ANGLO AMERICAN LITERATURE

OBJECTIVES
• Identify the distinguish features of notable Anglo American lyric, poetry,
poems, and allegories.
• Analyze the major influences of writing in literary forms

LITEARATURE- collected creative writing of a nation, people, group or culture

Literature, in its broadest sense, is any written work. Etymologically, the term derives
from Latin litaritura/litteratura “writing formed with letters,” although some
definitions include spoken or sung texts. More restrictively, it is writing that possesses
literary merit. Literature can be classified according to whether it is fiction or non-
fiction and whether it is poetry or prose. It can be further distinguished according to major
forms such as the novel, short story or drama, and works are often categorized according to
historical periods or their adherence to certain aesthetic features or expectations (genre).

ANGLO LITERATURE
ANGLO- maeans “Anglia”latin name for England
ANGLO- refers to Germanic people originating in the North German peninsula of Angeln

This is the whole British Isles, the red

part is the England.

The area inside the two boxes is the

UK or the UNITED KINGDOM OF
GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN
IRELAND (complete name for UK). It
is consisted of four countries:
England, Scotland, Wales and
Northern Ireland.

The area outside the boxes is the

Republic of Ireland. It is not included
in UK.

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Anglo-American Literature are literary works under the influence of the British Empire. It began
in the late 450 years up to the present time. It is divided into different period or era; which
correspond to the different characteristics, attributes, values and influences that can be seen in each
literary works.

English Notable Literary Periods:

• Old –English
• Middle English
• The Renaissance
• The Neo-Classical
• The Romantic
• The Victorian
• The Modern
• The Post Modern

ANGLO AMERICAN LITERARY GENRES

• Allegory
• Poetry
o Lyric
o Religious Lyric
o Secular Lyric
o Poem
o Epic Poem
o ELegy

What is Allegory?
It is a story, poem, or picture which can be interpreted to reveal a hidden meaning, typically a moral
or political one. A story that acts as an extended metaphor in which persons, abstract ideas, or events
represent not only themselves on the literal level, but they also stand for something else on the
symbolic level.
Allegories came from Latin allegoria from Greek allegorein meaning “to speak figuratively”.
It can be read on two levels:
• literal and symbolic
• They are often intended to teach moral lesson or make a comment about goodness and vice

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Two common types of Allegory:
• Fables
- animal characters that symbolize vices and virtues act to teach valuable lesson
• Parable
- brief story that is set in everyday world and told to teach lesson about ethics or
morality

What is Poetry?

Poetry has been around for almost four thousand years. Like other forms of literature,
poetry is written to share ideas, express emotions, and create imagery. Poets choose
words for their meaning and acoustics, arranging them to create a tempo known as the
meter. Some poems incorporate rhyme schemes, with two or more lines that end in like -
sounding words. Today, poetry remains an important part of art and culture.

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What is Lyric?
• A lyric is a poem originally meant to be sung. It expresses a poet’s thoughts
and feelings. Lyrics were meant to be heard, not read
• Lyric is usually structured with poetic devices: an obvious rhyme scheme,
internal rhyme, wordplay, allegory, and sometimes musical effects.
• Old English lyrics examples are Deor’s Complaint, The Wanderer and The
Wife’s Complaint.
ORIGIN OF ENGLISH LYRIC
The introduction of Latin hymns and the songs from the French troubadours (after the
Norman Conquest) provided the English lyric with a new style an a new subject-matter:
Instead of alliteration—poems started to rhyme.
The new subject-matter: courtly love, the transitoriness of human life and nature
description… although religion continued to be the chief subject.
Two Types of Lyric:
*Religious Lyric - it is a poem meant to be sung that is usually used to express belief in God
and is used to worship God
*Secular Lyric – it is a poem meant to be sung but without spiritual bias or no connection
with religion it is usually simple to emphasize an occasional, common experience. This genre
was popular during Middle English period

WHAT IS ELEGY?
• Elegy is a poem written in response to the death of a person. The speaker expresses
grief and sorrow, then praise and admiration of the dead, and finally consolation and
solace. Example: W. H. Auden’s classic “In Memory of W. B. Yeats"
• The elements of a traditional elegy mirror three stages of loss. First, there is a lament,
where the speaker expresses grief and sorrow, then praise and admiration of the
idealized dead, and finally consolation and solace.
EXAMPLE OF ELEGY:

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WHAT IS AN EPIC POEM?
• An epic poem is very famous in old English literature. It is a long, serious, poem that
tells a story about an important event like war, often about adventures of a brave
man fighting an enemy in the battle field. Some of the most famous examples of
epic poetry are the Ancient Greek Iliad and the Odyssey, Dante's Divine Comedy, John
Milton's Paradise Lost.

ELEMENTS OF EPIC POEM:

1) Plot centers around a Hero of Unbelievable Stature. The epic hero completes what
everyone only attempts. In ancient epics, the hero often is either partially divine or at least
protected by a god or God.
2) Involves deeds of superhuman strength and valor. Accomplish feats no real human
could.
3) Vast Setting. The action spans not only geographical but also often cosmological space:
across land, sea, into the underworld, or thru space or time etc.

4) Involves supernatural and-or otherworldly forces. Gods, demons, angels, time/space

travel, cheating death etc.
5) Sustained elevation of style. Overwritten. Overly formal, highly stylized (poetry,
lyricism (singing), exaggeration)
6) Poet remains objective and omniscient.

EXAMPLES OF EPIC POEM:

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