100 English Literature Facts

100 English Literature facts 1. Chaucer lived during the reigns of – Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV 2. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales was written in – 1385 onwards 3. Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales belongs to – 3rd Period of Chaucer’s literary career 4. Norman Conquest took place in – 1066 (11th Century) 5. Wyclif’s Bible was published in – 1380 6. William Langland’s The Vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman was written in – 1362-90 7. The Travels of Sir John Maundeville was published in - 1400 8. The Hundred Years’ War was begun in – 1338 (14th Century) 9. The Hundred Years’ War was fought between – England and France 10. Wat Tyler’s Rebellion took place in - 1381 11. The War of Roses was fought between – The House of York and the House of Lancaster 12. The War of Roses was fought during the period – 1455-86 13. Thomas Malory’s Morte De Arthur was written in – 1470 (published in 1485) 14. Caxton’s Printing Press was set up in – 1485 15. Thomas More’s Utopia was published in – 1516 (Latin), 1551 (English) 16. The First English Comedy, Roister Doister was written in – 1550 17. Roister Doister was written by – Nicholas Udall 18. The First English Tragedy, Gorboduc was written in – 1561 19. Gorboduc was written by – Thomas Sackville, Lord of Buckhurst & Thomas Norton 20. Tottel’s Miscellancy was published in - 1557 21. Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne of England in – 1558 22. Globe Theatre was built in – 1599 23. The Elizabethan Age covers the period – 1558-1602 24. The leader of University Wits was – Christopher Marlowe 25. Marlowe’s first tragedy was – Tamburlaine the Great (1587) 26. Shakespeare wrote – 37 plays 27. Dryden’s All for Love is based on Shakespeare’s – Antony and Cleopatra 28. Shakespeare’s Sonnets were published in – 1609 29. The hero of Spenser’s Faerie Queene is - King Arthur 30. Spenser’s Faerie Queene is dedicated to – Queen Elizabeth 31. Spenser dedicated his Shephearde’s Calendar to – Philip Sydney 32. John Lyly’s Euphues, the Anatomy of Wit was published in 1579 and was contemporary with – Shepheardes Calender. 33. White Devil and Duchess of Malfi were written by – John Webester 34. Ben Jonson’s first play Every Man in his Humour was published in – 1598 35. Ben Jonson is known for his – Comedy of Humours 36. Ben Jonson’s play written wholly in prose – Bartholomew Fair 37. Bacon’s essays are written in – Aphoristic style 38. Bacon wrote essays in all – 106 essays (1st, 2nd, 3rd Edition – 10, 38, 58 essays) 39. Authorised version of the Bible - 1611 40. The leader of Metaphysical School of Poets was – Henery Vaughan 41. The term ‘Augustan’ was first applied to school of Poets by – Dr. Johnson 42. The intellectual father of French Revolution – Rousseau 43. Lyrical Ballads was published in – 1798 44. The leader of the Pre-Raphaelite in England was – D.G. Rossetti 45. The founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England – William Holman Hunt 46. The originator of the Oxford Movement was – John Keble 47. The phrase ‘Stream of Consciousness’ is associated with – James Joyce 48. The Hero of Homer’s Iliad is – Achilles 49. Pope’s Rape of the Lock contains – Five Cantos 50. A Ballad stanza generally contains – Four lines 51. The greatest Epic in English is written by – Milton 52. The next in command after Satan in Paradise Lost is – Beelzebub 53. The meaning of L’Allegro is – A cheerful man 54. A Pastoral Elegy written by Shelley on the death of Keats – Adonais 55. Everyman a famous play of 15th Century was a – Morality Play 56. The villain in Duchess of Malfi is – Bosola 57. Dryden’s plays in general are called – Heroic Plays 58. The last play written by Shakespeare is – The Tempest 59. Andrea Del Sarto in Browning’s Dramatic Monologue was – A renowned Painter 60. Rabbi Ben Ezra was a – real Jewish Scholar. 61. Occleve in The Governail of Princes wrote a famous poem mourning the death of Chaucer. 62. Caxton was the first to set up a printing press in England in 1476. 63. William Tyndale’s English New Testament is the earliest version of the Bible. 64. Tottle's Miscellany is a famous anthology of 'Songs and Sonnets' by Wyatt and Surrey. 65. Amoretti contained 88 sonnets of Spenser. 66. Thomas Mores' Utopia was first written in Latin in 1516. It was rendered into English in 1551. 67. Roister Doister is believed to be the first regular comedy in English by Nicholas Udall. 68. Gorboduc is believed to be the first regular tragedy in English by Sackville and Norton in collaboration. 69. Chaucer's Physician in the Doctor of Physique was heavily dependent upon Astrology. 70. Spenser described Chaucer as "The Well of English undefiled’. 71. Chaucer's pilgrims go on their pilgrimage in the month of April. 72. Forest of Arden appears in the play As You Like It by William Shakespeare. 73. Globe Theatre was built in 1599. 74. When Sidney died, Spenser wrote an elegy on his death called “Astrophel” 75. Spenser’s Epithalamion is a wedding hymn. 76. The first tragedy Gorboduc was later entitled as Ferrex and Porrex. 77. Sidney's “Apologie for Poetrie” is a reply to Gosson's “School of Abuse”. 78. In his Apologie for Poetrie, Sidney defends the Three Dramatic Unities. 79. Christopher Marlowe wrote only tragedies. He first used Blank Verse in his Jew of Malta. 80. "Was this the face that launched a thousand ships” . This line occurs in Doctor Faustus by Marlowe. 81. Ben Jonson used the phrase 'Marlowe's mighty line' for Marlowe's Blank Verse. 82. Ruskin said, "Shakespeare has only heroines and no heroes". 83. The phrase 'The Mousetrap' used by Shakespeare in Hamlet. It is the play within the play. 84. Spenser dedicates the Preface to The Faerie Queene to Sir Walter Raleigh. 85. The Faerie Queene is an allegory .In this Queen Elizabeth is allegorized through the character of Gloriana. 86. Charles Lamb called Spenser the 'Poets' Poet'. 87. Spenser first used the Spenserian stanza in Faerie Queene. 88. In the original scheme or plan of the Faerie Queene as designed by Spenser, it was to be completed in Twelve Books. But he could not complete the whole plan. Only six books exist now. 89. Twelve Cantos are there in Book I of the Faerie Queene. 90. In the Dedicatory Letter, Spenser Says that the real beginning of the allegory in the Faerie Queene is to be found in Book XII. 91. The Faerie Queene is basically a moral allegory. Spenser derived this concept of moral allegory from Aristotle. 92. Ben Jonson said 'Spenser writ no language.' 93. Spenser divided his ‘Shepheardes Calender’ into twelve Ecologues. They represent twelve months of a year. 94. Bacon's Essays are modelled on the Essais of Montaigne. 95. Bacon is the author of Novum Organum. 96. Spenser dedicated his Shepheards Calendar to Sir Philip Sidney. 97. Ten Essays were published in Bacon's First Edition of Essays in 1597. 98. 58 essays of Bacon were published in his third and last edition of Essays in 1625. 99. "......... a mixture of falsehood is like alloy in coin of gold and silver, which may make the metal work the better , but it embaseth it". These lines occur in Bacon’s “Of Truth”. 100. Hamlet said "Frailty thy name is woman” in Hamlet by Shakespeare. Thanks