====== Literature Q2P02 ====== ===== Testi ===== A new sensibility pag 250\\ Early romantic poetry pag 252\\ The gothic novel pag 251\\ Romantic poetry pag 259\\ Romantic fiction pag 264\\ Thomas Grey: * elegy written in a country church yard Wordsworth: * The solitary reaper * She dwelt among untrodden ways * Daffodils * Composed upon Westminster bridge Coleridge: * Death and life-in-death * The killing of the albatross * The water snakes * A sadder and wiser man William Blake: * London Mary Shelley: * The creation of the monster * Walton and Frankestein Percy Shelley: * Ode to the west wind John Keats: * La belle dame sans merci * Ode on a grecian urn Jane Austen: * Mr and Mrs Bennet * Darcy proposes to Elisabeth Walter Scott: * Saxons and Normans ===== A new sensibility ===== * With no specific manifesto, in late 18th century a new generation of poets began * impersonal, eloquent (Augustan Age) -> **subjective, autobiographical, introspective, lyrical** * Exploration of personal feelings and emotions provoked by the observation of nature: by describing specific scenarios, the experience is generalized and extended to discuss universal ideas (not simply aiming to create a direct impact in the viewer through sheer suggestion) * The industrialization greatly influenced this movement * People living in the city sought diversion and serenity, which only the countryside could offer * Humility and elements of everyday life rather than elevated subjects * New locations described: * Castles, graveyards, ruins (reminds of the past) * Meditation on hardship and the experiences of the common folk * New concept of nature * Rather than sticking to the classics, nature was seen as a living thing * It's not a single and unified reality, but a multitude of individual entities given weight by a new theory * Nature is ever-changing and conscious * Distinction between beautiful and sublime * The latter is associated by Burke with strong emotions and physical sensations (fear/horror and intense pain) and is seen as superior in literature * The sublime can cause, at lower levels, admiration, reverence and respect * The sublime is what eventually causes astonishment --- an overwhelming experience involving the suspension of all changes in the soul for a brief, terrifying moment * The idea of terror used is //adventitious//: it requires making oneself familiar with peril to recognize it and develop a reaction to sublime. It doesn't just pertain to instinctive responses to fear (e.g. a snake is terrifying because you are aware it can poison and kill you, not because it's large or intuitively scary) ===== Early Romantic poetry ===== * Pastoral poetry: idyllic, peaceful scenarios, rural life --- nature is innocent and delightful * Cowper - The Task * Nature poetry: nature is no longer abstract, it becomes truly physical and living; contrast between the civilized man and the primitive man brought about by contemplation of wild scenery * Thomson * Ossianic poetry: a poem cycle; Ossian was a Gaelic warrior from Scotland (~3rd century). Great value was attributed to themes such as love suffering, war, insidious nature and folklore * Macpherson published some of Ossian's works as "Fragments of Anncient Poetry" * Graveyard poetry: gloomy landscapes, cemetery, adverse weather conditions; main topics were death, eternity and immortality * Thomas Grey - Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard * Edward Young - Night Thoughts on Life, Death and Immortality * William Blake anticipated Romantic poetry due to his involvement with social issues and his symbolism ===== The Gothic novel ===== * The growing interest in individual consciousness reflected itself onto new genres of fiction. * Strange and mysterious * The fight between the forces of good and evil * A desire to escape from an ugly global landscape * Walpole was the first to designate the term "Gothic" to this genre * //Castle of Otranto - A Gothic Story// * Features: * Attempts to instill fear in the reader * Exploring the sinister limits of the human mind, gore * The Sublime * Mystery * Ancient, abandoned settings (abbeys, castles, dungeons, convents) * Time of day: **night** * Complex plots & narratives * Supernatural creatures and monsters * Gothic hero * Ends up isolated for one reason or the other * Perpetual exile (can be seen as punishment by a deity) ===== Romantic poetry ===== * The main category within late 18th century English literature * The expression of internal feelings and personal experiences * Beyond reason and rationality * The individual over the collective * Unconstrained individuals live in better harmony with the world * The "noble savage" model stemming from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's philosophy of society and institution * The poet is a "visionary prophet" who has to let man interface with nature * Brings attention to social issues and elevates freedom, beauty and truth * Children are completely pure (not corrupted by civilization) * Increased proximity to God * Childhood is not a temporary phase or just a "stage" in a process of maturing, but an ideal state of the human being * Appreciation for the exotic (whatever is far away in space and time) * A pantheistic vision of nature and God, and the source of happiness and thought, which directly fuels inspiration for poetry * Choosing language that is most appropriate for poetry, by dropping preexisting aesthetic conventions and giving birth to new styles based on a need to let the inner side of the poet express itself through language ==== Generations ==== There were two main generations of romantic poets - William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge -- Lyrical Ballad * Tried to theorize poetry * Splitting roles * Wordsworth: has to write about beauty in the ordinary * Coleridge: the supernatural, visionary topics, mystery - Bryon, Shelley, John Keats * Conflict between the ideal and reality (disillusionment) * Individualism, escapism, alienation of the artist from the rest of society * Bryon: cynical "Bryonic hero" * Shelley: stubborn hope of Prometheus * Keats: classical beauty ===== Romantic fiction =====