William Shakespeare

With his 29 all time best plays,154 sonnets and two long poems William Shakespeare can be named as the father of the English Literature itself. I personally started to hear about Shakespeare when i was in high school but never had to chance to know him this close. When i get to know more about him i learn that his contributions to the English literature is remarkable and absolutely unmatched. Shakespeare is called the greatest author in the English language. Even Shakespeare was writing to make a living and he did not aim to impress someone he brought new definitions to words so Shakespeare's writings greatly influenced the English language. At this point i think he not only made things to be searched for literature experts but also for linguists. With his introduction of new vocabulary and phrases Williams Shakespeare enriched the English language and made it more colorful,lively and expressive.

Phrases like made up by Shakespeare are still in use when we think about our conversations today. Even i personally never heard of them here some phrases like "seen better days, strange bedfellows, a sorry sight,"and "full circle". I could not attend the class when our topic was William Shakespeare but I am sure that class must have been very lively,colorful and expressive  as Shakespeare's outstanding writings.

Dr.Faustus

There has always been conflict between good and evil and Dr. Faustus shows us that 'conflict' in an amazing way.“Now, Faustus, must thou needs be damned; Canst thou not be saved!” (Doctor Faustus II. i. 1-2) In the play Faustus usually torn between turning towards god and repent or selling his soul for earthly pleasures. This play greatly illustrates how people can act so limitless to get more wealth or more power than they use to have.While i was googling for Dr.Faustus i came across that there is some discussions about this play. The explorers of Christopher Marlowe's masterpiece discussed which categories this play mostly fits. When i come to think of that i memorized the time when we watched Dr.Faustus in our literature class. It really includes categories such as tragedy,comedy and even religious conflicts. All of our class was sometimes amazed,believed,confused and even mostly entertained.Actually even it was a little old movie, if it wasnt for the Dr. Faustus I don't think i would ever know that english literature has a great play like that. To sum up i'm looking forward to seeing some amazing plays like Christopher Marlowe's in our literature class.

Renaissance

We all started to learn about Renaissance even when we were going to primary school.But i personally started to be more interested in this great 'Reborn' when i learn the thing that it made literature available for everyone.I also came across this act even in the games that i played but i was unaware until we review it in our literature class.With Renaissance most things changed in Europe.Renaissance came with the printing press,made everyone read books like higher classes.Furthermore,human became more important,as a result of this humanists came forward for the rights of the common people.Their intent was reform the catholic church but instead it divided the church and introduced the protestantism. A growing sense of nationalism led many to question the authority of church. Like Renaissance changed many things on peoples beliefs and their social lives it also changed the literature. Drama became more popular and many great writers such as Christopher Marlowe and Shakespeare wrote many plays.

The Canterbury Tales

Formally, The Canterbury Tales is collection of stories written in 14th century by Geoffrey Chaucer. The tales are about pilgrims who had storytelling contest while they were travelling to Canterbury Cathedral for pilgrimage. In my opinion, The Canterbury Tales is a very enjoyable book that i enjoyed very much when i read it. Sincerely,  the stories were very unique and very informative about that era's literature,beliefs and social life. Each of the story had symbols that shows the good and evil, which part is true which part false. Additionally, all of the situations was connected with real life and beliefs,literature even with poverty and wealth. People were described according to their personalities, as to show people the good ones and evil ones are everywhere in our lives. All in all, The Canterbury Tales are very special for who are interested in English, English Literature or even the ones who searches for a worthy book to read. To sum up, the stories made me more interested about english literature and i strongly recommend this book.

Beowulf

The first time i heard about Beowulf i was in high school. I watched the movie but i was completely unaware that it has a connection to English literature. Even it was a bit different from the original story that we watched in our class at school, the movie was very impressive. The story is very unique and very exciting, places  and events are different from our world that we live in. When i realize that it was the old English heroic epic poem  in English Literature, i was very surprised and even more amazed about literature. Additionally,  in our class our teacher told us that JRR Tolkien impressed his book Hobbit from Beowulf  it made me think how literature can extend our imagination and made me want to know more about English Literature and books. Now i'm very excited and looking forward to see our next topic in our Literature class.

First Class

“Only the very weak-minded refuse to be influenced by literature and poetry.” ( Clare,2010,p.136)  said  Cassandra Clare in one of her bestsellers. As she mentioned the literature's influence on people she was certainly right. The first reason why i'm curious about literature is; it is all about our lives. The day first i met with literature, i realized that it comes from history and we are part of the history as humans.So how the history effected the literature and how the literature effected humans by all means, that was what amazed me this much. A further noteworthy reason i also noticed that the literature has a great effect on language. It is certain that as english language teaching students language has undeniable importance for us. All in all, these are the reasons why i liked literature class and as Fernando Pessoa says;  why i'm willing to enter the the most agreeable way of ignoring life.(Pessoa,2002,p.59)