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Enlightenment
• Also known as the "Age of Reason”.
• An intellectual and cultural movement in the eighteenth century.
• Took place primarily in Europe, later in North America.
• During this era, philosophers stressed the values of skepticism, reason (the primary source of authority and legitimacy), and individualism, as well as liberty and secularism.
• The Enlightenment emphasized reason over superstition and science over blind faith. -
Pre-Romanticism
• A general term applied by modern literary historians to a number of developments in late 18th century culture.
• These developments are thought to have prepared the ground for Romanticism in its full sense.
• The pre-romantic writers fight against the neoclassical dogmas.
• The pre-romantics did not constitute a school of thought.
• They were a group of writers that were influenced by the new trends, feelings, of the end of the century. -
The First Industrial Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution, also known as the First Industrial Revolution, was a period of global transition of human economy towards more efficient and stable manufacturing processes that succeeded the Agricultural Revolution, starting from Great Britain, continental Europe, and the United States. -
Romanticism
• An artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe.
• A reaction against the Industrial Revolution, the Enlightenment and Neoclassicism.
• Purpose: revolt against an established order: rules, laws, and formulas that characterized earlier times.
• It praised imagination over reason, emotions over logic, and intuition over science. -
Lyrical Ballads, with Other Poems
• Lyrical Ballads, with Other Poems is a collection of poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature. -
Pride and Prejudice
• Pride and Prejudice was written between 1796 and 1797 during the Georgian period. However, it was not published until the 28th January 1813. -
Victorianism
• The Victorian Era is seen as the link between Romanticism of the 18th century and the Realism of the 20th century.
• The dominating literary form was the novel.
• Literature of this age reflected the practical problems and interests of daily life; moral purpose; idealism (age of doubt and pessimism).
• Great ideals like truth, justice, love, brotherhood are emphasized by poets, essayists and novelists of the age. -
A Christmas Carol
A Christmas Carol is one of Dickens' most popular stories but, beneath its message of reformation, is a strong indictment of Victorian society. That Dickens was inspired to write the book after reading a report, about the working conditions of children in the Staffordshire potteries, speaks volumes about its social message. He wanted to bring to light the darker side of industrial Britain; a place where poverty and deprivation were widespread and, quite often, ignored. -
Wuthering Heights
• Wuthering Heights is an 1847 novel by Emily Brontë, initially published under her pen name "Ellis Bell". She composed it in the Victorian Era and received its name from the reign of Queen Victoria of England. In the novel, different characters exhibit Victorian traits. -
Realism
• Realism defines a philosophical and practical attitude, and a particular kind of a "subject" matter.
• The rise of Realism was actually a reaction against Romanticism.
• There was a new need for literature that reflected people's real life.
• Realism focused on reality, moral questions, specific actions and their consequences.
• Realist authors chose to depict everyday and banal activities and experiences, instead of using a romanticized or similarly stylized presentation. -
The Second Industrial Revolution
• The Industrial Revolution in Victorian England was a period of time in history when new inventions and technology changed the way people lived and worked. It impacted how they communicated, the way products were manufactured, and created new forms of cheaper and faster transportation. Innovations resulted in changes that were previously unheard of. -
The Return of the Native
• The Return of the Native, novel by Thomas Hardy, published in 1878.
• Hardy was sort of caught up between the Romantic movement (which was on its way out), Realism (which was on the rise), and Modernism. Hardy's novel seems to veer back and forth between over-the-top romance, harsh realism, an interest in character drama, and a focus on mythology and nature. -
Edwardian Era
• The Edwardian period has been named after King Edward VII who succeeded Queen Victoria in the year 1901.
• With the accession of King Edward on the throne, the glorious Victorian age of England came to a sharp end.
• The Edwardian era is synonymous with prosperity, rich art, and fashion.
• King Edward VII in his reign between 1901 and 1910 brought about some noteworthy changes in the field of art and fashion. -
The Road from Colonus
• “The Road from Colonus” was written by E. M. Forster in 1903, shortly after he had visited Olympia in Greece. He had gone there as part of a cruise group made up largely of classical scholars against the enthusiasm and knowledge of whom Forster felt dull and irritable. -
The Secret Sharer
• "The Secret Sharer" is a short story by Joseph Conrad, first published as a two-part serial in Harper's Magazine in 1910. -
Sons and Lovers
• ''Sons and Lovers'' is a 1913 autobiographical novel by the English writer D. H. It was written in four drafts between August 1910 and November 1912.
• The novel is also significant for the portrait it provides of working-class life in Nottinghamshire, England. The author's disgust with industrialization shows in his descriptions of the mining pits that dot the countryside and the hardships and humiliation that working families had to endure to survive.