Categories: comedies - The Merry Wives Of Windsor
Much Ado About Nothing
As You Like It
Twelfth Night
What You Will
tragedies - Macbeth
Hamlet
King Lear
Othello
historical plays - Henry VI
Richard III
romances- Cymbeline, King of Britain, The Winter’s Tale,The Tempest
Ben Jonson (1572-1637) is known for his brilliant comedies Volpone or the Fox, The Alchemist and Bartolomew Fayre
The civil war ended the greatest period in the history of English drama. LITERATURE IN THE 17TH CENTURY

1. Puritanism in English Literature - John Milton (1608-1674) participated actively in the struggle for the victory of Puritanism. To Parliament he addressed one of his famous works, Areopagitica, a speech defending the necessity of an uncensored press. His masterpiece Paradise Lost. The main hero in this complicated epic Adam, representing humanity as whole in a general sense. 2. Poetry- Metaphysical Poets: John Donne (1572-1631) was rediscovered and widely read in modern times.

LITERATURE IN THE 18TH CENTURY

It is the century of the Enlightenment, the “Age of Reason”. All branches of science were developed, and this resulted in great technical progress.
The Rise of the Novel: The first novels were published in series to test their popularity among the readers and then they were published as books.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was a sharp and embittered satirist and critic of English society. His most popular work is Gulliver’s Travels a fictional book of travel.


Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) published in 1719 Robinson Crusoe, which is still one of the most popular books, especially among children. LITERATURE IN THE 19TH CENTURY - ROMANTICISM AND REALISM

It can be characterized by rapid economic development in Britain. The Queen Victoria came to the throne. In is the “Victorian Age”. But Victorian England is also remembered for growing social discrepancies in towns. These change and social tensions are later reflected in the realistic prose.
Romanticism - George Gordon, lord Byron (1788-1824) became famous overnight after publishing two cantos of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage in 1812 and was lionized in London society. Byron’s works are concerned with the freedom of individuals as well as nations. The Prisoner of Chillon (1816) was inspired by the imprisonment of Bonnivard, who revolted, along with other patriots in Geneva, against the Duke of Savoy in the 15th century in order to establish a free republic.
Prose- Mary Shelley (1797-1851) wrote Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus. It tells the story of a genuine inventor, suffering from isolation and misunderstanding.
Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) is considered the first English great author of historical novels. He showed interest in folk ballads. His best known romantic poem is The Lady of the Lake(1810).