ïżŒLiterary Theory and Criticism
A Brief History of English Literature
ïżŒÂ Nasrullah Mambrol
2 years ago
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CHAPTER 1
OLD ENGLISH LITERATURE
The Old English language or Anglo-Saxon is the earliest form of English. The period is a long one and it is generally considered that Old English was spoken from about A.D. 600 to about 1100. Many of the poems of the period are pagan, in particular Widsith and Beowulf.
The greatest English poem, Beowulf is the first English epic. The author of Beowulf is anonymous. It is a story of a brave young man Beowulf in 3182 lines. In this epic poem, Beowulf sails to Denmark with a band of warriors to save the King of Denmark, Hrothgar.  Beowulf saves Danish King Hrothgar from a terrible monster called Grendel. The mother of Grendel who sought vengeance for the death of her son was also killed by Beowulf. Beowulf was rewarded and became King. After a prosperous reign of some forty years, Beowulf slays a dragon but in the fight he himself receives a mortal wound and dies. The poem concludes with the funeral ceremonies in honour of the dead hero. Though the poem Beowulf is little interesting to contemporary readers, it is a very important poem in the Old English period because it gives an interesting picture of the life and practices of old days.
The difficulty encountered in reading Old English Literature lies in the fact that the language is very different from that of today. There was no rhyme in Old English poems. Instead they used alliteration.
Besides Beowulf, there are many other Old English poems. Widsith, Genesis A, Genesis B, Exodus, The Wanderer, The Seafarer, Wifeâs Lament, Husbandâs Message, Christ and Satan, Daniel, Andreas, Guthlac, The Dream of the Rood, The Battle of Maldon etc. are some of the examples.
Two important figures in Old English poetry are Cynewulf and Caedmon. Cynewulf wrote religious poems and the four poems, Juliana, The Fates of the Apostles, Christ and Elene are always credited with him. Caedmon is famous for his Hymn.
Alfred enriched Old English prose with his translations especially Bedeâs Ecclesiastical History. Aelfric is another important prose writer during Old English period. He is famous for his Grammar, Homilies and Lives of the Saints.Aelfricâs prose is natural and easy and is very often alliterative.
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CHAPTER 2
Middle English Literature
Geoffrey Chaucer
Poet Geoffrey Chaucer was born circa 1340 in London, England. In 1357 he became a public servant to Countess Elizabeth of Ulster and continued in that capacity with the British court throughout his lifetime. The Canterbury Tales became his best known and most acclaimed work. He died in 1400 and was the first to be buried in Westminster Abbeyâs Poetâs Corner.
Chaucerâs first major work was âThe Book of the Duchessâ, an elegy for the first wife of his patron John of Gaunt. Other works include âParlement of Foulesâ, âThe Legend of Good Womenâ and âTroilus and Criseydeâ. In 1387, he began his most famous work, âThe Canterbury Talesâ, in which a diverse group of people recount stories to pass the time on a pilgrimage to Canterbury.
William Langland,  (born c. 1330âdied c. 1400), presumed author of one of the greatest examples of Middle English alliterative poetry, generally known as Piers Plowman, an allegorical work with a complex variety of religious themes. One of the major achievements of Piers Plowman is that it translates the language and conceptions of the cloister into symbols and images that could be understood by the layman. In general, the language of the poem is simple and colloquial, but some of the authorâs imagery is powerful and direct.
Morality plays, Miracle plays, and Interlude
Morality play is an allegorical drama popular in Europe especially during the 15th and 16th centuries, in which the characters personify moral qualities (such as charity or vice) or abstractions (as death or youth) and in which moral lessons are taught. Morality plays typically contain a protagonist who represents either humanity as a whole or a smaller social structure. Supporting characters are personifications of good and evil. This alignment of characters provides the playâs audience with moral guidance. Morality plays are the result of the dominant belief of the time period, that humans had a certain amount of control over their post-death fate while they were on earth. Example is Everyman.
Miracle plays (mystery plays) were stories taken from the Bible. Each play had four or five different scenes or acts. The priests and monks were the actors. Each scene or act was preformed at a different place in town and the people moved from one stage to the next to watch the play. The play usually ended outside the church so that the people would go to church and hear a sermon after watching the play.
Another kind of play, the Interlude was performed at court or at âgreat housesâ by professional minstrels or amateurs at intervals between some other entertainment, such as a banquet, or preceding or following a play, or between acts. John Heywood, one of the most famous interlude writers, brought the genre to perfection in his Four P-s
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CHAPTER 3
ELIZABEHAN POETRY AND PROSE
After the death of Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400, a century has gone without great literary outputs. This period is known as Barren Age of literature.
Even though there are many differences in their work, Sir Thomas Wyatt and the Earl of Surrey are often mentioned together. Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced the Sonnet in England whereas Surrey wrote the first blank verse in English.
Thomas Wyatt followed the Italian poet Petrarch to compose sonnets. In this form, the 14 lines rhyme abbaabba (8) + 2 or 3 rhymes in the last sex lines.
The Earl of Surreyâs blank verse is remarkable. Christopher Marlow, Sakespeare, Milton and many other writers made use of it.
Tottelâs Songs and Sonnets (1557) is the first printed anthology of English poetry. It contained 40 poems by Surrey and 96 by Wyatt. There were 135 by other authors. Some of these poems were fine, some childish.
In 1609, a collection of Shakespeareâs 154 sonnets was printed. These sonnets were addressed to one âMr. W.H.â. The most probable explanation of the identity of âW.H.â is that he was William Herbert, Earl of Pembroke.
Other people mentioned in the sonnets are a girl, a rival poet, and a dark-eyed beauty. Shakespeareâs two long poems, Venus and Adonis, The Rape of Lucrece are notable.
One of the most important poets of Elizabethan period is Edmund Spenser (1552-1599). He has been addressed âthe poetsâ poetâ. His pastoral poem, The Shepeardâs Calendar (1579) is in 12 books, one for each month of the year. Spenserâs Amoretti, 88 Petrarchan sonnets clebrates his progress of love. The joy of his marriage with Elizabeth Boyle is expressed in his ode Epithalamion. His Prothalamion is written in honour of the double marriage of the daughters of the Earl of Worester. Spenserâs allegorical poem, The Faerie Queene is his greatest achievement. Spenser invented a special metre for The Faerie Queene. The verse has nine lines and the rhyme plan is ababbcbcc. This verse is known as the âSpenserian Stanzaâ.
Sir Philip Sidney is remembered for his prose romance, Arcadia. His critical essay Apology for Poetry, sonnet collection Astrophel and Stella are elegant.
Michael Drayton and Sir Walter Raleigh are other important poets of Elizabethan England. Famous Elizabethan dramatist Ben Jonson produced fine poems also.
The University Wits John Lyly, Thomas Kyd, George Peele, Thomas Lodge, Robert Green, Christopher Marlow, and Thomas Nash also wrote good number of poems. John Lyly is most widely known as the author of prose romance entitled Euphues. The style Lyly used in his Euphues is known as Euphuism. The sentences are long and complicated. It is filled with tricks and alliteration. Large number of similes are brought in.
John Donneâs works add the beauty of Elizabethan literature. He was the chief figure of Metaphysical Poetry. Donneâs poems are noted for its originality and striking images and conceits. Satires, Songs and Sonnets, Elegies, The Flea, A Valediction: forbidding mourning, A Valediction: of weeping etc. are his famous works.
Sir Francis Bacon is a versatile genius of Elizabethan England. He is considered as the father of English essays. His Essays first appeared in 1597, the second edition in 1612 and the third edition in 1625. Besides essays, he wrote The Advancement of Learning, New Atlantis and History of Henry VII.
Baconâs popular essays are Of Truth, Of Friendship, Of Love, Of Travel, Of Parents and Children, Of Marriage and Single Life, Of Anger, Of Revenge, Of Death, etc.
Ben Jonsonâs essays are compiled in The Timber or Discoveries. His essays are aphoristic like those of Bacon. Jonson is considered as the father of English literary criticism.
Many attempts were carried out to translate Bible into English. After the death of John Wycliff, William Tyndale tried on this project. Coverdale carried on the work of Tyndale. The Authorized Version of Bible was published in 1611.
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CHAPTER 4
ELIZABETHAN DRAMA
The English dramas have gone through great transformation in Elizabethan period. The chief literary glory of the Elizabethan age was its drama. The first regular English comedy was Ralph Roister Doister written by Nicholas Udall. Another comedy Gammar Gurtonâs Needle is about the loss and the finding of a needle with which the old woman Gammar Gurton mends clothes.
The first English tragedy was Gorboduc, in blank verse. The first three acts of Gorboduc writtern by Thomas Norton and the other two by Thomas Sackville.
The University Wits contributed hugely for the growth of Elizabethan drama. The University Wits were young men associated with Oxford and Cambridge. They were fond of heroic themes. The most notable figures are Christopher Marlow, Thomas Kyd, Thomas Nash, Thomas Lodge, Robert Greene, and George Peele.
Christopher Marlow was the greatest of pre-Shakespearean dramatist. Marlow wrote only tragedies. His most famous works are  Edward II, Tamburlaine the Great, The Jew of Malta, The Massacre at Paris, and Doctor Faustus. Marlow popularized the blank verse. Ben Jonson called it âthe mighty line of Marlowâ.
Thomas Kydâs The Spanish Tragedy is a Senecan play. It resembles Shakespeareâs Hamlet. Its horrific plot gave the play a great and lasting popularity.
The greatest literary figure of English, William Shakespeare was born at Stratford-on-Avon on April 26, 1564. He did odd jobs and left to London for a career. In London, he wrote plays for Lord Chamberlainâs company. Shakespeareâs plays can be classified as the following
1.The Early Comedies: in these immature plays the plots are not original. The characters are less finished and the style lacks the genius of Shakespeare. They are full of wit and word play. Of this type are The Comedy of Errors, Loveâs Labourâs Lost, and The Two Gentlemen of Verona.
2.The English Histories: These plays show a rapid maturing of Shakespeareâs technique. His characterization has improved. The plays in this group are Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V.
3. The Mature Comedies: The jovial good humour of Sir Toby Belch in Twelfth Night, the urban worldywise comedy of Touchstone in As You Like It, and the comic scenes in The Merchant of Venice, Much Ado About Nothing etc. are full of vitality. They contain many comic situations.
4.The Sombre Plays: In this group are Allâs Well that Ends Well, Measure for Measure, and Trolius and Cressida. These plays show a cynical attitude to life and are realistic in plot.
5. The Great Tragedies: Hamlet, Othello, Macbeth, and King Lear are the climax of Shakespeareâs art. These plays stand supreme in intensity of emotion, depth of psychological insight, and power of style.
6. The Roman Plays: Julius Caesar, Antony and Cleopatra, Coriolanus etc. follow the great tragic period. Unlike Marlow, Shakespeare is relaxed in the intensity of tragedy.
7. The Last Plays: The notable last plays of Shakespeare are Cymbeline, The Winterâs Tale, and The Tempest.
The immense power and variety of Shakespeareâs work have led to the idea that one man cannot have written it all; yet it must be true that one man did. Thus Shakespeare remains as the greatest English dramatist even after four centuries of his death.
Other dramatist who flourished during the Elizabethan period is Ben Jonson. He introduced the âcomedy of humoursââ, which portrays the individual as dominated by one marked characteristic. He is best known for his Every Man in his Humour. Other important plays of Jonson are Every Man out of his Humour, Volpone or the Fox, and The Alchemist,
John Websterâs The White Devil and The Duchess of Malfi are important Elizabethan dramas. Thomas Dekker, Thomas Middleton, Thomas Heywood, Beaumont and Fletcher etc. are other noted Elizabethan playwrights. Â
CHAPTER 5
John Milton and His Time
John Milton (1608- 1674) was born in London and educated at Christâs College, Cambridge. After leaving university, he studied at home. Milton was a great poet, polemic, pamphleteer, theologian, and parliamentarian. In 1643, Milton married a woman much younger than himself. She left Milton and did not return for two years. This unfortunate incident led Milton to write two strong pamphlets on divorce. The greatest of all his political writings is Areopagitica, a notable and impassioned plea for the liberty of the press.
Miltonâs early poems include On Shakespeare, and On Arriving at the Age of Twenty-three. LâAllegro(the happy man and Il Penseroso (the sad man) two long narrative poems.  Comus is a masque written by Milton when he was at Cambridge.
His pastoral elegy Lycidas is on his friend, Edward King who drowned to death on a voyage to Ireland. Miltonâs one of the sonnets deals with the theme of his blindness.
Milton is remembered for his greatest epic poem Paradise Lost. Paradise Lost contained twelve books and published in 1677. Milton composed it in blank verse. Paradise Lost covers the rebellion of Satan(Lucifer) in heaven and his expulsion. Paradise Lost contains hundreds of remarkable lines. Milton coined many words in this poem.
Paradise Regained and Samson Agonistes are other two major poems of Milton.
Milton occupies a central position in English literature. He was a great Puritan and supported Oliver Cromwell in the Civil War. He wrote many pamphlet in support of parliament.
ïżŒLYRIC POETS DURING MILTONâS PERIOD (THE CAVALIER POETS)
Miltonâs period produced immense lyric poetry. These lyrical poets dealt chiefly with love and war.
Richard Lovelaceâs Lucasta contains the best of his shorter pieces. His best known lyrics, such as To Althea, from Prison and To Lucasta, going in the Wars, are simple and sincere.
Sir John Suckling was a famous wit at court. His poems are generous and witty. His famous poem is  Ballad upon a Wedding.
Robert Herrick wrote some fresh and passionate lyrics. Among his best known shorter poems are To Althea, To Julia, and Cherry Ripe.
Philip Massinger and John Ford produced some notable in this period.
Many prose writers flourished during Miltonâs age. Sir Thomas Browne is the best prose writer of the period. His ReligioMedici is a curious mixture of religious faith and scientific skepticism. Pseudodoxia Epidemica, or Vulgar Errors is another important work.
Thomas Hobbesâs Leviathan, Thomas Fullerâs The History of the Holy War are other important prose works during this period. Izaac Waltonâs biography of John Donne is a very famous work of Miltonâs period. His Compleat Angler discusses the art of river fishing.
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CHAPTER 6
RESTORATION DRAMA AND PROSE
The Restoration of Charles II (1660) brought about a revolution in English literature. With the collapse of the Puritan Government there sprang up activities that had been so long suppressed. The Restoration encouraged levity in rules that often resulted in immoral and indecent plays.
John Dryden (1631-1700)
Dryden is the greatest literary figure of the Restoration. In his works, we have an excellent reflection of both the good and the bad tendencies of the age in which he lived. Before the Restoration, Dryden supported Oliver Cromwell. At the Restoration, Dryden changed his views and became loyal to Charles II. His poem Astrea Redux (1660) celebrated Charles IIâs return.
Drydenâs Annus Mirabilis(Miracle Year) describes the terrors of Great Fire in London in 1666. Dryden appeared as the chief literary champion of the monarchy in his famous satirical allegory, Abasalom and Achitophel. John Dryden is now remembered for his greatest mock-heroic poem, Mac Flecknoe. Mac Flecknoe is a personal attack on his rival poet Thomas Shadwell.
Drydenâs other important poems are Religio Laici, and The Hind and the Panther.
John Dryden popularized heroic couplets in his dramas. Aurengaxebe, The Rival Ladies, The Conquest of Granada, Don Sebastian etc. are some of his famous plays.
His dramatic masterpiece is All for Love. Dryden polished the plot of Shakespeareâs Antony and Cleopatra in his All for Love.
As a prose writer, Drydenâs work, An Essay on Dramatic Poesie is worth mentioning.
John Bunyanâs greatest allegory, The Pilgrimâs Progress, The Holy War,Â
Comedy of Manners
Restoration period produced a brilliant group of dramatists who made this age immortal in the history of English literature. These plays are hard and witty, comic and immoral. It was George Etheredge who introduced Comedy of Manners. His famous plays are She Would if She Could, The Man of Mode and Love in a Tub.
William Congreve is the greatest of Restoration comedy writers. His Love for Love, The Old Bachelor, The Way of the World and The Double Dealer are very popular.
William Wycherley is another important Restoration comedy playwright. His Country Wife, and Love in a Wood are notable plays.
Sir John Vanbrughâs best three comedies are The Provoked Wife, The Relapse and The Confederacy.
CHAPTER 7
ENGLISH POETS, 1660-1798
ALEXANDER POPEÂ (1688-1744)
Alexander Pope was the undisputed master of both prose and verse. Pope wrote many poems and mock-epics attacking his rival poets and social condition of England. His Dunciad is an attack on dullness. He wrote An Essay on Criticism (1711) in heroic couplets. In 1712, Pope pubished The Rape of the Lock,  one of the most brilliant poems in English language. It is a mock-heroic poem dealing with the fight of two noble families.
An Essay on Man, Of the Characters of Women, and the translation of Illiad and Odyssey are his other major works.
Oliver Goldsmith wrote two popular poems in heroic couplets. They are The Traveller and The Deserted Village.
James Thompson is remembered for his long series of descriptive passages dealing with natural scenes in his poem The Seasons. He wrote another important poem The Castle of Indolence.
Edward Young produced a large amount of literary work of variable quality. The Last Day, The Love of Fame, and The Force of Religion are some of them.
Robert Blairâs fame is chiefly dependent on his poem The Grave. It is a long blank verse poem of meditation on manâs morality.
Thomas Gray (1716-1771) is one of the greatest poets of English literature. His first poem was the Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College. Then after years of revision, he published his famous Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. Its popularity had been maintained to the present day. Other important poems of Thomas Gray are Ode on a Favourite Cat, The Bard and The Progress of Poesy.
William Blake (1757-1827) is both a great poet and artist. His two collections of short lyrics are Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. His finest lyric is The Tiger.
Robert Burns is known as the national poet of Scotland. A Winter Night, O My Love is like a Red Red Rose, The Holy Fair etc. are some of his major poems.
William Cowper, William Collins, and William Shenstone are other notable poets before the Romanticism.
CHAPTER 8
EIGHTEENTH CENTURY PROSE
DANIEL DEFOEÂ (1659-1731)
Daniel Defoe wrote in bulk. His greatest work is the novel Robinson Crusoe. It is based on an actual event which took place during his time. Robinson Crusoe is considered to be one of the most popular novels in English language. He started a journal named The Review. His A Journal of the Plague Year deals with the Plague in London in 1665.
Sir Richard Steele and Joseph Addison worked together for many years. Richard Steele started the periodicals The Tatler, The Spectator, The Guardian, The English Man, and The Reader. Joseph Addison contributed in these periodicals and wrote columns. The imaginary character of Sir Roger de Coverley was very popular during the eighteenth century.
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) is one of the greatest satirists of English literature. His first noteworthy book was The Battle of the Books. A Tale of a Tubis a religious allegory like Bunyanâs Pilgrimâs Progress. His longest and most famous work is Gulliverâs Travels. Another important work of Jonathan Swift is A Modest Proposal.
Dr. Samuel Johnson (1709-1784) is very much famous for his Dictionary (1755). The Vanity of Human Wishes is a longish poem by him. Johnson started a paper named The Rambler. His The Lives of the Poets introduces fifty-two poets including Donne, Dryden, Pope, Milton, and Gray. Most of the information about Johnson is taken from his friend James Boswellâs biography Life of Samuel Johnson.
Edward Gibbon is famous for the great historical work, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire. His Autobiography contains valuable material concerning his life.
Edmund Burke is one of the masters of English prose. He was a great orator also. His speech On American Taxation is very famous.  Revolution in France and A Letter to a Noble Lord are his notable pamphlets.
The letters of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, Earl of Chesterfield, Thomas Gray and Cowper are good prose works in Eighteenth century literature.
The Birth of English Novel
The English novel proper was born about the middle of the eighteenth century. Samuel Richardson (1689-1761) is considered as the father of English novel. He published his first novel Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded in 1740. This novel is written in the form of letters. Thus Pamela is an âepistolary novelâ. The character Pamela is a poor and virtuous woman who marries a wicked man and afterwards reforms her husband. Richardsonâs next novel Clarissa Harlowe was also constructed in the form of letters. Many critics consider Clarissa as Richardsonâs masterpiece. Clarissa is the beautiful daughter of a severe father who wants her to marry against her will. Clarissa is a very long novel.
Henry Fielding (1707-1754) is another important novelist. He published Joseph Andrews in 1742. Joseph Andrews laughs at Samuel Richardsonâs Pamela. His greatest novel is Tom Jones. Henry Fieldingâs last novel is Amelia.
Tobias Smollett wrote a âpicaresque novelâ titled The Adventures of Roderick Random. His other novels are The Adventures of Ferdinand and Humphry Clinker.
Laurence Sterne is now remembered for his masterpiece Tristram Shandy which was published in 1760. Another important work of Laurence Sterne is A Sentimental journey through France and Italy. These novels are unique in English literature. Sterne blends humour and pathos in his works.
Horace Walpole is famous both as a letter writer and novelist. His one and only novel The Castle of Otranto deals with the horrific and supernatural theme.
Other âterror novelistsâ include William Beckford and Mrs Ann Radcliffe.
CHAPTER 9
EARLY NINTEENTH CENTURY POETS (THE ROMANTICS)
The main stream of poetry in the eighteenth century had been orderly and polished, without much feeling for nature. The publication of the first edition of the Lyrical Ballads in 1798 came as a shock. The publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge was the beginning of the romantic age. They together with Southey are known as the Lake Poets, because they liked the Lake district in England and lived in it.
William Wordsworth ((1770-1850) was the poet of nature. In the preface to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth set out his theory of poetry. He defined poetry as âthe spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings and emotionsâ. His views on poetical style are the most revolutionary.
In his early career as a poet, Wordsworth wrote poems like An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches. The Prelude is the record of his development as a poet. It is a philosophical poem. He wrote some of the best lyric poems in the English language like The Solitary Reaper, I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, Ode on the Itimations of Immorality, Resolution and Independence etc. Tintern Abbey is one of the greatest poems of Wordsworth.
Samuel Tylor Coleridge (1772-1814) wrote four poems for The Lyrical Ballads. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the most noteworthy. Kubla Khan, Christabel, Dejection an Ode, Frost at Midnight etc. are other important poems. Biographia Literaria is his most valuable prose work. Coleridgeâs lectures on Shakespeare are equally important.
Lord Byronâs Childe Haroldâs Pilgrimage was based on his travels. Don Juan ranks as one of the greatest of satirical poems. The Vision of Judgmentis a fine political satire in English.
PB Shelley (1792-1822) was a revolutionary figure of Romantic period. When Shelley was studying at Oxford, he wrote the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism which caused his expulsion from the university. Queen Mab, The Revolt of Islam and Alastor are his early poems. Prometheus Unbound is a combination of the lyric and the drama. Shelley wrote some of the sweetest English lyrics like To a Skylark, The Cloud, To Night etc. Of his many odes, the most remarkable is  Ode to the West Wind. Adonais is an elegy on the death of John Keats.
John Keats (1795-1821) is another great Romantic poet who wrote some excellent poems in his short period of life. His Isabella deals with the murder of a ladyâs lover by her two wicked brothers. The unfinished epic poem Hyperion is modelled on Miltonâs Paradise Lost. The Eve of St Agnes is regarded as his finest narrative poem. The story of Lamia is taken from Burtonâs Anatomy of Melancholy. Endymion, Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to Psyche, Ode on Melancholy and Ode to Autumn are very famous. His Letters give give a clear insight into his mind and artistic development.
Robert Southey is a minor Romantic poet. His poems, which are of great bulk, include Joan of Arc, Thalaba, and The Holly-tree. 4
CHAPTER 10
LATER NINETEENTH CENTURY POETS (Victorian Poets)
Alfred Lord Tennyson (1809-92) is a chief figure of later nineteenth century poetry. His volume of Poems contain notable poems like The Lady of Shalott, The Lotos-Eaters, Ulysses, Morte dâ Arthur.The story ofMorte dâ Arthur is based on Thomas Maloryâs poemMorte dâ Arthur. In Memoriam(1850) caused a great stir when it first appeared. It is a very long series of meditations upon the death of Arthur Henry Hallam, Tennysonâs college friend, who died at Vienna in 1833. In Memoriam is the most deeply emotional, and probably the greatest poetry he ever produced. Maud and Other Poems was received with amazement by the public. Idylls of the King, Enoch Arden, Haroldetc. are his other works.
Robert Browning (1812-89) is an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic monologues made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. He popularized âdramatic monologueâ. The Ring and the Book is an epic-length poem in which he justifies the ways of God to humanity Browning is popularly known by his shorter poems, such as Porphyriaâs Lover,  Rabbi Ben Ezra, How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix, and The Pied Piper of Hamelin. He married Elizabeth Barrett, another famous poet during the Victorian period. Fra Lippo Lippi Andrea Del Sarto and My Last Duchess are famous dramatic monologues.
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was an English poet and cultural critic who worked as an inspector of schools. He was the son of Thomas Arnold, the famed headmaster of Rugby School. Arnold is sometimes called the third great Victorian poet, along with Alfred Lord Tennyson and Robert Browning.
Arnold valued natural scenery for its peace and permanence in contrast with the ceaseless change of human things. His descriptions are often picturesque, and marked by striking similes. Thyrsis, Dover Beach and The Scholar Gipsy are his notable poems.
Dante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator in the late nineteenth century England. Rossottiâs poems were criticized as belonging to the âFleshy Schoolâ of poetry. Rossetti wrote about nature with his eyes on it.
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, wife of Robert Browning wrote some excellent poems in her volume of Sonnets from the Portuguese.
AC Swinburne followed the style of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Swinburneâs famous poems works are Poems and Ballads and tristram of Lyonesse.
Edward Fitzgerald translated the Rubaiyat of the Persian poet Omar Khayyam. Fitzgeraldâs translation is loose and did not stick too closely to the original.
Rudyard Kipling and Francis Thompson also wrote some good poems during the later nineteenth century.
Chapter 11
Nineteenth Century Novelists  (Victorian Novelists)
Jane Austen 1775-1817 is one of the greatest novelists of nineteenth century English literature. Her first novel Pride and Prejudice (1813) deals with the life of middle class people. The style is smooth and charming. Her second novel Sense and Sensibility followed the same general lines of Pride and Prejudice. Northanger Abbey, Emma, Mansfield Park, and Persuasion are some of the other famous works. Jane Austenâs plots are skillfully constructed. Her characters are developed with minuteness and accuracy.
Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is considered as one of the greatest English novelists. Dickens has contributed some evergreen characters to English literature. He was a busy successful novelist during his lifetime. The Pickwick Papers and Sketches by Boz are two early novels. Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby , David Copperfield, Hard Times, A Tale of Two Cities and Great Expectations are some of the most famous novels of Charles Dickens. No English novelists excel Dickens in the multiplicity of his characters and situations. He creates a whole world people for the readers. He sketched both lower and middle class people in London.
William Makepeace Thackeray was born in Calcutta and sent to England for education. William Thackeray is now chiefly remembered for his novel The Vanity Fair. While Dickens was in full tide of his success, Thackeray was struggling through neglect and contempt to recognition. Thackerayâs genius blossomed slowly. Thackerayâs characters are fearless and rough. He protested against the feeble characters of his time. The Rose and the Ring, Rebecca and Rowena, and The Four Georges are some of his works.
The Brontës
Charlotte, Emily, and Anne were the daughters of an Irish clergy man Patrick BrontĂ«, who held a living in Yorkshire. Charlotte BrontĂ«âs first novel, The Professor failed to find a publisher and only appeared after her death. Jane Eyre is her greatest novel. the plot is weak and melodramatic. This was followed by Shirley and Villette. Her plots are overcharged and she is largely restricted to her own experiments.
Emily Brontë wrote less than Charlottë. Her one and only novel Wuthering Heights (1847) is unique in English literature. It is the passionate love story of Heathcliff and Catherine.
Anne Bronteâs two novels, Agnes Grey and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are much inferior to those of her sisters, for she lacks nearly all their power and intensity.
George Eliot (1819-1880) is the pen-name of Mary Ann Evans. Adam Bede was her first novel. Her next novel, The Mill on the Floss is partly autobiographical. Silas Marner is a shorter novel which gives excellent pictures of village life. Romola, Middle March and Daniel Deronda are other works of George Eliot.
Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) published his first work Desperate Remedies anonymously. Under the Greenwood Tree, one of the lightest and most appealing of his novels established him as a writer. It was set in the rural area he was soon to make famous as Wessex. Far From the Madding Crowd is a tragi-comedy set in Wessex. The rural background of the story is an integral part of the novel, which reveals the emotional depths which underlie rustic life. The novel, The Return of the Native is a study of manâs helplessness before the mighty Fate. The Mayor of Casterbridge also deals with the theme of Man versus Destiny. Tess of the DâUrbervilles and Jude the Obscure aroused the hostility of conventional readers due to their frank handling of sex and religion. At the beginning Tess of the DâUrbervilles was rejected by the publishers. The outcry with the publication of Jude the Obscure led Hardy in disgust to abandon novel writing. Thomas Hardyâs characters are mostly men and women living close to the soil.
Mary Shelley, the wife of Romantic poet PB Shelley is now remembered as a writer of her famous novel of terror, Frankestein. Frankestein can be regarded as the first attempt at science fiction. The Last Man is Mary Shelleyâs another work.
Edgar Allan Poe was a master of Mystery stories. Poeâs powerful description of astonishing and unusual events has the attraction of terrible things. Some of his major works are The Mystery of Marie Roget, The Murders in the Rue Morgue, The Fall of the House of Usher and The Mystery of Red Death.
Besides poetry collections like The Lady of the Last Ministrel, Marmion, The Lady of the Lake,and The Lord of the Isles, Sir Walter Scottproduced enormous number of novels. Waverly, Old Mortality, The Black Dwarf, The Pirate, and Kenilworth are some of them. He was too haste in writing novels and this led to the careless, imperfect stories. He has a great place in the field of historical novels.
Frederick Marryatâs sea novels were popular in the nineteenth century. His earliest novel was The Naval Officer. All his best books deal with the sea. Marryat has a considerable gift for plain narrative and his humour is entertaining. Peter Simple, Jacob Faithful and Japhet in Search of His Father are some of his famous works.
R.L. Stevensonâs The Treasure Island, George Meredithâs The Egoist, Edward Lyttonâs The Last Days of Pompeii, Charles Readeâs Mask and Faces, Anthony Trollopeâs The Warden, Wilkie Collinsâs The Moonstone, Joseph Conardâs Lord Jim, Nathaniel Hawthroneâs The Scarlet Letter etc. are some of other famous works of nineteenth century English literature.
Chapter 12
Other Nineteenth Century Prose
Charles Lamb is one of the greatest essayists of nineteenth century. Lamb started his career as a poet but is now remembered for his well-known Essays of Elia. His essays are unequal in English. He is so sensitive and so strong. Besides Essays of Elia, other famous essays are Dream Children and Tales from Shakespeare. His wife, Mary Lamb also wrote some significant essays.
William Hazlittâs reputation chiefly rests on his lectures and essays on literary and general subjects. His lectures, Characters of Shakespeareâs Plays, The English Poets and The English Comic Writers are important.
Thomas De Quinceyâs famous work is Confessions of an English Opium Eater. It is written in the manner of dreams. His Reminiscences of the English Lake Poets contain some good chapters on Wordsworth and Coleridge.
Thomas Carlyle is another prose writer of nineteenth century. His works consisted of translations, essays, and biographies. Of these the best are his translation of Goetheâs Wilhelm Meisterâs Apprenticeship, his The Life of Schiller, and his essays on Robert Burns and Walter Scott.
Thomas Macaulay (Lord Macaulay) wrote extensively. He contributed for The Encyclopedia of Britannica and The Edinburgh Review. His History of England is filled with numerous and picturesque details.
Charles Darwin is one of the greatest names in modern science. He devoted almost wholly to biological and allied studies. His chief works are The Voyage of the Beagle, Origin of Species, and The Descent of Man.
John Ruskinâs works are of immense volume and complexity. His longest book is Modern Painters. The Seven Lamps of Architecture, and The Stones of Venice expound his views on artistic matters. Unto this Last is a series of articles on political economy.
Samuel Butler, the grandson of Dr. Samuel Butler was inspired by the Darwinian theory of evolution. Evolution Old and New, Unconcious Memory, Essays on Life, Art and Science, The Way of All Flesh etc. rank him as one of the greatest prose writers of ninteenth century. He was an acute and original thinker. He exposed all kinds of reliogious, political, and social shams and hypocrisies of his period.
Besides being a great poet, Mathew Arnold also excelled as an essayist. His prose works are large in bulk and wide in range. Of them all his critical essays are probably of the greatest value. Essays in Criticism, Culture and Anarchy, and Literature and Dogma have permanent value.
Lewis Carroll, another prose writer of ninteenth century is now remembered for her immortal work, Aliceâs Adventures in Wonderland. Ever since its publication, this novel continues to be popular among both the children and adult readers.
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What Is Survey Sampling?
Surveys would be meaningless and incomplete without accounting for the respondents that theyâre aimed at. The best survey design practices keep the target population at the core of their thought process.
âAll the residents of the Dharavi slums in Mumbaiâ, âevery NGO in Calcuttaâ and âall students below the age of 16 in Manipurâ are examples of a population; they are countable, finite and well-defined.
When the population is small enough, researchers have the resources to reach out to all of them. This would be the best case scenario, making sure that everybody who matters to the survey is represented accurately. A survey that covers the entire target population is called a census.
However, most surveys cannot survey the entire population. This is when sampling techniques become crucial to your survey.
Why Is It Important?
Resource Constraints
If the target population is not small enough, or if the resources at your disposal donât give you the bandwidth to cover the entire population, it is important to identify a subset of the population to work with â a carefully identified group that is representative of the population. This process is called survey sampling, and it is one of the most important aspects of survey design.
Whatever the sample size, there are fixed costs associated with any survey. Once the survey has begun, the marginal costs associated with gathering more information, from more people, are proportional to the size of the sample.
Drawing Inferences About the Population
Researchers are not interested in the sample itself, but in the understanding that they can potentially infer from the sample and then apply across the entire population.
A sample survey usually offers greater scope than a census. Working within a given resource constraint, sampling may make it possible to study the population of a larger geographical area or to find out more about the same population by examining an area in greater depth through a smaller sample.
Before we dive into the survey sampling methods at our disposal it is imperative that we develop a perspective on what an effective sample should look like.
3 Features to Keep in Mind While Constructing a Sample
Consistency
It is important that researchers understand the population on a case-by-case basis and test the sample for consistency before going ahead with the survey. This is especially critical for surveys that track changes across time and space where we need to be confident that any change we see in our data reflects real change â across consistent and comparable samples.
Diversity
Ensuring diversity of the sample is a tall order, as reaching some portions of the population and convincing them to participate in the survey could be difficult. But to be truly representative of the population, a sample must be as diverse as the population itself and sensitive to the local differences that are unavoidable as we move across the population.
Transparency
There are several constraints that dictate the size and structure of the population. It is imperative that researchers discuss these limitations and maintain transparency about the procedures followed while selecting the sample so that the results of the survey are seen with the right perspective.
Now that we understand the necessity of choosing the right sample and have a vision of what an effective sample for your survey should be like, letâs explore the various methods of constructing a sample and understand the relative pros and cons of each of these approaches.
Sampling methods can broadly be classified as probability and non-probability.
3 Probability Sampling Techniques
When each entity of the population has a definite, non-zero probability of being incorporated into the sample, the sample is known as a probability sample.
Probability samples are selected in such a way as to be representative of the population. They provide the most valid or credible results because they reflect the characteristics of the population from which they are selected.
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Probability sampling techniques include random sampling, systematic sampling, and stratified sampling.
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Random Sampling
When:Â There is a very large population and it is difficult to identify every member of the population.
How:Â The entire process of sampling is done in a single step with each subject selected independently of the other members of the population. The term random has a very precise meaning and you canât just collect responses on the street and have a random sample.
Pros:Â In this technique, each member of the population has an equal chance of being selected as subject.
Cons:Â When there are very large populations, it is often difficult to identify every member of the population and the pool of subjects becomes biased. Dialing numbers from a phone book for instance, may not be entirely random as the numbers, though random, would correspond to a localized region. A sample created by doing so might leave out many sections of the population that are significant to the study.
Use case:Â Want to study and understand the rice consumption pattern across rural India? While it might not be possible to cover every household, you could draw meaningful insights by building your sample from different districts or villages (depending on the scope).
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Systematic Sampling
When:Â Your given population is logically homogenous.
How:Â In a systematic sample, after you decide the sample size, arrange the elements of the population in some order and select terms at regular intervals from the list.
Pros:Â The main advantage of using systematic sampling over simple random sampling is its simplicity. Another advantage of systematic random sampling over simple random sampling is the assurance that the population will be evenly sampled. There exists a chance in simple random sampling that allows a clustered selection of subjects. This can be avoided through systematic sampling.
Cons:Â The possible weakness of the method that may compromise the randomness of the sample is an inherent periodicity of the list. This can be avoided by randomizing the list of your population entities, as you would randomize a deck of cards for instance, before you proceed with systematic sampling.
Use Case: Suppose a supermarket wants to study buying habits of their customers. Using systematic sampling, they can choose every 10th or 15th customer entering the supermarket and conduct the study on this sample.
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Stratified Sampling
When:Â You can divide your population into characteristics of importance for the research.
How:Â A stratified sample, in essence, tries to recreate the statistical features of the population on a smaller scale. Before sampling, the population is divided into characteristics of importance for the research â for example, by gender, social class, education level, religion, etc. Then the population is randomly sampled within each category or stratum. If 38% of the population is college-educated, then 38% of the sample is randomly selected from the college-educated subset of the population.
Pros:Â This method attempts to overcome the shortcomings of random sampling by splitting the population into various distinct segments and selecting entities from each of them. This ensures that every category of the population is represented in the sample. Stratified sampling is often used when one or more of the sections in the population have a low incidence relative to the other sections.
Cons:Â Stratified sampling is the most complex method of sampling. It lays down criteria that may be difficult to fulfill and place a heavy strain on your available resources.
Use Case:Â If 38% of the population is college-educated and 62% of the population have not been to college, then 38% of the sample is randomly selected from the college-educated subset of the population and 62% of the sample is randomly selected from the non-college-going population. Maintaining the ratios while selecting a randomized sample is key to stratified sampling.
3 Non-Probability Sampling Techniques
Non-probability sampling techniques include convenience sampling, snowball sampling and quota sampling.
In these techniques, the units that make up the sample are collected with no specific probability structure in mind. The selection is not completely randomized, and hence the resultant sample isnât truly representative of the population.
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Convenience Sampling
When:Â During preliminary research efforts.
How:Â As the name suggests, the elements of such a sample are picked only on the basis of convenience in terms of availability, reach and accessibility.
Pros:Â The sample is created quickly without adding any additional burden on the available resources.
Cons:Â The likelihood of this approach leading to a sample that is truly representative of the population is very poor.
Use Case:Â This method is often used during preliminary research efforts to get a gross estimate of the results, without incurring the cost or time required to select a random sample.
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Snowball Sampling
When:Â When you can rely on your initial respondents to refer you to the next respondents.
How:Â Just as the snowball rolls and gathers mass, the sample constructed in this way will grow in size as you move through the process of conducting a survey. In this technique, you rely on your initial respondents to refer you to the next respondents whom you may connect with for the purpose of your survey.
Pros:Â The costs associated with this method are significantly lower, and you will end up with a sample that is very relevant to your study.
Cons:Â The clear downside of this approach is that you may restrict yourself to only a small, largely homogenous section of the population.
Use Case:Â Snowball sampling can be useful when you need the sample to reflect certain features that are difficult to find. To conduct a survey of people who go jogging in a certain park every morning, for example, snowball sampling would be a quick, accurate way to create the sample.
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Quota Sampling
When:Â When you can characterize the population based on certain desired features.
How:Â Quota sampling is the non-probability equivalent of stratified sampling that we discussed earlier. It starts with characterizing the population based on certain desired features and assigns a quota to each subset of the population.
Pros:Â This process can be extended to cover several characteristics and varying degrees of complexity.
Cons:Â Though the method is superior to convenience and snowball sampling, it does not offer the statistical insights of any of the probability methods.
Use Case:Â If a survey requires a sample of fifty men and fifty women, a quota sample will survey respondents until the right number of each type has been surveyed. Unlike stratified sampling, the sample isnât necessarily randomized.
Related read:Â When to do quota sampling and how to do it correctly
Probability sampling techniques are superior, but the costs can be prohibitive. For the initial stages of a study, non-probability sampling techniques might be sufficient to give you a sense of what youâre dealing with. For detailed insights and results that you can bank upon, move on to the more sophisticated techniques as the study gathers pace and takes a more concrete structure.
Once you have created your sample, go ahead and start creating an effective survey by choosing the right survey question types.
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