Reader English Literature Vwo 5 PDF

A Reader of English Literature Vwo 5 **Contents** The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period c. 500 -1066.......... 2 The Middle English Period 1066 - 1500.......... 5 The Renaissance 1500 -- 1660.......... 9 The Age of Reason 1660 -- 1800.......... 16 The Romantic Period 1800 -- 1837.............

A Reader of English Literature Vwo 5 **Contents** The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period c. 500 -1066.......... 2 The Middle English Period 1066 - 1500.......... 5 The Renaissance 1500 -- 1660.......... 9 The Age of Reason 1660 -- 1800.......... 16 The Romantic Period 1800 -- 1837.......... 22 The Victorian Age 1837 -- 1901.......... 27 Glossary of important literary terms.......... 33 **\ ** **The Old English (Anglo-Saxon) Period c. 500 -- 1066** **History** The foundation of the English nation and language as we know it was laid in the fifth century A.D. At that time a few Germanic tribes (the Angles, Saxons and Jutes) left the continent and settled in England. Britain had been a province of the Roman Empire until about 410. In that year the Roman armies withdrew to fight the Goths on the mainland. They left behind a legacy of big roads, country villas, prosperous cities, military settlements and Hadrian's Wall. The Celts, who had been living in England even before the Romans invaded the island, had been largely dependent on the Roman armies for protection. After the Romans had left, Picts from the north started attacking the Celts and the Celts were unable to protect themselves. That's why they asked the Angles, Saxons and Jutes to help them. At first the Celts paid these people, but soon there were just too many of them and the foreigners simply started settling. They confiscated the land and chased the native inhabitants to the far corners of the country (Cornwall, Wales, Scotland and Ireland). The Germanic tribes founded the English nation and their language formed the basis of English as it is spoken today. The country was divided into a few kingdoms and they lived quite peacefully for a few hundred years. The Celts, who had been converted to Christianity by the Romans, converted the new settlers and monasteries became the centres of culture and learning. In 793 however, Scandinavian pirates destroyed a famous monastery and this started a new period of invasions, this time by the Vikings.  At first the Vikings only raided the coastal areas, but later on they started settling as well. They occupied an area that grew larger and larger, until it nearly covered all of England. Anglo-Saxon king Alfred the Great prevented the country from becoming a part of Scandinavia by defeating the Danish army in 871, and forced them to stay in a certain area they called 'Danelaw'. After king Alfred's death the Vikings' influence increased again. At the end of the 10^th^ century a sort of unification was achieved and the Anglo-Saxons and Vikings lived together peacefully. The Vikings too, were converted to Christianity. **\ Poetry** In the Old English Period most people couldn't read or write; entertainment came from artists reciting poetry from memory or singing to a harp. Hardly anything was written down and the poems we do know from that time are anonymous and besides that many exist in different versions. Most of these poems are [epic poems]; narrative poems on great subjects like kings and heroes, grim fighting, glory and honour. To make it easier to memorize them Old English poems are mostly in [alliterative] lines without rhyme and with a regular rhythm. In alliterative verse two or more words within the same line begin with the same letter, for example "how much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck would chuck wood?" However the majority of works known from this period are didactic (meant to teach the reader about religious matters) and historical chronicles. The best-known and longest surviving work from this period is the epic *Beowulf* (c. 700). This poem consists of 3182 lines of alliterative verse, and can be divided into two parts. It still inspires people to make films, like, for example, 'Beowulf' (2007) and 'Beowulf and Grendel' (2005), or write new works. Tolkien was inspired by it when he wrote his 'Lord of the Rings'. The story of Beowulf was brought over to England by the Angles and made into a poem to which several Christian elements were added. So its origin is Scandinavian; the scene is not laid in England but in Sweden and Denmark and the poem shows much of the way of life of the Germanic tribes.  Part one of the poem tells the story of a young Swedish warrior called Beowulf who comes to king Hrothgar's court. A monster called Grendel has been ravaging Hrothgar's country for twelve years and nobody has been able to stop him. Beowulf intends to kill this monster to show how brave and strong he is. He single-handedly manages to mortally wound the monster, but then the monster's mother comes to the king's court to take revenge by killing one of the king's nobles. Beowulf follows her into her dwelling-place and kills her with an ancient sword he finds in the cave. After this he returns to his own country Sweden and becomes king. In the second part Beowulf has been king for about fifty years when somebody steals an ancient treasure that was guarded by a dragon. The dragon is furious and, seeking revenge, starts to destroy the country. Beowulf manages to defeat the dragon but is wounded in the process. He dies of his wounds and is burned on a pyre. Now have a look at the part of the poem where Beowulf fights Grendel, tears off his arm, and thus gains victory. If you look closely at the Old English text you will see that the lines are indeed alliterative and that there is quite a strong rhythm in the poem. The English translation is in modern prose to make it possible to understand what's happening. Also, have a look at the way the hero is described. Is he an epic hero? +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **Beowulf lines 790 - 836** | | +===================================+===================================+ | | **Not for anything would the | | | earl's guardian let this deadly | | | visitor go on living**; he did | | | not count his continued existence | | | of the least use to anyone. | | | | | | Many of Beowulf's earls drew | | | their ancestral swords, wanting | | | to protect their leader, their | | | praised prince, in any way they | | | could.\ | | | These brave war-heroes never | | | knew, \-- as they came closer to | | | the enemy, | | | | | | aiming their swords to kill | | | Grendel, that not even the | | | sharpest blade, not even the\ | | | most dangerous sword in the | | | world\ | | | could harm or hurt that hideous | | | devil! He was safe, because, by a | | | spell, he had made all swords | | | | | | harmless for him. Yet a terrible | | | parting from life was destined | | | for him on that same day\ | | | and his wandering soul would | | | flit\ | | | far off to Hell.\ | | | Soon Grendel, who in former days\ | | | had been moved by spite against | | | human kind, had killed so many | | | men and hated God, realized that | | | the state of his body failed him | | | in the end; because Hygelac's | | | great-hearted kinsman held him by | | | the hand; each hated the other | | | | | | while still alive. The fearsome | | | outlaw | | | | | | was mortally wounded; there was | | | an enormous wound on his | | | shoulder, his shoulder-muscles | | | snapped and the bone-frame broke. | | | The glory of this fight was | | | granted to Beowulf, and Grendel | | | left,\ | | | bloody and bent, to the dark | | | moor, sorrowfully seeking his | | | dreary hide-out: he knew very | | | well\ | | | that he was going to die, his | | | days on earth would end. \-- But | | | all the Danes rejoiced because | | | after that bloody battle their | | | wish was fulfilled. | | | | | | The travelling stranger had | | | cleansed Heorot, Hrothgar's hall. | | | The brave and wise man had purged | | | it again. He was pleased with his | | | night-work, his fame-winning deed | | | and its honour. The valiant Geat | | | had kept his promise to rescue | | | the Eastern Danes,\ | | | eased their anguish, healed the | | | horror\ | | | they had endured so long, all the | | | misery they had suffered.\ | | | As a token of victory the | | | troop-leader hung the torn-off | | | | | | shoulder and arm by its hand:\ | | | the grip of Grendel -- hung from | | | the gable! | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **The Middle English Period 1066 -- 1500** **History** In 1042 Danish rule over England came to an end when Edward the Confessor returned from France to become the next king of England. Since he had spent the greater part of his life in France his tastes and habits were also French and this influenced every aspect of life in his kingdom. After King Edward's death Harold Godwinson, the most powerful of the English nobles, claimed the English throne. However, King Edward had probably named Duke William of Normandy as his successor and William decided to take action and invaded England to defeat King Harold at Hastings. This historical event is known as the Battle of Hastings (1066) and it marks the beginning of an entirely different period in English life and literature.  William soon restored peace to the country and began organizing the English government on the basis of the feudal system, like in France. The feudal system was a hierarchical system based on the ownership of land. King William ordered the *Doomsday Book* (1086) to be written. It is a work containing a record of everything (land, property) everyone in England owned, and the rights and duties of every landowner and every court. Once the king knew what his people were worth he could tax them. Since Normans took many prominent positions, French became the language used in higher circles, although common people continued to speak English. By the 14^th^ century English had re-established itself as the national language but it had changed a lot and taken over many thousands of French words. When you compare a few lines from Beowulf with a passage from Chaucer, it seems like an entirely new language. There is another important historical record known from this period. In 1215 King John was forced by his barons to sign the *Magna Charta* (or Great Charter). This was the great charter of English freedom and the first English law book. It covered feudal rights and laws, and limited the king's authority. One of the rights described that is still in existence today is that no freeman should be arrested or imprisoned except by the law of the land. **Literary history** The invasion also had its impact on literature. The poetic form changed and alliterative line was replaced with the French-type end-rhyme and fixed syllable patterns. The changes weren't only noticeable in form, but also in content. Germanic poetry was replaced by a more refined and elegant type of poetry. Instead of themes of war, death and glory, [courtly love] was now an important theme. This courtly love tradition gave women, who had so far been nearly absent, a prominent place in literary works. The ideal hero was now the knight who combined courage and strength with gentlemanly behaviour. He treated ladies (his own lady in particular), but also his enemies, with respect. Among the most popular genres were [ballads], narrative poems intended to be sung, and [romances], tales about brave knights who usually go out to fight for a noble cause, such as a Christian ideal or a beautiful and virtuous lady. **Arthurian literature** The ballads and romances, often about King Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, were very popular. The first known appearance of the stories about King Arthur is in a Latin work by **Geoffrey of Monmouth**, the best-known Arthur work is *Le Mort D'Arthur* by **Sir Thomas Malory**. The stories about King Arthur and his knights are romances; tales about brave knights, who usually go out to fight for a noble cause, such as a Christian ideal or a beautiful and virtuous lady. *Le Morte D'Arthur*, like *Beowulf*, continues to inspire people to make new works. **Drama** After having been absent for many centuries drama reappeared in the Middle Ages. It started with short dramatizations of the Latin liturgy (and later stories from the Bible), to make the church services more attractive and understandable for the general public. In 1210 the Pope banished drama from churches because it had become too worldly and entertaining. At first the performances were moved to the churchyard, but since people were less inclined to behave properly outside the church and the plays were becoming more worldly still, it became too embarrassing for the churches and dramatic activities were banned from the church grounds altogether. The guilds gradually took over the organization of these plays and by the fourteenth century whole series of these so-called [mystery plays] were performed on Christian holidays. The plays were performed on a number of wagons that were moved all over town, each depicting a certain scene. [Morality plays], [allegorical plays] that teach a moral lesson, were very popular at the end of the Middle Ages (15^th^ century). In morality plays the characters aren't saints or characters from the Bible like in the mystery plays, but they are personifications of abstract qualities like 'Death', Beauty', 'Knowledge' and 'Pride'. They dramatize the conflict between good and evil and teach the audience how good will always conquer bad, thus showing them how to get into heaven. An example of a morality play is *Everyman'* which is also known in a Dutch version called *Elckerlijc*. **The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer** The most famous and most important poet from this period is **Geoffrey Chaucer** (c. 1340-1400). His greatest work is *The Canterbury Tales*, a [link-in-frame story], a number of tales set within the context of another story. The framework in this work is provided by the journey of a group of twenty-nine pilgrims preparing to go on a pilgrimage to Archbishop Thomas Becket's tomb in Canterbury. They decide to have a story-telling contest to kill time while they travel to Canterbury. In the General Prologue Chaucer introduces all of the twenty-nine pilgrims and gives a description of each of them. He also explains the rules of the story-telling contest. If we trust the General Prologue, Chaucer intended each of the pilgrims to tell two tales on the way to Canterbury and two on the way back which shows the tremendous proportion of the work Chaucer had in mind. It is therefore hardly surprising that this work was never finished. Apart from the prologue there are twenty-four tales, some of which haven't been finished. Since the printing press hadn't been invented in Chaucer's time yet, *The Canterbury Tales* have been passed down in several handwritten manuscripts and we are uncertain about the order of the tales. The work starts with the 'General Prologue' in which all characters are introduced and the contest is explained. After that some of the stories are also introduced by a prologue, in which the people react on stories previously told and decide who will be next to tell one. The storytellers are from all layers from society and this makes the work very varied. Besides romances and sermons there are some very naughty and bawdy stories as well. The funniest tales are probably those by the miller and the reeve. The miller tells about a carpenter who is tricked and cuckolded, and the reeve, who is a carpenter himself and therefore offended by it, re-pays him by telling about a miller who is tricked and cuckolded. **The Canterbury Tales -- The Miller's Tale** The miller, who is already quite drunk, starts telling his story. It is quite a bawdy one about an Oxford student called Nicholas who is a lodger at the house of rich old carpenter John and his much younger wife Alison. Absalon, the parish clerk, is in love with Alison, but so is Nicholas and Alison prefers the latter. Obviously John keeps a close watch on his young wife so in order to get into bed together Nicholas and Alison make him believe the Second Flood is about to come. John hides away in the attic and Nicholas and Alison spend the entire night in bed together. While the two are in bed Absalon also comes to woe Alison. He promises her that he will go away if he can kiss her. Alison, being the funny woman she is, tells him to close his eyes and has him kiss her bum. After this Absalon wants revenge. He comes back with a red-hot piece of metal and calls Alison back to the window: +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **Middle English text** | **Modern translation by Peter | | | Ackroyd** | +===================================+===================================+ |  \"Why, nay,\" quod he, \"God | "No, dear Alison', he said. 'It | | woot, my sweete leef,\ | is me again. Your darling | |  I am thyn Absolon, my | Absalon. I've brought with me a | | deerelyng.\ | gold ring. My mother gave it to | |  Of gold,\" quod he, \"I have | me many years ago. It is of the | | thee broght a ryng.\ | purest gold, and engraved with a | |  My mooder yaf it me, so God me | true love knot. I would like to | | save;\ | give it to you. In exchange for | |  Ful fyn it is, and therto wel | another kiss.' | | ygrave.\ | | |  This wol I yeve thee, if thou me | Nicholas was out of bed and just | | kisse.\"\ | about to take a piss. He thought | |  This Nicholas was risen for to | that he could make the joke even | | pisse,\ | funnier if he changed places with | |  And thoughte he wolde amenden al | Alison and stuck his own arse out | | the jape;\ | of the window and thrust out his | | He sholde kisse his ers er that | buttocks as far as he could. | | he scape.\ | | |  And up the wyndowe dide he | Absalon called out 'Speak to me, | | hastily,\ | my little bird. I can't see you, | |  And out his ers he putteth | sweetheart.' | | pryvely\ | | |  Over the buttok, to the | And, at that, Nicholas let out a | | haunche-bon;\ | fart as loud as a peal of | |  And therwith spak this clerk, | thunder. What a noise! What a | | this Absolon,\ | smell! You can guess what Absalon | |  \"Spek, sweete bryd, I noot nat | did next. He steadied the hot | | where thou art.\"\ | blade, and thrust it right up | |  This Nicholas anon leet fle a | Nicholas's arse. Oh dear. He took | | fart\ | the skin off that fundament, and | |  As greet as it had been a | all around the edges. | | thonder-dent,\ | | |  That with the strook he was | Nicholas was in such pain that he | | almoost yblent;\ | thought he might die, and | |  And he was redy with his iren | screamed out in agony like a | | hoot,\ | madman, 'Help! Water! For God's | | And Nicholas amydde the ers he | sake! Water!' | | smoot.\ | | |  Of gooth the skyn an hande-brede | Now his cries awoke the carpenter | | aboute,\ | and when he heard the exclamation | |  The hoote kultour brende so his | 'Water!' he started up. | | toute,\ | | |  And for the smert he wende for | 'Oh Christ', he said. 'Here comes | | to dye.\ | the flood!' so he took up the axe | |  As he were wood, for wo he gan | beside him, and cut the rope that | | to crye,\ | held his tub to the beams of the | |  \"Help! Water! Water! Help, for | ceiling. Then, as the children | | Goddes herte!\"\ | say, all fall down. In a moment | |  This carpenter out of his | the tub plummeted to the floor. I | | slomber sterte,\ | could put it another way. He had | |  And herde oon crien \"water!\" | no time to sell the bread and ale | | as he were wood,\ | on board. He was on the | |  And thoughte, \"Allas, now comth | floorboards, passed out. He was | | Nowelis flood!\"\ | dead to the world. | |  He sit hym up withouten wordes | | | mo,\ | | | And with his ax he smoot the | | | corde atwo,\ | | |  And doun gooth al; he foond | | | neither to selle,\ | | |  Ne breed ne ale, til he cam to | | | the celle\ | | |  Upon the floor, and ther aswowne | | | he lay. | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **\ ** **The Renaissance 1500 -- 1660** **History** The first Renaissance King in England was Henry VIII who is now mainly remembered for the fact that he had no less than six wives. Henry broke with Rome in 1533 because the Pope had refused to grant him permission to divorce his wife. Henry then founded the new Church of England of which he made himself Supreme Head. This was the start of the Reformation, which would lead to the founding of many Protestant churches in England. Thomas More became chief minister but was beheaded in 1535 because he refused to regard Henry as head of the church. Of Henry's successors the most important and best known was Queen Elizabeth I, his daughter. When she became queen the country was in a bad state. There were religious quarrels and the Treasury was nearly empty. At her death in 1603 England was a world power, and lived in relative peace. King James I and his son king Charles succeeded Elizabeth, but religious quarrels flared up again and culminated in a civil war, which Charles lost. From 1648 until 1660 Puritans, extremely strict Protestants, governed the country under the leadership of Oliver Cromwell. England was then called 'the Commonwealth of England' and it was now a republic. The Puritans took so many unpopular measures, like closing theatres, that in 1660 they had become very unpopular and the monarchy was restored. The word 'Renaissance' means 'rebirth' and this term refers to the renewed interest in ancient Greek and Roman cultures at that time. They had been out of style for a while, since they were considered as the products of a pagan civilization. Renaissance scholars started studying them again and did so with an open mind, without the medieval Christian prejudices. Greek and Roman cultures became an ideal for them and were applied to many forms of Renaissance art. Among these scholars, who were called humanists, were the Dutchman Erasmus and the Englishman Thomas More. However the word 'Renaissance' also refers to a number of fundamental changes in the way man looked upon himself and his place in the world. These changes are easiest to see if you compare medieval ideas and Renaissance ideas: 1. *From a collective to an individual attitude*: in the Middle Ages people saw themselves as members of a larger body. They felt they belonged to one or more communities like families, guilds and religious communities. During the Renaissance, however, people started to see themselves as individual beings, who had thoughts, feelings, and an importance of their own. This is reflected in many areas, like religion, industry and art. 2. *From a 'theocentric' (God-centred) to an 'anthropocentric' (man-centred) outlook*: during the Middle Ages people were constantly reminded of the fact that life was just a preparation for the after-life ('memento mori'; remember you will die). In the Renaissance religion was still important, but it no longer prevented people from exploring and enjoying life as much as possible. The new motto became 'carpe diem' (seize the day, live life to the max!) 3. *From dogmatic belief to critical investigation*: during the Middle Ages it was the church that held the great truths that explained most things and people didn't question them. In the Renaissance people became more critical and no longer wanted to accept the explanations the church offered just like that. They wanted to base their views on their own research. The introduction of the printing press had a lot of impact on learning as well, because it now became possible to spread ideas over a larger area at a low cost. Ultimately this way of thinking resulted in conflicts with the church, which eventually lost its authority in matters of science. The Renaissance wasn't only a rediscovery of the Ancient World though. In the Renaissance period a new continent was discovered and scientific discoveries changed everything. Not only did people find out that the world wasn't flat, they also discovered that the earth wasn't the centre of the universe. New cultures, animals and plants were discovered which appealed to the imagination of many writers. **Literary history** During the early Renaissance the classical works from Greece and Rome were re-discovered and their ideas began influencing artists once more. The individual became important again and the beauty of the human body was noticed again. People became less obsessed with life after death and began to concentrate on the here and now. Authors began imitating the classics and revived old forms like the [elegy], a solemn poem of meditation, and the [pastoral], a poem or play which idealizes nature and life in the countryside. Beauty of sound and form became very important and because of the changed views on individuality literature also became personal again. Artists signed their works and started expressing personal feelings. This resulted in a great amount of passionate works. In spite of all that, religion was still important, and because during the Reformation the word of God was supposed to be in the Bible (instead of the Church) the Bible was translated into English. In 1611 the first Authorized Version, commissioned by King James I (and therefore known as the King James Bible) was published. **Poetry** **Sir Thomas Wyatt** introduced the [sonnet] in England by translating and adapting the famous sonnets by the Italian poet Petrarch. The sonnets were polished by later poets, the most famous of which is probably **sir Edmund Spenser**, who wrote the collection of love sonnets called *Amoretti* which he dedicated to the woman he would later marry. Like in the Petrarchan tradition the lover pictures himself as depressed because his lady is so cruel. Even so, he will remain loyal to her for eternity, and continue to describe and praise her looks, hoping she will one day change her mind. The popularity of the Petrarchan sonnets ended at the end of the 16^th^ century. They were very predictable and people grew tired of the genre. Various kinds of new poetry that became prominent in the early 17^th^ century were a reaction against them and parodied them. The attitude towards love and women became more cynical. Patience, devotion and humility were no longer seen as virtues and young lovers were advised to love while they could and not to be coy. One of the poets who started this was **John Donne**. His poems are very passionate and intense. He didn't place distance between the lovers, but had them meet on equal terms and instead of wooing the woman he started one of his poems, *The Canonization*, with the sentence 'For God's sake, hold your tongue, and let me love'. **From *'Amoretti',* sonnet XV** This poem is an example of a Petrarchan love sonnet, one of the recurring themes of which is the description of the lady's beauty, and that is exactly what Spenser does here. He wonders why merchants travel all over the world to buy beautiful things like ivory, rubies and pearls, while his beloved contains all of the riches in the world within herself. By adding one flattering comparison to another, he compares her lips to rubies and her eyes to sapphires, he produces a sort of catalogue in praise of her good looks. However, the best thing about her is something that you can't simply see; besides being beautiful on the outside, she is also very beautiful on the inside. Spenser had his own rhyme scheme; abab-bcbc-cdcd-ee and the [volta], a turn in the argument, idea or mood, would be in the last two lines. The rhythm is very constant. There are 10 syllables in each line and every second syllable is stressed. This is called [iambic pentameter] and it is used in all English sonnets. The rhyme schemes differ though. +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | | ˚hard work | | | | | | ˚win, obtain | | | | | | ˚East and West India ˚rob | | | | | | ˚for nothing, without success | | | | | | ˚perfect | | | | | | ˚flawless, without fault | | | | | | ˚consider, look upon | | | | | | ˚earth | | | | | | ˚bright, shining | | | | | | ˚see | | | | | | ˚many good qualities | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **\ ** **Drama** Theatre was extremely popular in the Renaissance. At the beginning of the Renaissance the miracle and morality plays that had been staged during the Middle Ages disappeared from the stage and were replaced by [secular drama]. This is a form of drama that is worldly and non-religious. It started when travelling theatre companies took over the staging of plays from the guilds. They did not perform on wagons, but on actual stages set up in the marketplace. This made collecting money problematic, some people would watch, but refuse to pay. Because of this they moved into yards or houses and in 1570 the first actual playhouses were built. In drama writers turned to the classics for inspiration too, replacing the old moral and religious conflicts from the old plays by personal dilemmas. The writer would put his name on the work and some of the writers (like Shakespeare) would act in their own plays as well. According to the classical tradition a play had to conform to the three unities. The unity of action, meaning that there couldn't be any digressions in the plot, but everything that happened was important for the play. Unity of place meant that the play was set at only one location and unity of time implied that the time represented on stage was about as much as the play took to perform. True classists, like **Ben Jonson**, applied these rules conscientiously. The most famous playwright from this period, **William Shakespeare**, couldn't care less about them. To this day **William Shakespeare'**s plays are an inspiration to people. The film 'Ten Things I hate about You', for example, is based on 'the Taming of the Shrew' and the musical 'West Side Story' is based on 'Romeo and Juliet' and there are many more. There are three main types of plays; - - -  At the end of the Renaissance period, when the Puritans came to power things changed dramatically. The Puritans, being extremely strict Protestants, believed that real happiness only existed in heaven. 'Earthly pleasure is sin' was their sober motto. They just read the Bible, sermons and other religious tracts. So it is no surprise that they considered theatres as centres of immorality and therefore closed the theatres in 1642. **\ ** **Literary works - Hamlet** Shakespeare's most famous play is probably *Hamlet*. Almost everybody knows the quote 'to be or not to be, that is the question'. *Hamlet* is one of Shakespeare's tragedies. Hamlet, the Prince of Denmark, hears that some soldiers have seen a ghost that resembled his dead father. He decides to go out to find it and talk to it. The ghost tells him that he didn't die of a snakebite, which was the original report, but that Claudius, the present king, who married Hamlet's mother shortly after the funeral, poisoned him. The ghost asks his son to take revenge. Of course Hamlet is shocked and confused by what he has been told. Should he trust the ghost, or should he ignore it? In the famous [soliloquy] in Act III scene 1 he struggles with his internal conflict of whether or not to kill himself because recent events have depressed him so much. Although the speech's emphasis is on the subject of death, in the end he is determined to live and see his revenge. +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **HAMLET:** To be, or not to | Hamlet wonders whether it would | | be\--that is the question: | be nobler to endure everything | | | that's making his life hard, or | | Whether \'tis nobler in the mind | whether he should just end all | | to suffer | his misery by killing himself. | | | | | The slings and arrows of | He compares death to sleeping and | | outrageous fortune | hopes this will ease the pain he | | | feels in his heart and the end | | Or to take arms against a sea of | the fears that make his life | | troubles | hard. | | | | | And by opposing end them. To die, | All of that sounds comforting to | | to sleep\-- | him, it seems to be something he | | | would welcome. | | No more\--and by a sleep to say | | | we end | But then he wonders about dreams | | | he will have when he is dead, | | The heartache, and the thousand | what he might suffer then, and | | natural shocks | that makes him reconsider. There | | | is no way to be certain that | | That flesh is heir to. \'Tis a | death will in fact bring relief | | consummation | and he realizes this is what | | | makes people live on. | | Devoutly to be wished. To die, to | | | sleep\-- | He continues to describe things | | | that could make life unbearably | | To sleep\--perchance to dream: | hard; like oppression, the | | ay, there\'s the rub, | contempt of proud men, the pain | | | of rejected love, the misuse of | | For in that sleep of death what | power, and the advantage the | | dreams may come | worst people take of the best and | | | wonders why people bear them if | | When we have shuffled off this | they could simply end them by | | mortal coil, | stabbing themselves with a | | | dagger. He realizes nobody would | | Must give us pause. There\'s the | want to carry all of these | | respect | burdens if it weren't for the | | | fact that they are afraid of what | | That makes calamity of so long | comes after death. Nobody has | | life. | ever been able to come back and | | | talk about this and this is what | | For who would bear the whips and | worries people and makes them | | scorns of time, | decide to live with all the evils | | | that they already know instead of | | Th\' oppressor\'s wrong, the | hurrying to others that they | | proud man\'s contumely | don't know about. | | | | | The pangs of despised love, the | Thinking about what comes after | | law\'s delay, | death is what turns people into | | | cowards and thinking about it | | The insolence of office, and the | puts an end to the impulse to | | spurns | commit suicide. | | | | | That patient merit of th\' | Great and important plans are | | unworthy takes, | weakened up to the point where | | | people don't do anything. | | When he himself might his quietus | | | make | | | | | | With a bare bodkin? Who would | | | fardels bear, | | | | | | To grunt and sweat under a weary | | | life, | | | | | | But that the dread of something | | | after death, | | | | | | The undiscovered country, from | | | whose bourn | | | | | | No traveller returns, puzzles the | | | will, | | | | | | And makes us rather bear those | | | ills we have | | | | | | Than fly to others that we know | | | not of? | | | | | | Thus conscience does make cowards | | | of us all, | | | | | | And thus the native hue of | | | resolution | | | | | | Is sicklied o\'er with the pale | | | cast of thought, | | | | | | And enterprise of great pitch and | | | moment | | | | | | With this regard their currents | | | turn awry | | | | | | And lose the name of action. | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ One night Hamlet kills a man who was working for the king because he found him spying on him. The King and the man's son (Laertes) decide to take revenge on Hamlet for this. The king poisons a glass of wine and Laertes poisons his sword. Things go wrong though; the queen accidentally drinks the glass of wine and dies on the spot. Laertes slices Hamlet's arm with his poisoned sword, but he does leave Hamlet with just enough time to avenge his father and kill king Claudius. He also kills Laertes and then he himself dies too. **History** The Puritans with their strict Protestants ideas and measures were soon very unpopular and in 1660 a period called 'the Restoration' started because in that year Charles II returned from his exile in France and the monarchy was restored. Instead of the sober and practical view of life as it had been propagated by the Puritans, Charles II introduced the French spirit of frivolity and pleasure into England and the theatres were reopened. Because of that he was called 'the Merry Monarch'. Charles was succeeded by his brother James II, who was a strict catholic. He tried to turn England into a catholic country. The people did not want this and got rid of him. Parliament asked Mary, his protestant daughter to take over the throne, which she did. She ruled together with her husband William of Orange and after she died he stayed king. This was the first time that Parliament was more powerful than the king and under William III and his successor Queen Anne (Mary's sister), the system of parliamentary government developed even further. Two important parties grew (the Whigs and the Tories) and struggles between the parties led to bitter conflicts. In 1714 Anne died childless and a distant German cousin of James's, George of Hanover became king. He didn't speak English, so he left most of his affairs to his ministers. Because of that the Prime Minister became very powerful. The first real Prime Minister was Robert Walpole. **Literature** The Age of reason is also known as the Neo-classical Period because the influence of classic Greek and Roman culture that had come up in the Renaissance now represented the highest ideals in life, art and literature. It's also called the Augustan Age, referring to Roman emperor Augustus, during whose reign the Roman Empire flourished like never before. The English are in a similar situation; arts and science flourished, and growing trade brought wealth to the country. After the turbulent times of the 16^th^ and first half of the 17^th^ century with their passionate religious controversies and the resulting civil war people wanted harmony and order. Extreme opinions were suspect, because they might cause trouble. It became important to be reasonable and rational and this is reflected in literature as well. Literature became more rational; the fanciful was replaced by the normal. People were self-confident and optimistic and this was also because of the rapid developments in the sciences. There were so many new scientific discoveries that they started believing that all phenomena of nature, and even religion, could be explained rationally. It was believed that every man had a certain degree of reason in him, and if this were used correctly there would be no limit to the problems the human mind could solve. Of course, looking at the world outside, they would also see that not everybody was guided by reason. In literature this resulted in a genre called [satire]: the mocking of the stupidity and narrow-mindedness of these people, ridiculing a subject in order to expose whatever the writer thinks is wrong. King George I and his successors George II and George III did not keep splendid courts like their predecessors and with the disappearance of the glittering court the middle classes became more and more important as patrons of art and culture. The number of readers increased considerably and because of that new demands were created among the public and his led to the rise of the novel in the eighteenth century. **Drama** After the monarchy had been restored theatres were re-opened and quickly became popular again. A lot had changed though. To start with it was now allowed for women to be on stage. This had not been allowed in the Renaissance, so back then men played all parts, both male and female. Also theatres became more exclusive. The audience no longer existed of all layers of society but mainly of upper-class people. People now wanted light-heartedness and frivolity in the theatre and that's why the [comedy of manners], a comedy satirizing the attitudes and behaviour of a particular social group, became extremely popular. They are a reaction against the strict puritanism of the previous decades, and the main themes were love and money in the sophisticated upper circles. The hero and heroin pretend to dislike each other and oppose to marriage, but after many misunderstandings everything turns out right. By 1700 the taste had changed though. Because the glittering court days were over people mainly went to the theatre to be seen and to gossip. Besides that the audiences changed and were more and more made up of the wives of merchants and other representatives of the middle class. They were not interested in sophisticated, witty difficulties. Since comedy of manners was a reaction against the strict puritanism of the previous decades, critics in the eighteenth and nineteenth century considered them immoral. As a result plays became the sentimental and longwinded, so they were easy to follow, even if you were exchanging the latest gossip at the same time. **Prose** In the 17^th^ century prose became more and more important and popular. Before that time mainly drama had been the popular taste. But now that reason was considered the supreme guide, new forms of prose developed. Writers dealt with the actualities and facts of everyday life and reflected the growth of the rational, scientific world-view, which formed the basis of modern thought. In 1695 the press was freed from state censorship so that people were free to express their views on the political, religious and economic issues of the day. In the first half of the 18^th^ century these issues were discussed in pamphlets and essays, which were the basis for the periodical or newspaper. An important writer is **Samuel Pepys**. In his *Diary* (1660-1669), he gives a very lively account of everyday life in London in the 1660s and descriptions of historical events like the Plague, which killed 70,000 Londoners in 1665 and the Fire of London, which destroyed a large part of the city in1666. The rise of the novel is closely connected with the emergence of the middle-class public. This new and wealthy class of merchants and shopkeepers, and especially their wives and daughters, was ready to be entertained and instructed by some form of literature. They were not like the upper classes; they had to work and earn money and still held strict religious views. They wanted books with situations they could recognize, and, if at all possible, with a nice moralistic ending. The first novelists took care to present fiction as fact, because Puritan readers would consider everything that was not literary true as lies. Many people call **Daniel Defoe** the first novelist, although his work doesn't really describe character. He presents his story as fact, and sticks to what happens and not how it makes his character feel. The first author who described feelings and emotions, trying to represent the psychology of his characters was **Samuel Richardson** in his successful novel *Pamela.* \- The story is fictitious **Literary work** **Daniel Defoe's** novel, *Robinson Crusoe* appeared in the early 1719. Defoe wrote the book in the form of an autobiography, to make it seem like a factual account, and he took great pains to make the story as realistic as possible. The novel tells the story of a shipwrecked sailor who spends 28 years on a desert island, encountering cannibals, captives and mutineers before being rescued and taken back to England. Although it is nowadays often seen as a children's book, this was never Defoe's intention. He meant to show that God's providence saves a sinner who left family and religion behind, and returns to the inhabited world a better man. Nowadays critics see Crusoe as a successful capitalist, who makes a profit by working hard and exploiting his environment. It is true that Crusoe is obsessed with material things and finds it completely natural to use the black man, who he calls Friday, as his slave. The work is more concerned with the character's material welfare than with his emotional life. This shows us that with Defoe, the novel was still very undeveloped. The following fragment describes the first month after Crusoe was shipwrecked. As you can see there aren't any psychological aspects, he simply gives descriptions and facts, talking about how to make his life as comfortable as possible and how he gets tools and other useful things from the ship. **From: Robinson Crusoe** September 30, 1659. - I, poor miserable Robinson Crusoe, being shipwrecked during a dreadful storm, came on shore this unfortunate island, which I called \"The Island of Despair\", all the rest of the ship\'s company being drowned, and myself almost dead. All the rest of the day I spent in afflicting myself[^1^](#fn1){#fnref1.footnote-ref} at the dismal circumstances I was brought to - viz.[^2^](#fn2){#fnref2.footnote-ref} I had neither food, house, clothes, weapon, or place to fly to and saw nothing but death before me - either that I should be devoured by wild beasts, murdered by savages, or starved to death for want of food. At the approach of night I slept in a tree, for fear of wild creatures, but slept soundly, though it rained all night. October 1. - In the morning I saw, to my great surprise, the ship had floated with the high tide, and was driven on shore again much nearer the island; I hoped, if the wind abated[^3^](#fn3){#fnref3.footnote-ref}, I might get on board, and get some food and necessaries out of her; at length, seeing the ship almost dry, I went upon the sand as near as I could, and then swam on board. This day also it continued raining, though with no wind at all. FROM THE 1ST OF OCTOBER TO THE 24TH. - All these days entirely spent in many voyages to get all I could out of the ship, which I brought on shore every tide of flood upon rafts[^4^](#fn4){#fnref4.footnote-ref}. Much rain also in the days, though with some intervals of fair weather; but it seems this was the rainy season. OCT. 20. - I overset my raft[^5^](#fn5){#fnref5.footnote-ref}, and all the goods I had got upon it; but, being in shallow water, and the things being chiefly heavy, I recovered many of them when the tide was out[^6^](#fn6){#fnref6.footnote-ref}. OCT. 25. - It rained all night and all day, with some gusts of wind; during which time the ship broke in pieces, the wind blowing a little harder than before, and was no more to be seen, except the wreck of her, and that only at low water. I spent this day in covering and securing the goods which I had saved, that the rain might not spoil them. OCT. 26. - I walked about the shore almost all day, to find out a place to fix my habitation[^7^](#fn7){#fnref7.footnote-ref}, greatly concerned to secure myself from any attack in the night, either from wild beasts or men. Towards night, I fixed upon a place under a rock, which I resolved to strengthen with a wall. From the 26th to the 30th I worked very hard in carrying all my goods to my new habitation. The 31st, in the morning, I went out into the island with my gun, to seek for some food, and discover the country; when I killed a she-goat, and her kid followed me home, which I afterwards killed also, because it would not feed. **Poetry** In poetry as well as prose, satire was typical of this period and the most famous satirist was **Jonathan Swift**. He is famous for his satirical novel *Gulliver's Travels,* which is a satire on contemporary conditions in England and Europe, but he also wrote satirical pamphlets. An example of this is *A Modest Proposal* in which he suggests that the children of the poor should be eaten as a solution to starvation and overpopulation. He also wrote poems like *A Beautiful Young Nymph going to Bed* in which he ridicules the fashion of that time. First have a look at the cartoon, which is a satirical, yet true, description of how women would prepare to go out and then read the poem, which describes Corinna, a whore from Drury Lane, coming home and getting ready for bed. +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **A Beautiful Young Nymph Going | **˚** fashionable area of London, | | to Bed** | but often frequented by | | | prostitutes | | (written for the honour of the | | | fair sex) | ˚ *voor niets, tevergeefs* | | | | | Corinna, pride of Drury Lane˚, | **˚ see Drury Lane ˚possess, | | | own** | | For whom no shepherd sighs in | | | vain˚; | **˚** celebrated woman whose | | | health is often drunk | | Never did Covent Garden˚ boast˚ | | | | ˚ *losbol* | | So bright a batter\'d strolling | | | toast˚! | **˚ to drink on credit** | | | | | No drunken rake˚ to pick her up; | **˚ a woman's private chamber** | | | | | No cellar where on tick to sup˚; | **˚ *legt ze voor zich neer*** | | | | | Returning at the midnight hour, | **˚ *handig* ˚ something worn in | | | the mouth to swell out the | | Four stories climbing to her | cheeks** | | bower˚; | | | | **˚ *bedoeld om te | | Then, seated on a three-legg\'d | ondersteunen*** | | chair, | | | | **˚ saggy breasts** | | Takes off her artificial hair; | | | | **˚ *maakt de linten van haar | | Now picking out a crystal eye, | corset los*** | | | | | She wipes it clean and lays it | ***˚die, door hem handig om te | | by. | doen de bulten (vet) indrukt en | | | de leegtes opvult.*** | | Her eyebrows from a mouse\'s hide | | | | ***˚ vulling ˚ uitvullen, | | Stuck on with art on either side, | opvullen*** | | | | | Pulls off with care, and first | ***˚ lagen (van make-up)*** | | displays˚ \'em, | | | | ***˚ groeven, rimpels ˚ | | Then in a play-book smoothly lays | voorhoofd*** | | \'em, | | | | ***˚ er op geplakt*** | | Now dextrously˚ her plumpers˚ | | | draws, | ***˚* sort | | | of medicine** | | That serve to fill her hollow | | | jaws, | | | | | | Untwists a wire, and from her | | | gums | | | | | | A set of teeth completely comes; | | | | | | Pulls out the rags contriv'd to | | | prop˚ | | | | | | Her flabby dugs˚ and down they | | | drop. | | | | | | Proceeding on, the lovely goddess | | | | | | Unlaces next her steel-ribb\'d | | | bodice˚, | | | | | | Which, by the operator\'s skill, | | | | | | Press down the lumps, the hollow | | | fill˚. | | | | | | Up goes her hand and off she | | | slips | | | | | | The bolsters˚ that supply˚ her | | | hips. | | | | | | (...) | | | | | | But must, before she goes to bed, | | | | | | Rub off the daubs˚ of white and | | | red, | | | | | | And smooth the furrows˚ in her | | | front ˚ | | | | | | With greasy paper stuck upon\'t˚. | | | | | | She takes a bolus˚ ere she | | | sleeps; | | | | | | And then between two blankets | | | creeps. | | | | | | Jonathan Swift | | | | | | (1667 - 1745) | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **\ The Romantic Period 1800 -- 1837** **History** At the end of the eighteenth century society started changing. The United States, which had so far been a number of British colonies, declared themselves independent in 1776. This served as a source of inspiration for the French Revolution (1789). From 1793 onwards Britain was at war with France until Lord Nelson finally defeated Napoleon's navy in the Battle of Trafalgar (1805). In the meantime the Industrial Revolution was also underway. From the 1780s onwards the economic system of agriculture and domestic handicraft was gradually replaced by an economy largely based on industrial mass production. At first the industrialization seemed to bring wealth and prosperity to the entire country, but not everybody shared the enthusiasm. There was a growing awareness of the fact that only few people were actually getting rich whereas many others lived in extreme poverty. The French Revolution was an inspiration to those people who thought that the whole structure of society should be changed. The idea of freedom, equality and the abolition of all class distinctions appealed strongly to many young people all over Europe, including most of the English Romantic poets. **Literature** The Romantic period is traditionally said to have begun in 1798, the year in which **William Wordsworth** and **Samuel Taylor Coleridge** published the *Lyrical Ballads.* All Romantic poets shared a deep trust in the non-rational forces of emotion, intuition and imagination. Disappointed in the present, they were convinced that reason and intellect were not enough to understand the world. The Romantic poet spoke for himself about subjects that were emotionally appealing, things that were presented as higher, purer or better than the actual world around him. Some Romantic writers used opium, which was freely available, and this influenced their work. *\*Characteristics of Romanticism are:* - an interest in - nature, which wasn't seen as just a thing of beauty but as a life-giving (and also life--taking) force - imagination and emotion, they are considered more important than reason and formal rules. - resulting in - the idealization of simple (country-) people living close to nature. Romantic poets feel many of the ills of society are a result of urbanization. - the idealization of Britain's past and a strong attraction to exotic cultures. - the popularity of supernatural elements derived from folklore, fairy tales and mythology. - the idealization of the pureness, innocence and closeness to God of little children. **Prose -- Gothic Novels** Up to this day ghosts, gloomy castles, dark forests and evil noblemen are still the perfect ingredients for a horror story. During the second half of the eighteenth century they started to become popular. These tales of mystery and terror were knows as [Gothic Novels]. 'Gothic', in the eighteenth century stood for medieval and as it became popular in art it also came to be applied to stories of mysteries and terror. The first gothic novel to ever have been written was by **Horace Walpole** and is called *The Castle of Otranto*. However the most famous one is probably *Frankenstein* by **Mary Shelley**. It tells the story of a man called Victor Frankenstein who loses his mother. This upsets him so much that while studying to be a doctor he finds a way to bring dead bodies back to life. The result of this is a monster that even Victor himself can't stand to be near. When he realizes the monster is alive he flees from his own apartment. On his return he is relieved to see that the monster has disappeared. After having left the apartment the monster tries to live a normal life and be friends with people, but since he looks so monstrous they are scared of him and mistreat him. Eventually this makes the monster so sad and angry that he decides to confront his maker. He tells Frankenstein that he feels he has a right to be happy too and orders Frankenstein to 'create' a mate for him. There are several romantic elements in this novel. To start with it is clearly a reaction to the rational idea that science could solve any human problem. Victor tries, but the result is dismal, a total failure. There is also the interest in nature. Victor retreats to nature to think and rest because it is the complete opposite of his scientific work. The natural surroundings where the story is set nature really reflect his state of mind as well. At the beginning of the novel, living in Switzerland, he is very happy, but when he is at the Orkneys, a dismal place, where he is trying to create a mate, he is unhappy. Also Mary Shelley has her characters express their desires, fears and misery, which proves them to be real persons. The influence of the Gothic novel can be found in the Victorian Age in works of the Brontë sisters. **From: Frankenstein by Mary Shelley** In the following fragment Victor and the monster are together in the mountains, where the monster has asked to meet him after having killed his younger brother to take revenge. The monster tells Victor what he could do in order for the monster to be satisfied and leave mankind alone: **\ ** \"You must create a female for me, with whom I can live in the interchange of those sympathies necessary for my being. This you alone can do; and I demand it of you as a right which you must not refuse to concede[^8^](#fn8){#fnref8.footnote-ref}.\" (...) \"I do refuse it,\" I replied; \"and no torture shall ever extort[^9^](#fn9){#fnref9.footnote-ref} a consent from me. You may render[^10^](#fn10){#fnref10.footnote-ref} me the most miserable of men, but you shall never make me base in my own eyes. Shall I create another like yourself, whose joint wickedness might desolate the world! Begone! I have answered you; you may torture me, but I will never consent.\" \"You are in the wrong,\" replied the fiend; \"and, instead of threatening, I am content to reason with you. I am malicious because I am miserable. Am I not shunned and hated by all mankind? You, my creator, would tear me to pieces, and triumph; remember that, and tell me why I should pity man more than he pities me? You would not call it murder if you could precipitate[^11^](#fn11){#fnref11.footnote-ref} me into one of those ice-rifts, and destroy my frame, the work of your own hands. Shall I respect man when he contemns[^12^](#fn12){#fnref12.footnote-ref} me? Let him live with me in the interchange of kindness; and, instead of injury, I would bestow every benefit upon him with tears of gratitude at his acceptance. But that cannot be; the human senses are insurmountable barriers to our union. Yet mine shall not be the submission[^13^](#fn13){#fnref13.footnote-ref} of abject slavery. I will revenge my injuries: if I cannot inspire love, I will cause fear; and chiefly towards you my archenemy, because my creator, do I swear inextinguishable hatred. Have a care: I will work at your destruction, nor finish until I desolate your heart, so that you shall curse the hour of your birth.\" A fiendish rage animated him as he said this; his face was wrinkled into contortions too horrible for human eyes to behold; but presently he calmed himself and proceeded\-- \"I intended to reason. This passion is detrimental[^14^](#fn14){#fnref14.footnote-ref} to me; for you do not reflect that *you* are the cause of its excess. If any being felt emotions of benevolence[^15^](#fn15){#fnref15.footnote-ref} towards me, I should return them an hundred and an hundred fold; for that one creature\'s sake, I would make peace with the whole kind! But I now indulge[^16^](#fn16){#fnref16.footnote-ref} in dreams of bliss that cannot be realized. What I ask of you is reasonable and moderate; I demand a creature of another sex, but as hideous as myself; the gratification is small, but it is all that I can receive, and it shall content me. It is true we shall be monsters, cut off from all the world; but on that account we shall be more attached to one another. Our lives will not be happy, but they will be harmless, and free from the misery I now feel. Oh! my creator, make me happy; let me feel gratitude towards you for one benefit! Let me see that I excite the sympathy of some existing thing; do not deny me my request!\" I was moved. I shuddered when I thought of the possible consequences of my consent; but I felt that there was some justice in his argument. His tale, and the feelings he now expressed, proved him to be a creature of fine sensations; and did I not as his maker owe him all the portion of happiness that it was in my power to bestow? He saw my change of feeling and continued\-- \"If you consent, neither you nor any other human being shall ever see us again: I will go to the vast wilds of South America. My food is not that of man; I do not destroy the lamb and the kid to glut my appetite; acorns and berries afford me sufficient nourishment. My companion will be of the same nature as myself, and will be content with the same fare. We shall make our bed of dried leaves; the sun will shine on us as on man, and will ripen our food. The picture I present to you is peaceful and human, and you must feel that you could deny it only in the wantonness of power and cruelty. Pitiless as you have been towards me, I now see compassion in your eyes; let me seize the favourable moment, and persuade you to promise what I so ardently desire.\" Victor tries, but can't make another monster, and this is when the monster swears he will take revenge and make Victor as miserable as himself. He kills his wife on their wedding-night and after that Victor pursues the monster until they are both killed.  **\ ** **Poetry** The Romantic period began when **William Wordsworth** and **Samuel Taylor Coleridge** published their *Lyrical Ballads.* This is a volume of poetry in which they broke with all that was left of the eighteenth century tradition and proposed a poetry of simplicity in form, words and contents. Coleridge explained the intentions they'd had and the way they had divided the work in a later work of his. Wordsworth was supposed to give his poems 'the charm of novelty to things of everyday', urging his readers to look at common events and people in a fresh way, showing them the beauty of the ordinary world around them. Coleridge himself was to write about 'persons and characters supernatural', appealing to the reader's imagination to accept them as real. The most famous of his contributions is definitely *The Rime of the Ancient Mariner*: a long and terrible ballad with many supernatural elements. The following poem by Wordsworth is from *the Lyrical Ballads*. It describes a bittersweet moment: while resting in a beautiful grove, surrounded by beautiful nature, and enjoying the scene, nature inspires a melancholy mood and the speaker begins to have dark thoughts about humanity. The reaction against rationality is very clear here. People are ruining the world themselves; they are unkind to each other and live away from nature. Wordsworth believes that man is part of nature and he should try to live in harmony with it. If he does, nature will guide him to wisdom and goodness. Being away from nature estranges man from himself and it makes man behave in ways that are not good for mankind. The connection to nature is also very clear; the speaker sits in the middle of nature when these thoughts come to his mind. Being close to nature gives him the wisdom to see the mess that man has made. What makes him melancholy is the perfection of nature because the contrast between nature's happiness and the unhappiness of man to him seems so striking. +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ | **Lines written in Early Spring** | ˚ mixed | | | | | I heard a thousand blended˚ | ˚ resting | | notes, | | | | ˚ he was enjoying all of it when | | While in a grove I sate | the | | reclined˚, | | | | joy of nature made him melancholy | | In that sweet mood when pleasant | | | thoughts | ˚ nature connected his soul to | | | her because of her beauty, but it | | Bring sad thoughts to the mind. | makes him sad because he thinks | | | of the things mankind does to | | To her fair works did Nature link | itself | | | | | The human soul that through me | ˚ he considers the beauty of | | ran; | nature again, describes what he | | | sees and says he believes that | | And much it grieved my heart to | the flowers he sees enjoy the | | think | fresh air, which is personifying | | | nature. | | What man has made of man. | | | | ˚he describes the birds he sees | | Through primrose tufts, in that | there, and personifies them too, | | green bower, | by suggesting they seem to be | | | having fun. | | The periwinkle trailed its | | | wreaths; | ˚ he describes the new branches | | | with their blossoms catching the | | And 'tis my faith that every | air and is very sure that they | | flower | are enjoying it (again, | | | personification) | | Enjoys the air it breathes. | | | | ˚ Being so sure that all of | | The birds around me hopped and | nature is enjoying itself, | | played, | experiencing pleasure, and this | | | makes him very sure that he is | | Their thoughts I cannot measure: | right to be sad about what 'man | | --- | has made of man'; what mankind | | | has done to itself. | | But the least motion which they | | | made | | | | | | It seemed a thrill of pleasure. | | | | | | The budding twigs spread out | | | their fan, | | | | | | To catch the breezy air; | | | | | | And I must think, do all I can, | | | | | | That there was pleasure there. | | | | | | If this belief from heaven be | | | sent, | | | | | | If such be Nature's holy plan, | | | | | | Have I not reason to lament | | | | | | What man has made of man? | | +-----------------------------------+-----------------------------------+ **\ The Victorian Age 1837 -- 1901** **History** After the heyday of Romanticism, during which poets attacked the middle classes and idealized simple country people, England entered a long period that would be dominated by that exact middle class. In 1837 Victoria became queen and during her reign the country changed into a modern, industrial nation. The railway system made transportation relatively cheap and made it possible to build factories all over the country, which created a wealthy upper middle class. The power of the aristocracy was permanently broken and the upper middle-class gained political power. They used this power to expand the British Empire to gain easy access to the raw materials the British industry needed. The British themselves said they were bringing Christianity to heathens, and so were doing a good job! The wealthy upper middle-class was only a relatively small group of people though. All of these changes also created a very large proletariat. These people worked in the factories for very long hours, under terrible circumstances and for very low wages, because there were so many workers available. The cities were overcrowded and living conditions for these people were terrible. They would live close to the factories where the air was very unhealthy. This called for social reforms, for society would collapse if things for the poor didn't improve. The result was a number of Reform Bills over a period of time concerning child-labour, reduction of working hours, basic education and the right to vote (for men). In science a lot happened as well, most importantly Darwin published his *Origin of Species*, which upset the way people had always looked at the world and its creation. **Literary history** All of these developments were of course reflected in the literature of that time. The nineteenth century was the age of the novel. Audiences grew even larger since more people were learning to read and the newly introduced 'instalment system' made it possible to buy a novel in cheap weekly or monthly instalments before the novel was published as a whole. In poetry the Romantics lingered on for a bit, but without the intensity and power of the earlier poets, it became more of a pleasant way to escape the realities of everyday life, creating an atmosphere of longing and regret. Their attitude is best characterized by their return to medieval romances and legends, although sometimes a more profound note could be found, a struggle between faith and doubt, hope and disillusion also showing the Victorian crisis. Many novelists, although they could be just as sentimental as the poets, described contemporary society and showed an awareness of the social problems of the day. People started writing novels especially for children. Before this there had been children's stories, but they were always educational and incredibly cruel, involving, for example, children catching fire because they had been playing with matches. The first novel for children was **Charles Kingsley**'s *the Water-Babies,* but a lot more famous, and still very popular today is **Lewis Carroll**'s *Alice in Wonderland* (1865). At the end of the century the novel started losing its position and theatre began to reclaim its place. **Prose** The Victorian age was mainly the age of the novel. The novel was very popular because more and more people learned to read and because the novels would be presented in cheap weekly or monthly instalments, which made them accessible for more people. The Victorian novel had its origin about twenty-five years before the start of queen Victoria's reign, with the novels of **Jane Austen**. She described the boring lives led by the landed gentry and upper middle class in rural England with great clarity and a lot of irony, usually involving the problem of making a suitable marriage with one's own social class. **Literary work: Wuthering Heights** Two female writers who are still very famous today were the Brontë sisters, Charlotte and Emily. Their sister Anne wrote novels too, but they were never so passionate and realistic her sisters' work. **Charlotte Brontë** wrote most novels and the most famous one is *Jane Eyre*. It was based on her own experiences at school and as a governess. It contains some gothic elements, she can hear the man she loved calling out to her, even though she's very far away from him. **Emily Brontë**'s fame is based on only one book, *Wuthering Heights,* which wasn't much of a success when it came out. It was heavily criticized because people found the character of Heathcliff too shocking and unrespectable. After Emily's death, when the novel was published again, her sister Charlotte even apologized for the characters her sister made up. It wasn't until the end of the nineteenth century that people started appreciating this book. Like *Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights* contains some gothic elements. The narrator meets the ghost of a little girl at the beginning of the book and when his host hears about this he gets incredibly angry. The novel is a [link-in-frame] story. Nelly Dean, maid to Mr Heathcliff, tells it to the neighbour, Mr Lockwood. Nelly Dean has known the main characters since they were children, and she explains how Mr Heathcliff became the man he is. It is a love-story, describing the relationship between Cathy and Heathcliff who grow up together. When Heathcliff hears Cathy telling the maid she could never marry him because he is below her he leaves, planning to take revenge. Cathy then marries a man from her own social class, but their marriage is heavily strained when Heathcliff returns a rich man. Cathy falls very ill and shortly before she dies the maid allows Heathcliff to visit her. Catherine is mad at Heathcliff, she tells him it's his fault she's suffering and he doesn't care, which of course, upsets Heathcliff: Are you possessed with a devil,\' he pursued, savagely, \'to talk in that manner to me when you are dying? Do you reflect that all those words will be branded in my memory, and eating deeper eternally after you have left me? You know you lie to say I have killed you: and, Catherine, you know that I could as soon forget you as my existence! Is it not sufficient for your infernal selfishness, that while you are at peace I shall writhe in the torments of hell?\' \'I shall not be at peace,\' moaned Catherine, recalled to a sense of physical weakness by the violent, unequal throbbing of her heart, which beat visibly and audibly under this excess of agitation. She said nothing further till the paroxysm was over; then she continued, more kindly - \'I\'m not wishing you greater torment than I have, Heathcliff. I only wish us never to be parted: and should a word of mine distress you hereafter, think I feel the same distress underground, and for my own sake, forgive me! Come here and kneel down again! You never harmed me in your life. Nay, if you nurse anger, that will be worse to remember than my harsh words! Won\'t you come here again? Do!\' Later, after Catherine has died Heathcliff says he hopes she will haunt him, she shouldn't rest or leave him in peace: \'May she wake in torment!\' he cried, with frightful vehemence, stamping his foot, and groaning in a sudden paroxysm of ungovernable passion. \'Why, she\'s a liar to the end! Where is she? Not THERE - not in heaven - not perished - where? Oh! You said you cared nothing for my sufferings! And I pray one prayer - I repeat it till my tongue stiffens - Catherine Earnshaw, may you not rest as long as I am living; you said I killed you - haunt me, then! The murdered DO haunt their murderers, I believe. I know that ghosts HAVE wandered on earth. Be with me always - take any form - drive me mad! Only DO not leave me in this abyss, where I cannot find you! Oh, God! it is unutterable! I CANNOT live without my life! I CANNOT live without my soul. **\ ****Literary work: Oliver Twist** The most productive novelist from the period was **Charles Dickens**. In his novels he showed a great concern for the poorer classes. Dickens himself had been poor; he had had to work to support his family when his father was in prison for being unable to pay his debts. He used his own experiences to describe the dismal circumstances of the poor. Some of his best-known books are *David Copperfield* and *Oliver Twist*. With *Oliver Twist* Dickens started his attacks on the social wrongs in early Victorian England and he used his powers as a novelist to show the need for social reform. He called the public's attention to various social wrongs of the time, like the Poor Law, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals. It also showed the cruel treatment of many orphans in London in this era. The orphan Oliver is taken to the workhouse to learn a useful trade when he is nine years old. He escapes to London and meets the 'Artful Dodger', who introduces him to his criminal trainer Fagin. At the time a member of parliament called the book 'disturbing' and wanted to find out whether these things actually happened. This is quite typical for the Victorian age, in which, according to a critic, 'one half of humanity lived without knowing how the other half died'. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of his time by surrounding the novel\'s serious themes with sarcasm and dark humour.  The following scene is from the beginning of the book, when Oliver is taken to the workhouse: \"Well! You have come here to be educated, and taught a useful trade,\" said the red-faced gentleman in the chair. \"So you\'ll begin to pick oakum[^17^](#fn17){#fnref17.footnote-ref} to-morrow morning at six o\'clock,\" added the surly one in the white waistcoat. For the combination of both these blessings in the one simple process of picking oakum, Oliver bowed low by the direction of the beadle, and was then hurried away to a large ward: where, on a rough, hard bed, he sobbed himself to sleep. What a noble illustration of the tender laws[^18^](#fn18){#fnref18.footnote-ref} of England! They let the paupers go to sleep! Poor Oliver! He little thought, as he lay sleeping in happy unconsciousness of all around him, that the board had that very day arrived at a decision which would exercise the most material influence over all his future fortunes[^19^](#fn19){#fnref19.footnote-ref}. But they had. And this was it: The members of this board were very sage, deep, philosophical men; and when they came to turn their attention to the workhouse, they found out at once, what ordinary folks would never have discovered- the poor people liked it! It was a regular place of public entertainment for the poorer classes; a tavern where there was nothing to pay; a public breakfast, dinner, tea, and supper all the year round; a brick and mortar Elysium[^20^](#fn20){#fnref20.footnote-ref}, where it was all play and no work. \"Oho!\" said the board, looking very knowing; \"we are the fellows to set this to rights; we\'ll stop it all, in no time.\" So, they established the rule, that all poor people should have the alternative (for they would compel nobody, not they), of being starved by a gradual process in the house, or by a quick one out of it. With this view, they contracted with the water-works to lay on an unlimited supply of water; and with a corn-factor to supply periodically small quantities of oatmeal[^21^](#fn21){#fnref21.footnote-ref}; and issued three meals of thin gruel[^22^](#fn22){#fnref22.footnote-ref} a day, with an onion twice a week, and half a roll[^23^](#fn23){#fnref23.footnote-ref} on Sundays. They made a great many other wise and humane regulations, having reference to the ladies, which it is not necessary to repeat; kindly undertook to divorce poor married people, in consequence of the great expense of a suit in Doctors\' Commons; and, instead of compelling a man to support his family, as they had theretofore done, took his family away from him, and made him a bachelor! There is no saying how many applicants for relief, under these last two heads, might have started up in all classes of society, if it had not been coupled with the workhouse; but the board were long-headed men, and had provided for this difficulty. The relief was inseparable from the workhouse and the gruel; and that frightened people. **\ ** **glossary of important literary terms** [Allegory] A story in which people, animals things and / or happenings represent abstract ideas and which has a hidden or symbolic (usually political or moral) meaning (also called *fable*). --------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [Alliteration] A form of poetry in which two or more words within the same line begin with the same letter. [Ballad] A relatively short and simple narrative poem originally meant to be sung, with a simple and dramatic action. It tells of love, death, the supernatural, or a combination of these. [Comedy Of Manners] A comedy satirizing the attitudes and behaviour of a particular social group, often of fashionable society. [Courtly Love] An idealized and often illicit form of love in which a knight or courtier devotes himself to a noblewoman who is usually married and feigns indifference to preserve her reputation. [Dystopian Novel] A novel set in an imaginary place or condition in which everything is bad. [Elegy] A mournful, melancholic or plaintive [poem](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry#Elegy), especially a [funeral](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funeral) song or a [lament](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lament) for the dead. [Epic] A long narrative poem celebrating the heroic achievements of one or more heroes in a grand ceremonious style. [Gothic Novel] A genre of fiction characterized by mystery and supernatural horror, often set in a dark castle or other medieval setting. [Iambic Pentameter] A line in poetry that has ten syllables in each line, of which the alternate syllable is stressed. [Link-In-Frame Story] A number of tales set within the context ('the frame') of another story. [Morality Play] Allegorical (see allegory) plays which teach a moral lesson. [Mystery Play] Medieval drama based on events from the bible. [Pastoral] A poem or play in which the author idealizes nature and rural life and expresses his longing for it. [Romance] Story about fantastic or perilous adventures. Medieval verse romances were usually about knights and ladies, sorcerers and dragons, daring deeds, and secret love. [Satire] A work of literature that ridicules a certain subject not merely in order to make the reader laugh, but to expose whatever the writer thinks is wrong. [Secular Drama] A form of drama that is worldly and non-religious. [Soliloquy] A dramatic or literary speech uttered by one character speaking aloud while alone on stage, thus revealing his or her thoughts and feelings to the audience. [Sonnet] A lyric poem consisting of 14 lines of equal length and a strict rhyme scheme and rhythm. [Stream Of Consciousness] A literary technique in which a character's thoughts or perceptions are presented as occurring in random form, without regard for logical sequences or syntactic structure. [Theatre Of The Absurd] A form of drama in which normal conventions and dramatic structure are ignored or modified in order to present life as irrational or meaningless. [Volta] The turn in the argument, idea or mood of a sonnet. ::: {.section.footnotes} ------------------------------------------------------------------------ 1. ::: {#fn1} mezelf te beklagen[↩](#fnref1){.footnote-back} ::: 2. ::: {#fn2} namelijk[↩](#fnref2){.footnote-back} ::: 3. ::: {#fn3} als de wind ging liggen[↩](#fnref3){.footnote-back} ::: 4. ::: {#fn4} vlotten[↩](#fnref4){.footnote-back} ::: 5. ::: {#fn5} mijn vlot sloeg om[↩](#fnref5){.footnote-back} ::: 6. ::: {#fn6} toen heb eb was[↩](#fnref6){.footnote-back} ::: 7. ::: {#fn7} om een woning te bouwen[↩](#fnref7){.footnote-back} ::: 8. ::: {#fn8} inwilligen[↩](#fnref8){.footnote-back} ::: 9. ::: {#fn9} afdwingen[↩](#fnref9){.footnote-back} ::: 10. ::: {#fn10} veranderen in[↩](#fnref10){.footnote-back} ::: 11. ::: {#fn11} werpen[↩](#fnref11){.footnote-back} ::: 12. ::: {#fn12} verachten[↩](#fnref12){.footnote-back} ::: 13. ::: {#fn13} onderwerping[↩](#fnref13){.footnote-back} ::: 14. ::: {#fn14} schadelijk[↩](#fnref14){.footnote-back} ::: 15. ::: {#fn15} welwillendheid[↩](#fnref15){.footnote-back} ::: 16. ::: {#fn16} toegeven aan[↩](#fnref16){.footnote-back} ::: 17. ::: {#fn17} touw pluizen[↩](#fnref17){.footnote-back} ::: 18. ::: {#fn18} de meedogenloze wetten[↩](#fnref18){.footnote-back} ::: 19. ::: {#fn19} dat van bijzonder grote invloed zou zijn op zijn toekomstige lot[↩](#fnref19){.footnote-back} ::: 20. ::: {#fn20} een bakstenen hemel op aarde[↩](#fnref20){.footnote-back} ::: 21. ::: {#fn21} kwamen overeen met de waterleiding om te zorgen voor een beperkte aanvoer van water en met een graanhandelaar om op gezette tijden kleine hoeveelheden havermeel te leveren.[↩](#fnref21){.footnote-back} ::: 22. ::: {#fn22} dunne pap[↩](#fnref22){.footnote-back} ::: 23. ::: {#fn23} broodje[↩](#fnref23){.footnote-back} ::: :::