Riassunto
Riassunto di Da Chaucer a Tennyson
A chi è rivolto
For students and general readers who enjoy exploring English writers, literary periods and the connections between them, and anyone who wants a map of English writing before choosing what to read next.
Che cos’è questo libro
From Chaucer to Tennyson is a short history of English literature by Henry A. Beers, a teacher of literature at Yale. He wrote it for students and general readers who wanted a clear path through five hundred years of English writing. It first appeared in the late nineteenth century, when such outlines were a common way to teach the subject.
The book moves in time, from the poet of the Canterbury pilgrims to the poet of the Victorian age. Along the way it stops at the writers who shaped what English readers call their canon, and it tries to show how one age answered the one before it. You get names, periods and a sense of how they link. Let us begin with the medieval start, and with Chaucer.
In questo riassunto
- 1Chaucer opens English literature with a crowdFree
- 2The Elizabethan age brings poetry and drama to a peak
- 3Milton and the Augustans change the tone
- 4Romantic and Victorian writers turn to feeling and society
Punto chiave 1 di 4
Chaucer opens English literature with a crowd
Before Chaucer, Beers sketches the early centuries of English writing. Then he reaches Geoffrey Chaucer, who wrote in the fourteenth century. Chaucer worked in Middle English, the language of his own London, at a time when French and Latin still held great prestige. His choice to write in English helped make it a language fit for serious poetry.
His best-known work is the Canterbury Tales, in which a group of pilgrims travel together and pass the time by telling stories. The pilgrims come from many ranks of life, and each speaks in a way that fits who he or she is. That range of people is a large part of why readers still enjoy the poem.
For a reader of a literary history, Chaucer matters in two ways. He gives English poetry its first strong voice, with humor, sharp observation and a love of human variety. He also sets a standard that later writers measure themselves against. Beers treats him as the source from which the later story flows.
That’s 1 of 4 key points.
The rest of the summary, written and spoken, and the whole book: free to start.
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Questions about Da Chaucer a Tennyson
What is From Chaucer to Tennyson about?
It is a short history of English literature. It follows the main writers and periods in time order, from Chaucer in the fourteenth century to Tennyson in the Victorian age, and shows how each age responded to the one before.
Who wrote From Chaucer to Tennyson?
Henry A. Beers wrote it. He was an American professor of English at Yale University, and he also wrote histories of English Romanticism and a study of American literature.
Is From Chaucer to Tennyson hard to read?
No. It is written as a clear outline for students and general readers. It aims to guide a newcomer, not to argue with specialists.
Which writers does the book cover?
It covers the main names in English writing from Chaucer onward, including Shakespeare, Milton, Swift, Wordsworth, Keats, Dickens and Tennyson, placing each in the period and movement to which he belongs.
Is this book still worth reading today?
It is useful as a readable map of English literature up to the Victorian age and as a sample of how readers taught the subject in the 1800s. It does not cover later writers.