literature.pdf

LITERATURE FINAL TEST TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Old English Literature (7th century – 1066)............................................................... 1 2. English Medieval Literature (1066 – 1516)................................

LITERATURE FINAL TEST TABLE OF CONTENT 1. Old English Literature (7th century – 1066)............................................................... 1 2. English Medieval Literature (1066 – 1516)............................................................... 3 3. Renaissance poetry............................................................................................................. 7 4. English drama and Renaissance drama...................................................................... 9 5. William Shakespeare........................................................................................................ 11 6. Metaphysical poets (17th century).............................................................................. 13 7. Literature of the Revolution and Restoration period......................................... 15 8. Enlightenment / Poetry of the 18th century........................................................... 18 9. Early novels, satire............................................................................................................ 21 10. Pre-Romanticism.............................................................................................................. 24  1. Old English Literature (7th century – 1066)  Also known as Anglosaxons literature Manuscripts:  Exeter book (The Wanderer, The Seafarer)  Cotton vitellius (Beowulf)  Junius manuscript (Caedmons poems) Main genres:  Poetry = In old english mostly, heroic epic poetry, elegies, lyric poetry, riddles, charms, proverbs  Prose = Predominantly in latin, religious prose, philosophy, sermons, homilies, legends, chronicles Specifics of anglo saxon poetry:  Alliteration = Repetition of the initial sounds in one line of poetry (hasten the hardy one henchmen with him (Beowulf))  Kennings = Whale Road, Sky Jewel = Metaphorical description of common objects Beowulf:  Epic heroic poem  Written between 7th and 9 th century  The subject matter probably from early 6th century  Mixture of pagan and christian motive  Beowulf tells the story of a warrior named Beowulf. Beowulf comes to the aid of King Hrothgar, whose kingdom is being terrorized by a monster named Grendel. The courageous Beowulf uses his epic strength to kill Grendel and then slays Grendel’s vengeful mother before returning home to Geatland. Beowulf later becomes the king of the Geats and rules for a peaceful fifty years. When a dragon begins to pose a threat to Geatland, Beowulf and his servant Wiglaf set off to defeat it. Beowulf succeeds in slaying the dragon but dies in the process. 1 Elegies:  The Wanderer  The Seafarer Anglosaxons poets:  Most text are anonymous  Cædmon = Cædmon’s Hymn  Cynewulf Prose:  Written mostly in latin  In Wales = Gildas (6th century)  Nennius = Historia Britonum (9th century)  In England = Beda Venerabilis  Alfred the Great Beda Venerabilis:  English monk  673 – 735 AD  Wrote Historia ecclesiastica gentis anglorum (completed in 731)  Many english legends are based on this text (eg. Angles = angels, or the story of Cædmon) Alfred the Great:  English king -> 849 - 899 AD  Commissioned the translation of Cura Pastoralis by the pope Gregory the Great and Consolation of Philisophy by Boethius  Initiated the Anglosaxon Chronicle Late Anglosaxon prose writers:  Early 11th century  Aelfric = Lives of Saints  Wulfstan = Wrote homilies 2  2. English Medieval Literature (1066 – 1516) Literary languages:  French – Nobility  Latin – Scholars and clergyman  English – Lower classes Anglo-French literature:  Courtly epics  Allegories  Religious and secular lyrics  Drama  Chronicles  Legends  Robert Wace (12th century) – Roman de Brut Anglo-Latin Literature:  Religious writings in monasteries  Philosophical text at universities ( Oxford – 12th century, Cambridge – 13th century)  Roger Bacon (13th century) – the most significant philosopher of his time Main genres of Middle English literature:  Chivalric romance  Medieval tale – Especially fables and fabliaux (Geoffrey Chaucer’s = The Miller’s Tale)  Debate poem – e.g. The Owl and the Nightingale  Exempla – Short narrative tales told by a preacher to illustrate a moral point  Allegory Arthurian Legends:  Genre of Middle English literature  One of the most significant genres of medieval writing 3 Chivalric romance:  Is the most widely practised literary genre of the Middle Ages in Britain and France  Is based in the originally French idea of courtly love  In the centre of the narrative (first in verse, later also in prose) is the medieval knight instead of the Anglo-Saxon warrior  The knight is duty-bound to his master as well as his lady The Three Matters:  Matter of France – the legends about Charlemagne  Matter of Rome – the legends about Alexander the Great and Julius Caesar  Matter of Britain – the legends about King Arthur  Contemporary scholars also add the Matter of England – King Horn, Havelok the Dane Genesis of the Arthurian Legends:  6th century = Welsh historian Nennius mentions him in the 6th century in his Historia Britonium  Early 12th century = Bishop Geoffrey of Monmouth, originally also from Wales, put many aspects of the legend together in his Latin-written History of the Kings of the Britain  12th century = Anglo-Norman writer Wace worked with the Arthurian motive in his French- written Roman de Brut later in the 12th century  End of the 12th century = French writer Chretien de Troyes added the legend of the Holy Grail to the existing Arthurian matter towards the end of the 12th century Aspects of Arthurian Legends:  King Arthur as a Christian medieval knight  The Knights of the Round Table (e.g. Sir Lancelot, Sir Percival, Sir Mordred, Sir Gawain)  The Quest for the Holy Grail  Supernatural powers – the sword Excalibur, the wizard Merlin  Courtly love – Lancelot and Guinevere, Tristan and Isolde Later Arthurian Texts:  Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (14th century)  Le Morte d’Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory (15th century) 4 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight:  Written by the anonymous Pearl poet in the 14th century  Chivarlic romance in the form of an alliterative poem  Its subject matter is temptation to adultery and the moral lesson to be drawn from it Le Morte d’Arthur:  By Sir Thomas Malory  Published by the first official English printer and publisher William Caxton in 1485  Written in prose  Its a nostalgic retrospective look on the bygone age of chivalry  A forerunner of the novel as a separate genre Allegory:  Telling otherwise  An extended metaphor with a hidden moral meaning  A common device of explanation  William Langland  The Pearl poet William Langland  The Vision of William Concerning Piers Plowman (14th century)  Incorporates aspects of dream vision  Was quite subversive at its time, because partly inspired by the revolutionary theories of the preacher and political reformer John Wycliffe  Uses aliteration The Pearl / Gawain poet:  Pearl (14th century) o Allegorical poem o Also includes dream vision 5 Other 14th century poets:  John Gower  Geoffrey Chaucer  They were friends but very different as writers  Gower was more simple, serious and moralistic than Chaucer but less skillful in characterisation  His best-known work is Confession of a Lover  He wrote in Latin, French and English Geoffrey Chaucer (1340-1400)  Comes from a wealthy family of a wine merchant  Popular at the royal court  A succesful diplomat in Italy, France and Spain  Closely connected with 14th century politics  Forerunner of English Renaissance  Translator from french and latin as well as a greatly original writer  His best known poems are The Parliament of Fowls and his lifes work The Canterbury Tales Canterbury Tales:  Written between 1387-1392  Brilliant structure  Phenomenon of pilgrimage  Many different social classes  Many different medieval genres  Simple language, low style, slanders, insults  Strong sense of human individuality  The Great Prologue 6  3. Renaissance poetry General features of the English Renaissance:  1516-1650s  Period framed by Thomas More’s Utopia and Cromwell’s rule  Attention laid to the human being rather than God, earthly life rather than afterlife  Closely connected with reformation  Rationalism and sensuality against benighted dogma  Inspired by ancient civilisations of Greece and Rome Thomas More – Utopia  Published in 1516  Writen in Latin  Libellus vere aureus, nec minus salutaris quam festivus, de optimo rei publicae statu degu nova insula Utopia  Fiction, Satire Significant poets of early Renaissance (1500s): Sir Thomas Wyatt  Father of english sonnet  He basically invented the English structure 4-4-4-2, with the final heroic couplet carrying the dramatic punch line Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey  Continued the transformation of the sonnet, with some changes in the rhyme structure  Introduced blank verse into english literature Poets of High Renaissance (1600s): Edmund Spenser  Practised and synthesised all existing poetic genres  Notable for hus sense of harmony, melody and the pleasant sound of his poetry  His masterwork is an epic poem The Fairie Queene 7  Sir Philip Sidney:  Famous for his: o Sonnet cycle Astrophel and Stella o Critical essay The Defense of Poesie William Shakespeare:  Sonnets (154 sonnets all together) Another important poets:  Sir Walter Raleigh  Christopher Marlowe – The Passionate Shepherd to his Love 8  4. English drama and Renaissance drama Three sources of English drama: 1. Religious/ liturgical rites 2. Folkloric plays of pagan provenience (e.g. May festivities) 3. Greek and Roman drama – mainly played at schools Theatrical nature of the Catholic mass:  Heavily stylised clothing (e.g. shrouds, hoods, etc.)  Expressive gestures  Singing  Music  Lightning (i.e. atmospheric candlelight)  Dialogue between the priest and the believers Forms and chronology of medieval theatre:  Tropes (9th - 10th century) = Dialogical passages inserted into the Catholic mass, sung or chanted, typically at christmas and easter, gradually acquired independent existence  Mystery plays (13th century) = Biblical subject matters, episodes from the Old and New Testament  Miracle plays (13th century) = Similiar but focused on legends and lives of saints  Both were typically performed by craft-guilds (carpenters, bakers) as pageants on special carts travelling from place to place  Existed and are preserved in the form of cycles (e.g. York plays, Chester plays)  Were almost entirely anonymous, we only know The Wakefield Master and his The Second Shepherds Play (15th centrury) Moralities (15th century):  Based on the opposition of vice and virtue, typically presented an ordinary, vulnerable human being who needs to be instructed how to live virtuously according to christian principles  e.g. Everyman  Represent a step towards more secularised theatre, namely tragedy 9 Interludes (early 16th century):  Humorous, farcical episodes inserted into serious didactic moralities  Represent a step towards Renaissance comedy  Early Renaissance playwrights, such as John Bale or John Skelton, still utilise features of moralities, but their plays are becoming more and more political, as well as more time and place specific  John Skeleton’s Magnyficence clearly refers to certain political troubles surrounding the rule of Henry VIII Elizabethan drama (16th century):  Profesional actors => 1576 – First theatre built – James Burbage ‘‘the Theatre‘‘ => other famous theatres  The Curtain (1577)  The Rose (1587)  The Swan (1595)  The Globe (1599) Shakespeares forerunners:  John Lyly = His plays are very complex, compositionally perfect, the language extremely decorative, written for aristocratic audience, courtly theatre  Thomas Kyd = The Spanish Tragedy, Senecan tragedy of revenge, big influence on Shakespeare’s Hamlet  Christopher Marlowe = Created deeply individualised characters who were often rebellious, wrote in impressive dramatic language using blank verse, The Jew of Malta or The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus 10  5. William Shakespeare  1564-1616  Actor, shareholder of a theatrical company, playwright  Great Elizabethan dramatist The Globe:  A theatre in London associated with William Shakespeare  Built in 1599 by Shakespear’s playing company – the Lord Chamberlain’s Men  Destroyed by fire on 29 June 1613  A second Globe Theatre was built on the same site by June 1614 and closed by an Ordinance issued on 6 september 1642  A modern reconstruction of the Globe, named ‘‘Shakespeare’s Globe‘‘, opened 1997 approximately 200m from the site of the original theatre Shakespeare’s plays:  Tragedies = Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Othello, Macbeth  Comedies = The Taming of the Shrew, Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Merchant of Venice, Much Ado about Nothing  History plays = Richard III, Henry V, King John  Romances (Tragicomedies) = The Tempest, The Winter’s Tale Characteristics of Shakespeare’s drama:  Very topical  Democratic  Highly sohpisticated  Use of soliloguy and dramatic irony  Most plays are written in blank verse  Shows great sensitivity for dilemmas and conflicts of both men and women as real human individuals  Very dynamic structure, considered experimental at his time 11 Ben Johnson  1572-1637  Very popular at his time, perhaps more than Shakespeare  Great satirical playwright of excellent erudition  Exposed the follies, greed and foolishness of the upper classes, especially the new nobility  Examples: Volpone, The Alchemist Other post-shakespearean playwrights:  Thomas Dekker  John Fletcher  Both were popular for their satirical comedies in many ways anticipating Comedy of Manners 12  6. Metaphysical poets (17th century) Metaphysical poets, What is metaphysical poetry?  A group of 17th century poets  Metaphysical: literally „meta“ - means beyond and „physic“ means physical nature Major metaphysical poets:  John Donne  George Herbert  Andrew Marvell  Saint Robert Southwell  Richard Crashaw  Thomas Traheme  Henry Vaughan Poets of late Renaissance: John Donne (1572-1631)  Leading poet of the Metaphysical poetry  Dynamic metaphors  Rational, highly intellectual argumentation balanced by passion and sensuality  Songs and Sonnets: o Holy Sonnets = “Death Be Not Proud“, “Batter My Heart“ o “The Flea“ o “To His Mistress Going To Bed“ George Herbert (1593-1633)  Religious poems  Calmer and more religious than Donne  Formal experimentation  Frequent use of conceits  “The Temple”  “Easter Wings“ 13 Henry Vaughan (1622-1695)  Anglo-Welsh poet and mystic  “Silex Scintillans“ Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)  English poet and politician  “To His Coy Mistress“  “The Garden“ Cavalier poets:  A school of English poets of the 17th century, that came from the classes that supported King Charles I. during the English Civil War (1642-1651)  Thomas Carew  Robert Herrick  John Suckling  William Davenant  Richard Lovelace Robert Herrick (1591-1674)  Master of witty conceits, vivid imagery, light-hearted tone, great song writer in fact ( strong musical element/ quality to his writing)  “Hesperides“  “Gather ye rosebuds while ye may“ = Carpe diem 14  7. Literature of the Revolution and Restoration period Historical context  2 major conflicts in England at the same time  English Civil War  Lord Protector – Oliver Cromwell John Milton  A great poet, polemic, pamphleteer, theologian and parlamentarian  Poems: o On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity o On Shakespeare o On Arriving at the Age of Twenty-Three o L’Allegro o II Penseroso o Comus o Lycidas  Paradise Lost (most known) = Epic poem in blank verse, The first version, published in 1667, consists of ten books with over ten thousand lines of verse. A second edition followed in 1674, was arranged into twelve books  Paradise Regained  Samson Agoiniste John Bunyan (1628-1688)  Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners  The Pilgrim’s Progress Other Authors  Thomas Browne – Religio Medici  Jeremy Taylor – A Discourse of the Liberty of Prophesying 15 Thomas Hobbes (1588-1679)  Was an English philosopher, considered to be one of the founders of modern political philosophy  Best known for his book = Leviathan The Restoration period (1660-1710):  Year 1660 was an important time for the renewal of the culture  1660 - Reopening of the theatres John Dryden (1631-1700)  The greatest figure of the Restoration  Astrea redux (panagyric / written verse)  An Essay on Dramatick Poesie  Absalom and Achitopel  The Hind and the Panther  Plays: The Rival Ladies, The Conquest of Granada, Don Sebastian, All for Love Mac Flecknoe  Published in 1682  One of the four major satires of John Dryden  It is also literary satire, and is considered one of the most famous mock-heroic verses in the English tradition.  218 lines of rhyming couplets in iambic pentameter  The poem has numerous references to Dryden’s contemporaries Samuel Butler (1613-1680)  English writer and translator  In 1859 he went to New Zealand  Hudibras – Vigorous satirical poem written in a mock-heroic style 16 Restoration drama:  Theatres were closed 1642-1660  After 1660 re-opened  Conventional theatre often very amoral, reflecting the hedonism of the court  Comedies were ineficient in any kind of moral decency  Tragedies were often heroic, bathetic and far too elevated (e.g. John Dryden’s plays) Other playwrights:  Thomas Otway = The Orphan, Venice Preserv’d  Nathaniel Lee = The Rival Queens, The Death of Alexandr the Great  Comedies: George Etheridge = The Comical Revenge, The Love in the Tub, She Would If She Could, The Man of Mode, Sir Fopling Flutter Comedy of manners:  Late 17th century  A comedy of social postures adopted by human beings  Is extremely satirical in its portrayal of all kinds of social and moral hypocrisy, especially of the upper or upper-middle classes  Can be very immoral, with many allusions to sexual promiscuity and lots of puns  William Congreve – The Way of the World  William Wycherley – The Country Wife 17  8. Enlightenment / Poetry of the 18th century 18th century Britain:  The Age of Reason  Enlightenment  Rational organisation of society and all human affairs including ideas of equality or freedom of thought (french inspiration)  The predominant cultural trend was neo-classicism focusing on formal perfection, order and rational organisation of works of art Neo-classical literature:  The Restoration period (Dryden, 1660 - 1700)  The Augustan period (Swift and Pope, 1700 - 1744/5)  The Age of Johnson (Samuel Johnson, 1745 - 1784)  Characterized by order, accuracy and structure 18th century drama:  Continued along the lines of late 17th century  Business character of theatre – attracting the largest crowds possible  Sentimental comedies, farces, political parodies and satires (often very open and cruel, resulting in censorship)  Oliver Goldsmith – She Stoops to Conquer  R.B. Sheridan – the leading playwright of the 18th century Richard Brinsley Sheridan  Perfected the Comedy of Manners  In „The Rivals“ Sheridan created the character of Mrs. Malaprop – a lady notorious for her wrong use of words  The School for Scandal – his best comedy, satire of fashionable, upper-class London with its scandals, back-biting, false morality and hypocrisy Satirical writing:  Satire was extremely popular in the 18th century Britain and was mainly represented and practised by Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift 18 Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)  Anglo-Irish, spend most of his life in Ireland and wrote about the situation there  Master of prose satire and political pamphlets  In “A Tale of a Tub” he sharply satirises all existing churches  Journal to Stella  In “A Modest Proposal” he mercilessly criticises English policies in Ireland by sarcastically suggesting that Irish Catholic children should be sold as food for the tables of rich Anglo- Irish landlords and gentlemen, in this pamphlet he also criticises the overuse of instrumental reason  His masterpiece is “Gulliver’s Travels” - a long prose satire commonly classified as a novel, a fictitious travel/adventure book which is also a political allegory, very inventive language (Lilliput, Yahoo) Alexander Pope (1688-1744)  A very influential poet who defined poetry and the poetic taste for the whole century  Stressed the ideas of formal order and perfection, that’s why he used heroic couplet  Inspired by classical ideas and poetry of the Antiquity, he believed in the public function of poetry, his poetry is strongly didactic - its main tools are wit, elegance and rationality  Essay on Man - Philosophical poem about mankind and its place in the world  Pastorals  The Rape of the Lock John Gay  Beggar’s Opera 19 Augustan period: A Modest proposal by Jonathan Swift (1729)  Genre: Satirical essay  A Modest Proposal For preventing the Children of Poor People From being a Burthen to Their Parents or Country, and For making them Beneficial to the Public The Rape of the Lock by Alexander Pope (1712 / 1714)  Comedy, satire (mock-epic poem)  The 1714 edition sold around 3,000 copies in four days. In this mock-epic poem, Pope used the grandiose style of ancient Greek and Roman epic poetry to satirise the self-importance of the fashionable London elite.  Themes = Exploration of society’s expectations for women / beauty / idleness and ignorance of the upper classes  Symbols = The Lock (a powerful symbol both of vanity and of the power of female beauty over men) An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope (1734)  Poem  It consists of four epistles, written in heroic couplets: o Epistle I - The nature of man and his place in the universe o Epistle II - Man as an individual o Epistle III - Man’s place in society o Epistle IV - Man’s pursuit of happiness  “The Design” - Written in prose and serves as an introduction to the piece 20  9. Early novels, satire Predecessors:  The Medieval romance  Italian novella  Besides these 2 main predecessors there are few more: 1. Greek romances - e.g. pastoral narrative Daphnis and Cloe by Longus 2. Picaresque narrative 3. French heroic romances 4. The Pilgrim´s Progress 5. The 18th century journalistic sketches of social types 6. Swift´s Gulliver´s Travels The novel:  Emerged as a genre answering the new social, cultural and political climate in the 18th century Britain  Connected with growing rates of literacy among the population as well as leisure time in life of the bourgeoisie  Its early incarnations strove to maintain the illusion of reality (e.g. Robinson Crusoe, originally published and presented as real biography) Factors that contributed to the estabilishment of the novel:  The rise of literacy  The existence and modernization of printing  Market economy  The rise of infividualism 18th century novelists:  Daniel Defoe - Robinson Crusoe, Moll Flanders, Roxana  Samuel Richardson - Pamela, Clarissa  Henry Fielding - Tom Jones  Tobias Smollett - Roderick Random, The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle  Laurence Sterne - Tristram Shandy 21 Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)  Father of the English novel  Robinson Crusoe = Robinson Crusoe, of York, Mariner: o Lived eight and twenty years on an unhabited island on the coast of america o Having been cast on shore by shipwreck o Written by himself  Roxana = in the time of King Charles II.  A history of the life and vast variety of forunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau  Afterwards called the Countess de Wintselsheim, in Germany, known by the name of the lady Roxana The novel in 18th century = The most important aspects: 1. Development of the point of view – Movement from the omniscient narrator to the other methods:  1st person narrator  Comic approach( in Joseph Andrews by Fielding etc)  Multiple points of view (e.g. Richardson)  Experimental techniques of Sterne 2. Development of the psychological novel 3. Development of “The Plot” 4. Conscious “Use of Time” technique – Either following strictly the chronological development of the plot (Fielding, Richardson) or conscious breaking of the chronology (Sterne) Journalism and literary criticism:  Journalists Richard Steele and Joseph Addison were not only masters of essays commenting on various issues of the 18th century society, but also greatly contributed to the development of english journalism with their popular (extremely popular) magazines “The Tatler” and “The Spectator”  Leading London intellectual Samuel Johnson (1709 - 1784) was a great lexicographer (A Dictionary of the English Language), editor (The Plays of William Shakespeare) and literary critic (The Lives of the Poets) 22 Moll Flanders (1722)  Novel by Daniel Defoe  Complete title: The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders Who Was Born in Newgate, and During a Life of Continu'd Variety for Threescore Years, Besides her Childhood, was Twelve Year a Whore, Five Times a Wife (Whereof Once to Her Own Brother), Twelve Year a Thief, Eight Year a Transported Felon in Virginia, at Last Grew Rich, Liv'd Honest, and Died a Penitent. Written from Her Own Memorandums.  Setting: England (mostly London) and America (mostly Virginia) in the second half of the 17th century  Themes: Pragmatism, Moral Ambiguity, Punishment and Redemption Pamela (1740)  An epistolary novel by Samuel Richardson  Plot = The story of a fifteen year old maidservant named Pamela Andrews, whose employer, Mr. B, a wealthy landowner, makes unwanted and inappropriate advances towards her after the death of his mother. Pamela strives to reconcile her strong religious training with her desire for the approval of her employer in a series of letters and, later in the novel, journal entries all addressed to her impoverished parents. After various unsuccessful attempts at seduction, a series of sexual assaults, and an extended period of kidnapping, the rakish Mr. B eventually reforms and makes Pamela a sincere proposal of marriage. In the novel's second part Pamela marries Mr. B and tries to acclimatise to her new position in upper-class society  Characters: o Pamela Andrews o Mr B. o Mr and Mrs Andrews o Mr William o Lady Davers o Mrs Jervis o Sally Godfrey  Themes: o The nature of virtue o The integrity of the individual o Class and class politics 23  10. Pre-Romanticism (1798 - 1837) General features:  Later part of the 18th century  Cultural reaction to industrialisation and social and political changes  Reaction to ideas of American War of Independence (1770s) and The French Revolution (1789)  Individualism in literature  Professionalisation of writing Ideas and inspirations:  Against neo-classical classical rationality  Emphasis on feelings and emotions  Imagination, passion, fascination with the mysterious side of life  Creativity, originality and individualism  Growing interest in the country and nature in general  Fascination with the distant past and the exotic  Fascination with the supernatural  Poetry was written in more simple language, often close to the vernacular  Variety of poetic forms (odes, ballads,…) against the neoclassical heroic couplet Early Pre-Romantic poets:  Edward Young - Night Thoughts (a melancholy and dark meditation on human mortality, very personal and emotional)  Thomas Gray – An Elegy written in a country churchyard (the founding poem of the Graveyard School of Poetry)  Thomas Chatterton - Forger of medieval poetry, committed suicide at the age of 18, hugely disappointed Poets of the 1780s:  William Cowper  Roberts Burns  William Blake 24 William Cowper (1731-1800)  Wrote very passionate, subjective and emotional poetry  Great humanist and sympathizer of the French Revolution and its progressive ideas  Wrote against colonialism and imperial warfare Robert Burns (1759-1796)  Scottish bard - National poet of Scotland  Simple background  Simple poetry in the vernacular  Collector of Scottish folklore, songs, ballads, …  His characters are ordinary humans or even beasts (e.g. To a Mouse)  Close to nature  Champion of the poor and oppressed  Best-known collection Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786)  Songs: “Auld Lang Syne”, “Green Grow the Rashes, O,” “John Anderson My Jo,” “A Red, Red Rose”, and “Ye Banks and Braes o’ Bonnie Doon  A Red, Red Rose – poem written by Burns, one of Burn’s most famous love poems, published in 1794 William Blake (1757-1827)  Thoroughly original, isolated and largely unknown during his lifetime  Mystic and visionary as well as a social and political radical  Engraver by trade; wrote, illuminated, printed and published his books at his own expense  Most of his poetry mixes esoteric philosophy with social and political protest  Lyrical poetry - written in very simple language (nursery rhyme), Songs of Innocence; Songs of Experience (The Lamb x The Tyger)  Epic poetry - very complex; in later epic poems he created his own mythology; Milton (contains Jerusalem)  The Lamb = a poem by William Blake o Published in Songs of Innocence in 1789 o "The Lamb" is the counterpart poem to Blake's poem: "The Tyger" in Songs of Experience 25 Gothic novel:  Prosaic reaction against growing industrialization and commercialization of British society  Sensitivity, fantasy, exoticism, passion, cruelty, sadism, eroticism  Typical settings are medieval castles, faraway oriental countries, graveyards, wild natural vistas, ruins, etc. Writers of Gothic novels:  Horace Walpole - The Castle of Otranto  Ann Radcliffe - The Mysteries of Udolpho  William Beckford - Vathek  Matthew Gregory Lewis - The Monk Essays and pamphlets:  Thomas Paine - his radical pamphlet “The Rights of Man” embraced ideas of American and French Revolution; against conservatism and militarism; argues in favor of welfare state including state support of the poor and helpless and free education for all  William Godwin - anarchist; believed that the power of reason and education will transform the world for the better; against private property, the Church and Marriage which he saw as hindrances to human freedom  Mary Wollstonecraft - wife of William Godwin and mother of Mary Shelley; proto-feminist arguing in favour of women independence, equality with men in marriage mainly through education; Vindication of the Rights of Woman 26