English Drama: Origin and Growth The Beginnings The genesis of English Drama, like Greek and Roman drama, is intertwined with religion. In the early stages of all civilizations, the lives of important people found...
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...
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 (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 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 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...
Volpone Ben Jonson’s Volpone, or The Fox is a satirical play where a sneaky guy named Volpone pretends to be sick so his friends give him gifts, hoping to inherit his money, but it’s...
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 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 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...