A Brief Introduction To Modern British Literature:

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A Brief Introduction to Modern British Literature: Wordsworth, Shaw, and Hardy When I read great literature, great drama, speeches, or sermons, I feel that the human mind has not achieved anything greater than the ability to share feelings and thoughts through language. --James Earl Jones Modern British literature is a diversely inclusive collection of developed literary consciousness. Unlike the stiff classical etiquette of previous ages, these modern writers possessed the ability to relay the very essence of themselves through radical language regardless of social ostracism. Determined to change literature, which for centuries was essentially stagnate, writers emotionally invested themselves in their work and asserted the importance of creative individualism and social autonomy. Works like Wordsworth’s "London, 1802” Shaw’s Mrs. Warren's Profession, and Hardy’s “The Ruined Maid " dramatically captured the essence of the eighteenth and nineteenth century and proposed transcendental solutions for social, spiritual, and political change. These authors created meaningful literature that forces its readers to expand their minds pass their own condition and take notice of the world around them. The fiery sonnet "London, 1802" written by William Wordsworth contains striking rudiments of Romanticism. The speaker of the poem dramatically beckons the soul of John Milton, a famous English poet, proclaiming: England hath need of thee: she is a fen Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! Raise us up, return to us again; (Wordsworth 297) Wordsworth
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