William Blake

ITF:http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/00/William_Blake_by_Thomas_Phillips.jpg

Born 1757 and died in 1827, Blake was an English musician and poet. He was not popular during his own time. He is considered as a Whole Artist, due to his drawings in his works.

He studied in The Royal Academy where he discovered that artists were generalizing styles, he wanted something different and he shows that in his own works.

He married Catherine who was taught to read and write and draw. She was a very important help for Blake for printing and finishing works.

He was very interested into the social problems and politics, he hated discrimination and imposed authority, some legal troubles were risen from his believes.

Some of his paintings have religious topics.

[some] Illustrated books:

*John Milton: Paradise Lost (Blake's Illustrations)

All Religions are One - 1788
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell - 1790 - 93

Others:
The French Revolution - 1791
Tiriel - 1789

Charles Dickens

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Dickens lived from 1812 to 1870. He is one of the most important writers of his era even he was recognized until the XXth century. He is took the element of the XVIIIth century Gothic romance novels.

For his writings, he worked closely with those who illustrated them, so the characters were exactly as how he envisioned. He also presented some autobiographical stuff into his writings.

His writings were presented as episodes in journals, for example, in Oliver Twist the public had to wait 2 months to know if he survived a gunshot. He altered the stories according to people's reactions.

Works

The Adventures of Oliver Twist (Monthly serial in Bentley's Miscellany, February 1837 to April 1839)
David Copperfield (Monthly serial, May 1849 to November 1850)

The Christmas books:

• A Christmas Carol (1843)
• The Chimes (1844)
• The Cricket on the Hearth (1845)
• The Battle of Life (1846)
• The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848)

Daniel Defoe

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Maybe best known for the Robinson Crusoe Adventures, Defoe was born in 1659 and died in 1731.
With more than 500 books he is considered as one of the founders of English novel among other importan writers of his time.

Merchant for profession he dedicated his life to writing, being his very first writing a proposal for a new and different economic system entitled An Essay Upon Projects.

In some other writings he defended the king and the monarchy. He was arrested for some problems with clerical authorities due to his writings. But instead of being offended while he was transported as a criminal people were honoring him, he was not executed because of his popularity and the fear that his execution could create a riot.

Queen Elizabeth I

She was the last monarch of the Tudor Family, Queen of England and Ireland from 1558 to 1603.

The period in which she reigned is known as the Elizabethan era where English Drama and a adventuring life were more famous. Play-writers as William Shakespeare were very important for court's life.

 Theater and literature were of great importance for the era due to Queens interest on arts.

She admired Edmund Spencer and Shakespeare.

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William Shakespeare

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Shakespeare was born in 1564, he died in 1616. Shakespeare was an English writer and actor, he is also considered as the most important and influent writer of English language.

There is a lot of speculation about his life and works but we know that he existed, even there is a little information about his life, there are registries of his work in London, where he worked as a play-writer and actor, and in Stratford, where he lived and married.

His plays were presented in some important scenarios: The Theatre and The Globe are some examples.

Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales

Image taken from: http://www.medievalbookshop.co.uk/ajpics/AJD0082.jpg

Chaucer as many other intellectuals of his era was into philosophy, astronomy and even alchemy. HE was a very smart poet and he is considered, by some people, as the English Literature Father.

One of his most important works is The Canterbury Tales which is the story of some pilgrims traveling to Canterbury Cathedral. This pilgrims narrate their stories, some of they are into the dark side of moral, being corrupted and heretics. The tale also shows the classes (nobles, clerics, poor people) and how they different they are.

Maybe its like kind of a critic for the society at the time, as a joke of how people think and act.

The original is composed of some manuscripts most of which were incomplete and fragmented. the composition is divided in Ten fragments. The controversy arises in phonetic and written transcriptions, this of course for the literary and poetical spheres that like to have everything lyrically and versing.

While doing the research i found that some people considered the Canterbury Tales as a copy of Boccacio's Decameron. Maybe because of the stories told by the characters. However The Canterbury Tales is considered as a masterpiece of literature and it would be good to read it following the historical context of the time and searching the hidden stories and critics of medieval lifestyle.

Literature in the English Middle Ages

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According to different countries and languages, medieval literature was the starting era of our modern vision of books. we have some examples as English Beowulf, Germanic Nibelung's Ring story, French Chanson de Roldan and some other old books.

What is the most incredible thing about this period, is that books were not meant for all public, like for example workers. Reading and writing was reserved for intellectuals, rich people and clerics.

The books of this era are, in its majority, narrations taken from old legends, for example epic poems with ancient Celtic, Greek or Nordic mythology; Arthurian knights era or greatest travelers and knights (Mio Çid, Don Quixote, even Marco Polo)

We can see that art was also present in books, big colored illustrations and typographies could be found on ancient books, this is a plus for this craftsmanships.

We can also found some allegories or representations of concepts like in Dante's Divine Comedy.

Maybe this period help modern literature to established but i think writing and sharing thoughts and ideas is part of human behavior, from hieroglyphics to latin letters humans always wanted to share emotions, historical events, triumphs, tales, legends, poems and whatever description or thought is in our minds.

No matter the language, copyright restrictions and other stuff, written expression would always be considered as a masterpiece of art, the stories form the times of kings and knights are still with us thanks to written languages.

Bayeux Tapestry

Image taken from: http://files.sharenator.com/Bayeux_Tapestry_England-s550x293-185353.jpg

According to artistic way of thinking, art is the perfect media for leaving an event in the world. The best examples are pictures and paintings, sculptures and big carved stones and of course and why not a tapestry.

This piece in particular is absolutely awesome, I bet that  in the museum is better but... searching and reading about it you can only think that the work in it is awesome.

Handmade of course, years and tons of wool and colors, also centuries is what this piece represents.

It is the 1066 Battle of Hastings story what is told in here. I like it a lot because of the details, colors, images, and the most important part the historical event and its narration. Images can say lots more than words.

I have found a video where you can see in detail with a well done animation some details. It is a 4 min and something long video from you tube.