Figurative Language

Figurative Language

Introduction:

I.A Richards, Who’s full name was Ivor Armstrong Richards, who was one of the most influential figure among the critics of the 20^th Century. He was born on February 26, 1893, Sandbank, Cheshire, England and also died on September 7, 1979, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, lived very long time and did also very notable things in the history of English Criticism. He was an English critic and poet. While a lecturer at Cambridge, Richards wrote influential works, including Principles of Literary Criticism (1924), in which he introduced a new way of reading poetry that led to the New Criticism. A student of psychology, he concluded that poetry performs a therapeutic function by coordinating various human impulses into an aesthetic whole. In the 1930s he spent much of his time developing Basic English, a language system of 850 basic words that he believed would promote international understanding. He taught at Harvard University from 1944.

He took education at Cambridge. In fact, T.S. Eliot and I.A. Richards are considered to be the pioneers in the field of New Criticism. They differ a lot in the views. Critics like John Crowe Ronsom, Kenneth Brooke, cleanth Brooks, R.P.Blackmur, and Robert Penn Warren William Empson were indebted to I.A. Richards.

Richards was educated at Magdalene College, Cambridge, and was a lecturer in English and moral sciences there from 1922 to 1929. In that period he wrote three of his most influential books: The Meaning of meaning (1923) a pioneer work on semantics and Principles of Literary Criticism (1924) and Practical Criticism (1929), companion volumes that he used to develop his critical method. The latter two were based on experimental pedagogy: Richards would give students poems in which the titles and authors’ names had been removed and then use their responses for further development of their close reading skills. Richards is best known for advancing the close reading of literature and for articulating the theoretical principles upon which these skills lead to “practical criticism,” a method of increasing readers’ analytic powers.

A student of psychology and philosophy along with literary forms, Richards concluded that poetry performs a therapeutic function by coordinating a variety of human impulses into an aesthetic whole, helping both the writer and the reader maintain their psychological well-being. He valued poetry of inclusion that was able to contain the widest variety of warring tensions and oppositions.

I.A Richards is remembered today for his notable works as enlisted below

1. The Meaning of Meaning- 1923

2. The Practical of Criticism – 1929

3. The Principles of Literary criticism-1924

I.A.Richards differs from the New Critics in one important respect, while the New Critics limit themselves rigorously to the poem under consideration, I.A.Richards also take into account its effect on the readers.  For him, the real value of a poem lies in the reaction and attitudes it creates weather or not it is conductive to greater emotional balance equilibrium, peace and rest in the mind of the readers. For him the value of a work of art lies in its power to harmonies and organizes complex and warring human impulses into patterns that are lasting and pleasurable.

 In his work I.A. Richards discusses about the figurative language as well as metaphorical language, who was an orthodox advocate of a close textual and verbal study and analysis of work of verbal study and analysis of work of art. According to Richards there are three objectives to write The Practical criticism.

Four kinds of meanings:

 According to him the poet writes to communicate, and language is the means of that Communication Language is made of words and therefore it is a study of words is all important if the meaning of work of art is understood. Words carry four kind of meaning sense, Feelings Tone and intention, which are enlisted below

Ø  Sense

Ø  Feelings

Ø  Tone

Ø  Intention etc.

Let’s discuss these four kinds of meanings in detail.

Sense:

Sense is very much important in the any work of art or literature. Here Sense deals with the simple as well as plain meanings of any literary work according to I.A Richards. Because Sense is an integral element of the poetry due to it one can understand the entire meaning of the poem. By sense it meant something that is communicated by the plain literal meanings of the words. About Sense one scholar comments

“In most poetry the sense is as important as anything else;

It is quite as a subtle, and as dependent of the syntax as in

Prose; it is the poet’s chief instrument to other aims when it is not

Itself his aim. His control of our thoughts is ordinarily his chief means to the

Control of our feeling, and in the immense majority of instances we miss nearly everything"

Feelings:

Feelings are very much necessary for the poet and for the reader also because one is able to grasp the meaning but if he cannot understand the feelings of the poet or what the poet wants to convey his or her ideas through words then the poet fails in the field of poetry. Feeling Refers to emotional attitudes desire, will, pleasure, unpleasure and the rest words express feelings.

Tone:

As far as Tone is concerned, it is equally required in the poetry that tone should be there in any literary work. Tone deals with the tone of the poet because sometimes it is possible that tone helps us to understand the meanings of the poem. Tone here means the writers attitude towards his audience. The writer chooses his words and arranges them keeping in mind the taste of his readers. Feeling is only state of mind.

Intention:

Intention deals with the purpose of the poet. Due to Intention reader sometimes cannot or fails to grasp the meaning of the poetry. Many times it is observed that what the poet wants to say one cannot understand the entire poetry. Intention is authors conscious or unconscious aim, it is the effect that one tries to produce. Also intention controls the emphasis, shapes the arrangement, or draws attention to something of importance.

After discussing four kinds of meanings then I.A Richards proceeds further to convey his idea about Importance of Rhyme and Rhythm.I.A. Richards by his own work could make literary Criticism factual, Scientific and complete. It no longer remains a matter of the application of set ruler or mere ‘intiution’ or impressions analysis, interpretation and evaluation have exercised considerable influence on the New Critics everywhere.Words in poetry have an emotive value, and the figurative language used by poets conveys those emotions effectively and forcefully. Words have different meaning in different contexts. Words are symbols or signs and they deliver their full meaning only in a particular context. Sense and feeling have a mutual dependence.

Significance of Rhyme and Rhythm:

Rhythm and Metre are organic and integral and important parts of any integral and important parts of any poem because they determine the meaning of the words used by the poets Rhythm, meter and meaning cannot be separated they from together a single system. Rhythm and its specialized form, meter, depend upon repetition and expectancy. Equally where what is expected recurs and where it fails, all rhythmical and metrical effects spring from anticipation.

The Nature of poetic Truth:

Metaphorical language is important purpose of communication. The Nature of poetic Truth is very much important but it differs from the scientific truth.“It is evident that the bulk of poetry consists of statements which only the very foolish would think of attempting to verify. They are not the kind of things which can be verified. It we recall what was said in chapter 16 as to the natural generality of vagueness of reference we shall see another reason why references as they occur in poetry are rarely susceptible to scientific truth or falsity. Only references which are brought into certain highly complex and very special combinations so as to correspond to the ways in which things actually hang together, can be either true or false and most references in poetry are not knit together in this way.

Source of Misunderstanding in Poetry:

 In practical criticism a study of literary judgment, I.A.Richards has given the theory of Figurative language. He starts discussion first on sources of misunderstanding in poetry. He says that it is very difficult to find the source which creates misunderstanding. Further, he says that there are four sources of misunderstanding as far as are poetry is concerned. According to I.A. Richards there are four sources of misunderstanding of poetry. It is difficult to diagnose with accuracy and definiteness, the source of some particular mistake or misunderstanding of the sense of poetry. It arises from inattention, or sheer carelessness.

 I.A. Richards warns readers –In most poetry the sense is as important as anything else it is  quite as a subtle, and as dependent on the syntax, as in prose it is the poet’s chief instrument to other aims when it is not itself his aim. An over literal-reading is as great a source of misunderstanding. Careless intuitive reading and prosaic ‘over-literal reading are the simple-godes the justing rocks. Defective scholarship is a third source of misunderstanding in poetry.

The reader may fail to understand the sense of the poet because he is ignorant of poet’s sense. Afar more serious cause of misunderstanding is the failure to realise that the poetic use of words is different from an assumption about language that can be fatal to poetry. Literary is one serious obstacle in the way of a right understanding of the poetic words. According to Richards-poetry is different from prose and needs a different attitude for right understanding.

If we talk about another misunderstanding of the sense of poetry, we can say that some poets often themselves like to play all manners of tricks with their sense. Sometimes a poet dissolves the coherence of his sense altogether, and may seem chaotic and incoherent. The ordinary laws of syntax and grammar may be thrown to the window. These chaotic and in incoherent structure arise the complex situation in the poetry. Reader feels uncertainty to solve it. As a result, a reader fails to understand the concept of the poetry and feel complicated situation.

Mixed Metaphors:

The Value of Figurative Language:

Sometimes it is possible that figurative language may create some misunderstanding in any literary work. Therefore it is necessary to identify the figures of speech. It is difficult to turn poetry into logical respectable prose. Is combining with recognition of the liberties which are proper for a poet, and the power and value of figurative language. There are various comments on the above piece of the hyperbole of the sea-harp. The only concrete simile in the octave is the likening of the sea to a harp- surely a little extravagant.

 There is no doubt that the similarity between the sound of a harp and the sea but in poetry such things do happen. It is clear that the effect proposed by the poet is, an exhilarating awakening of wonder and a fusion of the sea,lightning and spring, those three most moving manifestations of Nature

The poet is rather negligent in the choice of means he has employed to attain his end. The enjoyment and understanding of the best poetry require s sensitiveness and discrimination with words a nicety, imaginativeness and deftness in taking their sense which will prevent the poem in question, in its original form, from attentive readers.

The Value of Personification:

Personification is the best way to express the idea of poet.Bacause personification adds more colours into the language of poetry. Sometimes it looks like very ornamental language. Personification comes naturally to us. Personification may not express sense but it expresses the feelings of the poet towards what he is speaking about. Personification enables the poet to clear and comprehend the difficult work.

Now about value of Personification I.A Richards comments  

“There are indeed very good reasons why poetry should personify. The structure of language and the pronouns, verbs and adjectives that come most naturally to us constantly invite us to personify. And to go deeper, our attitudes, feelings, and ways of thought about inanimate things are moulded upon and grow out of our whys of thinking and feeling about one another. Our minds have developed with other human beings always in the foreground of our consciousness we are shape, mentally, by and through our dealings with other people. It is so in the history of the race and in the individual biography. No wonder that if what we have to say about inanimate from only appropriate’ if strict sense is our sole consideration, to persons and human relations.”

The importance of visual memory:

Visual memory is very much necessary in any literary work according to I.A Richards. For a proper appreciation and evaluation of the imagery of a poem, visual memory is also an essential, and its lake misleads the critic and distorts his judgment. The use of the word pencil, meaning, produce the effect of pencilling – is highly suggestive in the poem. its suggestion, “both of the hard, clear outline of the clouds edge and of the shadowy variation in the lighting of its inner recess , is not in the least cancelled by climbed or by the sky scraper hoist of miraculous stocked .  

 Miraculous stocked seems at least to have clear advantage over ‘the tremendous triumph of tall towers’ in point of economy and vividness. ‘Puzzle’, has accuracy also on its side against these cavilers. Anyone who watches the rest less shifted of cattle as the shadow suddenly darkness there, would for them will endowers the poet’s observations. But if the cows never noticed any change of light the word would still be justified through its evocative effect upon men. Similarly with paint and ghost; they work as a rapid and fresh notation of not vary unfamiliar effect.

Conclusion:

A few words more, we can say that according to I.A Richards a proper understanding of figurative language required close study of the poem. Reader should read the poem into the context of close reading. its literal since must be carefully followed, but such literal reading must not come in the way of imagination appreciation of it judicious balance must be struck between literalism and imaginative freedom. 

Postmodernism and Popular Culture

Name:   Bharat Bhammar

Roll no:   04

Batch Year:   2014-15

Semester:   2

Paper no:   05 (The Romantic Literature)

Submitted to:   S.B.G Dept. of English

                           M.K.K.S.Bhavnagar University   

  

Postmodernism and Popular Culture

Introduction:

Postmodernism is a term, which was not existed earlier, but with the passing of time including the gradual growth of modernism, it came into existence and got establishment as a major term, separated from modernism. The term ‘Postmodernism’ is often applied to the literature and art after World War 2 (1939-1945). Postmodernism involves counter traditional experiments of modernism postmodernism; in literature and the arts has parallels with the movement known as post structuralism. Postmodernism refer to a group of critics who inspired often by the postmodern culture in which they live. 

In postmodernism many post modernist try to include subjectivity, temporality, referentiality, progress and the rule of law. Postmodernism also refers to the aesthetic as well as cultural product that treats and often critique aspects of postmodernist. Therefore, this term tries to differentiate the distinction between postmodern culture and postmodernist’s theory that is Postmodernism.

Ø Before highlighting the term Postmodernism, it is necessary to define ‘Modernism ’.

Ø Modernism

Ø Mordnism is the term that should be thoroughly understood in order to understand the 20^th century culture. Modernism is the name given to the movement which dominated the arts and culture of the first half of the 20^th century. The movement of modernism in arts brought down much of the structure of early 20^th century practice in music painting literature and architecture. Modernism (1890-1910) poses Vienna as centre but it spread in France, Germany, Italy and Britain too.

Ø Some of the practitioners of Modernism are …T.S Eliot, James Joyce, Ezra Pound, Virginia Woolf and Franz Kafka. The modernism as a term is widely used to identify new and distinctive features in the subjects, form concepts and styles of literature. The characteristics of Modernism differ from one user to another user but most of the critics agree that Modernism includes a deliberate and radical break with some of the traditional bases not only in western art, but also in Western culture.

Ø Postmodernism

Ø “Postmodernism” is a term usually applied to the period in literature, which was first used in the 1960s by literary critics such as Ahab Hassan and Leslie Fielder. They both have started and coined this term after the Second World War, which ended in 1945.Earlier this term was known as the cultural and aesthetic approach, but later on this word or this term was invented. So, many practitioners were there of postmodernism such as

Ø Walter Benjamin

Ø Martin Heidegger

Ø Bertolt Bretch

Ø Jorge Luis Borges

Ø Susan Sintag

Ø Roland Barthes etc.

Postmodernism is characterized by a strikingly radical skepticism toward all aspects of western culture, the impetus for which practitioners of post modern theory they trace back to the writings of the nineteenth century, philosopher Frederic Nietzsche. Hence, all these writers as indicated above were the precursors or the early representatives of the tern postmodernism.

Definition

         Postmodernism, this word came from the word like modernism. But when one tries to look very deeper then the result comes that the word modernism has a very specific meaning, while Postmodernism has a broader meaning. Many precursors were there such as T.S Eliot, James Joyes, W.B Yeats, Ezra pound after the Second World War.

    

            Postmodernism offers no suggestion of anything like a comprehensive substitute world view. Postmodernism means to make a clean break with the past in the sense that the past and its way of looking at the world become the subject of satirical with historical figures texts, and ideologies.

           Postmodernism became famous since 1980s.Because earlier of course this term was there, but no any development was there at all as far as this term Postmodernism is concerned.J.A Cuddon describes postmodernism as character by an electric approach, parody and pastiche. For postmodernism, the loss of unity is not something to be mourned but something to be celebrated. It is an announcement of freedom.

         Postmodernism is anti art, it is as a direct challenge to the authority of the expert, and claims to liberate from the predetermined, central discourses of society. While modernism was the art which captured the experience of modernity, so postmodernism is the art from that captured epoch which reflects the triumph of capitalism. 

Postmodernism provided the best references like Dick Hebidge, Jorgen habremas, Terry Eagle ton and Christopher Norris have rallied and railed against the turn towards postmodernism. It is a positive light. For Eagle ton, postmodernism is a state of post radicalism.

         Postmodernism offers space for the unlimited potentialities and marginal positions to be explored. To achieve anything from the postmodernism experience, however the cycle should be broken to it. Postmodernism plays an important role in building up the contradictions in the master narratives and power discourses. It offers a moment of tension a temporary, provisional and always precarious middle ground that is used to see things in a different way.

                                            Recently the notions of metamodernism, post-postmodernism and the ‘death of postmodernism’ have been increasingly widely debated in his introduction to a special issue of the journal 20^th century literature titled ‘After postmodernism’ that “declarations of postmodernism’s demise have become a critical commonplace”. The exhibition postmodernism- style and subversion 1970-1990 at the Victorian and Albert Museums was billed as the first however to document postmodernism as a historical movement.

Post Modernism

It is the term in Cultural Studies; remove the distinction between ‘light’ ‘laws’ it between ‘Classy’ and ‘popular’. It challengers and put new views before established and universal ideas. It discovers doubt the words how some artifacts are considered as a light culture.

It is the parallel study of the notion, philosophy to interrogate it and questioned it. The study more focuses on individuality. It believes that meanings of artifacts are arbiter temporal. The process of representation seeks not to offer any insights into reality or ‘Truth’. It only calls attention to itself. That is, it is, self- referential.

The historical stories myths are also checked for the reality. That how one can really upon the narrative as universal truth. Post modernism firmly believes that the power position is the reason to circulation of certain ideas as Universal and Cultural truth, approaches and conception of reality.

Jean Baudrillard and the Hyperreal

According the Baudrillard this is the age of perfect recreation. Anything can be copied easily repeatedly said or shown. The perfection in repeatedly said or shown. The perfection in reproduction put the question upon the ‘real’ or ‘authenticity’ of the thing. It wipes the difference between superficially depths.

He gave some rules for it. They are stated below.

A)  Any sign is empty in itself. It is just the suggestion of another sign.  It refers to the similar sign. Ultimately it does not lead to the ‘Truth’.

   In a way ‘Truth’ is stimulation is so perfect that it seems us ‘real’. This ‘real’ is called Hyperreal.

B)   He gave the examples of virtual world. Virtual world provide us new relation and a new society to be lived in. it sometimes fills the vacuumed of loneliness whiles one is a lot from society. So virtual world copies the real society and remove the difference between real and copy. Global communication, infinite reproduction of data, and hologrames are the examples of redundancy of the distinction between real and imagined, between ‘true’ and copy.

C)   A tred always set a kind of statues and taboos. The objects signified ‘statuses rather than satisfying the need. So the light the sign any object suggest, the high the prose it has. So ultimately the consumer pays ‘sign-value’ and has ‘images’-‘statues’ rather the object itself.

D)  In short the post modernism characterized by the Hyperreal between the private and public.

Postmodernism

                                     Recently the notions of metamodernism, post-postmodernism and the ‘death of postmodernism’ have been increasingly widely debated in his introduction to a special issue of the journal 20^th century literature titled ‘After postmodernism’ that “declarations of postmodernism’s demise have become a critical commonplace”. The exhibition postmodernism- style and subversion 1970-1990 at the Victorian and Albert Museums was billed as the first however to document postmodernism as a historical movement.

(2)           Popular Culture:

 Introduction

       Popular culture is the entirely of ideas, perspective, attitudes, images and other Phenomena that are within the mainstream of a given culture, especially   western culture of the early to mid 20^th century and the emerging global mainstream of the late 20^th and early 21th   century. Heavily influenced by mass media, this collection of ideas permeates the everyday lives of the society.

Popular culture is often viewed as being trivial and dumbed down in order to find consensual acceptance throughout the mainstream. As a result it comes under heavy criticism from various non mainstream sources (most notably religious groups and counter cultural groups) which deem it superficial, consumerist, sensationalist, and corrupted.

 Definition:

The term ‘Popular Culture' was coined in the 19^th century or earlier. Traditionally, the term has denoted the education and general “culturedness” of the lower classes, as opposed to the “official culture” and higher education emanated by the dominant classes. The stress in the distinction from “official culture” became more pronounced towards the end of the 19^th century, a usage that became established by the interbellum period.

According to John Storey, there are six definition of popular culture. The quantitative of culture has the problem that much “high culture” is also defined as the culture that is “left over” when we have decided what high culture is. However, many works straddle the boundaries, for example, Shakespeare and Charles Dickens.

A third definition equates pop culture with “mass culture and ideas”. This is seen as a commercial culture, mass producer for mass consumption by mass media. From a western European perspective, this may be compared to American culture. Popular culture changes constantly and occurs unequal in place and time. Important contemporary contribution for understanding what popular culture means have been given by the German researcher Ronald Daus, who studies the impact of extra European culture In North America Asia and especially in Latin America.

          

Folklore:

                Adaption based on traditional folklore provides a source of popular culture. This early layer of culture main stream still persists today, in a form separate from mass produced popular culture, propagating word of mouth rather  than Victorian mass media, for example in the form of jokes or urban legend with the widespread use of the distinction between mass media and word of mouth has become blurred. Moreover, beliefs and opinions about the products of commercial culture spread but word of mouth, and become modified in the process in the same manner that folklore evolves.

Self reference:

Many cultural critics have dismissed this as merely a symptom or side effect of mass consumerism; however, alternate explanations and critique have also been offered. One critic asserts that it reflects a fundamental paradox: the increase in technological and cultural sophistication, combined with an increase in superficiality and dehumanition. Extreme example approach a kind of thematic infinite regress wherein distinction between art and life commerce and critique, ridicule and homage become intractably blurred.

      

The “postmodernism” was first used in the 1960s by literary critics such as Ahab Hassan and Leslie Fiedler. They were joined by Susan Sintag in arguing for the postmodernist aesthetic. Defenders of postmodernism often respond that such criticism misses the point; postmodern writers expose questions of reality they do not provide explicit answers about reality. Sometimes popular culture can so overtake and repackage a literary work that it is impossible to read the original text without reference to the many layers of popular culture that have developed around it.

Earlier Popular culture as a term was not there. But, after 1960s slowly and steadily it came into establishment. Popular culture deals with educated as well as literal people. When a mass of people read something then it becomes a popular culture. Therefore, critics examine popular culture as a culture media, pulp fiction, comic books, television, films, advertising and popular music.Besides, Postmodernism celebrates the very act of dismembering tradition. It question radicalism. 

There are four leading types of popular culture analyses as given below

Ø Production analysis

Ø Textual analysis

Ø Audience analysis

Ø Historical analysis etc.

These analyses seek to get superficial or surface meaning, but it examines its connotative meanings. Hence we may say that these all approach are viewing popular culture as a narrative or story-telling process. At last it is said that Modernist literature rejected the Victorian aesthetic of prescriptive morality and using new techniques drawn from psychology, experimented with point of view, time space and stream of consciousness writing.

Eminent Novelists of the Victorian Age

Name:   Bharat Bhammar

Roll no:   04

Batch Year:   2014-15

Semester:   2

Paper no:   05 (The Romantic Literature)

Submitted to:   S.B.G Dept. of English

                           M.K.K.S.Bhavnagar University     

   

Eminent Novelists of the Victorian Age

The Victorian period generally begins in 1837 (the year in which became Victoria became Queen) and ends in 1901 (the year of her death).  As a matter of expediency, these dates are sometimes modified slightly.  1830 is usually considered the end of the Romantic period in England, and thus makes a convenient starting date for the Victorian age.  Similarly, since Queen Victoria’s death occurred so soon in the beginning of a new century, the end of the previous century provides a useful closing date for the period.

Generally Victorian Age is also considered as the age of prose and especially of novel. In comparison to other forms of literature novel is a quite modern form. Novel spent its childhood in the second half of the eighteenth century, while in the second half of the nineteenth century; novel seemed to be much matured, adult and young. The eighteenth century novelists like Richardson, fielding, smollet and Sterne who gave a good move to English novel but the Victorian novelists led this form to the pick of the perfection.

The early Victorian novel as cultivated by Disraeli, Trollope, Dickens, Thackery etc. Was essentially a transcript from life.Insted of seeking inspiration from the middle ages or the world of romance, the Victorian novelists concentrated on the social, political, economic aspects of Victorian Society. The Victorian reader found in novel what he looked for, and the early Victorian novelists provided him a historical perspective of the age in its varied aspects. The early Victorian novelists did not very much bother about coherent plots. The structure was loose, and the progress of the story was hampered by episodic instructions, anconnected descriptions and moral sermons by the novelists.

A noteworthy feature of the age was the rise of the women novelists like Jane Austen, George Eliot, and Bronte Sisters enriched the English novel. They wrote passionately in a poetic language, but their range was limited and there were autobiographical patches in their works. Moreover, by the end of the nineteenth century the novel as a species of literature had thrust itself into the first rank. Therefore, this period is essentially regarded as an age of novels. Because during this age or period novel made a phenomenal progress as various types of novels can be observed such as Domestic Novels, Psychological Novels, and Historical Novels, which were cultivated by many prominent novelists as enlisted below.

Ø  Charles Dickens

Ø  Thomas Hardy

Ø  George Eliot

Ø  William Makepeace Thackeray

Ø  Charlotte Bronte

Ø  Emily Bronte

Ø  Anne Bronte

Ø  George Meredith

So, let’s elaborate these novelists by observing their novels in detail.

Charles Dickens

Charles John Dickens (7 February 1812 – 9 June 1870) was an English novelist and social critic. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular. As a prolific 19th Century author of short stories, plays, novellas, novels, fiction and non-fiction, during his lifetime Dickens became known the world over for his remarkable characters, his mastery of prose in the telling of their lives, and his depictions of the social classes, mores and values of his times. He created some of the world's most memorable fictional characters and is generally regarded as the greatest novelist of the period. During his life, his works enjoyed unprecedented fame, and by the twentieth century his literary genius was broadly acknowledged by critics and scholars. His novels and short stories continue to be widely popular.

His creative works are:

The Pickwick papers

David Copperfield

Oliver Twist

A Tale of two cities

Great Expectations

The Pickwick paper is having good beginning as well as famous for its artistic finishing, which is the first novel by Charles Dickens. Its main literary value and appeal is formed by its numerous memorable characters. Each character in The Pickwick Papers, as in many other Dickens novels, is drawn comically, often with exaggerated personality traits. The Pickwick Papers is also known as The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club.

David Copperfield is a masterpiece by Dickens, it has well beginning and it gives us of the author’s own boyhood and family. David Copperfield is probably the most autobiographical novel by Dickens. He uses many incidents of his childhood and early life to create a considerable fictional achievement. This novel is the common name of the eighth novel by this writer, first published as a novel in 1850. Its full title is The Personal History, Adventures, Experience and Observation of David Copperfield the Younger of Blunders tone Rookery. Like most of his works, it originally appeared in serial form during the two preceding years. Many elements of the novel follow events in Dickens' own life, and it is probably the most autobiographical of his novels.

A Tale of Two city is a very well known novel by Duckens, which involves well knitted plot and thrilling actions. A Tale of Two Cities was published in the year of 1859, set in London and Paris before and during the French. With well over 200 million copies sold, it ranks among the most famous works in the history of fictional literature. The novel depicts the plight of the French peasantry demoralised by the French aristocracy in the years leading up to the revolution, the corresponding brutality demonstrated by the revolutionaries toward the former aristocrats in the early years of the revolution, and many unflattering social parallels with life in London during the same time period. Here Dickens introduces several pathetic or laughable characters besides the main character.So, a Tale of Two city has its own place in the development of the main story, which is written in Dickens’s usual picturesque style, and reveals his usual imaginative outlook on life and his fondness for fine sentiments and dramatic episodes.

Oliver Twist, which is entitled as The Parish Boy's Progress and it, is the second novel by major English novelist of the Victorian age. Oliver Twist is remembered for Dickens's unromantic portrayal of criminals and their social lives. The story deals with an orphan, Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker.

Great Expectations is well read novel by Dickens. It is Dickens’s thirteenth novel. It is his second novel, after David Copperfiel.and it is fully narrated in the first person. As Dickens began writing Great Expectations, he undertook a series of hugely popular and remunerative reading tours. He had separated from his wife, Catherine Dickens, and was keeping secret an affair with a much younger woman, Ellen Ternan.However, economic situations and the idea of romance dictated Great Expectation’s design and implementation.

 Thomas Hardy

                                               

Thomas Hardy was the optimistic writer of the pessimistic age, who was born on 2 June 1840 and died on 11 January 1928.He, was considered as the most celebrated English novelist and poet of the Victorian age. Thomas Hardy was born in the village of Upper Bockhampton, located in South-western England. His father was a stone mason and a violinist. His mother enjoyed reading and relating all the folk songs and legends of the region. Between his parents, Hardy gained all the interests that would appear in his novels and his own life: his love for architecture and music, his interest in the lifestyles of the country folk, and his passion for all sorts of literature. At the age of eight, Hardy began to attend Julia Martin's school in Bockhampton. However, most of his education came from the books he found in Dorchester, the nearby town. He learned French, German, and Latin by teaching himself through these books. At sixteen, Hardy's father apprenticed his son to a local architect, John Hicks. Under Hicks' tutelage, Hardy learned much about architectural drawing and restoring old houses and churches. Hardy loved the apprenticeship because it allowed him to learn the histories of the houses and the families that lived there. Despite his work, Hardy did not forget his academics: in the evenings, Hardy would study with the Greek scholar Horace Moule. Hardy also found happiness in his personal life. His first wife, Emma, died in 1912. Although their marriage had not been happy, Hardy grieved at her sudden death. In 1914, he married Florence Dugale, and she was extremely devoted to him. After his death, Florence published Hardy's autobiography in two parts under her own name. 

Some of his works are under

Tess of the d'Urbervilles 

The Mayor of Caster Bridge

Under the Greenwood Tree

Jude the Obscure

Far From the Madding Crowd

Tess of the d'Urbervilles is rich in its involvement with several themes and issues. Like most other Hardy novels, rural life is a prominent issue in the story. The hardships and drudgery of rustic lifestyle are explored fully through the travel and work experiences of Tess. Religious orthodoxy and social values are questioned in the novel. The issue of fate vs. freedom of action is another important aspect of Tess of the d'Urbervilles. While the main storyline may sound fatalistic, Hardy does not miss the opportunity to point out that the darkest of tragedies could be prevented by human action and consideration.

The Mayor of Caster Bridge, which was published in the year of 1886, entitled as "The Life and Death of a Man of Character", is a tragic novel by British author Hardy. Its setting is in the fictional town of Caster bridge, which is based on the town of Dorchester in Dorset. The book is one of Hardy’s Wessex Novels, all set in a fictional rustic England.

Under the Greenwood Tree, this was written by Hardy subtitled as a Rural Painting of the Dutch School. This novel got publication anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, the last to be printed without his name, and the first of his great series of Wessex novels.

Jude the Obscure, the last but not in the list, which is completed by Hardy, which began as a magazine serial and was first published in book form in 1895. Its hero, Jude Fawley, is a working-class young man who dreams of becoming a scholar. The other main character is his cousin, Sue Bridehead, who is also his central love interest. The themes in the novel revolve around issues of class, education, religion and marriage. So, this is a thought provoking novel.

Far From the Madding Crowd is masterpiece by Hardy, which got publication in the year of 1874, and this is the fourth novel, which has been written by this writer. And this novel also got helped him to get popularity and literary success. It originally appeared anonymously as a monthly serial in Cornhill Magazine, where it gained a wide readership. Critical notices were plentiful and mostly positive. Hardy revised the text extensively for the 1895 edition, and made further changes for the 1901 edition. At last this novel is a worth reading.

William Makepeace Thackeray:

William Makepeace Thackeray was born in 1811, in Calcutta, when he was five years old his father died and his mother returned with her child to England and then Thackeray was sent to the famous charterhouse school. In 1829 Thackeray entered in Trinity College at Cambridge University, but he left this college in two years and directly went to Germany and France, where he studied with the idea of becoming an artist. He was an English novelist of the 19th century. He was famous for his satirical works.

Henry Esmond

Henry Esmond is the most perfect novel of Thackeray. This novel gives us the most complete and accurate picture of the past age. It is a historical novel which got publication in the year of 1852.the novel deals with the story of the early life of Henry Esmond. This novel is a typical example of Victorian novels. , Thackeray's work of historical fiction tells its tale against the backdrop of late 17th- and early 18th-century England – specifically, major events surrounding the English restoration and utilizes characters both real and imagined.

Vanity Fair

Vanity Fair is the best known novels among all of his novels; in this novel he expresses his own views of the social life. In this novel we may find a novel without hero which is the style, which was developed by Thackeray. This novel published in 1847–48, which focuses on the satire on society in early the 19th-century. The novel is now considered a classic. And this is a masterpiece by Thackeray.

George Eliot

George Eliot is the most extensive personalities in the Victorian novels. Because she was well-known for her novels as well as characters. Mary Anne Evans is the real name of the George Eliot, who was born on 22 November 1819, and passed away on 22 December 1880.George Eliot, was an eminent English novelist, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian age. Mary Anne Evans was the third child of her parents. She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing light hearted romances. She has written many novels most of them set in provincial England and known for their realism and psychological insight.
Middlemarch
Silas Marner
The Mill on the floss
Romola
As it is the seventh novel of George Eliot, the mastery can be found in the works of her. A Study of Provincial Life is the second subtitle of this novel. The novel is set in the fictitious midlands town of Middlemarch. It has multiple plots with a large cast of characters, and in addition to its distinct though interlocking narratives it pursues a number of underlying themes, including the status of women, the nature of marriage, idealism, self-interest, religion, hypocrisy, political reform, and education.
Silas Marner is the novel, which was written by Eliot.Silas Marner is also subtitled as the Weaver of Raveloe, which was published in the year of 1861. The novel is set in the early years of the 19th century. In Silas Marner, Eliot combines symbolism with a historically precise setting to create a tale of love and hope. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, it is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialization to community.
The Mill on the Floss is a novel by George Eliot (Mary Ann Evans), like other novels by George Eliot, The Mill on the Floss articulates the tension between circumstances and the spiritual energies of individual characters struggling against that circumstances. So, and this is very inspiring and attention grabbing novel.
Romola is Novel by George Eliot. It is a historical novel which is set in the fifteenth century. This novel deals with the study or deep study of life in the city of Florence. The story takes place amidst actual historical events during the Italian Renaissance, and includes in its plot several notable figures from Florentine history. In which the female protagonist through whom the surrounding world is evaluated. Contemporary and modern critics have questioned the likelihood of the level of scholarship attributed to women such as Romola in Renaissance Italy, and have pointed to the possible role of the title character as a Victorian critic of the constrained lot of women in that period, as well as in Eliot's contemporary period. So, the story also deals with the dilemma of where the duty of obedience for women ends and the duty of resistance begin.

Charlotte Bronte:

Charlotte Bronte is the name among the successful novelists of the Victorian Age. She was born on 21 April 1816 and passed away on 31 March 1855.She was an English novelist and poet. Charlotte Bronte the eldest of the three Bronte sisters who survived into adulthood and whose novels are English literature standards. In 1824 the four eldest Bronte daughters were enrolled as pupils at the Clergy Daughter's School at Cowan Bridge. The following year Maria and Elizabeth, the two eldest daughters, became ill, left the school and died: Charlotte and Emily, understandably, were brought home.

Her father was an Irish clergyman and she had a financial difficulties compelled Charlotte to become a school teacher and she worked in the school from 1835 to 1838 though the job was not her area of interest. Along with family she visited Brussels in 1842 and then returned home, where family cares kept her closely tied. Later her books had much success, and she was released from many of her financial worries. She was married in1854, but died in the next year. The truth and intensity of Charlotte’s work are unquestioned; she can judge and see with the eyes of genius. But these merits have their disadvantages. In the plots of her novels she is largely restricted to her own experience; her high seriousness is unrelieved by any humours and her passion is at times over charged to the point of frenzy. But to the novel she brought an energy and passion that gave to common place people the wonder and beauty of the romantic world.

Her novels like

Jane Eyre

Shirley

The Professor

Villette

Jane Eyre is her greatest novel. Jane Eyre is her Autobiographical novel, which was published on 16 October 1847.the love story of the plain, but very vital, heroine is unfolded with a frank truthness and a depth of understanding that are new in English fiction. The plot is weak, full of improbability, and often melodramatic, but the main protagonists are deeply conceived, and the novel rises moments of sheer terror. Jane Eyre follows the emotions and experiences of its eponymous character, including her growth to adulthood, and her love for Mr. Rochester, the Byronic. The novel contains elements of Social criticism, with a strong sense of morality at its core, but is nonetheless a novel many consider ahead of its time given the individualistic character of Jane and the novel's exploration of classism, sexuality, religion, and proto-feminism. Jane Eyre is not a pure romance novel. It’s a complex work combing elements of the coming-of-age story. It has some aspects of the gothic novel.
Shirley is written by Charlotte Bronte, which is another masterwork of her, which got publication in the year of 1849.It is also social novel. As the history indicates that she was an eminent English novelist. In her next novel, Charlotte reverts to a more normal and less impassioned portrayal of life. Again the theme is love story of a young girl, here delicately told though the plot construction is weak. The novel's popularity led to Shirley's becoming a woman's name. The title character was given the name that her father had intended to give a son. Before the publication of the novel, Shirley was an uncommon - but distinctly male - name and would have been an unusual name for a woman. So, it is regarded as a distinctly female name and an uncommon male name. Therefore, it is well read novel.
The Professor was the first novel, which was written by Charlotte Bronte. It was originally written before Jane Eyre, but because of the rejection by many magazines it could not published. . Title character William Crimsworth's attempt to find his own way in a world obsessed with money and manners comes alive as Bronte's vivid images and Wilby's lyrical delivery combine. Met with a rainbow of characters, the listener can easily establish each as an individual and understand how they impact Crimsworth.
Anne Bronte is by far the most important figure of the three Bronte Sisters though she is marginalized, but her popularity cannot be neglected. She was born on 17 January 1820 and died very earlier in the year of 1849 in Scarborough, Yorkshire, England. She was a British novelist and poet, the youngest member of the Bronte literary family. Anne Bronte lived most of her life with her family at the parish of Haworth on the Yorkshire moors. For a couple of years she went to a boarding school. At the age of 19 she left Haworth and worked as a governess between 1839 and 1845. After leaving her teaching position, she fulfilled her literary ambitions. She wrote a volume of poetry with her sisters and two novels Agnes Grey, based upon her experiences as a governess, was published in 1847. Her second and last novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, which is considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels, appeared in 1848. Anne's life was cut short when she died of pulmonary tuberculosis at the age of 29.
Agnes Grey
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall
Agnes Grey is the first novel written by English author Anne Bronte. The choice of central character allows Anne to deal with issues of oppression and abuse of women and governesses, isolation and ideas of empathy. It was first published in December 1847, and republished in a second edition in 1850. The novel follows Agnes Grey. Agnes Grey has a very perfect and simple prose style which moves forward gently but does not produce a sense of monotony.
The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is mainly considered to be one of the first sustained feminist novels of Anne Bronte. This novel had an instant phenomenal success but after Anne's death. This novel of marital betrayal is set within a moral framework tempered by Anne's optimistic belief in universal salvation.

Emily Bronte

Emily Bronte was the leading novelists in the Victorian age. She was born on 30 July 1818 and lived only 30 years and died in the year of 1848.her name is taken today as a prominent English novelist and poet and also best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering heights, now considered a classic of English literature. Emily was the third eldest of the four surviving Bronte family, between the youngest Anne and her brother. This novel has been written by her under the pen name of Ellis Bell. Though she wrote less then Charlotte and Anne, she is in some ways the greatest of three sisters. This novel is unique in English literature. It breathes the very spirit of the wild, desolate moors. Its chief characters are conceived in gigantic proportions, and their passions have an element force which carries them into the realms of poetry.
Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is written in the year of 1845 and 1846. And published after two year in 1847.Although Wuthering Heights is now widely regarded as a classic of English Literature, it received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors, where the story unfolds. The book's core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities.
George Meredith was the leading name in the Victorian age and remembered for his praise worthy novels. He was born on 12 February 1828 and lived very long up to 1909 almost 80 years. He was an English novelist of the Victorian age. He married Edward Peacock's widowed sister Mary Ellen Nicholls in 1849 when he was twenty-one years old and she was twenty-eight. His mother died when he was five. At the age of 14 he was sent to a Moravian School in Neuwied, Germany, where he remained for two years. He read law and was articled as a solicitor, but abandoned that profession for journalism and poetry. He collected his early writings, first published in periodicals, into Poems, published to some acclaim in 1851.
The Egoist 
The Egoist is a novel written by George Eliot. This novel is a tragicomically type of novel. It got publication in 1879. The novel recounts the story of self-absorbed Sir Willoughby Patterne and his attempts at marriage.  The Egoist was called the turning point in George Meredith's career. Because The Egoist was more famous and popular novel. That’s why we may say that this novel helped him to be a celebrated one.

 at the end of this assignment i can say that these all novelists were prominent in the Victorian Age.