history of english literature II

1. DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
POWERPOINT PRESENTATION FOR EVEN SEMESTER
DECEMBER 2018-APRIL-2019
Mrs.K.PAPPAYHY, M.A,M.Phil,DCA
ASSISTANT PROFESSOR

2. UNIT-I
1. The Romantic Movement
2. Phase-I : Wordsworth and Coleridge
3. Phase –II : Byron, Shelley and Keats
UNIT – II
1. Lamb and Hazlitt
2. Jane Austen
3. Walter Scott
UNIT- III
1. Carlye, Ruskin and Newman
2. Tennyson, Browning, Arnold, Hopkins
3. Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot and Hardy
UNIT – IV
1. The pre-Raphaelites( The Rossettes, Swinburne and Morris)
2. Twentieth Century Drama ( Shaw, Ibsen)
3. Twentieth Century Novel ( Joyce, woolf, Orwell)

4. • English of fourteenth century grew out of the Anglo-
saxon . Literature is regarded as an early form of English
Literature.
• English Literature did not begin with Chaucer.
• Literature existed even in the Anglo-saxon period (500-
1340)
• We can term this old literature as Anglo-saxon literature
• Before Chaucer forms a special field of study
• But it is only with Chaucer Modern English Literature
begins

5.  The Romantic Movement in English Literature
came in the Nineteenth century
 The Literature of this period is characterized by
love of nature, love of humanity, full display of
the writer’s imaginative and emotional faculty.
 The English Romantic Movement was a “Revival”
and “Revolt”
 The word “Romantic ” refers to love of nature,
beauty and the use of imagination.
 This Movement started even the earlier with
Thomas Gray and Collins, Willam Blake and Burns

6.  In the year 1798, with the publication of an epoch-
making book, “The Lyrical Ballads” by Wordsworth
and Coleridge , a new taste in Literature
 This new taste is called “Romanticism” or Liberalism
 Herford defines Romanticism as “the expression of
sharpened sensibilities and heightened imagination
of feelings”
 Thedore Waltts-Dunton, “ the essence of romanticism
is the Renaissance of wonder
 Legouis and Cazamian call it, “ an accentuated
predominance of emotional life, provoked and
directed by the exercise of imaginative vision

7. •In this age the Neo-classical way of writing was giving up for three reasons
1.The misuse of the rule of law in literature and poetry became a mere mechanical
process
2.The second reason was the continental influence particularly of France and Germany
3. The last reason was the growing popularity of English mediveal literature.
Thus , these three reasons brought to an end the age of sensibility and the
new romantic movement began

8. Some of the qualities of Romantic Literature include:
(A) Restless intellectual curiosity
(B) A deep attachment to mystery
(C) A commitment to the basic simplicities of human life
(D) The catwords of the French Revolution – Liberty, Equality and Fraternity also
became the basic principles of Romantic literature

9. Phase I deals with the early poets Wordsworth and Coleridge
Phase II deals with the younger poets Byron, Shelley and Keats

10. WORDSWORTH (1770- 1850)
Life and Works of William Wordsworth:
 William Wordsworth is considered to be one of the greatest English Poets. His contribution to English Poetry is Unique. He is only
European poet who looked upon Nature as possessing a spirit closely akin to human beings
Life:
 William Wordsworth was born in 1770 at cockermouth, cumberland in the neighbourhood of the Lake Country
 He was educated in St.John’s College, Cambridge. After his education , he visited France twice
 He was attracted by the French Revolution. He devoted to himself to poetry
 In 1802, Wordsworth married Mary Hutchinson. He was settled along with his wife and his sister Dorothy in the Lake District
 After the death of Robert Southey, he was made the Poet Laureate of England
 He passed away on April 23, 1850
WORKS OF WORDSWORTH:
The literary career of Wordsworth was smooth. His poems marked a clear departure from the conventional ones. He dealt with ordinary
men and women and commonplace things
 His first major work was “ The Lyrical Ballads”
 Ode on the intimations of immorality, Tintern Abbey Lines, Michael and Resolution and independence are some of his well-known
poems
 The prelude is a record of the growth of Wordworth’s mind and soul

11.  Wordsworth as a poet of Nature
 Nature makes for all-round development
 Nature can soothe and Heal
 Different stages of Wordsworth’s Love for Nature
 Nature corrects an Erring Man
 Wordsworth’s concern for man
 Wordsworth’s Longing for Myth
 Wordsworth’s simple style

12. LIFE AND WORKS OF COLERIDGE:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge was a unique poet. He was also a critic, theologian, novelist
 He was born in Ottery St.Mary Devonshire, in 1772. he was educated in Cambridge but he was not
completed his degree
 Along with Southey, Coleridge planned to start an ideal community called Pantisocracy
 He studied Philosophy in Germany, started “ The Friend” a paper devoted to truth and liberty and
lectured on poetry to enraptured audiences
 He became an addict to opium. As a result he could not devote himself to any work sustainedly
HIS WORKS:
His works was divided into three classes – the Poetic, the Critical and the Philosophical
 “ The Ancient Mariner”, Christable” and “ Kubla khan” are the most characteristic poems of
Coleridge
 His personal poems like “ ode on Dejection” and “ Work Without the Hope”

13.  Coleridge’s Poems- Short and Incomplete
 Vagueness in Coleridge’s Poetry
 The Supernatural Atmosphere in Coleridge’s Poetry
 The Moral Basis of Coleridge’s Poems
 His Medievalism
 His Attitude to Nature
 His Metrical Patterns
 The Musical Quality of Coleridge’s poems

14. Byron, Shelly and Keats are the representatives of the younger Romantics. The old enthusiasm had
disappeared. The later Romantics responded to the influences of their time in accordance with their
own character and genies. Byron, Shelley and Keats lived in the same atmosphere but their poetry
differs in quality and temper.
GEROGE GORDON, LORD BYRON (1788-1824)
 Byron was born in London in 1788, the year preceding the French Revolution
 His father was a dissipated spendthrift of lax morals. His mother was a Scot heiress, passionate and
unbalanced
 The father deserted his wife. The unhappy domestic life affected Byron’s mind profoundly
 In 1809, at the age of twenty-one, byron started on a tour of Europe. During the trip he wrote two
cantos of “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage”
 The work made him instantly popular. He said of himself: ‘ I awoke one morning to find myself
famous’ he styled himself ‘ the grand Napoleon of the realms of rhyme’
 Byron married Miss Milbanke, an English heiress, but she left him
 He left in 1816 and returned. He stayed in Italy, where he met Shelley. During his exile, he finished
“Childe Harold’s, The Prisoner of Chillon, his dramas Cain and Manfred, Don Juan ” and numerous
small poems
 In 1824, Byron went to Greece. He wholehearted joined the Greek struggle for liberty against the
Turks. He died of fever in Missolonghi in 1824

15.  “Hours of Idleness” is earliest poetic work. He wrote this poem when he was a younger man
at the university
 “ Mazeppa, The Prisoner of Chillon, Childe Harolde’s and Don Juan ” are the best-known
and readable poems
 “ Manfred and Cain” are Byron’s dramas
PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY ( 1792- 1822)
LIFE:
Shelley is a great idealist. He is a dreamer of unrealizable dreams. Mathew Arnold describes
him as “a beautiful and ineffectual angel beating in the void his luminous wings in vain”
Shelley represents all the wild fancy, revolutionary zeal and idealism. He is a poetic prophet
of faith and hope. Because his world has lost faith and ho
He was the son of Troy squire, was born in 1792. At Eton Public school, he was
nicknamed as “ the mad shelley” In 1810, he entered oxford where he read the sceptical
french philosophers. There he published a pamplets, “ the necessity of Atheism” so he was
expelled from the oxford.

16. WORKS:
 Alastor, or the spirit of solitude: This one shelley’s early poem. In his work he image himself as a wandering restlessly
through the vast silences of nature in search of a love dream- maiden. This works gives no impressions of reality
 The Revolt of Islam (1918) : It is along narrative in spenserian stanzas. He expresses his views on revolution
 Queen Mab: It was a violent and aggressive poem. He condemns all institutions like chruch, government, kings and
marriage and even christanity
 Prometheus unbound: It is a lyrical drama. It is an allegory and closes with the happiness of people over the regenerated
world
 Adonis: is a splendid elegy on the death of Keats
 The cenci : is a Romantic drama
 The skylark
 The cloud
 Ode to the west wind
shelley is a myth maker and displays a wonderful ability to invest natural phenomena with supernatural attributes
and to evoke brilliant new pictures

17. Keats was the last and youngest of the revolutionary group. He was a neither a rebel nor a utopian dreamer. He was blessed with
artistic nature. He had not zeal for reforming the world like shelley.
Life of John Keats:
John keats was born in 1795, London. He was the son of livery stable- keeper. He was joined in medical at the age
of 15. He was passed the Medical but he gave up medical and took up poetry. In 1817, he published a small volume of poem,
it was crude and immature. According to keats “poetry is not a vechicle for teaching, it is the incarnation of beauty”
WORKS:
 On first looking into champman’s Homer
 Endymion
 Lamia
 Isabella
 The Eve of st.Agnes
 La Belle Dame Sansi Merci
 On Melecholy
 On a grecian urn
 To Psychic
 Ode to the Nightngale
 The Autumn
 Hyperion

18.  Critics on Keats
 Keats preoccupation with beauty
 Keats sensuous richness
 Keats anti-intellectualism
 Keats human sympathy
 Keats hellenism
 Keats medievalism
 Keats sense of form

19. CHARLES LAMB :
• Lamb was one of the most popular Essayist in English. He was a son of a lawyer, born in London in 1775. At the age of
seven he was sent to Charity school and he became a clerk in the south sea house. Two years later he became a clerk in the
India House, there he was worked 33years
• In 19, Lamb sister Mary Lamb became mad, she killed her own mother she went to an asylum. But Lamb brought her back
and took care of her. He lived his life as a bachelor. In 1825, he retried from his work as well as he gave up his literary
works. He died in 1834
WORKS OF LAMB:
• He started his career as a poet, “ The Tale of Rosamund Gray and Old Blind Margaret” In 102, he published “John Woodvil”
it is a tragedy, the style he was followed old fashion but it is a failure one
• With the collaboration with Mary, he wrote “ Tales from Shakespeare”
• “The Adventures of Ulysses” is the another familiar work
• In 1808, he wrote “Specimens of English Dramatic poets”
• “ Essay on the Tragedies of Shakespeare” it is also a collaboration with her sister Mary Lamb
• His master Essays are “ Essays of Elia” and “ Last Essays of Elia”
STYLE OF LAMB’S WORKS:
 He followed the old fashions
 Because of his frequent use of words and phrase and quotation from Elizabethans writer. He was called as the “Last of the
Elizabethans”
 In his essays he use Humors and pathos
 His language is very allusive. So the readers cannot enjoyed with glossary

20. William Hazlitt was a Romantic Essayist like Charles Lamb. His place as essayist is only next to Lamb
LIFE:
• Hazlitt was born at maidstone in 1778. He was a son of a Unitarian minister. His father wanted him to
become a priest but he wanted to become a painter
• He was a friend of Colerdige. In 1808, he married Sarah Stoddard, she was a friend of Mary Lamb
• His married life was unhappy one. In 1812, he went to London, he gave a lecture
• He was also a good theatre critic and also an essayist, writing on various subjects
• His Essays on literature were published in the Edinburgh Review, The Examiner, The Times, The London
Magazine
• He died on sep 18, 1830 at the age of 52
Works:
His best criticism is contained into four collections
• The English Poets
• The English comic writers
• The Dramatic Literature of the Age of Elizabeth
His miscellaneous Essays are contained in volume like
• The Round Table
• Tables Talk
• The Spirit of the Age

21.  His prose style is plain, clear and vigorous like that of the 18th century writers
 He does not coin words or transplants foreign words and phrases
 He himself says, “ I hate to see a parcel of big words without anything in them”
 He loves to quote from Shakespeare, Milton ,Bible, Dryden and Pope
 It is delightful to experience to read his essays
 He has a strong passion for analyzing human nature. So the critic says that he was good psychologist
 Another important sense of his Essays is a sense of enjoyment of life. His Essay like “going on a journey” on the pleasures of
painting

22. LIFE:
• Jane Austen was born at Stevenson in Hampshire in 1775. Her father was a Rector of the place. She had one sister and five
brothers . She had lived with her father from 1801 to 1805. After her father’s death. She lived with her mother and sister
from 1809 to 1817. She died in 1817
• Jane Austen was not married, she belonged to large and lively family. So her life is full of human interest and lot of incidents
about human life. She was not much travel but she saw the world as her own home
• Jane Austen read the contemporary classics like Samuel Richardson and Fanny Burrney. She also read the Gothic romances
of the period.
• Her early works showed the influence of sentimental novels, though her sense of comedy exposed their absurdities
WORKS:
• In 1790 she wrote “Love and Friendship” it is a domestic entertainment
• Jane Austen first published work was Lady Susan, actually it was written in 1794 but published in 1811
• “Pride and Prejudice” was written in 1796- 97 published in 1813
• Mansfield Park in 1814
• Emma in 1816
• Persuasion in 1818
• Northanger Abbey in 1818, it is a Gothic Novel
Her novels may best be called Regional novels. Her satire is like that of Chaucher

23.  Sir Walter Scott is remembered chiefly as a novelist. He is said to have popularized a new form of novel, historical novel.
His genius is best suited to this form. His mingles history with the life of Scottish peasants
 The influence of the Romantic period is seen in Scott’s choice of theme of the past, as the Romantics were interested in the
middle Ages. again, Wordsworthian choice of ‘ humble and rustic life’ is seen in his choice of the scottish peasants.
 His first novel “Waverley” is nothing but an amalgamation of the manners of the scottish and historical romannce
 A historical novel is different from history. It is neither the life of the actual historical persons nor the presentation of actual
facts of history. It is only presents the life and manners of the people of a particular period. Scott’s Ivanhoe is an imaginary
novel, which has the historical background of the 12th century
 In his novels , scott presents a picture of eight centuries. To give a few example, his “Count Robert Paris” is based on 11th
century; “ Talisman and Ivanhoe” on the 12th century; “ Castle Dangerous: on the 14th century; “ Quentin Durward” on the
15th century; “ Kenilworth” on the 16th century; “ The Fortunes of Nigel, The Legend of Montrose and Old Mortality” on the
17th century; Rob Roy and The Heart of Midlothian” on the 18th century; and “ St.Ronnan’s Well” on the 19th century. Scott
not only deals with the history of scotland and England but also with that of France
 Scott has a thorough knowledge of the past. Past came to him automatically. At the same same time we cannot take the facts
given by scott as historical truths. He takes liberties with history. Hence, for example, Scotts Ivanhoe cannot taken as a
picture of the Middle Ages. His historical characters like James-I, Louis-XI, Elizabeth and others are all imaginative creators.
 Again Scott’s novels are novels of action. They are drawn on a vast scale. Scott is always seen in his best when he presents
his Scottish Peasants and Scottish life, with which he is familiar. Even as a young boy, he was attracted by the stories about
the borderland. His first attempt at literary composition was only Scottish ballads
 Scott has created a wide range of characters but he lacks insight into his characters. His characters are bored and bold picture
but not results of a psychological analysis. He is unable to paint stronger emotions like love, violence, anger etc.

24. INTRODUCTION:
In Victorian Age the prose writers are Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin and John Henry Newman. The other prose writers are Mathew Arnold,
Macaulay, Walter Horatio and R.L.Stevenson
THOMAS CARLYLE: ( 1795 – 1881)
• Thomas Carlyle came from Scotland. He suffered much in his youth. He began his literary career with articles contributed to the Edinburgh
Encylopaedia.
• He was born with an original creative mind. He originally wanted to become a clergyman. He was a puritan and a Moralist
• Thomas Carlyle was a great popular figure in general prose literature, he also gave a moral force to the world
THOMAS CARLYLE’S WORKS :
 Sartar Resartus
 The Life and Opinions of Herr Tenfelsdrockh
 The French Revolution
 Oliver Cromwell’s Letters and Speeches
 The History of Frederick the great
 Past and Present,
 On Heroes and Hero – workship
HIS STYLE:
 Carlyle’s prose style is unique
 He denounces shams and tyrannies
 His writings are full of broken phrases and Ejaculations
 At the same time nobody will miss their typical note

25.  John Ruskin is the second prose writer of the victorian period. He was born on 8th February 1819, Brunswick Square in
London. His father was a rich wine Merchant in London. In his childhood, he enjoyed all the advantages of education and
travel. His early training was puritan, he was studied in Oxford university.
 Ruskin was a leading English art critic of the victorian age as well as an art patron, draughtsman, watercolourist, a prominent
social thinker and philanthropist
 Ruskin works dealt with varied subjects such as geology, architecture, myth, ornithology, literature, education, botany and
political Economy
WORKS OF JOHN RUSKIN:
 Modern Painters (1843- 1860)
 The seven Lamps of Architecture in 1849
 The stones of Venice ( 1851-53)
 Unto his last ( 1860 – 1862)
 Fors Clavigera ( 1871- 84)
 Praeterita ( 1885- 1889)
Ruskin books are divided into two classes
1. The Books of the Hour
2. The Books of all time
1. THE BOOKS OF THE HOUR:
This type of books are pleasant talk of a person. It is an entertaining aspects of the books of the hour. In this type of
books, Ruskin included his writings about travels, witty essays, tragic novels and historical or autobiographical works

26. THE BOOKS OF ALL TIME:
 This type of book is like engraving on a rock. This book contains the ideas which are meant to be preserved for all ages
 It is a true, useful and helpful and beautiful book. Ruskin ideas echo into Hindus
 Ruskin calls this books as a scripture. This type of books flashes the authors original views
 The readers skips such unworthy portions and concentrates on the ‘ true bits’
 Finally, he makes the observations that great books can be read and enjoyed only by those whose thinking is noble and who
can work hard to get at the writers message
RUSKIN’S STYLE:
 Oliver Elton describes Ruskin as the central figure of his time in prose. Comparing to his contemporary writers his prose
attracted a large number of readers like Dickens and Thackerary
 The style Ruskin used in his works is Biblical flavour
 He used balanced of antithesis
 He wrote long sentences also. In Sesame and Lilles, he wrote more than two hundred words each
 His earlier works are full of rhetorical touches
 The languages is ‘studiously lucid’ and eloquent digressions are as studious prepared

27. John Henry Newman is the another prose- writer of 19th century. He was a churchman, popularly known as Cardinal
Newman. He wrote a number of beautiful books. He is well-known for his powerful rhetorical style with a lot of literary
allusions.
LIFE OF NEWMAN :
 Cardinal Newman was born in London, February 21 in 1801. He entered into Oxford university, where he became the
effective organizer and intellectual leader of the oxford movement. There, he organize Roman Catholic elements in the
English religious tradition and he was reforming the church of England.
 Newman was preached about Roman Catholic tradition. He resigned his position Vicar of St.Mary’s, oxford. Later he was
joined in Roman catholic church.
 In 1879, he was made the Cardinal Deacon of St`Geroge in Velabro. He influced Hopkins to become a Catholic man.
Newman died in August 11, 1890 at Warwick
WORKS OF NEWMAN:
 Apologia in 1864
 History of My Religious opinions
 Callista
 The idea of University
 Lead kindly Light
APOLOGIA:
The word ‘Apology’ comes from Greek. It is a autobiographical form. Defence is a framework which was discussed by the
author personal beliefs and viewpoints. It is the best work of Newman.

28. After Apologia it was retitled. This work is about the history of religion. In this, Newman examines the religious principles
that inspired his conversion to the Roman catholic church. This prose was written the answer to a challenge from Charles
Kingsley to justify the honesty of his life as an Anglican. It was read and approved far beyond the limits of Roman church
3. CALLISTA: A STETCH OF THE THIRD CENTURY:
This work is also described about the religion Roman Catholic. In this work he takes an attempt to imagine from a catholic
point of view, the feelings and mutual relations of Christians and non-christians at the period he described.
4. THE IDEA OF UNIVERSITY:
This work is a collection of his lectures delivered by Newman, when he was the chancellor of catholic university in Dublin. o
These lectures are very popular in various university students. According to Newman, knowledge must be learnt. He
classified education into two types
1. Liberal Education
2. Utilitarian Education
His ideas on literature are worth reading. He prefers liberal education, apart from prose he has written a few lyrics, the best
among them is ‘ Lead kindly Light’
NEWMAN’S STYLE:
He uses rhetorical style to argue out his points. He also written quotations which was taken from Victorian prose writers,
most from the classics. Newman’s style is easily readable by even a simple man

29. Alferd Lord Tennyson is the most popular poet in the Victorian Age. W.J.Long calls him “ the most representative literary
man of the victorian era”. He is a great master of poetic craft. He could make sound and sense move in perfect harmony in
his verse. Tennyson gave a poetic pleasure in both music and in the lines
LIFE OF TENNYSON:
 Tennyson was born in 1809 at somersby, Lincolnshir. After his schooling, he went Cambridge university. There,’ Timbuctoo’,
it won chancellor’s medal in 1820
 His first important work appeared in 1833. Tennyson continue to write a poetry till his death
 Tennyson poetic activity extended over more than sixty years
 In 1850, he was appointed as Poet Laureate in succession to Wordsworth
 After his marriage he settled in the Isle of Wight
 He died in Surrey in 1892 and was buried in the poets corner in Westminster Abbey
WORKS OF TENNYSON:
 The Princess
 Maud
 In Memorian
 Idylls of the King
 Dora
 Ulysses
 Sir Galahad
 Oenone
 The Lotus Easters

30.  Tennyson poetry appealed to his Contemporaries because his poem has successfully combined with Romantic Idealism and
scientific materialism
 Wordsworth had seen nature only with the eyes of the poet while Tennyson sees it with the eye of the scientist. He loves the
beauties of nature and also he feels its indifference and cruelty
 Tennyson is very strongly believes in the process of science
 His poetry is marked by a perfect control of the sound of English
 Tennyson is a great teacher and a leader
 His poetry is often the vehicle for spreading democratic sympathies of Victorian England
 His poetry is the record of the intellectual and spiritual life of the time
In this aspects he is not only a poet but also a voice of the people. Tennyson is having the qualities of England’s
greatest poets

31. Like Alferd Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning was also great teacher. Robert Browing was not an entertaining poet. He is a
poet of intellectual. Browning was consider as a writer of Dramatic Monologue. Browning was recognised as a great poet after
30years of his writing
LIFE OF ROBERT BROWNING:
 Robert Browning was born in camberwell, London in 1812. His father was a clerk in the Bank of England, browning was also
a artist, he had a taste of scholar also
 His mother is a daughter of a German Shipowner and who had settled in Scotland. His mother had a interest in music
 Like his mother, he fond of the taste of music in that he expressed his poems like “Abt Vogler” and “ A Toccata for Galuppi’s”
 In 1864, he eloped with Elizabeth Barrett, the poetess. Because of her poem he was attracted with her and he got marriage
 Browning poetry came to be appreciated
 Robert Browning died in venice on December 1889 and his body was buried in the westminster Abbey beside Tennyson
 The whole life of Robert Browning is magnificently expressed in his epilogue to his last work “ Asolando”
ROBERT BROWNING’S WORKS:
Browning works are divided into two periods
1. First Period
 Pauline in 1833
 Paradelsus in 1835

32. 2. The Second Period:
 Bells and Pomegranates series ( 1841- 1846)
 Poetry or Thoughts
 Singing or Sermonizing
 In a Balcony Colombe’s Birthday
 A Blot in the Scutcheon and the return of Druses
 Pippa Passes
 Dramatic Lyrics in 1842
 Men and Women in 1885
 Dramatic Personae in 1864
 The Ring and the book ( 1868-69)
Bowning dramas are not popular because he analysis the character in psychologically but the action is little. His poetry is
famous of his philosophy of optimism. Robert Browning is famous with wonderful characterization, specific genre and
Dramatic Monoluge

33.  Mathew Arnold holds his place in English as a Poet and critic. He was the son of the famous headmaster of Rugby school.
He became an Inspector of schools
 As a poet, Arnold poetic works are not very heavy. He has published only a few titles: “ The Strayed Reveller and other
poems, Empedocles on Etna and other poems, poems (1853) and New Poems (1867)
 Arnold was torn between classicism and Romanticisms
 For his subject matter Arnold was fond of classical themes, to which he gives a meditative and even a melancholy cast. “
Dover Beach”, “ Sohrab and Rustum”, “ The Scholar Gipsy” and “ Thyrsis” are some of his best poems. In all these poems
his main concern is with life and all of them are melancholic in tone and pessimistic in outlook.
 “ The Scholar Gipsy” deals with the life of an oxford scholar who is disappointed with the modern changes. In this poem, he
excels in the description of typical English scenery.
 “ In Dover Beach” mourns the loss of faith in religion in his day. But all his work is careful, scholarly and workman like.
 Most of Arnold’s personal poetry is steeped in the melancholy spirit of an era of transition.
 Arnold’s ethical temper was so noble and his hold upon the great ideals of conduct and duty so steady, that his sadness is
never enervating.
 In style is cold and clear. Arnold had never been a popular poet, but he has always had his audience “ fit though few”

34. Gerard Manley Hopkins is a strange in history of English poetry. He became a famous poet after his death of nineteen years.
Hopkins is a priest-poet, his poetry was very much different from his period.
LIFE OF HOPKINS:
 Hopkins was an eldest son of the nine children, who was born on july 28 ,1844 in stratford, Essex. His father was a minior
poet in Victorian age and he was artist too
 Hopkins mother was a daughter of a doctor, she was also a fellow student of John Keats. Two of his own brothers became a
professional artist. His uncle and his aunt also were highly skilled in music and also artist.
 From that he was interested from art and music, when he was in Oxford university, he was influenced by three movements
1. The Aesthetic Movement
2. Classical Movement
3. The Oxford Movement
 He became a Jesuit in 1868. Later he moved by the wreck of Deutschland, a ship carrying Catholics from Germany. Hopkins
is not particularly successful as a preacher
 In 1885, he wrote a group of sonnets. The sonnets were called “terrible sonnets”
 His poem were not published in his life time. He died at the victorian poet and rose again a modern poet in 1918

35. Heaven-Haven, The Alchemist in the City, The Habit of perfection, The Wreck of the Deuschi, The Straight Night, Pied Beauty,
Hurrahing in Harven, The Windhover, Nondum, Easter, Ad Mariam, Rosa Mystica, The Leadon Echo, Miracle- in Mary of-
flame
HOPKINS POETIC TECHNIQUES:
 Though Hopkins belonged to victorian age, he is very much admired in modern time. He used Sprung Rhthym, it was
claimed from Milton Choruses of Samson Agonisters and is used in regular music, nursery rhymes and common verse
 According to Hopkins sprung rhythm a certain natural advantages
i) Reversed feet
ii) Reversed or counter point rhythm
iii) alliteration
iv) Plenty of hyphenated words

36. Charles Dickens occupies a unique place among the Victorian novelists. Born in a poor family, he rose to such fame
as to be acknowledged as the great literary hero of England. Besides being a novelist, Dickens was a social reformer.
Through his novels he presents a society, which needs a thorough cleaning in all its aspects.
 Dickens has written many novels. Most of them have the first person method of narration. His master piece, David
Copperfied, Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are good examples of first person narration of method. Dickens started his
career as a novelist with Pickwick Papers, which established him as a humourist. The immortal Pichwickians created by
Dickens are admired by every one. But in the later novels the sky changes. From humour, he passes on to serious reflections
and points out evils of the society.
 Oliver Dickens Twist pictures the sufferings of the poor especially the orphans in the workhouse. Nicholas Nickleby
criticizes the charity schools: Bleak House point out the dangers of the law’s delays. In Little Dorrit he condemns the
injustice, which persecutes the poor debtors. In Great Expectations, he points out that even a criminal has a kind heart.
 Like Shakespeare, Dickens has also created a world of characters. His characters can be classified into four types. There are
innocent characters like Oliver, Joe, Paul and David. They appeal to the child love in every human heart. There are horrible
characters like Fagin or Urian Heep. The humorous characters, Mr.Pickwick and company have no equals. Dickens has also a
few powerfully drawn characters like Sydney Carton in “A Tale of Two Cities”
 Irresistible humour and unsurpassed descriptive power mark the works of Dickens. The special quality of Dickens is that he
is able to mingle humour and pathos. Only Dickens could describe a very pathetic incident in a most humours manner. When
Oliver asks for the more gruel in “Oliver Twist,” one cannot laugh at the incident. But there is a matter enough to weep at the
condition of the workhouses.
 Dickens is a novelist with a purpose. He is the greatest social reformer of the age. His main purpose is to expose the evils of
his society. Anti-social elements like Bumble and Uriah Heep are exposed. With the growth of industrialization several
crimes were committed by people. Poor became poorer. It is the poor society, which is treated sympathetically by Dickens.
 Dickens is an outstanding novelist with a zeal to reform the society. He educates as well as entertains his readers.

37. William Makepeace Thackeray is a poet, novelist, editor and a prose writer. If Dickens represents one aspects of the
Victorian life. Thackeray represents another.
LIFE OF THACKERAY:
Thackeray was born in Calcutta in 1811, his father was employed in the East India company. After the death of his
father in 1816, young Thackeray was sent England for higher studies. He entered Trinity College, Cambridge where he made
friendship with Tennyson and Fitzgerald. He left the university without taking a degree and took up journalism as profession.
He contributed to famous magazines like “ The Constitutional,” “Frazer’s Magazine,” “Punch” and “ The Cornhill
Magazine”
THE NOVELS OF THACKERARY:
After struggling for quite some time, Thackeray became famous with the publication of “ Vanity Fair” which is
acclaimed as his masterpiece. He took a phrases “ Vanity Fair” from Bunyan’s “ Pilgrim’s Progress” as the title of the novel.
He exposes the hypocrisy of the upper class of his period
This novel “ Vanity Fair” was followed by two equally famous novels. “ The History of Pendennis” and “ The
History of Henry Esmond. The latter is a historical novel, dealing with the times of Queen Anne. “ The Newcomes” and “The
Virginians” are his last great novel.
Thackeray’s other works include the humorous “Irish Sketch Book” and his prose piece, “ The Book of Snobs”.
“Snobbery” has been his pet theme. Thackeray also wrote a number of poems, ballads, tales, parodies and burlesques
Throughout his writings, we find Thackerry a satirist and a realist.

38.  In the Victorian England, the novel was humanitarian in the hands of Dickens and satiric in the hands of Thackeray but novel
became moral and philosophical in the hands of George Eliot. Dickens wrote about the London streets, Thackeray about the
clubs and drawing rooms. George Eliot chose to write the old-fashioned provincial life.
 George Eliot is the pen name of Mary Ann Evans. She has successfully authored fine novels like “ Adam Bede, Silas Marner,
The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch, Romola, Felix Holt.” In a novel like “Romola”, George Eliot makes an excursion into
the past. In most of other famous novels, she deals with the characters and scenes she had known. She is always independent
in thinking and action. She has fondness for arguing and in all her novels she selects themes carefully and arranges the plot to
bring out the main theme
 The themes which was chosen by George Eliot are always important and interesting. “ Adam Bede” explores the
philosophical possibility that we can, by our own action, work out our moral and religious destiny. “ The Mill on the Floss”
examines various aspects of domestic love and also studies how a character is influenced by circumstances. “ Silas Marner”
treats of the hidden forces, which shape man’s personality through the contact of his fellows. George Eliot also deals with the
themes like interdependence of human beings; the need for love in family relationships and the pathetic quality of human
emotions.
 The presents action determines future course. This is her philosophy. With this in view she studies the progressive
improvement or deterioration of a characters and their motives. This psychology analysis is the strength of George Eliot as a
novelist
 George Eliot is a great thinker. She is in intimate touch with all the contemporary discoveries and speculations. Her novels
are great essays of life. Her central theme – the conflict between duty and inclination is beautifully worked out.
 Thus George Eliot is on of the major novelists of Victorian Age.

39. The forty years between 1887 and 1928 are called the Age of Hardy. Though Hardy was not a great spiritual leader
or intellectual director, he was admired by the juniors as a man of outstanding genius. At the death of Tennyson in 1892,
there was no dominant writer to represent the sentiments of the victorians to the nation. The minor writers either imitated
slavishly or revolted arrogantly
Hardy was born in the country of Dorset in 1840. His father was a builder. Much of his youth was spent in the
countryside where he began to study with an architect. With the publication of his sensational novel “ Desperate Remedies,”
he became popular as a writer. Soon he abandoned architecture for literature as a profession. In 1910 he was awarded the
order of Merit. He died in 1928.
HARDY’S NOVELS:
Hardy was a novelist and a poet. “Under the Greenwood tree,” one of the lightest of his novels, was set in the rural
area. He was to make famous as Wessex. The first of his great novels, “ Far from the Madding Crowd “ was a tragicomedy
set in Wessex. “ The Return of the Native” was a study of man’s helplessness before the all-powerful fate. “ The Trumpet
Major, The Mayor of Casterbridge, The Woodlanders, Tess of the D’Urbervilles, jude the Obscure” were Hardy’s famous
novels. In the last two novels we have the most moving of Hardy’s studies of human nature.
HARDY’S POETRY:
Hardy began as a poet and continued to write poems. “ The Dynasts” is an epic drama but, much of Hardy’s verse
consists of short lyrics. He shows great technical care and love of experimentation. Wessex Poems include collections of his
poems. “The Dynasts” is a mastery example of Hardy’s genius in the organization and control of literary material. Hardy
holds that there is no active intelligence, no just and living god behind human destiny.

40. In all his works Hardy present human being facing up to the onslaughts of mysterious power. His mood is one of
pessimism. Very often in his novels happiness become “ the occasional episode in a general drama of pain”
Hardy’s characters are mostly ordinary men and women, representing his philosophy of life. Many of his characters
are created with the fullness, vigour and assurance of a Shakespeare or a Dickens`
He has also created some of the unforgettable places in his novels. Egdon Health in “ The Return of the Native,
Blackmoor Vale in Tess or the tree-girt solitude of “The Woodlanders” are unique. They are as memorable as his characters.
In the use of tragedy, Hardy can be compared with the great figures in world literature. He falls short of their stature
chiefly because he pursues his afflicted characters past the limits at which both art and nature are satisfied to halt. In the use
of pathos, he is unsurpassed.
finally, Thomas Hardy’s novels and poems are the work of writer painfully dissatisfied with the age in which he
lived. Hardy again, distrusted modern civilization because he suspected that its effect was frequently to decivilize and
weaken people.

41. The Pre-Raphaelites were the group of poets belongings to the later half of the 19th century, they revolt against the
victorian mode of writing poetry. They were in a favour of sensuous kind of poetry. They equated to the victorian poets like
Browning, Tennyson, Hopkins.
The Pre-raphaelites influenced with the Italian painter. They wanted to write poems that shared the sensuous quality
of the Italian painter, Raphael. That is why they are called Pre-Raphaelites
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
Christina Georgina Rossetti
William Morris
Algernon Charles Swinburne
They were the Pre-Raphaelites. The pre-raphaelite brotherhood started this movement in the year 1848. This movement was
started to reform painting. The pre-raphaelites were encouraged by great by great writers like Ruskin.
DANTE GABRIEL ROSSETTI ( 1828- 1882):
Gabriel Rossetti is the eldest of the Pre-Raphaelite school of artists and poets. He was both painter and poet, he has
wrote only two slight volume
1. poems ( 1870)
2. Ballads and sonnets ( 1881)
In the poem “ Blessed Demozel” he describes the unearthly scenes, his passionate introspection of a religious nature
and also shows melodious verbal beauty.
This poem is the most typical poem of the pre-raphaelite school. His faults are excessive of ornamentation and lack
of simplicity

42. Christina Georgina Rossetti is the youngest sister of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. She lived in London. Her poetry is
fully lyrical. The collection of her lyrical poems are
1. Goblin Market and other poems
2. The Prince’s Progress and other Poems
3. A Pagant and other Poems and Verses
Her poetry is generally less impressive, when compared with her brother Dante Rossetti. But it has a purer lyrical
note of deep and sustained passion. She was inspired mainly by religion, her religious poems shows a great simplicity of
tone. It has a greater variety of metrical and melodic effects.
WILLIAM MORRIS ( 1834- 1896)
William Morris was influenced by Chaucer. He was born in rich family and devoted his life to literature. His famous
volume of verses are
1. “ The Defence of Guinevere and other poems” it shows love of beauty, colour, sound and scenery and his passion
for the middle literature.
2. “ The Life and Death of Jason,” it is about medieval mythology.
3. “ The Earthly Paradise” is a collection of tales, shows group of people searching for an earthly paradise and
finally setting down in a nameless city.
4. The Story of Sigurd the Volsung
5. The fall of the Niblungs
William Morris wrote many romances based on Norse Sagas. Later part of his life consists of lectures and articles.
He was published lectures in “ Hope and fears of Art and Signs of change”

43. Swinburne is another notable figure in Pre-Raphaelite poetry, he was in an aristocratic family, he had his education
at Eton and Oxford.
“Atalanta in Calydon” is his most famous work. It is a poetic drama dealing with an ancient Greek tragedy. It
attracted readers at once. “Poems and Ballads” is his second work. He praises the Italian liberty in his songs before sunrise.
“ Tristram” is known for passion and force. Swinburne wrote number of plays of which the most popular is “Queen Mother
and Rosamond.” He also wrote criticism bringing out the beauties of great works. The most famous among them are
William Blake, “A Study of Shakespeare and A Study of Ben Jonson”
Pre-Raphaelitism had certain strength and weaknesses. It inculcated a love of beauty and melody. At the same time
it was weakened by vagueness and too much preoccupation with the past.

44. After a hundred years of insignificance, drama became an important form. Represented by men of genius who were
also practical and experienced men of theatre. They created live most important drama out of the problems of their age. Like
the novelists of the 20th century age, drama also concerned with to shows the contemporary social problems to shows on the
theatre.
Twentieth century dramatist are
 George Bernard Shaw
 John Glasworthy
 J.M.Synge
 Sean O’ Casey
 J.M.Barrie
 T.S.Eliot
 Christoper Marlowe
 Beckett
 John Osborne
 Harold Pinter

45. He is one of the famous dramatist of the modern time. Ibsen’s plays are called “ Dramatist of Ideas or Problem Plays” He was
born on 20th , March, 1828 in Norway. Ibsen’s father was a leading businessman but his business collapsed, when Ibsen was 8 years old
boy.
At the age of 16 Ibsen was apprenticed to a Pharmacist. He was compelled to earn money for his livelihood. His first play “
Catilina” was not successful one and it was different from traditional work. He gave up his work and he went to Oslo, Norway. His
second play “ The Warrior’s Barrow” This work gave an opportunity to study the theatrical world.
With the Scholarship, he visited Denmark and Germany. This visit played an important role of his life career. Later he married,
Susanna Thoresen. She proved to be a good partner to him. Ibsen continued to live in Italy and Germany for 27 years. During this period
he wrote his famous plays, “beginning with Brand” which made him one of the famous dramatist of the day.
In 1891, he returned to Norway that time he was famous play wrighter. The last part of his life was smooth and uneventful. He
had a paralytic attack from which he never recovered. He died on 23, May 1906
WORKS:
Ibsen career as a dramatist covers a period of 50 years, the second half of the 19th century. He wrote nearly 25 plays which fall
into various categories. I phase of his writing is known as Nationalistic drama. This type of drama he wrote before he was leaving from
Norway. This plays are based on the national history of Norway . “ Catilina”is a good example of this type
II phase consists of plays like “ Brand and Peer Gynt” there are called poetic plays which are written in verse and bulit on
fantasy and sheer imagination.
 “The League of youth to an Enemy of the people” belong to third period
 “A Dolls House” described as Drama of Ideas
 “ The Wild Duck” and “Hedda Gabler” describes the humanistic or psychological, which turns Ibsen from the society to the individuals
Thus, Henrik Ibsen is a famous Norwegian Dramatist. He was also most famous for “ Comedy of Ideas or Problem Plays”

46.  “The League of youth to an Enemy of the people” belong to third period
 “A Dolls House” described as Drama of Ideas
 “ The Wild Duck” and “Hedda Gabler” describes the humanistic or psychological, which turns Ibsen from the society to the
individuals
Thus, Henrik Ibsen is a famous Norwegian Dramatist. He was also most famous for “ Comedy of Ideas or Problem
Plays”
GEORGE BERNARD SHAW ( 1856- 1950)
During the Eighties and the Nineties a new type of drama became popular known as the “Problem Play” or “Drama
of Ideas” Bernard Shaw brought about a revolution in the drama.
LIFE AND WORKS OF BERNARD SHAW:
Bernard Shaw is a famous Irish dramatist born in Dublin on 26 July1856. His Father was a failure in life and his
mother supported him and his two sisters by giving music lessons. As a young boy, Shaw was shy and to hide his shyness
developed a rough manner and voice
He had no regular education, at the age of 14 he began a junior clerk. soon he left that job and he went to London he
became a journalist as a critic of books, he criticized the books, music and plays. His duty is to see the various plays staged
and write his comment on them.
He continued to have his interest in journalism and politics. He had became a socialist of fabian society. His first
play is “ Widower’s House” published in 1892

47.  Man and Superman in 1905
 Saint Joan in 1923
 Pygmalion in 1912
 Apple Cart in 1929
 Back to Methuselah in 1922
Shaw won the Noble Prize for literature in 1925. Shaw is a serious dramatist. He deals with pressing social
problem. Hence, his plays are called problem plays. He discusses the problem in his prefaces. For example, he deals with the
romantic concept of war and love and talk about the problem of language and society. He died at the age of 94.

48. JAMES JOYCE ( 1882- 1941)
James Joyce is one of greatest experimental novelist of the 20th century. She was born in Dublin his family was
gradually declining poverty due to the extravagant habits of his father. He was educated under Jesuit teachers, later he
entered the university, college, Dublin. As a student he was interested in Modern languages and Philosophy. His parents
wanted him as a Catholic priest but he was not went to Paris and started his literary career. Joyce spent his time between
Paris and Dublin. He died in 1941.
WORKS OF JOYCES:
 Dubliners
 A portrait of the Artist as a young man
 Ulysses
 Finnegan’s wake
FEATURES OF JOYCES NOVELS:
He uses the technique of stream of consciousness. Events are narrated from the consciousness of the character. The
consciousness went past to present.
Example: In “Ulysses” “ Bloom’s thoughts and feelings went back and present” is a good example of stream of
consciousness
His mind wanders from object to object. Dorothy Richardson is the first person to used “stream of consciousness”
but Joyce’s technique only successful

49. LIFE OF VIRGINA WOOLF:
Virginia Woolf’s father was the eminent Victorian critic and scholar Sir Leslie Stephen. She was brought up in a
circle of culture, taste and intelligence. She began her career as a literary journals. After her marriage in 1912 to Leonard
Woolf. She shared her activities to Hogarth press. Virgina Woolf committed suicide in 1914 because of her mind depression,
she drowning in river.
WORKS:
 The Voyage out in 1915
 Night and Day in 1919
 Jacob’s Room in 1922
 Mrs.Dalloway
 To the Lighthouse
 The Weves in 1931
 Flush in 1933
 The Years in 1937
CHARACTERISTICS OF VIRGINIA WOOLF’S NOVELS:
Virgina Woolf does not follow the tradition of the novel of manners which was produced by Arnold Bennett. She
uses the techniques interior monologue not giving importance to outer material. She specially used stream of consciousness
technique. She usually deals with women characters particularly women with delicate sensibilities like herself.
Mrs.Dalloway is a good Example

50. LIFE AND WORKS OF ORWELL:
The real name of George Orwell was Eric Blair. He was born in 1903 in Bengal, India. After the birth of Orwell, the
family had to leave Bengal to England. He took his education at Eton. He was graduated in 1921, he then took a job in Indian
Imperial Police and was sent to Burma. He was in Burma from 1922 to 1927. His book an autobiographical work, “Down
and Out in Paris and London” was published in 1933.
The first book used the name George Orwell. In his best novel,” Burmes Days” which came out in 1934, he
portrayed all his experiences in Burma. In 1935, he published another novel, “ A Clergyman’s Daughter.” Then he published
the following works :
 Keep the Aspidistra Flying in 1936
 The Road not Wigan Pier (1937)
 Homage to Catalonia (1938)
 Coming up for Air (1939)
 Inside the Whale, and other Essays (1940)
 The Lion and the Unicorn: Socialism and the English Genius (1941)
In 1945 he published “Animal Farm.” This was a phenomena success, he became famous throughout the world. It
was an anti-utopian novel, a political satire in which he satirizes the totalitarian form of government in Russia, headed by
Stalin. He uses the form of animal fable to criticize politics
The last two novel of George Orwell “Animal Farm” and “ Nineteen Eighty Four” exhibit a prophetic tone. His
novels may be taken as ironic parables about the anxiety and agony of modern man destined to live in a system of
oppression.

51. English Poetry became different after the first world war. Modern poetry was born, this type of poetry is different
from the earlier poetry. The modern poetry do not sing of beautiful roses and landscapes. The Modern poets look for new
themes and new mode of expression. Many of them are experimentalists; they experimented with poetic forms. Free verse
came handy.
W.B.YEATS (1907-1973)
William Butler Yeats was born on 13 June, 1865 in Dublin. His father was John Butler Yeats, a painter of some
distinction, introduced his son as at an early age to the Pre-Raphaelite school of painter. He studied art but later he adopted
literature as his profession. He started his writing poetry getting encouragement from his father. Yeats took interest in the
Irish National Movement, which was fighting for freedom from British.
Yeats family settled in London in 1887. This gave him an opportunity to get acquainted with many of the English
writers of his time. In the year 1889, Yeats met Maud Gonne whom he loved very much but never married. Also, he
developed interest in magic and occult arts.
He met Lady Gregory and through her he became interested in that theatre. Plans for the development of Irish
National Theatre were laid in 1898 and the Abbey Theatre was opened in 1904, several of Yeast's plays were staged here.
One important play he wrote during this period was “ The Land of Heart’s Desire”.
Yeats is chiefly remembered as a poet for his excellent lyrics. Poems published in 1895 contained come of the best
lyrics of his early period. They were influenced by the Pre-Raphaelites poets like Swinburne. Most of his early poetry is
found in the collection “ The Wind Among the Reeds, The Wanderings of Oisin and other poems and The Green Helmet and
other poems”.
Yeats began his poetic career as Victorian Romantic poet and ended up a twentieth century
metaphysical poet. He was awarded Noble Prize for literature in 1923.

52. LIFE OF T.S.ELIOT:
Thomas Stearns Eliot was born on September 26, 1888 at St.Louis, USA. He was born in America and got a British
Citizenship. His ancestors migrated to America in 1616 from East Coker in Somersetshire, England. His father was Henry
Eliot and his mother was Charlotte Stearn. His father had no academic interest so he took business and quite success. His
mother was a writer, her writing are characterized by technical innovation. T.S.Eliot had taken writing inherited from his
mother and business mind from his father. He was successful in both field.
He was very much interested in classics and the German, French and English Literature. He was particularly
interested in comparative Literature. He was called himself as a classicist in literature. He studied “ the symbolist
movement” then he went France there he spent a year in sorbonne university. T.S.Eliot is a great friend of Ezra Pound. He
only introduced Eliot in English.
In 1925, he became a director of “Fabler and Father”. In 1922 he published his masterpiece “ The Waste Land” after
he wrote many poems and plays. In 1948, he was awarded Noble Prize for Literature. He died on 4th January, 1965 in
London. He introduced poetic technique, he was a critic of 20th century and poet too. 20th century Literature is known as the
“Age of T.S.Eliot”
WORKS OF T.S.ELIOT:
His literary career may be divided into five phases.
The First Phases (1905-1909): These type of poems were merely for schoolboys and published in school magazines
The Second Phases (1909-1917): The poems written during this period betray the influence of French writers, especially of
Laforgue on Eliot. In this type poems Eliot satirizes romantic love and rottenness and decadence of contemporary society.
The most important poems of this poems of this period are The Long Song, Portrait of a Lady, The Preludes

53. The Fourth Phases (1925-1935): In this period he shows the Eliot’s growing faith in Christianity as the only solution to the
human dilemma. The most important poems of this poems of this period are “Ash Wednesday, Journey to the Magi, Choruses
from the Rock, Coriolanus”
The Fifth Phases (1935-1943): In this period he shows the Eliot as religious poet.
ASPECTS OF T.S.ELIOT’S POETRY:
 Poetry of the City
 Religious Revival
 Eliot’s Social Criticism in The Waste Land
 Eliot’s Poetic Techniques
 Use of quotations and allusions
 Use of symbols
 The technique of the cinematograph

54. LIFE AND WORKS OF W.H.AUDEN:
W.H.Auden was born in York in1907. His mother was a nurse and father was a doctor. He met Christopher
Isherwood in the pre school. He specialized in biology at Gresham’s school in New york. He studied in Oxford from 1925
to 1928. Stephen Spender, Day Lewis and Isherwood were his companions. He was influenced by the poems of T.S.Eliot
and psychology was one of his favourite subjects.
Auden first collection of poems was published in 1928. some of which were imitations of Hopkins. He spent a year
in Berlin. He was a teacher the next five years, publishing volumes of poetry and collaborating with Isherwood on play-
writing. He made a frequent visit to many countries. He married the daughter of the German novelist Thomas Mann. He
visited Spain in1937 and publishing his poem ”Spain”. He edited “ The Oxford Book of Light Verse in 1938.
Auden left the United States in 1939 and became an American Citizen in 1946. In America he taught in many
places. He was Professor of Poetry at Oxford University from 1955 – 1961. Auden was a prolific writer. He wrote volumes
of poetry and translated German literary works. He died in 1973.
AUDEN THE POET:
W.H.Auden was a leading poet of his period. He influenced his Contemporaries. He himself came under the spell
of poets like Hopkins and T.S.Eliot. His knowledge of psychology and his awareness of the hollowness of a disintegrating
society during a time of crisis get reflected in his poems. Auden was anti-romance initially had faith in a better order
through social upheaval. During the different Phases of his life, Auden had been influenced by Freudian psychology,
Kierkagardian Existensialism, Marxist ideologies and Christian humanism.
A small volume of poems was published in 1928 to be followed by “Poems” in 1930. Its revised edition was
published in 1933. The early poems was dealt with psychological problems and social issues. Auden published “The Orator:
A English Study in 1932”. The prose work interspersed with poems contains voices, loud reflections on socialism and
fascism.
“New Year Letter” and “The Age of Anxiety” are his two major works. “ The Shield of Achilles” was published in
1951 and 1955 respectively. He borrowed the poetic techniques of many predecessors. He learnt the Sprung Rhythm from
Hopkins. He uses the curtness of telegraphic language in many of his poems.

55. Philip Larkin was born on August 9, 1922 in England. He was a poet, librarian, novelist and Jazz critic. His father
was Sydney Larkin and his mother was Eva Emily Day. He was a British poet in the Post-Second World War. He rejected
idealized image, he did not use any unwanted decoration his writings.
Larkin first book of poetry “The North ship” was published in 1945. Followed by he published two novels “ Jill” in
1946 and “A Girl in Winter” in 1947. In 1955, he published his second collection of poems “ The Less Deceived” in 1955
followed by “The Whitsun Weddings” in 1964 and “ High Windows” in 1974.
His poetry his characterized by traditional pattern, Wry treatment of contemporary English life. He is known as a
Provincial poet. In his work, sense of loss, beauty departed and changing qualities of life. He expressed his ideas in clear and
easily comprehended fashion. He was a member in a Movement, in that movement poems were intelligent and
knowledgeable.
Robert Conquest, Kingsley Amis, Davie, Enright, Gunn, Jennings, Larkin and Wain are the member in that
Movement. The members of the movement shared a negative determination to avoid bad principles. They re-establish the
values of rational intelligence and skilful creative in their poetry.
Larkin was an Urban poet who accepts the fact that life in Modern life. He is mostly a detached lonely observer of
men and events around him. He follows traditional patterns of meter, rhyme and stanza forms in most of his poems.

56. DEVELOPMENT OF ESSAY IN 20TH CENTURY:
The Essay is defined as a composition of moderate length on a particular length. There are two
types of Essays , Formal Essay and Informal Essay. It was depending on the subject and style.
Informal Essay was popularized by Charles Lamb in 19th century and revived in 20th by famous
essayists like Robert Lynd, A.G.Gardiner, J.P.Priestley, G.K.Chesterton and others
A.G.GARDINER ( 1865-1977):
Alfred George Gardiner was born in 1865 at Chelmsford, united kingdom. He was a British
Journalist, Editor and Author. His Essays are written under the pen name “ Alpha of the Plough”. He was
the Editor of Daily News” in London for seventeen years. He died in 1946.
His Volume of Essays are “Prophets, Priests and Kings Pillars of Society, Pebbles on the Shore
War Lords, Many Furrows, Leaves in the Wind”
A.G.Gardiner is one of the most delightful Essayist of 20th Century. His Essays shows that to
teach basic life in a Essay form.. He writes about ordinary matters with dignity and charm. Gardiner as
known for his tolerant and pleasant attitude to humanity. He had a mercy towards human being. He
believed that efficient Essays should be made of “ Something or anything or thing”

57. He had a capacity to raise even the most common place themes to a philosophical level. His prose style is
marked by clarity and coherence. His Essays are full of unforgettable entertaining true story.

58. John Boynton Priestley was born on 13 September in 1894, Manningham, England. His Yorkshire background is
reflected in much of his fiction, “The Good Companions” in 1929. He was an English novelist, script writer, social
commentator and broadcaster. Priestley had a deep love for classical musical especially Chamber music. This love reflected
in a number of Priestley’s works notably his own favourite novel “Bright Day”.
Priestley married three times. He died of Pneumonia on 14th August, 1984. His ashes were buried in Hubberholme
Church in Yorkshire. The first major success come with the novel, “ The Good Companions” in 1929, which earned him the
“James Tait Black Memorial Prize” for fiction and made him a national figure.
In 1940, he wrote an essay for Horizon Magazine. During second world war, he was a regular broadcaster on the
BBC. In 1942, he was a "co-founder of the socialist common wealth party. His interest in the problem of time led him to
publish an extended essay in 1964 under the title of “ Man and Time”
His essays are portrayed everyday life of the everyday person. Priestley uses an appealing style. He wrote 120
Essays. Some of them are “ The Balconinny” in 1932 , “ Midnight on the Desert” in 1937, “Delight” in 1949, “ Apes and
Angles” in 1928.
OTHER ESSAY WRITERS:
Robert Lynd, Lytton, Strachey, T.E.Lawrence and Hilaire Belloc.
Robert Lynd 1879- 1949:
Lynd was born in Ireland, with the help of A.G.Gardiner, he established him as a journalist in London. He was
contributing essays “ The New statesman” under the penname YY. His work includes

59. LYTTON STRACHERY (1880-1932)
Giles Lytton Strachey was born in London, educated in Trinity College, Cambridge. He wrote many biographies his
intentions in these sketches was to ‘debunk’ or deflate supposedly great characters.
“Eminent Victorians, Elizabeth and Essex, Queen Victoria” are some his works
T.E.LAWRENCE (1888-1935)
Thomas Edward Lawrence was born in Whales. He spent few years in Arabia. He identified himself with “Arab
struggle for freedom against Turks”. He wrote about the Arab struggle objectively in his books, “ The Seven Pillars of
Wisdom”
Other books are “The Mist and Crusader castles” he also translated “Odyssey” into English. His writings are marked
by scholarly penetration. Because of his identification with the cause of Arabia, he came to be called “ Lawrence of Arabia”
HILLAIRE BELLOC ( 1870-1953)
Belloc was born in La celle in France, father was a french barrister. He began his literary career with writing verses
and sonnets in 1895. he was also interested in Politics, historian and an essayist. His essays are having graceful ease and
simplicity. His essays are marked by his character and faith.
His orks are “The Bad child’s Book of Beasts, More Beasts for worst children, Mr.Clutterbuck’s Election, A Change in
the Cabinet, History of England”. He was a writer of light, humorous essays

60. After the second world war literary trends have changed a lot. All the old conventions disappeared and new form
was appeared. New themes came after the 1950’s literature. Before 20th century the poetry is long, decorative but after
1950’s end of the 19th century poetry having simple language, were written to deal with contemporary situations. The most
popular poets after 1950’s are C.D.Lewis, John Betjeman, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes and Thomas Gunn
They were followed the new mode of expression in their poetry.
DRAMA:
After the middle of the 19th century there is a change in drama, the author’s in the 20th century dramatists shows
their age. They showed the problems lively on their theatre. T.S.Eliot, Christopher Fry wrote drama on poetic plays. They
used many Biblical Episode in their drama. The “theatre of Absurd” came from the French. This was followed by Samuel
Beckett and Harold Pinter. Their dramas are absurd.
They ignored all the theatrical conventions like the conventional plot, characters and action. They gave illogical
life in the mode of drama. John Osborne was popular the anger theatre the Kitchen and sink
NOVEL:
After 1950’s the novels are experimental. The famous modern novelists like P.G.Wodehouse, John Braine and
William Golding.

61. John Osborne is a popular dramatists of the later half of the 20th century. He created a new type of drama, “ the
Kitchen and sink drama” in which he introduced a new type of hero called the Angry youth Man. Osborne identified himself
with the working class from which he hailed.
Osborne’s earliest play was “ The Devil Inside Him” published in 1950. But, the play that made him famous was
“Look Back in Anger” It was a play of social realism and revolt. The play became famous of the “ Marvellous Vigour of its
dialogue”
“The Entertainer, Luther, Inadmissible Evidence, The Hotel in Amsterdam” etc are some of his very popular plays.
Apart from regular plays, Osborne also wrote many Television Plays. “A Subject of Scandal” and “Concern” was a famous
TV plays
Osborne gave a new direction to drama by liberating it from stagnation. His plays are anti- establishment and show
his disillusionment with the contemporary society. He uses a tone of protest. He is a great experimentalist and tries all forms
of provocative ideas to bring home his ideas.

62. William Golding is a famous novelist. He was made a fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1955 and was
awarded Nobel Prize for literature in 1983. He is a writer, actor and producer. He is very much interested in archaeology. He
is also a serious writer.
Golding became famous with his first novel, “ Lord of the Files” ( 1954). This novel shows a group of boys who
shed their innocence and become unscrupulous killers, when wrecked on a desert island. The novel symbolizes the fact that
civilization become savagery when external controls are removed.
“The Inheritors, Pincher Martin, Free Fall, The Spire, The Pyramids” etc are some of his famous novels. “The
Scorpion God” is a collection of his short stories. He also wrote plays and radio plays.
Golding’s novels are concerned with man’s struggle for survival and to maintain both body and soul. The chief
lesson he draws in his novels is that man is fallen; he is savage and selfish; a creature who perverts love and power. He uses
allegorical and symbolic methods to presents his moral vision.