Literature periods

Neo-Classical Period
Neo-Classical Period: The Neo-Classical period, covering the 140 years or so after the Restoration (1660); arose as a reaction of the uncontrolled energy and humanism of the Renaissance. The Neo-Classical writers followed the traditions and had a great respect for correctness in life and art, so they respected order, decorum and the established rules. Art was valued for its praise of reason and its control of emotion and the imagination. They regarded man as the primary source of poetic subject matter, so they used irony and satire in their poetry. Rape of the Lock, a mock epic by Alexander Pope, is a fine example of Neo- classical poetry, written in witty and perfect couplets, it ridiculed the pettiness of humanity. This Neo-classical sensibility also appears in the 20th century as in Audens The Unknown Citizen with its irony, restraint and wit.

Renaissance: The term Renaissance derives its original meaning from French word meaning "rebirth" which includes the rebirth of Greek classical art, literature, painting, music, and other social norms and values. The renaissance is the rebirth of the classical knowledge and learning which was lost in the Middle Ages. It started in Italy in the fourteenth century and lasted in 16th century. In this period, the arts of painting, sculpture, architecture and literature developed due to the findings of the Greek and Roman manuscripts. These developments reached England in the 16th century and reached its climax in the Elizabeth and Jacobean periods. Following the humanism of classical times; Renaissance painting sculpture and literature praised the beauty of humanity and physical world. Several factors also helped in the spreading of Renaissance as the discovery of the new world the evasion of constitutional by the Jerks, the end of feudalism, and the invention of painting press. These factors gave birth to new learning, new religion, new world and new cosmos. In England it made English literature rich by scholars, travel and a poetic and sensibility, developed by European and classical influences. Shakespeares drama s and Miltons epic poetry show this creativity. Romanticism: The Romantism, that spread over the first three decades of the 19th century arouse as a reaction against the Neo-Classical order and control. The publication of the Lyrical Ballad in 1798 by William Wordsworth and S.T.Colleridge started this movement. It favored newness instead of traditionalism in the materials, forms, and style of literature, and so, the English Romantic poets took up supernatural themes the wildness of natural imagination and self expression. They criticized the poetic style of Neo- Classical poets and proposed to use the language really used by men. Nature became a favorite subject of poetry and was described with great sensuous accuracy. The important Romantic poems are also poems of meaningful, meditation about on important human problem. In America, Romanticism affected fiction. It inclined toward symbolism and gothic elements along with the

imaginative qualities. The leading Romantic poets in England were Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats and Shelly and in America the movement was lead by Houstorn, Herman, Melville, Poe, Walt Whiteman and Dickinson. Realism: The Realism arouse in the 19th century as a reaction against the sentimental, supernatural and optimistic elements of Romanticism. It is an attempt to present an accurate imitation of life as it is. The realists set out to write a fiction which will give the illusion that it reflects life as it seems to the common reader. So they are selective in their material and prefer the average the common place, and the every day over the rare aspects of the contemporary life. Their characters are usually of the middle class or the working class people who lives through ordinary experience of childhood, adolescence, love, marriage, parenthood, fidelity and death. Thus they focus on the presentation of character instead of plot. In drama, Henrik Ibsen and Anton Chekhov are responsible for the turn to realism on stage and Maupassant, Henry Jones and Wharton are responsible for realism in fiction. Naturalism: Naturalism grew out of realism around the turn of this century. Naturalism, as a literary movement emerged from Realism around the turn of 19th century. It shares many qualities with Realism, but it precede beyond literary principles rather it occupies a wide range of scholarship like science, nature, economy, politics which always put a direct relationship with human life. They said that human life is always governed by science and economy which are the determining factors of human life. They clearly portrayed the impact of poverty, illiteracy, war, dangers which are around from scientific advancement with in their work of literature. It includes some psychological forces dominantly that compels the characters to be the victim of death. It always depicts a dark side of light imposed upon the characters. Naturalistic elements are adequately found in war poets, novelist who always describes the impact of war and great economic depression. Symbolism: Symbolism as a literary movement is thought to be having been formally introduced by French writer during the second half of the 19th century. It was emerged as a reaction against Realism, which put a belief upon the objective world. But for the symbolist the objective world was not through reality rather, a mere reflection of the absolute one. They believe that true realities of nature can be perceived by the work of art. And artist possesses a power to create the universe of his own, but the reader cannot share her or his emotion directly. Therefore everything should be suggested by symbols which are necessary to express what they experienced. These tendencies of giving more focus in the art gave birth to the symbolism. The symbolist never describe things directly, instead they use one thing to suggest another. Charle's Baudelari in France and W.B Yeast in England are known to be the innovator to symbolism. Imagism: Imagism was firstly invented by American and English poets in 1909 as a response to symbolism. Unlike symbolist they used to believe in the presentation of concrete images which are sustained by the

proper selection of word. They paid a great effort to create certain images in the mind of readers, so as to create sense of thrill and emotional zeal in the readers. They stated that visual creation is the only way to evoke pity, sympathy and love to the readers. They presented very concrete images to acquire some emotional response from the readers. Imagism can be located in the poems of William Carlos Williams "The Red Wheel Barrow". Modernism: Modernism has its broad history which has neither its beginning nor ending, rather it is an ongoing phenomenon. It does not directly refer to a specific time period rather it proceeds beyond all human perfection or understanding. Modernism refers to the literary contributions of 20th century, which explores the drawback of scientific advancement and war which has enslaved man with in it. Especially modernism goes against the traditional norms of literature instead it highlights the ruined destiny of modern human being. It includes the agony of modern people which is caused by war, economic depression, violence, injustice and so on. They always lament on the loss of individual identity; lose of culture. For instance "a cat is cat because it is not a rat". Every word or sentence carries some meaning by syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationship to each other. Similarly he advocates that the meaning of every art or literature is determined through its respective structure. Poetry, drama, and fiction do have their meaning from their distinctive structure. But he believed that every literature contain some meaning to the readers. Every is a vast network of its central ideas sustained by other minor details. Deconstruction: Deconstruction is a typical movement in literature firstly innovated by German philosopher Jacques Derrida. This movement was emerged in philosophy during 1960s as a reaction against Saussurian concept on structuralism. For Derrida there is nothing called signifier and signified. He further says every signifier has the equality of signified and every signified has the potentiality of signifier. For him meaning was the matter of assumption because no meaning can exactly represent to the quality of an object. There is nothing called center or periphery, everything is its center and periphery at the same time. He openly challenges the western ways of looking at the things. He believes in rupturing (destroying) the conventional hierarchy between good and bad, day and night, sweet and bitter and so on.
Impressionism: Impressionism, as a movement in literature was introduced by painters and poets of early 20th century. The painters and poets of this time period gave more importance for the impression rather than the meaning of an art. They applied certain concrete images to achieve some impression whether good or bad on the part of the readers. They said that every piece of literature should have its genuine power to create some impression; otherwise the art ceases to give pleasure. Things are portrayed as they would be perceived by a particular consciousness and point of view rather than as they objectively appear. They interpreted every form of literature in relation of painting and art. They made some abstract principles to be dominant in literature.

Expressionism: Expressionism as a movement in literature was coined at the beginning of the 20th century. It describes art and literature which emphasizes the eternal emotion and experience of the artist. For them external object are nothing but the source of deriving multiple experience to an artist. It gives more importance in the quality of experience rather than the meaning of literature. In fiction expressionism can be seen in stream of consciousness technique. It means describing things in spontaneous manner as they recur in the mind of writer. In this technique various fragmented ideas are presented as a sequence of thought. In modern poems expressionism has become quite dominant to persuade the readers or audience in which the technique of expression is maintained in such a way to move the heart of listeners. Surrealism: Surrealism is a typical movement in art and literature which began during First World War in France and existed up till Second World War. It was originated by French philosopher and critic who were highly influenced by Freudian philosophy and poetry of Charles Baudelaire. It breaks away from the conventional and imposed rationality
Post-Modernism Post- Modernism is a branch of post structuralism which limits its study in the matter or meaning of text. As feminism limits its study in men, women relationship in the society. For post modernist no interpretation is final interpretation and any meaning veiled and truth. Interpretations and meaning differ from one individual to another the reason is that the entire world is uncertain. There are multiple meanings of the same text and multiple ideas can be perceived on the basis of reader's individual experiences. This multiplicity of text and meaning leads readers to the world of confusing and uncertainty.