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1. The Medieval Period
The Medieval Period in English history and literature has been divided into two periods-(a) The Anglo-Saxon Period (600-1066) and (b) The Middle English Period or Anglo-Norman Period (1066-1500).
(a) The Anglo Saxon Period (600-1066)
Before the Roman conquest of Britain (classical name of England, Wales and Scotland) which took place in the first century A.D. the inhabitants of Britain were Celts in speech and custom. Politically they were divided into separate and generally warring tribes, each under its own princes. Britain remained a part of the Roman Empire till the end of the third century when the Romans left Britain on account of the weakening of the Empire.
The history of Britain after the withdrawal of the Roman troops is extremely obscure, but there can be little doubt that for many years the inhabitants were exposed to devastating raids by the Angles and Saxons who belonged to Scandanavia and Northern Germany. It was by the beginning of the 6th century that these invaders-Angles and Saxons-conquered Britain and became the rulers of the country. It is these tribes which became the ancestors of the English race.
English history between the 6th and 10th century is the record of incessant wars between several small kingdoms in which Britain was divided. This rivalry among the princes
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was dangerous to peace, and delayed the accomplishment of English unity. The number of separate dynasties established in England, each with its own reputed descent from gods, was very remarkable. Of all these kingdoms (Northumbria, Mercia, East Anglia, Kent, Sussex, Essex and Wessex) the West Saxon dynasty was held in great esteem, and was the most powerful. These kingdoms maintained their independence, until in the 9th century Egbert, the king of Wessex, who alone among the English rulers of his day could claim direct descent from the kings of the migration time, was recognised as the overlord and under him the unification of England was brought about.
This fact greatly influenced the whole course of early English history, because already in Egbert’s reign isolated companies of Danish invaders were visiting the English coasts, and within thirty years of his death in 839 an organized army was ravaging the whole land. The real importance of Egbert’s career lies in the fact that he was able to make the king of Wessex supreme over all other English people before the whole fabric of English society was attacked by the new invaders from the east. It was to the king of Wessex, that the men of other kingdoms turned when their own royal lines had been overthrown. And it so happened that the West Saxon royal house produced in Alfred the Great (871-889) the youngest grandson of Egbert, the greatest military leader who defeated the Danes at the battle of Edington in 878. But for his victory, Wessex would have been settled by the invaders, and all England would have become a Scandanavian colony. The battle of Edignton decided that the West Saxon dynasty should survive. Alfred was the first great king of England. He gave England a strong government, and encouraged learning and the translation of Latin books in the English language. He himself was a good writer in prose. When Alfred died in 899 he could rightly be described as king over all the English people except the part that was under the power of the Danes. The next generation saw his dynasty establish its overlordship over the descendants of the Danish settlers everywhere in England.
After Alfred, the great kings of West Saxon dynasty were Edward the Elder (899-924), Athelstan (924-939)
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and Edgar. The reign of Edgar is often regarded as marking the highest point of effective power reached by the Old English monarchy. He gave lavish patronage to the church, and encouraged great men like Dunstan, Et hie wood and Oswald who in his reign were reviving monastic life in England.
After Edgar’s death, his successors proved to be incompetent, and could not repulse the renewed invasions of the Danes. The result was that the Danes conquered the whole of England in 1013. In 1016 after the death of Swegn, the king of Denmark, his son Cnute (1016-1035) became the King of England. He granted to all his English subjects the first charter of liberties in English history. The laws which he issued form the most detailed exposition of Old English legal custom which has survived, and formed the basis of the law which prevailed in England under the Norman kings. To Englishmen he soon became the pattern of a good king.
Nevertheless it was impossible that England and Denmark should be united permanently. After the death of Cnute in 1036, his successor could not hold together the wide dominion; and in 1042, the English nobility recalled Edward, the heir of the West Saxon dynasty, who was at that time living in Normandy (France). Thus in 1042 the Agnlo-Saxon rule was restored in England.
Edward the Confessor (1042-66), who had grown up at the Norman court, gave every opportunity for the spread of Norman influence in England. As he was childless, he wished that his cousin, William, duke of the Normans might follow him as king of England. But when he died in 1066, Harold, the earl of Wessex, who had become quite powerful, was recognised as king by the nobles and crowned by the archbishop of York. William Duke of Normandy invaded England in order to press his claim to the English throne for being a kinsman of Edward the Confessor, and defeated Harold, last of the Saxon kings, at the battle of Hastings (1066).
(b) The Anglo-Norman Period (1066-1500)
William the Conqueror (1066-87) was the first Norman king to rule England. He was the lord of the land by
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conquest and from his time the king’s court became the centre of English government. He created barons or military lords who owed allegiance to the king, and who as a reward of it, exercised full power over the common people, called the serfs, (or slaves) living in their territories. Most of these barons were Normans who had come along with William, and the English people were reduced to the position of serfs. This was called the Feudal System under which the barons held land given by the king in return for military service to be rendered by them when the king needed it. On account of the community of interest between the king and the barons the unity of England was assured. Though under the Norman kings the French influence was quite powerful, yet the English people retained their language, social customs and laws, and England never became a province of the French speaking world. Whereas during the Anglo-Saxon period, the leading priests took part in secular business also, and the king also interfered with the administration of the church, William separated the functions of the Church and the State. The bishops gained a more direct authority over their clergy, and jurisdiction over matters affecting the cure of souls was transferred from the secular courts to the new bishop courts. But the king remained the head of the church and the state.
The Feudal System worked well during the reigns of William II (1087-1100) and Henry I (1100-35) and there was no serious conflict between the king and barons on the one hand, and the church and the king on the other. After the death of Henry I, the direct line of the Norman kings ended, and his successor Stephen (1135-1154) ruined the administration by coming into conflict with the church, and on account to the rise of some barons anarchy followed which undermined the power of the crown.
Henry II (1154-89) who belonged to the Plantagent dynasty, succeeded Stephen. Under him the power of the crown was considerably restored, though the feudal barons retained some of their independence which they had gained during the anarchy in the reign of Stephen. Henry II also tried to regain the supremacy of the crown over the church, but opposition of Thomas Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury, stood in his way. Thomas Becket’s murder by the king’s men produced a reaction which gave to the Pope
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(the head of Christian religion with his headquarter in Rome) a direct influence on the administration of ecclesiastical justice in England, and secured for the clergies immunities from being tried in the courts set up by the king.
Henry II was a strong king and he put the administration of Justice On a sound footing. He was the first to introduce the jury system. But because he belonged to a family which in Normandy, was always opposed to the Norman dukes, a number of the Narman barons rose in revolt against him in 1174. Henry II crushed this rebellion, but it created a lot of confusion in the country and distress for the king. •
Richard I (1189-99), the Lion-Hearted, who
succeeded his father, Henry II, was more interested in fighting crusades against the Muslims for the capture of Jerusalem, the birth-place of Christ. He cared for England only as a source of money needed for his military adventures and only on two occasions appeared in England. Nevertheless, England was as well administered under him as under his father, for he commanded the services of the younger generation of officials who had received their training in his father’s court. The most important feature of his reign was that the majority of English people began to look upon the ministers and not the king as the centre of strong government.
John the Lackland (1199-1216) had to face the revolt of the barons and-also opposition of, the peoplebecause of his stiff policy of taxation which had to be introduced on account of the expensive military adventures of his predecessor, Richard I. During his reign Normandy was conquered by the French, with the result that the Norman barons who up to this time looked upon Normandy as their real home and England an alien country, began to look upon England as their home. This made possible the growth of an English national feeling, and the combination of the Norman and English aristocracy against the king.
John came into conflict with the Pope on the question of the appointment of the archbishop of Canterbury. The Pope excommunicated John and instigated the French king to invade England. John at last submitted unconditionally to
the Pope in 1213, recognised him as his overlord, and promised to pay a yearly tribute to him. This weakened policy of John turned the barons as well as the people against him, and he was forced to sign the Magna Carta (the Great Charter), which is the first Charter of Liberty to the English people. Under it the powers of the king were considerably curtailed, and the barons got the right to be consulted in important matters like taxation. From the time of its issue it became a symbol of liberty to barons and people alike, and king after king throughout the Middle Ages was expected to confirm it. It became in later ages the sheet anchor of the demands of the English people for securing more and more rights from the king, and ultimately led to the establishment of a limited monarchy with real power vested in the hands of the representatives of the people.
Henry III (1216-72) who succeeded John had also to face the opposition of the barons. In 1258 a party of barons opposed tc the king was formed. This party, called the Great Council, or Parliament refused to give sanction to the king to raise taxes until a plan of reform was agreed upon. The Parliament, which first met at Oxford drew up provisions, arranging for the government of the country by a baronial council. The Model Parliament which met in 1265, was attended not only by the barons but the representatives of the peopje also, and thus it proved to be a germ of the future House of the Commons. Simon de Montfort, one of the leading barons of England, was the originator of this, and so he is rightly called the founder of the English Parliament.
Edward I (1272-1307), unlike his father Henry II who was a weak ruler, was a remarkable figure. He loved power, but saw that he could best secure the loyalty of his subjects by assenting to so many of the new constitutional restraints as were compatible with his own ’practical control of the policy of the realm. He was prepared to refer all matters to his Parliament. In the Model Parliament he called the barons as well as the representatives of the boroughs or towns. Edward was a great soldier. He conquered Wales, but his attempt to conquer Scotland was unsuccessful. For these operations he needed more »nd more money which the Parliament refused to sanction, thus giving rise to incessant quarrel between tine king and the Parliament. But on the
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whole the reign of Edward I was prosperous, and it gave a promise of greatness and steady progress.
Edward II (1307-27) who succeeded Edward I, was in every respect a contrast to his father. He was incorrigibly frivolous, idle and indifferent. He has been well described as ”the first king since the conquest who was not a man of business.” He discontinued his father’s efforts to conquer Scotland. He dismissed all his father’s old ministers and appointed Piers Gaveston, a companion of his boyhood, and a vain and ostentatious baron, as his chief councilor. Gaveston encouraged the king in his follies and frivolity. This provoked the barons of the realm, who forced the king to exile Gaveston, and submit himself to their condition by which he was made merely a puppet in their hands. His defeat by Bruce, the leader of Scotland, at the battle of Bannockburn 1314, secured the independence of Scotland, and placed Edward at the mercy of the baronial opposition in England. He tried to regain power by the help of some barons, but his own queen, Isabella, supported by Lord Mortimer rebelled against him. Most of the barons sided with her. Edward II had to yield and abdicate in favour of his fourteen-years oid son.
Edward III (1327-77) showed none of his father’s weaknesses. But he was more a military adventurer than an administrator. On account of his chivalry and knightly virtues not only England but all western Europe looked up to him as the greatest king of his generation. He first conquered Scotland. Then he laid his claim to the French throne, and invaded France in 1339, thus starting a war between England and France, which lasted for a hundred years, and is therefore called The Hundred Years War. He defeated the French twice at the battles of Crecy and Poitiers. It was during the reign of Edward III that a terrible plague called ’The Black Death’ ravaged England, which swept away three fourths of the population. As labourers became scarce, a Statute of Labourers’ was passed in 1351, under which labourers were’ forced to work.
There was much literary activity during the reign of Edward HI. Langland wrote his Piers Plowman in 1362. ^•naucer was born in 1340.
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Richard II (1377-99) who succeeded Edward III, was a weak king. During his reign Peasants’ Revolt took place j under Wat Tyler. The Scots invaded England in 1385. He was deposed by his cousin, the Duke of Bolingbroke, who ascended the throne in 1399 as Henry IV.
Henry IV (1399-1413) defeated the Scots, and brought order out of chaos which had been created during the reign of Richard II.
Henry V (1413-22) restarted the war against France and defeated the French at the battle of Aginocourt (1415). *•*, He became the Regent of France.
Henry VI (1422-61) continued the war against France because the French under the leadership of Joan of Arc made their last bid to drive the English from their soil. Joan of Arc was burnt at the stake (1431), but the English armies had to leave France, and thus the Hundred Years War between England and France ended. It was during the reign of Henry VI that the printing press was invented in England ,, by William Caxton, and the Wars of the Roses, between the two rival royal houses-York and Lancaster-which lay claim to the English throne, started in 1455.
The War of the Roses lasted till 1485. Henry VI died in 1461. After his death Edward IV (1461-83) came to the throne. He was succeeded by Edward V whose reign lasted only for two months. Richard III who followed him was a cruel and reckless king. The barons revolted against him, and was killed at the battle of Bosworth (1485) and Henry Tudor became king. The death of Richard III marked the end of the civil wars and the self-destruction of feudalism. It made possible a new growth of English national sentiment under the popular Tudors. U. The Renaistance Period Or The tudor Period
Henry VII (1485-1509) was the first Tudor king. Under his rule England got a strong government. Moreover this was the time of the Renaissance or the Revival of Learning in Europe. The European sailors discovered new lands. Columbus discovered the West Indies in 1492. In
1497 the Cabots discovered Newfoundland and Vasco da
Gama rounded Cape of Good Hope. In 1498 Columbus touched the American mainland, and Vasco da Gama discovered the sea-route to India. In 1500 Brazil was discovered.
Henry VIII (1509-47) proved to be a very powerful king, his reign is marked by a steady increase in the national power at home and abroad. In 1517, Luther, a German priest, started his compaign to reform the church, which according to him had become corrupt. He carried severe propaganda against the clergymen who were living luxurious and irreligious lives. He was excommunicated by the Pope, but his movement called Protestantism attracted many followers. It was also called the Reformation as its aim was to reform Christianity. The old type of Christianity was termed Catholicism and those who stuck to it were called Catholics. Those who insisted on reforms were called Protestants.
It was during the reign of Henry VIII that the Reformation was introduced in England. The king came in conflict with the Pope who refused to sanction his divorce of his first wife who was the sister of the Spanish king who was a staunch Catholic. Henry VIII broke with the Pope completely, and by the Act of Supremacy (1534) he abolished the power of the Pope in England, and himself became the head of the English Church. He also dissolved the monasteries in England, and confiscated the property of the clergmen who still owed their allegiance to the Pope. England thus became a Protestant country, free from the religious overlordship of the Pope. The Bible w»s first translated in English in 1537.
Edward VI (1547-53) continued the reforms in the Church, which were introduced during the reign of Henry VIII. In 1549 was passed the Act of Uniformity .which was intended to make the nation conform to the religious changes introduced by Henry VIII.
Mary (1553-8) who succeeded her brother Edward VI, was a staunch Catholic. She married Philip of Spain, a Catholic prince, and made every attempt to re-establish Catholicism in England. In 1555 Ridley and Latimer were burnt at the stake for refusing to conform to the Church of
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Rome (the Catholic Church whose head is the Pope). On account of her religious persecution she was called the Bloody Mary.
Elizabeth I (1558-1603) who came to the throne after the death of her sister Mary, proved to be the greatest ruler of the Tudor dynasty, and one of the greatest in the history of England. That is why she is called Elizabeth, the Great. After the reigns of Edward and Mary, with defeat and humiliation abroad and persecutions and rebellion at home, the accession of Elizabeth, popular sovereign, was like the sunrise after a long night, and in Milton’s words, England became suddenly ’a noble and puissant nation, rousing herself, like a strong man after sleep, and shaking her invincible locks”. Elizabeth favoured both the religious parties with the result that Protestants and Catholics acted together as her trusted councilors. The defeat of the Spanish Armada, a big fleet of ships sent by the Catholic king of Spain to conquer England and bring her back to Catholicism, in 1588 made England a great power. It also established the Reformation as a fact in England, and at the same time united ail Englishmen in a magnificent national enthusiasm. On account of religious tolerance, the minds of the people became free from religious fears and persecution, and thus turned with a great creative impulse to other activities. Many English adventurers went out to discover new lands. In 1580 Drake completed his first voyage round the world. Poetry, drama and music flourished.
Marlowe, Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney, Lyly and a host of minor writers produced their literary works. Under the rule of Elizabeth, who in spite of her vanity and inconsistency loved England and England’s greatness, the English national life made phenomenal progress, and English literature reached the very highest point of its development. m. The Puritan Age Or The Stuart Period
James I (1603-25), the king of Scotland, belonging to the Stuart dynasty succeeded to the throne of England after the death of Elizabeth, who did not marry, and left no Tudor heir. Under James I England and Scotland were thus united. As he was a Catholic and majority of English people were
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Protestants, there was a regular struggle between the king and the Parliament. In 1611 the Authorised Version of the Bible was produced, and in 1620 a number of Puritans or staunch Protestants, who were against the Catholic regime of James I, left England and landed in America. They were called The Pilgrim Fathers. The literary activity of the Elizabethan period continued during the reign of James I (the Jacobean Period), though its tempo had become slow and the standard had also gone down. Shakespeare wrote his later plays. Other dramatists who flourished during the Jacobean period were Ben Jonson, Beaumont and Fletcher and others. Bacon’s Essays and Burton’s Anatomy of Melancholy were also produced during this period.
Charles I (1625-49) who succeeded James I, proved to be a stauuch Catholic, and by his intolerant policy he antagonised the Puritans. Believing in the Divine right of kings, Charles I ignored the Parliament. There followed a long conflict between the king and Parliament which resulted in the Civil War (1642-49) between king and his supporters called the Royalists or Cavaliers, and the Parliament and its supporters, called the Roundheads. The leader of the Parliamentary forces was Cromwell. In 1647 Charles I surrendered to the Parliament after his defeat by Cromwell. In 1649 Charles I was beheaded, and England declared a Commonwealth. The reign of Charles I is called the Caroline period in English literature, of which the chief literary figure was Milton, who was a staunch Puritan and supported the Parliament.
Cromwell (1653-8). After the execution of Charles I, there were serious differences among the members of the Parliament. In 1653 Cromwell dismissed the Parliament, and became the Lord Protector of England. In 1657 he declined the English Crown. After his death in 1658, his son Richard was named Protector, but he resigned after a few months, and the son of Charles I, who was in exile in France, was called by Parliament, and he ascended the throne as Charles II. Under Cromwell the Puritans imposed their strict moral code. All recreations and amusements were banned and theatres were closed.
IF. The Restoration Period
Charles II (1660-85). The coming back of Charles II marked the restoration of monarchy in England. That is why his reign is called the Restoration period in English literature. As he followed the Catholic policy of his father, Charles I, with the spirit of revenge, persecuted the Puritans severely. Milton escaped imprisonment on account of his blindness. Moreover, having lived a frivolous life in France, he encouraged low morals and loose life among the people. His reign was specially unfortunate on account of the Great Plague (1665), and the Great Fire of London (1665). It was also the age of scientific enquiry. The Royal Society was founded in 1662. In the field of literature great works like Milton’s Paradise Lost (1667) and Paradise Regained (1671); and Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) were produced. Dryden who was the chief literary figure, wrote his dramas and poems.
James II (1685-88), who succeeded Charles II tried to re-establish Catholicism in England. The Protestants appealed to William of Orange (in Holland), who had married Mary belonging to the English royal family, for heip. He landed in England in 1688. James II fled to France, and on his abdication William and Mary were proclaimed King and Queen. The coming of William and Mary and their taking the place of James II is called the Bloodless Glorious Revolution. It was in the reign of James II that Newton proved the law of gravitation (1687) V. The Eighteenth Century (Classical Age)
William and Mary (1688-1702). With the end of the Stuart rule in England, and the establishment of the Hanoverian dynasty to which William belonged, the Parliament at last gained lull control over the government of the country. In 1689 the Bill of Rights was passed which limited the power of the king. The Toleration Act put an end to religious persecution. In 1690 John Locke, the great English political philosopher wrote his Two Treatises of Government and Essay Concerning Human Understanding. Congreve wrote his Love for Love in I 1695.
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Queen Anne (1702-14). In 1702 Queen Anne succeeded to the throne of England. In literature her age is called the Age of Queen Anne or the Age of Pope, the Classical Age, or the Augustan Age. The great writers of the age were Pope, Addison, Steele and Swift. During the reign of Anne the War of Spanish Succession was fought in Europe, in which England took part. England came out victorious as one of the great European powers.
George I (1714-27). During his reign the party system and the Cabinet government were introduced. The two important political parties were the Whigs and the . Tories. Walpole, the leader of the Whig party, became the first Prime Minister of England in 1715. in 1718 England was at war with Spain. In the field of literature Defoe wrote Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Swift Gulliver’s Travels (1726).
George II (1727-60). During his reign England was engaged in incessant wars with France, but was victorious. In India Clive established the supremacy of the English by defeating the French. In Canada Wolf gained his brilliant victory over the French army at the Battle of Quebec (1759). The French were thus defeated by the English who now became the masters of that country. England came out as the most powerful European nation by defeating France in Europe as well in India and Canada, In literature it was a period of great activity.. Richardson’s Pamela (1740), Fielding’s Joseph Andrews (1742) and Tom Jones (1749), Johnson’s Dictionary (1755), Pope’s Essay on Man (1732-34), Thomson’s The Seasons (1730), Gray’s Elegy (1751) and David Hume’s Enquiry Concerning Principle of Morals (1751) were produced.
VI. The Romantic Age
(The Later Eighteenth and Early Nineteenth Centuries)
George III (1760-1820). During his reign two very important historical events-the American War of Independence, and the French R Nation took place. The Americans rebelled against the ».ush tyranny in 177 , and declared themselves independent in 1776. After many military defeats, the British acknowledged American
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Independence in 1783. The French Revolution, which was a mass revolt of the oppressed French people against their king and the privileged upper class of society, began in
1789. In 1792 kingship was abolished in France and Republic proclaimed. In 1796 Napoleon rose to power and then started the Napoleonic Wars with England fighting against the French supremacy in Europe. In 1798 Nelson defeated the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile. In 1802 there was a treaty of peace between France and Britain. It was, however, short-lived, and war was resumed in 1803. In
1804 Napoleon became Emperor. Neison won another victory over the French at the Battle of Trafalgar in which he lost his life. Napoleon was defeated at the Battle of Leipzig (1813) and banished to Elba. In 1815 he escaped, but was defeated again by the Duke of Wellington at the Battle of Waterloo (1815), and sent to St. Helena where he died in 1821.
In 1786 Warren Hastings, the Governor-General of India, was impeached for his atrocities in India. In the debates in the Parliament regarding the American War of Independence, the French Revolution, and the Impeachment of Warren Hastings, Burke delivered his impassioned and forceful speeches.
The reign of George III is also the most important age in English literature. Some great works by important classical writers-Goldsmith’s Vicar of Wakefield (1766), Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire (1788), Boswell’s Life of Johnson (1791), Sterne’s Tristram Shandy (1760-1767) were produced in the early part of his reign. It also saw the beginning and flourishing of the Romantic Movement or the Romantic Revival in English literature. In France Rousseau produced his famous Social Contract (1762) in which he pleaded for the freedom of man from social and political shackles. He raised the cry of ”Back to Nature”. In England Percy’s Reliques of Ancient Poetry revived the intc <?st in folk-lore. The poems of Chatterton, Cowper, Burns, and Blake (precursors or forerunners of the Romantic movement) appeared in 1770,
1785, 1786 and 1789 respectively. In 1798 Wordsworth and Coleridge published their famous Lyrical Ballads, which launched the Romantic era. Most of great poetical
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works of the great romantic poets-Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Scott, Byron, Shelley and Keats
were produced during this period. In the field of novel Scott and Jane Austen also wrote during this age, so did Lamb and De Quincey and Hazlitt as essayists and writers of prose.
George IV (1820-30). During his reign Catholic Emancipation Bill was passed which meant more religious toleration for the Catholics whose freedom had been curtailed after the Glorious Revolution of 1688.
William IV (1830-37). During his reign the first English Reform Bill was passed in 1832, which gave suffrage or the right of vote to a larger number of people. In
1833 slavery was abolished in British colonies. In literature Dickens published his Pickwick Papers (1836) and Carlyle his The French Revolution (1837).
VH. The Victorian Age
Victoria (1837-1901). When Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837 England had settled down after long domestic and foreign struggle. The long struggle of the Anglo Saxon for personal liberty which had started with the signing of the Magma Carfa in 1215 was now definitely settled, and democracy became the established order of the day. The king as well as the lords were both stripped of their power and left as figureheads of a past civilisation. The House of Commons which represented the people of England was the sovereign authority in the country. During the reign of Victoria a series of new Reform Bills were passed, until suffrage or the right of vote was extended to all the adults in England.
On account of the peace that England enjoyed in her foreign relations and the prosperity at home, more attention was paid to social and moral questions. It was felt that though industrialisation had made the country rich, her wealth was concentrated in the hands of a few, while a large number of poor people, the factory workers, and labourers ”ved under horrible conditions. The Government was urged t° pass a number of factory laws making the working
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conditions of the factory workers more congenial. Some of the writers like Dickens wrote with a view to awakening social consciousness to such problems, while others like Carlyle, Ruskin and Arnold deplored the moral, cultural and spiritual degradation of the people on account of their grossly materialistic attitude to life.
On the whole the Victorian period was one of industrial and colonial development. Railways were built, steamships used, the spirit of philosophic and scientific enquiry was very strong. Darwins’ Theory of Evolution as embodied in his Origin of Species (1859) created a conflict between religion and science.
In the field of literature a number of great writers flourished e.g., poets like Tennyson, Browning, Arnold; novelists like Dickens, Thackeray, George Eliot, Meredith and Hardy; prose writers like Carlyie, Ruskin, Macaulay, Arnold, Newman and Pater.
VHI. The Twentieth Century
Edward VII (1901-10). After the long and progressive reign of Queen Victoria, a period of peace and plenty when the British Empire seemed to be at the peak of its power and security, the reign of Edward VII witnessed the appearance of certain disturbing factors. British imperialism awakened the jealousy of a number of European nations. Germany demanded her ”larger place in the sun”, and began warlike preparations. France and Italy also tried to enlarge their empires. Japan which defeated Russia in 1904 began to have an ambition of spreading her empire over the whole of Asia. All these factors disturbed England which had been the sole master of the major portion of the world.
Another disturbing factor was the restlessness of the common people who wanted not slow social reforms, but immediate and revolutionary reforms in society. In order to meet such demands, old age pension came into operation in
1909, and many other facilities were given to the poorer section of the society.
George V (1910-36). During his reign the First World
War began in 1914. In the beginning Germany conquered a
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•number of European countries, but ultimately she was
Idefeated by the Allies-England, France and America. The
’war ended in 1919 with the Peace Conference in Paris. After
the war there was development of new political movements
in Europe. Communism was established in Russia, Fascism in
Italy, and National Socialism in Germany.
During the reign of George V science and technology ’made huge advance. Einstein put forward his Theory of Relativity, psycho-analysis threw light on the unconscious mind. Radio, aeronautics, sound recording and television developed rapidly during this period. The chief writers of this period are D. H. Lawrence/ Somerset Maugham, Henry James, T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Hopkins, E.M. Forster, Bernard Shaw, H.G. Wells, Arnold Bennett, Kipling, Galsworthy, W. B. Yeats, Virginia Woolf and T. H. Huxley.
Edward VIII (Jan-Dec, 1936) abdicated in favour of his brother George VI (1936-52). In 1939 the Second World War broke out. Again Germany overran a number of European countries. Japan entered war in 1941, American carne on the side of the Allies-England, France and Russia. Germany was defeated in 1945. Atomic bomb was dropped on Japan in August 1945 and the war ended in Asia also. After the War many of the British colonies like India, Pakistan, Burma, Ceylon, became independent.
Elizabeth II (1952). The chief feature of the post-war period is the existence of ’cold war’ between Russia and the Western democracies-England, U.S.A. and France. The growth of Communism in the East (with a Communist state established in China), competition in the invention and testing of new nuclear weapons, and space travel, the fear of the Third World War which may destroy the whole fabric of Western civilisation, provide an uncomfortable background to the modern English literature.
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(iii) (J^cnttissance 5Jterature
1. V. D. S. Pinto: The English Renaissance.
2. G. Saintsbury: The Earlier Renaissance.
3. -DO- : Elizabethan Literature.
4. B. Ford: The Age of Shakespeare.
(iv) Qeventeenth Century ^literature
1. C. V. Wedgwood: Seventeenth Century English Literature.
2. H. J. C. Grierson: The First Half of the Seventeenth Century.
3. . D. Bush: English Literature in the Early
Seventeenth Century.
4. H. J. C. Grierson: Metaphysical Lyrics and Poems of the Seventeenth Century.
(v) Oassicaf literature
1. E. Gosses: Eighteenth Century Literature.
2. A. Butt: The Augustan Age.
3. M. Mccutcheon: Eighteenth Century Literature.
4. G. Saintsbury: The Peace of the Augustans.
5. T. S. Perry: English Literature in the Eighteenth Century.
6. Ian Jack: Augustan Satire.
7. J. Sutherland: A Preface to Eighteenth Century Poetry.
(vi) q^omontic giterature
1. 0. Elton: A Survey of English Literature (1780-
1830) Vols. I and II.
2. G. Saintsbury: A History of Nineteenth Century Literature.
3. A Symons: Romantic Movement in English Poetry.
4. G. Brandes: Main Currents in Nineteenth Century Literature.
5. G. Hough: The Romantic Poets.
(vii)(yictorian ^literature
1. G. Saintsbury: A History of Nineteenth Century Literature.
2. E. Gosse: Modern English Literature.
3. Batho and Dobree: The Victorians and After.
4. G. K. Chesterton: The Victorian Age in Literature.
5. Hugh Walker: THE Literature in the Victorian Era.
6. S, Vines: A Hundred Years of English Literature.
7. 0. Elton: A Survey of English Literature (1830-
1888) Vols. I and II.
8. R. D. Graham: The Masters of Victorian Literature.
9. B. Willey: Nineteenth Century of Studies.
10. J. Drink water: Victorian Poetry.
11. E. C. Stead man: Victorian Poets.
12. R. V. Routh: Towards the Twentieth Century.
(viii) j^po’ern literature
1. A. C. Ward: Twentieth Century Literature.
2. H. V. Routh: English Literature and Ideas in the Twentieth century.
3. R. A. Scott James: Fifty Years of English Literature (1900-50).
4. H. Williams: Modern English Writers.
5. D. Daiches: The Present Age.
6. G. S. Frazer: The Modern Writer and His World.
7. Wyatt and Clay: Modern English Literature.
8. J. Issac: An Assessment of Twentieth Century Literature.
9. B. Ifor Evans: English Literature between the Wars.
10. P. Westland: Contemporary Literature.
11. J. W. Cunlife: English Literature during the Last Half-Century.
12. v. S. Pinto: Crisis in English Poetry (1880-1940).
13. G. Bullough: The Trend of Modern Poetry.
14. F. R. Leavis: New Bearings in English Poetry.
15. R. Tschumi: Thought in Twentieth Century English Poetry.
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18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
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24.
25.
Dr. B. R. Mali
E. Sitwell: Aspects of Modern Poetry.
C. Williams: Poetry at Present.
L. Durre/l: A Key to Modern Poetry.
C. Brooks: Modern Poetry and the Tradition.
A Nicoll: British Drama.
W. L. Phelps: Essays on Modern Dramatists.
T. H. Dickinson: The Contemporary Drama of England.
U. S. Fermor: The Irish Dramatic Movement.
E. B. Burgum: The Novel and the World’s Dilemma.
D. Daiches: The Novel and The Modern World.
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