Sir James Matthew Barrie, Romantic Philosopher in Modern Realistic Drama

The industrial revolution blessed and cursed the English Victorian age. Blessed was the progress of invention and manufacture; cursed was the rugged individualism of selfish men. During this revolution, three great Victorian authors—Arnold, Ruskin, and Carlyle— rose to criticize England’s shallow middle class, smug aristocracy, and the newly-rich. Arnold fought the growing chaos by teaching that only education will produce sell-culture; Ruskin spent a huge fortune in the social and moral improvement of the working man; Carlyle thundered criticisms upon the social and economic evils rampant and offered remedies based on the principles of the Christian Church. Contemporaneously, two giants of musical verse, Tennyson and Browning, sang of the spirituality and consequent dignity of man, thus reviving the old Wordsworthian ideal. But with the advent of the twentieth century again came doubt and denial, and man found himself in a disillusioned world—a world of material progress and of spiritual decay.

Grantor dc:publisher

Creighton University

Year dc:date.issued

1946

Author dc:creator

• Dutch, Mary Stephen

Advisor dc:contributor.advisor

• Charvat, Charles C.

Statement dc:rights

• A non-exclusive distribution right is granted to Creighton University and to ProQuest following the publishing model selected above.

Language dc:language.iso

en_US

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10504/92237

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:cdr.creighton.edu:10504/92237