Georgian Period of English Literature

Georgian Period of English Literature

The Period between 1910 and 1936 is called Georgian Age after the name of George V who reigned over England during these years. It is the second phase of the Modern Age. However, literary features of modern age continued till 1939, the year in which the Second World War broke out. For this reason, it is generally agreed that the Modern Age ended in 1939.

The Important facts of the Georgian Period 

1. The Victorian peace and order were no more. Unrest and violence engulfed life.

2. Imperialism become a disturbing fact in the World. For colonial supremacy European nations engaged in a rivalry that led to the First World War (1914-18). This war marks the end of Victorian optimism.

3. Socialism had a great influence on English life and thought. The class feeling becomes stronger.

4. Fabian society which was founded in 1883 now started the transition of land and industrial capital from individuals to collective ownership in a peaceful way.

5. In 1918 women gained the right to vote in Great Britain.

6. The First World War and its aftermath changed the traditional way of life.

7. The National Guilds League established in 1914 worked out the programs of guild socialism for gradual change from capitalism to socialism without any violence. Bertrand Russell was one of the members of it.

8. In the twentieth and thirties frustration and discontent paralyzed life.

9. The Rhymers ‘ club was formed. The members of the club concentrated on the beauty of sound and ornamentation of the subject. W.B. Yeats was a member of this club for some time.

10. Four anthologies entitled Georgian Poetry (1911-1922) were published.

11. Press tycoons started mess audience newspapers.

12. “Dadaism”, “Surrealism”, “Imagism”, “Impressionism” and “Expressionism” flourished as art movements.

13. The Titanic sank in 1912.

14. The October Revolution began in Russia in 1917.

15. W.B. Yeats won the noble prize for literature in 1923 and G.B. Shaw in 1926.

16. Foundation was laid for the British Commonwealth of Nations.

17. Irish demand for independence became stronger.

18. World War II broke out in 1939.

Major Writers and Their Major Works Georgian Period

• Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) wrote most of his novels in the earlier period. In this period he wrote his poems and short stories.
• George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
“Pygmalion” (1913)
“Heartbreak House” (1921)
“Saint Joan” (1924)
“The Apple Cart” (1929)
“Too True to Be Good” (1932)
• Sigmund Freud (1856-1939)
*He was a psychologist known for his theory of psychoanalysis.
“Interpretation of Dreams” (1913)
“Psychopathology of Everyday life” (1914)
• Joseph Conrad (1857-1924)
“Under Western Eyes” (1911)
“Chance” (1913)
“Victory” (1915)
“The Shadow Line” (1917)
• William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)
*He was a poet, dramatist and critic, famous for his use of symbolism and mysticism.
“The Resurrection” (1913)
“The Wild Swans at Coole” (1919)
“The Can and The Moon” (1926)
“The Tower” (1928)
• William Somerset Maugham (1874-1965)
*He was a novelist and short story writer.
“The Sacred Flame” (1928)
“Cakes and Ale” (1930)
“The Razor ‘s Edge” (1944), published in the Post-modern age.
• John Edward Masefield (1878-1967)
“ The Midnight Folk “ (1922)
“Collected Poems” (1923)
“The Bird of Dawning” (1933)
“Dead Ned” (1938)
• Edward Morgan Forster (1879-1970)
“A Passage to India” (1924)
“Aspects of Novel” (1927) , a critical work
“The Celestial Omnibus” (1911), a collection of short stories.
• James Joyce (1882-1941)
*He was a novelist, famous for his narrative technique known as stream of consciousness.
“A Portrait of the Artists as a Young Man” (1916)
“Exiles” (1918)
“Ulysses” (1922)
• Virginia Woolf (1882-1941)
“The Voyage Out” (1915)
“Mrs. Galloway “(1925)
“To the Lighthouse” (1927)
• David Herbert Lawrence (1885-1930)
“The White Peacock” (1911)
“Sons and Lovers” (1913)
“The Rainbow” (1915)
• T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)
“Prufrock and Other Observations” (1917)
“The Waste Land” (1922)
“Poems” (1919)
• Ernest Hemingway (1899-1961)
“The Sun  also Raises” (1926)
“A Farewell to Arms” (1929)
“The Old Man and the Sea” (1952)

Main literary features of Georgian Period 

1. The poets who published their poems in four anthologies entitled Georgian Poetry (1911-1922) is called “Georgian Poets”. Georgian Poetry is rural in subject matter, delicate in manner, and traditional in form and technique. W.W. Gibson, Rupert Brooke, J. Masefield, and Hodgso are among the best-known Georgian Poets.

2. However, in the 1920s and 1930s poet‘s search for a new poetic tradition is note-worthy. The late Victorians give way to the Georgians.  Then the imagists replace the Georgians but after a few years, they themselves disappear. In the second decade of the 20th century, there has been another movement known as dadaism. In the 20th century, Surrealism replace dadaism. There have also been experiments with “impressionism” and “expressionism” .

3. The disillusionment of the hope for a better world following The First World War finds expression in the poetry of this period. New writers in the 1930s find socialism and communism as the possible solution to overcome the economic depression caused by the First World War. With the change of subject and attitude, the poetic techniques have also been changed. Many Modernist poets imitate the technique of seventh-century metaphysical poets. Thus, these poets have wanted to break away from the convention, but at the same time, they are not entirely against tradition. They introduce verse Libres or free verse. Symbols, Conceit, allusions, and quotations are so frequently used that Poetry becomes obscure. A new kind of poetry composed with the fragments of the old appears.