Saint Joan
Saint Joan A play in six scenes (with a Preface and an Epilogue) by George Bernard Shaw Saint Joan by George Bernard Shaw is a cool play about Joan of Arc, a French girl...
Category: British Literature
Translation from Middle to Modern English
Introduction Before learning how to translate a text from Middle to Modern English, let’s have an introduction of Middle English. Middle English was spoken and written in England roughly between the 12th and 15th...
Elizabethan Age
Elizabethan Age (1558-1603) Introduction According to M.H. Abrams, Elizabethan Age in the history of Britain refers to “the period of the reign of Elizabeth I” from 1558 to 1603. However, the term “Elizabethan,” is often...
Geoffrey Chaucer – Biography
Geoffrey Chaucer Chaucer, I confess, is a rough Diamond; and must first be polish’d e’er he shines. —John Dryden Life and Works Geoffrey Chaucer was born around 1340 into a distinguished commercial family....
Le Morte d’Arthur
Le Morte d’Arthur Sir Thomas Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur is a medieval prose work that chronicles the legendary tales of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. The work revolves around the...
Wife of Bath’s Tale
Wife of Bath’s Tale Themes 1. Consent, Authority and Gender Dynamics Chaucer’s Wife of Bath’s Tale looks into different themes, especially the theme of consent. The story talks about power dynamics, gender roles,...
A Defence of Poetry
A Defence of Poetry A Defence of Poetry is the most famous work of prose by P.B. Shelley (1792-1822). It was written in 1821 as a reaction to his friend Thomas Love Peacock’s treatise...
Preface to Shakespeare
Preface to Shakespeare By Dr. Samuel Johnson Introduction Samuel Johnson’s Preface to Shakespeare (1765) stands as a timeless piece of literary criticism where he transcends his political, personal, religious, and literary biases to objectively...
The Study of Poetry by Matthew Arnold
The Study of Poetry by Matthew Arnold Matthew Arnold as a Critic Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) is the greatest name among the Victorian critics who was a poet-turned critic. He started his literary career...