Eagleton begins with a provocative premise: In the late 19th century, the British Empire was facing a moral and social crisis. Industrial capitalism had created a fractured, urban, and potentially revolutionary working class. The old ideologies of religious faith were crumbling under the weight of Darwinism and scientific rationalism.
What could unite the nation? The answer, according to Eagleton, was English Literature.
He writes that literature was promoted as a "saving grace" – a realm of universal human values, empathy, and sensibility that could "tame" the barbarism of the industrial poor. Where the Bible had once offered moral guidance, the works of Shakespeare, Milton, and George Eliot would now offer "spiritual" sustenance. Terry eagleton the rise of english pdf
While "The Rise of English" is a cornerstone of cultural studies, it is not without critics.
Eagleton opens his argument with a startling claim: The rise of English literature was a spiritual stopgap. Eagleton begins with a provocative premise: In the
As the 19th century progressed, the authority of the Church of England began to decay under the weight of scientific rationalism (Darwin) and political revolution (Marx). The Victorian bourgeoisie needed a new ideological apparatus to quell the working class and humanize the industrialists.
Eagleton argues that Matthew Arnold, the great Victorian poet and critic, was the high priest of this new faith. Arnold famously argued that culture (specifically, "the best that has been thought and said") would replace the Bible. Culture was supposed to provide: Why this matters for your PDF search: When
Why this matters for your PDF search: When you read "The Rise of English," you aren't reading about Jane Austen or Shakespeare. You are reading about ideology. Eagleton shows that the way we read literature today is inherited from a Victorian plan to discipline the masses.