galileo Galilei , and Johannes Kepler
- People valued human dignity and
made significant contributions in the fields
explored human worth.
of mathematics and science.
- The creation of the printing press
- The demand for books also opened more
- The changes in the church and the
opportunities for writers to explore different
creation of Protestantism and the
forms.
Church of England.
- The discovery that the world is not RENE – French Mathematician and Scientist
the center of the universe.
- And that was the goal of this era Galileo – Italian invented the telescope
- reincarnation — being born for a second Johannes Kepler – German Astronomer
time in a new body
- The process of being reincarnated or born Wrote the scrutiny of the nature of
again AFTER THE MIDDLE AGES humankind:
- THE CREATION OF THE PRINTING PRESS 1. Thomas Hobbes
which allowed literature and information to
be available to the masses 2. John Locke
- THE THEME OF THIS TIME WAS HUMANISM
Which served as basis in understanding
- People on this era valued human dignity
humans and communities even until today.
and explored human worth.
SCRUTINY – a careful and detailed
DIVINE COMEDY
examination of something in order to get
- By Dante Alighieri information about. MASUSING
- Centers on the hero’s journey from PAGSISIYASAT
inferno (hell) to paradiso (heaven)
- The Divine Comedy is an epic poem
divided into three parts, which describe 16TH CENTURY
Hell, Purgatory, and Heaven, respectively.
- Prose narrative was slowly replacing epic
THE GUTENBERG PRESS poems.
- the first printing press. - The novel, as literary form also paved way
- was established in the 15th century and during this era.
made storytelling more popular. DON QUIXOTE by Miguel de
- addresses the concerns about human Cervantes
existence and morality in the story.
- A satirical novel about chivalry. - The name of the period is an homage to
- Often regarded as the first European Queen Victoria, the ruler of England from
novel. 1837-1901.
- Considered by literary historians to be one - This era paved way to technological
of the most important books of all time, advances and expansion of British
- Chivalry – KAGALANTIHAN territories.
very polite, honest, - Victorians were conservatives.
and kind behaviour, especially by men - People gave importance to manners.
towards women - Emphasized the idea of morality.
- The Ingenious Gentleman - Queen Victoria – who had one of the
longest reigns in British history.
ROBINSON CRUSOE by Daniel Defoe
THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY by
- Fictional autobiography Oscar Wilde
- Often marked as the beginning of realistic
fiction as a genre. - Revolves around the protagonist, Dorian,
who was crooked and worldly, which led to
his tragic end.

THE ROMANTIC PERIOD The period also saw more women

writers such as:
- Opposite of period of enlightenment
- Romantics were poets and writers who 1. The Bronte Sisters (Charlotte, Emily
explored the nature of emotions. and Anne) (Currer, Ellis and Action Bell)
2. Elizabeth Barrett Browning
ROMATICISM
- A literary movement that emphasizes the
idea of beauty, emotions, subjectivity, and THE MODERN PERIOD
imagination.
- Modernism is a literary movement
Notable poets in this movement dominant from 1914 to 1945 as a direct
are: sequence of technological advancements
brought about by the 20th century.
1. John Keats - This time free verse was more dominantly
2. Percy Bysshe Shelley embraced rather than the carefully
- His wife is Mary Shelley, established her constructed and metered poetry.
name through the gothic novel - Individualism is valued.
Frankenstein. - Denounces the idea of the traditional,
3. William Blake always seeking to defy and break the rules.
- Was also the time where poets
GOTHIC LITERATURE
incorporated stranger metaphors and
- Became popular during the Romantic figures of speech in their verses.
period as writers did not only explore the
positive side of human beings but also their
STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS
dark side. - A literary technique owing its origin from
- Is a sub genre of Romantic Literature that psychology, wherein the character’s flow of
uses dark and mysterious, supernatural thoughts mimic that of a normal person.
elements and melodramatic devices.
- GOTHIC LITERATURE DEVELOPED DURING Some notable literary figures during this
ROMANTIC PERIOD IN BRITAIN. time are:
EDGAR ALLAN POE 1. T.S. Eliot
- Father of Gothic Literature 2. Robert Frost
3. Langston Hunghes
4. Edna St. Vincent Millay
5. E.E. Cummings
THE VICTORIAN PERIOD