An Objective History of English Literature Through -- Dr. B. B. Jain -- 2015 -- Upkar Prakashan -- 9788174822055 -- c1fab94a285d3378c1bef03a8777d44a -- Anna’s Archive.pdf

By Dr. B. B. Jain UPKAR PRAKASHAN, AGRA–2 © Author Publishers UPKAR PRAKASHAN (An ISO 9001 : 2000 Company) 2/11A, Swadeshi Bima Nagar, AGRA–282 002 Phone : 4053333, 2530966, 2531101 Fax : (0562) 4053330, 4031570 E-mail : [email protected] Website : www.upkar.in Branch Offices 4845, Ansari Road, Daryaganj, New Delhi—110 002 Phone : 011–23251844/66 1-8-1/B, R.R. Complex (Near Sundaraiah Park, Adjacent to Manasa Enclave Gate), Bagh Lingampally, Hyderabad—500 044 (A.P.) Phone : 040–66753330 Pirmohani Chowk, Kadamkuan, Patna—800 003 Phone : 0612–2673340 The publishers have taken all possible precautions in publishing this book, yet if any mistake has crept in, the publishers shall not be responsible for the same. This book or any part thereof may not be reproduced in any form by Photographic, Mechanical, or any other method, for any use, without written permission from the Publishers. Only the courts at Agra shall have the jurisdiction for any legal dispute. ISBN : 978-81-7482-205-5 Code No. 1578 PREFACE What is the justification for bringing out a complete Objective History of English Literature through Multiple-Choice Questions ? The justification lies in the fact that recently all Service Commissions, Recruitment Boards and UGC have started conducting their competitive examinations through the pattern of Objective-cumMultiple-Choice Questions. Many Universities have also started setting one full Question on the same pattern in each Paper at the Post-Graduate level. As such, this Book would be immensely useful, even indispensable, for all candidates preparing for NET/JRF/SET and PGT, TGT, PG and Ph.D. Entrance Test and equivalent competitive examinations. As far as my knowledge goes, no other complete History of English Literature designed on this pattern is available in the market. As the Contents would show, all the important phases and aspects of English Literature have been fully brought out and discussed in the Book in the Objective Form. All the literary Ages from the Chaucerian to the Modern Age, all literary Schools and Movements, all literary Forms of Poetry, Drama, Prose, Novel, and Criticism, and all the major Authors individually from Chaucer to T.S. Eliot have been fully analysed and evaluated on the same Multiple-Choice pattern. Two small Sections on Rhetoric and Prosody and Figures of Speech have also been given. It is thus earnestly hoped and believed that everything that a sincere candidate preparing for the above noted competitive examinations would need would be found in this Book. —Dr. B. B. Jain CONTENTS Section 1 : The Literary Ages 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. The Age of Chaucer : Major Authors and Their Works………………… 4 The Elizabethan Age : Major Authors and Their Works……………….. 6 The Caroline and Restoration Ages : Major Authors and Their Works… 9 The Augustan Age : Major Authors and Their Works………………….. 12 The Romantic Age : Major Authors and Their Works………………….. 15 The Victorian Age : Major Authors and Their Works……………….…. 19 The Modern Age : Major Authors and Their Works………………..….. 24 Multiple-Choice Questions on the Literary Ages……………….... 30–33 Section 2 : Literary Schools and Movements 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 34–48 The Renaissance…………………..…………………..………………… 35 The Reformation…………………..…………………..………………… 36 The University Wits…………………..…………………..…………….. 37 The Metaphysical School of Poets…………………..………………….. 38 The Graveyard School of Poetry…………………..……………………. 39 The Neo-Classical or Augustan School of Poetry…………………..….. 40 The Romantic Movement…………………..…………………..…….…. 41 The Oxford Movement…………………..…………………..………….. 42 The Pre-Raphaelite School of Poetry…………………..……………….. 43 The Aesthetic Movement…………………..………………………..….. 44 Multiple-Choice Questions on Literary Schools and Movements 44–48 Section 3 : Poetry and Its Major Forms 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 3–33 49–68 The Epics…………………..…………………..…………………….….. 49 The Mock-Epics…………………..…………………..……………..….. 49 The Sonnets…………………..…………………..……………………... 50 The Odes, Lyrics and Pastorals…………………..……………….…….. 50 The Elegies…………………..…………………..…………………..….. 51 The Ballads…………………..…………………..…………………..….. 52 The Satires…………………..…………………..……………………..... 52 Multiple-Choice Questions on Poetry and Its Major Forms……. 54–68 ( vi ) Section 4 : Drama and Its Major Forms 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 69–93 Morality, Miracle, Mystery Plays and Interludes…………………….. The Tragedies…………………..…………………..……..………….. The Melodramas…………………..…………………..…………….... The Tragi-Comedies…………………..…………………..………….. The Romantic Comedies…………………..…………………..……… The Comedies of Humours…………………..……………………….. The Comedies of Manners…………………..…………………...…… The Sentimental Comedies…………………..……………………….. The Masques…………………..…………………..………………….. The Poetic Plays…………………..…………………..………..…….. The Dramatic Monologues…………………..……………………….. The Problem Plays…………………..…………………..……….….... Multiple-Choice Questions on all Forms of Drama………….... 69 70 71 72 72 73 73 74 74 75 76 76 77–93 Section 5 : Prose and Its Major Forms…………………..………… 94–105 1. 2. 3. 4. Great Prose Works and Their Authors…………………..……….…… 94 Essays and Periodical Journals…………………..……………….…... 96 Biographies and Their Authors…………………..………………..….. 97 Autobiographies and Memoirs…………………..………………..….. 98 Multiple-Choice Questions on all Forms of Prose…………….. 98–105 Section 6 : Novel and Its Major Forms 1. 2. 3. 106–119 Prose Romances…………………..…………………..…..……….….. 106 Travelogues…………………..…………………..…………..……….. 106 Great Novels and Their Authors…………………..………………….. 107 Multiple-Choice Questions on all Forms of Novels……….…… 113–119 Section 7 : Literary Theories and Major Schools of Criticism 120–127 1. 2. Greek, Roman and French Critics………………..…………..………. 120 Major English Critics and Their Works………………………………. 120 Multiple-Choice Questions on all Forms of Criticism……..….. 122–127 Section 8 : Some Major Authors and Multiple-Choice Questions on Them 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 128–209 Chaucer…………………..…………………..……………………….. William Shakespeare…………………..………………….………….. Edmund Spenser……………..…………………..……………..…….. John Milton…………………..…………………..…………….….….. John Dryden…………………..…………………..………………….. 128 130 135 137 141 ( vii ) 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. 14. 15. 16. 17. 18. 19. 20. 21. 22. 23. 24. 25. 26. 27. 28. 29. 30. 31. 32. 33. 34. 35. 36. 37. 38. William Wordsworth…………………..…………………..………….. S. T. Coleridge…………………..…………………..……………….... P. B. Shelley…………………..…………………..……………….….. John Keats…………………..…………………..………………….….. Lord Byron…………………..…………………..………………...…... Charles Lamb…………………..…………………..……………...…... Charles Dickens…………………..…………………..…………….…. Alfred Lord Tennyson…………………..………………………….…. Robert Browning…………………..…………………..…………..….. Matthew Arnold…………………..…………………..……………...... Thomas Hardy…………………..…………………..……………..….. D. H. Lawrence…………………..…………………..………….…….. W. B. Yeats…………………..…………………..…………….…..….. George Bernard Shaw…………………..……………………….…….. T. S. Eliot…………………..…………………..……………….….….. Francis Becon……………..…………………..…………..……….….. Ben Jonson……………..…………………..…………………...….….. Alexander Pope……………..…………………..………………….….. Joseph Addison and Richard Steele…………..…………………..…… Dr. Samuel Johnson……………..…………………..………….….….. Henry Fielding and His Fellow Novelists…………..……………….... Oliver Goldsmith……………..…………………..………….…….….. Sir Walter Scott……………..…………………..………………….….. Jone Austen……………..…………………..…………………..….….. John Galsworthy ……………..…………………..……………..…….. Robert Frost (1874–1963)……………..…………………..……….….. Walt Whitman (1819–1892)……………..………………………...….. Ernest Hemingway (1898–1961)…………..………………….…..…... William Faulkner (1897–1962)…………..………………….…..……. R. K. Narayan……………..…………………..…………………...….. Mulk Raj Anand……………..…………………..………………...….. Kamla Das……………..…………………..………………….…..…... Nissim Ezekiel……………..…………………..……………….….….. 143 147 150 152 155 157 159 161 164 166 169 172 174 176 179 181 184 185 187 188 190 191 193 195 196 199 199 200 200 205 205 206 206 Section 9 : Rhetoric and Prosody Multiple-Choice Questions on Them…..…………………….….….. 210–212 Section 10 : Figures of Speech Multiple-Choice Questions on Them…..……………...…….……… 213–216 An Objective History of English Literature (Through Multiple-Choice Questions) Section 1 The Literary Ages Age-wise Complete List Of The Major Authors and Their Works 1. The Age of Chaucer 2. The Elizabethan Age 3. The Caroline and Restoration Ages 4. The Augustan Age 5. The Romantic Age 6. The Victorian Age 7. The Modern Age 1 The Age of Chaucer In the literary history, the Age of Chaucer is dated from 1340 to 1400 because in 1340 Chaucer was born and in 1400 Chaucer died. But in the history of England, this Age covers the reigns of three English monarchs, Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV. It was the Medieval period in the history of England. This was a period of glaring social contrasts and rapid political changes. In the words of W.H. Hudson, “Edward’s reign marks the highest development of medieval civilization in England. It was also the midsummer of English chivalry. The spirit of his Court was that of romantic idealism which fills Chaucer’s own Knight’s Tale, and the story of his successive wars with France, and the famous victories of Crecy and Poictiers, as written in the Chronicles of Froissart, reads more like a brilliant novel than a piece of sober history. Strong in its newly established unity, England went forth on its career of foreign conquests in a mood of buoyant courage, and every fresh triumph served to give further stimulus to national ambition and pride.” But there was another side of the picture too. It was a dark and dismal side of social contrasts. With the increase of trade, the commercial classes rolled in wealth and lived in extravagant luxury. So did the royal families and the nobility. The masses of the people lived in deplorable poverty and misery. Further, epidemic after epidemic ravaged the country. The fierce plague, called the Black Death, broke out in 1348-49. In this epidemic nearly one-third of the population of England died in a single year. The plague reappeared in 1362, 1367 and 1370 with the same fierceness. These epidemics were followed by a fierce famine. These events took away much of the glory of England. This was followed by a period of unprecedented degradation, hypocrisy and corruption. Its worst phase was seen in the corruption of the Church and the Clergy. This phase of corruption has been realistically painted by Chaucer in the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales in the portraits of the Monk, the Friar, the Sumnour, the Pardoner, and the Parson. This was the shocking state of things in the religious world in England in Chaucer’s Age. In this Chapter, however, we have discussed some authors before the Age of Chaucer and some authors after Chaucer roughly upto the end of the 15th Century. Major Authors and Their Works of Chaucer’s Age King James I of Scotland (1394-1437) The King’s Quair Peblis to the Play Christis Kirk on the Green John Lydgate (1370-1451) Falles of Princes The Temple of Glass Story of Thebes London Lickpenny Sir Thomas Malory (15th Century) Morte d’ Arthur Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) Utopia (English Version) Tottel : Miscellany William Tyndale (1485-1536) New Testament English Literature | 5 Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400) The Boke of the Duchesse The Romaunt of the Rose The House of Fame Troylus Cryseyde The Canterbury Tales Legends of Good Women The Parliament of Fouls William Langland (1330-1400) Piers the Plowman (A Vision) A Treatise on the Astrolabe John Gower (1332-1408) Confessio Amantis Vox Clamantis Speclum Meditantis Wyclif (1320-1384) The Bible Sir John Maundevill (14th Century) The Travels of Sir John Maundevill Thomas Occleve (1370-1450) The Governail of Princes Occleve’s Complaint La Mala Regle The Complaint of Our Lady. William Dunbar (1465-1530) The Thistle and the Rose Dance of the Seven Deadly Sins Roger Ascham (1515-1568) The Scholemaster Nicholas Udall (1505-1556) Roister Doister John Heywood (1564-1627) Four P’s Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton : (1536-1608) (1532-1584) Gorboduc John Still (1543-1608) Gammer Gurton’s Needle John Barbour (1316-1395) Bruce Sir David Lyndsay (1490-1555) The Dreme Meldrum Estaits Robert Henryson (15th Century) Morall Fabillis of Esope The Testament of Cressied Orpheus and Eurydice Gowain Douglas (1474-1522) The Palace of Honour King Hart Conscience Stephen Hawes (?-1523) The Passetyme of Pleasure The Example of Virtue A Joyfull Medytacyon Alexander Barclay (1475-1552) Ship of Fools Certayne Ecloges John Skelton (1460-1529) Garland of Laurell Dirge on Edward IV Magnificence 2 The Elizabethan Age (1558-1625) “What we call the Elizabethan Age in the history of England, we call it the Age of Shakespeare in the history of English Literature. It is also called the Age of Renaissance. In the sphere of religion, it is called the Age of Reformation. In literary spirit, it covers the reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I. It is rightly called the Golden Period in the history of England as also in the history of English Literature. W. H. Hudson says, “By virtue of its wonderful fertility and of the variety and splendour of its production, this period as a whole ranks as one of the greatest in the annals of the world’s literature.” The Elizabethan Age is predominantly the age of Renaissance in all spheres of Art, Literature, Culture and Architecture. The term ‘Renaissance’ means the rebirth or revival of classical Greek and Italian Art, Literature and Culture that reached England through Germany and France. Greek and Italian models began to be imitated or even copied in England. The great Greek authors became the models for practically all forms of literature. Homer became the model for writing Epics; Sophocles, Euripides and Aeschylus for Tragedies, Virgil for Pastorals; Plato and Aristotle for principles of philosophy and literary criticism, and so on. The English authors felt proud in being able to imitate the classical models. So Pope wrote in his Essay on Criticism : “Know well each Ancient’s proper character, His fable, subject, scope in every page; ……………………………………………… Be Homer’s works your study and delight, Read them by day, and meditate by night.” But this does not mean that the Elizabethan poets, dramatists and other authors were mere imitators. However, the general atmosphere was charged with the spirit of the Renaissance. Another important current that flowed along with the Renaissance was that of Reformation in religion. Reformation sought to rescue religion from the age-old superstitions and unnecessary rituals. It was also an Age of new discoveries and explorations of new lands through adventurous voyages. It was equally an Age of intense patriotism. The English people were proud of their country and her achievements. This spirit of national pride and patriotism finds expression in practically all literary productions of the Age. Here is an example of intense patriotism expressed in one of Shakespeare’s historical plays : “This royal throne of Kings, this sceptred isle, This earth of majesty, this seat of Mars, This other Eden, demi-paradise ! This happy breed of men, this little world, This precious stone set in the silver sea ! This blessed plot, this earth, this realm, This England ! English Literature | 7 Major Authors and Their Works of the Elizabethan Age Edmund Spenser (1552-1599) The Faerie Queene The Shepheardes Calendar Amoretti Epithalamion Prothalamion Mother Hubberd’s Tale The Ruins of Time The Tears of the Muses Astrophel Phillip Sidney (1554-1586) Arcadia Astrophel and Stella An Apologie for Poetrie Ben Jonson (1573-1637) Every Man in His Humour Every Man Out of His Humour Volpone Or the Fox Cynthia’s Revels The Alchemist Bartholomew Fayre Epicaene or the Silent Women Sejanus His Fall Catline His Conspiracy The Poetaster The Devil as an Ass The Masque of Beauty Daniel (1562-1619) Delia Civil Wars between the Two Houses of Lancaster and York Michael Drayton (1563-1631) The Battle of Agincourt England’s Heroic Epistles The Barons’ Wars Polyolbion William Warner (1558-1609) Albion’s England Thomas Sackville (1536-1608) The Myrroure for Magistrates, Gorboduc (in collaboration with Thomas Norton) Thomas Norton (1532-1584) Gorboduc (in collaboration with Sackville) George Gascoigne (1525-1577) Steel Glass Supposes Jocasta William Shakespeare (1564-1616) The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Merry Wives of Windsor Measure for Measure The Comedy of Errors Love’s Labour’s Lost The Taming of the Shrew All’s Well that Ends Well A Midsummer Night’s Dream The Merchant of Venice Much Ado About Nothing As You Like It Twelfth Night Romeo and Juliet Macbeth Hamlet King Lear Othello Antony and Cleopatra Julius Caesar Timon of Athens Coriolanus Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida King John King Richard the Second King Henry the Fourth-Part First King Henry the Fourth-Second Part King Henry the Fifth King Henry the Sixth-First Part King Henry the Sixth-Second Part King Henry the Sixth-Third Part King Richard the Third King Henry the Eighth Cymbeline Pericles The Winter’s Tale The Tempest 8 | English Literature Venus and Adonis and Rape of Lucrece (Narrative Poems) Sonnets (154 in number). Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) Tamburlaine the Great Edward II Doctor Faustus The Jew of Malta The Tragedy of Dido, Queen of Carthage. George Peele (1558-1597) The Araygnement of Paris The Famous Chronicle of King Edward I Robert Greene (1560-1592) Frier Bacon and Frier Bungey Orlando Furioso Pandosto Thomas Nash (1567-1601) The Unfortunate Traveller Or The Life of Jack Wilton Thomas Lodge (1558–1625) The Wounds of Civil War Rosalynde Thomas Kyd (1557-1595) The Spanish Tragedy John Lyly (1554-1606) Euphues, The Anatomy of Wit Euphues and His England Endymion Francis Bacon (1561-1626) Essays The Advancement of Learning The New Atlantis Novum Organum John Fletcher (1579-1625) Philaster The Maid’s Tragedy John Webster (1580-1625) The White Devil The Duchess of Malfi The Devil’s Law Case. John Ford (1586-1639) The Broken Heart ’Tis Pity She is a Whore The Lover’s Melancholy Love’s Sacrifice Philip Massinger (1583-1640) A New Way to Pay Old Debts The City Madam The Duke Milaine Thomas Heywood (1575-1650) A Woman Killed with Kindness The English Traveller The Captives Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) A King and No King The Night of the Burning Pestle Roger Ascham (1515-1568) The Schoolemaster Robert Burton (1577-1640) The Anatomy of Melancholy Sir Thomas Browne (1605-1682) Religio Medici Vulgar Errors Hydrotaphia or Urne Burriale Christian Morals Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679) Leviathan Jeremy Taylor (1613-1667) The Liberty of Prophesying Holy Living Holy Dying Thomas Fuller (1608-1661) The Church History of Britain The Worthies of England Good Thoughts and Bad Times Sir Thomas More (1478-1535) Utopia (English Version) Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) History of the World Rephael Holinshed (?-1580) Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland Richard Hakluyt (1552-1616) Discoveries of English Nation Richard Hooker (1554-1600) Ecclesiastical Polity William Webbe (16th Century) Discourse of English Poetrie George Puttenham (16th Century) Arte of English Poesie 3 The Caroline and Restoration Ages After the glorious and glamorous period of Queen Elizabeth, there came a sharp decline in every field of national life. The spirit of Renaissance, the craze for learning, the spirit for daring voyages for the discovery of new lands, and the solidarity of England which had all touched the high water mark during the Elizabethan Age started declining like spent up forces. Many forces of social and political upheavals joined together to weaken and disintegrate the nation. During the reign of Charles I (1625-1649) there occurred the devastating Civil War between the Royalists and the Parliamentarians, which ended in the execution of King Charles I in 1649 and establishment of the Commonwealth under Cromwell (1649-1660). After the death of Cromwell, King Charles II was restored to the throne of England. Charles II had returned from France where he had lived during the regime of the Commonwealth. Therefore he had brought from the French Court foppish manners, outlandish fashions and deplorably low moral values. All these low socio-cultural and moral values were readily adopted by the English Court and nobility, and in course of time they were adopted by the whole country. These low social, cultural and moral values and manners are realistically depicted by Congreve, Wycherley, Vanbrugh, Etheredge, and Farquhar in their comedies of Manners written in this period. Thus it was a period of greatest sociopolitical and religious upheavals in the history of England. Major Authors and Their Works of the Caroline and Restoration Ages Robert Herrick (1591-1674) Noble Numbers Hesperides Thomas Carew (1598-1639) Poems ‘He that loves a rosy cheek’ Sir John Suckling (1600-1642) ‘Ballad upon a Wedding’ ‘Why so pale and wan, Fond Lover ? Richard Lovelace (1618-1658) ‘To Althia from Prison’ Lucasta To Lucasta going to the Wars Andrew Marvell (1621-1678) ‘To His Coy Mistress’ ‘The Rehearsal Transprosed’ ‘Ode upon Cromwell’s Return from Ireland’ New Letters (a Prose Work) George Herbert (1593-1633) The Temple Affliction Easter Wings The Collar Man Richard Crashaw (1613-1649) Carmen Deo Nostro The Infant Morturs Steps to the Temple Francis Quarles (1592-1644) The Religious Emblems John Milton (1608-1674) Paradise Lost (in twelve Books) Paradise Regained 10 | English Literature Comus Lycidas Samson Agonistes L’Allegro Ill Penseroso Areopagitica (Prose Work) Ode on the Morning of Christ’s Nativity Sonnets (including) : ‘On His Blindness’ ‘On the Late Massacre in Piedmont’ ‘When the Assault was Intended to the City’ ‘On His Having Arrived at the Age of Twenty-three’ A large number of Tracts and Pamphlets in support of the Parliament John Donne (1573-1631) Songs and Sonnets Aires and Angels A Nocturnall upon Lucies Day A Valediction : Forbidding Mourning The Extasie Devotions (Sermons in Prose) Ignatius His Enclave (a Prose Work) Of the Progress of the Soul Death’s Duell Abraham Cowley (1618-1667) Pyramus and Thisbe The Mistress The Davideis Pindarique Odes Constantia and Philetus Discourse by Way of Vision Concerning the Government of Cromwell (a Prose Work) Henry Vaughan (1622-1695) Poems Regeneration The Retreat Olor Iscanus Thalia Redivia Silex Scintillans Thomas Traherne (1634-1704) Poems Centuries of Meditations (a Prose Work) Samuel Butler (1612-1680) Hudibras Sir John Denham (1615-1669) Cooper’s Hill Poems John Dryden (1631-1700) (i) Heroic Stanzas on the Death of Oliver Cromwell Astraea Redux (on the Restoration of Charles II) Absalom and Achitophel Religio Laici The Hind and the Panther The Fables Annus Mirabilis The Medal Mac Flecknoe Alexander’s Feast Prefaces to His Plays (in Prose) An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (ii) Dryden’s Plays Tyrannic Love Conquest of Granada All for love The Rival Ladies The Indian Emperor Aureng-Zeb Don Sebastian Cleomenes Love Triumphant William Wycherley (1640-1716) Love in Wood The Plain Dealer The Country Wife The Gentleman Dancing Master William Congreve (1670-1729) The Way of the World The Old Bachelor The Double Dealer English Literature | 11 Love for Love The Mourning Bride John Vanbrugh (1664-1726) The Relapse The Provoked Wife The Confederacy George Farquhar (1678-1707) The Recruiting Officer The Beaux Stratagem George Etheredge (1635-1691) The Comical Revenge She Would if She Could The Man of Mode Thomas Otway (1652-1685) Orphan Venice Preserved Don Carlos Alcibiades Nathaniel Lee (1653-1692) Nero The Rival Queens Sophonisba John Bunyan (1628-1688) The Pilgrim’s Progress Grace Abounding The Life and Death of Mr. Badman The Holy War John Locke (1632-1704) Essay on the Human Understanding Treatise on Government Thoughts on Education John Evelyn (1620-1706) Diary Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) Diary 4 The Augustan Age The eighteenth century in English Literature is roughly called the Augustan Age. It is also called the Neo-Classical Age in English Literature. It is further called the Age of Pope and the Age of Johnson. The term ‘Augustan’ was first applied to the literature of the eighteenth century as a term of high praise. Those who used this term believed that as the Age of Emperor Augustus was the golden age in Latin Literature in the Roman Empire, so the eighteenth century was the golden age in literature in England. Hence the eighteenth century is called our ‘indispensable century’. The Greek and Latin poets, dramatists and critics of this age were believed to be the best models and ultimate standards of literary taste. The English poets and critics of the eighteenth century felt honoured in being able to imitate these classical poets and critics. Hence they were called Neo-Classicists. A notable critic Walsh wrote to Pope : “The best of the modern poets in all languages are those that have nearest copied the ancients.” A notable feature of the eighteenth century literature is that it is predominantly intellectual, logical and rational. It conspicuously lacks in emotion, imagination and passion. Therefore, eighteenth century literature is largely satirical. There is supremacy of reason, logic and good sense, and supression of passion and emotion. More exmphasis is laid on the form than on the true spirit. As such, most of the eighteenth century literature is either satirical or didactic. It is in the main ‘the product of intelligence playing upon the surface of life’. The poetry of this age was one of arguments, criticism and satire on politics and personalities. The satires were social, political and even personal. Another important feature of the poetry of this age is that it largely deals with town-life rather than with rural life or Nature. In their search for decency, good sense, elegance and mannerism, the poets confined themselves to town-life and aristocratic people. Their outlook was circumscribed to coffee-houses and drawing rooms. Lastly, the eighteenth century poetry was almost entirely written in poetic diction and in closed Heroic Couplets. The closed Heroic Couplet best suited this poetic expression on account of its epigrammatic terseness and satirical suitability. These were the characteristic features of the eighteenth century poetry. Major Authors and Their Works of the Augustan Age Alexander Pope (1688-1744) Pastorals An Essay on Criticism Windsor Forest The Rape of the Lock Dunciad Translation of Iliad and Odyssey To Lord Bathurst English Literature | 13 On the Use of the Riches An Essay on Man Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot Of the Knowledge and Characters of Men Of the Characters of Women The Messiah Satires and Epistles of Horace Imitated Matthew Prior (1664-1721) Solomon on the Vanity of the World Alma : or the Progress of the Mind The Town and Country Mouse John Gay (1685-1732) Fables The Shepherd’s Week The Rural Sports Trivia The Beggar’s Opera The Streets of London Edward Young (1683-1765) Night Thoughts Robert Blair (1699-1746) The Grave Lady Winchilsea (1660-1720) The Spleen The Prodigy A Nocturnal Reverie Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) The Vanity of Human Wishes London The Lives of the Poets Preface to Shakespeare Dictionary of the English Language A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland The Rambler Rasselas Prince of Abyssinia The Life of Savage The Adventurer The Idler Oliver Goldsmith (1728-1774) The Traveller The Deserted Village The Good-Natured Man She Stoops to Conquer The Citizen of the World The Vicar of Wakefield The Hermit Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) Robinson Crusoe Mall Flanders Colonel Jack The Memoirs of a Cavalier Captain Singleton Journal of the Plague Year Roxana Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) The Battle of the Books A Tale of a Tub Gulliver’s Travels Journal to Stella The Drapier’s Letters Cadenus and Vanessa Joseph Addison (1672-1719) The Spectator The Campaign Public Credit The Vision of Mirza Cato Rosamond The Drummer Richard Steele (1672-1729) The Tatler The Guardian The Funeral The Lying Lover The Tender Husband The Conscious Lover 14 | English Literature George Lillo (1693-1739) London Merchant Fatal Curiosity Edward Gibbon (1737-1794) Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire Edmund Burke (1729-1797) Speeches on American Taxation On Conciliation with America Reflections on French Revolution Letter to a Noble Lord Letters on a Regicide Peace Thomas Paine (1737-1809) Inquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and the Beautiful. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded Clarissa, or The Adventures of a Young Lady Clarissa Harlowe Sir Charles Grandison Henry Fielding (1707-1754) The Adventures of Joseph Andrews. Tom Jones Amelia Jonathan Wild the Great A Journey from this World to the Next Voyage to Lisban Laurence Sterne (1713-1768) Tristram Shandy A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy Tobias Smollett (1721-1771) The Adventures of Roderick Random Peregrine Pickle Humphry Clinker Horace Walpole (1717-1797) Castle of Otranto Clara Reeve (1729-1807) Old English Baron Ann Radcliffe (1764-1823) Romance of the Forest The Mysteries of Udolpho The Italian James Thomson (1700-1748) Seasons (in four Parts) John Dyer (1700-1758) Grongar Hill William Blake (1757-1827) Poetical Sketches Songs of Innocence Songs of Experience George Crabbe (1754-1832) The Village The Parish Register The Borough Tales in Verse Tales of the Hall Bishop Percy (1729-1811) Reliques of Ancient English Poetry Thomas Chatterton (1752-1770) Poems William Collins (1721-1759) Ode on the Popular Superstitions of the Highlands of Scotland Ode to Evening Ode to Simplicity James Macpherson (1736-1796) Fragments of Ancient Poetry Translated from Gaelic Ossian Poems Thomas Gray (1716-1771) Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard On a Distant Prospect of Eton College On the Death of a Favourite Cat The Bard The Progress of Poesy The Fatal Sisters The Descent of Odin Robert Burns (1759-1796) The Cottor’s Saturday Night William Cowper (1731-1800) The Task Christopher Smart (1722-1771) Song to David 5 The Romantic Age The Age of Wordsworth is called the Romantic Age. The Romantic Age is supposed to begin in 1798 which is the year in which Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads were published. The poems published under the heading Lyrical Ballads are the first collection of Romantic poems, and the Preface to them is the first preamble to Romantic theory of poetry and its appreciation. The Romantic Age, covering two generations of poets, officially came to its end in 1837 when Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne and marked the beginning of the Victorian Age. The beginning of the Victorian Age was taken to be the end of the Romantic Period. As we have said above, the Romantic Period in English Literature is clearly divisible into two generations of poets. To the first generation belong Wordsworth, Coleridge, Walter Scott and Robert Southey. They are known as older poets. The second generation of the Romantic poets include Lord Byron, Shelley and Keats. They are known as younger poets. The Romantic Period in English Literature came immediately after the French Revolution. In fact, Wordsworth actually went to France during the Revolution. The impact of the three great ideals of the French Revolution—Liberty, Equality, Fraternity—deeply influenced the spirit of Romantic Poetry in England. So Wordsworth wrote : “But Europe at that time was filled with joy, France standing on the top of golden hours, And human nature seeming born again.” And again he said, “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven.” The Romantic Literature is known by two characteristic terms—the Romantic Revival and the Romantic Revolt. It is called Romantic Revival because it sought to revive the poetic ideals of the Elizabethan Age. Love, beauty, emotion, imagination, romance and the beauty of nature were the ideals of the Elizabethan poetry, which the Romantic Movement sought to revive. The Romantic Movement is also called the Romantic Revolt because it sought to revolt against the artificial ideals, principles, and practices of the Neo-classical or the Augustan School of Poetry as adopted and practised in England in the eighteenth century. The Neo-classical poetry was essentially intellectual, rational, satirical and artificial to the last degree. It was ‘the product of the intelligence playing upon the surface of life’. The Romantic poets substituted love, emotion, imagination, beauty, and all the effusions of the heart in place of the rational products of the intellect. It also widened its scope by bringing in all humanity in place of mere ‘town-life’. It also replaced the closed Heroic Couplet of the Neo-classical School by a large variety of verse-forms, metres and stanza forms. The Romantic literature is, therefore, known for its high poetic splendour and emotional effusion. 16 | English Literature Major Authors and Their Works of The Romantic Age William Wordsworth (1770-1850) The Lyrical Ballads The Prelude The Excursion Tintern Abbey Ode on Intimations of Immortality Michael The Solitary Reaper Laodamia Ode to Duty To Milton The Leech-Gatherer Upon Westminster Abbey The Rainbow We Are Seven The World Is Too Much with Us To the Cuckoo The Daffodils Lucy Gray Simon Lee Early Spring Strange Fits of Passion Have I Known Walter Scott (1771-1832) The Bride of Lammermoor Ivanhoe Quentin Durward The Heart of Midlothian Old Mortality The Antiquity Guy Mannering Waverly Rob Roy Kenilworth Red Gauntlet The Black Dwarf The Monastery The Abbot The Pirate The Fortunes of Night The Betrothed The Talisman Woodstock Lives of the Novelists Life of Napoleon Tales of Grandfather The Lay of the Last Minstrel The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border Marmion The Lady of the Lake Rockeby Robert Southey (1774-1843) Joan of Arc Wat Tyler After Blenheim The Holly Tree The Scholar A Vision of Judgement Madoc Life of Nelson Thalaba the Destroyer Roderick The Curse of Kehama John Clare (1793-1864) Selected Poems Poems of Clare’s Madness S. T. Coleridge (1772-1834) Biographia Literaria Table Talk Aids to Reflection Christabel Kubla Khan The Rime of the Ancient Mariner France : An Ode Destiny of Nations Frost at Midnight Dejection : An Ode Youth and Age Religious Musings English Literature | 17 Lord Byron (1788-1824) Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Don Juan The Bride of Abydos Manfred The Giaour Hours of Idleness The Vision of Judgement The Prisoner of Chillon Lara Marino Faliero English Bards and Scotch Reviewers The Siege of Corinth The Corsair Cain P. B. Shelley (1792-1822) On the Necessity of Atheism The Revolt of Islam Prometheus Unbound The Mask of Anarchy Hellas The Cenci The Witch of Atlas The Indian Serenade Ozymandias of Egypt Epipsychidion Alaster Queen Mab Adonais Ode to the West Wind The Cloud Ode to a Skylark O World ! O Life ! O Time ! Defence of Poetry (a Prose Work) To Night The Sensitive Plant A Lament John Keats (1795-1821) Endymion Lamia Hyperion The Eve of St. Agnes Isabella The Eve of St. Mark La Belle Dame Sans Merci Ode to a Nightingale Ode to Autumn Ode On a Grecian Urn Ode to Psyche On Melancholy On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer Bright Star Jane Austen (1775-1871) Sense and Sensibility Pride and Prejudice Mansfield Park Emma Persuasion Northanger Abbey Charles Lamb (1775-1834) Essays of Elia The Last Essays of Elia John Woodvil Tales from Shakespeare Specimens of English Dramatic Poets The English Comic Writers The Old Familiar Faces William Hazlitt (1778-1830) Characters of Shakespeare’s Plays The English Poets The English Comic Writers The Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth The Round Table : A Collection of Essays Table Talk on Men and Manners The Spirit of the Age Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) Confessions of an English Opium Eater Joan of Arc English Mail Coach Dream Fugue Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts Suspiria de Profundis 18 | English Literature Thomas Love Peacock (1785-1866) The Four Ages of Poetry Headlong Hall The Philosophy of Melancholy Melincourt Maid Marian The Misfortunes of Elphin Crotchest Castle Gryll Grange Samuel Rogers (1763-1855) Pleasures of Memory Italy James Hogg (1770-1835) Kilmeny The Queen’s Wake Thomas Campbell Pleasures of Hope Theodoric Gertrude of Wyoming Lachiel Lord Ullin’s Daughter The Last Man Ye Mariners of England Hohenlinden The Battle of Baltic Thomas Moore (1779-1852) Lalla Rookh Irish Melodies Leigh Hunt (1784-1859) Story of Rimini Autobiography Thomas Hood (1799-1845) The Dream of Eugene Aram The Song of the Shirt The Bridge of Sighs Ode to Melancholoy The Haunted House John Gibson Lockhart (1794-1854) Adam Blair Spanish Ballads Life of Burns Life of Scott Savage Landor (1775-1864) Gebir Hellenics Imaginary Conversations The Citations of William Shakespeare Pericles and Aspasia Maria Edgeworth (1767-1849) The Absentee Castle Rockrent Ormond 6 The Victorian Age (1837-1901) In terms of national glamour and glory, national pride and patriotism, progress and prosperity, the Victorian Age was equivalent to the Elizabethan Age. The British Empire had expanded so much that proverbially the sun never set in the British Empire. The Victorian Age covers the period from 1837, the year of Victoria’s accession to the throne, to 1901, the year of her death. However, some critics hold the view that the spirit of the modern Age had set in long before the official close of the Victorian Age. “The Victorian Age was an Age of astonishing variety and complexity in all fields, social, political and literary. Referring to Victorian literature, W. H. Hudson says, “It is such a literature as could not have been produced at any other time in the world’s history.” Hudson continues to say, “The progress of science kept pace with the progress of democracy, and in the fifty years with which we are here concerned men added far more to their positive knowledge of themselves and the universe than their forefathers had done in all the preceding eighteen centuries of our era.” A very striking feature of the Victorian Age was the conflict between Science and Religion. There was ceaseless conflict between the two. Religion was sustained and supported by faith, while science was bred and supported by logic, reason and objective proof. The tenets of religion and faith could not be proved and therefore accepted by science. Science challenged the religious theory of the creation of the universe and the very existence of God. The authority of the Bible and the utility of the Church and priesthood were equally challenged. W. H. Hudson says, “The Victorian Age was marked throughout by the prominence of the spirit of inquiry and criticism, by scepticism and religious uncertainty, and by struggle and unrest; and these are among the most persistent and characteristic notes of its higher literature.” However, some prominent Victorian thinkers and authors sought to bring about a compromise between science and religion, between knowledge and faith. So Tennyson writes— “Let knowledge grow from more to more, But more of reverence in us dwell; That mind and soul, according well, May make one music as before.” However, Victorian England had unprecedented wealth and prosperity. England had its colonial states all over the globe from East to West. Victoria became the Empress of India in 1876. The ever expanding horizons of knowledge, the new discoveries and inventions of science, the easy and rapid means of travelling and transmission did much to destroy the old provincialism, to help the progress of democracy, and to change fundamentally the spirit of the world. 20 | English Literature Major Authors and Their Works of The Victorian Age Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-1892) The Princess In Memoriam Maud Enoch Arden Idylls of the King Queen Mary Harold Backet Akbar’s Tomb Crossing the Bar Locksley Hall Locksley Hall Sixty Years After Dora Poems by Two Brothers The Falcon The Cup Poems Chiefly Lyrical Ulysses The Lotos-Eaters The Death of Oenone and Other Poems Robert Browning (1812-1889) Pauline Paracelsus Strafford Sordello Bells and Pomegranates Christmas Eve and Easter Day Men and Women Dramatis Personae The King and the Book Asolando Pippa Passes Fra Lippo Lippi Andrea del Sarto King Victor and King Charles Dramatic Lyrics Dramatic Romances and Lyrics Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) Sohrab and Rustum Tristram and Iseult Balder Dead Empedocles on Etna Stanzas from the Grande Chartreuse The Strayed Reveller and Other Poems Dover Beach Thyrsis Scholar Gypsy On Translating Homer New Poems On the Study of Celtic Literature Essays in Criticism Culture and Anarchy Literature and Dogma Mixed Essays Friendship’s Garland God and the Bible Arthur Hugh Clough (1819-1861) Bothie of Tober-na-Vuolich Amours de Voyage Dipsychus Say Not the Struggle Naught Availeth Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) Casa Guidi Windows Cry of the Children Aurora Leigh Sonnets From the Portuguese Prometheus Bound The Seraphim and Other Poems An Essay on Mind D. G. Rossetti (1828-1882) The Blessed Damozel World’s Worth Ave The White Ship Sister Helen Eden Bower The House of Life Ballads and Sonnets English Literature | 21 Christina Georgina Rossetti (1830-1894) The Goblin Market The Prince’s Market A Pageant and Other Poems William Morris (1834-1896) The Defence of Guenevere The Life and Death of Jason The Earthly Paradise A Dream of John Bull News from Nowhere A Tale of the House of the Wolfings The Roots of the Mountains The Story of the Glittering Plain The Sundering Flood Hope and Fears for Art Signs of Change A. C. Swinburne (1837-1909) Atalanta in Calydon Erechtheus Tristram of Lyonesse Chasteland Bathwell Mary Stuart William Blake : A Critique A Study of Shakespeare A Study of Ben Jonson Songs Before Sunrise H. W. Longfellow (1807-1882) Pilgrimage Beyond the Sea Voices of the Night Evangeline The Song of Hiawatha Edward FitZgerald (1809-1883) Euphranor : A Dialogue on Youth Translation of Rubaiat Philip James Bailey (1816-1902) Festus Sydney Dobell (1824-1874) The Roman Balder John Davidson (1857-1909) The Testament of John Davidson The Yellow Book The Savoy W. E. Henley (1849-1903) Lyra Heroica For England’s Sake A Late Lark Twitters Invictus Thomas Carlyle (1795-1881) Sartor Resartus The French Revolution Heroes and Hero-Worship Past and Present The Letters and Speeches of Oliver Cromwell Latter-day Pamphlets Life of John Sterling History of Frederick the Great Chartism John Ruskin (1819-1900) The Modern Painters Salsette and Elephanta The Seven Lamps of Architecture The Stones of Venice The Two Paths Unto This Last Munera Pulveris Time and Tide by Wear and Tyne Fors Clavigera Sesame and Lilies The Crown of Wild Olive T. B. Macaulay (1800-1859) History of England from the Accession of James II Lays of Ancient Rome Charles Dickens (1812-1870) Pickwick Papers Nicholas Nickleby Martin Chuzzlewit Dombey and Son David Copperfield 22 | English Literature Bleak House A Tale of Two Cities Great Expectations Our Mutual Friend Edwin Drood Oliver Twist Little Dorrit Baraby Rudge The Uncommercial Traveller A Christmas Carol Hard Times Old Curiosity Shop William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863) Vanity Fair Barry Lyndon Pendennis Henry Esmond The New Comes The Virginians Adventures of Philip The Book of Snobs The History of Pendennis Lovel the Widower The Round about Papers The English Humorists of the Eighteenth Century The Four Georges Rebecca and Rowena The Rose and The Ring Ivanhoe—the Legend of the Rhine George Meredith (1828-1909) The Ordeal of Richard Feveral Evan Harrington Emilia in England Rhoda Fleming Vittoria The Adventures of Harry Richmond Diana of the Crossways One of Our Conquerors The Amazing Marriage The Egoist Beauchamp’s Career The Tragic Comedians Charlotte Bronte (1816-1855) Jane Eyre Shirley The Professor Villette Emily Bronte (1818-1848) Wuthering Heights Anne Bronte (1820-1849) Agnes Gray The Tenant of Wild Fell Hall George Eliot (1810-1880) (Mary Ann Evans) Adam Bede The Mill on the Floss Silas Marner Scenes of Clerical Life Life of Jesus Romola Felix Holt the Radical Daniel Deronda Middlemarch Anthony Trollope (1815-1882) The Warden Doctor Thorne The Kellys and the O’Kellys Barchester Towers Phineas Redux The Last Chronicle of Barset Benjamin Disraeli (1804-1881) Vivian Gray Sybil : Or the Two Nations The Voyage of Captain Popavilla Henrietta Temple Coningsby : Or the New Generation Tancred : Or the New Crusade The Wondrous Tale of Alroy and the Rise of Iskander Contarini Fleming : A Psychological Autobiography English Literature | 23 R. L. Stevenson (1850-1894) Travels with a Donkey in the Cevennes An Inland Voyage Virginibus Pueresque New Arabian Nights Treasure Island The Strange Case of Dr. Jackyll and Mr. Hyde Kidnapped The Black Arrow The Master of Ballantrae Catriona Underwords A Child’s Garden of Verses Mrs. Elizabeth Gaskell (1810-1865) Cranford Sylvia’s Lovers Wives and Daughters North and South Mary Barton : A Tale My Lady Ludlow Cousin Phillis Charles Kingsley (1810-1875) Westward Ho ! Alton Locke Yeast : A Problem Hypalia or New Foes with an Old Face Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) The Dead Secret No Name The Woman in White The Moonstone Thomas Hardy (1840-1828) Under the Greenwood Tree Desperate Remedies A Pair of Blue Eyes Two on a Tower Far From the Madding Crowd The Return of the Native The Mayor of Casterbridge Tess of the D’Urbervilles Jude the Obscure The Hand of Ethelberta The Trumpet Major The Woodlanders The Well-beloved A Laodicean A Group of Noble Dames Life’s Little Ironies Wessex Poems The Dynasts A Changed Man Winter Words The Waiting Supper and Other Tales 7 The Modern Age (1901-2000) Historically the death of Queen Victoria in 1901 may be taken to signify the end of the Victorian Age and the beginning of the Modern Age. However, the spirit of the Modern Age had set in long before the official end of the Victorian Age. The Modern Age is the most complex, complicated, baffling and revolutionary Age in the history of the world. It is an Age of most amazing, astounding and unimaginable scientific discoveries, inventions and advancement which our ancestors or even our immediate predecessors, the Victorians, could not have anticipated or even dreamt of. This is an Age of jet planes, space crafts, computers, internet-communications, mobile phones and fax, and intersteller flights, which have reduced the entire cosmos into a tiny unit in terms of both time and space. However, the scientific discoveries and inventions, and the industrial revolution have proved to be both a blessing and a curse. We have invented and stocked highly devastating war armaments such as atom bombs, hydrogen bombs, interballistic missiles, nuclear missiles, torpedoes, and chemical and biological armaments. These armaments are so devastating that the maddening whim of any super power can reduce the entire world into ashes in no time. The whole world is sitting on the mouth of a live volcano. The present Age has taken no lesson from the two devastating World Wars. The clouds of the Third World War are gathering fast in the sky. The First World War was fought from 1914 to 1918, and the Second World War was fought from 1939 to 1945. The League of Nations and the United Nations Organization have both proved ineffective in preventing the wars. America, by virtue of her huge stocks of war armaments, is lording over the world. Equally new experiments are being made in the literary field. Gone are the days of the full-length Five-Act plays of Shakespeare and others. They are being replaced by Three-Act or One-Act plays of G. B. Shaw, Galsworthy, T. S. Eliot, Priestley, and others. In the same way, long novels written by the eighteenth and nineteenth-century novelists have been replaced by short stories. Poetry is gradually going into the background. Now more emphasis is being laid on pyschological explorations. Literature is no longer capable of moulding human character or serving any social or political purpose. Major Authors and Their Works of the Modern Age Robert Bridges (1844-1930) The Testament of Beauty The Growth of Love Eros and Psyche Prometheus the Fire Giver The Feast of Bacchus Palicio The Christian Captives The Return of Ulysses Achilles in Scyros The Humours of the Court Nero English Literature | 25 George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950) Widowers’ Houses Candida You Never Can Tell Man and Superman Back to Methuselah Saint Joan Heartbreak House The Philanderer Mrs. Warren’s Profession Caesar and Cleopatra John Bull’s Other Island Major Barbara The Doctor’s Dilemma Getting Married The Apple Cart Pygmalion The Dark Lady of the Sonnets Plays Pleasant and Unpleasant The Millionaire The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism Everybody’s Political What is What Cashel Byron’s Profession Love Among the Artists Androcles and the Lion The Devil’s Disciple The Man of Destiny W. B. Yeats (1865-1939) The Land of Heart’s Desire The Countess Cathleen The Shadowy Waters The Hour-glass The Resurrection The King’s Threshold On Baile’s Strand The Cat and the Moon Ideas of Good and Evil Discoveries The Wind among the Reeds The Wanderings of Oisin The Tower The Winding Stair and Other Poems Lake Isle of Innisfree Byzantium John Galsworthy (1867-1933) The Silver Box Strife The Skin Game The Man of Property Justice Loyalties Escape The Inn of Tranquillity The Forsyte Saga The Country House Fraternity The Patrician The Dark Flower Saint’s Progress Maid in Waiting Flower Wilderness George Moore (1857-1933) The Brook Kerith Abelard and Heloise Ulick and Soracha Evelyn Innes Esther Waters A Modern Lover A Mummer’s Wife A Drama in Muslin Spring Days Confessions of a Young Man Memoirs of My Dead Life Hail and Farewell ! Ave The Lake Sister Teresa The Untilled Field Conversations in Ebury Street George Gissing (1857-1903) Born in Exile The Private Papers of Henry Ryecroft 26 | English Literature The New Grub Street Thyrza The Nether World The Old Woman The Emancipated By the Ionian Sea Eve’s Ransom Demos :English Socialism Charles Dickens, a Critical Study Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) Kim The Jungle Book Barrack-room Ballads Departmental Ditties The Seven Seas The Five Nations Tales from the Hills Soldiers Three Life’s Handicap The Phantom Rickshaw Many Inventions The Day’s Work Just-so Stories for Little Children Rewards and Fairies Debits and Credits H. G. Wells (1866-1946) The Time Machine Love and Mr. Levisham Kipps The History of Mr. Polly Mr. Britling Sees It Through Christina Alberta’s Father The Wonderful Visit The Island of Dr. Moreau The Invisible Man The War of the Worlds The First Men in the Moon The Food of the Gods Marriage Experiment in Autobiography The Contemporary Novel Joseph Conrad (1857-1924) The Nigger of the ‘Narcissus’ Typhoon Lord Jim Victory Almayer’s Folly An Outcast of the Islands Youth Heart of Darkness The Secret Agent The Shadow of Line Suspense-A Napoleonic Novel Arnold Bennett (1867-1931) The Old Wives’ Tale Clayhanger Riceyman Steps Buried Alive Hilda Lessways These Twain Sacred and Profane Love The Pretty Lady The Love Match The Author’s Craft Gerard Manley Hopkins (1844-1889) The Wreck of the Deutschland Pied Beauty The Windhover God’s Grandeur The Caged Skylark Felix Rendal Harry Ploughman Inversnaid Spelt From Sibyl’s Leaves That Nature Heraditean Walter de la Mare (1873-1956) Peacock Pie Memoirs of a Midget Songs of Childhood Bells and Grass The Traveller Early the Morning Love English Literature | 27 T. S. Eliot (1888-1965) The Waste Land Prufrock and Other Observations Gerontion The Hollow Men Ash Wednesday Four Quartets Sweeney Agonistes Murder in the Cathedral The Rock The Family Reunion The Cocktail Party The Confidential Clerk The Sacred Wood After Strange Gods The Elder Statesman The Idea of a Christian Society What is a Classic ? For Lancelot Andrews The Use of Poetry and the Use of Criticism Elizabethan Essays Points of View W. H. Auden (1907-1973) Look Stranger The Orators New Year Letter The Age of Anxiety The Poet’s Tongue Collected Shorter Poems The Oxford Book of Light Verse Edith Sitwell (1887-1964) The Sleeping Beauty Troy Park Street Songs The Songs of the Cold Aspects of Modern Poetry Collected English Eccentrices Osbert Sitwell (1892-1969) Left Hand, Right Hand (in five volumes) Virginia Woolf (1882-1941) The Voyage Out Jacob’s Room Mrs. Dalloway To The Light House The Waves Flush Orlando : A Biography The Common Reader Roger Fry The Death of the Moth Mr. Bennett and Mrs. Brown A Room of One’s Own Between the Acts (Unfinished) E. M. Forster (1879-1970) Abinger Harvest Two Cheers for Democracy A Passage to India Howard’s End The Hill of Devi The Celestial Omnibus Collected Short Stories Where Angels Fear to Tread The Longest Journey The Story of the Siren A Room with a View The Eternal Moment James Joyce (1882-1941) Ulysses Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man Finnegans Wake Dubliners D. H. Lawrence (1885-1930) Sons and Lovers Woman in Love Lady Chatterly’s Lover The Rainbow The White Peacock Kangaroo The Plumed Serpent 28 | English Literature Samuel Butler (1835-1902) The Way of All Flesh Odyssey Evolution Old and New Essays on Life, Arts and Science Shakespeare’s Sonnets Reconsidered Unconscious Memory Life and Habit Aldous Huxley (1894-1963) Point Counter Point The Burning Wheel Those Barren Leaves Brave New World After Many a Summer Eyeless in Gaza Antic Hay Time Must Have a Stop Crome Yellow The Defeat of Youth The Perennial Philosophy The Devils of Loudun Graham Green (1904-1991) England Made Me The Power and the Glory Brighton Rock The Heart of the Matter The End of the Affair A Burnt-out Case The Comedians Our Man in Havana The Quiet American Battlefield Travels with My Aunt The Third Man A Gun for Sale George Orwell (1903-1950) The Animal Farm The Road to Wigan Pier Nineteen Eighty-Four Burmese Days Keep the Aspidistra Flying Ezra Pound (1885-1972) The Pisan Cantos Hugh Selwyn Mobberly John Masefield (1874-1967) Dauber Reynard the Fox The Everlasting Mercy The Widow in the Bye Street The Daffodil Fields Saltwater Ballads Lollingdon Downs Biography August 1914 Ballads and Poems Right Royal The Land Workers Good Friday The Trial of Jesus The Coming of Christ The Tragedy of Nan Midsummer Night End and Beginning Oscar Wilde (1854-1900) The Sphinx The Ballad of Reeding Gaol The Canterville Ghost De Profundis The Duchess of Padua The Importance of Being Earnest An Ideal Husband Lady Windermere’s Fan Salome The Picture of Dorian Gray The Happy Prince and the Other Tales Stephen Spender (1909-1977) The Still Centre Vienna Ruins and Visions Poetry Since The Destructive Element World Within World Collected Poems English Literature | 29 Sean O’Cassey (1884-1964) Juno and Polycock The Shadow of a Gunman The Plough and the Stars The Silver Tassie Within the Gates The Star Turns Red Red Roses for Me Oak Leaves and Lavender Cockadoodle Dandy William Somerset Maugham (1839-1917) A Man of Honour Lady Frederick Caesar’s Wife The Constant Wife Jack Straw Mrs. Dot The Circle For Services Rendered Home and Beauty J. B. Priestley (1894-1984) Dangerous Corner Time and the Conways I Have been Here Before An Inspector Calls When We are Married A Severed Head Harold Pinter (1930 Born) The Birthday Party The Dumb Waiter The Care Taker A Night Out The Home Coming Old Times Silence C. P. Snow (1905-1980) Times of Hope The New Men The Masters Strangers and Brothers The Conscience of the Rich Corridors of Power The Two Cultures and the Scientific Revolution C. Day Lewis (1904-1972) A Time to Dance Transitional Poem The Magnetic Mountain Overtures to Death and Other Poems The Friendly Tree From Feathers to Iron Word Over All Starting Point Child of Misfortune Hope for Poetry Poetry for You The Poetic Image Transitional Poems William Gerald Golding (1911 Born) Lord of Flies The Inheritors Pincher Martin Free Fall The Scorpian God The Spire I. A. Richards (1893-1979) Principles of Literary Criticism Practical Criticism Coleridge On Imagination The Meaning of Meaning The Foundation of Aesthetics F. R. Leavis New Bearings in English Poetry For Continuity The Great Tradition The Common Pursuit Revaluation D. H. Lawrence : Novelist Education and the University 30 | English Literature Multiple-Choice Questions Literary Ages : On All the Ages 1. During the reigns of which monarchs did Chaucer live ? (A) Edward III and Richard II (B) Edward III and Henry IV (C) Richard II and Henry IV (D) Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV 2. During which sets of dates did Chaucer live ? (A) 1340-1400 (B) 1345-1400 (C) 1348-1400 (D) 1349-1400 3. The Hundred Years’ War began in the— (A) 11th Century (C) 13th Century (B) 12th Century (D) 14th Century 4. In which century did Norman Conquest take place ? (A) 10th Century (B) 11th Century (C) 12th Century (D) 13th Century 5. ‘Black Death’ is the name given to— (A) The great Famine that occurred in Chaucer’s Age (B) The epidemic of Plague that occurred in Chaucer’s Age (C) The epidemic of Cholera that broke out in Chaucer’s Age (D) A mysterious epidemic that swept over England in Chaucer’s Age 6. ‘The War of Roses’ figures in the works of— (A) Chaucer (B) Langland (C) Shakespeare (D) Gower 7. The Hundred Years’ War was fought between— (A) England and the Romans (B) The Romans and the Saxons (C) England and France (D) The Greeks and the Romans 8. Cardmon and Cynewulf were two famous poets. They were— (A) Chaucer’s contemporaries (B) Chaucer’s predecessors (C) Chaucer’s successors (D) Not definitely known 9. The War of Roses was fought between— (A) The House of York and the House of Lancaster (B) The Edwardians and the Henries (C) The Royalists and the Parliamentarians (D) The Jacobeans and the Tudors 10. In which year was the Globe Theatre built ? (A) 1588 (B) 1590 (C) 1594 (D) 1599 11. Queen Elizabeth ascended the throne of England in— (A) 1558 (B) 1550 (C) 1562 (D) 1555 English Literature | 31 12. The Jacobean Age covers the period— (A) 1600-1625 (B) 1610-1620 (C) 1603-1625 (D) 1606-1620 13. The Caroline Age covers the period— (A) 1620-1640 (B) 1625-1650 (C) 1630-1650 (D) 1625-1649 14. The Commonwealth regime under Cromwell covers the period from— (A) 1636-1650 (B) 1649-1662 (C) 1640-1656 (D) 1649-1660 15. Charles II was restored to the throne of England in— (A) 1660 (B) 1655 (C) 1645 (D) 1665 16. Charles I was executed in— (A) 1648 (B) 1647 (D) 1646 17. Whose Age is called the Jacobean Age ? (A) The Age of Charles I (C) The Age of James I 18. Whose Age is called Caroline Age ? (A) The Age of Charles I (C) The Age of James I (C) 1649 (B) The Age of Charles II (D) The Age of James II (B) The Age of Charles II (D) The Age of James II 19. Who headed the Commonwealth regime after the execution of Charles I ? (A) Charles II (B) Cromwell (C) James II (D) Edward I 20. Who was appointed the Latin Secretary during the Puritan Govenment ? (A) Dryden (B) Ben Jonson (C) Bacon (D) Milton 21. The Age of Restoration is so called because the following King was restored to the throne ? (A) Charles I (B) James I (C) Charles II (D) James II 22. The theatres were closed down during the Commonwealth regime in England. In which year were they reopened ? — (A) 1650 (B) 1655 (C) 1949 (D) 1660 23. “The Restoration marks the real moment of birth of our Modern English Prose ?” Who makes this observation ? (A) Dryden (B) Matthew Arnold (C) Addison (D) Ben Jonson 24. The term ‘Augustan’ was first applied to a School of Poets by— (A) Pope (B) Dryden (C) Dr. Johnson (D) Matthew Arnold 25. The eighteenth century in English Literature is also called— (A) The Age of Puritanism (B) The Age of Reason (C) The Age of Sentimentalism (D) The Age of Excessive Passion 26. Who called the eighteenth century ‘our admirable and indispensable Eighteenth Century’ ? (A) Pope (B) Dryden (C) Dr. Johnson (D) Matthew Arnold 27. Who called the eighteenth century “The Age of Prose and Reason ?” (A) Matthew Arnold (B) Dr. Johnson (C) Coleridge (D) Hazlitt 32 | English Literature 28. The epithet ‘Augustan’ was first applied to Dryden by— (A) Matthew Arnold (B) Pope (C) Dr. Johnson (D) Coleridge 29. The Neo-classical Age in English Literature follows the models of— (A) Greek and Roman Literature (B) French Literature (C) Anglo-Saxon Literature (D) The Elizabethan Literature 30. The ‘Coffee House Culture’ flourished in— (A) The Age of Dr. Johnson (B) The Age of Dryden (C) The Age of Wordsworth (D) The Age of Ben Jonson 31. Why is the year 1798 taken to be the year of the beginning of the Romantic Movement ? (A) Because it was the year of Wordsworth’s birth (B) Because it was the year in which Thomson’s Seasons was published (C) Because it was the year of the beginning of the French Revolution (D) Because it was the year in which Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads was published 32. “But Europe at that time was thrilled with joy, France standing on the top of golden hours And human nature seeming born again.” Which ‘time’ is Wordsworth referring to in these lines ? (A) The Age of Renaissance (B) The beginning of the Industrial Age (C) The period of the French Revolution (D) The period of discoveries of new lands. 33. “Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive, But to be young was very heaven.” These lines occur in Wordsworth’s— (A) Tintern Abbey (B) The Excursion (C) The Prelude 34. Who was the intellectual father of the French Revolution ? (A) Rousseau (B) Hegel (C) Frederic Engeles (D) Immortality Ode (D) Napoleon 35. After whom did Wordsworth become the Poet Laureate of England ? (A) Coleridge (B) Walter Scott (C) Robert Southey (D) Dryden 36. After whose refusal the Poet Laureateship was conferred on Robert Southey ? (A) Walter Scott (B) Coleridge (C) Pope (D) Dr. Johnson 37. Why is the year 1837 taken as the closing year of the Romantic period and beginning of the Victorian Age ? (A) Because Wordsworth ceased writing by this year (B) Because Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne in this year (C) Because Tennyson was made the Poet Laureate in this year (D) Because almost all the major Romantic poets had died by this year 38. Queen Victoria succeeded to the throne after— (A) George III (B) George IV (C) William IV 39. The Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign was celebrated in— (A) 1837 (B) 1887 (C) 1862 40. Queen Victoria became the Empress of India in— (A) 1857 (B) 1876 (C) 1837 (D) Edward VII (D) 1901 (D) 1887 English Literature | 33 41. Darwin’s The Origin of Species by Natural Selection challenges— (A) Discoveries in the field of Zoology (B) Discoveries in the field of Botany (C) Biblical concept of the creation of the world (D) Doctrines of Christianity 42. Tennyson was appointed the Poet Laureate after— (A) Robert Southey (B) William Wordsworth (C) S. T. Coleridge (D) Robert Browning 43. The Dynasts is an epic drama written by Hardy. It deals with— (A) Queen Victoria’s Reign (B) The Napoleonic Wars (C) The Industrial Revolution (D) Science and Religion 44. In Dickens’s A Tale of Two Cities’, the two cities referred to are— (A) Rome and Paris (B) London and Paris (C) Athens and Paris (D) Berlin and Paris 45. The theme of Tennyson’s Idylls of the King is— (A) The story of King Arthur and His Round Table (B) Helen and the Greek Kings (C) Roman Emperors and their Victories (D) Kings of England after the Restoration of Charles II 46. Who succeeded Robert Bridges as the Poet Laureate of England ? (A) John Masefield (B) W. B. Yeats (C) Rudyard Kipling (D) Rupert Brooke 47. “Oh, East is East, and West is West, And never the twain can meet.” Who holds this view ? (A) A. E. Houseman (B) G. B. Shaw (C) Rudyard Kipling (D) W. B. Yeats 48. In which year was Bernard Shaw awarded the Nobel Prize ? (A) 1920 (B) 1925 (C) 1930 (D) 1932 49. E. M. Forster’s A Passage to India deals with— (A) Ancient Indian Culture (B) Arrival of the Britishers in India (C) Relationship between the Britishers and Indians (D) Discovery of the Sea-route to India 50. Who was believed to be ‘a classicist in literature, royalist in politics, and Anglocatholic in religion’ ? (A) Ezra Pound (B) Rudyard Kipling (C) George Orwell (D) T. S. Eliot ANSWERS 1. 11. 21. 31. 41. (D) (A) (C) (D) (C) 2. (A) 12. (C) 22. (D) 32. (C) 42. (B) 3. (D) 13. (D) 23. (B) 33. (C) 43. (B) 4. (B) 14. (D) 24. (C) 34. (A) 44. (B) 5. (B) 15. (A) 25. (B) 35. (C) 45. (A) 6. (C) 16. (C) 26. (D) 36. (A) 46. (A) 7. (C) 17. (C) 27. (A) 37. (B) 47. (C) 8. (B) 18. (A) 28. (C) 38. (C) 48. (B) 9. (A) 19. (B) 29. (A) 39. (B) 49. (C) 10. (D) 20. (D) 30. (A) 40. (B) 50. (D) Section 2 Literary Schools and Movements The Major Literary Schools and Movements are the following— 1. The Renaissance 2. The Reformation 3. The University Wits 4. The Metaphysical School of Poets 5. The Graveyard School of Poetry 6. The Neo-classical or Augustan School of Poetry 7. The Romantic Movement 8. The Oxford Movement 9. The Pre-Raphaelite School of Poetry 10. The Aesthetic Movement 1 The Renaissance The term ‘Renaissance’ literally means re-birth or revival. In art and literature it meant the re-birth or revival of Greek art, literature, culture and pattern of life which had partly or largely been destroyed by the repeated invasions of the Turks. The Turks were a barbarous tribe who not only plundered the wealth of the Greeks, but also destroyed their art and literature and centres of their culture and education during the fifteenth century. The final holocaust of Greek art and literature occurred when Constantinople fell to the Turks in 1453. The Greek artists, scholars, poets and philosophers fled from Greece and carried with them their own books, manuscripts and other objects of art together with those of their ancestors and found favourable centre in Rome in Italy. In Italy they found a very favourable atmosphere for the revival and further enrichment of their art and literature. Therefore, this event may be taken as the starting point of the Renaissance. The Greek learning was revived by the scholars of the Classics called Humanists. They revived the knowledge of the Greek language, discovered and disseminated a great number of Greek manuscripts, and added considerably to the number of Roman authors and works which had been known in the Middle Ages. The result was enlarging immensely the stock of ideas, materials, literary forms, and styles available to the Renaissance writers. From Italy the Renaissance spread through Germany, Spain, France, the Netherlands, and finally reached England. The Renaissance became a national movement during the reign of Queen Elizabeth. During her reign it became a mass movement and flourished and came to fruition and reached its zenith in the sphere of both life and literature. Its slow decline began during the reign of King James I and it came to its end during the reign of King Charles I. Broadly speaking, the Renaissance advocated and brought into practice the principle of dignity of man as man, the patriotic zeal, the spirit of love and beauty, and revival of Greek and Roman literary forms. Milton in the Paradise Lost, Spenser in the Faerie Queene and his pastoral poetry, Gray in his Pindaric odes, Milton in his Sonnets, Shakespeare in his Tragedies, Ben Jonson in his Comedies of Humours, Elizabethan critics in their literary theories followed the Greek and Roman models. Homer, Virgil, Plato, Aristotle, Aeschylus, Euripides and Sophocles became the models for various forms of literature for all time to come. 2 The Reformation Reformation was a religious Movement led by Martin Luther in the fifteenth century. It was an ideological stream which flowed in England and other European countries alongwith the Renaissance. Reformation protested against the practices, rituals and superstitions of the Roman Catholic Church. It advocated complete faith in the Bible and in one’s own soul for salvation. This controversy led to a great conflict between the Roman Catholics and the Protestants. In the heat of this ideological conflict Tindale was executed in 1536 and Thomas More was sent to the scaffold by king Henry VIII in 1535. However, the controversy was resolved with the publication of the Authorised Version of the Bible in 1611 by the command of King James I. The Authorised Version was officially accepted by the public as well as the Church. George Sampson says, “When we think of the high repute in which the Authorised Version is held by men of learning and renown, we must remember, too, that in a special sense it has been the great book of the poor and the unlettered. The one book that every household was sure to possess was the Bible; and it was read, sometimes ignorantly, sometimes unwisely, but always memorably. To many a poor man the English Bible has been a University, the kindly mother from whom he has drawn history, philosophy, and a way of great speech. The modern world has seen many changes; but it has, so far, seen no movement that has shaken the supremacy of the greatest of English books. If ever the Bible falls from its high sovereignty, we may be sure that the English character has fallen with it.” 3 The University Wits The University Wits were a group of young dramatists who appeared immediately before Shakespeare. They were a group of Oxford and Cambridge University scholars who came to London to try their luck as professional playwrights. It was the earliest stage of the development of drama as a popular means of entertainment in public theatres and playhouses. These University Scholars wrote plays for acting in halls, inns and public playhouses. These young scholars included John Lyly, George Peele, Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nashe and Thomas Lodge. The leader of the University Wits was John Lyly, but the most powerful of them was Marlowe. John Lyly chose themes for his plays from classical deities. His popular plays are A Most Excellent Comedy of Alexander Campaspe, Sapho and Phao, Endimion, the Man on the Moon and Love’s Metamorphoses. Most of these plays were acted by ‘Choir Children’ before the Queen. All these plays have a touch of courtly life and behaviour. Lyly refined the English drama and took it out of the alehouse into the courtly chamber. George Peele’s plays are The Araygnement of Paris : A Pastoral, The Famous Chronicle of King Edward the First, The Battle of Alcazar, The Old Wives’ Tale, and The Love of King David. Robert Greene was a great scholar and had travelled widely over Europe. He was deeply influenced by Italian authors. He developed a regular plot expressing deep human feelings. His contribution to the development of regular and well constructed English drama is commendable. Thomas Lodge, Thomash Nashe and Thomas Kyd contributed to the development of the English drama in their own different ways. Christopher Marlowe is the most outstanding figure amongst the University Wits. His importance can be judged from the opinion of many critics that Marlowe was the model for Shakespeare. Had there been no Marlowe, there would have been no Shakespeare. Shakespeare learnt the basic concept of Tragedy from Marlowe. Marlowe’s Dr. Faustus, King Edward II, Jew of Malta, Tamburlaine, and Dido, Queene of Carthage are the most memorable plays produced in English before Shakespeare. Marlowe also gave the model of Blank Verse in drama. Thus, Marlowe, the most powerful member of the University Wits, laid down the strong foundation on which English drama was built on in the ages to come. 4 The Metaphysical School of Poets The term ‘Metaphysical’ was first applied by Dryden in his assessment of the poetry of John Donne. Later on, the term was popularised by Dr. Johnson when he applied it to a group of poets who are now known as the poets of the Metaphysical School. Explaining the term ‘Metaphysical Poets’, Dr. Johnson says, “The metaphysical poets were men of learning and to show their learning was their whole endeavour. They neither copied nature nor life. Their thoughts are often new, but seldom natural; they are not obvious, but neither are they just, and the reader, far from wondering that he missed them, wonders more frequently by what perverseness of industry they were ever found. Their poetry was deeply religious, spiritual, philosophical and symbolic which they tried to make as difficult and unintelligible as possible.’’ The central creed of the Metaphysical poets was that they tried their best to make their poetry as obscure, deep and mysterious as possible. Their primary aim was to startle the reader by their obscure and unpredictable imagery and conceit. Their poetry is packed full with affectations and conceits. In their effort to surprise the reader by the boldness and novelty of their images, they indulged in strained metaphors, far-fetched similes, and the most extravagant hyperboles. They cultivated genuity at any cost. They substituted philosophical subtleties and logical hair-splitting against the natural expression of feeling. They employed their vast out-of-the-way learning without the slightest regard to propriety or naturalness. As a result, they are in general violent, harsh, cold and obscure. Their poems are hard nuts to crack. The leader of the Metaphysical poets was John Donne. Donne wrote many types of poems—lyrics, elegies, satires, and religious and philosophical poems. He is often hailed as the Monarch of Wit. Ben Johnson esteemed him as the first poet in the world. Other poets who belonged to the Metaphysical School are Abraham Cowley, Richard Crashaw, George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Andrew Marvel, and Thomas Traherne. They all share the above mentioned characteristics in their poetry to a more or less degree. 5 The Graveyard School of Poetry The term ‘Graveyard School of Poetry’ is applied to a group of poets who wrote meditative poems, usually set in the background of a graveyard. The general theme of their poetry was mortality of life and vanity of human wishes and ambitions. Their poetry ranged from elegiac pensiveness to profound grief and gloom. These poets were the forerunners of romantic melancholy that appeared in the poets of the next generation. To some poets these poems were a kind of safety valves to escape from the agonies and sorrows of life. These poems were different from elegies, for elegies are written on the death of some particular person, but the graveyard poems deal with the universal theme of the mortality of human life, inevitability of death and vanity of human wishes and ambitions. The poems of this School have the tone of despair, the odour of the charnel house, meditation on the shortness of life, and inevitable end of life in death. These poems are steeped in what we call ‘melancholy pleasure’ or ‘pleasing gloom’. The important poets belonging to this School are Thomas Parnell, Robert Blair, Edward Young, and Thomas Gray. Thomas Parnell’s A Night Piece on Death is the earliest poem of this School : “Now from yon black and fun’ral yew, That bathes the Charnel House with dew, Me thinks I hear a voice begin : It sends a peal of hollow Groans Thus speaking from among the Bones” These lines draw an eerie image of the Graveyard in the night and create an uncanny atmosphere in the mind of the reader. The same eerie and uncanny atmosphere is produced by the poems written by Blair, Young, and above all by Gray. Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard is recognized as the best and greatest elegy written in any language in the world. The tender feelings shown for ‘the rude forefathers of the hamlet’ and ‘the short simple annals of the poor’ reached out to the humbler sections of humanity hitherto ignored by the neo-classicists. The Elegy exposes the mortality of life and vanity of human wishes and ambitions : “The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power, And all that beauty, all that wealth ever gave, Awaits alike the inevitable hour— The paths of glory lead but to the grave.” Therefore there is no use building memorial monuments or inscribing tales of one’s glories on them. None of these can call back the departed soul : “Can storied urn or animated bust Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ? Can Honour’s Voice invoke the silent dust, Or Flattery soothe the dull cold ear of Death ?” This is the melancholy, morbid, and vain glorious, but absolutely true story of life, which the poets of the Graveyard School presented. 6 The Neo-Classical or Augustan School in English Literature The authors of the eighteenth century in English Literature, roughly from Dryden to Dr. Johnson, followed the principles, ideals and models of the Greek and Roman authors who flourished during the reign of Emperor Augustus in Rome. The Classical models gradually came down to England with the spread of the Renaissance. Most of the English poets and authors of the eighteenth century adopted these principles and models with zealous fanaticism. Pope, the great critic, advised his contempory authors to follow or, imitate, or even to steal from the great classical authors, Therefore, the eighteenth century in English Literature is called Neo-classical or Neo-Augustan Age. The literature of this period, including poetry, prose or drama, is characterized by the following characteristics. The most important factor of the literature of the Neo-classical School is its adherence to the original Classical rules and models in all forms of literature. Next, they laid more emphasis on intellectual and artistic craftsmanship than on imagination or emotional fervour. Their poetry is bred more in the head than in the heart. The literature of this School is basically satirical or didactic. The satires may be social, political or even personal. The personal satires are highly pungent or even offensive. Pope’s Dunciad, The Rape of the Lock, Dryden’s Mac Flecknoe are typical satirical poems of this school. As such, imaginative flight and emotional fervour were replaced by cold reasoning and mechanical craftsmanship. These poets had a gift for pregnant and memorable phrases and abstruse philosophical terms. They also wrote their poetry in Poetic Diction. According to these poets, the language of everyday life is not the language fit for poetry. Their concept was that the farther the language of poetry is removed from the language of real life, the better it is. Dr. Johnson defined Poetic Diction thus : “A system of words at once refined from the grossness of domestic use, and free from the harshness of terms appropriate to particular arts.” As such, the language of poetry tended to be stilted and standardized. Further, the poetry of this School was written exclusively in the Heroic Couplet. All other verse forms, metres and stanza forms which were poetically so beautiful and musical were derided and given up. Lastly, the poetry of this School was confined to describing only the aristocratic people and their fashions and manners. Thus, the poetry of this School was completely cut-off from the common people and beauty of nature. 7 The Romantic Movement Romantic Movement has been variously defined by various critics and scholars. According to Walter Pater, “Romanticism is the addition of curiosity to the desire of beauty : It is strangeness added to beauty.” In the words of Walter Hugo, “Romanticism is liberation in literature, impatient of formulas, but generous and tolerant in every other way.” W.J. Long says, “The Romantic Movement was marked and is always marked by a strong reaction and protest against the bondage of rule and custom, which in science and theology, as well as in literature, generally tend to fetter the free human spirit.” Another critic calls it “a renaissance of wonder.” On the adventurous side, as Wordsworth remarks, it deals with “old unhappy far off things and battles long ago.” The Romantic Movement is popularly known by two terms—The Romantic Revival and the Romantic Revolt. As the Romantic Revival, it seeks to revive the poetic ideals of the Elizabethan Age. Love, beauty, emotion, imagination, romance and beauty of Nature were the ideals of Elizabethan poetry. All these ideals are prominently found in the poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, Byron and other Romantic poets. The Romantic Movement is also called Romantic Revolt because it revolted against the rigorous discipline, urbanity, intellectualism and satirical spirit of the Neo-classical poetry of the eighteenth century. The Neo-classical poetry was mechanical and artificial, bred in the head, not in the heart. The Romantic poetry, revolting against it, was deeply marked with imaginative flight and emotional fervour. Emotionalism is its most remarkable feature. A wonderful humanitarian enthusiasm and gorgeous dreams of progress and perfection, with optimistic prophecy characterize the Romantic poetry : ‘‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind ?” Romantic poetry is largely lyrical rather than intellectual or satirical. As such there is an abundance of lyrics, songs, sonnets, odes and egotistical poems in Romantic poetry. Love poetry came into prominence in the Romantic period. Wordsworth became the champion of Nature poetry. Nature, for Wordsworth, was not merely a beautiful landscape, but an abode of God and moral elevation : “One impulse from the vernal wood, Can teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.” Coleridge and Keats re-created for us the Medieval world, turning it into a ‘make-believe world’ on the principle of ‘willing suspension of disbelief.’ These are the marked characteristics of the Romantic School of Poetry. 8 The Oxford Movement The Oxford Movement was basically a religious Movement. It was an outcome of a long controversy and ideological conflicts amongst different Christian Sects and Churches. Since the battle-ground of these controversies was Oxford, this Movement came to be known as the Oxford Movement. Also, all these controversies were carried on through tracts and pamphlets, this Movement was also called The Tractarian Movement. It was in the course of its development that it took a literary turn too. This happened because some of its leaders and influential persons were poets and prose-writers too. These literary men supported the cause of the English Church and the Prayer Book through their writings. In course of time it spreadout over the whole country. So Sampson says, “Viewed from afar the Oxford Movement appeared to be a theological dispute among the local clergy in a university city; in the course of a few years it was to shake the whole Church of England and change the very nature of its being.” The aim of the Movement was to rehabilitate the dignity of the church, to defend the church against the interference of the State, to fight against liberalism, to defend religion against the onslaught of scientific discoveries, and to preserve faith against rationalism. The origin of the Oxford Movement can be traced to the opposition of the scientific discoveries against age-old religious beliefs and faith. The opposition was specially directed against the Biblical concept regarding the creation of the Universe and living creatures, including human beings. The traditional beliefs and theories about the creation of living species and vegetation world could not be proved by scientific experiments. The most powerful o f these scientific discoveries which shook the very foundations of religion was Darwin’s Origin of Species. But religion had to be saved because man cannot live without faith in some Higher Power. This challenge was accepted by the leaders of the Oxford Movement. The important literary figures associated with the Oxford Movement were both poets and prose-writers. Though the most important of them was John Henry Newman, the originator of the Movement was John Keble. Other literary figures associated with it were two brothers Richard Hurrel Froude and James Anthony Froude, Edward Pusey, Isaac William, Richard William Church, and a few more. The Movement came into motion with the publication of a book of verses entitled The Christian Year written by John Keble in two volumes in 1827. It bore the subtitle Thoughts in Verse for the Sundays and Holydays. However, the most important literary man was Henry Newman who published the Essay on the Development of Christian Doctrine published in 1845. He also wrote a number of Tracts, some of which raised a storm against him. His other famous works are Apologia provita Sua, Sermons Preached Before the University of Oxford, Sermons Preached on Various Occasions, The Idea of a University and a book of verses entitled Lyra Apostolica. Discussing the final impact of the Oxford Movement, Sampson says, “The chief aim of the Oxford Movement was to make plain to the Englishmen the historical continuity of the national Church. This was the spirit of the Oxford Movement. The real teaching of the Church would be found if you went back to the right sources.” 9 The Pre-Raphaelite School of Poetry Three English painters named Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Everett Millais and William Holman Hunt founded a society in 1848 and called it Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. They gave this name to their society because they drew their inspiration from the Italian painters before Raphael. In the painters before Raphael they ‘found a sweetness, depth and sincerity of devotional feeling, a self-forgetfulness and humble adherence to truth, which were absent from the sophisticated art of Raphael and his successors.” But D. G. Rossetti and some of his painter friends, notably William Morris and A.C. Swinburne, were poets too. Therefore, they tried to give ‘painting effect’ to their poetry. This gave rise to a like society which came to be known as the Pre-Raphaelite School of Poetry. In fact, some of their poems were painted as pictures. For the subject matter for their poetry, they explored the romance and mysticism of the Middle Ages and created pure art, art for art’s sake only, and for no ulterior social or moral teaching. The main characteristics of the Pre-Raphaelite School of poetry are the following— First and foremost, the Pre-Raphaelite School of Poetry is pictorial. The poems of this school are highly picturesque. Their poems are paintings in words. They could have been painted in colours. They give the impression that their paintings have been rendered into poetry. Thus these poets believed in the theory of Art for Art’s Sake. They did not believe in the theory of Art for life’s sake. For this reason they took no theme for their poetry from the present and sought to revive the Medieval lore. They took their themes from the Middle Ages and added to them their own magical charm and beauty. Further, the poetry of this school is highly musical. It is lyrical not only in its form but also in its musical quality. It is rich in melody. Legouis says, “Vowels call to vowels, and consonants to consonants, and their links often seem stronger than the links of thought or imagery.” The musical devices flow as smoothly and softly as the rippling waves of a stream. However, a charge of voluptuousness is often brought against the poetry of this School. Robert Buchanan called the Pre-Raphaelite poetry ‘Fleshly School of Poetry.’ He so called it because it is too sensuous and often degenerates to the level of sensuality and voluptuousness in their description of feminine beauty. Here is an example of such sensuality : “See my breast how like it is, See it bare for the air to kiss; Is the cup to thy heart’s desire O for the breast. O make it his.” However, this is not their general tone. They have added a rich harvest to the continuity of Romantic Poetry. 10 The Aesthetic Movement The Aesthetic Movement was a European phenomenon started during the last phase of the nineteenth century. Its roots lay in the German theory proposed by Kant (1790). Its central thought is that great art has no ulterior purpose, no moral values to teach, no message to give to human life. It is complete in itself in terms of aesthetic beauty. It is an end in itself. It upholds the doctrine of ‘Art for Art’s Sake’ as against the concept of ‘Art for Life’s Sake.’ The French writers developed the doctrine that art is supreme in itself; it is self-sufficient and has no aim beyond its own perfection. The more important French Aestheticians were Baudelaire, Flaubert, Mallarme, and several more. Flaubert called it ‘the religion of beauty.’ The Aesthetic Movement was introduced into England by Walter Pater. He pleaded the doctrine of ‘art for its own sake.’ Some other English aestheticians were Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons, Ernest Dowson, Lionel Johnson, W. B. Yeats, T. E. Hulme, and T. S. Eliot. Earlier, in the Romantic Age, its greatest champion was Keats. The poets of the Pre-Raphaelite School also believed in the doctrine of Art for Art’s Sake. Multiple-Choice Questions 1. The exodus of Greek scholars and artists from their country started after— (A) the fall of Constantinople at the hands of the Turks (B) the defeat of the Greeks in the War of Troy (C) the death of Alexander, the Great (D) the death of Homer 2. The exodus of Greek scholars and artists from their country and their settlement in Rome is technically called— (A) Reformation (B) Revival (C) Renaissance (D) Resurrection 3. Constantinople fell at the hands of the Turks in— (A) 1353 (B) 1453 (C) 1553 (D) 1253 4. Renaissance reached England through— (A) Rome (B) Germany (D) France (C) Italy 5. Renaissance best flourished in England in— (A) Chaucer’s Age (B) Restoration Age (C) Elizabethan Age (D) Augustan Age 6. The Renaissance spirit is best expressed in— (A) Spenser’s Faerie Queene (B) Shakespeare’s Historical Plays (C) Bacon’s Essays (D) Ben Johnson’s Comedies of Humours English Literature | 45 7. Reformation started in England in— (A) The Elizabethan Age (C) The Caroline Age (B) The Jacobean Age (D) The Restoration Age 8. The Reformation Movement sought to reform— (A) Social evils (B) Political conflicts (C) Religious practices (D) Literary productions 9. The best exponent of the combined spirit of Renaissance and Reformation is— (A) Shakespeare (B) Marlowe (C) Sidney (D) Milton 10. Which of the following is known as ‘the morning star of Reformation’ ? (A) John Wyclif (B) William Tyndale (C) John Occleve (D) John Gower 11. Wyclif’s Bible is the translation of— (A) Greek Texts (B) Latin Texts (C) Hebrew Texts 12. The Authorised Version of the Bible was published in— (A) 1511 (B) 1611 (C) 1450 (D) Arabic Texts (D) 1580 13. Who was the leader of the University Wits ? (A) John Lyly (B) Christopher Marlowe (C) Thomas Kyd (D) Robert Greene 14. One of the following dramatists did not belong to the groups of University Wits. Which of these ? (A) George Peele (B) George Chapman (C) Thomas Lodge (D) Thomas kyd 15. One of the following authors was not a Romance writer. Identify him— (A) John Lyly (B) Francis Bacon (C) Phillip Sidney (D) Walter Raleigh 16. One of the following was not a Caroline Poet. Identify him— (A) Robert Herrick (B) George Herbert (C) Richard Lovelace (D) Andrew Marvell 17. One of the following poets did not belong to the group called the Metaphysical Poets. Identify him— (A) Andrew Marvell (B) Richard Crashaw (C) George Herbert (D) Henry Vaughan 18. Who was the leader of the Metaphysical School of poets ? (A) George Herbert (B) Abraham Cowley (C) John Donne (D) Andrew Marvell 19. One of the following dramatists did not write Comedies of Manners. Identify him— (A) William Wycherley (B) William Congreve (C) John Dryden (D) John Vanbrugh 20. One of the following authors was not a Caroline prose writer. Identify him— (A) Jeremy Taylor (B) John Bunyan (C) Thomas Fuller (D) Richard Baxter 21. In the Life of which poet did Dr. Johnson apply the term Metaphysical School of Poets ? (A) Milton (B) Donne (C) Cowley (D) John Vanbrugh 22. Who was the most important poet of the ‘Graveyard School of Poetry’ ? (A) Thomas Gray (B) Edward Young (C) Robert Blair (D) Thomas Parnell 46 | English Literature 23. Who was the poet who wrote the poem entitled The Grave ? (A) Edward Young (B) Thomas Gray (C) Thomas Parnell (D) Robert Blair 24. Edward Young’s Night Thoughts belongs to— (A) The Graveyard School (B) The Metaphysical School (C) The Sentimental School (D) The Restoration School 25. The Romantic Movement in English Poetry started with the publication of— (A) Thomson’s Seasons (B) Wordsworth’s Lyrical Ballads (C) Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria (D) Byron’s Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage 26. The Romantic Movement is also called the ‘Romantic Revolt’ because it revolted against— (A) The Metaphysical School of Poetry (B) The Graveyard School of Poetry (C) The Elizabethan Poetry (D) The Neo-classical School of Poetry 27. The Romantic Movement is also called ‘The Romantic Revival’ because it revived— (A) The values of Elizabethan Poetry (B) The values of the Classical School of Poetry (C) The values of Greek Poetry (D) The values of Roman Poetry 28. Who were the authors of the Lyrical Ballads ? (A) Wordsworth and Walter Scott (B) Wordsworth and Southey (C) Wordsworth and Coleridge (D) Wordsworth and Thomson 29. The Oxford Movement was basically a— (A) Literary Movement (C) Social Movement (B) Political Movement (D) Religious Movement 30. The Oxford Movement was started by— (A) The Clergymen of Oxford (B) The scholars of the Oxford University (C) The scholars of both Oxford and Cambridge Universities (D) The Unviersity Wits 31. What was common amongst D. G. Rossetti, Christina Rossetti, Morris and Swinburne ? (A) They were all Victorian novelists (B) They all belonged to the Pre-Raphaelite School (C) They all belonged to the Oxford Movement (D) They were all painters 32. Who was the leader of the Pre-Raphaelite group of artists in England ? (A) D. G. Rossetti (B) Swinburne (C) Christina Rossetti (D) Morris 33. What is common amongst Cardinal Newman, John Keble, Henry Newman, and Stanley ? (A) They were all associated with the Oxford Movement (B) They were all associated with the Pre-Raphaelite School (C) They were all sceptical poets (D) They were all atheists English Literature | 47 34. What is meant by ‘Wessex’ ? (A) The home town of George Eliot (B) The region where the Bronte sisters lived (C) The region in which Hardy’s novels are set (D) The name of a county in Scotland 35. The phrase ‘Stormy Sisterhood’ is applied to— (A) Charlotte Bronte (B) Emily Bronte (C) Anne Bronte (D) Collectivity to all the three 36. What is common amongst Rupert Brooke, Julian Grenfell and Siegfried Sassoon as poets ? (A) They were all elegiac poets (B) They were all satirists (C) They were all war poets (D) They were all sea-poets 37. The phrase ‘religion of the blood’ is associated with— (A) Virginia Woolf (B) James Joyce (C) D. H. Lawrence (D) E. M. Forster 38. The phrase ‘stream of consciousness’ is associated with— (A) James Joyce (B) D. H. Lawrence (C) Aldous Huxley (D) T. S. Eliot 39. Who was the founder of a literary club known as Bloomsbury Group ? (A) John Masefield (B) Robert Bridges (C) Virginia Woolf (D) James Joyce 40. Which of the following is a Prophetic novelist ? (A) James Joyce (B) H. G. Wells (C) George Orwell (D) E. M. Forster 41. Which of the following Movements is also called the Tractarian Movement ? (A) The Aesthetic Movement (B) The Reformation Movement (C) The Oxford Movement (D) The Romantic Movement 42. Who was the founder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in England ? (A) D. G. Rossetti (B) John Millais (C) A. C. Swinburne (D) William Holman Hunt 43. Who was the originator of the Oxford Movement (A) John Keble (B) Henry Newman (C) Richard Hurrel (D) J. A. Froude 44. Which of the following literary Schools is denounced as ‘the Fleshly School’ ? (A) The Metaphysical School (B) The Pre-Raphaelite School (C) The Graveyard School (D) The Neo-classical School 45. The English painters of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood took inspiration from— (A) The Italian painters before Raphael (B) The Italian painters after Raphael (C) The Italian painters contemporary to Raphael (D) The Italian painters who were followers of Raphael 46. One of the following was not a member of the Pre-Raphaelite School of Poetry. Identify him— (A) A. C. Swinburne (B) William Morris (C) D. G. Rosetti (D) Henry Newman 48 | English Literature 47. One of the following was not a member of the Oxford Movement. Identify him— (A) Richard Hurrel Froude (B) Edwar

An Objective History of English Literature Through -- Dr. B. B. Jain -- 2015 -- Upkar Prakashan -- 9788174822055 -- c1fab94a285d3378c1bef03a8777d44a -- Anna’s Archive.pdf

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