Chapters 9-10

nullnullEnglish Literature Chapters 9-10 Key Points in Chapter 9Key Points in Chapter 9The Romantic Period Time Range of the Romantic Period Social and Political History of Europe Social and Political History of Britain Features of Romantic Era Major Writers William Wordsworth Introduction Aesthetic Theories Works Samuel Taylor Coleridge Introduction Aesthetic Theories Works Walter Scott Introduction Works Jane Austen Introduction Works The Romantic Period The Romantic Period Time Range of the Romantic Period The Romantic Movement was international in the 19th century. American Romanticism came some 30 years later than its European counterpart. The Romantic Period The Romantic Period Social and Political History of Europe A few years before the advent of the Romantic period, the United States broke away from Britain and was formed on the basis of the natural rights of men: “All men are created equal,” an outcry that caught on and began to ring all over the world. In 1789 the French Revolution exploded on the other side of the English Channel. The Romantic Period The Romantic Period Social and Political History of Britain The two revolutions had a tremendous impact on the situation in Britain. The British government became more conservative and repressive. There were political upheavals, and the idea of revolution were up in the air. An intense labor warfare had developed in the country. The British Empire plundered and brought tremendous wealth into the country. All this enriched only the still existing aristocracy and the rising middle class; the working class became worse off with no protection and no power whatever. The forces working for change were gathering. The workers began to come together, and think and act in group terms. The Romantic Period The Romantic Period Features of Romantic Era The emphasis on the individual became a dominant feature of the era. The English Romantic period has been considered the second great period in English literature, second only to the Elizabethan period. William Wordsworth (1770-1850) William Wordsworth (1770-1850) Introduction William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth was Britain's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850. Hw was considered by the younger Romantic writers as “the lost leader.” He was not a deep thinker. William Wordsworth (1770-1850) William Wordsworth (1770-1850) Aesthetic Theories Poetic language must be a selection of the language really used by the people. Poetry comes from emotion, not from reason; it deals with feelings, attitudes, emotions— “the heart,” not understanding, not common sense. Poetry is “the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion” “recollected in tranquility” by men of deep feeling and much thought. The subject should come from the “incidents and situations from common life.” The poet should understand life better than other people do, he sees the poet as a “seer” of a kind as well. William Wordsworth (1770-1850) William Wordsworth (1770-1850) Works Lyrical Ballads It signaled the beginning of the Romantic period in English poetry. Lines composed a Few Miles Above the Tintern Abbey Ode: Intimations of Immortality The Prelude Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Introduction Coleridge was a rare genius in the history of English literature. Not only was he a great poet, but he was also a philosopher and seminal critic. He blazed the new trail together with Wordsworth and helped usher in the Romantic endeavor. He anticipated Freud by well over half a century in drawing attention to the importance of subconscious. He spoke even well ahead of modern criticism concerning the concept of Dionysus as the emblem of the unconscious in modern poetry. The existentialism in his works was ahead of his time. Sartre’s philosophy of existentialism came into being only in the 1940s. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Aesthetic Theories I In order to write a perfect poem, the poet has to be a Dionysian, and has to go down to hell, which is another way of saying “dipping into the subconscious.” Nature is alive because human mind sees it that way or endows it with life. The imagination is a shaping force. Thus if the world is faithless, loveless, and joyless, it is the job of the poetic imagination to crate all those things that make life tolerable. This is Coleridge’s notion of the function of the poet and poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Aesthetic Theories II He believes in the existence of the supernatural and an invisible higher plane of life. He is noted as a seminal influence in his notion that a literary work can have more than one level of meaning and that it is important to read the text of a work carefully. He was looked up to as an authority for the New Critics. His Biographia Literaria was reprinted and exercised a far-reaching influence on the literary criticism of the time and a long time afterward. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Works “Kubla Khan” （忽必烈汗） “Dejection: an Ode” （赋悲叹） “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” （老水手之歌） Biographia Literaria （文学传记） Walter Scott (1771-1832) Walter Scott (1771-1832) Introduction Scott was the one spectacular literary genius in English literary history who was engaged in two departments of literature and achieved great success in both. In the early phase of his career, he wrote poetry and became the most widely read poet of his day. Then in the last two decades he turned his attention to novel writing and fathered in the historical novel proper in England and Europe. He was instrumental in bringing in the influence of folklore in poetic composition. His 20-odd fictions marked the advent of the genre of he historical novel. Walter Scott (1771-1832) Walter Scott (1771-1832) Works The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Boarder The Day of the Last Minstrelsy Ivanhoe (艾凡赫；劫后英雄传 ) The Woodstock The Talisman Count Robert of Paris Quentin Durward “Waverley” novels (威弗利 ) Jane Austen (1775-1817) Jane Austen (1775-1817) Introduction She wrote her novels for her own family circle. Among her numerous strengths are her exquisite, compact prose, her moral judgment, her wit, and her vivid character portrayal. Her novels cover just that section of society to which she belonged: the country gentry and their lives in the rural village setting. The secret of her fascination lies in the fact that her understanding of human nature is so accurate that it is forever capable of awakening warm echoes in human bosoms. Jane Austen (1775-1817) Jane Austen (1775-1817) Works Sense and Sensibility Pride and Prejudice It is Austen’s masterpiece. Famous quote in the novel: “It is a truth, universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife.” Major characters: Mr. and Mrs. Bennet, Mr. Collins, Bingley, Darcy, Jane, Elizabeth … The major plot evolves around the love story of Elizabeth and Darcy. Mansfield Park Emma Northanger Abby Persuasion Key Points in Chapter 10Key Points in Chapter 10George Gordon Byron Percy Bysshe Shelley John Keats George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) Introduction The younger romantics formed a separate group from the older ones, or the Lakers. They have been called by some people “the Satanic school.” As a young MP in the House of Lords, Byron was the most vocal about the injustice done to the machine breakers. He is still remembered today among the Greeks as their national hero. In the mid-19th century Byron was the leading poet not only in his own country but also in Europe. Today, however, he tends to be ignored by critics and readers alike. Byron is a highly inspired poet. He has a direct, forthright, and forceful voice. His poetry is noted for its spontaneity, exuberance, and humor. George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) Works Childe Harold Don Juan It is Byron’s masterpiece. It is a mock epic. “Don Juan” in the title of the poem is the name of a Spanish legendary figure with an almost superhuman sexual energy. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Introduction Shelley is an idealistic and prophetic Romantic. He has been seen as immaterial and ethereal, and not much in touch with the earth earthly that he dreams of reshaping. He made himself a kind of precursor to the socialist movement soon to sweep across Europe and England. He is one of the best English lyrical poets. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Works Queen Mab (仙后麦布，麦布女王) The Revolt of Islam Prometheus Unbound (lyrical drama) The Cenci （钦契一家 ） The Mask of Anarchy （无政府主义的幌子） A Defense of Poetry “Ode to the West Wind” “To a Sky Lark” John Keats (1795-1821) John Keats (1795-1821) Introduction Keat’s life was one of downright misery. He was slightly over 25 when he died. He sees the achievement of identity as the highest goal of human development. His idea of identity, or “identical soul,” places stress on the importance of the world of pains and troubles in the process of schooling one’s intelligence so as to make it a soul. “Truth is beauty, beauty is truth.” John Keats (1795-1821) John Keats (1795-1821) Works “Ode to a Nightingale” The ode is one of his best in diction, imagery, sound and rhythm. “Ode on a Grecian Urn” Along with some other odes, that indicates that the poet has achieved maturity and self-confidence, and is ready to speak with a voice for all humanity as well himself. “To Autumn” It is his last greatest ode. “The Eve of St. Agnes” It is the most beautiful work of Keats.