British Literature Essay

This lesson is a continuation of the study of British lit and will emphasis on literature from the Neoclassical close to today. This lesson is only if an overview of some of the rootages and literary industrial plant produced in England during a particular period. There be many other germs that made important contributions to the literature of this time period. The periods of British Literature areClassical Period (1200 BC to 455 AD) Medieval Period (455 AD to 1485) Renaissance and the battalion Period (1485 to 1660) Neoclassical Period (1660 to 1790) sentimentalist Period (1790 to 1830) Victorian Period (1832 to 1901) Edwardian Era (1901 to 1910) modernness (1914 to 1945) Post-Modernism Period from 1945 to the present Neoclassical Period (1660-1790) The Enlightenment (also referred to as the Neoclassical Period or the come on of Reason) was based on the concept that people could find perfection and happiness through reason and knowledge. This essentially humanist visio n was characterized by a resistance to religious authority.The Enlightenment began during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries in Europe and eventually spread to America. The Restoration, the Augustan eld, and the Age of Johnson were time periods that were admitd in the Enlightenment. Literature from the colonial period and the beginning of the revolutionary period in American literature developed during this time. Two braggy American authors of the era were doubting Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine. During the Restoration, British monarch Charles II was restored to the throne (hence the name of the era), scratch the decline of the Puritan influence on British literature.Writers of the Neoclassical Period John Dryden Dryden (1631-1700) was an face poet and gamingtist. well-nigh of his renowned verses allow in Astrea Redux, Absalom and Achitophel, and The Hind and the Panther. He is also known for his play all(prenominal) for Love. Dryden was the British poet laure ate from 1670 to 1689. John Locke Locke (1631-1704) was an English philosopher who wrote the essay Concerning Human Understanding. He believed that the only way a person could achieve knowledge was through experience. Lockes Two Treatises on Government promoted ideas about democracy.William Wycherley Wycherley (1640-1716) was an English dramatist whose whole kit include Love in a Wood, The Country Wife, and The Plain Dealer. Samuel Pepys Samuel Pepys (1633-1703) was a government official and source who lived in England. His famous Diary is an important source of the life panaches and archives of the English people. Aphra Behn Behn (1640-1689) was an English novelist and dramatist and the starting time female to make a living from her writing. rough of her flora include Oroonoko, The Forced Marriage, The Rover, and The Lucky Chance.The Augustan Age (1700-1750), named for the Roman emperor Augustus, witnessed a return to the Latin literature of the ancient Roman Empire. Briti sh writers were influenced by the whole shebang of the ancient Roman poets Horace and Virgil during this era. Writers of the Augustan Age Joseph Addison Addison (1672-1719) was an English poet, essayist, dramatist, and appendage of Parliament. adept of his well-known(a) literary grows was the poem The Campaign. Sir Richard Steele Steele (1672-1729) was an essayist and dramatist from Ireland. With Joseph Addison, he founded the journals The Tattler, The Spectator, and The Guardian.He was elected to Parliament and was subsequently knighted. Two of his plays include The Funeral and The Conscious Lovers. Jonathan Swift Swift (1667-1745) was an Irish satirist who used Juvenalian satire to point out the society of his day in Gullivers Travels. nigh of his other whole shebang include A chronicle of a Tub and A Modest Proposal. In 1694, he was ordained in the Church of England. horse parsley Pope Pope (1688-1784) was a poet and writer of satire who was famous for his use of the he roic couplet in his publications. near of his whole shebang include The Rape of the Lock, The Temple of Fame, An Essay on Man, and Moral Essays.Daniel Defoe Defoe (1660-1731) was a diary keeper who wrote Robinson Crusoe. Some of his other deeds include The True-Born Englishman, Moll Flanders, and A Journal of the Plague Year. he Age of Johnson, named for Samuel Johnson (an important figure in English literature in the late 1700s), lasted from 1750-1790. Writers of the Age of Johnson Samuel Johnson Johnson (1709-1784) was an English author famous for his Dictionary of the English Language, The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia, and The Lives of the English Poets. He is also remembered for forming a group of writers called the literary Club.Oliver Goldsmith Goldsmith (1728-1774) was an English dramatist, essayist, poet, and novelist and was a member of the Literary Club. Goldsmith wrote the novel The Vicar of Wakefield. Other works include the poem The Deserted Village and the play She Stoops to Conquer. Edmund Burke Burke (1729-1797) served as a member of Parliament during the American Revolution. He supported the rights of the colonists and urged the British government to compromise with the American colonies. Some of his writings were critical of the French Revolution. Robert Burns Burns (1759-1796) was a Scottish songwriter and poet.Two of Burns fail known songs are Auld Lang Syne and Comin Thro the Rye. throng Boswell Boswell (1740-1795) was a Scottish author who wrote the biography The sustenance of Samuel Johnson. He was a member of Samuel Johnsons Literary Club, and the two men traveled together. Boswells Journal of a Tour to the Hebrides is an account of one of their trips. Edward Gibbon Gibbon (1737-1794) was a leading historian whose most famous work was the History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. Thomas Gray Gray (1716-1771) was an English poet whose style was used by many of the Romantic writers.His most famous work was El egy Written in a Country Churchyard. Olaudah Equiano Equiano (c. 1750 c. 1797) was an African slave who was brought to the West Indies. He received some education and was subsequently granted his freedom by his master. He was the branch black to write an autobiography in England. He wrote The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, or Gustavus Vassa, the African in 1789. Romantic Period (1790-1830) Romanticism is the enlighten of thought and period of literature in which emotion, passion, and imagination are considered more important than reason and intuition more important than logic.During the Romantic Period, most writers were discontented with commercial, inhuman, and standardized conditions. Many Romantic writers portrayed people in unrealistic situations. To escape from modern life, the Romantics turned their interest to remote and faraway places, the medieval past, folklore and legends, nature, and the everyday people. Romantics glorified the individual an d believed that people must be free from confining rules and able to develop individually. The Romantic novels depict exciting adventures, unexplained events, and the evil influences of obsessions. Writers of the Romantic Period William BlakeBlake (1757-1827) was an English poet, artist, and prominent figure of Romanticism. Some of his works included Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. Blake created the illustrations in some of his books such as The Marriage of Heaven and Hell. William Wordsworth Wordsworth (1770-1850) was a Romantic poet whose literary works focused on the beauty of nature. He teamed with Samuel Taylor Coleridge to write Lyrical Ballads, bell ringer the beginning of the Romantic movement. Other works include The Solitary Reaper and the autobiographical poem Prelude. Samuel Coleridge Coleridge (1772-1834) was a poet and philosopher from England.He coauthored Lyrical Ballads with William Wordsworth. His most famous works include The Rime of the Ancient Mar iner and Kubla Khan. Percy Bysshe Shelly Shelly (1792-1822) was an English poet whose many poems contained political and religious themes. His works include Ode to the West Wind, The Cloud, and The Skylark. John Keats Keats (1795-1821) was a poet who focused on death, love, and beauty. His works include Ode to a Nightingale and On a Grecian Urn. Sir Walter Scott Scott (1771-1832) was a Scottish novelist and poet who became a lawyer in 1792. He was credited with creating the historical novel.Scott became one of the leading literary figures of his day. Scotts works of poem include The Lay of the Last Minstrel, Marmion, and The Lady of the Lake. His novels include Waverley, The Tale of Old Mortality, The Heart of Midlothian, Ivanhoe, The Talisman, St. Ronans Well, A Legend of Montrose, and Quentin Durward. Jane Austen Austen (1775-1814) was an English novelist who incorporated her observations of the manners and society of her time. Through dialogue and narration, she allowed her characters to be maneuver by common sense and traditional values. Her more famous works include Sense and predisposition and Pride and Prejudice.Gothic novel Gothic novels use horror and medieval elements such as castles and dungeons. bloody shame Shelleys Frankenstein, and Emily Brontes Wuthering Heights are examples of Gothic novels. Writers of Gothic Novels Ann Radcliffe Radcliffe (1764-1823) wrote The Mysteries of Udolpho and The Italian. The setting of most of her work gnarled innocent young women, dark mysterious castles, and nobles with secret pasts. Horace Walpole Horace Walpole (1717-1797) wrote The Castle of Otranto, considered by some to be the first Gothic novel, as well as over 4,000 published letters.Writers in the Victorian Period (1832-1901) wrote about the living conditions of the lower class. The Victorian Period was also marked by sentimental novels. The modern drama appeared toward the end of the Victorian Age. Writers of the Victorian Period of Literature (18 32-1901) Alfred Lord Tennyson Tennyson (1809-1892) served as the poet laureate of Great Britain from 1850 to 1892. Some of his works include Ulysses and The Charge of the Light Brigade. Robert Browning Browning (1812-1889) used dramatic monologue in his writings.Some of his works include Pippa Passes, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Bells and Pomegranates, and My Last Duchess. Anne Bronte Anne Bronte (1820-1849) was the youngest of the three Bronte sisters. Her novels include Agnes Grey and The populate of Wildfell Hall. Oscar Wilde Wilde (1854-1900) was an Irish author who published only one novel, The Picture of Dorian Gray. Wilde wrote many comedies, including A charr of No Importance and The Importance of Being Earnest. Thomas Carlyle Carlyle (1795-1881) was a Scottish historian and essayist who criticized the laissez faire tenet that allowed people to do as they pleased.His works include Frederick the Great. George Bernard Shaw Shaw (1856-1950) was an Irish dramatist and noveli st and a member of the collectivised Fabian Society. He wrote over 50 plays including Pygmalion and won the Nobel kale for Literature. Edward Lear Lear (1812-1888) was an English artist and author famous for his limericks and childrens poems. Lears first publication was A Book of Nonsense, and his most famous childrens poem was The Owl and the Pussycat. Charlotte Bronte Charlotte Bronte (1816 1855) was an English author best known for her novel Jane Eyre.With her sisters Emily and Anne, she published poetry written represent their childhood fantasy world. The poems were published under the male pseudonyms of Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. Emily Bronte Emily Bronte (1818 1848) was one of the English Bronte sisters famous for their literary style. Her only novel was the Gothic Wuthering Heights. Charles Dickens Dickens (1812 1859) gained fame as a writer of The Pickwick Papers. Many of his literary works were based on his life experiences and amicable conditions in England. Hi s best known works include A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations.Pre-Raphaelite Poets The Pre-Raphaelite poets (named for the Italian painter Raphael) of the Victorian Age valued to return the morality of the medieval era to the modern world. Dante Rossetti Rossetti (1828-1882) was considered a leading poet and painter in England during the 1800s. His poetry contained imagery and examples of symbolism, and his paintings included romantic scenes. His literary works included Sister Helen and The House of Life. William Morris Morris (1834-1896) was an English artist, poet, and genial reformer whose work reflected an interest in medieval art and Gothic architecture.His works include The Life and Death of Jason, The Earthly Paradise, A Dream of John Ball, and News from Nowhere. Realism (1860 1914) Realist authors described life as it really existed. Writers examined and exposed the social, economic, and political problems of society using the dialect or language of the people. R ealists saw the corruptness of the Gilded Age and called for reform. They rejected Romanticism, which portrayed people in unrealistic situations. Mark Twain, Bret Harte, and henry James were writers of Realism. Transcendentalism (1800s)Transcendentalism was a religious and philosophical movement in the early to middle 1800s. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was the loss leader of the Transcendentalist movement in America. He believed that people could gain knowledge through the use of their intellect kind of than from the experiences of their lives. The Transcendentalists rejected formal religious teachings. Naturalism Naturalists represented the extreme element of the Realism movement of literature. They believed that family history and environment were the main influences on the development of a persons character and that people had no control over their fate.Political, economic, social, and heredity factors controlled the actions and fate of the people. Naturalist writers expo sed the abuses and suffering of people in America. Upton Sinclair described in The Jungle, the plight of the workers in the meat packing plants in Chicago. Stephen Crane wrote about the sufferings of the soldiers during the Civil warfare in The Red Badge of Courage. Other Naturalist authors included Jack London, Theodore Dreiser, and Eugene ONeill. Edwardian Period (1901-1910) This period of British Literature refers to the reign of Edward VII, the eldest son of Queen Victoria and her husband Albert.Edward was kindle in the arts and founded the Royal College of Music. Writers of the Edwardian Period H. G. Wells Wells (1866-1946) was a novelist, historian, and well-known author of science fiction. His literary works include The Time Machine, The warfare of the Worlds, and The Shape of Things to Come. His Wealth and Happiness of humans addressed the social needs of people in general. Arnold Bennet Bennet (1867-1931) was an English journalist, novelist, and playwright. The film The wildness of King George was an adaptation of one of his plays. One of his most famous works was A Private Function.Rupert wear Brook (1887-1915) was an English poet whose writings described the lives of people who suffered through the horror of World War I. One of his most famous works is The Soldier. John Masefield Masefield (1878-1967) was a novelist and poet laureate from England. His works of poetry include The unfailing Mercy, Dauber, and Reynard the Fox and the novels Sard Harker and The Bird of Dawning. Modernism (1914-1945) Modernism was a literary and cultural movement that did non support the social, political, or economic values of the 1800s.Part of the reason for the movement away from the 1800s was due to the amazing destruction and loss of life that occurred during World War I. The Modernist movement included art, philosophy, architecture, and literature in both Europe and America. Writers of the Modernism Period William B. Yeats Yeats (1865-1939) was an Irish play wright, poet, and dramatist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1923. Some of his works include the poem The Lake Isle of Innisfree and the plays The Countess Cathleen and The Land of Hearts Desire. Seamus HeaneyHeaney (1939-) is an Irish poet whose work focuses on the politics and culture of Northern Ireland. Some of his works include The Spirit Level and Wintering Out and North. Dylan Thomas Thomas (1914-1953) was a Welsh poet who focused on the themes of religion, death, and love. His works include Portrait of the Artist as a Young Dog and Adventures in the Skin Trade. Virginia Woolf Woolf (1882-1941) was an English novelist. Her literary works focused on social and economic independence for women. Her novels include Mrs. Dalloway, The Years, and Between the Acts. Wilfred OwenOwen (1893-1918) was an English writer who wrote about World War I. His poetry focuses on the theme that war is not a glorious venture. His works include hymn for Doomed Youth. T. S. Eliot Eliot (1888 1965) was an American innate(p) English poet and playwright and one of the leading writers of the Modernist period of literature. He was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1948. Some of his work includes The Hollow Men, Ash Wednesday, Four Quartets, Murder in the Cathedral, and The Cocktail Party. David Herbert Lawrence Lawrence (18851930) was a novelist whose literary works focused on how men and women relate to each other.His most famous work was Lady Chatterleys Lover. His other works include The Rainbow and The Studies in Classic American Literature. Siegfried Sassoon Sassoon (18861967) was a British poet and author who wrote about the experiences of World War I. Sassoons literary works include The Old ascorbic acid and Rhymed Ruminations. Aldous Huxley Huxley (18941963) was an English poet and novelist. His novel Brave New World criticized how science was destroying the morals of English society. His other works include Those Barren Leaves and Point Counter Point. Post- modernism Period (1945 to the present)Post-modernism includes some values and beliefs of the Modernism period. Its literature rejects traditional values of society and supports the anti-novel form. George Orwell Orwells (1903-1950) writings reflect his distrust of government and political and social ideologies. His works include Nineteen Eighty-Four and the modern fable Animal Farm. Joseph Conrad Conrad (1857-1924) was a prominent British novelist of the Post-modernist period. Some of his works include Lord Jim and Under Western Eyes. Conrad was a naturalized British citizen, having been born in the Ukraine. James JoyceJoyce (1882-1941) was an Irish writer who used the stream of consciousness technique. Some of his works include Ulysses and Finnegans Wake and the short story collection Dubliners. Katherine Mansfield Mansfield (1888-1923) was a writer from New Zealand whose pen name was Kathleen Beauchamp. Her works include The garden Party, Bliss, and In a German Pension. Doris Less ing Lessing (1919- ) is an English novelist and author whose works focus on the role of women in politics and society. Some of her works include The Grass is Singing, Children of Violence, Under My Skin, and Walking in the Shade.Nadine Gordimer Gordimer (1923- ) is a South African novelist and short story writer. She won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1991. Her literary works include None to Accompany Me and The House Gun. Robert Graves Graves (1895-1985) was an English poet and writer. His autobiography, Goodbye to All That, describes the horror of war. Graves other work include I Claudius and Claudius the God. Kingsley Amis Amis (19221995) was a novelist and poet from England. His literary works include Lucky Jim, The Old Devils, The Riverside Villas Murder, The Green Man, and The Folks That Live on the Hill.Anthony Powell Powell (19052000) was an English novelist and playwright. His plays include The Garden God and The Rest Ill Whistle. Powells novels include Afternoon Men, Ve nusberg, From a View to a Death, and Agents and Patients. Powells autobiography, To Keep the Ball, was written in four volumes from 1976 to 1982. Muriel Spark Spark (1918- ) is a Scottish novelist whose literary works include The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie, A Far Cry from Kensington, and Aiding and Abetting. A. S. Byatt Byatt (1936- ) is an English novelist. Her literary works include Possession,The Shadow of the Sun, and Babel Tower. Martin Amis Amis (1949- ) is an English journalist and novelist. Some of his works include The Rachel Papers, London Fields, Night Train, and Henry Water. The information in this lesson will be a valuable resource for you in the study of diametric periods of literature. Remember that this lesson is only an overview of some of the authors and literary works produced in Great Britain during this time period. There are many other authors that made important contributions to the literature of this time period that were not discussed in this lesson.