Notes compiled from various sources
The Oxford movement was a series of reforms advocated in the Anglican church which led to the formation on Anglo-Catholicism. The movement led by some scholars from Oxford including Newman advocated for the reinstatement of certain traditional beliefs and practices in the Anglican church. They were also known as tractarians.
Fabian society is a British socialist organization which believes in gradual social change rather than revolution. Socialism believes in the equal sharing of resources among people. Fabian society led to the formation of Labour party in Britain.
Detective fiction is a sub-genre of crime fiction or mystery fiction in which a detective or crime investigator investigates a crime, usually a murder. Famous detective characters include Agatha Christie’s Hercule Poirot and Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes.
Imagism is a literary movement which gave importance to presentation of clear images rather than detailed narration. It was associated with modernism. Imagism was opposed to the tenets of both Romanticism and Victorian Literature. Imagism was an experimental form of poetry and favoured free verse over other verse forms.
Psychological novels focus on the internal thoughts, motivations and responses of the characters and give them more importance compared to external action. The internal response of the characters is given more emphasis than the event which triggered it. The mind of the characters often influence the action in the novel.
Stream of consciousness is a literary technique in which the writer describes the thoughts and feelings of a character in an unbroken manner. The narration focuses on the mind of the character rather than the external action. Stream of consciousness is often used in psychological novels. The technique was widely used in modernist novels by writers like James Joyce and Virginia Woolf.
Symbolism is a literary technique in which an abstract idea is represented by using an object or a word. Symbolism as a movement promoted the use of symbols in literature to convey emotions and ideas instead of describing everything in detail. Symbolists believed that ultimate truths can only be represented by using symbols. Symbolists believed that ultimate truths and ideals are the best subjects for literature.
Irish renaissance was a revival in Irish literature in the late 19th and early 20th century. It was associated with Irish nationalism and revival of Ireland’s past literature. William Butler Yeats was a prominent figure in Irish renaissance. He contributed to the foundation of Abbey Theatre which was the first Irish national Theatre. The chief dramatist of the movement was J M Synge. W B Yeats was the most prominent poet of the Irish renaissance.
Movement poetry became popular in the UK after the second world war in the 1950s. Philip Larkin, Kingsly Amis, Elizabeth Jennings, Thomm Gun and Robert Conquest were some of the major poets of movement poetry. Movement poetry tried to reclaim the rural England which was being replaced with urban way of life. They opposed modernism. Their poems are filled with nostalgia and pastoral images. They tried to prove the importance of English poetry over modernist poetry. Apart from Philip Larkin and Ted Hughes, other movement poets were considered as anti-romantic. The term movement poetry was coined by J D Scott.
The school of Anger or Angry Young Men were a group of working class and middle class playwrights who became popular in the 1950s. The movement took place in Britain. The leading figures were John Osborne and Kingsley Amis. Look Back in Anger by John Osborne is considered as one of the major works of the movement. The Angry Young Men were a group of young writers disillusioned with traditional British society. Many of the writers however rejected the label of Angry Young Men. They did not identify themselves as a group. Many of the writers either belonged to the left or believed in anarchy. They criticised many aspects and elements of the society. These writers also had contacts with the Royal Shakespeare Company. Major writers like Harold Pinter and Alan Sillitoe were also considered as Angry Young Men.
Joseph Conrad is considered as one of the greatest novelists to write in English. He was a Polish – British writer. He was a part of the merchant navy and many of his works have a nautical setting. (nautical means related to sea voyage). Conrad’s works are considered as realist works, however they also show signs of early modernism. Many of his works deal with aspects of colonialism and Imperialism. A Heart of Darkness is one of his most popular works. The same work led Chinua Achebe to call him a racist writer. However Conrad had the ability to depict the minds of his characters with stunning detail. In heart of Darkness, he portrayed the decline of a European mind in the presence of African tribes. He later influenced many important writers like Salman Rushdie. Rushdie used the pseudonym Joseph Anton, in which the Joseph was taken from Joseph Conrad.
Campus fiction or campus novel has a university campus as its setting. The genre began in the early 1950s. The genre is also known as academic novel. Some of the major writers who wrote campus novels include C P Snow, Kingsley Amis, J M Coetzee, and Philip Roth. Some of them are comical or satirical whereas others are serious in their treatment of campus life. C P Snow’s The Masters, Kingsley Amis’s Lucky Jim, J M Coetzee’s Disgrace, Philip Roth’s The Human Stain etc are famous examples for campus novels.
Post modernism is a movement which followed modernism in literature. It differed from modernism in the way it depicted the changes in the modern world. While modernism complained about the changes in the modern world, post modernism celebrated the changes in the modern world. While modernism regretted the confusion that existed in the modern mind, post modernism celebrated it. Post modern literature rejected the grand narratives provided by science, religion, nationalism etc. It is deliberately self reflexive, and went beyond the limitations placed on it by genres. Post modern literature experimented with other disciplines like history and psychology.
T S Eliot’s Wasteland is a poem written in the aftermath of the first world war. It describes the physical, intellectual and moral degradation of the continent following the great war. The poet says that death is preferable to life in modern Europe as living reminds people more and more of their pains. Death, he feels, helps people to forget all their problems. That is why in the first section of the poem Eliot says that winter is preferable to summer. In the other sections of the poem the poet talks about people who struggle to find any meaning in their life. They live their lives mechanically without any sense of purpose. The poet also discusses modern man’s inability to handle the temptations of desire. He describes Europe as an arid plain which is in the grip of a drought.
New Lines was a collection of poetry published by the movement poets in 1956. Robert Conquest was the editor of the anthology. The group of poets who wrote in New Lines were connected by a desire to avoid certain excesses in literature. These included excesses in theme as well as form. Contributors to New Lines included D J Enright, Kingsley Amis, Robert Conquest,
Thom Gunn, Elizabeth Jennings and Philip Larkin. The New Lines targeted the 1940s poets including Dylan Thomas. In 1963, a sequel titled New Lines 2 was published.
G M Hopkins used innovative techniques in his poetry. He experimented with both form and theme in his poetry. He introduced the sprung rhythm in poetry which was closer to the spoken form of language. Sprung rhythm consisted of a stressed syllable followed by a variable number of unstressed syllables. He also used other techniques like compound words in his poetry. His poetry had a contemplative nature. He wrote about God, nature and the uniqueness of each individual which he called inscape. Hopkins also used symbols, vivid imagery and music in his poetry. His innovative techniques prompt many scholars to consider him as a modernist among Victorians.
The Bronte sisters were Anne, Emily and Charlotte Bronte. They wrote under the pseudonyms Acton Ellis and Currer Bell. Charlotte Bronte wrote Jane Eyre which was a very progressive novel at the time of its publication. The novel tells the story of a girl who grew up in a boarding school and later makes her living as a governess. The novel portrays the hardships the students had to face in such boarding schools. It also stressed the importance of independence for women. Emily Bronte’s major work was Wuthering Heights. It is a Gothic novel set in the moors. The novel tells the story of the passionate and destructive love between Catherine and Heathcliff. The setting of the novel as well as the characters amplify the Gothic nature of the story. Anne Bronte, the lesser known of the three sisters wrote the novel The Tenant of Wildfell Hall. The success of the three sisters at a time when women writers were looked down upon was a serious achievement.
Sensation literature or sensation novels were popular in Britain in 1860s and 1870s. The popular forms of novels were criminal biographies, romantic and Gothic fiction. The expansion of reading public and easier printing of books during industrial revolution also contributed to the popularity of sensation fiction. The sensation literature brought together romance and realist fiction. Earlier these two types of fiction were considered as opposites.
Dramatic monologue is a poem in which the poem consists of the words uttered by the speaker of the poem. The speaker of the poem may interact with one or more people, but we know about their presence only through the words of the speaker. No other character speaks in the poem. The poem reveals the character and temperament of the speaker. The poem opens at a crucial moment in a special situation.
J M Synge was a playwright, poet, prose writer and collector of Irish folklore. He was a key figure in the Irish literary revival. He was a co-founder of the Abbey Theatre which played a key role in the revival of Irish Theatre. Some of his important plays include The Playboy of the Western World and Riders to the Sea. He wrote mainly about the Irish peasant life and his writings were very realistic which set the tone for later Irish playwrights. Following his example many writers wrote about the poor people in Ireland. Sean O Casey wrote about the urban poor in Dublin. He influenced the plays of Samuel Beckett who used to watch the plays of Synge when he was a youngster.
Victorian compromise – The Victorian age was considered as a period of great progress and wealth. At the same time, there was a lot of poverty in England. Even though there were lot of scientific discoveries and inventions, there were so many problems in the society. The Victorians however neglected the condition of the poor people and their own double standards in life. This came to be known as the Victorian compromise. While many people led a virtuous life in the eyes of the public, they concealed many private vices. The industrial development not only made England a super power, it also made the working class poorer. However the wealthy upper classes neglected these aspects and behaved as though everything was okay in England. Many writers exposed these double standards in their works. Many attempts were made to improve the living and working conditions of the poor working class people.
Influence of Darwin’s Origin of Species – Darwin’s theories about evolution questioned the theory of creation put forward and believed by Christians for around 1800 years. The very existence of God was questioned by many thinkers following the publication of the Origin of Species. These doubts and lack of certainty are expressed by many writers in their works. Some writers even lamented the loss of faith that occurred as an indirect result of Darwin’s findings. In Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach, he laments the loss of faith in society. Darwin’s theory of survival of the fittest was used by many thinkers and writers to justify the evils of industrialisation, which Darwin did not intend.
Stream of consciousness is a technique in which the writer follows the thoughts of the characters. It gives importance to how the character responds in his mind to what happens around him. Many modern writers believed that this is more closer to reality than the earlier kind of realism which focused on what happens outside in the physical world. Each event affects different characters in different ways and thus what is real for one character is not real for another. Stream of consciousness thus helps the writer to tell the reader exactly what is happening as far as the individual character is concerned. Stream of consciousness is related to psychological realism which was a feature of the modern literature. James Joyce is one of the most important writers who used stream of consciousness to great effect. Another example is Virginia Woolf.
Transitional poets – The poets who formed the link between neo-classical poets and romantic poets are known as transitional poets. Some of the major transitional poets include Thomas Gray and William Blake. Thomas Gray’s Elegy written in a Country Church yard expresses some of the concerns of romantic poetry. It describes nature in great detail and puts forward the idea of equality of all people which can also be seen in some of the revolutionary Romantic poets. Many of William Blake’s poems also express the beauty, majesty and power of nature. The theme of the poem Elegy Written in a Country Church yard is the life of common people which was also an uncommon choice for poetry in neo-classical literature. Robert Burns is yet another poet who is considered as a transitional poet. When the poems of these poets are closely examined the elements of both neo-classical literature and Romantic literature can be seen.
Pink poets – Pink poets refer to the English poets of the 1930s including W H Auden, Louis MacNiece, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day Lewis. They were so named because of their communist ☭ leanings. The name pink and not red was used because most of them were not radical or hardcore communists. The 1930s came to be known as the pink decade because of the association of these poets. They were not really part of a movement, however most of them were of the same age group, shared similar ideologies and were educated at Oxford or Cambridge. The group was also known as Auden group and Macspaunday, a contraction of the names, MacNiece, Spender, Auden and Day Lewis. They are also referred to as the Thirties poets.
Imagist poetry evoked pictures or images when the reader read such poems. Instead of narrating a story or an event, the poet tries to freeze a moment in time and describe that moment to the reader. Ezra Pound is considered as one of the most important imagist poets. He edited T S Eliot’s Wasteland and Pound’s influence as an imagist on Eliot can be seen in the poem. Instead of narrating the horrors of the war, Eliot tried to present disconnected images of the aftermath of the war. He felt that these images can communicate the horrors of the war more than narrating a tale about the war. Imagism is considered as a modern movement and rejected the ideas put forward by Romantics and Victorians. They stressed on the economical use of words. Ezra Pound often juxtaposed (placed together) different images to communicate complex ideas. Images provide concrete expression of abstract ideas which when presented as a description uses too many words and remains more or less unclear.
Theatre of the absurd became popular in late 1950s. It developed after the second world war because of the general mood that was prevalent among the people. The war had destroyed all attempts to find any sort of meaning in life. Most people felt that life was absurd and meaningless. Thus writers tried to portray this meaninglessness in their works. Playwrights like Samuel Beckett were popular for their absurd plays. In his play Waiting for Godot, we find characters like Estragon and Vladimir who wait without any purpose for a man named Godot who does not appear at all in the play. Like these two tramps many people were waiting for someone else to give purpose to their life. Another important characteristic of absurdism is the meaninglessness of communication. Many of the characters in absirdist plays speak without meaning anything. The existential philosophy of lack of inherent purpose in life is reflected in literature. In ancient literature also examples of such existential tales can be found. In the myth of Sisyphus, Sisyphus rolls a boulder up hill only to roll it down the other side and clap. He continues his effort everyday. Many modern plays reflect this meaningless repetition of action which human beings engage in.
Sigmund Freud’s theories about the mind, greatly influenced the analysis and production of literature. Freud believed that human actions are motivated by unconscious impulses and desires which are often unknown to the person himself/herself. Thus a person may never understand why he behaves in a particular manner. Critics used this theory to seek out the unconscious motives behind the activities of characters. Freud’s theory of oedipal complex was used to analyse works like Hamlet. Critics also tried to look at the biography of the author to see which events in the author’s life influenced particular events and themes in his or her stories. Freud’s theories led to a renewed interest in the human mind, which prompted many modern writers to focus on the mind rather than external action while narrating a story.
A closet drama is a play which is not supposed to be performed. It is meant to be read by a person or to a group of people. Closet dramas were written by writers who wished to escape the censorship that stage plays were subjected to. It was also often a genre which was chosen by women writers or writers who did not have access to theatre productions. On one hand writers of closet drama did not have to care about stageability and stage directions when they wrote their plays. On the other hand, some writers used stage directions and other details to give the reader the impression of watching an actual stage performance.
Victorian poetry refers to the poetry written during the time of Queen Victoria in England. Victoria was queen of England from 1837 to 1901. The Victorian age was preceded by Romanticism and followed by Modernism. Alfred Lord Tennyson, Matthew Arnold, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Browning etc were prominent poets of the period. Many poets wrote about classical themes or included classical allusions in their poems. In Tennyson’s Ulysses the classical figure Ulysses is the speaker of the poem. Matthew Arnold’s Dover Beach also contains allusions to classical times. Lotus Eaters by Tennyson also has its roots in classical literature.
Many poems discussed the aspect of faith which was being questioned with the publication of the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. In Arnold’s Dover Beach, the speaker refers to the receding sea of faith. The poem lists a number of problems that the speaker finds with the contemporary society. Matthew Arnold was very critical of the cultural disintegration of his society. This theme resonates in many of his works. Robert Browning in his poem Pippa Passes assures his readers that “God’s in his heaven, All’s right with the world”. These lines refer to the challenges that faith faced in the Victorian period.
Many of the poems written during the Victorian period were dramatic monologues. The text of the poem consisted of the speaker’s words which he or she said to one or more people. The listeners do not say anything in the poem and are not described at all. We learn about them from the speaker’s words. Ulysses is a poem in which the mythical character Ulysses asks his fellow sailors to go seafaring again with him. Robert Browning wrote a number of famous dramatic monologues. Andrea Del Sarto is one of his more popular dramatic monologues. Fra Lippo Lippi is another famous dramatic monologue.
Another important poet of the Victorian period was Dante Gabriel Rossetti. The Blessed Damozel is one of his famous poems. The poem describes a woman in heaven pining about her lover on earth.
Post war drama consisted of both theatre of the absurd and theatre of anger (angry young men). Both these movements were fuelled by the disillusionment caused by the war. Post war drama’s Significance lies in its success in portraying the general mood of the people in the post war period. The plays were successful because the people could relate to the characters and the emotions they felt.
Existentialism is a philosophy which considers life as having no inherent or innate meaning. Existential philosophers believed that existence precedes essence. This means that essence or meaning is created by human beings through their action. Earlier many philosophers and religious leaders taught that essence or purpose is ascribed to an individual even before he is born. Existentialism rejects such ideas. Existential philosophy helps people to cope with the confusion and purposelessness that overshadow human existence. It is not a negative philosophy as it tells people what to expect of life. Existential philosophy offers a more honest portrayal of life than the romanticized ideas of religion.
Post war fiction designates the works written in the post war period. In the modern sense of the term, it designates the novels and short stories written after the first and second world wars. War novels can either represent the action that took place on the field or it can represent the aftermath of the war and how individuals including soldiers are affected by it. The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje presents the story of a soldier and a nurse among other people who have been profoundly affected by the war. Slaughter house 5 by Kurt Vonnegut is a work which is based on world war two experiences.
High church movement gives importance to traditional believes, rituals and practices and resists modernisation and changes. It is usually associated with the Anglo-Catholic church. The Anglicans used a number of religious practices which were connected to the Roman Catholic church. Those people who wanted to get rid of the catholic practices were known as low church group.
Utilitarianism is a philosophy that promotes decisions and activities which provide happiness to majority of the population. One of the major proponents of utilitarianism was Jeremy Bentham. Utilitarianism believes that the way to judge whether something is good or bad is to see whether it results in the well being of more number of people. Thus the usefulness of a product, is the criteria for deciding whether it is good or bad. John Stuart Mill was another important proponent of the movement.
Aestheticism is a movement which gave importance to beauty and related concepts in art more than social relevance, morality etc. It promoted art for art’s sake and did not believe in the social function of art. Followers of aestheticism believed that art is primarily for entertainment. Oscar Wilde was a famous proponent for aestheticism. Modern critics like Harold Bloom also believe that it is unnecessary to project socio-political ideology onto literature.
Apocalyptic fiction deals with end of the world events. It depicts human civilization facing a deadly crisis from which it may or may not escape. Apocalypse or end of the world may happen due to a number of reasons. It could be because of a catastrophic event, like a flood, a tsunami or a meteor strike. Or it could be because of technology turning on human beings like a revolt of robots. It could even be due to human activities which cause climate change and global warming. War on a global scale can also cause apocalypse. Sometimes apocalypse is depicted as the fulfilment of religious prophecies regarding the end of the world. Post apocalyptic fiction focuses on what happens after the apocalypse and what happens to the few people who have survived. Apocalyptic fiction might be a warning to people as to what might happen if we continue to exploit nature and destroy environment. The stories usually concern itself with human efforts to survive the catastrophe.
Black humour or black comedy refers to the way writers treat serious and often painful issues with a sense of humour. It allows writers to discuss issues which are avoided by other writers. Black comedy creates a sense of discomfort in the people and makes them think seriously about the issue that is dealt with. Comedy dealing with issues like death are also part of black comedy and they are also known as gallows humour.
Animal poetry is poetry in about animals. The animals are described as having human characteristics. In a way these animals are used as symbols through which the author comments on certain human characteristics. Hawk Roosting by Ted Hughes tells us the thoughts of an arrogant hawk who is thinking about its destructive power and authority over other animals. The bird represents the characteristics of a tyrant. Ted Hughes’ Jaguar tells us what happens to animals when they are kept in cages and denied freedom. Thought Fox by Ted Hughes is a poem which discusses the aspects of creating poetry.
Arnold on Poetry – Arnold believed that poetry is more important than religion. At a time when religion was challenged by science, Arnold believed that religion can be substituted with poetry as it cannot be proved wrong. Religion claims that it is true, that is why it was disproved by science. But poetry does not claim that it is true, therefore it cannot be disproved. Arnold believed that poetry should be serious. It should deal with important matters.
Pre-raphaelite artists believed that painters like Raphael had made art mechanical, stylized and artificial. The pre-raphaelites wanted to bring back originality, naturality and realism in art. They believed that art should express genuine and new ideas. They wanted to get rid of the rules and conventions that made all art look artificial. They asked artists to observe nature closely so that they can represent it properly in their art. They believed that following age old techniques will make art mechanical.
George Eliot was the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. She was a Victorian novelist. She wrote seven novels including Mill on the Floss, Silas Marner and Adam Bede. Her novels are known for their psychological insight and realism. She chose a male pen name as she wanted to be read as a serious author. Middlemarch is also a very popular novel that she wrote. The novel Mill on the Floss is about Maggie and Tom Tulliver and their life near the mill owned by their father. Adam Bede tells the story of Hetty Sorrel who neglects her child soon after birth leading to its death. Silas Marner is the story of a weaver who is wrongly accused of stealing and has to leave his native place.
Oscar Wilde was a popular playwright in the late Victorian period. He was a follower of the philosophy of aestheticism and believed that art should be art’s sake. His plays were very humorous and witty. His plays were social comedies which made fun of the hypocrisy of the English society. The Important of Being Earnest was one of his popular plays. He also wrote the novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde inspired other writers to give importance to the aesthetic side of literature more than worrying about the social impact of literature. At the same time he was able to criticise the society he lived in.
War poetry is poetry written about wars either by soldiers or others who have witnessed or experienced war. Usually the term is associated with poets who wrote about the first and second world wars. The themes dealt with include the friendship between soldiers, the futility of war, the loss of life etc. Many writers emphasized the foolishness in considering a stranger as an enemy when the war is on. Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves etc are famous English war poets.
The Bloomsbury group consisted of a group of writers who lived in the Bloomsbury area of London in the early 1900s. The group included famous writers like Virginia Woolf and E M Forster. They were united by a common understanding of the importance of arts. They influenced ideas about literature, economics, feminism etc.
T S Eliot is considered as one of the most important critics of the modern era. Some of his major ideas regarding criticism can be seen in his essay Tradition and the Individual Talent. He believed that each work should be assessed with the idea of past literature in mind. No work of art is produced in a vacuum. Each work becomes part of a great chain of literature. Eliot also opposed the idea put forward by the Romantics that poetry is an expression of one’s emotions. Eliot believed that poetic emotion and emotion in real life are different. He argued that literature should be impersonal. In his essay Hamlet and his problems, Eliot wrote that emotions should be expressed using objective correlative. Objective correlative is a technique by which an emotion is expressed by its association with an object, a chain of events etc. In his essay Metaphysical poets Eliot talked about unification of sensibility. He argued that good poetry results from the combination of the emotion and the intellect rather than their dissociation or separation. Eliot said that the Elizabethan poets and metaphysical poets had unified sensibility whereas the Neo-classical writers and Romantics had dissociated sensibility.
Sigmund Freud’s theories state that the mind has three components, the id, the ego and the super ego. The id consists of the desires and needs of the individual. The super ego is concerned with morality and what is right and what is wrong. The ego on the other hand is the rational part of the mind, which meditates between absolute morality and desires and finds out what is socially acceptable. Freud also believed that human action is often controlled by unconscious memories which remain hidden from the individual. These unconscious memories express themselves in dreams in the form of symbols. Freud used psychoanalysis to find out these repressed memories, so that the individual can learn to control his behavior.
George Bernard Shaw, popularly known as Bernard Shaw, was an Irish playwright. He was awarded the Nobel prize for literature in 1925. He wrote many famous plays including Man and Superman, Pygmalion and Saint Joan. He was a member of the Fabian society. He was influenced by Henrik Ibsen and wrote realistic plays. Shaw’s plays had a socialist leaning. Pygmalion is about a girl named Eliza Doolittle who learns how to speak proper English from a professor. The lessons are part of a bet the professor has with his friend. Man and Superman is about a man named Tanner who has revolutionary ideas. In Saint Joan, Shaw portrays the historical figure as a woman who was ahead of her times. Her contemporaries were not intelligent enough to understand her and thus sentenced her to death for her revolutionary ideas.
Thomas Hardy was a Victorian novelist who became famous for his novels like Tess of the D’urbervilles, The Mayor of Casterbridge, Jude the Obscure etc. Most of his novels end on a pessimistic note. Hardy was a critic of the Victorian society. He felt that the people felt suffocated by the Victorian conventions and traditions. It did not offer people the freedom to be happy. Those who tried to go beyond the boundaries set by the society to find happiness ended up facing tragedies in their life. Hardy was a realist who felt that most people are unhappy in their life because of the circumstances that they find themselves in. Even if they tried to improve their condition, it only led to more unhappiness. This is a recurring theme in Hardy’s novels. Thus many of Hardy’s innocent heroes and heroines suffer much in his novels. Most of the novels end on a tragic note. This is why readers feel that Hardy’s novels are pessimistic in nature.
Confessional poetry deals with the personal experiences of the author which were not usually discussed in poetry earlier. Confessional poetry became popular in the 1950s and 60s. Some of the famous confessional poets include Robert Lowell, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. Both Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton were influenced by the poetry of Robert Lowell. In India, Kamala Das was famous for her confessional poetry. Confessional poetry openly discussed personal issues like death, depression, relationships etc. Many poets wrote about issues that troubled their minds. But these poems were not merely diary entries, they were poems of fine quality.
Post colonialism is the study of the effects of colonialism on the colonized people. It looks at how colonialism has destroyed the culture, languages and other aspects of the colonized society. Post colonialism also analyses literature written in countries in Europe which usually portray colonized countries as having no culture, morality and religion. Post colonialism tries to undo the damage done by colonialism to the colonized people. It also studies how colonialism has affected the minds of the people. People who have been colonized for a long time tend to feel that they are inferior compared to white Europeans. Post colonialism tries to restore the pride that the colonized nations had in their culture, beliefs and way of life. Post colonialism exposes such texts which claim that non-European cultures are primitive. The basic purpose of post colonialism is to decolonise the minds of the colonized people.
Horror fiction is a genre of fiction which creates the emotions of fear or shock in the reader. Horror stories and novels usually have super-natural elements, but sometimes writers provide rational explanations for the events in the work. Horror fiction uses the oldest of human emotions, namely fear. The success of horror fiction show that even though fear is considered as a negative emotion, people are still ready to spend their time and money to experience the emotion. Many people read horror fiction because they want to find out what is behind the terrifying events narrated in the work. An element of curiosity drives the reader to read horror fiction.
Victorian period was a period during which a number of important works of non-fiction were published. One of the important works of this period was The French Revolution by Thomas Carlyle. Matthew Arnold wrote a number of works of literary and cultural criticism. Arnold stated that criticism is making known what is best thought and said in the world. Arnold believed that poetry was more important than religion as poetry cannot be disproved whereas religious beliefs were disproved by science in the Victorian period. Another important non-fictional work which profoundly affected the society was the Origin of Species by Charles Darwin. The theory of evolution put forward by Darwin in this book changed the way people looked at the world. It affected all aspects of human life.
Alfred Lord Tennyson was a Victorian poet who was the poet laureate of England and Ireland during the reign of Queen Victoria. Much of his poetry was based on classical themes. His poem Ulysses is a dramatic monologue in which the mythical king asks his sailors to go seafaring with him again. The poem is very famous as it urges people to action and face the odds of life boldly. Tennyson wrote In Memoriam to lament the death of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam. The Lotos Eaters also has a mythical background.
Post modern novels were written in the second half of the 20th century in the post war period. Many of the post modern novels contain elements of post modernism like unreliable narrator, fragmentation, self-reflectivity etc. Post modernism was in many ways a continuation as well as response against modernism. Thus some of the characteristics of modernism can be seen in post modern novels whereas some other characteristics are opposed.
Instead of the realism found in fiction earlier, post modern novels often have an unreliable narrator who may not be saying what is true. He or she often narrates the story from his or her perspective adding, deleting or changing events according to their perspective. Many novels often had multiple narrators who provide multiple narratives about the same events.
Many post modern works are self-reflexive, which means that the works often discuss their own creation. These types of works which discuss issues related to writing literature are known as metafiction. Metafiction means fiction about fiction. Such works constantly remind the readers that they are reading something imaginary. Many of these works often addressed the reader directly making them part of the narrative and sometimes even asking them to fill gaps in the narrative which the author has left for the readers.
Post modern novels often broke the barriers of genres and mixed up characteristics of different genres. Sometimes the novel would be written in the form of poetry.
Post modern fiction often engaged with other disciplines like history. Many works of fiction concerned themselves with the writing of history. Such works were known as historiographic metafiction. Similarly many works were written about disciplines other than literature. Flaubert’s Parrot by Julian Barnes for example is a novel which deals with literary criticism. It criticizes literary critics who give unnecessary importance to trivial details of an author’s life.
In many ways post modern novels challenged the accepted conventions of novel writing with regard to the subject matter and presentation.
The literature of the 1930s reflected the rising tension in different parts of the world leading up to the second world war. W H
Auden was one of the most famous poets of this decade. He wrote poems like The Shield of Achilles which signify the futility of war. Many poets writing in this decade had a socialist leaning. The 1930s were a period of economic crisis for much of the population. This aspect reflected in the works of many writers. The Spanish civil war which preceded the second world war prompted many writers to think about the responsibilities of the writers in a world threatened by war on a global scale. Many writers feared that civilization as they knew it would come to an end. Writers like Stephen Spender and Cecil Day Lewis also hoped that communism would bring an end to the suffering of the poor. T S Eliot and Ezra Pound were also active writers during this period.
Eliot was very critical of the first world war and saw it as a sign of the destruction of western civilization. Ezra Pound was an imagist poet who believed that poetic images can better convey ideas than lengthy narratives. George Orwell was also active during this period. He opposed the fascism of the Russian government in the 1930s. However he was a socialist and through his essays tried to bring about equality among people and prosperity for the poor. Orwell’s Animal Farm is an allegorical criticism of fascism whereas the novel 1984 was a dystopian novel which warned the world about the dangers of totalitarianism.
Eugene O’Neill was another writer who was active in the 1930s. He was a proponent of expressionism in theatre. In expressionism, a writer tries to portray the psychological reality that a person experiences rather than the physical reality that all people see. In O’Neill’s plays, what is seen on stage is what the characters feel in their mind.
D H Lawrence is considered as an important writer of the modern period. His novels were controversial in England due to their frank treatment of sexuality. He wrote about the problems caused by industrialization and modernization in modern life. For example in his novel Sons and Lovers, the relationship between Mr and Mrs Morrel becomes strained because Mr Morrel is overworked at the mine where he is working and does not have any energy or time to spend for his family. Many of his novels explore the complex psychology of human beings and the dehumanizing effect of industrialisation. Two of his books were banned during his lifetime. Although he died without the reading public acknowledging him as a great writer, posterity considers him as a leading figure among modern novelists.
H G Wells was a British novelist in the late Victorian period. He is today known for his science fiction novels. He predicted the development of so many modern inventions and technologies. In his works, we find instances of time travel, invisibility, alien invasion etc. Wells’ work also predicted the methods of modern warfare. His famous works include The Time Machine, War of the Worlds, The Invisible Man etc.
E M Forster was a British novelist and prose writer popular in the beginning of the 20th century. He was a member of the Bloomsbury group. He is famous for his novels A Passage to India and Howard’s End. A Passage to India explored the relationship between a British man and an Indian doctor named Aziz. Forster believed that the colonial problem can be solved by a better relationship between people from both countries. He was a humanist and wrote about issues brought about by class difference. A Room with a View is another famous work by Forster.
James Joyce was an Irish writer who is considered as one of the most important novelists of modernism. He is famous for his novels A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man and Ulysses. He gave popularity to the stream of consciousness technique in which he followed the mind of his characters as they experienced events. He gave importance to the way characters mentally responded to events than the events themselves. Joyce’s other famous works are Finnegan’s Wake and the short story collection Dubliners. Ulysses describes one day in the life of Leopold Bloom in Dublin. It is a literary parallel of Homer’s Odyssey.
Bram Stoker was a British novelist who wrote during the Victorian era. He wrote the famous horror novel Dracula which was extremely successful and remains popular even today. Dracula was written as an epistolary novel in the form of diary entries, letters, newspaper reports etc. The inspiration for Dracula came from vampire stories in European folklore.
Georgian period followed the Edwardian period in literature. It began with the rule of King George in 1910. A series of anthologies were published with the title Georgian poetry between 1910 and 1922. The Georgian poets mainly wrote about nature and rural life. They were poets who looked back to an earlier era from the modern period. Most of them were inferior poets and they could not match the skills of the Romantics in their representation of nature. Later on, the term Georgian poets began to be used in a negative sense, as a group of poets of inferior quality.
Charles Dickens was a Victorian novelist who is considered as one of the best English novelists of his time. He wrote many popular novels including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, etc which not only entertained his readers, but also exposed the evils of industrialisation. He also criticised the poor laws and work houses which were in existence at that time. Dickens had a thorough knowledge about all sections of the society that he lived in and he didn’t spare anybody from his criticism. His greatness lies in the fact that he was able to create mesmerizing tales even when he used them to advance social causes and expose social evils.
Rudyard Kipling was a British writer who wrote during the late 19th and early 20th century. He is famous for his work Jungle Book. He was born in India, which influenced most of his works. He was considered as a master story teller. He won the Nobel prize in Literature. However many critics have accused Kipling of being an imperialist, a supporter of colonialism. However his fame lies in his masterful ability to narrate tales.
English Notes 