| Work | Date | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| In Memoriam A.H.H. | 1850 | • Elegy for Arthur Hallam (died 1833, age 22) • 133 cantos (+ prologue & epilogue) • Written over 17 years (1833-1850) • Stanza: abba (In Memoriam stanza) • Themes: Grief, faith, doubt, evolution, immortality • Famous lines: "'Tis better to have loved and lost / Than never to have loved at all" "Nature, red in tooth and claw" • Published anonymously initially • Made Tennyson Poet Laureate |
| "The Charge of the Light Brigade" | 1854 | • Crimean War poem • Battle of Balaclava (1854) • Famous lines: "Theirs not to make reply, / Theirs not to reason why, / Theirs but to do and die" "Into the valley of Death / Rode the six hundred" • Heroic sacrifice theme • Dactylic dimeter |
| "Crossing the Bar" | 1889 | • Metaphor: Death (crossing sandbar = dying) • "Sunset and evening star" • "I hope to see my Pilot face to face" • Tennyson requested it be placed last in all editions • Abab rhyme |
| "Ulysses" | 1842 (written 1833) | • Dramatic monologue • Aged Ulysses yearns for adventure • Famous lines: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield" "I am a part of all that I have met" "How dull it is to pause, to make an end" • Blank verse • Written after Hallam's death |
| "The Lady of Shalott" | 1832, revised 1842 | • Arthurian legend • Lady cursed, weaves in tower • Sees Sir Lancelot, leaves tower, dies • "The curse is come upon me" • Pre-Raphaelite favorite subject |
| "Tithonus" | 1860 (written 1833) | • Dramatic monologue • Greek myth (immortal but ages) • "The woods decay, the woods decay and fall" • Companion to "Ulysses" |
| "Break, Break, Break" | 1842 (written 1834) | • Elegy (for Hallam) • "Break, break, break, / On thy cold gray stones, O Sea!" • "But the tender grace of a day that is dead / Will never come back to me" |
| "Tears, Idle Tears" | 1847 | • From The Princess • Lyric on loss • "The days that are no more" |
| Idylls of the King | 1859-1885 | • 12 narrative poems • Arthurian legends • Blank verse • Individual idylls: - "The Coming of Arthur" - "Gareth and Lynette" - "Lancelot and Elaine" - "The Holy Grail" - "The Passing of Arthur" • Allegory of Victorian society |
| The Princess | 1847 | • Narrative poem • Women's education theme • Contains lyrics ("Tears, Idle Tears," "Now Sleeps the Crimson Petal") |
| Maud | 1855 | • Monodrama (dramatic monologue sequence) • Controversial • Mental breakdown, love, war • "Come into the garden, Maud" |
| Work | Date | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| "My Last Duchess" | 1842 | • Dramatic monologue (masterpiece) • Duke of Ferrara speaks • Reveals murder of wife (implied) • "That's my last Duchess painted on the wall" • "I gave commands; / Then all smiles stopped together" • Heroic couplets • Based on historical Duke |
| "Porphyria's Lover" | 1836, pub. 1842 | • Dramatic monologue • Madness, murder • Speaker strangles Porphyria with her hair • "And yet God has not said a word!" |
| "The Bishop Orders His Tomb" | 1845 | • Dramatic monologue • Dying Renaissance bishop • Materialism, vanity • St. Praxed's Church, Rome • Ruskin praised it |
| "Andrea del Sarto" | 1855 | • Dramatic monologue • Renaissance painter • "Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp, / Or what's a heaven for?" • Failed ambition theme |
| "Fra Lippo Lippi" | 1855 | • Dramatic monologue • Renaissance monk-painter • Art & morality • Realism vs. idealism in art |
| The Ring and the Book | 1868-69 | • Long narrative poem (12 books, 21,000 lines) • Italian murder case (17th C) • 10 different perspectives on same events • Blank verse • Count Guido murders wife Pompilia • Psychological realism • Browning's masterwork |
| "Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister" | 1842 | • Dramatic monologue • Monk's hatred of Brother Lawrence • Comic, satirical • "Gr-r-r—there go, my heart's abhorrence!" |
| "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" | 1855 | • Nightmarish quest • Title from King Lear • Symbolic, ambiguous • "I saw them and I knew them all" |
| "How They Brought the Good News from Ghent to Aix" | 1845 | • Narrative galloping rhythm • Imaginary historical event |
| "Rabbi Ben Ezra" | 1864 | • Dramatic monologue • Optimism, old age • "Grow old along with me! / The best is yet to be" |
| Pippa Passes | 1841 | • Closet drama • "God's in his heaven— / All's right with the world!" (Pippa's song) • Italian girl's song affects others |
| Dramatic Lyrics | 1842 | • Collection (includes "My Last Duchess," "Porphyria's Lover") |
| Men and Women | 1855 | • Collection (50 poems, includes "Fra Lippo Lippi," "Andrea del Sarto") |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| "Dream" Source | • Browning claimed some poems came from dreams • "Childe Roland" allegedly from nightmare |
| Poem | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| "Dover Beach" | • Most famous poem • "The Sea of Faith / Was once, too, at the full" • Loss of religious certainty • "Ah, love, let us be true / To one another!" • Victorian doubt & melancholy |
| "The Scholar-Gipsy" | • Oxford student joins gypsies • Escape from modern life • "This strange disease of modern life" (malaise Arnold describes) • Rural nostalgia |
| "Thyrsis" | • Elegy for Arthur Hugh Clough • Pastoral • Companion to "Scholar-Gipsy" |
| "Sohrab and Rustum" | • Narrative poem (Persian epic) • Father unknowingly kills son • Homeric style |
| "The Forsaken Merman" | • Ballad • Merman abandoned by human wife • "Come, dear children, let us away" |
| Work | Key Concepts |
|---|---|
| Culture and Anarchy (1869) | • Social criticism • Three Classes: - Barbarians: Aristocracy (physicality, outer life) - Philistines: Middle class (materialism, narrow) - Populace: Working class (raw, undeveloped) • Culture: "Sweetness and light" (pursuit of perfection) • Hebraism vs. Hellenism (morality vs. intellect) |
| "The Function of Criticism" (1864) | • Criticism = "disinterested endeavor" • "To see the object as in itself it really is" • Creation depends on criticism |
| "The Study of Poetry" (1880) | • Touchstone Method: Compare poems to great examples • Poetry will replace religion • High Seriousness: Essential for great poetry • Criticized Romantics (Shelley, Byron) |
| Essays in Criticism (First Series: 1865 Second Series: 1888) | • Literary & cultural essays • Wide-ranging (Homer, Heine, etc.) |
| Feature | Description |
|---|---|
| Touchstone Method | Compare to acknowledged masterpieces (advocated by Arnold) |
| High Seriousness | Great poetry must have profound moral/intellectual content |
| Conservative | Arnold's critical approach described as conservative |
| Novel | Date | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| The Pickwick Papers | 1836-37 | • First novel • Picaresque, comic • Mr. Pickwick • Serialized • Made Dickens famous |
| Oliver Twist | 1837-39 | • Orphan boy • London underworld • Fagin, Bill Sikes, Nancy • "Please, sir, I want some more" • Social criticism (workhouses) |
| Nicholas Nickleby | 1838-39 | • Dotheboys Hall (cruel school) • Wackford Squeers • Education satire |
| The Old Curiosity Shop | 1840-41 | • Little Nell (dies, famous death scene) • Quilp (villain) |
| Barnaby Rudge | 1841 | • Historical novel • Gordon Riots (1780) |
| A Christmas Carol | 1843 | • Ebenezer Scrooge • Ghosts (Christmas Past, Present, Future) • "Bah! Humbug!" • Tiny Tim ("God bless us, every one!") • Most famous Christmas story |
| Martin Chuzzlewit | 1843-44 | • America visit satirized • Seth Pecksniff (hypocrite) |
| Dombey and Son | 1846-48 | • Pride & commerce • Paul Dombey (child death) • Railways |
| David Copperfield | 1849-50 | • Dickens's favorite (most autobiographical) • "I am born" • Uriah Heep, Micawber, Betsey Trotwood • Bildungsroman |
| Bleak House | 1852-53 | • Legal system satire (Court of Chancery) • Harold Skimpole = caricature of Leigh Hunt • Fog imagery • Esther Summerson (narrator) • Jarndyce vs. Jarndyce (endless lawsuit) |
| Hard Times | 1854 | • Industrial England • Thomas Gradgrind ("Facts, sir, facts!") • Coketown • Chapter: "Murdering the Innocents" • Shortest novel • Utilitarian education satire |
| Little Dorrit | 1855-57 | • Marshalsea Prison • Circumlocution Office (bureaucracy satire) • Amy Dorrit |
| A Tale of Two Cities | 1859 | • French Revolution • "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times" • Sydney Carton ("It is a far, far better thing...") • London & Paris |
| Great Expectations | 1860-61 | • Pip (narrator) • Miss Havisham, Estella • Magwitch (convict) • Bildungsroman • Two endings (original & revised) |
| Our Mutual Friend | 1864-65 | • Last completed novel • Money & identity themes • River Thames central • John Harmon |
| The Mystery of Edwin Drood | 1870 (unfinished) | • Dickens died mid-serialization • Murder mystery • Only half completed |
| Reference | Details |
|---|---|
| Thackeray's Comments | Dickens's characters mentioned/compared by Thackeray (identify which) |
| Novel | Date | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| Far from the Madding Crowd | 1874 | • Bathsheba Everdene • Three suitors • Gabriel Oak • Wessex setting |
| The Return of the Native | 1878 | • Egdon Heath (setting, almost a character) • Eustacia Vye (tragic heroine) • Clym Yeobright • Damon Wildeve • Heath = malevolent force |
| The Mayor of Casterbridge | 1886 | • Michael Henchard • Sells wife while drunk • Tragic fall • Casterbridge = Dorchester |
| Tess of the d'Urbervilles | 1891 | • Subtitle: "A Pure Woman" • Tess Durbeyfield • Alec d'Urberville (seducer) • Angel Clare (husband) • Famous quote: "'Justice' was done, and the President of the Immortals (in Aeschylean phrase) had ended his sport with Tess" (last paragraph) • Tess hanged for murder • Controversial (sexual themes) |
| Jude the Obscure | 1895 | • Jude Fawley • Sue Bridehead • Christminster (Oxford) • Education & class barriers • Famous last line: "Done because we are too menny" (Little Father Time's suicide note) • Attacked as immoral • Hardy stopped writing novels after this |
| Under the Greenwood Tree | 1872 | • Early, pastoral • Mellstock choir |
| The Woodlanders | 1887 | • Giles Winterborne • Grace Melbury • Forest setting |
| Collection/Poem | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| Wessex Poems (1898) | First poetry collection (Hardy was 58) |
| "The Darkling Thrush" | • Dec 31, 1900 (end of century) • Pessimism vs. hope • Aged thrush sings |
| "Hap" | • Sonnet • Chance vs. design • "Crass Casualty" |
| "Neutral Tones" | • Failed relationship • "God-curst sun," "starving sod" |
| Poems of 1912-13 | • Elegies for first wife Emma • "The Going," "The Voice," etc. |
| Novel | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| Vanity Fair (1847-48) | • Subtitle: "A Novel Without a Hero" • Genre: Satirical novel • Becky Sharp (anti-heroine, social climber) • Amelia Sedley (passive heroine) • Napoleonic Wars era • Social satire, no moral hero • Thackeray's masterpiece |
| The History of Henry Esmond (1852) | • Historical novel (18th C) • First-person |
| The Newcomes (1853-55) | • Multi-generational family saga |
| Novel | Date | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| Adam Bede | 1859 | • First novel • Rural England • Dinah Morris (Methodist preacher) |
| The Mill on the Floss | 1860 | • Maggie Tulliver • Brother Tom • Tragic ending (flood) |
| Silas Marner | 1861 | • Weaver-miser • Adopts Eppie • Redemption through love |
| Middlemarch | 1871-72 | • Masterpiece • Subtitle: "A Study of Provincial Life" • Dorothea Brooke • Dr. Lydgate • Multiple plots • "Web" of society • Considered greatest Victorian novel by many |
| Daniel Deronda | 1876 | • Last novel • Gwendolen Harleth • Jewish themes |
| Author | Novel | Date | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|---|
| Charlotte Brontë (1816-1855) | Jane Eyre | 1847 | • Specific conflict: Jane's passion vs. social constraints • Governess & employer (Rochester) • Thornfield Hall • Madwoman in attic (Bertha Mason) • "Reader, I married him" • Published as "Currer Bell" |
| Shirley | 1849 | • Industrial unrest • Strong heroine | |
| Villette | 1853 | • Lucy Snowe • Belgium setting • Autobiographical elements | |
| Emily Brontë (1818-1848) | Wuthering Heights | 1847 | • Only novel • Heathcliff & Catherine • Gothic, passionate • Yorkshire moors • Revenge & obsession • Frame narrative (Lockwood, Nelly Dean) • Published as "Ellis Bell" |
| Anne Brontë (1820-1849) | The Tenant of Wildfell Hall | 1848 | • Alcoholism, abuse • Feminist themes • Helen Graham |
| Work | Key Facts |
|---|---|
| Mary Barton | • 1848 • "A Tale of Manchester Life" (nature of novel) • Industrial conflict, Chartism • Working-class protagonist |
| North and South | • 1854-55 • Industrial vs. rural England • Margaret Hale |
| Cranford | • 1851-53 • Gentle provincial life • Spinster ladies |
| Life of Charlotte Brontë | • 1857 • Major biography (Gaskell wrote biography of Charlotte Brontë) • First major literary biography by woman |
| Work | Type | Key Facts |
|---|---|---|
| The Importance of Being Earnest | Play (1895) | • Comedy of manners • "Bunburying" • Gwendolen, Cecily • Lady Bracknell ("A handbag?") • Satire on Victorian society • Masterpiece |
| The Picture of Dorian Gray | Novel (1890) | • Only novel • Portrait ages instead of Dorian • Lord Henry Wotton • Basil Hallward (painter) • Aestheticism, corruption • "All art is quite useless" (Preface) |
| Lady Windermere's Fan | Play (1892) | • Comedy • Fan as symbol • "We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars" |
| A Woman of No Importance | Play (1893) | • Social drama • Illegitimacy theme |
| An Ideal Husband | Play (1895) | • Political corruption • Blackmail plot |
| Salomé | Play (1891) | • Written in French • Biblical (John the Baptist) • Banned in England • "Dance of the Seven Veils" |
| De Profundis | Letter (1905, pub.) | • Written in prison • To Lord Alfred Douglas • Spiritual autobiography |
| The Ballad of Reading Gaol | Poem (1898) | • Prison experience • "Each man kills the thing he loves" |
| Work/Activity | Details |
|---|---|
| News from Nowhere | • 1890 • Utopian socialism novel • Future England, pastoral socialism |
| Arts & Crafts Movement | • Designer, craftsman • Wallpaper, textiles • Kelmscott Press |
| Pre-Raphaelite connections | • Friend of Rossetti, Burne-Jones |
| Series/Novel | Details |
|---|---|
| Barchester Towers | • 1857 • Clerical life • Barsetshire series |
| "Parliamentary Novels" | • Palliser series • Political life • 6 novels |
| Work/Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Pathetic Fallacy | • Coined by Ruskin • Attributing human emotions to nature • In Modern Painters (1856) |
| Art & Social Criticism | • Modern Painters (5 vols, 1843-60) • The Stones of Venice (1851-53) • Unto This Last (economics) |
| Category | Item | Details |
|---|---|---|
| Famous Lines | "Theirs not to make reply" | Tennyson (Charge of Light Brigade) |
| "President of the Immortals" | Hardy (Tess, last paragraph) | |
| "Done because we are too menny" | Hardy (Jude, child's note) | |
| "Reader, I married him" | Charlotte Brontë (Jane Eyre) | |
| Settings | Egdon Heath | Return of the Native (Hardy) |
| Wessex | Hardy's fictional region | |
| Middlemarch | Provincial town (George Eliot) | |
| Subtitles | "A Study of Provincial Life" | Middlemarch (George Eliot) |
| "A Novel Without a Hero" | Vanity Fair (Thackeray) | |
| "A Pure Woman" | Tess (Hardy) | |
| Criticism | Touchstone Method | Arnold (compare to masterpieces) |
| Pathetic Fallacy | Ruskin (emotions to nature) | |
| High Seriousness | Arnold (great poetry requirement) |