The Rise of English : Summary

Summary

The Rise of English by Terry Eagleton

Background of the Essay: 

Eagleton tells how literature has come to the present age. And how literature prevailed over religion. As well as how the English language and culture have spread worldwide. By the mid-Victorian era, people’s faith in religion decreased due to advances in science and technology. People were moving away from religion. At that time, the place of religion was taken up by literature. And this is what Terry Eagleton discusses in this iconic essay, “The Rise of English.”

The Rise of English Summary

So we can know the complete English summary very easily through only 6 points.

1. Concept of Eighteenth-Century English Literature

2. Seventeenth-Century Literature

3. The Culture of Eighteenth-Century Literature

4. Romantic period

5. Victorian period

6. How is literature included in the syllabus?

So let’s discuss these points now.

1. Concept of Eighteenth-Century English Literature:

The content of the literature: Eighteenth-century literature was not very creative and imaginative. Because no literature would have been written with only these two qualities, society, history, tradition, social values, and politics were included in literature. It included any letters, poetry, and history literature of the time.

Entertainment of upper-class people: Literature was used mainly to entertain upper-class people. If any writer did not include entertainment, test, and value, then the work would not be included in the literature. For this, at that time, Literature was called “Polite Letters”. That is to say, eighteenth-century literature was mainly written for upper-class people.

Origin and Development of the English Novels: The English novels originated and developed in the eighteenth century. However, upper-class people judge whether or not it belongs in literature. According to them, the story must belong to literature, but it must entertain and glorify the upper-class people.

2. Seventeenth-Century Literature

In the seventeenth century, there was a civil war in England. So, society collapses, and people become lonely. This era was called the New Classical Period. Poets of this period wrote about reason, nature, and social order. And so people began to find their soul satisfaction in literature. They started moving away from religion. The writers of this era could satisfy both the upper and middle classes with their writings. They rebuilt the broken social system through their writings. They succeeded in bridging the gap between the upper and middle classes.

3. The Culture of Eighteenth-Century Literature

Literature in earlier ages was mainly oral. But in the eighteenth century, literature began to be publicized in written form. The literature of that time was called coffee house culture. People used to sit in coffee houses and discuss various social issues. And all this becomes the subject of discussion in the literature. The writers of that time used to observe this very well and present it in their writings.

4. Romantic period

Creative and imaginative writings started to be included in literature during the Romantic period. At this time, the influence of Prose and Essay began to wane. And people are interested in the poetry of the Romantic period. There was a reason behind it. People were passing the time through misery. The poems of this romantic era were mainly based on fantasy. So, people used to get lost in fantasy to forget their sorrows.

The Romantic era began after the French Revolution. Many people died in this revolution, and people’s lives became miserable. But in the poems of romantic poets, people got temporary solace. Romantic poets at that time presented politics, various social issues, and social values beautifully through their imagination. This time, they used symbols to present multiple political matters. Since many poets of the Romantic era were directly involved in politics, they could very well combine politics with poetry. And so these poems become very popular.

People have taken refuge in nature to forget their sorrows. For example, William Wordsworth takes refuge in nature to forget his sorrows, and William Blake in his poetry (Song of Innocence and of Experience) presents many political and psychological issues.

John Keats taught about earthly life. P.B. Shelley calls for change in his poem Ode to the West Wind. This is how romantic poets soothed people’s hearts by creating a fusion of fantasy and reality. Because of these reasons, romantic poets played a significant role in uplifting English literature. And so the poetry of this era begins the Aesthetic journey.

Symbol: Eagleton said that through symbols, writers have highlighted many issues of society. And it was the romantic poets who started it first. Poetry began to become more popular, mainly from the Romantic era. And so whenever poetry has been criticized, some have defended it from criticism and lifted it. For example, Sir Philip Sidney’s “An Apology for Poetry” and Shelley’s “The Defense of Poetry”.

5. Victorian period

Then comes the Victorian period. New scientific inventions have been made here. And so people lose faith in religion. People did not understand whether to believe in religion or science. Because many aspects of religion and science were incompatible and contradictory. Science began to question various aspects of religion. That is why the previous beliefs of religion started to break down and lean towards science.

People became spiritually bankrupt at this place due to the deviation from religious beliefs. People were not getting peace of heart. Literature takes the place of religion. That is, the mental peace people used to get by believing in religion has now started getting it from literature.

Religious preachers and rulers used to explain everything through religion. However, due to scientific discovery, many issues conflicted with religion, so they could no longer explain these things. They could not solve various social problems. The Church was dominating the people. Rulers were using religion as a tool to dominate people.

However, as religion failed to solve different social issues, the rulers began to lose authority. Literature started to provide solutions to all these social problems. Then, the ruling class also started using literature again. Matthew Arnold directly gave the place of religion to literature.

Contribution of Scrutiny: It was a quarterly journal of literary criticism. Its main task was to point out the errors in the time literature. They criticized it but did not provide a solution.  In other words, it used to find the mistakes in literature, but this journal did not highlight what would be correct or how to write it correctly. But Scrutiny has contributed very well as a literary critic. Scrutiny also highlighted various problems of that time. But it didn’t solve any problem. So, Eagleton describes the work of Scrutiny and its purpose as a failed attempt.

6. How is literature included in the syllabus? 

For Women: Regarding this, Eagleton said that women in society at that time did not have the opportunity to study science and technology. That is, they were not given that opportunity. They were only allowed to read literature. That is, they were seen as being neglected a little. And this is how literature is included in the syllabus.

Civil Service Examination: Britain was the world’s superpower at that time. It was said that the sun did not set in the British Empire. Since they had colonies in different countries, those who joined the civil service were taught literature. This is because if they do not know their own country’s history, tradition, and literature, they will not be able to influence their history and tradition in other countries.

So, literature was taught compulsorily in their civil service exams. By doing this, they could go to different countries and highlight the culture of their own country. This is how English literature spread around the world, and the people of the world learned about English culture.