U NET : NET SET PHD EXAM

 🌿 The Romantic Period (1798–1837) The Romantic Period (1798–1837) marks one of the most significant and revolutionary phases in the history of English literature . It officially begins with the publication of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads (1798) and ends with the accession of Queen Victoria in 1837 . Romanticism arose as a reaction against Neo-Classicism , opposing its emphasis on reason, order, rules, and imitation , and replacing them with emotion, imagination, individualism, and love for nature . 📜 Historical and Intellectual Background The Romantic Period was deeply shaped by powerful historical and social changes. The French Revolution (1789) played a crucial role in inspiring Romantic writers with its ideals of liberty, equality, fraternity, and human rights . Initially welcomed with enthusiasm, the Revolution symbolized freedom from tyranny and rigid authority. However, the later violence and chaos also introduced themes of disi...

  🌿 Age of Sensibility / Pre-Romantic Age (1745–1798) The Age of Sensibility , also called the Pre-Romantic Age , acts as a bridge between Neo-Classicism and Romanticism . This period marks a shift from reason to emotion , rules to imagination , and urban life to nature . 🔹 Historical Background Time Period: 1745–1798 Transitional phase between: Age of Pope (Neo-Classical) Age of Romanticism Rise of individual feeling, emotion, sympathy, and nature The Age of Sensibility (1745–1798) , also known as the Pre-Romantic Age , developed as a reaction against the excessive emphasis on reason, order, and classical rules of the Neo-Classical Age. By the mid-eighteenth century, writers began to feel that strict rationalism suppressed human emotions, imagination, and individual experience . This period largely unfolded during the reigns of King George II (1727–1760) and King George III (1760–1820) , a time marked by political unrest such as the Jacobite Rebellion (1...

  Author: Bertolt Brecht Year: 1939 Genre: Epic Theatre / Anti-war play Background: Written during World War II, set in the Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) Core Ideas War is shown as a business , not a heroic activity. Ordinary people suffer; profiteers survive. Capitalism feeds on war. War destroys morality, family, and humanity . Mother Courage (Central Character) A war trader who sells goods to soldiers. Strong but morally blind . Loves her children but values survival and money more. Learns nothing from her suffering. Represents people who profit from war and are destroyed by it . Children – Symbolic Meaning Eilif: False heroism Violence praised in war, punished later Swiss Cheese: Honesty and morality Executed for being truthful Kattrin: True humanity and sacrifice Moral center of the play 🔹 Short Summary Mother Courage and Her Children is an anti-war play that exposes the brutality, hypocrisy,...

  ✨ Types of Figures of Speech  1. Simile Comparison using like or as . Ex: Her smile is like the sunshine. 2. Metaphor Direct comparison without like/as . Ex: Time is a thief . 3. Personification Giving human qualities to non-human things. Ex: The wind whispered in the trees. 4. Hyperbole An extreme exaggeration . Ex: I’ve told you a million times. 5. Alliteration Repetition of initial consonant sounds . Ex: S he s ells s ea s hells. 6. Assonance Repetition of vowel sounds . Ex: The ea gle ea ts ea rly. 7. Onomatopoeia Words that imitate sounds . Ex: The bees buzzed . 8. Oxymoron Two opposite words together. Ex: Sweet sorrow . 9. Paradox A statement that seems false but is true . Ex: Less is more . 10. Irony Saying the opposite of what you mean. Ex: A pilot afraid of heights . 11. Metonymy One word stands for something related . Ex: The crown made a new law. 12. Synecdoche Part represents whole or whole for p...