... in fact the collective effort of over one hundred French thinkers. The central purpose of the work was to secularize learning and, above all other things, to refute what the authors felt were dangerous carry-overs from the Middle Ages. For the Encyclopedists, human improvement was not a religious issue, but simply a matter of mastering the natural world through science and technology ... man into a soulless, thinking machine -- a robot. In a comment typical of the Romantic thrust, William Hazlitt asked, "For the better part of my life all I did was think." And William Godwin a contempor...

• Word Count: 2122
• Approx Pages: 8

... both use the pathetic fallacy where the internal emotions of the characters are being externalised. Both novels contain a juxtaposition of vulnerable human beings with vast, uncontrollable landscapes or conditions. The authors use language to create a sense of malaise, and unease. Setting augments much of the storyline and characterisation. The characters in both novels are insignificant in the vast and inhospitable landscape ... , imbued Hardy with a deep sense of the continuity of life as part of nature. This profound awareness enabled him to observe the world with a quiet detachment u...

• Word Count: 1705
• Approx Pages: 7
• Grade Level: High School