18th Century

For the first time in history Parliament had more power than the Monarch. There were 2 parties namely the Tories and the Whigs. The Prime Minister was the most powerful person in the country. This was the century of colonial power, industrial revolution.

The general public those days were mostly Protestants and were interested in everyday life realities. Writers like Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift (Gulliver’s travels) saw this as an opportunity to fulfill the people’s needs. They came up with stories that they presented as reality. A new genre was born: namely The Novel.

The 18th century saw the development of the modern novel as literary genre, in fact many candidates fort he first novel in English date from this period, of which Daniel Defoe’s 1719 Robinson Crusoe is probably the best known. Subgenres of the novel during the 18th century were the epistolary novel, the sentimental novel, histories, the gothic novel and the libertine novel.

18th century Europe started in the Age of Enlightenment and gradually moved towards Romanticism. In the visual arts, it was the period of Neoclassicism.

 

Romanticism in Great Britain:

What the early Romantics—especially William Wordsworth —wanted to do was revolutionize the way poetry was written. Romantic poets were sick and tired of how artsy-fartsy poetry had become, especially the poetry of their predecessors. They wanted to make poetry conversational. They set out to write poems that used the language of ordinary speech but which were still beautiful and poetic.

The Romantics had a huge crush on nature. These guys (and sometimes gals) loved trees, flowers, mountains, clouds, crags, birds…you name it. As long as it was outdoors, they loved it.
 

In nature, the Romantics found inspiration for their poetry, wisdom, and straight-up happiness. If we went to the Romantics with a diagnosis of depression, they'd tell us: "Forget meds; take a walk in the park. Hug a tree. Talk to a bird. All you need is a little green." They were fascinated with nature because they were living and writing at the time of the Industrial Revolution. In the big cities, there were factories everywhere and mechanized manufacturing processes were changing society. Humans were being replaced by machines.
 

Boy were the Romantics a sentimental lot. A flower could move them to tears. An old Greek urn could set them brooding for hours. These writers were flat out obsessed with feelings. In fact, one of the most famous definitions of poetry is the one that William Wordsworth, the father of British Romanticism, gave us. He said that poetry is the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility". 

 

The Romantics' obsession with emotions has to do with what they were reacting against. Remember that Romanticism followed on the heels of the Enlightenment, an intellectual movement of the 17th and early 18th century that emphasized reason above emotion, rationality above irrationality. The Romantics didn't agree with the Enlightenment point of view (duh). Of course our feelings count, they said. Of course we can't always behave in a rational way. To be human is to be emotional and irrational and moody, for crying out loud. We're not robots, are we? 

 

Lyrical poetry:

A lyric poem is songlike and expresses emotion. In ancient Greece, poems were often accompanied by music played on a lyre.

 

Questions:

1. Look up what the bold printed terms mean.

2. What was the main focus of poetry during Romanticism? And what was the focus during the Age of Englightenment?

 

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud – William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed – and gazed – but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodil
 

Questions:

1. In Wordsworth’s poem, how do the daffodils resemble the stars?

2. What is the poet’s state of mind in the beginning of the poem and what simile has he used to depict that?

 

William Blake, (born Nov. 28, 1757, London, Eng.—died Aug. 12, 1827, London), English engraver, artist, poet, and visionary.

 

The Tyger – William Blake

Tyger Tyger, burning bright, 

In the forests of the night; 

What immortal hand or eye, 

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

In what distant deeps or skies. 

Burnt the fire of thine eyes?

On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand, dare seize the fire?

 

And what shoulder, & what art,

Could twist the sinews of thy heart?

And when thy heart began to beat,

What dread hand? & what dread feet?

 

What the hammer? what the chain, 

In what furnace was thy brain?

What the anvil? what dread grasp, 

Dare its deadly terrors clasp! 

 

When the stars threw down their spears 

And water'd heaven with their tears: 

Did he smile his work to see?

Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

 

Tyger Tyger burning bright, 

In the forests of the night: 

What immortal hand or eye,

Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

 

Questions:

1. Mention at least 3 symbols from The Tyger and what they represent.

2. What type of poem is The Tyger?