From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia

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	== See ==		== See ==
-	*[[Culture of the United Kingdom]]	+	*[[Culture of the United Kingdom]]{{GFDL}}
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-	== By medium ==	+
-	[[British art]] - [[British cinema]] - [[British literature]] [[British philosophy]] - [[British music]]	+
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-	== By sensibility ==	+
-	[[British erotica]] - [[British exploitation]]	+
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-	== Various ==	+
-	[[Archigram]] - [[English]] - [[Industrial Revolution (started in the UK)]] - [[London]] - [[Oz (magazine) ]]	+
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-	== By era ==	+
-	[[Mod movement]] - [[swinging London]] - [[Victorian era]]	+
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-	==The Arts==	+
-	===Literature===	+
-	The earliest native literature of the territory of the modern United Kingdom was written in the [[Celtic languages]] of the isles. The Welsh literary tradition stretches from the [[6th century]]. [[Irish poetry]] also represents a more or less unbroken tradition from the 6th century to the present day, with the [[Ulster Cycle]] being of particular relevance to Northern Ireland.	+
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-	[[Anglo-Saxon literature]] includes ''[[Beowulf]]'', a [[national epic]], but literature in [[Latin]] predominated among educated elites. After the [[Norman Conquest]] [[Anglo-Norman literature]] brought continental influences to the isles.	+
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-	[[English literature]] emerged as a recognisable entity in the late [[14th century]], with the rise and spread of the [[London]] [[dialect]] of [[Middle English]]. [[Geoffrey Chaucer]] is the first great identifiable individual in English literature: his ''[[Canterbury Tales]]'' remains a popular 14th-century work which readers still enjoy today.	+
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-	Following the introduction of the [[printing press]] into England by [[William Caxton]] in [[1476]], the [[Elizabethan era]] saw a great flourishing of literature, especially in the fields of [[poetry]] and [[drama]]. From this period, poet and playwright [[William Shakespeare]] stands out as arguably the most famous writer in the world.	+
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-	The [[English novel]] became a popular form in the [[18th century]], with [[Daniel Defoe]]'s ''[[Robinson Crusoe]]'' ([[1719]]), [[Samuel Richardson]]'s ''[[Pamela]]'' ([[1740]]) and [[Henry Fielding]]'s ''[[The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling|Tom Jones]]'' ([[1745]]).	+
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-	After a period of decline, the poetry of [[Robert Burns]] revived interest in [[vernacular literature]], the ''rhyming weavers'' of Ulster being especially influenced by literature in Scots from Scotland.	+
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-	The following two centuries continued a huge outpouring of literary production. In the early 19th century, the [[Romanticism|Romantic]] period showed a flowering of poetry comparable with the Renaissance two hundred years earlier, with such poets as [[William Blake]], [[William Wordsworth]], [[John Keats]], and [[George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron|Lord Byron]]. The [[Victorian era|Victorian period]] was the golden age of the [[Literary realism|realistic]] English novel, represented by [[Jane Austen]], the Brontë sisters ([[Charlotte Brontë|Charlotte]], [[Emily Brontë|Emily]] and [[Anne Brontë|Anne]]), [[Charles Dickens]], [[William Thackeray]], [[George Eliot]], and [[Thomas Hardy]].	+
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-	[[World War I]] gave rise to British [[war poets]] and writers such as [[Wilfred Owen]], [[Siegfried Sassoon]], [[Robert Graves]] and [[Rupert Brooke]] who wrote (often [[paradox]]ically), of their expectations of war, and/or their experiences in the trench.	+
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-	The [[Celtic Revival]] stimulated new appreciation of traditional Irish literature, however, with the independence of the [[Irish Free State]], [[Irish literature]] came to be seen as more clearly separate from the strains of British literature. The [[Scottish Renaissance]] of the early 20th century brought modernism to Scottish literature as well as an interest in new forms in the literatures of Scottish Gaelic and Scots.	+
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-	The English novel developed in the [[20th century]] into much greater variety and was greatly enriched by immigrant writers. It remains today the dominant English literary form.	+
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-	Other well-known [[novelist]]s include [[Arthur Conan Doyle]], [[D. H. Lawrence]], [[George Orwell]], [[Salman Rushdie]], [[Mary Shelley]], [[J. R. R. Tolkien]], [[Virginia Woolf]] and [[J.K. Rowling]].	+
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-	Important poets include [[Elizabeth Barrett Browning]], [[T. S. Eliot]], [[Ted Hughes]], [[John Milton]], [[Alfred Tennyson]], [[Rudyard Kipling]], [[Alexander Pope]], and [[Dylan Thomas]].	+
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-	===Theatre===	+
-	The United Kingdom also has a vibrant tradition of [[theatre]]. Theatre was introduced to the UK from [[Europe]] by the [[Roman Empire|Romans]] and [[auditorium]]s were constructed across the country for this purpose.	+
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-	By the [[medieval]] period theatre had developed with the [[Mummers Play|mummers' plays]], a form of early street theatre associated with the [[Morris dance]], concentrating on themes such as [[Saint George]] and the [[European dragon|Dragon]] and [[Robin Hood]]. These were [[folk tale]]s re-telling old stories, and the [[actor]]s travelled from town to town performing these for their audiences in return for money and hospitality. The medieval [[mystery play]]s and [[morality play]]s, which dealt with Christian themes, were performed at religious festivals.	+
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-	The reign of [[Elizabeth I of England|Elizabeth I]] in the late [[16th century|16th]] and early [[17th century]] saw a flowering of the drama and all the arts. Perhaps the most famous [[playwright]] in the world, [[William Shakespeare]], wrote around 40 plays that are still performed in theatres across the world to this day. They include tragedies, such as ''[[Hamlet]]'' ([[1603]]), ''[[Othello]]'' ([[1604]]), and ''[[King Lear]]'' ([[1605]]); comedies, such as ''[[A Midsummer Night's Dream]]'' ([[1594]]—[[1596|96]]) and ''[[Twelfth Night]]'' ([[1602]]); and history plays, such as ''[[Henry IV, part 1|Henry IV, part 1—2]]''. The Elizabethan age is sometimes nicknamed "the age of Shakespeare" for the amount of influence he held over the era. Other important Elizabethan and 17th-century playwrights include [[Ben Jonson]], [[Christopher Marlowe]], and [[John Webster]].	+
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-	During the [[Interregnum]] [[1642]]—[[1660]], English theatres were kept closed by the [[Puritan]]s for religious and ideological reasons. When the London theatres opened again with the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, they flourished under the personal interest and support of [[Charles II of England|Charles II]]. Wide and socially mixed audiences were attracted by topical writing and by the introduction of the first professional actresses (in Shakespeare's time, all female roles had been played by boys). New [[genres]] of the Restoration were [[heroic drama]], [[she-tragedy|pathetic drama]], and [[Restoration comedy]]. The Restoration plays that have best retained the interest of producers and audiences today are the comedies, such as [[William Wycherley]]'s ''[[The Country Wife]]'' ([[1676]]), ''[[The Rover (play)|The Rover]]'' ([[1677]]) by the first professional woman playwright, [[Aphra Behn]], [[John Vanbrugh]]'s ''[[The Relapse]]'' ([[1696]]), and [[William Congreve (playwright)|William Congreve]]'s ''[[The Way of the World]]'' ([[1700]]). Restoration comedy is famous or notorious for its [[sexual]] explicitness, a quality encouraged by [[Charles II of England|Charles II]] (1660–[[1685]]) personally and by the [[rake|rakish]] [[aristocratic]] ethos of his [[court]].	+
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-	In the 18th century, the highbrow and provocative Restoration comedy lost favour, to be replaced by [[Sentimentalism|sentimental]] [[comedy]], domestic [[tragedy]] such as George Lillo's [[The London Merchant]] ([[1731]]), and by an overwhelming interest in Italian [[opera]]. Popular entertainment became more important in this period than ever before, with fair-booth burlesque and mixed forms that are the ancestors of the English [[music hall]]. These forms flourished at the expense of legitimate English drama, which went into a long period of decline. By the early 19th century it was no longer represented by stage plays at all, but by the [[closet drama]], plays written to be privately read in a "closet" (a small domestic room).	+
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-	A change came in the late [[19th century]] with the plays on the London stage by the Irishmen [[George Bernard Shaw]] and [[Oscar Wilde]] and the Norwegian [[Henrik Ibsen]], all of whom influenced domestic English drama and vitalised it again.	+
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-	Today the [[West End of London]] has a large number of theatres, particularly centred around [[Shaftesbury Avenue]]. A prolific composer of the [[20th century]] [[Andrew Lloyd Webber]] has dominated the West End for a number of years and his [[musical theater|musicals]] have travelled to [[Broadway theater|Broadway]] in [[New York]] and around the world, as well as being turned into [[film]]s.	+
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-	The [[Royal Shakespeare Company]] operates out of Shakespeare's birthplace [[Stratford-upon-Avon]] in [[England]], producing mainly but not exclusively Shakespeare's plays.	+
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-	Important modern [[playwright]]s include [[Alan Ayckbourn]], [[John Osborne]], [[Harold Pinter]], [[Tom Stoppard]], and [[Arnold Wesker]].	+
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-	===Music===	+
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-	Composers [[William Byrd]], [[Thomas Tallis]], [[John Taverner]], [[John Blow]], [[Henry Purcell]], [[Edward Elgar]], [[Arthur Sullivan]], [[William Walton]], [[Ralph Vaughan Williams]], [[Benjamin Britten]] and [[Michael Tippett]] have made major contributions to British music, and are known internationally. Living composers include [[John Tavener]], [[Harrison Birtwistle]],	+
-	[[Andrew Lloyd Webber]], and [[Oliver Knussen]].	+
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-	Britain also supports a number of major orchestras including the [[BBC Symphony Orchestra]], the [[Royal Philharmonic Orchestra]], the [[Philharmonia]], the [[London Symphony Orchestra]] and the [[London Philharmonic Orchestra]]. Because of its location and other economic factors, [[London]] is one of the most important cities for music in the world: it has several important concert halls and is also home to the [[Royal Opera House]], one of the world's leading [[opera]] houses. British traditional music has also been very influential abroad.	+
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-	The UK was, with the US, one of the two main countries in the development of [[rock and roll]], and has provided bands including [[The Beatles]], [[the Rolling Stones]], [[Led Zeppelin]], [[The Who]], [[Pink Floyd]], [[Queen (band)|Queen]], [[Elton John]], [[David Bowie]], [[Judas Priest]], [[Iron Maiden]], [[Status Quo]], [[The Smiths]], the [[Sex Pistols]], [[The Clash]], the [[Manic Street Preachers]], [[Duran Duran]], [[The Cure]], [[Oasis (band)|Oasis]], [[Blur (band)|Blur]], [[Radiohead]] and [[Coldplay]]. It has provided inspiration for many modern bands today, including [[Kaiser Chiefs]], [[Bloc Party]], [[Babyshambles]], [[The Libertines]], [[Arctic Monkeys]] and [[Franz Ferdinand (band)|Franz Ferdinand]]. Since then it has also pioneered in various forms of [[electronic dance music]] including [[acid house]], [[drum and bass]] and [[trip hop]], all of which were in whole or part developed in the United Kingdom. Acclaimed British dance acts include [[Underworld (band)|Underworld]], [[Orbital (band)|Orbital]], [[Massive Attack]], [[The KLF]], [[The Prodigy]], [[The Chemical Brothers]] and [[Portishead]].	+
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-	===Broadcasting===	+
-	Britain has been at the forefront of developments in [[film]], [[radio]], and [[television]].	+
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-	Many important films have been produced in Britain over the last century, and a large number of significant actors and film-makers have emerged. Currently the main film production centres are at [[Shepperton]] and [[Pinewood Studios]].	+
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-	Broadcasting in Britain has historically been dominated by the [[BBC]], although independent radio and television have become more important in recent years.	+
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-	===Visual art===	+
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-	The [[English Renaissance]], starting in the early [[16th century]], was a parallel to the [[Italian Renaissance]], but did not develop in exactly the same way. It was mainly concerned with music and literature; in art and architecture the change was not as clearly defined as in the continent. Painters from the continent continued to find work in Britain, and brought the new styles with them, especially the Flemish and Italian Renaissance styles.	+
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-	As a reaction to [[abstract expressionism]], [[pop art]] emerged originally in England at the end of the 1950s.	+
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-	New York-born [[Sir Jacob Epstein]] was a pioneer of modern [[sculpture]], boldly challenging [[taboo]]s through his public works.	+
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-	Notable visual artists from the United Kingdom include [[John Constable]], [[Joshua Reynolds|Sir Joshua Reynolds]], [[Thomas Gainsborough]], [[William Blake]] and [[J.M.W. Turner]]. In the [[20th century]], [[Francis Bacon (painter)|Francis Bacon]], [[David Hockney]], [[Bridget Riley]], and the [[pop art]]ists [[Richard Hamilton (artist)|Richard Hamilton]] and [[Peter Blake (artist)|Peter Blake]] were of note.	+
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-	More recently, the so-called [[Young British Artists]] have gained some notoriety, particularly [[Damien Hirst]] and [[Tracey Emin]].	+
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-	Notable illustrators include [[Aubrey Beardsley]], [[Roger Hargreaves]], and [[Beatrix Potter]].	+
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-	Notable arts institutions include the [[Allied Artists' Association]], [[Royal College of Art]], [[Artists' Rifles]], [[Royal Society of Arts]], [[New English Art Club]], [[Slade School of Art]], [[Royal Academy]], and the [[Tate Gallery]].	+
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-	{{see also|English art}}	+
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-	=== Architecture ===	+
-	Following the [[English Restoration|restoration]] of the monarchy in [[1660]] and the [[Great Fire of London]] in [[1666]] an opportunity was missed in [[London]] to create a new [[metropolis|metropolitan]] [[city]], featuring modern architectural styles. Although one of the best known British architects, Sir [[Christopher Wren]], was employed to design and rebuild many of the ruined ancient churches of London, his master plan for rebuilding London as a whole was rejected. It was in this period that he designed the building that he is perhaps best known for, [[St Paul's Cathedral]].	+
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-	In the early [[18th century]] [[baroque]] architecture—popular in Europe—was introduced, and [[Blenheim Palace]] was built in this era. However, baroque was quickly replaced by a return of the Palladian form. The [[Georgian architecture]] of the [[18th century]] was an evolved form of Palladianism. Many existing buildings such as [[Woburn Abbey]] and [[Kedleston Hall]] are in this style. Among the many architects of this form of architecture and its successors, [[neoclassicism|neoclassical]] and [[Romanticism|romantic]], were [[Robert Adam]], Sir [[William Chambers (architect)|William Chambers]], and [[James Wyatt]].	+
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-	In the early [[19th century]] the romantic [[medieval]] [[Gothic revival|gothic]] style appeared as a backlash to the [[symmetry]] of Palladianism, and such buildings as [[Fonthill Abbey]] were built. By the middle of the [[19th century]], as a result of new [[technology]], construction was able to develop incorporating [[steel]] as a building component; one of the greatest exponents of this was [[Joseph Paxton]], architect of [[the Crystal Palace]]. Paxton also continued to build such houses as [[Mentmore Towers]], in the still popular retrospective [[English Renaissance|Renaissance]] styles. In this era of prosperity and development British architecture embraced many new methods of construction, but ironically in style, such architects as [[August Pugin]] ensured it remained firmly in the past.	+
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-	At the beginning of the [[20th century]] a new form of design [[arts and crafts]] became popular, the architectural form of this style, which had evolved from the [[19th century]] designs of such architects as [[George Devey]], was championed by [[Edwin Lutyens]]. Arts and crafts in architecture is symbolized by an informal, non symmetrical form, often with [[mullion]]ed or [[lattice]] windows, multiple [[gable]]s and tall chimneys. This style continued to evolve until [[World War II]].	+
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-	Following the [[Second World War]] reconstruction went through a variety of phases, but was heavily influenced by [[Modernism]], especially from the late [[1950s]] to the early [[1970s]]. Many bleak town centre redevelopments—criticised for featuring hostile, [[concrete]]-lined "windswept plazas"—were the fruit of this interest, as were many equally bleak public buildings, such as the [[Hayward Gallery]]. Many Modernist inspired town centres are today in the process of being redeveloped, [[Bracknell]] town centre being a case in point.	+
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-	However, it should not be forgotten that in the immediate post-War years many thousands (perhaps hundreds of thousands) of [[council house]]s in vernacular style were built, giving [[working class]] people their first experience of private [[garden]]s and indoor [[sanitation]].	+
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-	Modernism remains a significant force in UK architecture, although its influence is felt predominantly in commercial buildings. The two most prominent proponents are [[Lord Rogers of Riverside]] and [[Norman Foster, Baron Foster of Thames Bank|Lord Foster of Thames Bank]]. Rogers' iconic London buildings are probably [[Lloyd's Building]] and the [[Millennium Dome]], while Foster created the [[30 St Mary Axe|Swiss Re Buildings]] (aka The Gherkin) and the [[City Hall (London)|Greater London Authority H.Q]].	+
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-	== See ==	+
-	* [[Censorship in the United Kingdom]]	+
-	* [[English erotica]]	+
-	{{GFDL}}	+

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Revision as of 14:25, 18 August 2007

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