How To Study English Literature For Maximum Results?
In the Old English period, epic poetry, which began as an oral art, was exemplified in "Beowulf." The period is also known for its beautiful elegies, including "The Wanderer" and "The Seafarer." Old English poetry is alliterative, rather than rhyming, and is known for its use of the kenning, a compressed metaphor such as whale-road or night-stalker.
Important Trends
The most famous example of Old English literature is the anonymous epic "Beowulf." The most famous work in Middle English is "The Canterbury Tales" by Chaucer. Although he had many famous contemporaries, William Shakespeare is the best-known author of the Elizabethan period.
Important Authors and Titles
The major concerns of English literature evolved along with the literary forms that sought to capture them. Anglo-Saxon poetry reflected the transition from traditional pagan beliefs to Christian ideas, and the struggle to blend the two into a new worldview. The medieval romance captured the new concerns and ideals of feudalism, including courtly love, courtesy, and chivalry.
The bulk of the courses you take, at least in the first couple of years of your degree, will aim to introduce you to a variety of texts from a particular literary period or genre, such as Romanticism, Modernism, or the development of Science Fiction.
Literary periods or genres
is a single-author course, in which everything you read is either by a single author or by that author and the work that inspired, influenced, or copied them. You can even have courses that spend a term looking at a text (though at the graduate level, this will normally only be for huge texts like Ulysses).
Specific author or specific text
If you're struggling to understand Chaucer at A-level, his writings are considered relatively easy to understand, and most universities will expect you to "read" his writings rather than "translate" them. Just like you would have done in school. You should definitely expect to study some texts in Middle English.
what you can remember from your first reading of the text, as well as what you remember from the lectures on your course. Don't "cheat" by looking at your notes or your text -- only write down what you believe you remember. This will be your starting base and will highlight any gaps in your knowledge.
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