Overview of modern literature

A bird’s eye view of the modernism

                                    Dear readers when we learn the modern literature in English we have to understand the concept of modernism. The term modernism describes the modernist movement in the arts; it is set of cultural tendencies and associated with cultural movements. The traditional forms of art, architecture, literature, religious faith, social organization and daily life ware becoming superannuated by the development of fully industrialized world. The modernist movement begin at 20^th century marked first time that the term avant – garde. During this period, society at every level underwent profound changes. War and industrialization seemed to devalue the individual. Global communication made the world a smaller place. The pace of change was dizzying. Writers responded to this new world in a variety of ways. One of the most visible changes of this period was the adaptation of new technologies like electricity, the telephone, the radio into the daily life of ordinary people.

Modern literature 

                         Modern literature emerged in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. The modern literature emerged against the ideology of realism and developed new forms from old traditional forms such as incorporation, rewriting, recapitulation, revision, and parody. Modernism also rejects the lingering certainty of Enlightenment thinking. It tried to disconnect Romanticism from its roots in idealism in order to transport it inside empiricism. Simply said “make it new” is the idea of modernist. Modern literature is characterized by a self – conscious break with traditional style of poetry and verse. Juxtaposition, irony, comparisons and satire are important elements found in modern writings. Modern authors used impressionism and other devices to emphasize the subjectivity of reality. Experimentation is one of the defining qualities of Modernist literature 

Characteristics of modern literature 

Individualism 

                           In Modernist literature, the individual is more interesting than society. Specifically,modernist writers were fascinated with how the individual adapted to the changing world. Insome cases, the individual triumphed over obstacles. For the most part, Modernist literature featured characters who just kept their heads above water. Writers presented the world or society as a challenge to the integrity of their characters. Ernest Hemingway is especially remembered for vivid characters that accepted their circumstances at face value and persevered.

Experimentation

                        
                              Modernist writers broke free of old forms and techniques. Poets abandoned traditional rhyme schemes and wrote in free verse. Novelists defied all expectations. Writers mixed images from the past with modern languages and themes, creating a collage of styles. The inner workings of consciousness were a common subject for modernists. This preoccupation led to a form of narration called stream of consciousness, where the point of view of the novel meanders in a pattern resembling human thought.

Absurdity

                         
                             The carnage of two World Wars profoundly affected writers of the period. Several great English poets died or were wounded in the First World War. At the same time, global capitalism was reorganizing society at every level. For many writers, the world was becoming a more absurd place every day. The mysteriousness of life was being lost in the rush of daily life. The Holocaust of the Second World War was yet more evidence that humanity had taken a wrong turn.

Symbolism

                         
                           The Modernist writers infused objects, people, places and events with significant meanings. They imagined a reality with multiple layers, many of them hidden or in a sort of code. The idea of a poem as a riddle to be cracked had its beginnings in the Modernist period. Symbolism was not a new concept in literature, but the Modernists' particular use of symbols was an innovation. They left much more to the reader's imagination than earlier writers, leading to open-ended narratives with multiple interpretations.

Formalism

                          
                         Writers of the Modernist period saw literature more as a craft than a flowering of creativity. They believed that poems and novels were constructed from smaller parts instead of the organic, internal process that earlier generations had described. The idea of literature as craft fed the Modernists' desire for creativity and originality. Modernist poetry often includes foreign languages, dense vocabulary and invented words. The poet e.e. cummings abandoned all structure and spread his words all across the page.

Modern writers

• Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)

•  Anna Akhmatova (1889-1966)

• Gabriele d'Annunzio (1863-1938)

• Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918)

• W. H. Auden (1907-1973)

• Djuna Barnes (1892-1982)

• Samuel Beckett (1906-1989)

• Gottfried Benn (1886-1956)

• Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956)

• Alexander Blok (1880-1921)

• Menno ter Braak (1902-1940)

• Hermann Broch (1886-1951)

• Jorge Luis Borges (1899-1986)

• Basil Bunting (1900-1985)

• Ivan Cankar (1876-1918)

• Mário de Sá-Carneiro (1890-1916)

• Constantine P. Cavafy (1863-1933)

• Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)

• Hart Crane (1899-1932)

• E. E. Cummings (1894-1962)

• Joaquim Maria Machado de Assis (1839-1908)

• Alfred Döblin (1878-1957)

• H.D. (Hilda Doolittle) (1886-1961)

• T. S. Eliot (1888-1965)

• Ralph W. Ellison (1914-1994)

• William Faulkner (1897-1962)

• E. M. Forster (1879-1971)

• F. Scott Fitzgerald (1896-1940)

• Robert Frost (1874-1963)

• Carlo Emilio Gadda (1893-1973)

• Knut Hamsun (1859-1952)

• Jaroslav Hašek (1883-1923)

• Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)

• Hugo von Hofmannsthal (1874-1929)

• Max Jacob (1876-1944)

• David Jones (1895-1974)

• James Joyce (1882-1941)

• Franz Kafka (1883-1924)

• Georg Kaiser (1878-1945)

• Miroslav Krleža (1893-1981)

• Federico García Lorca (1898–1936)

• Clarice Lispector (1920-1977)

• Mina Loy (1882-1966)

• Leopoldo Lugones (1874-1938)

• Hugh MacDiarmid (1892-1976)

• Osip Mandelstam  (1891 - 1938)

• Thomas Mann (1875-1955)

• Katherine Mansfield (1888-1923)

• Robert Musil (1880-1942)

• Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)

• Pablo Neruda (1904-1973)

• Yone Noguchi (1875-1947)

• Aldo Palazzeschi (1885-1974)

• John Dos Passos (1896-1970)

• Boris Pasternak (1890-1960)

• Fernando Pessoa (1888-1935)

• Luigi Pirandello (1867-1936)

• Katherine Anne Porter (1890-1980)

• Ezra Pound (1885-1972)

• John Cowper Powys (1872-1963)

• Klaus Rifbjerg (born 1931)

• Gertrude Stein (1874-1946)

• Wallace Stevens (1875-1955)

• Italo Svevo (1861-1928)

• Dylan Thomas (1914-1953)

• Ernst Toller (1893-1939)

• Federigo Tozzi (1883-1920)

• Paul Valéry (1871-1945)

• Robert Walser (1878-1956)

• Nathanael West (1903-1940)

• William Carlos Williams (1883-1963)

• Frank Wedekind (1864-1918)

• Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)

• Lu Xun (1881-1936)

Important dates in the history of England

Introduction: 

                     When we learn a literature of any language. We have to learn the social and historical background of the country. To learn social and historical background of England make us to understand the literature of English easily. Here I post the important dates in the history of England, I hope it will be useful for the students of literature at beginners level.

Important dates in the history of England   

 

1906 - First Crusade  

1100 - Henry I comes to power 

1147 - Second Crusade

1189 - Richard I. Third Crusade

1215 - King John signs Magna Cartaith

1338 - Beginning of Hundred Years' War with France'.

1348-1349 - Black Drath

1377 - Wyclif and the Lollards begin Reformation in England

1381 - Peasant Rebellion, Wet Tyler.

1399 - Deposition of Richard II. Henry IV Chosen by Parliament

1413 - Henry V

1415 - Battle of Agnicourt

1445-1485 - Wars of Roses

1492 - Columbus discovers America

1534 - Act of Supremacy

1547 - Edward VI

1553 - Mary

1158 - Elizabeth I

1577 - Drake's Voyage around the world

1588 - Defeat of Armada

1625 - Charles I

1649 - Execution of Charles I

1653-1658 - Cromwell, Protector

1660 - Restoration of Charles II

1680 - Rise of Whigs and Tories 

1689 - Bill of Rights

1714 - George I

1721 - Walpole, first Prime Minister

1727 - George II

1760 - George III

1789-1799 - French Revolution

1815 - Battle of Waterloo

1832 - Reform Bills

1837 - Queen Victoria

1846 - Repeal of Corn Laws

1854 - Crimean War

1914-18 - First World War

1936 - 45 - Second World War

1953 - Queen Elizabeth II

History of English literature in a nutshell

Definition of literature

                Dear reader I really happy to write about the literature of English, from my childhood I love literature more than anything in the world, this blog is out of my passion towards literature. First I would like to define what literature is. Literature is a way to experience a way of life. But if you try to find exact meaning for literature is a road that is much travelled, though the point of arrival, if ever reached is seldom satisfactory. Literature is something that reflects society that make us think about our self and our society make us to analyze and understand everything easily. Literature is a yet another world if you wish to enter there you have to read the literary pieces of great writers, literature allow us to enjoy language and its beauty. The history of literature is the historical development of writings in prose or poetry which attempts to provide entertainment, enlightenment or instruction to the reader.

Introduction for English Literature

            English as we know it descends from the language spoken by the North Germanic tribes who settled in England from the 5^th century A.D onwards. They had no writing until they learned the Latin alphabet from roman missionaries. The earlier written works in old English were probably composed orally at first, and may have been passed on from speaker to speaker before being written. Old English literature is mostly chronicle and poetry. Old English is effectively a foreign and dead language. And their forms do not significantly affect subsequent development in English literature.

1. Old English or Anglo – Sexon period (450-1066)

•          It begins with the invasion of Celtic England by Germanic  tribes.

•          Literature -  Beowulf the earliest literature The national epic of Anglo – sexon, one of the striking features.

•          Epic – homer’s Iliad and odyssey.

•          Poetry – Beowulf, the wanderer, the seafarer, Doer.

•          Prose – writing of Alfred the great.

2. Middle English period (1100 – 1500)

•          The Norman Conquest under William, duke of Normandy, the battle of Hastings in 1066.

•           In the 15^th century, literature aimed at a popular audience grew.

•          Poetry – sir Gawain and the green knight, Dream of the Rood,  William Langland’s piers  plowman, lyrics such as “ The Cuckoo Song”.

•          Drama -  Second Play of the Shepherds, every man.

3. English Renaissance (1500 – 1660)

•         The Renaissance means "Rebirth" it  is used broadly to refer to the flourishing of literature, painting, sculpture, architecture, and learning in general that began in Italy in the 14th century.

    Five subsections in Renaissance.

1.   Early Tudor
2.   Elizabethan
3.   Jacobean
4.   Caroline
5.   Commonwealth

1. Early Tudor period (1500 – 1558)

•          The Early Tudor period is the first phase of the Renaissance period

•          This period is known for its poetry and nonfiction prose

•          English literature's first dramatic comedy, Ralph Roister Doister, was first performed in 1553

•          Poetry – john skeltan, Henry Howard, the early of surrey, Sir Thomas Wyatt.

•          Prose – sir Thomas more’s utopia, sir Thomas Elyot

•          Drama – John Heywood, Nicholas Udall, Ralph roister Doister  

2. Elizabethan period (1558 – 1603)

•  Second era of the Renaissance period in British literature, spanning the reign of Elizabeth I.

•        The Elizabethan era was a period marked by developments in English commerce, nationalism, exploration, and maritime power. 

•        It is considered a great age in literary history, particularly for drama.

•       Poetry – Sir Philip Sidney, Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queen, Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare.

•        Prose – Francis Bacon, Sir Walter Raleigh.

•     Drama - Christopher Marlowe's The Jew of Malta, William Shakespeare, and Thomas Kidd’s The Spanish tragedy.

3. Jacobean Age (1603 – 1625)

•          Third era of the Renaissance period in British literature defined by the reign of James I. 

•          In this era, there were significant writings in prose, including the King James Bible. 

•          Drama and poetry also flourished.

•          Poetry – John Donne, George Chapman, Lady Mary Wroth.

•          Prose – Francis Bacon, Robert Burton.

•          Drama – William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, John Webster, John Fletcher, Thomas Middleton, George Chapman.

4. Caroline age (1625 – 1649)

•          The Caroline Age marks the period of the English Civil War between the supporters of the King (called Cavaliers) and the supporters of Parliament (called the Roundheads). 

•          Literature of this period featured poetry, nonfiction prose, and the Cavalier Poets, who were associated with the court and wrote poems of gallantry and courtship.

•          Poetry – John Milton, George Herbert. Cavalier Poets.

•          Prose - Robert Burton, Sir Thomas Browne.

•          Drama – Philip Massinger, john ford’s “Tis pity she’s a whore.

5. Commonwealth or puritan period (1649 – 1658)

•         In this era, England was ruled by Parliament and, Oliver Cromwell and then briefly by his son, Richard, until 1859. 

•          Theatres were closed on moral and religious grounds. While drama did not flourish, significant examples of nonfiction prose and poetry were written during this period.

•          Poetry – John Milton, Andrew Marvell, Henry Vaughan, Edmund Waller, Abraham Cowley, Katherine Philips.

•          Prose – Thomas Hobbes leviathan, sir Thomas Browne, Izaak Walton, Thomas fuller, Jeremy Taylor.

4. Neoclassical Period (1660 – 1798)

The neoclassical period is divided into three sub titles   

1. The Restoration era     
2.  The Augustan age 
3.  The age of sensibility

1. The Restoration Age (1660 – 1700)

•    Charles II brought about a revolutionary change in life and literature. During this period gravity, moral earnestness and decorum in all things

•    Restoration poetry was characterized by mathematical precision and elegance.

•     Poetry – John Milton's Paradise Lost, John Dryden, Samuel Butler

•     Prose – Samuel Pepys' Diary, John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress, John Dryden, Isaac Newton's Principles of Mathematics.

•      Novel – Aphra Behn's Oroonoko.

•       Drama – Sir George Etherege, William Congreve's The Way of the World, Aphra Behn's The Rover.

2. Augustan literature (1700 – 1745)

•      The term Augustan literature derives from authors of the 1720s and 1730s themselves.

•      Augustan writers imitated the literary forms of Horace, Virgil, and Ovid and drew upon the perceived order, decorum, moderation, civility, and wit of these writers.

•        The 18th century literature reflected the worldview of the Age of Enlightenment (or Age of Reason): a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues that promoted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility

•       Poetry – Alexander Pope, John Gay, Jonathan Swift.

•        Prose – Richard Steele, Joseph Addison, Alexander Pope, Eliza Haywood, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu.

•      Novel - Samuel Richardson's Pamela, Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe, Jonathan Swift's Gulliver's Travels.

•     Drama - Henry Fielding, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.

3. Age of Sensibility (1750 – 1798)

•     This period is also sometimes described as the "Age of Johnson” because of his contribution in English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor.

•      The Romantic Movement in English literature of the early 19th century has its roots in 18th-century poetry, the Gothic novel and the novel of sensibility. This includes the graveyard poets.

•       The Age of Sensibility anticipates the Romantic period

•      New cultural attitudes and new theories of literature emerged at this time.

•      The novel became an increasingly popular and prevalent form.

•        Poetry – Thomas Gray, William Collins, Christopher Smart, William Cowper, Anne Finch, Mary Leapor.

•       Prose – Samuel Johnson's essays and Dictionary, Edmund Burke, James Boswell.

•        Novel - Samuel Richardson, Tobias Smollet, Henry Fielding, Laurence Sterne, Frances Burney.

•       Drama – Oliver Goldsmith's She Stoops to Conquer Richard Brinsley Sheridan's The School for Scandal.

5. Romanticism (1798–1837)

•       Romantic period was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century.

•      The Romantic period was one of major social change in England.

•     Many writers in the Romantic period emphasized feeling and imagination and looked toward nature for insight into the divine.

•  The individual and his or her subjective experiences and expressions of those experiences were highly valued.

•      In addition to a wealth of poetry, the Romantic period featured significant innovations in the novel form, including the Gothic novel.

•    Poetry – Robert Burns, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, P.B. Shelley, John Keats, Helen Maria Williams, Anna Laetitia Barbauld.

•     Prose – Mary Wollstonecraft, Mary Prince's The History of Mary Prince, Charles Lamb, Dorothy Wordsworth.

•    Novel - Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, Matthew Gregory Lewis's The Monk, Ann Radcliffe.

•    Drama - Joanna Baillie.

6. The Victorian Period (1837-1901)

•       Early Victorian literature is that written before 1870.

•       Late Victorian literature is that written after 1870. 

•        Varied in form, style and content, Victorian literature reflects a changing social, political, economic, and cultural climate.

•      Poetry – Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Gerard Manley Hopkins.

•      Prose – Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, Walter Pater, Florence Nightingale, Frances Power Cobbe, Charles Darwin.

•      Novels – Charlotte Brontë, Emily Brontë, Charles Dickens, George Eliot, Thomas Hardy, Anthony Trollope, William Makepeace Thackeray, Elizabeth Gaskell.

•      Drama – Tom Taylor, Gilbert and Sullivan, H.J. Byron.

7. Modern Period(1901- present)

•        A period in British and American literature spanning the years between WWI and WWII. 

•      Works in this period reflect the changing social, political, and cultural climate and are diverse, experimental, and nontraditional.

•     Poetry – Wilfred Owen, W.H Auden, A.E. Housman, T.S. Eliot, Marianne Moore.

•      Prose – Virginia Woolf, Katherine Mansfield, T.S. Eliot.

•      Novels – Joseph Conrad, James Joyce, E.M. Forster, Virginia Woolf, Evelyn Waugh, D.H Lawrence.

•     Drama – Sean O'Casey, William Butler Yeats, George Bernard Shaw.

8. Post-modern literature

•      The term Postmodern literature is used to describe certain tendencies in post-World War II literature.

•       It is both a continuation of the experimentation championed by writers of the modernist period (relying heavily, for example, on fragmentation, paradox, questionable narrators, etc.) and a reaction against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist literature.

•    Postmodern works are often highly experimental and anti-conventional.

•       Poetry – Edith Sitwell, Dylan Thomas, Louis MacNeice, Philip Larkin, Ted Hughes, Stevie Smith, Seamus Heaney, Eavan Boland.

•        Prose – George Orwell, Jeanette Winterson, Martin Amis.

•       Novels – George Orwell, William Golding, Doris Lessing, Margaret Drabble, Graham Greene, John Fowles, Iris Murdoch, Ian McEwan, A.S. Byatt, Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul.

•        Drama – Samuel Beckett, Noel Coward, Tom Stoppard, Harold Pinter, Caryl Churchill.