examen literatura engleza

7/29/2019 examen literatura engleza

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1. The 17th

century Literature Historical Background.

The early seventeenth century extends from the accession of James I in 1603 to the

coronation of Charles II in 1660. But the events that occurred between these boundaries

make much more sense if they are seen in a larger pattern extending from 1588 to 1688.

Between these two dates massive political and social events took place that bridge the gap

between the Tudor tyranny by consent of the sixteenth century and the equally ill-

defined but equally functional constitutional monarchy of the eighteenth century.

A sense of deep disquiet, of traditions under challenge, is felt everywhere in the literary

culture of the early 17th century. Long before the term was applied to our own time, the

era of Donne and Robert Burton deserved to be called the Age of Anxiety. One may think

of the Metaphysical poets who followed Donne (such as Herbert, Crashaw, Vaugham,

and Cowley) as trying to reinforce the traditional lyric forms of love and devotion by

stretching them to comprehend new and extreme intellectual energies. In the other

direction, Jonson and his sons the so-called Cavalier poets (such as Herrick, Suckling,

Lovelace, Waller, and Denham) generally tried to compress and limit their poems, givingthem a high polish and a sense of easy domination at the expense of their intellectual

content. The common contrast of Cavalier with Metaphysical does describe two poetic

alternatives of the early century. Yet both style were wholly inadequate containers for thesort of gigantic energy that Milton was trying to express.

At the heart of the century of rapid change lies the Puritan Revolt of 1640-60. The

century together with the English Revolution was a time of intense ferment in all areas of

lifereligion, science, politics, domestic relations, culture. That ferment was reflected in

the literature of the era, which also registered a heightened focus on and analysis of the

self and the personal life. However, little of this seems in evidence in the elaboratefrontispiece to Michael Drayton's long "chorographical" poem on the landscape, regions,

and local history of Great Britain (1612), which appeared in the first years of the reign of

the Stuart king James I (1603-1625). The great seventeenth-century heroic poem, ParadiseLost, treats the Fall of Man and its tragic consequences.

The first issue: provides important religious, legal, and domestic advice texts through

which to explore cultural assumptions about gender roles and the patriarchal family.

Thesecond topic for this period, surrounds that radically revisionist epic with texts that

invite readers to examine how it engages with the interpretative traditions surrounding the

Genesis story, how it uses classical myth, how it challenges orthodox notions of Edenic

innocence, and how it is positioned within. The third topic provides an opportunity to

explore, through political and polemical treatises and striking images, some of the issues

and conflicts that led to civil war and the overthrow of monarchical government. These

include royal absolutism vs. parliamentary, monarchy vs. republicanism, Puritanism vs.

Anglicanism, toleration vs. religious uniformity.


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2. The 17th

century literature metaphysical Poetry.

Highly intellectualized poetry written chiefly in 17th-century England. Less

concerned with expressing feeling than with analyzing it, Metaphysical

poetry is marked by bold and ingenious conceits, complex and subtle

thought, frequent use of paradox, and a dramatic directness of language, the

rhythm of which derives from living speech. John Donne was the leading

Metaphysical poet; others include George Herbert, Henry Vaughan, Andrew

Marvell, and Abraham Cowley.

The name is given to a diverse group of 17th century English poets whose

work is notable for the use of intellectual and theological concepts in

surprising conceits, strange paradoxes, and far-fetched imagery.

Metaphysics refers to the philosophy of knowledge and existence.

Their style was characterized by wit and metaphysical conceitsfar-fetched

or unusual similes or metaphors, such as in Andrew Marvells comparison

of the soul with a drop of dew; in an expanded epigram format, with the use

of simple verse forms, octosyllabic couplets, quatrains or stanzas in which

length of line and rhyme scheme enforce the sense. The specific definition

of wit which Johnson applied to the school was: "...a kind ofdiscordia

concors; a combination of dissimilar images, or discovery of occult

resemblances in things apparently unlike." Their poetry diverged from the

style of their times, containing neither images of nature nor allusions to

classical mythology, as were common. Several metaphysical poets,

especially John Donne, were influenced by Neo-Platonism. One of the

primary Platonic concepts found in metaphysical poetry is the idea that the

perfection of beauty in the beloved acted as a remembrance of perfect beauty

in the eternal realm. Though secular topics such as scientific or geographical

discoveries interested them, there was also a religious or casuisticelement to

some of their work, by which they attempted to define their relationship

with God. The term was created by Samuel Johnson.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simileshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Marvellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donnehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Neo-Platonismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Neo-Platonismhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Donnehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Andrew_Marvellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphorshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Similes


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3. Metaphysical poets. John Donne (1573-1631). His life and poetry.

John Donne was an English poet, satirist, lawyer and a cleric in the Church of

England. He is considered the pre-eminent representative of the metaphysical poets.

His works are noted for their strong, sensual style and include sonnets, love poetry,

religious poems, Latin translations, epigrams, elegies, songs, satires and sermons. His

poetry is noted for its vibrancy of language and inventiveness ofmetaphor. Donne's

style is characterised by abrupt openings and various paradoxes, ironies anddislocations. His early career was marked by poetry that bore immense knowledge of

British society and he met that knowledge with sharp criticism. Another important

theme in Donnes poetry is the idea of true religion, something that he spent much time

considering and theorising about. He wrote secular poems as well as erotic and love

poems. He is particularly famous for his mastery of metaphysical conceits. Donne lived

in poverty for several years, relying heavily on wealthy friends. He spent much of the

money he inherited during and after his education on womanising, literature, pastimes,

and travel. In 1601, Donne secretly married Anne More, with whom he had twelve

children. In 1615, he became an Anglican priest. In 1621, he was appointed the Deanof St Paul's Cathedral in London. He also served as a member of parliament in 1601

and in 1614. Donne was elected as Member of Parliament for the constituency of

Brackley in 1602, but this was not a paid position. many of his poems were written for

wealthy friends or patrons, especially Sir Robert Drury, who came to be Donne's chief

patron in 1610. Donne wrote the two Anniversaries, An Anatomy of the World (1611)

and Of the Progress of the Soul (1612) for Drury. In 1610 and 1611 he wrote two anti-

Catholic polemics: Pseudo-Martyr and Ignatius his Conclave. Although James was

pleased with Donne's work, he refused to reinstate him at court. Donne was awarded an

honorary doctorate in divinity from Cambridge in 1615 and became a Royal Chaplainin the same year, and was made a Reader of Divinity at Lincoln's Inn in 1616. In 1618

he became chaplain to Viscount Doncaster. In late November and early December

1623 he suffered a nearly fatal illness, thought to be either typhus or a combination of a

cold followed by a period of fever. During his convalescence he wrote a series of

meditations and prayers on health, pain, and sickness that were published as a book in

1624 under the title of Devotions upon Emergent Occasions. One of these meditations,

Meditation XVII, later became well known for its phrase "for whom the bell tolls" and

the statement that "no man is an island". In 1624 he became vicar of St Dunstan-in-the-

West, and 1625 a prolocutor to Charles I. He earned a reputation as an eloquentpreacher and 160 of his sermons have survived, including the famous Deaths Duelsermon delivered at the Palace of Whitehall before King Charles I in February 1631.

His work has received much criticism over the years, especially concerning his

metaphysical form. Donne is generally considered the most prominent member of the

Metaphysical poets.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_poetshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigramhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphorhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sermonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elegyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epigramhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonnethttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysical_poetshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clergy


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4. Metaphysical poets. Ben Jonson. His life and poetry. Song To Celia.

Ben Jonson was born in 1572. He was educated at Westminster School and worked in his

stepfather's trade. He joined the army, serving in Flanders. He returned to England in 1592 and

married Anne Lewis. Jonson joined the theatrical company ofPhilip Henslowe in London as an

actor. In 1597 he was imprisoned for his involvement in a satire entitledThe Isle of Dogs.

Jonson's second known play,Every Man in His Humour, was performed in 1598 and bring fame

to Jonson. Jonson became a celebrity, and there was a brief fashion for 'humours' comedy, a kind

of topical comedy involving eccentric characters, each of whom represented a humour of

humanity. Every Man Out of His Humourand Cynthia's Revels were satirical comedies

displaying Jonson's classical learning and his interest in formal experiment. Jonson's classical

tragedy Sejanus, His Fall based on Roman history and offering an astute view of dictatorship,

again got Jonson into trouble with the authorities. Jonson was called before the Privy Council on

charges of 'popery and treason'. In 1605, Jonson began to write masques for the entertainment of

the court. The masques displayed his erudition, wit, and versatility and contained some of his

best lyric poetry.Masque of Blacknesse(1605) was the first in a series of collaborations

with Inigo Jones. This collaboration produced masques such asThe Masque of Owles,Masque of

Beauty (1608), andMasque of Queens (1609), which were performed in Inigo Jones' elaborate

and exotic settings. The collaboration with Jones was finally destroyed by intense personal

rivalry. The first comedies, Volpone is often regarded as his masterpiece. The following

plays,Epicoene: or, The Silent Woman, The Alchemist, andBartholomew Fair are all peopled

with dupes and those who deceive them. He was appointed as poet laureate and rewarded a

substantial pension in 1616. Jonson was appointed City Chronologer of London in 1628, the

same year in which he suffered a severe stroke. Jonson died in 1637 and was buried in

Westminster Abbey.

Song: to Celia is an epigram that praises love. Jonson starts of his poem completely ridiculing

love. This is seen noticed in the lines, Suns that set may rise again, for example because it

mocks the fact that their love will be so powerful that it will make the sun rise again once it has

already set. At this point, the poem begins to sound a lot like Andrew Marvels To His Coy

Mistress not only because it ridicules love. Toward the end of the poem when Jonson talks

about his love for Celia, the theme is immediately noticed. The theme, eternal love, can been

noticed in lines Tis no sin loves fruit to steal;/But the sweet theft to reveal:. With these lines

Jonson uses personification to talk about staling time, and how they should not focus on the fact

that time is passing and they are growing old and just focus on the love they have for each other.

He starts talking about how they should forget about the fact that they are growing older, and just

focus on loving each other. Once this is read, the reader can automatically recognize the change

in tone that has also occurred. The tone on the poem changed from ridiculing at the beginning to

praising towards to end. This proves that the poem had a round tone.
http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/westminsterschool.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/henslowe.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/isleofdogs.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/isleofdogs.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/isleofdogs.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/renlit/schellingmasque.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/editions/maskblack.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/editions/maskblack.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/editions/maskblack.htmhttp://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0826565.htmlhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/owlmasq.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/owlmasq.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/owlmasq.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/jonson/owlmasq.htmhttp://www.infoplease.com/ce6/people/A0826565.htmlhttp://www.luminarium.org/editions/maskblack.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/renlit/schellingmasque.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/isleofdogs.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/henslowe.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/westminsterschool.htm


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5. Metaphysical poets. Andrew Marvell (1621-1678). His life and poetry.

Andrew Marvell was born in 1621. Marvell became lecturer in Holy

Trinity Church. He was educated at the Hull Grammar School, and in

1633 he matriculated as a Sizar ofTrinity College, Cambridge. Two

poems by Marvell, one in Greek, one in Latin, were printed in the Musa

Cantabrigiensis in 1637. In 1638 Marvell was admitted a Scholar of

Trinity College, and took his B.A. degree in the same year. He travelled

abroad in France, Holland, Switzerland, Spain, and Italy from 1642-46. In

1650, Marvell became the tutor of twelve-year-old Mary Fairfax (later

Duchess of Buckingham), daughter ofSir Thomas Fairfax. At the

Yorkshire seat of the Fairfax family Marvell seems to have written, over a

period of about three years, most of his non-satiric English poems. Thesojourn provided material for Marvell's most profound poem, "Upon

Appleton House," a poem crucial to his development both as man and as

poet. Here he examines the competing claims of public service and the

search for personal insight. To the same period probably belong Marvell's

"To his Coy Mistress" and "The Definition of Love." Marvell had

befriended John Milton by 1653, when Milton wrote a glowing

recommendation for Marvell for the post of Assistant Latin Secretary tothe Council of State, a post he eventually secured in 1657. Marvell, who

had been a supporter of the King, under the Commonwealth, became an

adherent of Cromwell. In September, 1657, Marvell was appointed

assistant to John Milton. During his last twenty years of life, Marvell was

engaged in political activities, taking part in embassies to Holland and

Russia and writing political pamphlets and satires.

Marvell'sMiscellaneous Poems were printed posthumously in 1681.Marvell died on 16 August, 1678 of tertian ague, and the malpractice of

the attending physician. He was buried in the church of St. Giles-in-the-

Fields.
http://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/http://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/fairfax.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/appleton.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/appleton.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/coy.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/definition.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/milton/http://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/definition.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/coy.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/appleton.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/sevenlit/marvell/appleton.htmhttp://www.luminarium.org/encyclopedia/fairfax.htmhttp://www.trin.cam.ac.uk/


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6. Cavalier Poetry. Robert Herrick (1591-1674). To the Virgins to Make Much of Time.

Robert Herrick was born in Cheapsidein 1591, the seventh child of Nicholas Herrick, a

prosperous goldsmith. There is no record of Herrick attending school, although it is

possible he attended Westminster School. In 1607 he became apprenticed to his uncle Sir

William Herrick as a goldsmith. Herrick entered St. John's College, Cambridge in 1613,

graduated a Bachelor of Arts in 1617, and Master of Arts in 1620. He became the eldest ofthe "Sons of Ben", Cavalier poets who idolized Ben Jonson, mixing in literary circles in

London. He lived in Devon in the seclusion of country life, and wrote some of his best

work, never completely ceasing. In Herricks To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time,

it seems the speaker is a man who is simply trying to urge the virgins to be more

promiscuous. However, while the title of the poem and the use of the word coy allude to

the fact that sexual pleasure is key, the rosebuds are symbolic of pleasures of all types.

Herrick uses figurative language to appeal to the reader and of course, his audience, the

women he speaks of. When he writes this same flower that smiles today, tomorrow will

be dying, he is not speaking of an ordinary flower. He is referring to the virgins, who are

young and warm-blooded, now, but with time, will age and ultimately, die. The women

are being likened to blooming flowers that are full of beauty in one season of life and

then, wither away and are gone the next. With a beautiful metaphor, the sun is compared

to the glorious lamp of heaven and the sun is referred to as he. The Sun given human

characteristics and is personified as a race-runner who will soon finish his race. The sun

will set and the day will be over. Today, as Herrick uses it in the first stanza seems to

refer to ones life. With life being so short, the poem urges the reader, and specifically, the

virgins, as the targeted audience, to make the most of time, just as the title suggests. Herrick has an uplifting tone in this poem. There is internal rhyme through Herricks

poem, strengthening its structure and encouraging a light, lyrical nature, making it read

like a song. His tone is also persuasive, as the speaker is urging the virgins, or maidens, to

make the most of their lives. He urges the virgins to be not coy and to go marry ,

making sexual pleasure an important rosebud to gather, but in saying gather ye

rosebuds while ye may, he makes the pleasures plural and not singular. He urges the

women to enjoy life to its fullest and to experience as many pleasures as possible before

life runs away with itself. The last stanza warns that if the virgins are coy and wait toolong to marry, having lost their appealing youth and beauty, they may remain alone

forever. In doing so, they would neglect to gather a very desirable rosebud, or

pleasure that life stands to offer. This poem has been called a carpe-diem poem, which

means seize the day in Latin and Herricks counterparts also wrote English poetry of

this type in the sixteenth and seventeenth century. In 1648 Herrick published his major

collection, Hesperides, consisting of 1200 poems.


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7. Cavalier Poetry. Richard Lovelace.

Cavalier Poetry is an early seventeenth century movement centred mainly on Robert Herrick,

Thomas Carew, John Suckling, Richard Lovelace, and Henry Vaughn. Most of these poets were

admirers of Ben Jonson. Cavalier Poetry gets its name from the supporters of King Charles I in the

seventeenth century who was at that period called the Cavaliers; they were royalists during the Civil

Wars. Cavalier Poetry is different from metaphysical poetry since it does not use complicated

metaphors and unrealistic imagery, but prefers a rather straightforward expression. This poetry waserotic and its strength lied in its shortness. Simply, it did not confuse readers with deep meaning and

allegory but reflected every thought as they were supposed to be understood along with their motto

"Carpe Diem" meaning "seize the day". The most common characteristic of Cavalier Poetry is its use

of direct language which expresses a highly individualistic personality. In more detail, the Cavaliers,

accept the ideal of the Renaissance Gentleman who is at once a lover, a soldier, witty, a man of

affairs, a musician, and a poet, but abandon the notion of his being also a pattern of Christian

chivalry. They avoid the subject of religion, apart from making one or two graceful speeches. They

attempt no plumbing of the depths of the soul. They treat life cavalierly, indeed, and sometimes they

treat poetic convention cavalierly too. For them life is far too enjoyable for much of it to be spentreading verses in a study. The poems must be written in the intervals of living, and must reflect

things that are much livelier and enjoyable than mere philosophy or art. The Cavaliers made one

great contribution to the English Lyrical Tradition.

Richard Lovelace was born into an old and wealthy Kentish family in 1618 in Woolwich. He was

educated at Charterhouse School and at Gloucester Hall, Oxford. He was attractive, handsome, and

witty, the very model of a courtier. His comedy, The Scholar, was acted at Oxford in 1636. King

Charles I and Queen Henrietta Maria admired his demeanor so much when they visited

Oxford.Lovelace took part in the King's military expeditions to Scotland in 1639-40. After the failure

of the campaign he withdrew to his estates in Kent where he remained until 1642. Presumably,

Lovelace made Sir John Suckling's acquaintance at this time. In 1642, Lovelace presented a Royalist

petition to Parliament favoring the restoration of the Anglican bishops who had been excluded from

the Long Parliament. He thus aligned himself with such royalist upstarts as Sir Edmund Dering.

Lovelace was imprisoned in Westminster Gatehouse from April 30 to June 21, 1642. While in prison,

Lovelace wrote "To Althea. From Prison" which includes the famous words: "Stone walls do not a

prison make, nor iron bars a cage." Following his release, Lovelace lived briefly in London, after

which he removed himself to the Low Countries and France until after King Charles' capture at

Oxford in 1646. Lovelace left the field when he was wounded at the battle of Dunkirk. He was

committed by Parliament to Peterhouse Prison, Aldersgate in October 1648, probably for hisconnection with some disturbances in Kent. Released from prison in April 1649, Lovelace published

Lucasta. The Lucasta of the poems was Lucy Sacherevell, whom Lovelace liked to call Lux casta.

Upon hearing that Lovelace had died of the wounds he received at Dunkirk, she married another.

Financially ruined by his support of the royalist cause, Lovelace lived on charity and died in poverty

in 1658. He was buried at St. Bride's, one of the churches that burnt down in the Great Fire of

London in 1666. Lucasta: Posthume Poems was published the year after Lovelace's death.


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8. Cavalier Poetry. Sir John Suckling (1609-1642). His life and poetry.

Sir John Suckling was born at Whitton in 1609. Suckling matriculated at Trinity

College, Cambridge in 1623 but left without taking a degree in 1626. Suckling

inherited extensive estates on his father's death in 1626, and was admitted to Gray's

Inn in 1627. Just eighteen years old, he pursued a military and ambassadorial career

in the Low Countries, and joined the English soldiers serving in the army ofGustavus Adolphus during the Thirty Years' War. Suckling was knighted in

September 1630. He returned to the English court in May, 1632, where he became

very popular through his wealth and charm. He was known as a gamester, and is

credited with having invented the game of cribbage. In 1637, Suckling wrote the

prose work Account of Religion by Reason. His play, Aglaura, was published in

1638 and performed twice for Charles I. The play had two different endings, one

tragic and one happy. It was not a critical success, but it introduced the wonderful

lyric poem "Why so pale and wan, fond lover?" In the same year, Suckling's

comedy The Goblins was published. It was much influenced by Shakespeare's The

Tempest and is generally thought to be Suckling's best. In 1639, Suckling recruited

and equipped cavalry to help King Charles I in his first Scottish war. He was

ridiculed in London for the troops' scarlet uniforms and plumed hats, but he was

well-favored by the King. In 1640, Suckling sat in Parliament for Bramber and took

part in an unsuccessful action against the Scots. In May, 1641, Suckling took an

active part in the royalist plot to rescue Strafford from the Tower. When Parliament

ordered him to account for his movements, Suckling fled through Dieppe to Paris.

He died in Paris in 1642, either from suicide by poison, or by the hand of a servant

who placed a razor in his boot. Most of Suckling's work first appeared

posthumously in Fragmenta Aurea of 1646. Suckling's treated poetry casually, as a

pastime, never committing himself to serious study of literature, and as a result, his

poetry suffers from irregularity. Suckling never attached himself to any school of

poetry in particular. Suckling wrote disparagingly of Jonson both in the Sessions of

the Poets and the unfinished drama, The Sad One. He was more inclined in thedirection of Donne's style, with its elaborate metaphors and explosive passion.

Suckling's poetry lacks the depth of feeling; he seems to have prided himself on its

absence. In poems like Ballad upon a Wedding and 'Love, Reason, Hate,'

Suckling approaches Herrick.


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9. John Milton (1608-1674). His life and work. Paradise Lost.

John Milton was an English poet, polemicist, a scholarly man of letters, and a civil servant for the

Commonwealth of England under Oliver Cromwell. He wrote at a time of religious flux and political

upheaval, and is best known for his epic poem Paradise Lost. Milton's poetry and prose reflect deep

personal convictions, a passion for freedom and self-determination, and the urgent issues and political

turbulence of his day. Writing in English, Latin, and Italian, he achieved international renown within his

lifetime, and his celebrated Areopagitica is among history's most influential and impassioned defenses offree speech and freedom of the press. He also was named "Milton the Divorcer" after he published the

Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce.

Paradise Lost was published in 1667, in ten books. It is about Adam and Evehow they came to be

created and how they came to lose their place in the Garden of Eden, also called Paradise. It's the same

story you find in the first pages of Genesis, expanded by Milton into a very long, detailed, narrative

poem. It also includes the story of the origin of Satan. Originally, he was called Lucifer, an angel in

heaven who led his followers in a war against God, and was ultimately sent with them to hell. Thirst for

revenge led him to cause man's downfall by turning into a serpent and tempting Eve to eat the forbidden

fruit. The story opens in hell, where Satan and his followers are recovering from defeat in a war theywaged against God. They build a palace, called Pandemonium, where they hold council to determine

whether or not to return to battle. Instead they decide to explore a new world prophecied to be created,

where a safer course of revenge can be planned. Satan undertakes the mission alone. At the gate of hell,

he meets his offspring, Sin and Death, who unbar the gates for him. He journeys across chaos till he sees

the new universe floating near the larger globe which is heaven. God sees Satan flying towards this world

and foretells the fall of man. His Son, who sits at his right hand, offers to sacrifice himself for man's

salvation. Meanwhile, Satan enters the new universe. He flies to the sun, where he tricks an angel, Uriel,

into showing him the way to man's home. Satan gains entrance into the Garden of Eden, where he finds

Adam and Eve and becomes jealous of them. He overhears them speak of God's commandment that they

should not eat the forbidden fruit. Uriel warns Gabriel and his angels, who are guarding the gate ofParadise, of Satan's presence. Satan is apprehended by them and banished from Eden. God sends Raphael

to warn Adam and Eve about Satan. Raphael recounts to them how jealousy against the Son of God led a

once favored angel to wage war against God in heaven, and how the Son, Messiah, cast him and his

followers into hell. He relates how the world was created so mankind could one day replace the fallen

angels in heaven. Satan returns to earth, and enters a serpent. Finding Eve alone he induces her to eat the

fruit of the forbidden tree. Adam, resigned to join in her fate, eats also. Their innocence is lost and they

become aware of their nakedness. In shame and despair, they become hostile to each other. The Son of

God descends to earth to judge the sinners, mercifully delaying their sentence of death. Sin and Death,

sensing Satan's success, build a highway to earth, their new home. Upon his return to hell, instead of a

celebration of victory, Satan and his crew are turned into serpents as punishment. Adam reconciles with

Eve. God sends Michael to expel the pair from Paradise, but first to reveal to Adam future events

resulting from his sin. Adam is saddened by these visions, but ultimately revived by revelations of the

future coming of the Savior of mankind. In sadness, mitigated with hope, Adam and Eve are sent

away from the Garden of Paradise.


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10. The 17th

century Prose. John Bunyan (1628-1688). The Pilgrims Progresse.

John Bunyan was an English Christian writer and preacher, who is well known for his

bookThe Pilgrim's Progress. Though he became a non-conformist and member of an

Independent church, and although he has been described both as a Baptist and as a

Congregationalist, he himself preferred to be described simply as a Christian. He is

remembered in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on August 30, and on

the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church on August 29. Some other Churches of the

Anglican Communion, such as the Anglican Church of Australia, honour him on the day of

his death (August 31) together with St Aidan of Lindisfarne.

The Pilgrim's Progress from This World to That Which Is to Come is

a Christian allegory which was published in February, 1678. It is regarded as one of the most

significant works of religious English literature, has been translated into more than 200

languages, and has never been out of print. The English text comprises 108,260 words and is

divided into two parts, each reading as a continuous narrative with no chapter divisions. The

first part was completed in 1677. The Second Part appeared in 1684. The Pilgrims

Progress" is a religious allegory. It tells, of the spiritual pilgrimage of Christian, who flies

from the City of Destruction, meets with the perils and temptations of the Slough of Despond,

Vanity Fair, Christian and Hopeful in the Dungeon and Doubting Castle, faces and

overcomes the demon Appollyon, and finally comes to the Delectable Mountains and the

Celestial City. Though an allegory, its characters impress the reader like real persons. The

places that Bunyan paints in words are English scenes, and the conversations which enliven

his narratives vividly repeat the language of his time. Bunyan describes, in the peoples

homely yet powerful language, the spiritual sufferances of the poor People at a time of greatchanges, and their aspiration for " the land that floweth with milk and honey, where "they

have no want of corn and wine." In reality, the Celestial City in "The Pilgrims Progress" is

the vision of an ideal happy society dreamed by a poor tinker in the 17th century, through a

veil of religious mist. Christian and Faithful come to Vanity Fair. As they refuse to buy

anything but Truth, they are beaten and put in a cage, and then taken out and led in chains up

and down the fair and at length brought before a court. Judge Hate-good summons three

witnesses: Envy, Superstition and Pick-thank (i.e. tale-bearer), who testify against him. The

case is given to the jury, composed of Mr. Badman, Mr. No-good, Mr. Malice, etc. Each

gives a verdict against Faithful, who is presently condemned. " Pilgrims Progress" had won

immediate success among the bakers, weavers, cobblers, tailors, tinkers, shepherds,

ploughmen, dairy--maids, seamstresses and servant-girls of his time, and has become one of

the most popular works in the English language. Bunyans prose is admirable. It is popular

speech ennobled by the solemn dignity and simplicity of the language of the English

Bible.
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11. Enlightenment. Historical Background.

The Enlightenment or The Age of Reason is the period in the history of western

thought and culture. This period was from the second half of 17 c/y and whole 18 c/y,

it was characterized by dramatic revolutions in science, philosophy, society and

politics. Enlightenment thought culminates historically in the political upheaval of the

French Revolution, in which the traditional hierarchical political and social orders were

violently destroyed and replaced by a political and social order informed by theEnlightenment ideals of freedom and equality for all, founded, ostensibly, upon

principles of human reason. The Enlightenment begins with the scientific revolution of

the 16th and 17th c/ies, that had provided a new model for how problems could be

solved through rational thought and experimentation, rather than on the authority of

religion or the ancients. The rise of the new science progressively undermines not only

the ancient geocentric conception of the cosmos. The dramatic success of the new

science in explaining the natural world, in accounting for a wide variety of phenomena

by appeal to a relatively small number of elegant mathematical formulae, promotes

philosophy from a handmaiden of theology, constrained by its purposes and methods,to an independent force with the power and authority to challenge the old and construct

the new, in the realms both of theory and practice, on the basis of its own principles.

The writers and philosophers started a public movement for enlightening the people.

In England, the contact between writer and democratic reader was established by

Addison and Steele, the famous English essayists who started and directed several

magazines such as The Tattler, The Guardian and The Englishman. Periodical

newspapers helped to spread information among the general public. The copies of

current newspapers were kept in the coffee-houses. These coffee-houses become

centers of political and literary discussion. Each rank and profession, shade of religiousand political opinion had its own coffee-house.

The features of the enlightenment are:1. the rise of the political pamphlet and essay, the leading genre of the enlightenment

became the novel.

2. the hero of the novel was a representative of the middle class

3.literature became very instructive, problems of good and evil were set forth.

The periods of the enlightenment:1. from the Glorious Revolution till 1730. Is characterized by classicism in poetry. The

greatest follower of the classic style was Alexander Pope. Here also appeared newprose literature: the essays of Steele and Addison and the first realistic novels written

by Defoe and Swift. Most of writers wrote political pamphlets.

2. from 1740-1760. It was the most mature period. The development of the realistic

social novel represented by Richardson, Fielding and Smollett.

3. the last decades of the 18 c/y is marked by the appearance of Sentimentalism. This

period also saw the rise of the realistic drama and the revival of poetry.


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12. Daniel Defoe (1661-1731). Robinson Crusoe.

Daniel Defoe (ca. 1660 24 April 1731), born Daniel Foe, was an English trader, writer,

journalist, pamphleteer and spy, who gained fame for his novelRobinson Crusoe. Defoe is notable

for being one of the earliest proponents of the novel, as he helped to popularize the form in Britain,

and, along with others such as Samuel Richardson, is among the founders of the English novel. A

prolific and versatile writer, he wrote more than 500 books, pamphlets and journals on various topics

(including politics, crime, religion, marriage, psychology and the supernatural). He was also a

pioneer ofeconomic journalism. Daniel Foe (his original name) was probably born in the parish

ofSt. Giles Cripplegate, London. Defoe later added the aristocratic-sounding "De" to his name and

on occasion claimed descent from the family of De Beau Faux. His parents

were Presbyterian dissenters; he was educated in a dissenting academy at Newington Green run

by Charles Morton and is believed to have attended the church there. During this period, England

was not tolerant of all forms of religious belief. Roman Catholics were feared and hated. Dissenters

refused to conform to the services of the Church of England; they were despised and oppressed.

Robinson Crusoe is a very long book, but the novel can, more or less, be broken down into three

major movements. Part I: Before the Island: Before landing on the island, Crusoe's father wants

him to be a good, middle-class guy. Crusoe, who wants nothing more than to travel around in a ship,

is definitely not into this idea. He struggles against the authority of both his father and God anddecides to thumb his nose at both by going adventuring on the sea instead. After sailing around for a

while, he makes a bit of money in trade, but then is captured and made into a slave off the coast of

Africa. Here he befriends a young man named Xury, with whom he escapes from captivity. Picked

up by a Portuguese sailing captain, Crusoe makes it to Brazil where he buys a sugar plantation. He

does fairly well financially, but soon becomes involved in a venture to procure slaves from Africa.

On the voyage there he gets shipwrecked and is left as the only survivor on a deserted island. Part

II: Life on the Island: This portion of the novel is dedicated to Crusoe's time alone on the island. He

builds three main structures: his initial shelter, his country home on the opposite side of the island,

and his guns and ammo fort in the woods. He spends his time planting corn, barley, and rice. He

learns to make bread. He builds furniture, weaves baskets, and makes pots. Crusoe also raises goatsand tends to his little animal family of cats, dogs, and a parrot. Most importantly, though, Crusoe

becomes stronger in his religious faith, eventually submitting to the authority of God. He devotes

himself to much religious reflection and prayer. Part III: Escape from the Island: In final section

of the book, Crusoe sees a footprint on the shore one day and learns that he's actually not alone on

the island. There are also (gasp!) cannibals. Crusoe struggles with the question of whether or not he

should take revenge on them. Eventually, he meets with Friday, a native man whom he is able to

rescue from the cannibals. Crusoe teaches Friday English and converts him to Christianity. The two

become like father and son (more or less). Friday and Crusoe also rescue a Spaniard and Friday's

father from a different group of cannibals. Eventually, an English longboat full of sailors lands on the

island. Crusoe learns that the men have mutinied against their captain. After Crusoe helps restore

order to the ship, the men and captain pledge allegiance to Crusoe and agree to take him home.Crusoe then returns to Europe with Friday, where he comes into a great deal of money from his sugar

plantations. Crusoe gets married and eventually revisits the island in his late years. The novel ends

with promise of more adventures for him in the sequel.
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13. Jonathan Swift (1667-1745). Gullivers Travels.

Jonathan Swift (30 November 166719 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist,

political pamphleteer (first for the Whigs, then for the Tories), poet and cleric who became

Dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin. He is remembered for works such as Gulliver's

Travels,A Modest Proposal,A Journal to Stella,Drapier's Letters,The Battle of the Books,

An Argument Against Abolishing Christianity, and A Tale of a Tub. Swift is probably the

foremost prose satirist in the English language, and is less well known for his poetry. Swiftoriginally published all of his works under pseudonyms such as Lemuel Gulliver, Isaac

Bickerstaff, MB Drapieror anonymously. He is also known for being a master of two styles

of satire: the Horatian and Juvenalian styles.

Gulliver's Travels, a large portion of which Swift wrote at Woodbrook House in County

Laois, was published in 1726. It is regarded as his masterpiece. Gulliver goes on four

separate voyages inGulliver's Travels. Each journey is preceded by a storm. All four voyages

bring new perspectives to Gulliver's life and new opportunities for satirizing the ways of

England.

The first voyage is to Lilliput, where Gulliver is huge and the Lilliputians are small. At first

the Lilliputians seem amiable, but the reader soon sees them for the ridiculous and petty

creatures they are. Gulliver is convicted of treason for "making water" in the capital - among

other "crimes." The second voyage is to Brobdingnag, a land of Giants where Gulliver seems

as small as the Lilliputians were to him. Gulliver is afraid, but his keepers are surprisingly

gentle. He is humiliated by the King when he is made to see the difference between how

England is and how it ought to be. Gulliver realizes how revolting he must have seemed to

the Lilliputians. Gulliver's third voyage is to Laputa. In a visit to the island of

Glubdugdribb, Gulliver is able to call up the dead and discovers the deceptions of history. In

Laputa, the people are over-thinkers and are ridiculous in other ways. Also, he meets theStuldbrugs, a race endowed with immortality. Gulliver discovers that they are miserable. His

fourth voyage is to the land of the Houyhnhnms, who are horses endowed with reason. Their

rational, clean, and simple society is contrasted with the filthiness and brutality of

the Yahoos, beasts in human shape. Gulliver reluctantly comes to recognize their human

vices. Gulliver stays with the Houyhnhnms for several years, becoming completely enamored

with them to the point that he never wants to leave. When he is told that the time has come

for him to leave the island, Gulliver faints from grief. Upon returning to England, Gulliver

feels disgusted about other humans, including his own family.

Gulliver's Travels is an anatomy of human nature, a sardonic looking-glass, often criticizedfor its apparent misanthropy. It asks its readers to refute it, to deny that it has adequately

characterized human nature and society. Each of the four booksrecounting four voyages to

mostly-fictional exotic landshas a different theme, but all are attempts to deflate human

pride. Critics hail the work as a satiric reflection on the shortcomings of Enlightenment

thought.
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14. The Development of the English Realistic Novel.

The foundations of early bourgeois realism were laid by Daniel Defoe and

Jonathan Swift, but their novels, though of a new type and with a new hero,

were based on imaginary voyages and adventures supposed to take place far

from England. Gradually the readers tastes changed. They wanted to find

more and more of their own life reflected in literature, their everyday life of abourgeois family with its joys and sorrows. These demands were satisfied

when the great novels of Samuel Richardson, Henry Fielding, Tobias Smollet

appeared one after another. The greatest merit of these novelists lies in their

deep sympathy for the common man, the man in the street, who had become

the central figure of the new bourgeois world. The common man is shown in

his actual surroundings, which makes him so convincing, believable, and true

to life.

The optimism felt in literature during the first half of the 18th century' gave

way to a certain depression as years went by. Towards the middle of the

century a new trend, that of Sentimentalism, appeared. The first representative

of the sentimental school in English literature was Samuel Richardson. His

novels "Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded" (1740), "Clarissa" (1748), and "The

History of Sir Charles Grandison" (1754) are works in which the inner world

of the characters is shown. Richardson glorifies middle-class virtues as

opposed to the immorality of the aristocracy. He makes his readers sympathize

with his heroes. These novels were very much admired in the 18th and 19thcenturies. They were well-known in Russia Much in the works of the novelists

of the time does not appeal to readers today; but the novels of these writers are

full of humour and truthful descriptions of men and things, and will always be

read.

Sentimentalists were influenced by the French writer Rousseau, they thought

that civilization was harmful to humanity. They believed that man should live

close to nature and be free from the corrupting influence of town life. In OliverGoldsmith's novel "The Vicar of Wakefield" (1766) and Laurence Sterne's

"Sentimental Journey", as well as in other novels of the time, the corruption of

town life is contrasted to the happy patriarchal life in the country. Oliver

Goldsmith was also a poet His famous poem "The Deserted Village" shows

England at the time of the expropriation of the peasants.


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15. Henry Fielding (1707-1754). His life and work. Tom Jones.

Henry Fielding, the greatest representative of bourgeois realism in the 18th century, was a

descendant of an ancient, aristocratic family. He studied at the old-established boys' school of

Eton. At the age of twenty he started writing for the stage, and his first play "Love in Several

Masques" was a great success with the public. The same year he entered the philological faculty

of the University at Leyden, but in less than two years he had to drop his studies because he was

unable to pay his fees. From 1728 till 1738, twenty-five plays were written by Fielding. In hisbest comedies: "A Judge Caught in His Own Trap"(173O), "Don Quixote in England" (1734),

and 'Pasquin" (1736). He mercilessly exposed the English court of law, the parliamentary

system, the corruption of state officials. As a result of the popular success of Fielding's comedies,

strict censorship was introduced, which put an end to Fielding's career as a dramatist. He was

obliged to think how to earn his living. He tried his pen as a novelist; besides, at the age of thirty

he became a student of a University law faculty. On graduating, he became a barrister and in

1748 accepted the post of magistrate. This work enlarged his experience, helped him to acquire a

better understanding of human nature and greatly increased his hatred of social injustice. Being

unable to do away with social evils, he exposed them in his books. In the period from 1742 to

1752 Fielding wrote his best novels: "Joseph Andrews" (1742) "The Life of Mr. Jonathan Wildthe Great" (1743), "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling (1749), "Amelia" (1752). All these

novels, excellent as they were, didn't make him rich: only his publishers prospered Fielding

continued to act as a judge till the year 1754, when he had to leave England for Portugal to

restore his health, which had begun to fail. But the warm climate of the country did not help him,

he died in Lisbon in October, 1754 and was buried there. Fielding possessed qualities rarely

found together: a rich imaginations great critical power, a keen knowledge of the human heart.

He used to say that the three essential qualities in a novelist are genius, learning and experience

of human nature. The qualities of candour and sincerity are especially apparent in Fielding's

works. His characters are living beings of flesh and blood, a combination of contradictions of

good and bad He appreciates such virtues as courage, frankness and generosity. The most

detestable vices for him are selfishness and hypocrisy He can forgive frivolity and light-

mindedness, but he has no pity for actions which arise from calculating or conventional motives.

All this found the expression in Fielding's masterpiece "Tom Jones". The novel consists of 18

books, each beginning with an introductory chapter where the author discourses with the reader,

m a free and easy manner, on certain-moral and psychological themes. The plot of the novel is

very complicated, its construction is carefully worked out every detail is significant. Depicting

England of the 18th century, Fielding touches upon all spheres of life. We are shown the courts

of law, the prison, the church, the homes of people of all classes, inns and highways, even the

theatre. Many people of different social ranks and professions are introduced. The charm of the

book lies in the depiction of Tom's character. He is human in the everyday sense of the word,

neither idealized nor ridiculed and at the same time full-blooded. His open, generous andpassionate nature leads him into a lone series of adventures. Tom acts on impulse, sometimes

well and sometimes ill, but never from interested motives. He is light- minded and naive, but

kind, honest and unselfish, always ready to help anyone who needs his assistance. Heaps of

misfortunes happen to him, he makes fault after fault, because he falls a victim of prejudice. His

intentions are noble and good, he is simple-hearted, and it is often coupled with bad luck, he is

accused of vices he is not guilty of.


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16. Samuel Richardson (1689-1796). Clarissa Harlowe.

Samuel Richardson was an 18th-century English writer and printer. He is best

known for his three epistolary novels: Pamela: Or, Virtue Rewarded (1740),Clarissa: Or the History of a Young Lady (1748) and The History of Sir Charles

Grandison (1753). Richardson was an established printer and publisher for most of

his life and printed almost 500 different works, with journals and magazines.Richardson lost his first wife along with their five sons, and eventually remarried.

Although with his second wife he had four daughters who lived to become adults,

they had no male heir to continue running the printing business. While his print

shop slowly ran down, at the age of 51 he wrote his first novel and immediately

became one of the most popular and admired writers of his time. He knew leadingfigures in 18th century England, including Samuel Johnson and Sarah Fielding. In

the London literary world, he was a rival of Henry Fielding, and the two responded

to each other's literary styles in their own novels. His name was on the Index

Librorum Prohibitorum, a list established by the pope containing the names ofbooks that Catholics were not allowed to read.

Clarissa, or, the History of a Young Lady is an epistolary novel by SamuelRichardson, published in 1748. It tells the tragic story of a heroine whose quest for

virtue is continually thwarted by her family, and is one of the longest novels in the

English language. Clarissa Harlowe tells the story of a virtuous, beautiful

eighteen-year-old woman who is brought to tragedy by the wickedness of her world.

Her family possesses great wealth but little status. The trouble starts when Richard

Lovelace comes to pay court to Clarissas sister, but is attracted by Clarissa instead.

The family forbids Clarissa from corresponding with Lovelace and commands herto marry a horrible rich man, Roger Solmes. Clarissa refuses and when she is able to

run away, she is in Lovelaces power. Roger is a manipulator who is in love with

her, but hates the idea of marriage. His intention is to force Clarissa to compromiseher strict morals, sully her reputation, and gain full control over her. Clarissas

virtue has a powerful effect on Lovelace and sometimes sways him away from his

bad intentions. . Finally suspecting Lovelaces vileness, Clarissa escapes, but

Lovelace finds her and he rapes her. The rape has failed to put Clarissa fully in hispower because she has never compromised her virtue, and she runs away again, this

time successfully. But once Clarissa has been raped, she stops eating and no longer

worries about worldly problems like reputation. Her health steadily worsens, and

she begins to prepare for death. She finally dies, expressing forgiveness for

everyone in her life and joyful anticipation of heaven.


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17. The Early Romanticism. Robert Burns (1759-1796). Tom OShanter.

The early Romantic period thus coincides with what is often called the "age of revolutions"--

including, of course, the American (1776) and the French (1789) revolutions--an age of upheavals in

political, economic, and social traditions, the age which witnessed the initial transformations of the

Industrial Revolution. Defining the nature of Romanticism may be approached from the starting

point of the primary importance of the free expression of the feelings of the artist. The imagination

was elevated to a position as the supreme faculty of the mind. This contrasted distinctly with thetraditional arguments for the supremacy of reason. The Romantics tended to define and to present the

imagination as our ultimate "shaping" or creative power, the approximate human equivalent of the

creative powers of nature or even deity. "Nature" meant a work of art, constructed by a divine

imagination, in emblematic language. Symbolism and myth were given great prominence in the

Romantic conception of art. The concept of the genius, or artist who was able to produce his own

original work through this process of "creation from nothingness", is key to Romanticism, and to be

derivative was the worst sin. This idea is often called "romantic originality."

Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland

and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots

language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect, accessible to anaudience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these his political or civil

commentary is often at its bluntest. He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after

his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalismand socialism, and

a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish Diaspora around the world. As well as making

original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising

or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of

the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthemof the country.

Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red

Rose"; "A Man's A Man for A' That"; "To a Louse"; "To a Mouse"; "The Battle of Sherramuir";

"Tam o' Shanter"; and "Ae Fond Kiss"

Tam o' Shanter is a wonderful, epic poem in which Burns paints a vivid picture of the drinking

classes in the old Scotch town of Ayr in the late 18th century. It is populated by several unforgettable

characters including of course Tam himself, his bosom pal, Souter (Cobbler) Johnnie and his own

long suffering wife Kate, "Gathering her brows like gathering storm, nursing her wrath to keep it

warm". We are also introduced to Kirkton Jean, the ghostly, "winsome wench", Cutty Sark and let's

not forget his gallant horse, Maggie. The tale includes humour, pathos, horror, social comment and in

my opinion some of the most beautiful lines that Burns ever penned. For example, "But pleasures are

like poppies spread, You sieze the flower, its bloom is shed; Or like the snow falls in the river, A

moment white--then melts for ever". It tells the story of Tam, a farmer who gets drunk with his

friends in a public house and then rides home on his horse Meg. On the way he sees the local haunted

church lit up with witches and warlocks dancing and the devil playing the bagpipes. He creeps in tothe churchyard to watch and on seeing a pretty witch in a short dress he shouts,`Weel done, cutty-

sark!'. Having drawn attention to himself the dancing stops abruptly and the witches chase him and

Meg to the River Doon. The witches cannot cross the water but they come so close to catching Tam

and Meg that they pull Meg's tail off just as she reaches the bridge over the Doon.
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18. The Lakists. William Wordsworth (1770-1850). A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal.

The Lake Poets (Lakists) are a group of English poets who all lived in the Lake

District ofEngland at the turn of the 19th century. As a group, they followed no

single "school" of thought or literary practice then known, their works were

uniformly disparaged by theEdinburgh Review. They are considered part of

the Romantic Movement. The three main figures of what has become known asthe Lakes School are William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Robert

Southey. They were associated with several other poets and writers,

including Dorothy Wordsworth, Charles Lloyd, Hartley Coleridge, John Wilson,

and Thomas De Quincey. The beauty of the Lake District has also inspired many

other poets over the years, beyond the core Lake Poets. These include James

Payn, Bryan Procter, Felicia Hemans, Walter Scott and Norman Nicholson.

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 publicationLyrical Ballads. Wordsworth's magnum opus is

generally considered to be The Prelude, a semiautobiographical poem of his

early years which he revised and expanded a number of times. It was

posthumously titled and published, prior to which it was generally known as the

poem "To Coleridge". Wordsworth was Britain's Poet Laureate from 1843 until

his death in 1850.

"A slumber did my spirit seal" is one of Wordsworth's "Lucy Poems," which

focus primarily on the death of a young woman named Lucy (though she remains

unnamed in this poem). Lucy, the fairy child of the green earth, is Wordsworthsonly true love. Untouched by the unfriendly factors of ageing, she grew up in an

Eden like environment, and does not feel the effects of her all round growth.

There is no place for worries in the poets mind for any change in her physical

and heartfelt appearance. His mind can easily rest at peace and each night he is

able to enjoy the sleep of his body and spirit into a deep slumber. His intense love

for her has conquered all his human fears. Her sudden death in the prime of her

youth, has heavily burdened his heart with immeasurable sorrow. It would be a

life-long lasting experience that would drag his heart in the long course of his

life, to his grave, in his last days. She would not move, speak, hear or see. When

her coffin was lowered into the grave and buried for ever, gradually her corpse

was united with the components of the earth six feet under. She became one with

the earth and the only movement she could make then was the united movement

with the earth in rotation on its own axis and the revolution round the sun, along

with the trees, flowers and plants that grow upon the earth.
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19. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). Lyrical Ballads.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literarycritic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of

the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He is probably best

known for his poemsThe Rime of the Ancient MarinerandKubla Khan, as well as for his

major prose workBiographia Literaria. His critical work, especially on Shakespeare, was

highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. He coined many familiar words and phrases, including the

celebrated suspension of disbelief. He was a major influence on Emerson, and

American transcendentalism. Throughout his adult life, Coleridge suffered from crippling

bouts of anxiety and depression; it has been speculated by some that he suffered

frombipolar disorder, a condition as yet unidentified during his lifetime. Coleridge

suffered from poor health that may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and

other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these concerns with laudanum, which

fostered a lifelong opium addiction.

Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by WilliamWordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, first published in 1798 and generally

considered to have marked the beginning of the English Romantic movement in literature.

The immediate effect on critics was modest, but it became and remains a landmark,

changing the course of English literature and poetry. In the Advertisement to the 1798

edition of Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth and Coleridge state that the poems in the

collection were intended as a deliberate experiment in style and subject matter.

Wordsworth elaborated on this idea in the Preface to the 1800 and 1802 editions whichoutline his main ideas of a new theory of poetry. Rejecting the classical notion that poetry

should be about elevated subjects and should be composed in a formal style, Wordsworth

instead championed more democratic themesthe lives of ordinary men and women,

farmers, paupers, and the rural poor. In the Preface Wordsworth also emphasizes his

commitment to writing in the ordinary language of people, not a highly crafted poetical

one. True to traditional ballad form, the poems depict realistic characters in realistic

situations, and so contain a strong narrative element. Wordsworth and Coleridge were also

interested in presenting the psychology of the various characters in the Lyrical Ballads.

The poems, in building sympathy for the disenfranchised characters they describe, also

implicitly criticize England's Poor Laws, which made it necessary for people to lose all

material possessions before they could receive any kind of financial assistance from the

community. Wordsworth also discussed the role of poetry itself, which he viewed as anaid in keeping the individual sensitive in spite of the effects of growing alienation in the

new industrial age. The poet, as Wordsworth points out, is not a distant observer or

moralist, but rather a man speaking to men, and the production of poetry is the result of

the spontaneousoverflow of powerful feelings, recollected in tranquility, not the sum

total of rhetorical art.
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20. The Later Romantics. George Gordon Byron (1788-1824). Good Night.

The poets of the next generation (SHELLEY, KEATS, AND BYRON) shared theirpredecessors passion for liberty (now set in a new perspective by the Napoleonic

Wars) and were in a position to learn from their experiments. Following in the wake

of the first writers in Britain who called themselves Romantic, thesecond wave

of British Romantic writing proved both a continuation of and a departure from theinfluential writings of predecessors such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor

Coleridge. Percy Shelley and Lord Byron, for example, variously pursued the

radical or revolutionary initiatives initially embraced but subsequently abandoned

by the early Romantics whereas John Keats used the Romantic preoccupation with a

poetry of self and mind as a sanction for a more sophisticated and refined poetic

idiom, whose influence continues to this day. In addition, then, to the major poetical

works of Shelley, Keats and Byron, we will read novels by Austen and MaryShelley (Frankenstein), which register what broadly speaking is a womans

perspective on many of these same developments. We will also read Thomas

DeQuincey's Confessions of an English Opium Eater and other prose works by both

Charles Lamb and William Hazlitt, which give another perspective, alternately

critical, theoretical and at times satiric, on the Romantic movement overall.

George Gordon Byron commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was an English

poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Among Byron's best-known

works are the lengthy narrative poems Don Juan and Childe Harold's

Pilgrimage and the short lyric "She Walks in Beauty." He is regarded as one of the

greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential. He travelled to fight

against the Ottoman Empire in the Greek War of Independence, for which Greeksrevere him as a national hero. He died at 36 years of age from a fever contracted

while in Missolonghi in Greece. Byron was celebrated in life for aristocratic

excesses including huge debts, numerous love affairs, rumours of a scandalous

incestuous liaison with his half-sister, and self-imposed exile. It has been speculated

that he suffered from bipolar I disorder.

Good Night/ "A Farewell to Land": In portraying the expanse between

shrinking shore and distant horizons, Charles Ives' setting of Lord Byron's "A

Farewell to Land" (1909) leads the singer from one end of her vocal range to the

other. As the poem's speaker follows the path of the sun as it sinks into the ocean, so

too does the singer's voice slowly slip underneath the surface of the sea. As the line

of the horizon disappears, leaving the ship encircled by the uninterrupted border of

sky and water, the chordal roar of the breakers and the dissonant "shrieks of the wildsea mew" become the sparser, more static sounds of the sea .


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21. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). His life and work.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the major English Romantic poets and is critically regarded as

among the finest lyric poets in the English language. Considered too radical in his poetry and his

political and social views to achieve fame during his lifetime, recognition of his significance

grew steadily following his death. Percy Shelley was a key member of a close circle of visionary

poets and writers that included Lord Byron; Leigh Hunt; Thomas Love Peacock; and his second

wife, Mary Shelley, the author of Frankenstein. His first publication was a Gothic novel,

Zastrozzi (1810), in which he vented his early atheistic worldview through the villain Zastrozzi.

In the same year, Shelley, together with his sister Elizabeth, published Original Poetry by Victor

and Cazire. In 1811, Shelley published his second Gothic novel, St. Irvyne; or, The Rosicrucian,

and a pamphlet called The Necessity of Atheism. This latter gained the attention of the university

administration and he was called to appear before the College's fellows, including the Dean,

George Rowley. His refusal to repudiate the authorship of the pamphlet resulted in his being

expelled from Oxford on 25 March 1811, along with Hogg.

Shelley is perhaps best known for such classic poems as Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind, Toa Skylark, Music, When Soft Voices Die, The Cloud and The Masque of Anarchy, which are

among the most popular and critically acclaimed poems in the English language. His major

works, however, are long visionary poems that include Queen Mab (later reworked as The

Daemon of the World), Alastor, The Revolt of Islam, Adonas, the unfinished work The Triumph

of Life; and the visionary verse dramas The Cenci (1819) and Prometheus Unbound (1820). The

latter is widely considered one of Shelley's most fully realised works.

Shelley's early profession of atheism (in the tract "The Necessity of Atheism") led to his

expulsion from Oxford and branded him as a radical agitator and thinker, setting an early patternof marginalisation and ostracism from the intellectual and political circles of his time. His close

circle of admirers, however, included the most progressive thinkers of the day, including his

future father-in-law, philosopher William Godwin. Though Shelley's poetry and prose output

remained steady throughout his life, most publishers and journals declined to publish his work

for fear of being arrested themselves for blasphemy or sedition. Shelley never lived to see the

extent of his success and influence, which would reach down to the present day not only in the

literary canon, but in major movements in social and political thought.

Shelley became an idol of the next three or four generations of poets, including important

Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets such as Robert Browning, and Dante Gabriel Rosetti. He was

admired by Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, W. B. Yeats,

Karl Marx, Upton Sinclair and Isadora Duncan.Henry David Thoreau's civil disobedience and

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi's passive resistance were apparently influenced and inspired by

Shelley's non-violence in protest and political action, although Gandhi does not include him in

his list of mentors.


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22. John Keats (1795-1821). Ode to a Nightingale.

John Keats, one of the greatest English poets and a major figure in the Romantic movement, he was

one of the main figures of the second generation of romantic poets along with Lord Byron and Percy

Bysshe Shelley, despite his work only having been in publication for four years before his death. He

was born in 1795 in Moorfields, London. Keats was well educated at a school in Enfield, where he

began a translation of Virgil's Aeneid. In 1810 he was apprenticed to an apothecary-surgeon. His first

attempts at writing poetry date from about 1814, and include an Ìmitation' of the Elizabethan poetEdmund Spenser. In 1815 he left his apprenticeship and became a student at Guy's Hospital, London;

one year later, he abandoned the profession of medicine for poetry. Keats' first volume of poems was

published in 1817. It attracted some good reviews, but these were followed by the first of several

harsh attacks by the influential Blackwood's Magazine. Undeterred, he pressed on with his poem

Èndymion', which was published in the spring of the following year. Keats toured the north of

England and Scotland in the summer of 1818, returning home to nurse his brother Tom, who was ill

with tuberculosis. After Tom's death in December he moved into a friend's house in Hampstead, now

known as Keats House. There he met and fell deeply in love with a young neighbour, Fanny Brawne.

During the following year, despite ill health and financial problems, he wrote an astonishing amountof poetry, including `The Eve of St Agnes', 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', Òde to a Nightingale' and

`To Autumn'. His second volume of poems appeared in July 1820; soon afterwards, by now very ill

with tuberculosis, he set off with a friend to Italy, where he died the following February. Keats and

his friend Joseph Severn arrived in Rome, after an arduous journey, in November 1820. They found

lodgings in a house near the Spanish Steps. Keats rallied a little at first, and was able to take gentle

walks and rides, but by early December he was confined to bed, extremely ill with a high fever.

Severn nursed him devotedly throughout the next few distressing and painful weeks. Keats died

peacefully, clasping his friend's hand, on 23 February 1821.

"Ode to a Nightingale" is a poem by John Keats written in May 1819. According to Brown, a

nightingale had buil

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