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Cengiz GÜLER

Major Periods in English Literature-Timeline

Major Periods in English Literature – Timeline

        43 Roman empire Invasion of Britain

        303    Emperor Constantine declares Christianity as official religion

        304 Martyrdom of St. Alban

        500s  Anglo-Saxon settlement in Britain

        597    St. Augustine’s mission from Rome to Britain

        658    Cædmon's Hymn (oldest recorded English poem)

Old English Period (600 – 1066)

§  1000  Beowulf (said to be one of the earliest and longest epics in English literature)

§  1020  Anglo-Saxon Chronicle (compiled by King Alfred the Great)

§  1066  Norman Conquest of England (under the command of William the Conqueror)

Medieval Period (1066 – 1485)

§  1190  The Owl and Nightingale  another(example of early English poetry)

§  1215  Magna Carta

§  1348  Chronicles of Black Death (gives accounts of the devastating plague in that period)

§  1367  Langland, Piers Plowman (an early example of an allegorical narrative poem )

§  1370 Sir Gawain and The Green Knight (popular Medieval romance that also refers to King Arthur and round table)

§  1382  Peasant’s Revolt

§  1400  Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales (highlight of medieval literature)

§  1473  First book printed in English (printing in England pioneered by William Caxton)

§  1485  Malory, Morte d’ Arthur

English Renaissance (1485 – 1660)

§  1485  Battle of Bosworth Field (beginning of Tudor dynasty and end of Medieval period)

§  1492  Columbus’s first voyage to New World

§  1516  More, Utopia

§  1535  Reformation – Act of Supremacy (initiated by Henry VIII)

Elizabethan Era (1558 -1603)

§  1564 -1616  William Shakespeare

§  1588  Spanish Armada attacks

§  1590  Spenser, The Faerie Queen (tribute to Elizabeth I)

§  1592  Marlowe, Doctor Faustus

§  1595 - 1596  Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night’s Dream

§  1599  Globe Theatre is built

Jacobean Era (1567–1625)

§  1601  Shakespeare, Hamlet

§  1603  Shakespeare, Othello

§  1603  Elizabeth I dies

§  1605  Gunpowder Plot (Guy Fawkes)

§  1607  American Settlements (begin in Jamestown)

§  1611  King James Bible (the first bible written in English)

§  1616  Shakespeare dies

§  1616  Johnson, To Penshurst

§  1623  Shakespeare’s work compiled and published

             Caroline Era (1625 – 1642)

§  1633  John Donne’s metaphysical poetry published after his death

English Civil War (1642 -1651)

                                            

§  1642  English Civil War (which results in republic)

§  1649  Charles I beheaded

§  1653  Beginning of Protectorate

Restoration Period (1660 -1700)

§  1660 Restoration of monarchy (with Charles II on the throne)

§  1666  Great fire of London

§  1667  Milton, Paradise Lost

§  1688  The Glorious Revolution

The Augustan Age: Neoclassicism and Age of Enlightenment (1700 – 1740s)

§  1702 – 1714  Queen Anne

§  1707  Act of Union

§  1709  Swift, A Description of the Morning

§  1714  Pope, Rape of the Lock

§  1719  Defoe, Robinson Crusoe

§  1726  Swift, Gulliver’s Travels

§  1775 - 1783   American War of Independence

Romanticism (1789 – 1830)

§  1789  French Revolution

§  1798  Wordsworth and Coleridge, Lyrical Ballads With A Few Other Poems

§  1789 – 1821 John Keats

§  1802 – 1804  Wordsworth, Imitations of Immortality

§  1807  Abolition of Slave trade in British Empire

§  1813  Austen, Pride and Prejudice

§  1815  Battle of Waterloo (marks end of Napoleon’s reign)

§  1818  Shelley, Frankenstein

§  1819 – 1820  Keats, Bright Star

§  1820  Keats, Ode in a Grecian Urn

Victorian Period (1837 – 1901)

§  1831 – 1832  Reform Act

§  1834  Abolition of slavery in British Empire

§  1837 – 1839  Dickens, Oliver Twist

§  1841  Dickens, The Old Curiosity Shop

§  1842  Tennyson, Ulysses

§  1847  Bronte, Wuthering Heights

§  1850  Browning, Hiram’s Greek Slave

§  1851  The Great Exhibition of London at Crystal Palace, Hyde Park

§  1854  Tennyson, The Charge of the Light Brigade

§  1859  Darwin, On the Origin of Species

§  1865  Abolition of slavery in America

§  1867  Arnold, Dover Beach

§  1870  Elementary Education Act

§  1877  Queen Victoria named Empress of India

§  1890s New Women movement

§  1892  Gilman, The Yellow Wallpaper

§  1901  Death of Queen Victoria

By B. Pascal Zwane

Scotland votes 'No': What happens now?

Scotland has voted "No" to independence in the historic referendum on the nation's future.

For now, that means it will continue to form an integral part of the UK - but for Scottish devolution, the process of granting powers from Westminster to the Scottish parliament, it's far from business as usual.

The focus will now be on how the UK government delivers its promise of more powers for the Scottish parliament, based at Holyrood, Edinburgh. Here's what's likely to happen next.

More power

The three biggest UK-wide political parties - The Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats - agree that further devolution of powers to Holyrood must take place. During the referendum campaign, the partiessigned a pledge to devolve more powers to Scotland, if Scots rejected independence.

A timetable to deliver change was set out by former prime minister - and Scottish MP - Gordon Brown. It was quickly endorsed by the UK-wide parties.

Immediately after the result became clear, Prime Minister David Cameron aimed to show the UK government was grabbing the initiative by announcing Lord Smith of Kelvin, a former BBC governor, to oversee the implementation of more devolution on tax, spending and welfare.

He said draft legislation would be ready by January, as per the timetable laid out by Brown.

Under the former PM's proposals, a "command paper" would be published by the present UK government setting out all the proposals by the end of October.

A white paper would be drawn up by the end of November, after a period of consultation, setting out the proposed powers.

A draft new "Scotland Act" law would be published by Burns Night (25 January) 2015 ready for the House of Commons to vote on.

However, with a UK general election due in May 2015, the legislation would not be passed until the new parliament began.

Party differences

The Scottish Parliament is currently funded through a block grant and the amount it gets is defined by the Barnett Formula - an arrangement for adjusting funds to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland to spend on devolved policy areas, on the basis of population . All three parties are committed to preserving the essence of this mechanism in some form.

And in proposals set out by the parties earlier this year, each offered Holyrood considerably more income tax-raising powers than the Scottish parliament has at present. However, there were significant differences between the parties in the proposed extent of those changes.

Labour wants to give Holyrood the power to vary income tax by 15p in the pound - but not the power to cut the top tax rate on its own.

The Conservatives propose to give Scotland total control over income tax rates and bands. Holyrood would also be accountable for 40% of the money it spent.

The Liberal Democrats propose giving Scotland power over income tax, inheritance and capital gains tax. The party has also touted scrapping the Act of Union between Scotland and England and replacing it with a declaration of federalism.

None of this will suffice for the Scottish National Party, and its leader Alex Salmond, but just as the Edinburgh Agreement, committed Prime Minister David Cameron to honouring the referendum result, the same is true for the Scottish first minister.

Mr Salmond may not like it, but he still heads Scotland's devolved government, so he will play a pivotal role in ensuring the delivery of increased Holyrood powers.

He is expected to fight for a "devo max" - essentially far-reaching devolution - package of powers, likely to include total control over income tax, corporation tax, and air passenger duty, and extensive control over welfare.

The negotiations

UK political parties will have to work through their differences, and come up with a single proposal. But others will also be involved.

In the lead up to the establishment of the Scottish Parliament in 1999, the UK government laid out its devolved responsibilities in a White Paper in July 1997, before they were backed by voters and put into legislation.

Credit for paving the road towards Scottish devolution was given to the Scottish Constitutional Convention, an association of Scottish political parties, churches and other civic groups set up in 1989.

Lord Smith's new body on finalising Holyrood's new powers could in some ways be seen as a modern-day version of the organisation.

SNP future

Nicola Sturgeon could be in the running to take over from Alex Salmond

So what now for the SNP?

In the immediate future, it's back to government - the job to which the SNP was elected by a landslide at the last Scottish Parliament election.

But all eyes will be on its annual conference in Perth - delayed from its usual October slot until November.

For a party which hasn't always had the most harmonious existence, the SNP's shown a remarkable level of discipline since winning office in 2007 - but could that now be in jeopardy?

Alex Salmond has pledged to do his job as first minister until at least the next Holyrood poll in 2016 - but that's not likely to stop some rival politicians attempting to paint him as a sort-of "lame duck", to borrow an expression from US politics.

However, given the enormity of the SNP's last election victory, it is quite possible the party will win the next Scottish parliament election, especially if voters feel Labour has not done enough to win back their trust as a party of government.

There will be an SNP leadership contest at some point - these are known for being interesting - with Deputy First Minister Nicola Sturgeon the clear frontrunner.

But we might see former leadership challengers Mike Russell, Alex Neil and Roseanna Cunningham - all now members of the Scottish government - also throw their hats in the ring.

John Swinney though, Scotland's finance secretary, has ruled out a return to the leadership, a job he held between 2000 and 2004.

Rest of the UK

With increased devolution of powers to Holyrood, many will want to address the so-called West Lothian question: is it fair that English MPs have no say on devolved issues in Scotland, but Scottish MPs at Westminster can still vote on the same issues as they affect England?

A recent poll by YouGov for the Herald suggested 62% of English people believe Scottish MPs should be banned from voting on England-only laws.

Many in Wales and Northern Ireland will also ask whether they should be getting more powers too.

The other issue for Wales is the continuation of the Barnett funding formula, which sees Scotland get more spending per head than the UK average.

Plaid Cymru says the arrangement would leave Wales £300m poorer each year, while Labour has promised to address the issue if it wins the 2015 UK election.

Healing wounds

The Right Reverend John Chalmers wants all sides to commit to the future of Scotland

The debate over Scotland's future has electrified the public - but passion has turned to anger at times, so an early priority will be to bring the nation together.

A first step takes place on Sunday, when the Church of Scotland stages a "reconciliation service" at Edinburgh's St Giles' Cathedral.

The Rt Reverend John Chalmers, moderator of the Church's general assembly, says the idea of the service is "expressing our magnanimity in victory or defeat, or expressing our commitment to working together for the future of Scotland".

By Andrew BlackPolitical reporter, BBC Scotland
http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-29252899

Cyprus After 40 Years of Division

CENGİZ AKTAR

Turkey would benefit from a positive resolution of the situation in Cyprus.

I remember that day well. It was the summer of 1974 and I was working in Alanya, right across the island on Turkey's Mediterranean shore. I recall how the fighter jets flew over the beaches, frightening the middle-aged European tourists and delighting the youngsters. In the absence of social media, we learned about the military operation only later in the afternoon. The de-facto division of the island of Cyprus, created by this operation and consolidated immediately with a second offensive in August of that year, still holds today.

The fate of the third largest  Mediterranean island - which lies closer to the shores of Syria and Turkey than to those of Greece, and has always been considered a strategic terra firma - has never been steady. From a crusader kingdom of the French house of Lusignan to an outpost of the Maltese Knights, from an Ottoman possession in 1571 to a British semi-colony in 1878, the island was finally divided by a Turkish military intervention. Turkey stepped in on the pretext of protecting the constitutional status quo created by the 1959-1960 Agreements in Zurich which guaranteed minority rights for the Turkish-Cypriots and which was threatened by the July 1974 coup d'etat led by Greek-Cypriot Nikos Sampson.

Sampson had the intention of eventually uniting the island with Greece, in line with the historical ideology - the Megali Idea of 19th century Hellenic nationalism. While the end of the coup d'etat restored the legitimate government in Nicosia, the presence of Turkish troops in the north effectively became an invasion and the north seceded in 1983. Today, the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) is recognised only by Turkey.

Some assume that the Cyprus issue was resolved in 1974, when the north of the island effectively came under Turkey's control, while the south secured its future with the legitimacy it enjoyed internationally and thanks to a future EU membership. Nevertheless, the parties have never ceased to hold talks for reunification, and no party, including the mainland ones, has had the upper hand for long.

Over the years, the matter has become something of a legendary international dispute. After the Republic of Cyprus gained EU membership in May 2004, Greece steadily disengaged from its mentorship role. However, it continues to be influenced by the outcome of tensions, so much so that this encompasses its relations with Turkey.

Turkey, although proud for having resolved the stalemate, never managed to reach a sustainable outcome. None of the Turkish plans have worked. Turning the TRNC into a Turkish province by annexation failed, as did the the dream of getting international recognition for the statelet. Supporting the TRNC has become a headache in international platforms, especially in the EU. Efforts towards religious assimilation in a largely secular Turco-Cypriot society have also failed. The Cyprus stalemate continues to be the gateway to endless problems between Greeks and Turks, be it on the island, the mainlands, or the international arena.

Today there is no serious economic activity other than gambling and construction in the Turkish-held parts of the island. In the construction sector, incentives are provided mostly to entrepreneurs from the mainland, the land is provided free of charge, loans are secured from Turkish banks, the workers are imported from Turkey, and the building materials are not subject to customs regulations - a "colonial" economy. There is an adviser from Turkey in every ministry supervising decisions.

The Republic of Cyprus, however, obviously benefited from being an off-shore destination for capital movement, and from EU membership, for a while. It placed its bet on an EU membership to gain perpetual prosperity and inclusion in the eurozone, but things didn't work out as expected and the economy is now under international and European scrutiny through a financial rescue package. Existing political assets have not led anywhere either. Greco-Cypriot politicians thought that by leaning on the EU membership they could reject the 2004 Annan Plan for reunification and bring Turkey to its knees by blocking its membership negotiations with the EU. None of this worked.

What now?

At the end, every party lost out while looking for solutions somewhere else. But the stalemate has evolved towards a new era where every party could win. Here is what the island looks like today.

The election of pro-solution candidate, liberal Nikos Anastasiades, as president of the Republic of Cyprus in February 2013, along with the victory of the pro-solution Republican Turkish Party (CTP) in the north, has created a momentum on its own. Crowned by the signing of a joint declaration of intent for the talks on February 2014, a new process is now under way, despite all odds. Even the powerful Orthodox Church of Cyprus, which was always against any settlement, has extended support to the process.

The economy appears to benefit from a new asset, a water pipeline that will begin operating in the fall that will run from mainland Turkey to the northern shores of the island, with ample capacity for the entire island. Furthermore, a US company has found natural gas in the territorial waters off the southern parts of the island; and Noble Energy has found gas in the neighbouring Israeli territorial waters.

The international community seems to be looking for an end to the stalemate on the diplomatic front. When the two community leaders announced the joint declaration of intent, the EU, Germany, Russia, the UN, the UK and the US were all swift to vocalise their strong support for the process. The role of the US should be particularly highlighted here.

All these factors point to the necessity of having a package approach that would go beyond the simple reunification talks by taking into account all potential outcomes of a settlement.

Potential positive outcomes are plentiful indeed. Shared water as well as natural gas and an enlivened economic situation that springs from reunification would bring immediate strength to the island's ailing economy. Cypriot, as well as neighbouring Israeli natural gas sold to Turkey and the West via Turkey, would become a factor in the Israeli-Turkish feud.

For Turkey, ending the financial support of the north would be an economic gain. The return of 40,000 soldiers would be significant in terms of military tutelage and authority. The peace dividends to be gained for all parties are quite clear as well. Normalisation of relations between Greece and Turkey would also become feasible.

Present obstacles to Turkey's EU membership negotiations (eight chapters blocked by the EU Council and another six by the Republic of Cyprus in connection with the stalemate) would be gradually or entirely removed.

For this fiery Eastern Mediterranean region, a stable island would be momentous.

Cengiz Aktar is a Senior Scholar at Istanbul Policy Center. As a former director at the United Nations where he spent 22 years of his professional life, Aktar is one of the leading advocates of Turkey’s integration into the EU. 

http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2014/07/cyprus-after-40-years-division-20147964442930587.html

What is Creative Writing?

Creative writing is anything where the purpose is to express thoughts, feelings and emotions rather than to simply convey information.

I’ll be focusing on creative fiction in this post (mainly short stories and novels), but poetry, (auto)biography and creative non-fiction are all other forms of creative writing. Here’s a couple of definitions:

Creative writing is writing that expresses the writer’s thoughts and feelings in an imaginative, often unique, and poetic way.
(Sil.org – What is Creative Writing?)

Writing is a form of personal freedom. It frees us from the mass identity we see all around us. In the end, writers will write not to be outlaw heroes of some underculture but mainly to save themselves, to survive as individuals.
(Don DeLillo)

Writing of any sort is hard, but rewarding work – you’ll gain a huge amount of satisfaction from a finished piece. Being creative can also be difficult and challenging at times, but immensely fun.

How to get started

Many people think that just because they’ve read a lot of stories (or even if they haven’t!) they should be able to write one. But as Nigel Watts writes:

There is a common belief that because most of us are literate and fluent, there is no need to serve an apprenticeship if we want to become a successful wordsmith. … That’s what I thought until I tried to write my first novel. I soon learnt that a novel, like a piece of furniture, has its own set of requirements, laws of construction that have to be learnt. Just because I had read plenty of novels didn’t mean I could write one, any more than I could make a chair because I had sat on enough of them.
(Nigel Watts, Teach Yourself Writing a Novel)

By all means, if you’re keen, jump straight in and have a go: but don’t be too disappointed if your first efforts aren’t as good as you’d hoped. To extend Watts’ metaphor, you may find that these early attempts have wonky legs and an unsteady seat. There are lots of great books aimed at new fiction writers, and I’d strongly recommend buying or borrowing one of these:

• Wannabe a Writer? (Jane Wenham-Jones)
• Teach Yourself … Writing a Novel (Nigel Watts)
• How to Write Fiction (and Think About It) (Robert Graham)
• On Writing (Stephen King)

I’d also recommend starting small. Rather than beginning with an epic fantasy trilogy, a family saga spanning five generations, or an entire adventure series … have a go at a short story or a poem.

And if you end up chewing your pen and staring at a sheet of paper, or gazing at a blank screen for hours, try kickstarting your writing with a short exercise. Don’t stop to think too much about it … just get going, without worrying about the quality of the work you produce.

Tips and tricks for beginners

• Do some short exercises to stretch your writing muscles – if you’re short of ideas, read the Daily Writing Tips article on “Writing Bursts”. Many new creative writers find that doing the washing up or weeding the garden suddenly looks appealing, compared to the effort of sitting down and putting words onto the page. Force yourself to get through these early doubts, and it really will get easier. Try to get into the habit of writing every day, even if it’s just for ten minutes.
• If you’re stuck for ideas, carry a notebook everywhere and write down your observations. You’ll get some great lines of dialogue by keeping your ears open on the bus or in cafes, and an unusual phrase may be prompted by something you see or smell.
• Work out the time of day when you’re at your most creative. For many writers, this is first thing in the morning – before all the demands of the day jostle for attention. Others write well late at night, after the rest of the family have gone to bed. Don’t be afraid to experiment!
• Don’t agonize over getting it right. All writers have to revise and edit their work – it’s rare that a story, scene or even a sentence comes out perfectly the first time. Once you’ve completed the initial draft, leave the piece for a few days – then come back to it fresh, with a red pen in hand. If you know there are problems with your story but can’t pinpoint them, ask a fellow writer to read through it and give feedback.
• HAVE FUN! Sometimes, we writers can end up feeling that our writing is a chore, something that “must” be done, or something to procrastinate over for as long as possible. If your plot seems wildly far-fetched, your characters bore you to tears and you’re convinced that a five-year old with a crayon could write better prose … take a break. Start a completely new project, something which is purely for fun. Write a poem or a 60-word “mini saga”. Just completing a small finished piece can help if you’re bogged down in a longer story.

Online resources

NaNoWriMo
Every November, hundreds of thousands of people just like you do something extraordinary: they write a novel in just thirty days. Want to be part of the coffee-fueled, manic-typing, adrenaline-rush that is National Novel Writing Month? (NaNoWriMo for short). Make sure you sign up by October 31st. The “rules” state that you can’t start writing Chapter 1 until 00.01am on November 1st but you can spend as long as you like before that planning…

Authors’ websites and blogs
I read lots of websites and blogs written by authors and these give real (sometimes harsh) insights into what it’s like to write professionally. One which has been a strong favourite of mine for many years is Holly Lisle’s. Check out her
advice for writers and her weblog. She also has an excellent newsletter which I subscribe to, and some very thorough and helpful e-books on various aspects of writing available for purchase.

Competitions listings
Having a theme and a deadline can make a startling difference to a writer’s motivation! If you’re in the UK, Sally Quilford’s competition listings are a comprehensive and regularly-updated list.

I Should Be Writing podcast
This is a practical and inspiring podcast: I Should Be Writing by Mur Lafferty. She describes the podcast as “For wanna-be fiction writers, by a wanna-be fiction writer” (though since starting it several years ago, she’s had considerable success selling her short stories) and focuses on science fiction and fantasy.

http://www.dailywritingtips.com/creative-writing-101/

World's Funniest Joke

The "world's funniest joke" is a term used by Richard Wiseman of the University of Hertfordshire in 2002 to summarize one of the results of his research. For his experiment, named LaughLab, he created a website where people could rate and submit jokes. Purposes of the research included discovering the joke that had the widest appeal and understanding among different cultures, demographics and countries.The History Channel eventually hosted a special on the subject.

The winning joke, which was later found to be based on a 1951 Goon Show sketch by Spike Milligan, was submitted by Gurpal Gosal of Manchester:

Two hunters are out in the woods when one of them collapses. He doesn't seem to be breathing and his eyes are glazed. The other guy whips out his phone and calls the emergency services. He gasps, "My friend is dead! What can I do?" The operator says "Calm down. I can help. First, let's make sure he's dead." There is a silence, then a gun shot is heard. Back on the phone, the guy says "OK, now what?"