Storia della letteratura e autori inglesi

Materie:	Appunti
Categoria:	Letteratura Inglese
Voto:	2 (2)
Download:	235
Data:	06.04.2007
Numero di pagine:	19
Formato di file:	.doc (Microsoft Word)

THE ENGLISH RENAISSEANCE: HISTORY
(1485-1603; volume 1 pagine 98-111)
The first Tudor King was Henry VII:
The nobles were exterminated during the war of the roses as a result and their power was reduce, and so the power of the king was consolidated.
Henry VIII:
His famous because he have six wives, and he formed the Anglican church or church of England.
Henry VIII act of supremacy 1534 separated England from the church of Rome and formed the Anglican church ( the head of that church is King or Queen. )
ACT OF SUPREMACY
Reason:
Henry VIII wanted to divorce his first wife.
Anticlerical resentment against the rich clergy
Effect:
Monasteries were dissolved and their estates annexed by the king.
THE WIFE AND THE CHILDREN OF HENRY VIII

Catherine of Aragon Mary I
Anne Boleyn Elizabeth I
Jane Seymour Edward VI
Henry VIII
Anne of Cleves
Catherine Howard
Catherine Parr

Edward VI:
Sickly child, died early.
Imposed a “book of Common Prayer” conformed to Protestant doctrin.
Mary I:
Wife of Philip II of Spain.
Tired to restore Catholicism, so she persecuted Protestants (Bloody Mary this explains the hatred of Catholicism in English opinion)
Elizabeth I:
Restored the Anglican church.
Her cousin, the Catholic Mary Stuart Queen of Scotland, escaped to England to look for protection, but she was imprisoned and executed by Elizabeth.
Gave impulse to naval expansion war with Spain English victory are the invincible Armata.
The first American colonies were Settled.
ENGLISH RENAISSANCE: LITTERATURE
(Volume 1 pagine 217-222)

HUMANISM
English renaissance
(Elizabeth or Tudor age) INTRODUCTION OF THE SONNET
THEATRE

1. Humanism .
* English illiterate came to Italy to study the classes and they come contact
with Greek and Latin culture.
* Theo centric universe based on man.
* Science was considered independent of religion and so religion lots its predominant role.
* The most important humanist was Francis Bocon (how write Novum Organum), and Thomas More (how write Utopia).
2. The introduce of the sonnet.
* The sonnet invented was Jacopo Da Lentino ( 13™ century)
* English writers found models of inspiration in Petrarchan courtly love
* The Italian sonnet was introduce by Thomas Wyatt the fourteen lines are divided into two quatrains and two triplets.
* The English sonnet was modified by Henry Surrey ) the fourteen lines are divided into three quatrains and a final couplet.
3. Elizabeth Theatre (volume 1 pagine 113-118)
Plautus comedy

1. The models: Terence
2.

Seneca Tragedy
3. Actors:
* Vagrants, placed themselves under the protection of nobleman.
* Roles of women were performed by boys.
* The main company was the LORD CHAMBERLAIN’S MEN (Shakespeare was in this company), later under king James I they changed name in to KING’S MAN.
* Playhouses were circular and they were built around a courtyard with three rows of galleries for those who paid more.
* The apron stage (main action) was covered by roof, jutted out into the courtyard
* The inner stage (behind the apron stage)
* The upper stage (a balcony over the inner stage)
* The globe in London (Shakespeare)
* Performance were done:
* In daylight
* Without scenery (left to the imagination of the public)
* With rich costumes
* All social classes went to theatre
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
(1564-1616; volume 1 pagina 157)
The life of William Shakespeare was divided into three period:
I Was spent in Stratford:
* Born in Stratford-on-Avon
* He was the son of rich merchant
* Little information about his life and his education
* He married Anne Hathoway and they had three children
II Was spent in London:
* Work as an actor-dramatist for lord Chamberlain company and at court
* He became very rich and he bought properties both in London and in Stratford
III He retired to Stratford:
* Where he died
Their works divided into four phases:
I Phase of apprenticeship he drew inspiration from contemporary and classic writers. The most important works he wrote during this period are tragedy “Romeo and Juliet” and the comedy of “Amid summer night’s dream”
II Phase of history plays and light comedies. The history plays celebrated some great king of the past and celebrate the Tudor dynasty. The most important work is “ Henry V ” the light comedy have hall happy ending. The most important are the “ Merchant of Venice ” and “ Twelfth Night ”
III Phase of great tragedies and dark comedies the most important tragedies is “king Lear”, “Hamlet”, “Hotello” and “Macbeth”. The dark comedies have the happy endings, but are pessimistic.
IV Phase of tragicomic romances present a new faith in the natural goodness of man. The most important one is “Tempest”.
III Personality
1. he expressed essence of human experience; the ethical issues presented a universal.
2. he was more interested in the psychological development of characters than is plots.
3. he did not invent the plots of his ploys but he took them from legends.
THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: HISTORY
(1603-1702; vol. 1 pages 226-232)
1603= death of Elisabeth I
1702= death of Queen Anne
JAMES I
James I, son of Mary Stuart of Scotland, started the Stuart dynasty because when Elisabeth I died she had no children. As a result the crowns of England and Scotland were united. James I believed in the divine right of the king and for this reason there were some disagreements between the king and the Commons.
CHARLES I
He wanted to collect taxes without Parliament and he liked Catolicism, so there were disagreements with Parliament and religious controversy; as a result there was a Civil war between Royalists (nobles) and Roundheads (puritans) that ended with the victory of Puritans and their head Cromwell; the king was executed and England became a Commonwealth (this is a republic) from 1649 to 1660.
PURITANS
They wanted:
1. Church purified from Catholic rituals
2. preaching based on the Bible
3. the abolition of the bishop’s power
They belonged to the emerging middle classes and they imposed a rigid way of life.
COMMONWEALTH
The head of Puritan faction and of Commonwealth was Oliver Cromwell that abolished the House of Lords and the Anglican Church and imposed heavy taxation and a rigid way of life, so there was a period of unpopularity.
When Cromwell died, king Charles II was called back from exile in France and this period is called Restoration
CHARLES II
He was influenced by French refinement and allowed people to enjoy the pleasures of life and it was a period of popularity. He restored the Anglican Church but he was attracted to Catolicism, so Parliament was alarmed; in this years the origin of the political parties were founded :
• Tories, the supporters of the King and the Church
• Whigs, the supporters of the Parliament
JAMES II
He gave the Catholic Church the same dignity of Anglican Church and so Parliament offered the crown to King William III of Orange and his wife Mary; it’s the period of the Glorious Revolution. The king and the Queen signed in 1689 the “Bill of Rights” that imposed the supremacy of Parliament over the King: there is the beginning of the constitutional monarchy.

THE AGE OF REVOLUTIONS: LITERATURE
(1625-1702)
Age of Revolution literature can be divided in turn into two period:
* Puritan Age(1625-1660);
* Restoration or first phase of neo-classicism(1660-1702);
Puritan Age
Poets
The poets of this period can be divided into two groups:
THE METAPHISICAL POETS: they use conceits, that are elaborate and intellectual sentences, rich in similes, methaphors and symbols
THE CAVALIER POETS: they are called Royalists because they were on the King’s side during the Civil War; their themes were love and women and the form they used was a classical style, elegant, precise and clear. The most important cavalier poet was Robert Herrick.
Prose
It reflected the conflits of the period; the “Authorised Version” of the Bible was published.
Restoration
Prose
The prose of Restoration reflected the progress of science and inductive reasoning; therewas an interest in philosophy and the most important philosophers of this period were Locke and Hobbes; the language was plain, coincise and utilitarian.
Drama
Since puritan had closed the theatres, because they considered them immoral places, Charles II reopened them
John Donne
(1572-1631 )
He was important metaphysical poet. His life can be divided into three phase:
1. He was born in London and he studied in Oxford
2. He secret marriage ruined his career
3. He was appointed Dean of St. Paul’ s cathedral

Works
1. “Songs and Sonnet”: secular poetry; they expressed the poet’s love for a woman.
2. “Holly sonnets”: religions poetry; the express the poet’s love for God.

Personality
1. He was metaphysical a woman
2. His poems are about himself in relation to
God
Physical passion
3. He considered love a
Spiritual experience
Feeling with intellect
4. He combined
Spirit reason
Colloquial language
5. He used a
Shocking images
John Milton
(1608-1674)
His life can be divided into three period:
1. the first period is the period of youth, studies travels
* he was born in London
* he studied at Cambridge
* he travelled on the continent
2. the second period is the period of political commitment:
* he devoted himself to the puritan cause
* he was appointed Latin secretary by Cromwell
* and finally he became blind
3. the third period is the period of his old age and of retirement:
* the restoration destroyed his political hopes
* so he retired from public life
His works can be divided into three period:
1. In the first period he wrote his early works.
The most important works were “L’allegro” and “Il Pensieroso”
2. In the second period he only wrote prose works, written to support Cromwell.
We can remember “Areopagitica”, a defence the liberty of the press. “The doctrine and discipline of divorce”, in favour of the dissolution of marriage.
3. In the third period he wrote great works.
He wrote the “Paradise Lost” epic poem divided into twelve lads; it deals with Adam and Eva’s disobedience to God and the angel’s rebellion and fall. Satan is the principle of evil but he is presented as a fascinating hero.
His personality can be divided into four parts:
1. he took an active part in the political events of his time.
2. his works represent the climax of English renaissance infect in the humanistic culture mingles with the religious principles of the protestant reformation.
3. he employed both classical and biblical themes.
4. his style is highly refined, modelled Latin.
THE AGE OF CHANGE
(1702-1798; vol 1, pagina 248-288)
Queen Anne :
* Involvement in the war of Spanish Succession new colonies and share in the slave trade.
* Union of England and Scotland (1707)
George I and George II :
* Started the Hanover dynasty.
* Were German left decisions to the council of minister and prime minister ( Robert Walpole, William Pit the Elder )
William Pit the Elder :
* Made the British Navy stronger
* Seven years’ war Britain gained Canada and India
George III :
* Taxation duties increased American colonies rebelled declaration of independence of the USA
* French revolution and Napoleonic Wars
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
(1760-1840 ; vol 1 pagina 301-308 )
Changes:
* New sources of power: coal steam engine
* Technological inventions: machine to make the process faster
* Factory system mass production
* Improvement in transport: railways, canals
Improvements:
* Agriculture enclosure rotation of crops
* Changes in the distribution of wealth shift in economic power
* International trade
* Growth in cities
* Birth of working-class movement
Effects:
* Empire overseas trade Britain was the most powerful nation in the world
* Increase in the gap between the rich and the poor
* Shift of population from rural areas to towns
THE AGE OF CHANGE : LETTERATURE
(vol 1, pagine 404-410)
The Augustan Age:
Augustan Literature:
* Classicism perfection of form, decorum and clarity of language
* Reason of emphasised Enlightenment
Journalism:
* Richard Steel and Joseph Addison the Tatler and the Spectator
Novels:
* Based on real life
* Set in a well-identifiable context
* Characters: real people described in their daily routines
* Plot: convincing, real
* Language: fluent, direct and clear
* Readers: members of middle class and woman
Poetry:
* Reference to the ancient classical period public and didactic aim
* Language: formal
* Genres: satire and pastoral
Pre-romanticism(1760-1798)
To play in the second part of eighteen century
Poetry:
* The object of poetry were sensibility, individual feelings and imagination
* Then per-romanticism poets interesting in the spontaneous, irrational aspect of life
* The subject of poetry were: gloomy landscapes, graves, melancholic thoughts on suffering and death
* The most important work were: T. Gray’s elegy written in country churchyard; and J. Macpherson’s Works of Ossian.
The most important Gothic Novel was Mary Godwin’s Frankenstein
DANIEL DEFOE
(1660-1731)
His life can be divide into three parts:
1- He was born in London and he was brought up in the vales of the protestant ethic.
2- He travelled on the Continent.
3- He took up commerce but he foiled so he was imprisoned.
His works can be divided into two period:
1- He wrote ROBINSON CRUSOE: adventures of a shipwrecked sailor on a desert island.
2- The second most important novel is MOLL FLANDERS, is a daunt autobiography of a prostitute.
Personality:
1- In his work he gave impression of reality and conveyed a moral teaching.
2- His characters use intelligence to improve their conditions.
3- His novels represents the optimistic celebration of the middle class: protestant capitalistic ethic.
4- His novels are write in the first person and are centred on one main character.
Jonathan Swift
(1667 -1745; pagina 333)
I. Life:
* He was born in Ireland and he study in Dublin.
* Then he want to England to work as a secretary.
* Then he return in Dublin and he became a priest.
* He suffer from vertigo and he died insane.
II. Works:
His most important work is “Gulliver’s travels” it’s a novel which tells adventures of surgeon in:
* Lilliput, the land of microscopic people;
* Brobdingnag, the land in giants;
* Laputa, Flying island and Lagad, the land of mod scientists;
* Land of the Houyhnhnms, rational horses that reduce human beings, called yahoos, to the level of a degraded race.
III. Personality:
* He was a misanthrope and butter pessimist.
* In his works he attacked the faults and vices of human beings.
Lawrence Stern
(1713-1768; pagina 372)
I. Life:
-He was born in Ireland.
-He graduated at Cambridge and became vicar.
-He suffered from tuberculosis so he went to France and Italy to recover.
II. Works:
-“Tristan shandy”: is a stronger novel composed of detached episodes full of reflections and digression centred on the narrator’s thoughts associations of ideas.
-“A sentinel journey through France and Italy”: is a travel book, translated into Italian by Ugo Foscolo.
III. Personality:
-He gave more important to psychological time that is interior of thought than to chronological time.
-He was influenced by Lake’s theory of irrational associations of ideas.
-He moved away from the rational principles of the Enlightenment and stressed feeling and sensibility.

Thomas Gray
(1716-1771; pagina 397)
I. Life:
* He was born in London
* He traveled on the continent
* He spent a quiet life
II. Works and personalità
* He wrote the elegy written in country churchyard wich inspired Foscolo’s “sepolcri”
* He anticipaited the romantic movement
* His tames were the feelings for poor, humble people and poetry’s sense solitude
* His language were classical and elevated

THE ROMANTIC PERIOD: HISTORY
(1798-1837)
It started in 1798 with the publication of the “Lyrical ballads”, a collection of poets and finished in 1837 when Victoria became queen. During the romantic period George III was the king. During his reign two important events took place: the declaration of independence of the usa and the French revolution.
French Revolution:
Poet and the intellectuals saw it as the triumph of truth and light.
William Pit the Younger:
He introduced a financial reform
He reduced corruption and taxed luxuries
He was the prime minister
He believed in free trade, since he followed the liberal theories of Adam Smith
Reaction to the Revolution:
In UK there was social unrest with riots and protest followed by Pitt’s repression.
After the Napoleonic Wars:
Britain strengthened its power all over the world and withdrew from interference on the continent maintaining a policy of neutrality.
Corn Caws:
Put a high duty on imported corn. As a result bread became expensive and this caused riots and repression.
Political groups:
In parliament there were three political groups:
The Whigs: they were in favour of moderate change (later liberal party).
Tories: they were in favour of no changes. (later conservative party).
Radicals: they wanted social and electoral reform.
First reform bill:
It enlarged the right to vote so the middle classes acquired power and seats in Parliament were redistributed in favour of industrial towns.
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD: LITERATURE
Romanticism: it was an European movement which represent new intellectual and artistic climate. It’s the free expression of feeling and emotions.
Origin: are founded in Rousseau, he thought that society is bad and nature is good. In Sturm und Drang (German literary movement), German idealism with its aspiration towards the Absolute, the infinite.
Romanticism is opposed to Augustan age: Augustan age believed in reason while Romanticism believed in imagination. According to neoclassical writer art was an imitation while in Romanticism was a free inspiration In Augustan age man and society were considered immutable, while in Romanticism they continually change.
Reason for change:
The great revolutions (American and French).
Because of the impact of the industrial revolution there was new interest in nature which often pantheism.
Imagination was the most important human faculty.
Middle ages were revaluing as origin of national identity and national literature.
The romanticism loved old stories and had taste for exotic and supernatural.
Poets:
The romantic poets were divided into two periods:
First generation of poets:
They showed enthusiasm for the French Revolution, but they became conservative in their long lives.
They thought poet’s task was the provide a deeper vision of life, so they have a didactic aim.
The two most important poets were W. Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge.
Second generation of poets:
They had short lives.
They went away from England and died abroad.
They consider poetry a refuge from disappointing reality.
They were revolutionist and opposed contemporary society and the institutions set up by the congress of Vienna.
The poets belonged to the second generation were: Byron, Shelly and Keats.
Lyrical Ballads:
Were published in 1798.The starting point of English romanticism.
Wordsworth described everyday situations by means of a simple language used by common people.
Coleridge described supernatural events by means of a figurative language full of archaic forms.
Prose: Novels: the Gothic Vogue continued, the first important writer was Scott who wrote historical novels and had international reputation. The second poet was Austen, he observed human nature with deep psychological insight.
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
(1770 – 1850 ; volume 2 pagina 39 – 53)
I. Life
* He was born in lake district of Cumberland
* He studied at Cambridge
* He went to France and supported the French revolution
* Back to England; he met Coleridge and they travelled on continent
* He was poeting “poet laureate”; and he became conservative.
II. Works
* He wrote “Lyrical Ballads” whit Coleridge
* The “The prelude” is a long autobiography meditative poem
* “poems in two volumes” is a collection of his last works
III. Personality
* Religious cult of nature. He consider nature o source of inspiration and a moral guide.
* Uncorrupted child remembers his divine origin close to god.
* The origin of poetry is an emotion recollected in tranquillity an emotion is contemplated until the tranquillity produces a new emotion, which is purified reflection of the first one.
* Object: description of nature, poet’s feeling and poor, humble country people.
* The language he employed: everyday, really spoken by humble people, but refined and purified.
* Role of the poet: to instruct; poetry should have a moral purpose.
* “theory of the three ages”:
* Childhood: when the child is close to god.
* Youth and maturity: the author closes the sense of the divine but con perceive god in nature.
SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE
Life:
* He studied in London and at Cambridge but he didn’t take a degree.
* He met Wordsworth they went together in Germany idealism.
* Eh suffered of ill-health and depression so he began to take opium to relive his pain and he became opium addict.
Works:
* “Lyrical Ballads”
* “Demoniac poems”: mystery and supernatural events. The most important ones is “the rime of the Ancient Mariner”, “Kubla Klan”
* “The meditative poems”: familiar, intimate feelings.
* “Biographie Literaria” philosophical prose work.
Personality:
* He was attracted by strange, supernatural events, suspended in a dream like atmosphere.
* He used a figurative language, full of archaic forms.
* Coleridge theorised willing suspension of disbelief that means suppression of the rational process of reasoning, but which the reader is enable to understand incredible dream like stories.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLY
Life:
* He was born in Sussex.
* He studied at Eaton on oxford, but he was expelled after having published “the necessity of atheism”.
* After his wife’s suicide he married Mary Godwin.
* He moved to Italy and settled at Pisa.
* He drowned during a boat trip near Lerici.
Work:
* In the first phase, spent in England, he wrote his early works: “queen Mob”, a prophetic poem which presents religion and morality as causes of social evil.
* In the second phase, spent in Italy, he wrote his great odes and lyrical: “Ode to the west wind”.
Personality:
* He was a revolutionist, an atheist. He rebelled against the social political and religious institutions of his country and he hoped in radical transformation of society.
* The poet is prophet who awakes mankind and guides it towards renewal, justice and beauty.
* He was influenced by the philosophy of Plato. He imagined a world of ideal beauty and justice, opposed to the everyday world of oppression and injustice. Natural object are symbols of a spiritual world.
JOHN KEATS
(1795 – 1821)
I. Life:
* He was born in London.
* He soon last both his parents.
* He trained for medical profession.
* He was affected by tuberculosis, so he comes to Italy to recover, but he died in Rome.
II. Works:
* “The Eve of St. Agnes”, that is a long narrative poem set in the Middle Ages.
* The Great Odes: “to a Nightingale”; “on a Grecian Urn”; “An Melancholy”; “to Autumn”), which present a conflict between the real and the ideal, and desire to escape from the world of change and decoy by means of art.
III. Personality:
* His family tragedies and his illness mode him conscious of death from an early age.
* He escaped from reality and sought inspiration in ancient Greece and in the middle age.
* He opposed the shostress and fragility of life, to the permanence of everlasting art.
* Function of art is to stop time forever at a perfect moment to preserve beauty.
* He was influenced by Platonism: in his opinion imagination is superior to perception.
* He employed a musical dignified, sensual language.
* He theorised the “Negative Capability”; the ability to experience life without imposing one’s personality, on it.
THE VICTORIAN AGE
(1837-1901)
Political Parties:
* The conservative party which represented the old aristocracy and was for the maintenance of existing institutions and for the consolidation of colonial empire. The most important prime minister was Benjamin Disraeli.
* The liberal party represented the manufacturing classes and was for free trade. The most important liberal prime minister was William Gladstone.
Riots by factory and farm workers how asked for better wages and better living condition, this led the people’s charter which asked for universal male suffrage and parliamentary reform, this movement later inspired the trade unions.
Second reform Bill which enlarged to right to vote.
In economy the Victorian governments pursue a policy of lassez - faire. That is a free and competition.
An important definition is Victorian compromise: hypocrisy; under a surface of order and respectability this period concealed unsolved conflicts and contradictions.
During this period the British Empire consolidated, the British built ports and railways, raw material were carried from colonies to Britain, finished products were exported from Britain to colonies, since the empire not easy to control there was change from colonies to dominions that is autonomous was communities.
THE VICTORIAN AGE: LITERATURE
* The Victorian age took the name from Queen Victorian and associated with the middle class principles of confidence, progress, stability, power and hypocrisy.
* The most important genre was the novel there was a consistent number of writers. They were the expression of every ideal of the period and about all the expression of the needs of the middle classes.
* The reason for the increase in the reading public there were the spread of education among lower classes, the cost of novels decreased, people could borrow volumes from circulating libraries. Books were published by instalments.
* The subject matter of fiction was domestic and family life and marriage there was moral code condemning sexual corruption.
* We can divided Victorian fiction in two periods:
* Early Victorians identified themselves with their age;
* While the Late Victorians criticised their age.
THE AESTHETIC MOVEMENT
(vol. 2; pag. 338-339)
* Origins: Keats’ cult of beauty, French symbolism.
* Principles:
* Cult of beauty and contrast art – life.
* Art for art’s sake: art has no moral implications (rebellion against Victorian mentality)
* Craving for sensations, excess, the exotic, the strange.
* Language: musical symbolic.
CHARLES DICKENS
(1812-1817; volume 2 pagina 222-224)
I. Life:
* He was born near Portsmouth.
* His father was imprisoned for debt, so he went to work in blocking factory.
* He continued studying, became a clerk then a journalist and a parliamentary reporter.
II. Works:
* The first group of novels ( before 1850 ), are full of melodramatic situations meant to move the readers to tears; the plots are complicated the characters are caricatures; in the end the good are rewarded while the wicked are published. “Oliver Twist”, is about the adventures of a founding in the world of crime. “David Copperfield”, is about a young man who overcomes suffering.
* In the second group of novels ( after 1850 ). Dickens denounced the evils of Victorian England. The most important book is “Hard times” shows industrial society.
III. Personality:
* Plots: confused, he wrote rapidly and published his works by instalments in magazines.
* His characters are not realistic, they are either good or bad and so tend to be caricatures.
* He had a sentimental humanitarian attitude towards human and social problems; he showed sympathy for the victims of life and society.
* He criticized the evils of Victorian society but he never questioned the basic volues of his time.
* He wrote in a simple, realistic, humorous way.
THE BRONTE SISTERS
Life:
- Charlotte and Emily Bronte were born and lived in Yorkshire, daughters of a curate
- Their mother died so they were brought up by an Aunt and educated at home
- They went to Brussels to study French and German
- Back to England Emily died of consumption and Charlotte got married but died in childbirth
Works:
- Charlotte: “Jane Eyre”, a novel about Jane’s love for Mr. Rochester, a married man, full of mysterious suggestions.
- Emily: “Wuthering Heights”, story of the passionate, unhappy life of Heath cliff and Catherine, and of Heath cliff’s terrible revenge on those who mistreated him when he was a child. It is an allegory of the relationship between the earthly and the divine levels of being. The description of the forces of Nature is romantically linked to men’s feeling and actions.
Personality (Emily):
* She had an independent spirit and she lived alone in a world of imaginary passion
* She had a deep love for nature, especially for the wild moors of Yorkshire, where she set her novel
* “Wuthering Heights” represent the persistence of romantic spirit in the Victorian novel, since it is an exploration of the characters’ emotions and feelings
THOMAS HARDY
(1840-1928)
I. LIFE:
* He was born in Dorset
* He received a limited education at a local school and continued studying by himself
* He went to London to study architecture, but he abandoned it for literature
II. WORKS:
* “Tess of the D’Urbervilles” story of a young woman bed to death by fate and by Victorian moral attitude.
* “Jude the Obscure”, story of poor Young man who, after an unsuccessful marriage, passed to a scandalous love affair.
III. PERSONALITY:
* His novels are set in the countryside and show the decline of agricultural society caused by the industrial Revolution; this caused a loss of identity and harmony in individuals.
* A fatalistic pessimism is present in his works; the indifference of nature and universe and the presence of blind, cruel fate are responsible for people’s sufferings and unhappiness. (Influenced of Schopenhauer’s philosophy)
* His books criticised Victorian social conventions and hypocrisy.
OSCAR WILDE
(1854-1900)
I. LIFE:
* He was born in Dublin
* He attended Oxford University then he settled in London
* He got married but he established a homosexual relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas
* After a teal for immoral practices, he was sent to two year’s hard labour
* He left prison completely ruined; he lived in Paris until his death
II. WORKS:
* “The picture of Dorian Gray”, that is the story of handsome young man who his soul for youth.
* Comedies: “the importance of being Earnest”; which make fun of upper class and have brilliant dialogues.
III. PERSONALITY:
* He was eccentric aesthete, how shocked Victorian morality.
* He consider art separate from morality and superior to life.
* In his opinion the task of the artist was to cultivate beauty and give aesthetic pleasure.
* His language is brilliant, full of paradoxes and aphorisms.

1