Key Figures in English and Irish Literature
James Joyce
James Joyce was born in Dublin. He attended Jesuit schools and university. He married Nora Barnacle, and they had two children. Joyce faced censorship problems and was persecuted by law, printers, and publishers. His style breaks away from traditional concepts of time and space, and he departs from the traditional novel structure. He delves into the inner lives of his characters, portraying their evolving personalities. Joyce is credited as the first novelist to introduce the stream of consciousness technique.
Works:
- Poetry: Chamber Music
- Plays: Exiles
- Prose: Dubliners, Ulysses
First World War Poets
Rupert Brooke
Rupert Brooke attended Cambridge University. He traveled to Germany, the Pacific, and America. Known for his attractiveness and popularity, Brooke became a symbol of patriotism. He died in April 1915. His style is Georgian, colloquial, and nostalgic. Brooke employs sensual language in his love poems and a traditional heroic tone in his war poetry.
Works:
- Play: Lithuania
- Poetry: War Poems, The Fish
Wilfred Owen
Wilfred Owen was born into a lower-middle-class family. Although he did not attend university, he was deeply interested in the work of Keats. Owen suffered from poor health. He taught in France at the Berlitz School. While hospitalized in Edinburgh, he wrote “Hydra.” Tragically, Owen was killed a week before the Armistice. His style is colloquial and direct, utilizing diverse metrical styles such as assonance, para-rhyme, and sound effects to reproduce the sounds of war. He adopts a social and moral tone, focusing on “the war and the pity of war.”
Works:
- Poetry: “Hydra,” “Song of Songs,” “Strange Meeting”
- Collected Letters
William Butler Yeats
William Butler Yeats’s father was a lawyer and painter. Born in Dublin, Yeats later moved to London before returning to Dublin. He attended the School of Arts, where he met several nationalists. He married, became a Senator, and was awarded the Nobel Prize. Yeats also founded the Irish Academy of Letters. His themes encompass Celtic myths, nationalism, Irish history and traditions, love, public and political life, occultism, and the revival of Irish literature.
Works:
- Drama: The Unicorn from the Stars
- Poetry: The Celtic Twilight, The Tower
- Poem: “The Secret Rose”
The New Drama
Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde was born in Dublin to Lady Jane Wilde. He attended Trinity College and Oxford. A proponent of the aesthetic movement, Wilde believed in “art for art’s sake.” He addressed homosexuality and had a secret relationship with Lord Alfred Douglas. This relationship led to his imprisonment for two years, and he eventually died in Paris. Wilde’s works are characterized by wit and fantasy. He sought social change through laughter and was a socialist concerned with the freedom of the artist. He is considered the father of 20th-century dandies.
Works:
- Novel: The Picture of Dorian Gray
- Plays: Salomé, The Importance of Being Earnest
- Other: De Profundis
The Influence of Ibsen
Bernard Shaw
Bernard Shaw was born in Dublin. His father was a grain merchant and civil servant, and his mother was a professional singer. He attended the Wesleyan Connexional School before moving to a private school. Shaw became a dedicated socialist and a member of the Fabian Society. He died at the age of 94 from renal failure. His themes include political and ethical topics, the “woman question,” opposition to armament manufacture, and using his plays as a means of debate.
Works:
- Essays: Prefaces, How to Settle the Irish Question
- Plays: Man and Superman, Pygmalion (My Fair Lady)
- Novels: An Unsocial Socialist