I. 1. Analyse the table below.

Literary period Dates (approx.) Key themes / features Key writers & representative works
Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period c. 450–1066 Heroic code; warfare; fate and providence; exile and loyalty;
tension between pagan and Christian values; oral poetic tradition.
Emphasis on communal identity, warrior ethics, and Christianization of England. 		Anonymous — Beowulf (themes: heroism, fate, loyalty, monstrous Other; social trends: warrior culture, oral tradition, tribal identity)

Caedmon — Caedmon’s Hymn (themes: divine creation, humility, praise; social trends: rise of Christian monastic learning, vernacular spirituality)

Cynewulf — Elene, Juliana (themes: martyrdom, divine revelation, Christian devotion; social trends: Christianisation of England, blending of heroic and sacred values)

Ælfric of Eynsham — homilies and saints’ lives (themes: moral instruction, religious teaching, community ethics; social trends: monastic reform, educational outreach to laypeople)

King Alfred the Great — translations (e.g., Pastoral Care) (themes: education, governance, wisdom; social trends: cultural revival, promotion of literacy, preservation of knowledge)
Middle English Period c. 1066–1500 Courtly love; chivalry; religious devotion and mysticism;
estates satire; pilgrimage; Arthurian legend; growth of vernacular prose.
Development of urban culture; rise of a literate middle class; increasing religious pluralism. 		Geoffrey Chaucer — The Canterbury Tales (themes: social satire, diversity of human character, morality, pilgrimage; social trends: rise of the middle class, urban life, questioning of Church authority)

William Langland — Piers Plowman (themes: social justice, spiritual quest, corruption of institutions; social trends: criticism of church hierarchy, concern for poor, anticipation of reformist ideas)

Pearl Poet — Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (themes: chivalric virtue, temptation, honour, nature and the supernatural; social trends: tension between knightly ideals and human weakness, persistence of Arthurian culture)

Julian of Norwich — Revelations of Divine Love (themes: divine compassion, spiritual insight, mysticism; social trends: growth of vernacular theology, increased role of female religious voices)

Margery Kempe — The Book of Margery Kempe (themes: personal piety, religious experience, identity; social trends: emergence of autobiographical writing, lay spirituality, women’s participation in religious life)

Thomas Malory — Le Morte d’Arthur (themes: chivalry, loyalty, betrayal, decline of ideals; social trends: nostalgia for feudal values, consolidation of national myth, cultural transition at end of Middle Ages)
Renaissance / Elizabethan & Jacobean Era c. 1500–1660 Humanism; exploration and empire; power and kingship;
order vs. chaos; religious conflict; development of the theatre.		 William Shakespeare — Hamlet, King Lear, Othello (themes: power, madness, ambition, jealousy, appearance vs. reality, moral corruption; social trends: growth of theatre culture, political instability under Tudor–Stuart rule, debates about monarchy and human identity)

Christopher Marlowe — Doctor Faustus (themes: overreaching ambition, temptation, knowledge vs. salvation, human limitation; social trends: Renaissance humanism, clash between medieval worldview and emerging scientific curiosity)

Ben Jonson — Volpone, The Alchemist (themes: greed, fraud, deception, social satire, human vice; social trends: rise of urban capitalism, fascination with tricksters, moral critique of London society)

Edmund Spenser — The Faerie Queene (themes: virtue, morality, allegory, national identity, religious conflict; social trends: Protestant nationalism, Elizabethan imperial ideology, moral didacticism)

Philip Sidney — Astrophil and Stella (themes: idealised love, desire, poetic creation, conflict between reason and passion; social trends: refinement of courtly culture, rise of English sonnet tradition, Renaissance individualism)

Thomas More — Utopia (themes: ideal society, justice, communal life, political ethics; social trends: early humanism, critique of monarchy and property, intellectual debates about governance)

John Webster — The Duchess of Malfi (themes: corruption, tyranny, revenge, existential fear, female agency; social trends: anxiety about power abuses, fascination with violence, shifting views of gender and authority)

Francis Bacon — Essays (themes: morality, human behaviour, knowledge, practical wisdom; social trends: rise of empirical thinking, early scientific method, rational analysis of society)
Metaphysical Poets early–mid 1600sMetaphysical conceits (extended metaphors); religious doubt and faith;
tension between body and soul; wit and paradox; reflections on love and death.		 John Donne — Songs and Sonnets, Holy Sonnets (themes: sacred vs. profane love, mortality, repentance, desire, spiritual struggle; social trends: rise of individual religious experience, conflict between Anglicanism and Catholicism, early modern scientific curiosity)

George Herbert — The Temple (themes: devotional intimacy, humility, doubt and trust in God, poetic symbolism; social trends: Anglican spirituality, emphasis on private piety, influence of Laudian reforms)

Andrew Marvell — “To His Coy Mistress” (themes: carpe diem, time, love, persuasion, metaphysical wit; social trends: political uncertainty of the Interregnum, shifting attitudes toward body and desire)

Henry Vaughan — Silex Scintillans (themes: divine illumination, nature as spiritual symbol, longing for purity; social trends: aftermath of the Civil War, renewed religious introspection, fusion of mysticism and science)

Richard Crashaw — Steps to the Temple (themes: ecstatic devotion, sensual imagery in religious experience, martyrdom, transcendence; social trends: Counter-Reformation influence, Catholic aesthetics in English poetry, heightened emotional spirituality)
Restoration & 18th-Century Literature 1660–1798 Satire and wit; emphasis on reason and order; rise of the novel;
social and political criticism; journalism; moral essays.		 John Dryden — Absalom and Achitophel (themes: political ambition, loyalty, manipulation, factionalism; social trends: Restoration politics, monarchy vs. dissent, use of satire to shape public opinion)

Alexander Pope — The Rape of the Lock, An Essay on Man (themes: vanity, reason, human limitation, cosmic order, satire of high society; social trends: Neoclassical ideals, refinement of urban elite culture, emphasis on rationalism and decorum)

Jonathan Swift — Gulliver’s Travels, A Modest Proposal (themes: human folly, corruption, morality, political injustice, irony; social trends: rise of political pamphleteering, critique of colonial policy, tensions between England and Ireland)

Daniel Defoe — Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders (themes: survival, individualism, economic self-reliance, crime and repentance; social trends: growth of capitalism, exploration and colonial expansion, emergence of middle-class identity)

Samuel Richardson — Pamela, Clarissa (themes: virtue, female agency, emotional interiority, moral struggle; social trends: rise of sentimental fiction, debates about gender and conduct, growing focus on private life)

Henry Fielding — Tom Jones (themes: adventure, morality, social mobility, satire of hypocrisy; social trends: development of the comic novel, critique of legal and social institutions)

Laurence Sterne — Tristram Shandy (themes: narrative playfulness, identity, memory, digression; social trends: experimentation during Enlightenment, questioning of traditional storytelling norms)

Samuel Johnson — A Dictionary of the English Language, essays (themes: moral reflection, linguistic authority, rational inquiry; social trends: standardisation of English, expansion of print culture, growth of literary criticism)

James Boswell — Life of Johnson (themes: biography, friendship, intellectual life, authorship; social trends: rise of biography as a genre, fascination with public intellectuals)

Aphra Behn — Oroonoko (themes: slavery, honour, love, colonial violence; social trends: early anti-slavery discourse, women entering professional authorship)

Oliver Goldsmith — The Vicar of Wakefield (themes: morality, family, resilience, sentimental virtue; social trends: growth of domestic fiction, middle-class values in literature)
Romanticism c. 1798–1837 Imagination and emotion; nature and the sublime; individualism;
revolutionary politics; childhood and innocence; gothic elements.		 William Wordsworth — Lyrical Ballads, The Prelude
Samuel Taylor Coleridge — “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
William Blake — Songs of Innocence and of Experience
Percy Bysshe Shelley — “Ode to the West Wind”
Lord Byron — Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Don Juan
John Keats — “Ode to a Nightingale”, “Ode on a Grecian Urn”
Mary Shelley — Frankenstein
Sir Walter Scott — Waverley, Ivanhoe
Jane Austen — Pride and Prejudice, Emma
Victorian Era 1837–1901 Industrialization and social change; class conflict; moral and religious doubt;
realism and detailed social observation; empire; gender roles; sensation and gothic fiction.		 Charles Dickens — Great Expectations, Bleak House
Charlotte Brontë — Jane Eyre
Emily Brontë — Wuthering Heights
Anne Brontë — The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Thomas Hardy — Tess of the d’Urbervilles, Jude the Obscure
George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans) — Middlemarch
Alfred, Lord Tennyson — In Memoriam A.H.H.
Robert Browning — The Ring and the Book
Elizabeth Barrett Browning — Sonnets from the Portuguese
Oscar Wilde — The Picture of Dorian Gray, The Importance of Being Earnest
Lewis Carroll — Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
William Makepeace Thackeray — Vanity Fair
George Gissing — New Grub Street
H. G. Wells — The Time Machine, The War of the Worlds
Modernism c. 1900–1945 Experimentation with form and narrative; stream of consciousness;
fragmentation; alienation; response to World War I; breakdown of certainties.		 Virginia Woolf — Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse
James Joyce — Ulysses, Dubliners
T. S. Eliot — The Waste Land, Four Quartets
D. H. Lawrence — Sons and Lovers, Women in Love
E. M. Forster — A Passage to India, Howards End
Katherine Mansfield — short stories (e.g. “The Garden Party”)
W. B. Yeats — The Tower, The Winding Stair
Joseph Conrad — Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim
Ford Madox Ford — The Good Soldier
Aldous Huxley — Brave New World
Postmodernism c. 1945–2000 Metafiction and self-reflexivity; irony and playfulness;
unreliable narrators; intertextuality; questioning of grand narratives.		 Anthony Burgess — A Clockwork Orange
John Fowles — The French Lieutenant’s Woman
Angela Carter — The Bloody Chamber
Julian Barnes — Flaubert’s Parrot
Martin Amis — Money, London Fields
Jeanette Winterson — Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit
Beryl Bainbridge — The Dressmaker
Iris Murdoch — The Sea, The Sea
Contemporary Literature 2000–present Globalization and migration; identity, race and gender;
postcolonial and multicultural perspectives; memory and trauma;
technology and the digital age; hybrid forms and genres.		 Zadie Smith — White Teeth, On Beauty
Ian McEwan — Atonement, Saturday
Kazuo Ishiguro — Never Let Me Go, The Remains of the Day
Hilary Mantel — Wolf Hall, Bring Up the Bodies
David Mitchell — Cloud Atlas
Ali Smith — How to Be Both, the seasonal quartet (Autumn etc.)
Sarah Waters — Fingersmith, The Night Watch
Mohsin Hamid — The Reluctant Fundamentalist
Bernardine Evaristo — Girl, Woman, Other
Sally Rooney — Normal People
Colm Tóibín — Brooklyn

2. Using some of these 10 ACTIVE PHRASES, make up your own sentences about British literature and writers on the table.

1. “His / Her writing is deeply rooted in the concerns of…”

→ helps show connection with the historical period.
Example: His writing is deeply rooted in the concerns of the Victorian era, especially social inequality.

2. “He / She captures the spirit of the age by…”

→ ideal for explaining how literature reflects its time.
Example: She captures the spirit of the age by questioning traditional morality.

3. “His / Her works mirror the dominant values and anxieties of…”

→ strong analytical phrase for monologues.
Example: The novels mirror the dominant values and anxieties of the postwar generation.

4. “A hallmark of his / her style is…”

→ for talking about distinctive features.
Example: A hallmark of his style is psychological depth and fragmented narrative.

5. “He / She revolutionized the genre by introducing…”

→ use for describing innovation.
Example: He revolutionized the genre by introducing stream-of-consciousness techniques.

6. “His / Her fiction explores themes such as…”

→ a universal opener for theme discussions.
Example: His fiction explores themes such as identity, trauma, and moral responsibility.

7. “Through his / her characters, the writer examines…”

→ helpful for linking characters to epoch-specific issues.
Example: Through her characters, the writer examines social mobility and gender roles.

8. “The work reflects the transition from… to…”

→ perfect for speaking about shifts between historical periods.
Example: The novel reflects the transition from Romantic to Modernist sensibilities.

9. “His / Her contribution to the literary canon lies in…”

→ strong evaluative phrase for conclusions.
Example: Her contribution to the literary canon lies in redefining the modern historical novel.

10. “The text serves as a commentary on…”

→ suitable for analytical interpretation.
Example: The text serves as a commentary on industrialization and class conflict.

II. [ВОШ регион] Prepare presentations on the following tasks amd carry them out.

Presentation 1

1. Monologue (Time: 3–4 minutes)

At an English Club meeting, you are to present information about the writers of the Renaissance / Elizabethan & Jacobean era in British literature. As an expert on literature, outline the key points of Set 1: British Writers of the Renaissance / Elizabethan & Jacobean Era to your fellow students who are interested in literature.

Using the fact file, speak about the following points:

1. Introduction: General characteristics of this era in British literature 4. Thomas More                                                     
2. William Shakespeare  5. Christopher Marlowe                                                                         
3. Ben Jonson 6. Conclusion                                          

In your presentation, explain why this period is considered one of the most significant in British culture. Conclude by giving advice on which literary works students should read first, choosing those that are most relevant for modern readers.

2. Questions/ Answers: Time: 2- 3 minutes.

Answer 2 QUESTIONS from your partner – ‘a fellow student’, who wants to get ADDITIONAL INFORMATION that you have not mentioned in your presentation about the university. Make sure your answer is based on the information from the fact file. If there is NO relevant information in the fact file, base your answer on your best guess. You can make notes during the preparation time, but YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO READ them during the presentation.

YOUR ANSWERS WILL BE RECORDED

Set 1: British Writers of the Renaissance / Elizabethan & Jacobean Era

General
Characteristics of the Era • Timeframe: c. 1500–1660; rule of Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and James I (1603–1625)
• Known for the revival of classical learning (Humanism) and new intellectual curiosity
• Rapid development of drama and the public theatre; rise of professional acting companies
• Exploration of political power, monarchy, tyranny, religious conflict, fate vs. free will
• Language flowering: expansion of vocabulary, experimentation with style and poetic forms
• Growth of London as a cultural capital; printing press boosts circulation of literary works
• Key genres: tragedy, history plays, comedy, poetry (sonnets), moral and philosophical prose
• Importance: the period shaped modern English, established new dramatic structures, and produced iconic works still read worldwide. William
Shakespeare • Life: 1564–1616; actor, playwright, shareholder of the Globe Theatre; widely regarded as the greatest writer in English literature

Main Works & Key Points
• Hamlet – tragedy; themes: revenge, moral corruption, indecision, appearance vs. reality; key characters: Hamlet, Claudius, Gertrude, Ophelia. Plot jists: a prince seeks to avenge his father’s murder, but philosophical doubts lead to delay and tragedy.
• Othello – tragedy; themes: jealousy, manipulation, racism, trust; characters: Othello, Iago, Desdemona. Plot jists: a respected general is driven to murder by a villain’s psychological manipulation.
• King Lear – tragedy; themes: authority, madness, filial ingratitude, justice; characters: Lear, Cordelia, Goneril, Regan, Gloucester. Plot jists: an aging king divides his kingdom based on flattery, leading to betrayal and catastrophe.
• Romeo and Juliet – tragedy; themes: youthful passion, fate, conflict; characters: Romeo, Juliet, Mercutio, Tybalt.
• Sonnets – 154 poems exploring love, time, beauty, betrayal, and poetry itself.

Influence
• Introduced lasting phrases and archetypes; shaped modern storytelling, psychology in drama, and poetic language. Ben Jonson • Life: 1572–1637; poet, playwright, critic; close contemporary of Shakespeare; known for classical discipline, satire, and precise language

Main Works & Key Points
• Volpone – satirical comedy; themes: greed, deception, moral corruption; characters: Volpone, Mosca. Plot jists: a wealthy trickster pretends to be dying to swindle greedy legacy-hunters.
• The Alchemist – satire on gullibility; themes: fraud, desire for quick wealth; characters: Face, Subtle, Dol. Plot jists: con-artists exploit Londoners seeking magical solutions to their problems.
• Every Man in His Humour – comedy of “humours,” exploring human personality types.

Influence
• Established the tradition of comedy of manners and realistic satire; admired for moral clarity and structural precision. Thomas More • Life: 1478–1535; humanist scholar, statesman, Lord Chancellor of England; executed for refusing to accept Henry VIII’s break with the Church

Main Work & Key Points
• Utopia (1516) – political and philosophical prose; themes: ideal society, justice, equality, religion, property, governance. Plot jists: framed as a traveller’s report about an imaginary island society built on rational laws and common ownership.

Influence
• Introduced the genre of utopian literature; stimulated debates on social justice and political reform still relevant today. Christopher
Marlowe • Life: 1564–1593; leading dramatist before Shakespeare; known for blank verse, psychological depth, and larger-than-life protagonists; died in mysterious circumstances at 29

Main Works & Key Points
• Doctor Faustus – tragedy; themes: ambition, forbidden knowledge, temptation, salvation vs. damnation. Plot jists: a scholar sells his soul to the Devil in exchange for power and knowledge, but wastes his gifts and faces eternal punishment. Characters: Faustus, Mephistopheles.
• Tamburlaine – heroic tragedy about a conqueror driven by limitless ambition.
• The Jew of Malta – dark satire on religious hypocrisy.

Influence
• Perfected blank verse, creating the “mighty line”; influenced Shakespeare’s early tragedies and the development of Renaissance drama. Why this Period
Matters for
British Culture • Established drama as the national art form; built foundations for modern theatre
• Produced iconic characters and universal themes that influence world literature, film, philosophy, and rhetoric
• Standardized and enriched the English language, adding thousands of expressions and idioms
• Explored political power, morality, identity, and human psychology in ways still relevant today
• Laid the groundwork for England’s cultural prestige and global literary canon. Recommended
Works to Read
First • Shakespeare – “Romeo and Juliet” or “Hamlet” (accessible themes: love, conflict, identity, decision-making)
• Marlowe – “Doctor Faustus” (clear moral conflict, simple plot, powerful images)
• Ben Jonson – “Volpone” (excellent example of satire; relevant to modern discussions of greed)
• Thomas More – “Utopia” (connects directly to contemporary debates on social justice, equality, community)

 

Presentation 2

Monologue (Time: 3–4 minutes)

At an English Club meeting, you are to present information about the Metaphysical Poets of the early–mid 17th century. As an expert on literature, outline the key points of Set 2: Metaphysical Poets to your fellow students who are interested in poetry and cultural history.

Using the fact file, speak about the following points:

Introduction. General characteristics of the Metaphysical Poets Andrew Marvell
John Donne  Henry Vaughan and Richard Crashaw                                                   
George Herbert Conclusion

In your presentation, explain why this poetic movement is considered one of the most innovative and influential in English literature. Conclude by giving advice on which poems students should read first, choosing those most relevant for modern readers

 

2. Questions/ Answers: Time: 2- 3 minutes.

Answer 2 QUESTIONS from your partner – ‘a fellow student’, who wants to get ADDITIONAL INFORMATION that you have not mentioned in your presentation about the university. Make sure your answer is based on the information from the fact file. If there is NO relevant information in the fact file, base your answer on your best guess. You can make notes during the preparation time, but YOU ARE NOT ALLOWED TO READ them during the presentation.

YOUR ANSWERS WILL BE RECORDED

Set 2: Metaphysical Poets 

General Characteristics
of the Era • Timeframe: early–mid 17th century; contemporaries of the late Elizabethan, Jacobean, and early Caroline periods
• Poets united not by a formal school, but by shared style: **metaphysical conceits**, intellectual wit, paradoxes, and bold comparisons
• Themes: love (both sacred and sensual), death, faith and doubt, the soul/body tension, the search for meaning in a turbulent age
• Famous for blending logic with emotion, theology with sensuality, philosophy with everyday imagery
• Language: unconventional, dramatic, argumentative, filled with rhetorical questions, extended metaphors, and sudden shifts in tone
• Cultural significance: challenged traditional poetic forms; laid foundations for modern introspective and philosophical poetry. John Donne • Life: 1572–1631; born Catholic during a Protestant era; struggled with faith, poverty, and identity; became Dean of St Paul’s Cathedral
• Known for intense exploration of love, religion, spirituality, and human mortality

Major Works & Key Points
• Songs and Sonnets – love poems mixing passion with intellect; dramatic monologues addressing lovers directly
• Holy Sonnets – spiritual conflict; themes: anxiety about salvation, fear of death, longing for divine grace
• Famous poems:
- “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning” – lovers’ souls compared to a compass; themes: spiritual unity vs. physical distance
- “The Flea” – witty argument for seduction using a flea as a metaphor for union
- “Death Be Not Proud” – defies death; theme: Christian victory over mortality

Influence
• Father of metaphysical style; blended emotional intensity with philosophical reasoning; transformed love poetry. George Herbert • Life: 1593–1633; aristocratic background; became a country priest; known for humility and deeply personal devotional poetry

Major Work: The Temple
• A collection exploring a believer’s relationship with God
• Themes: spiritual struggle, humility, gratitude, the discipline of faith
• Poem jists & images:
- “The Collar” – rebellion against religious duty; ends in divine reassurance (“My child”)
- “Love (III)” – dialogue between the hesitant soul and welcoming divine love
- “Jordan” poems – reflections on simplicity vs. artificial language in poetry

Influence
• Known for shape poems, emotional honesty, and spiritual introspection; central figure of devotional literature. Andrew Marvell • Life: 1621–1678; politician, diplomat, poet; lived during English Civil War and Restoration; master of irony and ambiguity

Main Poems
• “To His Coy Mistress” – carpe diem argument; themes: time, mortality, desire; famous line “Had we but world enough, and time…”
• “The Garden” – meditation on solitude and the mind’s relationship with nature
• “Bermudas” – religious hymn-like poem reflecting colonial experiences

Key Features
• Blends sensuality with philosophical depth; tension between public duty and private reflection. Henry Vaughan
and
Richard Crashaw Henry Vaughan (1621–1695)
• Welsh poet; influenced by Herbert; mystical and nature-focused spirituality
• Main work: Silex Scintillans
• Themes: light, eternity, childhood innocence, divine presence in nature
• Poem jists: “The Retreat” – longing for pre-mortal purity; “Peace” – yearning for spiritual harmony

Richard Crashaw (1613–1649)
• Catholic poet exiled to Rome; known for baroque imagery and emotional intensity
• Main work: Steps to the Temple
• Themes: divine love, religious ecstasy, martyrdom, extravagant symbolism
• Poem jists: poems to St Teresa focus on spiritual passion and visionary experience

Influence
• Expanded metaphysical poetry into mystical and visionary dimensions. Why this Movement
Matters for
British Culture • Introduced radical new ways of writing about love, faith, and mortality
• Created poetic structures built on argument, logic, and bold imagery
• Influenced modern poets (T.S. Eliot, Auden) and philosophical poetry worldwide
• Contributed to the intellectual atmosphere of early modern England
• Remains central in university curricula and inspires contemporary poets. Recommended
Reading for
Modern Students • John Donne – “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning,” “Death Be Not Proud” • Andrew Marvell – “To His Coy Mistress” (very accessible; timeless theme of time and urgency) • George Herbert – “Love (III)” (simple yet profound) • Henry Vaughan – “The Retreat” (modern interest in memory and identity) • Crashaw – selected poems about St Teresa (for students interested in baroque imagery)

 

Presentation 3

1. Monologue (Time: 3–4 minutes)

At an English Club meeting, you are to present information about the writers of the Restoration and 18th-century era in British literature. As an expert on literature, outline the key points of Set 4: British Writers of the Restoration & 18th-Century Era (1660–1798) to your fellow students who are interested in literature.

Using the fact file, speak about the following points:

1. Introduction: General characteristics of the era 4. Jonathan Swift
2. John Dryden 5. Daniel Defoe
3. Alexander Pope 6. Conclusion

In your presentation, explain why this period is considered one of the most significant in the development of British culture and literature. Conclude by giving advice on which literary works students should read first, choosing those most relevant for modern readers.

2. Questions/ Answers: Time: 2–3 minutes.

Answer 2 QUESTIONS from your partner who wants ADDITIONAL INFORMATION not mentioned in your presentation. Base your answers on the fact file; if no information is available, answer using your best guess. Notes may be taken during preparation but MUST NOT be read aloud.

YOUR ANSWERS WILL BE RECORDED

Set 3: British Writers of the Restoration & 18th-Century Era (1660–1798)

General
Characteristics of the Era • Timeframe: 1660–1798 (from the Restoration of Charles II to the beginning of Romanticism)
• Dominant values: order, balance, clarity, refinement, rationality (Neoclassicism)
• Rise of satire, periodical essays, political commentary, moral didacticism
• Growth of journalism and print culture; emergence of the professional writer
• Development of the English novel; exploration of manners, morality, social mobility
• Importance: shaped modern prose, criticism, and satire; laid foundations for Enlightenment thinking. John
Dryden • Life: 1631–1700; first Poet Laureate; central figure of the Restoration; dramatist, critic, satirist

Main Works & Key Points
• Absalom and Achitophel — political satire using biblical allegory; themes: ambition, manipulation, monarchy; characters mirror real politicians
• Mac Flecknoe — mock-heroic satire attacking bad poetry
• All for Love — tragedy retelling the story of Antony and Cleopatra

Influence
• Standardised poetic style, heroic couplets; shaped criticism and satire; “father of English criticism.” Alexander
Pope • Life: 1688–1744; Catholic in Protestant England; mastered heroic couplets; leading satirist of his era

Main Works & Key Points
• The Rape of the Lock — mock-epic poem; themes: vanity, society, triviality elevated to epic scale; comic exaggeration of a stolen lock of hair
• An Essay on Man — philosophical poem on humanity’s place in the universe; famous line: “Whatever is, is right.”
• The Dunciad — satire of cultural decline and mediocrity

Influence
• Master of satirical poetry and technique; perfected English heroic couplet; champion of Neoclassical ideals. Jonathan
Swift • Life: 1667–1745; Irish clergyman, satirist, political writer; used irony to expose corruption and irrationality

Main Works & Key Points
• Gulliver’s Travels — satirical travel narrative; themes: human folly, politics, science, pride; plot jists: Gulliver journeys to fictional societies that reflect flaws of real England
• A Modest Proposal — extreme satire suggesting Irish children be eaten; critique of English policy and indifference
• The Battle of the Books — satire on intellectual disputes

Influence
• One of the greatest satirists; exposed political hypocrisy; shaped the tradition of English prose satire. Daniel
Defoe • Life: 1660–1731; journalist, traveller, political thinker; pioneer of the English novel

Main Works & Key Points
• Robinson Crusoe — adventure narrative; themes: survival, self-reliance, colonialism; plot jists: a shipwrecked man builds life on an island; characters: Crusoe, Friday
• Moll Flanders — social novel; themes: crime, poverty, social mobility, redemption; follows life of a woman navigating society
• A Journal of the Plague Year — realistic account of 1665 plague

Influence
• Helped establish the novel as a major literary form; developed realistic storytelling and psychological detail. Why this Period
Matters for
British Culture • Formalised satire and shaped public discourse
• Strengthened journalism, criticism, and political writing
• Gave rise to the modern novel and realist narrative forms
• Reflected Enlightenment ideas shaping European thought
• Created works foundational for Western education and culture. Recommended
Works to Read
First • Pope — “The Rape of the Lock” (short, witty, iconic mock-epic)
• Swift — “Gulliver’s Travels” (adventure + satire; easy to analyse)
• Defoe — “Robinson Crusoe” (narrative clarity + enduring themes)
• Dryden — selections from “Absalom and Achitophel” (excellent sample of Restoration satire)

2. Q&A (2–3 minutes)

Answer two questions from your partner, using the fact file; otherwise, state your assumptions explicitly.

Practice Practice asking/answering questions (topic sample: Saint Petersburg). Use the polite formulas below.

Part 2