European

Literature
Mary Lenz Cruz
Winnie Mae Silva
Dominique Valentine
Frogoso
Sean Patrick Daga
Leonard Jason Parfan
Marvin Guerrero
BSIT - 1

EUROPE
Europe is the worlds second-smallest
continent but has the second-largest
population. The landscape ranges
from the frozen tundra and forests of
the north to the hot, dry hills of the
Mediterranean region. Vast fertile
grasslands stretch between the
mountains of the Alps in the west and
the Ural Mountains in the east, which
separate Europe from Asia. Europe is
a crowded continent, with over 40
different countries, and international
conflicts in the past century have
often erupted into war. Today, the
majority of people live in cities and
many enjoy a high standard of living,
thanks to their countries abundant
natural resources, successful
agriculture, and modern industries.

Facts about Europe

Total land area:4,053,309 sq miles (10,498,000 sq km)

Total population:696 million
Number of countries:43
Largest country:Russian Federation (European section)
1,527,341 sq miles (3,955,818 sq km)
Smallest country:Vatican City 0.17 sq miles (0.44 sq km)
Largest country population:Russian Federation (whole country)
143 million
Largest lake:Ladoga, Russian Federation 7,100 sq miles (18,390
sq km)
Longest river:Volga, Russian Federation 2,290 miles (3,688 km)
Highest point:Elbrus, Caucasus Mountains, Russian Federation
18,510 ft (5,642 m)

Dark ages & Middle

ages/medieval Literature

Dark Ages
As the Western Roman Empire
became weakened because of the ills
within it, barbaric tribes swarmed
into it. These long years after the end
of the western Roman Empire
referred to the Dark Age.
Europe
slipped
backward
almost into
savagery.

Why the Dark Ages?

Petrarch, who was born in
Arezzo in Tuscany, northern
Italy, in 1304, was able to
look back over almost a
thousand years to what
many historians have
classed as the greatest
disaster ever to afflict
Europe: the end of the
Roman Empire which had
been an oasis of civilization
for five hundred years
before it was swamped by
barbarian invaders during
the 5th Century AD.

What was Lost During the Dark Ages?

The darkness which then descended on
Europe was to lasted for some eight or nine
hundred years.
The Dark Ages was not simply a poetic
name designed to stir the imagination. It was
an appropriate description of the immense
loss Europe and Europeans suffered as Roman
law and order broke down and the safety and
security ofPax Romana, the Roman Peace,
gave way to danger and uncertainty.

Statues were destroyed

Constantine---Emperor of Rome from

A.D.312 to 337; encouraged the spread of
Christianity.

(Dark Ages)

The End of Safeguards

All safeguards disappeared once the
Roman Army ceased to be the
powerful disciplined force which had
once conquered a great empire.
Instead, the Army became weak, torn
by rivalries among its officers.

Effects
no longer prevent the Vandals from
plundering Rome in 455AD
cant stop other tribal leaders from
flooding into the Empires territory

German tribes such as the Suebi,

Ostrogoths and Alani swarmed into
Roman Spain, Gaul and Italy where
they killed, robbed, enslaved and
destroyed

The Invaders Settle Down

The raiders had not come just to raid
and rob and then go home, taking
their booty with them. In time, they
settled in the fertile, well-developed
lands which offered them a better life
than they could have in their own,
home, territory.

However, the
Anglo-Saxons
had no use for
the elegant
Roman towns
many of which
became
deserted. The
once well-kept
gardens became
overgrown with
weeds. The
fountains in town
streets which

Coloseum
s were
also
abandon
ed.

As the years went by,

abandoned Roman towns
decayed even further. People
from nearby villages took
away stones, pillars or pieces
of metal and wood as building
materials for cowsheds and
other structures.

MIDDLE AGES
Period of gloom was followed by the
period middle ages, which extended
from the 5th to 15th century.

Middle
Ages
Dark
Ages

 It represents the
gradual but steady
and laborious progress
of civilization
In this period, the
church was rising into
power and authority.
Practically all
intellectual pursuits
and activities took
place in the
monasteries

Christianity Spreads to Northern

Europe
As the Roman Empire fell, various
groups from the north and east
moved into former Roman lands. As
they moved in, these groups created
their own states. The rulers of these
states, usually powerful warlords,
began to call themselves kings.
These kings often fought among
themselves and as a result, by the
early 500s Europe was divided into

 These kingdoms marked the

beginning of the Middle Ages, a
period that lasted from about 500 to
about 1500. We call this time the
middle ages because it falls
between ancient times and modern
times. Another name for the Middle
Ages is the medieval (mee-DEE-vuhl)
period, from the Latin words for
middle age.

 At the beginning of the Middle Ages,

many of the kingdoms of northern
Europe were not Christian.
Christianity was only common in
places that had been part of the
Roman Empire, such as Italy and
Spain. As time passed, however,
Christianity slowly spread farther
north. This spread was largely
through the efforts of two groups of
Christiansmissionaries and monks.

Epic
Literatures of
Europe

Epic
The literature of civilized Europe is believed to
have begun with the epic literature of the middle
age
Epics are part of the oral literature which, later,
was written down.

 Epic is inseparable from the idea of

grandeur, it is inferred purely as an
individual can be the proper subject
of an epic. A hero remains an
individual although he rises above
the average human stature; but a
hero becomes an epic hero when he
represents something greater than
himself- a nation, a race, a faith.

They
also
reflect
the life of
and
civilizatio
n of a
heroic
age and
reveal

EPIC

A narrative in
verse full of
warlike
adventures.

Four major Epics in Europe:

German- Nibelungenlied
France- Song of Roland
Spain- El Cid
Italy- Divine Comedy

FAMOUS WRITERS

EUROPE
FROM

Century

TheIlyiadandOdysseyare two of the most

important epic poems in western history,
both having a profound effect on the
development of written arts and culture.

 406 BCE)
A well educated man from a wealthy family,
Sophocles served several roles in Athenian
society, including a role as a military commander.
He also wrote plays, entering and winning the
drama element of the Dionysian festival possibly
over 20 times, more than esteemed contemporaries.
His field was tragedies, of which only seven full
length pieces survive, includingOedipus the King,
referenced by Freud when discovering the Oedipus
complex.

.450 c. 388
)
An Athenian citizen who wrote during the era of
the Peloponnesian War, Aristophanes work
constitutes the greatest surviving body of ancient
Greek comedies from one person

0 18
)

Virgil was regarded as the best of the Roman

poets during the Roman era, and this reputation
has been maintained. His most famous, albeit
unfinished, work is theAeneid, the story of a
Trojan founder of Rome, written during the
period of Augustus reign. His influence has been
felt widely in literature and, as Virgils poems were
studied in Roman schools, by children.

 8 BCE)
The son of a freed slave, Horaces early career saw
him commanding units in the army of Brutus, who
was defeated by future Roman emperor Augustus.

hieri (1265
1 CE)

A writer, philosopher and political thinker, Dante

wrote his most famous work while in exile from
his beloved Florence, forced out by his role in the
politics of the day.The Divine Comedyhas been
interpreted by each successive age in a slightly
different way, but it has greatly influenced popular
depictions of hell, as well as culture, and his decision
to write in Italian rather than Latin helped prompt
the spread of the former language in the arts.

Giovanni Boccaccio 1313 1375

Boccaccio is best known as the author

of theDecameron, an earthy and
tragic-comic look at life which,
because it was written in vernacular
Italian, helped raise the language to
the same level of regard as Latin and
Greek. Shortly after completing
theDecameronhe changed to writing
in Latin, and less known today is his
work in humanist scholarship during
the period. Together with Petrarch he
is said to have helped lay the ground
work the Renaissance.

Geoffrey Chaucer c. 1342 / 43 - 1400

Chaucer was a talented

administrator who served three
kings, but it is for his poetry
which he is best known.The
Canterbury Tales, a series of
stories told by pilgrims en route
to Canterbury, andTroilus and
Criseydehave been hailed as
some of the finest poetry in the
English language before
Shakespeare, written as they
were in the vernacular
language of the country rather
than Latin.

Miguel de Cervantes 1547 1616

In Cervantes early life he

enrolled as a soldier and was
kept prisoner as a slave for
several years until his family
raised a ransom. After this he
became a civil servant, but
money remained a problem. He
wrote in many different fields,
including novels, play, poems
and short stories, creating his
masterpiece inDon Quixote. He
is now regarded as the main
figure in Spanish literature,
andDon Quixotehas been hailed
as the first great novel.

William Shakespeare 1564 1616

A playwright, poet and actor,

Shakespeares work, written
for the company of a London
theatre, has seen him called
one of the worlds great
dramatists. He enjoyed
success in his lifetime but has
gone on to ever greater and
wider appreciation for works
likeHamlet,MacbethorRome
o and Juliet, as well as his
sonnets. Perhaps strangely,
although we know quite a lot
about him, there is a constant
current of people who doubt
he wrote the works.