English Literature

High above the city, on a tall column, stood the statue of the Happy Prince. He was gilded all over with thin leaves of fine gold, for eyes he had two bright sapphires, and a large red ruby glowed on his sword-hilt. He was very much admired indeed. “He is as beautiful as a weathercock,” remarked one of the Town Councillors who wished to gain a reputation for having artistic tastes; “only not quite so useful,” he added, fearing lest people should think him unpractical, which he really was not. “Why can’t you be like the Happy Prince?” asked a sensible mother of her little boy who was crying for the moon. “The Happy Prince never dreams of crying for anything.” “I am glad there is someone in the world who is quite happy,” muttered a disappointed man as he gazed at the wonderful statue. “He looks just like an angel,” said the Charity Children as they came out of the cathedral in their bright scarlet cloaks and their clean white pinafores. “How do you know?” said the Mathemat

  Pride and Prejudice is one of the most popular novels of English language. Its reason is that it deals with the theme of marriage. The main theme of the novel surrounds love. In this novel there are various plots but they all are closely related to the main story. The characterization is also superb. The pride of Darcy and the prejudice of Elizabeth are the main characteristics of the novel. Thus the title of the novel seems quite suitable. It clearly reflects the main theme of the novel. The story of the novel revolves round love. Apart from the main plot, all the three sub plots are centred round love. In the main plot Elizabeth and Darcy come together in spite of their previous differences. Darcy stands for pride whereas Elizabeth stands for prejudice. Another story is the love story of Jane and Bingley. They also are united in marriage after certain interruptions. The marriage of Lydia and Wickham also takes place with the help of Darcy. In this plot we find that love is

 In English literature, there are four novelists who are popularly known as the four wheels of the novel. Henry fielding is one of them. Tom Jones is his best novel. Fielding himself calls it a comic epic in prose.   When Henry Fielding started writing, novel was not a  acceptable  genre of literature. To make it acceptable he propounded a new theory of the novel. He says that the novel is a comic epic in prose. In the preface to Joseph Andrews , Fielding is of the opinion that the epic is divisible like drama as comic epic and tragic epic. Homer's Marquites is a comic epic and his Iliad is a tragic epic. As an epic may be comic or tragic, so it may also be either in prose or in verse. A work might be styled as a prose epic if it had all the parts of an epic poem - fable, action, character, sentiment, diction. Only meter will be absent. Combining these ideas of the comic epic and the prose epic, Fielding evolves a new genre - comic epic in prose. Thus comic epic in prose

Sir Walter Scott is one of the greatest novelists of the world literature. He is popularly known as historical novelist. Most of his novels are historical in the sense that they deal with historical events and characters. It is he who showed his interest in the past and developed an almost a new genre, the historical novel. For this reason he is called as the father of historical novel. In this field his contribution is memorable and notable. Before Scott few novelists tried to write historical fiction. None of these writers possessed any feeling for historical realism. It is Scott who combined the elements of real life with elements of wonder from old romance. His first novel Waverley deals with the ancient Scottish manners. Guy Mannering and the Antiquary also deal with the past. Old Morality presents the picture of the trouble times of Charles II. It is a historical monument of the finest pictures of the past, its men, its ideas and manners. In Ivanhoe the real picture of the

John Donne was born in London in 1571 or 1572 and died there on 31 March 1631. He was a great poet. He is at the centre of the metaphysical school of poetry. This school is well known for its style. This style is marked by the use of conceits, wit, scholastic learning, arguments and elaboration of the poetic experience. It is also marked by passionate thinking. All these qualities of the metaphysical style are present in the poetry of Donne and his followers like Richard Crashaw, Henry Vaughan Thomas Carew, Andrew Marvell and Abraham Cowley. It is said that John Donne fell in love with Anne More. He eloped with her and married. He was imprisoned for his love. His experience of love made him a great love poet. Some of his very well known love poems are The Anniversarie, The Good Morrow, The Extasie and The Canonization . His love poems show his intense personal moods as a lover and analyst of his own experience.

Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, That Valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields.   And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the Shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals.   And I will make thee beds of roses And a thousand fragrant posies, A cap of flowers, and a kirtle Embroidered all with leaves of myrtle;   A gown made of the finest wool Which from our pretty lambs we pull; Fair lined slippers for the cold, With buckles of the purest gold;   A belt of straw and Ivy buds, With coral clasps and amber studs: And if these pleasures may thee move, Come live with me, and be my love.   The Shepherds’ Swains shall dance and sing For thy delight each May-morning: If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me, and be my love.