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Early Modern English Literature

Introduction

Early Modern English literature represents the building block of most of the practices that we can find today in modern English literature, from the literary devices to themes, philosophical views, and even character tropes. This document serves as a quick glance over the twists and turns taken throughout history that have lead to the creation of the modern English novel, poetry, and literature as a whole.

John Milton

John Milton (1608 – 1674) is one of the most substantial figures in the creation of modern English poetry.

Paradise Lost

Paradise Lost is an epic poem in blank verse¹ written by John Milton and published in the year 1667. The work was originally divided into ten books, with later revisions being arranged in twelve books, as in Virgil’s Aeneid, to more closely represent the model of classical epic poems.

The poem is considered to be Milton’s magnum opus, leading to his classification as of one of the greatest poets of English literature, commonly compared to the likes of Shakespeare. It tells the well-known Christian biblical narrative of the book of Genesis and the story of the Fall of Man: the temptation of Adam and Eve by Satan and subsequent knowledge of good and bad, and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden.

Major Themes

The poem features many Biblical themes, retelling the story of Genesis, the first book of the Bible. In his own words, Milton wrote the poem to “justify the wayes of God to men”, serving as a means for describing his views on two important elements of Christian theology: human free will, and the origin of evil.

The primary theological idea debated in Paradise Lost is the nature of free will, in regards to two contrasting views common of his time: the Calvinist doctrine, that denied the existence of humanity’s free will in concordance with Calvin’s view on predestination², and the humanist view that centers on the freedom of the will.

In Milton’s view, denying the existence of man’s freedom of choice turns man into a slave of his own reactions and decisions as one can deny any moral responsibility of his actions. However, if one assumes that free will does exist, they take full responsibility of their actions. It is under this framework that the poem describes the origin and nature of evil as the consequence of man’s free will, and not the responsibility of God:

^{(Book III, 98 – 102)}

Construction

Paradise Lost features many of the literary techniques common in the works characteristic of Ancient Roman and Greek society, adapting the format of the epic poem to Christian morality and ideas. One such example can be seen in the opening of the poem, where the traditional poetic device of invocation is used. Instead of invoking the muses as is done in traditional epics, Milton addresses God as his “Heav’nly Muse”.

Another important poetic device used by Milton is personification, giving something that isn’t living or a person human traits, such as emotions and a gender. We can observe this in Book 6, describing the fall of Satan and his army into Hell, after being chased away by Jesus Christ on a flaming chariot:

Hell, despite being a place, is described as a she, and is frightened at the sight of Satan’s fall: “[…] Hell saw Heaven ruining from Heaven, and would have fled affrighted, but strict Fate had cast too deep her dark foundations […]”.

Daniel Defoe

Daniel Defoe (1660 – 1731) was an English writer, merchant, and spy for both the Whigs and the Tories³. His work was diverse and dynamic, from being an inventor and a bankrupt, to working as a politician, a businessman, and in journaling. His literary career was quite strong, having written over 250 works on a multitude of topics.

Despite being an extremely prolific writer, Defoe started his novel writing later in his life, having written his first novel, Robinson Crusoe, in his late fifties. Nevertheless, Defoe is best known for his novels, and is considered by many critics as the inventor of the modern English novel, since he was the first major English novelist to break away from the traditional formulas of literature (romances, epics, legends, allegories, and others), instead opting to write using real events as his inspiration, combining fiction with reality.

One such example of his blending of fiction and reality can be found in his first novel, which was most likely inspired by the many cases of real-life castaways, particularly the case of a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk, who was stranded for four years on an uninhabited island, named Robinson Crusoe Island since 1966, close to the Chilean coast.

Robinson Crusoe

The first novel written by Daniel Defoe is Robinson Crusoe⁴, published on the 25th of April 1719. It enjoyed almost immediate success and was greatly appreciated by readers for the story’s verisimilitude (convincing rendition of reality) and captivating adventures. Defoe immediately followed the novel with two sequels, The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, the same year, and Serious Reflections During the Life and Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe: With his Vision of the Angelick World”. The novel was so successful its first volume went through four editions by the end of the year, and was translated into a great number of languages (including smaller languages such as Coptic and Maltese). In fact, its legacy was so strong that the term “Robinsonade” was chosen to refer to the genre of adventure-focused stories that followed the model of Robinson Crusoe.

One of the novel’s particularities and a characteristic feature of Daniel Defoe’s novel writing, is the autobiographical narrative and usage of the story as a means to conceal a moral message.

Jonathan Swift

Jonathan Swift (1667 – 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, satirist, and Anglican⁵ cleric, who lived during the Georgian era (1714 – c. 1830). His most known works are all satires, leading to many critics granting him the title of the greatest satirist of the Georgian era.

Political activity

Swift frequently wrote about the political issues of his time and acted as a voice for the difficulties of living faced by the Irish people.

A Modest Proposal

Published in the year 1729, under the full name: “A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People from Being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick”, is a Juvenalian⁶ satire written by Jonathan Swift. The satire’s shock factor is immense and instant, having lead to a backlash from an important number of the Georgian elite of Swift’s time.

Structured as an essay, A Modest Proposal claims to provide a simple and efficient solution for the social and economic troubles faced by poor people in Ireland: fattening their babies to sell them as “delicious” food for the rich. The essay uses the characteristic inconsiderate and cold language one may find in a typical report of the time, along with vocabulary commonly used to refer to cattle and other live stock, with harsh criticism of the immorality of the upper class.

Gulliver’s Travels

Gulliver’s Travels is Swift’s most popular and appreciated work, published on published the 28th of October, 1726, under the original title: “Travels into Several Remote Nations of the World. In Four Parts. By Lemuel Gulliver, First a Surgeon, and then a Captain of Several Ships”. The work serves both as an astounding piece of literature read and enjoyed by all ages, as well as a witful critique of human nature and the Robinsonade literary genre, popularized by Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe.

The novel’s story is split into four parts, describing Lemuel Gulliver’s travels across a wide range of fictional as well as real places: Lilliput (an island inhabited by tiny people), Brobdingnag (an island where everything, including the people, is huge), Laputa, Balnibarbi, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrib, Japan, and the Land of the Houyhnhnms (a place inhabited by speaking, sentient horses that use a human-like race, called the Yahoos, as slaves). Swift seeks to make fun of the usually exaggerated and nonsensical travels that had become popular in “traveller’s tales” literature, as well as parody key elements of his time: politics, religion, science, and philosophy. In Swift’s own words, he wrote Gulliver’s Travels “to vex the world rather than divert it”, and indeed this book’s paradox is its popularity as a children’s novel and it being a harsh and savage critique on humanity as a whole.

The novel’s cultural influence is quite considerable. The term Lilliputian has entered many languages as an adjective for describing anything miniature or delicate; likewise, the term Brobdingnagian is included in the Oxford English Dictionary to describe anything gigantesque.

Laurence Sterne

Laurence Sterne (1713 – 1768) was also an Anglo-Irish novelist and Anglican cleric, and the son of an officer in the army. His most popular work is the comic novel Tristram Shandy. Unlike the previous authors mentioned above, Sterne’s writing style is unique in its long essay-like passages, that in some regards can be seen to anticipate the modern writing technique called ‘stream of consciousness’ as can be found in James Joyce’s⁷ works.

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman is a comic novel written by Laurence Sterne and published in nine volumes, from 1759 to 1767. The novel stood out due and rose to an immediate popularity due to its peculiar and almost cynical style of humor, as well as its whimsical, almost ludic plot and dialogue. An eccentric novel unlike most typical books, considered by many critics puzzling and peculiar. Whereas most stories begin with the main character, the novel’s first two volumes describe Tristram’s conception and unfortunate series of events that have led to his deplorable condition, told by the man himself, accompanied by his opinions on the matter, as can be seen in the introduction:

^{(Volume 1, Chapter 1)}

One of the novel’s themes is Tristram’s fate, which has been indeed decided long before his actual birth, as can be seen in the passage above. However, his long stream of unlucky setbacks don’t end here; in fact, even his name is the result of one of the many tragic errors that happen both before and throughout his life:

Etymologically, the name Tristram comes from the Latin term “tristis”, which means “sad” or “sorrowful”, in terms with the outcome of Tristram’s naming.

Literary Currents and Movements

Romanticism

Romanticism started off as a literary movement in reaction against Classicism and Neoclassicism, in what is called the Pre-Romantic Age, during roughly the last 30 years of the 1700s. Most of the themes present in Pre-Romantic literature can be found in Romantic literature or have slightly evolved in their fully matured Romantic themes and ideas. Some of the most important Romantic themes are:

• A preference for all that is emotionally and spiritually charged, encapsulated in a few representative locations: ruins, graveyards; as well as states of the mind and soul: solitude, melancholy, nostalgia, reverie.
• The usage of common/everyday language, as opposed to the complex and sophisticated language that was common during the Enlightenment. In turn, this also sparked a revival of language dialects.
• A refusal or distaste for the rigid and sterile style of writing characteristic of texts of the Classical and Neoclassical period, replaced by personal taste, imagination, and the irrational.
• An increasing passion for the Middle Ages and Medieval Times, being seen as a mysterious and vulgar era.
• An interest for the exotic, strange, and supernatural.
• An interest in Gothic architecture and society due to its dark and brutal spirit, characteristic of the barbarous period (s. Gothic Literature).
• The nobilization of the Natural world and of primitive ways of living (s. The Noble Savage).

William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850) was an poet from a small English town in Cumbria (Cumberland). His work is considered to have started the Romantic poetry movement in Britain after having collaborated with Samuel Taylor Coleridge in creating Lyrical Ballads in the year 1798.

One of Wordsworth most popular poems is “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, published in 1807:

The poem is written in iambic tetrameter⁸ and features a quatrain-couplet rhyming scheme – that is, the ABABCC pattern, and describes a walk in the countryside, where the poet becomes fascinated by a small spot of flowers (golden daffodils), comparing their beauty to that of cosmic proportions (“Continuous as the stars that shine / And twinkle on the milky way”), and the mesmerizing waves in the bay, but still finds them more valuable and delightful (“[…] but they / Out-did the sparkling waves in glee”). It ends with a reflection on solitude and how, after having seen the beautiful flowers, the poet is elated by their memory (“In vacant or in pensive mood, / They flash upon that inward eye / Which is the bliss of solitude; / And then my heart with pleasure fills, / And dances with the daffodils.”).

In typical Romantic fashions, many of the movement’s most major themes are present:

• The poem’s theme is nature, and features natural elements throughout (the hills and valleys, the lake, the daffodils themselves). These elements also symbolize Romantic themes (the cloud – a symbol of the connection between humanity and nature, and the daffodils — a symbol of beauty).
• The language is simple and accessible; it can be understood by anyone, unlike the elevated language of the Enlightenment.
• The poem features strong emotions such as happiness, joy, and bliss.
• The connection between the poet and the surrounding nature is described with a spiritual quality, characteristic of Romantic ideals.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 – 1834) was an English poet, considered, alongside William Wordsworth, one of the initiators of the Romantic poetry movement in Britain. Some of his most famous works include the poems written in collaboration with William Wordsworth in their volume Lyrical Ballads (1798), as well as Kubla Khan (written 1797 – published 1816), and Christabel (1816).

John Keats

John Keats (1795 – 1821) was an English poet born in London. He is best known for his 1819 series of odes, considered some of the best in English literature:

• Ode on Indolence
• Ode on Melancholy
• Ode on a Grecian Urn
• Ode to Autumn
• Ode to Psyche
• Ode to a Nightingale

His works commonly feature references and allusions to Greek and Roman mythology, as well as ancient philosophy and way of life (s. Ode to a Grecian Urn, Ode to a Nightingale).

William Blake

William Blake (1757 – 1827) was an English poet, illustrator, and painter, possessing an impressive imagination due to the visions he has experienced since his childhood. William’s work was diverse and rich in themes and motives, but focused almost entirely on Religion, through which he sought to develop his idea of imagination as “the body of God”.

Two of Blake’s most studied collection of poems are Songs of Innocence, published in 1789, and Songs of Experience, published in 1794, which were later combined into one collection entitled Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Shewing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul, in 1794, featuring colored illustrations representing each poem. Both volumes were redacted entirely by Blake and his wife Catherine Blake, who helped with engraving, coloring, and additional touches.

Blake’s work can be considered as the founding stone for Romantic literature in English. As the collection’s subtitle may suggest, Blake uses the contrast between the two volumes, one describing the pure and innocent state of childhood, and the other describing the corrupt and fallen world, to illustrate the contrary and uncertain state of mankind’s moral and intellectual condition. Two poems can be analyzed to best exemplify the uniting contrast between the two volumes: The Lamb, from Songs of Innocence, and The Tyger, from Songs of Experience.

The Lamb

The poem’s text:

Blake’s lyrical and poetic genius shines brightly throughout the poem’s verses. It is narrated from a child’s point of view (a common theme in Songs of Innocence) who contemplates one of God’s creations, and addresses the lamb directly, presented in the poem through apostrophe⁹, a poetic device (Little Lamb, who made thee / Dost thow know who made thee).

The Christian parallels and message is clear, comparing a lamb to our Lord, Jesus Christ, the one who “calls himself a Lamb”, and “became a little child” being born of the Virgin Mary. The title “Lamb of God” is strongly tied to Christian values, appearing in John 1:29, where John the Baptist sees Jesus and proclaims: “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world”; it is by this very title that Blake draws the similarities between Christ’s peaceful nature and innocence and the meekness and mildness of a lamb (He is meek & he is mild). The poem concludes with the reminder that by Jesus’s sacrifice on the cross, we are called by His name to follow Him: I a child & thou a lamb, / We are called by his name.”

One of the poem’s primary themes is that of a mild and peaceful creator, a loving God who cares for all of His creation (Gave thee life & bid thee feed, / By the stream & o’er the mead;). This is in direct contrast with the way God is described in The Tyger, the poem bellow.

The Tyger

The poem’s text:

Compared to the previous poem, The Tyger’s style is a lot darker and menacing. The poem’s mood is also darker, using imagery that reminds of dangerous and, at times, terrifying objects, emotions, and events. The focus here is on God’s power and omnipotence, rather than His peaceful and mild character (What immortal hand or eye. / Could frame thy fearful symmetry?), even the lyric voice asks in shock how the same creator described in the previous poem is capable of creating such a ferocious beast (Did he who made the Lamb make thee?). The tiger is described using terminology reminiscent of war, conflict, and big weapons/tools (What the hammer? what the chain, / In what furnace was thy brain? / What the anvil?).

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Through juxtaposition, the two poems share a common element which reveals that, despite their stark contrast, there is one theme that unites them: human curiosity. Regardless of our age and background, curiosity is the force that makes all of us ask questions, address the unaddressed, and seek the unknown.

Lord Byron

Lord Byron (1788 – 1824), also known as George Gordon Byron, was an English poet, known for his extravagant lifestyle and passionate Romantic themes abundant in his poetry, characteristic of the Sturm und Drang motif¹⁰. His most known works are Beppo (1818), and Don Juan (1812). Both of the aforementioned poems use a rhyming scheme called ottava rima, characteristic of his work.

Gothic Literature

Gothic literature can be considered as a “subset” of Romantic literature, in that it heavily borrows from the former, and the two genres are often considered codependent. Much like in Romantic literature, the Gothic genre focuses on supernatural themes, emotions and passions as opposed to pure rationality, and emotionally and spiritually charged places and states of mind. Some of the main Gothic themes that are different from Romanticism are:

• A presence of the dead and undead, corpses, and anything macabre.
  In Gothic stories, the line between the living and the dead is thin, sometimes nonexistent.
• Dark, gloomy and mysterious or haunted places, such as: cemeteries, abandoned castles, dimly lit forests and ghost towns.
  Sometimes, this can also be found in the atmosphere, where actions take place in the dark, during moonless nights or in thunderstorms.
• Loneliness and isolation.
  Usually, the main character or cast of characters live in a state of isolation and solitude; either by their own will, or due to an external cause.
• Curses, secrets and mysteries.
  Characters can have a secret or a curse that awaits to be discovered, leading to a sentiment of stress and gloom. Sometimes, this leads into the destruction of the cast of characters or entire families.

Bram Stoker

Bram Stoker (1847 – 1912) was an Irish novelist. He is best known for his Gothic horror novel Dracula, considered one of the classics of English literature, that revolutionized the Vampire fiction scene.

Dracula

Dracula is a Gothic horror novel written by Bram Stoker’s and published in the year 1897. The novel may have been influenced by Jules Verne’s 1892 Gothic novel Le Château des Carpathes (The Carpathian Castle), but differs in its horror elements and the iconic character of Count Dracula. Bram Stoker may have also taken inspiration from a great number of Romanian and Slovakian mythology and folklore, as well as the historical figure of Vlad Țepeș (Vlad the Impaler), a Wallachian prince. The name Dracula was likely chosen because it meant ‘devil’ in Romanian.

The novel’s narrative and action is unique, not featuring a single protagonist. The main course of action is related through fictional letters, diary entries, and newspaper articles, and focuses on the Transylvanian nobleman Count Dracula’s vampire plague. As is the case with many Gothic novels, Dracula features a considerable number of common Gothic themes and motifs, such as:

• Heightened emotions
  The majority of the characters are increasingly helpless and terrified as the story progresses.
  
• Mystery and suspense
  In relation to the previous motif, this results in offering the reader state of suspense. Furthermore, Count Dracula remains hidden throughout most of the story, the cause of vampires being unknown.
  
• Damsel in distress
  Lucy Westenra (one of the novel’s characters) follows the damsel in distress archetype. The most innocent and pure of the girls, she becomes a vampire (a member of the undead) after Count Dracula takes hold of her.

Mary Shelley

Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797 – 1851) was an English novelist known for having written the Gothic novel Frankenstein, inspired by her stay at George Byron’s villa on the lake of Geneva. Shelley’s literary career was fruitful, having written many works of considerable success and edited the poems of her husband, Percy Shelley, a Romantic poet.

Frankenstein

Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus, is a Gothic novel written by Mary Shelley and published in the year 1818. The novel was inspired by her trip along with Percy (her husband) and Claire Clairmont¹¹ at George Byron’s villa in Geneva after he proposed a writing competition for the best ghost story to pass the time they were spending indoors due to bad weather.

It tells the story of Victor Frankenstein, a young and ambitious scientist, master of alchemy, chemistry, and electricity, who realizes and unorthodox science experiment, creating a sapient creature from the body parts of the dead (later referred to as “Frankenstein’s monster), and Victor’s subsequent downfall and demise due to refusing to create a female companion for the creature. The novel surprises the reader through its macabre scenes and descriptions, its philosophical stance on humanity’s condition, and Frankenstein’s monster himself.

Shelley’s novel presents many of the core elements of Gothic fiction, such as:

• Presence of the Supernatural
  From Victor’s obsession with alchemy, to the creation and awakening of Frankenstein’s monster, the novel’s plot relies heavily on the supernatural.
  
• Corpses
  From the beginning, corpses are prevalent throughout the story. The creature is created from the remnants of dead bodies harvested by Victor from grave-robbing, creating a terrifying and grotesque image. Victor’s indifference and cold demeanor also represents his detachment from humanity and subsequent descent into darkness.
  
• Location
  Most of the novel takes place at night, during moonless or stormy nights. Victor’s creature must be powered using the energy of a shock from a thunderstorm in order to bring him to life. Furthermore, when the creature awakens, Victor can only see him “by the light of the moon”, further emphasizing the darkness of the monster.
  
• Loneliness and Isolation
  Both the protagonist (Victor Frankenstein) and Frankenstein’s monster can be characterized by their loneliness and life in isolation.
  
• Secret and Mystery
  A key element of Gothic literature is the presence of secrets. Frankenstein’s secret is unique in that it is not a simple, static secret that awaits to be uncovered, but a living, breathing thing, that will reveal itself.
  
• Destruction of Family
  Families rarely remain intact in Gothic fiction. Frankenstein is no different in that Victor’s entire family and even his friends end up murdered by the monster.

The novel’s subtitle, The Modern Prometheus, relates to the first philosophical idea it unravels: a modern rendition of the myth of Prometheus, who was a Titan in Greek mythology attributed with the creation of making from clay. Likewise, being a creation myth, Frankenstein delves into many biblical themes, such as the creation of Adam and the origin of Good and Evil.

Another theme tackled by the novel is that of defying nature’s laws and Natural Order. In realizing his experiment, Victor can be considered to have infringed God’s design for life, creating a living being by himself.

Bibliography and Sources

• Elio Chinol, English Literature: A Historical Survey with an Anthology – Volume 1, Liguori Editore, 1982
• Ifor Evans, A Short History of English Literature – Third Edition, Pelican Books, 1970
• Ioan Aurel Preda, English Literature and Civilization: The Renaissance and the Restoration Period (1500-1700), Editura Didactică și Pedagogică, Bucharest, 1983
• Jack Rathbun & Liviu Cotrău, English Practical Course: Two Approaches to Literature, Editura Didactică și Pedagogică, Bucharest, 1983
• John William Cousin, A Short Biographical Dictionary of English Literature, 1910

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• A Modest Proposal on Wikisource
• Gulliver’s Travels on Wikimedia Commons
• The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman on Wikisource
• Ode on a Grecian Urn on Wikisource
• Ode to a Nightingale on Wikisource

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1. Keeping meter between lines but not rhyming them.↩︎

2. Predestination is a Calvinist doctrine that teaches that man’s fate is already decided by God, whereby human free will is seen as contrary to God’s divine plan.↩︎

3. The Whigs and the Tories were two rivaling political parties in Britain between the 17th and 19th centuries.↩︎

4. Or, under its full title: “The Life and Strange Surprizing Adventures of Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: Who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an un-inhabited Island on the Coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver’d by Pyrates. Written by Himself.”, which pretty much sums up the entire book.↩︎

5. Anglicanism (or Episcopalianism) is a Protestant denomination started by the Church of England, after the English Reformation, in the broader context of the Protestant Reformation across Europe.↩︎

6. Satire inspired or under the model of Roman satirist Juvenal (~1st c. AD), who heavily utilized exaggeration and parody in order to create monstrous and incompetent renditions of the public figures and institutions he targeted.↩︎

7. James Joyce (1882 – 1941) was an Irish novelist, literary critic, and poet, best known for his novel Ulysses (1922), which pioneered the stream of consciousness.↩︎

8. Iambic tetrameter is a poetic meter featuring ten iambs (an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed one) per line. This is type of meter is commonly used in English poetry, alongside iambic pentameter (five iambs).↩︎

9. Apostrophe is an exclamatory mark used in dramatic plays and poetry where the speaker directly addresses either an object that cannot speak or an individual that is not present.↩︎

10. Sturm un Drang is a literary motif and movement started in 18th century Germany, as a starting point for the pre-Romantic ideals. The movement focused on individual expression and strong emotions, as a reaction against the excessive rationalism of the Enlightenment.↩︎

11. Claire Clairmont (1798 – 1879) was Mary Shelley’s stepsister and Lord Byron’s partner and love interest.↩︎