Modern English Literature - 3556 Words

CHARACTERISTICS OF MODERN ENGLISH LITERATURE * Formal/Stylistic characteristics Juxtaposition, irony, comparisons, and satire are important elements found in modernist writing. Modernist authors use impressionism and other devices to emphasize the subjectivity of reality, and they see omniscient narration and fixed narrative points of view as providing a false sense of objectivity. They also employ discontinuous narratives and fragmented plot structures.]Modernist works are also often reflexive and draw attention to their own role as creator. Juxtaposition is used for example in a way to represent something that would be oftentimes unseen, for example, a cat and a mouse as best friends. Irony and satire are important tools used by the†¦show more content†¦Throughout his career, Yeats found occult research a rich source of images for his poetry, and traces of his esoteric interests appear everywhere in his poems. WRITERS AFTER THE WORLD WARS * WILLIAM SOMERSET MAUGHAM(1874-1965) focused on the alienation and despair of drifters. His Of Human Bondage portrays Philip Carey struggling against self-consciousness and embarrassment because of his cub-foot. * D.H. LAWRENCE(1885-1930) explored highly psychological themes as human desire, sexuality and instinct alongside the dehumanizing effects of modernity and industrialization in such great novels as Sons and Lovers, Women in Love, The Plumed Serpent, and Lady Chatterley’s Lover. * JAMES JOYCE(1882-1941) was an Irish expatnate noted for his experimental use of the interior monologue and the stream of consciousness technique in landmark novels as Ulysses, Finnegans Wake, and in his semi-autobiographical novel The Portrait of the Artist as a Young man. * VIRGINIA WOOLF(1882-1941) also believed that reality, or consciousness is a stream. Life, for both readers and characters, is immersion in the flow of that stream. Mrs. Dalloway and To the Lighthouse are among her best works. * ALDOUS HUXLEY(1894-1963) wrote Point Counter Point, Brave New World, and After Many a Summer Dies the Swan where he showed his cynicism of theShow MoreRelatedSamuel Johnson: The Lexicographer1350 Words   |  6 Pagesbeen an extraordinary lexicographer too. He published his two- volume Dictionary on 15 April 1755, â€Å"The Dictionary of the English Language†. This Dictionary has also been at times published as Johnson’s Dictionary. Robert Burchfield the modern lexicographer commented on Johnson’s Dictionary: In the whole tradition of English Language and literature the only dictionary compiled by a writer of the first rank is that of Dr. Johnson Samuel Johnson the premierRead MoreLanguage, And A Better Understanding1251 Words   |  6 PagesKevin Yousif Mr. Brown AP English Language and Composition 17 November 2015 Language, and a Better Understanding Language is a topic that will never cease to adapt, from slang being developed in suburbs of urban cities, to new additions to the Oxford dictionary. We, students of English, use different concepts of language almost everyday and most of the time we don’t even realize it. To get a better understanding of the English language and concepts developed within it, one would turn to look at theRead MoreHistory of the English Language1655 Words   |  7 Pages History of the English Language [47 words] This ever so changing, perpetually adapting and complex language that is English grew as large as it is today for a variety of reasons; all of which will be explained in this disquisition, point-by-point, following the three grand evolution periods of the language (Old, Middle and Modern English). Read MoreHow Texting Has Brought Upon The Modern English Language944 Words   |  4 Pagesaddress issues in direct contradiction to John Humphrys article â€Å" I h8t txt msgs: How texting is wrecking our language†, which sought to bring to focus the havoc that texting has brought upon the modern English language. Pointing out that, while texting has been a change largely impactful on the English language it poses no threat and should not be considered as such. Using examples throughout history to prove that abbreviations in word and language is something that has been used for centuries.Read MoreStandardization of the English Language1785 Words   |  8 PagesStandardization of the English Language There are several important events before 1500 that when listed together show a series of steps in the struggle for English language supremacy. These steps are mainly governmental, legal and official events that pushed English usage. In 1356 The Sheriffs Court in London and Middlesex were conducted in English for the first time. When Parliament opened in 1362 the Statute of Pleading was issued declaring English as a language of the courts as well as of ParliamentRead More Waste Land Essay: Eliots Use of Different Speakers681 Words   |  3 PagesEliots Use of Different Speakers in The Waste Land      Ã‚  Different speakers in The Waste Land mirror the disjointedness of modern experience by presenting different viewpoints that the reader is forced to put together for himself. This is similar to the disassociation in modern life in that life has ceased to be a unified whole: various aspects of 20th-century life -- various academic disciplines, theory and practice, Church and State, and Eliots disassociation of sensibilities, or separationRead MoreWilliam Wordsworth and John Keats Essay1170 Words   |  5 Pagesâ€Å"The World is too much with us†; from Keats I’ve chosen his â€Å"Ode to a Nightingale† and his â€Å"Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art†. William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland in a lake district of modern England. Growing up in the Lake District Wordsworth discovered his love for nature and at the age of seventeen he revealed himself as a writer. After achieving his Bachelor’s degree in Arts from Cambridge University he began travelingRead MoreWilliam Wordsworth and T.S. Eliot814 Words   |  4 Pagestakes to be the ideal poet. The Romantic Period was a time of revolution in England because of the Industrial Revolution, the French Revolution, and what reviewer Francis Jeffrey called â€Å"the revolution of our literature.† Percy Shelley stated in his â€Å"Defense of Poetry† that the literature of that period had â€Å"risen as it were from a new birth†, while William Hazlitt â€Å"maintained that the new poetry of the school of Wordsworth ‘had its origin in the French Revolution.’† (Stillinger and Lynch 5-6) ThisRead MoreEmily Bronte s Hamlet And Wuthering Heights 1307 Words   |  6 Pagesaction of hurting or harming someone in return for an injury or wrong suffered at their hands.† Revenge in Literature The theme of revenge was introduced as a new genre in English theater in the late Elizabethan and early Jacobean eras. The revenge tragedy was founded on the Elizabethan stage with Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy in 1587. This play created the revenge theme in English literature. Then William Shakespeare, influenced by Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, wrote his tragedy, Hamlet (betweenRead MoreElizabethan Era11072 Words   |  45 PagesThe Elizabethan Age is the time period associated with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) and is often considered to be a golden age in English history. It was an age considered to be the height of the English Renaissance, and saw the full flowering of English literature and English poetry. In Elizabethan theater, William Shakespeare, among others, composed and staged plays in a variety of settings that broke away from Englands past style of plays. It was an age of expansion and exploration