In his preface to Absalom and Achitophel John Dryden sets forth the true end of satire as “amendment of vices by correction”. Restoration period was a great age of satire in general and verse satire in particular. The greater freedom of expression with the restoration of Charles II; the politicalContinue Reading
The Restoration marks the beginning of modern prose. The spread of the spirit of common sense and of the critical temper of mind; the love of definiteness and clarity; and of the hatred of the pedantic and obscure have contributed to the development of English prose. The growing interest inContinue Reading
Sonnet sequence became very popular during the Elizabethan age –which is a group of sonnets, arranged to address a particular person or theme, and designed to be read both as a collection of fully realized individual poems as well as a single poetic work comprising all the individual sonnets. TheContinue Reading
Although the Elizabethan age is called The Golden Age of English poetry and drama, it should also be regarded as a glorious age of English prose, for English prose was set on the track of glory by such great prose writers as Lyly, Greene, Lodge, Nashe, Deloney and Dekker withContinue Reading
During the 16th century English drama settled into a regular entertainment. The stage offered massive opportunities for the dramatists, but it remained in a state of chaos. In the 1580s group of playwrights, who had their education either from Oxford or Cambridge, stepped into the theatre as professional playwrights andContinue Reading
The term “metaphysical poets” was first used by Samuel Johnson (1744). The hallmark of their poetry is the metaphysical conceit, a reliance on intellectual wit, learned and sensuous imagery, and subtle argument. Although this method was by no means new, these men infused new life into English poetry by theContinue Reading
The Tudors are the most famous English royal dynasty, their name remaining at the forefront of European history thanks to films and television. Of course, the Tudors wouldn’t feature in the media without something to grab people’s attention, and the Tudors – Henry VII, his son Henry VIII and hisContinue Reading
Literary critics and historians have tended to partition Chaucer’s literary career into three major periods: the French, the Italian and the English, of which the last is a development of the first two. French Period What is referred to as Chaucer’s French period lasted until 1372. The poems of theContinue Reading
Simply speaking, romances are fantasies in which the authors make the fullest use of their imagination and fancy and create an ideal world, which bears little or no semblance with real life. In the middle of the fourteenth century a revival of the old English alliterative verse occurs through romances,Continue Reading
The dream vision was a favorite genre of medieval narrative poetry, in which a narrator falls asleep and dreams what becomes the main body of the story. This genre typically follows a structure whereby a narrator recounts his experience of falling asleep, dreaming, and waking; and the story is oftenContinue Reading
