Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

‘The Hundred Years War’

The long-drawn out conflicts between England and France that occurred between 1337 and 1453 are generally
known as "Hundred Years War". In the course of this war, Edward III secured English supremacy of the
English Channel by the naval victory of Sluys. He was the first king who conspicuously directed policy to
commercial expansion which was one of the objects of his French wars.
The immediate result of the war served one great purpose-that of developing a new national pride among
Englishmen who had been living for long under the shadow of the French and had nearly forgotten this sense of
national dignity. The victory at the battle of Crecy (1346) and of Poitiers kindled patriotism among people
filling them with self-confidence. As these crucial battles were largely won by the English yeoman, middle class
sprang up to ascendancy. The English Parliament came into prominence. This was a revolutionary phenomenon
bringing about changes in class structure and in the process helping the growth of democratic awareness.
The Black Death
During the reign of Edward III the outbreak of plague was known as Black Death. It was an unusual
phenomena. This terrible pestilence, with which the medical science of the time was powerless to cope, carried
off no less than one third of the population. Contemporary accounts have recorded vividly the terrible effect it
had on the lives of common people. In some cases. The entire population of towns was wiped out as in the north
of the country nearly all the laborers who had escaped from the plague left the country. So the significant result
of Black Death was that it considerably influenced the value of labour. As one third of the population having
been removed. There was created a scarcity of labour and corresponding demand for higher wages. Taking
advantage to the conditions many villains deserted their masters, left the country and began to start living as
freemen. This created a very serious situation for king Edward Ill and the parliament took a serious note for this
chaotic action. The parliament enacted a series of statutes which made it unlawful for the laborer to demand
higher wages and inflicted severe forms of punishment to those who violated it.

Peasants Revolt
During the forth year of Richard II's reign in 1381. There occurred a great revolt among the peasantry. This
famous and bloody peasants’ revolt was led by Wat Tyler and Jack Straw. It was a rebellion of an astonishing
magnitude arid suddenness. For the first time in English history, the workmen became dimly aware of their
power and used it. The claims of the lower orders were encouraged by the preaching of John Ball, a priest who
spread the doctrine that all men were born equal and had equal rights. He took as his text :
''When Adam delved and Eve Span,
Who was then gentleman?''
Ball's saying was the motto of a kind of socialism. The uprising occurred in 1381 and the peasants in large
numbers were armed with hatchets, spades and pitch-forks, demonstrated their discontent in an unruly and
violent manner. For a while it paralyzed the administrative system and stunned the country. But the reaction
was quick to come and severe suppression followed snuffing out the revolt. Historians have pointed out that
though the peasants’ revolt was crushed, it undeniably cast a deep shadow on the lives of the lower classes.
Those people understood their power and the spirit for independence was awakened in the old feudalistic
system. Some critics see it as a significant step towards modernism.

Piers the Plowman

In the English literature of the 14th century, Langland's Piers The Plowman stands out as the most renowned
work after The Canterbury Tales of Chaucer. Piers the Plowman is an impressive allegory deeply concerned
with religious, ethical, social and economic problems of the time. The framework of the poem is allegorical. It
is written in several versions. The chief forms of this poem are A-Text, B-Text and c-Text. Of these, the first

Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

Md. Abdul Wakil, MA in English Literature (NU), MA in ELT (DU), (Collected)
version was written about 1362 and contains the vision about Piers Plowmen and the vision of Do-well, Do-
better and Do-best. The second version or B-Text was written about 1377 includes the tables of rats and the cat.
The C'_Text has few hundred lines more than the B-Text. Through these versions, Langland conveyed a quite
pointed account of the moral Faith and Social Vices of the age. Piers the Plowman is a mighty achievement of
Langland and ranks very high as a social and moral study.
The poem has a three-fold aspect---as a picture of contemporary life, as a satire on the corruption of the church
and as an allegory of life.
Langland's place in the history of allegorical literature of England is certainly very high. The immortal pilgrim's
progress of Bunyan is certainly a direct descendent of Langland's Piers the Plowman.

Protestantism
Protestantism is the system of beliefs and teachings of the protestants. During the early 16th century there was a
religious movement called Reformation which was based on the opposition of the people to the claims of papal
authority and the church of Rome. The Reformation was a protestant rising against Roman Catholicism. It was
the Protestant Reformation that began in 1517 with Martin Luther. Like the Renaissance, Protestantism
consisted in the change from external to internal] ways of thinking, feeling and representing. Actually the
teachings of 'Martin Luther in Germany resulted in a religious revolt. Protestantism which spread like wildfire
through Germany. It is in course of time transformed the Reformation from merely an attack on the abuses of
the church into an attack on the church itself. In fact Reformation no longer remained a purifying and modifying
influence, it became increasingly Protestant in character.

Reformation
The Reformation movement began and completed before the Renaissance. It began during the reign of Henry
VIII, the father of Queen Elizabeth I and the king of England. In fact, the entire period was a period of religious
movement in the English religio-political life. The national focus was on the liberation of the church of England
from the authority of’ the Roman Church. This liberation movement is known as the Reformation. This is
known as the Protestant Revolution because it could establish the Reformation Church or Protestant Church,
making a complete break with Roman Church. This Protestant movement was influenced by Luther in
Germany, Calvin in Switzerland and Knox in Scotland. Early in the next century Scotland, England and
Scandinavia turned in favour of Protestantism. In England Protestantism was recognized as the state religion in
the 16"century when Henry Vill broke away from the Church of Rome. In England, the Reformation and the
Renaissance come together. The Reformation had its impact on Renaissance literature. In fact, the literacy and
cultural history of Renaissance will not be understood without a reference to the Reformation and its influence
on it.

Sir Thomas More or the Utopia

Sir Thomas More is the most noted of the early English humanists. He is known chiefly for his Utopia or The
Kingdom of Nowhere a work which was originally written in Latin but was translated into English in 1551. II is
an epoch-making work which has been variously praised as "the first movement of modern socialism” the
masterpiece of English humanism” “the time Prologue to the Renaissance".
Sir Thomas More opposes vigorously the old conception and traditions and the accepted order of society. He is
also opposed to the spirit of chivalry with its emphasis on war and the glorification of warriors. He advocates
humanitarian ideals, hates wars and calls soldiers."Men slayers”. More is called the first of the modern
socialists. He is against private property. He condemns the existing ‘conspiracy of the rich against the poor.’
More opposes the medieval ideal of asceticism and makes healthy enjoyment the end of human life. He
advocates religious toleration. In his kingdom, Utopia, there is perfect religious freedom. All religions are equal
not even Christianity enjoys any special privileges. The Utopia embodies More's conception of an ideal state but
it is also a vigorous satire on the abuses, corruptions and errors of the age. In More's Utopia he finds for the first

Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

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time, as the foundations of civilized society, the three great words. "Liberty, Equality and Fraternity". The
impact of this work on Elizabethan literature is undeniable.

The University Wits

The University Wits is a phrase used to name a group of late-16th-century English playwrights and
pamphleteers who were educated at theuniversities (Oxford or Cambridge) and who became popular secular
writers. Prominent members of this group were Christopher Marlowe, Robert Greene, and Thomas Nashe from
Cambridge and John Lyly, Thomas Lodge, George Peele from Oxford. Thomas Kyd is also sometimes included
in the group, though he is not believed Io have studied at university. Others who have been identified as
University Wits include Matthew Roydon and Thomas Watson, likely both Oxford men. This diverse and
talented loose association of London writers and dramatists set the stage for theatrical Renaissance of
Elizabethan England. They are identified as the earliest professional writers in English, and prepared the way
for William Shakespeare.
Humanism
Humanism was the direct outcome of Renaissance. Humanism means devotion to human interests, intimate
concern for human welfare and earnest attention to human individuals selflessly. From this very sense the term
‘humanist' has come to mean one who studies the human interest or the welfare of individuals in human society.
The concept of humanism was definitely much needed in the Middle Ages, dominated by the feudal society and
the atrocity of the feudal power. The Renaissance marked a change in the very concept of man and his relation
with the society and religion. It upheld man's freedom from all old boundaries created selfishly by the rulers and
religious dogmas.
Humanism, thus, glorifies man and his equal rights. Thus humanism changed the mankind from “theocentric” to
“homocentric”

Revenge Tragedy
Drama in which the dominant motive is revenge for a real or imagined injury it was a favorite form of English
tragedy in the Elizabethan and Jacobean eras and found its highest expression in William Shakespeare’s
Hamlet. The revenge drama derived originally from the Roman tragedies of Seneca but was established on the
English stage by Thomas Kyd with The Spanish Tragedy. This work, which opens with the Ghost of Andrea
and Revenge, deals with Hieronimo, a Spanish gentleman who is driven to melancholy by the murder of his
son. Between spells of madness, he discovers who the murderers are and plans his ingenious revenge. He stages
a play in which the murderer s take part, and, while enacting his role, Hieronimo actually kills them, then kills
himself. The influence of this play. so apparent in Hamlet, is also evident in other plays of the period. In John
Marston's Antonio's Revenge, the ghost of Antonio's slain father urges Antonio to avenge his Murder, which
Antonio does during a court masque. In George Chapman’s Revenge of Bussyd’ Ambois, Bussy's ghost begs
his introspective brother Clermont to avenge his murder. Clermont hesitates and vacillates but at last complies,
then kills himself. Most revenge tragedies end with a scene of carnage that disposes of the avenger as well as
his victims. Other examples are Shakespeare's Titus Andronicus, Henry Cheltle’s The Tragedy of Hoffman, and
Thomas Middleton's The Revenger's Tragedy.

The Paradise Lost

The paradise Lost is a big and ambitious project of John Milton. It remains an outstanding literary creation in
modern English. It has secured an eminent place by the side of the great epics of the classical masters, like
Homer, Virgil and others. Milton's chief source in paradise Lost is The Book of Genesis of the Holy Bible. The
simple Biblical theme is turned into the materials for a world epic by Milton's poetic genius. Milton's literary
source of inspiration is however, the great classical poets-. Homer, Virgil and Ovid. He is certainly indebted to
them for his conception of the epic pattern, his use of extended similes and his presentation of different
Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature
Md. Abdul Wakil, MA in English Literature (NU), MA in ELT (DU), (Collected)
mythologies and allusions. Paradise Lost is an ambitious epic, and as such, it has an epical structure. Milton's
plan is quite comprehensive, and the whole epic is composed of twelve Books, dealing with different well
connected aspects of a Sublime theme. Milton's epic, however has a moral purpose, consistent with his own
deeply religious nature and Puritan conviction. His aim here. As he himself states, is to 'justify the mays of God
to men". In religious literature in English, Paradise Lost must have a high position for its grand, inspired
Christian objective.
The theme of Paradise Lost is universal-Man's disobedience anti fall and the prospect of his redemption through
the sacrifice of one greater Man. There is no other English poet to attain his moral elucidation of the cause of
the human sin and suffering and to represent his political portraits of Heaven and Hell and of Adam and Eve in
the Garden of Eden.

Cavalier Poets
The poets of the middle of the seventeenth century are divided into two principal groups-the religions poets
subdivided into Anglicans and Puritans and the secular poets. The metaphysical poets like Herbert, Vaughan,
Crashaw, Cowley, Marvell were religious poets and followers of Donne who wrote religious poems apart form
same secular love lyrics. Herbert, Vaughan, Crashaw were priests Hither Anglican or catholic, but Cowley and
Marvell were not gloomy puritans. Marvell was a humanist.
The secular poets were known as Cavaliers- they were royalists. Robert Herrick, Thomas Carew, Sir John
Suckling and Richard Lovelace belong to this group. The term ‘Cavalier' is loosely used before a group of poets
who Flourished during the reign of Charles I. They were mostly courtiers and owed love and loyalty to the
monarch. Their poems are secular, no doubt lyrical, but rather written in a light hearted tone. Love is mainly a
theme in their poetry. But this love, treated by them, is more attached to temporal one immediate pleasers.
The Cavalier lyricists came under the influence of Ben Jonson-they felt proud of calling themselves "sons of
Ben". They derived from Ben Jonson the clarity and lucidity of expression, control of emotion, felicity of
phrase and sophistication of tone. However, John Donne also influenced them in their colloquial tone,
metaphysical conceits, and tendency of introspective self analysis.
The Cavalier poets wrote lyrics and short poems and they had no liking for sonnet tradition. They had lost the
fine, careless rapture of Elizabethan songs and sonnets, but they gave more polish and elegance to their poems
and often achieved the calm perfection of Horace and Catullus. The Cavalier poets revealed lyrical power of a
high order : fresh, passionate and felicitously exact, but at the same time meditative and observant.
Neoclassicism
The term Neoclassicism is a combination of two words : Neo and Classic. The word neo has been derived from
a Greek word neos, which means young or new, while the word classic refers to the style and works of the
ancient authors of Greece and Rome. Neoclassicism means the rebirth and restoration of Classicism. Hence,
Neoclassicism is the movement in the history of English literature, which laid immense emphasis on the revival
of classical spirit during the period between 1680 and 1750 in the age of Pope and Dryden. It is a prototype of
Classicism. This style of writing referred to a “new" form of the “classics’' inspired by form, function, logic,
and theme from Greek and Roman literature. Regular meter, carefully controlled rhyme, and masterful use of
difficult rhetorical and figurative devices, often imitating those found in Greek and Latin poetry, characterized
this work. This era of neoclassical literature was predominant until late in the 18th century. Writers of this
period immensely endeavored to follow the footpaths of the writers of the period of Augustus, emperor of
Rome, which produced unparalleled writers as Horace, Virgil and Ovid. That is the reason, the age of Pope is
also called Augustan Age.
Characteristic of Neoclassicism : Rationalism, Scholarly Allusions, Didacticism, Realism, Adherence to
Classical Rules, Heroic Couplet, No Passionate Lyricism, Objectivity, Poetic Diction.

Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

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 Blank Verse
Blank verse is a kind of poetry written in regular metrical but unrhymed lines, almost always iambic
pentameters. It has been described as "probably the most common and influential form that English Poetry has
taken since the 16th century". The first documented use of blank verse in the English language was by Earl of
Surrey in his translation of the Aeneid. He was possibly inspired by the Latin original, as classical Latin verse
as well as Greek verse did not use rhyme or he may have been inspired by the Italian verse form of versisciolti,
which also contained no rhyme : The play Gorboduc by Thomas Norton and Thomas Sackville was the first
English play to use blank verse.
Christopher Marlowe was the first English author to make full use of the potential of blank verse. The major
achievements in English blank verse were made by William Shakespeare, who wrote much of the content of his
plays in unrhymed iambic pentameter, and Milton, whose Paradise Lost is written in blank verse. Miltonic
blank verse was widely imitated in the 18th century. Romantic English poets such as William Wordsworth, PB
Shelly and John Keats used blank verse as a major form.

The Rape of the Lock

The Rape of the Lock is a mock heroic narrative poem written by Alexander Pope, First published in May 1712
in two cantos. Later it was edited as five cantos. Pope boasted that the poem sold more than three thousand
copies in its first four days. The poem satirizes a minor incident by comparing it to the epic world of the gods.
It was based on an actual incident recounted by Pope's friend, John Caryll. Arabella Fermor and her suitor, Lord
Petre, were both from aristocratic Catholic families. Petre, lusting after Arabella had cut off a lock of her hair
without permission, and the consequent argument had created a breach between the two families. Pope, also a
Catholic, wrote the poem at the request of friends in an attempt to "comically merge the two.” He utilized the
character Belinda to represent Arabella and introduced an entire system of “Sylphs” or guardian spirits of
virgins, a parodised version of the gods and goddesses of conventional epic.
Pope's poem uses tile traditional high stature of classical epics to emphasize the triviality of the incident. He
also uses the epic style of invocations, lamentations, exclamations and similes, and in some cases adds parody
to imitation by following the framework of actual speeches in Homer's Iliad. Although the poem is humorous at
times, pope keeps a sense that beauty is fragile, and that the loss of a lock of hair touches Belinda deeply. As his
introductory letter makes clear, women in that period were essentially supposed to be decorative rather than
rational, and the loss of beauty was a serious matter.

Heroic Couplet
Heroic couplet is another trademark of neoclassical poetry. The neoclassical poets were primarily responsible
for reputation of heroic couplets in the history of English literature. They were the champions of heroic couplet.
No poet, in the history of English literature, can compete with the mastery of neoclassical poets in handling
heroic couplet. Though many renowned poets of the world tried heroic couplet, Dryden and Pope are the only
poets, who outdid everyone in this regard. They are considered the real masters of heroic couplet. What is most
important about these two poets is that they polished the heroic couplet, corrected it, made it regular and more
flexible. It is said that Dryden wrote almost thirty thousand heroic couplets. His poems like Absalam und
Achitopel, Mac Flecnoe and The Medal are all in heroic couplets. Here is the example of a heroic couplet :
Good nature and good sense must ever join
To err is human, to forgive, divine.

Lyrical Ballads
Lyrical Ballads is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge was first
published in 1798. It ushered in the beginning of the English Romantic Movement in literature. It became the
landmark of the Romantic Revival, changing the course of English literature and poetry. Most of the poems in
the 1798 edition were written by Wordsworth, with Coleridge contributing only five poems to the collection,

Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

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including one of his most famous works,"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner". A second edition was published in
1800, in which Wordsworth included additional poems and a preface (detailing the pair's avowed poetical
principles). Rejecting the diction of 1 8th century English poetry, Wordsworth and Coleridge bring poetry
within the reach of the average person by writing the verses using normal, everyday language. They place an
emphasis on the vitality of the rustic language that the common people use to express their reality. Using this
language also helps assert the universality of human emotions. Even the title of the collection recalls rustic
forms of art-the word “lyrical” links the poems with the ancient rustic bards and lends an air of spontaneity,
while “ballads” are an oral mode of storytelling used by the common people.

Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church members of the Church of England which eventually
developed into Anglo- Catholicism. The movement, whose original members were mostly associated with the
University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of some older Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion
into Anglican liturgy and theology. They thought of Anglicanism as one of three branches of the One, Holy,
Catholic, and Apostolic Church.
The term 'Oxford Movement’ is often used to describe the whole of what might be caused the Catholic revival
in the Church of England. More properly it refers to the activities and ideas of an initially small group of people
in the University of Oxford who argued against the increasing secularization of the church of England, and
sought to recall it to its heritage of apostolic order, and to the catholic doctrines of the early church fathers.
Pantheism
Pantheism is the belief that God is present in all natural things. It is a doctrine that the whole universe is a
manifestation of God. A pantheist believes that God is present in all natural things, and that His existence can
be identified from the nature of his creation, the universe. Pantheism regards God as wholly immanent in the
world and tends to identify. Him with it. According to this theory, God is not a transcendental but an immanent
Being in the Spatiotemporal world. In poetry pantheism presents a belief that all life on earth is divine.

Negative Capability
Negative capability was a phrase first used by Romantic poet John Keats in 1817 to characterize the capacity of
the greatest writers to pursue a vision of artistic beauty even when it leads them into intellectual confusion and
uncertainty, as opposed to a preference for philosophical certainty over artistic beauty. The term has been used
by poets and philosophers to describe the ability of the individual to perceive, think, and operate beyond any
presupposition of a predetermined capacity of the human being. Keats’s Ode to Nightingale is a fine piece of
impersonality and journey into Negative Capability. Being torn up with sorrow and suffering, Keats wants to
live in the world of imagination, beauty and perfection.

The Coverley Papers

The Coverley Papers is a collection of essays selected from an 18th century daily called The Spectator. The
essays of Joseph Addison were contributed to The Spectator. The best of his essays are those which centre
round the figure of Sir Roger De Coverley, and hence are known as The Coverley papers.
In The Spectator, Sir Roger de Coverley appeared many times on many occasions by Addison and Steele. In
this daily a total of 555 essays were published. Of all his essays the best known and loved are those which
introduce us to Sir Roger de Coverley, the genial dictator of life and manners in the quite English country side.
Sir Roger de Coverley is an imaginary, eccentric. old country squire, who is supposed to be a member of the
Spectator Club in London. Around Sir Roger are grouped a number of contrasted characters, all members of the
same club.
In literature, The Coverley Papers have an epoch-making significance. In delineating his character Addison
focused on his rural surroundings. He is simple as a child and very popular among his servants and friends. The
seventeenth century English society becomes alive in The Coverley Papers. The Coverley Papers played an

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important role in bringing about the rise of the novel. The novel requires an everyday, flexible prose style, and
this was fashioned by Addison and Steele. They did much to create the taste for light literature which made
possible the immense and immediate popularity of the novel. The Coverley papers combined improvement with
entertainment and these two features were later combined in the novel. From whatever angle we consider, The
Coverley papers paved the way for the emergence of the novel. In fact the 18th century English society
becomes alive in The Coverley Papers.

The Spectator
The 18th century is usually characterized as an age of prose literature. In fact, the age is found rich in prose
writings, and in these prose writings, the periodicals essay, as it is called, proved immensely successful. In the
periodical essay of the 18th century, The Spectator, a joint venture of Addison and Steele, published first in
1711, is an important literary name. The Spectator, that followed Steel's The Tatler, was a daily, and the united
efforts of the two masterminds raised the essays, published in The Spectator to a high status. Indeed, The
Spectator of Addison and Steele is found endowed with a definite plan. It consists of a series of literary essays,
concerned with social morals and manners. Each issue of The Spectator contains a simple thought, worked out
exquisitely. This is different distinctly from the next issue, but, at the same time, all issues bear a family
likeness.
The first essay, Mr. Spectator, gives an account of the author himself. The essayist here draws a character
sketch of the Spectator, with a specific attention to different aspects of his nature. The second essay is on the
spectator Club. Here a sketch of the other members of the Club is drawn. These members are the representatives
of different important sections of the English society of the 18th century.
The aim of The Spectator is clearly and frankly instructive. Addison and Steele are here found to refine and
reform the tastes of the contemporary English society. The essays in The Spectator have social and reformative
ends.
The achievement of the spectator was mainly the development of character sketch. Addison in The Spectator
writes a series of papers which is known as Coverley Papers. In other words, Addison satirizes the eccentricities
of Sir Roger in the Coverley Papers published in the spectator, the Coverley Papers have elements of a novel
which eventually help the development of the 19'h century novels. The spectator is found to be the reservoir for
the development of journalistic writings in the days to come.

Gothic Novel
The Gothic novel or the novel of terror is the peculiar product of the later 18'"century. It owes its rise and
popularity to the general awakening of feeling and sensibility about the middle of the 18th century. It was a
conscious protest against the rational, realistic creed of the earlier novelists. It is a new species of romantic
fiction which drew its inspiration from the general revival of interest, during this period, in medieval life and
art, in pseudo-Gothic Castles and artificial ruins, in ancient ballads, and in Gothic churches and cathedrals.
In fact, the extravagance of the romantic writers created a new kind of romance which became known as Gothic
romance. The Gothic stories were actually located in the middle age. But their main object is not to give an
accurate picture of medieval life but to arouse terror in the reader by means of fantastic description of gloom,
distress of the heroine, supernatural mystery and excessive use of horror, bloodshed and gloomy atmosphere. In
other words these stories were extremely absurd story and were new in English language. For example- The
Mysteries of Udolpho by Mrs. Anna Radcliffe was a popular Gothic romance. The historical and Gothic
romances contributed to he development of English literature and consequently we finds novels of purpose
dealing with the abuse of society.

Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

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 Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Pope, the wasp of Twickenham, was the greatest verse satirist of not only the eighteenth century but of all
centuries. It is interesting to note that almost every discussion of his satire boils down to discussion of his
personality. Above all, he was a successful writer-the author of numerous best-sellers. Naturally enough, he
excited the spleen of a host of pen- drivers whom at a place he compares to a swarm of gnats plaguing him. we
have also to take into account his revengeful and somewhat malicious temperament. After getting hit he could
not just connive at the attack, He rose from the depths of anger and disgust and made short work of most of his
disparagers. Happily did he keep politics and religion out of satire, with the exception of The Rape of the Lock,
which is a general satire on female frivolities, all his major satires are characterized by indulgence In
personalities, To name all the persons he attacked in his satires would require tens of pages. His greatest satire
The Dunciad is, in its fundamentals, a satire on the contemporary dunces who had happened to offend him.

Dr. Johnson (1709-84)

Dr. Johnson as a satirist ranks next only to pope among the verse satirists of the eighteenth century. In addition
to being a satirist he was, a"translator, journalist, lexicographer, commentator, novelist, biographer and finally
literary critic.”His two verse satires are London (1738) and The vanity 'um o n Wishes (1746). London is a
satire on the great city which he loved so passionately. There is real pathos in the lines which describe the
misfortunes of talented and enlightened men of letters who are rudely treated by rich fools. The Vanity of
Human Wishes is a much finer and more accomplished production. Johnson based this weighty poem on the
Tenth Satire of Juvenal whose manner he tried, fairly successfully, to imitate. Johnson's style is heavy-handed
and serious, and his attitude, too, is Juvenalian in its pessimism and noble
disdain.

Pre-Raphaelite Poets
At the late 19th century the world was amazed by the newer invention of science and was busy with
urbanization. At that time, a new trend of literature attracted the view of the world. A new literary trend set in.
The authors were identified as pre-Raphaelites. Actually, it was a movement of art and painting that appeared
before the time of great Italian poet Raphaelite. Raphaelite was an icon of art and culture during Italian
Renaissance in the 14th century. Following the technique of Raphaelite to give simplicity and naturalness in art
and literature is called Raphaelitism. Love for beauty and artistic sincerity were the cardinal aspect of their
literary works. That is why their treatment of art, nature and literature made them essentially romantic. Pictorial
quality, love for beauty, affection for melancholy etc. were dominating in their works. Sense of escapism was
also noteworthy. The pre-Raphaelites wanted to take rest from busy social life. They regarded poetry as an art.
The slogan was 'Art for art's sake'. The movement was led by a cluster of poets- D.G. Rossetti, C.G. Rossetti,
William Morris, Swinburne were remarkable.

Victorian Compromise
The Victorian age doesn't mean precisely the years during which Queen Victoria reign. Victorianism means an
attitude to life and society. Too many influences work on the Victorian age. It was an change of internal and
external changes. The literature of the society shows the growing social consciousness. The political turmoil,
the industrial revolution, the life of working class people, the political, intellectual and philosophical debate
were reflected in the works of the authors. Therefore we can say that there has been an attempt on the part of the
authors to bring about a compromise between the various forces of the Victorian era.
A compromise was necessary between the rich and the poor. Life was easy for those who had many power and
wealth. On the other hand, millions suffer from poverty. The Victorian society witnessed class consciousness
that is connect between rich and poor. Tennyson's poetry adequately show the various tendencies and the
compromises of the Victorian era. There was a compromise between democracy and kingship. It seems that
people accepted the democracy. Victorian society witnessed the freedom of women. There was compromise
between war and peace, revolution and reconciliation. The most glaring conflict that Victorian age witnessed is

Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

Md. Abdul Wakil, MA in English Literature (NU), MA in ELT (DU), (Collected)
the conflict between science and religion. The discovery of scientific theories brought doubt in the mind of the
people. T hey were not sure whether to have faith in science or religion. The Victorian people suffered from
faith and doubt. However ; of all the Victorian authors Tennyson is called the poet of Victorian compromise
because in his poetry we find both the characteristics of the age. He tried to bring about a compromises between
science and religion. His poems present the conflict between science and religion, the material advancement and
spiritual crisis of the age. His Important poems are Locksley Hall, Ulysses, Tithonus. Oenone, In Memoriam
etc. These poems express the idea of compromise between the various issues of the Victorian age.

Modernism
Modern writers are often called modernist. The word ‘modernism' is a convenient term for the ‘ism' of the new
age. It refers to the doctrines of 20th century literary ideas. Although 20th century began before 1940, there
were no agreed principles for an artistic program. The old ways of literary criticism would not do anymore.
There appears cultural changes in society, politics, technology, family relation and religious values. The values
fostered by Christianity and liberal humanism gradually weakened Karl Mark, Freud and Nietzsche, the father
of modern atheism were read. But these general factors do not point to the formulation of a new group of writer.
Modern art was influenced by Picaso and the poetry of Eliot became a historical level. These names are no
longer modern but modernist. With these authors, modernism in English literature begins.
However modernist literature turns out to be not very English and English literature turns out not to be very
modernist. It was largely written by Exiles. “Exiles" is the name of a play by James Joyce who avoided
England. When the Irish free state was created in 1921, James Joyce had been 39 years a British citizen. Yeats a
British citizen of 57 became an Irish senator and spent much of his lime in England. Samuel Beckett is
sometimes called the last modernist. He left Ireland in 1937 for Paris. In fact early 20th century English
literature has been influenced by foreign artists. The traditional forms were thrown out and new literary
experiments were made in the field of poetry, drama and novel.

Stream of Consciousness
Stream of consciousness is the most widely adopted technique that the great successful modern authors
followed in their literary works. In this technique the readers enter the major character’s "stream of
consciousness" and share the thoughts passing through a character's mindthoughts that blend one into the other
without clear boundary. Current observations mingle with the memories of the past, with the thoughts of future
and with comparison and flights of fancy. Often that passes through the characters mind is not ideas so much as
images —— pictures or objects that stand for something in the character's experience and that call up ideas or
feelings. Stream of consciousness writers try to show us how often our minds move by fictionalized incidents
and imaginative association. They also make us see that often we are thinking about more than one thing at a
time. For example, at a concert we partly think about music, partly about day. In fact, stream of consciousness is
a pattern of freely moving thoughts and reverie-a pattern of free association in which current observation and
day dream, thoughts and feeling mingle and blend.

Drama of Ideas
English drama went through different stages with the passage of time. The Renaissance drama was
predominantly revenge tragedy and romantic comedy. Following Elizabethan dramatic success, English drama
entered into a phase of decadence. webster alone represents the decadent age. However, with the change of
time, English drama was predominantly pre-occupied with social problems. of the modem dramatists, Shaw
influenced new types of drama in theme and style to the world theater. He was indebted to Ibsen and Karl Marx.
The principles of his drama is a criticism of modem life. He satirizes the ‘isms' in his dramatic works.

Shaw's satirical study of English man and society is presented in his dramas. His dramas are called "Drama of
Ideas". Because with his use of wit, humour and irony he expresses a philosophy-Shaw uses flippant characters

Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

Md. Abdul Wakil, MA in English Literature (NU), MA in ELT (DU), (Collected)
and unimportant situations. But beneath these unimportant characters and situation there lies a great philosophy,
a philosophy about life and civilization.

Shaw wants to bring about a reformation in term of ideas to an otherwise materialistic "The Waste Land". For
example, his play, “Arms and the Man” is a representative play of "Drama of Ideas". Here, he satirizes the
ongoing conception about love-marriage, and soldering. Soldiering is not only a matter of showing heroism.
Victory by any means is not the proper soldering. Saving life from hunger and fear is also another achievement
of the battle. Similarly, love-marriage is not a matter of romance. It is the cause of the need of procreation for
all the time to come.
Thus, through these plays ideas are propagated. Characters embody ideas and they act as the vehicles of ideas
and they preach to the audience. The essence of the drama is conflict of wills which is represented by plot and
characters. Through the conversation of the characters the conflict reaches its climax. In this way, the success of
the "Drama of Ideas” depends mostly on the brightness and brilliance of dialogue.

Absurd Drama
In the mid 20th century, there has been a prominent development in drama and it was the rise of tragi-comedy.
As the term implies, tragicomic plays are plays that not only arouse feeling of pity and fear but laughter as well.
It is by no means a new invention, although it is a kind of drama we think modern. The term was used by the
Roman writer of comedy, Plautus and the later critics have applied it to certain play of the classical playwright
Euripides notably ‘Alcestis’ where tragic events jostle with snappy repartee and ends happily. Since ancient
time dramatists have mingled laughter and tears defying the neo- classical doctrine of unities-the neo-classical
theater strictly observed the unities. It was believed that drama must be entirely tragic or entirely comic but not
a mingling. It was beautifully plotted and structured. Even, Shakespeare was fond of tragicomic mingling. In
Shakespeare’s “Hamlet" the prince jokes with a grave digger. In the tragedies of Shakespeare there are
passages/speeches of clownish humour which are sometimes called comic relief. However, some 20 th century
plays leave us confused-should we laugh or cry. Such kind of situations are presented in Samuel Beckett’s
“Waiting for Godot". Mostly the post Second World War dramas were classed as absurd dramas. The effect of
absurd drama takes time to sinking. Sometimes the spectators sense of relief after experiencing pity and fear
may be delayed reaction. Absurd dramatists make fun with social convention.

Important Terms, Personalities and Events of English Literature

Md. Abdul Wakil, MA in English Literature (NU), MA in ELT (DU), (Collected)