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Literature Q2P02

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 subject
  • 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