History of English Literature--The Birth of Modern Literature (1890-1918)
The Birth of Modern Literature (1890-1918)
The publication dates of works of literature in the context of important historical, social, and cultural events
Historical events | Literature |
1903 – Daily Morror started 1914 – First World War starts. Huge recruitment campaign for the Army. 1917 – Russian Revolution 1918 – Woman over 30 gains vote. 1921 – Irish Home Rule Bill passed, warnings of possible civil war(1914). Irish free state established | 1891 – Tess of The D’urbervilles – Hardy 1895 – Almayer’s Folly – Conrad 1895 – Time Machine – H. G.Wells 1897 – Nigger of The Narcissus – Conrad 1898 – Plays: Pleasant and unpleasant – Shaw 1889 – The Wanderings of Oisin – Yeats 1907 – The playboy of The Western world – Synge. 1910 – Justice – Galsworthy 1915-- The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock- T S Eliot 1916-- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man- James Joyce 1917-- Prufrock and Other Observations- T S Eliot |
English Rulers | |
1901-1910 | Edward VII |
1910-1936 | George V |
Authors | |
1840-1928 | Thomas Hardy |
1843-1916 | Henry James |
1857-1924 | Joseph Conrad |
1866-1946 | H. G. Wells |
1856-1950 | G.B. Shaw |
1871-1909 | Synge |
1865-1939 | W. B. Yeats |
1844-1930 | Bridges |
1844-1889 | G. M. Hopkins |
1879-1970 | E. M. Forster |
1882-1941 | Virginia Woolf |
Essential Features of This Era
· At the dawn of Modern Age (1890-1918) we can find out the clear shift from the complacency, compromise and fixedness of the Victorian period.
· Scientific outlook disturbs the sea of faith and interrogative, skeptical and rational perspective to life come into force.
A Few Common Short Questions
I. Name the two novels by H. G. Wells and Arnold Bennet.
Ans. H.G. Wells 1. The Ward and the Worlds.
(1866 – 1946) 2. The Time Machine.
Arnold Bennet 1. The Old Wives’ Tale
(1867 – 1931) 2. The Clay hanger Family
II. Can you name the authors of Unto the Last and Candida.
Ans. The author of Unto the Last (1862) is John Ruskin (1819-1900). The author of Candida (1907) is Bernard Shaw.
III. Name two absurd plays with the name of playwrights.
Ans. Waiting for Godot - Samuel Beckett
The Care-taker - Harold Pinter
The birthday party - Harold Pinter
The Home-Coming - Harold Pinter
IV. Name two books by W. B. Yeats – a play and a prose work.
Ans. The Countess Cathleen.
The Lead of Heart’s desire – are the two verse play by W. B. Teats.
V. Name two Edwardian novelists and mention one title of each of them.
Ans. Lawrence - Sons and Lovers
James Joyce - Ulysses
VI. What journals did T. S. Eliot and F. R. Levis edit?
Ans. The Egoist, The Scrutiny are the journals edited by T. S. Eliot and F. R. Levis.
VII. Name five sections of ‘The Waste Land’.
Ans. 1. The Burial of the Dead
2. The Game of Chess
3. The Fire Sermon
4. Death by Water
5. What the thunder said.
VIII. Name two of T. S. Eliot’s critical essays.
Ans. A) Tradition and Individual Talents.
B) Points of view.
C) What is a classic?
IX. Name any two works of an Absurd play wright.
Ans. Samuel Beckett - Waiting for Godot, Endgame.
X. Name two movements in art that had impact on poetry in the 20th century?
Ans. Imagist movement (Hulme), Surrealistic movement (Dylan Thomas).
XI. Give the names of four poets associated with the Decadent movement.
Ans. A movement by the influence of French ‘aesthetisism’ in the latter 19th century manifesting high refinement, subtle beauties of a culture and art but underneath a special savor of incipient decay – Oscar Wilde, Arthur Symons, Earnest Dawson, Charles Swinburne.
XII. Name two scientific fantasies written by H. G. Wells.
Ans. The Time Machine (1895)
The Invisible Man (1897)
The War of the Worlds (1898)
The First man in the Moon (1901)
XIII. Name a novel by James Joyce?
Ans. Ulysses.
XIV. What is the most famous poem of T.S. Eliot?
Ans. The Waste Land.
XV. Who was D. H. Lawrence? (1885-1930)
Ans. D. H. Lawrence is a famous novelist for his iconoclastic outlook. His magnum opus is Sons and Lovers; The White Peacock, The Rainbow, Women in Love, The Lost Girl, The Virgin and the Gypsy are his other novels. His dramas are The Widowing of Mrs Holroyd, David etc.
XVI. Who was Somerset Maugham?
Ans. He is a novelist of 20th century. His famous novel is Of Human Bondage. Apart from novel he also wrote stories and plays. A man of Honour, For Services Rendered, The Sacred Fame are his famous tragedies.
XVII. What is W. B. Yeats’ Indian connection?
Ans. Yeats was greatly impressed by Indian and its thought and philosophy. He was influenced by three Indians – Mohini Chatterjee, Robindranath Tagore and Sir Purohit Swami. He wrote the preface to the English version of Tagore’s Gitanjali and also translated the ten principal Upanisads along with Purohit Swami.
XVIII. Inscape, instress and sprung rhythm
Ans: These three theories are associated to Hopkins-
Inscape –The distinctive organic form of a thing.
Instress – The animating energy in art, nature and god.
Sprung rhythm – One that contains specific number of stressed syllables and varying number of unstressed ones.
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