English Literature UGC NET Complete Notes Pdf.Pdf
Comprehensive Notes for UGC – NET in English Language & Literature
English Literature before the Norman Conquest
500-1066
Beowulf ‹ Author: Anonymous ‹ Hero: Beowulf, King of Geats, Son of Ecgtheow ‹ Monster: Grendel ‹ King: Hrothgar, King of Danes ‹ Dialect: West Saxon ‹ 3182 lines ‹ Concludes with funeral ceremony of Beowulf. ‹ First major poem in a European vernacular. ‹ Seamus Heaney-translation-1999
Widsith ‹ The oldest poem in the language. ‹ The title of the poem means a Wide Wanderer. ‹ It is the wanderings of a minstrel or travelling singer or musician. ‹ He speaks of the feudal audience and sings of the various wars. ‹ 150 lines
The Complaint of Deor ‹ Deor also is a minstrel, but he is not a wanderer. ‹ The poem is lyrical in form, with a definite refrain and may be called the first English lyric. ‹ 42 lines- 7 unequal sections. ‹ Ending with a Christian consolation. Vercelli Book ‹ An Old English Manuscript ‹ Contains: prose sermons and 3500 lines of Old English poetry. ‹ The Dream of the Rood, Andreas, Elene and The Fate of the Apostles
Exeter Book ‹ One of the most important manuscripts containing Old English poetry ‹ Given by Bishop Leeofric (1072) to Exeter Cathedral ‹ Shorter Poems: The Wanderer, The Seafarer, The Wife’s Lament, The Husband’s Message, Resignation, The Complaint of Deor, Widsith, The Ruin, Wulf and Eadwacer, ‹ Longer poems: Guthlac, Christ,The Phoenix, Juliana
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Caedmon
‹ The first native maker of English verse. ‹ An inmate of St. Hilda’s Monastery, near Whitby. ‹ An angel appeared to him in a dream and asked him to sing in praise of God. ‹ Caedmon’s Paraphrase (670) ‹ His religious poetry influenced later poets like Cynewulf.
Cynewulf
‹ He was a Northumbrian. ‹ Some of his poems are Juliana, The Fate of the Apostles, Christ, Elene, and The Dream of the Rood. ‹ The Dream of the Rood - his masterpiece. ‹ 156 lines ‹ The poet’s vision of the cross and the address to him by the cross describing the Crucifixion.
The Battle of Brunanburh ‹ 937 ‹ West Saxon Dialect ‹ Battle fought between English (Athelstan, the grandson of Alfred) and Danes. ‹ Tennyson – verse translation- Ballads and Other Poems (1880)
King Alfred
‹ 849 – 901 ‹ One of the greatest kings of England. ‹ Orosius’ History of the World and Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People also were translated. ‹ The famous Anglo – Saxon Chronicle was begun to be written during his reign. ‹ Alfred for the first time created English prose. ‹ The Anglo – Saxon Chronicle is said to be the first vernacular history of any Teutonic people.
Venerable Bede
‹ 673 – 735 ‹ He was a native of Jarrow in Northumbria. ‹ Benedictine monk. ‹ He wrote mainly in Latin. ‹ Ecclesiastical History of the English People - Latin.
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English Literature from the Norman Conquest to Geoffrey Chaucer
1066-1340
Chronicles
‹ Layamon’s BRUT • First important work. • Completed by about 1205. • Layamon’s poem gives the legendary history of ancient Britain beginning with Aeneas whose descendant Brutus was supposed ancestor of the British. • The stories of Lear and King Arthur also were incorporated in it. ‹ STORY OF ENGLAND • Robert Manning of Brunne ‹ Rhyming Chronicle • Robert of Gloucester
Religious and Didactic poetry
‹ ORMULLUM (1215) • A series of metrical homilies written by a priest Orm. • 10000 lines – incomplete • North East Midland dialect • Addressed to Walter. ‹ THE OWL AND THE NIGHTINGALE (1220) • Best known poem of the period. • Anonymous ‹ THE ORISON TO OUR LADY ‹ GENESIS AND EXODUS ‹ BESTIARY ‹ MORAL ODE ‹ PROVERBS OF ALFRED ‹ PROVERBS OF HENDYNG ‹ CURSOR MUNDI • Religious work of an encyclopaedic nature. ‹ PRICKE OF CONSCIENCE • Richard Rolle of Hampole
Alliterative Poems
‹ PEARL • Finest poem.
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‹ PURITY • Didactic in theme. ‹ PATIENCE • Didactic in theme. ‹ SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT • Best Middle English Romance.
The Romances
‹ The Matter of England • KING HORN • HAVELOCK THE DANE • GUY OF WARWICK • RICHARD COEUR DE LION ‹ The Matter of Britain • SIR TRISTREM • ARTHUR AND MERLIN • YWAIN AND GAWAIN • SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT • MORTE D’ ARTHUR ‹ The Matter of Rome the Great • KING ALISAUNDER • THE DESTRUCTION OF TROY ‹ The Matter of France • RAUF COILYEAR • SIR FERUMBRAS ‹ Miscellaneous Romances • AMIS AND AMILOUN • WILLIAM OF PALERNE • FLORIS AND BLAUCHEFLEUR
∑ THE ANCRENE RIWLE • Prose • Manual design to guide 3 noble ladies-guiding principle is moderation in everything. ∑ THE AYENBITE OF INWIT • Dan Michael of Northgate • Translation of a French work
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The Age of Geoffrey Chaucer
1340-1400
Historical events
V Beginning of Hundred years’ War • Between England and France • 1338-1453 V Black Death (1348-1349) V Lollards Movement V Peasants’ Revolt (1381)
Geoffrey Chaucer
‹ 1340 – 1400 ‹ Lived during the reigns of Edward III, Richard II and Henry IV ‹ London ‹ Patron: John of Gaunt ‹ First poet buried in Poets Corner, Westminster Abbey ‹ Influences: Ovid, Giovanni Boccaccio ‹ Father of English poetry.
3 Stages
1. The French 2. The Italian 3. The English
The French
‹ Modelled upon French originals. ‹ Style is clumsy and immature. 1. The Romaunt of the Rose ‹ Lengthy allegorical poem. ‹ Octosyllabic couplets. 2. The Book of the Duchesse (1369) ‹ Octosyllabic Couplets ‹ Allegorical lament on the death of Blanche of Lancaster, the first wife of John of Gaunt ‹ A Complaynt of a Loveres Lyfe-John Lydgate is based on it.
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3. The Compleynt unto Pite 4. An ABC 5. The Compleynt of Mars
The Italian
‹ Technical ability is higher. ‹ Growing keenness of perception. ‹ Great stretch of originality.
1. ANELIDA AND ARCITE ‹ Incomplete poem 2. THE PARLEMENT OF FOULES ‹ Characterization of the birds. ‹ Shows Chaucer’s true comic spirit. ‹ Rhyme Royal ‹ Written in connection with the marriage of Richard II to Anne of Bohemia. 3. TROUILUS AND CRISEYDE ‹ Long poem. ‹ Adapted from Boccaccio. (IL FILOSTRATO) ‹ Best narrative work. ‹ Rhyme Royal Stanza. ‹ Complex characters of Criseyde and Pandarus reveal a new subtlety of psychological development and indicate Chaucer’s growing insight into human motives. 4. THE HOUS OF FAME (DANTE) ‹ Dream Allegory Type. ‹ Octosyllabic couplets. ‹ parodies Dante’s The Divine Comedy 5. THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN ‹ Intention of telling 19 tales of virtuous women of antiquity. ‹ Finishes with 8 and the 9th only begun. ‹ Cleopatra, Thisbe, Dido, Hypsipyle & Medea, Lucrece, Ariadne, Philomela, Phyllis, Hypermnestra ‹ First known attempt in English to use the heroic couplet.
The English
1. The Canterbury Tales ‹ Greatest individual accomplishment. ‹ Heroic couplet. ‹ Based on Boccaccio’s Decameron
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‹ Essentially English. ‹ PROLOGUE: Portrait gallery of 14th Century England ‹ Pen-pictures of 21 pilgrims ‹ 29 pilgrims (31 including Chaucer & Harry Baily) ‹ Harry Baily • The host of the pilgrims. • Judge of stories. V Tabard Inn in Southwark. V To relieve the tedium of the journey, each of the pilgrims is to tell two tales on the outward journey, and two on the return. V The best narrator would be given a supper by the rest on return to the Tabard. V 24 stories ‹ Finished only twenty. ‹ Four partly complete. ‹ Characters: Military profession - 3 - A Knight, A Squire, A Yeoman The Ecclesiastical: 8- A Prioress, A Nun, A Monk, A Friar, A Summoner, A Pardoner, A Poor Parson, A Clerk of Oxford. ‹ Two prose tales. V Tale of Melibeus (Chaucer’s own Tale) V The Parson’s Tale. ‹ Knight’s Tale: Finest work as a narrative poet. ‹ Begins with Knight’s Tale and ends with Parson’s Tale ‹ Chaucer’s own Tales: Tale of Sir Thopas & Tale of Melibeus ‹ Palamon and Arcite (based on Boccaccio’s Teseida) revised as The Knight’s Tale
2. THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF ‹ Dream Allegory type. 3. THE COURT OF LOVE
Prose
Treatise on the Astrolabe Translation of Boethius’ Consolation of Philosophy
∑ Chaucer’s dialect: East-Midland Dialect. ∑ He found English a dialect and left it a language. Lowes ∑ “The well of English undefiled” Spenser • His avoidance of foreign influences. ∑ The prologue to modern fiction (Prologue to the Canterbury Tales) Long.
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• Narrative unity. ∑ With him is born our real poetry. Spenser ∑ Here is God’s plenty. Dryden ∑ Chaucer’s humour is a humour in the grandstyle. G.K. Chesterton. V Poets who have been influenced by Chaucer. • Spenser, Milton, Dryden, Keats, Tennyson, Swinburne, Robert Bridges, Walter De La Mare, John Masefield.
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Other Poets of Chaucer’s Age
John Gower
‹ 1332?-1408 ‹ Friend of Chaucer ‹ Chaucer’s chief rival in poetry ‹ Dedicatee of Troilus and Criseyde-‘moral Gower’
V SPECULUM MEDITANTIS (French) • Vices of the time V VOX CLAMANTIS (Latin) • Apocalyptic poem • Seven books-10265 lines • Elegiac couplets • Deals with politics, kingship and ecclesiastical issues • Wat Tyler’s rebellion • Satire on clergy V CONFESSIO AMANTIS (English) • 33000 lines-141 stories • Octosyllabic couplets • Illustrate the evils produced by the seven deadly sins • Shakespeare’s Pericles is partly based on ‘Apollonius of Tyre’
William Langland
‹ 1325-1390 • Langley V THE VISION OF WILLIAM CONCERNING PIERS THE PLOWMAN. • 3 versions: A, B and C Texts • Allegorical poem • Division: Visio (vision) and Vita (life) • 8 visions • Dialect: mixture of Southern and Midland English • He portrays vividly the terrible hardships of the poor peasant. • Attacks the abuses of his period, the greed, and hypocrisy of the clergy and the materialism and tyranny of the ruling class. • The style has a sober energy.
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• The form of the poem is curious. • The lines are fairly uniform in length, and there is the middle pause. ‹ SIR GAWAIN AND THE GREEN KNIGHT
John Barbour
V Scottish poet. ‹ Bruce (1375) • A lengthy poem of twenty books and thirteen thousand lines. • Octosyllabic couplets • History of Scotland’s struggle for freedom from the year 1286 till the death of King Robert the Bruce and the burial of his heart. (1332) • The heroic theme is the rise of Bruce, and the central incident of the poem is the battle of Bannockburn.
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Prose of Chaucer’s Age
John Wyclif / Wycliffe
V 1320-1384 V Theologian and controversialist V Followers: Lollards V John Purvey-the leader of Lollards who succeeded Wycliff ‹ Published several pamphlets in English. ‹ The first English Bible. ‹ Popularly known as the founder of English Prose and as the real originator of European Protestantism.
Sir John Mandeville
Jehan De Mandeville
V THE VOYAGE AND TRAVELS OF SIR JOHN MANDEVILLE • Because of its great popularity the book was translated from French into many European languages including English. • This travelogue is a mixture of fact and fiction. • Translation from the French-Jean de Bourgogne • Compilation of fabulous stories of Friar Odoric, Marco Polo • Combining geography and natural history with romance and marvels • First English Prose Classic
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The Fifteenth Century
From Chaucer to Tottel’s Miscellany
1400-1557
Historical events
V Battle of Agincourt 1415 V Fall of Constantinople 1453 V War of the Roses 1455-1485 • Between the Houses of York and Lancaster V Caxton introduced the first printing press in England-1476
Poetry of the Fifteenth Century
English Chaucerians
John Lydgate
V 1370-1451 V Friend of Chaucer-acknowledged disciple of Chaucer ‹ THE FALLS OF PRINCES. • Elaborates on Monk’s Tale • A French paraphrase of a Latin work of Boccaccio ‹ THE TEMPLE OF GLASS. • Modelled on The House of Fame ‹ PILGRIMAGE OF THE LIFE OF THE MAN. ‹ REASON AND SENSUALITY. ‹ TROY-BOOK. ‹ STORIE OF THEBES. • A New Canterbury Tale ‹ THE ASSEMBLY OF GODS. ‹ THE COMPLAINT OF THE BLACK KNIGHT • Modelled on The Book of the Duchess ‹ LONDON LICKPENNY • Most popular work
Thomas Occleve / Hoccleve
V 1368-1450 ‹ THE REGIMENT OF PRINCES
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• Written to win the favour of Henry V • A series of lessons laying down the rules of conduct for princes. ‹ LA MALE REGLE • Partly autobiographical ‹ THE COMPLAINT OF OUR LADY. ‹ OCCLEVE’S COMPLAINT ‹ A LETTER OF CUPID • An allegory • Model of the Legend of Good Women ‹ THE GOVERNAIL OF PRINCES • Mourning the death of Chaucer
John Skelton
V 1460-1529 V Satirist • “Skeltonics”-jingling octosyllabic couplet ‹ GARLANDE OF LAURELL. • Gives a list of his own works ‹ WHY COME YE NAT TO COURT? • Addressed to Wolsey, the all-powerful minister of Henry VIII ‹ DIRGE ON EDWARD IV ‹ THE BOWGE OF COURT ‹ MAGNIFICIENCE • morality play ‹ THE BOOK OF PHILIP SPARROW • An elegy on the death of a sparrow ‹ THE BOOK OF COLIN CLOUT • Colin clout is a peasant who like Piers Plowman, rebukes the corrupt clergy of the times
Stephen Hawes
V 1475-1530 V Allegorist V Paves the way for Spenser ‹ THE PASSETTYME OF PLEASURE • Romantic-homiletic poem • Rhyme royal stanzas and in couplets • Dealing with man’s life in this world • Reminiscent of Bunyan
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• Influenced the allegory of Spenser ‹ THE EXAMPLE OF VIRTUE ‹ THE CONVERSION OF SWERERS ‹ A JOYFULL MEDYTACYON
Alexander Barclay
V 1475-1552 ‹ THE SHIP OF FOOLS • A translation of a German work by Sebastian Brant • Satirical portraits of the various kinds of foolish men ‹ CERTAYNE ECLOGES • Earliest collection of pastorals
The Scottish Chaucerians.
King James 1
V 1394- 1437 ‹ THE KINGIS QUAIR • His love for the Lady Jane Beaufort-daughter of Duke of Somerset-the cousin of Henry V • Rhyme royal ‹ PEBLIS TO THE PLAY ‹ CHRISTIS KIRK ON THE GRENE
Sir David Lyndsay
V 1490-1555 ‹ THE DREME • Rhyme Royal ‹ THE TESTAMENT OF SQUYER MELDRUM. • Octosyllabic couplets • A romantic biography ‹ THE TESTAMENT AND COMPLEYNT OF THE PAPYNGO. ‹ ANE PLEASANT SATYRE OF THE THRIE ESTAITIS • Morality play
Robert Henryson
V 1429-1508 ‹ MORALL FABILLIS OF ESOPE • Longest poem
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• Rhyme royal ‹ THE TESTAMENT OF CRESSEID • Continuation of Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde • Tragic conclusion ‹ ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE • Adaptation from Boethius ‹ ROBENE AND MAKYNE ‹ GARMOND OF GUDE LADIES
William Dunbar
V 1460-1530 V Scottish Chaucer V The chief of the Scottish Chaucerian poets. ‹ GOLDYN TARGE • Most important poem • Allegorical-rhetorical ‹ THE THRISSIL AND THE ROIS • Celebrating the marriage of James IV and Margaret. ‹ DANCE OF THE SEVEN DEIDLIE SYNNIS • Satire ‹ TUA MARIIT WEMEN AND THE WEDO. • Satire ‹ THE LAMENT FOR THE MAKARIS
Gavin Douglas
V 1474-1522 ‹ THE PALICE OF HONOUR. • Inspired by Chaucer’s House of Fame ‹ KING HART ‹ CONSCIENCE • Quibble on the word ‘conscience’ ‹ AENEID • Translation of Virgil.
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The Fifteenth Century
From Chaucer to Tottel’s Miscellany
1400-1557
Prose of the 15th century
Reginald Peacock
V 1395-1460 ‹ THE REPRESSOR OF OVER-MUCH BLAIMING OF THE CLERGY (1445) ‹ THE BOOK OF FAITH.
Sir John Fortescue
V 1394-1476 ‹ THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN AN ABSOLUTE AND LIMITED MONARCHY
William Caxton
V 1422-1491 ‹ First English printer ‹ Press at Westminster ‹ Translator. ‹ 1476- Established himself in London as a printer. ∑ THE DICTES AND SAAYENGIS OF THE PHILOSOPHERS (1477) • 1st book printed in England ∑ RECUYELL OF THE HISTORIES OF TROYE (1471) ∑ GAME AND PLAY OF THE CHESS (1475) WILLIAM CAXTON: A QUINCENTENARY BIOGRAPHY 1976 - a detailed and scholarly work by G. D. Painter
John Fisher
V 1459-1535 V Wrote much in Latin ‹ THE WAYS TO PERFECT RELIGION
Hugh Latimer
V 1485-1555 V Two volume of sermons (1549)
Sir Thomas More
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V English Socrates V 1478-1535 V Influences: Erasmus, Colet, other humanists of the period ‹ UTOPIA • Description of his imaginary ideal world • The True Prologue to the Renaissance. • The First Monument of modern Socialism. • Utopia – the kingdom of nowhere • Originally in Latin.(1516) • Translated into English by Ralph Robinson-1551 • Source of inspiration- THE PRAISE OF FOLLY by Erasmus ∑ English prose works. • THE LYFE OF JOHN PICUS. • THE HISTORIE OF RICHARD III o Unfinished o Best example of humanist historiography in England and the first in English. ‹ First writer of the middle style.
Sir Thomas Malory.
V A translator and a romancer. V Caxton printed Malory’s work ‹ MORTE D’ ARTHUR • Prose romance based on Arthurian Legend • Compilation made from a number of French romances • Influenced: Matthew Arnold, Swinburne, William Morris, Tennyson • Tennyson’s Idylls of the King based on Morte D’Arthur ‹ Great individual prose stylist
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The Fifteenth Century
From Chaucer to Tottel’s Miscellany
1400-1557
Literature of the Early Renaissance in England
William Tyndale
‹ English New Testament (1525)
Miles Coverdale
‹ The Complete English Bible (1535)
Roger Ascham
V 1515-1568 V Tutor to Queen Elizabeth I ‹ TOXOPHILUS, OR SCHOLE OF SHOOTING (1545) • Written “in the tongue for English men” ‹ THE SCHOLEMASTER • Educational treatise • Published by his widow 2 years after his death
Sir Thomas Wyatt
V 1503-1542 V Poet, Courtier, Ambassador ‹ Introduced Sonnet into English ‹ Introduced Terza Rima ‹ Translated and imitated Petrarchan sonnet ‹ Rhyme scheme: abba abba cddc ee ‹ 96 love poems appeared posthumously in Tottel’s Miscellany (1557)
Henry Howard
V 1516-1547 V Earl of Surrey ‹ Introduced Blank verse ‹ His poems appeared (1557) along with Wyatt’s in Tottel’s Miscellany ‹ CERTAIN BOKES OF VIRGULES AENEIS TURNED INTO ENGLISH METER (1557) • Most important poem
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TOTTEL’S MISCELLANY
‹ First printed anthology of English lyrics. ‹ Richard Tottel • A printer and stationer, assisted in the compiling of the anthology. ‹ It is a historically important collection of 271 poems. ‹ It was published on June 5, 1557.
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The Development of the Drama
‹ Grew out of Liturgy of the Church ‹ Performance: in the sacred buildings ‹ Actors: Priests ‹ Language: Latin, French ‹ Public holiday dedicated to draama V Corpus Christi plays: collective mysteries • The whole history of the fall of the man and his redemption Four Cycles ‹ The Chester Cycle (25 plays) ‹ The Coventry Cycle (42 plays)
‹ The Wakefield Cycle (31 plays) Towneley Cycle ‹ The York Cycle (48 plays)
The Miracle Play
‹ A miracle play is a drama that recounts the life of a saint, a miracle performed by Christ, or a miracle performed by God through a saint’s faith or actions; some, but not all, of these stories from the Bible. ‹ Originally developed within medieval Christian church and written in Latin, miracle plays served as a dramatized part of the liturgical service. ‹ Scenes or episodes were staged by local religious and trade guilds on separate wagons. ‹ Date back to 12th Century ‹ Egs: Harrowing of Hell, St. Nicholas, Rising of Lazarus (from the Wakefield cycle)
The Mystery Play
‹ The Mystery plays or Corpus Christi Cycles were long cyclic dramas of creation, fall, and redemption of mankind or other Biblical events. ‹ They were very often based on the Passion and Death of Jesus Christ. ‹ They were financed and performed by craft guilds and staged on wagons in the street and squares of the town. ‹ Of these, The Second Shepherd’s Play is one of the masterpieces of medieval English Literature. Jithin John, Nithin Varghese Page 1 Comprehensive Notes for UGC – NET in English Language & Literature
The Morality Play
‹ Morality plays were allegorical dramas; depicted the progress of a single character from the cradle to grave. ‹ The single character represented the whole of mankind. ‹ The other dramatis personae might include God and Evil, Vices and Virtues, Death, Penance, Mercy etc are abstractions which are personified. ‹ An interesting and varied collection of Moralities are called Macro plays. ‹ Everyman, a Dutch play on the subject of coming of death is famous in this field. ‹ Egs: The Castle of Perseverance, Wisdom, Mankind
Interlude
‹ The interlude is a short play or diverting entertainment designed for presentation either between the acts of the Miracle or Morality plays or for the performance in the intervals at banquets or other important festivities. ‹ It is considered to be the creation of John Heywood. ‹ Forerunner of regular drama ‹ Under the patronage of Henry VIII
John Heywood. V 1497-1580 ‹ Wife: Elizabeth Rastell niece of Sir Thomas More. • The Foure P’s o first printed: 1544 o Palmer, Pardoner, Pedlar, ’Pothecary ‹ THE PLAY OF THE WETHER (1533) o Jupiter takes the conflicting opinions of various persons regarding the kind of weather to be supplied. ‹ A PLAY OF LOVE (1534).
‹ THE PARDONER AND THE FRERE ‹ JOHAN JOHAN THE HUSBANDE, ‹ TYB HIS WYFE & SYR JHAN THE PREEST,
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‹ WITTY AND WITLESS o collection of proverbs and epigrams, ‹ THE SPIDER AND THE FLIE (1556) o a long satirical poem
The Beginnings of Regular Comedy and Tragedy
Nicholas Udall/Uvedale V 1505-56 V Dramatist and scholar ‹ RALPH ROISTER DOISTER (1550) o The earliest known English comedy. o performed about 1552 and printed about 1566 o riming couplets o The play represents the courting of the widow Christian Custance, who is betrothed to Gawin Goodlucke, an absent merchant, by Roister, a boastful simpleton, instigated thereto by the mischievous Mathewe Merygreeke. o Roister is repulsed and beaten by Custance and her maids; and Goodlucke, after being deceived by false reports, is reconciled to her. o The play shows similarity to the comedies of Plautus and Terence. V He translated selections from Terence V Wrote Latin plays on sacred subjects. ‹ He figures in F. M. Ford's novel THE FIFTH QUEEN (1906).
Thomas Sackville
‹ First earl of Dorset and Baron Buckhurst (1536-1608) ‹ Son of Sir Richard Sackville. ‹ A barrister of the Inner Temple. ‹ High official positions: lord treasurer and chancellor of Oxford University. ‹ THE COMPLAYNT OF HENRY, DUKE OF BUCKINGHAM • Appeared in a miscellany called MYRROURE FOR MAGISTRATES (1563)
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• Rhyme royal stanza • Melancholy and elegiac in spirit • Archaic in language. ‹ THE INDUCTION ‹ A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES ‹ GORBODUC. o Collaboration with Thomas Norton o Gorboduc, or Ferrex and Porrex, o one of the earliest of English tragedies o The first three acts are by Thomas Norton (1532-84) and the last two by Sackville. o Acted in the Inner Temple Hall on Twelfth Night 1561. o The play is constructed on the model of a Senecan tragedy, o The subject is taken from the legendary chronicles of Britain. Gorboduc and Videna are king and queen, Ferrex and Porrex are their two sons, and the dukes of Cornwall, Albany, Logres, and Cumberland are the other chief characters. Ferrex and Porrex quarrel over the division of the kingdom. Ferrex is killed by Porrex, and Porrex is murdered in revenge by his mother. The duke of Albany tries to seize the kingdom and civil war breaks out. V There is no action on the stage V The events being narrated in blank verse. ‹ Sidney - Defence of Poetry - 'full of stately speeches and well sounding phrases'. ∑ The legend of Gorboduc is told by Geoffrey of Monmouth, and figures in Spenser's Faerie Queene, where Gorboduc is called Gorbogud. ∑ First use of blank verse
The Earliest Dramas Tragedies ‹ APPIUS AND VIRGINIA (1563) o Anonymous ‹ HISTORIE OF HORESTES (1567) o Anonymous
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‹ JOCASTA (1566) ‹ CAMBYSES, KING OF PERCIA (1570) o Preston ‹ MISFORTUNES OF ARTHUR (1588) o Hughes Histories ‹ THE FAMOUS VICTORIES OF HENRY THE FIFTH (before 1588) ‹ THE TROUBLESOME RAIGNE OF KING JOHN (before 1591) ‹ THE CHRONICLE HISTORY OF KING LEIR (1594) Comedies ‹ GAMMER GURTON’S NEEDLE (1575)
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The Age of Shakespeare
1558-1625
Historical Incidents
V The reign of Queen Elizabeth V 1558: the accession of Elizabeth V 1625: the death of James 1 V Renaissance ‹ 14th to 15th centuries ‹ Fall of Constantinople: 1453 • To Ottoman Turks ‹ Rebirth/ Revival ‹ Began in Italy
Humanists
‹ The terms ‘humanism’ and ‘humanist’ originally come from the Latin ‘humanista’. ‹ It was used in the 15th century to denote the teacher who taught the Greek and Latin classics or the humanities. ‹ According to Encyclopaedia Britannica Petrarch one of the early humanists regarded man or himself as the object of his enquiry and study. ‹ Michelet, the famous French historian, sums up the renaissance as “discovery of the world and the discovery of man”. ‹ The maritime explores of the 15th century discovered the New World in the far west and new sea routes to the east. ‹ The Renaissance scholars of the west discovered the richness of the ancient Graeco- Roman world. ‹ They also realised the real worth and value of man. ‹ Hence we come to humanism, the essence of Renaissance culture and philosophy. ‹ It is not god centred, but a man centred philosophy.
Erasmus
‹ Desiderius Erasmus ‹ 1467-1536 Jithin John, Nithin Varghese Page 1 Comprehensive Notes for UGC – NET in English Language & Literature
‹ Dutch humanist V ENCOMIUM MORIAE (THE PRAISE OF FOLLY) o 1511 o A satire o Written at the suggestion of More o Directed against theologians and church dignitaries John Colet
Sir Thomas More
Sir Thomas Elyot
V THE BOKE NAMED THE GOVERNOUR o Published in 1531, o A treatise on education and politics
Roger Ascham
‹ THE SCHOOL MASTER o Immediate influence on Sidney's DEFENCE OF POETRY. o An important landmark in later educational theory. o Dr Johnson wrote an anonymous LIFE OF ASCHAM to accompany James Bennet's edition of 1761.
Sir Philip Sydney
V 1554-1586 V Killed at a battle of Zutphen in 1586. V His literary work occurred between the years 1578 and 1582 ‹ ASTROPHEL AND STELLA (1591) • A sequence of 108 love sonnets. • Plot the unhappy love of Astrophel (lover of Star) for Stella (star). • Written to his ‘mistress’ Lady Penelope Rich. • Adopts Petrarchan Octave, with variations in sestet which include the English final couplet. ‹ ARCADIA • 1590 published incomplete
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• 1598 published complete • Pastoral romance • First published after his death • Shakespeare based the Gloucester’s plot of KING LEAR on Sidney's story of 'the Paphlagonian unkinde king' • Richardson took the name of his first heroine, Pamela, from Sidney's romance. ‹ THE APOLOGIE FOR POETRIE/THE DEFENCE OF POESIE(1595) • Answer to Gosson’s SCHOOLE OF ABUSE o Dedicated to Sidney in 1579 o An abusive Puritan pamphlet. Two editions of the work appeared posthumously in 1595 Published by Ponsonby, bore the title THE DEFENCE OF POESIE Published by Olney, AN APOLOGIE FOR POETRIE. Ponsonby was the official publisher of Sidney
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The Age of Shakespeare
1558-1625
Edmund Spenser
V 1552-1599 V 1st unofficial poet laureate. V Sidney patronized Spenser V Greatest non-dramatic poet of the age V Kilcolman castle, near Limerick • Estate, Ireland ‹ Minor Poems • THE SHEPHEARDS CALENDAR (1579) o A group of 12 eclogues one for each month, sung by various shepherds. ° Four of them deal with love ° One is in praise of Elisa (Queen Elizabeth) ° One a lament for a 'mayden of greate bloud' ° Four deal allegorically with matters of religion or conduct ° One describes a singing match, ° One laments the contempt in which poetry is held. ° Last: complaints by 'Colin Clout', the author himself o They take the form of dialogues among shepherds o Pastoral poem o Allegory symbolizing the state of humanity. o Diverse forms and meters. o Dedicated to Sidney o Modelled on the eclogues of Theocritus, Virgil • THE RUINS OF TIME (1591) o It is an allegorical elegy on the death of Sidney o The poem is dedicated to the countess of Pembroke, Sidney's sister o Included in COMPLAINTS • THE TEARS OF THE MUSES (1591)
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o In this the poet condemns, through the mouth of several Muses, the decay of literature and learning. o Included in COMPLAINTS • MOTHER HUBBER’S TALE (1591) o Prosopopoia, o A satire in rhymed couplets o Included in COMPLAINTS o The poem is a satire on the abuses of the Church and the evils of the court. o The ape and the fox determine to seek their fortunes abroad, and assume the disguises first of an old soldier and his dog, then of a parish priest and his clerk, then of a courtier and his groom; their knaveries in these characters are recounted. Finally they steal the lion's crown and scepter and abuse the regal power, until Jove intervenes and exposes them. THE RUINS OF ROME (1591) • EPITHALAMION AND PROTHALAMION o Companion poems o Finest of all minor poems o Epithalamion: Spenser’s own marriage with Elizabeth Boyle ° Printed with the Amoretti in 1595 ° Kent Hieatt (SHORT TIME'S ENDLESS MONUMENT) demonstrated that its 24 stanzas represent the hours of Midsummer Day. o Prothalamion: to celebrate the marriage of Katherine and Elizabeth Somerset ‹ AMORETTI (1595) • 88 Petrarchan sonnets • Celebrating the progress of his love • His courtship of Elizabeth Boyle ‹ COLIN CLOUTS COME HOME AGAINE • Pastoral allegory • Spenser’s first London journey and the vices inherent in court life.
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• dedicated to Ralegh • The poem describes in allegorical form how Ralegh visited Spenser in Ireland and induced him to come to England 'his Cynthia to see'—i.e. the queen. There is a charming description of the sea voyage; after which the poet tells of the glories of the queen and her court and the beauty of the ladies who frequent it. Then follows a bitter attack on the envies and intrigues of the court. The poem ends with a definition of true love and a tribute to Colin's proud mistress Rosalind. ‹ A VIEW OF THE PRESENT STATE OF IRELAND (1594) • Prose work • In the form of a dialogue ‹ ASTROPHEL (1586) • Pastoral elegy • On the death of Sir Philip Sydney. ‹ THE FAERIE QUEENE • Most important of Spenser’s work. • Long, dense allegory in epic form of Christian values tied to Arthurian legends. • Only 6 out of 12 completed. • Published 1590 first 3 books • Published 1596 second 3 books • Archaic language • Spenserian stanza • Introductory letter to Sir Walter Ralegh, detailing the plan. • By the Faerie Queene the poet signifies Glory in the abstract and Elizabeth I in particular (who also figures under the names of Britomart, Belphoebe, Mercilla,and Gloriana). • Each book describes adventures of a Knight, each standing for a virtue. • Aristotle is cited as the source of these virtues. V Book 1: Red Cross Knight / Holiness V Book 2: Guyon / Temperance V Book 3: Britomart / Chastity V Book 4: Triamond and Cambell / Frienship
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V Book 5: Artegall / Justice V Book 6: Calidore / Courtesy o Prince Arthur (Magnificence) o Gloriana / Faerie Queene (Glory) • Won political favour with Elizabeth. • Glorifies Tudor dynasty; connects Tudor lineage to King Arthur. • Allegorical and allusive-external conflict of good and evil. ‹ Influences o Ariosto’s ORLANDO FURIOSO o Tasso’s JERUSALEM DELIVERED Charles Lamb’s epithet “the poets’ poet” Lady Anne Clifford THE PRINCE OF POETS IN HIS TYME
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The Age of Shakespeare
1558-1625
John Donne
V 1573-1631 V First great Anglican preacher. V Secretary to Sir Thomas Egerton, lord keeper of the great seal V Secretly married Ann More, Lady Egerton's niece V Patron: Sir Robert Drury of Hawstead, Sir Walter Chute V his earliest biographer Izaak Walton ‹ ANNIVERSARIES • In honour of Sir Robert's dead child Elizabeth ‹ OF THE PROGRESS OF THE SOULE (1601) • unfinished satirical epic ‹ SONGS AND SONNETS • Love poems ‹ AIRE AND ANGELS ‹ A NOCTURNAL UPON S. LUCIES DAY ‹ A VALEDICTION: FORBIDDING MOURNING ‹ THE EXTASIE ‹ HOLY SONNETS • Religious poetry • 19 poems ‹ A HYMN TO GOD THE FATHER • After his wife’s death (1617) o “He affects metaphysics” Dryden. V Prose works • THE PSEUDO-MARTYR (1610) ° An attack on Catholics who had died for their faith • IGNATIUS HIS CONCLAVE (1611) ° Satire upon Ignatius Layola and the Jesuits
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• BIATHANATOS ° A defence of suicide • DEVOTIONS (1614) ° Best introduction to Donne’s prose. ° Gives an account of his spiritual struggles during a serious illness. • SERMONS ° Finest prose work. • DEATH’S DUELL (1630)
George Gascoigne
V 1525-1577 V soldier ‹ THE STEELE GLASS (1576) • In blank verse • A satire in verse • Published 1576. ‹ JOCASTA (1566) • Tragedy • Landmark in the growth of the drama • Based on Euripides but actually translated from Lodovico Dolce; a strange Chaucerian novella, The Adventures of Master FJ ‹ SUPPOSES (1566) • First prose comedy • Basis of Shakespeare’s TAMING OF THE SHREW ‹ CERTANYNE NOTES OF INSTRUCTION CONCERNING THE MAKING OF VERSE OR RYME IN ENGLISH (1575) • First treatise on poetry. ‹ THE GLASSE OF GOVERNEMENT: ATRAGICALL COMEDIE (1575) ‹ THE DROOMME OFDOOMES DAY (1576)
Michael Drayton
V 1563-1631
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‹ THE HARMONIE OF THE CHURCH (1591) • Metrical translations from the scriptures. • paraphrases from the OT and Apocrypha ‹ IDEA: THE SHEPHEARDS GARLAND • Eclogues in the Spenserian manner including praise of Queen Elizabeth (in the Third) and lament for the death of Sidney (in the Fourth). ‹ IDEAS MIRROUR • A sonnet sequence • published in 1594 • Final version, entitled IDEA (1619), ° It included the famous sonnet 'Since there's no help, come let us kiss and part'. V Long poems • ENGLAND’S HEROICALL EPISTLES (1603) ° modelled on Ovid's Heroides ° It consists of twelve pairs of verse letters exchanged by lovers from English history, such as Henry II and Fair Rosamond, Edward IV and Jane Shore, Lord Gilford Dudley and Lady Jane Grey. • THE BARON’S WAR (1603) ‹ POLY OLBION • Principal work • the most ambitious work of Drayton • written between 1598 and 1622 • consists of 30'Songs' each of 300-500 lines • hexameter couplets • The word 'poly-olbion' (from the Greek) means 'having many blessings'. ‹ Since there’s no help, come let us kiss and part • Best known sonnet ‹ ENDIMION AND PHOEBE (1595) • A minor source for Keats's Endymion. Thomas Champion
V 1567-1620
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‹ A BOOKE OF AYRES (1601) • Collaborated with Philip Rosseter ‹ SONGS OF MOURNING (1613) ‹ TWO BOOKES OF AYRES (1612) V He is one of the best examples of the accomplished poet who, lacking the highest inspiration of poetry excels in the lower technical features.
Phineas Fletcher
V 1582-1650 ‹ THE PURPLE ISLAND, OR THE ISLE OF MAN (1633) • Chief poem • A curious work in 12 cantos describing the human body in allegorical descriptive fashion ‹ THE LOCUSTS, OR APOLLYONISTS (1627) • A violently anti-Catholic piece with a conclave in hell thought by some to have influenced Milton. Giles Fletcher
V 1588-1623 V Brother to Phineas Fletcher V allegorical treatment of religious themes is said to have influenced Milton ‹ CHRIST’S VICTORIE AND TRIUMPH (1610) • Best known poem • An epical poem in 4 cantos V Both were poetical disciples of Spenser. V The Fletchers are imitators, but imitators of high quality.
Samuel Daniel
V 1562-1619 V Poet Laureate (1599) V Tutor to William Herbert, third Earl of Pembroke, and later to Lady Anne Clifford, daughter of the countess of Cumberland. V Master of Queen’s Revels (1603) by James 1
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‹ DELIA (1592) • Sonnet series • inspired by Tasso and Desportes • Spenser mentioned him by name in Colin Clouts Come Home Againe, praising Delia ‹ THE COMPLAYNT OF ROSAMOND (1592) • Romance ‹ THE CIVIL WARS (1595) • Long historical poem • a verse epic on the Wars of the Roses. • Four books appeared in 1595, and the complete eight books in 1609. ‹ CLEOPATRA (1594) • A Senecan tragedy • Closely related to the countess of Pembroke's Antonie ‹ PHILOTAS • His second tragedy • Performed in the autumn of 1604 ° Masques and Plays • THE QUEENES WAKE (1610) • HYMEN’S TRIUMPH (1615) • THE VISION OF THE 12 GODDESSES (1604) • THE QUEENES ARCADIA (1606), • TETHYS FESTIVAL (1610), • HYMEN'S TRIUMPH (1614, pub. 1615) ‹ DEFENCE OF RYME (1602) • A piece of English criticism • Reply to Thomas Campion's Observations in the Art of English Poesie. ‹ THE COLLECTION OF THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND • A prose history of England from the Romans to Edward III • His last work. Jonson called Daniel 'a good honest Man,. . . but no poet';
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His greatest admirers: Lamb, Wordsworth, and Coleridge
Poetical Miscellanies
‹ TOTTEL’S MISCELLANY (1557) ‹ THE PARADYSE OF DAYNTY DEVISES (1576) ‹ A HANDFUL OF PLEASANT DELITES (1584) ‹ THE PHOENIX NEXT (1593) ‹ THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM (1599) • Contains poems by Shakespeare, Marlowe and Ralegh ‹ ENGLAND’S HELICON (1600) • Most important among the Miscellanies.
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The Age of Shakespeare
1558-1625
The Drama
Shakespeare’s Predecessors: University Wits
‹ The term University Wits is applied to a group of scholars, who wrote in the closing years of sixteenth century. ‹ They arrived in London from Oxford and Cambridge University and significantly influenced the development of Elizabethan literature. ‹ The group included – John Lyly, George Peele, Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, Thomas Lodge, Thomas Nashe and Thomas Kyd. At the time when the University Wits entered the scenario of the English drama, one of the prevailing traditions was the imitation of ancient Roman drama, for example, ‘Gorboduc’ and ‘Ralph Roister Doister’. ‹ The native tradition at that time was devoid of the artistic excellence of classical Greek and Roman drama. ‹ The special quality of the University Wits was that although they too looked up to the classical drama and had also woven the general pattern of the drama into their creations, yet they did not imitate it blindly. ‹ They gave to the English stage a kind of romantic drama, which became a source of inspiration for Shakespeare later on. ‹ name given by Saintsbury
George Peele
V 1558-1598 ‹ THE ARAYGNEMENT OF PARIS (1584) • Romantic comedy • A Pastoral play in verse • Written and played before Queen Elizabeth I, whose beauty and virtue are duly celebrated. ‹ THE FAMOUS CHRONICLE OF KING EDWARD THE FIRST (1593)
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• A rambling chronicle play ‹ THE OLD WIVE’S TALE (1591-1594) • A clever satire on the popular drama of the day • A play largely in prose ‹ THE BATTLE OF ALCAZAR (1594) • A play in verse • Deals with the war between Sebastian, king of Portugal, and Abdelmelec, king of Morocco, • A. H. Bullen: 'tiresome windy stuff' ‹ THE LOVE OF KING DAVID AND FAIR BETHSABE (1599) • A play in blank verse • Sources are mainly scriptural • Highly poeticized account of King David's seduction of Bethsabe and the death of
his son Absalon. Verses ‹ POLYHYMNIA (1590) • Commemorating the retirement of Sir H. Lee from the office of queen's champion • Describes the ceremonies that took place on this occasion. • It contains at the end the beautiful song 'His Golden lockes, I Time hath to Silver turn'd' made widely known by Thackeray's quotation of part of it in The Newcomes, ch. 76. ‹ THE HONOUR OF THE GARTER (1593) • A gratulatory poem to the Earl of Northumberland ‹ His LIFE AND WORKS were edited by C. T. Prouty (3 vols)
Robert Greene
V 1558-1592 V Attacked at length by G. *Harvey in FOURE LETTERS (1592) as the 'Ape of Euphues' and 'Patriarch of shifters'; V Nashe defended him in Strange Newes - 'Hee inherited more vertues than vices.' V 'upstart Crow, beautified with our feathers' is the first reference to Shakespeare as a London dramatist
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‹ ALPHONSUS, KING OF ARAGON (1587) • Imitation of Marlowe’s Tamburlaine ‹ PANDOSTO, or THE TRIUMPH OF TIME
• A prose romance • Best known as the source for THE WINTER'S TALE • One of Greene's best narratives ‹ MENAPHON (1589) • A prose romance with interludes of verse • Nashe's preface to the first edition offered a satirical survey of contemporary literature. • Tells the adventures of the princess Sephestia, shipwrecked on the coast of Arcadia ‹ THE HONORABLE HISTORIE OF FRIER BACON AND FRIER BONGAY (1589) • A comedy in verse and prose • Partially based on a prose pamphlet The Famous Historie of Fryer Bacon ‹ ORLANDO FURIOSO (1591) • Adapted from an English translation of Ariosto. ‹ THE SCOTTISH HISTORIE OF JAMES THE FOURTH (1592) • Not a historical play. • a fictionalized romantic comedy
Thomas Nashe
V 1567-1601 ‹ SUMMER’S LAST WILL AND TESTAMENT (1592) • A satirical masque. ‹ THE UNFORTUNATE TRAVELLER, OR THE LIFE OF JACKE WILTON (1594) • A prose tale of adventure • Picaresque novel. • Dedicated to the earl of Southampton ‹ He finished Marlowe’s DIDO.
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Thomas Lodge
V 1558-1625 ‹ DEFENCE OF POETRY, MUSIC AND STAGE PLAYS • An anonymous reply to Gosson's Schoole of Abuse ‹ AN ALARUM AGAINST USURERS (1584) • Dedicated Sidney • Depicting the dangers that moneylenders present to young spendthrifts. ‹ THE WOUNDES OF CIVILE WAR • A chronicle play • Only surviving play. • Performed by the Lord Admiral's Men ‹ ROSALYNDE: EUPHUES GOLDEN LEGACIE. (1590) • Pastoral Romance. • Style of Lyly's Euphues • diversified with sonnets and eclogues • written during his voyage to the Canaries • Shakespeare’s AS YOU LIKE IT followed closely in the plot of ROSALYNDE. • The story is borrowed in part from The Tale of Gamelyn ‹ A LOOKING GLASSE FOR LONDON AND ENGLAND (1594) • Collaboration with Robert Greene. ‹ A FIG FOR MOMUS (1595) • A miscellaneous collection of satirical poems including epistles addressed to Samuel Daniel and Michael Drayton. ‹ Collaborated with Shakespeare in HENRY VI.
Thomas Kyd
V 1558-1594 ‹ THE SPANISH TRAGEDIE (1585) • Tragedy in blank verse • Published anonymously in 1592
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The political background of the play is loosely related to the victory of Spain over Portugal in 1580. Lorenzo and Bel-imperia are the children of Don Cyprian, duke of Castile (brother of the king of Spain); Hieronimo is marshal of Spain and Horatio his son. Balthazar, son of the viceroy of Portugal, has been captured in the war. He courts Bel-imperia, and Lorenzo and the king of Spain favour his suit for political reasons. Lorenzo and Balthazar discover that Bel-imperia loves Horatio; they surprise the couple by night in Hieronimo's garden and hang Horatio on a tree. Hieronimo discovers his son's body and runs mad with grief. He succeeds nevertheless in discovering the identity of the murderers, and carries out revenge by means of a play, Solyman and Perseda, in which Lorenzo and Balthazar are killed, and Bel-imperia stabs herself. Hieronimo bites out his tongue before killing himself. The whole action is watched over by Revenge and the Ghost of Andrea who was previously killed in battle by Balthazar. The play was the prototype of the English revenge tragedy genre. The play was one of Shakespeare's sources for HAMLET and the alternative title given to it in 1615, Hieronimo Is Mad Againe, provided T. S. Eliot with the penultimate line of THE WASTE LAND. ‹ CORNELIA (1593) • A translation from the French Senecan, Garnier. • POMPEY THE GREAT, HIS FAIRE CORNELIAES TRAGEDIE ‹ SOLIMAN AND PERSEDA (1588) ‹ FIRST PART OF JERONIMO (1592) • An attempt to write an introductory play to THE SPANISH TRAGEDY
Christopher Marlowe
V 1564-1593 V George Peele: 'Marley, the Muses darling for thy verse'. V Shakespeare's early histories are strongly influenced by Marlowe V Shakespeare: As You Like It - the 'dead shepherd'.
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V Ben Jonson: ‘Marlowes mighty line’ V Swinburne: “ a boy in years, a man in genius, and god in ambition.” ‹ TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT (1587) • Centered on one inhuman figure. • Episodic. • Blank verse. ‹ THE SECOND PART OF TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT (1588) • Sequel to TAMBURLAINE THE GREAT (1587) ‹ THE JEW OF MALTA (1589) • Barabas is one of the prototypes for unscrupulous Machiavellian villains • The prologue to the play is spoken by 'Machevil' • blank verse • “infinite riches in a little room”- Barabas The grand seignior of Turkey having demanded the tribute of Malta, the governor of Malta decides that it shall be paid by the Jews of the island. Barabas, a rich Jew who resists the edict, has all his wealth stored and his house turned into a nunnery. In revenge he indulges in an orgy of slaughter, procuring the death of his daughter Abigail's lover among others, and poisoning Abigail herself. Malta being besieged by the Turks, he betrays the fortress to them and, as a reward, is made its governor. He now plots the destruction of the Turkish commander and his force at a banquet by means of a collapsible floor; but is himself betrayed and hurled through this same floor into a cauldron, where he dies. ‹ EDWARD II (1591) • From HOLINSHED’S CHRONICLES. • A tragedy in blank verse • The play was an important influence on Shakespeare's RICHARD II. ‹ THE TRAGICAL HISTORY OF DOCTOR FAUSTUS (1592) • a drama in blank verse and prose • Elements of miracle plays- good and evil angels.
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• THE HISTORIE OF THE DAMNABLE LIFE, AND DESERVED DEATH OF DOCTOR JOHN FAUSTUS: Marlowe's play follows this translation in the
general outline of the story, Faustus, weary of the sciences, turns to magic and calls up Mephistopheles, with whom he makes a compact to surrender his soul to the devil in return for 24 years of life; during these Mephistopheles shall attend on him and give him whatsoever he demands. The anguish of mind of Faustus as the hour for the surrender of his soul draws near is touchingly depicted. ‹ THE TRAGEDY OF DIDO, QUEEN OF CARTHAGE (1593) • Inferior piece. • written by Marlowe and Nashe • It is closely based on Virgil's Aeneid (Bks 1, 2, and 4), depicting Dido's failure to persuade Aeneas to stay with her in Carthage and her subsequent suicide ‹ THE MASSACRE AT PARIS (1593) • Unfinished. The play deals with the massacre of Protestants in Paris on St Bartholomew's day, 24 Aug. 1572 (an event witnessed by Sidney, who was staying in Paris at the time). Its most memorable character is the Machiavellian duke of Guise, whose high aspiring language seems to have influenced Shakespeare in his early history plays. The massacre is depicted in a series of short episodes, a notable one being that in which the rhetorician Ramus is killed after a verbal onslaught by the Guise on his emendations of Aristotle. The Guise himself is eventually murdered at the behest of Henry III. The play concludes with the murder of Henry III and the succession of the (then) Protestant Henry of Navarre.
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The Age of Shakespeare
1558-1625
William Shakespeare
‹ 1564-1616 ‹ Stratford-upon-Avon ‹ Parents: John, Mary Arden Shakespeare
‹ Married: Anne Hathaway of Shottery ‹ Susanna & Twins, Hamnet and Judith
‹ “Small Latin and less Greek” Ben Jonson ‹ “an upstart crow…”
Robert Greene • The first printed allusion to him is from 1592, in the pamphlet Greenes Groats- Worth of Witte ‹ Shakespeare 'was not of an age, but for all time': Jonson ‹ Literary activity extends over 24 years (1588-1612) ‹ Lord Chamberlain’s Men (under the patronage of James I) V 37 plays V 154 sonnets V 2 long narrative poems V Francis Meres, a minor writer, published praise of Shakespeare in PALLADIS TAMIA: WIT'S TREASURY (1598): first reference of his plays ‹ 1st Folio V Printed between Feb. 1622 and Nov. 1623 V John Hemings V Henry Condell V Dedicated to William Herbert, earl of Pembroke, and Philip Herbert, earl of Montgomery V MR WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE'S COMEDIES, HISTORIES, AND TRAGEDIES V 36 dramas – PERICLES omitted
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‹ 2nd Folio V Issued in 1632 V Containing 'An Epitaph on . . . Shakespeare' by Milton, which was his first published poem. ‹ 3rd Folio V Issued in 1663 ‹ The fourth and last Folio V Published in 1685 Narrative poems
• VENUS AND ADONIS (1593) ° Six line stanzas ° An Ovidian poem ° Published 1593, the same year in which Marlowe's Hero and Leander was registered ° Dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton ° Written in sesta rima, a quatrain followed by acouplet o Spenser used in Astrophel (1595) and Lodge in Scillaes Metamorphosis (1589). ° First printed by Richard Field • THE RAPE OF LUCRECE (1594) ° Rhyme Royal Stanza ° Dedicated to Henry Wriothesley, earl of Southampton.. ∑ THE PASSIONATE PILGRIM (1599) ° An unauthorized anthology of poems by various authors ° Published by Jaggard ° Appeared with Shakespeare’s name on the title page. ° But containing only a few authentic poems by him. ∑ THE PHOENIX AND THE TURTLE ° An allegorical elegy ° Attributed to Shakespeare ° Published in 1601 ° Robert Chester's Loves Martyr, a collection of poems by various hands
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Sonnets
• Printed by TT ° Thomas Thorpe • Dedicated to “Mr W.H” 1. William Herbert ° Earl of Pembroke 2. William Wriothesley ° Earl of Southampton • Rival poet V Christopher Marlowe V Michael Drayton • Dark Lady V Mary Fitton V Emilia Bassano Lanier • Sonnets 1-126 ° Fair Youth Sonnets • Sonnets 127-152 ° Dark Lady Sonnets • Sonnets 153-154 ° The Greek Sonnets (The Cupid Sonnets) ∑ The volume also includes the poem A Lover's Complaint. • A poem in rhyme-royal appended to Shakespeare's Sonnets (1609). • In it a nameless maiden complains of her seduction by a charming but untrustworthy young man. • A rustic setting
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The Age of Shakespeare
1558-1625
William Shakespeare
‹ 1564-1616 ‹ “He was the man, who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poet, had the largest and most comprehensive soul.” - Dryden
37 Plays
1 HENRY VI PART 1 (1591-1592) Pt 1, opening with the funeral of Henry V, deals with wars in France in which the gallant Talbot is a powerful leader on the English side, and the witchlike Joan of Arc, 'La Pucelle', on the French. After a series of encounters Talbot, together with his valiant son John Talbot, are killed near Bordeaux (iv. vii). A crucial scene (ii. iv) is that in the Temple garden, in which the plucking of red and white roses establishes the opposition of Plantagenet and York in the subsequent wars. In the fifth act the earl of Suffolk arranges a marriage between the young Henry VI and Margaret of Anjou, daughter of the king of Naples, vowing ominously to rule king, queen, and kingdom. 2 HENRY VI PART 2 Pt 2 shows Henry's marriage to Margaret. The giving of Anjou and Maine to her father as a price for her marriage angers Humphrey, duke of Gloucester, the lord protector; his wife Eleanor is banished as a witch (ii. iii) and he is arrested on a charge of high treason, against the king's better judgement, and murdered. Suffolk is banished and, after a touching farewell to Queen Margaret, murdered by pirates on the Kent coast. Richard, duke of York, pretender to the throne, stirs up Jack Cade to rebellion (iv): after considerable success, Cade is eventually killed by Alexander Iden, a Kentish gentleman. The final act concerns the battle of St
Albans (1455), in which Somerset is killed, a victory for the Yorkists. 3 HENRY VI PART 3 Pt 3 opens with Henry's attempt to buy peace by making the duke of York his heir, thus disinheriting his son by Margaret. Savagery and strife flourish, however; Margaret, enraged and eloquent, instigates the murder of the boy Jithin John, Nithin Varghese Page 1 Comprehensive Notes for UGC – NET in English Language & Literature
Rutland, York's youngest son, by Clifford, and the mock-coronation and murder
of York himself. Clifford is killed at the battle of Towton, which also includes a scene symbolic of the horrors of civil war in which a son who has killed his father encounters a father who has killed his son. Henry VI is captured and Edward (IV) declared king; he marries the dowerless widow Elizabeth Grey, though previously promised to Bona, the French king's sister. Richard, duke of Gloucester (later Richard III), emerges as an ambitious Machiavelli. Warwick, a powerful contriver on the Lancastrian side, is killed at Barnet by King Edward; the battle of Tewkesbury is a decisive victory for Edward, and Margaret's young son (also an Edward) is killed in cold blood by Edward, Richard, duke of Gloucester, and George, duke of Clarence. King Henry, imprisoned in the Tower, is murdered by Richard ∑ Sections of a historical tetralogy (completed by Richard III) ∑ Chief source: the chronicles of Raphael Holinshed. 4. KING RICHARD III (1593) • A historical tragedy • Sources: The chronicles of Holinshed which contained material from Vergil's ANGLICAE HISTORIAE and Sir Thomas More's THE HISTORY OF KING RICHARD THE THIRDE. • The play completes the tetralogy whose first three parts are the Henry VI plays. • It centres on the character of Richard of Gloucester, afterwards King Richard III, ambitious and bloody, bold and subtle, treacherous, yet brave in battle, a murderer, and usurper of the crown. The play begins with the deformed Richard's announcement: 'Now is the winter of our discontent/ Made glorious summer by this sun of York', that is the king, Edward IV, who is dying. Richard is determined that he shall succeed to the crown and sets out to eliminate any opposition to this and to secure his position. He has his brother the duke of Clarence, who has been imprisoned in the Tower, murdered. As she accompanies the corpse of her dead father-in-law Henry VI, Anne, the widow of Edward, prince of Wales, is wooed by Richard, and they are later married. When the king dies Richard begins his attack on Queen Elizabeth's family and supporters, with the help of the duke of Buckingham. Hastings, Rivers, and Grey are all
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executed, and Buckingham persuades the citizens of London to proclaim Richard king. After his coronation he murders his nephews, the princes in the Tower, and following the death of his wife Anne, which he encourages, tries to marry his niece, Elizabeth of York. However, Buckingham rebels and goes to join Henry Tudor, earl of Richmond, who has landed in Wales at Milford Haven to claim the crown. Buckingham is captured and Richard has him executed, but he now has to face Richmond's army at Bosworth. On the night before the battle the ghosts of those whom Richard has killed appear to him and foretell his defeat. In the battle the next day he loses his horse and is killed by Richmond, who is then proclaimed Henry VII, the first of the Tudor monarchs. 5. THE COMEDY OF ERRORS
• Acted at Gray's Inn Syracuse and Ephesus being at enmity, any Syracusan found in Ephesus is put to death unless he can pay a ransom of 1,000 marks. Egeon, an old Syracusan merchant, has been arrested in Ephesus and on the duke's order explains how he came there. He and his wife Emilia had twin sons, exactly alike and each named Antipholus; the parents had purchased twin slaves, also exactly alike, each named Dromio, who attended on their sons. Having in a shipwreck been separated, with the younger son and one Dromio, from his wife and the other son and slave, Egeon had never seen them since. The younger son (Antipholus of Syracuse) on reaching manhood had gone (with his Dromio) in search of his brother and mother and had no more been heard of, though Egeon had now sought him for five years over the world, coming at last to Ephesus. The duke, moved by this tale, gives Egeon till evening to find the ransom. Now, the elder Antipholus (Antipholus of Ephesus), with one of the Dromios, has been living in Ephesus since his rescue from shipwreck and is married. Antipholus of Syracuse and the other Dromio have arrived there that very morning. Each twin retains the same confusing resemblance to his brother as in childhood. From this the comedy of errors results. Antipholus of Syracuse is summoned home to dinner by Dromio of Ephesus; he is claimed as husband by the wife of Antipholus of Ephesus, the latter being refused admittance to his own house, because he is supposed to be already within; and Antipholus of Syracuse falls in love with Luciana, his brother's wife's sister. Finally Antipholus of Ephesus is confined as a lunatic, and Antipholus of Syracuse takes refuge
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from his brother's jealous wife in a convent. Meanwhile evening has come and Egeon is led to execution. As the duke proceeds to the place of execution, Antipholus of Ephesus appeals to him for redress. Then the abbess of the convent presents Antipholus of Syracuse, also claiming redress. The simultaneous presence of the two brothers explains the numerous misunderstandings. Egeon recovers his two sons and his liberty, and the abbess turns out to be his lost wife Emilia. 6. TITUS ANDRONICUS (1594) • His earliest tragedy • Sources: the Hecuba of Euripides. Seneca's Thyestes and Troades contributed to the plot, as did Ovid's version of 'the tragic tale of Philomel', in Metamorphoses Book 13, and Plutarch. The first half of the play deals with the return of Titus Andronicus to Rome after his sixth victory over the Goths. He brings with him their Queen Tamora and her three sons, the eldest of whom, Alarbus, is sacrificed to avenge his own sons' deaths. Titus is offered the imperial mantle, but gives it instead to the late emperor's son Saturninus, to whose marriage with his daughter Lavinia Titus consents. Saturninus' brother Bassianus claims Lavinia as his own and, while taking her off, Titus kills his son Mutius, who had tried to block his way. Saturninus now changes his mind, renounces Lavinia, and marries Tamora, who engineers a false reconciliation between the emperor and Titus, whom she plans to destroy. She does this with the help of her lover Aaron, the Moor, who gets Tamora's sons Chiron and Demetrius to murder Bassianus, whose body is thrown into a pit, rape Lavinia, and cut off her tongue and hands. Titus' sons Quintus and Martius are then lured by Aaron to fall into the pit, where they are found and accused of Bassianus' murder. Aaron tells Titus that his sons will not be executed if he sacrifices his hand and sends it to the emperor. Titus does this, but gets it back again with the heads of his two sons. In the second half of the play Titus discovers who raped and mutilated his daughter, and with his brother Marcus, and last remaining son Lucius, vows revenge. Lucius leaves Rome, but returns with an army of Goths, which captures Aaron and his child by Tamora. Tamora and her sons Demetrius and Chiron visit Titus disguised as Revenge, Rapine, and Murder and ask him to have Lucius'
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banquet at his house, where the emperor and the empress and her sons will be brought. Titus recognizes his enemies and with the help of Lavinia slits the throats of Chiron and Demetrius and uses their flesh in a pie, some of which Tamora eats at the banquet before Titus kills her. He also stabs Lavinia, but is killed by Saturninus, who is in turn killed by Lucius. He is elected emperor and sentences
Aaron to be buried breast-deep in the ground and starved to death. 7. THE TAMING OF THE SHREW • Based in part on the SUPPOSES adapted by Gascoigne from Ariosto The play begins with an induction in which Christopher Sly, a drunken Warwickshire tinker, picked up by a lord and his huntsmen on a heath, is brought to the castle, sumptuously treated, and in spite of his protestations is assured that he is a lord who has been out of his mind. He is set down to watch the play that follows, performed solely for his benefit by strolling players. Baptista Minóla of Padua has two daughters, Katherina the Shrew, who is the elder of the two, and Bianca, who has many suitors, but who may not marry until a husband has been found for Katherina. Petruchio, a gentleman from Verona, undertakes to woo the shrew to gain her dowry and to help his friend Hortensio win Bianca. To tame her he pretends to find her rude behavior courteous and gentle and humiliates her by being late for their wedding and appearing badly dressed. He takes her off to his country house and, under the pretext that nothing there is good enough for her, prevents her from eating or sleeping. By the time they return to Baptista's house, Katherina has been successfully tamed, and Lucentio, a Pisan, has won Bianca by disguising himself as her schoolmaster, while the disappointed Hortensio has to console himself with marriage to a rich widow. At the feast which follows the three bridegrooms wager on whose wife is the most docile and submissive. Katherina argues that 'Thy husband is thy lord, thy life, thy keeper,/ Thy head, thy sovereign' and Petruchio wins the bet. 8. LOVE’S LABOUR’S LOST
The king of Navarre and three of his lords have sworn for three years to keep from the sight of woman and to live studying and fasting. The arrival of the princess of France on an embassy, with her attendant ladies, obliges them 'of mere necessity' to disregard their vows. The king is soon in love with the princess, his lords with her ladies, and the
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courting proceeds amidst disguises and merriment, to which the other characters contribute: Don Adriano de Armado, the Spaniard, a master of extravagant language, Holofernes the schoolmaster, Dull the constable, Sir Nathaniel the curate, and Costard the clown. News of the death of the princess's father interrupts the wooing, and the ladies impose a year's ordeal on their lovers. The play ends with the beautiful songs of the cuckoo and the owl, 'When daisies pied and violets blue' and ‘When icicles hang by the wall'. 9. ROMEO AND JULIET • First romantic tragedy • Based on Arthur Brooke's poem The Tragicall Historye of Romeus and Juliet (1562) • The play begins with a sonnet spoken by the chorus. The Montagues and Capulets, the two chief families of Verona, are bitter enemies; Escalus, the prince, threatens anyone who disturbs the peace with death. Romeo, son of old Lord Montague, is in love with Lord Capulet's niece Rosaline. But at a feast given by Capulet, which Romeo attends disguised by a mask, he sees and falls in love with Juliet, Capulet's daughter, and she with him. After the feast he overhears, under her window, Juliet's confession of her love for him, and wins her consent to a secret marriage. With the help of Friar Laurence, they are wedded next day. Mercutio, a friend of Romeo, meets Tybalt, of the Capulet family, who is infuriated by his discovery of Romeo's presence at the feast, and they quarrel. Romeo comes on the scene, and attempts to reason with Tybalt, but Tybalt and Mercutio fight, and Mercutio falls. Then Romeo draws and Tybalt is killed. The prince, Montague, and Capulet come up, and Romeo is sentenced to banishment. Early next day, after spending the night with Juliet, he leaves Verona for Mantua, counselled by the friar, who intends to reveal Romeo's marriage at an opportune moment. Capulet proposes to marry Juliet to Count Paris, and when she seeks excuses to avoid this, peremptorily insists. Juliet consults the friar, who bids her consent to the match, but on the night before the wedding drink a potion which will render her apparently lifeless for 42 hours. He will warn Romeo, who will rescue her from the vault on her awakening and carry her to Mantua. The friar's message to Romeo miscarries, and Romeo hears that Juliet is dead. Buying poison, he comes to the vault to have a last sight of Juliet. He chances upon Count Paris outside the vault; they fight and Paris is killed. Then Romeo, after a last kiss on Juliet's lips, drinks the poison and dies.
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Juliet awakes and finds Romeo dead by her side, and the cup still in his hand. Guessing what has happened, she stabs herself and dies. The story is unfolded by the friar and Count Paris's page, and Montague and Capulet, faced by the tragic results of their enmity, are reconciled. 10. A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM (1595)
• Source: Shakespeare drew on Chaucer, Arthur Golding's translation of Ovid, and Apuleius' Golden Ass. Hermia, ordered by her father Egeus to marry Demetrius, refuses, because she loves Lysander, while Demetrius has formerly professed love for her friend Helena, and Helena loves Demetrius. Under the law of Athens, Theseus, the duke, gives Hermia four days in which to obey her father; else she must suffer death or enter a nunnery. Hermia and Lysander agree to leave Athens secretly in order to be married where the Athenian law cannot pursue them, and to meet in a wood a mile outside the city. Hermia tells Helena of the project, and the latter tells Demetrius. Demetrius pursues Hermia to the wood, and Helena Demetrius, so that all four are there that night. This wood is the favourite haunt of the fairies. Oberon and Titania, king and queen of the fairies, have quarrelled, because Titania refuses to give up to him a little changeling boy for a page. Oberon tells Puck, a mischievous sprite, to fetch him a certain magic flower, of which he will press the juice on the eyes of Titania while she sleeps, so that she may fall in love with what she first sees when she wakes. Overhearing Demetrius in the wood reproaching Helena for following him, and desirous to reconcile them, Oberon orders Puck to place some of the love-juice on Demetrius' eyes, but so that Helena shall be near him when he does it. Puck, mistaking Lysander for Demetrius, applies the charm to him, and as Helena is the first person Lysander sees he at once woos her, enraging her because she thinks she is being made a jest of. Oberon, discovering Puck's mistake, now places some of the juice on Demetrius' eyes; he on waking also first sees Helena, so that both Lysander and Demetrius are now wooing her. The ladies begin to abuse one another and the men go off to fight for Helena. Meanwhile Oberon has placed the love-juice on Titania's eyelids, who wakes to find Bottom the weaver near her, wearing an ass's head (Bottom and a company of Athenian
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tradesmen are in the wood to rehearse a play for the duke's wedding, and Puck has put an ass's head on Bottom); Titania at once becomes enamoured of him, and toys with his 'amiable cheeks' and 'fair large ears'. Oberon, finding them together, reproaches Titania for bestowing her love on an ass, and again demands the changeling boy, whom she in her confusion surrenders; whereupon Oberon releases her from the charm. Puck at Oberon's orders throws a thick fog about the human lovers, and brings them all together, unknown to one another, and they fall asleep. He applies a remedy to Lysander's eyes, so that when he awakes he returns to his former love. Theseus and Egeus appear on the scene, the runaways are forgiven, and the couples married. The play ends with the 'play' of 'Pyramus and Thisbe', comically acted by Bottom and his fellow tradesmen, to grace these nuptials and those of Theseus and Hippolyta. 11. THE TWO GENTLEMEN OF VERONA
• Source: the story of Felix and Felismena in the DIANA of Montemayor. The two gentlemen of Verona are the friends, Valentine and Proteus. Proteus is in love with Julia, who returns his affection. Valentine leaves Verona for Milan 'to see the wonders of the world abroad', and there falls in love with Silvia, the duke of Milan's daughter. Presently Proteus is sent also on his travels, and exchanges vows of constancy with Julia before starting. But arriving at Milan, Proteus is at once captivated by Silvia, and, betraying both his friend and his former love, reveals to the duke the intention of Valentine to carry off Silvia. Valentine is banished and becomes a captain of outlaws and Proteus continues his courting of Silvia. Meanwhile Julia, pining for Proteus, comes to Milan dressed as a boy and takes service as Proteus' page, unrecognized by him. Silvia, to escape marriage with Thurio, her father's choice, leaves Milan to rejoin Valentine, is captured by outlaws and rescued from them by Proteus. Proteus is violently pressing his suit on Silvia when Valentine comes on the scene. Proteus is struck with remorse, and his contrition is such that Valentine is impelled to surrender Silvia to him, to the dismay of Proteus' page, the disguised Julia. She swoons, and is then recognized by Proteus, and the discovery of her constancy wins back his love. The duke and Thurio arrive. Thurio shows cowardice in face of Valentine's determined attitude, and the duke, approving Valentine's spirit, accords him Silvia and pardons the outlaws.
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Launce, the clownish servant of Proteus, and his dog Crab, 'the sourest-natured dog that lives', provide much humour. 12. THE LIFE AND DEATH OF KING JOHN • A historical play • Based on an anonymous play The Troublesome Raigne of John King of England The play, with some departures from historical accuracy, deals with various events in King John's reign, and mainly with the tragedy of young Arthur. It ends with the death of John at Swinstead Abbey. It is striking that no mention of Magna Carta appears in it. The tragic quality of the play, the poignant grief of Constance, Arthur's mother, and the political complications depicted are relieved by the wit, humour, and gallantry of the Bastard, supposed son of Faulconbridge, actually the son of Richard Coeur de Lion. 13. KING RICHARD II (1596) • A historical tragedy • Source: The Chronicles of Holinshed, Have drawn on Samuel Daniel's narrative poem The Civil Wars [The anonymous play about Richard II called Woodstock] The play begins with the quarrel between Henry Bolingbroke, son of John of Gaunt, and Thomas Mowbray, duke of Norfolk, which King Richard resolves arbitrarily by exiling Mowbray for life and Bolingbroke for ten years. When 'time-honoured' John of Gaunt dies Richard confiscates his property to pay for his Irish wars, for which he leaves the country. Bolingbroke returns to claim his inheritance and takes Berkeley Castle, which the duke of York has as regent to yield him. The king returns to Wales, hears that his Welsh supporters have deserted him and that Bolingbroke has executed the king's favourites Bushy and Green; accompanied by York's son Aumerle, he withdraws to Flint Castle, where Bolingbroke accepts his surrender. The first half of the play ends with a discussion between a gardener and Richard's Queen Isabel about the government of the garden-state and the possibility of the king's deposition (iii. iv). In London Richard relinquishes his crown to Bolingbroke, who sends him to the Tower. The earl of Carlisle's and Aumerle's plot to kill Bolingbroke, who has now proclaimed himself Henry IV, is foiled by York. Richard is transferred to Pomfret Castle, where he hears of Henry's coronation and is murdered by Sir Pierce of Exton.
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• Written entirely in verse
14. THE MERCHANT OF VENICE • A comedy • Sources: the first story of the fourth day in Il pecorone, Giovanni Fiorentino's collection of novelle. Munday's Zelauto and the Gesta Romanorum V An adaptation: George Granville, THE JEW OF VENICE • Bassanio, a noble but poor Venetian, asks his friend Antonio, a rich merchant, for 3,000 ducats to enable him to prosecute fittingly his suit of the rich heiress Portia at Belmont. Antonio, whose money is all employed in foreign ventures, undertakes to borrow the sum from Shylock, a Jewish usurer, whom he has abused for his extortions. Shylock consents to lend the money against a bond by which, if the sum is not repaid at the appointed day, Antonio shall forfeit a pound of his flesh. By her father's will Portia is to marry that suitor who selects of three caskets (one of gold, one of silver, one of lead) that which contains her portrait. Bassanio makes the right choice—the leaden casket— and is wedded to Portia, and his friend Gratiano to her maid Nerissa. News comes that Antonio's ships have been wrecked, that the debt has not been repaid when due, and that Shylock claims his pound of flesh. The matter is brought before the duke. Portia disguises herself as an advocate, Balthazar, and Nerissa as her clerk, and they come to the court to defend Antonio, unknown to their husbands. Failing in her appeal to Shylock for mercy, Portia admits the validity of his claim, but warns him that his life is forfeit if he spills one drop of blood, since his bond gives him right to nothing beyond the flesh. Pursuing her advantage, she argues that Shylock's life is forfeit for having conspired against the life of a Venetian citizen. The duke grants Shylock his life, but gives half his wealth to Antonio, half to the state. Antonio surrenders his claim if Shylock will turn Christian and make over his property on his death to his daughter Jessica, who has run away and married a Christian and been disinherited; to which Shylock agrees. Portia and Nerissa ask as rewards from Bassanio and Gratiano the rings that their wives have given them, which they have promised never to part with. Reluctantly they give them up, and are taken to task accordingly on their return home. The play ends with news of the safe arrival of Antonio's ships.
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15. KING HENRY IV Part 1 (1597) • Historical play • Sources: The chronicles of Holinshed Daniel's historical poem The Civil Wars • The subject of Pt 1 is the rebellion of the Percys, assisted by Douglas and in concert with Mortimer and Glendower; and its defeat by the king and Prince Hal, the Prince of Wales, at Shrewsbury (1403). Falstaff first appears in this play. The Prince of Wales associates with him and his boon companions, Poins, Bardolph, and Peto, in their riotous life. Poins and the prince contrive that the others shall set on some travellers at Gadshill and rob them, and be robbed in their turn by themselves. The plot succeeds, and leads to Falstaff's well-known fabrication to explain the loss of the booty, and his exposure. At the battle of Shrewsbury, Prince Hal kills Hotspur in a heroic single combat, and then discovers Falstaff feigning death, whom he mourns with the words, 'I could have better spar'd a better man.' After Hal's exit Falstaff resourcefully claims credit for having slain Hotspur. V Sir John Falstaff o A character in Shakespeare's 1 and 2 HENRY IV and THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR o Dr Johnson: 'unimitated, unimitable' A 'compound of sense and vice' 16. KING HENRY Part 2 (1598) • Pt 2 deals with the rebellion of Archbishop Scroop, Mowbray, and Hastings; while in the comic under plot the story of Falstaff's doings is continued, with those of the prince, Pistol, Poins, Mistress Quickly, and Doll Tearsheet. Falstaff, summoned to the army for the repression of the rebellion, falls in with Justices Shallow and Silence in the course of his recruiting, makes a butt of them, and extracts £1,000 from the former. Henry IV dies, reconciled to his son, and Falstaff hastens from Gloucestershire to London to greet the newly crowned king, who rejects him in the speech beginning ‘I know thee not, old man. Fall to thy prayers', banishing him from his presence but allowing him 'competence of life'. 17. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING • A comedy
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• Sources: A novella by Bandello and an episode in Ariosto’s ORLANDO FURIOSO The prince of Arragon, with Claudio and Benedick in his suite, visits Leonato, duke of Messina, father of Hero and uncle of Beatrice. The sprightly Beatrice has a teasing relationship with the sworn bachelor Benedick. Beatrice and Benedick are each tricked into believing the other in love, and this brings about a genuine sympathy between them. Meanwhile Don John, the malcontented brother of the prince, thwarts Claudio's marriage by arranging for him to see Hero apparently wooed by his friend Borachio on her balcony—it is really her maidservant Margaret in disguise. Hero is publicly denounced by Claudio on her wedding day, falls into a swoon, and apparently dies. Benedick proves his love for Beatrice by challenging Claudio to a duel. The plot by Don John and Borachio is unmasked by the 'shallow fools' Dogberry and Verges, the local constables. Claudio promises to make Leonato amends for his daughter's death, and is asked to marry a cousin of Hero's; the veiled lady turns out to be Hero herself. Benedick asks to be married at the same time; Beatrice, 'upon great persuasion; and partly to save your life, for I was told you were in a consumption', agrees, and the play ends with a dance. 18. KING HENRY V (1599) • A historical play • Sources: The chronicles of Holinshed The play opens with the newly ascended Henry astonishing clergy and courtiers by his piety and statecraft (Prince Hal). The archbishop of Canterbury demonstrates, in the long 'Salic Law' speech, Henry's claim to the throne of France, and the dauphin's jesting gift of tennis balls gives him an immediate pretext for invasion. Henry unmasks the three traitors, Scrope, Grey, and Cambridge, and sets out for France; he besieges and captures Harfleur, and achieves a resounding victory at Agincourt (1415), a battle for which he prepares his soldiers in the 'Crispin Crispían' speech. Comic relief is provided by the old tavern companions of Falstaff, who have fallen on hard times, and by some of Henry's soldiers, especially the pedantic but courageous Welsh captain Fluellen. The new, patriotic, comic characters symbolically defeat the old when Fluellen compels the braggart Pistol to eat a leek (v. i). The last act is given to Henry's wooing of Katherine of France. 19. JULIUS CAESAR • Roman tragedy
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• Major source: North's translation of Plutarch's LIVES It begins with the events of the year 44 BC, after Caesar, already endowed with the dictatorship, had returned to Rome from a successful campaign in Spain, and when there are fears that he will allow himself to be crowned king. Distrust of Caesar's ambition gives rise to a conspiracy against him among Roman lovers of freedom, notably Cassius and Casca; they win over to their cause Brutus, who reluctantly joins them from a sense of duty to the republic. Caesar is slain by the conspirators in the senate house. Antony, Caesar's friend, stirs the people to fury against the conspirators by a skilful speech at Caesar's funeral. Octavius, nephew of Julius Caesar, Antony, and Lepidus, united as triumvirs, oppose the forces raised by Brutus and Cassius. The quarrel and reconciliation of Brutus and Cassius, with the news of the death of Portia, wife of Brutus, provide one of the finest scenes in the play (iv.iii). Brutus and Cassius are defeated at the battle of Philippi (42 BC), and kill themselves. 20. THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR (1600) • A comedy • Possibly written or adapted for the occasion of George Carey, Lord Hunsdon's installation as a knight of the Garter on 23 Apr. 1597. • Tradition: written at the request of Queen Elizabeth I for a play showing Falstaff in love Falstaff determines to make love to the wives of Ford and Page, two gentlemen dwelling at Windsor, because they have the rule of their husbands' purses. Nym and Pistol, the discarded followers of Falstaff, warn the husbands. Falstaff sends identical love letters to Mrs Ford and Mrs Page, who contrive the discomfiture of the knight. At a first assignation at Ford's house, on the arrival of the husband, they hide Falstaff in a basket, cover him with foul linen, and have him tipped into a muddy ditch. At a second assignation, they disguise him as the 'fat woman of Brainford', in which character he is soundly beaten by Ford. The jealous husband having also been twice fooled, the plot is now revealed to him, and a final assignation is given to Falstaff in Windsor Forest at Heme's oak, where he is beset and pinched by mock fairies and finally seized and exposed by Ford and Page. The sub-plot is concerned with the wooing of Anne, the daughter of Page, by three suitors: Doctor Caius, a French physician, Slender, the foolish cousin of Justice Shallow, and Fenton, a wild young gentleman, whom Anne loves. Mistress Quickly,
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servant to Dr Caius, acts as go-between for all three suitors, and encourages them all impartially. Sir Hugh Evans, a Welsh parson, interferes on behalf of Slender and receives a challenge from the irascible Dr Caius, but hostilities are confined to the 'hacking' of the English tongue. At the final assignation with Falstaff in the forest, Page, who favours Slender, arranges that the latter shall carry off his daughter, who is to be dressed in white; while Mrs Page, who favours Dr Caius, arranges that he shall carry her off dressed in green. In the event both find themselves fobbed off with a boy in disguise, while Fenton has run away with and married the true Anne. 21. AS YOU LIKE IT • A Comedy • Chief source: Lodge's ROSALYNDE Frederick has usurped the dominions of the duke his brother, who is living with his faithful followers in the forest of Arden. Celia, Frederick's daughter, and Rosalind, the duke's daughter, living at Frederick's court, witness a wrestling match in which Orlando, son of Sir Rowland de Boys, defeats a powerful adversary, and Rosalind falls in love with Orlando and he with her. Orlando, who at his father's death has been left in the charge of his elder brother Oliver, has been drive from home by Oliver's cruelty. Frederick, learning that Orlando is the son of Sir Rowland, who was a friend of the exiled duke, has his anger against the latter revived, and banishes Rosalind from his court, and Celia accompanies her. Rosalind assumes a countryman's dress and takes the name Ganymede; Celia passes as Aliena his sister. They live in the forest of Arden, and fall in with Orlando, who has joined the banished duke. Ganymede encourages Orlando to pay suit to her as though she were his Rosalind. Oliver comes to the forest to kill Orlando, but is saved by him from a lioness, and is filled with remorse for his cruelty. He falls in love with Aliena, and their wedding is arranged for the next day. Ganymede undertakes to Orlando that she will by magic produce Rosalind at the same time to be married to him. When all are assembled in presence of the banished duke to celebrate the double nuptials, Celia and Rosalind put off their disguise and appear in their own characters. News is brought that Frederick the usurper, setting out to seize and destroy his brother and his followers, has been converted from his intention by 'an old religious man' and has made restitution of the dukedom. ‹ Conversation rather than plot dominates this play
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‹ Large number of songs, more than in any of Shakespeare's other plays ‹ Include: such lyrics as 'Under the greenwood tree' (which Hardy used as the title for a novel) and 'Blow, blow, thou winter wind' (in II. v and II. vii respectively). 22. HAMLET (1601) • A tragedy • Chief nondramatic source: Saxo Grammaticus's narrative in his HISTORIAE DANICAE, as retold by Belieferest in his HISTOIRES TRAGIQUES. Old Hamlet, king of Denmark, is recently dead, and his brother Claudius has assumed the throne and married his widow Gertrude. Young Hamlet, returning from university at Wittenberg, learns from the ghost of his father that Claudius murdered him by pouring poison into his ear, and is commanded to avenge the murder without injuring Gertrude. Hamlet warns his friend Horatio and the guard Marcellus (who have also seen the
apparition) that he intends to feign madness, and swears them to secrecy. Immediately after his famous speech of deliberation beginning 'To be, or not to be' (iii. i) he repudiates Ophelia, whom he has loved, while spied on by Claudius and by Ophelia's father Polonius. He welcomes a troupe of visiting players, and arranges a performance of a play ('the Mouse-trap') about fratricide, which Claudius breaks off, in apparently guilty and fearful fury, when the player Lucianus appears to murder his uncle by pouring poison into his ear. Hamlet refrains from killing Claudius while he is at prayer, but stabs through the arras in his mother's bedroom, killing the old counsellor Polonius, before reprimanding his mother for her affection for Claudius. Claudius sends Hamlet to England with sealed orders that he should be killed on arrival. Hamlet outwits him, however, returning to Denmark, having arranged the deaths of his old friends Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who were his uncle's agents. During Hamlet's absence Ophelia has gone mad with grief from Hamlet's rejection of her and her father's death, and is found drowned. Her brother Laertes, having returned from France, determines to avenge his sister's death. Hamlet and Laertes meet in the graveyard where Ophelia is to be buried, and fight in her grave. Claudius arranges a fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes, giving the latter a poisoned foil; an exchange of weapons results in the deaths of both combatants, not before Gertrude has drunk a poisoned cup intended for her son, and the dying Hamlet has succeeded in killing Claudius. Fortinbras, prince of Norway,
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whose resolute military heroism has been alluded to throughout the play, appears fresh from wars with Poland and gives Hamlet a military funeral. 23. TWELFTH NIGHT • Twelfth Night or What You Will • A comedy • Immediate source for the main plot was The History of Apolonius and Silla in Barnaby Rich's RICHE HIS FAREWELL TO MILITANE PROFESSION (1581) Sebastian and Viola, twin brother and sister and closely resembling one another, are separated in a shipwreck off the coast of Illyria. Viola, brought to shore in a boat, disguises herself as a youth, Cesario, and takes service as page with Duke Orsino, who is in love with the lady Olivia. She rejects the duke's suit and will not meet him. Orsino makes a confidant of Cesario and sends her to press his suit on Olivia, much to the distress of Cesario, who has fallen in love with Orsino. Olivia in turn falls in love with Cesario. Sebastian and Antonio, captain of the ship that had rescued Sebastian, now arrive in Illyria. Cesario, challenged to a duel by Sir Andrew Aguecheek, a rejected suitor of Olivia, is rescued from her predicament by Antonio, who takes her for Sebastian. Antonio, being arrested at that moment for an old offence, claims from Cesario a purse that he had entrusted to Sebastian, is denied it, and hauled off to prison. Olivia coming upon the true Sebastian, takes him for Cesario, invites him to her house, and marries him out of hand. Orsino comes to visit Olivia. Antonio, brought before him, claims Cesario as the youth he has rescued from the sea; while Olivia claims Cesario as her husband. The duke, deeply wounded, is bidding farewell to Olivia and the 'dissembling cub' Cesario, when the arrival of the true Sebastian clears up the confusion. The duke, having lost Olivia, and becoming conscious of the love that Viola has betrayed, turns his affection to her, and they are married. Much of the play's comedy comes from the sub-plot dealing with the members of Olivia's household: Sir Toby Belch, her uncle, Sir Andrew Aguecheek, his friend, Malvolio, her pompous steward, Maria, her waiting-gentlewoman, and her clown Feste. Exasperated by Malvolio's officiousness, the other members of the household make him believe that Olivia is in love with him and that he must return her affection. In courting her he behaves so outrageously that he is imprisoned as a madman. Olivia has him released and the joke against him is explained, but he is not amused by it, threatening, 'I'll be reveng'd
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on the whole pack of you.' The play's gentle melancholy and lyrical atmosphere is captured in two of Feste's beautiful songs 'Come away, come away, death' and 'When that I was and a little tiny boy, / With hey, ho, the wind and the rain'. 24. TROILUS AND CRESSIDA • A tragedy Shakespeare's treatment of the love of Troilus and Cressida and its betrayal, against the setting of the siege of Troy by the Greeks, is conventional. The play contains much formal debate, and takes the story up to the death of Hector at the hands of Achilles: Troilus fails to kill his rival Diomedes, and the cynically railing Thersites escapes death. 25. ALL’S WELL THAT ENDS WELL • A comedy - 'tragicomedy' or 'problem comedy' • Chief source: Boccaccio's Decameron (Day 3, Tale 9) Bertram, the young count of Rousillon, on the death of his father is summoned to the court of the king of France, leaving his mother and with her Helena, daughter of the famous physician Gerard de Narbon. The king is sick of a disease said to be incurable. Helena, who loves Bertram, goes to Paris and effects his cure by means of a prescription left by her father. As a reward she is allowed to choose her husband and names Bertram, who unwillingly obeys the king's order to wed her. But under the influence service with the duke of Florence, writing to Helena that until she can get the ring from his finger 'which never shall come off', and is with child by him, she may not call him husband. Helena, passing through Florence on a pilgrimage, finds Bertram courting Diana, the daughter of her hostess there. Disclosing herself as his wife to them, she obtains permission to replace Diana at a midnight assignation with Bertram, having that day caused him to be informed that Helena is dead. Thereby she obtains from Bertram his ring, and gives him one that the king had given her. Bertram returns to his mother's house, where the king is on a visit. The latter sees on Bertram's finger the ring that he had given Helena, suspects Bertram of having destroyed her, and demands an explanation on pain of death. Helena herself now appears, explains what has passed, and claims that the conditions named in Bertram's letter have been fulfilled. Bertram, filled with remorse, accepts her as his wife. The sub-plot, concerning the braggart Parolles, has been felt by some readers, including Charles I, to dominate the play.
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26. MEASURE FOR MEASURE • A tragicomedy • Chief source: is George Whetstone's play PROMOS AND CASSANDRA • 'Problem play' because of the unpleasantness of its subject matter and the complexity of its plot and themes The duke of Vienna, on the pretext of a journey to Poland, hands over the government to his virtuous seeming deputy Angelo, who enforces strict laws against sexual licence which for the past 14 years had been neglected. Angelo at once sentences to death Claudio, a young gentleman who has got his betrothed Julietta with child. Claudio's sister Isabella, who is a novice in a sisterhood of nuns, pleads with Angelo for her brother's life, urged on by Claudio's friend Lucio. In response to her repeated pleas, Angelo offers to spare Claudio's life if she will consent to be his mistress. Isabella refuses, and will not be persuaded even by the desperate entreaties of Claudio in prison. The duke, disguised as a friar, has made a visit of spiritual comfort to Claudio, and now devises a way of saving his life. Isabella is to agree to a midnight assignation with Angelo, but her place is to be taken by Mariana, who was betrothed to Angelo and still loves him. Mariana is first seen (iv. i) listening to the song 'Take, O, take those lips away'. This scheme is successful, but Angelo still proceeds with the order for Claudio's execution, though unknown to Isabella Claudio is saved by the substitution of the head of Ragozine, a pirate, who has died that night in the same prison. The duke lays by his disguise, simulates a return to Vienna, and pretends to disbelieve the complaints of Isabella and suit of Mariana, in favour of Angelo's hypocritical denial. When Angelo is forced to confess, both Mariana and Isabella plead for his life; Mariana is married to Angelo, Lucio to a whore, and at the end of a baffling final speech the duke appears to propose marriage to the novice Isabella. 27. OTHELLO • Othello, the Moor of Venice • A tragedy • Performed before James I at Whitehall • Story is taken from Giraldi Cinthio’s HECATOMMITHI, or 'Hundred Tales' The play's first act is set in Venice. Desdemona, the daughter of Brabantio, a Venetian senator, has secretly married Othello, a Moor in the service of the state. Accused before
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the duke and senators of having stolen Brabantio's daughter, Othello explains and justifies his conduct, and is asked by the Senate to lead the Venetian forces against the Turks who are about to attack Cyprus. In the middle of a storm which disperses the Turkish fleet, Othello lands on Cyprus with Desdemona, Cassio, a young Florentine, who helped him court his wife and whom he has now promoted to be his lieutenant, and Iago, an older soldier, bitterly resentful of being passed over for promotion, who now plans his revenge. Iago uses Roderigo, 'a gull'd Gentleman' in love with Desdemona, to fight with Cassio after he has got him drunk, so that Othello deprives him of his new rank. He then persuades Cassio to ask Desdemona to plead in his favour with Othello, which she warmly does. At the same time he suggests to Othello that Cassio is, and has been, Desdemona's lover, finally arranging through his wife Emilia, who is Desdemona's waiting-woman, that Othello should see Cassio in possession of a handkerchief which he had given to his bride. Othello is taken in by Iago's promptings and in frenzied jealousy smothers Desdemona in her bed. Iago sets Roderigo to murder Cassio, but when Roderigo fails to do this Iago kills him and Emilia as well, after she has proved Desdemona's innocence to Othello. Emilia's evidence and letters found on Roderigo prove Iago's guilt; he is arrested, and Othello, having tried to stab him, kills himself. Rymer: 'a warning to all good wives that they look well to their linen'. 28. MACBETH • A tragedy Macbeth and Banquo, generals of Duncan, king of Scotland, returning from a victorious campaign against rebels, encounter three weird sisters, or witches, upon a heath, who prophesy that Macbeth shall be thane of Cawdor, and king hereafter, and that Banquo shall beget kings though he be none. Immediately afterwards comes the news that the king has created Macbeth thane of Cawdor. Stimulated by the prophecy, and spurred on by Lady Macbeth, Macbeth murders Duncan, who is on a visit to his castle. Duncan's sons Malcolm and Donalbain escape, and Macbeth assumes the crown. To defeat the prophecy of the witches regarding Banquo, he orders the murder of Banquo and his son Fleance, but the latter escapes. Haunted by the ghost of Banquo, Macbeth consults the weird sisters, and is told to beware of Macduff, the thane of Fife; that none born of woman has power to harm Macbeth; and that he never will be vanquished till
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Birnam Wood shall come to Dunsinane. Learning that Macduff has joined Malcolm, who is gathering an army in England, he surprises the castle of Macduff and causes Lady Macduff and her children to be slaughtered. Lady Macbeth goes mad and dies. The army of Malcolm and Macduff attacks Macbeth; passing through Birnam Wood every man cuts a bough and under these 'leavy screens' marches on Dunsinane. Macduff, who was 'from his mother's womb / Untimely ripp'd', kills Macbeth. Malcolm is hailed king of Scotland. 29. KING LEAR • A tragedy • Sources: A chronicle play, KING LEIR The chronicles of Holinshed George Ferrers’ A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES • Characters - English history • Recount their downfall in verse. • The book was originally begun as a continuation of Lydgate’s THE FALL OF PRINCES The Gloucester sub-plot derives from Sidney's ARCADIA. Lear, king of Britain, a petulant and unwise old man, has three daughters: Goneril, wife of the duke of Albany; Regan, wife of the duke of Cornwall; and Cordelia, for whom the king of France and duke of Burgundy are suitors. Intending to divide his kingdom among his daughters according to their affection for him, he bids them say which loves him most. Goneril and Regan make profession of extreme affection, and each receives one-third of the kingdom. Cordelia, self-willed, and disgusted with their hollow flattery, says she loves him according to her duty, not more nor less. Infuriated with this reply, Lear divides her portion between his other daughters, with the condition that himself with 100 knights shall be maintained by each daughter in turn. Burgundy withdraws his suit for Cordelia, and the king of France accepts her without dowry. The earl of Kent, taking her part, is banished. Goneril and Regan reveal their heartless character by grudging their father the maintenance that he had stipulated for, until, enraged, he rushes out of doors in a storm. The earl of Gloucester shows pity for the old king, and is suspected of complicity with the French, who have landed in England. His eyes are put out by Cornwall, who receives a death-wound in the affray. Gloucester's son Edgar, who has been traduced to his father by his bastard brother Edmund, takes the disguise of a lunatic
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beggar, and tends his father till the latter's death. Lear, whom rage and ill-treatment have deprived of his wits, is conveyed to Dover by the faithful Kent in disguise, where Cordelia receives him. Meanwhile Goneril and Regan have both turned their affections to Edmund. Embittered by this rivalry, Goneril poisons Regan, and takes her own life. The English forces under Edmund and Albany defeat the French, and Lear and Cordelia are imprisoned; by Edmund's order Cordelia is hanged, and Lear dies from grief. The treachery of Edmund is proved by his brother Edgar. Gloucester's heart has "Twixt two extremes of passion, joy and grief, / Burst smilingly'. Albany, who has not abetted Goneril in her cruel treatment of Lear, takes over the kingdom. 30. ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA • A tragedy • Chief source: LIFE OF ANTONY by Plutarch, as translated by Sir Thomas North The play presents Mark Antony, the great soldier and noble prince, at Alexandria, enthralled by the beauty of the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. Recalled by the death of his wife Fulvia and political developments, he tears himself from Cleopatra and returns to Rome, where the estrangement between him and Octavius Caesar is terminated by his marriage to Octavia, Caesar's sister, an event which provokes the intense jealousy of Cleopatra. But the reconciliation is short-lived, and Antony leaves Octavia and returns to Egypt. At the battle of Actium, the flight of the Egyptian squadron is followed by the retreat of Antony, pursued to Alexandria by Caesar. There, after a momentary success, Antony is finally defeated. On the false report of Cleopatra's death, he falls upon his sword. He is borne to the monument where Cleopatra has taken refuge and dies in her arms. Cleopatra, fallen into Caesar's power but determined not to grace his triumph, takes her own life by the bite of an asp. ‹ ALL FOR LOVE, or The World Well Lost - tragedy by Dryden.
31. CORIOLANUS • A tragedy • Source: North's version of Plutarch's Life of Caius Martius Coriolanus Caius Marcius, a proud Roman general, performs wonders of valour in a war against the Volscians, and captures the town Corioli, receiving in consequence the surname Coriolanus. On his return it is proposed to make him consul, but his arrogant and outspoken contempt of the Roman rabble makes him unpopular with the fickle crowd,
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and the tribunes of the people have no difficulty in securing his banishment. He goes to the Volscian general Aufidius, his enemy of long standing, is received with delight, and leads the Volscians against Rome to effect his revenge. He reaches the walls of the city, and the Romans, to save it from destruction, send emissaries, old friends of Coriolanus, to propose terms, but in vain. Finally his mother Volumnia, his meek wife Virgilia, and his son come to beseech him to spare the city and he yields to the eloquence of his mother, suspecting that by so doing he has signed his own death warrant: makes a treaty favourable to the Volscians, and returns with them to Antium, a Volscian town. Here Aufidius turns against him, accusing him of betraying the Volscian interests, and with the assistance of conspirators of his faction, publicly kills Coriolanus 32. TIMON OF ATHENS • Unfinished • Collaboration with Thomas Middleton • Sources: Plutarch's LIFE OF ANTONY Painter's PALACE OF PLEASURE Lucian's TIMON, OR THE MISANTHROPE An anonymous play TIMON Timon, a rich and noble Athenian of good and gracious nature, having ruined himself by his prodigal liberality to friends, flatterers, and parasites, turns to the richest of his friends for assistance in his difficulties, and is denied it and deserted by all who had previously frequented him. He surprises these by inviting them once more to a banquet; but when the covers are removed from the dishes (Timon crying, 'Uncover, dogs, and lap', III. vi), they are found to contain warm water, which with imprecations he throws in his guests' faces. Cursing the city, he betakes himself to a cave, where he lives solitary and misanthropical. While digging for roots he finds a hoard of gold, which has now no value for him. His embittered spirit is manifested in his talk with the exiled Alcibiades, the churlish philosopher Apemantus, the thieves and flatterers attracted by the gold, and his faithful steward Flavius. When the senators of Athens, hard pressed by the attack of Alcibiades, come to entreat him to return to the city and help them, he offers them his fig-tree, on which to hang themselves as a refuge from affliction. Soon his tomb is found by the seashore, with an epitaph expressing his hatred of mankind.
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33. PERICLES, PRINCE OF TYRE • A romantic drama • The first two acts probably written by George Wilkins • Sources: the story of Apollonius of Tyre in Gower's CONFESSIO AMANTIS and a prose version (itself derived from the Gesta Romanorum), THE PATTERNE OF PAINEFULL ADVENTURES, by Laurence Twyne. The play is presented by Gower, who acts as chorus throughout, and tells how, having solved the riddle set by King Antiochus and discovered his incestuous relationship with his daughter, Pericles, prince of Tyre, finds his life in danger. He leaves his government in the hands of his honest minister, Helicanus, and sails from Tyre to Tarsus where he relieves a famine. Off the coast of Pentapolis Pericles alone survives the wreck of his ship, and in a tournament defeats the suitors for the hand of Thaisa, daughter of King Simonides, whom he marries. Hearing that Antiochus has died, Pericles sets sail for Tyre, and during a storm on the voyage Thaisa gives birth to a daughter, Marina, and faints. Apparently dead, Thaisa is buried at sea in a chest, which is cast ashore at Ephesus, where Cerimon, a physician, opens it and restores Thaisa to life. She, thinking her husband drowned, becomes a priestess in the temple of Diana. Pericles takes Marina to Tarsus, where he leaves her with its governor Cleon and his wife Dionyza. When the child grows up Dionyza, jealous of her being more favoured than her own daughter, seeks to kill her; but Marina is carried off by pirates and sold in Mytilene to a brothel, where her purity and piety win the admiration of Lysimachus, the governor of the city, and the respect of the brothel-keeper's servant, Boult, and secure her release. In a vision Pericles is shown Marina's tomb, deceivingly erected by Cleon and Dionyza. He puts to sea again and lands at Mytilene, where through Lysimachus and to his intense joy Pericles discovers his daughter. In a second vision, Diana directs him to go to her temple at Ephesus and there recount the story of his life. In doing this, the priestess Thaisa, his lost wife, recognizes him, and is reunited with her husband and daughter. At the end of the play the chorus tells how Cleon and Dionyza are burnt by the citizens of Tarsus as a penalty for their wickedness. 34. CYMBELINE • Sources: Holinshed, A MIRROR FOR MAGISTRATES
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Boccaccio's DECAMERON • Romance • G. B. Shaw wrote an emended version of the long fifth act, published in 1938 under the title CYMBELINE REFINISHED Imogen, daughter of Cymbeline, king of Britain, has secretly married Leonatus Posthumus, a 'poor but worthy gentleman'. The queen, Imogen's stepmother, determined that her clownish son Cloten shall marry Imogen, reveals the secret marriage to the king, who banishes Posthumus. In Rome Posthumus boasts of Imogen's virtue and makes a wager with Iachimo that if he can seduce Imogen he shall have a diamond ring that Imogen had given him. Iachimo is repulsed by Imogen, but by hiding in her bedchamber he observes details of Imogen's room and her body which persuade Posthumus of her infidelity, and he receives the ring. Posthumus writes to his servant Pisanio directing him to kill Imogen; but Pisanio instead provides her with male disguise, sending a bloody cloth to Posthumus to deceive him that the deed is done. Under the name Fidèle Imogen becomes a page to Bellarius and the two lost sons of Cymbeline, Guiderius and Arviragus, living in a cave in Wales. Fidèle sickens and is found as dead by the brothers, who speak the dirge 'Fear no more the heat o'th'sun'. Left alone she revives, only to discover at her side the headless corpse of Cloten which she believes, because of his borrowed garments, to be that of her husband Posthumus. A Roman army invades Britain; Imogen falls into the hands of the general Lucius and becomes his page. The Britons defeat the Romans, thanks to the superhuman valour in a narrow lane of Bellarius and his two sons aided by the disguised Posthumus. However, Posthumus, pretending to be a Roman, is subsequently taken prisoner and has a vision in jail of his family and Jupiter, who leaves a prophetic document with him. Lucius pleads with Cymbeline for the life of Fidèle/ Imogen: moved by something familiar in her appearance, he spares her life and grants her a favour. She asks that Iachimo be forced to tell how he came by the ring he wears. Posthumus, learning from this confession that his wife is innocent but believing her dead, is in despair till Imogen reveals herself. The king's joy at recovering his daughter is intensified when Bellarius restores to him his two lost sons, and the scene ends in a general reconciliation. Posthumus' words to Imogen on being reconciled with her, 'Hang there like fruit, my soul,/ Till the tree die!' were described by Tennyson as 'the tenderest lines in Shakespeare'.
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35. THE WINTER’S TALE • One of the plays put on to celebrate the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and the elector palatine • Source: Greene's PANDOSTO Leontes, king of Sicily, and Hermione, his virtuous wife, are visited by Leontes's childhood friend Polixenes, king of Bohemia. Leontes presently convinces himself that Hermione and Polixenes are lovers, attempts to procure the death of the latter by poison, and on his escape imprisons Hermione, who in prison gives birth to a daughter. Paulina, wife of Antigonus, a Sicilian lord, tries to move the king's compassion by bringing the baby to him, but in vain. He orders Antigonus to leave the child on a desert shore to perish. He disregards a Delphian oracle declaring Hermione innocent. He soon learns that his son Mamillius has died of sorrow for Hermione's treatment, and shortly after that Hermione herself is dead, and is filled with remorse. Meanwhile Antigonus leaves the baby girl, Perdita, on the shore of Bohemia, and is himself killed by a bear. Perdita is found and brought up by a shepherd. Sixteen years pass. When she grows up, Florizel, son of King Polixenes, falls in love with her, and his love is returned. This is discovered by Polixenes, to avoid whose anger Florizel, Perdita, and the old shepherd flee from Bohemia to the court of Leontes, where the identity of Perdita is discovered, to Leontes's great joy, and the revival of his grief for the loss of Hermione. Paulina offers to show him a statue that perfectly resembles Hermione, and when the king's grief is intensified by the sight of this, the statue comes to life and reveals itself as the living Hermione, whose death Paulina had falsely reported in order to save her life. Polixenes is reconciled to the marriage of his son with Perdita, on finding that the shepherd-girl is really the daughter of his former friend Leontes. The rogueries of Autolycus, the pedlar and 'snapper-up of unconsidered trifles', add amusement to the later scenes of the play; and his songs 'When daffodils begin to peer' and 'Jog on, jog on, the footpath way' are famous. 36. THE TEMPEST • A romantic drama • Included in the wedding celebrations for the Princess Elizabeth and the elector palatine • Contemporary accounts of the shipwreck of the Sea-Venture in 1609 on the Bermudas • Dr Johnson: The Tempest's 'plan is regular' - it conforms to the unities. • Prospero - Shakespeare
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• Inspired numerous other works Milton's COMUS Shelley's ARIEL TO MIRANDA Browning's CALIBAN UPON SETEBOS W H. Auden's series of poetic meditations THE SEA AND THE MIRROR Prospero, duke of Milan, ousted from his throne by his brother Antonio, and turned adrift on the sea with his child Miranda, has been cast upon a lonely island. This had been the place of banishment of the witch Sycorax. Prospero, by his knowledge of magic, has released various spirits (including Ariel) formerly imprisoned by the witch, and these now obey his orders. He also keeps in service the witch's son Caliban, a misshapen monster, formerly the sole inhabitant of the island. Prospero and Miranda have lived thus for 12 years. When the play begins a ship carrying the usurper, his confederate Alonso, king of Naples, his brother Sebastian and son Ferdinand, is by the art of Prospero wrecked on the island. The passengers are saved, but Ferdinand is thought by the rest to be drowned, and he thinks this is their fate. According to Prospero's plan Ferdinand and Miranda are thrown together, fall in love, and plight their troths. Prospero appears to distrust Ferdinand and sets him to carrying logs. On another part of the island Sebastian and Antonio plot to kill Alonso and Gonzalo, 'an honest old Councellor' who had helped Prospero in his banishment. Caliban offers his services to Stephano, a drunken butler, and Trinculo, a jester, and persuades them to try to murder Prospero. As their conspiracy nears him, Prospero breaks off the masque of Iris, Juno, and Ceres, which Ariel has presented to Ferdinand and Miranda. Caliban, Stephano, and Trinculo are driven off and Ariel brings the king and his courtiers to Prospero's cell. There he greets 'My true preserver' Gonzalo, forgives his brother Antonio, on the condition that he restores his dukedom to him, and reunites Alonso with his son Ferdinand, who is discovered playing chess with Miranda. While Alonso repents for what he has done, Antonio and Sebastian do not speak directly to Prospero, but exchange ironical and cynical comments with each other. The boatswain and master of the ship appear to say that it has been magically repaired and that the crew is safe. Before all embark for Italy Prospero frees Ariel from his service, renounces his magic, and leaves Caliban once more alone on the island.
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37. HENRY VIII • A historical drama • Completed by John Fletcher • Sources: Holinshed's CHRONICLES Foxe's ACTES AND MONUMENTS OF THESE LATTER AND PERILLOUS DAYES, TOUCHING MATTERS OF THE CHURCH, popularly known as THE BOOK OF MARTYRS • Its early production: connected with the marriage in February 1613 of Frederick, the elector palatine, and Princess Elizabeth, daughter of James I and Anne of Denmark. • Its performance in June 1613 resulted in the burning down of the Globe Theatre. • It deals with the fall and execution of the duke of Buckingham; the question of the royal divorce (vividly depicting the dignity and resignation of Queen Catherine); the pride and fall of Cardinal Wolsey and his death; the advancement and coronation of Anne Boleyn; the triumph of Cranmer over his enemies; and the christening of the Princess Elizabeth.
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The Age of Shakespeare
1558-1625
Post-Shakespearian Drama
Ben Jonson
V 1573-1637 V Actor, playwright with Lord Admiral’s company. V His chief patrons: The Sidney family, the earl of Pembroke, the countess of Bedford, and the duke and duchess of Newcastle. V Introduced – Comedy of humours ° A dramatic genre most closely associated with the English playwright Ben Jonson from the late 16th century. ° The term derives from the Latin “humor” meaning “liquid”. ° Originally a medical term humours were the fluids believed to regulate the body and by extension the human temperament. ° The theory, which can be traced to ancient times, is that there are four distinct bodily fluids: blood, phlegm, black bile and yellow bile. ° An imbalance of these fluids or humours causes a personality disturbance. ° Ben Jonson’s Everyman in His Humour popularized the comedy of humours. V Presided over a literary circle which met at the Mermaid Tavern • Thomas Coryate a 'Fraternitie of Sirenaical Gentlemen' met there 'the first Friday of every Moneth' ∑ 'He is a great and bold carpenter of words': Jonson • Keats wrote Lines on the Mermaid Tavern beginning: 'Souls of poets dead and gone' ∑ “O rare Ben Jonson!” Epitaph
Early Comedies
‹ EVERY MAN IN HIS HUMOUR (1598) • Greatest work
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• performed by the Lord Chamberlain's Men • Shakespeare in the cast • In his folio of 1616 Jonson published an extensively revised version, with the setting changed from Florence to London and the characters given English names. Kitely, a merchant, is the husband of a young wife, and his 'humour' is irrational jealousy. His house is resorted to by his brother-in-law Wellbred with a crowd of riotous but harmless gallants, and these he suspects of designs both on his wife and on his sister Bridget. One of these young men is Edward Knowell, whose father's 'humour' is excessive concern for his son's morals. Bobadill, one of Jonson's greatest creations, a 'Paul's man', is a boastful cowardly soldier, who associates with the young men and is admired by Matthew, a 'town gull' and poetaster, and Edward's cousin Stephen, a 'country gull'. Out of these elements, by the aid of the devices and disguises of the mischievous Brainworm, Knowell's servant, an imbroglio is produced in which Kitely and his wife are brought face to face at the house of a water-bearer to which each thinks the other has gone for an amorous assignation; Bobadill is exposed and beaten; Edward Knowell is married to Bridget; and Matthew and Stephen are held up to ridicule. The misunderstandings are cleared up by the shrewd and kindly Justice Clement. ‹ EVERY MAN OUT OF HUMOUR (1599) V Acted by the Lord Chamberlain's Men at the newly built Globe Theatre 1599 Macilente, a venomous malcontent; Carlo Buffone, a cynical jester; the uxorious Deliro and his domineering wife Fallace; Fastidious Brisk, an affected courtier devoted to fashion; Sordido, a miserly farmer, and his son Fungoso, who longs to be a courtier; Sogliardo, 'an essential clown, enamoured of the name of a gentleman'; and Puntarvolo, a fantastic, vainglorious knight, who wagers that he, his dog, and his cat can travel to Constantinople and back. By means of various episodes, such as Macilente's poisoning of Puntarvolo's dog and Brisk's imprisonment for debt, each character is eventually driven 'out of his humour'. Two judicious onlookers, Mitis and Cordatus, oversee the action throughout, and provide a moral commentary. Their opening debate with their friend Asper, who represents Jonson, contains an exposition of Jonson's theory of humours. ‹ CYNTHIA’S REVELS (1600) V An allegorical comedy V The Fountain of Self-Love: the subtitle of the play
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The play satirizes various court vices represented by characters whose names typify their failings: Argurion, money; Asotus, prodigality; Anaides, impudence; Hedon, voluptuousness; Moria, folly; Phantaste, frivolity; Philautia, self-love; Amorphus, who has 'lost his shape' through too much travel. Having drunk of the Fountain of Self-Love, the courtiers are emboldened to appear before Queen Cynthia in a masque devised by the wise poet Crites, in which each character is made to impersonate his complementary virtue. With the aid of Mercury, who had been sent by Jove to purge the court, Crites exposes the masquers, and as a penance they are sent on a pilgrimage to drink the waters of Mount Helicon, the fountain of truth. The song of Hesperus in Act V, 'Queen and huntress, chaste and fair', is one of Jonson's most beautiful lyrics. ‹ THE POETASTER (1601) V Performed by the Children of the Queen's Chapel in 1601 Set in the court of the Emperor Augustus, the main plot concerns the conspiracy of the poetaster Crispinus and his friend Demetrius (who represent Jonson's contemporaries Marston and Dekker) and a swaggering captain, Pantilius Tueca, to defame Horace, who represents Jonson. The matter is tried before Augustus with Virgil as judge. Horace is acquitted, the 'dresser of plays' Demetrius is made to wear a fool's coat and cap, and Crispinus is given a purge of hellebore and made to vomit up his windy rhetoric. A secondary plot concerns Ovid's love for the daughter of Augustus, and his subsequent banishment. Marston and Dekker replied to the attack in Satiromastix, where the main characters of this play reappear. Middle Group of Comedies
‹ VOLPONE OR THE FOX (1605) V Performed by the King's Men Volpone, a rich Venetian without children, feigns that he is dying; in order to draw gifts from his would be heirs. Mosca, his parasite and confederate, persuades each of these in turn that he is to be the heir, and thus extracts costly presents from them. One of them, Corvino, even attempts to sacrifice his wife to Volpone in hope of the inheritance. Finally Volpone overreaches himself. To enjoy the discomfiture of the vultures who are awaiting his death, he makes over his property by will to Mosca and pretends to be dead. Mosca takes advantage of the situation to blackmail Volpone, but rather than be thus defeated Volpone chooses to reveal all to the authorities. They direct that Volpone shall Jithin John, Nithin Varghese Page 3 Comprehensive Notes for UGC – NET in English Language & Literature
be cast in irons until he is as infirm as he pretended to be, Mosca whipped and confined to the galleys, Corvino made to parade in ass's ears, and his wife be returned to her family with a trebled dowry. A secondary plot involves Sir Politic Would-be, an English traveller who has absurd schemes for improving trade and curing diseases, and his Lady, a loquacious, hectoring pedant. Sir Politic is chastened when Peregrine, a wiser English traveller, pretends to have him arrested for treason. The names of the principal characters, Volpone (the fox), Mosca (the fly), Voltore (the vulture), Corbaccio (the crow), Corvino (the raven), indicate their roles and natures. ‹ EPICENE OR THE SILENT WOMAN (1609) • Wriiten entirely in prose • Acted by the Children of the Queen's Revels Morose, an egotistic old bachelor with a pathological aversion to noise, proposes to disinherit his nephew Sir Dauphine Eugenie, whom he suspects of ridiculing him, by marrying and producing children, provided he can find a silent woman. Cutbeard, his barber, has found such a one in Epicene. Immediately after the wedding Epicene proceeds to torment her husband by turning into a loquacious shrew, and his agony is increased when Dauphine and his friends Truewit and Clerimont arrive with a rowdy party of guests and musicians to celebrate the marriage. Among the guests are a henpecked bearward, Captain Otter, and his Amazonian wife, the Collegiate Ladies, and two boastful knights, Amorous La Foole and John Daw, whose cowardice is exposed when Truewit tricks them into fighting a duel. Driven frantic by the hubbub, and having unsuccessfully sought grounds for divorce from a parson and canon lawyer (in fact impostors planted by Dauphine, who chatter interminably to no purpose), Morose accepts Dauphine's offer to rid him of Epicene for £500 a year and the reversion of his property. Whereupon Dauphine pulls off Epicene's wig and reveals that, unknown to everyone else, including the audience, she is a boy whom he had trained for the part.
V Dryden - the most perfectly plotted of all comedies.
‹ THE ALCHEMIST (1610) • Blank verse • Performed by the King's Men
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Lovewit, during an epidemic of the plague, leaves his house in Blackfriars in London in charge of his servant Face. The latter, with Subtle, a fake alchemist and astrologer, and Dol Common, his consort, use the house as a place for fleecing a variety of victims. To Sir Epicure Mammon, a voluptuous knight, and Ananias and Tribulation Wholesome, fanatical Puritans, they promise the philosopher's stone, by which all metals may be turned to gold; to Dapper, a lawyer's clerk, a charm to win at gambling, bestowed by his aunt, the Queen of Fairy; to Drugger, a tobacconist, a magical way of designing his shop to improve trade; to Kastril, a country bumpkin who wants to learn the language of quarrelling, a rich marriage for his widowed sister Dame Pliant. Surly, a gamester, sees through the fraud and attempts to expose it by presenting himself disguised as a Spaniard, but the dupes refuse to listen and drive him away. Lovewit's unexpected return puts Subtle and Dol to flight, and Face makes peace with his master by resourcefully marrying him to Dame Pliant. ‹ BARTHOLOMEW FAYRE (1614) • His best work • Written entirely in prose • Performed by the Lady Elizabeth's Men The play is set at the fair which took place at Smithfield on 24 Aug., St Bartholomew's day, and follows the fortunes of various visitors to it: Littlewit, a proctor, his wife Win- the-fight, his mother-in-law Dame Purecraft, and her mentor the ranting Puritan Zeal-of- the-land Busy, who come to eat roast pig; the rich simpleton Bartholomew Cokes, Wasp, his angry servant, and Grace Wellborn, who is unwillingly betrothed to Cokes; Justice Adam Overdo, who attends the fair in disguise in order to discover its 'enormities'; and two gallants, Quarlous and Winwife, who intend to jeer at the fair- people. Many mishaps and misunderstandings ensue, which result in Busy, Wasp, and Overdo being placed in the stocks, Cokes being robbed of all his possessions, including his future wife, who is won by Winwife, and Quarlous marrying Dame Purecraft. The play ends with the performance of a puppet play written by Littlewit, in imitation of Marlowe's Hero and Leander. Zeal-of-the-land Busy is defeated in a debate with one of the puppets about the morality of play-acting, and Overdo, reminded that he is 'but Adam, flesh and blood', agrees to renounce his censoriousness and invites everyone home to supper.
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∑ These plays are satirical in tone ∑ Realistic and natural in dialogue ∑ Ingenious in plot.
Later Comedies
‹ THE DEVIL IS AN ASS (1616) Fitzdottrel, a foolish country squire, is cheated out of his estate by Meercraft, a 'projector', who parades various fantastic schemes for making money and deludes him with the promise that he will make him duke of Drowndland through a project for land reclamation. When Fitzdottrel finds he has made over his estate to the wrong person, he pretends to be bewitched in order to have the contract declared void, but eventually confesses to the fraud. He then learns that Wittipol and Manly, who had intrigued to seduce his wife, have out of admiration for her virtue safeguarded his estate. A secondary plot concerns Pug, a minor devil who has been allowed by Satan to try his hand at iniquity on earth for a day and is taken on by Fitzdottrel as a servant. He finds himself completely outdone in wickedness by human knaves, is sent to Newgate, and returns to hell baffled.
∑ Dryden - his 'dotages'. ‹ THE STAPLE OF NEWS (1625) Pennyboy Junior learns from a beggar, whom he takes on as a servant, that his father has died. He begins to squander his inheritance, buying gaudy clothes, pursuing the rich Lady Pecunia, his miserly uncle's ward, and purchasing a clerkship for his barber at the Staple of News, an office for the collection, sorting, and dissemination of news and gossip, 'authentical and apocryphal'. The beggar reveals that he is Pennyboy's father, and, appalled by his extravagance, disinherits him, but Pennyboy redeems himself, and wins the hand of Lady Pecunia, when he thwarts a plot to ruin his father hatched by the scheming lawyer Picklock. The play is watched throughout by four gossips, Mirth, Tattle, Expectation, and Censure, who sit on the stage and offer an undiscerning commentary at the end of each act. ‹ THE NEW INN (1629) V The New Inn, or The Light Heart
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Frances, the young Lady Frampul, invites some lords and gentlemen to make merry at the New Inn at Barnet. One of the guests, Lord Beaufort, falls in love with, and is promptly married to, the son of the innkeeper, who has been dressed up as a girl, while Frances falls in love with Lovel, a melancholy gentleman staying at the inn. In a succession of discovered identities it is learnt that the innkeeper's son really is a girl and, moreover, Frances's sister Laetitia; that the innkeeper is Frances's long-lost father; and that the son's old Irish nurse is the father's long-lost wife and Frances's mother.
‹ THE MAGNETIC LADY (1631) V The Magnetic Lady, or Humours Reconciled Lady Loadstone, the 'Magnetic Lady', who 'draws unto her guests of all sorts', has a niece Placentia, of age to be married. The girl is pursued by various suitors until, after an argument between two of them, she goes into labour and gives birth. Her uncle, the usurer Sir Moth Interest, uses this as an excuse to take possession of her dowry. However, Compass, the play's hero, learns that Lady Loadstone's real niece is her waiting woman Pleasance, who had been exchanged with Placentia when the two were infants. He marries Pleasance, whom he loves, reveals her true identity, and receives her dowry. Placentia is married to the father of her child, Lady Loadstone's steward Needle, and Lady Loadstone marries Compass's brother Captain Ironside. Between the acts there is an interlude of debate about the theatre between a boy actor and two scoffing gallants, Probee and Damplay. ‹ A TALE OF A TUB (1633) It concerns the attempts, in the course of St Valentine's day, of various suitors to marry Audrey, the daughter of Toby Turf, high constable of Kentish Town. Her father wishes to marry her to John Clay, tilemaker, and he and the wedding-party set off for the church. But his intention is defeated by Squire Tub and Canon Hugh the vicar, by means of a bogus story of a highway robbery, of which John Clay is accused. Squire Tub's desire to marry Audrey is in turn frustrated by Justice Preamble, who conspires with Hugh to get her for himself. Tub warns Toby Turf, who recovers his daughter. But she is presently lured away from him again (together with £100) by the justice, is intercepted by Tub, and finally carried off and married out of hand by Pol Martin, usher to Tub's mother, 'a groom was never dreamt of.’
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V This was Jonson's last completed play.
Historical plays
‹ SEJANUS HIS FALL (1603) • A Roman tragedy • Shakespeare and Richard Burbage in the cast • Based mainly on Cornelius Tacitus, the greatest historian of imperial Rome The play deals with the rise of Sejanus during the reign of Tiberius, his destruction of the family of Germanicus, and his poisoning of Tiberius' son Drusus. Suspecting the scope of his favourite's ambition, Tiberius leaves Rome, setting his agent Macro to spy on him. Tiberius denounces Sejanus in a letter to the Senate, which condemns him to death, and the mob, stirred up by Macro, tears him to pieces ‹ CATILINE HIS CONSPIRACY (1611) • A Roman tragedy • Based principally on Sallust's Catiline and Cicero's orations The play concerns the events of the year 63 BC, when Catiline organized a conspiracy to overthrow the existing government and to renew with the aid of Sulla's veterans the scenes of bloodshed which Rome had recently seen. Cicero and Antonius were elected consuls, and Catiline, secretly encouraged by Caesar and Crassus, prepared for a rising. Cicero, warned by Fulvia, the mistress of one of the conspirators, of the intention to assassinate him as a first step in the movement, summons the senate and accuses Catiline, who leaves Rome and joins the troops raised by his adherents at Faesulae. Cicero obtains evidence of the guilt of the conspirators through the ambassadors of the Allobroges, and submits it to the senate, which condemns them to death. Catiline falls in the decisive engagement between his troops and those of the government commanded by Petreius. Masques
• He introduced: the 'antimasque' - an antithetical, usually disorderly, prelude to the main action which served to highlight by contrast the central theme of political and social
harmony. ‹ THE MASQUE OF BLACKNESS • Written to accommodate Queen Anne's desire to appear as a Negress
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• First court masque ‹ THE MASQUE OF BEAUTY (1608) ‹ THE MASQUE OF QUEENS (1609) ‹ OBERON, THE FAIRY PRINCE (1611) ‹ LOVE RESTORED (1612) ‹ MERCURY VINDICATED FROM THE ALCHEMISTS AT COURT (1616) ‹ PLEASURE RECONCILED TO VIRTUE (1618) • This gave Milton his idea for COMUS ‹ NEPTUNE'S TRIUMPH FOR THE RETURN OF ALBION (1624) ‹ CHLORIDIA (1631)
Non-dramatic verse ‹ EPIGRAMMES ‹ THE FOREST • A collection of miscellaneous short poems, odes, epistles, and songs ‹ UNDERWOODS • A collection of poems • Underwoods (1887) is also the name (confessedly adopted from Jonson) of a book of poems by R. L. Stevenson. Francis Beaumont (1584-1616) and John Fletcher (1579-1625)
V John Fletcher: cousin of Giles and Phineas ‹ Both excelled in comedy ‹ Plays are more superficial ‹ Tragic-comedies ‹ Dryden, in OF DRAMATICK POESY (1668), pays tribute to the success of the Beaumont and Fletcher plays on the Restoration stage ‹ Comments that both writers had “great natural gifts improved by study; Beaumont especially being so accurate a judge of plays that Ben Jonson, while he lived, submitted all his writings to his censure, and, 'tis thought, used his judgement in correcting, if not contriving, all his plots.”
‹ THE WOMAN HATER, • Beaumont’s earliest known play
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• A Jonsonian comedy of humours, was probably performed 1605, published 1607 ‹ THE KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE (1607) • Farce • The most successful of Beaumont's plays • It is a high-spirited comedy of manners • It has clear echoes of Don Quixote, both in attitude and incident • Satirizes the middle-class taste for such popular and improbable romances as Palmerin of England ° A chivalric romance attributed to the 16th-cent. Portuguese writer Francisco de Moraes. ° The 'Palmerins' consist of eight books ° Deals with the exploits and loves of Palmerin d'Oliva, emperor of Constantinople, and his various descendants • It takes the form of a play-within-a-play: The London Merchant ‹ THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS ° Fletcher alone ° A pastoral tragi-comedy ‹ WIT WITHOUT MONEY ° A comedy ‹ THE TRAGEDY OF VALENTINIAN ° Published 1647 ° Performed between 1610-1614 ° A sensational drama with elements of revenge tragedy ° It deals with the vengeance of Maximus, a general under Valentinian III, for the dishonour of his wife by the emperor, and her suicide. ‹ THE LOYAL SUBJECT ° Acted 1618 ‹ THE MAD LOVER ° Acted 1616 ‹ THE HUMOROUS LIEUTENANT ° Acted 1619
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‹ WOMEN PLEASED ° A comedy ° Performed 1620 ‹ THE WILDE GOOSE CHASE ° Acted with great success in 1621 ° Printed 1652 ° It was very popular on the Restoration stage ° Farquhar's comedy The Inconstant is based on this play ‹ THE PILGRIM ° A comedy ° Performed in 1621 ‹ THE ISLAND PRINCESS ° A romantic comedy ° Performed in 1621 ‹ MONSIEUR THOMAS ° A comedy, ° Performed in 1619, printed 1639; ‹ THE WOMAN'S PRIZE ° The Woman's Prize, or The Tamer Tamed ° It shows the second marriage of Petruchio, from Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew ° Written 1604-17 ‹ A WIFE FOR A MONTH ° A romantic drama ° Performed in 1624 ‹ RULE A WIFE AND HAVE A WIFE ° Performed in 1624 ‹ THE CHANCES ° Written in 1617 ° The plot is based on one of Cervantes's Novelas ejemplares ° It was very popular after the Restoration, and was adapted by Buckingham (1682), whose version was in turn successfully adapted by David Garrick.
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‹ THE SCORNFUL LADY (1613-1616) ° Performed in 1610, printed 1616 ‹ PHILASTER ° Philaster, or Love Lies a-Bleeding ° A romantic tragicomedy ° Beaumont and Fletcher ° Written 1609 ° The play draws on the conventions of the prose romances, notably on Montemayor's Diana and Sidney's Arcadia ° Reminiscent of Twelfth Night The king of Calabria has usurped the crown of Sicily. The rightful heir, Philaster, loves and is loved by Arethusa, daughter of the usurper, but the latter intends to marry her to Pharamond, prince of Spain. To maintain contact with her, Philaster places his page Bellario in her service, Arethusa reveals to the king that Pharamond has embarked on an affair with Megra, a lady of the court; Megra in turn accuses Arethusa of misconduct with the handsome young Bellario. After various pastoral pursuits and disasters during which Bellario touchingly and constantly demonstrates devotion to Philaster, and Philaster himself manifests a marked lack of chivalry, it is revealed that Bellario is in fact Euphrasia, daughter of a Sicilian lord, in love with Philaster. Reassured thus of Arethusa's virtue, Philaster regains both his loved one and his kingdom, whereas Bellario is left with their gratitude, to devote herself to a life of chastity. ‹ THE MAID'S TRAGEDY ° Written 1610-11 ° Beaumont and Fletcher ° The last act of the play was rewritten by E. Waller, with a happy ending in which Amintor marries Aspatia. ° There is a modern edition by T. W. Craik (1988).
‹ A KING AND NO KING ° Performed in 1611 ° A tragi-comedy ° Beaumont and Fletcher
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° Comic relief throughout is provided by Bessus, a cowardly braggart captain in Arbaces' army, who brings to mind Parolles in All's Well that Ends Well, a play which has other similarities of plot and tone. ° Dryden, in Of Dramatick Poesy, praises the play warmly for its skilful and theatrically effective denouement, and for the complex character of Arbaces – “that strange mixture of a man” ° There is a modern edition by R. K. Turner (1964) ‹ THE COXCOMB ° A romantic comedy ° Performed in 1612 ‹ CUPID'S REVENGE ° A tragedy based on material in the second book of Sidney's Arcadia ° Performed in 1612, printed 1615 ‹ THE CAPTAIN ° A comedy ° Performed in 1612-13 ‹ THE HONEST MAN'S FORTUNE ° Printed in 1647 ‹ BONDUCA ° Performed in 1613-14 ‹ THE KNIGHT OF MALTA ° A tragicomedy ° performed before March 1619, printed 1647 ‹ THIERRY KING OF FRANCE ° Printed in 1621 ° Beaumont and Massinger ‹ LOVE'S CURE ° Later rewritten by Massinger ° Printed in 1647 ‹ SIR JOHN VAN OLDEN BARNAVELT ° Performed in 1619 ° A historical tragedy
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° Deals with contemporary events in Holland ° An edition by T. H. Howard-Hill was published by the Malone Society in 1980. ‹ THE FALSE ONE ° Performed in 1620 ° Fletcher and Massinger ‹ THE LITTLE FRENCH LAWYER ‹ THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY ° A tragicomedy ° Fletcher and Massinger, ° Composed between 1619 and 1622 ° Derived from the Persiles y Sigismunda of Cervantes ° Famed for its obscenity, it was described by Dryden as “containing more bawdry than any Restoration play” ° Pepys – “of all the plays that ever I did see, the worst—having neither plot, language, nor anything in the earth that is acceptable” ° An adaptation by Nicholas Wright, with the action set in southern Africa,was performed in 1983. THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY - a witty and satiric novel by E. Wharton ‹ THE LAWS OF CANDY ° Printed in 1647 ‹ THE SPANISH CURATE ° A comedy ° Fletcher and Massinger ° Written and performed in 1622 ° Based on Gerardo, the Unfortunate Spaniard (1622), translated from the Spanish of Céspedes by L. Digges. ‹ THE BEGGAR'S BUSH ° Performed in 1622 ° Fletcher and Massinger ° Coleridge, in his Table Talk (17 Feb 1833), declared, “I could read the Beggar's Bush from morning to night. How sylvan and sunshiny it is!”
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‹ THE LOVER'S PROGRESS ° The romantic drama ° Performed in 1623 ° Later revised by Massinger - THE WANDERING LOVERS ‹ THE MAID IN THE MILL ° Fletcher and Rowley ‹ THE ELDER BROTHER ° Printed in 1637 ° By Fletcher and revised by Massinger. ° Massinger completed it about 1635 (after Fletcher's death) ° The story was suggested in part by Overbury's Theophrastan 'character' of 'An Elder Brother' (1614) ‹ THE FAIR MAID OF THE INN ° Fletcher and Massinger ° With assistance from Jonson, Webster, and Rowley ‹ THE NICE VALOUR ° A comedy ° Printed 1647 ° Fletcher and Middleton ‹ THE BLOODY BROTHER, OR ROLLO, DUKE OF NORMANDY ° Performed in 1616 ° Fletcher, Jonson, Chapman, and Massinger ° An edition by J. D. Jump was published in 1948, reissued 1969. ° It contains the lyric 'Take, O, take those lips away', which occurs with certain changes in Measure for Measure. ‹ THE NOBLE GENTLEMAN ° A comedy ° Acted in 1626 ° Probably by Fletcher, possibly with Beaumont or Rowley ‹ THE TWO NOBLE KINSMEN ° A tragicomedy ° Fletcher and Shakespeare
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° The play is closely based on Chaucer's Knight's Tale ‹ HENRY VIII ° A historical drama ° Fletcher and Shakespeare ° Completed by John Fletcher ° Sources: Holinshed's CHRONICLES Foxe's ACTES AND MONUMENTS OF THESE LATTER AND PERILLOUS DAYES, TOUCHING MATTERS OF THE CHURCH, popularly known as THE BOOK OF MARTYRS George Chapman
V 1559-1634
Non-dramatic poems o The Shadow of Night (1594) ° A pair of complex Neoplatonic poems on night and day o Ovid's Banquet of Sense (1595) ° An allegorical account of Ovid's courtship of Corinna o Hero and Leander ° The tragic story of Leander's love for Hero, the priestess of Aphrodite ° This story has been made the subject of poems by Marlowe (1598) and Thomas Hood, and of a burlesque by Thomas Nashe in his Lenten Stuffe. V Completed Marlowe’s poem ‹ THE BILND BEGGER OF ALEXANDRIA (1596/8) • 1st play ‹ AN HUMOROUS DAY'S MIRTH (1599) ‹ ALL FOOLS (1605) ‹ THE GENTLEMAN USHER ° A tragicomedy ‹ MONSIEUR D'OLIVE (1606) ° A comedy ‹ MAY- DAY (1611) ‹ THE WIDOW'S TEARS (1612)
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‹ EASTWARD HOE! (1605) ° Combined with Jonson and Marston ‹ BUSSY D’ AMBOIS (1604) ° A tragedy ° Most famous of Chapman's plays ° “Man is a torch borne in the wind; a dream But of a shadow, summ'd with all his substance.” ° Chapman's sequel is THE REVENGE OF BUSSY D'AMBOIS (1613) ‹ THE CONSPIRACY OF CHARLES, DUKE OF BYRON (1608) ‹ THE TRAGEDY OF BYRON (1608) ‹ CAESAR AND POMPEY ‹ THE TRAGEDY OF CHABOT ° Revised by James Shirley Chapman also collaborated with Fletcher, Jonson, and Massinger in writing THE BLOODY BROTHER SEVAEN BOOKES OF THE ILIADES OF HOMERE (1598) ° The first of his Homeric translations 12 books of the ILIAD (1609) THE WHOLE WORKS OF HOMER; PRINCE OF POETTS (1616) ° The complete Iliad and Odyssey o School of Night ° A name drawn from a satirical allusion in Love's Labour's Lost ° A secret society of free thinkers ° First ascribed by Arthur Acheson in 1903 ° Led by Harriot and Ralegh, and including Marlowe, Chapman, Lawrence Keymis, and the 'Wizard Earl' Northumberland. T. S. Eliot - 'potentially the greatest artist' John Marston
V 1575-1634 V Specialized in violent and melodramatic tragedies ‹ THE METAMORPHOSIS OF PIGMALION'S IMAGE: AND CERTAINE SATYRES (1598) Jithin John, Nithin Varghese Page 17 Comprehensive Notes for UGC – NET in English Language & Literature
‹ THE SCOURGE OF VILLANIE (1598) o Under the pseudonym Kinsayder o Satires were directed against literary rivals, including Bishop J. Hall ‹ THE HISTORY OF ANTONIO AND MELLIDA (1599) ° ANTONIO'S REVENGE (1602) o The second part ° It provided Jonson with materials for his ridicule of Marston in The Poetaster ∑ Ridiculed by Jonson in The Poetaster o his portrayal as Crispinus ‹ THE MALCONTENT (1604) ° With additions by Webster ° A tragicomedy by Marston ° Generally considered his best play ° The Malcontent as 'one of the most original plays of its period' - Wood EASTWARD HOE (1605), a comedy, written with Jonson and Chapman ‹ THE DUTCH COURTEZAN (1605) ° A Comedy ‹ THE PARASITASTER, OR THE FAWNER (1606) ° A comedy ‹ SOPHONISBA (1606) ° A tragedy ‹ WHAT YOU WILL (1607) ° A comedy ‹ THE INSATIATE COUNTESSE (1613) ° A tragedy ° Completed by William Barksted ∑ The plays were edited by H. H. Wood and the poems by A. Davenport Thomas Dekker
V 1572-1632 ‹ Plays: chiefly comedies ‹ Dickens of the Elizabethan Age
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• An intimate knowledge of common men and things ‹ OLD FORTUNATUS (1599) ° A comedy by Dekker ‹ THE SHOEMAKER’S HOLIDAY (1599) ° The Shoemakers' Holiday or, The Gentle Craft ° A comedy ‹ SATIROMASTIX (1602) ° Satiromastix, or The Untrussing of the Humorous Poet ° Collaboration with Marston ° A comedy ‹ THE HONEST WHORE ° A play in two parts ° Part I: in collaboration with Middleton, appeared in 1604 ° Part II: written 1604/5 ‹ PATIENT GRISSIL (1603) ° Written in collaboration with Chettle and Haughton ° It was taken originally from the Decameron (Day 10, Tale 10). ° The same subject is treated in Chaucer's 'Clerk's Tale' (CANTERBURY TALES, 9) ° Charles Perrault- French writer- also wrote a playful version of it. ‹ THE WITCH OF EDMONTON ° Written in collaboration with Ford and Rowley in 1621 ° First published in 1658 ° It is partly based on the story of Elizabeth Sawyer, who was hanged as a witch in April 1621. ‹ WESTWARD HOE ° Written 1604, published 1607 ° A comedy by Webster and Dekker ‹ NORTHWARD HOE ° Written 1605, published 1607 ° Collaboration with Webster
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‹ THE ROARING GIRLE ° Written 1604-10, published 1611 ° The Roaring Girle, or Moll Cut-Purse ° A comedy ° Collaboration with Middleton ° The play was highly praised by T. S. Eliot. ‹ THE VIRGIN MARTYR ° Collaboration with Massinger ° Written 1620, published 1622 ° A tragedy ° The same story has been treated in poems by Swinburne and G. M. Hopkins ‹ MATCH MEE IN LONDON ° His tragi-comedy ° Written 1604/5, was published 1631. Dekker also wrote pageants, tracts, and pamphlets. ‹ THE WONDERFULL YEARE (1603) ° His pamphlet ° A poignant description of London during the plague of that year ° It was used by Defoe for his Journal of the Plague Year. ‹ NEWES FROM HELL ( 1606) ° An imitation of Nashe ‹ THE GULS HORNE- BOOKE (1609) ° A satirical book of manners.
Thomas Middleton
V 1570-1627 V He contributed to Shakespeare's MACBETH and TIMON OF ATHENS ‹ THE WISDOME OF SOLOMON PARAPHRASED (1597) ° His first published work ° Along and undistinguished poem ‹ THE HONEST WHORE (1604) ° A play in two parts
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° Part I: in collaboration with Dekker, appeared in 1604 ° Part II: written 1604/5 ‹ THE FAMILIE OF LOVE ° With Dekker ° Written 1602, published 1608 ‹ THE ROARING GIRLE ° Written 1604- 8, published in 1611 ° The Roaring Girle, or Moll Cut-Purse ° A comedy ° Collaboration with Dekker ° The play was highly praised by T. S. Eliot. ‹ MICHAELMAS TERME ° Written 1604-6, published 1607 ‹ A TRICK TO CATCH THE OLD-ONE ° Written 1604-7, Published-1608 ‹ A MAD WORLD, MY MASTERS
° Written 1604-7, Performed- 1608 ° A comedy ‹ A CHASTE MAYD IN CHEAP-SIDE ° Written 1613, published 1630 ° His best comedy ‹ THE MAYOR OF QUINBOROUGH ° Written 1615-20, published 1661 ‹ A FAIR QUARREL ° A tragicomedy written with Rowley ° Written 1615-16, published 1617 ° A play in a very different genre, discusses the ethics of duelling ‹ THE SPANISH GIPSY ° With Rowley and Ford ° Written 1623, published 1625 ° A romantic comedy ° Based on two plots from Cervantes
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‹ THE WITCH ° Written 1609-16, published 1778 ° The principal part of the plot is based on the story of the revenge exacted by Rosamond in 572 on her husband Alboin, ruler of Lombardy. ° The same subject is treated in D'Avenant's ALBOVINE, and in Swinburne's ROSAMUND, QUEEN OF THE LOMBARDS ° Lamb in his SPECIMENS indicated the difference between the witches - Middleton's Hecate and the witches in Shakespeare's MACBETH ‹ ANYTHING FOR A QUIET LIFE ° With Webster ° Written 1621 ‹ A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY (1605) ° Stated in the title to be by Shakespeare ° internal evidence shows he had any part in its authorship ° By Middleton ‹ A GAME AT CHESSE ° His political satire ° Written 1624, published 1625 ° A comedy
° T. S. Eliot – “a perfect piece of literary political art”. ‹ THE CHANGELING (1624) • Most powerful play • Praised by Lamb • Middleton and Rowley Beatrice-Joanna, daughter of the governor of Alicant, is ordered by her father to marry Alonzo de Piracquo. She falls in love with Alsemero, and in order to avoid the marriage employs the ill-favoured villain De Flores, whom she detests but who cherishes a passion for her, to murder Alonzo. To the horror of Beatrice, De Flores exacts the reward he had lusted for. Beatrice is now to marry Alsemero. To escape detection she arranges that her maid Diaphanta shall take her place on the wedding night; and to remove a dangerous witness, De Flores then kills the maid. The guilt of Beatrice and De Flores is revealed to Alsemero, and they are both brought before the governor, whereupon they take their own
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lives. The title of the play is taken from the sub-plot, in which Antonio disguises himself as a crazy changeling in order to get access to Isabella, wife of the keeper of a madhouse. The main plot is taken from John Reynolds's GOD'S REVENGE AGAINST MURTHER (1621). ‹ WOMEN BEWARE WOMEN (1622) ° A tragedy ° Set in Florence
Thomas Heywood
V 1575-1650 V He himself asserts that he had a hand in two hundred and twenty plays, of which 23 survive. ‹ A WOMAN KILLED WITH KINDNESS ° Acted 1603, printed 1607 ° A domestic tragedy ° His best play ‹ THE FAIR MAID OF THE WEST ° The Fair Maid of the West, or A Girl Worth Gold ° A comedy of adventure in two parts ° Pt I: Written 1600, Pt II: written 1630 both printed 1631. ‹ THE ENGLISH TRAVELLER (printed 1633) ° A romantic drama ° Under plot - borrowed from the MOSTELLARIA of Plautus ‹ THE FOUR PRENTICES OF LONDON (produced 1600, printed 1615) ° Ridiculed in Beaumont's KNIGHT OF THE BURNING PESTLE(1607) ‹ EDWARD IV ° Two parts - 1599 ‹ THE RAPE OF LUCRÈCE (1608) ‹ THE ROYAL KING AND THE LOYAL SUBJECT (printed 1637) ‹ THE WISE WOMAN OF HOGSDON (Written 1604, printed 1638) ‹ FAIR MAID OF THE EXCHANGE (printed 1607) A panoramic dramatization of classical mythology
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o THE GOLDEN AGE (1611) o THE BRAZEN AGE o THE SILVER AGE (1613) o THE IRON AGE (two parts, 1632) ‹ AN APOLOGY FOR ACTORS (1612) ° Best Jacobean summary of traditional arguments in defence of the stage He also translated Gaius Sallustius Crispus’ (Sallust) two monographs ‹ The Hierarchy of the Blessed Angels (1635) ° Poem Two plays, THE CAPTIVES (1624) and THE ESCAPES OF JUPITER (a mildly erotic cut version of the golden and silver Ages)
John Webster
V Greatest post-Shakespearean dramatist V Most striking flower of the Senecan tragedy V Deals with gloomy, supernatural themes, great crimes, turbulent emotions V Resembles Marlowe: in largeness of tragic conception V Collaborated with Dekker: WESTWARD HOE and NORTHWARD HOE V Career falls into three parts ‹ A CURE FOR A CUCKOLD ° Printed 1661, written 1625 ° Probably with Rowley and Heywood ‹ KEEP THE WIDOW WAKING (1624) ° A lost play ° With Ford, Dekker, and Rowley ‹ ANYTHING FOR A QUIET LIFE ° With Middleton ‹ THE FAIR MAID OF THE INN (1625) ° With Fletcher He expanded Marston’s The Malcontent for the King's Men in 1604 Published elegies on Prince Henry in 1613 with Heywood and Tourneur
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‹ THE DEVIL'S LAW CASE ° A tragicomedy ° Published 1623, written 1617-21 ‹ THE WHITE DEVIL ° THE WHITE DIVEL; OR, THE TRAGEDY OF. . . BRACHIANO, WITH THE LIFE AND DEATH OF VITTORIA COROMBONA ° Between 1609 and 1612 ‹ THE DUCHESS OF MALFI ° The Tragedy of the Dutchesse of Malfy ° Written 1612/13, printed 1623. ° The story is taken from one of Bandello's novelle, through Painter's Palace of Pleasure, and also shows the influence of Sidney's ARCADIA. Cyril Tourneur
V 1575-1626 V Took part in Buckingham’s disastrous expedition to Cadiz V Follower of Revenge tradition ‹ THE TRANSFORMED METAMORPHOSIS (1600) ° An allegorical poem ‹ THE NOBLEMAN (1612) ° A lost play ‹ THE ATHEIST'S TRAGEDY (1611) ° An elegy on the death of Prince Henry (1613) ‹ THE REVENGER'S TRAGEDY ° Printed anonymously in 1607 ° First ascribed to him in 1656 by Edward Archer
The Revenge Tragedy (Tragedy of Blood)
‹ The Revenge Tragedy derived originally from the Roman tragedies of Seneca but was established on the English stage by Thomas Kyd with The Spanish Tragedy. ‹ It is popular in the late Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, was modelled on Senecan plays with the variation that the violence was not reported but took place on the stage.
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‹ Most Revenge tragedies end with a scene of bloodshed that disposes of the avenger as well as his victims. ‹ Other examples are Shakespeare’s Titus Andronicus, Thomas Middleton’s Revenger’s Tragedy etc. ‹ Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, Shakespeare’s Hamlet etc display the features such as • The hero’s quest for vengeance prompted by the ghost of a murdered kinsman • Scenes of real and feigned insanity • A play within a play • Graveyard scenes • Severed limps and • Scenes of bloodshed and mutilation which are typical of a Revenge Tragedy.
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The Age of Shakespeare
1558-1625
Prose
‹ KING JAMES’ BIBLE OR THE AUTHORIZED VERSION (1611)
° Arose out of a conference at Hampton Court ° Convened by James I in 1604 ° Between the High Church and Low Church parties ° A work by 47 scholars ° The first classic in English prose
Francis Bacon, Baron Verulam, Viscount St. Albans
V 1561-1626 V Wrote both in Latin and English V “the wisest, brightest, meanest of mankind” Alexander Pope V “the first English essayist, as he remains by sheer mass and weight of genius.” – Hugh Walker ‹ A HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND REIGN OF KING HENRY VII (1622)
‹ ESSAYES OR COUNSELS, CIVILL AND MORALL • First appeared in 1597 (10 essays) • Second appeared in 1612 (38 essays) • Third appeared in 1625, contains 58 essays • Modelled on the ESSAIS of Montaigne • “dispersed meditations” - Bacon ‹ THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING (1605) • A treatise • Book I has a dual task: to defend knowledge in general from all its enemies, ecclesiastical and secular, and to argue for its dignity and value.
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• Book II then undertakes a 'general and faithful perambulation of learning', identifying 'what parts thereof lie fresh and waste', not properly developed. Bacon surveys the whole of knowledge, human and divine (that is, theology), under three headings, history, poetry, and philosophy, corresponding to the three faculties of memory, imagination, and reason.
‹ APOPHTHEGMS (1625) • A kind of jest book ‹ THE NEW ATLANTIS • Unfinished • A philosophical Romance modelled upon More’s Utopia • Published posthumously
Latin works
‹ INSTAURATIO MAGNA • Half finished ‹ DE DIGNITATE & AUGMENTIS SCIENTIARUM (1623) ‹ NOVUM ORGANUM (1620) • Bacon’s greatest performance • Unfinished • Inductive method of reasoning ‹ SYLVA SYLVARUM • Incomplete ‹ SCALA INTELLECTUS ‹ PRODROMI ‹ PHILOSOPHIA SECUNDA V Writings inspired the founding of the Royal Society in 1662 o The Royal Society of London for the Improving of Natural Knowledge o The prehistory of the Society extends back to a variety of scientific meetings held in London and Oxford from 1645 onwards.
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o Traditionally, the originator of these meetings is identified as Theodore Haak, known also as the first to translate Milton into German. o Bacon provided the major philosophical inspiration for the Society o Solomon's House in New Atlantis has been taken as its model o Founders and early members: Boyle, Hooke, Petty, Ray, Wilkins, and Wren o Literary figures: Ashmole, Aubrey, Cowley, Dryden, Evelyn, and Waller were members. o The Society featured prominently in Dryden's ANNUS MIRABILIS. ITS PHILOSOPHICAL TRANSACTIONS, is the first permanent scientific journal o The Society was also drawn in THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS V Influence on Hobbes, Boyle, Locke, Defoe V The fullest edition of his works was prepared by James Spedding (14vols, 1857-74) ∑ Baconian Theory o The theory that Bacon wrote the plays attributed to Shakespeare o It was started in the mid-19th century o It is based partly on internal evidence in Shakespeare's plays (the knowledge displayed and the vocabulary), and partly on external circumstances (the obscurity of Shakespeare's own biography, and the assumption that the son of a Warwickshire husbandman was unlikely to be capable of such skilful creations). o Some holders of the theory have found in the plays cryptograms in support of it o e.g. in the word 'honorificabilitudinitatibus' in LOVE'S LABOUR'S LOST (v. i), which has been rendered in Latin as 'These plays, F. Bacon's offspring, are preserved for the World'; the word, however, is found elsewhere as early as 1460. o The best recent treatment of the topic is to be found in S. Schoenbaum, SHAKESPEARE'S LIVES (1970). Richard Hooker
V 1554-1600 ‹ OF THE LAWS OF ECCLESIASTICAL POLITY • His great work • A philosophical and theological treatise • First Four books appeared in 1593
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• The fifth in 1597 • The sixth and eighth appeared in 1648 • The seventh was first included in Gauden's edition of 1661-2 • The work is a defence of the position of the Anglican Church against the attacks of the Puritans. • The first book is a philosophical discussion of the origin and nature of law in general • The second, third, and fourth books deal with the assertion of the Puritan party that Scripture is the sole guide in determining the actions of a Christian and the form of church polity, and that the Anglican Church is corrupted with popish rites and ceremonies. • The fifth book is a defence of the Book of Common Prayer. • According to Hooker's scheme, the last three books were to deal with church discipline, the power of jurisdiction (whether of the bishops or lay elders), and the nature of the king's supreme authority. V Biography of Hooker was written by Walton
Sir Thomas Overbury
V 1581-1613 ‹ A Wife (1614) • Poem ‹ CHARACTERS (1614) • Based on the ancient Greek work of Theophrastus • The book consists of a number of concise character-sketches. • 'A Roaring Boy', 'A Puny Clerk', 'A Mere Scholar'
Robert Burton
V 1577-1640 ‹ THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY • His famous work • First issued in 1621
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• Enlarged in successive editions between then and 1651. • In appearance it is a medical work • In effect an affectionate satire on the inefficiency of human learning and endeavour. • Its tone suits Burton's choice of pseudonym, 'Democritus Junior' o Democritus was 'the laughing philosopher' • Admired by Dr Johnson, • Gave Keats the story for ‘Lamia'.
The Sermon Writers
James Usher
V 1581-1656 ‹ CHRONOLOGIA SACRA • The standard work on Biblical chronology
ANNALES VETERIS ET NOVI TESTAMENTI • His chief work • A chronological summary in Latin of the history of the world from the Creation to the dispersion of the Jews under Vespasian • The source of the dates later inserted in the margins of the Authorized Version of the Bible Joseph Hall
V 1574-1656 ‹ VIRGIDEMIARUM SEX LIBRI (1597) • A series of satires • two volumes of English satires • 1597 and 1598. The first volume, called 'Toothless' • The second volume, Juvenalian in character, 'bites' • The title means 'a sheaf of rods'
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‹ MUNDUS ALTER ET IDEM A semi-bawdy satirical novel in Latin ‹ PARNASSUS PLAYS • The name given to a trilogy produced between 1598 and 1602 by students of St John's College, Cambridge • THE PILGRIMAGE TO PARNASSUS and THE RETURNE FROM PARNASSUS in two parts • Authorship has not been established • Attributed to John Weever of Queen's and Hall V He is famous for his plain, Senecan prose style. A BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL STUDY - F. Huntley was published in 1979. The Translators
‹ Virgil was translated by Phaer (1558) and Stanyhurst (1562) ‹ Plutarch’s Lives by North (1579) ‹ Ovid by Golding (1565 and 1567), Turberville (1567) and Chapman (1595) ‹ Homer by Chapman (1598) ‹ Plutarch’s Morals were translated by Holland ‹ Castiglione’s The Courtyer translated by Hoby (1561) ‹ The Palace of Pleasure by Painter (1566) o A work which was used by Shakespeare, Marston, Webster and Massinger ‹ Ariosto’s Orlando Furioso translated by Harrington (1591)
The Pamphleteers
V There is a flood of short tracts on religion, politics and literature • Most notorious pamphleteers 1. Thomas Nashe 2. Robert Greene 3. Thomas Lodge
Criticism
‹ A DISCOURSE OF ENGLISH POETRIE (1586)
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• William Webbe • The first historical survey of poets and poetry ‹ THE ARTE OF ENGLISH POESY (1589) • Puttenham • First symbolic consideration of poetry as an art
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The Age of Milton
1630-1660
AN ERA OF POLITICAL UNREST AND INSTABILITY
1603-1700 – The Jacobean Age 1625-1649 – The Caroline Age (Age of Charles I) 1649-1600 –The Interim Period of Commonwealth
Historical Background
1. Civil War 2. Execution of Charles I in 1649 3. Establishment of the Commonwealth 4. Rise and disappearance of Cromwell 1653-1658 5. Restoration of Monarchy 1660
John Milton
V 1608-1674 V Nickname: “the Lady of Christ's” V “God-gifted organ voice of England” and the “mighty mouthed inventor of harmonies.” – Lord Tennyson V Milton’s “taste was as severe, his verse as polished, his method and language as strict as those of the school of Dryden and Pope that grew up when he was old. A literary past and present just met in him, nor did he fail, like all the greatest men, to make a cast into the future.” – Stopford A Brooke V The last of the Elizabethans – summed up in himself the learned and artistic influences of the English Renaissance, and handed them on us. V Poetry as “the art of uniting pleasure with truth, by calling imagination to the help of reason.” – LIFE OF MILTON V “Thy soul was like star, and dwelt apart.” – Wordsworth V “Milton, thou shouldst be living at this hour!” - Wordsworth V His first known attempt at English verse: On the Death of a Fair Infant
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o Written in 1628 o On the death of his niece Anne Phillips • Mary Powell • Catherine Woodcock • Elizabeth Minshull
Periods of Milton’s poetical career
1. The Cambridge College Period 2. The Horton Period 3. The Period Of Political and Religious Controversies (The Period of his prose-writings) 4. The Period Of Great Epics (The Later Poetic Period)
THE COLLEGE PERIOD
V Poems V Latin and English ‹ ODE ON THE MORNING OF CHRIST’S NATIVITY (1629) • Celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ • Written at Christmas 1629
‹ ON SHAKESPEARE (1630) ‹ THE PASSION • Fragmentary • Written at Easter 1630 ‹ ON ARRIVING AT THE AGE OF TWENTY THREE (1631)
THE HORTON PERIOD
V Four minor poems ‹ L’ALLEGRO (probably in 1632) • Italian word • The cheerful man
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• In rhymed octosyllabics with a ten line prelude • An invocation to the goddess Mirth to allow the poet to live with her, first amid the delights of pastoral scenes, then amid those of 'towered cities' and the 'busy hum of men'. ‹ IL PENSEROSO (probably in 1632) • Italian word • The pensive or thoughtful man or contemplative man • In rhymed octosyllabics • The poem is an invocation to the goddess Melancholy, bidding her bring Peace, Quiet, Leisure, and Contemplation • It describes the pleasures of the studious, meditative life, of tragedy, epic poetry, and music. It had a considerable influence on the meditative graveyard poems of the 18th cent., and there are echoes in Pope's 'Eloisa to Abelard', and later Gothic works. ∑ Companion poems ‹ COMUS (1634)
• Masque / pastoral drama • Performed at Ludlow Castle • Before the Earl of Bridgewater • Blank verse • Written at the suggestion of Milton's friend Lawes • Its purpose was to celebrate the earl of Bridgewater's entry on the presidency of Wales and the Marches ‹ LYCIDAS (1637) • Elegy • On Edward King who was drowned on a voyage to Ireland - crossing from Chester Bay to Dublin • Form of a pastoral elegy adopting classical conventions • one of the finest elegies in the English language • a work of great originality
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• Digression : in the voice of St Peter, he violently attacks the unworthy clergy whose “'hungry Sheep look up, and are not fed”
THE PERIOD OF POLITICAL AND RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES
V Active prose writer V 25 pamphlets • 21 in English and 4 in Latin ‹ OF EDUCATION (1644) • A poor tract • Addressed to his friend Hartlib ‹ ON DIVORCE • 2 pamphlets (1643 and 1644) ‹ AREOPAGITICA (1644) • AREOPAGITICA: A SPEECH OF MR JOHN MILTON FOR THE LIBERTY OF THE UNLICENC'D PRINTING, TO THE PARLIAMENT OF ENGLAND • The title imitates the AREOPAGITICUS of the Athenian orator Isocrates, which was addressed to the Council that met on the Areopagus in Athens. • Greatest of all tracts • A speech for the Liberty of Unlicensed Printing • In the form of a speech addressing both Houses of British Parliament • Directed against the order of Parliament which established a censorship of books. ‹ HISTORY OF BRITAIN • Partly completed ∑ Sonnets seem to belong this period ‹ ON HIS BLINDNESS ‹ ON THE LATE MASSACRE IN PIEDMONT • Best of Milton’s sonnet ‹ TO CYRIACK SKINNER ‹ TO THE NIGHTINGALE • The most romantic ‹ ON HIS DECEASED WIFE
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‹ TO CROMWELL
THE PERIOD OF THE GREAT EPICS
V 3 great poems ‹ PARADISE LOST • Greatest work of this period • Begun as early as 1658 and issued in 1667 • First divided into 10 books. • 2nd edition: redivided into twelve books • In form it follows the strict unity of the classical epic • Theme: Fall of man • Milton’s Purpose: To justify the ways of God to man • Action moves from heaven to hell and hell to heaven • Blank verse
Book I • Invoking the “Heav'nly Muse” • States his theme, the Fall of Man through disobedience • His aim - 'justifie the ways of God to men' • Presents the defeated archangel Satan, with Beelzebub and his rebellious angels • Satan - summons a council. • The palace of Satan: Pandemonium Book II • The council debates whether another battle for the recovery of Heaven be hazarded • Moloc - one of the chief of the fallen angels - recommends open war • Belial and Mammon - recommend peace in order to avoid worse torments • Beelzebub announces the creation of “another World” • Satan undertakes - visit - passes through hell-gates, guarded by Sin and Death, and passes
upward through the realm of Chaos. Book III • Milton invokes celestial light to illumine the 'ever-during dark' of his own blindness
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• Describes God, who sees Satan's flight towards world • Foretells his success and the fall and punishment of man, emphasizing that man will fall not through predestination but through free will.
• The Son of God offers him as a ransom, is accepted, and exalted as the Saviour. • He finds the stairs leading up to heaven • Disuises himself as 'a stripling Cherube' • Directed to earth by Uriel, where he lands on Mt Niphates in Armenia
Book IV • Satan’s journey towards the Garden of Eden • Where he first sees Adam and Eve 'in naked Majestie' • Overhears their discourse about the forbidden Tree of Knowledge • Decides to tempt them to disobey the prohibition • Discovered by the guardian angels Ithuriel and Zephon • Squats like a toad near the ear of Eve • Expelled from the garden by Gabriel
Book V • Eve tells to Adam the disturbing dream of temptation • Comforts her, and they set about their daily tasks. • Raphael, sent by God, comes to paradise, warns Adam, and orders obedience. • They discourse of reason, free will, and predestination • Raphael, at Adam's request, tells how Satan, inspired by hatred and envy of the newly anointed Messiah, inspired his legions to revolt, resisted only by Abdiel Book VI • Raphael continues his narrative • Tells how Michael and Gabriel were sent to fight against Satan. • The Son of God alone attacked the hosts of Satan • Driving them to the verge of heaven • Forced them to leap down through chaos into the deep
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Book VII • Milton evokes Urania (Muse of Astronomy) • Requests her to aid him • Then continues Raphael's narrative • God's decision to send his Son to create another world from the vast abyss • Describes the six days of creation, ending with the creation of man • A renewed warning to Adam that death will be the penalty for eating of the fruit of the tree of knowledge Book VIII • Adam narrates what he remembers since his own creation • His own need for rational fellowship • His plea to his Maker for a companion • The creation of Eve • Adam and Raphael talk of the relations between the sexes • A final warning - Raphael departs Book IX • Insists that his argument is 'not less but more Heroic' than the themes of Homer and Virgil • Describes Satan's entry into the body of the serpent • Finds Eve - despite Adam's warnings, on pursuing her labours alone • Persuades her to eat of the Tree of Knowledge • Eve tells to Adam what has passed and brings him of the fruit • Adam, recognizing that she is doomed, resolves to perish with her also eats of the fruit • Lost innocence • Cover their nakedness and fall to mutual accusation Book X • God sends his Son to judge the transgressors • They greet him with guilt and shame, and confess, and he pronounces his sentence. • Sin and Death resolve to come to this world • Make a broad highway thither from hell
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• Satan returns to hell and announces his victory, • he and his angels are temporarily transformed into serpents • Adam, recognizing that in him 'all Posteritie stands curst', at first blames Eve, but then, reconciled • they together resolve to seek mercy from the Son of God
Book XI • Seeing their repentance the Son of God intercedes • God decrees that they must leave paradise • Sends Michael to carry out his command • Eve laments • Adam pleads not to be banished from the 'bright appearances' of God • Michael reassures him that God is omnipresent • Unfolds to him the future • Revealing to him the consequences of his original sin in the death of Abel and the future miseries of mankind, ending with the Flood and the new Covenant Book XII • Michael tells the subsequent history of the Old Testament • Describes the coming of the Messiah, his incarnation, death, resurrection, and ascension • Michael foretells the corrupt state of the Church until the Second Coming. • During these revelations, Eve has been comforted by a dream presaging 'some great good' • Assured that they may possess 'a Paradise within', they are led out of the Garden ‹ PARADISE REGAINED V 1671 V an epic poem in four books • Completely dominated b Puritanism • Christ’s temptation and victory
• Complementary to Paradise Lost - a sequel to Paradise Lost • Composed at the suggestion of Thomas Edward
Book I
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• Narrates the baptism of Jesus by John • The proclamation from heaven that he is the Son of God • Satan, alarmed, summons a council and undertakes his temptation • Jesus is led into the wilderness • After 40 days, Satan in the guise of 'an aged man in rural weeds' approaches him and suggests that he, being now hungry, should prove his divine character by turning the stones around him into bread. • Jesus sternly replies • Night falls on the desert Books II and III • Andrew and Simon seek Jesus • Mary is troubled at his absence • Satan talks again with his council • Once more tries the hunger temptation, placing before the eyes of Jesus a 'table richly spread', which is contemptuously rejected • He then appeals to the higher appetites for wealth and power, and a disputation follows as to the real value of earthly glory • Satan - refuted • Reminds Jesus that the kingdom of David is now under the Roman yoke, and suggests that he should free it. • Takes Jesus to a high mountain and shows him the kingdoms of the earth • A description follows of the contemporary state of the eastern world, divided between the powers of Rome and of the Parthians • Satan offers an alliance with, or conquest of, the Parthians, and the liberation of the Jews then in captivity Book IV • Jesus remaining unmoved by Satan's 'politic maxims' • The tempter, turning to the western side, draws his attention to Rome and proposes the expulsion of the wicked emperor Tiberius; and finally, pointing out Athens, urges the attractions of her poets, orators, and philosophers.
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• Satan brings Jesus back to the wilderness, and the second night falls • On the third morning Satan carries him to the highest pinnacle of the temple and bids him cast himself down • 'Tempt not the Lord thy God'. • Satan falls dismayed, and angels bear Jesus away ‹ SAMSON AGONISTES V 1671 V a tragedy • Main source is the story of Samson as found in the Book of Judges contained in the Old Testament of the Bible • Adopting the model of Greek tragedy • A closet drama • Compared to Prometheus Bound by Aeschylus or Oedipus at Colonus by Sophocles • Blank verse • Agonistes - the Wrestler, or Champion • Deals with the last phase of the life of the Samson when he is a prisoner of the Philistines and blind • compared to the assumed circumstances of the blind poet himself, after the collapse of the Commonwealth and his political hopes • 'calm of mind all passion spent' – catharsis • The whole piece conforms to the neo-classical doctrine of unities.
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The Age of Milton
1630-1660
AN ERA OF POLITICAL UNREST AND INSTABILITY
The Metaphysical School of Poets
‹ The term “metaphysical” as applied to poetry, was first used by Dr. Johnson, who borrowed it from Dryden’s phrase about Donne, “he affects the metaphysis”. ‹ It was a term of contempt signifying habitual deviation from naturalness of thought and style to novelty and quaintness. ‹ The metaphysical style was established by John Donne, early in the 17th century. ‹ Its main characteristics are philosophical argument, extravagant and farfetched imagery and terseness of expressions profusion of conceits, and harsh metres. ‹ All these together made their poetry obscure. ‹ Most of Jacobean and Caroline poets like Herbert, Crashaw, Vaughan, Herrick, Carew, Marvell and Cowley were more or less metaphysical. ‹ Metaphysical poets have greatly influenced the poetry of 20th century. ‹ The label was first used by Dr Johnson in his 'Life of Cowley' ‹ Key documents in the revival were H. J. C. Grierson's Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century (1921) and T. S. Eliot's essay 'Metaphysical Poets' • Dissociation of sensibility George Herbert
V 1593-1633 V Poems published posthumously V Biographer: Walton V Friends: Bacon and Donne V Coleridge's BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA (1817) enhanced Herbert's reputation ‹ THE TEMPLE (1633) • Contains all his surviving English poems
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• Shows his enthusiasm for the Church of England and concern with practical theology • THE COLLAR o Well known poem • AFFLICTION • EASTER WINGS • MAN ‹ OUTLANDISH PROVERBS (1640) • A collection of foreign proverbs in translation Richard Crashaw
V 1613-1649 ‹ STEPS TO THE TEMPLE (1646) • His best work • A collection of religious poems influenced by Marino and the Spanish mystics • Much of it was reprinted with valuable additions in CARMEN DEO NOSTRO (1652) o THE INFANT MORTYRS o A LETTER TO THE COUNTESS OF DENBIGH
Best known poems
• Addressed to St Theresa
o Hymne • 'Love, thou art absolute, sole Lord / Of life and death' o The Flaming Hart V The Weeper • Addressed to Mary Magdalen
Henry Vaughan
V 1622-1695
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‹ UPON THE PRIORY GROVE • His wooing of Catherine is apparently recalled in the poem
‹ POEMS WITH THE TENTH SATIRE OF JUVENAL ENGLISHED (1646) • His first collection ‹ OLOR ISCANUS (1651) • The Swan of Usk The poems in the first two volumes are secular, including fashionable love verses and translations from Ovid, Ausonius, Boethius, and the Polish Jesuit Latin poet Casimir Sarbiewski ‹ SILEX SCINTILLANS (1650) • Flashing Flint • the second edition of SILEX SCINTILLANS (1655) • A profound spiritual experience • Connected with the death of his brother William in 1648 ‹ THE MOUNT OF OLIVES, OR SOLITARY DEVOTIONS (1652) ‹ FLORES SOLITUDINIS (1654) • Consists of three pious prose translations and a life of St Paulinus of Nola ‹ Translation of the HERMETICAL PHYSICK • Henry Nollius ‹ THE CHYMISTS KEY (1657) • A translation ‹ THALIA REDIVIVIA (1678) o REGENERATION o THE RETREAT THE VAUGHAN SOCIETY ∑ Founded in 1995 ∑ Its journal- Scintilla ∑ Edited by Anne Cluysenaar ° Daughter of the painter John Cluysenaar ° Poetry collections: NODES (1971)
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• DOUBLE HELIX (1982 • TIMESLIPS (1997) ° Meditations on the lives and work of Henry and Thomas Vaughan - twin brother of Henry Vaughan Thomas Carew
V 1594-1639 ‹ POEMS (1640) • The pieces are influenced by Donne and Jonson ‹ COELUM BRITANNICUM • His masque ‹ A RAPTURE ‹ TO SAXHAM ‹ TO PENSHURST
Abraham Cowley
V 1618-1667 V Classical scholar V Supported the King in the Civil War V On his death Charles II bestowed on him the epitaph 'That Mr Cowley had not left a better man behind him in England.' V When he was ten he wrote a long epical romance PYRAMUS AND THISBE (1628) ‹ CONSTANTIA AND PHILETUS (1630) • Longer poem ‹ THE DAVIDEIS (1656) • Best known poem • An epic on the biblical history of David ‹ THE MISTRESS (1647) • A collection of love poems
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‹ PINDARIQUE ODES • Curious hybrid between the early freedom of the Elizabethans and the Classicism of the later generation. • Introduces the irregular ode imitated by Dryden ‹ ESSAYS • Prose work • Of My Self – most famous • Containing interesting particulars of his early life • first published in The Works, 1668) ‹ DISCOURSE BY WAY OF VISION CONCERNING THE GOVERNMENT OF OLIVER CROMWELL (1661) ‹ THE CIVIL WAR • A political epic Prose works ‹ A PROPOSITION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF LEARNING (1661) ‹ THE VISIONS AND PROPHECIES CONCERNING ENGLAND (1661) Plays ‹ THE GUARDIAN (1650) • Written to entertain the Prince of Wales • On his visit to Cambridge in 1642 • Later he revised as CUTTER OF COLEMAN STREET (1663) Cowley's life was written by his friend and literary executor Sprat and is prefixed to THE WORKS Andrew Marwell
V 1621-1678 V Tutor to the daughter of Lord Fairfax V Assisted Milton in his duties as Secretary for Foreign Tongues
V Member of Parliament for Hull V Began his career as unofficial laureate to Cromwell
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V Appointed in 1657 Latin secretary to the council of state - a post previously occupied by his friend and sponsor Milton ‹ UPON APPLETON HOUSE (1650-1652) ‹ THE GARDEN
‹ THE MOWER POEMS ‹ THE FIRST ANNIVERSARY (1654) • Published in 1655 ‹ UPON THE DEATH OF HIS LATE HIGHNESS THE LORD PROTECTOR (1658) • Mourning - Cromwell ‹ LAST INSTRUCTIONS TO A PAINTER • His finest satire • Attacking financial and sexual corruption at court and in Parliament ‹ THE REHEARSAL TRANSPROSED (1672) • Part II: 1673 • A work full of humour and charm • A controversial mock-biblical prose work • Advocates toleration for Dissenters • Gilbert Burnet – “the wittiest books that have appeared in this age” ‹ NEWS-LETTERS ∑ Poems-not published until 1681 • His rhythms are flexible • His melody delicate • Love nature and the freshness of gardens ‹ UPON THE HILL • Theme of nature
‹ THE GALLERY ‹ TO HIS COY MISTRESS • Metaphysical blend of passion and fantastic conceit Theme of love ‹ THE NYMPH COMPLAINING FOR THE DEATH OF HER FAUN
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‹ CROMWELL’S RETURN FROM IRELAND ∑ Theme of patriotism The second edition of PARADISE LOST contained a commendatory poem by Marvell
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The Age of Milton
1630-1660
AN ERA OF POLITICAL UNREST AND INSTABILITY
The Cavalier Poets
‹ The poets of the reign of Charles I were called Caroline poets. ‹ Some of them were secular, some religious. ‹ The most important among them is Robert Herrick. ‹ The other Caroline poets who deserve mention are Thomas Carew, Sir John Suckling, Richard Lovelace and Andrew Marwell. ‹ Among them Richard Lovelace, Sir John Suckling, Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew and Abraham Cowley were called Cavalier poets. ‹ These poets were persecuted during the puritan ascendancy. ‹ Herrick was suspended from church service. ‹ Suckling had to take shelter abroad. ‹ Cowley was once arrested. ‹ And Lovelace was put in prison ‹ Influenced by Jonson
Robert Herrick
V 1591-1674 ‹ 2 volumes of poems ‹ He is one of the finest English lyric poets • NOBLE NUMBERS (1647) • HESPERIDES (1648) o Both are collections of shorter poems o Sacred and profane o Strongly influenced by Jonson and the Classics • TO ANTHEA • TO JULIA
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• CHERRY RIPE o Best known short pieces
Richard Lovelace
V 1618-1658 V When the civil war broke out he was influenced by the Roundheads ‹ LUCASTA: EPODES, ODES, SONNETS, SONGS ETC (1649)
• Best of his shorter pieces. ‹ TO ALTHEA, FROM PRISON ‹ TO LUCASTA, GOING TO THE WARS o Best known lyrics o Simple and sincere o Free from the cynicism of his day ‹ LUCASTA: POSTHUME POEMS • His brother published his remaining verses • After his death Sir John Suckling
V 1609-1642 Favourite of Charles I One of the most elegant and brilliant of the Cavalier poets D'Avenant - the greatest gallant and gamester of his day Aubrey - he invented the game of cribbage
‹ BALLAD UPON A WEDDING ‹ WHY SO PALE AND WAN, FOND LOVER? ‹ FRAGMENTA AUREA (1646) • Consists of poems, plays, letters, and tracts • Among them the famous Ballad upon a Wedding ‹ SESSIONS OF THE POETS (1637)
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• An expression of contemporary opinion on Jonson, Carew, and D'Avenant ‹ AGLAURA
• Play • With two fifth acts, one tragic, the other not • Printed in 1638
‹ THE GOBLINS (1646) • A romantic drama • Reginella - an open imitation of Shakespeare's Miranda • his spirits - are copied from Ariel. ‹ BRENNORALT (1646) • An expansion of the DISCONTENTED COLONELL (1640) • A tragedy The plays are chiefly valuable for their lyrics
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The Age of Milton
1630-1660
AN ERA OF POLITICAL UNREST AND INSTABILITY
Drama
Philip Massinger
V 1583-1640 V Collaborated with Fletcher after the withdrawal of Beaumont V Best known plays are comedies ‹ A NEW WAY TO PAY OLD DEBTS (1633) • The best known of his works • The play deals with the discomfiture of Sir Giles Overreach, a character based in part on the notorious extortioner Sir Giles Mompesson ‹ THE CITY MADAM (1632) ‹ THE GUARDIAN (1633) • Romantic comedy ‹ THE PICTURE (1629) • Romantic comedy • His feminist play ‹ THE DUKE OF MILAINE (1623) • Tragedy • One of his earliest independent plays and a popular one • It is based on the story of Herod and Mariamne as told by Josephus ‹ THE ROMAN ACTOR • His favourite play • A tragedy • Acted in 1626, printed 1629 • The play is based on the life of the Emperor Domitian as told by Suetonius and Dio Cassius
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‹ BELIEVE AS YOU LIST • His greatest tragedy • Acted in 1631, not published until 1849 • The original play was banned because it dealt with recent Spanish and Portuguese history • It is a powerful story of a returned nationalist leader failing to get support and being hounded by the imperial authorities ‹ THE MAID OF HONOUR • A romantic drama • Acted in about 1621-2, published 1632. • It is based on a story by Boccaccio • Camiola is Massinger's best female character • The play contains some of his finest scenes ‹ THE BONDMAN • A tragi-comedy • Acted in 1623, published 1624 • One of the best of Massinger's tragi-comedies ‹ THE RENEGADO ‹ THE GREAT DUKE OF FLORENCE • Performed in 1627, printed 1636 ‹ THE UNNATURAL COMBAT (1639) ∑ His finest qualities are o the fluency and vitality of his blank verse o The clarity and strength of his plot construction o His fine theatre sense ‹ THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY ° A tragicomedy ° Fletcher and Massinger, ° Composed between 1619 and 1622 ° Derived from the Persiles y Sigismunda of Cervantes
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° Famed for its obscenity, it was described by Dryden as “containing more bawdry than any Restoration play” ° Pepys – “of all the plays that ever I did see, the worst—having neither plot, language, nor anything in the earth that is acceptable” ° An adaptation by Nicholas Wright, with the action set in southern Africa,was performed in 1983. THE CUSTOM OF THE COUNTRY - a witty and satiric novel by E. Wharton ‹ SIR JOHN VAN OLDEN BARNAVELT ° Performed in 1619 ° A historical tragedy ° Deals with contemporary events in Holland ° An edition by T. H. Howard-Hill was published by the Malone Society in 1980. ‹ THE DOUBLE MARRIAGE (1621) • Fletcher and Massinger
‹ THE BEGGAR'S BUSH ° Performed in 1622 ° Fletcher and Massinger ° Coleridge, in his Table Talk (17 Feb 1833), declared, “I could read the Beggar's Bush from morning to night. How sylvan and sunshiny it is!”
‹ A VERY WOMAN (1625) ° Fletcher and Massinger ‹ THE BLOODY BROTHER, OR ROLLO, DUKE OF NORMANDY ° Performed in 1616 ° Fletcher, Jonson, Chapman, and Massinger ° An edition by J. D. Jump was published in 1948, reissued 1969. ° It contains the lyric 'Take, O, take those lips away', which occurs with certain changes in Measure for Measure. ‹ THE VIRGIN MARTYR ° Collaboration with Dekker
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° Written 1620, published 1622 ° A tragedy ° Religious play ° The same story has been treated in poems by Swinburne and G. M. Hopkins ‹ THE FATAL DOWRY • A tragedy • Massinger and Nathan Field • Rowe's THE FAIR PENITENT is founded on this play John Ford
V 1586-1639 “Deep in a dump Jack Ford alone was got With folded arms and melancholy hat” - William Heminges' Elegy on Randolph's Finger Tragedies
V Unequal in quality ‹ THE BROKEN HEART (1633) • A tragedy ‹ ‘TIS PITY SHE’S A WHORE (1633) • A tragedy • The play deals with the guilty passion of Giovanni and his sister Annabella for each other • An obsessive, passionate play • Focusing on the sensationalist incest taboo • Ford's most famous play ‹ PERKIN WARBECK (1634) • A historical tragedy • Best historical drama outside Shakespeare
• Source is an episode in Bacon's HENRY VII ‹ THE WITCH OF EDMONTON ° Written in collaboration with Dekker and Rowley in 1621 ° First published in 1658
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° It is partly based on the story of Elizabeth Sawyer, who was hanged as a witch in April 1621.
‹ THE LOVER’S MELANCHOLY (1628) • A romantic comedy • Influenced by Burton's ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY
‹ LOVE’S SACRIFICE (1633) • A tragedy • Main theme is the folly of love
‹ THE FANCIES , CHAST AND NOBLE (1638) ‹ THE LADY'S TRIAL (1639)
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The Age of Milton
1630-1660
AN ERA OF POLITICAL UNREST AND INSTABILITY
Prose
Sir Thomas Browne
V 1605-1682 o Five books o Small in size o Great and uniform merit ‹ RELIGIO MEDICI • Written in 1635 • Published in 1642 • Mixture of religious faith and scientific scepticism • The work is divided into two parts, relating broadly to God and to man. • The first treats of matters of faith, the hostilities among rival sects and religions, and man as microcosm • Its breadth of vision and tolerance are matched in the second part ‹ PSEUDODOXIA EPIDEMICA: OR, ENQUIRIES INTO VERY MANY RECEIVED TENETS, AND COMMONLY PRESUMED TRUTHS • VULGAR ERRORS (1646) • Resembles the work of Burton • His longest work ‹ HYDRIOTAPHIA: URNE BURIAL (1658) • His masterpiece • Reflections on human mortality induced by the discovery of some ancient funeral urns. • The companion piece to THE GARDEN OF CYRUS • The first archaeological treatise in English
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‹ THE GARDEN OF CYRUS (1658) • The companion piece to HYDRIOTAPHIA • A treatise on quincunx ‹ CHRISTIAN MORALS • Published after his death • Sententious piece said by his daughter Elizabeth to be a continuation of RELIGIO MEDICI Edward Hyde, Earl of Clarendon
V 1609-1674 ‹ THE HISTORY OF THE REBELLION AND CIVIL WARS IN ENGLAND • Begun in 1646 • Not published 1704 • His great work ‹ THE LIFE OF EDWARD, EARL OF CLARENDON, • His autobiography • Appeared in 1759
Thomas Hobbes
V 1588-1679 V Philosopher ‹ LEVIATHAN (1651) • Latin text 1668 • LEVIATHAN, OR THE MATTER, FORM, AND POWER OF A COMMONWEALTH, ECCLESIASTICAL AND CIVIL • A treatise of political philosophy • Chief book • Expounded his political theories • By 'The Leviathan' the author signified sovereign power
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Jeremy Taylor
V 1613-1667 ‹ THE LIBERTY OF PROPHESYING (1647) • An argument for toleration ‹ HOLY LIVING (1650) ‹ HOLY DYING (1651) ‹ THE RULE AND EXERCISES OF HOLY LIVING (1650) ‹ THE RULE AND EXERCISES OF HOLY DYING (1651) ‹ ENIAUTOS (1653) • Series of sermons for the Christian Year ‹ THE GOLDEN GROVE (1655) • A manual of daily prayers ‹ DUCTOR DUBITANTIUM (1660) • 'a general instrument of moral theology' for determining cases of conscience ‹ THE WORTHY COMMUNICANT (1660)
Thomas Fuller
V 1608-1661 • During the civil war he was a chaplain to the Royalist forces ‹ THE HISTORY OF THE HOLY WAR (1639) • Dealing with the crusades ‹ THE CHURCH-HISTORY OF BRITAIN; WITH THE HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CAMBRIDGE (1655) • Covers from the birth of Christ to the execution of Charles I
‹ THE HISTORY OF THE WORTHIES OF ENGLAND • His best-known and most characteristic work • Published by his son in 1662 ‹ THE HOLY STATE AND THE PROFANE STATE (1642)
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‹ GOOD THOUGHTS IN BAD TIMES (1645) • Followed by two sequels • A collection of reflections • Pamphlet • GOOD THOUGHTS IN WORSE TIMES (1660) • MIXT CONTEMPLATIONS IN BETTER TIMES ‹ A PISGAH- SIGHT OF PALESTINE (1650) • A topographical and historical work
Lamb – “the dear, fine, silly, old angel” Admired by Coleridge ‹ AN ALARUM TO THE COUNTIES OF ENGLAND AND WALES (1660) • Pamphlet
Sir John Denham
V 1615-1669 ‹ THE SOPHY • His tragedy • Set in the Turkish court • Performed in 1641 ‹ COOPER'S HILL • Published 1642 • Most famous poem
William Chamberlayne
V 1619-1689 ‹ PHARONNIDA (1659) • Romantic poem
James Shirley
V 1596-1666
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‹ THE LADY OF PLEASURE (1635)
Richard Baxter
V 1615-1691 ‹ THE SAINTS’ EVERLASTING REST (1649)
Izaac Walton
V 1593-1683 ‹ THE COMPLEAT ANGLER (1653) • Chief work
Owen Feltham
V 1602-1668 ‹ RESOLVES: DIVINE, MORAL, POLITICAL • Essays • Show Bacon’s influence
William Drummond
V 1585-1649 ‹ A CYPRESSE GROVE (1623)
James Howell
V 1594-1666 ‹ EPISTOLAE HOE (1645) • Familiar letters
∑ 1642- Civil War, Closing of the Theatres
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The Age of Dryden
1660-1700
The Restoration Age
Historical Background
1. The Restoration 1660 2. The Glorious Revolution 1688
1660: Reopening of the theatres.
Restoration
‹ The term restoration means the restoration of monarchy. ‹ It was a restoration not merely of monarchy but also of the Parliament and the Church of England. ‹ The restoration gave the Royalists a golden opportunity to recover their lost power and property. ‹ The lands of the Crown, the Church and the nobles were immediately restored to them. ‹ Laws were enacted to crush Puritanism and to foster the Anglican mode of worship. ‹ Socially the Restoration was followed by a reaction to the Puritan way of life. ‹ “The Restoration marks the birth of our modern English Prose.” – Matthew Arnold
John Dryden
V 1631-1700 V 1st neo-classical critic V 1st comparative critic
V The greatest man of a little age V poet laureate in 1668 V Historiographer royal in 1670. V The Correct School of Poetry – Dryden’s school of poetry V “Dryden found English poetry brick and left it a marble.” – Dr Johnson
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V “It is largely due to Dryden that writers developed formalism of style, that precise, almost mathematic elegance, miscalled classicism, which ruled the English Literature for the next century.” V “Who had done his best to improve the language, and especially the poetry of his country” – Dryden V “He met Mr Dryden, the poet; and he remained Mr Dryden, the poet till the day of his death.” – Samuel Pepys ‹ PRE-RESTORATION (1659) • Earliest work of any importance • A laudation of the recently dead Oliver Cromwell ∑ 1685- Changed his faith, a Roman Catholic ‹ HEROIQUE STANZA'S ON THE DEATH OF OLIVER CROMWELL(1659) • His first major poem • On the death of Cromwell • A series of heroic stanzas • First published poem ‹ ASTRAEA REDUX (1660) • Celebration of Charles II’s return • In heroic couplet ‹ TO HIS SACRED MAJESTY • Celebration of Charles II’s return
‹ ANNUS MIRABILIS (1667) • A poem in quatrains • Its subjects are the he Dutch War (1665-6) and the Fire of London ‹ ABSALOM AND ACHITOHEL (1681)
• Satirical allegory • A mock-biblical satire based on 2 Sam. 13-19 • Absalom: Duke of Manmouth • Achitohel: Shaftesbury • Zimri: duke of Buckingham
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• David: Charles II • Corah: Oates • Shimei: Slingsby Bethel, sheriff of London • The poem concludes with a long speech by David o In 1682 a second part appeared • Mainly written by Tate • It contains 200 lines by Dryden • He attacks two literary and political enemies -Shadwell as Og and Settle as Doeg ‹ THE MEDAL • Political poem • Shadwell and Samuel Pordage - wrote replies ‹ MACFLECKNOE MAC FLECKNOE, OR A SATYR UPON THE TRUE-BLEW-PROTESTANTPOET, T. S. • A mock-epic • Thomas Shadwell is depicted as the true successor of Mac Flecknoe, the King of the Kingdom of nonsense. • Inspiration for Pope's DUNCIAD ‹ RELIGIO LAICI (1682) • Thesis in support of the English Church ‹ THE HIND AND THE PANTHER (1687) • Allegorical defence of the Roman Catholic Faith
Lyrical Poetry ‹ TO THE PIOUS MEMORY . . . OF MRS ANNE KILLIGREW (1686) ‹ AN ODE, ON THE DEATH OF MR HENRY PURCELL (1696) ‹ SONG FOR ST. CECILIA’S DAY (1687) ‹ ALEXANDER’S FEAST (1697) V Longest and best known pieces ‹ UPON THE DEATH OF LORD HASTINGS (1649) ‹ BRITANNIA REDIVIVA (1688)
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‹ ELEONORA ( 1696)
THE WILD GALLANT (1663) • First play • Comedy ‹ THE INDIAN QUEEN (1664) • Collaboration with Sir Robert Howard ‹ THE INDIAN EMPEROUR (1665) • Subject: the Mexican ruler Montezuma • Heroic play ‹ TYRANNICK LOVE (1669) • Tyrannick Love, or The Royal Martyr • A heroic play • Based on the legend of the martyrdom of St Catherine by the Roman emperor Maximin • It contains some of Dryden's most extravagant heroic verse • It was ridiculed in THE REHEARSAL - Shadwell ‹ THE RIVAL LADIES (1663/1664) • Hybrid between the comic and heroic species of play • Comedy ‹ SIR MARTIN MARALL (1667) • Collaboration with the duke of Newcastle • Comedy ‹ AN EVENING'S LOVE (1668) • An Evening's Love, or The Mock Astrologer • A comedy ‹ THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA • In two parts, 1669 and 1670
‹ AURENG-ZEBE (1675) • His best rhymed heroic play
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• Tragedy • The plot is remotely based on the contemporary events by which the Mogul Aureng-Zebe gained the empire of India from his father and his brothers. V Tragedies • 2 groups 1. The heroic play 2. Blank-Verse Tragedies • ALL FOR LOVE, OR THE WORLD WELL LOST (1678) ° Dramatic masterpiece ° Blank verse tragedy ° acknowledged imitation of Shakespeare's ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA ° Dryden's most performed and his best-known play ° It concentrates on the last hours in the lives of its hero and heroine
Tragicomedies
‹ SECRET LOVE (1667) ‹ MARRIAGE-À-LA-MODE (1672) • The play contains some of Dryden's finest songs • Embodies the principles of comic writing outlined in his preface to An Evening's Love ‹ THE ASSIGNATION (1672) V Plays wrote after revolution ‹ DON SEBASTIAN (1689) • A tragi-comedy • Produced in 1689, published 1691. • The play is based on the legend that King Sebastian of Portugal survived the battle of Alcazar • Dryden's most complex dramatic treatment of a number of important political, sexual, and religious themes ‹ CLEOMENES (1692)
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‹ LOVE TRIUMPHANT (1694) o Tragi-comedy ‹ AMBOYNA (1673) • A tragedy
‹ MR LIMBERHAM (1679) • Mr Limberham, or The Kind Keeper • A sexually explicit comedy ‹ KING ARTHUR (1691) • A dramatic opera Prose
‹ ESSAY OF DRAMATIC POESIE (1668 & 1669) • Longest single prose work • Major piece of English literary criticism. • In the form of a dialogue • Between Eugenius (Sackville), Crites (Sir Robert Howard), Lisideius (Sedley), and Neander (Dryden himself) • a boat on the Thames on the day of the battle between the English and Dutch navies in June 1665 • Discuss the comparative merits of English and French drama • The old and new in English drama • Justifying Dryden's current practice as a playwright • Contains admirable appreciations of Shakespeare, John Fletcher, and Jonson ‹ Adaptation of THE TEMPEST (1667) • With D'Avenant ‹ Adaptation of TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1679) ‹ AMPHITRYON (1690) • A Comedy • Adapted from the comedies of Plautus and Molière on the same subject • Represents the story of Jupiter's seduction of Alcmena in the guise of her husband Amphitryon
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‹ CLEOMENES (1692) ‹ A DEFENCE OF AN ESSAY (1668) ‹ HIS MAJESTY'S DECLARATION DEFENDED (1681) ‹ LIFE OF PLUTARCH (1683) ‹ VINDICATION OF THE DUKE OF GUISE (1683) ‹ CHARACTER OF ST EVRÉMOND (1692) ‹ CHARACTER OF POLYBIUS (1693) ‹ LIFE OF LUCIAN (1711) Essays ‹ OF HEROICK PLAYS (1672) ‹ HEADS OF AN ANSWER • To Rymer written in 1677 published 1711 ‹ THE GROUNDS OF CRITICISM IN TRAGEDY • Prefixed to preface to TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (1679) ‹ Operatic adaptation of PARADISE LOST • Under the title THE STATE OF INNOCENCE, AND FALL OF MAN • Unperformed, published 1667
Translations ‹ Maimbourg's THE HISTORY OF THE LEAGUE (1684) ‹ Bouhours' LIFE OF ST FRANCIS XAVIER (1686) ‹ Du Fresnoy's DE ARTE GRAPHICA (1695)
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The Age of Dryden
1660-1700
The Restoration Age
Restoration Comedy
Jeremy Collier
V I650-1726 V Attacked restoration plays ‹ SHORT VIEW OF THE IMMORALITY AND PROFANENESS OF THE ENGLISH STAGE (1698) • Attacked Dryden, Wycherley, Congreve, Vanbrugh, D'Urfey, and Otway • Complaining particularly of profanity in stage dialogue and mockery of the clergy William Congreve
V 1670-1729 V Greatest of the restoration comedy writers
V Plays are a faithful reflection of the upper-class life of his day V Student of Swift ‹ INCOGNITA (1691) • A novel of intrigue ‹ THE OLD BACHELOR (1693) • First comedy ‹ THE DOUBLE DEALER (1693) • Best example of the Comedy of Manners • Skilful in cahracterization • Completely free from the coarseness and realism ‹ LOVE FOR LOVE (1695) ‹ THE WAY OF THE WORLD (1700) ‹ THE MOURNING BRIDE (1697) • Only tragedy
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William Wycherley
V 1640-1715 V Four plays V “Manly” plays
‹ LOVE IN A WOOD (1671) • Love in a Wood, or, St James's Park • His first play • A comedy of intrigue • Set in St James's Park • Acted in 1671, and published in 1672 ‹ THE GENTLEMAN DANCING-MASTER (1672) • A comedy • Performed 1671, published 1673 • Loosely based on Calderón's EL MAESTRO DE DANZAR ‹ THE COUNTRY WIFE (1674) • His finest play • A sharp satiric • Attack on social and sexual hypocrisy and greed and on the corruption of town manners • Attacked: Garrick's version, THE COUNTRY GIRL (1766)
‹ THE PLAIN DEALER (1676) • It was highly praised by Dryden and Dennis • Loosely based on Molière's LE MISANTHROPE • The Plain Dealer is also the name of a periodical established by A. Hill George Etheredge
V 1635-1691 V 3 plays ‹ THE COMICAL REVENGE, OR LOVE IN A TUB (1664) • The serious part of the plot - in heroic couplets
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• The comic and farcical - in prose ‹ SHE WOU’D IF SHE COU’D (16680
‹ THE MAN OF MODE, OR SIR FOPLING FLUTTER (1676) • His best play • A classic of the Restoration period Sir John Vanbrugh
V 1664-1726
‹ THE RELAPSE (1696) • The Relapse, or Virtue in Danger • It is an avowed continuation of LOVE’S LAST SHIFT by C. Cibber • The play was adapted by Sheridan as A TRIP TO SCARBOROUGH ‹ THE PROVOK’D WIFE (1697) V The Provok'd Husband, or A Journey to London A comedy by Vanbrugh, finished by C. Cibber
‹ THE CONFEDERACY (1705) • adapted from Dancourt's LES BOURGEOISES À LA MODE V his best three comedies
George Farquhar
V 1678-1707 V Clergyman, actor, soldier V Wrote 7 plays ‹ LOVE AND A BOTTLE (1698) ‹ THE CONSTANT COUPLE, OR A TRIP TO THE JUBILEE (1699) • A farcical comedy • A less successful sequel SIR HARRY WILDAIR (1701) ‹ SIR HARRY WILDAIR (1701) ‹ THE INCONSTANT AND THE TWIN RIVALS (1702) ‹ THE STAGE COACH (1704) • With Motteux
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‹ THE RECRUITING OFFICER (1706) • Used by Brecht as the basis of his PAUKEN UND TROMPETEN (1955) ‹ THE BEAUX’ STRATAGEM (1707) V Best plays
Thomas Shadwell
V 1642-1692 V Victim of Dryden V Imitated Jonson’s Comedy of Humours V Remembered for his quarrel with Dryden, dating from 1682 V He was probably the author of THE MEDAL OF JOHN BAYES (1682) V Dryden’s counter attack: MAC FLECKNOE and ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL V Succeeded Dryden as poet laureate and historiographer at the revolution in 1689 ‹ THE SULLEN LOVERS (1668) • Based on Molière's LES FÂCHEUX • In its preface he proclaimed himself a follower of Jonson's comedy of humours ‹ THE SQUIRE OF ALSATIA (1688) ‹ THE VIRTUOSO (1676) • A satire on the Royal Society ‹ EPSOM WELLS (1672) ‹ BURY FAIR (1689) ‹ THE ENCHANTED ISLAND (1674) • Opera • Adapting Shakespeare's THE TEMPEST ‹ Translation of the TENTH SATIRE OF JUVENAL (1687) • Dedicated to Sedley
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The Age of Dryden
1660-1700
The Restoration Age
Restoration Tragedy
Thomas Otway
V 1651-1685 ‹ ALCIBIADES (1675) • First play ‹ DON CARLOS (1676) • Rhymed verse ‹ THE ORPHAN (1680) • Blank verse ‹ VENICE PRESERV’D (1682) • Venice Preserv'd, or A Plot Discovered • Blank verse • Antonio is a caricature of Shaftesbury • Masterpiece ‹ ALCIBIADES (1675) • A tragedy ‹ TITUS AND BERENICE • Adapted from a tragedy by Racine ‹ THE CHEATS OF SCAPIN (1676) • Adapted from a comedy by Molière ‹ THE HISTORY AND FALL OF CAIUS MARIUS (1679) • An adaptation of ROMEO AND JULIET ‹ FRIENDSHIP IN FASHION (1681) • A comedy ‹ THE ATHEIST (1683)
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• A comedy Nathaniel Lee
V 1653-1692 ‹ NERO (1674) ‹ SOPHONISBA (1676) ‹ THE RIVAL QUEENS (1677) • The Rival Queens, or The Death of Alexander the Great • His best-known tragedy • In blank verse ‹ THEODOSIUS (1680) ‹ LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS • One of his most serious dramas • Banned for its anti-monarchical Speeches ‹ OEDIPUS (1679) • Collaborated with Dryden ‹ THE DUKE OF GUISE (1682) ‹ THE PRINCESS OF CLEVE (1681) • Comedy ‹ MITHRIDATES (1678) V Collaborated with Dryden
Elkananh Settle
V 1648-1724 ‹ CAMBYSES (1667) ‹ THE EMPRESS OF MOROCCO (1673) • A heroic play ‹ ABSALOM SENIOR, OR ACHITOPHEL TRANSPROS'D (1682) ‹ REFLECTIONS ON SEVERAL OF MR DRYDEN'S PLAYS (1687) John Crowne
V 1640-1703
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V Attacked Dryden ‹ PANDION AND AMPHIGENIA (1665) • A prose romance ‹ THE COUNTRY WIT (1675) • His first comedy ‹ CALISTO (1675) • A court masque ‹ THE DESTRUCTION OF JERUSALEM (1677) ‹ CALIGULA (1698) • Heroic play ‹ THYESTES (1681) • Blank verse ‹ SIR COURTLY NICE (1685) He was part author, with Dryden and Shadwell, of NOTES AND OBSERVATIONS, a satirical attack on THE EMPRESS OF MOROCCO by Settle.
Nicholas Rowe
V 1674-1718 V Poet Laureate 1715 ‹ THE AMBITIOUS STEPMOTHER (1700) ‹ TAMERLANE (1701/2) ‹ THE FAIR PENITENT (1703) • A tragedy in blank verse • The plot of the play is that of Massinger and Field's THE FATAL DOWRY ‹ JANE SHORE (1714) ‹ ULYSSES (1705) ‹ THE ROYAL CONVERT (1707) ‹ LADY JANE GREY (1715) ‹ THE BITER (1704) • Unsuccessful comedy
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‹ Translation of Lucan (1718) • 'One of the greatest productions of English poetry' - Dr Johnson Rowe also did useful work as editor of Shakespeare's plays (1709), dividing them into acts and scenes, supplying stage directions
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The Age of Dryden
1660-1700
The Restoration Age
Samuel Butler
V 1612-1680 ‹ “The Elephant in the Moon” • Satirical poem • An attack on the Royal Society ‹ CHARACTERS • Prose ‹ HUDIBRAS (1663) • Biting satire on the Puritans • Modelled upon the adventures of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza • The most popular poem of its time • In three parts • Each containing three cantos • Part I: dated 1663, appeared in Dec. 1662 • Part II: dated 1664, was published 1663 • A revised version of both parts came out in 1674 • Part III was published 1680 • Its narrative form is that of a mock romance, derived Don Quixote • The most learnedly allusive poem in English • Octosyllabic • Hudibrastic - the style of Butler's Hudibras o octosyllabic couplets and with comic rhymes
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The Age of Dryden
1660-1700
The Restoration Age
John Bunyan
V 1628-1688 ‹ GRACE ABOUNDING (1666) V Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, or The Brief Relation of the Exceeding Mercy of God in Christ to his Poor Servant John Bunyan V A Puritan conversion Narrative V Religious autobiography / spiritual autobiography
‹ THE HOLY CITY, OR THE NEW JERUSALEM (1665) • Inspired by a passage in the Book of Revelation ‹ A CONFESSION OF MY FAITH, AND A REASON OF MY PRACTICE (1672) ‹ THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS (1678) • The Pilgrim's Progress, from This World to That Which Is to Come • Masterpiece • Allegorical • a prose allegory • Part I: published 1678 • Part II: 1684 • In the form of a dream by the author Pt I: describes Christian’s pilgrimage through the Slough of Despond, the Interpreter's House, the House Beautiful, the Valley of Humiliation, the Valley of the Shadow of Death, Vanity Fair, Doubting Castle, the Delectable Mountains, the country of Beulah, to the Celestial City. On the way he encounters various allegorical personages, among them Mr Worldly Wiseman, Faithful (who accompanies Christian on his way but is put to death in Vanity
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Fair), Hopeful (who next joins Christian), Giant Despair, the foul fiend Apollyon, and many others. Pt II relates how Christian's wife Christiana, moved by a vision, sets out with her children on the same pilgrimage, accompanied by her neighbour Mercy, despite the objections of Mrs Timorous and others. V It is remarkable for the beauty and simplicity of its language V It became a children's classic V A manual of moral instruction V It was a seminal text in the development of the realistic novel V Symbolism influenced Dickens, Trollope, and Thackeray ‹ THE LIFE AND DEATH OF MR. BADMAN (1680) • Allegorical • The allegory takes the form of a dialogue ‹ THE HOLY WAR (1682) • Allegorical
Lord Halifax
V 1633-1695 V An orator V Outstanding figure in the House of Lords. ‹ MISCELLANIES • Political tracts • THE CHARACTER OF A TRIMMER • A Lady's New Year's Gift, or Advice to a Daughter (1688) o Piece of a more general character o Essay ‹ THE ANATOMY OF AN EQUIVALENT 1688) • Political tract ‹ A LETTER TO A DISSENTER UPON OCCASION OF HIS MAJESTIES LATE GRACIOUS DECLARATION OF INDULGENCE (1687) ‹ A CHARACTER OF KING CHARLES II
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• Printed with POLITICAL, MORAL, AND MISCELLANEOUS REFLEXIONS in 1750 'Jotham' of Dryden's ABSALOM AND ACHITOPHEL Sir William Temple
V 1628-1699 V Politician ‹ LETTERS • Published by Swift in 1700 and 1703 ‹ MEMOIRS (1691) ‹ MISCELLANEA • A series of essay on a variety of subjects, literary and general • Published in three parts 1680, 1690 and 1701
John Tillotson
V 1630-1694 V Preacher ‹ SERMONS “a standard work of its class” - Addison
Thomas Sprat
V 1635-1713
John Locke
1632- 1704
‹ AN ESSAY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING (1690) • Principal philosophical work • J. S. Mill – “unquestioned founder of the analytic philosophy of mind” • A philosophical treatise • The Essay is an examination of the nature of the human mind and its powers of understanding.
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• Bk I: rejects the doctrine of 'innate ideas' • Bk II: provides an account of the origin, sorts, and extent of our ideas • Bk III: discusses language • Bk IV: defines knowledge as the perception of the agreement or disagreement of ideas. ‹ THOUGHTS CONCERNING EDUCATION • Concerned with practical advice on the upbringing of 'sons of gentlemen' • Given to Richardson's Pamela by Mr B—, and to his son by Chesterfield
• Their influence is seen in Rousseau's EMILE • Addison was his champion in many essays • His greatest impact was on Sterne, who quotes him frequently in TRISTRAM SHANDY The Diarists
Samuel Pepys
V 1633-1703 “a very worthy, industrious and curious person, none in England exceeding him in knowledge of the navy. . . universally beloved, hospitable, generous, learned in many things, skilled in music, a very great cherisher of learned men” - Evelyn ‹ DIARY • Opens on 1660, Jan 1 and continues until May 31, 1669 • Memories relating to the state of the royal navy 1690
John Evelyn
V 1620-1706
Restoration Lyricists
Earl of Dorset
V 1688-1706
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Earl of Rochester
V 1648-1680
Sir Charles Sedley
V 1639-1701
Mrs Aphra Behn
V 1640-1689
‹ ORINOOKO, OR THE HISTORY OF THE ROYAL SLAVE (1698)
• Based on her visit to Surinam
• The earliest English philosophical novel
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The Age of Pope 1700-1750 Augustan Age/Classical Age
‹ Augustan age stands for any period of polished manners, high culture and great literary attainments which may be favourably compared with the age of the Roman emperor Augustus Caesar during which Virgil, Ovid, Horace and other great poets lived and wrote. ‹ Just as the reign of Augustus is known as the classic and the golden age of of Rome, in the same way, the age of Queen Anne is called the Augustan age in English literature. ‹ It was the age of great writers in prose, poetry and drama. ‹ The great literary luminaries of the age were Addison, Swift, Richardson, Fielding, Goldsmith, Dr.Johnson, Burke, Gibbon and Pope.
Historical events
The rise of the Political Parties
V Whig (Low Church Man) and Tory (High Church Man)
The Foreign War (1701)
V Peace of Utrecht (1713)
The Spanish Succession
The Coffee Houses
‹ The seventeenth century witnessed the establishment of coffee houses in England. ‹ The rapid growth of the coffee houses was largely due to the flourishing of trade of the East India Company. ‹ Drinking coffee and tea and spending time in the coffee houses continued to be the fashion in the successive generations also. ‹ At the peak of their popularity there were not less than 3000 coffee houses in London alone. ‹ In cities and towns the coffee houses were the centres of social life.
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‹ Literary men had their own coffee houses. ‹ Matters of common interest were hotly discussed. ‹ The coffee houses were truly the schools of wit, criticism and dialectics.
Scriblerus Club
‹ An association of which Swift, Arbuthnot, Parnell, Pope, and Gay were members, and the earl of Oxford (Harley) a regularly invited associate member ‹ The group appears to have met from January to July 1714 ‹ Its object was to ridicule 'all the false tastes in learning' ‹ Nothing was produced under the name of Martinus Scriblerus for some years. Prose Writers
Jonathan Swift
V 1667-1745 V Greatest English satirist V cousin of Dryden V 'Cousin Swift, you will never be a poet.' - Dryden ‹ CADENUS AND VANESSA (1712-1713) • Poetry • Octosyllabic couplet (his favourite metre) • Esther Vanhomrigh she fell deeply in love with him ‹ THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS (1704) • The Battle of the Books, (A Full and True Account of the Battel Fought Last Friday, between the Antient and the Modern Books in St James's Library) • A prose satire • When Swift was residing with Sir William Temple • The 'Battle' originates from a request by the moderns that the ancients shall evacuate the higher of the two peaks of Parnassus which they have previously occupied. • The spider is like the moderns • The bee is like the ancients
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• The ancients, under the patronage of Pallas, are led by Homer, Pindar, Euclid, Aristotle, and Plato, with Sir William Temple commanding the allies • The moderns by Milton, Dryden, Descartes, Hobbes, Scotus, and others, with the support of Momus and the malignant deity Criticism • First noteworthy book ‹ A TALE OF A TUB (1704) • His celebrated satire on 'corruptions in religion and learning' • Swift’s best work • Religious allegory • The author proceeds to tell the story of a father who leaves as a legacy to his three sons Peter, Martin, and Jack a coat apiece, with directions that on no account are the coats to be altered. Peter symbolizes the Roman Church, Martin (from Martin Luther) the Anglican, Jack (from John Calvin) the Dissenters. • The sons gradually disobey the injunction, finding excuses for adding shoulder- knots or gold lace according to the prevailing fashion. • Finally Martin and Jack quarrel with the arrogant Peter, then with each other, and separate • The satire is directed with especial vigour against Peter, his bulls and dispensations, and the doctrine of transubstantiation.
Political tracts
‹ THE CONDUCT OF THE ALLIES (1711) ‹ SOME REMARKS ON THE BARRIER TREATY (1712) ‹ THE PUBLIC SPIRIT OF THE WHIGS (1714) V Written for THE EXAMINER (a Tory Journal)
‹ JOURNAL TO STELLA • Informal private log book • A series of intimate letters ( 1710-13) • To Esther Johnson and her companion Rebecca Dingley ‹ THE DRAPIER’S LETTERS (1724)
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• A series of pamphlets ‹ GULLIVER’S TRAVELS • Published 1726 • a satire • Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World 'By Lemuel Gulliver' • Longest and the most famous book • Thackeray - 'furious, raging, obscene' • Stephen - 'painful and repulsive' • Resembles its fellow allegory THE PILGRIM’S PROGRESS ‹ A VOYAGE TO THE HOUYHNHNMS ‹ A MODEST PROPOSAL FOR PREVENTING THE CHILDREN OF POOR PEOPLE FROM BEING A BURDEN TO THEIR PARENTS ‹ PREDICTIONS FOR THE ENSUING YEAR, 1708, BY ISAAC BICKERSTAFF, Esq. ‹ DISCOURSE TO PROVE THE ANTIQUITY OF THE ENGLISH TONGUE. ‹ DISCOURSE OF THE CONTESTS AND DISSENSIONS BETWEEN THE NOBLES AND THE COMMONS IN ATHENS AND ROME (1701) • With reference to the impeachment of the Whig lords ‹ ARGUMENT AGAINST ABOLISHING CHRISTIANITY (1708) • Series of pamphlets on church questions ‹ LETTER CONCERNING THE SACRAMENTAL TEST (1708) • An attack on the Irish Presbyterians ‹ THE IMPORTANCE OF THE GUARDIAN CONSIDERED (1713) ‹ THE PUBLIC SPIRIT OF THE WHIGS (1714)
Joseph Addison
V 1672-1719 V Was a prominent member of the Kit-Kat Club V Satirized by Pope in the character of 'Atticus' ‹ THE CAMPAIGN (1704) • Poem
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• Written in heroic couplet • Rhymed gazette • In celebration of the victory of Blenheim ‹ CATO (1703) • Drama • Tragedy • neo-classical tragedy • blank verse • It deals with the death of Cato the republican • Dr Johnson - 'rather a poem in dialogue than a drama' ‹ ROSAMOND (1707) • an opera ‹ THE DRUMMER (1715) • prose comedy ‹ THE VISION OF MIRZA ‹ PUBLIC CREDIT • Political allegory. ∑ THE SPECTATOR: Periodical started by Steele and Addison in March 1711
Sir Richard Steele
V 1672-1729 ‹ THE CHRISTIAN HERO (1701) • The Christian Hero: An Argument Proving that No Principles but Those of Religion Are Sufficient to Make a Great Man • A treatise Prose comedies
‹ THE FUNERAL (1701) • The Funeral, or Grief à-la-Mode • Comedy ‹ THE LYING LOVER (1703)
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‹ THE TENDER HUSBAND (1705) ‹ THE CONSCIOUS LOVERS (1722) • The last comedy • Based on the ANDRIA of Terence ∑ He started THE TATLER in 1709 o Periodical o First issue appeared on 12 Apr. 1709 o It appeared thrice weekly until 2 Jan. 1711 ∑ SPECTATOR o A periodical conducted by Steele and Addison o From 1 Mar. 1711 to 6 Dec. 1712 o It was revived by Addison in 1714, when 80 numbers (556-635) were issued o Appeared daily o The principal contributors: Addison and Steele o Other contributors: Pope, Tickell, Budgell, A. Philips, Eusden, and Lady M. W. Montagu. Periodicals
‹ THE GUARDIAN (1713) • March 1713 • It professed at the outset to abstain from political questions • Addison contributed 51 papers to it • Other contributors: Berkeley, Pope, and Gay • Came to an abrupt end in Oct. 1713 ‹ THE ENGLISHMAN (1713) • A more political paper ‹ THE READER (1713) ‹ THE PLEBEIAN (1719) • Political periodical ‹ THE CRISIS • A pamphlet
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• In favour of the Hanoverian succession Daniel Defoe
V 1659-1731 V The first true novelist. V Master of plain prose ‹ AN ESSAY UPON PROJECTS (1697) ‹ THE TRUE-BORN ENGLISHMAN (1701) • Political writing • An immensely popular satirical poem attacking the prejudice against a king of foreign birth and his Dutch friends ‹ THE SHORTEST WAY WITH DISSENTERS (1702) • A notorious Pamphlet • Political Writing ‹ HYMN TO THE PILLORY • A mock-Pindaric ode ∑ Political tracts and pamphlets appeared in THE REVIEW, THE TATLER and THE SPECTATOR
Fiction
‹ THE LIFE AND STRANGE SURPRISING ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE (1719) • Based on the experience of Alexander Selkirk. • A romance • The first English novel • Rousseau in ÉMILE recommended it as the first book that should be studied by a growing boy • Coleridge praised its evocation of 'the universal man' • Marx in DAS KAPITAL used it to illustrate economic theory in action. • In THE RISE OF THE NOVEL (1957) and other essays Ian Watt provides one of the most controversial modern interpretations, relating Crusoe's predicament to
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the rise of bourgeois individualism, division of labour, and social and spiritual alienation ∑ Robinsonnades o THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP QUARLL ° An adventure story ° Originally published as The Hermit (1727) by 'Edward Dorrington' ° But attributed to Peter Longueville,/Alexander Bicknell ° A derivative of ROBINSON CRUSOE ° It describes Quarll's 50 years of solitude and suffering on a South Sea island o THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF PETER WILKINS, A CORNISHMAN (1751) ° A romance ° By Paltock ° This work was much admired in the Romantic period by Southey, Coleridge, Shelley, Lamb, and Sir Walter Scott o THE SWISS FAMILY ROBINSON ° The romance of a family wrecked on a desert island ° Written in German ° Johann David Wyss (1743-1818), a Swiss pastor ° It was published in two parts in Zurich in 1812-13 ° The first English translation was a year later ‹ THE FARTHER ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE (1719) ° With Friday he revisits his island, is attacked by a fleet of canoes on his departure, and loses Friday in the encounter ‹ SERIOUS REFLECTIONS . . . OF ROBINSON CRUSOE. . .WITH HIS VISION OF THE ANGELICK WORLD ° A manual of piety than a work of fiction ° Appeared in 1720 ‹ DUNCAN CAMPBELL (1720) ‹ MEMOIRS OF A CAVALIER (1720)
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• a historical romance ‹ ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN SINGLETON (1720) ° A romance of adventure ‹ THE FORTUNES AND MISFORTUNES OF THE FAMOUS MOLL FLANDERS (1722) ° A Romance
‹ A JOURNAL OF THE PLAGUE YEAR (1722) ° A historical fiction ° Some scenes appear to have been borrowed from Dekker's THE WONDERFULL YEARE (1603) ° Hazlitt - the work 'an epic grandeur, as well as heart-breaking familiarity' ‹ THE HISTORY AND REMARKABLE LIFE OF COLONEL JACQUE, COMMONLY CALL'D COLONEL JACK (1722) ° A Romance of Adventure ‹ A NEW VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD (1725) ‹ ROXANA, OR THE FORTUNATE MISTRESS (1724) • A novel ‹ MERCATOR • A trade journal
Last principal works
‹ THE COMPLETE ENGLISH TRADESMAN (1726) • Not published until 1890 ‹ AUGUSTA TRIUMPHANS (1728), ‹ A PLAN OF THE ENGLISH COMMERCE (1728) John Arbuthnot
V 1667-1735 V Political writings V Physician to Queen Anne V “the most universal genius” - Dr Johnson
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‹ PROLOGUE TO THE SATIRES • One of his finest satirical epistles
‹ MEMOIRS OF MARTINUS SCRIBLERUS (1709) • A satirical work • Directed against 'false tastes in learning' • Initiated by the Scriblerus Club • The name 'Martin Scriblerus' was occasionally used by Pope as a pseudonym and by Crabbe in some of his earlier poems ‹ THE HISTORY OF JOHN BULL (1712 OR 1713) • Ridiculing the war –policy of the Whigs • A collection of pamphlets • Issued anonymously in 1712 • Advocating the termination of the war with France • Included in Pope and Swift's Miscellanies of 1727 ‹ THE ART OF POLITICAL LYING (1712) • A satiric pamphlet
Lord Bolingbroke
V Henry St John, first Viscount V 1678-1751 V Influenced Pope ‹ LETTER TO SIR WILLIAM WYNDHAM • Written in 1717 • Published in 1753 ‹ A LETTER ON THE SPIRIT OF PATRIOTISM (1736) ‹ THE IDEA OF A PATRIOT KING (1738)
George Berkeley
V 1685-1753 ‹ THE PRINCIPLES OF HUMAN KNOWLEDGE (1710)
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• Study of the human mind ‹ THREE DIALOGUES BETWEEN HYLAS AND PHILONOUS (1713) ‹ ALCIPHRON OR THE MINUTE PHILOSOPHER (1732)
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu
V 1689-1762 ‹ LETTERS
Earl of Shaftesbury
V 1671-1713
V Anthony Ashley Cooper
‹ CHARACTERISTICS OF MEN, MANNERS, OPINIONS AND TIMES (1711)
Francis Atterbury
V 1662-1732 V One of Pope’s intimate associates
Colley Cibber
V 1671-1757 V The hero of the second version of Pope’s DUNCIAD ‹ APOLOGY OR AUTOBIOGRAPHY
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The Age of Pope 1700-1750 Augustan Age/Classical Age
Alexander Pope
V 1688-1744 V The greatest master of the Classical school V Twickenham
The proper study of mankind is man
True wit is what oft was thought but never so well expressed
‹ PASTORALS (1709) • Earliest important work ‹ AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM (1711) • Heroic couplets • A didactic poem • Published anonymously 1711 • Begins with an exposition of the rules of taste and the authority to be attributed to the ancient writers on the subject • The laws by which a critic should be guided are then discussed, and instances are given of critics who have departed from them ‹ MESSIAH • Published in the Spectator in May 1712 • A sacred eclogue • Embodying in verse the Messianic prophecies of Isaiah ‹ WINDSOR FOREST (1713) • Pastoral • topographical poem • to celebrate the Peace of Utrecht
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• It combines description of landscape with historical, literary, and political reflections ‹ THE RAPE OF THE LOCK (1712) • Mock heroic • Brilliant poem • A poem in two cantos subsequently enlarged to five cantos and thus published 1714 • Published in Lintot's Miscellany 1712 • When Lord Petre forcibly cut off a lock of Miss Arabella Fermor's hair, the incident gave rise to a quarrel between the families. • Pope treated the subject in a playful mock-heroic poem, on the model of Boileau's LE LUTRIN • Dr Johnson – “the most attractive of all ludicrous compositions” ‹ TRANSLATIONS OF ILIAD AND ODYSSEY (Fenton and Broome, classical scholars) (1725 and 1726) ‹ POPE’S EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE (1725)
∑ THEOBALD’S SHAKESPEARE RESTORED (1726)
‹ THE DUNCIAD (1728) • Appeared anonymously 1728 • Again in 1742 • Modelled on MAC FLECKNOE • a mock-heroic satire
Philosophical poems
‹ TO LORD BATHURST ‹ OF THE USE OF RICHES ‹ OF THE KNOWLEDGE AND CHARACTER OF MEN ‹ OF CHARACTERS OF WOMEN ‹ AN ESSAY ON MAN • A philosophical poem in heroic couplets • Not completed.
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• It consists of four epistles addressed to Bolingbroke • Its objective is to vindicate the ways of God to man • Deals with man's relations to the universe, to himself as an individual, to society, and to happiness • Stewart – “the noblest specimen of philosophical poetry which our language affords” (Active and Moral Powers, 1828) • Dr Johnson – “Never were penury of knowledge and vulgarity of sentiment so happily disguised.” ‹ MORAL ESSAYS • Written under the influence of Lord Bolingbroke • four ethical poems • Pope – “Epistles to Several Persons” • Epistle I (1734) - Addressed to Viscount Cobham, deals with the knowledge and • characters of men • Epistle II (1735) – Addressed to Martha Blount, deals with the characters of women • Epistle III (1733) - To Lord Bathurst, deals with the use of riches o The Epistle contains the famous characters of the 'Man of Ross' and 'Sir Balaam' • Epistle IV ( 1731 ) - To Lord Burlington, originally subtitled 'Of False Taste', deals with the same subject as Epistle III, giving instances of the tasteless use of wealth ‹ IMITATIONS OF HORACE ‹ EPISTLE TO DR. ARBUTHNOT • (PROLOGUE TO THE SATIRES) • Contains the famous portraits of Lord Hervey and Addison • One of Pope's most brilliant pieces of irony and invective, mingled with autobiography ‹ ODE FOR MUSIC ON ST CECILIA'S DAY (1713) • One of his rare attempts at lyric
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The Age of Pope 1700-1750 Augustan Age/Classical Age
Other Poets and Miscellaneous writers
Matthew Prior
V 1664-1721 V Treaty of Utrecht ( 1713 ) - 'Matt's Peace ‹ THE HIND AND THE PANTHER TRANSVERS’D TO THE STORY OF THE COUNTRY AND THE CITY MOUSE (1687) • First long work • Collaboration with Charles Montagu • Ridiculing THE HIND AND THE PANTHER ‹ ALMA: OR THE PROGRESS OF THE MIND (1718) • Imitates Butler’s HUDIBRAS • A Hudibrastic dialogue ridiculing various systems of philosophy ‹ SOLOMON ON THE VANITY OF THE WORLD (1718) • Heroic couplet • A long soliloquy
Shorter pieces
‹ THE CHAMELEON ‹ THE THIEF AND THE CORDELIER ‹ TO CHLOE
John Gay
V 1685-1732 ‹ THE FAN • In the mock-heroic style of The Rape of the Lock ‹ THE RURAL SPORTS (1713) • Heroic couplets
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• Resembling Pope’s PASTORAL • On the model of his friend Pope's Windsor Forest ‹ THE SHEPHERD’S WEEK (1714) ‹ THE WHAT D’YE CALL IT (1715) • Pastoral farce / A satirical farce ‹ TRIVIA, OR THE ART OF WALKING THE STREETS OF LONDON (1716) • A poem in three books • 'Trivia' means 'streets' ‹ FABLES (1727) ‹ THE BEGGAR’S OPERA (1728) • A play • Its sequel POLLY ‹ BLACK-EYED SUSAN • Ballad
Edward Young
V 1683-1765 ‹ BUSIRIS • A Tragedy ‹ THE UNIVERSAL PASSION • A series of satires ‹ THE LAST DAY (1714) ‹ THE FORCE OF RELIGION (1714) • Heroic couplet ‹ THE LOVE OF FAME (1725-1728) ‹ THE COMPLAINT, OR NIGHT THOUGHTS ON LIFE, DEATH AND IMMORTALITY (1742) • Blank verse • Inspired by the death of his wife • Young's most celebrated poem ‹ THE BROTHERS
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• A tragedy ‹ RESIGNATION • His last considerable poem • With a preface to Mrs Boscawen, appeared in 1762 Dr Johnson – “But, with all his defects, he was a man of genius and a poet.” Sir Samuel Garth
V 1661-1719 V Physician V Assisted Pope V Knighted when George I ascended the throne. ‹ THE DISPENSARY (1699)
Lady Winchilsea
V 1661-1720 ‹ THE SPLEEN (1701) ‹ THE PRODIGY (1706) • Pindaric ode ‹ MISCELLANY POEMS (1713) • A NOCTURNAL REVERIE
Ambrose Philips
V 1675-1749 V Friend of Pope V 3 tragedies ‹ THE DISTRESSED MOTHER (1712)
Thomas Parnell
V 1679-1718 ‹ THE HERMIT (1710) • Best of his work • Heroic couplets
Allan Ramsay
V 1686-1758 V Local unofficial Poet Laureate ‹ LOCHABER NO MORE ‹ THE GENTLE SHEPHERD (1725)
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• Pastoral drama ‹ THE EVERGREEN (1724)
John Philips
V 1676-1769 ‹ THE SPLENDID SHILLING (1701) • Blank verse
Henry Muddiman
‹ THE PARLIAMENTARY INTELLIGENCER (1659) ‹ MERCURIUS PUBLICUS (1660-1663) ‹ THE LONDON GAZETTE (1665) • His greatest journal
Periodicals
‹ GAZETTA (1536) • First periodical published in Europe • Venice V First regular English journal was a weekly publication begun in 1622 by Thomas Archer and Nichoas Bourne • CORANTOS (information of foreign wars) • Banned in 1632 V DIURNALLS (1641) • Print home news.
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The Age of Johnson 1745-1798 The Age of Prose and Reason The Age of Transition ‹ The 18th century especially the Age of Johnson is sometimes called The Age of Prose and Reason. ‹ The literature of the period in general , especially in poetry, displayed some characteristics: 1. The poetry of the period was free from romantic. It sprang from the head rather from the heart. 2. The poetry of the time is mainly urbane in character. 3. The poetry of the period is prosaic and artificial in form. A good example is the closed couplets of Alexander Pope. ‹ It was not an age of poetic imagination and hence the men of letters of the time were noted prose masters, not great poets. ‹ Therefore the period is sometimes called an Age of Prose and Reason.
Excellent and Indispensible 18th century ‹ The eighteenth century is an excellent and indispensible century for reasons more than one: 1. The eighteenth century saw the extraordinary development of English prose, particularly the periodical essay and the novel. 2. It was the cradle and play-ground of the English novel. 3. In the eighteenth century, the art of writing letters and the art of oratory also developed. 4. The eighteenth century saw the rise of great periodicals and journals. Eg: THE TATLER, THE SPECTATOR, THE RAMBLER, THE EXAMINER, THE PLEBIAN 5. The end of the eighteenth century saw the rise of English Romanticism which culminated in the Lyrical Ballads of Wordsworth and Coleridge. 6. The eighteenth century is an excellent age because it produced a galaxy of great writers- Addison, Swift, Richardson, Fielding, Goldsmith, Dr. Johnson, Burke, Gibbon and Pope.
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7. From the critical point of view also, it is an excellent century. It is neither too remote like the Elizabethan Age so as to create around it an aura of romanticism, nor too near like the Victorian age so as to blur its proper perspective. 8. From the political point of view also, it is an excellent century, because the nation saw abundant rise of industry and wealth. It was an age of peace and prosperity.
Historical event
‹ The French Revolution 1789
The Reactionary School
Samuel Johnson
V 1709-1784 V Founded Literary Club in London, 1764 o The Club o An informal group founded at the suggestion of Joshua Reynolds in the winter of1763-4 o It met at the Turk's Head, Soho o Members: Goldsmith, Burke, Percy (elected 1765), Garrick and Boswell (1773), C. J. Fox and Steevens (1774), Adam Smith (1775), Banks (1778), and Malone V Chronicler: Boswell
Poetry
‹ LONDON (1738) • First poem • Heroic couplet • imitation of the Third Satire of Juvenal • Attacks Sir Walpole's administration in his allusions to excise, the abuse of pensions, and the new stage licensing laws ‹ THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES (1749) • A poem • In imitation of the Tenth Satire of Juvenal
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• T. S. Eliot - 'quite perfect in form' • This was the first complete work to which he put his name.
‹ IRENE • Drama • Blank verse tragedy
Prose
∑ His earliest work appeared in Cave’s THE GENTLEMAN’S MAGAZINE ‹ THE LIFE OF MR RICHARD SAVAGE (1744) • A vivid evocation of Grub Street • A notable stage in the evolution of the art of biography ‹ THE LIVES OF THE POETS (1777-1781) • Prefaces Biographical and Critical to the Works of the English Poets • A landmark in the history of critical taste and judgement • T. S. Eliot - “with a coherence, as well as an amplitude, which no other English criticism can claim'. ('Johnson as Critic and Poet', 1944) • 52 poets ‹ A DICTIONARY OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE (1747-1755) ∑ Periodical essays for THE RAMBLER (1750-1752) • A twice-weekly periodical in 208 numbers • From 20 March 1750 to 14 March 1752 • The contents are essays on all kinds of subjects, character studies, allegories, Eastern fables, criticisms, etc. • The other contributors were Richardson, E. Carter, Mrs Chapone, and Catherine Talbot (1720-70)
‹ THE HISTORY OF RASSELAS, PRINCE OF ABYSSINIA (1759) • A didactic romance • Composed during the evenings of a week to help his dying mother and eventually to pay for her funeral
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• It is an essay on the 'choice of life', a phrase repeated throughout the work, usually in italics • Echoes the theme of THE VANITY OF HUMAN WISHES • Bears some resemblance in plan to Voltaire's CANDIDE ‹ THE IDLER • A series of papers contributed to THE UNIVERSAL CHRONICLE, or WEEKLY GAZETTE • Between 15 April 1758 and 5 April 1760 ‹ JOHNSON’S EDITION OF SHAKESPEARE (1765) • PREFACE TO SHAKESPEARE is a landmark not only in Shakespearian scholarship but in English criticism as well ‹ A JOURNEY TO THE WESTERN ISLANDS OF SCOTLAND (1775) • A travel book • Undertaken by Boswell and Johnson in 1773 in Scotland and the Hebrides • Describes Johnson's response to Scottish history, culture, and landscape • Publication aroused the wrath of Macpherson because of its sceptical comments on the authenticity of 'Ossian'
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The Age of Johnson 1745-1798 The Age of Prose and Reason The Age of Transition The Transitional Poets
James Thomson
V 1700-1748 V Patrick Murdoch - Thomson's biographer ‹ WINTER (1726) ‹ THE SEASONS (1730) • Blank verse • Series of descriptive passages • In four books ‹ LIBERTY (1735-1736) • Gigantic poem in blank verse • patriotic poem ‹ THE CASTLE OF INDOLENCE • Remarkable poem • Spenserian stanzas • two cantos • the first: describes the castle of the wizard Indolence, into which he entices weary pilgrims who sink into torpor amidst luxurious ease • The second” describes the conquest of the castle by the knight of Arts and Industry ‹ SOPHONISBA (1729) • Drama • tragedy ‹ AGAMEMNON (1738) • Tragedy
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‹ EDWARD AND ELEONORA (1739) • Tragedy ‹ TANCRED AND SIGISMUNDA (published 1745) • Tragedy ‹ CORIOLANUS (1749) • Tragedy ‹ ALFRED (1740) • Masque • Collaboration with Mallet.
Oliver Goldsmith
V 1728-1774 V Patron: Lord Clare ‹ THE TRAVELLER (1764) • The Traveller, or A Prospect of Society • First poem • Heroic couplet • Dedicated and addressed to his brother, a country clergyman. • Ends with a lament for rural decay in the face of growing commerce that foreshadows the theme of THE DESERTED VILLAGE. • Dr Johnson greatly admired the poem ‹ THE DESERTED VILLAGE (1770) • a poem • Memories of his youth • He evokes the idyllic pastoral life of Auburn, 'loveliest village of the plain' ‹ THE HERMIT • Ballad ‹ ELEGY ON THE DEATH OF A MAD DOG
Drama
V 2 prose comedies
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‹ THE GOOD NATUR’D MAN (1768) ‹ SHE STOOPS TO CONQUER (1773) • She Stoops to Conquer, or The Mistakes of a Night • Anti-sentimental comedy Prose ‹ THE CITIZEN OF THE WORLD (1759) • A series of imaginary letters (119) from a Chinaman, Lien Chi Altangi, residing in London • Contributed to THE PUBLIC LEDGER, a popular magazine • A series of whimsical or satirical comments on English life and manners ‹ THE VICAR OF WAKEFIELD (1766) • Important work of fiction • This minor classic was sold for £60 by Dr Johnson on Goldsmith's behalf, to prevent the author's arrest for debt. • The well-known poems 'The Hermit', the 'Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog', and 'When lovely woman stoops to folly' are placed at three turning points of the story. ‹ AN INQUIRY INTO THE PRESENT STATE OF POLITE LEARNING IN EUROPE (1759) • a treatise • His first published book. ‹ THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1771) ‹ AN HISTORY OF EARTH AND ANIMATED NATURE • Nature history • Published posthumously
Thomas Gray
V 1716-1771 V “Mr Facing-bothways” - Saintsbury V Where ignorance is bliss it is folly to be wise
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‹ ODE ON A DISTANT PROSPECT OF ETON COLLEGE (1747) • First poem ‹ ELEGY WRITTEN ON A COUNTRY CHURCHYARD (1751) • A meditative poem in quatrains • Stoke Poges • “It abounds with images which find a mirror in every mind, with sentiments to which every bosom returns.” – Dr Johnson • Immediate provocation: death of his aunt ‹ ODE ON THE DEATH OF A FAVOURITE CAT ‹ ODE ON THE SPRING (1748) ‹ SONNET ON THE DEATH OF WEST (1775) • Tribute to his Etonian friend Richard West ‹ PINDARIC ODES (1757) • Both were published by Walpole in 1757 • THE BARD o Based on a tradition that Edward I ordered the violent suppression of the Welsh bards • THE PROGRESS OF POESY o Describes the different kinds of poetry, its varying powers, its primitive origins, and its connections with political liberty o He recounts its progress from Greece, to Italy, to Britain, paying homage to Shakespeare, Milton, and Dryden o A footnote singling out Dryden's 'Sublime' 'Ode on St Cecilia's Day' o Concludes that no one in his day can equal them o Dr Johnson found the poem obscure ‹ ELEGY • On the death of Cibber (1757) William Collins V 1721-1759 ‹ PERSIAN ECLOGUES (1742) • In the conventional style of Pope
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• Deals with Persian scenes and characters ‹ ODES (1746) • A small octavo volume in 52 pages • Collection of odes to pity, fear, simplicity and kindred abstract subjects ‹ THE PASSION (1747) • ode ‹ ODE TO EVENING • Unrhymed verse • Best of odes V How sleep the brave • Elegy ∑ In yonder grave a druid lies • James Thomson’s elegy
William Cowper
V 1731-1800 ∑ His first published work was a number of hymns contributed to the OLNEY HYMNS (1779)
Best known English hymns
‹ OH! FOR A CLOSER WALK WITH GOD ‹ HARK, MY SOUL! IT IS THE LORD ‹ GOD MOVES IN A MYSTERIOUS WAY
‹ POEMS (1782) ‹ EPITAPH ON A HARE ‹ ON THE RECEIPT OF MY MOTHER’S PICTURE ‹ I AM MONARCH OF ALL I SURVEY • Reflections of Alexander Selkirk ‹ THE TASK (1785) • his best-known poem
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• Long poem in blank verse • in six books • Its six books are entitled 'The Sofa', 'The Time- Piece', 'The Garden', 'The Winter Evening', 'The Winter Morning Walk', and 'The Winter Walk at Noon' • Cowper opens with a mock-heroic account of the evolution of the sofa ('I sing the sofa') and then digresses to description, reflection, and opinion. • Burns: it is “'a glorious poem' that expressed “the Religion of God and Nature'” • Wordsworth's PRELUDE contains many echoes of Cowper ‹ JOHN GILPIN • Ballad ‹ THE CASTAWAY • It is based on an incident from Anson's VOYAGE ROUND THE WORLD • Depicts with tragic power the suffering of a seaman swept overboard and awaiting death by drowning • Mr Ramsay in Woolf’s TO THE LIGHTHOUSE is given to declaiming its last lines: “We perish'd, each alone: / But I beneath a rougher sea, / And whelm'd in deeper gulphs than he.” George Crabbe
V 1754-1832 V Byron: “Nature's sternest painter yet the best” V Scott: “the English Juvenal” V He was the favourite poet of Jane Austen ‹ THE LIBRARY (1781) ‹ THE VILLAGE (1783) • A poem • In heroic couplets • The poet contrasts the cruel realities of country life with the Arcadian pastoral favoured by poets ‹ THE BOROUGH (1810) • A poem in 24 'letters'
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• Illustrates the life of a country town ‹ TALES (1812)
Mark Akenside
V 1721-1770 V Caricatured by Smollet in PEREGRINE PICKLE ‹ AN EPISTLE TO CURIO (1744) • Best political poem ‹ THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION (1744) • Best known book • Blank verse poem • Style is Miltonic in its energy.
Christopher Smart
V 1722-1771 ‹ A SONG TO DAVID (1763)
William Shenstone
V 1714-1763 ‹ LEVITIES, OR PIECES OF HUMOUR • Consists of odes and elegies ‹ THE SCHOOLMISTRESS (1742) • Pastoral • Spenserian stanza
Charles Churchill
V 1731-1764 ‹ THE ROSCIAD (1761) • Slashing attack on the leading figures of the contemporary stage. ‹ THE PROPHECY OF FAMINE (1763) • Political satires
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Robert Blair
V 1699-1746 ‹ THE GRAVE (1743) • Long blank verse • Meditation of man’s mortality • Reminiscent of Young’s NIGHT THOUGHTS
Bishop Thomas Percy
V 1729-1811 ‹ RELIQUES OF ANCIENT ENGLISH POETRY (1765) • First important collection of old English ballads
The New School
Robert Burns
V 1759-1796 V National poet of Scotland V Lamb: “Burns was the god of my idolatry.” ‹ POEMS (1786) • Sole poetical work ∑ He contributed to THE SCOTS MUSICAL MUSEUM and Thomson’s SELECT COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL SCOTTISH AIRS. ∑ Dr. Currie published (1800) a large number of additional pieces. ‹ TAM O’ SHANTER (1793) • Tale / a narrative poem • Included in the third edition • his last major poem ‹ THE COTTER’S SATURDAY NIGHT • Descriptive piece
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‹ AULD LANG SYNE ‹ MY LUVE'S LIKE A RED, RED ROSE ‹ YE BANKS AND BRAES The battle song in which Robert Bruce addresses his army before Bannockburn: SCOTS WHA HAE WI'WALLACE BLED William Blake
V 1757-1827 V Illustrated his poems with pictures ‹ POETICAL SKETCHES (1783) • Series of imitative poems ‹ SONGS OF INNOCENCE (1789) • Acollection of poems • Short lyrics embodying Blake’s view of the original state of human society • Most of the poems are about childhood • SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND OF EXPERIENCE: SHEWING THE TWO CONTRARY STATES OF THE HUMAN SOUL (1795) ‹ THE BOOK OF THEL (1790) ‹ AN ISLAND IN THE MOON (1784-1785) • An untitled burlesque fragment • It is a satirical portrait of scientific and cultural dilettantism and pretension, interspersed with songs
Revolutionary Prophetic Books
‹ THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1791) ‹ THE VISIONS OF THE DAUGHTERS OF ALBION (1793) ‹ AMERICA: A PROPHECY (1793) ‹ EUROPE: A PROPHECY (1794)
‹ SONGS OF EXPERIENCE (1794) • Two conflicting aspects of nature
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• Last considerable work as a lyric poet
∑ The tyger • Finest lyric ‹ THE FIRST BOOK OF URIZEN (1794) ‹ THE BOOK OF AHANIA (1795) ‹ THE BOOK OF LOS (1795) ‹ THE SONG OF LOS (1795) ‹ THE FOUR ZOAS ‹ THE MARRIAGE OF HEAVEN AND HELL (1793) • A prose work • Principal prose work
James Macpherson
V 1736-1796 ‹ THE HIGHLANDER (1758) • A heroic poem in six cantos. ‹ FRAGMENTS OF ANCIENT POETRY COLLECTED IN THE HIGHLANDS OF SCOTLAND, AND TRANSLATED FROM THE GAELIC OR ERSE LANGUAGE (1760) ‹ FINGAL, AN ANCIENT EPIC POEM (1762) • FÍNGAL, AN ANCIENT EPIC POEM, IN SIX BOOKS: TOGETHER WITH SEVERAL OTHER POEMS, COMPOSED BY OSSIAN, THE SON OF FINGAL. TRANSLATED FROM THE GALIC LANGUAGE • Based loosely on various old ballads and fragments ‹ TEMORA (1763) ∑ Macpherson declared that the books were his translations of the poems of an ancient Celitic bard called Ossian.
Thomas Chatterton
V 1752-1770
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‹ THE ROWLEY POEMS (collection) • THE BATTLE OF HASTINGS o Ballad • SONGS TO AELLA o Descriptive Lyrical piece
Robert Fergusson
V 1750-1774 V Forerunner of Burns V Best poems are shorter descriptive pieces dealing with Scottish life ‹ THE KING’S BIRTHDAY IN EDINBURGH ‹ TO THE TRON-KIRK BELL ‹ THE FARMER’S INGLE
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The Age of Johnson 1745-1798 The Age of Prose and Reason The Age of Transition Samuel Richardson
V 1689-1761 V “A genius as well as a moral original” – Edward Young V Printer V Publisher ‹ PAMELA, OR VIRTUE REWARDED (1740) • A series of letters • Marks the beginning of epistolary fiction • SHAMELA (1741, Fielding) vigorously mocked what the author regarded as the hypocritical morality of Pamela • Fielding's JOSEPH ANDREWS (1742) which begins as a parody of PAMELA ‹ CLARISSA HARLOWE (1747-1748) • Clarissa: or The History of a Young Lady • Novel in 8 volumes • Masterpiece • In the form of letters / an epistolary novel • Dr Johnson’s the Dictionary contained 97 citations from Clarissa ‹ SIR CHARLES GRANDISON (1753-1754) • In letter form • Portrayal of a 'Good Man', to balance his female creations in Pamela and Clarissa.
Henry Fielding
V 1707-1754 ‹ JOSEPH ANDREWS (1742) • The History of the Adventures of Joseph Andrews and of His Friend Mr Abraham Adams
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• A parody of Richardson’s PAMELA • Preface “comic epic in prose” • Its deepest roots lie in Cervantes and in Marivaux. ‹ A JOURNEY FROM THIS WORLD TO THE NEXT (1743) • The second volume of Miscellanies ‹ THE LIFE OF JONATHAN WILD THE GREAT (1743) • A short novel • Biography of the famous thief and thief-taker who was hanged at Newgate. • Satirical novel ‹ THE HISTORY OF TOM JONES, THE FOUNDLING (1749) • His greatest novel • highly organized • one of the first and most influential of English novels ‹ AMELIA (1751) • Last novel ‹ THE JOURNAL OF A VOYAGE TO LISBON • A diary written during his last journey • Published posthumously 1755 ‹ AN APOLOGY FOR THE LIFE OF MRS SHAMELA ANDREWS (1741) • His pseudonymous parody • Title satirically alludes to AN APOLOGY FOR THE LIFE OF COLLEY CIBBER (1740) ‹ TOM THUMB, A TRAGEDY (1730) • A farce • THE TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES, OR, THE LIFE AND DEATH OF TOM THUMB THE GREAT (1731) • The most successful of Fielding's many plays ‹ THE TRAGEDY OF TRAGEDIES • Burlesque
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Tobias Smollet / Tobias George Smollett
V 1721-1771 ‹ THE ADVENTURES OF RODERICK RANDOM (1748) • Picaresque novel • Smollett's first novel
‹ THE ADVENTURES OF PEREGRINE PICKLE (1751) • Long, ferocious, and often savagely libellous • Lengthy novel is told by an omniscient narrator • Savage caricatures of Fielding as Mr Spondy, Garrick Marmozet, and Akenside as the Doctor ‹ THE ADVENTURES OF FERDINAND, COUNT FATHOM (1753) ‹ THE ADVENTURES OF SIR LAUNCELOT GREAVES (1762) ‹ THE EXPEDITION OF HUMPHRY CLINKER • An epistolary novel • The mellowest and most accomplished of Smollett's works • Covering a round trip from Wales to London, to Scotland and back again • The letters begin in Gloucester ‹ THE REGICIDE • Play
Laurence Sterne
V 1713-1768 V 2 novels ‹ THE LIFE AND OPINIONS OF TRISTRAM SHANDY, GENTLEMAN (1759-1767) • Nine volumes • The progenitor of the 20th-cent. Stream of consciousness novel ‹ A SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY THROUGH FRANCE AND ITALY (1768) • Picaresque type
Horace Walpole
V 1717-1797 V fourth earl of Orford
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‹ THE CASTLE OF OTRANTO (1764) • Gothic novel o The Gothic Novel arose in the late 18th century England and remained popular in the 19th century throughout Europe and America. o The Gothic Novel is a romance typically written as a long prose narrative that exhibits the gothic qualities of doom and gloom as well as emphasis on magic and chivalry. o Dark mysterious medieval castle chock full of secret passage ways and supernatural phenomena are common elements to thrill the reader. o Gothic heroes and heroines tend to be equally mysterious. o The gothic hero is typically a man known for his power and charisma than for his personal goodness. o The gothic heroine’s challenge is to win his love without being destroyed in the process. o Exaggeration and emotional language are frequently employed by gothic writers. o They seek to evoke an atmosphere of terror. o Egs: Horace Walpole’s the Castle of Otrando Ann Radcliffe’s The Italian
Henry Mackenzie
V 1745-1831 V The Addison of the North V The Man of feeling: to his contemporaries ‹ THE MAN OF FEELING (1771) • Best known work • most influential novel of sentiment o novel of sensibility o To illustrate the alliance of acute sensibility with true virtue ‹ THE PRINCE OF TUNIS (1773) • Play
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Frances Burney
V 1752-1840 V First of the woman novelists V 4 novels ‹ EVELINA (1778) • Evelina, or A Young Lady's Entrance into the World • An epistolary novel • Anonymous publication ‹ CECILIA (1782) • Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress ‹ CAMILLA (1796) • Camilla, or a Picture of Youth ‹ THE WANDERER (1814) • The Wanderer, or Female Difficulties ∑ Fanny Burney’s Letters and Diary are cleverly satirical and informative pictures of the society of her day. ∑ Diary exhibits clearly the keen observation of manners.
Terror Novelists
William Beckford
V 1759-1844 ‹ VATHEK (1786) • Drew largely upon THE ARABIAN NIGHTS for material for the book • His story has been described as the best oriental tale in English.
Mrs Ann Radcliffe
V 1764-1823 V Most popular of terror novelists ‹ A SICILIAN ROMANCE (1790) ‹ THE ROMANCE OF THE FOREST (1791)
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‹ THE MYSTERIES OF UDOLPHO (1794) • Most popular
Matthew Gregory Lewis
V 1775-1818 V The crudest of the terror school ‹ THE MONK (1795)
The Historians Edward Gibbon
V 1737-1794 ‹ A HISTORY OF SWITZERLAND (1770) • First projected work • Never finished ‹ THE DECLINE AND FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE • Greatest of his historical works • Vol 1 published in 1776 • Five volumes • Published at regular intervals of 2 years • Last volume 1788 ‹ AUTOBIOGRAPHY
David Hume
V 1711-1776 V Philosopher ‹ A TREATISE OF HUMAN NATURE (1739-1740) ‹ ESSAYS, MORAL AND POLITICAL (1741 AND 1742) ‹ THE HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1754-1761) • In six volumes
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William Robertson
V 1721-1793 ‹ THE HISTORY OF SCOTLAND DURING THE REIGN OF THE QUEEN MARY AND OF JAMES VI UNTIL HIS ACCESSION TO THE CROWN OF ENGLAND (1759) ‹ THE HISTORY OF CHARLES V (1769) ‹ THE HISTORY OF AMERICA (1771)
James Boswell
V 1740-1795 ‹ THE LIFE OF SAMUEL JOHNSON (1791) • One of the best biographies in existence.
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The Age of Johnson 1745-1798 The Age of Prose and Reason The Age of Transition Edmund Burke
V 1729-1797 V One of the masters of English Prose
Philosophical Writings
‹ A VINDICATION OF NATURAL SOCIETY (1756) • Parody of the style and ideas of Bolingbroke ‹ A PHILOSOPHICAL INQUIRY INTO THE ORIGIN OF OUR IDEAS OF THE SUBLIME AND BEAUTIFUL (1756)
Political Works
o Speeches • ON AMERICAN TAXATION (1774) • CONCILIATION WITH THE COLONIES (1775) o Pamphlets • THOUGHTS ON THE CAUSE OF THE PRESENT DISCONTENTS (1770) ° A resounding attack on the Tory government then in power • REFLECTION ON THE REVOLUTION IN FRANCE (1790) • A LETTER TO A NOBLE LORD (1795) • LETTERS ON A REGICIDE PEACE (1797)
Adam Smith
V 1723-1790 ‹ THE WEALTH OF NATIONS (1776) • In the history of Economics the work is epoch making
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William Paley
V 1743-1805 V Theological writer ‹ PRINCIPLES OF MORAL AND POLITICAL PHILOSOPHY (1785) ‹ HORAE PAULINAE (1790) ‹ A VIEW OF THE EVIDENCES OF CHRISTIANITY (1794)
The Earl of Chesterfield
V 1694-1773 ‹ LETTERS TO HIS SON (1774)
William Godwin
V 1756-1836 V Revolutionary man of letters ‹ POLITICAL JUSTICE (1793) ‹ CALEB WILLIAMS (1794) • Novel
Gilbert White
V 1720-1793 V First naturalist who cast his observations into genuine literary form ‹ THE NATURAL HISTORY OF SELBORNE (1789)
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The Age of Johnson 1745-1798 The Age of Prose and Reason The Age of Transition Drama
Richard Brinsley Sheridan
V 1751-1816 ‹ THE RIVALS (1774) • Prose comedy • Mrs Malaprop ‹ ST.PATRICK’S DAY; OR, THE SCHEMING LIEUTENANT • Farce ‹ THE DUENNA • Operatic play ‹ A TRIP TO SCARBOROUGH (1776) • Loosely based on Vanbrugh's THE RELAPSE ‹ THE SCHOOL FOR SCANDAL (1777) • His best play ‹ THE CRITIC: OR, A TRAGEDY REHEARSED (1779) • Attack on the popular sentimental drama • The best burlesque • Based on THE REHEARSAL by Buckingham
John Home
V 1722-1808 ‹ DOUGLAS (1756)
Joanna Baillie
V 1762-1851 V Historical blank verse tragedies
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‹ COUNT BASIL (1798) ‹ DE MONFORT (1798)
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The Age of Wordsworth The Age of Romanticism The Return to Nature 1798-1832
Historical incidents
V The French Revolution - 1789 V The European War V England and France -1793 V The Reform Bill - 1832
Lake Poets/ Lake School ‹ Terms applied to Coleridge, Southey, Wordsworth, and sometimes to De Quincey, who lived in the Lake District at the beginning of the 19th cent. ‹ The expression 'Lake School' seems first to appear in the Edinburgh Review of Aug. 1817 ‹ Byron makes play with the term, and in the dedication to DON JUAN (1819) refers slightingly to 'all the Lakers'. ‹ In his RECOLLECTIONS OF THE LAKE POETS De Quincey denies the existence of any such 'school'. Cockney School ‹ A term apparently first used in BLACKWOOD'S MAGAZINE in Oct. 1817, when Lockhart and his associates began a series of attacks On the Cockney School of Poetry ‹ Leigh Hunt was the chief target, but Hazlitt and Keats were also objects of frequent derision. Satanic school ‹ The name under which Southey attacks Byron and the younger Romantics in the preface to his A VISION OF JUDGEMENT The Older Poets
William Wordsworth
V I770-1850 V Pantheism
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‹ AN EVENING WALK (1793) ‹ DESCRIPTIVE SKETCHES (1793) ∑ Two poems in heroic couplets LYRICAL BALLADS (1798) • Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems • A collection of poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge • A join production by Wordsworth and Coleridge • First edition appeared 1798 • 2nd edition: with Preface appeared in 1800 o The second with new poems and a preface (known as the 1800 edition) Jan. 1801 • A third 1802 • A landmark of English Romanticism • Written largely in Somerset • “It was agreed that my endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural or at least romantic . . .Mr. Wordsworth, on the other hand, was to propose to himself as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day.” Coleridge in BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA • Coleridge's contributions to the first edition were THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER, THE FOSTER-MOTHER'S TALE, THE NIGHTINGALE, and THE DUNGEON • Wordsworth includes ballads and narratives such as THE THORN, THE IDIOT BOY, and SIMON LEE, THE OLD HUNTSMAN, and more personal poems such as LINES WRITTEN IN EARLY SPRING and LINES WRITTEN A FEW MILES ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY • The second volume of the second edition added many of Wordsworth's most characteristic works, including the so-called LUCY POEMS, THE OLD CUMBERLAND BEGGAR, and MICHAEL, A PASTORAL ‹ THE THORN ‹ THE IDIOT BOY • A ballad
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• First published in LYRICAL BALLADS (1798) It takes as hero the idiot son of a poor countrywoman, Betty Foy, who is sent off on horseback by night to fetch the doctor for a sick neighbour. He is so long gone that his mother sets out to seek him, and finds him at last by a waterfall, whither the pony has wandered freely through the moonlight, to the boy's delight. The neighbour recovers and sets out to meet mother and son, and all three are happily reunited • Condemned as being trivial and childish in style. ‹ SIMON LEE ‹ EXPOSTULATION AND REPLY ‹ LINES COMPOSED ABOVE TINTERN ABBEY ‹ MICHAEL • A pastoral poem • Written and published 1800 • A narrative in blank verse • Describes with a moving strength and simplicity, the lonely life in Grasmere of the old shepherd Michael, his wife, and his beloved son Luke ‹ THE OLD CUMBERLAND BEGGAR ‹ SHE DWELT AMONG THE UNTRODDEN WAYS ‹ STRANGE FITS OF PASSION HAVE I KNOWN ‹ NUTTING ‹ THE PRELUDE • The Prelude or, Growth of a Poet's Mind • An autobiographical poem • In blank verse • Addressed to Coleridge • Its present title, suggested by Mary Wordsworth • Originally intended as an introduction to 'The Recluse' • Completed in 1805 • A record of his development as a poet
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• 14 books ‹ THE RECLUSE • Not completed ‹ THE EXCURSION • A poem in nine books • Published in 1814 • The whole work was to have been entitled THE RECLUSE ‹ THE LUCY POEMS • Name given to a group of poems by Wordsworth • Most of which were written in Germany in the exceptionally cold winter of 1798- 1789 • The poems are remarkable for their lyric intensity and purity • The identity of Lucy has aroused much speculation • The name Lucy is used in the ballad LUCY GRAY also written in Germany and published in 1800 ‹ THE SOLITARY REAPER ‹ THE GREEN LINNET ‹ I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD ‹ ODE ON THE INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY RECOLLECTED FROM CHILDHOOD • An ode • Composed in 1802-4/6, published 1807. • The poem is an irregular Pindaric ode in 11 stanzas ‹ RESOLUTION AND INDEPENDENCE • A poem by • Written in 1802, published 1807 • Sometimes known as THE LEECH GATHERER • Based on a meeting recorded in Dorothy Wordsworth's Journal, 3 Oct. 1800, with an 'old man almost double', whose trade was to gather leeches ‹ ODE TO DUTY
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‹ SONNETS DEDICATED TO NATIONAL INDEPENDENCE AND LIBERTY. ‹ THE WHITE DOE OF RYLSTONE (1815) ‹ THE WAGGONER (1819) • A poem • Composed in 1805, published 1819 • With a dedication to Charles Lamb ‹ PETER BELL (1819) • A poem • Written in 1798 • Published with a dedication to Southey 1819 • PETER BELL THE THIRD o A satirical poem by P. B. Shelley o A parody of Wordsworth's poem ‹ YARROW REVISITED (1819) ‹ THE BORDERS (1842) • Drama • A verse drama • Set on the borders of England and Scotland during the reign of Henry III • Many echoes of : Shakespeare’s KING LEAR and also of Schiller's THE ROBBERS
∑ 523 sonnets
∑ Follows Petrarchan form
Memorable sonnets
‹ IT IS S BEAUTEOUS EVENING, CALM AND FREE ‹ THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US ‹ UPON WESTMINSTER BRIDGE ‹ LONDON ‹ TO MILTON ,
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‹ CONCERNING THE RELATIONS OF GREAT BRITAIN, SPAIN AND PORTUGAL AS AFFECTED BY THE CONVENTION OF CINTRA(1809) • Prose work • An essay Samuel Taylor Coleridge
V 1772-1834 V Poet V Critic V Philosopher of Romanticism V Coined the term Pantisocracy o The agrarian-literary society that Coleridge and Southey planned to establish on the banks of the Susquehanna V Carlyle: “the Sage of Highgate” V Lamb—dedicated the ESSAYS OF ELIA to him— described him as “an Archangel a little damaged” V “logician, metaphysician, bard”- Lamb V “I think, Oedipus Tyrannus, The Alchemist, and Tom Jones are the three most perfect plots ever planned.” V Silas Tomkyn Comberback – the false name under which Coleridge enlist himself in the cavalry ‹ THE FALL OF ROBESPIERRE (1794) • A verse drama • Coleridge, who wrote Act I, and Southey, who wrote Acts II and III ‹ POEMS ON VARIOUS SUBJECTS (1796) • First book • Issued at Bristol ‹ LYRICAL BALLADS (1798) • In collaboration with Wordsworth • 19 poems by Wordsworth • 4 poems by Coleridge
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o Noteworthy is THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER ‹ CHRISTABEL • 1st part publishes in 1797 • 2nd part published in 1800 • Remained unfinished • The first part was written at Nether Stowey (1797) • The second (which contains Lake District local colour) at Keswick in 1800 • Christabel metre—four-foot couplets, mostly iambic and anapaestic • A tale of spiritual seduction set in a medieval castle. ‹ KUBLA KHAN (1798) • 'Kubla Khan: A Vision in a Dream • Unfinished • Echo of a dream • In 1797, while living near the Wordsworths in Somerset, Coleridge took opium and fell asleep when reading a passage in PURCHAS HIS PILGRIMAGE relating to the Khan Kubla and the palace that he commanded to be built. • He claimed that on awaking he was conscious of having composed in his sleep two or three hundred lines on this theme, and eagerly began to set down the lines that form this fragment. ‹ FROST AT MIDNIGHT • Meditative poem • A blank-verse poem • Written at Stowey, Somerset, in Feb. 1798. • Addressed to his sleeping child Hartley Coleridge • Meditates on the poet's own boyhood, and magically evokes the countryside, ending on a note of rare and thrilling happiness • The finest of Coleridge's series of 'conversation' poems • Influenced Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey Lines ‹ FRANCE: AN ODE ‹ DEJECTION: AN ODE (1802)
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• An autobiographical poem • First published in the Morning Post, 1802 • Originally composed as a much longer verse letter to his beloved Asra (Sara Hutchinson) • Describes the loss of his poetical powers, the dulling of his response to Nature, the breakdown of his marriage, and the paralysing effect of metaphysics (or opium) • Wordsworth partly answered it in his INTIMATIONS OF IMMORTALITY ode ‹ REMORSE • Play • A tragedy • Written in 1797 as Osorio • Produced at Drury Lane 1813 • The story is set in Granada at the time of the Spanish Inquisition • Tells of the slow corruption of the character of Osorio, a man who supposed himself strong but who is gradually led by temptations and events into guilt and evil ‹ THE WATCHMAN • Periodical • Started at 1796 • A political and literary journal • The journal was pacifist and anti-Pitt, and included literary contributions from, among others, Beddoes and Poole ‹ THE FRIEND • Periodical • Started at 1809
Prose
‹ BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA (1817) • Most valuable prose work
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• Philosophical autobiography and Romantic literary criticism • Part I: broadly autobiographical, describing Coleridge's friendship with Southey and with the Wordsworths at Stowey, and going on to trace his struggle with the 'dynamic philosophy' of Kant, Fichte, and Schelling in Germany. • Chapter XIII contains his famous distinction between Fancy and Imagination • Part II: almost entirely critical, attacking Wordsworth's preface to the LYRICAL BALLADS and then marvellously vindicating the poetry itself. • The book is a touchstone of Romantic criticism ‹ SIBYLLINE LEAVES (1817) ‹ AIDS TO REFLECTION (1825) • A religious and philosophical treatise ‹ TABLE TALK (1835) • Published posthumously
Sir Walter Scott
V 1771-1832 V Prose Shakespeare V Historical novelist V “The Great Unknown”
Poetry
V Earliest poetical efforts were translations from the German ‹ THE CHASE AND WILLIAM AND HELEN (1797) • A translation of Burger's DER WILDE JÄGER (THE WILD HUNTSMAN) • Published anonymously ‹ LENORE (1796/1799) • Translation of Goethe's GÖTZ VON BERLICHINGEN ‹ THE MINSTRELSY OF THE SCOTTISH BORDER • Vol 1& Vol 2 in 1802 • Vol 3 in 1803 • A collection of ballads compiled by Scott
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• Divided into three sections: Historical Ballads, Romantic Ballads, and Imitations of the Ancient Ballad. • THE WIFE OF USHER'S WELL - its first printing ‹ THE EVE OF ST JOHN
‹ THE LAY OF THE LAST MINSTREL (1805) • Written in the CHRISTABEL metre • His first considerable original work • The romantic poem • A poem in six cantos • A metrical romance in irregular stanzas (much of it in rhymed octosyllabics) ‹ MARMION (1808) • Masterpiece • Marmion: ATale of Flodden Field • A poem in six cantos ‹ THE LADY OF THE LAKE (1810) • A poem in six cantos ‹ ROKEBY (1813) • A poem in six cantos ‹ THE BRIDAL OF TRIERMAIN (1813) ‹ THE LORD OF THE ISLES (1814) • A poem in six cantos • It is set at the time of the battle of Bannockburn • Deals with the return of Robert Bruce to Scotland in 1307 ‹ HAROLD THE DAUNTLESS (1817) • His last long poem Prose
‹ WAVERLEY • 1814 issued anonymously • the first of the novels
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‹ GUY MANNERING (1815) • Set in the 18th cent., narrates the fortunes of Harry Bertram ‹ THE ANTIQUARY (1816) ‹ THE BLACK DWARF (1816) • Weakest ‹ OLD MORTALITY (1816) ‹ ROB ROY (1818) • The novel, set in the period preceding the Jacobite rebellion of 1715 ‹ THE HEART OF THE MIDLOTHIAN (1818) ‹ THE BRIDE OF LAMMERMOOR (1819) ‹ A LEGEND OF MONTROSE (1819) • The novel is based on an episode in the earl of Montrose's campaign of 1644 to raise Scotland for Charles I against the Covenant forces led by the marquis of Argyle • The love of Allan McAulay for the mysterious Annot Lyle is the main theme • The most interesting part of the story is the character of Dugald Dalgetty V All the novels deal with scenes in Scotland
‹ IVANHOE (1820) • The first of Scott's novels to deal with English • One of his best constructed novels • Thackeray's REBECCA AND ROWENA is an amusing sequel to, and critical reinterpretation of Scott's tale. ‹ THE MONASTERY (1820) • Set in the abbey of Melrose in the Scotland of the early Reformation • Gives a vivid picture of the decline of the unreformed Catholic Church • THE ABBOT - A sequel ‹ THE ABBOT (1820) • Sequel to THE MONASTERY • Sets around the escape of Mary Queen of Scots from Loch Leven • Influenced the work of Balzac, Trollope, and many other 19th century novelists
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‹ KENILWORTH (1821) • Celebration of the glories of the Elizabethan age • The story of Elizabeth and her favourite Leicester and of the betrayal and murder of Leicester's wife Amy Robsart caught the national mood • Shakespeare, Spenser, and Sir Walter Ralegh all appear, and the climax of the novel is the great pageant at Kenilworth in July 1575 ‹ THE PIRATE (1822) • Set in 17th cenury Shetland • Deals with the tension between long-established tradition and new ideas brought into a closed community by outsiders ‹ THE FORTUNES OF NIGEL (1822) • Sets in 17th century London • Tells the story of a young Scots nobleman, Nigel Olifaunt, who comes to claim repayment of a debt owed to his father by the king, James VI and I • The king's portrait is one of the book's highlights ‹ PEVERIL OF THE PEAK (1823) • Sets in the Restoration England of Titus Oates's Popish Plot • The action is chiefly concerned with corruption at the court of Charles II ‹ QUENTIN DARWARD (1823) • One of the most vigorous and readable of Scott's novels • Sets in 15th century France and Burgundy • Scott's first venture onto the mainland of Europe • Story of a young Scots soldier of fortune serving in the guard of Louis XI had an enthusiastic reception in Paris ‹ ST. RONAN’S WELL (1824) ‹ REDGAUNTLET (1824) ‹ TALES OF THE CRUSADERS o THE BETROTHED (1825) o THE TALISMAN (1825) V The novel is set in the army led to the Crusades by Richard I of England ‹ WOODSTOCK (1826)
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• Woodstock; or, The Cavalier. A Tale of the Year 1651 • Set in the Civil War • The novel centres on the escape from England of Charles II after the battle of Worcester. ‹ THE CHRONICLES OF THE CANONGATE (1827) • An inclusive title for Scott's novels THE HIGHLAND WIDOW, THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH, and a story THE TWO DROVERS o THE HIGHLAND WIDOW V A short tale o THE FAIR MAID OF PERTH (1828) V The Fair Maid of Perth, or Saint Valentine's Day V The novel, set at the end of the 14th cent, in Perth, where the Highlands touch the Lowlands V Chiefly remembered for its study of constitutional cowardice V The battle, and the sub-plot of the assassination of the king's heir, the duke of Rothesay, make this one of the most bloody and violent of Scott's novels o THE TWO DROVERS V One of the most perfect of Scott's shorter tales ‹ ANNE OF GEIERSTEIN (1829) • It is set in 15th century Switzerland ‹ COUNT ROBERT OF PARIS (1832) • Published the year before the author's death • The last of the Waverley novels • It was written in ill health and betrays the decline of his powers • The novel, set in the 11th century • First Crusade, was almost the last worked on by Scott • Unfinished when he left for Italy in search of health ‹ CASTLE DANGEROUS (1832) ‹ LIFE OF NAPOLEON (1827) • A gigantic work
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‹ TALES OF A GRANDFATHER (1828-1830) • A history of Scotland from the Roman occupation to the close of the 1745 Jacobite rebellion
Dramatic works ‹ HALIDON HILL (1822) ‹ MACDUFF'S CROSS (1823), ‹ THE DOOM OF DEVORGOIL, A MELODRAMA (1830) ‹ AUCHINDRANE OR THE AYRSHIRE TRAGEDY (1830) • The best ∑ Biographer: John G. Lockhart
∑ Sir Walter Scott: The Great Unknown • A biography • Edgar Johnson, two volumes, was published in 1970 Samuel Rogers
V 1763-1855 ‹ THE PLEASURES OF MEMORY (1792) ‹ COLUMBUS (1812) ‹ JACQUELINE (1814) • A tale in the Byronic manner ‹ ITALY (1822) • Second part appeared in 1828
James Hogg
V 1770-1835 V “the Ettrick shepherd” ‹ BONNY KILMENY • Series of songs ‹ WHEN THE KYE COMES HAME • Lyric
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• Resembling those of Burns ‹ THE QUEEN’S WAKE (1813) ‹ LOCK THE DOOR, LARISTON • Vigorous Jacobite war songs ‹ THE FOREST MINSTREL (1810) • Volume of songs ‹ THE BROWNIE OF BODSBECK (1818) • Prose tale
Robert Southey
V 1774-1843 V Poet Laureate 1813 V Frequently mocked in DON JUAN ‹ JOAN OF ARC (1798) ‹ THALABA THE DESTROYER (1801) ‹ A translation of AMADIS OF GAUL (1803) • Revised from an older version ‹ MADOC (1805) ‹ THE CURSE OF KEHAMA (1810) • A long Oriental poem • Featuring much complex Hindu mythology ‹ RODERICK, THE LAST OF THE GOTHS (1814) • A narrative poem
Shorter Pieces
‹ THE HOLY TREE ‹ THE BATTLE OF BLENHEIM • A ballad ‹ THE INCHCAPE ROCK • A ballad
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Prose Works
‹ THE HISTORY OF BRAZIL (1810-1819) ‹ THE HISTORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR (1823-1832) ‹ THE LIFE OF NELSON (1813)
Thomas Moore
V 1779-1852 ‹ IRISH MELODIES ‹ LALLA ROOKH (1817) • Oriental romance
Political Satires
‹ THE TWOPENNY POST BAG (1813) ‹ THE FUDGE FAMILY IN PARIS (1818) ‹ FABLES FOR THE HOLY ALLIANCE (1823)
‹ LIFE OF BYRON (1830) • Prose work
Thomas Campbell
V 1777-1844 ‹ PLEASURES OF HOPE (1799) • Long poem • Series of descriptions of nature • Heroic couplet ∑ Editor of THE NEW MONTHLY MAGAZINE from 1820-1830 ‹ GERTRUDE OF WYOMING (1809) • Longish tale of Pennsylvania • Spenserian stanzas ‹ THE PILGRIM OF GLENCOE (1842)
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‹ YE MARINERS OF ENGLAND ‹ THE BATTLE OF THE BALTIC
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The Age of Wordsworth The Age of Romanticism The Return to Nature 1798-1832
The Younger Poets
Lord Byron
V 1788-1824 V George Gordon Byron V The Byronic Hero – Lord Byron’s bold and brooding romantic hero ‹ HOURS OF IDLENESS (1807) • First volume • The volume was bitterly attacked by Brougham in the Edinburgh Review as “so much stagnant water” • Byron responded in ENGLISH BARDS AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS ‹ ENGLISH BALLADS AND SCOTCH REVIEWERS (1809) • Satire in style of Pope • Immature • A satirical poem in heroic couplets ‹ CHILDE HAROLD’S PILGRIMAGE • A poem in Spenserian stanzas • 1st two cantos in 1812 • 3rd canto in 1816 • 4th canto in 1818
Poetic Tales
‹ THE GIAOUR (1813) ‹ THE BRIDE OF ABYDOS (1813) • A poem in irregular stanzas • One of his 'Turkish tales'
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‹ THE CORSAIR (1814) ‹ LARA (1814) • Lara is in fact Conrad of The Corsair returned to his domains in Spain accompanied by his page Kaled, who is his love, the slave Guiñare, in disguise. ‹ THE SIEGE OF CORINTH (1815) ‹ PARISINA (1815) • Published in 1816 ‹ HEBREW MELODIES (1815) • A collection of short poems • Written during the early days of his marriage • Many are on scriptural subjects, but some are love songs and lyrics • The volume was published by Jewish composer Isaac Nathan Longer Poems
‹ THE PRISONER OF CHILLON (1816) • A dramatic monologue • Principally in rhymed octosyllabics • Written in 1816 after a visit with Shelley to the castle of Chillón on Lake Geneva • It presents the imprisonment of a historical character, the Swiss patriot François de Bonnivard • One of Byron's most popular poems ‹ MAZEPPA (1819) • The poem, which forms an interesting transition between Byron's romantic and colloquial styles • Founded on a passage in Voltaire's Charles XII ‹ BEPPO (1818) • Beppo: A Venetian Story • In ottava rima • Satirical poem • This poem, in which Byron began to find the voice and style of Don Juan
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‹ THE VISION OF JUDGEMENT (1822) • Finest of English political satires • Attack on Southey • Ottava Rima • Published in the Liberal, 1822 • A VISION OF JUDGEMENT (1821) by Southey which in its preface described Byron as the leader of the 'Satanic school' of poetry. ‹ DON JUAN • “The greatest poem of the age” - Shelley • One of the greatest of satirical poems • Picaresque novel cast into verse • Ottava Rima • an unfinished epic satire in ottava rima • Attacked: Southey, Coleridge, Wordsworth, Wellington, Lord Londonderry • Goethe, who translated a part of it
Drama
V Blank verse tragedies ‹ MANFRED (1817) ‹ MARINO FALIERO (1821) ‹ THE TWO FOSCARI (1821) • A poetic drama ‹ SARDANAPALUS (1821) • A poetic drama • The subject was taken from the BIBLIOTHECA HISTÓRICA of Siculus ‹ CAIN (1821) • Cain:A Mystery • A verse drama in three acts ‹ THE DEFORMED TRANSFORMED (1824) • An unfinished poetic drama
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Percy Bysshe Shelley
V 1742-1822 V Browning – “Sun-treader” V Matthew Arnold – “He is a beautiful and ineffectual, an angel beating in the void his luminous wings in vain.” ‹ THE NECESSITY OF ATHEISM (1811) • A prose pamphlet by P. B. Shelley and his friend T. J. Hogg • Published anonymously at Oxford, 1811 • They were both expelled from the University for circulating the work to heads of colleges • It is probably the first published statement of atheism in Britain. ‹ QUEEN MAB (1813) • Earliest effort • Immature • a visionary and ideological poem • Written in the irregular unrhymed metre that was made popular by Southey. • The poem is in nine cantos ‹ ALASTOR, OR THE SPIRIT OF SOLITUDE (1816) • Spiritual autobiography • Long poem • Blank verse • Formless • A visionary poem • Largely written in Windsor Great Park in the late summer of 1815, published 1816. • 'Alastor' is a transliteration from the Greek, meaning the 'evil spirit or demon of solitude', who pursues the Poet to his death because he will not be satisfied by domestic affections and 'human sympathy' • The work is closely associated with Shelley's prose essays 'On Love' and 'On Life'.
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• Narcissistic • Thomas Love Peacock suggested the title ‹ THE REVOLT OF ISLAM (1818) • An epic political poem • Written at Great Marlow in 1817 • Under the title LAON AND CYTHNA: OR THE REVOLUTION IN THE GOLDEN CITY, A VISION OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY • The poem is Shelley's idealized and highly idiosyncratic version of the French Revolution • Transposed to an Oriental setting • Composed in Spenserian stanzas • Twelve cantos. ‹ PROMETHEUS UNBOUND (1818-1819) • Published in 1820 • Combination of the lyric and the drama • Story of Prometheus • A lyrical drama in four acts ‹ THE CENCI (1819) • Play • a verse tragedy • Plot is taken from the true story of Beatrice Cenci, who was tried and executed for the murder of her father, Count Francesco Cenci, at Rome in 1599 • Shelley was attracted by the themes of incest and atheism • The play concentrates on the Iago-like evil of the count and the inner sufferings of Beatrice ‹ JULIAN AND MADDALO (1818) ‹ THE MASQUE OF ANARCHY (1819) • Published in 1832 • Inspired by the news of the massacre of Peterloo • A poem of political protest
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• Written in response to the 'Peterloo Massacre' at Manchester in August 1819
‹ THE WITCH OF ATLAS (1820) • Published in 1824 ‹ EPIPSYCHIDION (1821) ‹ ADONAIS (1821) • Elegy • Lament for the death of Keats • Modelled on the classical elegy ‹ PETER BELL THE THIRD • A satirical poem • Written at Florence 1819, published 1839 • It is a parody of Wordsworth's poem of the same title • A second 'Peter Bell' had already been published by Keats's friend J. H. Reynolds ‹ THE WITCH OF ATLAS • A fantasy poem • Written in the summer of 1820 • His return from a solitary pilgrimage to Monte San Peligrino, Lucca, in Italy, published 1824 • 78 stanzas in ottava rima within the space of three days • Mary Shelley disliked the poem Lyrics
‹ TO A SKYLARK ‹ THE CLOUD ‹ THE INDIAN SERENADE ‹ MUSIC, WHEN SOFT VOICES DIE ‹ ON A FADED VIOLET ‹ TO NIGHT ‹ WORLD! O LIFE! O TIME! ‹ LINES WRITTEN AMONG THE EUGANEAN HILLS
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‹ LETTER TO MARIA GISBORNE ‹ YOUNG PARSON RICHARDS ‹ SONG TO THE MEN OF ENGLAND ‹ SONNET: ENGLAND 1819 ‹ ODE TO THE WEST WIND • Most remarkable ode • Written in a wood that skirts the Arno, near Florence' in Oct. 1819, published 1820. • The ode is a passionate invocation to the spirit of the West Wind, both 'Destroyer and Preserver'. ‹ THE TRIUMPH OF LIFE • An unfinished visionary poem • Written in the bay of Lerici in summer 1822 • Published from rough drafts 1824 • Composed in terza rima • Strongly influenced by Dante's INFERNO, Petrarch's TRIONFI Prose
‹ ZASTROZZI ‹ ST. IRVYNE • 2 boyish romances • Written when he was at school ‹ THE DEFENCE OF POETRY (1821) • Published 1840 • An essay • Written at Pisa 1821, first published 1840 • It was begun as a lighthearted reply to his friend Peacock's magazine article 'The Four Ages of Poetry' ‹ A PHILOSOPHICAL VIEW OF REFORM • A political essay • Written at Pisa 1820, not published until 1920
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• Intended as an 'instructive and readable' octavo booklet, this was Shelley's most mature political statement about Liberty, Revolution, and Reform ‹ THE ASSASSINS (1814) • His unfinished novella • Reflects their (Mary Godwin together with her 15-year-old stepsister Jane 'Claire' Clairmont) dreamy travels through post-war France, Switzerland, and Germany John Keats
V 1795-1821 V Fanny Brawne, with whom he fell deeply in love, and with whom he remained in love until his death V Tennyson considered him the greatest poet of the 19th century V Arnold- “intellectual and spiritual passion” for beauty V T. S. Eliot described the letters as “certainly the most notable and most important ever written by any English poet” (THE USE OF POETRY AND THE USE OF CRITICISM, 1933). ‹ IMITATION OF SPENSER (1813) • Earliest attempt of verse ‹ POEMS (1817) • His first volume of verse. • ON FIRST LOOKING INTO CHAPMAN’S HOMER o Sonnet • SLEEP AND POETRY • I STOOD TIP-TOE UPON A LITTLE HILL o Show the influence of Spenser V Dedicated to Leigh Hunt ‹ ENDYMION (1818) • A thing of beauty is joy forever • a poem in four books • dedicated to Chatterton
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• Based on Drayton’s THE MAN IN THE MOON Fletcher’s THE FAITHFUL SHEPHERDESS • The work was violently attacked in the Quarterly Review and in Blackwood • Lockhart- “calm, settled, imperturbable drivelling idiocy” ‹ ISABELLA, OR THE POT OF BASIL (1818) • Version of a tale from Boccaccio’s DECAMERON • A narrative poem • Ottava Rima ‹ HYPERION • Hyperion: A Fragment and The Fall of Hyperion • Fragments of epic poems • Begun in 1818, abandoned in 1819 • In style and structure the poem is modelled on PARADISE LOST ‹ THE EVE OF ST AGNES (1819) • Finest narrative • In Spenserian stanzas • The poem is set in a remote period of time, in the depths of winter • Madeline has been told the legend that on St Agnes's Eve maidens may have visions of their lovers • Madeline's love - Porphyro ‹ THE EVE OF SAINT MARK • Unfinished ‹ LAMIA (1819) • Story is taken from Burton’s THE ANATOMY OF MELANCHOLY ‹ THE FALL OF HYPERION, A DREAM
Great Odes
‹ TO A NIGHTINGALE ‹ ON A GRECIAN URN ‹ TO PSYCHE
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‹ ON MELANCHOLY ‹ TO AUTUMN
∑ 61 sonnets
‹ WHEN I HAVE FEARS THAT I MAY CEASE TO BE ‹ BRIGHT STAR, WOULD I WERE STEDFAST AS THOU ART. ‹ LA BELLE DAME SANS MERCI • Lyrical ballad ‹ OTHO THE GREAT • Drama • Otho the Great: A Tragedy in Five Acts ‹ KING STEPHEN • Not completed ‹ THE CAP AND BELLS • Fairy tale • unfinished
Leigh Hunt
V 1784-1859
Journals
‹ THE EXAMINER (1808) ‹ THE INDICATOR (1819) • Contained some of his finest essays ‹ THE STORY OF RIMINI (1816) • Best long poem • An Italian tale modelled on Dante’s lines on Paolo and Francesca ‹ THE NILE ‹ ABOU BEN ADHEM V Sonnets
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Prose
‹ MEN, WOMEN, AND BOOKS (1847) ‹ AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1850)
Novel
‹ SIR RALPH ESHER (1832) ‹ THE TOWN (1848) • Readable book on London
Ebenezer Elliott
V 1781-1849 V Known as CORN LAW RHYMER ‹ CORN LAW RHYMES (1828) • Best book o BATTLE SONG ° A kind of anthem for the poor
Felicia Hemans
V 1793-1835 ‹ THE HOMES OF ENGLAND ‹ THE GRAVES OF A HOUSEHOLD ‹ THE LANDING OF THE PILGRIM FATHERS IN NEW ENGLAND V Her verses are facile and fairly melodious V Simple themes and settings
Thomas Hood
V 1799-1845 ‹ HERO AND LEANDER ‹ THE TWO SWANS ‹ THE PLEA OF THE MIDSUMMER FAIRIES (1827) • Narrative poems
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‹ WHIMS AND ODDITIES (1826 AND 1827) • Collection of humorous verse ‹ THE COMIC ANNUAL (1830) ‹ UP THE RHINE (1840) ‹ WHIMSICALITIES (1844)
‹ THE DEATH BED ‹ THE BRIDGE OF SIGNS (1846) • Tragic works of a tearful intensity
‹ THE HAUNTED HOUSE ‹ THE DREAM OF EUGENE ARAM (1829) V Horror poems
‹ THE SONG OF THE SHIRT • First published in PUNCH in 1843 ‹ RUTH
John Clare
V 1793-1864 ‹ POEMS DESCRIPTIVE OF RURAL LIFE AND SCENERY (1820) ‹ THE VILLAGE MINISTREL (1821) ‹ THE SHEPHERD’S CALENDAR (1827) ‹ THE RURAL MUSE
James Smith (1775-1839) Horace Smith (1779-1849)
V Brothers ‹ REJECTED ADDRESSES (1812)
William Cullen Bryant
V 1794-1878
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V First American poet ‹ THE EMBARGO (1808) • First volume ‹ THANA TOPSIS (1817) • A poetical meditation on death ‹ THE AGES (1821) ∑ An English edition of his volume of 1832 was published by Washington Irving in the same year.
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The Age of Wordsworth The Age of Romanticism The Return to Nature 1798-1832
Jane Austen
V 1775-1817 V Her first published works were issued anonymously. V Scott praised her work in the Quarterly Review in 1815 V Scott – “that exquisite touch which renders ordinary commonplace things and characters interesting” ‹ PRIDE AND PREJUDICE (1796-1797) • Published 1813 • It was originally a youthful work entitled First Impressions • Refused by Cadell, a London publisher, in 1797. • Jane Austen regarded Elizabeth Bennet as her favourite among all her heroines. ‹ SENSE AND SENSIBILITY (1797-1798) • Published 1811 • Grew from a sketch entitled Elinor and Marianne • Revised 1797-8 and again 1809; published 1811. ‹ NORTHANGER ABBEY (1798) o Begun 1798, sold to a publisher 1803, but not published until 1818 • Published posthumously 1818, with PERSUASION • Parodied the genre of the gothic novel ‹ MANSFIELD PARK (1811-1813) • Published 1814 ‹ EMMA (1815) • Published 1816 • Jane Austen's most accomplished work ‹ PERSUASION (1815-1816) • Published posthumously 1818.
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‹ SANDITION • Unfinished
Maria Edgeworth
V 1767-1849 V Books fall into 3 classes
1. Short Stories For Children ‹ THE PARENT’S ASSISTANT (1795-1800) ‹ EARLY LESSONS (1801-1815) ‹ MORAL TALES (1801) ‹ POPULAR TALES (1804) ‹ HARRY AND LUCY CONCLUDED (1825)
2. Irish Tales ‹ CASTLE RACKRENT (1800) ° The first fully developed "regional novel ° The first true historical novel in English ° Pointing the way to the historical/regional novels of Scott ‹ THE ABSENTEE (1809) ° Published 1812 in TALES OF FASHIONABLE LIFE ° This novel of (largely) Irish life was first written play ° Refused by Sheridan, then turned into a novel ORMOND (1817)
3. Full-Length Novels ‹ BELINDA (1801) ‹ LEONORA (1806) ‹ PATRONAGE (1814) V Depicting contemporary English society
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‹ HARRINGTON (1817)
John Galt
V 1779-1839 ‹ THE AYRSHIRE LEGATEES; OR, THE PRINGLE FAMILY (1821) • In the form of a letter series • Scottish narrative ‹ THE ANNALS OF THE PARISH (1821) • Masterpiece • The record of a fictitious country minster ‹ THE PROVOST (1822) ‹ THE ENTAIL; OR, THE LAIRDS OF GRIPPY (1823)
William Harrison Ainsworth
V 1805-1882 V Early imitator of Scott V wrote 39 novels V These 'Newgate' novels were satirized by Thackeray in 1839-40 in CATHERINE V 1840: became the editor of BENTLEY’S MISCELLANY o 1837-1869 o A very successful periodical consisting of essays, stories, and poems, but mainly of fiction, begun by Richard Bentley o Dickens was the first editor, and OLIVER TWIST appeared in its pages in 1837-8 o John Hamilton Reynolds, Hook, Maginn, Ainsworth, and later Thackeray and Longfellow were among its contributors. o Cruikshank and Leech provided lively illustrations. o In its early heyday the Miscellany covered, with biography or critical articles, all the important writers of the early 19th century ‹ SIR JOHN CHIVERTON (1826) • First novel • Written in collaboration with John Aston
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‹ ROOKWOOD (1834) ‹ JACK SHEPPARD (1839) ‹ THE TOWER OF LONDON (1840) ‹ OLD ST PAUL’S (1841) ‹ WINDSOR CASTLE (1843) ‹ THE STAR CHAMBER (1854) ‹ THE CONSTABLE OF THE TOWER (1861) ‹ PRESTON FIGHT, OR THE INSURRECTION OF 1715 (1875)
George P.R James
V 1801-1860 V George Payne Rainsford James V Follower of the method of Scott V Historiographer Royal V Thackeray parodied him as 'the solitary horseman' in his burlesque BARBAZURE, BY G. P. R. JEAMES, ESQ. ‹ RICHELIEU. A TALE OF FRANCE (1829) • Strong resemblance to QUENTIN DURWARD • Considered to be his first novel ‹ DARNLEY, OR THE FIELD OF THE CLOTH OF GOLD (1830) ‹ DE L’ORME (1830) ‹ THE GIPSEY (1835) ‹ LORD MONTAGU’S PAGE (1858)
Charles Lever
V 1806-1872 V 1842: became the editor of THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE V Gave up medicine for the editorship of THE DUBLIN UNIVERSITY MAGAZINE V Received much encouragement and advice from Thackeray V Admired by George Eliot and Trollope
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‹ THE CONFESSIONS OF HARRY LORREQUER (1839) • First novel • Picaresque type ‹ CHARLES O’MALLEY, THE IRISH DRAGOON (1841)
‹ JACK HINTON ‹ TOM BURKE OF ‘OURS’(1843-1844) V Appeared together as OUR MESS ° All these novels are either set in Ireland or deal with Irish characters.
‹ THE O’DONOGHUE (1845) ‹ THE KNIGHT OF GWYNNE (1847) • A historical novel ‹ THE MARTINS OF CRO'MARTIN (1847) • Provides a spirited portrait of life in the west of Ireland ‹ THE DODD FAMILY ABROAD (1852-1854) ‹ THE FORTUNES OF GLENCORE (1857)
Frederick Marryat
V Captain Frederick Marryat V 1792-1848 V Naval captain V Followed Smollet tradition of writing sea stories. ‹ THE NAVAL OFFICER; OR SCENES AND ADVENTURES IN THE LIFE OF FRANK MILDMAY (1829) • A partly autobiographical story of adventure at sea ‹ THE KING’S OWN (1830) ‹ THE CHILDREN OF THE NEW FOREST (1847) • A historical novel
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• About the adventures of the four Beverley children, orphaned during the Civil War, who take refuge with and learn the arts of survival from Jacob Armitage, a poor forester Stories
‹ JACOB FAITHFUL (1834) ‹ PETER SIMPLE (1834) ‹ JAPHET IN SEARCH OF A FATHER (1836) • The story of the struggles of a foundling ‹ MR. MIDSHIPMAN EASY (1836) ‹ MASTERMAN READY (1841-1842)
Michael Scott
V 1789-1835 V Favourite theme was the sea
Two Tales
‹ TOM CRINGLE’S LOG ‹ THE CRUISE OF THE MIDGE V Published in BLACKWOOD’S MAGAZINE (1829-1833)
Thomas Love Peacock
V 1785-1866 V satirist, essayist, and poet V His eldest daughter Mary Ellen, who became the first wife of George Meredith, and features in Meredith's sonnet sequence MODERN LOVE V Peacock entered the East India Company's service in 1819
Verses
‹ PALMYRA , AND OTHER POEMS (1806) ‹ THE GENIUS OF THE THAMES (1810) ‹ THE PHILOSOPHY OF MELANCHOLY (1812)
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‹ RHODODAPHNE; OR THE THESSALIAN SPELL (1818) • A fine and historically important poem, in the mythological manner of Keats's LAMIA ‹ THE PAPER MONEY LYRICS (1837) • Lampoon the dogmas of political economists and the malpractices of bankers Novels
V 7 novels ‹ HEADLONG HALL (1816) • A satire ‹ MELINCOURT (1817) • Melincourt, or Sir Oran Haut-ton • A satire • One of the longest and most ambitious of Peacock's books • The plot - indebted to Richardson's CLARISSA and to Holcroft's ANNA ST IVES • Strong feminist connotations. ‹ NIGHTMARE ABBEY (1818) • The most literary of Peacock's satires • It mocks the modish gloom infecting contemporary literature • Coleridge's German transcendentalism, Byron's self-dramatizing and Shelley's esotericism are ridiculed ‹ MAID MARIAN (1822) ‹ THE MISFORTUNES OF ELPHIN (1829) ‹ CROTCHET CASTLE (1831) ‹ GRYLL GRANGE (1860)
‹ THE FOUR AGES OF POETRY • His own age is classed as “the age of brass” • Shelley replied in a DEFENCE OF POETRY ‹ ESSAY ON FASHIONABLE LITERATURE • A fragment, written 1818
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Washington Irving
V 1783-1859 V First American novelist to establish a European reputation V Works were admired by Scott V Pseudonym – Geoffrey Crayon, Gent ‹ A HISTORY OF NEW YORK FROM THE BEGINNING OF THE WORLD TO THE END OF THE DUTCH DYNASTY (1809) • Comic history of an imaginary Dutchman called Knickerbocker. ‹ THE SKETCHBOOK (1820) • Collection of short tales and sketches. o RIP VAN WINKLE o SLEEPY HOLLOW ‹ BRACEBRIDGE HALL (1822) • A series of sketches of the life of the English squirearchy ‹ TALES OF A TRAVELLER (1824) ‹ LEGENDS OF THE ALHAMBRA (1832) ‹ LIFE (1849) ‹ HISTORY OF THE LIFE AND VOYAGES OF COLUMBUS (1828) ‹ THE CONQUEST OF GRANADA (1829) ‹ LIFE OF WASHINGTON (1859)
JAMES FENIMORE COOPER
V 1789-1851 ‹ PRECAUTION (1820) • First novel ‹ THE SPY (1821) ‹ THE PILOT (1824) ‹ THE RED ROVER (1828) ‹ THE PIONEERS (1823) ‹ THE LAST OF THE MOHINCANS (1826) ‹ THE PATHFINDER (1840)
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‹ THE DEERSLAYER (1841)
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The Age of Wordsworth The Age of Romanticism The Return to Nature 1798-1832
Writers of Miscellaneous Prose
Charles Lamb
V 1775-1834 V Educated at Christ's Hospital V He obtained at 17 an appointment in the East India House V In 1796 his sister Mary (Cousin Bridget), in a fit of insanity, killed their mother o Mary Ann Lamb (1764-1847) o She collaborated with her brother in writing for children the prose TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE (1807) o She wrote the greater part of MRS LEICESTER'S SCHOOL (1809) ° A book of stories for children containing many autobiographical details, to which her brother contributed three tales V Coleridge - a lifelong friend V A. C. Bradley regarded Lamb as the greatest critic of his century V Prince of English essayists V Master of humour and pathos V Egoist as Montaigne
Short Pieces
‹ THE OLD FAMILIAR FACES ‹ TO HESTER
‹ JOHN WOODVIL (1802) • Play • Tragedy • First called PRIDE'S CURE
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• An ineffective tragedy in the Elizabethan style ‹ TALES FROM SHAKESPEARE (1807) • Collaboration with his sister Mary Lamb ‹ SPECIMENS OF ENGLISH DRAMATIC POETS, WHO LIVED ABOUT THE TIME OF SHAKESPEARE (1808) • Critical work ∑ First of his essays appeared in THE LONDON MAGAZINE in 1820 V “ELIA” ‹ THE ESSAYS OF ELIA (1823) • Miscellaneous essays • The first series appeared in the LONDON MAGAZINE between 1820 and 1823 • Adopted the name Elia ° A former Italian clerk at the South Sea House ° Apparently to save the embarrassment of his brother John, who worked at that same place • Some of the best-known essays: Some of the Old Benchers of the Inner Temple; Christ's Hospital; The South Sea House; Mrs Battle's Opinions on Whist; Dream Children; and A Dissertation on Roast Pig ‹ THE LAST ESSAYS OF ELIA (1833)
Thomas De Quincey
V 1785-1859 V “Literature has the power to teach; and literature of knowledge is to move. Hence, the first is rudder, the second an ore or a soil.” ‹ CONFESSIONS OF AN ENGLISH OPIUM EATER (1821) • Appeared in LONDON MAGAZINE • De Quincey's study of his own opium addiction and its psychological effects traces how childhood and youthful experiences are transformed, under the influence of opium, into symbolical and revealing dreams ‹ THE ENGLISH MAIL-COACH (1849) ‹ SUSPIRIA DE PROFUNDIS (1845)
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‹ ON MURDER CONSIDERED AS ONE OF THE FINE ARTS (1827) • Second part in 1839
William Hazlitt
V 1778-1830 V Critic, theatre critic, and essayist V The Critic’s critic V The first original master of English prose in the 19th century V A serious rival to Coleridge in the value of his critical writings V The standard biography is S. Jones, HAZLITT, A LIFE (1989) V From 1814: contributed to THE EDINBURGH REVIEW V Articles appeared in THE EXAMINER, THE TIMES, THE LONDON MAGAZINE
Lectures
‹ CHARACTERS OF SHAKESPEARE’S PLAYS (1817) • Essays • Comment not only upon Hamlet, Macbeth, and other fictional heroes, but also upon the distinctive qualities of each major drama, and more generally upon the 'magnanimity' of Shakespeare's imagination • Especially notable is the essay on Coriolanus, which considers the affinities between poetic imagination and political power • Rebukes Dr Johnson for his unimaginative treatment of Shakespeare, and attempts a more flexibly sympathetic appreciation ‹ LECTURES ON THE ENGLISH POETS (1818) • A critical work • The series begins with Chaucer and Spenser • Concluding with Wordsworth and S. T. Coleridge • By contrast with these Lake poets, Shakespeare is praised for his lack of egotism, and immersion in his characters. • This view influenced the poetics of Keats, who attended the lectures
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• “The characteristic of Chaucer is intensity, of Spenser, remoteness; of Milton, elevation; of Shakspeare, everything.” ‹ THE ENGLISH COMIC WRITERS (1819) ‹ THE DRAMATIC LITERATURE OF THE AGE OF ELIZABETH (1820) ‹ LIBER AMORIS
Essays
‹ THE ROUND TABLE (1817) • A collection of essays ‹ TABLE TALK; OR ORIGINAL ESSAYS ON MEN AND MANNERS (1821-1822) ‹ THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE; OR CONTEMPORARY PORTRAITS (1825) ‹ LITERARY REMAINS (1836) • Posthumous work • Containing two of his most striking essays, My First Acquaintance with Poets and The Fight Walter Savage Landor
V 1775-1864 ‹ POEMS (1795) • A collection of miscellaneous works modelled on the classics. ‹ GEBIR (1798) • Epic poem ‹ HELLENICS (1846) • Narratives based on Greek mythology • Most part in blank verse • Augmented in 1847 and 1859 ‹ LAST FRUITS OFF AN OLD TREE (1853) ‹ HEROIC IDYLLS (1863) ‹ COUNT JULIAN (1812) • Drama ‹ IMAGINARY CONVERSATIONS
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• Published at intervals between 1824- 1846
Francis Jeffrey
V 1773-1850 V Admirers: Archcritic V His Victims: “Judge Jeffrey” ‹ One of the founders of THE EDINBURGH REVIEW o A joint production of a group of young and zealous Whigs, including Sydney Smith and Henry Brougham o A quarterly periodical o Established by Francis Jeffrey, Sydney Smith, and Henry Brougham o Originally published by Constable Sydney Smith
V 1771-1845 ‹ LETTERS ON THE SUBJECT OF THE CATHOLICS, TO MY BROTHER ABRAHAM, WHO LIVES IN THE COUNTRY, BY PETER PLYMLEY (1807-1808) • Deals with catholic emancipation ‹ WIT AND WISDOM (1860)
John Wilson
V Christopher North V 1784-1854
Early Poems
‹ THE ISLE OF PALMS (1812) ‹ THE CITY OF THE PLAGUE (1816)
Novels
‹ THE TRIALS OF MARGARET LYNSDAY (1823) ‹ NOCTES AMBROSIANAE • Longest work
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• Beginning in 1822
John G. Lockhart
V 1794-1854 V John Gibson Lockhart V One of the principal contributors to Blackwood's Magazine V Nickname - The Scorpion V Editor of THE QUARTERLY REVIEW from 1825 till 1853 V Married Sir Walter Scott’s daughter Sophia V Biographer of his father in law
V 4 novels ‹ VALERIUS (1821) ‹ ADAM BLAIR (1822) V Best novels
‹ ANCIENT SPANISH BALLADS (1823) • Poetry ‹ PETER’S LETTERS TO HIS KINSFOLK (1819) • A collection of brilliant sketches of Edinburgh and Glasgow society ‹ MEMOIRS OF THE LIFE OF SIR WALTER SCOTT (1837-1838) • First published in seven volumes • One of the great biographies in the language
William Cobbett
V 1762-1835 V Assiduous journalist
Journals
‹ THE PORCUPINE (1800-1801) ‹ COBBETT’S WEEKLY POLITICAL REGISTER (1802)
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‹ RURAL RIDES (1830) • An account of the English countries through which he wandered
Mary Wollstonecraft
V 1759-1797 V Horace Walpole – “a hyena in petticoats” V She died from septicaemia shortly after the birth of her daughter, the future Mary Shelley V Godwin published a memoir in 1798, edited her Posthumous Works (which included her unfinished novel MARIA) in the same year, and portrayed her in his novel ST LEON (1799). ‹ THOUGHTS ON THE EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS (1787) ‹ MARY (1788) • her novel • Published by a radical publisher Johnson ‹ A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF MEN (1790) • a reply to Burke ‹ A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN (1792) • In this work the author attacks the educational restrictions and 'mistaken notions of female excellence' that keep women in a state of 'ignorance and slavish dependence' • She argues that girls are forced into passivity, vanity, and credulity by lack of physical and mental stimulus, and by a constant insistence on the need to please Mary Shelley
V 1797-1851 V Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley V daughter of Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft ‹ FRANKENSTEIN • Frankenstein, or The Modern Prometheus • A Gothic tale of terror
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• Technically an epistolary novel, told through the letters of Walton o An English explorer in the Arctic, the tale relates the exploits of Frankenstein, an idealistic Genevan student of natural philosophy, who discovers at the University of Ingolstadt the secret of imparting life to inanimate matter. ‹ VALPERGA (1823) • A romance set in 14th century Italy ‹ THE LAST MAN (1826) • A novel set in the future • Describes England as a republic • The gradual destruction of the human race by plague • Narrator: Lionel Verney o Begins life as a shepherd boy and after many wanderings finds himself as the last survivor amidst the ruined grandeurs of Rome in the year 2100 Historians
Henry Hart Milman
V 1791-1868 ‹ FAZIO (1815) V Tragedy
‹ THE HISTORY OF THE JEWS (1829) ‹ THE HISTORY OF LATIN CHRISTIANITY (1854-1855)
George Grote
V 1794-1871 ‹ A HISTORY OF GREECE
Henry Hallam
V 1777-1859
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‹ THE CONSTITUTIONAL HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE ACCESSION OF HENRY VII TO THE DEATH OF GEORGE II (1827) ‹ INTRODUCTION TO THE LITERATURE OF EUROPE IN THE FIFTEENTH, SIXTEENTH AND SEVENTEENTH CENTURIES (1837-1839)
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The Victorian Age 1830-1890
The Age of Tennyson 1832-1887 An Era of Peace • An era of material affluence • Political consciousness • Democratic reforms • Industrial and mechanical progress • Scientific advancement • Social unrest • Educational expansion • Empire building • Religious uncertainty
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
V 1809-1892 V Poet Laureate: 1850 V Austin - Tennyson's work as “poetry of the drawing room” V Auden - “his genius was lyrical” V T. S. Eliot - “the great master of metric as well as of melancholia”, who has “the finest ear of any English poet since Milton” ‹ POEMS BY TWO BROTHERS (1827) • Collaborated with his elder brother Charles ‹ TIMBUCTOO (1829) • Prize poem • Won the chancellor's medal for English verse • blank verse
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‹ POEMS, CHIEFLY LYRICAL (1830) • Immature • ISABEL • MADELINE ‹ POEMS (1833) • THE LADY OF SHALLOT • AENENE • THE LOTOS EATERS • THE PALACE OF ART ‹ MORTE D’ ARTHUR (1842) • Incorporated in The Passing of Arthur (1869) • Preceded by 169 lines and followed by 29 • Tennyson's first major Arthurian work • Describes the last moments of Arthur after the battle with Mordred's forces • Includes his elegy on the Round Table o Delivered to Sir Bedivere o 'The old order changeth, yielding place to new . . .' ‹ ULLYSSES (1842) • Composed in1833, published 1842 • A dramatic monologue • Ulysses describes how he plans to set forth again from Ithaca after his safe return from his wanderings after the Trojan War, 'to sail beyond the sunset'. • The episode is based not on Homer but on Dante (Inferno, xxvi), which Tennyson probably read in the translation of Cary • Expresses the poet's sense of 'the need of going forward and braving the struggle of life' after the death of Hallam ‹ LOCKSLEY HALL (1842) • A poem in trochaics • Probably written 1837-8 • It consists of a monologue spoken by a disappointed lover
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‹ THE PRINCESS (1847) • The Princess: A Medley • Serio-comic attempt to handle the theme that was then known as ‘the new woman.’ • Tennyson wrote of it to his friend FitzGerald - “I hate it and so will you” • It formed the basis of the satirical Gilbert and Sullivan opera PRINCESS IDA ‹ IN MEMORIAM (1850) • In Memoriam A.H.H • A long series of meditations upon the death of Arthur Henry Hallam. o died at Vienna aged 22 • Elegiac theme • Written in stanzas of four octosyllabic lines rhyming a b b a • Divided into 132 sections of varying length • A series of poems written over a considerable period, inspired by the changing moods of the author's regret for his lost friend, and expressing his own anxieties about change, evolution, and immortality • The epilogue is a marriage song on the occasion of the wedding of the poet's sister Cecilia to Edward Lushington • Hallam had himself been engaged to his sister Emily • Lewes - “the solace and delight of every house where poetry is loved” • T. S. Eliot – “In Memoriam is a poem of despair, but of despair of a religious kind” ‹ ODE ON THE DEATH OF WELLINGTON (1852) ‹ THE CHARGE OF THE LIGHT BRIGADE (1854) • First published in the Examiner in 1854 ‹ MAUD AND OTHER POEMS (1855) • Chief poem is called a ‘monodrama’ • Series of lyrics which reflect the love and hatred, the hope and despair. ‹ IDYLLS OF THE KING (1859, 1869 AND 1889) • A series of 12 connected poems
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• Swinburne – “our Laureate should find in the ideal cuckold his type of the ideal man” ‹ ENOCH ARDEN (1864)
Shorter Poems
‹ LOCKSLEY HALL SIXTY YEARS AFTER (1886) ‹ THE DEATH OF THE AENONE (1892)
Plays
V 3 historical plays ‹ QUEEN MARY (1875) ‹ HAROLD (1876) ‹ BECKET (1884) ‹ THE FALCON (1879) • Comedy • Based on a story from Boccaccio ‹ THE CUP (1881) • Based on a story from Plutarch ‹ THE FORESTERS (1892) • Robin Hood theme
Robert Browning
V 1812-1889 V Elizabeth Barrett Browning ‹ PAULINE (1833) • First work • Introspective poem • Influence of Shelley • in blank verse • Subtitled “A Fragment of a Confession” • Commentary by J. S. Mill, in the form of an annotated copy
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‹ PARACELSUS (1835) • A dramatic poem • In Blank verse ‹ STRAFFORD (1837) • Play • A tragedy in blank verse • Written at the instigation of Macready • Deals with the events surrounding the impeachment of Strafford, Sir Thomas Wentworth ‹ SORDELLO (1840) • A narrative poem in iambic pentameter couplets • Attempt to decide the relationship between art and life • set in Italy during the period of the Guelf-Ghibelline wars of the late 12th and 13th cents • Most obscure work ‹ BELLS AND POMEGRANATES (1846) • The covering title of a series of plays and collections of shorter dramatic poems o PIPPA PASSES (1841) ° Although subtitled 'A Drama', it was not written for the stage ° Consists of an 'Introduction', in verse ° Four parts: entitled Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night ° The first two parts have a verse section followed by one in prose ° The third part has two verse sections ° The fourth part has a prose section followed by one in verse ° This combination of verse and prose was influenced by Browning's study of Elizabethan and Jacobean drama ° The play is set in and around Asolo, a small town near Venice ° The famous concluding lines of Pippa's first song, “God's in his heaven—All's right with the world!” o KING VICTOR AND KING CHARLES (1842) o DRAMATIC LYRICS (1842)
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° A collection of poems ° No. III of BELLS AND POMEGRANATES ° Browning's publisher - Moxon, persuaded him to vary the format of the series, which had been intended to consist solely of plays ° The collection included some of Browning's best-known poems such as My Last Duchess, Porphyria's Lover, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin o THE RETURN OF THE DRUSES (1843) ° A tragedy in blank verse ° No. IV of BELLS AND POMEGRANATES ° Written for the stage ° Rejected by Macready ° The action of the play is unhistorical o A BLOT ON THE ‘SCUTCHEON (1843) ° Tragedy in blank verse ° No. V BELLS AND POMEGRANATES ° Set in an aristocratic household of the 18th century ° The play concerns the tragic outcome of an illicit love affair between Mildred Tresham and Lord Henry Mertoun o COLOMBE’S BIRTHDAY (1844) ° A play in blank verse ° No. VI of BELLS AND POMEGRANATES ° The play is set in 17thcent. Germany ° On the day that Colombe is to celebrate her birthday and the first anniversary of her accession to the duchy of Juliers and Cleves ° Events are unhistorical o DRAMATIC ROMANCES AND LYRICS (1845) ° A collection of poems ° No. VII of Bells and Pomegranates ° Many of the poems were revised before publication in consultation with Elizabeth Barrett
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° The collection included some of Browning's best-known poems, such as How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, The Lost Leader, and The Flight of the Duchess. o LURIA (1846) ° A tragedy in blank verse ° Together with A SOUL'S TRAGEDY ° No. VIII of BELLS AND POMEGRANATES ° Set in the 15th cent, during the conflict between Florence and Pisa ° The actual episode is unhistorical ° The plot concerns the fall of the noble-hearted Florentine commander Luria, a Moorish mercenary who, at the height of his triumph, is falsely accused of plotting a coup against the Republic ° The failure of political idealism, consummated and transcended by a heroic death, relates the play to Browning's earlier SORDELLO ° Acknowledged the influence of OTHELLO o A SOUL’S TRAGRDY (1846) ° A play ° Together with LURIA ° No. VIII of BELLS AND POMEGRANATES ° Its subtitle—'Act First, being what was called the Poetry of Chiappino's life: and Act Second, its Prose' ° Genre: tragi-comedy ‹ THE ITALIAN IN ENGLAND ‹ THE BISHOP ORDERS HIS TOMB AT SAINT PRAXED’S ‹ PICTOR IGNOTUS ‹ CHRISTMAS-EVE AND EASTER-DAY (1850) • A poem in two parts • In octosyllabic metre • With an irregular rhyme-scheme • The first part, 'Christmas-Eve', in the form of a narrative combining realistic and visionary elements
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o Accepts that denominational religion is an imperfect medium for divine truth, but emphasizes the need to choose the best method of worship according to one's lights • The second part, 'Easter-Day', in the form of an imagined dialogue o Examines the difficulties of holding to the Christian faith at all o Argues that the condition of doubt is essential to the existence of human faith • The first to appear after Browning's marriage • Shows the influence of E. B. Browning's strong intellectual and emotional engagement with religious polemic, acting on Browning's own Nonconformist upbringing ‹ MEN AND WOMEN (1855) • A collection of 51 poem • The poems date from the period after Browning's marriage in 1846 • Include many of his finest dramatic monologues: Fra Lippo Lippi, Bishop Blougram's Apology, Andrea del Sarto, and Cleon • Also includes Browning's most famous love poem Love among the Ruins • The problematic Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came o The title derives from a snatch of song recited by Edgar in KING LEAR o A knight errant crosses a nightmare landscape in search of the Dark Tower o He eventually reaches the Tower and blows his horn defiantly at its foot o The poem ends with the title phrase o There is no indication of what happened next ° The collection closes with an address to Elizabeth Barrett Browning o ONE WORD MORE o A phrase picked up during their correspondence in 1845-6 Dramatic Monologues
‹ AN EPISTLE CONTAINING THE STRANGE MEDICAL ‹ EXPERIENCE OF KARSHISH ‹ THE ARAB PHYSICIAN
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V Most of them written in blank verse.
‹ DRAMATIS PERSONAE (1864) • A collection of dramatic monologues • They were marked by Browning's grief after the death of his wife in 1861 • His searching examination of the relation of human to divine love • Several of the poems are anthology favourites: Rabbi Ben Ezra and Prospice • The heart of the collection is the long dramatic monologues such as A Death in the Desert, Caliban upon Setebos, and Mr Sludge, "the Medium" ‹ ABT VOGLER ‹ THE RING AND THE BOOK (1868-1869) • Story of the murder of a young wife Pompilia by her husband • A poem in blank verse • In 12 books, totalling over 21,000 lines • Published in four monthly instalments Nov. 1868 - Feb1869 ‹ BALAUSTION’S ADVENTURE (1871) ° Balaustion's Adventure: Including a Transcript from Euripides ‹ PRINCE HOHENSTIEL-SCHWANGAU, SAVIOUR OF SOCIETY (1871) • A poem • Blank verse • The prince is based on the Emperor Napoleon III ‹ FIFINE AT THE FLAIR (1872) • A poem • Alexandrine couplets • The speaker - Don Juan • Don Juan, attracted by the gypsy dancer Fifine, dissertates to Elvire on the nature of his feelings • Fifine - Lady Ashburton • Elvire - Elizabeth Barrett Browning ‹ RED COTTON NIGHT-CAP COUNTRY (1873)
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• Red Cotton Night-Cap Country or Turf and Towers • A poem • Blank verse • The title refers ironically to the description by Browning's friend Anne Thackeray ‹ ARISTOPHANES' APOLOGY, INCLUDING A TRANSCRIPT FROM EURIPIDES: BEING THE LAST ADVENTURE OF BALAUSTION (1875) • A long poem • Blank verse • Sequel to BALAUSTION'S ADVENTURE ‹ THE INN ALBUM (1875) • A poem • Approximately 3,000 lines • blank verse ‹ PACCHIARONO AND HOW HE WORKED IN DISTEMPER: WITH OTHER POEMS (1876) ° collection of 19 poems, in various metres ° The most unusual poem in the volume - the ballad Hervé Riel • About the heroic exploit of a French sailor in a fight against the British ‹ THE AGAMEMNON OF AESCHYLUS (1877) ° A translation ° Aroused controversy because of its uncompromising literalness ‹ LA SAISIAZ, and THE TWO POETS OF CROISC (1878) ° Two long poems ° LA SAISIAZ: A philosophical elegy • Prompted by the sudden death of a close friend of Browning's, with whom he had been holidaying in a chalet called 'La Saisiaz' (the sun) near Geneva • Deals with the central religious question 'Does the soul survive the body? Is there God's self, no or yes? • The poem, like IN MEMORIAM, is as much a self-scrutiny as a tribute to the dead.
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° THE TWO POETS OF CROISIC: tells the stories of two obscure poets associated with the small village of Croisic in Brittany, each of the stories illustrating, in comic and grotesque vein, the folly of human aspiration. ‹ DRAMATIC IDYLS (1879) • A volume of six poems, of medium length, four of them in the same metre • DRAMATIC IDYLS, FIRST SERIES • The poems are among the finest of Browning's later period o Ivan Ivànovitch V A story based on a Russian folk-tale of a woman who threw her children to the wolves in order to save her own life. • The collection has a notable unity of tone • Focuses on human behaviour in conditions of extreme stress ‹ DRAMATIC IDYLS, SECOND SERIES (1880) • A volume of six poems • Clive ‹ JOCOSERIA (1883) • A volume of ten poems of various lengths and metres • Browning borrowed the title from Otto Melander's book of jokes and stories (1597) to suggest its lightweight character • The volume contains the much-parodied lyric Wanting is—what? o An exquisite miniature of Browning's whole philosophy of art as a mode of desire ‹ FERISHTAH’S FANCIES (1884) • A volume of poems • The main part of the collection consists of 12 poems • Focused on the sayings of an imaginary Persian sage, Ferishtah, on various moral and religious topics ‹ PARLEYINGS WITH CERTAIN PEOPLE OF IMPORTANT IN THEIR DAY (1887) • A volume of poems • Blank verse
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• The finest of the PARLEYINGS: Gérard de Lairesse and Charles Avison ‹ ASOLANDO (1889) • The last volume of poems • Published on 12 Dec, the day of Browning's death • The poems fall into three main groups: an opening series of love lyrics; a group of anecdotal poems and longer narratives; and a concluding group of meditative or reminiscent dramatic monologues. • The finest poem: Beatrice Signorini o The last of Browning's great poems about Italian painters Prose works Two essays Chatterton (1842) ° In the form of a review Shelley (1852) ° The introduction to a collection of letters of Shelley Elizabeth Barret Browning
V 1806-1861 V Began to write poems at the age of 8. V Woman of acute sensibilities
‹ THE BATTLE OF MARATHON (1820) ‹ AN ESSAY ON MIND; WITH OTHER POEMS (1826) • First published work ‹ PROMETHEUS BOUND (1833) ‹ THE SERAPHIM AND OTHER POEMS (1838) ‹ SONNETS FROM THE PORTUGUESE (1847) ° A sonnet sequence ° First published 1850 ° The so-called 'Reading Edition' of 1847 was a forgery by T J. Wise ° Describes the growth and development of her love for Robert Browning ‹ CASA GUIDI WINDOWS (1851) ° The theme of Italian liberation
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‹ AURORA LEIGH (1857) • An immense poem in blank verse • A 'novel in verse', published 1857 • 11,000-line • life-story of a woman writer • magnum opus ‹ LAST POEMS (1862) ° Issued posthumously in 1862 ° Contained some of her best-known lyrics ‹ THE CRY OF THE CHILDREN (1841) • Blackwood Magazine ‹ A MUSICAL INSTRUMENT (1860) • Cornhill Magazine
Matthew Arnold
V 1822-1888 V Poet and Critic V Son of the famous headmaster of Rugby School, Thomas Arnold V Gained the Newdigate Prize for poetry V Fellow of Oriel College (1845) V Inspector of Schools (1851) ‹ THE STRAYED REVELLER, AND OTHER POEMS (1849) ° His first volume of poems ° Contains: The Forsaken Merman, The Sick King in Bokhara, and sonnets written at Balliol, including Shakespeare ‹ EMPEDOCLES ON ETNA, AND OTHER POEMS (1852) ° A dramatic poem ° Published anonymously 1852 ° Arnold portrays the philosopher Empedocles, who committed suicide by throwing himself into the crater of Etna ‹ TRISTRAM AND ISEULF (1852)
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° A poem in three parts ° This is the first modern version of the story that was made familiar by Wagner and Tennyson ° Deals with the death of Tristram ‹ SOHRAB AND RUSTUM (1853) ° A poem ° The story is taken from Firdusi's Persian epic ° Blank verse adorned by epic similes ‹ POEMS (1853) • Preface ‹ NEW POEMS (1867) ‹ THE SCHOLAR GIPSY (1853) ° A poem ° Pastoral in setting ° Based on an old legend, narrated by Glanvill in his THE VANITY OF DOGMATIZING ° The tone is elegiac ‹ THYRSIS ° A Monody ° To commemorate the author's friend, Arthur Hugh Clough, who died at Florence, 1861 ° First published in MACMILLAN'S MAGAZINE, 1866 ° A pastoral elegy ° Lamenting Clough as Thyrsis ° Recalling his 'golden prime' in the days when he and Arnold wandered through the Oxfordshire countryside ° Their youthful rivalry as poets ° Clough's departure for a more troubled world ° Invokes the Scholar-Gipsy as an image of hope and perpetual quest ‹ RUGBY CHAPEL ‹ ON TRANSLATING HOMER (1861)
Meditative Poetry
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‹ DOVER BEACH ‹ A SUMMER NIGHT ‹ ESSAYS IN CRITICISM (1865 AND 1889) • Contains the best of his critical work. • First Series in 1865 • Second Series in 1888 ‹ ON THE STUDY OF CELTIC LITERATURE (1867) ‹ CULTURE AND ANARCHY (1869) • A collection of essays • Contains many of Arnold's central critical arguments • The first chapter is devoted to his concept of culture as 'sweetness and light' o A phrase adopted from Swift's THE BATTLE OF THE BOOKS • Arnold presents culture as the classical ideal of human perfection • Subsequent chapters set forward his definitions of Barbarians, Philistines, and the Populace • Contrast the spirit of Hebraism with that of Hellenism ‹ LITERATURE AND DOGMA (1873)
Edward Fitzgerald
V 1809-1883 V Tennyson’s closest friend ‹ RUBAIYAT (1859) • Free translation of Omar Khayyam’s RUBAIYAT ‹ EUPHRANOR: A DIALOGUE ON YOUTH (1851) • Prose dialogue
Arthur Hugh Clough
V 1819-1861 V Gosse: Clough’s poetry “the sympathetic modern accent” ‹ THE BOTHIE OF TOPER-NA-FUOSICH (1848) • First long poem
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• Classical hexameters • M. Arnold: the poem had 'freshness, life, naturalness . . . the true Homeric ring'. ‹ AMOURS DE VOYAGE (1849) • Hexameters • First published in the Atlantic Monthly, 1858 • Epistolary ‹ DIPSYCHUS (1850) • Meditative poem ‹ SAY NOT THE STRUGGLE NAUGHT AVAILETH
∑ His death was bewailed by Arnold in his elegy THYRSIS
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
V 1807-1882 V American poet V The classmate of Hawthorne ‹ OUTRÉ-MER ‹ A PILGRIMAGE BEYOND THE SEA (1834-1835) • Based upon his earliest travels. ‹ HYPERION (1839) • Prose romance • A product of his grief • The tale of a young man who seeks to forget sorrow in travel ‹ VOICES OF THE NIGHT (1839) • Collection • Includes some of his shorter poems. ‹ BALLADS AND OTHER POEMS (1841) • Well known pieces: The Wreck of the Hesperus and The Village Blacksmith ‹ EVANGELINE (1847) • Tragical story of the early colonial days. • Hexameters
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• Set in Acadia ‹ THE SONG OF HIAWATHA (1855) • Collection of Indian folk tales • Unrhymed octosyllabic verse ‹ THE COURTSHIP OF MILES STANISH (1858) • Long hexameter narrative • Based on a New England legend ‹ TALES OF A WAYSIDE INN (1863) • Follows the form of THE CANTERBURY TALES and the DECAMERON • A group of travellers, in the 'old-fashioned, quaint abode' of the inn, pass the evening by telling tales, directed by the landlord. Didactic pieces ‹ A Psalm of Life ‹ Footsteps of Angels ‹ The Reaper and the Flowers Dante Gabriel Rossetti
V 1828-1882 V Painter, poet V Founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood • A group of artists, poets, and critics • John Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Holman Hunt, William Michael Rossetti, T Woolner, Frederic George Stephens (1828-1907), and James Collinson • Aim: to replace the reigning academic style of painting by a return to the truthfulness, simplicity and spirit of devotionwhich they were attributed to Italian painting before the time of Raphael and the high Italian Renaissance • The term 'Pre-Raphaelite' indicated – inspiration from Italian artists before Raphael • Its periodical the Germ (1850) • Oct. 1871 appeared Robert Buchanan's notorious attack “The Fleshly School of Poetry” (under the pseudonym Thomas Maitland) in the Contemporary Review
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• Rossetti's reply, 'The Stealthy School of Criticism', appeared in the Athenaeum, Dec. 1872 ‹ POEMS (1870) • Sister Helen • Troy Town • Eden Bower • Jenny • The first part of his sonnet sequence The House of Life ‹ BALLADS AND SONNETS (1881) ‹ THE BLESSED DAMOZEL • The first version appeared in the Germ (1850) • Describes the blessed damozel leaning out from the ramparts of Heaven, watching the worlds below and the souls mounting to God, and praying for union with her earthly lover in the shadow of the 'living mystic tree' • Shows Pre-Raphaelite interest in medieval sacramental symbolism and Rossetti's concept of an ideal platonic love ‹ My Sister's Sleep ‹ Hand and Soul • A prose piece ° Published in the Germ (1850)
Ballads
‹ ROSE MARY ‹ TROY TOWN
Christina Georgina Rossetti
V 1830-1894 V Sister of Dante Gabriel and William Michael Rossetti V Her biographer: L. M. Packer
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V She contributed to the Germ (1850), where five of her poems appeared under the pseudonym 'Ellen Alleyn'. ‹ Up-hill (1861) ‹ A Birthday (1861) ° Two of her best-known poems ° Macmillan s Magazine
‹ GOBLIN MARKET AND OTHER POEMS (1864) ‹ THE PRINCE’S PROGRESS AND OTHER POEMS (1866) ‹ SING-SONG, A NURSERY RHYME BOOK (1872) • With illustrations by Arthur Hughes ‹ A PAGEANT AND OTHER POEMS (1881) ‹ TIME FLIES: A READING DIARY (1885) • Consists of short passages and prose • One for each day of the year. ‹ VERSES (1893) ‹ NEW POEMS (1896)
William Morris
V 1834-1896 V One of the originators of the OXFORD AND CAMBRIDGE MAGAZINE (1856) V The 'Antiscrape Society' • Founded in 1877 • The Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings ‹ THE DEFENCE OF GUENEVERE AND OTHER POEMS (1858) • Contains much of his best work • The Haystack in the Floods • Concerning Geffray Teste Noire • Shameful Death • Golden Wings ‹ THE LIFE AND DEATH OF JASON (1867)
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• Heroic poem • Heroic couplets • Based on the story of Jason, Medea, and the Argonauts ‹ THE EARTHLY PARADISE (1868-1870) • A poem • Collection of tales • Consisting of a prologue and 24 tales • Chaucerian metres ‹ THE STORY OF SIGURD THE VOLSUNG AND THE FALL OF THE NIBLUNGS (1877) • Finest long narrative poem • Based on the Norse sagas. • An epic in anapaestic couplets • Four books ‹ POEMS BY THE WAY (1891) ‹ HOPES AND FEARS FOR ART (1882) ‹ SIGNS OF CHANGE (1888)
Lectures
‹ A DREAM OF JOHN BALL (1888) • A historical socialist fantasy • published in Commonweal, Nov. 1886-Jan. 1887, in volume form 1888 • It takes the form of a dream • The narrator is carried back to the time of the early stages of the Peasants' Revolt in 1381; he encounters the 'hedge-priest' John Ball, and in their final night-long dialogue Morris both satirizes the 19th century present and offers hope for a future when men 'shall see things as they verily are' and rise in successful protest against their exploitation ‹ NEWS FROM NOWHERE (1891) • A Utopian socialist fantasy
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• First published in Commonweal, Jan.-Oct. 1890, in volume form 1891. • A critical response to Bellamy's LOOKING BACKWARD, a Utopian portrait of a state socialist future dominated by machinery V His socialist political hopes for the regeneration of English life
Prose Romances
‹ A TALE OF THE HOUSE OF THE WOLFING (1889) ‹ THE ROOTS OF THE MOUNTAINS (1890) ‹ THE STORY OF THE GLITTERING PLAIN (1891) ‹ THE WOOD BEYOND THE WORLD (1894) ‹ THE SUNDERING FLOOD (1898)
Algernon Charles Swinburne
V 1837-1909 ‹ ATALANTA IN CALYDON (1865) • English version of an ancient Greek tragedy. with choruses • Poetic form • A poetic drama • Michael Rossetti compared it to Shelley's PROMETHEUS UNBOUND ‹ POEMS AND BALLADS (1866) • Contains many of his best as well as his most notorious poems o Dolores o Itylus o Hymn to Proserpine o The Triumph of Time o Faustine o Laus Veneris ‹ SONGS BEFORE SUNRISE (1871) • Collection of poems chiefly in praise of Italian beauty. ‹ ERECHTHEUS (1876) • Greek drama
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‹ TRISTRAM AND OTHER POEMS (1882) • Heroic couplet • Tells the story of Tristram's love for Queen Iseult, his marriage to Iseult of Brittany, and his death ‹ THE QUEEN MOTHER AND ROSAMOND (1860) • Play • Shows the influence of Elizabethan dramatists, notably of Chapman ‹ A SONG OF ITALY (1867) ‹ SONGS BEFORE SUNRISE (1871) ‹ CHASTERLARD (1865) • The first of three dramas on the subject of Mary Queen of Scots ‹ BOTHWELL (1874) ‹ MARY STUART (1881) V On the subject of Mary Queen of Scots. ‹ LOCRINE (1887) ‹ THE SISTERS (1892) ‹ MARINO FALIERO (1885) • A tragedy on the same subject as Byron's of the same title ‹ POEMS AND BALLADS: THIRD SERIES (1889) Critical Works
‹ WILLIAM BLAKE (1868) ‹ A STUDY OF SHAKESPEARE (1880) ‹ A STUDY OF BEN JONSON (1889)
Arthur Edgar O’Shaughnessy
V 1844-1881 ‹ AN EPIC OF WOMEN, AND OTHER POEMS (1870) ‹ LAYS OF FRANCE (1872) ‹ MUSIC AND MOONLIGHT (1874) ‹ SONGS OF A WORKER (1881)
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‹ WE ARE THE MUSIC MAKERS • Ode ‹ A NEGLECTED HEART ‹ EXILE
Walt Whitman
V 1819-1892 V Printer, school teacher, journalist, publisher ‹ LEAVES OF GRASS (1855) • 1st edition contained 12 poems • Vers libre ‹ DRUM TAPS (1866) ‹ MEMORANDA DURING THE WAR (1875) • His prose ‹ WHEN LILACS LAST IN THE DOORYARD BLOOM'D • The great elegy on Abraham Lincoln
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The Victorian Age 1830-1890
The Age of Tennyson 1832-1887 An Era of Peace Charles Dickens
V Charles John Huffham Dickens V 1812-1870 ‹ Master Humphrey's Clock • A weekly • Founded by Dickens in 1840 • Originally intended as a miscellany which would contain a continuous narrative (THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP) linked by the reminiscences of the narrator, Master Humphrey ‹ Daily News • A new radical paper • Founded by Dickens in 1845 • A Liberal rival to the Morning Chronicle • The first issue appeared on 21 Jan. 1846. • Dickens himself edited the paper • Notable contributors and members of its staff at various times: Martineau, Lang, G. B. Shaw, Wells, Arnold Bennett, and the eminent war correspondent Archibald Forbes (1839-1900) • Became the News Chronicle in 1930 • Survived under this title until 1960 ‹ Household Words • A weekly periodical started in 1850 • Incorporated in 1859 into All the Year Round, which he edited until his death
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• Aimed at a large audience • Contributions from well-known writers: Mrs Gaskell, Reade, and Bulwer- Lytton • Established the reputation of Wilkie Collins • Published poems by the young Meredith and Patmore • Attacks on the abuses of the day (poor sanitation, slums, factory accidents) • Subject matter was varied and entertaining • Captivated a vast readership ‹ SKETCHES BY BOZ (1836) • A series dealing with London life in the manner of Leigh Hunt • A collection of sketches of life and manners • The Monthly Magazine (1833-5) ‹ THE PICKWICK PAPERS (1836) ‹ OLIVER TWIST (1837) • Appeared in BENTLEY’S MISCELLANY o Dickens was the first editor o Begun by Richard Bentley ‹ NICHOLAS NICKLEBY (1840) ‹ THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP (1840) • Published as a separate volume in 1841 • Originally intended to be fitted into the framework of Master Humphrey's Clock (1840-1) • Master Humphrey - the narrator of the first few chapters • This idea was soon abandoned. ‹ BARNABY RUDGE (1841) • Historical novel • Published as part of Master Humphrey's Clock • The earlier of Dickens's two historical novels • set at the period of the Gordon anti-popery riots of 1780 • Lord George Gordon himself appears as a character ‹ AMERICAN NOTES (1842)
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‹ MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT (1843) • THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT ‹ A CHRISTMAS CAROL (1843) • A Christmas book • The first of a series of Christmas books o THE CHIMES o THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH o THE BATTLE OF LIFE o THE HAUNTED MAN ‹ DOMBEY AND SON (1846) • DEALINGS WITH THE FIRM OF DOMBEY AND SON ‹ DAVID COPPERFIELD (started in 1849) • Masterpiece • Dickens - “Of all my books, I like this the best” and it has always been • A favourite with a wide public • It is (in some of its details) Dickens's veiled autobiography ‹ BLEAK HOUSE (1852) • The book contains a vigorous satire on the abuses of the old court of Chancery, the delays and costs of which brought misery and ruin on its suitors • The tale centres in the fortunes of an uninteresting couple, Richard Carstone, a futile youth, and his amiable cousin Ada Clare • They are wards of the court in the case of Jarndyce ‹ A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND • A work which manifests his own historical bias • His heroes: Alfred and Cromwell • Appeared irregularly 1851-3 ‹ HARD TIMES (1854) • Condemned by Macaulay for its “sullen socialism” • Leavis (THE GREAT TRADITION, 1947), who saw Dickens in this work “for once possessed by a comprehensive vision”
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‹ LITTLE DORRIT (1855) • Published in monthly parts, 1855-7 • G. B. Shaw: his “masterpiece among many masterpieces” ‹ A TAKE OF TWO CITIES(1859) • The 'two cities' are Paris, in the time of the French Revolution, and London • The book gives a vivid picture (modelled on Carlyle's The French Revolution) French Revolution ‹ GREAT EXPECTATIONS (1860) • First appeared in All the Year Round 1860-1 • Published in book form in the latter year • Recounts the development of the character of the narrator, Philip Pirrip, commonly known as 'Pip' o A village boy brought up by his termagant sister, the wife of the gentle, humorous, kindly blacksmith Joe Gargery ‹ ALL THE YEAR ROUND ‹ OUR MUTUAL FRIEND (1864) • Published in monthly parts between May 1864 and Nov. 1865 ‹ THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD • Incomplete
William Makepeace Thackeray
V 1811-1863 V Born in Calcutta, the son of Richmond Thackeray, a collector in the East India Company's service. V His father died when he was 3, and Thackeray was sent home to England in 1817 V Close friend of Fitzgerald. ‹ Punch, or The London Charivari • An illustrated weekly comic periodical • Founded 1841 • Contributed to it caricatures as well as articles and humorous sketches V Contribute regularly to Fraser's Magazine
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V Wrote for many other periodicals, including the Morning Chronicle, the New Monthly Magazine, and The Times ‹ THE YELLOW PLUSH CORRESPONDENCE (1837-1838) • Contributed to Fraser’s Magazine • These were a critique of what Carlyle called 'flunkeyism' • Delivered through the device of a footman-narrator ‹ CATHERINE (1839) • Narrated by 'Ikey Solomon' • Published serially in Fraser's Magazine, 1839-40 ‹ A SHABBY GENTEEL STORY (1840) ‹ THE PARIS SKETCH BOOK (1840) • His first full-length volume • Containing miscellaneous early journalism ‹ THE GREAT HOGGARTY DIAMOND (1841) • A mock-heroic tale • A diamond which brings bad luck to Samuel Titmarsh, an amiable young clerk who inherits the gem • Narrated by Sam's cousin, Michael Angelo Titmarsh, who provided Thackeray with his most familiar pseudonym ‹ THE FITZBOODLE PAPERS (1842-3) • Appeared first in Fraser’s Magazine ‹ MEN'S WIVES (1843) • 184 stories • Appeared in Fraser's Magazine • They are concerned with different kinds of unhappy marriage, and the exploitation of one partner by the other • The longest and most fully developed story - The Ravenswing o Concerns Morgiana Crump who possesses beautiful hair and a beautiful singing voice, marries the profligate Captain Walker, and supports him by singing.
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‹ THE LUCK OF BARRY LYNDON (1844) • A satirical historical novel • Published in Fräsers Magazine • Republished under the title THE MEMOIRS OF BARRY LYNDON, ESQUIRE, BY HIMSELF (1852, New York) • It is the picaresque story of an Irish adventurer who unconsciously reveals his villainy while attempting self-justification ‹ THE IRISH SKETCH BOOK OF 1843 • A personal, impressionistic and prejudiced account of an 1842 tour of Ireland ‹ THE BOOK OF SNOBS (1849) • The Snobs of England, by One of Themselves • Appeared in PUNCH as THE SNOBS OF ENGLAND • Narrated by 'Mr Snob' ‹ MR PUNCH'S PRIZE NOVELISTS (1847) • Parodies the leading writers of the day ‹ THE HISTORY OF SAMUEL TITMARSH AND THE GREAT HOGGARTY DIAMOND. (1841) ‹ VANITY FAIR (1847-1848) • First major novel • The story is set at the time of the Napoleonic wars • Gives a satirical picture of a worldly society • Title: From Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress o A fair in the town of Vanity, on the way to the Celestial City ‹ THE HISTORY OF PENDENNIS (1848-1850) • Serialized in numbers Nov. 1848-Dec. 1850 • Illustrated by himself • Its publication was interrupted by the serious illness of its author, who fell ill with cholera in 1849 • It is a Bildungsroman
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‹ THE HISTORY OF HENRY ESMOND (1852) • Historical novel • A historical novel by Thackeray • Set during the reign of Queen Anne • Henry Esmond, who tells his own story, mainly in the third person, is the (supposed illegitimate) son of the third Viscount Castlewood, who dies at the battle of the Boyne • The later history of the family in America and England is told in THE VIRGINIANS ‹ THE NEW COMES (1853-1855) • Edited by Pendennis ‹ THE VIRGINIANS (1857-1859) • Sequel to HENRY ESMOND • Historical novel of the American Revolution ∑ 1860 appointed first editor of The Cornhill Magazine ∑ For this he wrote LOVEL THE WINDOWER (1860) ‹ THE ADVENTURE OF PHILIP (1861-1862) • THE ADVENTURES OF PHILIP ON HIS WAY THROUGH THE WORLD, SHOWING WHO ROBBED HIM, WHO HELPED HIM, AND WHO PASSED HIM BY • The last complete novel • serialized in the Cornhill Magazine Jan. 1861-Aug. 1862 • With illustrations by the author and Fred Walker • The story is told by Arthur ‹ THE ROUND ABOUT PAPERS (1860-1863) • A series of essays ‹ DENNIS DUVAL • Unfinished novel.
Lectures
‹ THE ENGLISH HUMOURISTS OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (1853)
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‹ THE FOUR GEOGES (1860)
‹ REBECCA AND THE ROWENA (1850) • A comic continuation of IVANHOE ‹ THE LEGEND OF THE RHINE (1845) • A burlesque tale of medieval chivalry ‹ THE ROSE AND THE RING (1855) • An excellent example of his love of parody • A fairy story • Illustrated by Thackeray, first published 1855 • By Mr M. A. Titmarsh, a delightful children's story
Poetry
‹ THE BALLADS OF POLICEMAN X • Contributed to PUNCH ‹ THE WHITE SQUALL ‹ THE BALLAD OF BOUILLABAISSE
The Brontes
‹ Charlotte Bronte ‹ Emily Bronte ‹ Anne Bronte
Charlotte Bronte
V 1816-1855 ‹ THE PROFESSOR • Appeared in 1857 after her death • First novel ‹ JANE EYRE (1847)
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• Greatest novel • The story of the first Mrs Rochester was told by Rhys in WIDE SARGASSO SEA ‹ SHIRLEY (1849) • The scene of the story is Yorkshire • The period the latter part of the Napoleonic wars, the time of the Luddite riots, when the wool industry was suffering from the almost complete cessation of exports. ‹ VILLETTE (1853) Elizabeth Gaskell – biographer - THE LIFE OF CHARLOTTE BRONTË (1857) Emily Bronte
V Emily Jane Brontë V 1818-1848 ‹ WUTHERING HEIGHTS (1847) • The story is narrated by Lockwood • The narration is taken up by the housekeeper, Nelly Dean • Events are set in motion by the arrival at the Heights of Heathcliff, picked up as a waif of unknown parentage in the streets of Liverpool by the elder Earnshaw
Finest Poems
‹ NO COWARD SOUL IS MINE ‹ COLD IN THE EARTH, AND THE DEEP SNOW PILED ABOVE THEE
Anne Bronte
V 1820-1849 ‹ AGNES GREY (1847) ‹ THE TENANT OF WILDFELL HALL (1848)
George Eliot
V 1819-1880 V Mary Ann Evans
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V Leavis praises her “traditional moral sensibility”, her “luminous intelligence” V Leavis: she “is not as transcendently great as Tolstoy, but she is great, and great in the same way” V GEORGE ELIOT: A LIFE - Rosemary Ashton (1996) ‹ LIFE OF JESUS (1846) • Translation Strauss’ V 1851- Assistant editor of The Westminster Review ‹ A translation of Feuerbach's ESSENCE OF CHRISTIANITY (1854) ‹ SCENES OF CLERICAL LIFE (1857) • Collection of short stories • A series of three tales • Published in two volumes 1858, having • Appeared in Blackwood's Magazine in the previous year • The Sad Fortunes of the Rev. Amos Barton o The sketch of a commonplace clergyman • Mr Gilfil's Love-Story o The tale of a man whose nature has been warped by a tragic love experience • Janet's Repentance o The story of a conflict between religion and irreligion, and of the influence of a sympathetic human soul ‹ ADAM BEDE(1859) • The plot was suggested by a story told to George Eliot by her Methodist aunt Elizabeth Evans of a confession of child-murder made to her by a girl in prison • The action takes place at the close of the 18th century • Hetty Sorrel “the most successful” of George Eliot's female figures ‹ THE MILL AND THE FLOSS (1860) • Tom and Maggie, the principal characters • The portrayal of childhood, of rural life • One of the most widely read of her works • Partly autobiographical
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• Poetical ‹ SILAS MARNER: THE WEAKER OF RAVELOE (1861) • Shorter novel • Gives excellent pictures of village life • Melodramatic end ‹ ROMOLA (1863) • The background of the novel is Florence at the end of the 15th cent., the troubled period, following the expulsion of the Medici, of the expedition of Charles VIII • The story is that of the purification by trials of the noble-natured Romola, devoted daughter of an old blind scholar ‹ FELIX HOLT THE RADICAL (1866) • Set in the period of the reform bill. • Set in 1832 in Loamshire • Evokes the political ferment and corrupt electioneering tactics of the times ‹ MIDDLE MARCH, A STUDY OF PROVINCIAL LIFE (1871-1872) • The scene is laid in the provincial town of Middlemarch, Loamshire, during the years of the agitation immediately preceding the first Reform Bill • George Eliot's reputation reached its height with MIDDLEMARCH • Virginia Woolf defended her in an essay (1919) which declared Middlemarch to be “one of the few English novels written for grown-up people” ‹ DANIEL DERONDA (1876) • Last novel • Jewish plot ‹ IMPRESSIONS OF THEOPHRASTUS SUCH (1879) • Collection of miscellaneous essays ‹ THE SPANISH GYPSY (1868) • Her dramatic poem • Conceived on an earlier visit to Italy, and • Inspired by Tintoretto
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George Meredith
V 1828-1909 V 1867- Temporary editor of THE FORTNIGHTLY REVIEW ‹ POEMS (1851) ‹ MODERN LOVE, AND POEMS OF THE ENGLISH ROADSIDE, WITH POEMS AND BALLADS (1862) • An intense, innovative work of 50 poems, each of 16 lines • Spoken by a narrator who painfully discovers how unreal are his ideas of women ‹ POEMS AND LYRICS OF THE JOY OF THE EARTH (1883) ‹ BALLADS AND POEMS OF TRAGIC LIFE (1887) ‹ A READING OF EARTH (1888) ‹ POEMS (1892) ‹ A READING OF LIFE. WITH OTHER POEMS (1901)
Novels
‹ THE ORDEAL OF RICHARD FEVEREL (1859) • First novel • Exhibits clearly for the first time his theory of ‘comedy’ ‹ EVAN HARRINGTON (1861) • Details of Meredith’s own family life ‹ EMILIA IN ENGLAND (1864) (SANDRA BELLONI) ‹ RHODA FLEMING (1865) ‹ VITTORIA (1867) • Sequel to SANDRA BELLONI ‹ THE ADVENTURES OF HARRY RICHMOND (1871) • This began as 'an autobiographical study' ‹ BEAUCHAMP’S CAREER (1876) • A political novel • Much concerned with the contemporary state of Britain
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• Nevil Beauchamp - begins his career as an idealistic young naval officer • Renée was Meredith's favourite among all his women characters ‹ THE EGOIST (1879) • The central character, the Egoist himself, is Sir Willoughby Patterne ‹ THE TRAGIC COMEDIANS (1880) • Novella • Based on an episode in the life of the German socialist Ferdinand Lassalle ‹ DIANA OF THE CROSSWAYS (1885) • Diana is based on the writer Caroline Norton whose husband had tried to divorce her • After the family's protests Meredith included a note that the work “is to be read as fiction” • Crossways, the name of her house, indicates the novel's emphasis on a historical moment which proved a turning point in marital and sexual politics ‹ ONE OF OUR CONQUERORS (1891) ‹ LORD ORMONT AND HIS AMINTA (1894) • Another study of unhappy marriage • Exotic settings and a more aristocratic milieu than normal in Meredith's work ‹ THE AMAZING MARRIAGE (1895) • His last novel • His most impenetrable • Extreme exploration of the battle between the sexes Benjamin Disraeli
V 1804-1881 V First earl of Beaconsfield V Politician V Prime Minister V Novelist. V Disraeli's famous comment: “When I want to read a novel I write one” ‹ VIVIAN GREY (1826-1827)
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• This was the first of Disraeli's novels • Published anonymously ‹ THE VOYAGE OF CAPTAIN POPANILLA (1828) • Modern GULLIVER’S TRAVELS ‹ CONTARINI FLEMING: A PSYCHOLOGICAL AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1832) • Oriental historical romance ‹ HENRIETTA TEMPLE (1837) ‹ CONINGSBY: OR THE TWO GENERATION (1844) ‹ SYBIL: OR THE TWO NATIONS (1845) ‹ TANCRED: OR THE NEW CRUSADE (1847) ‹ IXION IN HEAVEN ‹ THE INFERNAL MARRIAGE • Both published in The New Monthly 1829-1830 • In book form 1853 • a light political satire ‹ THE WONDROUS TALE OF ALROY AND THE RISE OF ISKANDER (1833)
Edward Bulwer- Lytton
V 1803-1873 ‹ FALKLAND (1827) • First novel ‹ PELHAM, OR THE ADVENTURES OF A GENTLEMAN (1828) ‹ PAUL CLIFFORD (1830)
Historical Novel
‹ THE LAST DAYS OF POMPEII (1834) ‹ RIENZI, THE LAST OF THE ROMAN TRIBUNES (1835) ‹ HAROLD, THE LAST OF THE SAXONS (1848)
Domestic Novel
‹ THE CAXTONS, A FAMILY PICTURE (1849)
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‹ MY NOVEL (1853)
Terror and Supernatural
‹ A STRANGE STORY (1862) ‹ THE COMING RACE (1871)
Plays
‹ RICHELIEU, OR THE CONSPIRACY (1839) ‹ MONEY (1840)
Charles Reade
V 1814-1884 ‹ MASKS AND FACES (1852) • Collaboration with Tom Taylor ‹ PEG WOFFINGTON (1853) • First novel ‹ CHRISTIE JOHNSTONE (1853) ‹ IT IS NEVER TOO LATE TO MEND (1856) ‹ THE CLOISTER AND THE HEARTH (1861) • One of his best novels ‹ HARD AND CASH (1863) • Attack upon private lunatic asylum ‹ GRIFFITH GAUNT, OR JEALOUSLY (1866) ‹ FOUL PLAY (1868)
Anthony Trollope
V 1815-1882 V He edited the St Paul's Magazine, 1867-70. ‹ THE KELLYS AND THE O’KELLYS (1848) ‹ THE WARDEN (1855) ‹ BARCHESTER TOWERS (1857)
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‹ DOCTOR THORNE (1858) ‹ FRAMLEY PARSONAGE (1861) ‹ THE SMALL HOUSE AT ALLINGTON (1864) ‹ THE LAST CHRONICLE OF BAREST (1866-1867) • His best novel
Political Novels - “Palliser” novels
‹ CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? (1864) ‹ PHINEAS FINN (1869) ‹ PHINEAS REDUX (1874) ‹ THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS (1873) ‹ THE PRIME MINISTER (1876) ‹ THE DUKE'S CHILDREN ( 1880)
‹ AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY (1883)
Wilkie Collins
V 1824-1889 V Most successful of the followers of Dickens. V Specialised in the mystery novel V Wrote more than 25 novels ‹ THE DEAD SECRET (1857) ‹ THE WOMAN IN WHITE (1860) ‹ NO NAME (1862) ‹ THE MOONSTONE (1868) • One of the earliest and the best of the great multitude of detective stories ‹ AFTER DARK • Collection of some of his best pieces
Charles Kingsley
V 1819-1875
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V Social reformer ‹ ALTON LOCKE, TAILOR AND THE POET (1850) ‹ YEAST, A PROBLEM • First serialized in Fraser’s Magazine 1848 • Published in book form in 1851 ‹ HYPATIA, OR NEW FOES WITH AN OLD FACE (1853) ‹ WESTWARD HO! • A tale of the good old days of Queen Elizabeth • Inspired by an upsurge of patriotism with which he greeted the Crimean War • Set in the Elizabethan period ‹ TWO YEARS AGO (1857) ‹ HEREWARD THE WAKE, ’LAST OF THE ENGLISH’. (1866) • A historical novel • Based on the exploits of the legendary outlaw Poems
‹ SANDS OF DEE ‹ THE THREE FISHES ‹ AIRLY BEACON
‹ THE SAINT’S TRAGEDY (1848) • Poetical drama ‹ THE HEROES (1856) • Semi-poetical prose ‹ THE WATER BABIES (1863)
Walter Besant
V 1836-1901 ‹ READY MONEY MORTIBOY (1872) ‹ THE GOLDEN BUTTERFLY 1876 V Along with James Rice
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George Borrow
V 1803-1881 ‹ THE BIBLE IN SPAIN (1843) • Telling his adventures as an agent of the Bible Society ‹ LAVENGRO (1851) ‹ THE ROMANY RYE (1857) V Dealing with the life of gipsies ‹ WILD WALES (1862)
Nathaniel Hawthorne
V 1804-1864 V Most famous of American novelists V A moralist and allegorist
Short Stories
‹ TWICE TOLD TALES (1837) ‹ TWICE TOLD TALES SECOND SERIES (1842)
Novels
‹ MOSSES FROM AN OLD MANSE (1846) ‹ THE SCARLET LETTER (1850) • A classic enquiry into the nature of American Puritanism and the New England conscience • The scene of the story is the Puritan New England of the 17th century • An aged English scholar has sent his young wife, Hester Prynne, to Boston intending to follow her, but has been captured by the Indians and delayed for two years • He arrives to find her in the pillory, with a baby in her arms • She has refused to name her lover, and has been sentenced to this ordeal and to wear for the remainder of her life the red letter A, adulteress, upon her bosom
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• The husband assumes the name of Roger Chillingworth and makes Hester swear that she will conceal his identity • Hester goes to live on the outskirts of the town, an object of contempt and insult, with her child, Pearl • Hester's lover is Arthur Dimmesdale, a young and highly revered minister ‹ THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES (1851) • A study in ancestral guilt and expiation, also deeply rooted in New England and his own family history ‹ THE BLITHEDALE ROMANCE (1852) • A novel which conveys his mixed response to the Transcendentalists o A group of American intellectuals who met informally for philosophical discussion at Emerson's house and elsewhere during some years from 1836 o The embodiment of a movement of thought, philosophical, religious, social, and economic, produced in New England between 1830 and 1850 by the spirit of revolutionary Europe, German philosophy, and Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Carlyle. o The philosophical views of this Transcendentalism may be gathered from Emerson's short treatise NATURE (1836) o Its literary organ was the DIAL Richard D Blackmore
V 1825-1900 ‹ LORNA DOONE (1869) • Historical romance of Exmoor ‹ THE MAID OF SKER (1872) ‹ CRIPPS THE CARRIER (1876)
Robert Louis Stevenson
V 1850-1894 ‹ AN INLAND VOYAGE (1878)
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• Describing a canoe tour in Belgium and France ‹ TRAVELS WITH A DONKEY IN THE CEVENNES (1879) • The description of a tour taken with his donkey Modestine ‹ VIRGINIBUS PUERISQUE (1881)
Romance
‹ THE NEW ARABIAN NIGHTS (1882) ‹ TREASURE ISLAND (1883) • Previously appeared in Young Folks • July 1881-June 1882 • Under the title THE SEA COOK OR TREASURE ISLAND ‹ THE STRANGE CASE OF DR. JEKYLL AND MR. HYDE (1886) • Terror-mystery novel
Historical Novels
‹ KIDNAPPED (1886) ‹ THE BLACK ARROW (1888) ‹ THE MASTER OF BALLANTRAE (1889) ‹ CATRIONA (1893) • Sequel to KIDNAPPED ‹ WEIR OF HERMISTON • Unfinished masterpiece
Poetry
‹ A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES (1885) ‹ UNDERWOODS (1887) ‹ BALLADS (1890)
Francis Bret Harte
V 1839-1902 V 1868: editor- The Overland Monthly
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Short Stories
‹ THE LUCK OF ROARING CAMP ‹ THE OUTCASTS OF POKER FLAT ‹ MIGGLES ‹ TENNESSEE’S PARTNER ‹ PLAIN LANGUAGE FROM TRUTHFUL JAMES (THE HEATHEN CHINEE) • Most popular verse piece
Mark Twain
V SAMUEL LANGHORNE CLEMENS V 1835-1910
Travel Books
‹ THE INNOCENTS ABROAD (1869) • A satirical account of a voyage through the Mediterranean • The Saturday Review: Twain as “a very offensive specimen of the vulgarest kind of Yankee”. ‹ ROUGHING IT (1872) • Account of his adventures as miner and journalist in Nevada ‹ A TRAMP ABROAD (1880) ‹ FOLLOWING THE EQUATOR (1897)
Novels of the Mississippi
‹ THE ADVENTURES OF TOM SAWYER (1876) ‹ THE ADVENTURES OF HUCKLEBERRY FINN (1885) • His masterpiece • One of the great works of American fiction • An adventure story
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• A profound moral commentary on the nature of the “American experience” and the institution of slavery ‹ LIFE ON THE MISSISSIPPI (1883) • An autobiographical account of his life as a river pilot • Contains a notable attack on the influence of Sir Walter Scott Romances
‹ THE PRINCE AND THE PAUPER (1881) • His democratic historical fantasy • Background: England ‹ A CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT (1889) • A disturbing and not wholly amiable fantasy that satirizes both past and present ‹ JOAN OF ARCH (1896)
Mrs Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell
V 1810-1865 ‹ MARY BARTON, A TALE OF MANCHESTER LIFE (1848) • The background of the story is Manchester in the 'hungry forties' ‹ NORTH AND SOUTH (1855) • Published serially in Household Words 1854-5 • A study of the contrast between the values and habits of rural southern England and industrial northern England ‹ SYLVIA’S LOVER (1863) • Moralistic love story in a domestic setting ‹ WIVES AND DAUGHTERS (1866) • Ironical study of snobbishness ‹ CRANFORD (1853) • Cranford, a series of linked sketches of life among the ladies of a quiet country village in the 1830s • Based on Knutsford in Cheshire where Mrs Gaskell spent her childhood ‹ RUTH (1853)
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• Mrs Gaskell's purpose in this novel was to arouse more sympathy for 'fallen women' who had been unprotected victims of seduction, but she shocked many contemporary readers. ‹ MY LADY LUDLOW (1858) ‹ COUSIN PHILLIPS (1863-1864)
∑ CHARLOTTE BRONTE’S BIOGRAPHY (1857)
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The Victorian Age 1830-1890 The Age of Tennyson 1832-1887 An Era of Peace Thomas Carlyle
V 1795-1881 V Social prophet and critic, and his prestige as historian V W. B Yeats – AUTOBIOGRAPHY- “the chief inspirer of self-educated men in the 'eighties and early 'nineties'.” ‹ TRANSLATION OF GOETHE’S WILHELM MEISTER’S APPRENTICE SHIP (1824) ‹ THE LIFE OF SCHILLER (1825) • Appeared in the London Magazine in 1823-4 • separately published in 1825 ‹ SARTOR RESARTUS ‹ THE LIFE AND OPINIOS OF HERR FEUFELSDROCHK (1833-1834)
Historical Novels
‹ THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1837) • In three volumes, 'The Bastille', 'The Constitution', and 'The Guillotine' • Greatly admired by Dickens, and was in part the inspiration of A TALE OF TWO CITIES. ‹ OLIVER CROMWELL’S LETTERS AND SPEECHES (1845) ‹ LIFE OF JOHN STERLING (1851) ‹ THE HISTORY OF FREDERICH II OF PRUSSIA, CALLED FREDERIK THE GREAT (1858-1865)
Works Dealing With Contemporary Events
‹ CHARTISM (1840) ‹ PAST AND PRESENT (1843) ‹ LATTER DAY PAMPHLETS (1850)
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‹ ON HEROES, HERO-WORSHIP AND THE HEROIC IN HISTORY (1841) • Series of lectures he delivered in 1837 • A course of six lecture • The Hero as Divinity (e.g. Odin, the 'Type Norseman') • The Hero as Prophet (e.g. Muhammad) • The Hero as Poet (e.g. Dante, Shakespeare) • The Hero as Priest (e.g. Luther, Knox) • The Hero as Man of Letters (e.g. Dr Johnson, Rousseau, Burns) • The Hero as King (e.g. Cromwell, Napoleon)
Thomas Babington Macaulay
V 1800-1859 V Politician and historian ‹ LAYS OF ANCIENT ROME (1842) • A collection of poems ‹ ESSAYS CRITICAL AND HISTORICAL (1843) • Acton called them “A key to half the prejudices of our age” ° HISTORY OF ENGLAND • First two volumes were published in 1849 • Unfinished
John Ruskin
V 1819-1900 ‹ MODERN PAINTERS • Longest of his books • First volume issued in 1843. • Fifth and last in 1860 ‹ THE SEVEN LAMPS OF ARCHITECTURE (1849) • Shorter and most popular
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‹ THE STONES OF VENICE (1851-1853) • Three volumes • Masterpiece • The first in 1851, the second and third in 1853 • An architectural study in which immense original scholarship is put to moralistic use ‹ THE TWO PATHS (1859) • A course of lectures ‹ UNTO THIS LAST (1860) • A series of articles on political economy • Appeared in The Cornhill Magazine ‹ MUNERA PULVERIS (1862-1863) • Unfinished series of articles on political economy • Published in FRASER’S MAGAZINE ‹ SESAME AND LILIES (1865) • A course of two lectures ‹ THE CROWN OF WILD OLIVE (1866) • A series of addresses ‹ PRAETERITA • Begun in 1885 • A kind of spiritual autobiography
Ralph Waldo Emerson
V 1803-1882 V American philosopher and poet V Editor of The Dial from 1842 to 1844 • The Dial, founded in 1840 • The literary organ of the American Transcendental movement V The new quasi-religious concept of “Transcendentalism” • Found written expression in his essay Nature
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V Eleven volumes of lectures and essays V First volume of essays (1841) contains “Self – Reliance” V Second Essays (1844) contains “The Poet” ‹ REPRESENTATIVE MEN • In 1845 Emerson delivered the lectures • Later published in 1850 • These studies of Plato, Swedenborg, Napoleon, and others • Owe something to Carlyle's concept of the Hero John Addington Symonds
V 1840-1893 V Attracted by the Hellenism of the Renaissance V His prose and poetry are coloured by his concept of platonic love and his admiration for male beauty ‹ STUDIES OF GREEK POETS (1873-1876) ‹ THE RENAISSANCE IN ITALY (1875-1880) • Longest work • more picturesque
Walter Horatio Pater
V 1839-94 V Stylist and Literary critic “art for art's sake” movement • A phrase associated with the aesthetic doctrine that art is self-sufficient and need serve no moral or political purpose • The phrase l'art pour l'art became current in France in the first half of the 19th cent • Gautier's formulation in his preface to MADEMOISELLE DE MAUPIN (1835), which denied that art could or should be in any way useful, was admired by Pater, one of the leading influences on the English “Aesthetic” movement of the 1880
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• Pater in his conclusion to THE RENAISSANCE (1873) spoke of “the desire of beauty, the love of art for art's sake.” Aesthetic movement • A movement which blossomed during the 1880s • Heavily influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites, Ruskin, and Pater, in which • The adoption of sentimental archaism as the ideal of beauty was carried to extravagant lengths and often accompanied by affectation of speech and manner and eccentricity of dress. • The Movement and its followers were much ridiculed in Punch, in Gilbert and Sullivan's Patience (1881), etc
V Early essays for The Westminster Review and the Fortnightly Review ‹ STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE RENAISSANCE (1873) • Essays • Concerned with art • Acclaimed by Wilde • Traces the rebirth of Hellenism in medieval France, the art of Botticelli, Leonardo, and Michelangelo, and the classicism of Winckelmann ‹ MARIUS THE EPICUREAN (1885) • Philosophical Romance • Pater describes the boyhood, education, and young manhood of Marius, a serious young Roman imbued with a 'morbid religious idealism' ‹ IMAGINARY PORTRAITS (1887) ‹ APPRECIATIONS: WITH AN ESSAY ON STYLE (1889)
James Anthony Froude
V 1818-1894 V Historian ‹ SHORT STUDIES ON GREAT SUBJECTS (1867-1883) • Four volumes
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‹ HISTORY OF ENGLAND FROM THE FALL OF WOLSEY TO THE DEATH OF ELIZABETH (1856-1870) / DEFEAT OF THE SPANISH ARMADA • Twelve volumes ‹ THE ENGLISH IN IRELAND IN THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY (1872-1874) ‹ CAESAR (1879) ‹ OCEANA, OR ENGLAND AND HER COLONIES (1886) ‹ THE TWO CHIEFS OF DUNBOY (1889) • Irish novel ‹ Biography of Carlyle was issued during the period 1882 -1884
Oliver Wendell Holmes
V 1809-1894 V Professor of anatomy and physiology at Harvard University ‹ THE DEACON’S MASTERPIECE: OR THE WONDERFUL ONE-HOSS SHAY • Poetry ‹ THE AUTOCRAT OF THE BREAKFAST TABLE (1857-1858) • Series of articles to The Atlantic Monthly ‹ THE PROFESSOR IN THE BREAKFAST TABLE (1860) ‹ THE POET AT THE BREAKFAST TABLE (1872) ‹ ELSIE VENNER (1861) • Novel
Historians
Alexander William Kinglake
V 1809-1891 ‹ THE INVASION OF THE CRIMEA (1863-1867) ‹ EOTHEN (1844) • Witty account of Eastern travel
John Richard Green
V 1831-1883
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‹ A SHORT HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE (1874) • Best work ‹ THE MAKING OF ENGLAND (1881) ‹ THE CONQUEST OF ENGLAND (1883)
Edward Augustus Freeman
V 1823-1892 ‹ THE HISTORY OF THE NORMAN CONQUEST OF ENGLAND (1867-1879) ‹ THE REIGN OF WILLIAM RUFUS AND THE ACCESSION OF HENRY THE FIRST (1882)
William Hickling Prescott
V 1796-1859 ‹ THE HISTORY OF FERDINAND AND ISABELLA (1836) ‹ THE HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF MEXICO (1843) ‹ THE HISTORY OF THE CONQUEST OF PERU (1847)
The Scientists
Charles Robert Darwin
V 1809-1882 V Naturalist on the Beagle ‹ THE VOYAGE OF THE BEAGLE (1839) ‹ ON THE ORIGIN OF SPECIES BY MEANS OF NATURAL SELECTION (1859) ‹ THE DESCENT OF MAN (1871)
Thomas Henry Huxley
V 1825-1895 V Darwin’s supporter ‹ MAN’S PLACE IN NATURE (1863) ‹ LAY SERMONS, ADDRESSES AND REVIEWS (1870) ‹ AMERICAN ADDRESSES (1877)
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The Oxford Movement
‹ The most important religious movement of the Victorian age was started at oxford by a brilliant band of Oxonians including John Keble, Edward Pusey, and John Henry Newman. ‹ The leaders and their followers were sometimes called the ‘Tractarians’ because their views were expressed through their Tracts for the Time. ‹ The Oxford movement was also called the High Church Movement. ‹ A sect of the Anglicans called the high Churchmen stressed the necessity of ceremonies and sacraments expounded the apostolic succession of the church. ‹ But the critics of the movement branded it as an attempt to revive catholic ritualism. ‹ The movement, however, did one great service to the Church of England. ‹ It retained many people who might have gone to the Roman Church because of their love of criticism.
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The Modern Period The Age of Hardy
1887-1928
Thomas Hardy
V 1840-1928 V Wessex • The name used by Hardy to designate the south-west counties, principally Dorset, which form the setting of many of his works ‹ THE POOR MAN AND THE LADY • His first (unpublished) novel, ‹ DESPERATE REMEDIES (1871) • His first published novel ‹ UNDER THE GREENWOOD TREE (1872) • Novel of Character and Environment • A gentle, humorous novel • One of the lightest and most appealing of his novels • Love story of Dick Dewy and Fancy Day with the fortunes and misfortunes of a group of villagers • Set in Wessex ‹ A PAIR OF BLUE EYES (1873) • The scene is the northern coast of Cornwall • Hero and Heroine: Stephen Smith, a young architect – Elfride Swancourt, the blue-eyed daughter of the vicar • Romances and Fantasies ‹ FAR FROM THE MADDING CROWD (1874) • Novel of Character and Environment • Tragicomedy set in Wessex • The title is a quotation from Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Church-Yard • The theme is the contrast of a patient and generous love with unscrupulous passion
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• Hardy made a stage version of the novel, which was eventually produced by the Hardy Players in Dorchester in 1924 • Hero and Heroine: Gabriel Oak - Bathsheba Everdene ‹ THE HAND OF ETHELBERTA (1876) • As the author states in his preface, this is “a somewhat frivolous narrative” • Novel of Ingenuity ‹ THE RETURN OF THE NATIVE (1878) • Novel of Character and Environment • A study of man’s helplessness before the malignancy of an all-powerful Fate • Fine descriptions of Edgon Heath • Hero and Heroine: Clym Yeobright, a diamond merchant in Paris - Eustacia Vye ‹ THE TRUMPET MAJOR (1880) • The story is set during the Napoleonic wars tells of the wooing of Anne Garland • John Loveday - the trumpet-major • Romances and Fantasies ‹ A LAODICEAN (1881) • Novel of Ingenuity ‹ TWO ON A TOWER (1882) • Romances and Fantasies ‹ THE MAYOR OF CASTERBRIDGE (1886) • Novel of Character and Environment • The Mayor of Casterbridge: A Story of Character • Study of the inexorable destiny which hounds man to his downfall • Hero: Michael Henchard • Rustic setting of Casterbridge • Wife auction at the fair ‹ THE WOODLANDERS (1887) • Novel of Character and Environment • The scene is set in Little Hintock, a village deep in the woods of Dorset
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• Hero and Heroine: Giles Winterbourne - Marty South, a village girl who had always loved Giles • Writing to a friend in 1912, Hardy said of THE WOODLANDERS, “I think I like it, as a story, the best of all.” ‹ THE WELL-BELOVED • Published serially 1892, revised and reissued 1897 • The scene is the Isle of Slingers (i.e. Portland) • The central figure is Jocelyn Pierston, a sculptor of the Isle, who falls in love successively with three generations of island women: Avice Caro • Romances and Fantasies ‹ TESS OF THE D’URBERVILLES ( 1891) • Novel of Character and Environment • Tess of the D'Urbervilles. A Pure Woman • Tess Durbeyfield is the daughter of a poor villager of Blackmoor Vale • Tess is cunningly seduced by Alec • Hardy's closing summary reads: …"Justice" was done, and the President of the Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess • Immoral, pessimistic, extremely disagreeable • Henry James: “chockful of faults and falsity” • Frank handling of sex and religion ‹ JUDE THE OBSCURE (1896) • Novel of Character and Environment • Originally printed in abridged form in Harper's New Monthly Magazine (1894-5, as Hearts Insurgent • In the author's words, it is a story “of a deadly war waged between flesh and spirit” • Hardy's friend Gosse found it “grimy” and “indecent” • Jude Fawley, a young Wessex villager of exceptional intellectual promise • Christminster - represents Oxford • He is trapped into marriage by the coarse, handsome barmaid Arabella Donn
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• Frank handling of sex and religion • Abandon novel writing Short Stories ‹ WESSEX TALES (1888) ‹ A GROUP OF NOBLE DAMES (1891) ‹ LIFE'S LITTLE IRONIES (1894) ‹ A CHANGED MAN, THE WAITING SUPPER, AND OTHER TALES (1913) Poetry ‹ WESSEX POEMS (1898) • His first volume of verse ‹ POEMS OF THE PAST AND PRESENT (1902) ‹ THE DYNASTS • The Dynasts, an Epic-Drama of the War with Napoleon, in Three Parts, Nineteen Acts and One Hundred and Thirty Scenes • Published in three parts • 1904, 1906, 1908 • Partly in blank verse, partly in a variety of other metres, and partly in prose. • Epic drama • Part I opens with the year 1805, and Napoleon's threat of invasion • Part II covers the defeat of the Prussians at Jena, the meeting of Napoleon and Alexander at Tilsit, the battle of Wagram, the fall of Godoy and the abdication of the king of Spain, and war in Spain, the divorce of Josephine, and Napoleon's marriage with Marie Louise • Part III presents the Russian expedition of 1812, the British victories in the Pyrenees • Rebecca West: “one of the greatest plays” ‹ TIME'S LAUGHINGSTOCKS (1909) ‹ SATIRES OF CIRCUMSTANCE (1914) ‹ MOMENTS OF VISION AND MISCELLANEOUS VERSES (1917) ‹ LATE LYRICS AND EARLIER (1922)
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‹ HUMAN SHOWS, FAR FANTASIES, SONGS AND TRIFLES (1925) ‹ WINTER WORDS (1928) ‹ THE COLLECTED POEMS (1930) • Published posthumously • Contain over 900 poems of great variety and individuality ‹ THE FAMOUS TRAGEDY OF THE * QUEEN OF CORNWALL (1923) • Another poetic drama Henry James V 1843-1916 V New England Group of Writers- James Russell Lowell, H. W. Longfellow, and William Dean Howells ‹ WATCH AND WARD • Appeared serially in 1871 • His first considerable piece of fiction ‹ TRANSATLANTIC SKETCHES (1875) ‹ A PASSIONATE PILGRIM (1875) Contrast between the young American civilization and the European culture ‹ RODERICK HUDSON (1876) • In the Atlantic Monthly, 1875 • His first important novel • It is the story of a young man transplanted from a lawyer's office in a Massachusetts town to a sculptor's studio in Rome • The leading female character, Christina Light, was taken up again by the author in a later novel, THE PRINCESS CASAMASSIMA ‹ THE AMERICAN (1877) ‹ DAISY MILLER (1879) • James's most popular story • Published 1879, dramatized by James 1883 • She is one of the most notable and charming of James's portrayals of “the American girl” ‹ THE EUROPEANS (1878)
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‹ THE PORTRAIT OF A LADY (1881) • One of the best of James's early works • Presents various types of American character transplanted into a European environment • The story centres on Isabel Archer, the 'Lady', an attractive American girl English stage ‹ THE TRAGIC MUSE (1890) ‹ THE SPOILS OF POYNTON (1897) • Short novel ‹ THE AWKWARD AGE (1899) • Analysed English character with extreme subtlety, verging at times on obscurity
‹ WHAT MAISIE KNEW (1897) • Maisie, the child of divorced parents who use her, neglect her, and expose her to their own world of emotional chaos ‹ THE WINGS OF THE DOVE (1902) • In this novel James, for the first time, takes passionate human love as his central theme ‹ THE AMBASSADORS (1903) • This is one of the novels in which, with much humour and delicacy of perception, the author depicts • The reaction of different American types to the European environment • Hero: Chadwick Newsome, a young man of independent fortune ‹ THE GOLDEN BOWL (1904) • The last completed novel ‹ THE IVORY TOWER and THE SENSE OF THE PAST • Remained unfinished at his death • Published in fragments in 1917 ‹ THE TURN OF THE SCREW (1898) • A well-known ghost story • James - “a trap for the unwary”
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‹ MADONNA OF THE FUTURE AND OTHER TALES (1879) ‹ THE ALTAR OF THE DEAD, THE BEAST IN THE JUNGLE, THE BIRTH PLACE, AND OTHER STORIES (1909) ‹ WASHINGTON SQUARE (1881) • Catherine Sloper lives in Washington Square ‹ THE SIEGE OF LONDON (1883) ‹ THE BOSTONIANS (1886) ‹ THE PRINCESS CASAMASSIMA (1886) ‹ THE REVERBERATOR (1888) ‹ THE ASPERN PAPERS (1888) ‹ THE REAL THING (1893) ‹ EMBARRASSMENTS (1896) ‹ THE OTHER HOUSE (1896) ‹ IN THE CAGE (1898) ‹ THE TWO MAGICS (1898) ‹ THE BETTER SORT (1903)
Autobiographical writings ‹ A SMALL BOY AND OTHERS (1913) ‹ NOTES OF A SON AND A BROTHER (1914) • Evocations of his early days in New York and Europe ‹ TERMINATIONS (1917)
‹ THE NOTES ON NOVELISTS (1914) ‹ His letters (1920) ‹ THE ART OF FICTION (1884) • Essay ‹ THE NOTEBOOKS OF HENRY JAMES (1947)
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Joseph Conrad V Józef Teodor Konrad Korzeniowski V 1857-1924 V Novelist and short story writer V Born of Polish parents in the Russian-dominated Ukraine V The greatest modern romantic ‹ ALMAYER'S FOLLY (1895) ‹ AN OUTCAST OF THE ISLANDS (1896) ‹ THE NIGGER OF THE “NARCISSUS” (1897) • Remarkable for its powerful atmosphere and its sea description • Donkin: one of the best of his many vividly drawn villains • The voyage of the Narcissus from Bombay to London is disrupted by two new hands, • Major Characters: James Wait, the 'nigger' of the title, and Donkin, a compulsive troublemaker. • Henry James: “the very finest and strongest picture of the sea and sea life that our language possesses” • Conrad's first masterpiece • Its preface contains perhaps the clearest expression of the author's artistic aims and beliefs ‹ TALES OF UNREST (1898) • Collection of five stories ‹ LORD JIM: A TALE (1900) • The greatest of early works • Introduces for the first time his technique of oblique narrative • Jim is chief mate on board the Patna, an ill-manned ship carrying a party of pilgrims in Eastern waters • Doramin shoots him and Jim willingly accepts this honourable death • Best of Conrad’s studies of men whose strength fails them in a moment of crisis He collaborated with F. M. Ford ‹ THE INHERITORS (1900)
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‹ ROMANCE (1903)
‹ TYPHOON, AND OTHER STORIES (1903) • A story • The unimaginative and imperturbable Captain MacWhirr pilots his steamer Nan- Shan through a typhoon of such violence that even he is moved to doubt the possibility of survival • Contains seven tales ‹ NOSTROMO: A TALE OF THE SEABOARD (1904) • Shifts the scene to the coastline of Central America • In an imaginary South American country, Costaguana, Charles Gould runs a silver mine of national importance in the province of Sulaco • He is married to Emilia, a woman of charm and intelligence • Nostromo ('our man' or 'boatswain') is an Italian sailor • Nostromo: “No one misses it now. Let it be lost forever” ‹ HEART OF DARKNESS (1902) • One of his best-known short stories, • On board a boat anchored peacefully in the Thames the narrator, Marlow, tells the story of his journey on another river. ‹ THE SECRET AGENT- A SIMPLE TALE (1907) ‹ A SET OF SIX (1908) • Stories ‹ UNDER WESTERN EYES (1911) • set in Switzerland and Russia • Centred on the tragedy of the student Razumov, caught up in the treachery and violence of revolution V Novels with political themes ‹ ’TWIXT LAND AND SEA – TALES (1912) • 3 short stories ‹ CHANCE – A TALE IN TWO PARTS (1913) • Most ambitious venture in oblique method of story telling
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• Narrator: Marlow • Brought Conrad his first popular and financial success • It is the story of Flora de Barrai, lonely daughter of a crooked financier, and combines the attractions of a sea background with the theme of romantic love and more female interest than is usual with Conrad • Several other points of view • One of his most confusing work ‹ YOUTH – A NARRATIVE; AND TWO OTHER STORIES (1902) ‹ THE MIRROR OF THE SEA- MEMOIRS AND IMPRESSIONS (1906) ‹ VICTORY – AN ISLAND TALE (1915) ‹ WITHIN THE TIDES – TALES (1915) ‹ THE SHADOW LINE – A CONFESSION (1917) ‹ THE RESCUE – A ROMANCE OF SHALLOWS (1920) • Excellent study of primitive men ‹ THE ARROW OF GOLD – A STORY BETWEEN TWO NOTES (1919) ‹ THE ROVER (1923) • Set in a background of European history ‹ A PERSONAL RECORD • Conrad's autobiography • Appeared in book form in 1912 ‹ NOTES ON LIFE AND LETTERS (1921) • His views on his own art ‹ SUSPENSE- A NAPOLEONIC NOVEL • Published in 1925 • Unfinished novel ‹ TALES OF HEARSAY (1925) • 4 stories • Posthumous ‹ LAST ESSAYS (1926)
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Herbert George Wells V H G Wells V 1866-1946 V Best remembered for his scientific romances, among the earliest products of the new genre of science fiction • The label 'science fiction' suggests a hybrid form, not quite ordinary fiction, not quite science, yet partaking of both V In 1903 - joined the Fabian Society • A society founded in 1884 • Consisting of socialists who advocate a 'Fabian' policy, as opposed to immediate revolutionary action • Named after Quintus Fabius Maximus, nicknamed Cunctator or 'the Delayer' • One of its initiators was Thomas Davidson (1840-1900) • Aimed to influence government and affect policy by permeation rather than by direct power, and to provide the research and analysis to support their own views and introduce them to others • One of their methods was the publishing of tracts, or pamphleteering • The first two Fabian tracts were WHY ARE THE MANY POOR? (1884) by W. L. Phillips • A Manifesto (1884) - G. B. Shaw • Webb: Fabian Essays in Socialism (1889) ‹ THE TIME MACHINE (1895) • A social allegory set in the year 802701 • Describing a society divided into two classes • The subterranean workers, called Morlocks, and the decadent Eloi. ‹ THE WONDERFUL VISIT (1895) ‹ THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU (1896) • A science fiction tale • It is an evolutionary fantasy about a shipwrecked naturalist who becomes involved in an experiment to 'humanize' animals by surgery
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• The theme was developed by Aldiss ‹ Brian Wilson Aldiss ‹ Novelist, short story writer, and critic ‹ Best known for his works of science fiction and his involvement with the cause of science fiction as a literary genre ‹ THE INVISIBLE MAN (1897) • A science fiction romance • About a scientist who fatally stumbles upon the secret of invisibility o Invisible Man (1952) o The first great black classic o A Kafkaesque and claustrophobic novel by American writer Ralph Waldo Ellison o Describes the life of a young black man in New York City ‹ THE WAR OF THE WORLDS (1898) • science fiction fantasy • A powerful and apocalyptic vision of the world invaded by Martians ‹ WHEN THE SLEEPER WAKES (1899) • Revised as THE SLEEPER AWAKES (1911) ‹ THE FIRST MEN IN THE MOON (1901) ‹ THE FOOD OF THE GODS (1904) ‹ MEN LIKE GODS (1923) ‹ LOVE AND MR LEWISHAM (1900) • Tells the story of a struggling teacher ‹ KIPPS (1905) • Tells the story an aspiring draper's assistant, undone by an unexpected inheritance and its consequences ‹ THE HISTORY OF MR POLLY (1910) • Recounts the adventures of Alfred Polly, an inefficient shopkeeper who liberates himself by burning down his own shop and bolting for freedom, which he discovers as man-of-all-work at the Potwell Inn ‹ ANN VERONICA (1909)
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• A feminist tract about a girl who, fortified by the concept of the 'New Woman', defies her father and conventional morality by running off with the man she loves. ‹ TONO-BUNGAY (1909), • One of his most successful works • Described by himself as “a social panorama in the vein of Balzac” • A picture of English society in dissolution • The advent of a new class of rich, embodied in Uncle Ponderevo, an entrepreneur intent on peddling a worthless patent medicine ‹ THE NEW MACHIAVELLI (1911) • About a politician involved in sexual scandal ‹ MARRIAGE (1912) ‹ THE PASSIONATE FRIENDS (1913) ‹ THE WORLD SET FREE (1914) ‹ THE WIFE OF SIR ISSAC HARMAN (1914) ‹ THE RESEARCH MAGNIFICENT (1915) ‹ JOAN AND PETER, THE STORY OF AN EDUCATION (1918) ‹ THE UNDYING FIRE (1919) ‹ THE SECRET PLACES OF THE HEART (1922) ‹ MANKIND IN THE MAKING (1903) ‹ SOCIALISM AND THE FAMILY(1906) ‹ NEW WORLDS FOR THE OLD (1908) ‹ AN ENGLISHMAN LOOKS AT THE WORLD (1914) ‹ THE WAR THAT WILL END WAR(1914) ‹ THE ELEMENTS OF RECONSTRUCTION (1916) ‹ RUSSIA IN THE SHADOWS (1920) ‹ THE SALVAGING OF CIVILIZATION (1921) ‹ WASHINGTON AND THE HOPE OF PEACE (1922) ‹ THE WORK, WEALTH AND HAPPINESS OF MANKIND (1931) ‹ AFTER DEMOCRACY (1932) ‹ THE ANATOMY OF FRUSTRATION (1936) ‹ THE FATE OF HOMO SAPIENS (1939)
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‹ THE NEW WORLD ORDER (1940) ‹ THE RIGHTS OF MAN (1940) ‹ THE COMMON SENSE OF WAR AND PEACE (1940) ‹ SCIENCE AND THE WORLD-MIND (1942) ‹ MR BRITLING SEES IT THROUGH (1916) ‹ THE WORLD OF WILLIAM CLISSOLD (1926) ‹ THE OUTLINE OF HISTORY (1920) ‹ A SHORT HISTORY OF THE WORLD ( 1922) ‹ THE AUTOCRACY OF MR PARHAM (1930) ‹ THE BULPINGTON OF BULP (1933) ‹ BRYNHILD (1937) ‹ APROPOS OF DOLORES (1938) ‹ THE HOLY TERROR (1939) ‹ EXPERIMENT IN AUTOBIOGRAPHY ( 1934) • A striking portrait of himself, his contemporaries (including Arnold Bennett, Gissing, and the Fabians) and their times
Samuel Butler V 1835-1902 ‹ A FIRST YEAR IN CANTERBURY SETTLEMENT (1863) • Compiled by his father from Samuel's letters • Published in 1863 in a New Zealand journal and became the core of EREWHON ‹ EREWHON (1872) • Published anonymously • E-re-whon, an anagram of 'nowhere' • A satirical novel • The narrator (whose name is revealed in EREWHON REVISITED as Higgs) crosses a range of mountains and comes upon the undiscovered country of Erewhon • A collection of articles previously written • The best of the many Utopias which appeared toward the end of the century
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• Church institutions, parental authority, the worship of machinery, and the treatment of crime were aspects of contemporary society which it satirized with a shrewd and penetrating irony • Setting: New Zealand ‹ THE FAIR HAVEN (1873) • An elaborate and ironic attack on the Resurrection • Brought him encouragement from Charles Darwin and Stephen ‹ A PSALM OF MONTREAL • His well-known poem • Inspiration: a journey to Canada in 1874-1875 • First printed in the Spectator in May 1878 • He laments the Canadian philistinism that relegated a Greek statue of a Discobolus to a room in the Natural History Museum used by a taxidermist, who explained that the statue was 'vulgar' because 'he hath neither vest nor pants to cover his lower limbs'. • The refrain: 'O God! O Montreal!' ‹ LIFE AND HABIT (1877) ‹ EVOLUTION, OLD AND NEW (1879), ‹ UNCONSCIOUS MEMORY (1880), ‹ LUCK OR CUNNING AS THE MEANS OF ORGANIC MODIFICATION? (1887) ‹ Three articles on 'The Deadlock in Darwinism' • Universal Review, 1890 ‹ THE TRAPANESE ORIGIN OF THE ODYSSEY (1893) ‹ Prose translation of THE ILLIAD (1898) ‹ Prose translation of ODYSSEY (1900) ‹ THE AUTHORESS OF THE ODYSSEY (1897) ‹ ALPS AND SANCTUARIES OF PIEDMONT AND THE CANTON TICINO (1881) • The first of several animated works on art and travel ‹ NARCISSUS (1888) • Written in collaboration with his great friend Festing Jones ‹ THE LIFE AND LETTERS OF DR SAMUEL BUTLER (1896)
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‹ EX VOTO (1888) ‹ SHAKESPEARE'S SONNETS RECONSIDERED (1899) ‹ ESSAYS ON LIFE, ART AND SCIENCE (1904) ‹ THE NOTEBOOKS OF SAMUEL BUTLER • Posthumously published in 1912 ‹ EREWHON REVISITED (1901) • A sequel to EREWHON • John, the son of Higgs and Arowhena, is the writer of this account of his father's return to Erewhon • Unified work • Based on Butler’s disbelief in the doctrine of the Ascension (Sunchilsism) ‹ THE WAY OF ALL FLESH • Published posthumously in 1903 • A novel • Butler's most revealing work • His semiautobiographical novel • He completed the book some 17 years before his death, but he never revised the second half • The story (narrated by a family friend, Overton) was originally called Ernest Pontifex George Augustus Moore V 1852-1933 V Anglo-Irish novelist V Moore collaborated in the planning of the Irish National Theatre • Abbey Theatre, Dublin, opened on 27 Dec. 1904 • With a double bill of one-act plays • W. B. Yeats's ON BAILE'S STRAND and a comedy SPREADING THE NEWS by Lady Gregory • The theatre rapidly became a focus of the Irish Revival
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‹ ESTHER WATERS • His father's racing stables provided background for • His most successful novel • Published 1894 • It is the story of the life of a religiously minded girl, a Plymouth Sister, driven from home into service at 17 by a drunken stepfather • A realistic yet sympathetic picture of life among the lowest classes ‹ A MODERN LOVER (1883) • His first novel • Set in artistic bohemian society • Banned by the circulating libraries, a circumstance which confirmed Moore in his outspoken battle against prudery and censorship ‹ A MUMMER’ S WIFE (1885) • Set in the Potteries • Influenced Arnold Bennett ‹ EVELYN INNES (1898) ‹ SISTER TERESA (1901) • Sequel to EVELYN INNES V Long and elaborate character-study on a religious theme
‹ A DRAMA IN MUSLIN (1886) ‹ SPRING DAYS (1888) ‹ THE UNTILLED FIELD (1903) • A collection of 13 short stories • Strongly influenced by Turgenev and Dostoevsky • About Irish life ‹ THE LAKE (1905) • A novel set in Ireland
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‹ THE BROOK KERITH, A SYRIAN STORY (1916) • Unfolds the interwoven lives of Christ (who survives the Cross), St Paul, and Joseph of Arimathea ‹ HELOÏSE AND ABELARD (1921) • Aimed at epic effect
‹ CONFESSIONS OF A YOUNG MAN (1888) • Dealing with his early life ‹ MEMOIRS OF MY DEAD LIFE (1906) ‹ HAIL AND FAREWELL! (3 vols, 1911-14) • AVE (1911) • SALVE (1912) • VALE (1919) V Autobiographical V Last is an important though unreliable source for the history of the Irish Revival ‹ CELIBATE LIVES (1927) • Shows the influence of Flaubert • Collection of short stories • All five tales deal with the state of celibacy ‹ AVOWALS (1919) ‹ CONVERSATIONS IN EBURY STREET (1924) George Robert Gissing V 1857-1903 ‹ BROWNIE (1931) • His first short stories, later collected ‹ WORKERS IN THE DAWN (1880) • Gissing's first novel ‹ THE UNCLASSED (1884, REV. 1895) ‹ ISABEL CLARENDON AND DEMOS (1886) ‹ THYRZA (1887; REV. 1891) ‹ A LIFE'S MORNING (1888)
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‹ THE NETHER WORLD (1889) ‹ THE EMANCIPATED (1890; REVISED 1893) ‹ NEW GRUB STREET (1891) • His best-known work • In this work Gissing depicts the struggle for life, the jealousies, and intrigues of the literary world of his time, and the blighting effect of poverty on artistic endeavour. • The main theme is the contrast of the career of Jasper Milvain, the facile, clever, selfish, and unscrupulous writer of reviews (who accepts the materialistic conditions of literary success), with those of more artistic temperaments ‹ BORN IN EXILE (1892) • Godwin Peak ‹ THE ODD WOMEN (1893) ‹ DENZIL QUARRIER (1892) ‹ IN THE YEAR OF JUBILEE (1894) ‹ SLEEPING FIRES, EVE'S RANSOM, THE PAYING GUEST (1895) ‹ THE WHIRLPOOL (1897) ‹ THE TOWN TRAVELLER (1898) ‹ HUMAN ODDS AND ENDS (1897) • Short story collection ‹ CHARLES DICKENS: A CRITICAL STUDY (1898) ‹ THE CROWN OF LIFE (1899) ‹ OUR FRIEND THE CHARLATAN (1901) ‹ BY THE IONIAN SEA (1901) • Travel book ‹ An abridgement of John Forster's LIFE OF DICKENS (1903) ‹ THE PRIVATE PAPERS OF HENRY RYECROFT (1902) • A mock-autobiography
Posthumously published works ‹ VERANILDA (1904)
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• A classically set romance • Unfinished ‹ WILL WARBURTON (1905) ‹ THE IMMORTAL DICKENS (1925) ‹ NOTES ON SOCIAL DEMOCRACY (1968) ‹ THE HOUSE OF COBWEBS AND OTHER STORIES (1906) • Short story collection ‹ THE SINS OF THE FATHERS (1924) ‹ A VICTIM OF CIRCUMSTANCES (1927)
Enoch Arnold Bennett V 1867-1931 V Novelist V Worked as a clerk before establishing himself as a writer V Assistant editor and subsequently editor of the periodical WOMAN V His fame rests chiefly on his novels and short stories V The best known of which were set in the Potteries of his youth, a region he recreated as the “Five Towns” Story collection ‹ TIT-BITS (1890) ‹ YELLOW BOOK (1895) ‹ A MAN FROM THE NORTH (1898) • His first novel, Plays ‹ MILESTONES (1912, with E. Knoblock, author of KISMET) ‹ THE HONEYMOON (1912) ‹ THE GREAT ADVENTURE (1913) ‹ THE LOVE MATCH (1922)
‹ ANNA OF THE FIVE TOWNS (1902) • The story of a miser's daughter
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• Shows clearly the influence of the French realists whom he much admired ‹ A GREAT MAN (1904) ‹ SACRED AND PROFANE LOVE (1905) ‹ THE OLD WIVES' TALE (1908) • A long realistic novel • Traces the steady evolution of the Potteries age from the age of Victoria toward modern times • A social document • Full of human warmth and sympathy • One of the greatest novels of modern English literature ‹ BURIED ALIVE (1908) The Clayhanger Series ‹ CLAYHANGER (1910) ‹ HILDA LESSWAYS, (1911) ‹ THESE TWAIN (1916) ‹ THE ROLL CALL (1918) • The novels portray the district with an ironic but affectionate detachment • Describing provincial life and culture in documentary detail • Creating many memorable characters o Darius Clayhanger: the dictatorial printer who started work aged 7 in a pot-bank o The monstrous but goodhearted Auntie Hamps o Edwin Clayhanger: frustrated architect o Hilda Lessways: the independent and strong-willed young woman who marries Edwin Volumes of short stories ‹ TALES OF FIVE TOWNS (1905) ‹ THE GRIM SMILE OF THE FIVE TOWNS (1907) ‹ THE MATADOR OF THE FIVE TOWNS (1912) ‹ BOOKS AND PERSONS (1917) ‹ THINGS THAT HAVE INTERESTED ME (1921-1926)
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‹ THE PRETTY LADY (1918) ‹ RICEYMAN STEPS (1923) • The story of a miserly second-hand bookseller • Set in drab Clerkenwell • Realistic revelation of lower class London life • Revolves round the central figure of a miserly shopkeeper • Contains a portrait of a charwoman, Elsie ‹ THE GRAND BABYLON HOTEL (1902) ‹ THE CARD (1911) ‹ MR PROHACK (1922) ‹ LORD RAINGO (1926)
‹ THE TRUTH ABOUT AN AUTHOR (1903) ‹ THE AUTHOR’S CRAFT (1914) Rudyard Kipling V 1865-1936 V Born in Bombay V Son of John Lockwood Kipling, author and illustrator of BEAST AND MAN IN INDIA (1891), and Alice Kipling, sister-in-law of Burne-Jones V From 1882 to 1889 he worked as a journalist in India V Reporter for the Lahore Civil and Military Gazette V Reporter for the Allahabad Pioneer (1882-1887) V He was the first English writer to receive the Nobel Prize (1907) ‹ BAA, BAA, BLACK SHEEP (1888) • Short story • Brought to England in 1871, where he spent five years living unhappily with a family in South Sea with his younger sister, separated from his parents, a period recalled with bitterness in this short story ‹ THE LIGHT THAT FAILED (1890) • Novel
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‹ STALKY & CO. (1899) • His schoolboy tales ‹ FROM SEA TO SEA (1900) • His two years’ voyage to England which took him through China, Japan, and the United States V Many of his early poems and stories were originally published in newspapers or for the Indian Railway Library
Verses ‹ DEPARTMENTAL DITTIES (1886) ‹ BARRACK-ROOM BALLADS (1892) ‹ THE SEVEN SEAS (1896) ‹ THE FIVE NATIONS (1903) ‹ INCLUSIVE VERSE, 1885-1918 (1919) ‹ POEMS, 1886-1929 (1930)
Prose ‹ PLAIN TALES FROM THE HILLS (1888), ‹ SOLDIERS THREE (1890) • The three soldiers are the three privates Learoyd, Mulvaney, and Ortheris ‹ WEE WILLIE WINKIE (1890) ‹ LIFE’S HANDICAP (1891) ‹ MANY INVENTIONS (1893)
‹ THE JUNGLE BOOK (1894) ‹ THE SECOND JUNGLE BOOK (1895) V Tell how the child Mowgli was brought up by wolves and was taught by Baloo, the bear, and Bagheera, the black panther, the law and business of the jungle. ‹ CAPTAINS COURAGEOUS (1897) ‹ THE DAY’S WORK (1898) ‹ JUST SO STORIES FOR LITTLE CHILDREN (1902)
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‹ PUCK OF POOK'S HILL, (1906) ‹ REWARDS AND FAIRIES, (1910) ‹ DEBITS AND CREDITS (1926) ‹ LIMITS AND RENEWALS (1932) ‹ KIM (1901) • His picaresque novel of India • Considered his masterpiece • Kimball O'Hara, the orphaned son of a sergeant in an Irish regiment, spends his childhood as a vagabond in Lahore, until he meets an old lama from Tibet and accompanies him in his travels He falls into the hands of his father's old regiment, is adopted, and sent to school, resuming his wanderings in his holidays • Colonel Creighton of the Ethnological Survey remarks his aptitude for secret service ('the Great Game'), and on this he embarks under the directions of the native agent Hurree Babu • While still a lad he distinguishes himself by capturing the papers of a couple of Russian spies in the Himalayas • The book presents a vivid picture of India, its teeming populations, religions and superstitions, and the life of the bazaars and the road ‹ SOMETHING OF MYSELF (1937) • His autobiographical fragment
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The Modern Period The Age of Hardy
1887-1928
George Bernard Shaw V 1856-1950 V Born in Dublin V An active member of the Fabian Society V A freethinker V A supporter of women's rights V An advocate of equality of income, the abolition of private property, and a radical change in the voting system V Campaigned for the simplification of spelling and punctuation and the reform of the English alphabet V Well known as a journalist and public speaker V 1885-1908: he won fame as a journalist- with the Pall Mall Gazette (1885) V The World (1886-94) – as an art critic V The Star (1888) – as a music critic V A drama critic for the Saturday Review (1895-8) V He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1925 Five unsuccessful novels ‹ IMMATURITY ‹ THE IRRATIONAL KNOT ‹ LOVE AMONG THE ARTISTS ‹ CASHEL BYRON'S PROFESSION (1886) ‹ AN UNSOCIAL SOCIALIST (1887)
‹ PLAYS: PLEASANT AND UNPLEASANT (1898) • Contained seven works • Three “unpleasant” and four “pleasant”
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The Unpleasant Plays ‹ WIDOWERS' HOUSES (PUB. 1893) • His first play • It is designed to show the manner in which the capitalist system perverts and corrupts human behaviour and relationships • Shaw's words: “middle-class respectability and younger son gentility fattening on the poverty of the slum as flies fatten on filth” ‹ MRS WARREN’S PROFESSION (1894) • Banned by the censor ‹ THE PHILANDERER (1893: 1905) • A satire on the pseudo-Ibsenites and their attitude to woman
The Pleasant Plays ‹ ARMS AND THE MAN (1894, PUB. 1898) • An excellent and amusing stage piece which pokes fun at the romantic conception of the soldier • First of the truly Shavian plays ‹ CANDIDA (1895) • Presents a parson, his wife, and a poet involved in “the eternal triangle” • Main interest is focused on the characters ‹ THE MAN OF DESTINY (1895: 1897) ‹ YOU NEVER CAN TELL (1897: 1899)
‹ THREE PLAYS FOR PURITANS (1901) • THE DEVIL'S DISCIPLE (perf. NY 1897, pub. 1901) • CAESAR AND CLEOPATRA ( pub. 1901, perf. Berlin 1906) • CAPTAIN BRASSBOUND’S CONVERSION (1899:1900)
‹ MAN AND SUPERMAN (pub. 1903, perf. 1905) • Man and Superman: A Comedy and a Philosophy
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• The play is Shaw's paradoxical version of the Don Juan story, in which his hero John Tanner (Don Juan Tenorio), provocative, eloquent, and witty ideologue and author of the Revolutionist's Handbook (a work which appears in full as an appendix to the play), is relentlessly if obliquely pursued by Ann Whitefield, who is more interested in him as a potential husband than she is in his political theories. • One of Shaw’s most important plays • Deals half seriously, half comically, with woman’s pursuit of her mate • Shaw’s first statement of his idea of the Life Force working through human beings toward perfection • Unconventional in its construction • Third Act: “Don Juan in Hell” ‹ JOHN BULL'S OTHER ISLAND (1904, pub. NY 1907) • A good-humoured satire • On English and Irish prejudices • The play revolves around Tom Broadbent and Larry Doyle • Originally written for the Irish National Theatre ‹ MAJOR BARBARA (1905, pub. NY 1907) • It portrays the conflict between spiritual and worldly power embodied in Barbara, a major in the Salvation Army, and her machiavellian father, millionaire armaments manufacturer Andrew Undershaft. ‹ THE DOCTOR'S DILEMMA (1906, pub. Berlin 1908) ‹ GETTING MARRIED (1908, pub. Berlin 1910) ‹ THE SHEWING UP OF BLANCO POSNET (1909) • A melodramatic piece about religious conversion against a background of horse- stealing and lynch-law in the West • Banned as blasphemous by the Censor ‹ MISALLIANCE (1910, pub. Berlin 1911) • Inconclusive discussion of the parent-child relationship ‹ THE DARK LADY OF THE SONNETS (1910)
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‹ FANNY'S FIRST PLAY (1911, pub. Berlin 1911) • Religious theme is combined with an attack on the critics and a further study of the relations between parents and children ‹ ANDROCLES AND THE LION (pub. Berlin 1913, perf. Hamburg 1913) • An examination of the nature of early Christian religious experience ‹ PYGMALION (perf. Vienna 1913, pub. Berlin 1913) • Later turned into the popular musical MY FAIR LADY • One of the most popular plays of Bernard Shaw • A witty and highly entertaining study of class distinction • It describes the transformation of a Cockney flower seller, Eliza Doolittle, into a passable imitation of a duchess by the phonetician Professor Henry Higgins, who undertakes this task in order to win a bet and to prove his own points about English speech and the class system: he teaches her to speak standard English and introduces her successfully to social life, thus winning his bet, but she rebels against his dictatorial and thoughtless behaviour, and 'bolts' from his tyranny • The play ends with a truce between the two of them, as Higgins acknowledges that she has achieved freedom and independence, and emerged from his treatment as a “tower of strength: a consort battleship” ‹ HEARTBREAK HOUSE (pub. 1919, perf. 1920, both NY) • Heartbreak House: A Fantasia in the Russian Manner on English Themes • Set in the war period • Treats of upper-class disillusionment during the pre-War years ‹ BACK TO METHUSELAH (pub. and perf. NY 1921,1922) • Back to Methuselah: A Metabiological Pentateuch • An infrequently performed cycle of five plays • Beginning in the Garden of Eden and reaching the year AD 31,920, which examines the metaphysical implications of longevity ‹ SAINT JOAN (perf. NY 1923, pub. 1924) • Shaw’s finest play • A Chronicle Play in 6 Scenes and an Epilogue
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• Based on the life and trial of Joan of Arc • Michael Holroyd has characterised the play as “a tragedy without villains” and also as Shaw's “only tragedy” ‹ THE APPLE CART ( perf. Warsaw 1929, pub. Berlin 1929) ‹ TOO TRUE TO BE GOOD (perf. Boston 1932, pub. Berlin 1932), • A three-act political extravaganza • Opens in one of the richest cities in England, in a patient's bedroom inhabited by a ‘poor innocent microbe’ apparently made of luminous jelly, and then moves to a sea beach in a mountainous country patrolled by the omnipresent Private Meek • Contains echoes from THE PILGRIM'S PROGRESS and THE TEMPEST • Reaches its climax in a long peroration on the place of human beings in the evolution of the world ‹ ON THE ROCKS (1933) ‹ THE SIX OF CALAIS (1934) ‹ VILLAGE WOOING (pub. Berlin 1933, perf. Dallas 1934) ‹ THE SIMPLETON OF THE UNEXPECTED ISLES ( perf. NY 1935, pub. Berlin 1935) ‹ THE MILLIONAIRES (1936) ‹ GENEVA (1938) ‹ IN GOOD KING CHARLES'S GOLDEN DAYS ( perf. and pub. 1939) ‹ BUOYANT BILLIONS (perf. and pub. Zurich 1948). ‹ THE QUINTESSENCE OF LBSENISM (1891, revised and expanded 1913) • Reveals his debt to Ibsen as a playwright • Presents an argument for Fabian socialism ‹ THE PERFECT WAGNERITE (1898) ‹ COMMON SENSE ABOUT THE WAR (1914) ‹ THE INTELLIGENT WOMAN'S GUIDE TO SOCIALISM AND CAPITALISM (1928) ‹ EVERYBODY'S POLITICAL WHAT'S WHAT (1944) ‹ DRAMATIC OPINIONS AND ESSAYS (1907)
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Edmund John Millington Synge V 1871-1909 V Irish playwright V Born near Dublin
‹ THE ARAN ISLANDS (1907) ‹ IN THE SHADOW OF THE GLEN (1903) • His first play • A comedy based on an old folk tale • A grim one-act peasant comedy, in which an elderly husband feigns death to test his wife's fidelity ‹ RIDERS TO THE SEA (1904) • A powerful, deeply moving tragedy in one act • An elegiac tragedy in which an elderly mother, Maurya, stoically anticipates 'a great rest' after the death of the last of her six sons ‹ THE WELL OF THE SAINTS (1905) • A rather fantastic comedy based on a legend • Part French, part Irish in origin ‹ THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD (1907) • A comedy • His best-known play • The most controversial • The play was first performed at the Abbey Theatre. • His best known effort to fuse the language of ordinary people with a dramatic rhetoric of his own making ‹ THE TINKER'S WEDDING (1908) • The anticlerical ‹ POEMS AND TRANSLATIONS (1909) • Many of which foreshadow his imminent death ‹ DEIRDRE OF THE SORROWS (1910) • Last play
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Henry Arthur Jones V 1851-1929 V His most influential plays treated social themes, often the double standards of behaviour expected of men and of women ‹ THE SILVER KING (1882) ‹ THE TEMPTER (1893) ‹ THE LIARS (1897) • A forerunner of the new comedy of manners to be perfected by Wilde ‹ DOLLY REFORMING HERSELF (1908) ‹ MARY GOES FIRST (1913) ‹ JUDAH (1890) ‹ THE DANCING GIRL (1891), ‹ THE CASE OF REBELLIOUS SUSAN (1894) ‹ MICHAEL AND HIS LOST ANGEL (1896) ‹ MRS DANE'S DEFENCE (1900) ‹ THE LIE (1923) Sir Arthur Wing Pinero V 1855-1934 V Early practitioner of realistic drama ‹ TWO HUNDRED A YEAR (1877) • His first one-act play ‹ THE MAGISTRATE ( perf.1885) • Involves a series of ludicrous confusions between Mr Posket, the magistrate, and his family • Brought Pinero both fame and wealth ‹ THE SCHOOL-MISTRESS (1887) ‹ SWEET LAVENDER (1888) • Sentimental comedy ‹ THE WEAKER SEX (1888) • Social satire
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‹ THE PROFLIGATE (1889) • His first serious play • Theme of double standards for men and women • Praised by Archer • Noted for its frankness • Noted for its absence of the standard devices of soliloquy and aside ‹ LADY BOUNTIFUL (1891) • The first of the 'social' plays in which Pinero was deemed to display his understanding of women ‹ THE SECOND MRS TANQUERAY (1893) • The theme of double standards ‹ THE NOTORIOUS MRS EBBSMITH (1895) • Dealt with a woman's dubious past ‹ TRELAWNY OF THE 'WELLS' (1898) • A sentimental comedy • Nostalgically recalling his own passion for the theatre he had haunted as a boy ‹ DANDY DICK (1887) ‹ THE PRINCESS AND THE BUTTERFLY; OR THE FANTASTIC (1897) ‹ THE GAY LORD QUEX (1899) ‹ IRIS (1901) ‹ MID-CHANNEL (1909)
John Galsworthy V 1867-1933 V A social reformer V His chief weapon is Irony V Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1932 ‹ FROM THE FOUR WINDS (1897) • His first volume of stories ‹ JOCELYN (1898) • His first novel
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‹ MAN OF DEVON (1901) • The first appearance of the Forsyte family ‹ THE ISLAND PHARISEES (1904) • A novel • Revealing his abiding interest in the effects of poverty and the constraints of convention ‹ FRATERNITY (1909) • Attacked the artificial veneer of urban life ‹ THE DARK FLOWER (1913) • About the creative and disruptive effects of love ‹ THE FORSYTE SAGA (1922) • A sequence • One of the striking achievements in modern fiction • It is a cool, controlled, ironical dissection of the Forsytes, a typical city family • The family chronicle covers thirty four years to the death of Queen Victoria • Gives an admirable picture of the upper-middle classes in the changing society of the end of the nineteenth century • The three novels containing the story, THE MAN OF PROPERTY (1906), IN CHANCERY (1920), and TO LET (1921) • With two interludes, “Indian Summer of a Forsyte” (1918), and Awakening (1920), appeared together in 1922 • THE FORSYTE SAGA, tracing the fortunes of three generations of the Forsyte family ‹ The second part of the Forsyte chronicles A MODERN COMEDY (1929) • THE WHITE MONKEY (1924) • THE SILVER SPOON (1926) • SWAN SONG (1928) • The two interludes “A Silent Wooing” and “Passers By” ‹ THE COUNTRY HOUSE (1907) ‹ THE PATRICIAN (1911)
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‹ THE FREELANDS (1915) ‹ BEYOND (1917) ‹ SAINT’S PROGRESS (1919) ‹ THE INN OF TRANQUILITY (1912) • His collection of essays
‹ THE SILVER BOX (1906) • A play • Deals with the inequality of justice • About theft in which he employed a favourite device of 'parallel' families, one rich and one poor ‹ STRIFE (1909) • An examination of men and managers in industry • Struggle between Capital and Labour ‹ JUSTICE (1910) • The cruelty of solitary confinement ‹ THE SKIN GAME (1920) • The different values of the old aristocracy and the newly rich businessman ‹ LOYALTIES (1922) • Class loyalties and prejudices ‹ OLD ENGLISH (1924) ‹ ESCAPE (1926) • The inadequacy of the administration of justice and the attitude of different types of people toward an escaped prisoner ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1934)
Posthumous publication ‹ THE END OF THE CHAPTER (1935) • MAID IN WAITING (1931) • THE FLOWERING WILDERNESS (1932) • OVER THE RIVER (1933)
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V Relating the family history of the Charwells, cousins of the younger Forsytes
Verses
‹ MOODS, SONGS, AND DOGGERELS (1912) ‹ THE BELLS OF PEACE (1921) ‹ VERSES NEW AND OLD (1926)
Essays and Stories
‹ A COMMENTARY (1908) ‹ A MOTLEY (1910) ‹ A SHEAF (1916) ‹ FIVE TALES (1918) ‹ ANOTHER SHEAF (1919) ‹ CARAVAN (1925) ‹ CASTLES IN SPAIN (1927) ‹ ON FORYSTE CHANGE (1930)
Harley Granville-Barker V 1877-1946 V A Shakespearian critic V His greatest merits: his character studies, extremely natural language ‹ SERIES I (1927) ‹ SERIES II (1930) ‹ SERIES III-HAMLET (1936) ‹ SERIES IV-OTHELLO (1945) ‹ SERIES V- CORIOLANUS (1949) Plays ‹ THE MARRYING OF ANN LEETE (1899) ‹ THE VOYSEY INHERITANCE (1905) ‹ WASTE (1907) ‹ THE MADRAS HOUSE (1910)
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‹ THE SECRET LIFE (1923)
‹ ON DRAMATIC METHOD (1931) ‹ ON POETRY IN DRAMA (1937) ‹ THE USE OF DRAMA (1946)
Sir William Schwenck Gilbert V 1836-1911
‹ BAB BALLADS (1869) ‹ MORE BAB BALLADS (1873) ‹ DULCAMARA (1866) • Encouraged by T. W. Robertson • His first dramatic work • A burlesque based on Donizetti's opera L'ELISIR D'AMORE ‹ THE PALACE OF TRUTH (1870) • A poetical fantasy • Based on a novel by Mme de Genlis • Influenced by the fairy work of Planché ‹ PYGMALION AND GALATEA (1871) ‹ RANDALL’S THUMB (1871) ‹ THE WICKED WORLD (1873) ‹ THEHAPPYLAND (1873) • Collaboration with Gilbert Arthur à Becket ‹ THESPIS (1871) • Collaboration with Sullivan ‹ BROKEN HEARTS (1875) ‹ ENGAGED (1877) ‹ THE HOOLIGANS (1911) • His last play
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The Savoy Operas ‹ TRIAL BY JURY (1875) ‹ THE SORCERER (1877) ‹ H.M.S. PINAFORE (1878) ‹ THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE (1879) ‹ PATIENCE (1881) ‹ IOLANTHE (1882) ‹ PRINCESS IDA (1884) ‹ THE MIKADO (1885) ‹ RUDDIGORE (1887) ‹ THE YEOMEN OF THE GUARD (1888) ‹ THE GONDOLIERS (1889) ‹ UTOPIA, LIMITED (1893) ‹ THE GRAND DUKE (1896) • The only unsuccessful Savoy opera
Oscar Fingal O'flahertie Wills Wilde V 1854-1900 V Born in Dublin V A brilliant classical scholar ‹ Ravenna (1878) • His poem • Won the Newdigate Prize
‹ POEMS (1881) ‹ THE SPHINX (1894) ‹ THE BALLAD OF READING GAOL (1898) • Inspired by his prison experience
‹ VERA, OR THE NIHILISTS (printed 1880) • His first play
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‹ THE HAPPY PRINCE AND OTHER TALES (1888) • A volume of fairy stories ‹ LORD ARTHUR SAVILE'S CRIME, AND OTHER STORIES(1887) ‹ THE CANTERVILLE GHOST (1887) ‹ THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY (1890) • His only novel • A Gothic melodrama • Aroused scandalized protest when it appeared in Lippincott's Magazine (1890) • Wilde claimed in his preface, “There is no such thing as a moral or an immoral book. Books are well written or badly written. That is all.” ‹ A HOUSE OF POMEGRANATES (1891) • Fairy tales ‹ THE DUCHESS OF PADUA (1891) • His second play • A dull verse tragedy • Epigrammatic brilliance and shrewd social observation brought theatrical success ‹ LADY WINDERMERE'S FAN (1892) ‹ A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE (1893) ‹ AN IDEAL HUSBAND (1895) ‹ THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST (1895) • The Importance of Being Earnest: A Trivial Comedy for Serious People • His masterpiece • Wilde's most dazzling and epigrammatic work • Describes the courtships and betrothals of two young men-about-town, John Worthing (Jack) and Algernon (Algy) Moncrieff, who are in pursuit respectively of Gwendolen Fairfax (Algy's cousin) and Jack's ward, Cecily Cardew • Both young men lead double lives, in that Jack is known in town under the name of Ernest ‹ SALOMÉ (1892) • Now known chiefly by R. Strauss's opera
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• Written in French • Was refused a licence • English translation by Lord Alfred Douglas with illustrations by Beardsley ‹ DE PROFUNDIS (1897) • Long introspective work • Written while he was in prison
Sir James Matthew Barrie V 1860-1937 V Born in Kirriemuir in Scotland V Began work with the Nottinghamshire Journal V Chief member of Kailyard School of novelists • A term applied to a group of Scottish writers who exploited a sentimental and romantic image of small-town life in Scotland, with much use of the vernacular • The trend lasted from about 1888 to 1896 • Leading writers in this manner were J. M. Barrie, 'Ian Maclaren' (John Watson, 1850-1907), and S. R. Crockett (1860-1914)
‹ BETTER DEAD (1887) • First novel ‹ WHEN A MAN’S SINGLE (1888) ‹ MY LADY NICOTINE (1890) The short dialect stories ‹ AULD LICHT IDYLLS (1888) ‹ A WINDOW IN THRUMS (1889)
‹ THE LITTLE MINISTER (1891) ‹ SENTIMENTAL TOMMY (1896) ‹ TOMMY AND GRIZEL (1900)
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‹ THE PROFESSOR’S LOVE STORY (1894) • Dramatized version of THE LITTLE MINISTER ‹ QUALITY STREET (1902) ‹ MARY ROSE (1920) ‹ PETER PAN (1904) ‹ A KISS FOR CINDERELLA (1916) ‹ THE ADMIRABLE CRICHTON (1902) ‹ WHAT EVERY WOMAN KNOWS (1908) ‹ THE TWELVE-POUND LOOK (1910) ‹ THE WILL (1913) ‹ DEAR BRUTUS (1917)
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The Modern Period The Age of Hardy
1887-1928
William Butler Yeats V 1865-1939 V Born in Dublin V 1891: Became a member of Rhymers’ Club V 1923: Awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature V A nationalist V Helped to found an Irish Literary Society in London in 1891 and another in Dublin in 1892 V A driving force behind the Irish Literary Revival V Along with Lady Gregory, Edward Martyn, and others, founded the Abbey Theatre V Friend of Rabindranath Tagore ‹ THE COUNTESS CATHLEEN (1892) • His play • in blank verse • Based on the story of Countess Kathleen O'Shea • Scene is laid 'in Ireland in old times' at a period of famine • The people sell their souls to the demons for food. The countess does all she can to relieve their needs, till the demons steal her wealth. Finally she sells her own soul to the demons for a great sum, sacrificing her hope of salvation for the people. But at the end she is forgiven, for her intention was good. • Marked the beginning of the Irish Revival in the theatre. ‹ THE LAND OF HEARTS DESIRE (1894) ‹ THE SHADOWY WATERS (1900) ‹ CATHLEEN NI HOULIHAN (1902) ‹ ON BAILE’S STRAND (1904) ‹ THE KING’S THRESHOLD (1904) ‹ THE HOUR-GLASS(1904)
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‹ DEIRDRE (1907) ‹ THE RESURRECTION (1913) ‹ AT THE HAWK’S WELL (1917) ‹ THE ONLY JEALOUSY OF EMER (1919) ‹ CALVARY (1921) ‹ THE CAT AND THE MOON (1926)
Yeats's early study of Irish lore and legends resulted in ‹ FAIRY AND FOLK TALES OF THE IRISH PEASANTRY (1888) ‹ THE CELTIC TWILIGHT (1893) • A collection of stories • Illustrating the mysticism of the Irish and their belief in fairies, ghosts, and spirits. It has since become a generic phrase (slightly ironical) for the whole Irish Revival in literature. ‹ THE SECRET ROSE (1897)
‹ THE WANDERINGS OF OISIN AND OTHER POEMS (1889) ‹ THE LAND OF HEART'S DESIRE (1894) ‹ THE WIND AMONG THE REEDS (1899) ‹ THE GREEN HELMET AND OTHER POEMS (1910) ‹ POEMS WRITTEN IN DISCOURAGEMENT (1913) ‹ RESPONSIBILITIES: POEMS AND A PLAY (1914) ‹ THE WILD SWANS AT COOLE (1917) ‹ A VISION (1925) ‹ MICHAEL ROBARTES AND THE DANCER (1921) ‹ SEVEN POEMS AND A FRAGMENT (1922), ‹ THE CAT AND THE MOON AND CERTAIN POEMS (1924) ‹ OCTOBER BLAST (1927) ‹ THE TOWER (1928) ‹ THE WINDING STAIR (1929) ‹ WORDS FOR MUSIC PERHAPS AND OTHER POEMS (1932)
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‹ WHEELS AND BUTTERFLIES (1934) ‹ THE KING OF THE GREAT CLOCK TOWER (1934) ‹ A FULL MOON IN MARCH (1935) ‹ NEW POEMS (1938) ‹ LAST POEMS AND TWO PLAYS (1939)
Collections of essays ‹ IDEAS OF GOOD AND EVIL (1903) ‹ DISCOVERIES (1907) ‹ PER ARNICA SILENTIA LUNAE (1918) ‹ THE CUTTING OF AN AGATE (1919) ‹ ON THE BOILER (1939) Most important of the many books he edited and introduced: THE OXFORD BOOK OF MODERN VERSE (1936)
Robert Bridges V 1844 – 1930 V In 1913: Appointed as poet laureate V One of the founders of the Society for Pure English V At Oxford he met G. M. Hopkins, who became a close and influential friend ‹ SHORTER POEMS (1873) • Bridges's first book • Appeared anonymously His best known lyrics ‹ A PASSER-BY ‹ LONDON SNOW ‹ I WILL NOT LET THEE GO ‹ THE DOWNS
‹ THE GROWTH OF LOVE • A sonnet sequence
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• Appeared in 1876 • An enlarged form in 1890 • 79 sonnets • A mixture of Petrarchan and Shakespearian forms
Two long poems ‹ PROMETHEUS THE FIREGIVER (1883) ‹ EROS AND PSYCHE (1885) • One of metrical technique V Fine pictures of the Italian countryside ‹ NEW POEMS (1899) ‹ POEMS IN CLASSICAL PROSODY (1903) ‹ LATER POEMS (1914)
‹ OCTOBER AND OTHER POEMS (1920) ‹ NEW VERSE (1925) ‹ THE TESTAMENT OF BEAUTY (1929) • A long poem • In four books • On his spiritual philosophy ‹ THE FEAST OF BACCHUS (1889) ‹ PALICIO (1890) ‹ THE CHRISTIAN CAPTIVES (1890) ‹ THE RETURN OF ULYSSES (1890) ‹ ACHILLES IN SCYROS (1890) ‹ THE HUMOURS OF THE COURT (1893) ‹ NERO PART I (1885) ‹ NERO PART II (1894) ‹ DEMETER (1904) • Masque
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His prose ‹ ON THE ELEMENTS OF MILTON’S BLANK VERSE IN “PARADISE LOST” (1887) ‹ ON THE PROSODY OF “PARADISE REGAINED” AND “SAMSON AGONISTES” (1889) ‹ JOHN KEATS (1895) ‹ THE INFLUENCE OF THE AUDIENCE ON SHAKESPEAREAN DRAMA (1926) Miscellaneous publications ‹ THE SPIRIT OF MAN (1916) ‹ POEMS OF GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS (1918)
John Edward Masefield V 1878-1967 V In 1930 Masefield became poet laureate and V In 1934 received the Order of Merit
‹ SALT-WATER BALLADS (1902) • Written from first-hand experience • Which included “I must to the seas again” ‹ BALLADS AND POEMS (1910) • Which contained “Cargoes” ‹ THE EVERLASTING MERCY (1911) • His narrative poem • Octosyllabic couplets • Deals with the affair of the drink-sodden Saul Kane and the life of country taverns ‹ THE WIDOW IN THE BYE STREET (1912) • Novel of Herefordshire low life • A strong erotic theme ‹ THE DAFFODIL FIELDS (1913) ‹ LOLLINGDON DOWNS (1917)
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‹ DAUBER (1913) ‹ REYNARD THE FOX (1919) • A rattling verse tale • Set in the rural world of Masefield's childhood ‹ RIGHT ROYAL (1920) ‹ THE LAND WORKERS (1943) ‹ MIDSUMMER NIGHT (1928) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1932) ‹ END AND BEGINNING (1934) ‹ WONDERINGS (1943)
Novels ‹ SARD HARKER (1924) ‹ ODTAA (1926) ‹ THE BIRD OF DAWNING (1933)
‹ THE MIDNIGHT FOLK (1927) • His story for children Miscellaneous prose ‹ SHAKESPEARE (1911) ‹ GALLIPOLI (1916) ‹ THE BATTLE OF THE SOMME (1919)
‹ THE TRAGEDY OF NAN (1909) • Drama ‹ THE CAMPDEN WONDER (1907) ‹ THE TRAGEDY OF POMPEY THE GREAT (1910) ‹ GOOD FRIDAY (1917) ‹ MELLONEY HOLTSPUR (1922) ‹ THE TRIAL OF JESUS (1925) ‹ THE COMING OF CHRIST (1928)
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Walter De La Mare V 1873-1956 V Prominent member of the Georgian group of poets • The Georgian poets were the first major grouping of the post-Victorian era. • Their work appeared in a series of five anthologies called Georgian Poetry which were published by Harold Monro and edited by Edward Marsh. • The poets featured included Edmund Blunden, Rupert Brooke, Robert Graves, D.H. Lawrence, Walter de la Mare, and Siegfried Sassoon. • Their poetry represented something of a reaction to the decadence of the 1890s and tended towards the sentimental. • Brooke and Sassoon were to go on to win reputations as war poets and Lawrence quickly distanced himself from the group and was associated with the modernist movement. ‹ SONGS OF CHILDHOOD (1902) • Under the name of Walter Ramal ‹ THE LISTENERS AND OTHER POEMS (1912) • His first successful book ‹ PEACOCK PIE (1913) ‹ TOM TIDDLER'S GROUND (1932) ‹ BELLS AND GRASS (1941) ‹ THE FLEETING AND OTHER POEMS (1933) ‹ BELLS AND GRASS (1941) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1942) ‹ THE BURNING GLASS AND OTHER POEMS (1945) ‹ THE TRAVELLER (1946)
‹ HENRY BROCKEN (1904) ‹ THE HERO ENCOUNTERS WRITERS OF THE PAST ‹ THE RIDDLE AND OTHER STORIES (1923) ‹ THE LORD FISH AND OTHER STORIES (1933)
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‹ THE MEMOIRS OF A MIDGET (1921) • His best known prose • His longest novel ‹ EARLY ONE MORNING (1935) ‹ LOVE (1943)
Edmund Charles Blunden V 1896-1974 V 1922: won The Hawthornden Prize for THE SHEPHERD V A Pastoral Poet – seeking inspiration in the sights, sounds, and smells of the the English country side ‹ PASTORALS (1916) ‹ THE WAGGONER AND OTHER POEMS (1920) ‹ THE SHEPHERD (1922) ‹ ENGLISH POEMS (1925) ‹ CHOICE OR CHANCE (1934) ‹ POEMS 1930-40 (1941) ‹ SHELLS BY A STREAM (1944) • Contains many of his finest lyrics
‹ AFTER THE BOMBING (1948) • More contemplative ‹ THE FACE OF ENGLAND (1932) ‹ ENGLISH VILLAGES (1941) ‹ CRICKET COUNTRY (1944) ‹ UNDERTONES OF WAR (1928) • His best-known work • Describes the double destruction of man and nature in Flanders
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‹ LEIGH HUNT (1930) • Biography
‹ THOMAS HARDY (1942) • A study of Hardy ‹ SHELLEY (1946) • Biography
Alfred Edward Housman V 1859-1936
‹ A SHROPSHIRE LAD (1896) • At his own expense • A series of 63 spare and nostalgic verses • Based largely on ballad forms • Mainly set in a half-imaginary Shropshire, a “land of lost content” (Welsh border) • Often addressed to, or spoken by, a farm-boy or a soldier • Predominant mood is one of cultured, ironical disillusionment with life • Tragic tone • Concise, epigrammatic in expression ‹ LAST POEMS (1922) • 41 poems ‹ THE NAME AND NATURE OF POETRY (1933) • His lecture • His one critical work on English literature • A brief exposition of his own views upon his art • Partly based on observations in his notebooks, which provide illuminating comments on the process of poetic creation ‹ MORE POEMS (1936) • 18 Poems
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He is the principal character in Stoppard's play THE INVENTION OF LOVE (1997)
Lascelles Abercrombie V 1881-1938 V Began as a literary journalist in Liverpool V One of the original contributors to Georgian Poetry V His greatest enthusiasm for the blend of the emotional and intellectual V Treatment of the subject in a metaphysical manner
‹ INTERLUDES AND POEMS (1908) ‹ EMBLEMS OF LOVE DESIGNED IN SEVERAL DISCOURSES (1912) ‹ THOMAS HARDY (1212) ‹ AN ESSAY TOWARDS A THEORY OF ART (1922) ‹ THE IDEA OF GREAT POETRY (1925) ‹ ROMANTICISM (1926) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1930) ‹ POETRY: ITS MUSIC AND ITS MEANING (1932) His plays ‹ DEBORAH (1913) ‹ THE ADDER (1913) ‹ THE END OF THE WORLD (1914) ‹ THE STAIRCASE (1922) ‹ THE DESERTER (1922) ‹ PHOENIX (1923) ‹ THE SALE OF ST THOMAS (first part 1911, completed 1930) • Verse play
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The Modern Period The War Poets
1887-1928
Rupert Chawner Brooke V 1887-1915 ‹ “If I should die, think only this of me” • Sonnet ‹ POEMS (1911) • Edited by his friend Marsh ‹ 1914 AND OTHER POEMS IN (1915) ‹ JOHN WEBSTER AND THE ELIZABETHAN DRAMA (1916) • His one critical work • His work on the dramatist Webster • Indicates a real appreciation of the dramatist and his period ‹ LETTERS FROM AMERICA (1916) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1918) • With a memoir by Edward Marsh
Siegfried Loraine Sassoon V 1886-1967 V A lover of country side, of rural sports, of music and painting ‹ THE OLD HUNTSMAN (1917) • His war poems ‹ COUNTER-ATTACK (1918) • A collection of violent, embittered poems ‹ WAR POEMS (1919) ‹ SATIRICAL POEMS (1926) ‹ THE HEART’S JOURNEY (1928) ‹ VIGILS (1935) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1947)
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‹ SEQUENCES (1956) • Concerned with spiritual growth His semi-autobiographical trilogy ‹ MEMOIRS OF A FOX-HUNTING MAN (1928) • Won The Hawthornden Prize in 1929 ‹ MEMOIRS OF AN INFANTRY OFFICER (1930) ‹ SHERSTON'S PROGRESS (1936) • Tells the life of George Sherston, a lonely boy whose loves are cricket and hunting, who grows into a thoughtless young gentleman and eventually finds himself a junior officer in the trenches, where he is brutally thrust into adulthood The three books were published together as THE COMPLETE MEMOIRS OF GEORGE SHERSTON (1937) ‹ THE OLD CENTURY AND SEVEN MORE YEARS (1938) • An autobiography of his childhood and youth • His own favourite among his books ‹ THE WEALD OF YOUTH (1942) ‹ SIEGFRIED'S JOURNEY (1945) ‹ Biography of George Meredith (1948)
Wilfred Owen V 1893-1918 V The greatest of the war poets V A war poet of the first rank V “I am not concerned with Poetry. My subject is War, and the pity of War. The Poetry is in the pity.” V His bleak realism, his energy and indignation, his compassion, and his high technical skills - he was a master of metrical variety and of assonance ‹ THE POEMS OF WILFRED OWEN (1931) • Complete collection of his works • Contains an excellent memoir by Edmund Blunden
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The Modern Period 1887-1928
Gilbert Keith Chesterton V 1874-1936 V Essayist V Novelist V Critic V Biographer V Poet V Dramatist V Advocate of medievalism V He made his name in journalism • According to him “the easiest of all professions” ‹ ORTHODOXY (1908) ‹ THE NAPOLEON OF NOTTING HILL (1904) • His first novel • A fantasy set in a future in which London is plunged into a strange mixture of medieval nostalgia and street warfare, develops his political attitudes, glorifying the little man, the colour and romance of 'Merry England', and attacking big business, technology, and the monolithic State ‹ THE CLUB OF QUEER TRADES (1905) ‹ THE MAN WHO WAS THURSDAY: A NIGHTMARE (1908) • An alarming but rollicking fantasy with a surreal anarchist background which attacks fin-desiècle pessimism ‹ MANALIVE (1912) ‹ THE INNOCENCE OF FATHER BROWN (1911) • Father Brown, an unassuming East Anglian Roman Catholic priest, highly successful in the detection of crime by intuitive methods • A landmark in the history of detective fiction
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Chesterton also wrote literary criticism V Particular interest in the Victorian period ‹ THE VICTORIAN AGE IN LITERATURE (1913) ‹ ROBERT BROWNING (1903) ‹ CHARLES DICKENS (1906) ‹ SHAW (1910) ‹ HERETICS (1905) ‹ ALL THINGS CONSIDERED (1908) ‹ TREMENDOUS TRIFLES (1909) Joseph Hilaire Pierre René Belloc V 1870-1953 V He became a prolific and versatile writer of poetry and verses; essays on religious, social, and political topics; biography; travel; literary criticism; and novels V An active journalist V Literary editor of the Morning Post from 1906 to 1910 V Founder of the Eye-witness (1911)
‹ A BAD CHILD'S BOOK OF BEASTS (1896) ‹ VERSES AND SONNETS (1896) ‹ CAUTIONARY TALES FOR CHILDREN (1908)
‹ “Tarantella” (“Do you remember an inn, Miranda?”) ‹ “Ha'nacker Hill” V His most celebrated serious lyrics His books attacking and satirizing Edwardian society (some with G. K. Chesterton) include PONGO AND THE BULL (1910) and THE SERVILE STATE (1912) ‹ EUROPE AND FAITH (1920) • Propounding Catholicism Biographies ‹ DANTON (1899) ‹ ROBESPIERRE (1901)
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‹ MARIE ANTOINETTE (1909) ‹ CROMWELL (1927) ‹ CHARLES II (1940) Histories ‹ THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1911) ‹ HISTORY OF ENGLAND (1915)
‹ THE CRUISE OF THE NONA (1925) • The most intimate of his books • Contains many of his most personal reflections ‹ THE PATH TO ROME (1902) • His most successful book of travel • Published with his own sketches and illustrations • An account of a journey which he undertook, largely on foot, from the valley of the Moselle to Rome • It is interspersed with anecdotes, reflections, and dialogues between “Lector” and “Auctor” • Ends with his arrival
Other travel books ‹ SUSSEX (1906) ‹ THE PYRENEES (1909) Novels ‹ MR CLUTTERBUCK'S ELECTION (1908) ‹ THE GIRONDIN (1911) ‹ THE GREEN OVERCOAT (1912) ‹ BELINDA (1928) • Author's favourite • A brief and highly individual love story • Related with romantic feeling but much irony as well
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William Henry Hudson V 1841-1922 V A naturalist rather than a novelist V Ranks as a modern master of English prose V Recognized as a masterly writer on the natural world
‹ THE PURPLE LAND THAT ENGLAND LOST (1885) • A series of strange and vivid stories set in South America ‹ THE CRYSTAL AGE (1887) • An account of a Utopian land where the sex impulse has burned out and society is therefore at last stable and at peace • Belloc expressed great admiration to this work
‹ THE NATURALIST IN LA PLATA (1892) ‹ IDLE DAYS IN PATAGONIA (1893) • An engaging work of travel and natural experience V Two collections of essays V Experiences he has known personally
‹ FAR AWAY AND LONG AGO: A HISTORY OF MY EARLY LIFE (1918) ‹ EL OMBÚ (1902) • Collection of short stories ‹ GREEN MANSIONS: A ROMANCE OF THE TROPICAL FOREST (1904) • Probably the best known of his books • Novel • Set in South America • The animistic overtones of the book, and its intimations of love and death, made a deep impression • The sculpture of Rima in London's Hyde Park is by Sir Jacob Epstein (1880- 1959)
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‹ BIRDS IN A VILLAGE (1893) ‹ BRITISH BIRDS (1895) ‹ BIRDS IN LONDON (1898) ‹ BIRDS AND MAN (1901) ‹ BIRDS IN TOWN AND VILLAGE (1919) ‹ BIRDS OF LA PLATA (1920)
‹ NATURE IN DOWNLOAD (1900) ‹ HAMPSHIRE DAYS (1903) ‹ A FOOT IN ENGLAND (1909) ‹ A SHEPHERD'S LIFE (1910) • His finest book • Describes Caleb Bawcombe, a Wiltshire shepherd, who lives night and day, through all seasons, with his sheep and dogs among the people and the wild life of the downs
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The Modern Period Essayists
1887-1928
Sir Henry Maximilian Beerbohm V 1872-1956 V Critic V Essayist V Caricaturist ‹ THE WORKS OF MAX BEERBOHM (1896) • His first published book • Collection of essays ‹ MORE (1899) ‹ YET AGAIN (1909) ‹ AND EVEN NOW (1920) ‹ A CHRISTMAS GARLAND (1912) • Expertly parodied the literary styles of H. James, Wells, Kipling, and other leading contemporary writers. ‹ SEVEN MEN (1919) • His best short stories Edward Verrall Lucas V 1868-1938 V Journalist V Essayist V Biographer of Charles Lamb V His works include biographies, novels, and romances ‹ OVER BERNERIONS (1908) • Set over an antiquarian bookshop V Edited the works and letters of Charles and Mary Lamb (1903-35)
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V Contributed to Punch • Punch, or The London Charivari • An illustrated weekly comic periodical • Founded 1841 • At first a rather strongly radical paper, gradually becoming more bland and less political • It suspended publication in 1992, and was revived in 1996 ‹ READING, WRITING AND REMEMBERING (1932) • Autobiographical • Describes some odd corners of the book world, and a life which combined hard work and amateur inaccuracy ‹ CHARACTER AND COMEDY (1907) ‹ OLD LAMPS FOR NEW (1911) ‹ LOITERER’S HARVEST (1913) ‹ CLOUD AND SILVER (1916)
A G Gardiner V 1856-1946 V Alpha of the Plough – the pseudonym ‹ PEBBLES ON THE SHORE (1917) ‹ LEAVES IN THE WIND (1920)
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The Modern Period Philosophers 1887-1928
Henry Havelock Ellis V 1859-1939 ‹ STUDIES IN THE PSYCHOLOGY OF SEX (1897-1910) ‹ THE NEW SPIRIT (1890) ‹ MAN AND WOMAN (1894) ‹ SEXUAL INVERSION (1897) • With J. A. Symonds ‹ AFFIRMATIONS (1898) ‹ THE TASK OF SOCIAL HYGIENE (1912) ‹ THE DANCE OF LIFE (1923) ‹ MY LIFE (1939) • Autobiographical
Bertrand Arthur William Russell V Third Earl Russell V 1872-1970 V Brilliant mathematician V One of the outstanding thinkers of his age V Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature in 1950 V Inventor of the Theory of Descriptions ‹ THE PHILOSOPHY OF LEIBNITZ (1900) ‹ THE PRINCIPLES OF MATHEMATICS (1903) ‹ PRINCIPIA MATHEMATICA (1910) • In collaboration with N. Whitehead • Quickly became classics of mathematical logic ‹ PRINCIPLES OF SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION (1917) ‹ MYSTICISM AND LOGIC (1918)
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‹ THE ANALYSIS OF MIND (1921) ‹ AN OUTLINE OF PHILOSOPHY (1927) ‹ THE ANALYSIS OF MATTER (1927) ‹ MARRIAGE AND MORALS (1929) ‹ THE CONQUEST OF HAPPINESS (1930) ‹ THE SCIENTIFIC OUTLOOK (1931) ‹ AN INQUIRY INTO MEANING AND TRUTH (1940) ‹ HISTORY OF WESTERN PHILOSOPHY (1946) ‹ HUMAN KNOWLEDGE, ITS SCOPE AND LIMITS (1948) ‹ AUTHORITY AND THE INDIVIDUAL (1949)
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The Modern Period Literary Critics 1887-1928
Andrew Cecil Bradley V 1851-1935 V Remembered for his contributions to Shakespearian scholarship ‹ SHAKESPEAREAN TRAGEDY (1904) ‹ OXFORD LECTURES ON POETRY (1909) L. C. Knights in his essay How many children had Lady Macbeth? (1933) represented a new generation of critics in his mockery of Bradley's “detective interest” in plot and emphasis on ‘character’ as a detachable object of study, but Bradley's works retain their interest and some admirers Sir Walter Alexander Raleigh V 1861-1922 ‹ STYLE (1897) ‹ MILTON (1900) ‹ WORDSWORTH (1903) ‹ SHAKESPEARE (1907) ‹ SIX ESSAYS ON JONSON (1910) William Paton Ker V 1855-1923 ‹ EPIC AND ROMANCE (1897) ‹ THE DARK AGES (1904) ‹ ESSAYS ON MEDIEVAL LITERATURE (1905) ‹ THE ART OF POETRY (1923) ‹ FORM AND STYLE IN POETRY (1928) George Edward Bateman Saintsbury V 1845-1933 V Critic V Journalist V Saintsbury was a connoisseur of wine
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V The success of his Notes on a Cellar book (1920) led to the founding of the Saintsbury Club
‹ A PRIMER OF FRENCH LITERATURE (1880) • His first book ‹ ELIZABETHAN LITERATURE (1887) ‹ A HISTORY OF NINETEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE (1896) ‹ THE HISTORY OF CRITICISM AND LITERARY TASTE IN EUROPE (1900 - 1904) ‹ A HISTORY OF ENGLISH PROSODY (1906 - 1910) ‹ THE PEACE OF THE AUGUSTANS (1916) ‹ SIR WALTER SCOTT (1897) ‹ MATTHEW ARNOLD (1898)
Sir Edmund William Gosse V 1849-1928 V Swinburne - a close friend V Helped to revive interest in the metaphysical poets and to explain Ibsen’s plays V He was the first to introduce Ibsen's name to England V He introduced Gide to England V Honoured by the Académie française for his services to the literature of France ‹ FATHER AND SON (1907) • His masterpiece • Describes his relations with Philip Henry Gosse (1810-88), father, eminent zoologist and fanatical fundamentalist Christian • This is in Gosse's own words “the record of a struggle between two temperaments, two consciences and almost two epochs” • A moving and amusing study of an individual childhood
Edward Dowden V 1843-1913
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V A noted Shakespearian scholar and made his reputation ‹ SHAKESPEARE: A CRITICAL STUDY OF HIS MIND AND ART (1875) • Influenced future approaches to Shakespearian biography ‹ SHAKESPEARE (1877)
Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch V 1863-1944 V Began writing parodies under the pseudonym “Q” V Edited the first OXFORD BOOK OF ENGLISH VERSE (1900)
‹ DEAD MAN'S ROCK (1887) • A novel of adventure Two influential volumes of lectures ‹ ON THE ART OF WRITING (1916) ‹ ON THE ART OF READING (1920)
‹ NEW CAMBRIDGE SHAKESPEARE (1921) ‹ MEMORIES AND OPINIONS (1944) • The first volume of his unfinished autobiography • Covers his early years John Dover Wilson V 1881-1969 V Shakespearian scholar and editor ‹ THE ESSENTIAL SHAKESPEARE (1932) ‹ WHAT HAPPENS IN HAMLET (1935) ‹ THE FORTUNES OF FALSTAFF (1943)
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The Inter-War Years 1918-1939
Psychological novel ‹ A psychological novel is a work of fiction in which the thoughts, feelings and motivations of characters are of equal or greater interest than is the external action of the greater narrative. ‹ The psychological novel is not content to state what happens but goes on to explain the why and wherefore of this action. ‹ In this type of writing character and characterization are more than usually important. ‹ The origins of psychological novel can be traced as far back as Boccaccio and Cervantes. ‹ The first rise of psychological novel as a genre is said to have started with the sentimental novel of which Samuel Richardson’s PAMELA is a prime example. ‹ The psychological novel can be called a novel of the “inner man.” Stream of Consciousness ‹ Stream of consciousness is a literary technique that appropriates the flow of thoughts and sensory impressions that pass through the mind each instant. ‹ William James in his PRINCIPLES OF PSYCHOLOGY gave currency to the term which used to designate the flow and mixture of all past and present experience in the mind. ‹ Works written by authors using this technique frequently appear to be fragmented. ‹ In the Stream of Consciousness novel, the author typically presents the associative mental flow of one or more characters, often emphasizing the non-verbal at which images express what words by themselves cannot. ‹ Egs: James Joyce’s ULYSSES Virginia Woolf’s TO THE LIGHTHOUSE Metafiction ‹ Metafiction is a term used to describe novels that specifically and self-consciously examine the nature and status of fiction itself and that often contain experiments to test fiction as a form in one way or another. ‹ As a word metafiction means fiction about fiction.
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‹ Most metafictions cannot be easily classified in the conventional categories of realism or romance and in fact disobey these rules and conventions of these genres. ‹ William H. Gass coined the term “metafiction” in the essay entitled “Philosophy and the form of Fiction.” ‹ The term is popularized by Robert Scholes. ‹ Metafiction is primarily associated with modernist and post-modernist literature. ‹ Egs: John Barth’s LOST IN THE FUNHOUSE Donald Bartheleme’s OVERNIGHT TO MANY DISTANT CITIES
Novelists David Herbert Lawrence V 1885-1930 ‹ THE WHITE PEACOCK (1911) • First novel • A story of unhappy human relationships • Reveals his concern with one of his chief themes – the conflict between man and woman ‹ THE TRESPASSER (1912) ‹ SONS AND LOVERS (1913) • A closely autobiographical novel • Set in the Nottinghamshire coalmining village of Bestwood • The first English novel with a truly working-class background, • Lawrence's first major novel • An extremely powerful novel of deep sincerity • Studies with great insight the relationship between son and mother ‹ THE RAINBOW (1915) • It opens as a family chronicle relating the history of the long-established Brangwen family of Marsh Farm, on the Derbyshire-Nottinghamshire border • The novel ends with Ursula emerging from a spell of illness and suffering (and an implied miscarriage) to contemplate a rainbow arching symbolically over the ugly industrial landscape
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• The book is remarkable for its study of the “recurrence of love and conflict” within the marriages it describes o For its attempt to capture the flux of human personality o For its sense of a mystic procreative continuity within the “rhythm of eternity” both of the seasons and the Christian year • Seized by the police and declared obscene • His frankness about sex ‹ WOMEN IN LOVE (1916) • Unable to find a publisher until 1920 • Sequel to the rainbow • An “analytical study of sexual depravity” • An “epic of vice” • Published in London 1921 • An important novel for the student of Lawrence’s views upon human life
‹ AARON'S ROD (1922) • Shows the influence of Nietzsche • Aaron Sisson, amateur flautist, forsakes his wife and his job as checkweighman at a colliery for a life of flute playing, quest, and adventure in bohemian and upper-class society • His flute is symbolically broken in the penultimate chapter as a result of a bomb explosion in Florence during political riots ‹ KANGAROO(1923) • Based on the Lawrences' visit to Australia in 1922 • “Thought Adventure” • Richard Lovat Somers, a writer, and his wife Harrietare in Sydney for an indefinite period • Through their neighbour Jack Calcott, Somers makes the acquaintance of 'Kangaroo' Ben Cooley, a Jewish barrister involved in radical politics
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• Ends with his death after a violent Labour meeting at Canberra Hall (at which Calcott claimed to have killed a demonstrator) and the departure of the Somers for America • The book mingles political outbursts and meditations with observant evocation of Australian life and landscape • Chapter 10, “The Nightmare”, describes Lawrence's own wartime confrontations with authority in Cornwall and his humiliating examinations, in Bodmin and Derby, for military service. • Like Somers, he was rejected as unfit. ‹ THE BOY IN THE BUSH (1924) • He wrote in conjunction with M. L. Skinner • Depicts the Australian background with striking vividness ‹ THE PLUMED SERPENT (1926) • Deals with Mexican life • Stress on the values of the primitive as opposed to the civilized • The theme of the novel is Kate's struggle for deliverance, for a mystical rebirth • The book contains scenes of violent Aztec “blood-lust” • Cipriano ceremoniously stabbing half-naked prisoners, the drinking of the victims' blood • Kate is fascinated by the darkness and elemental power of Mexico and its people, and herself enters the cult as the fertility goddess Malintzi and the bride of Cipriano • The novel ends with her acceptance of the subjugation and loss of- self demanded of her by Cipriano and her hopes for fulfillment • This is the Lawrence of “dark gods” and “phallic power”, containing besides much of his usual vivid descriptive writing ‹ LADY CHATTERLEY'S LOVER • Privately printed, Florence, 1928 • It was privately printed by his good friend Pino Orioli • Expurgated version, London, 1932 • Full text, London, 1960
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• His last novel • “very truly moral” • Set in the Nottinghamshire coalmining village • Sexual experience is handled with a wealth of physical detail and uninhibited language ‹ THE PRUSSIAN OFFICER (1914) ‹ ENGLAND, MY ENGLAND (1922) ‹ THE LADYBIRD, THE FOX, THE CAPTAIN’S DOLL (1923) ‹ ST MAWR, TOGETHER WITH THE PRINCESS (1925) ‹ THE WOMAN WHO RODE AWAY, AND OTHER STORIES(1928) ‹ THE VIRGIN AND THE GIPSY (1930) ‹ THE LOVELY LADY (1933)
His travel book V Containing a great deal of personal narrative ‹ TWILIGHT IN ITALY (1916) ‹ SEA AND SARDINIA (1921) ‹ REFLECTIONS ON THE DEATH OF A PORCUPINE (1925) ‹ MORNINGS IN MEXICO (1927) ‹ ETRUSCAN PLACES (1932) Poems ‹ LOVE POEMS AND OTHERS (1913) ‹ AMORES (1916) ‹ LOOK! WE HAVE COME THROUGH! (1917) ‹ NEW POEMS (1918) ‹ TORTOISES (1921) ‹ BIRDS, BEASTS AND FLOWERS (1923) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1928) ‹ PANSIES (1929) ‹ LAST POEMS (1933) ‹ COMPLETE POEMS (3 VOLS, 1957)
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Other non-fiction works ‹ MOVEMENTS IN EUROPEAN HISTORY (1921) ‹ PSYCHOANALYSIS AND THE UNCONSCIOUS (1921) ‹ FANTASIA OF THE UNCONSCIOUS (1922) ‹ STUDIES IN CLASSIC AMERICAN LITERATURE (1923) ‹ APOCALYPSE (1931)
James Augustine Aloysius Joyce V 1882-1941 V Serious Novelist V Born at Rathgar, Dublin ‹ CHAMBER MUSIC (1907) • His first published work • A volume of verse ‹ DUBLINERS (1914) • A volume of short stories • Focusing on life in Dublin • The stories follow a pattern of childhood, adolescence, maturity, and public life, culminating with the longest, “The Dead” • Frequently described as “the finest short story in English” • “a style of scrupulous meanness” • The narrative technique is straightforward ‹ A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN (1916) • A largely autobiographical work • Published serially in the Egoist, 1914-15 • Part of a first draft, Stephen Hero, appeared in 1944 • It describes the development of Stephen Dedalus, who reappears in ULYSSES in a slightly different incarnation • Its experimentation lies principally in its prose style changing as the novel progresses to mirror the growth and development of Stephen's mind
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• The novel foreshadows many of the themes and verbal complexities of ULYSSES • An intense account of a developing writer torn between the standards of an ascetic, religious upbringing and his desire for sensuousness
‹ EXILES (1918) • Play
‹ ULYSSES • His famous novel • First published in Paris on 2 Feb. 1922 • The first UK edition appeared in 1936 • Serialized in the Little Review from 1918 o An American monthly magazine o Founded in Chicago in 1914 by Margaret Anderson o In 1916 it came under the influence of Pound, who was foreign editor from 1917 to 1919 • The editors of the Little Review were prosecuted and found guilty of publishing obscenity • It was published in Paris by Sylvia Beach in 1922 • The novel deals with the events of one day in Dublin • 16 June 1904 - the anniversary of Joyce's first walk with Nora Barnacle, who became his wife • “Bloomsday” • The principal characters are Stephen Dedalus (the hero of Joyce's A PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN); Leopold Bloom, a Jewish advertisement canvasser; and his wife Molly • The plot follows the wanderings of Stephen and Bloom through Dublin, and their eventual meeting • A study of the life and mind of Leopold and Mrs Bloom • Set in the squalor of Dublin’s slum • The last chapter is a monologue by Molly Bloom • The various chapters roughly correspond to the episodes of Homer's ODYSSEY
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• Stephen representing Telemachus • Bloom Odysseus, and Molly Penelope • The style is highly allusive • Employs a variety of techniques –the stream of consciousness, interior monologue and of parody, and ranges from extreme realism to fantasy • Joyce described the theme of the Odyssey as “the most beautiful, all-embracing theme . . . greater, more human, than that of Hamlet, Don Quixote, Dante, Faust', and refers to Ulysses himself as pacifist, father, wanderer, musician, and artist: I am almost afraid to treat such a theme; it's overwhelming.” • Bloom: “the most complete character in fiction”
‹ FINNEGANS WAKE (1939) • His second great work • It is written in a unique and extremely difficult style • Making use of puns and portmanteau words • Using at least 40 languages besides English • The use of an inconsecutive narrative and of a private vocabulary adds to the confusion • A very wide range of allusion • The central theme of the work is a cyclical pattern of history, of fall and resurrection inspired by Vico's SCIENZA NUOVA • Presented in the story of Humphrey Chimpden Earwicker, a Dublin tavern-keeper • The book is apparently a dream-sequence representing the stream of his unconscious mind through the course of one night • A study of the history of the human race from its earliest beginnings, as seen in the incoherent dreams of a certain Mr Earwicker • Other characters are his wife Anna Livia Plurabelle, their sons Shem and Shaun, and their daughter Isabel. • In the relationships of these characters all human experience, mythical and historical, is seen to be historically subsumed
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• In spite of its obscurity it contains passages of great lyrical beauty, and also much humour
Adeline Virginia Woolf V 1882-1941 V Daughter of the eminent Victorian critic and scholar Sir Leslie Stephen and Julia Duckworth V Married Leonard Woolf • Leonard Sidney Woolf (1880-1969) o Author o Fabian o Social reformer o Entered the colonial service and in 1904 went to Ceylon, which was to form the background for his first novel ∑ THE VILLAGE IN THE JUNGLE (1913) ° His first novel ° A sympathetic study of the difficulties and dangers of rural life, threatened by superstition, drought, disease, and the encroaching jungle ∑ THE WISE VIRGINS (1914) ° His second and last novel V Bloomsbury Group
• The name given to a group of friends who began to meet about 1905 – 1906 • Its original centre was 46 Gordon Square, Bloomsbury, which became in 1904 the home of Vanessa Bell (Woolf’s sister) and Woolf (both then unmarried) • It was to include, amongst others, Keynes, Strachey, D. Gamett, D. Grant, E. M. Forster, and R. Fry • This informal association, based on friendship and interest in the arts, derived many of its attitudes from G. E. Moore's PRINCIPIA ETHICA
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• “By far the most valuable things . . . are . . . the pleasures human intercourse and the enjoyment of beautiful objects; . . . it is they . . . that form the rational ultimate end of social progress.” • Its members, many of whom were in conscious revolt against the artistic, social, and sexual restrictions of Victorian society, profoundly affected the development of the avant-garde in art and literature in Britain • Bloomsbury was attacked by Leavis as dilettante and elitist • Its aims and achievements fell temporarily out of favour, • The late 1960s witnessed a great revival of interest and the publication of many critical and biographical studies (notably Holroyd's two-volume life of Strachey, 1967-68) seeking to reassess Bloomsbury's influence V In 1905 she began to write for the Times Literary Supplement • A weekly literary periodical of high international standing which first appeared with The Times in 1902 • In 1914 - became a separate publication • The first editor - Bruce Richmond, supported and encouraged many writers of his time, including V. Woolf, T S. Eliot, J. M. Murry, Blunden, the historians Namier and E. H. Carr, and many others, both by commissioning articles from them and by giving publicity to their own works • Reviews continued to be anonymous until 1974 when under the editorship of John Gross they began to be signed • The journal endeavours to cover most of the important works of literature and scholarship, and remains influential V The Hogarth Press • Founded in 1917 • By Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf at their home, Hogarth House, Richmond • It was partly as therapy for her mental disturbance from which she had suffered since her mother's death • Its first production was Two Stories, one by Leonard Woolf and Virginia Woolf
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• Their earliest publications included Katherine Mansfield's PRELUDE (1918), Virginia Woolf’s KEW GARDENS (1919, illustrated with woodcuts by Vanessa Bell, and T. S. Eliot's Poems (1919) • Their policy was to publish new and experimental work • They also published translations of Gorky, Chekhov, Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Bunin, Rilke, and Svevo • They were the first to introduce the work of Jeffers, J. C. Ransom, and E. A. Robinson in England • The press also published papers and pamphlets on psychoanalysis, politics, aesthetics, economics, and disarmament, and with its outstanding list of authors made a major contribution to the literary and intellectual life of the nation • The present Hogarth Press has been an allied company of Chatto and Windus since 1947 V Mental illness led to her drowning herself in the Ouse, near her home at Rodmell, Sussex V One of the great innovative novelists of the 20th century V A literary critic V Journalist of distinction V One of the principal exponents of Modernism ‹ THE VOYAGE OUT (1915) • Her first novel • Realistic in form • Foreshadowing the lyric intensity of her later work • Describes the voyage to South America of a young Englishwoman, Rachel Vinrace; her engagement there to Terence Hewet; and her subsequent fever and rapid death ‹ NIGHT AND DAY (1919) • Her second novel • Realistic • Study of personal adjustment and development • Set in London
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• Centres on Katherine Hilbery, daughter of a famous literary family whose pursuits are contrasted with her friend Mary's involvement with women's suffrage o Modelled on Vanessa ‹ JACOB'S ROOM (1922) • A novel evoking the life and death (in the First World War) of Jacob Flanders (clearly related to the death of her brother Thoby in 1906) • Recognized as a new development in the art of fiction • Her distinctive technique is fully used for the first time • A serious of disconnected impressions, revealed through the consciousness of people • Indirect narration and poetic impressionism • Use of internal monologue • T. S. Eliot: “you have freed yourself from any compromise between the traditional novel and your original gift” • Attacked by J. M. Murry for its lack of plot ‹ MRS DALLOWAY (1925) • The action is restricted to the events of one day in central London, punctuated by the chimes of Big Ben • It opens on a June morning in Westminster as Clarissa Dalloway, wife of Richard Dalloway MP (both had appeared briefly and enigmatically in an earlier novel, THE VOYAGE OUT), sets off to buy flowers for her party that evening, the party which provides the culmination and ending of the book • Her interior monologue, interwoven with the sights and sounds of the urban scene • Her day is also contrasted with that of the shell-shocked Septimus Warren Smith, who hears the sparrows sing in Greek in Regent's Park, and who at the end of the day commits suicide by hurling himself from a window • Accused by some (including Strachey) of triviality ‹ TO THE LIGHTHOUSE (1927) • Her finest work • Study of the relationships of the members of the Romney family
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• Draws powerfully on the author's recollections of family holidays at St Ives, Cornwall • Mrs Ramsay and Mr Ramsay • One of her most profound explorations of the conflict between the male and female principles • The novel is in three sections, of which 1. “The Window” ° The first and longest ° Describes a summer day ° The Ramsays on holiday with their eight children and assorted guests, who include the plump and lethargic elderly poet Augustus Carmichael; the painter Lily Briscoe (who represents female creativity); and the graceless lower-middleclass academic Charles Tansley. ° Family tension centres on the desire of the youngest child, James, to visit the lighthouse, and his father's apparent desire to thwart him 2. “Time Passes” ° The second section ° Records the death of Mrs Ramsay and of her son Andrew, killed in the war. ° It ends with the arrival of Lily Briscoe and Mr Carmichael. 3. “The Lighthouse” ° The last section ° Describes the exhausting but finally successful efforts of Lily, through her painting, to recapture the revelation of shape-in-chaos which she owes to the vanished Mrs Ramsay, and the parallel efforts of Mr Ramsay, Camilla, and James to reach the lighthouse, which they also accomplish, despite the undercurrents of rivalry, loss, and rebellion that torment them
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• The novel represents a heroic exploration and re-creation of the bereavements and tyrannies of the past • Also displays Woolf’s technique of narrating through stream of consciousness • Imagery at its most assured, rich, and suggestive • Mood at the end of the novel is muted optimism and triumph ‹ THE WAVES (1931) • Established her reputation securely • A symbolic work of great poetic beauty • The consciousness of the six characters is studied in a series of internal monologues • An ambitious and clearly an experimental work • Remarkable for its sensitive perception of changing moods • Her masterpiece • A prose poem • It traces the lives of a group of friends (Bernard, Susan, Rhoda, Neville, Jinny, and Louis) from childhood to late middle age, evoking their personalities through their reflections on themselves and on one another • The organization of the novel is highly formal • The main text is introduced and divided by sections of lyrical prose describing the rising and sinking of the sun over a seascape of waves and shore • There is one additional character, Percival, whose thoughts are never directly presented • his death in India in his mid-twenties, halfway through the novel, becomes the focus for fears and defiance of death and mortality • One of the dominant images of the novel, used by phrase-maker Bernard, is that of a fin breaking from the water • It is the most intense and poetic of all her works
‹ ORLANDO, A BIOGRAPHY (1928) • A fantastic biography inspired by her friend V Sackville-West
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• Traces the history of the youthful, beautiful, and aristocratic Orlando through four centuries and both male and female manifestations • Traces from Elizabethan to modern times the life of Orlando • Full of vivid colour and striking evocations of historical periods and settings ‹ FLUSH (1933) • A slighter work • The 'biography' of Elizabeth Barret Browning's spaniel ‹ THE YEARS (1937) • Her longest novel • The most traditional of her later works • It traces the history of a family, opening in 1880 as the children of Colonel and Mrs Pargiter, living together in a large Victorian London house (later described by one of them as 'Hell'), wait for their mother's death and the freedom it will bring • It takes them through several carefully dated and documented sections to the ‘Present Day’ of 1936, and a large family reunion, where two generations gather ‹ BETWEEN THE ACTS (1941) • Highly experimental • Her last work • Published shortly after her death in 1941 • Its composition was overshadowed by the war • The action takes place at a middle-sized country house, Poyntz Hall, the home for a mere 120 years of the Oliver family • Woolf's central metaphor is the enacting of a village pageant, which aspires to portray nothing less than the sweep of English history, by means of songs, tableaux, parody, pastiche, etc • It ends by presenting the audience its own mirror image, in the present, as a megaphoned voice demands how civilization could be built by “orts, scraps and fragments like ourselves?”
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• The pageant is directed by the sexually ambiguous Miss la Trobe, who represents the ever dissatisfied artist • Its scenes are interwoven with scenes in the lives of the audience; together, the illusion and the reality combine as a communal image of rural England, past and present ‹ A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN (1929) • A classic of the feminist movement • A feminist essay • Based on two lectures on “Women and Fiction” delivered in Oct. 1928 to Newnham College and Girton College, Cambridge • The author describes the educational, social, and financial disadvantages and prejudices against which women have struggled throughout history arguing that women will not be able to write well and freely until they have the privacy and independence implied by 'a room of one's own' and “five hundred a year” o Using the fate of a hypothetical talented sister of Shakespeare as an illustration o Her literary aspirations end in suicide • She pays tribute to women writers of the past, including Behn, Dorothy Osborne and Jane Austen, the Brontës, to women's achievements in the form of the novel • Last chapter - she discusses the concept of 'androgyny', • Pleading for unity and harmony rather than a rigid separation into ‘male’ and ‘female’ qualities • “Perhaps a mind that is purely masculine cannot create, any more than a mind that is purely feminine.” ‹ THREE GUINEAS (1938) • A sequel to A ROOM OF ONE'S OWN • Articulates Woolf's view that tyranny at home, within patriarchy, is connected to tyranny abroad. ‹ THE COMMON READER (1925; 2nd series, 1932) • The title of two collections of essays
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• Taken from Dr Johnson's life of Gray in Lives of the English Poets, which concludes with a famous paragraph in praise of the Elegy: “In the character of his Elegy I rejoice to concur with the common reader . . .” ‹ MR BENNETT AND MRS BROWN • One of her important statements on modern fiction • Published in the Nation and Athenaeum, 1 Dec. 1923 • Attacked the realism of Arnold Bennett • Reacted against the novel of social manners • Advocated a more fluid, internal approach to the problem of characterization, etc ‹ ROGER FRY (1940) Posthumous ‹ THE DEATH OF THE MOTH (1942) ‹ THE MOMENT (1947) ‹ THE CAPTAIN'S DEATH BED (1950) ‹ GRANITE AND RAINBOW (1958)
‹ A HAUNTED HOUSE (1943) • A volume of short stories Edward Morgan Forster V 1879-1970 V A moralist V Concerned with the importance of the individual personality V Advocate of culture, tolerance, and civilization against barbarity and provincialism V Studies the complexities of characters with a subtlety of insight V Characters are rounded and vital V Disregards conventional plot construction and frequently introduces startling, unexpected incidents ‹ THE STORY OF A PANIC (1904) • His first short story • Published In Independent Review ‹ WHERE ANGELS FEAR TO TREAD (1905)
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• It is a tragicomedy describing the consequences of the marriage of Lilia Herriton, an impulsive young widow, to the son of an Italian dentist, Gino Carella, whom she meets while touring in Tuscany, ineffectively chaperoned by well-meaning and romantic spinster Caroline Abbott • Conflict between two different cultures
‹ THE LONGEST JOURNEY (1907) • A less attractive work • Rickie Elliot, a sensitive and lame young man, escapes from suburban misery and public school bullying to Cambridge, where he finds sympathetic friends, including Ansell, a grocer's son, and attempts to become a writer. • But he is attracted to and eventually marries Agnes, whose athletic fiancé has been killed in a football match. • He is killed while trying to rescue his drunken, healthy, ‘pagan’ half-brother Stephen, whom Agnes had rejected as a family disgrace. • This was Forster's favourite of his works • He admitted its faults of construction
‹ A ROOM WITH A VIEW (1908) • Set in Italy • Contains excellent comedy ‹ HOWARDS END (1910) • Deals with personal relationships and conflicting values • Established Forster as a writer of importance ‹ A PASSAGE TO INDIA (1924) • It is a picture of society in India under the British Raj, of the clash between East and West, and of the prejudices and misunderstandings that foredoomed goodwill. • Criticized at first for anti- British and possibly inaccurate bias • Praised as a superb character study of the people of one race by a writer of another • The story is told in three parts, I, Mosque, II, Caves, III, Temple
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• Concerns Aziz, a young Muslim doctor, whose friendliness and enthusiasm for the British turn to bitterness and disillusionment when his pride is injured • A Sympathy springs up between him and the elderly Mrs Moore, who has come to visit her son, the city magistrate. • Accompanying her is Adela Quested, young, earnest, and charmless, who longs to know the ‘real’ India and tries to disregard the taboos and snobberies of the British circle. • Aziz organizes an expedition for the visitors to the famous Caves of Marabar, where an unforeseen development plunges him into disgrace and rouses deep antagonism between the two races. • Adela accuses him of insulting her in the Caves; he is committed to prison and stands trial. • Adela withdraws her charge, but Aziz turns furiously away from the British, towards a Hindu-Muslim entente. • In the third part of the book he has moved to a post in a native state, and is bringing up his family in peace, writing poetry and reading Persian. • He is visited by his friend Mr Fielding, the former principal of the Government College, an intelligent, hard-bitten man. • They discuss the future of India and Aziz prophesies that only when the British are driven out can he and Fielding really be friends. • Among the many characters is Professor Godbole, the detached and saintly Brahman who is the innocent cause of the contretemps, and who makes his final appearance in supreme tranquillity at the festival of the Hindu temple. Three collections of short stories ‹ THE CELESTIAL OMNIBUS (1911) • A collection of short stories • Pastoral and whimsical in tone and subject matter ‹ THE STORY OF THE SIREN (1920) ‹ THE ETERNAL MOMENT (1928) • A volume of pre-1914 short stories • Whimsical and dealing with the supernatural
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‹ ALEXANDRIA: A HISTORY AND A GUIDE (1922) • Almost the entire stock was burned • Reprinted in revised form in 1938
Two critical works ‹ ASPECTS OF THE NOVEL(1927) ‹ ABINGER HARVEST (1936) • Essays named after the village in Surrey in which Forster inherited a house in 1924 Two biographies ‹ GOLDSWORTHY LOWES DICKINSON (1934) ‹ MARIANNE THORNTON (1956)
‹ TWO CHEERS FOR DEMOCRACY (1951) • A collection of miscellaneous essays, lectures, and talks, some on political and others on artistic themes ‹ THE HILL OF DEVI (1953) • A portrait of India through letters and commentary
Posthumous publications ‹ MAURICE • A novel with a homosexual theme which he circulated privately • It was published posthumously in 1971
‹ THE LIFE TO COME (1972) • A collection of short stories • Many with homosexual themes • Including the tragic story “The Other Boat” written 1957-8 Aldous Leonard Huxley V 1894-1963 V Grandson of T. H. Huxley, famous scientist
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V Contributor to the Sitwell anthology, Wheels V Wrote for the Athenaeum under the pseudonym Autolycus ‹ THE BURNING WHEEL (1916) ‹ THE DEFEAT OF YOUTH (1918) ‹ LEDA (1920) • The blasé cynicism and sensuality ‹ LIMBO (1920) • A volume of stories ‹ CROME YELLOW (1921) • A country-house satire which earned him a reputation for precocious brilliance and cynicism, and much offended Lady Ottoline ‹ MORTAL COILS (1922) • Stories • Includes The Gioconda Smile ‹ ANTIC HAY (1923) • Set in post-war London's nihilistic bohemia • Study of post-War disillusionment and immorality ‹ THOSE BARREN LEAVES (1925) • Set in Italy • A more earnest note enters in the discussions of moral problems ‹ POINT COUNTER POINT (1928) • Most successful piece of fiction • His attempt to “musicalize fiction” • A mordant, unflinching picture of a disillusioned, frustrated society, in which the healthy life of the senses has been paralyzed by the bonds of an inhibiting ethical code • Recognized portraits of his friend D. H. Lawrence as Rampion and Murry as Burlap ‹ BRAVE NEW WORLD (1932) • His most enduringly popular work
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• Gives a satirical picture of what he imagines the world would be under the rule of science – no disease, no pain, but no emotion, and, worse, no spiritual life • A dystopian fable about a world state in the 7th century AF (after Ford), where social stability is based on a scientific caste system. • Human beings, graded from highest intellectuals to lowest manual workers, hatched from incubators and brought up in communal nurseries, learn by methodical conditioning to accept their social destiny. • The action of the story develops round Bernard Marx, an unorthodox and therefore unhappy Alpha-Plus (something had presumably gone wrong with his antenatal treatment), who visits a New Mexican Reservation and brings a Savage back to London. • The Savage is at first fascinated by the new world, but finally revolted, and his argument with Mustapha Mond, World Controller, demonstrates the incompatibility of individual freedom and a scientifically trouble-free society. • In BRAVE NEW WORLD REVISITED (1958) Huxley reconsiders his prophecies and fears that some of these may be coming true sooner than he thought. ‹ EYELESS IN GAZA (1936) • The title is a quotation from the first speech in Milton's SAMSON AGONISTES • It traces the career of Anthony Beavis from the death of his mother in his early boyhood in 1902, through various emotional entanglements and intellectual quests, to his involvement with a pacifist movement in 1935 • Uses a complicated but clearly demarcated system of sections in non- chronological flashback • At preparatory school Beavis is acquainted with three characters whose lives deeply affect his own: his closest friend, the sensitive intellectual Brian Foxe (modeled on Huxley's brother Trevenen) who later, like Trevenen, commits suicide; Hugh Ledwidge, pompous victim, with whose wife Helen he has an affair; and Mark Staithes, who becomes a Marxist and leads Beavis to a revolution in Mexico where he loses a leg and Beavis finds a faith.
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• The main theatre of the novel is a sophisticated, iconoclastic, intellectual, middleclass English world. • The real and the ideal, the physical and the intellectual, attraction and nausea are sharply contrasted throughout • Beavis's search for a mystical wholeness is brought to what some have seen as a satisfactory conclusion, others a vague and wordy evasion • Much of the novel, written over a period of four years, is clearly autobiographical o The loss of his mother o The death of his brother o The father's remarriage o His involvement with the Peace Pledge Union V All find their fictional counterparts. ‹ AFTER MANY A SUMMER (1939) ‹ TIME MUST HAVE A STOP (1944) ‹ THE PERENNIAL PHILOSOPHY (1946) • His views on the importance of spiritual integrity directly and seriously
‹ ON THE MARGIN (1923) ‹ JESTING PILATE (1926) ‹ ESSAYS NEW AND OLD (1926) ‹ THE OLIVE TREE AND OTHER ESSAYS (1936) ‹ ISLAND (1962) • An optimistic Utopia ‹ THE DEVILS OF LOUDON (1952) • A study in sexual hysteria which became the basis of Whiting's play THE DEVILS. ‹ THE DOORS OF PERCEPTION (1954) ‹ HEAVEN AND HELL (1956) Describe his experiments with mescalin and LSD
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The Inter-War Years 1918-1939
Impressionism • A painting by Monet called Impression: soleil levant • The name given in derision to the work of a group of French painters who held theirnfirst exhibition in 1874 • Their aim was to render the effects of light on objects rather than the objects themselves. • Claude Monet (1840-1926), Alfred Sisley (1839-99), and Camille Pissarro (1831-1903) carried out their aims most completely. • Auguste Renoir (1841- 1919) reacted against the spontaneity of the movement in the early 1880s, while Paul Cézanne (1839-1906) became increasingly interested in an analysis of form that led on to Cubism. • The term is used by transference in literature and music. Expressionism • A term coined in the early 20th century to describe a movement in art, then in literature, the theatre, and the cinema, characterized by boldness, distortion, and forceful representation of the emotions. • One of its earliest manifestations was in the group of German painters, Die Brücke ('the Bridge'), formed in Dresden in 1905 and influenced by Van Gogh and Munch • Expressionism flourished principally in Germany, and took little root in Britain, though W. Lewis and Vorticism have some affinities with it
Dorothy Miller Richardson V 1873-1957 V Novelist V Translator V Journalist V An intimate friend of H. G. Wells and other avant-garde thinkers of the day V A pioneer of / one of the first to employ the stream-of consciousness technique V Believed in ‘unpunctuated’ female prose (citing Joyce in support)
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V Virginia Woolf credited her with inventing “the psychological sentence of the feminine gender” ‹ POINTED ROOFS (1915) • The first of a sequence of highly autobiographical novels entitled PILGRIMAGE, of which the last volume, MARCH MOONLIGHT, first appeared posthumously in 1967. May Sinclair V Mary Amelia St Clair Sinclair V 1863 – 1946 V Novelist V She never married, and supported herself by reviews, translations, etc., and by writing fiction. V Supporter of women's suffrage V Deeply interested in psychoanalysis V Her reviews and novels show considerable knowledge of both Jung and Freud ‹ THE DIVINE FIRE (1904) ‹ THE THREE SISTERS (1914) • A study in female frustration with echoes of the Brontë story ‹ THE TREE OF HEAVEN (1917) Two stream-of-consciousness novels ‹ MARY OLIVIER: A LIFE (1919) • The alcoholic father • The loved but dominating mother • The deaths of several brothers from heart failure • The intellectual curiosity and thirst for unprovided knowledge o Clearly autobiographical. ‹ LIFE AND DEATH OF HARRIETT FREAN (1922) V Taking a woman from girlhood to unmarried middle age V Both show themselves keenly aware of woman's tendencies towards self-denial
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The Inter-War Years 1918-1939
Sigmund Freud V 1856-1939 V The creator of psychoanalysis o A science which has had an incalculable effect both on literature and on literary theory V His many contributions to knowledge include his studies of the development of the sexual instinct in children V His descriptions of the workings of the unconscious mind and of the nature of repression V His examinations and interpretations of dreams ‹ INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS (trans 1913) ‹ WIT AND ITS RELATION TO THE UNCONSCIOUS (trans 1916) ‹ PSYCHOPATHOLOGY OF EVERYDAY LIFE (trans 1914) His concepts • The Oedipus complex • The death wish • The family romance • Penis envy • Phallic symbolism • The formulation of the divisions between the ‘Id, the Ego and the Superego’
Dame Rebecca West V The adopted name of Cecily Isabel Fairfield V 1892-1983 V Adopted this name after Ibsen's heroine in Rosmersholm, at 19 V A feminist V Journalist ‹ THE RETURN OF THE SOLDIER (1918) • Her first novel
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• Describes the return home of a shell-shocked soldier ‹ THE JUDGE (1922) ‹ THE STRANGE NECESSITY (1928) ‹ HARRIET HUME (1929) ‹ THE THINKING REED (1936) ‹ THE FOUNTAIN OVERFLOWS (1956) ‹ THE BIRDS FALL DOWN (1966)
Katherine Mansfield V Pseudonym of Kathleen Mansfield Beauchamp V 1888-1923 V Born in Wellington, New Zealand V John Middleton Murry V In 1916 she, Murry, and Lawrence founded a magazine, Signature which survived for only three issues. V An original and experimental writer V Her stories were the first in English to show the influence of Chekhov V Her success aroused the jealousy of Virginia Woolf, who began to describe her work as ‘hard’ and ‘shallow’ V Wrote of loneliness and insecurity, the idealization of a love usually unattainable, and the bitterness of reality V One of the most important influences on short-story writers of the 1930s
‹ IN A GERMAN PENSION (1911) • Her first collection of stories • Most of which were previously published in ORAGE'S NEW AGE. ‹ PRELUDE (1918) • Published by the Hogarth Press ‹ BLISS, AND OTHER STORIES (1920) • a collection of stories ‹ THE GARDEN PARTY, AND OTHER STORIES (1922)
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• The third and last collection to be published in her lifetime
V Her stories vary greatly in length and tone, from long, impressionistic, delicate evocations of family life (AT THE BAY, PRELUDE) to short; sharp sketches (MISS BRILL) V Two collections were published posthumously ‹ THE DOVE'S NEST (1923) ‹ SOMETHING CHILDISH (1924) Sir Hugh Seymour Walpole V 1884-1941 V Novelist V Born in New Zealand V Deeply offended by Maugham's portrait of him as Alroy Kear, a hypocritical literary careerist, in CAKES AND ALE (1930)
‹ MR PERRIN AND MR TRAILL (1911) • Set a vogue for novels and plays about schoolmasters. • His short experience of teaching
‹ THE DARK FOREST (1916) • Based on his wartime service with the Russian Red Cross ‹ THE GREAT MIRROR (1918) ‹ JEREMY (1919) • The first of three stories about a young boy ‹ THE CATHEDRAL (1922) ‹ PORTRAIT OF A MAN WITH RED HAIR (1925) ‹ HERRIES CHRONICLE • Four lengthy novels ° ROGUE HERRIES (1930) ° JUDITH PARIS (1931) ° THE FORTRESS (1932)
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° VANESSA (1933) • A historical sequence set in Cumberland
William Somerset Maugham V 1874-1965 V Novelist V Playwright V Born in Paris V During 1914-1918 war he served first with the Red Cross and then in the Intelligence Service V A shrewd observer of life V A keen student of human nature V A highly intelligent man of the worlds, cherishing few illusions V Rarely admitting any trace of sentimentality into his drama V He reminds us of the Restoration dramatists ‹ LIZA OF LAMBETH (1897) • His first 'new realist' novel • Drew on his experiences of slum life as an obstetric clerk ‹ MRS CRADDOCK (1902) ‹ LADY FREDERICK (1907) • Achieved fame • A comedy of marriage and money ‹ STRICTLY PERSONAL (1942) • The story of his life in France and eventual escape to England during the Second World War Plays ‹ A MAN OF HONOUR (1903) • Full of wit and epigram • Realistic tragedy ‹ LADY FREDERICK (1907) ‹ MRS DOT (1908)
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‹ JACK STRAW (1908) ‹ HOME AND BEAUTY (1919) ‹ THE CIRCLE (1921) • The story of a young wife who elopes with a rubber planter from Malaya • A true comedy of manners • His best play ‹ OUR BETTERS (1917) • A satire on title-hunting Americans ‹ HOME AND BEAUTY (1919) ‹ CAESAR’S WIFE (1919) ‹ EAST OF SUEZ (1922) ‹ THE CONSTANT WIFE (1926) • A woman takes revenge on her unfaithful husband and departs for Italy with an old admirer ‹ THE LETTER (1927) ‹ THE SACRED FLAME (1928) ‹ FOR SERVICES RENDERED (1932) • The anti-war drama • Realistic tragedy
‹ OF HUMAN BONDAGE (1915) • His best-known novel • A study in frustration • Strong autobiographical element • Describes Philip Carey's lonely boyhood in Whitstable (disguised as Blackstable) and subsequent adventures: Carey is handicapped by a club foot as Maugham was by a severe stammer ‹ THE MOON AND SIXPENCE (1919) • Recounts the life in Tahiti of Charles Strickland, a Gauguinesque artist who neglects duty for art
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‹ CAKES AND ALE (1930) • A comedy about good-natured Rosie Driffield married to a Grand Old Man of letters • Dealt with genius involved with vulgarity that was full of happy life, and with deadly pseudo-intellectual society ‹ THE RAZOR'S EDGE (1944) • A mystical turn • Its American hero learns the value of non-attachment in an Indian ashram. • Concerning the moral and spiritual emptiness of affluent America John Boynton Priestley V 1894-1984 V Journalist V Critic V Novelist V Essayist V Ardent reformer ‹ THE GOOD COMPANIONS (1929) • An account of theatrical adventures on the road • A long story of the adventures of a touring concert party ‹ ANGEL PAVEMENT (1930) • Self-consciously ‘realist’ novel of London life ‹ LET THE PEOPLE SING (1939) ‹ DAYLIGHT ON SATURDAY (1943) ‹ BRIGHT DAY (1946) ‹ FESTIVAL AT FARBRIDGE (1951) ‹ LOST EMPIRES (1965) ‹ THE IMAGE MEN (1968)
Literary criticism ‹ GEORGE MEREDITH (1926) ‹ THE ENGLISH COMIC CHARACTERS (1926)
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‹ THOMAS LOVE PEACOCK (1927) ‹ THE ENGLISH NOVEL (1927) ‹ LITERATURE AND WESTERN MAN (1960) Plays ‹ DANGEROUS CORNER (1932) ‹ TIME AND CONWAYS (1937) ‹ I HAVE BEEN HERE BEFORE (1937) ‹ AN INSPECTOR CALLS (1946) • His most interesting play • The unexpected time shift is used to illustrate his humanitarianism and his disgust at social pretence ‹ JOHNSON OVER JORDAN (1939) • A modern morality play • Uses the techniques of expressionism ‹ LABURNUM GROVE (1933) ‹ EDEN END (1934) ‹ WHEN WE ARE MARRIED (1938) ‹ THEY CAME TO A CITY (1943) ‹ DESERT HIGHWAY (1943) ‹ THE LINDEN TREE (1948)
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The Inter-War Years 1918-1939
Ernest Miller Hemingway V 1899-1961 V American short story writer V Novelist V Born in Illinois V A finer writer of short stories than of novels V Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1954 V He shot himself in July 1961 ‹ THREE STORIES AND TEN POEMS (1923) ‹ IN OUR TIME (1923) • Stories ‹ THE TORRENTS OF SPRING (1926) • Satirical • Novel ‹ THE SUN ALSO RISES (1926; in England, as Fiesta, 1927) • Catches the post-war mood of disillusion of the so-called 'lost generation' through its portrayal of the wanderings of Lady Brett Ashley and her entourage, which includes the war-wounded, impotent American reporter Jake Barnes • Its economy of style and characterization and its 'toughness' of attitude made a great impression ‹ A FAREWELL TO ARMS (1929) • The story of a love affair between an American lieutenant and an English nurse during the war on the Italian front • Confirmed his position as one of the most influential writers of the time
His collections ‹ MEN WITHOUT WOMEN (1927) ‹ WINNER TAKE NOTHING (1933)
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‹ DEATH IN THE AFTERNOON (1932) • Celebrated bullfighting ‹ THE GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA (1935) • Hunting ‹ TO HAVE AND HAVE NOT (1937) ‹ FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS (1940) • Set against its background in the Spanish Civil War ‹ THE OLD MAN AND THE SEA (1952) • A parable-novella about man's struggle against nature • His passion for deep-sea fishing provided the setting • His most successful later work
William Cuthbert Faulkner (originally Falkner) V 1897-1962 V American novelist V Born in Mississippi ‹ SOLDIER'S PAY (1926) • His first novel ‹ SARTORIS (1929) • The first of the series in which he describes the decline of the Compson and Sartoris families, representative of the Old South, and the rise of the crude and unscrupulous Snopes family. • The principal setting of these novels is ‘Jefferson’—a composite picture of several Mississippi towns—in the mythical Yoknapatawpha County ‹ THE SOUND AND THE FURY (1929) • A narrative tour de force in which Faulkner views the decline of the South through several eyes, most remarkably those of Benjy Compson, a 33-year-old ‘idiot’ • The work is an astonishing display of technical brilliance written in a sombre and lyrical mood
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‹ AS I LAY DYING (1930) • Demonstrates Faulkner's comic as well as his tragic vision • Account of the death of poor white Addie Bundren, and of her children's grotesque attempts to fulfil her wish to be buried in Jefferson ‹ SANCTUARY (1931) ‹ LIGHT IN AUGUST (1932) ‹ ABSALOM, ABSALOM! (1936) • Confirmed his reputation as one of the finest of modern novelists Other important works ‹ THE HAMLET (1940) ‹ INTRUDER IN THE DUST (1948) Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald V 1896-1940 V American novelist V Short story writer V The spokesman of the ‘Jazz Age’
‹ THIS SIDE OF PARADISE (1920) • His first novel • Made him instantly famous ‹ THE BEAUTIFUL AND DAMNED (1922) • A novel about a wealthy, doomed, and dissipated marriage ‹ THE GREAT GATSBY (1925) • Widely considered his finest work • This is the story of shady, mysterious financier Jay Gatsby's romantic and destructive passion for Daisy Buchanan, played against a backdrop of Long Island glamour and New York squalor • The story is narrated by the innocent outsider Nick Carraway, Gatsby's neighbour and Daisy's distant cousin, who observes from a distance as adultery, hard drinking, fast driving, and finally murder take their toll, as the age of ‘miracles, art and excess’ turns to ashes
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‹ TENDER IS THE NIGHT (1934, but later in various revised versions) • Records, through the story of American psychiatrist Dick Diver and his schizophrenic wife Nicole • His own sense of impending disaster • This novel, with its Riviera setting and cast of predominantly idle, wealthy expatriates, was not well received in the America of the Depression, and Fitzgerald's own 'crack-up' accelerated, as Zelda failed to recover
‹ THE LAST TYCOON (1941) • His last novel • Unfinished
Harry Sinclair Lewis V 1885-1951 V American novelist V Awarded the Nobel Prize in 1930 ‹ MAIN STREET (1920) • An enormous success • Described with realism and satire the dullness of life in a small Midwestern town called Gopher Prairie ‹ BABBITT (1922) • The story of George Babbitt, a prosperous and self-satisfied house agent in the Midwestern town of Zenith, who comes to doubt the conventions of middle-class society, but who is eventually reabsorbed after a period of defiance and ostracism ‹ ARROWSMITH (1925) • Describes the career of a bacteriologist • Based on considerable research ‹ ELMER GANTRY (1927) • A satiric view of Midwestern religious evangelism ‹ DODSWORTH (1929)
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• Describes the marital relations of a middle-aged American industrialist and his adventures in Europe John Dos Passos V 1896-1970 ‹ MANHATTAN TRANSFER (1925) ‹ THE 42nd PARALLEL (1930) ‹ 1919 (1932) Theodore Dreiser V 1871-1945 ‹ SISTER CARRIE (1910) ‹ AN AMERICAN TRAGEDY (1925) Erskine Caldwell V 1903- ‹ TOBACCO ROAD (1932) ‹ GOD’S LITTLE ACRE (1933) James M. Cain V 1892- ‹ THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE (1934) James T. Farrell V 1904- ‹ YOUNG LONIGAN (1932) ‹ THE YOUNG MANHOOD OF STUDS LONIGAN (1934) ‹ JUDGMENT DAY (1935)
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The Inter-War Years 1918-1939
Gerard Manley Hopkins V 1844-1889 V The first really great religious poet in English since Milton V The creator of an original poetic medium V The ‘star of Balliol’ V The earliest poems express a Keatsian sensuousness and a Ruskinian zest for natural detail, but a distinctive flair for aural and rhythmic effects is also evident V When he joined the Jesuits, he symbolically burned his poems V He sent some copies to Bridges for safe keeping V Coined the terms inscape, instress, sprung rhythm • Inscape refers to “the individual or essential quality of the thing” or “individually-distinctive beauty of style” • Instress is the force or energy which sustains an inscape o It originates in the Creator and is felt by the responsive perceiver o Hopkins uses ‘pitch’ to express Duns Scotus' concept of haecceitas, or thisness • Sprung rhythm or 'abrupt' rhythm which he believed 'gives back to poetry its true soul and self, is distinguished from regular or 'running rhythm' (with its regular metrical feet) because it involves writing and scanning by number of stresses rather than by counting syllables o Describes his own idiosyncratic poetic metre, as opposed to normal ‘running’ rhythm, the regular alternation of stressed and unstressed syllables o It was apparently based partly on Greek and Latin quantitative metre and influenced by the rhythms of Welsh poetry and Old and Middle English alliterative verse • Counterpoint rhythm is the reversal of two successive feet in an otherwise regular line of poetry
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‹ HEAVEN-HAVEN ‹ EASTER COMMUNION V Trace his desire and need to convert. ‹ THE WRECK OF THE DEUTSCHLAND • A disaster at sea in 1875 • Revived his creativity • A great ode occasioned by the shipwreck in Dec. 1875 of a German transatlantic steamer off the Kentish coast, Deutschland • Among the dead were five Franciscan sisters from Westphalia • The poem identifies them as victims of Bismarck's anti-Catholic 'Falk' laws, which forced many into exile • The complex, two-part poem juxtaposes the extraordinary bravery and Christian witness of the ‘tall nun’ (“a prophetess towered in the tumult, a virginal tongue told”) with the situation of the speaker, “way in the loveable west, / On a pastoral forehead of Wales”, who has also experienced his master's “lightning and lashed rod” • Ultimately the speaker reconciles the terrible deaths in the “widow-making unchilding unfathering deeps” with Christ's sacrifice and God's providence • Contained crystallized religious experience of his seven years’ poetic silence • Autobiographical significance • Eight line stanzas • Sprung rhythm, counterpoint rhythm, alliteration, assonance, internal rhyme, coinages, unorthodox syntax give to the poem a revolutionary appearance • An artistic and emotional unity of the highest order
‹ GOD'S GRANDEUR Sonnets ‹ THE WINDHOVER ‹ SPRING ‹ PIED BEAUTY
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‹ HENRY PURCELL ‹ BINSEY POPLARS Terrible sonnets ‹ CARRION COMFORT ‹ NO WORST, THERE IS NONE ‹ SPELT FROM SIBYL'S LEAVES
‹ THAT NATURE IS A HERACLITEAN FIRE ‹ TO R.B. ‹ FELIX RANDAL • His warm sympathy with men and his concern with their souls ‹ THE ESCORIAL • His first surviving poem • Won the schoolboy a prize Thomas Stearns Eliot V 1888-1965 V A major figure in English literature since the 1920s V Critic V Poet V His combination of literary and social criticism may be called the Matthew Arnold of the 20th century V A figure of great cultural authority V From 1917 he was also assistant editor of the Egoist. o Originally the New Freewoman: An Individualist Review o Founded by Harriet Shaw Weaver and Dora Marsden o Published articles on modern poetry and the arts, and from being a feminist paper became, under the influence of Pound and others, a mouthpiece for the Imagist poets o Ran from 1914 to the end of 1919, first fortnightly and then monthly, with Aldington as assistant editor, followed by T. S. Eliot in 1917.
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o Joyce's THE PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS A YOUNG MAN was published serially in the magazine in 1914-15 ‹ Criterion (1922-39) o An influential literary periodical o Launched as a quarterly and edited by T. S. Eliot o THE WASTE LAND appeared in its first issue o It became the New Criterion in 1926 o In 1927, briefly, the Monthly Criterion, but then reverted to its original title and quarterly publication o It included poems, essays, short stories, and reviews, and published work by Pound, Empson, Auden, Spender, Grigson, etc o It also introduced the work of Proust, Valéry, Cocteau, and other European writers V 1948: Awarded the Nobel Prize for literature V 1948: Awarded the Order of Merit V Dissociation of sensibility V Attempt to revive poetic drama ‹ THE LOVE SONG OF J. ALFRED PRUFROCK (1915) • With Pound's encouragement ‹ PRUFROCK AND OTHER OBSERVATIONS (1917) • His first volume of verse • Portrays in contemptuous, and often wittily ironical, satire, the boredom, emptiness, and pessimism of its own day • The poet tries to plumb the less savoury depths of contemporary life in a series of sordid episodes
‹ POEMS (1919) • Hand-printed by Leonard and Virginia Woolf at the Hogarth Press • These struck a new note in modern poetry, satiric, allusive, cosmopolitan, at times lyric and elegiac • Four line stanza rhyming abcd
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• The difficult monologue GERONTION o Free adaptation of the blank verse ‹ THE WASTE LAND (1922) • First published in the CRITERION • It consists of five sections together with Eliot's own Notes o Explain his many varied and multicultural allusions, quotations, and half- quotations (from Webster, Dante, Verlaine, Kyd, etc.) o Express a general indebtedness to the Grail legend and to the vegetation ceremonies in Frazer's THE GOLDEN BOUGH. o The Burial of the Dead o A Game of Chess o The Fire Sermon o Death by Water o What the Thunder Said • Statement of the post-war sense of depression and futility • One of the most important documents of its age • I. A. Richards: “a perfect emotive description of a state of mind which is probably inevitable for a while to all meditative people” (SCIENCE AND POETRY, 1926) • Complex, erudite, cryptic, satiric, spiritually earnest, and occasionally lyrical • One of the most recognizable landmarks of Modernism • Based on the legend of the Fisher King in the Arthurian cycle • Presents modern London as an arid, waste land • Built around the symbols of drought and flood, representing death and rebirth • A series of disconcertingly vivid impressions • Protagonist: Tiresias • Dedicated to: Pound ‹ THE HOLLOW MEN (1925) • Five movements • Treat of the hopelessness and emptiness of the modern life ‹ THE JOURNEY OF THE MAGI (1927)
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‹ ASH-WEDNESDAY (1930) • Marks the beginning of a new phase in the poet’s development • Finds hope in the discipline of the Christian religion • Use of medieval mysticism and allegory • Imagery from the Old Testament prophets • Allusions to the offices of the Church • Obscure images and symbols • Six parts are six impressions of a mental and emotional state • More lyrical • Use of repetition, assonance, and internal rhyme gives it a musical suggestiveness which conveys much of its meaning long before its intellectual content can be fully mastered ‹ FOUR QUARTETS (1935-42) • A poem in four parts o Burnt Norton(1936) o East Coker (1940) o The Dry Salvages (1941) o Little Gidding (1942) • Published as a whole in New York in 1944 • Eliot’s search for religious truth, which finally leads to a new hope in the Christian idea of rebirth and renewal • Serious meditation • Themes: time and eternity, exploration of the artistic consciousness, and of the potentialities and significance of words • Mood: emotional contemplation • Built on a musical pattern • Five movements o Themes stated in the first are developed through variations to a resolution in the last • Inner structure of all four poems is very similar
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• The four quartets represent the four seasons and the four elements • All are concerned with time past and time present, with the wartime London of the Blitz as well as the England of Julian of Norwich and Sir Thomas Elyot. o Burnt Norton ° The first part ° The final poem in COLLECTED POEMS 1909-35 (1936) ° The imagery of the first centres on a Cotswold garden o East Coker ° First appeared in the New English Weekly in 1940 ° The imagery of the second centres on a Somerset village (where Eliot's own ancestor had departed in1669 for the New World)
o The Dry Salvages ° First appeared in the New English Weekly in 1941 ° The third mingles the landscapes of Missouri and New England, the landscapes of Eliot's youth
o Little Gidding ° First appeared in the New English Weekly in 1942 ° Uses as symbol Little Gidding, the home of Nicholas Ferrar. • A manor in Huntingdonshire where Nicholas Ferrar and his family established, 1625-46 • A religious community of some 40 members, following systematic rule of private devotion, public charity, and study • The house was visited by Charles I, Crashaw, and George Herbert • Shorthouse's novel JOHN INGLESANT (1881) portrays its life vividly • It was raided by Cromwell's soldiers in 1646, and the community dispersed
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• T. S. Eliot celebrates it in Little Gidding ‹ FOR LANCELOT ANDREWES (1928) • Praises tradition, prayer, and liturgy • Points away from ‘personality’ towards hierarchy and community • In the preface to this collection he describes himself as “classical in literature, royalist in politics, and Anglo-Catholic in religion”
‹ SWEENEY AGONISTES (1932) • An ‘Aristophanic fragment’ • A satiric impression of the sterility of proletarian life • Little dramatic conflict or character development ‹ THE ROCK (1934) • A pageant play • Fine choruses • Eliot’s concern with religious matters ‹ MURDER IN THE CATHEDRAL (1935) • A verse drama • Written for performance at the Canterbury Festival, June 1935 • Drawing on Greek tragedy, Christian liturgy, and biblical imagery • Based on the martyrdom of St Thomas Becket, who returns to Canterbury after a seven-year absence o He receives visits from four Tempters, the last of whom tempts him to spiritual pride (“to do the right deed for the wrong reason”) o In an interlude he preaches to the people (Christmas Morning, 1170) o In Part II he is murdered by four knights, who later prosaically justify their actions • A chorus of townswomen opens and closes the drama, and comments on the action • These speeches contain some of Eliot's most memorable and haunting dramatic verse
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• Inner conflict of Becket • The confrontation of Church and State ‹ THE FAMILY REUNION (1939) • Modern characters Three ‘comedies’ ‹ THE COCKTAIL PARTY (1950) • Characters are modern ‹ THE CONFIDENTIAL CLERK (1954) • A thought provoking play • Surface wit and comedy • Serious consideration of such questions as the nature of identity and the effects of heredity ‹ THE ELDER STATESMAN (1959)
‹ THE SACRED WOOD: ESSAYS ON POETRY AND CRITICISM (1920) • Contains the essay on Hamlet, coining the phrase 'objective correlative' ‹ SELECTED ESSAYS 1917 – 1932 (1932) ‹ THE USE OF POETRY AND THE USE OF CRITICISM (1933) ‹ ELIZABETHAN ESSAYS (1934) ‹ AFTER STRANGE GODS (1934) ‹ THE IDEA OF A CHRISTIAN SOCIETY (1940) • A significant indication of the direction of his development ‹ POINTS OF VIEW (1941) ‹ WHAT IS A CLASSIC? (1945) ‹ NOTES TOWARDS THE DEFINITION OF CULTURE (1948) ‹ POETRY AND DRAMA (1951) ‹ ON POETRY AND POETS (1957) Wystan Hugh Auden V 1907-1973 V Pylon school • A nickname for the group of younger left-wing poets of the 1930s
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• Auden, Day Lewis, MacNeice, and Spender, alluding to the rather self-conscious use of industrial imagery in their work • Spender's poem The Pylons was published in 1933 V A spokesman of the masses V An artist of great virtuosity V A ceaseless experimenter in verse form V Spender: “The most accomplished technician” V He was a master of verse form V Accommodated traditional patterns to a fresh, easy, and contemporary language
‹ POEMS (1930) ‹ THE ORATORS (1932) ‹ LOOK, STRANGER (1932) ‹ NEW YEAR LETTER (1941) ‹ THE AGE OF ANXIETY: A BAROQUE ECLOGUE (1948) • A long dramatic poem • Reflecting man's isolation • Opens in a New York bar at night • Ends with dawn on the streets ‹ COLLECTED SHORTER POEMS 1930 -1944 (1950)
Two anthologies ‹ THE POET’S TONGUE (1935) • With John Garrett ‹ THE OXFORD BOOK OF LIGHT VERSE (1938)
‹ SPAIN (1937) • His interest in Spanish politics ‹ FOR THE TIME BEING: A CHRISTMAS ORATORIO (1944) ‹ THE SEA AND THE MIRROR • A series of dramatic monologues inspired by The Tempest
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Major later collections ‹ NONES (1951, NY; 1952, London) ‹ THE SHIELD OF ACHILLES (1955) • Horae Canonicae • Bucolics • His best single volume ‹ HOMAGE TO CLIO (1960) ‹ IN MEMORY OF W. B. YEATS (1939) • Auden himself pays homage to Yeats Stephen Spender V 1909 – 1977 V Member of the Auden group V The most introspective of the poets connected with Auden V Wrote most movingly of the pity of the war and the emotions of a lover ‹ POEMS (1933) ‹ VIENNA (1934) ‹ THE STILL CENTRE (1939) ‹ RUINS AND VISIONS (1942) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS 1928 – 1953 (1955) Critical works ‹ THE DESTRUCTIVE ELEMENT (1935) ‹ POETRY SINCE 1939 (1947) ‹ WORLD WITHIN WORLD (1951) • Autobiography • Gave a fascinating picture of his generation and its attitudes Cecil Day-Lewis V 1904-1972 V Born in Ireland V Member of the Pylon school V A descendant on his mother’s side from Oliver Goldsmith V 1968: Appointed as poet laureate
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‹ TRANSITIONAL POEM (1929) • Metaphysical manner • Closely packed and concise in idea and imagery ‹ FROM FEATHERS TO IRON (1931) • One of his best collections • Reveals a considerable gift and that great love of nature ‹ THE MAGNETIC MOUNTAIN (1933) • A strong revolutionary flavour • Prophesying a new dawn • Strongly under the influence of Auden • Adopts Auden’s colloquialism and freedom of manner • Imagery drawn from machinery and similar aspects of modern life ‹ A TIME TO DANCE (1935) • Shows narrative powers of a high order ‹ The loss of the Nabara • A story of the Spanish Civil War ‹ NOAH AND THE WATERS (1936) • A verse morality play about the class struggle ‹ A QUESTION OF PROOF (1935) • Detective fiction • Under the pseudonym of Nicholas Blake • Introducing his Audenesque detective Nigel Strangeways, ‹ THE FRIENDLY TREE (1936) • The first of three largely autobiographical novels ‹ OVERTURES TO DEATH AND OTHER POEMS (1938) • One of the best sea poems for many years ‹ WORD OVER ALL (1943) ‹ POEMS (1943- 1947) [published in 1948] ‹ THE GEORGICS OF VIRGIL (1940) • Verse translation
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Prose works ‹ A HOPE FOR POETRY (1934) ‹ POETRY FOR YOU (1945) ‹ THE POETIC IMAGE (1947)
‹ STARTING POINT (1937) ‹ CHILD OF MISFORTUNE (1939)
Frederick Louis Macneice V 1907-1963 V Poet V Member of the Auden group V Combines a keen, analytical observation of contemporary life, and a very definite sense of humour V Aware of the musical and rhythmical potentialities of language V Didactic or lyrical poetry ‹ OUT OF THE PICTURE (1937) • Drama • Auden-Isherwood tradition ‹ POEMS (1935) ‹ LETTERS FROM ICELAND (1937) • Written in collaboration with Auden ‹ THE EARTH COMPELS (1938) ‹ AUTUMN JOURNAL (1939) • Long personal and political meditation on the events leading up to Munich ‹ PLANT AND PHANTOM (1941) ‹ SPRINGBOARD (1944) ‹ HOLES IN THE SKY (1948) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1949) ‹ AUTUMN SEQUEL (1954) ‹ THE BURNING PERCH (1963)
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‹ THE POETRY OF W. B. YEATS (1941) • His critical study • One of the best books on the subject ‹ MODERN POETRY: A PERSONAL ESTIMATE (1938) • Prose book ‹ THE DARK TOWER (1947) • His most powerful dramatic work ‹ ROUNDABOUT WAY (1932) • A pseudonymous novel • Louis Malone Dame Edith Louisa Sitwell V 1887-1964 V An artist, exploiting to the full the magic of language V Ceaselessly experimenting with forms and patterns V Brothers: Sir Francis Osbert Sacheverell Sitwell and Sir Sacheverell Sitwell V With her brothers she actively encouraged Modernist writers and artists V Revolted strongly against the popular Georgian poetry V Deeply conscious of the unhappiness and spiritual emptiness of the inter-War years V Sought to escape into the world of childhood and art V 1916 to 1921 edited WHEELS: AN ANNUAL ANTHOLOGY OF MODERN VERSE, an anti-Georgian magazine, which first published Wilfred Owen ‹ DROWNED SUNS • Appeared in the DAILY MIRROR in 1913 • Her first published poem ‹ THE MOTHER AND OTHER POEMS (1915) • Her first volume of verse ‹ CLOWNS’ HOUSE (1918) ‹ THE WOODEN PEGASUS (1920) ‹ BUCOLIC COMEDIES (1923) ‹ FAÇADE (1922) • A highly original entertainment with verses in syncopated rhythms
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‹ GOLD COAST CUSTOMS (1929) • A harsh and powerful work • Compared modern Europe with ancient barbaric Africa ‹ ALEXANDER POPE (1930) • Her sensitive analysis of the poetry of Pope ‹ THE SLEEPING BEAUTY (1924) ‹ TROY PARK (1925) ‹ COLLECTED POEMS (1930) ‹ THE PLEASURES OF POETRY (1931-1934) ‹ BATH (1932) ‹ THE ENGLISH ECCENTRICS (1933) ‹ ASPECTS OF MODERN POETRY (1934) ‹ VICTORIA OF ENGLAND (1936) ‹ STREET SONGS (1942) ‹ THE SONG OF THE COLD (1945)
‹ I LIVE UNDER A BLACK SUN (1937) • Her only novel Ezra Weston Loomis Pound V 1885-1972 V American poet V Imagist Poet V A forlorn scapegoat for the sins of fascism V Re-established epigram as a verse form V Pound: “the natural object is always the adequate symbol.” V Together with F. S. Flint, Aldington, and Hilda Doolittle he founded the Imagist school of poets, advocating the use of free rhythms, concreteness, and concision of language and imagery o Imagism: a movement of English and American poets in revolt from Romanticism, which flourished 1910-1917 o Derived in part from the aesthetic philosophy of T. E. Hulme
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o Its first anthology, DES IMAGISTES (1914), edited by Pound, had eleven contributors: Aldington, Doolittle, F. S. Flint, Skipwith Cannell, Amy Lowell, William Carlos Williams, Joyce, Pound, F. M. Hueffer (Ford), Allen Upward, and John Cournos o The characteristic products of the movement are more easily recognized than its theories defined ° They tend to be short ° Composed of short lines of musical cadence rather than metrical regularity ° To avoid abstraction, and to treat the image with a hard, clear precision rather than with overt symbolic intent o The influence of Japanese forms (tanka and haiku) is obvious in many o Amy Lowell succeeded Pound as spokesperson of the group, and was responsible for several Imagist anthologies. V In 1914 he edited DES IMAGISTES: AN ANTHOLOGY V Championed the Modernist work of avant-garde writers and artists like Joyce, Percy Wyndham Lewis, Gaudier-Brzeska, and T. S. Eliot V Eliot: “more responsible for the XXth Century revolution in poetry than any other individual” V A great master of traditional verse forms V The man who regenerated the poetic idiom of his day ‹ A LUME SPENTO (1908) • His first volume of poems ‹ HUGH SELWYN MAUBERLEY (1920)
‹ THE CANTOS • His most ambitious achievement • Remained unfinished • A vast survey of history from his own limited and biased point of view • Extremely erudite, highly allusive, and expressive of personal • Fragmented • Experiences, in a compaction of images
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• The first three Cantos appeared in 1917 in POETRY ‹ THE PISAN CANTOS (1948) • His best • Most attractive, because of their sympathy for humanity and the sheer beauty of their words
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The Inter-War Years 1918-1939
Sean John Casey O'Casey V 1884-1964 V Irish playwright V Born in Dublin V Worked as a labourer V 1926: received the Hawthornden Prize V He began to publish articles, songs, and broadsheets under the name of Sean O Cathasaigh ‹ THE SHADOW OF A GUNMAN • Performed in 1923 • Produced at the Abbey theatre • Setting is the slum tenements of Dublin • An unflinching study of the Anglo-irish War • Capturing well all the bloodiness and violence of the struggle and the dangerous intensity of the lives of the participants ‹ JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK (1924) • Mature play • His masterpiece • Setting is the Dublin Slum • The time is the civil disturbances of 1922 • A vivid and intensely powerful play • Grotesque tragedy covers yet emphasizes the underlying bitter tragedy • His finest creations – Juno, the deeply pitying, Paycock, her worthless husband, Joxer Daly, his boon companion ‹ THE PLOUGH AND THE STARS (1926) • Provoked nationalist riots at the Abbey in 1926 • A tragic chronicle play dealing with the Easter rising of 1916 • Realistic in its exposure of the futility and horror of war
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‹ THE SILVER TASSIE (1928) • An experimental anti-war play about an injured footballer • Introduced the symbolic Expressionist techniques • Refused by the Abbey Theatre • The most powerful tragedy of our day • Theme: War, 1914 – 1918 War ‹ WITHIN THE GATES (1933) ‹ THE STAR TURNS RED (1940) ‹ PURPLE DUST (1940) ‹ RED ROSES FOR ME (1942) ‹ OAK LEAVES AND LAVENDER (1946) ‹ COCKA-DOODLE DANDY (1949) ‹ THE BISHOP'S BONFIRE (1955) Sir Noël Coward V 1899-1973 V Actor V Dramatist V Composer V Born in Teddington, Middlesex V He was outspoken about his contempt for the new kitchen sink school of realism and for the ‘pretentious symbolism’ of Beckett • Kitchen sink drama o A term applied in the late 1950s to the plays of writers such as Wesker, Delaney, and Osborne, which portrayed working-class or lower middle- class life, with an emphasis on domestic realism o These plays were written in part as a reaction against the drawing-room comedies and middle-class dramas of Coward and Rattigan, and also undermined the popularity of the verse drama of T. S. Eliot and C. Fry. o Tynan was a principal advocate of this new group of writers
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‹ I’LL LEAVE IT TO YOU (1920) • Light comedy ‹ THE YOUNG IDEA (1924) ‹ THE RAT TRAP (1924) ‹ THE VORTEX (1924) • Achieved fame • He appeared as Nicky Lancaster, a young drug addict tormented by his mother's adulteries ‹ FALLEN ANGELS (1925) ‹ HAY FEVER (1925) • About the eccentric, theatrical, guest-confusing, self-regarding Bliss family ‹ EASY VIRTUE (1925) • Made him notorious ‹ BITTER SWEET (1929) ‹ PRIVATE LIVES (1930) • About two disastrous interconnected second marriages ‹ CAVALCADE (1931) • His patriotic work ‹ DE SIGN FOR LIVING (1933) • About a successful ménage à trois ‹ CONVERSATION PIECE (1934) ‹ BLITHE SPIRIT (1941) • Features the hearty medium, Madame Arcati, and Elvira, a predatory ghost ‹ PRESENT LAUGHTER (1943) ‹ THIS HAPPY BREED (1942)
James Bridie V Pseudonym of Osborne Henry Mavor V 1888-1951 V Plays are a mixture of argument, philosophy, violent incident, wit and whimsical fancy V Character study is his chief interest
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V Reminiscent of morality plays V Assisted in the establishment of the Glasgow Citizen's Theatre in 1943 V Founded the first College of Drama in Scotland in 1950 ‹ THE SUNLIGHT SONATA (1928) • A cheerful morality ‹ THE ANATOMIST (1930) • A comedy on the grave robbers Burke and Hare • Established his name Biblical themes ‹ TOBIAS AND THE ANGEL (1930) ‹ JONAH AND THE WHALE (1932) ‹ SUSANNAH AND THE ELDERS (1937) Medical themes ‹ A SLEEPING CLERGYMAN (1933) Portrait plays ‹ MR BOLFREY (1943)
‹ DAPHNE LAUREOLA (1949) • Experimental, symbolist, and partly poetic ‹ IT DEPENDS WHAT YOU MEAN (1944) ‹ DR ANGELUS (1947)
‹ THE BAIKIE CHARIVARI (1952) • His last play ‹ ONE WAY OF LIVING (1939) • His modest autobiography Eugene O'Neill V 1888-1953 V American dramatist V Journalist
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V Actor V Seaman V Gold prospector V First American dramatist of international significance V 1920: awarded the Pulitzer Prize V 1936: awarded the Nobel Prize V A serious dramatist V A versatile dramatist of great originality V Concerning himself with major issues of his time – religion, philosophy, psycho-analysis, and scientific ‹ BEYOND THE HORIZON (1920) • The full-length naturalistic drama ‹ THE EMPEROR JONES (1920) • Expressionistic • A tragedy • Describes the rise and fall of the Negro 'emperor' of a West Indian island ‹ ANNA CHRISTIE (1921) • A naturalistic study of a prostitute on the New York waterfront and her redemption ‹ THE HAIRY APE (1922) ‹ ALL GOD'S CHILLUN GOT WINGS (1924) ‹ DESIRE UNDER THE ELMS (1924) ‹ THE FOUNTAIN (1925) ‹ THE GREAT GOD BROWN (1926) ‹ LAZARUS LAUGHED (1927) ‹ MARCO MILLIONS (1927) ‹ STRANGE INTERLUDE (1928) • Experimented with stream-of consciousness technique • Illustrated his use of aside and soliloquy ‹ DYNAMO (1929) ‹ MOURNING BECOMES ELECTRA (1931)
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‹ AH! WILDERNESS (1932) ‹ DAYS WITHOUT END (1934) • Twice the length of the normal play ‹ THE ICEMAN COMETH (1946) • A lengthy naturalistic tragedy • Set in Harry Hope's Bowery saloon, where a collection of down-and-out alcoholics nourish their illusions ('pipe dreams') with the aid of an extrovert, apparently cheerful salesman, Hickey ‹ LONG DAY S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT (1940-1941) • His masterpiece • Posthumously produced and published in 1956 • A semi-autobiographical family tragedy • Portraying the mutually destructive relationships of drug-addicted Mary Tyrone, her ex-actor husband James, and their two sons, hard-drinking Jamie and intellectual Edmund ‹ A MOON FOR THE MISBEGOTTEN (1943) • His last play • Produced in 1947 • Portrays, with humour and lyricism, the relationship of Phil Hogan, tenant farmer, with his spirited and allegedly promiscuous daughter Josie, and Josie's chaste and compassionate love for their self-tormenting, haunted, dissolute landlord, James Tyrone
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The Inter-War Years 1918-1939
Giles Lytton Strachey V 1880-1932 V Born in London V Biographer V Essayist V Critic V Member of the Bloomsbury group V Dominated the literary world of twenties ‹ EMINENT VICTORIANS (1918) • A landmark in the history of biography • A number of short portraits • A collection of four biographical essays, on Cardinal Manning, F. Nightingale, Thomas Arnold, and General Gordon • Gonnolly: “the first book of the twenties . . . the light at the end of the tunnel” ‹ QUEEN VICTORIA (1921) • His irreverent but affectionate life of Queen Victoria • Combined careful construction, telling anecdote, and an elegant mandarin style ‹ ELIZABETH AND ESSEX: A TRAGIC HISTORY (1928) • His last full-length work • More lurid and pictorial • E. Wilson described it as “slightly disgusting” • Its emphasis on Elizabeth's relationship with her father and its effect on her treatment of Essex shows a clear (and early) debt to Freud ‹ PORTRAITS IN MINIATURE (1931) John Drinkwater V 1882-1937 V A prolific poet V Dramatist
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V Critic V Actor ‹ POEMS (1903) • His first volume of poems Plays ‹ ABRAHAM LINCOLN (1918) ‹ OLIVER CROMWELL (1921) ‹ MARY STUART (1922) ‹ BIRD IN HAND (1927) • A successful comedy
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Literary Criticism
The Greek Masters ‹ Plato ‹ Aristotle
Plato
V 427 BC-348 BC V Disciple of Socrates V His interest was philosophical investigation ‹ DIALOGUES • His great work ∑ The Dialogues include • ION o Theory of art and literature • CRATYLUS • PROTAGORAS • GORGIAS • SYMPOSIUM • REPUBLIC o “Ideas are ultimate reality” o Theory of art and literature • PHAEDRUS • PHILEBUS • LAWS
Plato’s Theory of Imitation
‹ Plato was the first to use the word imitation in connection with poetry. ‹ Plato considered imitation merely as mimicry or servile copy of nature.
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‹ Ideas are the ultimate reality. ‹ The idea of everything is the original; the thing itself is a copy. ‹ Art reproduces /imitates physical reality. ‹ So images of art are copies of copies. ‹ In short art imitates the imitation, copies the copy and thus it is twice removed from reality.
Aristotle
V 389 BC- 322 BC V Disciple of Plato V Tutor to Alexander the Great ‹ POETICS • Incomplete in 26 chapters ‹ Rhetoric
Aristotle’s Theory of Imitation/Mimesis
‹ Aristotle by his theory of imitation answers the charge of Plato that poetry is an imitation of “shadow of shadows”. ‹ Aristotle tells us that art imitates not the mere show of things, but the “ideal reality” embodied in the very object of the world. ‹ He classifies imitation according to • Its medium/means • Its object • Its manner ‹ The medium refers to the elements from which the work is created. ‹ The objects of poetic imitation are men in action. ‹ On the basis of the manner of imitation, poetry is classified as epic or narrative and dramatic. ‹ Aristotle says that “art imitates nature.”
How did Aristotle’s Theory of Mimesis differ from that of Plato?
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‹ Plato was the first to use the word imitation in connection with poetry. ‹ Aristotle took the word from his master but breathed new life and soul into it. ‹ Plato considered imitation merely as mimicry or servile copy of nature but Aristotle interpreted it as a creative process. ‹ He brought the emotions within the range of imitation. ‹ Plato’s charge was that poetry is an imitation of an imitation thus twice removed from truth and that the poet beguiles us with lies. ‹ Plato condemned poetry on the ground that in the very nature of things poets have no idea of truth. ‹ Poetry is therefore “the mother of lies”. ‹ Aristotle tells us that art imitates not the mere shadow of things, but the ‘ideal reality’ embodied in the very object of the world. ‹ Unlike Plato, Aristotle established the mimesis is neither useless nor dangerous.
Aristotle’s view of Tragedy
‹ Aristotle defines tragedy as “the imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play, in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions.”
The constituent elements of tragedy
‹ There are six constituent elements in tragedy • Plot, character, thought, diction, song and spectacle. ‹ Plot is the “soul of tragedy”. ‹ According to Aristotle character has four elements: • The characters must be good. • The characters must be appropriate. • The characters must have likeness • The characters must be consistent. ‹ Thought is what the character thinks or feels during his career in the play.
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‹ Diction is the medium of a language through which the characters reveal their thoughts and feelings. ‹ The words should be “embellished with each kind of artistic ornament” of which song is one. ‹ Spectacle is the work of the stage mechanic.
Peripeteia
• Reversal of fortune
Anagnorisis
• Discovery/recognition • A change from ignorance to knowledge
Tragic hero
‹ The tragic hero is a character of noble stature and greatness. ‹ Though he is pre-eminently great, he is not perfect. ‹ The hero’s downfall is partially his own fault, the result of free choice. ‹ This error of judgement or character flaw is known as hamartia and is usually translated as tragic flaw. ‹ His misfortune excites our pity because it is out of all proportion to his error judgement. ‹ His overall goodness excites fear for his doom.
Catharsis
V Purification in Greek V Borrowed from medical terminology ‹ Catharsis is the word used by Aristotle in his Poetics to describe the effect of tragedy. ‹ It means purgation. ‹ The word still remains enigmatic primarily because Aristotle did not explain it. ‹ Aristotle simple says that katharsis is the proper purgation of pity and fear. ‹ He argued that while viewing a work, the audience experiences a cleansing of emotions which in turn produces the resulting beneficial sensation of relief or exaltation.
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‹ The final line of Milton’s Samson Agonistes provides a fine, poetic description of the cathartic state
Calm of mind, all passions spent
Hamartia
‹ Hamartia is a term coined by Aristotle to describe “some error or frailty” that brings about misfortune for a tragic hero. ‹ The term is often used synonymously with tragic flaw. ‹ Hamartia may be interpreted as an internal weakness in a character. ‹ It may also refer to a mistake that a character makes that is based not on a personal failure, but on circumstances outside the protagonist’s personality and control. ‹ It could be argued that the hamartia is procrastination in the case of Hamlet, jealousy in the case of Othello, surrender to physical self in the case of Antony.
Roman Classicists ‹ Horace ‹ Quintilian
Horace
V 65 BC-8 BC ‹ ARS POETICA (THE ART OF POETRY) • Poesis o Treatment of the subject matter of poetry • Poema o Form • Poeta o The poet ‹ EPISTLES (three books) ‹ SATIRES (two books) ‹ ODES (four books)
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Quintilian
V Great Roman classicist after Horace V 35 AD-95 AD ‹ INSTITUTIO ORATORIA (THE EDUCATION OF AN ORATOR) • A treatise in twelve books dealing with the essentials of the art of oratory.
Longinus ‹ ON THE SUBLIME • The first English translation by John Hall appeared in 1652. • Boileau’s French version in 1674 • Longinus had considerable influence on the 18th century critics. • The work has been addressed to Perentianus, a people or friend of the author.
∑ Longinus defines sublimity as “a certain distinction and excellence in expression.”
Five Sources of Sublimity
‹ Longinus finds five principal sources of sublimity. 1. Grandeur of thought 2. Capacity for strong emotion 3. Appropriate use of figures 4. Nobility of diction 5. Dignity of composition ‹ By the word sublime Longinus means elevation or loftiness-“a certain distinction and excellence in expression.” ‹ The first two, Grandeur of thought and Capacity for strong emotion are largely gifts of nature. ‹ The remaining three, Appropriate use of figures, Nobility of diction and Dignity of composition are the gifts of art. ‹ Atkins remarks “Longinus anticipates much that is modern in critical work.”
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Elizabethan Critics ‹ Sir Philip Sydney ‹ Ben Jonson
Sir Philip Sydney
‹ AN APOLOGIE FOR POETRIE
Ben Jonson
‹ THE POETASTER ‹ CONVERSATIONS WITH DRUMMOND ‹ TIMBER OR DISCOVERIES MADE UPON MEN AND MATTER • Commonly known as DISCOVERIES • Published posthumously (1641)
Classical Critics ‹ John Dryden ‹ Joseph Addison ‹ Alexander Pope ‹ Dr. Johnson
John Dryden
V 1631-1700 ‹ AN ESSAY ON DRAMATIC POESY
PREFACES
‹ THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY OF THE RIVAL LADIES • Advocating the use of the heroic couplet for dramatic purposes ‹ DEDICATION TO ANNUS MIRABILIS • Preferring the four line stanza with the alternate rhyme to the heroic couplet for the heroic verse ‹ PREFACE TO THE INDIAN EMPEROR
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‹ PREFACE TO THE STATE OF INNOCENCE (THE APOLOGY FOR HEROIC POETRY) ‹ PREFACE TO TROILUS AND CRESSIDA (THE GROUNDS OF CRITICISM IN TRAGEDY) ‹ PREFACE TO THE FABLES ‹ PRFACE TO THE SATIRES OF JUVENAL (A DISCOURSE CONCERNING THE ORIGINAL AND PROGRESS OF SATIRE) ‹ PREFACE TO DE ARTE GRAPHICA (A PARALLEL OF POETRY AND PAINTING)
Dryden’s Criticism
‹ Dr. Johnson considered Dryden father of English criticism, who first taught as to determine upon principles the merit of composition. ‹ There were occasional critical utterances before his period, but no critic-learning. ‹ There had been great writers in England, but no great critic. ‹ With Dryden begins a regular era of criticism. ‹ He inaugurated the comparative method in criticism as well illustrated in PREFACE TO FABLES. ‹ Dryden’s criticism is partly a resentment of the precepts of Aristotle, partly a plea for French neo-classicism and partly a deviation from both under the influence of Longinus and Sainte Evremond. ‹ He learnt a respect for rules from Aristotle, preferred epic to tragedy like the French neo- classicists and to Longinus and Evremond he owed a respect for his own judgement. ‹ He is a liberal classicist adjusting the rules of ancients to the genius of the age.
Joseph Addison
V 1672-1719 V Critical papers mostly appeared in THE SPECTATOR ‹ ON TRUE AND FALSE WIT (nos 58-62) • 5 papers ‹ ON TRAGEDY (nos 39, 40, 42, 44, 45)
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• 5 papers
‹ ON PARADISE LOST (nos 267-369) • 18 papers ‹ ON THE PLEASURES OF IMAGINATION (nos 411-421) • 11 papers
Alexander Pope
V 1688-1744 ‹ ESSAY ON CRITICISM ‹ PREFACE TO THE WORK OF SHAKESPEARE ‹ ART OF SINKING ‹ IMITATION OF THE EPISTLE OF HORACE TO AUGUSTUS ‹ PREFACE TO THE TRANSLATION OF ILIAD
Dr. Johnson
V 1709-1784 V Critical papers published in THE RAMBLER ‹ THE REMARKS ON POETRY IN RASSELAS ‹ PREFACE TO THE PLAYS OF SHAKESPEARE ‹ LIVES OF THE POETS
Dr. Johnson’s Defence of Shakespeare’s Violation of the Unities
‹ Dr. Johnson justified Shakespeare’s violation of the unities. ‹ Shakespeare’s histories being neither comedies nor tragedies are not subject to the classical rules of criticism. ‹ The only unity they need is consistency and naturalness in characterization. ‹ In spite of his faults Shakespeare has maintained the unity of action. ‹ His plots have a beginning, middle and an end, and one event is logically connected to another.
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‹ Johnson feels that unity of time and place give more trouble to the author than pleasure to the audience. ‹ The unities are not essential to drama. ‹ Their violation often results in variety and instruction. ‹ Johnson also claimed that Shakespeare is justified on the grounds of nearness to life and nature.
The Romantic Revolt ‹ William Wordsworth ‹ Samuel Taylor Coleridge
William Wordsworth
V 1770-1850 ‹ ADVERTISEMENT OF THE LYRICAL BALLADS (1798) ‹ PREFACE TO THE LYRICAL BALLADS (1800) ‹ PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLADS WITH AN APPENDIX ON POETIC DICTION (1802)
Wordsworth’s Theory of Poetry
‹ The PREFACE TO THE LYRICAL BALLADS written by Wordsworth records his view on poetry, poetic diction and theme besides explicating the aims and objectives of the Romantic Movement. ‹ It contains the famous maxim that all good poetry is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”, which takes its origin from “emotions recollected in tranquillity.” ‹ Wordsworth declares that the principal objective of the Romantic poem was to choose incidents and situations from common life, to describe them in a selection of language used by man and to throw over them a certain colouring of the imagination so that the ordinary things are presented in an unusual aspect. ‹ He also claimed that rustic life was generally chosen for that condition which proved to be better soil for the flowering of the essential passions of the heart. ‹ “Poetry does not shed tears that the angels weep, but natural and human tears.”
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‹ The process of poetic creation takes place in a person who is endowed with a lively sensibility and comprehensive knowledge of human nature. ‹ The real function of poetry is to give pleasure, but poetry devoid of morality is worthless. ‹ Wordsworth does not differentiate between the language of prose and metrical composition. ‹ Critics like T.S. Eliot and Coleridge have blamed Wordsworth for being self- contradiction and exaggeration.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
V 1772-1834 ‹ BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA ‹ LECTURES ON SHAKESPEARE ‹ THE TABLE TALK ‹ THE FRIEND
Fancy and Imagination
‹ The distinction between fancy and imagination is the key element in Coleridge’s theory of poetry and his general theory of mental processes. ‹ In the 13th chapter of BIOGRAPHIA LITERARIA Coleridge attributes the reordering function of sensory images to the lower faculty which he calls fancy. ‹ Fancy deals with fixities and definites. ‹ Fancy is indeed no other but a mode of memory emancipated from the order of time and space. ‹ Fancy is a mechanical process which resembles the fixities and definites which come readymade from senses into a different spatial and temporal order from that which they were originally perceived. ‹ Imagination that produces a higher order of poetry dissolves, dissipates and diffuses in order to create. ‹ Imagination is able to create rather than reassemble, is an organic faculty which operates not like a sorting machine but like a growing plant. ‹ Imagination “generates and produces a form of its own.”
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‹ He finds two forms of imagination – the primary imagination and the secondary imagination. ‹ The primary imagination is simply the power of seeing the objects- persons, places, things- in their parts as whole. ‹ The mind thereby forms a clear picture of the object seen by the sense. ‹ It is an involuntary art of the mind. ‹ The secondary imagination is the conscious use of this power, a composite faculty of the soul. ‹ It is a more effective agent than the primary imagination. ‹ Critics after Coleridge who distinguished those two concepts considered fancy as the faculty that produces lesser, lighter and humorous kind of poetry and imagination as the faculty that produces a higher, more serious and more passionate poetry.
John Keats
Negative Capability
‹ The term introduced by Keats in 1817, negative capability denotes the fascinating felicity of Shakespeare to be in uncertainties, mysteries and doubts without an irritable reaching after fact and reason. ‹ Keats contrasted this with Coleridge’s incapability to be content with half knowledge. ‹ This quality characterises an impersonal objective author, who maintains an aesthetic distance.
The Victorian Compromise ‹ Mathew Arnold ‹ Walter Horatio Pater
Mathew Arnold
V 1822-1888 ‹ PREFACE TO THE POEMS OF 1853 ‹ ON TRANSLATING HOMER ‹ THE STUDY OF CELTIC LITERATURE
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‹ ESSAYS IN CRITICISM • Two series
Arnold’s Touchstone Method
‹ Arnold says that specimens of poetry of the highest quality should be selected as touchstone for judging the merit of the poetry under reference. ‹ Arnold’s touchstone method is similar to that of Longinus when he says that the most effective method of judging quality of poetry is “to have always in one’s mind lines and expressions of the great masters and to apply them as a touchstone to other poetry.” ‹ Arnold quotes a few outstanding lines from Homer, Shakespeare and Milton points out how effectively they impress us of their poetic quality.
Walter Pater
V 1839-1894 ‹ APPRECIATIONS ‹ STUDIES IN THE HISTORY OF THE RENAISSANCE ‹ MARIUS THE EPICUREAN ‹ PLATO AND PLATONISM ‹ ESSAYS FROM ‘THE GUARDIAN’
The Age of Interrogation The Modern Age ‹ T.S Eliot ‹ I.A Richards ‹ F.R. Leavis ‹ Henry James ‹ William Empson
T.S. Eliot
‹ THE SACRED WOOD ‹ HOMAGE TO JOHN DRYDEN
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‹ FOR LANCELOT ANDDREWES ‹ SELECTED ESSAYS ‹ THE USE OF POETRY AND THE USE OF CRITICISM ‹ ELIZABETHAN ESSAYS ‹ ESSAYS ANCIENT AND MODERN
Objective Correlative
‹ Objective correlative, a term casually introduced by Eliot in HAMLET AND HIS PROBLEMS, is a set of oblects, a situation, a chain of events which is the formula and the only way of expressing that particular emotion, which will evoke in the reader the same emotion the author intended. ‹ Contemporary critics have critiqued the term for dealing merely with what represents an emotion rather than how it is represented.
Dissociation of Sensibility
‹ T.S. Eliot in THE METAPHYSICAL POETS claimed that Donne and the other Metaphysical poets possessed a sensibility which could devour any kind of experience. ‹ They manifested “a direct sensuous apprehension of thought” and felt “their thought as immediately as the odour of the rose.” ‹ In the 17th century a dissociation of sensibility set in, from which English poetry never recovered. ‹ The dissociation from emotion and sensuous perception was aggravated by the influence of Milton and Dryden. ‹ According to Eliot, these and later poets in English either thought or felt but did not think or feel as an act of unified sensibility.
Eliot’s Notion of Tradition
‹ By tradition he does not mean a blind adherence to the past. ‹ It cannot be inherited, but it can obtain by labour, the labour of knowing the past writers and with the help of a historical sense.
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‹ The historic sense involves a perception not only of the pastness of the past but also of its presentness. ‹ The whole of literature from Homer down to the present including that of one’s own country forms one continuous literary tradition. ‹ Tradition is not fixed and static. ‹ It is constantly changing, growing and becoming different from what it is.
I.A. Richards
‹ PRACTICAL CRITICISM ‹ THE MEANING OF MEANING ‹ THE PRINCIPLES OF LITERARY CRITICISM ‹ THE FOUNDATION OF AESTHETICS
F.R. Leavis
‹ TOWARDS STANDARDS OF CRITICISM (1933) ‹ NEW BEARINGS IN ENGLISH POETRY (1932) ‹ FOR CONTINUITY (1933) ‹ REVALUATION (1936) ‹ EDUCATION AND THE UNIVERSITY (1944) ‹ THE GREAT TRADITION (1948) ‹ THE COMMON PURSUIT (1952) ‹ D. H. LAWRENCE: NOVELIST (1955)
Henry James
‹ THE ART OF FICTION
William Empson
‹ SEVEN TYPES OF AMBIGUITY
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Literary Theory Russian Formalism
V 1915 The Moscow Linguistic Circle founded V 1916 The Petrograd “Society for the Study of Poetic Language” (Opojaz) founded V It is a type of literary theory and analysis which originated in Moscow.
Leading Figures
V Roman Jakobson V Victor Shklovsky V Boris Eichenbaum V Tomashensky
Defamiliarize
V Victor Shklovsky (1893-1984) V “Art as technique”, first published in 1917 V Boris Eikhenbaum as “a kind of manifesto of the Formal Method.” V Defamiliarization: or “make it strange”. • Ostranenie • Defamiliarization is the literary device whereby language is used in a way that ordinary and familiar objects are made to look different.
V Fabula • Story (actual sequence of events) V Sjuzhet • Plot (artistic presentation of the events)
V Literariness • Literaturnost • What makes a work specifically literary
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• Jakobson: “the object of study in literary science is not literature but ‘literariness’, that is, what makes a given work a literary work.”
V Roman Jakobson • Metaphor – substitution of one with something similar –poetry – Romanticism/Symbolism • Metonymy – replacement of one with something close by -- novel –Realism • Jakobson argued that all meaning in poetic language is the result of a metonymic combination and metaphoric selection.
New Criticism
V Formalism began in England with the publication of I.A. Richards’ PRACTICAL CRITICISM (1929) V American critics (such as John Crowe Ransom, and Cleanth Brooks) adapted formalism and termed their adaptation “New Criticism.” V New Criticism focuses on image, symbol, and meaning V Characterized by close attention to the verbal nuances of lyric poems, considered as self- sufficient objects detached from their biographical and historical origins V Seminal works on New Criticism include John Crowe Ransom’s THE NEW CRITICISM (1941) and Cleanth Brooks’ THE WELL WROUGHT URN (1947) V René Wellek and Austin Warren's THEORY OF LITERATURE (1949) and by W. K. Wimsatt's THE VERBAL ICON (1954). V Fallacies • Mistake • The intentional fallacy o Error of interpreting and evaluating a literary work by reference to evidence, outside the text itself, for the intention—the design and purposes—of its author o The term was proposed by W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley in "The Intentional Fallacy" (1946), reprinted in Wimsatt's THE VERBAL ICON (1964).
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• The affective fallacy o The error of evaluating a poem by its effects—especially its emotional effects—upon the reader o Wimsatt and Beardsley, "The Affective Fallacy," reprinted in W. K. Wimsatt, THE VERBAL ICON (1954)
V Point of View • The way a story gets told • The first-person narrative o The narrator speaks as "I," and is to a greater or lesser degree a participant in the story. o Eg: J. D. Salinger's THE CATCHER IN THE RYE (1951) • Second-person points of view o In this mode the story gets told solely, or at least primarily, as an address by the narrator to someone he calls by the second-person pronoun "you." • Third-person narrative o The narrator is someone outside the story proper who refers to all the characters in the story by name, or as "he," "she," "they." o The omniscient point of view o The limited point of view V Tension • Allen Tate V Irony V Paradox • Cleanth Brooks: “the language of poetry is the language of paradox” Structuralism V Ferdinand de Saussure V Swiss Linguist, 1857 – 1913 V THE COURSE IN GENERAL LINGUISTICS (1916) COURS DE LINGUISTIQUE GENERALE (1915) Charles Bally, Albert Sechehaye
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‹ An intellectual movement which began in France in the 1950s • Literature : Jonathan Culler • Culture : Roland Barthes • Anthropology : Claude Levi-Strauss ‹ Saussure’s ideas on Linguistics • THE NATURE OF THE LINGUISTIC SIGN • Language is based on a NAMING process, by which things get associated with a word or name. • A linguistic SIGN is the combination of a SIGNIFIER and a SIGNIFIED • Sign o Combination of a concept and a sound-image • Signifier o The sound-image • Signified o Concept V Semiology • Semiotics or Semiology is a science of signs • The word ‘semiotics’ is Charles S. Peirce’s coinage and ‘semiology’ is of Saussure’s • Semiotics touches all experience, not just the linguistic one alone • Peirce speaks of three classes of signs: o Icon o Index and o Symbol or sign popular V Roland Barthes and his codes • The Proairetic Code • The Hermeneutic Code • The Cultural Code • The Semantic Code
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• The Symbolic Code
Post-structuralism V Post-structuralism emerged in France in the late 1960s V Derives from philosophy V Emotive V Tone: urgent and euphoric V Style: flamboyant and self-consciously showy V The two figures most closely associated with this emergence are Roland Barthes and Jacques Derrida. V Jacques Derrida's paper: "Structure, Sign and Play in the Discourse of the Human Sciences" o Presented at the conference titled “The Languages of Criticism and the Sciences of Man” at John Hopkins University, Baltimore in 1966 o Included in Derrida's Writing and Difference, 1978 V Roland Barthes: “The Death of the Author” o Originally published in English, America, 1967 o ASPEN [ American Literary Journal ] o Appeared in French in 1968 o From IMAGE, MUSIC, TEXT [1977] Roland Barthes V Deconstruction • Critique of Metaphysics, phonocentrism, logocentrism o Metaphysics: the study of being as being o Binary oppositions or dyads - Traditional binaries are hierarchical. Should be reversed o Phonocentrism: the primacy of the speech over writing o Logocentrism: derived from the Greek word ‘Logos’ which means reason or word o Phallogocentrism: centring on the idea of the superiority of the phallus. • Transcendental Signified o A signified that explains and culminates the very process of signification
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o Confer meaning o Source of meaning and center of existence • Différance o To differ o To defer • Aporia o Impasse o Knot in the text o Self-contradictory V Intertextuality • A term coined by Julia Kristeva in her WORD, DIALOGUE AND NOVEL • It means that any text is essentially a mosaic of references to, or quotations from other texts • It touches upon the multiple and complex relations that exist between texts • Bloom’s ANXIETY OF INFLUENCE and Genette’s concept of the palimpsest and of the hypertext have to do with intertextuality. • Terry Eagleton: “all literary texts are woven out of other literary texts…they bear traces of ‘influence’”. • Terry Eagleton: “all literature is intertextual” V Mikhail Bakhtin V Dialogue o Dialogue is a differential relation, and dialogue always implies a relationship. V Heteroglossia o The term heteroglossia describes the coexistence of distinct varieties within a single “linguistic code”. o In Greek hetero = different + glōssa = tongue, language. V Chronotope o Refers to coordinates of time & space invoked in a given story or narrative o Considers the setting of a literary work as a spatio-temporal whole o The term is literally translated as - "time-space."
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o A chronotope can be considered both as a cognitive concept & a narrative feature of language. V Carnival
Psychoanalytic criticism • Premises and procedures were established by Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) • Freud had developed the dynamic form of psychology that he called psychoanalysis • 20th century called “the Freudian century
‹ THE ANATOMY OF THE MENTAL PERSONALITY • Freud • Discriminates between the levels of conscious and unconscious mental activity • Two kinds of unconscious, “the preconscious” and “the unconscious.” V The three parts of the personality: Id, Ego and Superego ° The Id o Reservoir of Psychic Energy o Most primitive part of the mind; what we are born with o Source of all drives and urges o Operates according to the pleasure principle and primary process thinking ° The Ego o Resides in all levels of awareness o Operates under “reality principle” o Attempts negotiation between Id and Superego to satisfy both realistically ° The Superego o The moralist and idealistic part of the personality o Resides in preconscious o Operates on “ideal principle” o Essentially your “conscience
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V Stages of Development: Oral, Anal, Phallic, Latency period and Genital. o Psychosexual Ages Oral Stage (0-18 months) • Pleasure centering around the mouth (sucking, biting etc) • Focus: weaning- becoming less dependent Anal (18-35 months) • Fixation on bowel and bladder elimination • Focus: search for control Phallic (3-6 years) • Focus: genital area and difference between males and females • Electra Complex or Oedipus Complex Latency (6 yrs to puberty) • Sexual interest is repressed • Kids play with same sex others-- until puberty Genital (puberty and beyond) • Sexual urges awaken • Develop urges towards opposite sex members with fixation on the genitals V Defense mechanisms: Repression, Projection, Reaction formation, Fixation, Regression. V Oedipus Complex o Greek mythological figure, Oedipus o Sophocles story (5th century B.C., tragedy) o King of Thebes o Parents: Laius & Jocasta o Freud saw the myth enacted in every family (although on a less dramatic scale) o Child realizes that he cannot get rid of his father (father is more powerful) o Child thus identifies with the father or takes him as a role model.
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V For Freud, the threatening, punishing aspect of the father is internalized in the child V Castration Complex
V Electra Complex (girls)
o Unconscious sexual desires towards father and mother is rival
o Penis envy
° Lacan identifies three stages in the making of the psyche:
V The imaginary
V The symbolic
V The real
Lacan’s work s
‹ ECRITS (1977) ‹ THE FOUR FUNDAMENTAL CONCEPTS OF PSYCHOANALYSIS (1977)
Bloom’s Works
‹ A MAP OF MISREADING (1975) ‹ AGON (1983) ‹ THE ANXIETY OF INFLUENCE (1984)
Jungian criticism
V Carl G. Jung V A disciple of Freud V His mature version of depth-psychology V Emphasis is not on the individual unconscious, but on the “collective unconscious” o Shared by all individuals in all cultures o The repository of “racial memories”
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o Primordial images and patterns of experience ° Archetype
Archetypal Criticism V Archetype o Recurrent narrative designs, patterns of action, character-types, themes, and images which are recognizable in a wide variety of works of literature, as well as in myths, dreams, and even social rituals V James G. Frazer o THE GOLDEN BOUGH (1890-1915) ° Identified elemental patterns of myth and ritual that recur in the legends and ceremonials of diverse and far-flung cultures and religions V Carl G. Jung (1875-1961) • “primordial images” • The “psychic residue” of repeated patterns of common human experience • Survive in the “collective unconscious” of the human race and are expressed in myths, religion, dreams, and private fantasies, as well as in works of literature. V Prominent practitioners • Maud Bodkin • Wilson Knight • Robert Graves • Philip Wheelwright • Richard Chase • Leslie Fiedler • Joseph Campbell • These critics tend to emphasize the occurrence of mythical patterns in literature, on the assumption that myths are closer to the elemental archetype than the artful manipulations of sophisticated writers o ANATOMY OF CRITICISM (1957) • Northrop Frye • comedy (spring), romance (summer), tragedy (autumn), and satire (winter)
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Feminism
• Supports women’s rights on the grounds of equality of sexes • A movement having social, political, religious and literary impact V Feminist Criticism • Examines ways in which literature reinforces or undermines the oppression of women ° Economically ° Socially ° Politically ° Psychologically V Patriarchy • Any culture that privileges men by promoting traditional gender roles • It promotes the belief that women are innately inferior to men. • Patriarchy is by definition sexist V Traditional Gender Roles • Men ° Rational ° Strong ° Protective ° Decisive • Women ° Emotional (irrational) ° Weak ° Nurturing ° Submissive • Traditional gender roles have been used successfully to justify inequities such as excluding women from equal access to leadership and decision-making positions and paying men higher wages than women for doing the same job.
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V Biological Essentialism • Belief of inborn inferiority • Based on biological differences between the sexes that are part of our unchanging essence as men and women V Sex and Gender • Sex is biological • The values and meanings associated with the female and male body are socially ascribed. • Gender is the system of values and meanings • If sex and biology is nature, then gender is about the social and culture • ‘Female’ and ‘Male’ refer to the biological characteristics, while ‘Feminine’ and ‘Masculine’ refer to the social values assigned to these. • The inferior position long occupied by women in a patriarchal society has been culturally, not biologically, produced. V Mary Wollstonecraft ‹ A VINDICATION OF THE RIGHTS OF WOMEN (1792) • Women must stand up for their rights and not allow their male-dominated society to define what it means to be a woman. • Women must take the lead and articulate who they are and what role they will play in society. • Women must reject patriarchal assumption that women are inferior to men. V Virginia Woolf o A ROOM OF ONE’S OWN (1929) • Declares men have and continue to treat women as inferiors • The male defines what means to be female is and controls the political, economic, social and literary structures. • Hypothesizes the existence of Shakespeare’s sister, equally as gifted a writer has he. • Gender prevents her from having “a room of her own”
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• She cannot obtain an education or find profitable employment because she is a woman. • Her innate artistic talents will therefore never flourish, for she cannot afford a room of her own. • This kind of loss of artistic talent and personal worthiness is the direct result of society’s opinion of women: they are intellectually inferior to men. • Women must reject this social construct and establish their own identity. • Women must challenge the prevailing, false cultural notions about their gender identity and develop a female discourse that will accurately portray their relationship “to the world of reality and not to the world of men.” • Woolf believed that if women accepted this “challenge”, Shakespeare’s sister can be “resurrected” in and through women living today, even those who may be “washing up the dishes and putting the children to bed.” V Simone de Beauvior o THE SECOND SEX (1949) • “foundational work of 20th century feminism” • Declares that French society (and Western societies in general) are PATRIARCHAL, controlled by males. • Like Woolf, believed that the male defines what it means to be human, including, therefore, what it means to be female. • Since the female is not the male, she becomes the Other, finding herself a nonexistent player in the major social institutions of her culture • Church • Government • Educational systems • Woman must break the bonds of her patriarchal society and define herself if she wishes to become a significant human being in her own right and defy male classification as the Other. • Must ask herself, “What is a woman?”
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V Kate Millet o SEXUAL POLITICS (1969) • Challenges the social ideological characteristics of both the male and the female. • “A female is born but a woman is created.” • One’s sex is determined at birth (male or female) • One’s gender is a social construct created by cultural ideals and norms (masculine or feminine) • Women and men (consciously and unconsciously) conform to the cultural ideas established for them by society. • Cultural norms and expectations are transmitted through media: television, movies, songs, and literature. • Boys must be aggressive, self-assertive, domineering • Girls must be passive, meek, humble • Women must revolt against the power center of their culture: male dominance. • Women must establish female social conventions for themselves by establishing and articulating female discourse, literary studies, and feminist theory.
• Examines works of D.H. Lawrence, Henry Miller, Norman Mailer, and Jean Genet and argues that even these “liberal” modern writers still perpetuate the sexual stereotypes by portraying male power and domination as natural and desirable.
Ideological Biological Sociological Class Economic and Educational Force Anthropological: myth and religion
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Psychological V Elaine Showalter o A LITERATURE OF THEIR OWN (1977) o TOWARDS A FEMINIST POETICS • Chronicles three historical or evolutionary phases of female writing ° Feminine phase (1840-1880) o Writers accepted their role as female writers o Wrote under pseudonyms Charlotte Bronte George Eliot George Sand ° Feminist phase (1880-1920) o Female authors dramatized the plight of the “slighted” woman o Depicted the harsh or cruel treatment of female characters ° Female phase (1920-present) o Feminist critics now concern themselves with developing a particularly female understanding of the female experiences in arts, including a feminine analysis of literary forms and techniques. o Uncovering of misogyny in male texts V Coined term gynocritics or gynocriticism o Label given to the study of women as writers o Subjects it deals with: the history, style, themes, genres, and structures of writings by women o Process of “constructing a female framework for analysis of women’s literature to develop new models based on the study of female experience, rather than to adapt to male models and theories.” o Provided critics with four models that address the nature of women’s writing The biological
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° Emphasizes how the female body marks itself upon a text by providing a host of literary images and a personal, intimate tone.
The linguistic ° Concerns itself with the need for a female discourse. ° Investigates the differences between how women and men use language. ° Asserts that women can and do create a language peculiar to their gender and addresses the way in which this language can be utilized in their writings. The psychoanalytic ° Based on an analysis of the female psyche and how such an analysis affects the writing process. ° Emphasizes the flux and fluidity of female writings as opposed to male rigidity and structure. The cultural ° Investigates how the society in which female authors work and functions shapes women’s goals, responses, and points of view. V Sandra Gilbert & Susan Gubar ‹ MADWOMAN IN THE ATTIC: THE WOMAN WRITER AND THE NINETEENTH-CENTURY LITERARY IMAGINATION (1979) o Analyze literature in relationship to the myths created by men and challenge such myths. ° “those mythic masks male artists have fastened over [woman’s] human face.” • Passive, submissive “angel” • Destructive, sinister “monster” V Judith Butler ‹ GENDER TROUBLE (1990)
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V Toril Moi ‹ SEXUAL/TEXTUAL POLITICS: FEMINIST LITERARY THEORY (1985) o Feminist criticism can and should contribute to social change o “the principal objective of feminist criticism…has always been political: it seeks to expose, not to perpetuate, patriarchal practices.”
V American: textual, stressing repression V British: Marxist, stressing oppression V French: psychoanalytic, stressing repression\
V Helene Cixous o l’ecriture feminine o “writing effect of the text” o not the gender of the writer o the “textualizing” of the woman o playfulness and pleasure in the text (Barthes’ jouissance) V Luce Irigaray o Speculum de l’autre femme (1974) o women are mystic, slipping through patriarchal net o men are sight oriented; women, touch oriented V Chora • Julia Kristeva • Kristeva proposed a stage before that of the symbolic: the semiotic, where the semiotic is the mother’s body and the non-linguistic interaction of flesh, blood, milk, tears, laughter and touch that takes place between the mother and child. • This space of the mother’s body is what she terms chora.
Queer Theory
V Derived from the Latin TORQUERE – ‘to twist’ V Queer as odd, strange, out of place V Queer theory emerged as gay and lesbian studies
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V Queer theory looks at the history of cultural representations of the gay/lesbian as deviant, sick or criminal, while foregrounding sexuality as an important category of critical analysis when dealing with cultural texts. V Queer theory moves between literary analysis and activism because it shows how cultural representations contribute to very real material oppression to homosexuals V Queer theorists examine how traditional definitions of gender identity (masculine vs. feminine) and sexuality (heterosexual vs. homosexual) break down, overlap, misrepresent, or do not adequately explain the dynamic range of human sexuality in a text V Different from feminist approaches which tend to reproduce the binaries between ‘men and ‘women’. V Aims to break down these differences and show that the categories of ‘woman’ and ‘man’ are artificial and not rigid binaries.
Marxist Criticism
V Karl Marx, a German philosopher, and Friedrich Engels, a German Sociologist, were the joint founders of this school of thought. V Marx and Engels announced the advent of Communism in their jointly written COMMUNIST MANIFESTO of 1848. V The aim of Marxism is to bring about a classless society, based on the common ownership of the means of production, distribution and exchange.
V Ideology o Consciousness and perceptions within a society o Often controlled by the ruling class o Determined according to what is in the ruling class's best interests o Confuses the alienated groups o Creates false consciousness o Friedrich Engels described ideology as "a false consciousness"
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V Hegemony o Antonio Gramsci • Italian Marxist o Domination of particular sections of society by the powerful classes not necessarily through threats of violence or the law but by winning their consent to be governed and dominated V Base and Superstructure o Base: people with regard to “the social production of their existence” forms the economic basis o Superstructure: political + legal institutions + religious, philosophical, and other ideas V Louis Althusser o French Marxist philosopher o A Structural Marxist o Argued that ideology is circulated through particular structures in society o Ideological State Apparatuses o Interpellation • The process of consenting to ideology, accepting it and not being aware of it. • It makes the subject believe that s/he is an independent being and not a subject at all controlled by outside forces. • In other words, ideology interpellates the individual as a subject but makes her/him believe s/he is a free agent. o Overdeterminism • Borrowed from Freud • An effect arises from a variety of causes rather than from a single factor o Relative autonomy o Decentring • Indicates structures have no essence, or focus, or centre V Terry Eagleton: THE IDEOLOGY OF THE AESTHETIC (1990)
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V Frederic Jameson: THE POLITICAL UNCONSCIOUS: NARRATIVE AS A SOCIALLY SYMBOLIC ACT (1981) V Raymond Williams: MARXISM AND LITERATURE (1977) V Christopher Caudwell: ILLUSION AND REALITY (1930)
New Historicism
V Coined by American critic Stephen Greenblatt V RENAISSANCE SELF-FASHIONING: FROM MORE TO SHAKESPEARE (1980) marks its beginning V Gives equal importance to both the literary and non-literary texts of the same period V A combined interest in ‘the textuality of history, the historicity of texts’ – Louis Montrose V “An intensified willingness to read all the textual traces of the past with the attention traditionally conferred only on literary texts” – Greenblatt V New historicism locates texts within contexts while showing how literary and other texts produce contexts. V New Historicism concentrates on textual materials.
Cultural Materialism
V A politicised form of historiography V More emphasis on political implication and ideology issues in literary works V POLITICAL SHAKESPEARE (1985) Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield. V John Drakakis ALTERNATIVE SHAKESPEARE (1985) V Stephen Greenblatt and Catherine Gallagher PRACTICING THE NEW HISTORICISM (2000)
Postcolonialism
V Undermines universalist claims V White Eurocentric norms should not be privileged V Gained currency through o IN OTHER WORLDS ( Spivak, 1987)
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o THE EMPIRE WRITES BACK (Bill Ashcroft, 1989) o NATION AND NARRATION (Homi Bhabha, 1990) o CULTURE AND IMPERIALISM ( Edward Said, 1993) V The ancestry of Postcolonial criticism can be traced to Frantz Fanon’s THE WRETCHED OF THE EARTH (1961) V Ground Breaking Work: Edward Said’s ORIENTALISM (1978) o East is seen as “other”; inferior to the West o East is portrayed as projection of negative aspects (cruelty, sensuality, decadence, laziness, etc.) o East is also portrayed as exotic, mystical, seductive o Filled with anonymous masses of people (not individuals) o Actions determined by instinct (lust, terror, fury, etc.) rather than conscious choices or decisions. o Their reactions are determined by racial considerations rather than individual circumstance
V To Achieve Postcolonial Perspective o First step for the “colonized” is to reclaim their own past o Second step is to erode colonialist ideology that devalued their past V Postcolonial Identity o Psychological and social interplay between • native, indigenous, pre-colonial cultures • what British culture imposed upon that culture o Decolonization • colonizers retreated and left the lands they had invaded • often has been confined largely to the removal of British military forces and government officials • Ex-colonials were left with a psychological “inheritance” of a negative self-image
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• Alienation from their own indigenous cultures, which had been forbidden or devalued for so long that much pre-colonial culture has been lost. V Colonialist Ideology o Native people defined as savage, backward, underdeveloped. o Colonizers believed their whole culture was more highly advanced because their technology was more highly developed. o They ignored or swept aside the religions, customs, and codes of behavior of the people they subjugated. o The Colonizers saw themselves at the center of the world; the colonized were at the margins. o The colonizers saw themselves as the embodiment of what a human being should be, the proper “self”; native peoples were “other” different, and therefore inferior. o This practice of judging all who are different as inferior is called othering, and it divides the world between “Us” the civilized and “Them” the “others” the savages. o The savage is usually considered evil as well as inferior V Eurocentrism o The use of European culture as the standard by which all other cultures are negatively contrasted o Universalism • Judging literature in terms of its “universality” • To be considered great, literary text had to have “universal” characters and themes • That “universality” depended upon resemblance to European ideas, ideals, and experiences. • The judges: British, European, and later American cultural standard- bearers. V Double Consciousness o A way of perceiving the world that is divided between two cultures
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o Produces an unstable sense of self o Feeling of being “caught” between cultures o Leads to Unhomeliness • Not feeling at home in your own home • “psychological refugees” V Cultural Colonization o The inculcation of a British system of government and education, British culture, and British values that belittle the culture, morals, and even physical appearance of formerly subjugated peoples. V Postcolonial Criticism o Analyzes literature produced by cultures that developed in response to colonial domination, from the first point of colonial contact to the present. o Formerly known as “commonwealth literature” o AN IMAGE OF AFRICA: RACISM IN CONRAD’S HEART OF DARKNESS • The Nigerian author and critic Chinua Achebe’s essay • A foundational text of postcolonial criticism • It exposes the racism that lies at the heart of HEART OF DARKNESS, Conrad’s text
Stylistics
V A critical approach which uses the methods and findings of the science of linguistics in the analysis of literary texts V Developed in the twentieth century V Its aim is to show how the technical linguistic features of a literary work, such as the grammatical structure of its sentences, contribute to its overall meanings and effects. ‹ Richard Bradford STYLISTICS (1997) ‹ Roland Carter LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE: AN INTRODUCTORY READER IN STYLISTICS (1982) ‹ David Birch LANGUAGE , LITERATURE AND CRITICAL PRACTICE: WAYS OF ANALYSING TEXT (1989)
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Narratology
V A branch of structuralism V The study of narrative structures V The study of how narratives make meaning, and what the basic mechanisms and procedures are which common to all acts of story-telling V An attempt to study the nature of ‘story’ itself, as a concept and as a cultural practice. V Vladimir Propp o Russian Formalist o Worked on Russian folk tales o Identifying recurrent structures and situations in such tales
o THE MORPHOLOGY OF FOLKTALE (1928) • “the study of forms”- Morphology V Levi-Strauss used Propp’s ideas in his own studies of myth. V Gerard Genette o NARRATIVE DISCOURSE (1972) o Is the basic narrative mode ‘mimetic’ or ‘diegetic’? o How the narrative is focalised? • Focalisation: view point or perspective o Who is telling the story? o How is the time handled in the story? • Narratives often contain references back and references forward, so that the order of telling does not correspond to the order of happening. • Sometimes the story will ‘flash back’ to relate an event which happened in the past, and such parts of the narrative be called ‘analeptic’ ‹ Analepsis: literary means a ‘back-tale’ • The narrative may ‘flash forward’ to narrate, or refer to, or anticipate an event which happens later: such parts of the narrative can be called ‘proleptic’ ‹ Prolepsis: literary means a ‘fore-tale’ o How is the story ‘packaged’?
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o How are speech and thought represented? V Mieke Bal NARRATOLOGY: INTRODUCTION TO THE THEORY OF NARRATIVE (1997) V Gerald Prince A DICTIONARY OF NARRATOLOGY (1987) V Rimmon-Kenan, Shlomith NARRATIVE FICTION (1983)
Ecocriticism/Green Studies
V The study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment V Begins in USA in the late 1980s, and in UK in the early 1990s. V Cheryll Glotfelty-USA V Jonathan Bate- UK
Phenomenological Theory ‹ Wolfgang Iser, a German critic who applies philosophy of phenomenology to the interpretation of literature. ‹ Phenomenology stresses the perceiver’s role in any perception and asserts the difficulty of separating anything known from the mind that knows it. ‹ According to Iser, the critic should not explain the text as an object, but its effect on the reader. ‹ Reader’s experience will govern the effects the text produces on them. ‹ A text does not tell readers everything; there are gaps or blanks, what he refers to as the indeterminacy of the text. ‹ Readers must fill these in and there by assemble meanings, thus becoming co-authors in a sense. ‹ The text thus can transcend any set of literary or critical conventions and readers with widely different backgrounds may fill those blanks and gaps with new and unconventional meanings.
Reader Response Theory
‹ Reader response theory is a variant of pre critical analysis. ‹ As its name implies, readers “respond” on the basis of their identity and their experience.
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‹ The important principle of reader response theory is the belief that readers interpret literature in the light of their experiences and conventions and that their varying interpretations are valid. ‹ Thus a piece of literature may have as many “meanings” as it has readers or that it may mean “anything”. ‹ But truly valid interpretation must be supportive by contextual evidence.
Reception theory
V A version of reader response literary theory that emphasizes the reader's reception of a literary text. V It is more generally called audience reception in the analysis of communications models. V In literary studies, reception theory originated from the work of Hans-Robert Jauss in the late 1960s.
Chicago School ‹ Originally a group of literary critics associated with the University of Chicago; other critics who have followed in their footsteps have also been referred to as Chicago school of critics. ‹ In 1952, the original group of Chicago critics collectively published a landmark book entitled critics and criticism, which outlined their thinking about both practical criticism and the general history of criticism. ‹ Chicago school critics typically examine works on an individual basis. ‹ They view the text in terms of its form and the way in which that form is articulated in the work’s structure. ‹ Chicago school critics are sometimes said to be Neo-Aristotelian critics. ‹ The approach of the Chicago critics has also been called formalist in so far as it involves analyzing works on an individual basis. ‹ Influential Chicago critics include such figures as R.S. Crane, Elder Olson and Wayne Booth.
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Modernism and Postmodernism
V Modernism is a term applied to identify new and distinct features in the subjects, forms, concepts and styles of literature and other arts in the early decades of the 20th century. V Modernism influenced painting first o Impressionism V Among the movements which flowered in the first decade of the 20th century were o Fauvism (André Derain, Henri Matisse, Maurice de Vlaminck) o Cubism (Georges Braque, Pablo Picasso) o Expressionism (Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Edvard Munch, Emil Nolde) o Futurism (Giacomo Balla, Umberto Boccioni, Carlo Carrà) V Dadaism o A movement of young artists and writers in Paris after World War I. o It aimed at suppressing the relationship between idea and statement and absolute freedom V Symbolism o A late nineteenth-century style of French, Russian and Belgian origin in poetry and other arts. o Had its beginnings with the publication THE FLOWERS OF EVIL (1857) by Charles Baudelaire. o The aesthetic was developed by Stéphane Mallarmé and Paul Verlaine during the 1860s and '70s. o Symbolism was largely a reaction against naturalism and realism. o Arthur Symons V Avant-garde o French o Advance guard o Works that are experimental or innovative V Imagism o Reaction against Georgian poetry. o Pound was the leader of the movement. o It was a poetic fashion prevalent during 1912-1917 in England and America.
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o Ezra Pound published the anthology DES IMAGISTES in 1914. o Other poets in the movement included Hilda Doolittle, Richard Aldington, William Carlos Williams, Amy Lowell, John Gould Fletcher and Harriet Menroe. V Modernism arrived with a bang in 1922 with the publication of two works which are the quintessence of the modern spirit in Literature: Eliot’s THE WASTE LAND and Joyce’s ULYSSES V Virginia Woolf o MR BENNEET AND MRS BROWN IN (1924) • Her essay • “On or about December 1910 human nature changed. All human relations shifted and when human relations change there is at the same time a change in religion, conduct, politics, and literature.” V Postmodernism o Radically experimental works in literature and art. o Peter Brooker postmodernism gives rise to “a mood or condition of radical indeterminacy.” V Jean-Francois Lyotard o One of the foremost critical thinkers of the second half of the twentieth century o Most famous for his ground breaking analyses of postmodernism and postmodernity o THE POSTMODERN CONDITION: A REPORT ON KNOWLEDGE (1979): postmodernism as “incredulity towards meta narratives.” V Postmodernism is the critique of grand narratives or Meta narratives. V It favours “mini narratives” o Stories that explain small practices, local events, rather than large scale universal or global concepts o Mini narratives are always situational, provisional, liable, and temporary, making no claim to universality, truth, reason, or stability. V Simulacra • Baudrillard’s notion, a French sociologist • Deleuze extends the term in DIFFERENCE AND REPETITION (1994)
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• Simulacrum is the power of anything (actual) to become something else, to become a image, to be other than the actual. • Simulacrum is the power of the actual to become virtual. V Frederick Jameson o First and foremost a Marxist thinker o “Postmodernism, or the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism” o Modernism and post modernism are cultural formations which accompany particular stages of capitalism o Outlines three primary stages of capitalism which dictate particular cultural practices. o Market Capitalism is associated with particular technological developments, namely, the steam-driven motor, and with a particular kind of aesthetics, namely realism. o Monopoly Capitalism, occurred from the late nineteenth century until the mid- twentieth century, is associated with electric and internal combustion motors, and with modernism. o Multinational, or Consumer Capitalism, is associated with nuclear and electronic technologies, and correlated with postmodernism.
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