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the romantic spirit
romanticism refers to the artistic, intellectual and literary movement that dominated Europe and united state from the late 18th century to the coronation of queen Victoria ( 1837 ) features of romantic thought romantic thought was characterized by a belief in democratic ideals and in the revolutionary principles of social equality romanticism celebrated the individual as the centre of life and experience romanticism valued the primitive individual-> men who live closer to nature and aren’t conditioned by the affected ways of high society for the romantics emotions and sense could unlock the mysteries of life romantics believed that nature could trigger strong emotions romantic poetry in the second half of the 18th century new trends in poetry emerged they were characterized by: meditative mood preference for desolation-> often associated with the theme of death wish to explore britain’s past personal experience as starting point for poetic creation first generation of poets: William Blake William Wordsworth Samuel Taylor Coleridge their main concern was: to bring about a change in the intellectual climate of their era to move away from the conventions of augustan poetry to introduce a simpler and more direct language second generation of poets: Lord Byron Percy Shelley (husband of Mary Shelley ) John Keats their poetry contributed to the creation of the myth of the ideal romantic hero-> a solitary genius, passionate and unconventional they all shared the need to explore new mode of conveying feeling, visions and perceptions the romantic poetry emphasize personal feeling and the work of the individual mind poets creation was seen as a form of organic growth stemming from the poet’s mind poets also valued dreams, visions and reveries childhood and primitive were celebrated as conditions which allow a purer relationship with the
world a variety of metric form were used-> the most used was the blank verse novel of manners setting: upper/middle class, countryside with few insight in town plot: everyday life, visits, tea with other people it explores: personal relationships, class distinctions, influence of money and property on the way people treat each other theme: marriage narrative technique: first person, dialogues, irony to express passions and emotions background: rise of a new social class (middle class) they are novel which depicts the social conventions and the habits of the dominant class author: Jane Austen (she was criticized cause she didn’t stand up for the poor) gothic novels setting: concept of the sublime place: isolated castles, convents, abbeys, hidden passages, trapdoor time: night, medieval suspense and mystery increased by: supernatural beings, monsters aim: arouse fear in the reader with the threat do realizing all the potentialities of the mind beyond reason plot: complicated, embedded narratives, female heroine who must face terror and persecution by some evil villain or supernatural beings characters: perceive the world around them as an hostile world, isolated, wanderer, afflicted by unreal terrors, persecuted by villain author: Horace Walpole ( The castle of Otranto, subtitled a gothic novel ), Ann Radcliffe (distinction between terror and horror) the historical novel born in the beginning of the 19th century it refers to the romantic interest in the past author: Sir Walter Scott (founder of this genre) main achievement: it made people realize that history wasn’t only about historically events but it was the product of human decisions he mixes Scottish dialects with the language of knights and nobleman he provide detailed descriptions of all ranks of scottish society it inspired Manzoni ( the betrothed ) both: mixed historically truth with fantasy historical contest that point out political problems (Scott: Scotland and england, Manzoni: spain and lombardy) difference: Scott: rule of dialects to celebrate his country Manzoni: remove dialects because he wanted to create national consciousness
the romantic - nature
William Blake chimney sweeper to set free the spirits of the children dead blake fear for the future of england’s children lives disfigured by the work in the factory first factory in london-> blushed of flour satan: miller of eternity 1791 albion mill caught fire-> factory destroyed the work of blake wasn’t known by other romantic Samuel Taylor Coleridge he wrote a poem about the birth of his son his life changed-> he moved away from the city (return of the child in the nature) in Somerset he went to school in london and hated it-> he wants his child to learn from nature for romantic poets: childhood was inseparable from nature one of his friend was in contact from nature since his childhood-> William Wordsworth the memory of his childhood was an inspiration for his poem the lake district was also the place were his childhood died his mother died-> also his father but later Wordsworth was educated by nature in his 20’s he traveled to the Alps-> a journey in which Wordsworth was searching for emotions he’s a wonderer one night he find himself in the nature-> sublime feeling the further he travels the more he’s closer to the inspiration he’s searching he wrote letters for his sister Dorothy the natural was more than a disappointment-> world of imagination it connects him to eternity
Wordsworth return to England-> reunites with his sister they go on a walk-> reminded him the world before the factories of the industrial revolution nature more powerful than man-> an old building is invaded by nature romantics were the firsts to understand the sublime in nature-> divinity in the natural world it was also about awe and terror ability to lose yourself John Clare he was missing for a day he wonders in the nature he grow up to be a poet his city was his inspiration he work in a bar next to his home he wrote poems about his childhood and the countryside the countryside he knew changed-> enclosed field he become insane mount temblors in indonesia-> volcanic eruption dust went in the atmosphere-> people died Lord Byron new generation of romantics lake geneva rebelling from the old rometics-> become conservative Mary Shelley 1816 year without a summer-> thunderstorms were the only source of light setting of her novel she couldn’t sleep-> had a nightmare Frankenstein he confronts his creator the novel horror is the reflection of romantic sublime-> you have to respect nature man themself contain the terrors and the secret of the sublime
however interested in science, chemistry Rousseau : the monster can be considered Rousseau's natural man, in a primitive state, which has not been influenced by civilization yet. litigation of both the state of nature and the state of civilization, the monster experiences them both the ghosts stories that they read in Villa Diodati: they decided to write a horror story each. frank diverso da gothic novels: no castles, no supernatural events, Mary replaced the supernatural with science romantic poets: Coleridge
Frankenstein ( 1818 )
plot Captain Robert Walton is sailing to the North Pole and writes letters to his sister his ship becomes stuck in ice the crew sees a mysterious figure on a dogsled later they find Victor Frankenstein, weak and freezing and take him aboard Victor begins telling Walton the story of his life Victor grows up in Geneva (Switzerland) his parents adopt Elizabeth Lavenza, whom Victor loves deeply Victor is close friends with Henry Clerval Victor is curious, intelligent, and obsessed with science Victor goes to the University of Ingolstadt he studies natural philosophy, chemistry, and the mysteries of life Victor secretly builds a being out of dead body parts-> on a stormy night he brings the creature to life the monster has yellow eyes, black lips, and a large, deformed body terrified Victor runs away and falls ill from shock-> when he returns the monster has disappeared Victor receives a letter: his little brother William has been murdered-> he rushes home in the woods near the crime scene he sees the monster and realizes the creature killed William a family servant girl, Justine Moritz, is accused because she is found with William’s locket (the monster placed it on her)-> locket: neckless that had a picture Victor knows she is innocent but says nothing Justine is executed and Victor is filled with guilt Victor goes to the mountains to find peace the monster appears and forces Victor to listen to him the monster explains: he learned language and emotions by secretly watching a family (the De Laceys) he tried to approach them but they rejected him in fear he feels lonely, shunned and abandoned by his creator the monster out of rage he killed William to hurt Victor he begs Victor to create a mate for him so he will not be alone-> Victor agrees Victor travels to England and Scotland with Henry on a remote island in the Orkneys, he starts building the second creature one night he sees the monster watching him through the window
Victor fears: the new female monster may reject the male they might have monstrous children they could terrorize humanity Victor destroys the female creature the monster swears revenge: I will be with you on your wedding night that same night, Victor dumps the body parts into the sea he lands in an unknown town-> he’s arrested for the murder of the previous night the victim turns out to be Henry Clerval-> he was killed by the monster Victor collapses and becomes delirious after recovery he is acquitted (not guilty) and returns home Victor marries Elizabeth he believes the monster wants to kill him as promised on their wedding night Victor sends Elizabeth to her room for safety he suddenly hears Elizabeth scream-> the monster has strangled her Victor’s father dies from grief Victor vows to hunt down the monster forever he follows him north through forests, cities and ice fields they reach the Arctic, where Victor meets Walton after finishing his story Victor becomes weaker and dies Walton enters the room and sees the monster crying over Victor’s body the monster says: he regrets his crimes he suffered from loneliness now that Victor is dead, he has no purpose the monster leaves to die alone on the ice characters Alphonse Frankenstein he’s Victor’s father he’s kind and supportive-> he comforts Victor during difficult moments he dies from grief Justine Moritz she’s a young girl adopted by the Frankenstein family she’s wrongly accused and executed for William’s murder Beaufort he’s a friend of Victor’s father and father of Caroline Beaufort his death leads to Alphonse taking care of Caroline Robert Walton h’es the explorer who finds Victor in the Arctic
the Creature: he tells his story to Frankenstein it’s made by stories within stories: he gives multiple perspectives (embedded narratives) characters analysis Walton he’s the double of Frankenstein: both ambitious overreachers, wanting to go beyond human limits both isolated and punished for their desires both punished at the end Victor Frankenstein he’s transformed from idealistic student into a guilty and tormented man he’s seen by the readers as: a mad scientist ignoring consequences a tragic explorer seeking knowledge Frankenstein and the Monster are complementary: both suffers from alienation and isolation both begin with a desire to be good-> they become obsessed with revenge The Creature it’s intelligent and sensitive he suffers from constant rejection he becomes violent only after society rejects him he represents how society can create a monster themes dangerous knowledge both Walton and Victor risk everything for discovery the overreacher crossing natural boundaries leads to destruction the double Victor and the Creature mirror each other: isolation, desire for goodness, revenge) Nature vs science nature offers comfort but cannot heal the consequences of Victor’s actions creation without women Victor’s scientific birth replaces the female role education and prejudice the Creature learns and feels deeply but is judged by appearance
sublime nature emotional relief found in mountains, forests and the Arctic-> until revenge dominates the story motifs passive women Caroline, Justine, Elizabeth and the female Creature all suffer-> they are all passive this highlights the destructive behavior of Victor and the Creature abortion Victor wants to destroy the life he created the Creature sees himself as an abortion Victor aborts the creation of the female Creature symbols: light and fire the goal of scientists is to reach light-> symbol of knowledge fire: it has double nature-> useful but dangerous
A thing such as even Dante could not have conceived
analysis in this passage Victor is speaking the creation takes place on November 1st-> in the morning of a rainy night description of the creature: positive terms: limbs in proportion, beautiful features, lustrous black hair, pearly white teeth negative terms: yellow skin, watery eyes, dun white sockets, shriveled complexion, straight black lips when Frankenstein first see the monster he feels: regretful, shocked, disappointed, disgusted, repentant the creature: held up the curtain of the bed had his eyes fixed on Frankenstein his jaw opened and muttered some inarticulate sounds one hand stretched out Frankenstein rushed down stairs and took refuge in the courtyard typically Gothic atmosphere terms: dreary, agony, catastrophe, horrid, tumult, corpse, shroud, grave-worms, agitation, demoniacal corpse, mummy, hideous
William Wordswoth ( 1770/1850 )
biography he was born in 1770 in Lockermouth-> close to the Lake District he graduated from Cambridge University he left for France-> he had an affair with a french woman the violent development of the French Republic turned his initial enthusiasm into disillusionment- > it led him to conservative positions in political and religious matters he received an inheritance-> he returns to England and settles with his sister Dorothy in southwest England (he devoted to writing) his sister Dorothy wrote journals in which she also talks about him and his works he met Coleridge -> together they publish the collection of poems entitled Lyrical Ballads the collection was first published anonymously in 1798 -> 1800 edition contains Wordsworth’s Preface (considered the manifesto of Romantic poetry) he settles in Grasmere-> he lives with his sister and Mary Hutchinson (they got married in 1802 ) he was appointed Poet Laureate he died in 1850 main works Lyrical Ballads ( 1798-1807 ) Preface ( 1807 ) themes and style in the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads he outlines his theory of poetry he believed that poetry should abandon the rigid form of poetic diction-> became a more popolar form he wanted the language to be simple and direct poetry should result of a “spontaneous overflow” of emotions recollected in tranquility poems are created from the memory of previously experienced emotion new type of subject-matter for poetry poems are about ordinary people and everyday life events poets are ordinary men with extraordinary sensibility themes: nature Wordsworth is defined as a true worshipper of Nature he portrayed the natural world as a source of inspiration and beauty nature provides many beneficial effects: it comforts perturbed minds it inspires elevated thoughts and emotions it promotes a spiritual development
it allows a connection with the divide principle rif Rousseau: those who live in contact with nature retain a gift that most men lose-> a pure and noble soul childhood childhood is a state of innocence and purity-> human experience the most intense bond with nature as they grow up into adulthood they are corrupted by social conventions only few men maintain purity: poets, peasants, famers and shepherds who live in close contact with nature memory and imagination memory is the faculty through which adults can relive the joyous feelings of childhood the act of remembering childhood brings happiness and peace in moments of sadness and loneliness a recollected emotion if reworked by the poet’s imagination can be transformed into a poem style Wordsworth’s poems are mainly written in blank verse his works have a simple, unelaborated imagery the language is based on rhythms and idioms of everyday english Leopardi Both Wordsworth and Leopardi explore the relationship between nature and the inner self-> they do so in distinctly different ways, reflecting their cultural and philosophical contexts Wordsworth, in Daffodils , celebrates nature's joyful impact on the human spirit the sight of the daffodils becomes a source of lasting emotional uplift, even when the poet is alone and reflective Nature is a consoling, almost spiritual presence, tied to positive memory and imagination in contrast, Leopardi’s L’infinito reflects a more philosophical and melancholic meditation Nature, particularly the infinite and the unknown, evokes in him a sense of the sublime-> it also evoke a mixture of awe and existential reflection the poem doesn’t offer joy, but rather a emotionally moving tranquility found in contemplating the vastness beyond human limits-> it’s typical of Leopardi’s more pessimistic and introspective Romanticism
I wandered lonely as a cloud
this poem was first published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes Wordsworth then revised the poem several times and published it again in 1815 in his Collected Poems
contact with Nature triggers an immense wonder at the sight of the daffodils. Their bright color and their massive quantity raise in the poet a spontaneous, instinctive emotion of joy. Later, in a moment of tranquillity and solitude, the image of the flowers suddenly re-emerges in the poet's memory and the emotion he felt is recreated in his heart. Now, the poet is aware of the beneficial effect of that sight and turns it into the poem in which the daffodils are personified and become living beings 'dancing' and 'tossing their heads'. Thus, besides showing Wordsworth's conception of Nature, the poems reflects the process of poetic creation, as the poet explained in the Preface to the Lyrical Ballads.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( 1772/1834 )
biography he was born in Devon in 1772 he entered Cambridge University but he left it without a degree he became interested in the world of ancient Greece and in neoplatonic philosophy with Robert Southey he planned to establish a utopian, egalitarian society in Pennsylvania-> the project never came into existence with Wordsworth he published the Lyrical Ballad they went to Germany-> Coleridge introduced the ideas of the German idealist (like Kant) to England he had some miserable years-> his relationship with her wife proved unhappy, his health deteriorated, he started taking an opiate and became addicted he moved to London-> he gave a series of lectures that earned him a reputation as a literate critic he died in 1834 main works the rime of the ancient mariner christabel kubla khan biographia literaria themes supernatural in Biographia Literaria he explained the dual task that he and Wordsworth had in the Lyrical Ballad poetic faith (suspension of disbelief): he gives the supernatural a feeling of ordinary, everyday life Christal and Kubla khan were composed under the effect of opium The rime of the ancient mariner was composed in a state of confusion imagination imagination is a vital principle of growth and creativity in Biographia Literaria he introduced his distinction of fancy, primary imagination and secondary imagination fancy is a collection of material from the external world and it doesn’t have any creative power involved primary imagination is a unconscious process experienced when sensory experiences trigger images and sensations secondary imagination is a conscious process through which the poet dissolves the images generated by primary imagination and reassembles them in order to create new images style
structure and style the poem is made up of 7 parts-> Coleridge adds caption in the margin the poem is defined as a romantic ballad-> like medieval ballad is written in 4-line stanzas and in a form of dialogue it differs from medieval ballad because of the psychological depth of the description of the characters, the moral lesson and the use of symbols themes the poem is an embodiment of the relationship between man and nature it revolves around the old man’s sin-> caused by his inability to recognize the spiritual principle that links together all thong created only when the mariner recognizes the beauty of the sea snake is he forgiven it’s the story of a man who has learned to acknowledge and respect the spiritual elements of the natural world the story of the mariner can be interpreted as an allegory of the poet’s act of creation
It is an ancient Mariner
part 1 of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ( 1798 ) the ancient mariner stops the passing wedding-guest because he wants to tell him his story and warn people about his experience the ancient mariner capture the wedding-guest attention by his glittering eye the wedding-guest told the ancient mariner to take his hand off him and treats him rudely the ice prevents the ship from sailing when the members of the crew saw the albatross they welcome it joyfully as a sign of good luck, sign of God the Ancient Mariner appearance: ancient, long grey beard, glittering eye, skinny hand, bright- eyed in the 3/4 stanza the wedding-guest is compered to a 3 years old child ( three years’ child ) this comparison implies that he’s listening carefully in stanza 5 there are 2 figure of speech: repetition: ice onomatopoeia alliteration in stanza 6 the details that reveal that the Albatross carries symbolic meanings are: as if it had been a Christian soul, we hailed it in God’s name
Queen Victoria’s reign
she ascended the throne in 1837 -> she was the niece of William 4 the period in which she reigned was associated to her name-> like Queen Elizabeth 2 industrial and economic development during the 19th century London became the world’s largest city the main reasons for the growth of the cities were: the rapid industrial growth the impoverishment of the masses in the countryside-> people move to the city to find a job the urban landscape was transformed with the construction of factories the majority of workers lived in extremely poverty and disease (like cholera) the central areas were the reflection of the wealth accumulated by the middle class (like banks, gardens, efficient services machines were the symbol of the industrial and economical development they helped to raise productivity they influenced the spread of knowledge with improvements in printing the trains helped to bring closer people and to shortened times and costs of traveling ship were the symbol of the domination of the seas-> both commercially and militarily the Great Exhibition ( 1851 ) the success of the British middle classes were exalted in the Great Exhibition it was organized in London-> in Hyde Park was erected the first pre-fabricated building (Crystal Palace) it was made of iron and glass inside there were pavilions with trees and statues representing the triumph of man over the nature this exhibition represented the global triumph of British science, technology and industry the Crystal Palace was dismantled and reassembled in another area of London London’s first railway line was opened-> it connected London Bridge and Greenwich social conflicts main social conflicts: the increase in wealth and the poverty of the working masses the faith in science and the moralism, the idea of social responsibility the triumph of liberalism in the middle classes and the birth of the first socialist movements in defense of the workers the development of feminism and the image of women as angels in the houses the decline of the Church and the rise of religious movements 1846 : corn laws abolished corn laws imposed heavy taxation on imported goods-> it favored the landowners middle class needed founds-> they found them in the British banks
