English Literature

Poetic Drama: A Note Introduction: The poetic drama is a great achievement of the modern age. It is a mixture of high seriousness and colloquial element. It is the combination of the tradition and the experiment and of the ancient and the new. It is symbolic and difficult. Its verse form is blank verse or free verse. In short, its vehicle is verse, its mechanism is imagery, its substance is myth and its binding force is musical pattern. Beginning: The 18th and the 19th century contributed little to the development of poetic drama due to the unfavourable conditions. There were signs of rebirth of this drama by 1920. But it could not gain much ground. The reason was that most of the dramatists of this period were interested in realistic drama. A change was noticed with the passage of time. The disciples of Ibsen began to be overshadowed. At the abbey theatre Yeats tried to revive poetic drama. But he could not succeed. It was T.S. Eliot who firmly established it. He prepared the ...

Romantic Movement (1780-1837): A Note The period of 1780-1837 is known as the Age of Romanticism. It is known as the age of Romantic Revival too. It is often called the golden period of English poetry. William Wordsworth can be safely called forerunner of this epoch-making period. The Romantic Revival means the re-birth of Romanticism in English poetry. During the 18th century the classical school of poetry had been predominant. Thompson, William Blake and Thomas Gray re-acted against the classical school of poetry. All these poets tried to rise above the fixed literary conventions and artificial laws. They upheld that the poet should write as he pleases. He should allow his fancy to roam. The French Revolution influenced poets like William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. They gave a deathblow to classicism by publishing Lyrical Ballads in 1798. This book was the official manifesto of the Romantic School of Poetry. William Wordsworth, P.B. Shelley, John Keats, Lord Byron,...

Romantic Poets: A Short Note The period of 1780-1837 is known as the Age of Romanticism. It is known as the age of Romantic Revival too. It is often called the golden period of English poetry. William Wordsworth is called forerunner of this epoch-making period. The following are the important Romantic poets: 1. William Wordsworth : Lyrical Ballads , The Prelude and The Tintern Abbey are his important works. He was a worshipper of Nature. He moralized and spiritualised it. He was fond of humanism, childhood, lyricism and simple style. 2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge : The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christable and Kubla Khan are his best works. In his works we find supernatural, wonder and horror. He loved the simplicity of poetic diction. 3. P.B. Shelley : He is known for his Queen Mab, Prometheus Unbound , and his Odes . He is an incomparable lyricist and an ardent lover of liberty. He is a passionate believer in Nature and a devoted admirer of Greek Myth, Art and Culture. He...

Modern Age: Chief Characteristics The end of the Victorian era is the beginning of modern age. The first half of the 20th century is very important in the history of English literature. It marks a clear departure from the compromise and stability of the Victorian period. The following are the important characteristics of the modern age: 1. Interrogation and Anxiety: The 20th century is known as the age of interrogation and anxiety. In this century the scientific revolution shook man's faith in the authority of religion and church. The social, moral, political and economic scenario was changing fast. People were not ready to accept anything without testing it on the touchstone of reason. Modern industrial and technical progress gave birth to the spirit of competition. It increased frustration, anxiety and cynicism. The literature of this period reflects all these tendencies. 2. Art's for Life's Sake : In the modern age the doctrine of art for art's sake was reject...

  War Poets: A Note The First World War and its horrors greatly influenced Modern Poetry. Poets like Richard Aldington, Laurence Binyon, Edmund Blunden, Rupert Brooke, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, Robert Graves, Julian Grenfell, Ivor Gurney, David Jones, Robert Nichols, Wilfred Owen, Herbert Read, Isaac Rosenberg, Siegfried Sassoon, Charles Hamilton Sorley and Edward Thomas composed war poems. Poets like Rupert Brooke and some others did not personally experience the horrors of war. That is why they sang of patriotism, nobility and sacrifice. But Wilfred Owen, Siegfried Sassoon and some others exposed the horror of war. It is because they personally experienced the horror of war. Charles Hamilton Sorley and Issac Rosenberg and all other poets mentioned above contributed a lot to the development of war poetry. In short, the war poets presented the ugly face of war in their poetry. हिंदी अनुवाद: प्रथम विश्व युद्ध और इसकी भयावहता ने आधुनिक कविता को बहुत प्रभावित किया। रिचर्ड एल्डिंगटन...

Georgian Poetry: A Short Note The Decadent movement was a late 19th century artistic and literary movement. It followed an aesthetic ideology of artificiality. The Georgian poetry is a reaction against that decadent transitional poetry. It is that poetry which was produced in the early 20th century by British poets. This poetry was lyrical in nature. It flourished in the reign of George V. The Georgians endeavoured to restore the simplicity and naturalness. They avoided the use of archaic diction and composed neat and melodious poems. Walter de la Mare, William Henry Davies, Rupert Brooke, John Drinkwater, Wilfrid Wilson Gibson, Harold Monro, Sir Edward Marsh, Masefield, Lascelles Abercrombie, Hilaire Belloc, Edmund Charles Blunden, Ralph Hodgson, James Elroy Flecker, Robert Graves, Siegfried Sassoon, Sir J.C. Squire and Edward Thomas etc are some important Georgian poets. हिंदी अनुवाद: डिकैडेंट आंदोलन 19वीं सदी के अंत का एक कलात्मक और साहित्यिक आंदोलन था। इसने कृत्रिमता की सौंदर्यव...

Modern Poetry: A Short Note Modern poetry in English started in the early years of the twentieth century. With the appearance the imagists, there occurred a change in English poetic outlook. The Romantic and Victorian traditions of poetry of the previous age were rejected. A revolution in poetic technique took place. This new poetry became remarkable for experiment. It appeared as the poetry of experience. Individualism, experimentation, absurdity, symbolism and formalism appeared as major characteristics of the modern poetry. In the new poetry, the poets expressed the chaos and changing scenario of the life and the society. The city, disillusionment, fragmentation and alienation became the major theme. T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, T.E. Hulme, Gerard Manley Hopkins, D. H. Lawrence, William Butler Yeats, James Joyce, William Carlos Williams, W. H. Auden, Robert Graves, Rudyard Kipling, Wilfred Owen and Wallace Stevens are some major contributors to the modern poetry. Hindi Translation:...

Sigmund Freud is an Austrian neurologist. He is popular as the founder of psychoanalysis. It is he who developed the Oedipus complex as a concept. He was born on May 6, 1856 in Freiberg, Moravia, Austrian Empire and died on September 23, 1939 in London, England. This great philosopher came to the conclusion that lapses in human behaviour are caused by worries and conflicts. Freud analysed things like dream, religion, sense of guilt, fear and shame. According to him Id, Ego and Super Ego control human behaviour. Sigmund Freud’s influence on literature has been very great. James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, Thomas Mann, Brecht and Franz Kafka wrote under the influence of Freudian thought. Hindi Translation: सिगमंड फ्रायड एक ऑस्ट्रियाई न्यूरोलॉजिस्ट हैं। वह मनोविश्लेषण के संस्थापक के रूप में लोकप्रिय हैं। ये वे हैं जिन्होंने Oedipus complex को एक अवधारणा के रूप में विकसित किया। उनका जन्म 6 मई, 1856 को ऑस्ट्रियाई साम्राज्य के फ्रीबर्ग, मोराविया में हुआ था और 23 सितंबर, 1939 को लंदन, इंग्लै...

Existentialism: A Short Note Existentialism is a movement in the field of philosophy and literature. It is a reaction against the traditional schools of philosophy of Rationalism, British Empiricism and Positivism. It emphasizes individual existence, freedom and choice. It began in the 19th Century but it reached at its peak in mid-20th Century France. Existentialism was developed by the 19th Century Danish philosopher Kierkegaard and the German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. The Phenomenology of Martin Heidegger also contributed to the development of this movement. Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel and Arthur Schopenhauer also enriched the development of Existentialism. Max Stirner, Karl Jaspers, Edmund Husserl, Fyodor Dostoevsky, Franz Kafka, Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus, Simone de Beauvoir and Maurice Merleau-Ponty are some other popular names of this movement. But Jean-Paul Sartre is the most well-known existentialist. According to this philosophical belief, we ourselves are res...

Dover Beach: A Poem by Matthew Arnold About Matthew Arnold: Matthew Arnold is a distinguished poet and critic of Victorian era. He was born in 1822 in England. His notable works are Culture and Anarchy, The Study of Poetry, Dover Beach, The Scholar Gipsy and Thyrsis. Dover Beach is Arnold’s most famous poem. It is a dramatic monologue. It deals with the theme of loss of faith in God and religion. Dover Beach: Matthew Arnold (Text) The sea is calm to-night. The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straits; on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand, Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night-air! Only, from the long line of spray Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land, Listen! you hear the grating roar Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling, At their return, up the high strand, Begin, and cease, and then again begin, With tremulous cadence slow, and bring The eternal note of sadness in. ...

I. About Munshi Premchand Katha Samrat Premchand is popularly known as Munshi Premchand. He is a great Indian story teller. He is the pioneer of modern Hindi and Urdu social fiction. His real name was Dhanpat Rai. He has written many stories and novels. Godan, Gaban, Sevasadan and Nirmala are his best known novels. Mansarovar is a very popular collection of his fantastic stories. Upanyas samrat Munshi Premchand was born on 31 July, 1880 at Lamahi near Banaras. His early life was full of struggle. He lost his mother when he was a school boy. After that his grandmother looked after him. Unfortunately she too died soon. He was married in his adolescence. Munshi Ajaib Lal, Premchand's father, was a clerk in the postal department. After passing the intermediate Premchand had to discontinue his study due to his father's death. Fortunately Premchand got a job as a teacher in the primary school. After some time he became Deputy Inspector of schools. In response to Gandhi's call ...