What Makes us Human? - M Deremo

Created by M Deremo on Wed, 04/30/2025 - 16:10

Part of Group:

MSSU ENG272 - Spring 2025

This timeline is related to British Literature as a whole, and the entries on this timeline will have to do with the subject of why certain pieces of British literature allude to themes of humanity.

Timeline

Chronological table

Displaying 1 - 10 of 10

Date	Event	Created by
20 Jun 1743	Anna Laetitia Barbauld is born The Romantic poet, Anna Laetitia Barbauld was born on June 20th, 1743. She was the oldest out of two siblings, and she was able to read sentences and short stories at the age of two. When she was 15, her father acquired a position at Warrington Academy in Lancashire. At this school, Barbauld made many friends and she spent time developing her poetic skills. Before she had reached the age of 30, she had published a volume of her works which included lyrics, odes, songs, and hymns. Some examples of her poems are "The Mouse's Petition" and "The Caterpillar." In these poems, she tended to humanize animals or express empathy in regards to them. By doing so, she is expressing her values through these animals. In "The Mouse's Petition" for instance, the mouse is trapped within a cage and is suffering, and pleas to a human to hear the mouse out and set it free. By pleading towards a human, and kindly reassuring that the human has a "hospitable hearth" as seen in line 14, the mouse has human qualities, and many people throughout time have felt restricted in some way like the mouse is in this poem. Even so, by writing poems in which an animal has human-like qualities, it tells us as readers today that Anna Laetitia Barbauld cared for animals even smaller than her by bringing them human qualities. We are all living, and we all have lessons to learn and desires to strive towards alongside struggles. Sources: "Anna Laetitia Barbauld." Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/anna-laetitia-barbauld#tab-related. Barbauld Laetitia, Anna. "The Mouse's Petition."The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 11th edition, vol. D, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp. 57-58. Meyer Hoppner, Henry. Anna Laetitia Barbauld. 1822. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Anna_Laetitia_Barbauld_1822_engr....	M Deremo
1760 to 1840	Child Labour in the Industrial Revolution The Industrial Revolution paved ways for opportunity throughout England. However, one unfair aspect of the industrial revolution was the fact that child labour was on the rise. In response, many authors called out this. Children as young as five years old had to work twelve hour shifts, the same way adults had to. Elizabeth Barrett Browning was an author to call out the harsh treatments children had to withstand through her poem "The Cry of the Children." In lines 51-52, Browning writes "It is good when it happens,' say the children, 'that we die before our time!'. By using this line, she tells us through the voice of kids that the children would rather die than live through their harsh working conditions. Many people are against the cruelty of how children were treated throughout the industrial revolution. Calling out wrongdoings shows our humanity, as most of us would fight against inexperienced children undergoing the same work schedules adults would undergo. Sources: Barrett Browning, Elizabeth. "The Cry of the Children." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Victorian Age, edited by Stephen Greenblatt et al., 9 th ed., vol. E, W. W. Norton, 2012, pp. 169. Cartwright, Mark. "Child Labour in the British Industrial Revolution." World History, 12 April, 2023, https://www.worldhistory.org/article/2216/child-labour-in-the-british-in.... Poet Elizabeth Barrett Browning. Encyclopædia Britannica, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Elizabeth-Barrett-Browning.	M Deremo
1789 to 1799	The French Revolution As a result of envolvement in the American revolution, France was on the cusp of bankruptcy. On top of this, King Louis XVI had horrible spending habits that contributed to bankruptcy as well. Because of this, people revolted against the king. As an example, a National Assembly was formed by members of the Third Estate and this was the first act of rebellion that went against the king, therefore starting the revolution. As a result of the French Revolution, a few British authors came out and discussed their viewpoints of this scenario. Edmund Burke was notably against the revolution, as he called it "absurd and ridiculous" and believed things would go out of hand due to the revolution against the king and queen. On top of this, he argued for traditional values. Mary Wollstonecraft angrily responded to Burke's document, and she criticized Burke's sympathy for the queen, Marie Antoinette. She also argued for more rights for women, saying that women "cannot, by force, be confinded to domestic concerns" (page 232). With people sharing their thoughts on the French Revolution, they are advocating for something that is important to them. It is especially important that Mary Wollstonecraft speaks up for the rights of women against Burke's argument in regards to respect for tradition and to his defense of King Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette. After all, King Louis XVI had been spending large amounts of money that kept France in debt, so the government was not sufficient enough for France. If people are unsatisfied, then they raise their voice and this is what Mary Wollstonecraft has done to defend why the revolution was necessary against people like Edmund Burke who wants to keep things the way they are. Calling issues out is one aspect of humanity that we've always had within us, and people continue to speak out when something unjustifiable occurs. Sources: Burke, Edmund. "Reflections on the Revolution in France." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 11th edition, vol. D, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp. 194-200. "French Revolution." Royal Museums Greenwich, https://www.rmg.co.uk/stories/topics/french-revolution. Louis XVI, King of France. 1783. Met Museum, https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/399862?rpp=90&pg=6&ft=Fr.... Wollstonecraft, Mary. "A Vindication of the Rights of Women." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 11th edition, vol. D, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp. 201-210.	M Deremo
30 Aug 1797	Mary Shelley is Born Mary Shelley was born on August 30th, 1797. She was the daugher of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Godwin and is widely known as the author of Frankenstein, which hugely contributed to the development of the science-fiction genre. She was a Romantic novelist, and some of her other works include The Last Man, Falkner, Valperga, The Fortunes of Perkin Warbeck, and Lodore. She also married Percy Shelley who was a poet, and she also spent her life publishing Percy Shelley's works after his passing. She also had a son by the name of Percy Florence Shelley, who she spent time educating. Frankenstein itself has themes in regards to the very theme of what makes us human. While the creature is not human, it desires one thing that many other humans also desire: connection. On top of that, the creature was abandoned by it's own creator which adds to the tragic backstory that leads to the creature's desire of wanting connection. Shelley, Mary. Frankenstein. Edited by Michael Bérubé, W. W. Norton, 2021. Kuiper, Kathleen. "Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley." Britannica, 20 Mar, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Mary-Wollstonecraft-Shelley. Rothwell, Richard. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley. 1840. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Mary_Wollstonecraft_Shelley_Roth....	M Deremo
1798	Lyrical Ballads is Published Lyrical Ballads was a collection of poems written by William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge. The two of them were close friends, and they had planned to release a volume of poetry that Wordsworth labeled "experimental." This collection of poetry included poems about nature, and some subjects included the lives of "humble" people. Coleridge published a poem called "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" which tells the story of a sailor who kills an albatross, which is a known symbol of good luck. The sailor has to deal with the consequences of killing the albatross throughout this story. One of the consequences is that the sailor learns how to appreciate animals that share the same earth as he does. Another poem from Lyrical Ballads is called "We Are Seven" which features a man talking to a little girl who visits the graves of her deceased siblings. Two have died, leaving five alive, but this little girl insists there are still seven children. With the little girl still insisting there are seven children, including the two who have passed, this shows how innocent or naive the little girl is at heart. However, this still comes across as her seeing the two deceased siblings as a part of her, as she does not discredit their lives. Grief is involved for everyone in life, and some ways in which we cope is to always remember the people who have passed on, and continue to talk of them inclusively. This way, their lives aren't discredited in any ways. On another note, an aspect of living is to learn from our mistakes in the same way the sailor does in "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." After making a large mistake, we can still take little steps to redeem ourselves, and learn lessons in order to feel regret. The regret may eventually cease, but the important part is to remember that mistakes happen and there is always time to make up for them. Coleridge Taylor, Samuel. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 11th edition, vol. D, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp. 475-490. Kerr, Jonathan. "A New Species of Poetry: The Making of Lyrical Ballads." Wordsworth, 13 Aug, 2014, https://wordsworth.org.uk/blog/2014/08/13/a-new-species-of-poetry-the-ma.... Luty, John. Churchyard. Public Domain Pictures, https://www.publicdomainpictures.net/en/view-image.php?image=153830&pict.... Wordsworth, William. "We Are Seven." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Romantic Period, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., 11th edition, vol. D, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp. 322.	M Deremo
1837 to 1901	Feminism in the Victorian Era Throughout the Victorian era, women had very few rights. There were strict gender roles throughout this time period, which made it easy for men to take advantage of their wives. Women did not have rights to sue, own property, or vote, though they were allowed to work a job. However, they were expected to be perfect wives and mothers, which was why many, especially in an upper-class household, did not work. In the 1850s, there were political movements for women to gain voting rights and to have equal rights in education and the workforce. However, Queen Victoria herself was against this. Sadly, this movement did not result in any new rights for women. Of course, many people wrote about how women were perceived in the Victorian era. As an example, Christina Rossetti wrote a poem called "In an Artist's Studio" which describes a painting of a woman hiding behind screens and is objectified as her portrait fulfills the dreams of a man. This poem is a call out to how women are viewed in Victorian society. Based on this poem, Rossetti believes women shouldn't be objectified or made to fulfil the dreams of men, as they too are individual people despite how society may see them because of the strict gender roles in Victorian society. While child labour was also called out during this time, artists also called out how women are seen in society. If we witness anything that feels unfair, there will always be people who call it out or feel the offness of how a marginalized community is treated. Unfortunately, some people are raised with traditional values that are deeply rooted in gender stereotypes, but a part of humanity is unraveling stereotypes over time. Because Christina Rossetti wrote a poem displaying how women are seen in her society, she is calling out the errors of her time. Throughout time, we have always done this, and this is unfortunately something we will continue to do. Cossar, Elena. "The Role Of Women In Victorian England." Oxford Open Learning, 1 Feb, 2021, https://www.ool.co.uk/blog/the-role-of-women-in-victorian-england/. Rossetti, Christina. "In An Artist's Studio." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Victorian Age, edited by Stephen Greenblatt et al., 9 th ed., vol. E, W. W. Norton, 2012, pp. 638. Rossetti Gabriel, Dante. Christina Rossetti. 1848. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Christina_Rossetti_3.jpg.	M Deremo
1866	Gerard Manley Hopkins joins the Roman Catholic Church Gerard Manley Hopkins was a poet who often wrote about religion, so his poems featured themes of faith and doubt. John Henry Newman was previously an anglican priest had written a book on why he switched to Catholicism, which inspired Hopkins into converting to Catholicism as well. In 1966, he joined the Catholic Church under John Henry Newman, and in fact, Hopkins quickly became a priest. Before joining the Catholic Church, Hopkins was interested in writing, but he vowed not to write while he was a priest and he had burned all of his previous work. In 1875, however, he had chosen to write again after hearing of a shipwreck that ended up killing a majority of its passengers. As stated earlier, Gerard Manley Hopkins often wrote poems about faith and doubt. An example of one of these poems would be "No worst, there is none. Pitched past beyond grief." This poem is written from a dark place of the mind, as Hopkins begs God and Mother Mary for comforting and explains how there are frightful cliffs within the mind that are unfathomable, but at the end of this poem, Hopkins finds relief in the fact that we all go to sleep at the end of the day, and that one day we'll die and these awful thoughts of ours will no longer be dealt with. As far as religious themes go, there is a theme of doubt as the narrator begs for God's comforting in line three, asking where he could be. For the most part, Hopkins is speaking about how we shouldn't have to deal with dark thoughts or events, as they are like mountains that are unfathomable (lines 9-10). At the end of the day and despite the troubles we all face on a regular basis, we can rely on the fact that we will have to go to sleep at the end of the day as "each day dies with sleep" (line 14). While this poem comes across as Hopkins feeling afraid of his own mind, he adds a reassuring ending. As humans, we seek reassurance, and we may seek this out of even the simplest things such as just going to bed at the end of the day. After all, there's always tomorrow. Sources: "About Gerard Manley Hopkins." Poets, https://poets.org/poet/gerard-manley-hopkins. Gerard Manely Hopkins. Before 1889. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GerardManleyHopkins.jpg. Hopkins Manley, Gerard. "No worst, there is none Pitched past pitch of grief." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Victorian Age, edited by Stephen Greenblatt et al., 9 th ed., vol. E, W. W. Norton, 2012, pp. 729.	M Deremo
1917	Virginia Woolf's First Publication Two Stories was a publication from Virginia Woolf and her husband, Leonard Woolf. Virginia Woolf wrote "The Mark on the Wall" while her husband wrote "Three Jews." Both of these stories feature techniques such as a first-person point of view and stream of conscious thoughts. "The Mark on the Wall" itself is about a narrator who sees a mark on the wall, and this narrator tries to recall what it was. However, the narrator gets distracted by a variety of related and unrelated thoughts. Virginia Woolf herself was known for writing many essays and novels throughout her life, and was a very popular writer overall. Most importantly, she was influential in the sense that she wrote modernist works, which involves tactics such as stream of consciousness and absurdity. Because of aspects such as stream of consciousness in modernism literature, it helps capture the thoughts of a character and shows a realistic glimpse into humanity. Thoughts such as those found in a modernist piece of work are realistic, as people tend to go down rabbit holes within their own brain as they think about things and attempt to remember things; just like how the narrator of "The Mark on the Wall" thinks very hard and falls down rabbit holes of various thoughts throughout their own mind as well. Beresford Charles, George. Virginia Woolf in 1902. 1902. Wikimedia Commons, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:George_Charles_Beresford_-_Virgi.... Svendson, Jessica and Lewis, Pericles. "Virginia Woolf." Campus Press Yale, https://campuspress.yale.edu/modernismlab/virginia-woolf/. "Two Stories." The New York Public Library. https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/galleries/section-4-hogarth-pres.... Woolf, Virginia. "The Mark on the Wall." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., Eleventh ed., vol. F, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp.278-282.	M Deremo
12 Jan 1917	Wilfred Owen's Origins with "Dulce Et Decorum Est" The poet and soldier, Wilfred Owen, was a famous war poet who served during World War I. On January 12th, 1917, Wilfred Owen witnessed a man getting gassed which was later reported through Owen's poem "Dulce Et Decorum Est." This poem was written while Owen was undergoing treatment in the Craiglockheart hospital. "Dulce Et Decorum Est", along with "Anthem for Doomed Youth" and "The Show" exposed the reality of being a soldier in a war. "Dulce Et Decorum Est" involves Owen watching a man die from getting gassed, and this poem features violent language such as lines 21-22, where Owen writes "If you could hear at every jolt, the blood Come gargling from the froth-corrupted lungs." The title of this poem originates from a poem by Horace, and "Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" means that it is "sweet and honorable to die for one's country." At the end of Owen's poem, he warns that we need to stop sharing this lie to children. By sharing this poem, Owen is exposing the horrors of war and making others aware of the realities. This poem serves as a warning, and we often warm others of awful things in order to spread awareness. This poem comes from not only a desire to physically protect others, but to also mentally protect. Based on the words in Owen's poem, it is clear that he is traumatized by the things he has seen and because he wrote many other poems about the horrors of war, he wants others to understand the war should not be glorified. It is in our nature as humans to keep others safe, and this is the desire Owen acts on by writing such violently honest poems about World War I. Sources: "Dulce et Decorum est." The Poetry Society, https://poetrysociety.org.uk/education/page-fright/joelle-taylor/dulce-e.... Owen, Wilfred. "Dulce Et Decorum Est." The Norton Anthology of English Literature: The Twentieth and Twenty-First Centuries, edited by Stephen Greenblatt, et al., Eleventh ed., vol. F, W.W. Norton, 2012, pp.170. Wilfred Owen. 1920. Commons Wikimedia, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Wilfred_Owen_2.png. "Wilfred Owen." Poetry Foundation, 2025, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/wilfred-owen.	M Deremo	Sarajevo, Bosnia
Apr 1960	Kazuo Ishiguro Moves to England Kazuo Ishiguro was initially born in Nagasaki Japan, and he attended Kindergarten to learn hiragana; the most simplest form of the Japanese alphabet. However, his father had been invited to work in England, which initiated the move. Because Ishiguro's father's work was continuously supported by the British government, the family never moved back to Japan. As Kazuo Ishiguro grew older, he was fascinated by song writing and writing as a subject, as he studied literature and began to practice his own writing. As an example, he started an unfinished novel in 1977. In 2005, his novel Never Let Me Go was published. This book seemingly follows Kathy and her friends at a boarding school as they form connections and attend classes to learn about art. However, Kathy and her classmates are told that their sole purpose in life is to donate their organs once they reach a certain age, and so these students do not have much time on earth. This novel deals with feelings of humanity, which include making connections, learning lessons through school, and trying to enjoy life despite the fact that these students will die at a young age from donating organs away. Mortality is an aspect of humanity, and one way in which we can cope with this is to do our best to enjoy our lives despite the fact that our time on earth is limited. Sources: Ag2016. Night View Nagasaki Japan Three. 2016. Pixabay, https://pixabay.com/photos/night-view-nagasaki-japan-1342591/. Ishiguro, Kazuo. Never Let Me Go. Faber & Faber, 2010. "Kazuo Ishiguro – Biographical." The Nobel Prize, Accessed 1 May, 2025, <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/literature/2017/ishiguro/biographical/>.	M Deremo