19th century literature

ESSAY 1000 words on one of the topics we study – deadline- class in January

Introduction to romanticism

Neo-classicism, romanticism, Victorian era (early, mid, late victorianism), Modernism

Gutenberg website

ROMANTICISM

-revolt of the English imagination against the neoclassicism reason, FRENCH REVOLUTION-
inspiration-storming of Bastille, LIBERTY, EQUALITY, AND FRATERNITY, J.-J. Rousseau: glorify human
nature, claim for social democracy

-population shifts, INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION--- increasing mechanisation, development of industry,,,

economic depression, disparity between the rich and the poor,,, luddite riots: workers’ disturbances,
the reform bill

LUDDITES were losing their jobs because of machinery

CULTURAL BACKGROUND- the Romantic Movement: negative attitude towards the existing social and
political conditions

Reaction against neoclassicism

1798-1832

Lyrical ballads (W. Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge), 1832 the death of sir Walter Scott, the passage of th
reform bill, Manifesto-Lyrical ballads

-characteristics of romanticism- imagination (originality, not like in classicism copying ancient

stories), idealisation of nature (because the people were moving to cities, away from nature),
individualism, glorification of the commonplace (everyday things), the attraction of the exotic
(possibilities of the human mind, novels set in exotic places)

IMAGINATION- the supreme faculty of the mind (dynamic and active), imagination can change and
create, NATURE- different perspectives about nature, a healing power, a source of subject and image,
a refuge from the artificial constructs of civilisation, describing natural phenomena, nature poetry:
one of meditation, appreciation of the wild, untamed, natural, INDIVIDUALISM- the general
characteristic of human nature, The middle ages-emphasis on God, romanticism – saw man as an
individual in the solitary state, emphasised the special qualities of each individual’s mind, value the
exploration

POETRY - a prominence of first-person lyric poem, “I”-the direct person of the poet, f. ex. The prelude
(Wordsworth), A change of direction from attention

Glorification of the commonplace- materials- the commonplace, the natural, the simple, common
incidents and situations, natural diction and language
THE ATTRACTION OF THE EXOTIC- expanded horizons spatially and horizontally-The Middle Ages,
images of distant places; interest in the supernatural

English Romanticism- 1798 Lyrical Ballads, 1832 the death of W. Scott, POETRY- two generations-
Coleridge, Byron

Fiction- Novel, Jane Austen, Walter Scott, Newspapers

William Wordsworth-all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings

I wander’d lonely as a cloud, The world is too much with us; late and soon- EXAM,, My heart leaps us,
Intimations of immortality from recollections of early childhood

Literary features

The 1st generation of poets

-English romanticism- begin 1798 (publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge’s The lyrical ballads),
ends 1832- Walter Scott’s death, W. Blake and R. Burns-belong to this lit. genre well, thought they
lived in the romantic period

-Wordsworth + Coleridge- representative writers, + Southey - Lake Poets- they knew one another 18 th
century district of Lakes

-was educated at the Grammar school of Hawkshead, worshipper of nature, great sympathy with the
French revolution, was disillusioned by the Jacobin dictatorship and the French revolution of other
European countries

THE LOST LEADER by Robert Browning

His sister Dorothy was very influential on him, helped him to turn his eyes to “the face of nature”

Major works- in short poems, about nature and human life, “worshipper of nature”, nature gives him
“strength and knowledge full of grace”- The daffodils, Tintern Abbey,

Also wrote many sonets- Earth has not anything to show more fair, and The world is too much with
us

The prelude- Spots of time

Greatest contribution to the English literature-poems and his preface to “The lyrical Ballads”

Defined a poet- the poet is the man speaking to men; a man, it is true, endowed with more lively
sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness; the creative process of authentic poetry

Subject matter and poetic language-

Humble and rustic life was generally chosen because, in that condition, the essential passions of the
heart find better soil in which they can attain their maturity

Robert Southey-
-a literary scholar, essay writer, historian and biographer as well as poet, wrote

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

-born 1772, extremely gifted, university life bored him, escaped to enlist in the army (terrible
soldier), joined Southey in a utopian plan of establishing an ideal democratic community in America,
the plan resulted in nothing than marriage to Sara Fricker- unhappy, 1797 began his friendship with
Wordsworth

-conversation poems

-the Rime of Ancient Mariner

KUBLA KHAN

Biographia Literaria

READ THE FIRST 19 chapters of Pride and Prejudice (not long)

-From faith and reason to faith and senses, a shift from public and personal poetry, to objective
poetry,

Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor

INTUITION, IMAGINATION, …

-one of the strangest poems in English-Coleridge was ill, indisposition, he took a medicament and
read a book about travels, then he fell asleep and “composed” a poem from what he saw in the
dreams, but only a fragment of it- someone talked to him- he forgot the dream

-difficult to read, imaginary, concrete things happening,

-there were a lot of parodies of it
Girdle- verb, noun, nowadays spanks
Sinuous-meandering
Chasm-
Waning moon- diminishing moon wax-to grow big
To haunt-to go somewhere repeatedly
Vault- a jump
Rebounding-bouncing
Hail-kroupy
Tresher flail- cep
Damsel- lady
Dulcimer-exotic musical instrument

-many interpretations of this song, hard to reduce to a single meaning, power of imagination,
-Coleridge thinks about poems as power of imagination
-mysteriousness of this poem
Biographia Literaria-
- A poem should not be judged as a mirror of thruth
- Poets are born and not made, poems should be judged only according to their own lights and
not to any established precept or precedent
- Coleridge’s theory of imagination- primary imagination- power of perception, ability to give
order to chaos, secondary imagination –recreates or creates new worlds, fancy- a mode of
memory which permits the arrangement of pre-existing materials

The first generation-revolutionary

THE SECOND GENERATION OF POETS- Lord Byron, P. B. Shelley, J. Keats

Byron and Shelley good friends, morally shocking behaviour
All of them lived outside of Britain
ROMANTICISM and REVOLUTION
-the younger poets came of age during the Napoleonic era and rebelled even more strongly
against British conservatism
-cynical attitude of “Byronic hero”, the revolutionary “Shelley’s Prometheus”

George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)

- 19th century celebrity, huge personality cult developed around him, scandalous behaviour
- Aristocratic background
- Sensitive about his lameness
- A political radical (maiden speech in 1812 in House of lords in support of luddites)
- Left England in 1816, met Shelley in Switzerland, settled with him, had an affair with his half-
sister
- Lots of both male and female lovers
- Moved to Italy, finished “Childe Harold’s”, wrote “Don Juan”
- Joined Greek revolt against the Turks, became commander in chief Greek forces

His influence on European poetry, music, novel, opera and painting was immense
Respected neoclassical poets like Pope and Dryden, wrote satires about society and other
poets
Major contribution to Romanticism “THE BYRONIC HERO”
Major works- long poems- Childe Harold’s pilgrimage, Don Juan (it’s nothing like the original
Don Juan),
- SUMMARY- the Byronic hero- an idealised, but flawed character
P.B. Shelley

- Born into wealthy, aristocratic family, expelled from Oxford, returned to London and became
a disciple of William Godwin, a radical social philosopher and anarchist, fell in love with his
daughter

- Befriended Byron in Geneva, wrote his best poems during this time period

- Queen Mab, Alastor, Prometheus Unbound, Defence of Poetry

John Keats
-died young, sad lovelife- couldn’t marry the woman
-from humble family
-criticised by leading literary magazines
-extremely sensitive poet
-major works- Hyperion, Ode to a Nightingale, To Autumn, Endymion,
-his poems reflects the undying beauty of art
-sensuous poetry, rich in imagery, apprehension of beauty, concreteness of physical
sensations, appreciation of beauty
-influenced by Spenser, Shakespeare, Milton and Dante
-concept of negative capability, outlined in his celebrated letters
“I am certain of nothing but the Holiness of nature…”
The Victorian period overview
-dramatic changes
-long period, divided into three parts, early, mid, late
-changes and contrasts- impact of industrialism, London becomes most important city in
Europe, increase in national wealth, increase in poverty, social and political reform,
-early period-1832-48, opening of Liverpool and Manchester railway, the first public railway
line in the world
-voting right for working class men
-Chartism-
-the great exhibition of 1851- a time of prosperity, “the empire on which the sun never set”
-spreading Christianity
-utilitarianism- derived from the ideas of Jeremy Bentham
-challenges to religious belief-science, geology, astronomy, biology
-the late Victorian period- breakdown of Victorian values, melancholy, fin-de-siecle, aesthetic
movement
-women of the Victorian era- preoccupied with the nature of women, the concept of “the
angel in the house”, queen Victoria-represented a kind of femininity centred on family,
motherhood, a model of domestic virtue, women had no sexual feelings, the myth of “the
fallen woman” (prostitutes)
Victorian literature
-the novel was the dominant form, readers looked for guidance and enlightenment, most of
them set in 19century, many novels were published in instalments, large number of climaxes
and dramatic incidents designed to entertain the reader, many women writers- The Brontes,
Elizabeth Gaskel, George Elliot
Basic phases-the early Victorian age-critical realism, psychological, naturalism
The industrial North-coal mines, ship making-Manchester-centre of the large cotton industry
in Lancashire and was nicknamed Cottonopolis
The industrial revolution saw a huge growth in the size of British cities as people moved from
countryside to town working mills and factories. Manchester experienced a six-times
increase in its population between 1771 and 1831
The social Novel
-“The social problem novel”
 -Elizabeth Gaskell-writer- sympathy for the people, emphasizes the role of women and
feature dynamic female characters, novels- Mary Barthon, Ruth, Cranford, North and South,
The life of Charlotte Bronte, Sylvia’s lovers, Cousin Phillis, Wives and daughters (unfinished)

The Brontes- three sisters geniuses, Charlotte- Jane Eyre, Shirley, Emily- Wuthering Heights, Anne-
Agnes Grey, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall; struggled to publish

Pride and Prejudice

-second proposal- dislikes Darcy so much she pretends to be sick, dislikes him because- his
sister Jane is wishy-washy, Mr Bingley, he’s far above her family, cold civility- not warm at all,
just formal
-Darcy’s similarity to Mr. Collins- he first admits his feelings
-she feels flattered, but won’t accept it
Abhorrence- strong hatred, incredulity- can’t believe it, mortification- embarrassed to death,
- Her first impression- prejudice, she hated him
- Stately home- zámek , perturbation- anxious, flutter- being nervous,

Wuthering heights
- Not really a “nice love story”, unhealthy
- Katherine marries Linton, Heathcliff can’t forgive her, she dies
- The setting is romantic- Wuthering Heights
- Byronic hero, gothic elements (Heathcliff), supernatural- ghosts at the end
- Heathcliff has issues because of his childhood, the only woman who treated him nice-Cathy-
abandoned him, later cruel as an adult
- Told by Lockwood (flat character- thinks Heathcliff likes him) and Nelly (the servant and
nanny, but perhaps likes too gossip a lot, her subjective view, straightforward country
woman, down-to-earth, but loyal)- we never get inside the heads of the main characters
- Cathy dreams of going to heaven- doesn’t like it, wants to go back to the moors and be with
Heathcliff
- Chapter 9 -

Bough- bau- a part of a tree, moonbeam- ray of light from the moon,

Ode to a Nightingale-John Keats

- References to Greek mythology, in 19th century-educated people studied the Greek and
Roman myths
- CDE CDE stanzas
- First lines- depressive
- The strange feeling- happiness when listening to the bird
- He wants to drink to get into a state where he could feel like he can fly away with the bird
- First three stanzas in the exam
- Bacchus- god of partying, wine…
 - “Darkling I listen”- I listen in the dark, fell in love with easeful Death- he wanted to die many
times
- Describes the bird as something immortal, the same bird has been heard for thousands of
years

Hemlock- poisonous drink, lot-faith, dryad-nymph, beechen green- beech tree, vintage- used to be
used as reference for an old vine, synaesthesia-strange feeling that you can taste colours, feel
sounds, beaker- nowadays a cup, in the past original inhabitants of Britain; spectre-thin- thin as a
ghost, lustrous, pine- as verb- longing, sod- a piece of soil

Jane Austen

-difficulties with publishing, thought positive review

-never married, was once in love

-loved children

-Edison disease

The Victorian Era

-queen assembled the throne at 18

-the queen herself personified the era in her country, her monarchy was a model to other countries,
represented the puritan values, hardworking, pious

-married German prince Albert

-63 years and 7 months

-her husband and Charles Dickens revived the Spirit of Christmas- brought the tree and carols from
Germany

-peace, prosperity and national self-confidence

-textile industry, metallurgy, steam engine

-19century- century of steam

-technology first reached the countryside- agriculture

-people migrating to cities to get jobs

-voting to almost all of the male population

-victorian middle-class-self-made people, proud of their achievements, religious- puritan ethics and
patriarchal social order, Duty, restraint, prudishness, public man X private woman (angel of the
house), sexual morality – taboo themes, euphemisms
-homosexuality punished

-age of paradoxes- morality X erotic paintings, literature… beginning of erotic photography, greatest
number of prostitutes of all times in London

-child labour- in working class families- from age 3, 16 hours a day, chimney sweepers, sellers of
matches and flowers… high mortality

-later minimum age of 9 was set to start working

-ragged schools –elementary education act 1870- free, practical kind of education-> National
educational league

-religious and conservative X Darwin On the Origin of species 1859- Darwinism became popular

Victorian reading and writing-readers middle class- wanted to read about people like themselves

Novel- most dominant genre at that time

- “the public reading”- writers gave reading of their works

Charles Dickens – Great expectations

-dickensian conditions- bad conditions, he wrote about social problems

-lived only until 59

-comic, the good gets order, the bad gets punished

-Dickens virtually created Christmas

-lark- legrace

-bildungsroman- look at a character from childhood to adulthood-Pip at the beginning describes

himself in a very childlike language

-Pip- nice, feels guilty when he lies, helps the convict, feels compassion for him, becomes a terrible
snob- when gets money to become gentleman, embarrassed of Joe

-only matters if you have good heart

-changed the ending from a much darker to lighter

-social advancement- Pip is ambitious- those are the great expectations

-Joseph- good, simple man

- Ms Joe Gargery- Pip’s sister, horrible woman

-Estella- beautiful, but heartless

-Miss Havisham- “frozen”, still wears her wedding dress, haven’t changed anything since her called-
off wedding
FRIDAY 4th OF JANUARY – DEADLINE OF ESSAY

THE BRONTES

- Charlotte, Emily, Anne, Patrick

- Haworth Parsonage-the town used to be very dirty
- Jane Eyre- very lively as a little girl, grows up to be a governess
- Features of Charlotte’s works- wrote number of novels
- Emily wrote just one- Wuthering Heights

CHARLES DICKENS

- The great novelist who was also the great entertainer, the greatest entertainer, probably, in
the history of fiction
- Dickensian- poor
- Champion of “the underdog”- anybody who is less powerful- neprizpusobivy
- Born to a not poor background
- Had to work at factory at the age of twelve
- Shorthand
- Worked on more that one novels at the same time
- Oliver Twist- criticizing social ills, workhouse
- Christmas Carol
- Anti-slavery
- Loved theatre
- Earned 10000 pounds a month- big deal
- Later books are more appreciated- darker, more mature
- Attacks hypocrisy, corruption, injustice, and social evils like the workhouse
- Most popular work: A Christmas Carol, Great Expectations,

William Makepeace Thackeray

-born in India, most famous novel Vanity fair, great satirist (wrote about upper classes)
-set during Napoleonic war-story of two schoolfriends- Becky Sharp and Amelia Sedley- completely
different characters

George Elliot

-woman writer, admired by Dickens

- first work- Scenes of Clerical life
-talks directly to the reader in her writing
-Daniel Deronda- sympathetic description of Jewish culture
-feminist, unconventional, lived with a man she wasn’t married to, but humanist
-her characters were not defined by their relationship to men
-The Mill on the Floss

Naturalism
-character’s lives governed by scientific determinism, heredity and environment,
-to show this determinism, naturalists create weak and passive characters
-Zola, Hardy
Thomas Hardy
-Desperate remedies, Jude the Obscure (last novel), lot of novels
-after that writes poetry, one of the most influential poets of 20 th century
-born in Upper Backhampton
-train as an architect
-married twice- first marriage unhappy- great inspiration for his poetry
-pessimistic philosophy
-Tess of the d’Urvevilles – editors forced him to rewrite parts of it, well received, but heavily
criticised, a woman wronged by two men,
-Jude the Obscure- harsh criticism- created storms of scandal and protest for the author upon its
publication, marriage and sexual relationship, religion, new modes of thinking, class and the social
order- Jude’s desire to be a scholar
-sympathetic towards women
-struggled financially all of his life

Jude the Obscure

- Naturalist
- Jude- ambitious, melancholic, weak, big dreams shattered, kind (even to crows in the field), can’t
even kill the pig, tender fool
- Sue- free-spirited, clever, flirt, same situation as Jude with marriage- finds her husband repellent,
but her husband lets her go
-marriage is one of the main themes in the book
- son of Jude an Arabella- melancholic as well, kills himself and the other children of Jude and Sue
- Sue leaves because she thinks she deserves to be punished
- Jude is with Arabella, then dies, Arabella is on search for another husband
- hoity-toity
- Sue and Jude both are against marriage

Rudyard Kipling
- English short-story writer, novelist and poet, remembered for his celebration of British
imperialism
- Wrote about India
- 6 volumes of short stories about life in India
- Nowadays he is considered politically incorrect
- “The white man’s burden” –poem about the duty of civilising the underdeveloped nations
- Poem “If” – about British people not showing off their emotions
- Irish national revival

Fin de Siecle
- Germany getting stronger
- L’art pour l’art
- Great French influence
- The aesthetic movement – John Kears, Percy Bysshe Shelley
- Oscar Wilde – From Dublin, Ireland, married Constance Lloyd, great conversationalist and
famous wit, the only novel he wrote was Picture of Dorian Gray, The importance of being
Earnest, homosexual
The picture of Dorian Gray
- Influenced by French thinking
- The witty character – Lord Henry
- Dorian Gray – Says to Henry – “You poisoned me with a book”, very young man at the
beginning – was neglected as a child, groomed – prepared for being manipulated
- Lord Henry – his point of view on the world is attractive, witty character, basically Oscar
Wilde speaking, described as an attractive young man, suggest Dorian to do certain things,
but he doesn’t do them himself
- The Preface- can there be an immoral book?
- upper middle class
- Basil (the painter) is basically in love with Dorian, who’s very good looking
- Lord to Dorian – “You have a marvellous youth.” “Beauty is a form of genious.” Saying the
opposite of what most people say that Beauty is just skin deep
- Basically Dorian is hot and that’s the source of the main problem
- Sybille – Dorian is in love with her, her acting, then he’s cruel to her and she kills herself, he is
rather sorry BUT LORD HENRY tells him that it’s not his fault
- Ending – kind of Faustian story, mix, fairy-tale and parabola
-