The American Revolution (1775-83)

The American Revolution

• Great Britain was enjoying internal peace during the reign of George III (1760-1820).
• Tensions arose between Britain and its American Colonies when the British government sought greater control, including appointing governors.
• Britain's attempt to tax the colonies without colonial representation in Parliament led to the motto "no taxation without representation."
• The delegates of the 13 colonies met in Philadelphia during the war of American independence (1775-83).
• George Washington was given command.
• The Declaration of Independence, approved on July 4, 1776, stated that all men are born equal and have the rights to life and freedom.
• Thomas Jefferson drafted the Declaration of Independence.
• Benjamin Franklin went to Paris seeking support following the welcoming of enlightenment ideas.
• France and Spain sent an army to America.
• The British army surrendered at Yorktown.
• American independence was acknowledged with the Treaty of Versailles being signed.

The Impact of the French Revolution in Britain

• The new Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger focused on financial stability.
• All of the Indian subcontinent was brought under British control.
• Australia became an important colony between 1768 and 1779 due to James Cook.
• Canada was divided into French-speaking/Catholic and English-speaking/Protestant regions.
• The British establishment opposed the violence of the French Revolution.
• Britain led the six European Coalition against Napoleon between 1793 and 1814.
• Britain maintained resistance due to its navy.
• Victories were achieved with the help of Horatio Nelson.
• Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo in 1815 by British troops under the Duke of Wellington.
• The British aristocracy was wary of social reforms, so public worker meetings were made illegal.
• The Luddite Riots broke out in 1811-12.
• The army dispersed a worker meeting in 1819, resulting in deaths and injuries in an event known as the Peterloo Massacre.
• A post-war crisis occurred during the reign of George IV (1821-30).
• William IV (1830-37) inherited the throne and the Reform Bill was passed in 1832.
• The Reform Bill eliminated 150 rotten boroughs that didn't accurately represent the population's distribution.
• The right to vote was extended to much of the male middle class.
• Reforms included:
• Factory Acts: prohibited the employment of children under nine years of age.
• Abolition of slavery and the slave trade in British colonies.
• New system of national education influenced by liberal theories.
• Children under 9 had to go to school as a result.

The Industrial Revolution

• Economic liberalism, advocating free trade and uncontrolled economic activity ("laissez-faire"), was embraced during the 18th century.
• Adam Smith articulated this in The Wealth of Nations.
• The Industrial Revolution occurred in England between 1760 and 1840.
• The Industrial Revolution was a transition from a handicraft to a machine-based economy.
• Technical innovations included:
• New materials like iron and steel.
• New energy sources such as coal (Yorkshire, Lancashire, and Wales) and electricity.
• New machines and factory systems.
• Development in transport/communication.
• The first railway was inaugurated by Stepherson in 1825.
• Agriculture improved with new drying and fertilization methods.
• Rothschild Bank became the first international trading bank.

Consequences of the Industrial Revolution

• New machines led to decreased employment.
• Factory workers faced low wages, poor nutrition, inadequate clothing, and long hours in bad working conditions.
• Women earned less than men, and children earned even less.
• Small children were employed in factories.
• Trade Unions formed in 1824 to represent industrial workers.
• Robert Owen proposed social reforms to improve working conditions.
• Children's rights were eventually recognized, acknowledging them as human beings.
• Women in factories faced discrimination and had domestic responsibilities.
• Elementary school was considered unnecessary for women.
• Upper-class women had less freedom due to rigid social expectations.
• Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-97) fought for women's rights.

The Romantic Revolution in Culture

• The French Revolution influenced literature.
• Romantic writers initially favored it, but the Reign of Terror dampened enthusiasm.
• This revolutionary spirit had various forms:
• Political and social revolutions in America and France.
• Ideological revolution revolting against all forms of authority.

Romanticism vs. Neoclassicism

• Neoclassicism was static, while Romanticism vision was dynamic.
• Rousseau (1718-78) emphasized the need for a democratic society in his Social Contract.

The Gothic Novel

• Gothic themes relate to architecture (churches, schools, colleges) with a Christian viewpoint.
• The term "gothic" is associated with the wild, supernatural, and mysterious Middle Ages.
• Gothicism is characterized by terror, darkness, obscurity, uncertainty, and horror.
• Gothic novels include picturesque settings, isolated castles, abbeys, secret rooms, dungeons, hidden passages, and creaking doors.
• Catholic countries are common settings for terrible crimes.
• Characters react extremely to mysterious situations, including supernatural beings and heroes saving heroines from villains.
• Gothic writers used a vocabulary of emotion and feeling, such as mystery, terror, haste, and largeness.
• Metonymy stands for something else.

Mary Shelley

• Born in 1797 to William Godwin (reformer and philosopher) and Mary Wollstonecraft (feminist and pamphleteer).
• She had no formal education but studied in her father's library.
• She ran off to Europe with Percy Bysshe Shelley.
• She and Shelley were in Switzerland with Claire and Lord Byron in 1816.
• Frankenstein was born in Switzerland.
• Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus was published anonymously in 1818.
• After Percy Shelley drowned in 1822, Mary returned to England, became a widow made at 24, and supported her son by writing.
• She promoted her husband's poetry and died in 1851.

Genesis of Frankenstein

• Mount Tambora erupted in Indonesia in April 1815.
• "The year without a summer" followed, with low temperatures and torrential rain.
• Lord Byron rented Villa Diodati near Lake Geneva.
• John Polidori dissected bodies.
• Discussions about galvanism and animation prompted Byron to suggest writing ghost stories.
• These events led to Mary having a nightmare.

Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus

• The novel is told from different viewpoints in an epistolary style.
• Letters from Walton to his sister introduce the story.
• Frankenstein's narration to Walton continues the story.
• The creature's narration is also included.
• Victor Frankenstein, a scientist, succeeds in creating life.
• Frankenstein's plan to create new life from body parts produces a hideous creature with human feelings.
• Conventional Gothic elements include:
• A frightening, snowy, and lonely natural world.
• An atmosphere of mystery and horror.
• The creation of a monster, death, and tragic love.
• The novel is the first true work of science fiction due to the scientific basis given to the supernatural.
• Themes:
• Searching for forbidden knowledge is central.
• The subtitle "the modern Prometheus" references stealing fire from the gods.
• This symbolizes human striving and the risk of overreaching.
• Frankenstein and Walton attempt to defy nature.
• Prejudice: the rejected monster is seen as tall and ugly.
• Family is central to human life.
• Nature is extremely powerful Nature refreshes Frankenstein.
• Frankenstein is the victim and the creature is the perpetrator at the beginning.
• Frankenstein is obsessed with scientific achievement and the glory of godlike power.
• The creature is frightening but also kind, intellectually curious, sensitive, and abandoned by his "father".
• Frankenstein is the perpetrator and the creature is the victim at the end.
• The story questions purpose and the morality of reanimating flesh and addresses fundamental questions about human existence.

William Blake

• Born in 1757 and influenced by his mother's teachings and the Bible.
• Began having visions at age 4, which influenced his writings.
• Prepared for a career as a painter from childhood.
• Married Catherine Sophia Boucher
• Published Songs of Innocence in 1789 and Songs of Experience in 1794.
• Taught himself Greek, Latin, Hebrew, and Italian in 1800 to read classical works.
• Died in 1827.
• Painted scenes from Dante, Shakespeare, and The Bible in his youth
• His poetry valued imagination over reason.
• Blake believed the poet can see reality and warn others against evils of society.
• Blake printed his poetry and illustrations from copper plates.
• Drew on copper in liquid, etched, and printed with his wife's help.
• The artwork was then coloured, stitched in sugar paper wrappers, and sold.
• Only a dozen copies were printed at a time.

Songs of Innocence

• Published in 1789.
• Poems were written for children and represent the innocent and vulnerable.
• The poems also trace their transformation as they become adults.

Songs of Experience

• Published in 1794.
• Combined his previous work: Songs of Innocence.
• The poems focus on defenseless and desperate souls.
• The adult experience destroys all the goodness of innocent childhood through parallels and contrasts.

Blake's View of Reality

• Blake saw reality as "complementary opposites".
• There is no progression without opposites.
• The opposites coexist in human beings and the Creator.
• The God of love and innocence.
• The God of energy and violence.

The Lamb

• The Lamb is the most emblematic poem of Songs of Innocence.
• The poet sees God's will and the beauty of creatures in the lamb.
• It is told from a child's point of view, with the setting being idyllic,.
• The child asks the lamb about its origin.
• How it was born.
• Where it got its "clothing of wool” and tender voice.
• The child tries to answer the questions.
• "One who calls himself a Lamb" made the lamb.
• The child gives the lamb a blessing at the end of the poem.

The Tiger

• Belongs to the collection Songs of Experience.
• Focuses on questions about the nature of God and creation.
• It also expresses the power of nature and God.
• The speaker asks the tiger who created it.
• From what part of the cosmos could the tiger's fiery eyes have come?
• What sort of physical presence and what kind of dark craftsmanship could have been required to "twist the sinews” of the tiger's heart?
• The speaker wondered how its creator had the courage to continue the job.
• The speaker compared the creator to a blacksmith wondering what anvil and furnace the job would have required.
• The speaker wondered if the creator smiled.
• Could this possibly be the same being who made the lamb?
• The key point is the nature of God.
• The lamb and tiger represent the two different sides of God and two aspects of existence.
• Experience is part of Innocence and is necessary to progress.

William Wordsworth

• Born in 1770, his father, a lawyer, taught him poetry and allowed him access to his library.
• He spent time with nature during his youth.
• He went to France in 1791-92.
• He returned to England due to the French Revolution.
• Wordsworth and Coleridge wrote Lyrical Ballads.
• Its second edition became the Manifesto of English Romanticism.
• Wordsworth published an expanded edition of Guide to the Lakes in 1835 to protect nature.
• He died in 1850.
• Wordsworth believed before being born we were in a perfect kingdom
• After being born we are in an imperfect and un-ideal earth.
• Only children have some memory of purity in their relationship with nature.
• When children grow older the magic of nature dies.
• The only thing that remains is the memory of childhood.
• Adults see nature in a human way and lose the right direction.
• Wordsworth had a pantheistic vision of nature and saw it as a source of joy and pleasure.

Preface to Lyrical Ballads

• Wordsworth explained his reasons for writing in the preface.
• Reforming the poetic direction
• The role of the poet in society
• For Wordsworth:
• Poetry is "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotionrecollected in tranquility.”
• The language for poetry needs to be “the real language of men”.
• The poet is "a man speaking to men."
• The object of poetry is “to choose incidents and situations from common life to make these incidents and situations interesting".

The Poetic Process

• Senses allow us to perceive the beauty of “incidents and situations”.
• Sensations start the poetic process by provoking emotions.
• The poetic process needs time before the poet is ready to compose.
• Memory is needed to filter and purify the experience of all that is unnecessary.
• The role of the imagination is to “throw over [the incidents] a certain coloring”.

Daffodils

• One of the most famous poems in English literature.
• Describes a utopian world of peace and joy after a short walk with his sister Dorothy.
• The speaker says that while he was wandering as a cloud above earth he came across a field of daffodils near a lake.
• The setting is idyllic.
• The daffodils are personified.
• The poet is compared to a natural object using reverse personification.
• The dancing flowers are as infinite as the stars above.
• Focus on the number of flowers.
• The flowers continue to be personified.
• Joy is the key-word of this stanza.
• The sight enjoyed that day would become a lasting comfort and the spark for an immortal poem.
• The memory returns when he was alone.
• Memories of daffodils flashed before him.
• It brings comfort.