British Studies

Literature

RIFKI DESRA FEBRI

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The British have reason to be very proud of their literature, which has had a
continuous history since the Middle Ages. It is full of variety and originality, and is
recognised as one of the richest and most highly developed in the world

Stories and Novels

The average person’s acquaintance with English literature is mainly through novels,
which he reads in his hours of leisure for his own enjoyment.
Fables were probably the earliest of such stories. They are usually about animals,
and their purpose is either to illustrate some kind of rule about life, what it is like
or how we should behave, or else to give a fanciful explanation of some observed
fact, such as why cats eat mice, or why lizards wag their heads up and down.
Legends are rather more advanced. They too may give explanations, such as how a
certain mountain came to be where it is, or why men die, but here the themes are
more serious, there is a consciousness of the mystery and magic of the world and
of man himself, and spirits and gods are invented as part of the explanation.
Fables develop into folk-tales which at first remain crude and impossible,
and from which the animal element does not easily disappear. Legends and
myths multiply, bringing in human heroes as well as gods, but still with a
strong element of magic in them which divorces them from real experience.
Yet already there is less fantasy and magic, and more realism, and by the
time we get to the great stories of the Middle Ages like those told by the
first great English poet Chaucer (fourteenth century). But it was not until the
eighteenth century that modern novel began to appear.
Great Novelist of the Nineteenth Century
The nineteenth century was the golden age of the novel. Here we can
mention only some of the very greatest writers and the sort of novels they
wrote. Jane Austen (Pride and Prejudice) was one of the earliest. She wrote
about middle-class family life, social snobbery and ambition, and the
constant quest of the middle-class mother for rich husbands for her
daughters.
The two great novelist of the first part of Queen Victoria’s reign were also
very different from each other. Thackeray, like Jane Austen, wrote about
middle-class society and undesirable people who some time force their way
into it, like Becky Sharp in the novel Vanity Fair.
We have said enough to give some idea of the great variety to be found in
the nineteenth century novel. To the modern reader, these works
sometimes seem too long and wordy, but they still give a great deal of
pleasure, and for the non-English student there are some excellent abridged
edition.
Popular Modern Fiction
Certain other less serious and extremely popular books, however, tend to fall into
easily defined classes which you should quickly learn to identify. There is for
instance the detective story. This has enjoyed an immense popularity ever since
Conan Doyle wrote his wonderful stories about the imaginary detective Sherlock
Holmes. In this case the detective story becomes rather a crime story or thriller.
Spy stories are less popular now than they used to be, but the “Bulldog
Drummond” books by “Sapper” were once great favourites, rhyme patterns too
are possible. But rhyme is not necessary to English poetry, and much of the
greatest work, including that of Shakespeare, is without it.
The difficulty of the non-English student is that he seldom fully grasps the
stresses of spoken English, and consequently fails to grasp the rhythm of English
poetry. But if he understands the above principles he should be able to work out
the rhythm of most poems for himself.
The first great English poet was Chaucer, who has already been mentioned as a
story-teller. He was in fact a story-teller in verse, and his most famous work is a
large collection of such stories called The Canterbury Tales
But the real unbroken history of English poetry begins in the sixteenth
century, blossom expecially in the Elizabethan and post-Elizabethan period
when shakespeare.
The greatest poet of middle of the seventeenth century was John Milton.
We remember him chiefly for his long poem Paradise Lost, which centres
on the story of Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden.
During the eighteenth century, poets broke away from the Classical
tradition, and found a simpler and more homely inspiration in the English
countryside and village life.
Drama
English drama is completely dominated by Shakespeare, who is widely
regarded by people of all nationalities as one of the greatest writers who
ever lived. He wrote over thirty lays, mostly in verse, many of which are still
frequently acted. They include light-hearted comedies, like A Midsummer
Night’s Dream and As you Like It, the great tragedies Julius Caesar, Hamlet,
Macbeth, King Lear and Othello, plays based on English history like Henry IV
(in two parts) and Henry V, and story plays like The Merchant of Venice and
The Tempest.
Another interesting thing about Shakespeare is that the stories of his plays
are not original, he drew them from history and legend. His originality lies in
his dramatic power.
• Other Arts
We shall not have much to say about sculpture, painting and music, because
in these Britain has lagged far behind other European countries like Italy,
France and Germany, and lacks a tradition in them like her tradition in
literature. Even the few first-rank artist Britain has produced in the past, like
the portraitists Gainsborough and Reynolds, the landscape artist Constable,
the water-colour artist Turner, and the composer Elgar, are not easily
accepted in Europe as international masters. On the other hand the
twentieth century has seen a great deal of activity in the artistic sphere in
Britain, and it is possible that the future will be much more brilliant than the
past.
Music is the art which has the greatest popular appeal, and here the British
have the advantage of two very fine recent composers in Edward Elgar and
Vaughan Williams