1. Modernism: The twentieth century was marked by the two World Wars, the direct result of the conflicts between rival imperialist countries and their ambition to dominate the world. Roughly speaking, the development of English literature in the twentieth century can be divided into two stages, that is
1. Historical background: The Constitutional monarchy set up by parliament in 1688 was a compromise between the bourgeoisie and the aristocrats. The cultural life had undergone remarkable changes. Newton’s scientific discovery and the philosophy of John Locke affected people’s thinking of the world
