Eng 112 English Literary Genres Unit: 3

UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI Maiduguri, Nigeria

CENTRE FOR DISTANCE LEARNING ARTS ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3

ENG 112: ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri ii ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3

Published 2006©

This text forms part of the learning package for the academic programme of the Centre for Distance Learning, University of Maiduguri.

Further enquiries should be directed to the: Coordinator Centre for Distance Learning University of Maiduguri P. M. B. 1069 Maiduguri, Nigeria.

This text is being published by the authority of the Senate, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri – Nigeria.

ISBN: 978-8133-45-2

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri iii ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3

P R E F A C E

This study unit has been prepared for learners so that they can do most of the study on their own. The structure of the study unit is different from that of conventional textbooks.

The course writers have made efforts to make the study material rich enough but learners need to do some extra reading for further enrichment of the knowledge required.

The learners are expected to make best use of library facilities and where feasible, use the

Internet. References are provided to guide the selection of reading materials required.

The University expresses its profound gratitude to our course writers and editors for making this possible. Their efforts will no doubt help in improving access to University education.

Professor J. D. Amin

Vice-Chancellor

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri iv ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3

HOW TO STUDY THE UNIT

You are welcome to this study Unit. The unit is arranged to simplify your study. In each topic of the unit, we have introduction, objectives, in-text, summary and self- assessment exercise. The study unit should take 6-8 hours to complete. Tutors will be available at designated contact centers for tutorials. The center expects you to plan your work well. Should you wish to read further you could supplement the study with more information from the list of references and suggested readings available in the study unit.

PRACTICE EXERCISES/TESTS 1. Self-Assessment Exercises (SAES) This is provided at the end of each topic. The exercise can help you to assess whether or not you have actually studied and understood the topic. Solutions to the exercises are provided at the end of the study unit for you to assess yourself. 2. Tutor-Marked Assignment (TMA) This is provided at the end of the study Unit. It is a form of examination type questions for you to answer and send to the center. You are expected to work on your own in responding to the assignments. The TMA forms part of your continuous assessment (C.A.) scores, which will be marked and returned to you. In addition, you will also write an end of Semester Examination, which will be added to your TMA scores. Finally, the center wishes you success as you go through the different units of your study.

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri v ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3

INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE

English 112 offers an in depth treatment of English Literary genres with reference to the close study of a play, novel and a selection of poems. The course is a broad survey of the development of English Literature from its earliest origins to modern times. The course also deals with the major movements in English Literature. Selected texts from poetry, drama and novel representing the various movements will be studied.

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri 1 ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3

ENG 112: ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNITS: 3

T A B L E O F C O N T E N TS

PAGES PREFACE ------iii HOW TO STUDY THE UNIT - - - - - iv INTRODUCTION TO THE COURSE - - 1

TOPIC 1: DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF LITERATURE 3 TOPIC 2: ENGLISH LITERATURE - - - - - 8 TOPIC 3: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (1) - 11 TOPIC 4: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (2) - 14 TOPIC 5: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (3) - 18 TOPIC 6: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (4) - 23 TOPIC 7: POETRY ------26

TOPIC 8: ANALYSIS OF POEMS - - - - - 30 TOPIC 9: DRAMA ------43 TOPIC 10: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST - 48 TOPIC 11: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1) - - - 52 TOPIC 12: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (2) - - - 56 TOPIC 13: THE NOVEL ------62 TOPIC 14: GEORGE ORWELL’S ANIMAL FARM - - 67

SOLUTION TO EXERCISES

T O P I C 1: TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 1.0 TOPIC: DEFINITION AND SCOPE OF LITERATURE - 3 1.1 INTRODUCTION ------4 1.2 OBJECTIVES ------4 1.3 IN-TEXT ------4 1.3.1 DEFINITIONS OF LITERATURE - - - 4 1.3.2 SCOPE OF LITERATURE- - - - 5 1.3.3 GENRES IN LITERATURE - - - - 6 1.3.4 FOLK LITERATURE - - - - - 6 1.4 SUMMARY ------6 1.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 6 1.6 REFERENCES ------7 1.7 SUGGESTED READING - - - - - 7

1.0 TOPIC: DEFINITION OF LITERATURE 1.1 INTRODUCTION Literature, a body of oral and written works is as old as man’s existence on earth. This lecture will discuss the growth and development of literature.

1.2 OBJECTIVES By the end of this topic you should be able to: i. Define Literature. ii. Discuss the growth of literature.

1.3 IN-TEXT 1.3.1 LITERATURE DEFINED The word literature is derived from the Latin littera, “a letter of the alphabet”. Literature is first and foremost mankind’s entire body of writing, after that it is the body of writing belonging to a given language or people, and then it is individual pieces of writing. Literature therefore can be considered as a body of written works. The name is often applied to those imaginative works of poetry and prose distinguished by the intentions of their authors and the excellence of their execution. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter. Definitions of the word literature tend to be circular. The Concise Oxford Dictionary says it is “writings whose value lies in the beauty of form or emotional effect”. The 19th century critic Walter Pater referred to “the matter of imaginative or artistic literature as a transcript not of mere fact, but of fact in its infinitely varied forms”. To use the word writing when describing literature is misleading, for one may speak of “oral literature” or “the literature of preliterate peoples”. The art of literature therefore cannot be reducible to the words on the pages; they are there because of the craft of writing. As an art, literature is the organization of words to give pleasure; through them it elevates and transforms experience; through them it functions in society as a continuing symbolic criticism of values.

1.3.2 SCOPE OF LITERATURE Literature, we know now is a form of human expression. But not everything all the world’s classic surveys of history can stand as noble examples of the art of literature. But most historical works and studies today are not written primarily with literary excellence in mind, though they may possess it, by accident. The essay was once written deliberately as a piece of literature, its subject matter was of comparatively minor importance. Today most essays are written as expository, informative journalism. Some personal documents (autobiographies, diaries, memoirs, and letters) rank among the world’s greatest literature. Some of these documents are in a highly polished literary style, others, couched in privately evolved language, acquire their stand as literature because of their cogency, insight and depth. Many works of philosophy are classed as literature. The Dialogues of Plato (4th century BC) are written with great narrative skill and in the finest prose; the Meditations of the 2nd century Roman emperor Marcus Auricles are a collection of apparently random thoughts, and the Greek in which they are written is eccentric. Yet both are classed as literature, while the speculations of other philosophers, ancient and modern, are not. Certain scientific works endured as literature, long after their scientific content has been outdated. This is particularly true of book of natural history, where the element of personal observation is of special importance. Oratory, the art of persuasion, was long considered a great literary art. The oratory of the African, the American Indian, and the Indian are famous, while in classical Greek, Polyamnia was the muse sacred to poetry and oratory. Rome’s great orator Cicero was to have a decisive influence on the development of English prose style. Today, however, oratory is more usually thought as a craft than as an art. Most critics would not admit advertising copywriting, purely commercial fiction, or cinema and television scripts as accepted forms of literary expression, although others would hotly dispute their exclusion. The test in individual cases would seem to be one of enduring satisfaction and, of course truth. Indeed, it becomes more and more difficult to categorize literature for in modern civilization words are everywhere. Man now is subjected to a continuous flood of communication. But in modern times, very little writing, almost by accident achieve an aesthetic satisfaction, a depth and relevance that entitle it to stand with other examples of the art of literature.

1.3.3 GENRES: (FRENCH KIND OR SORT) Genre is a distinctive type or category of literary composition, such as the epic, tragedy, comedy, novel and short story. Despite critics’ attempts to systemize the art of literature, such categories retain a degree of flexibility. Hybrid forms such as tragicomedy and prose poem are in existence. Critics however, have invented a variety of systems for treating

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri 5 ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3 literature as a collection of genres. Often these genres are artificial, invented after a fact with the aim of making literature less sprawling.

1.3.4 FOLK LITERATURE In preliterate societies oral literature was widely shared; it saturated the society and was as much a part of living as food, clothing, shelter, or religion. In older societies, the minstrel might be a courtier of the king or chieftain, and the poet who composed liturgies might be a priest. But the oral performance itself was accessible to the whole community. As society evolved its various social layers, or classes, on “elite” literature began to be distinguishable from the “folk” literature of the people. With the invention of writing this separation was accelerated until finally literature was being experienced individually by the elite (reading a book), while folklore and folk song were experienced orally and more or less collectively by the illiterate common people.

1.4 SUMMARY Literature is an all-encompassing art, which includes Poetry, Prose, Drama, History, Philosophy, Oratory and Folk literature. It may be described as an imaginative representation of events, through which people project life in a society. Literature may be described as the imaginative representation of events through which people project life in a society. Literature is as old as man’s existence on earth. Oral literature of ancient times paved the way for written forms of literature.

1.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISES 1. Define literature and trace briefly the origin of literature. 2. How will you define genre? 3. What are the main genres of literature? 4. Differentiate the characteristic features of folk literature and elite literature. 5. What is Oratory? Explain briefly.

1.6 REFERENCE Charles Roland & Long N. Michael (1991) Teaching Literature. Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers. Longman Group UK Limited. Kennedy J.K. (1973) Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Boston. Little, Brown and Company. Kermode, Frank & Hollander John (1973) The Oxford Anthology of English Literature Volumes 1 & 2. New York, Oxford University Press.

1.7 SUGGESTED READING

Kennedy J.K. (1973) Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Boston. Little, Brown and Company. Charles Roland & Long N. Michael (1991) Teaching Literature Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers. Longman group UK Limited.

T O P I C 2:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

2.0 TOPIC: ENGLISH LITERATURE - - - - 8 2.1 INTRODUCTION ------9 2.2 OBJECTIVES------9 2.3 IN-TEXT ------9 2.3.1 THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH LITERATURE - - - 9 2.3.2 ENGLISH LITERATURE DEFINED - - - - 9 2.4 SUMMARY ------9 2.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - - 9 2.6 REFERENCES ------10 2.7 SUGGESTED READING ------10

2.0 TOPIC: ENGLISH LITERATURE

2.1 INTRODUCTION English literature is the body of all oral and written works produced in British Isles. This lecture will deal with the growth and development of English literature.

2.2 OBJECTIVES At the end of this topic you should be able to: i. Define English Literature. ii. Name and describe the various ages or movements in English literature.

2.3 IN-TEXT 2.3.1 THE ORIGIN OF ENGLISH LITERATURE English Literature is the body of works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles from the 7th century to the present day

2.3.2 ENGLISH LITERATURE DEFINED English literature is traditionally divided into Old English, Middle English, Renaissance and Elizabethan, Jacobean, Restoration, 18th century, Romantic, Victorian and Modern periods. Literary traditions often overflow such categories, however, diverse approaches have always coexisted. Old English and to a lesser extent, Middle English appear to the modern reader to be foreign languages.

2.4 SUMMARY English Literature is the body of works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles from the 7th century to the present day. English literature is traditionally divided into Old English, Middle English, Renaissance and Elizabethan, Jacobean, Restoration, 18th century, Romantic, Victorian and Modern periods.

2.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Define and distinguish the various divisions of English Literature.

2.6 REFERENCE Kennedy J.K. (1973) Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Boston. Little, Brown and Company.

2.7 SUGGESTED READING Charles Roland & Long N. Michael (1991) Teaching Literature Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers. Longman group UK Limited.

T O P I C 3:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 3.0 TOPIC: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (1) 11 3.1 INTRODUCTION ------12 3.2 OBJECTIVES ------12 3.3 IN-TEXT ------12 3.3.1 OLD ENGLISH ------12 3.3.2 MIDDLE ENGLISH - - - - - 12 3.4 SUMMARY ------13 3.5 SELF –ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 13 3.6 REFERENCE ------13 3.7 SUGGESTED READING - - - - - 13

3.0 TOPIC: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (1)

3.1 INTRODUCTION This lecture will take the students through the main movements or the various ages of English literature.

3.2 OBJECTIVES By the end of this topic you should be able to i. Define the main movements of English Literature. ii. Describe the characteristic traits of the main movements of English Literature.

3.3 IN-TEXT 3.3.1 THE OLD ENGLISH PERIOD The Angles, Saxons and Jutes who invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries brought with them the common Germanic metric, but the earliest oral poetry probably used for magic, and short narratives, little more survive. In the 7th century Caedmon, an illiterate Northumbarian cowherd, composed a hymn is praise of the creation Caedmon legitimized the native verse form by adopting it to Christian themes. Others following his example gave England a body of vernacular poetry unparalleled in Europe before the end of millennium. Old English is the first recorded English literature. Manuscripts from about AD 1000 contain the best-known Old English work, Beowulf, a heroic poem written about 6 00 to 750. Such poems were originally written to be sung, and the subject-matter was generally religious or heroic. In prose there were plain- narrative historical chronicles such as The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle.

3.3.2 MIDDLE ENGLISH OR THE MEDIEVAL AGE Middle English began with the Norman conquest of 1066. This brought both the French language, which in time combined with the Germanic Anglo- Saxon to form the basis of modern English, and a French literary influence. The Arthurian style became the central myth for English literature, as seen in works such as Sir Gawayne and the Greene Knight, an example of the alliterative revival of the 14th century, and Sir Thomas Mallory’s MorteDarthur. Geoffrey Chaucer, master of the complex narrative and sometimes considered as the first modern English writer, occupies the central position in Middle English literature. He combined the classical epic and European philosophical influence in his Troilus and Criseyde, but also gave the vernacular a solid basis in his comic Canterbury Tales.

3.4 SUMMARY Old English is the first recorded English literature. Manuscripts from about AD 1000 contain the best-known Old English work, Beowulf, a heroic poem written about 6 00 to 750.The Angles, Saxons and Jutes who invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries brought with them the common Germanic metric, probably used for magic and short narratives. Middle English began with the Norman conquest of 1066. This brought both the French language, which in time combined with the Germanic Anglo- Saxon to form the basis of modern English. Geoffrey Chaucer, master of the complex narrative and sometimes considered as the first modern English writer, occupies the central position in Middle English literature. His Troilus and Criseyde is a combination of the classical epic and European philosophy. He also gave the vernacular a solid basis in his Canterbury Tales.

3.5 SELF–ASSESSMENTEXERCISE 1. Distinguish between Old English and Middle English.

T O P I C 4:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 4.0 TOPIC: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (2) 14 4.1 INTRODUCTION ------15 4.2 OBJECTIVES ------15 4.3 IN-TEXT ------15 4.3.1 THE RENAISSANCE - - - - - 15

4.3.2 THE METAPHYSICAL PERIOD- - - 15 4.3.3 THE RESTORATION PERIOD - - - 16 4.4 SUMMARY ------16 4.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE- - - - 17 4.6 REFERENCES ------17 4.7 SUGGESTED READINGS - - - - - 17

4.1 INTRODUCTION Three very important ages, the ages of the Renaissance, Metaphysical and Restoration will be discussed in this lecture.

4.2 OBJECTIVES By the end of the topic you should be able i. Describe a few important features of the three movements studied.

4.3 IN-TEXT

4.3.1 THE RENAISSANCE The European Renaissance filtered into England by the 16th century and led to the questioning of the religious beliefs and assumptions of the Middle Ages. Literature began to look back beyond the medieval period to the classics for inspiration, and Neo-Platonism, through Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen and The Shepard’s Calendar. Lyrical courtly poetry, became the dominant in Sir Philip Sidney’s Defense of Poesies (the beginning of English literature criticism), in Frances Bacon’s prose essays, and particularly in the plays of William Shakespeare. As the central figure of the English Renaissance, Shakespeare expresses both its conflicts and its glorious energy and provides the basis for its reputation as the golden age of English Literature and of English drama in particular. Shakespeare’s immediate forbearer, Christopher Marlowe, established the use of blank verse in plays centering on the tragic ambitions of strong personalities.

4.3.2 METAPHYSICAL MOVEMENT The accession of James I in 1603 was accompanied with great strife, and this produced a strain of cynicism manifested in the revenge tragedies of John Webster and the comedies of Ben Jonson and Francis Beaumont. There also emerged at this time the intellectual passion of Metaphysical poetry, with John Donne at its centre, containing the conflict between love, religion and the individual. Robert Herrick and other Cavalier poets, in contrast wrote elegant and playful love lyrics. The English Civil Wars and Oliver Cromwell’s Puritan regime led to the closure of all English theaters in 1642. The dominant literary figure was John Milton, and his influential religious epic Paradise Lost (1667) provided a link between the Puritan era and the restoration of the monarchy.

4.3.3 THE RESTORATION AGE

The return of Charles II in 1660 to the country ushered in the Restoration period. It was characterized by the witty mannered comedies of William Congreve, the satirical poetry of Andrew Marvell, and the heroic drama and poetry of John Dryden. The diary and biography forms emerged as useful genres in the works of Samuel Pepys and Izaak Walton, and John Bunyan wrote The Pilgrims Progress (1678), a popular Christian allegory.

4.4 SUMMARY The European Renaissance filtered into England by the 16th century and led to the questioning of the religious beliefs and assumptions of the Middle Ages. Literature began to look back beyond the medieval period to the classics for inspiration. Lyrical courtly poetry became the dominant in Sir Philip Sidney’s Defense of Poesies criticism, in Frances Bacon’s prose essays, and particularly in the plays of William Shakespeare. Shakespeare, as the central figure of the English Renaissance, expresses both its conflicts and its glorious energy that provide the basis for its reputation as the golden age of English Literature. Shakespeare’s immediate forbearer, Christopher Marlowe, established the use of blank verse in plays. The accession of James I in 1603 was accompanied with great strife, and this manifested in the revenge tragedies of John Webster and the comedies of Ben Jonson and Francis Beaumont. There also emerged at this time the intellectual passion of Metaphysical poetry, with John Donne at its centre, containing the conflict between love, religion and the individual. The return of Charles II in 1660 to the country ushered in the Restoration period. It was characterized by the witty mannered comedies of William Congreve, the satirical poetry of Andrew Marvell, the heroic drama and poetry of John Dryden, and John Bunyan’s The Pilgrims Progress (1678), a popular Christian allegory.

4.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Describe briefly the characteristic features and some exponents of the following periods: a) The Renaissance b) The Metaphysical c) The Restoration

4.7 SUGGESTED READING

Charles Roland & Long N. Michael (1991) Teaching Literature Longman Handbooks for Language Teachers. Longman group UK Limited.

T O P I C 5:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 5.0 TOPIC: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (3) 18 5.1 INTRODUCTION ------19 5.2 OBJECTIVES ------19 5.3 IN-TEXT ------19 5.3.1 AUGUSTAN AGE - - - - - 19 5.3.2 THE ROMANTIC AGE - - - - 19 5.3.3 THE VICTORIAN AGE - - - 20 5.4 SUMMARY ------21 5.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 21 5.6 REFERENCE ------21 5.7 SUGGESTED READING - - - - - 22

5.1 INTRODUCTION

The 18th century witnessed the rise of two major literary movements. We will closely study these movements in this topic.

5.2 OBJECTIVES At the end of this topic you should be able to: i. Explain the two major literary movements ii. Describe the Augustan Age iii. Describe the Romantic Age

5.3 IN-TEXT

5.3.1 THE AUGUSTAN OR NEOCLASSICAL AGE The 18th century witnessed the rise of two major literary movements. The first movement was the Augustan Age, or Neoclassical period, exemplified by the satires of Alexander Pope, the prophesizing and allegory of Jonathan Swift (perhaps the greatest satirist in the English language), and the criticism of Samuel Johnson. Journalism and the prose essay flourished, both influencing and being natural by this movement as seen in Joseph Addison’s periodical The Spectator. Respect for rules, high standard of intellectual quality, emphasis on a set poetical style, emergence of the heroic cuplete and treatment of turn life, formed some of the themes. Of great importance was the rise of the novel as an independent literary form in the works of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, and Tobias Smollett. The novelist playwright Oliver Goldsmith, the playwright Richard B. Sheridan, and Johnson’s biographer, James Boswell, brought a close to the Augustan-Age late in the century.

5.3.2 THE ROMANTIC AGE OR ROMANTICISM Romanticism was the second literary movement to appear in the 18th century. It was in part a reaction against the elitism and self imposed classical limitation of the Augustans. Romanticism was a revolt against authority, tradition and conventions, whether political, social, religious or literary. Thus, return to nature, simple life, individuality, variety and the return of the typical mode of expression, characterized this movement. Romanticism began with William Blake’s poetry of rebellion against convention and a new concept of imagination as a creative force. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were central to the movement, producing a manifesto of Romantic beliefs in the preface to their joint Lyrical

Ballads (1798). The poets concentrated on the redeeming power of nature and the destruction influence of increasing industrialization. The second generation of English Romanticism include John Keats, whose vivid, serious lyrics trace beauty and its passing, Percy Bysshe Shelley, whose works combine lyricism with political radicalism; and Lord Bryon, who invented the romantic anti-hero in his ironic verse satires.

5.3.3 THE VICTORIAN AGE The 19th century also known as the Victorian age was the great age of the English novel. Early in the century this form gathered strength in the fantasies of the Gothic novel and in the critical insight into polite society that was shown by Jane Austen’s novels. The historical novel was established by Sir Walter Scott in the 1820s. Charles Dickens, the greatest of English novelist, put his comic genius at the service of exploring the ills of society and the vagaries of human nature. Following Dickens were George Eliot’s portrayals of 19th century society and its moral dilemmas William Thackery’s ironic studies of society, and Anthony Trollops depiction of contemporary manners and more. Thomas Hardy marked the end of the Victorian era, and the beginning of Modernism, in his agnosticism and determinism. The two most significant figures in Victorian Poetry were Robert Browning, who created psychological portraits in poems called dramatic monologues, and Lord Alfred Tennyson, who explored at the intellectual and religious problems of the time in his verse. Other notable Victorian figures were the essayist Mathew Arnold and such poets as Dante Gabriel Rossetti and Charles Swinburne. The turn of the century saw the revival of English drama of Oscar Wild and George Bernard Shaw, together with a new group of novelists, among who were H.G. Wells, Joseph Conrad, Arnold Bennett, John Galsworthy, E.M. Forster, and W. Somerset Maugham.

5.4 SUMMARY The 18th century witnessed the rise of two major literary movements. The first movement was the Augustan Age, or Neoclassical period, exemplified by the satires of Alexander Pope, the allegory of Jonathan Swift, and the criticism of Samuel Johnson. Respect for rules, high standard of intellectual quality, emphasis on a set poetical style, emergence of the heroic couplet and treatment of turn life, formed some of the themes. Of great importance was the rise of the novel in the works of Daniel Defoe, Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollett Oliver Goldsmith, Richard B. Sheridan, and James Boswell, brought a close to the Augustan-Age. Romanticism was the second literary movement to appear in the 18th century. It was in part a reaction against the elitism and self imposed classical limitation of the Augustans. Romanticism was a revolt against authority, tradition and conventions, whether political, social, religious or literary. Thus, return to nature, simple . life, individuality, variety and the return of the typical mode of expression, characterized this movement. William Blake, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were central to the movement. Others include John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Bryon. The 19th century also known as the Victorian age was the great age of the English novel. Early in the century this form gathered strength in the fantasies of the Gothic novel and in the critical insight into polite society that was shown by Jane Austen’s novels. Sir Walter Scott, Charles Dickens, George Eliot and William Thackery explored the ills of society and the vagaries of human nature. Thomas Hardy marked the end of the Victorian era, and the beginning of Modernism.

5.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Describe briefly the following movements: a) The Augustan b) The Romantic c) The Victorian

T O P I C 6:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 6.0 TOPIC: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE (4) 23 6.1 INTRODUCTION ------24 6.2 OBJECTIVES ------24 6.3 IN-TEXT ------24 6.3.1 MODERN AGE - 24

6.4 SUMMARY ------24 6.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 25 6.6 REFERENCE ------25 6.7 SUGGESTED RESADING - - - - - 25

6.0 TOPIC: MOVEMENTS IN ENGLISH LITERATURE

6.1 INTRODUCTION

The distinctive depressive mood of the Modern age grew from the disillusionment and cynicism that followed World War I.

6.3 IN-TEXT

6.3.1 THE MODERN AGE The distinctive depressive mood of the Modern age grew from the disillusionment and cynicism that followed World War I. It appeared notably as a sense of life’s bleakness in the poetry of T.S.Eliot. Writers also became increasingly self-conscious about literary form and language, as is evident in the novels of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Other figures, in particular the poet W.H. Auden, turned to expressing left-wing political idealism in their work peripheral to the Modernist movement were D.H. Lawrence, whose novels examine the complexities of sexuality and the relationships between men and women, and the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, whose works moved from Symbolism to Modernism are characterized by a wide variety of styles and movements. Drama branched out from carefully crafted and conventional plays to an emotionally raw kitchen-sink drama with Samuel Beckett’s The Theater of the Absurd. Poetry showed strong regional roots as well as deep receptivity to the way the contemporary world. These preoccupations are imaginatively present in the work of Ted Hughes, and Seamus Heaney, Fictions included the allegorical novel of William Golding, the satirical novels of Kingsley Amis. A major development toward the end of the century was the postmodern novel, which made conscious use of such devices as myth, fairy tale and fantasy.

6.4 SUMMARY A distinctive depressive mood of the Modern age grew from the disillusionment and cynicism that followed World War I. A sense of life’s bleakness is found in the poetry of T.S.Eliot. Writers also became increasingly self-conscious about literary form and language, as is evident in the novels of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Other figures, in particular the poet W.H. Auden, turned to expressing left-wing political idealism in their work peripheral to the Modernist movement were D.H. Lawrence, whose novels examine the complexities of sexuality and the relationships between men and women, and the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, whose works moved from Symbolism to Modernism are characterized by a wide variety of styles and movements. Poetry showed strong

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri 23 ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3 regional roots as well as deep receptivity to the way the contemporary world. The postmodern novel made conscious use of myth, fairy tale and fantasy.

6.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. What is Modern literature?

6.6 REFERENCE Kermode, Frank & Hollander John (1973) The Oxford Anthology of English Literature Volumes 1 & 2. Oxford University Press. New York. Ray, J. R.(1972) English Literature: An Introduction to Foreign Readers. Macmillan London. Kirk, K. L.(1979) Interpreting Literature. New York. Holt, Richart,Winston. Lewis A. (1963) Introduction To Literature- Poems. New York. Holt, R. Winston. Mayhead, Robert (1965) Understanding Literature. Cambridge University Press London. Nazeer, Azeez (1974) The Study of Literature. Baba Press. Madras.

6.7 SUGGESTED READING Mayhead, Robert (1965) Understanding Literature. Cambridge University Press London. Nazeer, Azeez (1974) The Study of Literature. Baba Press. Madras. Ray, J. R.(1972) English Literature: An Introduction to Foreign Readers. Macmillan London.

T O P I C 7:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 7.0 TOPIC: POETRY ------26 7.1 INTRODUCTION ------27 7.2 OBJECTIVES ------27 7.3 IN-TEXT ------27 7.3.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH POETRY27 7.3.2 ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE POETRY - 28 7.4 SUMMARY ------28 7.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 28 7.6 REFERENCE ------29 7.7 SUGGESTED READING - - - - - 29

7.0 TOPIC: THE STUDY OF POETRY

7.1 INTRODUCTION The oldest and the most intense genres of literature is poetry. This lecture will discuss the origin and the varied definitions of poetry.

7.2 OBJECTIVES: And the end of this lecture you should be able to: i. State a few definitions of poetry ii. Describe the characteristics of poetry

7.3 IN-TEXT 7.3.1 CHARACTERISTICS OF ENGLISH POETRY For the purpose of this study we shall divide English Literature into three major genres, Poetry, Prose (to include Novel/Short story) and Drama. Each of these genres will be delineated with appropriate examples. We start with the oldest of human expression – Poetry.

Poetry: Poetry is an ancient form of expression of man’s numerous feelings. Even before the development of writing, primitive societies seem to have achieved poetic rendering of their religious, historical and cultural awareness, and have transmitted them to the next generation in hymns, in contentious and narrative forms. The characteristics emotional content of English poetry, like all poetry finds expression through a variety of techniques, from direct description to highly personalized symbolism. One of the most accent and universal of these techniques is the use of metaphor and simile to alter and expand the reading imaginative apprehension through explicit or implicit comparison. Thus many involve an appeal to sense experience, especially visual sensation, or to emotional experience or cultural and historical awareness. Thus by conjuring up pictures or images and by conjuring different kinds of imaginative associations, the poet elicits in others something of his own feeling and consciousness. Poetry encompasses many modes narrative, dramatic, aphoristic, celebratory, satiric, disruptive, didactic, personal, and in some African forms abusive. Within a single work the poet may move from one mode to another, preserving the overall unity of the formal pattern. The formal patterns available to the poet are varied in English poetry, the formal unit may be the single unrhymed line (as in blank verse), the rhymed couplet, the rhymed stanza of four lines or more, or more complex rhyming patterns such as the fourteen line sonnet. In the 19th and 20th centuries Western poetry has responded more to the expressive possibilities of poetic idiom and convention in different traditions.

Some poets have experimented with reviving or adopting the subject matter and the verse form of other times and places. For other poets it has been important to break with tradition and emotion and attempt a studied informality of manner, an approximation of relaxed rhymes and colloquial vocabulary of ordinary speech, and ‘prosaic’ imagery.

7.3.2 ATTEMPTS TO DEFINE POETRY Trying to define poetry has been an age-old elusive exercise. Many critics and poets themselves have tried to pen in poetry with an universally acceptable definition with little success. To Ben Jonson poetry speaketh somewhat above a mortal mouth Coleridge posited poetry simply to be. The best words in the best order. Wordsworth’s undying definition of poetry is found in the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads. According to Wordsworth poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes origin from emotions recollected in tranquility. Shelley writes of poetry in A Defence of Poetry, that poetry awakens and enlarges the mind by a thousand un-apprehended combinations of though… enlarges the circumference of the imagination. And to Robert Frost all poetry should start with delight and end with wisdom.

7.4 SUMMARY From the foregoing varied definitions, it is clear to deuce that describing poetry, is a less complicated a task than defining poetry. Simply put poetry can be said to be a rhythmical composition of words expressing an attitude designed to surprise and delight, and thereby arouse an emotional response from readers.

7.5 SELF -ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Define poetry 2. What are the characteristics of English poetry?

7.6 REFERENCE Kermode, Frank & Hollander John (1973) The Oxford Anthology of English Literature Volumes 1 & 2. Oxford University Press. New York. Ray, J. R.(1972) English Literature: An Introduction to Foreign Readers. Macmillan London. Kirk, K. L.(1979) Interpreting Literature. New York. Holt, Richart,Winston. Lewis A. (1963) Introduction To Literature- Poems. New York. Holt, R. Winston. Mayhead, Robert (1965) Understanding Literature. Cambridge University Press London.

Nazeer, Azeez (1974) The Study of Literature. Baba Press. Madras.

7.7 SUGGESTED READING Mayhead, Robert (1965) Understanding Literature. Cambridge University Press London. Nazeer, Azeez (1974) The Study of Literature. Baba Press. Madras. Ray, J. R.(1972) English Literature: An Introduction to Foreign Readers. Macmillan London.

T O P I C 8:

TABLE OF CONTENTS PAGES 8.0 TOPIC: ANALYSIS OF POEMS - - - - 30 8.1 INTRODUCTION ------32 8.2 OBJECTIVES ------32 8.3 IN-TEXT ------32 8.3.1 POEM 1 ------32 8.3.1.1 GEOFFREY CHAUCER - - 32

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISES 8.3.2 POEM 2 ------33

8.3.2.1 SIR THOMAS WYATT - - 33 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISES 8.3.3 POEM 3 ------34 8.3.3.1 JOHN DONNE - - - - 34 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISES 8.3.4 POEM 4 ------34 8.3.4.1SHAKESPEARE - - - - 34 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISES 8.3.5 POEM 5 ------35 8.3.5.1WILLIAM BLAKE - - - 35 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISES 8.3.6 POEM 6 ------36 8.3.6.1 PERCY BYSSHE SHELLY - - 36 SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - 8.3.7 POEM 7 ------37

8.3.7.1JOHN KEATS - - - - 37 SELF –ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - 8.3.8 POEM 8 ------39

8.3.8.1WILLIAM WORDSWORTH - 39 SELF –ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - 8.3.9 POEM 9 ------40 8.3.9.1ALFRED LORD TENNYSON - 40 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - 8.3.10 POEM 10 ------40 8.3.10.1 THOMAS HARDY - - - 40 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - -

8.3.11 POEM 11 ------41 8.3.11.1 WILLIAM BUTTLER YEATS - 41 SELF – ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - -

8.3.12 POEM 12 ------41 8.3.12.1 D. H. LAWRENCE - - - 41 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - 8.3.13 POEM 13 ------42 8.3.13.1 WALTER DE LA MARE - - 42 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

8.0 TOPIC: ANALYSIS OF POEMS

8.1 INTRODUCTION: Analysis of poems to discern the thematic inferences and the use of poetic devices are essential aspects to the study of poetry. The following exercises would help do the same.

8.2 OBJECTIVES At the end of the lecture you should be able to: i. Write the themes of the various poems ii. Identify the poetic devices used in the poems iii. Identify the ages each poem/poet belongs to iv Write a poem or two your own

8.3 IN-TEXT: 8.3.1 POEM 1 8.3.1.1 GEOFFREY CHAUCER (1340-1400) Read the following poems and answer briefly, the question that follow:

… The cock doth craw, the day doth daw a The channerin’ worm doth chide b Gin we be missed out of our place c Sair pain we maun abide’ a

The above extract is from Chaucer’s’ poem Wife of Ushers Well. The above lines are written in what can be termed Old English. The summary of the above lines could be rewritten roughly in modern English as follows: The cock crows, the day has dawned. The channerin, worm does scold, so we will not be missed from our place before dawn breaks. The meaning of the above lines if read as a whole, gives us a picture, of dawn, and the need to return before dawn breaks completely.

SELF - ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1 What is Chaucer’s English called? 2 Could you name another poet of the same age? 3 Attempt a paraphrase in your own words.

8.3.2 POEM 2 8.3.2.1 SIR THOMAS WYATT (1503-1542)

With Serving Still With serving still a This have I won b For my good will a To be undone; b And for redress c Of all my pain, d Disdainfulness, c I have again d And for reward e Of all my smart f To, thus unheard e I must depart! f Wherefore all ye g That after shall h By fortune be g As I a m, thrall, h Example take What I have won, Thus for her sake To be undone!

SELF – ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Read the poem carefully and summarize in your words the subject matter of the poem 2. Complete the rhyme scheme in the poem.

8.3.3 POEM 3 8.3.3.1 JOHN DONNE (1572-16310) “Batter My Heart, Three Personed God, for You” Batter my heart three- personed God, for you. As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to man. That I may rise and stand, O’erthrow me, and bend I’ like or unsurped town to another day, Labor to admit You, but oh! To no end. Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, But is captivated, and proves weak or untrue Yet dearly I love You, and would loved fair, But an betrothed unto Your enemy; Divorce me, untie me or break that knot again; Take me to you, imprison, for I, Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, Not ever chaste, except You ravish me.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1.To what movement do you think Donne belongs to? 2. Explain the seeming contradiction in the last line. 3. Sum up your own words the message of Donne’s, poem.

8.3.4 POEM 4 8.3.4.1 WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE (1564-1616) “Shall I Compare thee to a Summers Day?” Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate Rough winds do shake the darlings buds of play And summer’s least hath all too short a date Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often in his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometimes declare, By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possessions of that fair thou ow’st So long as men can breathe or eyes can see So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Who is the poem addressed to?

2. What kind of a poem is it? 3. What are the last two lines of the poem called?

8.3.5 POEM 5 8.3.5.1 WILLIAM BLAKE (1757-1827) “The Chimney Sweeper” When my mother died I was very young And my father sold me white yet my tongue Could scarcely cry ‘weep!’ ‘weep! ‘weep! ‘weep!’ So your chiming I sweep, and in soot I sleep There is little Tom Dacre, who cried when his head That curled like a lambs’ back, was shaved so I said ”Hush, Tom! Never mind it, for when your heads’ bare You know that the soot cannot spoil your white hair” And so he was quiet, and that very night As Tom was asleep, he had such a sight! That thousands of sweepers, Dick, Joe, Ned and Jack Were all of them locked up in coffins of black, And by come an Angel who had a bright key, And he opened the coffins and set them all free; Then down a green plain leaping, laughing, they run And wash in a river, and shine in the sun, Then naked and white, all their bags left behind They rise upon clouds and sport in the wind And the Angel told Tom, if he’d be a good boy, He’d have God for his Father, and never want joy, And so Tom woke, and we rose in the dark, And got with our bags and our brushes to work, Though the morning was cold, Tom happy and warm So if all do their duty they need not fear harm.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. What does Blake’s poem reveal about the conditions of London? 2. What moral does the above poem teach? 3. What is the mood of the poem?

8.3.6 POEM 6 8.3.6.1 PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY (1792-1822) Ozimandias* I meet a traveler from an antique land

Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand, Half sunk, shattered visage his, whose frown, And wrinkled up, and sneer of cold command; Tell that its sculptor who well those passions read Which yet survive, stamped as these life less things, The hand that mocked them and heart that fed, And as the pedestal these words appear, My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, Look on ye works, ye Mighty, and despair!, Nothing beside remains Round the decay Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare The love and level sands stretch far away.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. What is theme of the poem? 2. What moral does the poet wish to convey through this poem? 3. Give a title of your own to the poem.

*Ozymandias was a tyrant king in ancient Egypt.

8.3.7 POEM 7

8.3.7.1 JOHN KEATS (1795-1821)

“La Belle Dans Sans Merci”

O what can act thee, knight at arms Alone and palely loitering? The sedge has withered from the lake, And no birds sing, O what can oil thee, night at arms, So haggard and so woe-be gone? The squirrel’s granary is full And the harvest’s done I see a lily on thy brow With anguish moist and fever dew, And on thy check a fading rose Fast withereth too I met a lady in the meads, Full beautiful-a faerys’ child; Her hair was long, her foot was light And her eyes were wild “I made a garland for her head, and bracelets too, and fragrant zones, She looked at me as she did love, And made sweet moan “I set her on my pacing steed, And nothing else saw all day long, For sidelong would she bend, and sing A faerys’ song “She found me root of relish sweet, And honey wild, and manna dew And sure in language strange she said “I love thee true!” “She took me to her elfin grot, And there she wept and sighed full sore, And there I shut her wild-wild eyes With kisses four And there she lulled me asleep And there I dreamed- ah!I woe betide The latest dream I ever dreamed On the cold hill’s side

“I saw pale kings and princes too, Pale warriors, death pale were they all, They cried-“La Belle Dane sans Merci Hath thee in thrall!” I saw their starved lips in the gloom, With horrid warning gaped wide, And I woke and found me here, On the cold will’s side, “And this is why I sojourn here, Alone and palely loitering, Though the sedge is withered from the lake And no bids sing”

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

1. There are two contrasting images? Can you describe them? 2. What do we get to know about the beautiful lady in the poem? 3. What kind of a poem is this? An epic, a ballad, a sonnet, a lyric etc?

8.3.8 POEM 8 8.3.8.1 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (177-1850) “I wondered Lonely As a cloud or The Daffodils” I wondered lonely as a cloud That floats to O’er vales and hills When all at once I saw a crowd A host, of golden daffodils, Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending way, Along the margin of a boy; Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance, The waves beside them danced in glee, A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company I gazed and gazed-but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought; For oft on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood They flash upon that in ward eye Which is the bless of solitude, And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. What is the poet talking about in his poem? 2. Pick out at least three items that are part of nature, mentioned in the poem 3. What poetic age do you think the poet belongs to?

*Daffodil- a beautiful flower, that grows, especially in the Lake Districts of Yorkshire in England, where the poet lived.

8.3.9 POEM 9 8.3.9.1 ALFRED, LORD TENNYSON (1809-1892) “The Eagle” He clasps the crag with crooked hands, Ringed with the azure world, he stands, The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls, He watches from his mountain walls, And like a thunderbolt he falls.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. The poet makes use of a number of figures of speech .Can you identify (a) Personification (b) Smile 2. To what age does the poet belong?

8.3.10POEM 10 8.3.10.1 THOMAS HARDY (1840-1928) At A Hasty Wedding If hours be years the twain are best, For now they solace swift desire By bonds of every bond the best If hours be years. The twain are blest Do eastern stars slope never west, Nor pallid ashes follow fire If hours be years the twain are blest For now they solace swift desire.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. What is the subject matter of the poem? 2. Why is the image of fire that dies to “pallid ashes” especially appropriate? 3. Identify the use of refrain in the above poem

8.3.11POEM 11 8.3.11.1 WILLIAM BUTLER YEATS (1865-1939) I had a chair at every hearth When no one turned to see With “Look at that old fellow there, And who may he be? And therefore do I wander on, And road-side trees keep running Ah, wherefore merman ye As in the old days long gone by, Green oak and poplar tree The well known faces are all gone, And the fret is on me

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. What is the protagonist in the poem lamenting about? 2. What could the theme of this poem be? 3. What is the tone in the Poem?

8.3.12POEM 12 8.3.12.1 D.H. LAWRENCE (1885-1930) Piano Softly, in the dust, a woman is singing to me Taking me back down the vistas of years, till I see A child sitting under a piano, in the boom of the tingling strings And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside And hymns in the cozy parlor, the tinkling piano our guide So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamor With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. What is the poet reminiscing about in this poem?

2. Is the tone of the poem Happy? Gloomy? Dreamy? Sad? 3. What key role does the phrase ‘Taking me back down the vistas of years’ play in the understanding of the poet?

8.3.13POEM 13 8.3.13.1 WALTER DELA MARE (18733-1956) Clouded with sound The cold winds blow, And shrill on leafless bough The robin with its burning breast Alone sings now The rayless sun, Days’ journey done, Sheds its last ebbing light On fields in leagues of beauty spread Unearthly white Thick draws the dark, And spark by spark The frost-fires kindle, and soon Over that sea of frozen foam Floats the white moon.

SELF ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Give an appropriate title to the above poem 2. What images does the poet paint in the poem? 3. What part of the year is the poet describing?

Note: The English weather is divided into: Spring - February – April – when plants spring up Summer - May – July warm and beautiful Autumn - August – October – trees and plants shed their leaves and fruits ripen Winter - November – January –cold with snow and ice - end of the year.

T O P I C 9 : TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 9.0 TOPIC: DRAMA ------43

9.1 INTRODUCTION ------44 9.2 OBJECTIVES ------44 9.3 IN-TEXT ------44 9.3.1 WHAT IS DRAMA? - - - - - 44 9.3.2 THE ORIGIN GROWTH OF DRAMA - - 44 9.3.3 COMPONENTS OF DRAMA - - - - 45 9.3.4 PLOT ------46 9.3.5 CHARACTERIZATION - - - - 46 9.4 SUMMARY ------46 9.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 46 9.6 REFERNECE ------46 9.7 SUGESSTED READING - - - - - 47

9.0 TOPIC: THE STUDY OF DRAMA

9.1 INTRODUCTION: Drama is another important aspect of English literature. This lecture will discuss briefly the origin, growth and development of this genre of literature.

9.2 OBJECTIVES At the end of this topic you should be able to: i. Define drama ii. Enumerate the components of drama iii. Identify the various kinds of drama

9.3 IN-TEXT: DRAMA 9.3.1 WHAT IS DRAMA? Drama means “action”, or “deed”. It takes its root from Greek dran, “to do”. Drama is used as a synonym for plays; but the word has several meanings. Sometimes it refers to a single play, or to the work of a playwright or dramatist; or perhaps to a body of plays written in a particular time or place (Elizabethan drama, French drama of the seventeenth century). Or Drama simply means a series of events that elicit high excitement. Most plays, whether seen in a theater or in print, employ some conventions: customary methods of presenting an action, usual and recognizable devices that an audience is will to aspect. One reason for the long survival of the plays of Sophocles and Shakespeare, may be that generation of plays goes have enjoyed actively exerting their imagination. A tradition definition of drama has been an illusion of life.

9.3.2 THE ORIGIN AND GROWTH OF DRAMA Drama of some form is found in almost every society, primitive and civilized, and has served a wide variety of functions in the community. They are for example, records of a sacred drama in Egypt 2000 years before Christ, and Thespis in the 20th century BC in ancient Greece is accorded the distinction of being known as the first playwright. Some plays embraced nearly the whole community in a specifically religious celebration, as when the Greek males came together to honour their gods; or when the annual Feast of Corpus Christy was celebrated with the great medieval Christian cycles. Drama may also serve a sore directly didactic purpose, as did the morality plays of the later Middle Ages, and some 19th century melodramas and the 20th century plays of George Bernard Shaw

9.3.3 KINDS OF DRAMA

Drama can divided into comedy, tragedy and tragic comedy.

Comedy: A comedy is a humorous drama dealing with ordinary events and behaviours of people for the purpose of amusement. In most cases characters are exaggerated and the drama usually ends happily, with the protagonist almost always solving the problem.

Tragedy: A tragedy is a serious drama or novel that ends sadly, especially with the death of the main character or characters.

In the drama of the English Renaissance, the importance of dramatic writing established many plays as texts. The drama that is most meaningful and pertinent to its society is that which arises from its and is not imposed upon it. In the tragedies Shakespeare wrote for the Elizabeth Theater, and thus aimed at aimed at satisfying deep communal needs, while meeting a whole range of individual interests present in the society.

Tragicomedy is a literary work mostly in drama that combines the serious elements of tragedy and the light heartedness of comedy. Shakespeare’s The Merchant Of Venice and Romeo and Juliet can be considered as some examples of tragicomedies If the trick about the shedding of blood was omitted and Shylock allowed to “have his merry bond”, the former play might easily have become a tragedy; and despite the number of deaths in the latter play it is considered a tragicomedy as a reconciliation between the two feuding families finally occurs.

9.3.4 COMPONENTS OF DRAMA The two main components of drama are plot and characterization.

9.3.4.1 Plot A plot is a dramatic structure, the organic relationship between incidents or episodes in the story; the way in which the events of the story are organized; the causes and effects of incidents in a story and how they are related to one another. To Aristotle a plot should have unity. It should imitate one action and the whole, the structural union of the parts being such that, if any one them is displaced or removed, the whole will he disjointed and disturbed.(Emeaba, 1987 : 56).

9.3.4.2 CHARACTERIZATION Characterization is the creation, description and portrayal of the persons represented in the work of art like Drama, Novel etc. It is also the way an author reveals the peculiar qualities of his characters.

9.4 SUMMARY Drama simply means a series of events that elicit excitement. The main components of drama are plot, and characterization. The three main kinds of drama are comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy.

9.5 SELF –ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Define drama. 2. What are the components of drama? 3. What are the various kinds of drama you have studied?

9.6 REFERNECE Aogbofa Seinde (1981) Literary Approaches. Omolayo Standard Press (Nig) Ltd.

Kirk, K.L.( 1979) Interpreting Literature. New York. Holt, Richart,Winston.

Mayhead, Robert (1965) Understanding Literature. Cambridge University Press London.

9.7 SUGESSTED READINGS

Kirk, K.L.(1979) Interpreting Literature. New York. Holt, Richart,Winston.

Kennedy J.K. (1973) Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry and Drama. Little, Brown and Company. Boston.

T O P I C 10:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 10.0 TOPIC: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST 48 10.1 INTRODUCTION ------49 10.2 OBJECTIVES ------49 10.3 IN-TEXT ------49 10.3.1 THE AGE OF SHAKESPEARE - - 49 10.3.2 CATEGORIES OF SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS50 10.4 SUMMARY ------50 10.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 50 10.6 REFERENCE ------50 10.7 SUGGESTED READING - - - - - 51

10.0 TOPIC: WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE AS A DRAMATIST

10.1 INTRODUCTION: William Shakespeare one the world’s greatest dramatist of all times. In this lecture we would discuss one of his dramas as a representation of good English drama.

10.2 OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic you should be able to ; i.Identify the characteristics of a play ii. Identify a typical Shakespearean play

10.3 IN-TEXT 10.3.1 LIFE AND WORKS OF SHAKESPEARE William Shakespeare, also called Bard of Avon, an English poet, dramatist, and actor, often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time, occupies a position unique in world literature. Shakespeare’s plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, are even now performed and read more often and in more countries than ever before. Shakespeare was born on 23rd April1964 in Stratford – upon -Avon in London, to John and Mary Shakespeare. At the age of sixteen he left school and became an apprentice to his father. He married Anne Hathaway and they had three Daughters , Susanna, Hamnet and Judith (the only daughter who survived). In ! 594Shakespeare was with a group of actors called The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The Globe Theater was opened in 1599 and Shakespeare’s plays were performed there and in other London theaters such as the Swan and the Blackfriars Theater. He died on 23rd April 1616, and was buried in the church in which, fifty- two years earlier he had been christened. Shakespeare’s early plays were principally histories and comedies. The early comedies share the popular and romantic forms used by the university wits but outplayed with elements of elegant courtly revel and a sophisticated consciousness of comedy’s fragility and artifice. All the comedies share a belief in the positive, health giving powers of play, but none is completely innocent of doubts about the limits that encroach upon the comic space, and in the four plays that approach tragic comedy, The Merchant of Venice (1576-7) Much Ado About Nothing (1598-99), All’s Well that Ends Well (1602-3), and Measure for Measure (1606), festivity is in direct collision with the constraints of normality, with time, business, law, human indifference treachery, and selfishness. The factors that were present in Shakespeare’s society, are still prevalent in contemporary society, and therefore it would not be out of place to take one of Shakespeare’s tragic comedies The Merchant of Venice for study and analysis of plot construction, characterization and poetic devices used in the play.

Shakespeare’s plays can be broadly divided into Comedies such as, Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Tempest etc. Tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello etc. and History plays such as Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VIII, King John, Richard II, Richard III etc. and a number Sonnets. Shakespeare’s merits has survived translation into other languages and into other cultures remote from that of Elizabeth England, which makes its study relevant today.

10.4 SUMMARY

William Shakespeare, also called Bard of Avon, an English poet, dramatist, and actor, often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time, occupies a position unique in world literature. Shakespeare’s plays, written in the late 16th and early 17th centuries, are even now performed in more countries than ever before. Shakespeare’s plays can be broadly divided into Comedies such as, Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Tempest etc. Tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Anthony and Cleopatra, Othello etc. and History plays such as Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VIII, King John, Richard II, Richard III etc. and a number Sonnets.

10.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. Trace briefly the life and works of William Shakespeare.

10.6 REFERENCE Aogbofa Seinde (1981) Literary Approaches. Omolayo Standard Press (Nig) Ltd.

Mayhead, Robert (1965) Understanding Literature. Cambridge University Press London.

10.7 SUGESSTED READINGS Kirk, K.L.(1979) Interpreting Literature. New York. Holt, Richart,Winston.

T O P I C 11:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 11.0 TOPIC: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1) - - 52 11.1 INTRODUCTION ------53 11.2 OBJECTIVES ------53 11.3 IN-TEXT ------53 11.3.1 HISTORICAL AND INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND OF THE PLAY - - 53 11.3.2 A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PLAY - 54 11.4 SUMMARY ------54 11.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 54 11.6 REFERENCE ------55 11.7 SUGGESTED READING - - - - - 55

11.0 TOPIC: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (1)

11.1 INTRODUCTION : One of Shakespeare’s popular comedy The Merchant of Venice will be studied in line with its historical background and the plot.

11.2 OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic you should be able to i. Describe the historical background and the story line of the play.

11,3 IN-TEXT 11.3.1 THE HISTORICAL AND INTELLECTUAL BACKGROUND OF THE PLAY Shakespeare lived at a time when social idea and social structures established in the Middle Ages still informed man’s thoughts and behaviour. But slowly the economic and social orders were disturbed by the rise of capitalism, by the redistribution of monastic lands, by the expansion of education and by the influx of new wealth from discovery of new lands around the globe. Therefore an inter play of new and old ideas was typical of that time. The Merchant Venice was written towards the end of the sixteenth century. Shakespeare wrote his plays for the people of his own age, and knew he had to please a mixture of types of audiences. Queen Elizabeth made herself the head of the Church of England, and dealt both the Roman Catholics and the Jews cruelly. Drama in England before Shakespeare was popular, and theaters had already open and became popular in London. As is the case in many of Shakespeare’s plays the source of the story is of Italian origin. Traces of Christopher Marlowe’s play The Jew of Malta and the English version of Gesta Romanorum (Acts of the Romans) can also be noted. The play affirms truth, good order, and generosity; they are shapely and complicated like a dance or like a game of chess. Yet at the general resolution all does not end in complete harmony. But his greatness lies in making the stories immediate by knitting them together and presenting them alive as the stage. Even when events cannot be presented on the stage, such as the secret journey made by Portia and Nerissa from Belmont to Venice, is explained with clarity and briefly. This is due to Shakespeare’s unequalled skill in arranging materials for his plots.

11.3.2 A BRIEF SUMMARY OF THE PLAY Antonio, the hero of the play, is wealthy, charming and is surrounded by loving friends. He is especially kind to his friend Bassanio, who was in love with a wealthy lady Portia.Bassanio is in need of money to marry Portia, and requests

Antonio for a loan. Unfortunately all Antonio’s ships at sea, and so he goes to a Jewish money lender Shylock to borrow money as Bassanio’s behalf, which almost caused his own near-demise at the hands of Shylock, when he enter into what Shylock calls a “merry bond” by which if the bond is not paid back within the stipulated time, Shylock is to take a pound of Antonio’s flesh, from any part of his body. Though Antonio is inexplicably restless and worrisome he has the charm of a melancholic character, which adds to the tragic beauty of his character.

11.4 SUMMARY

Shakespeare lived at a time when social ideas and social structures established in the Middle Ages still informed man’s thoughts and behaviour. Soon the economic and social orders were disturbed by the rise of capitalism. Therefore an inter play of new and old ideas was typical of that time. Shakespeare wrote his plays for the people of his own age, and knew he had to please a mixture of types of audiences. The Merchant Venice was written towards the end of the sixteenth century. As is the case in many of Shakespeare’s plays the source of the story is of Italian origin. The play affirms truth, good order and generosity. Yet, at the general resolution all does not end in complete harmony. But greatness lies in making the stories immediate by knitting them together and presenting them alive on the stage.

11.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE

1. Write a brief summary of the play

11.6 REFERNECE

11.7 SUGESSTED READINGS

T O P I C 12:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 12.0 TOPIC: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (2) - - 56 12.1 INTRODUCTION ------57 12.2 OBJECTIVES ------57 12.3 IN-TEXT ------57 12.3.1 PLOT OF THE PLAY - - - - 57 12.3.2 CHARACTERIZATION IN THE PLAY - 57 12.3.2.1 SHYLOCK - - - - - 58

12.3.2.2 PORTIA - - - - - 58 12.3.2.3 BASSANIO - - - - 58 12.3.2.4 ANTONIO - - - - - 59

12.3.2.5 JESSICA - - - - - 59 12.3.2.6 LANCELOT GOBBO - - - 60 12.3.3 THE LANGUAGE OF THE PLAY - - 60 12.4 SUMMARY ------60 12.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 60 12.6 REFERENCES ------61 12.7 SUGGESTED READING - - - - - 61

12.0 TOPIC: THE MERCHANT OF VENICE (2)

12.1 INTRODUCTION One of Shakespeare’s popular comedy The Merchant of Venice will be studied in line with its plot.

12.2 OBJECTIVES: At the end of the topic you should be able to ii. Describe the the story line of the play.

12.3 IN-TEXT 12.3.1 PLOT OF THE PLAY In The Merchant of Venice, most of the unresolved elements in the comedy are concentrated in the person of Shylock, a Jew who attempts to use justice to enforce a terrible, murderous revenge on Antonio, the Christian merchant, but is foiled by Portia, who disguised as a lawyer, turns the tables on the Jew by a legal quibble and has him at the mercy of the court. This strange tale is realized with exceptionally credible detail. Shylock is a moneylender, like many in Shakespeare’s London, and a Jew of pride and deep religious instincts. The Christians treat him with contempt and distrust and when one of them causes his daughter to elope and steals his money and jewelry, he suffers with an intensity equaled only by that of his murderous hatred of all Christians. Perhaps the most extraordinary achievement of this comedy in which change in mood is so rapid, which is so funny and yet sometimes dangerous and sad, which deals both with fantasy and eloquence, is that the recurrent moments of life like feeling are so expressed in words or action that an audience shares in the very moment of discovery. Much less light hearted than Shakespeare’s other comedies, the work is a serious study of love and marriage and the abuse of wealth.

12.3.2CHARACTERIZATION IN THE PLAY The next step in understanding Shakespeare is an appreciation of individual characters. Antonio, the wealthy merchant of Venice invested in foreign ventures, and Shylock, a Jewish moneylender can be considered the central characters of the play. Others include Portia the heiress, Bassanio, Portia’s husband and Antonio’s friend, Jessica, Shylock’s daughter who elopes with a Christian Lorenzo, and Portia’s maid Nerissa.

12.3.2.1 ANTONIO Is a wealthy Venetian merchant in Shakespeare’s play The Merchant of Venice. He is the hero of the play who is charming, wealthy and extremely generous. He is seen surrounded with loving friends but is portrayed worrisome. He is willing to risk his life for his friend Bassanio, when he his friend needed a loan to woo the heiress Portia. He is one of Shakespeare’s best-loved characters.

12.3.2.2 SHYLOCK Shylock is a Jew and a moneylender by profession. It is to him that Bassanio goes when he needed to borrow money for his trip to Belmont. He openly expresses his hatred of Antonio as a Christian and as a merchant who lends money, without charging interest on it, and also for the contempt with which, Antonio has treated him. He agrees to lend the money on the condition that, if the money is not paid back on time, Antonio will forfeit a pound of his flesh. Shylock rages more over the less of the riches Jessica has taken with her than over his daughter elopes with her Christian lover, Lorenzo. Shylock is proud and has deep religious instincts, despite his baser tracts. Although clearly portrayed as a vengeful villain for insisting on his rightful payment of Antonio’s debt to him, Shakespeare does not paint him completely black. He carries on with his money lending business, which the Christians in Shakespeare’s England considered wicked, but one that they could not do without. Shylock’s actions could be partly attributed to the way he himself was mistreated by the Christian’s. It’s even a Christian that causes his daughter to elope and steal his money and jewels. He is faithful to his race, but suffers much insult because of it. Though Shakespeare intended him to be villain, there are places where he very nearly wins our sympathy.

12.3.2.3 PORTIA Portia is a rich business of Belmont. She is spirited young woman, whose dead father has ordered he to choose a worthy husband from among several men, though the lottery of the caskets, that all her suitors must be submitted to. This makes her unhappy until she meets Bassanio, with whom she falls in love with, and is extremely happy when he chooses the right casket. Her relationship to Bassanio is one of the plays’ important sub plots. In the course of the play she disguises herself as a man, and serves as Antonio’s lawyer against the rightful claims of Shylock. Her wit is seen when she makes a plan to save her husband’s friend Antonio, when she learns money will not serve the purpose. She cleverly persuades Bellario the lawyer of Padua, to let her pursue the case, instead of him. With borrowed robes of the lawyer along with her maid disguised as the lawyer’s clerk she sets forth to Venice. When she realize Shylock

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri 57 ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3 was determined to keep to the ‘merry bond’ she at first pleads for mercy, and when Shylock refuses, she rises, his hope by asking him to bring the surgeon. But with a twist of ingenuity orders the surgeon to cut his pound of flesh without shedding a single drop of blood. This foils Shylock’s evil desire and he is forced to resign to fate, and forfeit his prized debt. Her wit not only saves Antonio from imminent death, but also ruins Shylock, as he is to loose both his life and property because, as an outsider plotting to kill a Vatican is against the law and is punishable by death. Portia is seen to have a rare sense of humour. This is noticed when she wins Antonio’s case, disguised as a lawyer requests Bassanio’s wedding ring. And when Bassanio not knowing it his wife in the guise of the lawyer, is persuaded by Antonio to give the ring, she rushes home, changes out of her lawyer robes and demands the bewildered Bassanio her ring in pretentious anger. Shakespeare makes his readers to both love and admire her for her charm and intelligence.

12.3.2.4 BASSANIO Bassanio, like Portia is lovable, but unlike her, is overtly impatient. Although a bit of a squanderer, he is very humane and endearing. He is a very close friend to Antonio, who goes to the extent of being prepared to forfeit a pound of flesh if the money he borrowed from the Jew could not be returned on time. Bassanio could be considered a foil to the strong, steadfast and loveable Portia.

12.3.2.5 JESSICA The daughter of Shylock chooses a Christian husband and her consequent rejection of her Jewish father and faith places her in contrast to Portia, who is subservient to the wishes of her dead father. Jessica’s theft of what would have been her dowry is sometimes seen as a questionable act and further evidences of the plays anti-Semitism nature. One might say Shakespeare meant her to be a symbol of love’s triumphs over greed. Among the play’s several notable secondary characters is Lancelot Gobbo, who at the beginning of the play is in the service of Shylock but later decides to serve Bassanio instead. He acts the part of a purring clownish servant of a type that is common in Shakespeare’s plays.

12.3.3 THE LANGUAGE OF THE PLAY The English of the Elizabeth age, which Shakespeare, belonged to was different from contemporary English spoken today. Therefore a number of words and forms, however, are characteristic of Shakespeare’s English occurs so often in the play. Shakespeare as a poet, like all poets, employed a language in many unusual and poetic ways and thus most of his writings are more in verse than prose. On opening a work of Shakespeare, a reader, is captivated by a few lines of verses or a

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri 58 ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3 sentence or one complex, glittering or telling word. Shakespeare’s supreme mastery of words, images of sound, rhythm, metre, texture and lyricism that abound in his play The Merchant of Venice continue to yield their secretes to only an imaginative exploration.

12.4 SUMMARY The Merchant of Venice is a tragicomedy with a well knit plot and characterization. Though written in Shakespearean English when understood expresses the mood, beliefs and mores of Elizabethan England. The major and minor characters play their respective roles effectively and the language used is representative of its age.

Note: Students are advised to procure the New Swan Shakespeare series of The Merchant of Venice; before they can successfully answer the following questions.

12.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. To which age did Shakespeare belong? 2 Under what category can you enlist his play The Merchant of Venice? 3. Would you consider the punishment meted to Shylock commensurate with his crime? 4. Can The Merchant of Venice be said to be a play, is a study of love, marriage and abuse of wealth? 5. Write brief character assessment on any three of the following characters: ii Antonio iiii Bassanio iiiiii Portia iviv Shylock vv Gratiano vivi Lorenzo viivii Jessica viiiviii Nerissa ixix Lancelot Gobbo x Tubal

12.6 REFERENCE Alexander, Peter (1965) Collin’s Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Chand & Company (Ptv) Ltd. N.Delhi.

Lott, Bernard (2000) The Merchant Of Venice .New Swan Shakespeare. London. Longman Group Ltd.

Mayhead, Robert (1965) Understanding Literature. Cambridge University Press London

12.7 SUGESSTED READING Alexander, Peter (1965) Collin’s Complete Works of William Shakespeare. Chand & Company (Ptv) Ltd. N.Delhi.

Lott, Bernard (2000) The Merchant Of Venice. New Swan Shakespeare. London. Longman Group Ltd.

T O P I C 13:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 13.0 TOPIC: THE NOVEL ------62 13.1 INTRODUCTION ------63 13.2 OBJECTIVE ------63 13.3 IN-TEXT ------63 13.3.1 THE RISE OF THE NOVEL - - - 63

13.3.2 WHAT IS A NOVEL? - - - - 63 13.3.3 THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOVEL - 64 13.3.4 THE SHORT STORY - - - - 65 13.3.5 ALLEGORY, FABLE AND MYTH - - 65

13.4 SUMMARY ------65 13.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 65 13.6 REFERENCE ------66 13.7 SUGESSTED READING - - - - - 66

13.0 TOPIC: THE NOVEL

13.1 INTRODUCTION: The next English genre to be studied is the English Novel. The novel is a genre of fiction, which represents various aspects of human life in written form. It also directs and instructs as well. In this lecture we will discuss the growth and development of the English Novel.

13.2 OBJECTIVES: At the end of this topic, you should be able to: i. State the characteristic features of a novel ii. Trace the development of the English novel iii. Differentiate between a short story and a novel. iv. Define allegory, fable, myth

13.3 IN-TEXT 13.3.1 THE NOVEL What is a Novel? The novel is a genre of fiction, and fiction may be defined as the art or craft of continuing, through the written word, represent actions of human life that instruct or direct or both. A novel is an invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experiences usually through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting. The term novel is the contracted form of the Italian word novella meaning new. The novella was a kind of enlarged anecdote like those to be found in the 14th century Italian classics. But, if the insubstantiality of the content matches its brevity, it is termed a novelette.

13.3.2 THE DEVELOPMENT THE ENGLISH NOVEL Early in the 19th century the novel gathered strength in the fantasies of the Gothic novel and in the critical insight into the polite society that was shown by Jane Austen’s masterpieces such as, Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Emma, North anger Abbey and Persuasion. The English historical novel was established by the greatest of all English novelists, Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens used his comic genius to explore the ills of society and the vagaries of human nature. Following Dickens were George Eliot’s portrayals of 19th century society and its moral dilemmas, William Thackeray’s ironic studies of society and Anthony Trollop’s depiction of contemporary manners and morals. Thomas Hardy marked the end of the Victorian era and led the novel to the threshold of Modernism. The turn of the

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri 62 ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3 century saw a new crop of novelists, among them being H.G. Wells, Joseph Comrade, Arnold Bennett, E.M. Foster and W. Somerset Maugham. The novelists, George Orwell and Graham Greene emerged in the 1930s. The many models of fictions include the allegorical novels of William Golding, the social comedies of Barbara Pym, and the satirical novels of Kings Amis. A major development towards the end of the century was the Postmodern novel, which makes conscious use of such devices of myth, fairy table and fantasy.

13.3.3 SHORT STORY The short story is a fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and deals with only few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. The form encourages economy of setting and concise narrative; character is disclosed in action and dramatic encounter but is seldom fully developed. Before the 19th century the short story was not generally regarded as a distinct literary form. But although it was considered uniquely modern genre, the short prose fiction is nearly as old as language itself. Through out history man has enjoyed various types of brief narratives; anecdote, allegories, fairy tales, myths and legends, even though these forms are not termed short story, they make up a large part of the milieu from which the modern short story emerged. Some of English literature’s most distinguished practitioners in the 20th century Henry James and Joseph Conrad and of recent V.S. Naipaul and Salman Rushdie who may be termed Postmodern novelists are of foreign origin. In the latter half of the 20th century writings in English or English dialects by recent settlers in Britain, such as Afro-Caribbean’s, Africans, the Indian sub-continent and East Asia started to emerge on the English literary scene.

13.3 4 ALLEGORY: An allegory is a story or description, which has meanings other than what is presented at the surface level. i.e. the story and characters are understood as they appear but at a deeper level, they represent other things and meanings. It could also be considered as an extended metaphor.

13.3.5 FABLE: A fable is a story in prose or verse in which inanimate objects or animals act roles of human beings to point out a moral truth. George Orwell’s Animal Farm is such fable.

13.3.6 MYTH: Myth is a symbolic narrative, usually of unknown origin and at least partly traditional, that relates to actual events and that is especially associated with religious belief. Myths are specific accounts of god or superhuman beings involved in extraordinary events or circumstances in a time unspecified but which is understood as existing apart from ordinary human experience. The term mythology denotes both the study of myths and the body of myths belonging to a particular religious tradition.

13.4 SUMMARY The novel is a genre of fiction. It is of considerable length expressing human experiences and at times instructing its readers in an anecdotal form the dos and don’ts of the society. The 19th century saw the flowering of the novel. Some of the greatest novelists of this age include Charles Dickens and Sir Walter Scott, and of more recent T.S.Eliot and D.H. Lawrence. The short story is of recent origin and as its name suggests is shorter in length and content. Allegory, fable and myth are some of the literary devices used by the writers in their creative outputs.

13.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1 What is a novel? 2 Trace the growth and development of the novel. 2 What are the characteristics of a short story? 3 Summarize briefly a fable of your choice.

13. 6 REFERNECE Carlson, Robert G. (1967) American Literature: Themes and Writers. McGraw Hill Book Company New York

Serralien Jan & Serrailien Ann (1983) Animal Farm The New Mill Series. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. Ibadan.

13.7 SUGESSTED READING Serralien Jan & Serrailien Ann (1983) Animal Farm The New Mill Series. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. Ibadan.

Ray,J.R.(1972) English Literature: An Introduction to Foreign Readers. Macmillan London.

T O P I C 14:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PAGES 14.0 TOPIC: GEORGE ORWELL’S ANIMAL FARM - - 67 14.1 INTRODUCTION ------68 14.2 OBJECTIVES ------68 14.3 IN-TEXT ------68 14.3.1 GEORGE ORWELL AS A WRITER - 68 14.3.2 PLOT OF THE NOVEL - - - - 68 14.3.3 TOTALITARIANISM, IN THE ANIMAL FARM ------69

14.3.4 ANIMAL FARM AS AN ALLEGORICAL SATIRE ------70

14.3.5 THE USE OF IRONY IN THE ANIMAL FARM ------70 14.4 SUMMARY ------71 14.5 SELF –ASSESSMENT EXERCISE - - - - 71 14.6 REFERENCE ------72 14.7 SUGGESTED READING - - - - - 72

14.0 TOPIC: GEORGE ORWELL’S ANIMAL FARM

14.1 INTRODUCTION: For the purpose of our study, we will consider George Orwell’s novelette Animal Farm.

14.2 OBJECTIVES: By the end of this topic you should be able to : i. Write out the plot of the novel ii. Explain the use of allegory in the novel iii. State any other literary devices used in the novel iv. Write briefly on the theme of the play

14.3 IN-TEXT 14.3.1 GEORGE ORWELL AS A WRITER George Orwell was born in 1903, Kotihari, Bengal, India and died on 2nd January 1950 in London. George Orwell is the pseudonym of Eric Arthur Blair. Orwell’s revulsion against imperialism led not only to his personal rejection of the bourgeois life-style but to a political reorientation as well. Immediately after returning from Burma he called himself an anarchist and continued to do so for several years, during the 1930’s however, he began to consider himself a socialist, though he was too libertarian in his thinking, but later declared himself a communist. His change in name corresponded to a profound shift in Orwell’s life- style, in which he changed from a pillar of the British imperial establishment into a literary and political rebel. Orwell’s first socialist book was an original and unorthodox political treaties entitled The Road to Wigan Pier (1937). It begins by describing his experiences when he went to live among the destitute and unemployed miners of northern England sharing and observing their lives; it ends in a series of sharp criticisms of existing socialist movements. It combines humorous reporting with a tone of generous anger that was to characterize Orwell’s subsequent writing.

14.3.2 PLOT OF THE NOVEL In 1944 Orwell finished Animal Farm, a political fable based on the story of the Russian Revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin. In this book a group of barnyard animals overthrow and chase off their exploitative human masters and set up an egalitarian society of their own. Eventually the animals intelligent and power-loving leaders, the pigs, subvert the revolution and a dictatorship whose bondage is even more oppressive and heartless than that of their former human

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri 67 ENG 112 – ENGLISH LITERARY GENRES UNIT: 3 masters. Their motto changing from ‘All Animals are Equal’ to “All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others”. Led by the pigs Napoleon and Snowball, the animals drive out Farmer Jones the owner of the farm along with wife Mrs. Jones and set up an Animal Republic in which all animals, big or small are to be free and equal. They painted out ‘Manor Farm’ and in its place painted ‘ANIMAL FARM’. After this they painted not the Ten Commandments mankind is guided by, but reduced the principals according to Animalism to seven commandments, of which the seventh was the most binding. It read, “All animals are equal”. But the potential saviours of the race turn out to be as greedy, vain and far more ruthlessly oppressive than those they considered the tyrants, Mr. & Mrs. Jones in particular and man as the whole. The last paragraph of the novel sums up the author’s bitter disappointment with the complete collapse of the communist system, he had great belief in. The natures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again, but already it was impossible to say which was which. With clear-cut style and good humour this modern master piece has an enduring universal appeal. There also is evidently the novel a powerful and story satire on communism gone wrong. Besides, irony, there are instances of symbolism, philosophy, undertones of religion, superstition and even traces of baser attributes such as thuggary and hooliganism.

14.3.3 TOTALITARIANISM IN ANIMAL FARM In the writing the novel Animal Farm, Orwell had in mind the rise of totalitarianism and contemporary development in science and technology, which in most cases is misused. Orwell in the Animal Farm uses an allegorical form to expose the evils of revolution and totalitarianism, particularly of Russia. But the author does not propagate capitalist ideology; neither does he decry communist ideology. Rejoicing in violence, Totalitarianism is hostile to all forms of universalism and disarmament. The most striking feature of Totalitarianism is its theory that action is more important than thought. ‘Action’ in this context meaning the use of violence to any extent. In the revolution of Animal Farm Snowball and Napoleon personify “thought” and “action”. The former (Snowball) is dedicated to revolution for the betterment of all; while the latter (Napoleon) is wholly committed to seizing power and keeping it. Another feature of Totalitarianism treated in Animal Farm is the policy of “propaganda by deed” meaning, the indiscriminate acts of violence the government is prone to in order to show the world the extent of power it has over its subjects. The public executions ordered for instance, by Napoleon, of some animals considered rebels, indicates the implementation of the policy of totalitarian governments.

14.3.4 ANIMAL FARM AS AN ALLEGORICAL SATIRE The pigs, old Major, Snowball and Napoleon, parallel Lenin, Trotsky and Stalin and the enemies of Animal Farm, Pinch field and Fox wood, represent the forces of Fascism and Capitalism. The allegoric theme in Animal Farm is of the power relationship among people in a Totalitarian society. Human qualities are made animal – like showing that Totalitarianism brings out the worst in human relationships. Animal Farm is not only an allegorical satire as the Soviet Union’s betrayal of socialism, but is also an attack on prevented intellectuals in politics, who once they acquire power become oppressors and betrayers of those whose welfare they pretend to cherish. Religious orthodoxy is also satirized in the portrayal of focuses the raven, who was totally disliked before the revolution, because of his laziness, and shy mature, final solace later in his tales of sugar candy mountain, where all sad animals find their final respite. Orwell through his movement Animal Farm express complete disillusionment concerning the efficacy of revolution.

14.3.5 THE USE OF IRONY IN THE ANIMAL FARM There is also a great deal of irony in the Animal Farm. The leader of the revolution Old Major, convinced them to revolt, saying that only a revolution can free them the animals from bondage by mans. He emphasized the need for perfect unity and comradeship among themselves in their fight against humans. He played on their animal senses, by recounting all the cruelties that each one of them have suffered due to man’s insensitivity, and inconsideration towards their well being. But as soon as they swore comradeship and unity and changed the name of the farm and drew their own seven commandments, their unity began to crumble. A number of unfortunate incidents occur, and they start suspecting, and blaming each other. Soon anarchy, dictatorship and treachery, and all the things they said they were fighting against, started to rear their ugly heads. This led to insecurity; suspicion and dissatisfaction amongst the animals. Soon the pigs that inspired the revolution against human oppression ironically became oppressors themselves. The height of irony in the novel is seen when the animals, especially the pigs, who out stead the humans as evil doers, not only started to associate with humans in neighbouring farms, but also started to dress and behave as if they were humans themselves. Pigs going about in coats, eating on the table and playing cards, indeed accentuate the tragic irony, than comedy in the novel. The main characters in the novel include Mr. & Mrs. Jones the owner of Man or Farm and the animals there in. The revolutionary animals are Old Major- Napoleon, Snowball and Squealer are pigs (the ring leaders of the revolution).The other animals on the farm include, the dogs - Bluebell, James and Pitcher, the horses Boxer, Mollie and Clover, the white goat Muriel, Benjamin the donkey, and Moses the raven.

14.4 SUMMARY George Orwell’s Animal Farm is a political fable. It is an allegorical satire on the Soviet Union’s betrayal of Socialism. The writer who was a one-time rebel himself soon realized that any extreme form of rulership does not benefit the common man it claims to protect. Orwell advocates peaceful democratic rule against violent revolution, which is more destructive than constructive.

NOTE: Students are advised to buy the novel Animal Farm by George Orwell, for better understanding, and appreciation of the text.

14.5 SELF-ASSESSMENT EXERCISE 1. What kind of a novel is Animal Farm? 2. What do you think the poet is opposed to that he makes clear in the novels 3. Would you consider the novel to be allegorical in form? State your reasons. 4. Write a brief notes on any three of the following: a) Napoleon b) Squealer c) Boxer d) The dogs e) The Chickens. 14.6 REFERNECE Carlson, Robert G. (1967) American Literature: Themes and Writers. McGraw Hill Book Company New York

Serralien Jan & Serrailien Ann (1983) Animal Farm The New Mill Series. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. Ibadan.

14.7 SUGESSTED READING Serralien Jan & Serrailien Ann (1983) Animal Farm The New Mill Series. Heinemann Educational Books Ltd. Ibadan.

Ray,J.R.(1972) English Literature: An Introduction to Foreign Readers. Macmillan London.

SOLUTIONS TO EXERCISES

TOPIC 1 1. Literature may be classified according to a variety of systems, including language, national origin, historical period, genre, and subject matter. The word literature is derived from the Latin littera, “a letter of the alphabet”. Literature is first and foremost mankind’s entire body of writing, Oral literature of ancient times paved the way for written forms of literature. But not everything can stand as noble examples of the art of literature. Most historical works and studies today are not written primarily with literary excellence in mind, though they may possess it, by accident. The essay was once written deliberately as a piece of literature, where in its subject matter was of comparatively minor importance. Some personal documents (autobiographies, diaries, memoirs, and letters) rank among the world’s greatest literature. Many works of philosophy are classed as literature. The Dialogues of Plato (4th century BC) are written with great narrative skill and in the finest prose. Certain scientific works endured as literature, long after their scientific content has been outdated. 2. Genre is a distinctive type or category of literary composition, such as the epic, tragedy, comedy, novel and short story. 3. Poetry, Prose and Drama. 4 Oral literature was wide spread in preliterate societies. It saturated the society and was as much a part of living as food, clothing, shelter, or religion. In older societies, the minstrel might be a courtier of the king or chieftain, and the poet who composed liturgies might be a priest. But the oral performance itself was accessible to the whole community. As society evolved its various social layers, or classes, on “elite” literature began to be distinguishable from the “folk” literature of the people. With the invention of writing this separation was accelerated until finally literature was being experienced individually by the elite (reading a book), while folklore and folk song were

experienced orally and more or less collectively by the illiterate common people. 5. Oratory, the art of persuasion, was long considered a great literary art. The oratory of the African, the American Indian, and the Indian are famous, while in classical Greek, Polyamnia was the muse sacred to poetry and oratory. Rome’s great orator Cicero was to have a decisive influence on the development of English prose style. Today, however, oratory is more usually thought as a craft than as an art.

TOPIC 2 1. English Literature is the body of works produced in the English language by inhabitants of the British Isles from the 7th century to the present day. English literature can be divided into Old English, Middle English, Renaissance and Elizabethan, Jacobean, Restoration, 18th century, Romantic, Victorian and Modern periods.

TOPIC 3 1. Old English is the first recorded English literature. Manuscripts from about AD 1000 contain the best-known Old English work. Beowulf, a heroic poem was written about 6 00 to 750. -The Angles, Saxons and Jutes who invaded Britain in the 5th and 6th centuries brought with them the common Germanic metric. Middle English began with the Norman conquest of 1066. This brought both the French language, which in time combined with the Germanic Anglo-Saxon to form the basis of modern English.

TOPIC 4 THE RENAISSANCE The Renaissance filtered into England from Europe by the 16th century and led to the questioning of the religious beliefs and assumptions of the Middle Ages. Literature began to look back beyond the medieval period to the classics for inspiration, and Neo-Platonism. Edmund Spenser’s The Faerie Queen and The Shepard’s Calendar, lyrical courtly poetry of Sir Philip Sidney, Defense of Poesies, Frances Bacon’s prose essays, and particularly the plays of William Shakespeare greatly influenced the literature of this age. As the central figure of the English Renaissance, Shakespeare expresses both its conflicts and its glorious energy and provides the basis for its reputation as the golden age of English Literature and of English drama in particular. Christopher Marlowe, Shakespeare’s immediate forbearer, established the use of blank verse in plays.

METAPHYSICAL MOVEMENT The accession of James I in 1603 was accompanied with great strife, and this produced a strain of cynicism manifested in the revenge tragedies of John Webster and the comedies of Ben Jonson and Francis Beaumont. There also emerged at this time the intellectual passion of Metaphysical poetry, with John Donne at its centre, containing the conflict between love, religion and the individual. The dominant literary figure was John Milton, and his influential religious epic Paradise Lost (1667) provided a link between the Puritan era and the restoration of the monarchy.

THE RESTORATION AGE The return of Charles II in 1660 to the country ushered in the Restoration period. It was characterized by the witty mannered comedies of William Congreve, the satirical poetry of Andrew Marvell, the heroic drama and poetry of John Dryden and a popular Christian allegory by John Bunyan titled The Pilgrims Progress.

TOPIC 5 1. A distinctive depressive mood of the Modern age grew from the disillusionment and cynicism that followed World War I. A sense of life’s bleakness is found in the poetry of T. S. Eliot. Writers also became increasingly self-conscious about literary form and language, as is evident in the novels of James Joyce and Virginia Woolf. Other figures such as W.H. Auden, turned to expressing left-wing political idealism in their work peripheral to the Modernist movement were D.H. Lawrence, whose novels examine the complexities of sexuality and the relationships between men and women, and the Irish poet W.B. Yeats, whose works moved from Symbolism to Modernism. Poetry showed strong regional roots as well as deep receptivity to the way the contemporary world. The postmodern novel made conscious use of myth, fairy tale and fantasy.

TOPIC 6 1. Trying to define poetry has been an age-old elusive exercise. Many critics and poets themselves have tried to pen in poetry with an universally acceptable definition with little success. Poetry is an ancient form of expression of man’s numerous feelings. Even before the development of writing, primitive societies seem to have achieved poetic rendering of their religious, historical and cultural awareness, and have transmitted them to the next generation in hymns, in contentious and narrative forms. Simply put poetry can be said to be a rhythmical composition of words expressing an attitude designed to surprise and delight, and thereby arouse an emotional response from readers.

2. The characteristic content of English poetry, like all poetry finds expression through a variety of techniques, from direct description to highly personalized symbolism. The formal patterns available to the poet are varied in English poetry. It may encompass the narrative, dramatic, aphoristic, celebratory, satiric, disruptive, didactic, personal, and in some African forms abusive. Within a single work the poet may move from one mode to another, preserving the overall unity of the formal pattern.

TOPIC 7

Poem 1 1. Old English. 2. Edmund Spenser. 3. The cock crows, the day has dawned. The channerin worm scolds, so we will not be missed from our place before dawn breaks. Poem 2 1 The protagonist is speaking of unrequited love and warns his fellow beings against blind love. 2. i b I b.

Poem 3 1. The Metaphysical poets 2. Not ever chaste, except You ravish me. One cannot remain chaste when ravished. The words chaste and ravish are used to indicate a paradoxical situation. 3. The poet persona in the poem seems to be pleading with god to protect him from falling into evil ways.

Poem 4 1. To the poet’s lady love. 2. A Shakespearean sonnet. 3. A heroic couplet wherein the last two lines that conclude a sonnet have the same rhyme scheme. Eg. g g

Poem 5 1. The poem reveals the squalor and poverty in which a large majority of the poor in London lived in. 2. Only hard work and patience will lead to success. 3. Encouraging and hopeful.

Poem 6 1. The transient nature of man’s life on earth. 2. Pride goes before a fall. 3. Vanity , Pride ,etc.

Poem 7 1. A cold and lonely hillside is contrasted with a warm and cosy cave. 2. It seems to be a spirit that has charmed the lonely wanderer. 3. A ballad.

Poem 8 1. The poet is talking about a bed of daffodils growing by the lake side. 2. cloud, vales, hills, daffodils, lake, trees, breeze etc. 3. The Romantic Age.

Poem 9 1. (a) Personification : crooked hands, wrinkled sea. (b) Simile : like a thunderbolt. 2. The Victorian Age.

Poem 10 1. Poet persona seems to express some form of regret after what it seems a hasting wedding. 2. The words “pallid ashes” are significant in the poem as they express the protagonist’s burning feelings of love that seems to have changed into pale cold ashes. 3. If hours be years the twain are best, ------If hours be years the twain are best, Poem 11 1. the protagonist is lamenting on days gone by. 2. It is important to lead a useful life if, we desire to have a loving and peaceful end. 3. The tone expresses regret and loneliness.

Poem 12 1. The poet is reminiscing his happy childhood days. 2. The line acts as a flashback as the poet goes down memory lane. 3. No.

Poem 13 1. Winter, A Winter’s Night, Moonlight etc. 2. Images of cold and darkness are contrasted with the warmth of forest fires which bring both light and warmth. 3. It could symbolize old age , hope or a ray of hope in darkness.

TOPIC 8 DRAMA 1. Drama means “action”, or “deed”. It takes its root from Greek dran, “to do”. Drama is used as a synonym for plays. Drama simply means a series of events that elicit high excitement.

2. The main components of drama are plot, and characterization. 3. The three main kinds of drama are comedy, tragedy and tragicomedy.

TOPIC 9 1. William Shakespeare was born on 23rd April1964 in Stratford – upon -Avon in London, to John and Mary Shakespeare. . At the age of sixteen he left school and became an apprentice to his father. In 1594 Shakespeare was with a group of actors called The Lord Chamberlain’s Men. The Globe Theater was opened in 1599 and Shakespeare’s plays were performed there and in other London theaters such as the Swan and the Blackfriars Theater. Shakespeare’s early plays were principally histories and comedies. The early comedies share the popular and romantic forms used by the university wits but outplayed with elements of elegant courtly revel and a sophisticated consciousness of comedy’s fragility and artifice. Shakespeare’s plays can be broadly divided into Comedies such as, Comedy of Errors, Two Gentlemen of Verona, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing, As You Like It, Twelfth Night, Tempest etc. Tragedies such as Romeo and Juliet, Julius Caesar, Hamlet, King Lear, Macbeth, Antony and Cleopatra, Othello etc. and History plays such as Henry IV, Henry V, Henry VI, Henry VIII, King John, Richard II, Richard III etc. and a number Sonnets. Shakespeare, also called Bard of Avon, an English poet, dramatist, and actor, often called the English national poet and considered by many to be the greatest dramatist of all time, occupies a position unique in world literature.

TOPIC 10 1. Antonio, the hero of the play, is wealthy, charming and is surrounded by loving friends. He is especially kind to his friend Bassanio, who was in love with a wealthy lady Portia. Bassanio is in need of money to marry Portia, and requests Antonio for a loan. Unfortunately all Antonio’s ships at sea, and so he goes to a Jewish money lender Shylock to borrow money as Bassanio’s behalf, which almost caused his own near-demise at the hands of Shylock, when he enter into what Shylock calls a “merry bond” by which if the bond is not paid back within the stipulated time, Shylock is to take a pound of

Antonio’s flesh, from any part of his body. Though Antonio is inexplicably restless and worrisome he has the charm of a melancholic character, which adds to the tragic beauty of his character.

TOPIC 11 1. The Renaissance. 2. A comedy. 3. No 4 Yes.

TOPIC12 1. The novel is a genre of fiction, and fiction may be defined as the art or craft of continuing, through the written word, represent actions of human life that instruct or direct or both. A novel is an invented prose narrative of considerable length and a certain complexity that deals imaginatively with human experiences usually through a connected sequence of events involving a group of persons in a specific setting. The term novel is the contracted form of the Italian word novella meaning new. 2. Early in the 19th century the novel gathered strength in the fantasies of the Gothic novel and in the critical insight into the polite society The English historical novel was established by Sir Walter Scott and Charles Dickens used his comic genius to explore the ills of society and the vagaries of human nature. The novelists, George Orwell and Graham Greene emerged in the 1930s. 3. The short story is a fictional prose narrative that is shorter than a novel and deals with only few characters. The short story is usually concerned with a single effect conveyed in only one or a few significant episodes or scenes. Although it was considered uniquely modern genre, the short prose fiction is nearly as old as language itself.

TOPIC 13 1. Orwell’s revulsion against imperialism led not only to his personal rejection of the bourgeois life-style but to a political reorientation as well. 2. Animal Farm, a political fable based on the story of the Russian Revolution and its betrayal by Joseph Stalin.

3. Yes. The allegoric theme in Animal Farm is of the power relationship among people in a Totalitarian society. Human qualities are made animal – like showing that Totalitarianism brings out the worst in human relationships. Animal Farm is not only an allegorical satire as the Soviet Union’s betrayal of socialism, but is also an attack on prevented intellectuals in politics, who once they acquire power become oppressors and betrayers of those whose welfare they pretend to cherish.

TUTOR – MARKED ASSIGNMENT

1. Write briefly on the origin and scope of literature. 2. Explain briefly the various movements in English Literature. 3. Define drama and state the characteristic features of the various kinds of drama. 4. William Shakespeare’s play The Merchant Of Venice is more a play of intrigues rather than revenge. Expatiate. 5. George Orwell’s Animal Farm can be considered as an allegorical satire. Explain.

CDL, University of Maiduguri, Maiduguri 81