History of English Literature
Early 20th Century (1900–1940s)
📘 1. Modernist Period: Key Features
- Break with Victorian traditions.
- Stream of consciousness, experimental forms, symbolism.
- Deep psychological exploration of characters.
- Sense of loss, fragmentation after World War I.
- Growth of new movements: Imagism, Surrealism, Freudian influence.
📘 2. Major Novelists
Transitional figure from late Victorian to Modernism. Themes of imperialism, moral darkness, sea-life.
Major Works:
Heart of Darkness, Lord Jim, Nostromo
Concerned with human relationships, liberal humanism.
Major Works:
A Passage to India, Howards End, A Room with a View
Central modernist innovator. Used stream of consciousness and mythic method.
Major Works:
Ulysses, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Dubliners
Psychological realism, sexuality, relationships, industrial society.
Major Works:
Sons and Lovers, Women in Love, Lady Chatterley’s Lover
Stream of consciousness, focus on female psychology. Member of Bloomsbury Group.
Major Works:
Mrs Dalloway, To the Lighthouse, Orlando, The Waves
Satirist of modern society; dystopian fiction.
Major Works:
Brave New World, Point Counter Point
Political realism; anti-totalitarian vision (Early works).
Major Works:
Down and Out in Paris and London, Homage to Catalonia
🌿 3. Major Poets
Leading modernist Irish poet. Themes of nationalism, mysticism, mythology.
The Second Coming, Sailing to Byzantium, The Tower
Most influential poet of the 20th century. Introduced mythic method.
The Waste Land, Prufrock, Four Quartets
Leader of Imagism. Advocated clarity, precision, and economy of language.
Cantos, Hugh Selwyn Mauberley
Greatest WWI poet. Themes: pity of war, trauma, futility.
Dulce et Decorum Est, Anthem for Doomed Youth
War poet; satire and protest against war.
Memoirs of an Infantry Officer, War Poems
Leader of Oxford Group (1930s). Social and political themes.
Spain, In Memory of W.B. Yeats, September 1, 1939
🎭 4. Major Dramatists
Leader of modern drama. Social criticism, realism.
Pygmalion, Man and Superman, Major Barbara
Irish dramatic movement; rural life of Aran Islands.
Riders to the Sea, The Playboy of the Western World
Plays on Irish nationalism & civil war.
Juno and the Paycock, The Shadow of a Gunman
Comedy of manners; wit and modern lifestyle.
Blithe Spirit, Private Lives
🖋️ 5. Short Story & Essays
Pioneer of modern short story. Influenced by Chekhov.
The Garden Party, Bliss, Prelude
Imperial themes, children's literature.
Just So Stories, Kim, The Jungle Book
Popular storyteller.
Of Human Bondage, The Moon and Sixpence
⚡ 6. Literary Movements (1900-1940)
Imagist Movement (1912–1917)
Ezra Pound, H.D., Richard Aldington
Bloomsbury Group
Virginia Woolf, E.M. Forster, Lytton Strachey
War Poets (1914–1918)
Wilfred Owen, Sassoon, Brooke
Oxford/Auden Group (1930s)
W.H. Auden, Louis MacNeice, Stephen Spender
Irish Literary Revival
Yeats, Synge, Lady Gregory, O’Casey
📈 7. Major Trends of 1930s
- 🚩 Rise of political writing (socialism vs fascism debates).
- 🛑 Anti-war sentiments.
- 📹 Documentary realism (Orwell).
- 🤝 Poetry of social responsibility (Auden group).
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