Literature Q2P02

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

• 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)

• 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 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)

• 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

There were two main generations of romantic poets

1. 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
2. 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