...ASSIGNMENT MODERNIST SHORT STORY Submitted By: Steffy Johnson 11/PELA/026 INTRODUCTION Modernist literature is the literary expression of the tendencies of Modernism, especially High modernism. Modernistic art and literature normally revolved around the idea of individualism, mistrust of institutions mainly government and religion, and the disbelief of any absolute truths. Modernism as a literary movement reached its height in Europe between 1900 and the middle 1920s. Modernist literature addressed to aesthetic problems and can be viewed largely in terms of its formal, stylistic and semantic movement away from Romanticism, examining subject matter that is traditionally mundane. It often features a marked pessimism, a clear rejection of the optimism apparent in Victorian literature. It attempted to move from the bonds of Realist literature and to introduce concepts such as disjointed timelines. Modernism as a literary movement is seen, in large part, as a reaction to the emergence of city life as a central force in society. Furthermore, an early attention to the object as freestanding became in later Modernism a preoccupation with form. Modernist writers were more acutely conscious of the objectivity of their surroundings. The most prominent modernist authors are: T. S. Eliot, W. B. Yeats, Virginia Woolf, James Joyce, D. H. Lawrence, E. M. Forster, Ernest Hemingway, Joseph Conrad, Franz Kafka, Knut Hamsun, Gertrude Stein, Mikhail Bulgakov, MarcelProust, John Steinbeck...
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...The Romantics: Romantic poets view of nature range from spiritual to love. In many poems the description of God is expressed through animals that, such as the lamb, which would represent man as His flock. In some cases the role of nature is a meaningful way to express the human condition. It was also a way to relay a belief or express their thoughts, to carry them to the reader. Nature can be used to express all things to all men. William Blake used the lamb as well as the Tyger to express his views of God, good and evil. He also used it as a way to show his displeasure of the things that were happening in his time. “Little Lamb I’ll tell thee! He is called by thy name, For he calls himself a Lamb; He is meek & he is mild; He became a little child; I a child & thou a lamb, we are called by his name.” (Greenblatt, S., 2012, page 120). This expressed that Jesus was the lamb and that we are also so in his name. He was also expressing the treatment of children during this time. He was using nature as symbols and to show that we are all lambs of God and should be treated well. Wordsworth also spoke of nature he as well as Blake used images and patterns to express their emotions, imagination, and identity. In Lines Written in Early Spring, he speaks of the beauty yet still feels saddened and melancholy. He uses the beauty to express his sadness and the dark thoughts of what is happening in the world. This provides an amazing contrast. “The budding twigs spread out their fan, To catch...
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...Lola Bunny Dr. Michael English 2301.01 10 December 2002 Negotiating Death Now and Later: Humanism, Eternity, and Milton's "Two-Handed Engine" Lines 108-131 of "Lycidas" have been disputed for over three centuries, and the debate over the meaning of Milton's "two-handed engine" is still far from over. 1 I join here the seemingly illimitable number of readers who propose a solution to lines 130-131, and I argue that we need go no further than the poem itself to discover that Milton has in mind the Pilot's keys. My aim will be, first, to foreground the combined Christian and humanistic feature which informs the unity of the work. Then I propose a clear identification of the speaker in the passage. A number of unsatisfactory interpretations begin with a misunderstanding of who the "dread voice" really is, and smoking him out will, I hope, enable us to derive from Milton's other poetry and prose the most likely meaning he would have attached, within the context of the poem, to a "two-handed engine." The Pilot of the Gallilean Lake passage is, after all, a series of lines whose context begs to be situated; it deliberately invites a close reading of its structure. Even so, we shall see that the passage does not at all cloak itself in mystery. The reason for the sudden appearance of the disruptive "dread voice," coming as it does about three-fourths of the way into a pastoral elegy, has occupied critics who struggle to account for the unity of the poem. Cleanth...
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...Tractor Poem Analysis The poem “Tractor” is written by Ted Hughes is literally about a tractor. The season is winter and the man is trying to start the tractor but is unable to do so because of the weather. Eventually, the man is able to start the tractor. However, while reading it further, this poem seems to be telling us that with determination, man can overcome many problems no matter how tough the problem is, using nature as a form of trouble to humans. Moreover, it also tells us that the journey to solving the problem is difficult. This poem is in nine stanzas, where the first four stanzas describe the process of starting up the tractor while the last five stanzas, describe how the tractor finally starts up and rejoices. The poet personifies the tractor and uses contrast to bring about its theme in the poem. Firstly, the narrative point of view poet uses a first person narrative viewpoint, which creates an impression of irritation and anger that the poet has towards the tractor. This helps us to understand the emotions of the persona towards the tractor. Firstly, he uses “I stare at it in hatred”. The emotion ‘hatred’ is a passionate feeling of anger, and the ‘stare’ tells us that it is extremely irritated by the reluctance of the tractor start as it ‘defied’ the narrator. This phrase tells us that the persona is facing a lot of difficulty, causing him to feel hatred towards the tractor. Additionally, the poet uses “I squirt commercial sure-fire down the black throat”....
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...6/9/13 10 - A History of English Literature Classic Literature Read about A History of English Literature. More E-texts A History of English Literature 1918 by Robert Huntington Fletcher Education Share Preface | How to Study | Tabular View | Chapters: 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | Assignments Chapter X. Period VIII. The Romantic Triumph, 1798 To About 1830 The Great Writers of 1798-1830 | Samuel Taylor Coleridge | William Wordsworth | Robert Southey | Walter Scott | Last Group of Romantic Poets | Percy Bysshe Shelley | John Keats | Summary | Lesser Writers | THE GREAT WRITERS OF 1798-1830. THE CRITICAL REVIEWS. As we look back to-day over the literature of the last three quarters of the eighteenth century, here just surveyed, the progress of the Romantic Movement seems the most conspicuous general fact which it presents. But at the, death of Cowper in 1800 the movement still remained tentative and incomplete, and it was to arrive at full maturity only in the work of the great writers of the following quarter century, who were to create the finest body of literature which England had produced since the Elizabethan period. All the greatest of these writers were poets, wholly or in part, and they fall roughly into two groups: first, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, and Walter Scott; and second, about twenty years younger, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and John Keats. This period of Romantic Triumph, or of the...
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...MODERN BRITISH LITERATURE (c. 1900 to 1950) READING LIST Please note that there are two lists below. The first is the full list with the core readings in bold; the second is the core list separated out. You are responsible for all core readings and may incorporate readings from the full list into your tailored list. Unless otherwise noted, selections separated by commas indicate all works students should know. A. FICTION Beckett, Samuel. One of the following: Murphy, Watt, Molloy Bennett, Arnold. Clayhanger Bowen, Elizabeth. The Heat of the Day Butler, Samuel. The Way of All Flesh Chesterton, G.K. The Man Who Was Thursday Conrad, Joseph. Heart of Darkness AND one of: Lord Jim, The Secret Agent, Nostromo, Under Western Eyes Ford, Ford Madox. The Good Soldier Forster, E. M. Howards End, A Passage to India (plus the essays “What I Believe” and “The Challenge of Our Times” in Two Cheers for Democracy) Galsworthy, John. The Man of Property Greene, Graham. One of: Brighton Rock, The Power and the Glory, The Heart of the Matter Huxley, Aldous. Brave New World Joyce, James. Dubliners, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Ulysses Kipling, Rudyard. Kim Lawrence, D. H. Two of: Sons and Lovers, Women in Love, The Rainbow, The Plumed Serpent Lewis, Wyndham. Tarr, manifestos in BLAST 1 Mansfield, Katherine. “Prelude,” “At the Bay,” “The Garden Party,” “The Daughters of the Late Colonel” (in Collected Stories) Orwell, George. 1984 (or Aldous Huxley, Brave New World) Wells, H. G. One of the...
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...Child labour in British Literature Child labour is very popular topic and motif in British Literature. Many famous authors base their novels on this term. Industrialisation led to a dramatic increase in child labour. Children were working in factories and mines what was very exhausted and dangerous. Child labour was not an invention of the Industrial Revolution. Poor children have always started work as soon as their parents could find employment for them. But in much of pre-industrial Britain, there simply was not very much work available for children. This changed with industrialisation. The new factories and mines were hungry for workers and required the execution of simple tasks that could easily be performed by children. The result was a surge in child labour – presenting a new kind of problem that Victorian society had to tackle. Research has shown that the average age at which children started work in early 19th- century Britain was 10 years old, but that this varied widely between regions. In industrial areas, children started work on average at eight and a half years old. Most of these young workers entered the factories as piecers, standing at the spinning machines repairing breaks in the thread. A few started as scavengers, crawling beneath the machinery to clear it of dirt, dust or anything else that might disturb the mechanism. In the mines, children usually started by minding the trap doors, picking out coals at the pit mouth, or by...
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...11 The Interwar Years 13 British Postwar Literature 19 Conclusion 27 References 29 Introduction The 20th century seems to be the most dramatic and unique: it witnessed two world wars and great social, economic and political changes. All this events could not but find their reflection in the arts in general and in the literature in particular. The urgency of the work is determined by the complexity of the period considered and variety of forms and trends which appeared during the century. The object of the project is British literature. The aim of the project is to consider the peculiarities and distinct features of the British literature of the 20th century. In order to gain the project’s aim, during its implementation the following practical issues were studied: - the most distinguished writers of the period; - their contribution to development of the British literature; - key topics. The project’s aim and issues considered predetermined the choice of methods of research. During the project’s implementation the following methods were used: critical survey of the sources on the issue considered, as well as comparison and analysis. Theoretical value of the project is constituted by the analysis of the peculiarities and distinct features of the British literature of the 20th century. Practical value of the project is predetermined by the possibility to use it in practice in courses of world and British history and literature. The project’s aim and issues...
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...Institution Instructor Course Date British Literature Shakespeare’s king Lear King Lear, by William Shakespeare is a tragedy. The title depicts a character, who descents into madness mainly after he disposes of his important estate between his two daughters, but neglects one of his three daughters. His choice if purely caused by the flattery of two of his three daughters between whom he disposes of his estate. His decision ultimately becomes tragic consequences, which affects his entire family (Sparknotes.com). King Lear is a play, which talks of the legend of Britain Leir. The Leir of Britain was a pre-Roman Celtic king who was mythological. With respect to this book, Shakespeare seems to write primarily to bring readers to philosophy. He seems to give them a chance to participate in the play as if they are involved. His plays seem to reveal that fundamental human questions are entrenched within ordinary human experiences. In the case of King Lear, Shakespeare brings family squabbles, turmoil, madness, and other unethical behaviors that contribute to family breakage and conflicts in the society. In the play, King Lear is elderly and wishes to retire from his power. He thus wants to divide his estate among all his three daughters. His way of dividing the realm is done on conditions such as whoever loves him the most gets the largest share. This promise becomes the main source of the problem since two of his daughters structure some cunning mechanisms to win the kings promise...
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...The roots of American literature may differ with relation to what cultures you consider to be of the first “Americans.” Before the establishment of British and other European colonies in the Americas, there were only various tribes of Native Americans. While the Natives focused on the “big picture” of life and nature, the introduction of other ideas by European Pilgrims began to alter and reshape what has come to be known as the literature of the time. During the period of time before the United States became a country in itself, society slowly shifted from a “big picture” mindset, to a slightly smaller and local mindset. Continuing along with the problems arising throughout history, works of American writing began to reflect combatants, as well as pushers, of slavery. Minimizing the focus of the issues of the time to a much more personal aspect, individualism takes a strong hold on the minds of the educated individual. Throughout the time period from the beginnings of literature, maintained as oral tradition, all the way to written and widely distributed novels, storytelling has continued to provide an...
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...I was in your British Literature class first period my junior year (2011-2012). In this class, I showed my responsibility my completing all my homework, always coming to class on time, completing make up work in a timely manner, and asking for help whenever it was needed. In your class, I was always engaged and learned quickly about different ideas that you covered as the year went along. I was always a willing participant and tried my best to contribute to class discussions by raising my hand respectfully. In your class, I am very proud of my academic accomplishments that I have achieved. Your class has enhanced my understanding of different aspects of literature by assigning several discussions and projects. The class started out in fall 2011with the short research paper on the British literary history from the 1600’s to modern era. I was very proud of the research paper, since I had learned many new things during this project about authors and their books. In addition, I enjoyed discussing classics such as Dorian Gray in my BLBC groups. My favorite one, however, was The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follet. The book’s plot was rich with action and suspense, which inspired me to read it even more. Analyzing characters in the The Pillars of the Earth with the group was extremely helpful to my comprehension of the book. Furthermore, throughout the year, we had to present on several ideas and themes, which included two different types of sonnets, stories and plays. Presenting helped...
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...Writing has been in existence for thousands of years. Older pieces of writing hold insight into the past and carry messages the writers wanted to immortalize and save for future generations. Older pieces of writing may seem outdated and obsolete because humans now live in a new era; however, human nature does not change meaning that the messages of any piece of writing are important and relevant. The struggle against fate has been a theme in literature and storytelling for millenniums, from the Greek myths with their tragic heroes to 1984 and Nectar in a Sieve. These pieces of writing that contain such timeless messages are worthy of being known as literature and include works such as 1984, Nectar in a Sieve, and the Bible. The efforts people...
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..."I am a student at the University of Kansas studying English and American Studies, and this may be a bit unorthodox, but I wanted to say that your book Writing Essays About Literature was one of the best books I have ever read in the world of academia! I am taking a Critical Theory class, and we were assigned only the first 55 pages, but I really could not put the book down. Your writing is magnificent, and I am constantly referring to the book when writing papers. You have done a brilliant job making essay-writing easy, structured, and actually enjoyable!" - Lauren Gaylor, University of Kansas "Katherine O. Acheson's Writing Essays About Literature is a concise, fully portable and very well-priced guide that gets it right. Acheson's emphasis on inductive reasoning is wonderfully refreshing. It really helps English professors persuade their students to argue from the specific to the general, to found their arguments on the details of evidence and on the careful—and affectively sensitive—analysis of that evidence. And the very best thing about this book is that Acheson's casual and unassuming prose style makes students want to read it. And they do. And then they bring it to class!" - Glenn Clark, University of Manitoba "For those of us interested in teaching writing through literature, Katherine O. Acheson's guide is an indispensable companion, teaching students that writing is more about process and less about imagined giftedness. The book begins by teaching students how...
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...In dual credit British literature, I learned about the differences that society has made between the times of old English to a more modern time period. William Shakespeare was a man of tragedy and romance, and because of this he is a well-known poet and playwright. Shakespeare had a way of using words to set a scene and describe characters that made him unique to his and our society at large. It is in this way that he will continue to be remembered, but he is not the only storyteller of old English times. Whether it is Beowulf, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, or the Canterbury tales, whether it is a story, an epic, or a poem, or whether it is romantic or a tragedy, society has changed from its barbaric root and literature has played a big part in doing it. As William Shakespeare quoted in in his play As You Like It, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts”. People in modern society have the ability to achieve much more than Shakespeare ever could; making the possibilities of the life we choose to live a very broad spectrum. Literature has shaped society by informing people of how life had been and making others think about how to change for the better. Information and choices have helped make our...
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...To give an insight into society and humanity whilst still being aesthetically interesting and thought provoking is a feat that only the best of classic literature can accomplish. Dracula, by Bram Stoker (1897) and The Picture of Dorian Gray, by Oscar Wilde (1893) are such novels and they both reveal different aspects of life in the Victorian era. Whilst Stoker’s writing affirms the ideas of British supremacy in technology as well as the fear of foreigners, Wilde’s writing sheds light on the superficial nature and decaying morals of people in the era. With the aid of language techniques such as imagery, descriptive language and gothic style both texts are an aesthetic read and provoke thought as they both subvert ideas readers may already have...
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