Early & Middle E.L.
What language was Early English literature written in?
Old English (Anglo-Saxon)
Who is considered the greatest writer of the English Renaissance?
William Shakespeare
Who commissioned the King James Bible?
King James I of England
What social changes influenced Victorian literature?
Industrial Revolution, urbanization, and social reform
What is Oscar Wilde best known for?
The Picture of Dorian Gray
What is the most famous surviving work of Old English literature?
Beowulf
Name three of Shakespeare’s most famous tragedies.
Hamlet, Macbeth, and Othello (Romeo and Juliet, King Lear, etc.)
What was the main purpose of the King James Bible?
To provide an English translation for the Church of England
Name a famous Victorian novelist.
Charles Dickens
Name the British author and poet known for writing about British India, well known for The Jungle Book
Rudyard Kipling
Which major literary work by Geoffrey Chaucer is a cornerstone of Middle English literature?
The Canterbury Tales
What form of poetry became highly popular during the English Renaissance, especially for love themes?
the sonnet
This poet and intellectual became blind later in life but continued to write and dictate his works.
John Milton
Who wrote Jane Eyre?
Charlotte Brontë
Who is the author of the science fiction novel The War of the Worlds?
Herbert George Wells
What are the three major battles Beowulf faces in the poem?
with Grendel, Grendel’s mother and a dragon
What is the name of Shakespeare’s famous theater?
The Globe Theatre
Name the metaphysical poet and Anglican cleric, who had 12 children.
John Donne
Name three famous novels by Charles Dickens.
Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Christmas Carol.
What two major prizes did George Bernard Shaw receive during his lifetime?
The Nobel Prize in Literature (1925) and the Academy Award (Oscar) for Best Adapted Screenplay (1938) for Pygmalion.
What character from Middle English folk ballads symbolizes resistance to corrupt authority and the defense of the common people?
Robin Hood
What nickname is William Shakespeare commonly known by?
The Bard of Avon
Who developed the scientific method and promoted empirical research based on observation and experimentation?
Francis Bacon
What is the setting of many of Dickens’s novels?
Victorian London.
What Irish poet and playwright won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1923?
William Butler Yeats