Contextualize The Text From A Historical and Cultural Point of View

7/21/2019 Contextualize the Text From a Historical and Cultural Point of View
Contextualize the text from a historical and cultural point of view.

15 – 20 lines
The Renaissance
Shakespeare lived and wrote during a remarkable period of English

history, a time of relative political stability and great development, 1485 -
14!" Science made it possible to navigate, e#plorers set out to $nd a new
world" %he ideas of the &enaissance are strongly in'uenced by the concept of
humanism" %he aim was to restore human values from anti(uity by
reintroducing the philosophies, language and literature of the ancient )reece
and &ome" *ne of the ma+or developments in English literature at this time is
in drama" Some of Shakespeares plays re'ect historical and political
tensions, others deal with common life e#periences which are described in
comedy as well as tragedy" uring this period poetry was another important
literary genre"
Enlihtenment 1!50 " 1#00
%he novel was written during the Enlihtenment era, a period of
scientific awakening, a time of unprecedented optimism in the potential of
knowledge and reason to understand and change the world" .t was believed
that the use of reason and science could improve the human condition" %his
period saw the rise of the political pamphlet and essay but the leading genre
of the Enlightenment became the novel" %he hero of the novel was the
average man, the middle-class man, with a pragmatic common sense, and
literature became very instructive/ writers aimed to educate readers through
their stories, critici0ing the 'aws of society and individuals" ost of the
writers of this time wrote political pamphlets, but the best came from the
pens of $efoe and %wift. %he novel writing was in'uences by travel
literature, biographies, memoirs, diaries"
Romanticism (1789-1832)
(S. Coleridge , J. Austen, J. Keats, W. Whitan, !a"thorne, #i$%inson, &el'ille)
%he author belongs to &omanticism, the literary period between 128! 3

18, appro#imately" .t was an age greatly marked by the industrial
development with serious conse(uences on peoples lives, and the 6rench
&evolution of 128!, the focus of which was to create political and social
freedom, e(uality, brotherhood and democracy" 7s a result, &omantics were
enthusiastic about nature and especially appreciated areas in nature which
had not been touched by human intervention" Simple rural life, which had
not been in'uenced or ruined by the .ndustrial &evolution and in which man
still lived in harmony with nature, was seen as ideal" &omanticism saw a shift
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from faith in reason to faith in senses, feelings, imagination" oetry and

novels are the most common genres" 7ll these re'ected in the works of the
most prominent romantic writers, including9999999999"
&ictorian 'e :182-1!;1<
:ickens, =" >arroll, ?ardy<
%he author belongs to @ictorian age, a period starting before the

middle of the 1!th century, when the reign of Aueen @ictoria began, a time
characteri0ed by changes in the political life, e#pansion of the British Empire,
continuation of the industriali0ation" &eligious ideas were challenged by
arwins theory of evolutionism" .t was a time of great energy and the poets
and novelists of the period were very productive as they sought to chronicle
their e#citing age and provide it with a high moral tone and a re$ned taste in
literature and arts"
%he @ictorian era was the great age of the English novelCrealistic,
thickly plotted, crowded with characters, and long" .t was the ideal form to
describe contemporary life and to entertain the middle class" %hey describe
life as people e#perienced it giving an impression of the life of the poor in
industriali0ed cities in England in the middle of the 1!th century
Realism :181 3 1!14 , 5 3 !; pt 7m"<
:?" Dames 1881 3 father of British modernism / " %wain<
Born at the end of the >ivil war, the literary period in which 99999
wrote, aimed to recreate reality in literature" %he years following the war
symboli0ed a time of healing and rebuilding" .n literature this was a time of
upheaval" 7s the nited States grew rapidly after the >ivil Far, the
increasing rates of democracy and literacy, the rapid growth in industrialism
and urbani0ation, an e#panding population base due to immigration, and a
relative rise in middle-class aGuence provided a fertile literary environment
for readers interested in understanding these rapid shifts in culture"
&ealists are concerned with the eHect of the work on their reader and
the readerIs life, a pragmatic view" ragmatism re(uires the reading of a
work to have some veri$able outcome for the reader that will lead to a better
life for the reader" %his lends an ethical tendency to realism while focusing on
common actions and minor catastrophes of middle class society"
(odernism :1!14 3 1!5;<
:D" >onrad, D" Doyce, )"B" Shaw, @" Foolf, 6"S" 6it0gerald am, E" ?emingway am, E"
*Jeill am, F" 6aulkner am, %"S" Elliot am<
odernism was a literary movement that lasted appro#imately from

1!14-1!5;" odernism began the breaking of traditional writing styles that
we know today" uring this period, artists began to develop their own
individual styles
Jew technology and the horrifying events of both Forld Fars :but
speci$cally Forld Far .< made many people (uestion the future of humanityK
Fhat was becoming of the worldL Friters reacted to this (uestion by turning
toward odernist sentiments" )one was the &omantic period that focused on
nature and being" odernist $ction spoke of the inner self and
consciousness" .nstead of progress, the odernist writer saw a decline of
civili0ation" .nstead of new technology, the odernist writer saw cold
machinery and increased capitalism, which alienated the individual and led
to loneliness" %o achieve the emotions described above, most odernist
$ction was cast in $rst person" Fhereas earlier, most literature had a clear
beginning, middle, and end :or introduction, con'ict, and resolution<, the
odernist story was often more of a stream of consciousness, creating the
feeling that the story is going nowhere" .rony, satire, and comparisons were
often employed to point out societyIs ills"
)ost modernism *1!5; - <
:)olding 1!54<
%he te#t belongs to postmodernism, a postwar cultural movement,

started around 1!5;, that reacted against tendencies in modernism, and was

typically marked by revival of historical elements and techni(ues"

ostmodernist society is characteri0ed by changes to institutions and
creations and with social and political results and innovations, globally but
especially in the Fest"
ostmodern authors tend to depict the world as having already

undergone countless disasters and being beyond redemption or
understanding" ostmodern literature re'ects late modern society by
showing the individuals inability to establish a personal identity based on a
historical or social background, let alone family and work" ostmodern
literature is, to a great e#tent, a play on words which re'ects the
meaninglessness of the late modern world, which is seen as fragmented,
disoriented, chaotic, but this leads neither to despair nor to any wish to re-
establish order" %he binary contrasts of goodMevil, trueMfalse, realMunreal and
orderMchaos have been abolished" %he world is pure surface, it is what it
appears to be" ?ence each individual creates his or her own world and
identity through the pictures which he or she sees in literature and other art
forms or in the so-called world" %he )reat Jarratives, which began to be
(uestioned in odernism, are re+ected in ostmodernism" %here is no
acknowledgment of a universal truth"

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7/21/2019 Contextualize the Text From a Historical and Cultural Point of View

Contextualize the text from a historical and cultural point of view.

Shakespeare lived and wrote during a remarkable period of English

Enlihtenment 1!50 " 1#00

(S. Coleridge , J. Austen, J. Keats, W. Whitan, !a"thorne, #i$%inson, &el'ille)

%he author belongs to &omanticism, the literary period between 128! 3

from faith in reason to faith in senses, feelings, imagination" oetry and

&ictorian 'e :182-1!;1<

:ickens, =" >arroll, ?ardy<

%he author belongs to @ictorian age, a period starting before the

Realism :181 3 1!14 , 5 3 !; pt 7m"<

:?" Dames 1881 3 father of British modernism / " %wain<

(odernism :1!14 3 1!5;<

odernism was a literary movement that lasted appro#imately from

)ost modernism *1!5; - <

%he te#t belongs to postmodernism, a postwar cultural movement,

typically marked by revival of historical elements and techni(ues"

ostmodern authors tend to depict the world as having already

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