22.10.2021.

❖ Alliteration - the initial consonant sound is repeated in two

neighbouring words (sometimes also in words that aren’t next to each
other) ; it draws attention to the phrase, used for emphasis
❖ Assonance - a figure of speech, more often found in verse than in
prose and it refers to the repetition of vowel sounds
❖ Apostrophe - the speaker addresses someone directly (they can be
absent or dead, physically present but mentally away)
❖ Symbol - an object, a person, a situation, a word, an idea...something
that has a literal meaning in the story, but it also has an alternative
identity that means something else
❖ Metaphor - a form of comparison that can span over sentences, it
directly compares one thing to another for rhetorical effect
❖ Simile - a type of metaphor that compares two things with like or as
❖ Personification - a figure of speech through which one assigns human
attributes to a non-human entity or inanimate object to express an idea
in a more imaginative way
❖ Hyperbole - an intentional exaggeration for emphasis or comic effect
❖ Allusion - a brief reference to a person, place, thing… with which the
reader is presumably familiar ; allows the writer to compress a great
deal of meaning into a phrase or word
❖ Metonymy - the use of the name of one thing for that of another of
which it is an attribute or with which it is associated
❖ Iambic pentameter - a line of verse with five metrical feet, each
consisting of one short syllable followed by one long syllable
❖ Sonnet - a fourteen-line poem written in iambic pentameter, employing
one of several rhyme schemes, and adhering to a tightly structured
thematic organization
➢ Petrarchan sonnets - consist of an octave and sestet ; the idea
in the first eight lines is contradicted in the last six lines
➢ Shakespearean sonnets - three quatrains and a couplet
❖ Renaissance - a period of exploration, fulfilling one’s potential
➢ after this period, the world took a turn towards restraint and order
- new classical period (neoclassicism or enlightenment)
❖ Neoclassicism is more often used when talking about the history of art,
enlightenment is used for philosophy, science or history
❖ The period started in the 1650s (in the whole world)
❖ Within this period in England, there are three distinct sub-periods:
 ➢ the restoration period, the Augustine Age (the Age of Reason),
the Age of Johnson (named after Samuel Johnson)
❖ Neoclassical - neo means new, classical means that this period draws
inspiration from the classical one (ancient Greek and Roman cultures)
➢ revival of the interests in the classics
❖ 16,17,18th century England - a lot of different kings on the throne
➢ Civil War - King Charles I was executed, people were afraid that
Catholicism could be restored
➢ the period where Parliament reigned
■ the emergence of the middle class
■ people would drink afternoon tea (became a tradition),
education became more easily available
■ establishment of the middle class - merchant trading with
chocolate, spices, tea, silk (raised them financially)
❖ Restoration of the London population after the Great Fire (1666)
➢ England possessed a lot of colonies, on her way to become one
of the greatest powers in the world
➢ the British believed that they were more intelligent and that they
should spread their civilization to other nations (a pretext for
exploiting colonies) - gave rise to the middle class
❖ Neoclassical literature written between 1660 and 1798, artists interested
in the ideas of logic, rational order, didn’t overuse metaphors, simplified
everything by using conventional figures of speech
➢ the respect for antiquity made them conservative - aware of the
rules they were meant to follow, shouldn’t stray from regulations
❖ Classical ideals, characteristics of classical art forms:
➢ had a lucid and polished style of writing
➢ paid attention to the restrictions of the genre (stay within the limits
of their genre, the limits of their social position as well as the
social position of the characters they were portraying)
➢ had a strict plotline - limited by time and space
❖ These text - prescriptive (prescribes how something ought to be written)
❖ The age of enlightenment started in France (mid 17th century)
❖ Important figures: John Locke, Newton, Francis Bacon, René
Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau
❖ John Locke said that all of us are an empty slate (not predestined to
anything) - a revolutionary idea
➢ the main targets of enlightenment critics: religious dogmas (e.g.
the notion of predestination) or the monarchy
 ■ a turn from the superstitious and prejudice to logic,
reason and scientific experimentation
❖ The period of enlightenment came to England 30 years later, and it
ended in 1798 (William Wordsworth publishes the Lyrical Ballads)
❖ Enlightenment thinkers wanted to rebuild the system of values, reason
became the ultimate tool for determining what is good, just and true,
didn’t want to rely on religious superstitions
➢ lay the foundation of modern society - education, scientific truths
❖ The concept of nature - general human nature, the views held by
classical authors
➢ they come down to a series of rules on how one ought to behave
in public (model behaviour was of great importance)
➢ thought of human nature as something standard (the same in all
human beings) and something that remains the same at all times
➢ man has limited power → he should set achievable goals and he should
not strive to aim high (work hard as long as it is within the socially
acceptable circles and amounts)
■ promotes the maintenance of the status quo
■ believed that art should reflect this opinion (instead of
writing about individual differences, neoclassical artists
emphasized more common human characteristics - created
archetypes in their writing)
❖ Echo of classical thinkers: you cannot be good at everything if you are
an artist (good at either one or the other)
➢ if human nature remains the same throughout centuries, unlikely
that any new discoveries will be made (the reason why
neoclassical artist didn’t strive to be original, they express old
truths in a new way)
❖ Enlightenment age - religious beliefs and morality grounded on reason
➢ neoclassical writing didn’t have overflows of emotion and
imagination (emotion appears but it is controlled)
■ a work of art for them - something logically organized with
good grammar, regular rhyming patterns and that
advocates rational rules (mimicking the classical period)
❖ Man in neoclassicism and the age of enlightenment - imperfect and
inherently sinful, has limited potential
➢ focus on order, harmony, symmetry, unity in their writing
➢ reaction against the atmosphere in the Middle Ages, against
the dogma of the Church (relying on more objective factors
such as evidence and experiments)
 29.10.2021.

‘’The Eighteenth-Century Background’’ by Basil Willey

‘Nature’ in Literary Theory

Page 5
❖ Critics refer to nature as the standard of the poets, the source, the end,
the test of art and it was built on reason
➢ refer to human nature, something that is inherently unchangeable
❖ The definition of nature was not constant
➢ protean - everchanging ; ambiguity - various interpretations
❖ During the Enlightenment, nature and reason interchangeable because
the understanding of nature and the natural world was found in reason
❖ Even religion was founded on reason - because of changes in
philosophy and the over reliance on reason, people developed a certain
religious philosophy
➢ Deism - philosophical position, unorthodox religion, belief in the
existence of a Supreme Being (God) based on logic and reason
(rational thought, without reliance on religious authority or
superstitions) ; the discoveries at this time were based in nature
(people discovered natural laws, noticed their existence, based
on their observations they say the laws that happen in nature)
❖ The critics’ problem with nature: difficult thing to transfer all these rules
(that were noticed in nature) to poetry (literature, writing), looking for a
way to imitate nature while staying true to logic and rules
➢ turned to prescriptivism and posing certain rules: using certain
verses, certain types of rhymes, grammar - prescribed how to
write through relying on reason and natural rules
❖ Believed that good poetry comes from following strict rules of writing
➢ by imitating the rules of nature they were creating natural poetry
➢ but, no matter how hard they try to make it seem natural, it
seemed artificial because of all these rules (too structured)
❖ Natural in poetic diction (according to Dryden): referred to the ancient
rules posed by Virgil, Horace, Aristotle, Plato - they used metaphors,
the strongest hyperboles, had the best arguments
➢ wanted to please their audience, but also achieve universal
tradition and prescribed right rules for writing proper poetry
(poetry whose goal was to delight, as well as to imitate nature)
Page 6
❖ Reynolds about nature - whatever produces a sense of delight or
pleasure is natural, meaning that if poetry is able to produce this effect
in the reader - the author did a good job with following the rules and
creating this sense of delight
➢ anything that pleases us is natural, not just nature itself
➢ the rule was posed in the period of antiquity: the primary goal of
poetry is to delight the reader (to entertain, as well as educate)
❖ Poetry has to produce the feeling of delight, has to please average
educated humanity (middle and higher classes, those who have access
to education, who are literate and able to understand and interpret the
poems as well as references made in them - the reader and the critic)
➢ the standard, what people viewed as natural in 17th and 18th
century: educated people from polite nations of the civilized world
(nature = civil) - higher class
■ nature is least corrupt there: educated man is seen as
natural (polite, adheres to the rules, pays attention to how
he behaves in public and his personal and public affairs
■ those who didn’t have access to education etc: seen as
depraved or unnatural (rebels, criminals)
❖ These notions of nature from the outside was transferred to poetry
➢ in order for poetry to be good, had to be just, proportional and
ordered (proper prescribed rules had to be followed)
❖ The plot had to combine fiction and faction (imagination and reality)
➢ to a certain degree, had to be preferable to truth
➢ a combination of fantasy and reason, balanced
❖ Natural - combination of truth and delight, which are in perfect harmony
‘Nature for the poet is the idea…’ ; ‘...obstacles of Virtue’
❖ Poets cannot change something that is wrong in nature (18th century
thought - God created a perfect world)
➢ poets use nature as inspiration, optimize nature (build onto it),
intensifying all of the good things in nature, imitating it, faithfully
replicating its rules in literature
■ didn’t focus on creation and invention
❖ Metaphysical optimism (17, 18th century) - belief in a Supreme Being
who has created nature, life and Earth as perfect, but he is also an
absent creator - God doesn’t interfere in human life, he has created the
world and then stepped back (let it function as a perfect mechanism)
➢ dangerous: the thought that the world is perfect as it is and that
everything is happening as it is supposed to happen
 ➢ evil can then be justified through this philosophical thought - can it
be considered as evil in that world or is it a part of a bigger,
perfect picture that we can’t see (rationalized as God’s plan),
justification for bad deeds, denial of the existence of evil
➢ God likes variety (the Great Chain of Being): every link has its
proper place: man is at the center because he is better and
smarter than plants and animals, but not at the same level of
angels (through creating variety, God gave certain types of
knowledge to every link in the chain, man has limited knowledge),
God is the only one who can see the whole picture of the world
❖ Willie says that the characters in poems or plays must be types and not
individuals (emphasis is not on individual human beings, it’s on certain
types) - poets need to create proper characters who are typical
➢ the types should educate the individuals, show virtuous examples
➢ the characters have to be proper and true to their social status
and class, and exhibit proper behaviour (thoughts, sentiments
and expressions have to be suited to their age, sex, quality,
employment and fortune)
■ e.g. authors shouldn’t write about women crying at funerals
because young men and soldiers would also read those
parts and those strong emotions would then affect them
(they would imitate these women - cry, not proper
behaviour for them)
➢ diction (language) has to be proper, clear, natural, grammatically
correct (do not write in dialect form, language of the educated)
❖ Universal rule (Decorum): refers to proper rules of behaviour (social
circumstances) - for the higher classes: how to walk, talk, sit, behave
➢ when transferred to literature - decorum is particular language
and characters appropriate to the genre
❖ ‘First follow Nature, and your judgement frame by her just
standard, which is still the same’ (Essay on Criticism by Pope) -
when writing, writers are supposed to follow rules set up by ancient
Roman and Greek philosophers and not make up new rules
➢ those rules should be applied to both writing and judgement
➢ not just any nature, but the one ancient poets wrote about
01.11.2021.
Chapter III - Cosmic Toryism

● toryism - political party, conservative and traditional

● cosmic toryism - metaphysical optimism
- theodicy- justifies the works of God
- this world must be perfect, as God created it, so it must be for a reason;
everything has a reason
- ’evils’ only appear to exist, as humans can’t see the full picture, so
things humans can’t understand, they deem as evil
- the world seems like a maze, God is up there so he sees the whole
maze and knows all

● Whatever is, is right: we should trust God, as he has a plan, he created

the perfect world, so humans should accept things as they are
● ‘trust the process and don’t alter your destiny’

- optimism at this level is difficult to obtain as humans are made from

flesh and blood, they aren’t divine beings, therefore are prone to
mistakes
- it’s difficult to have faith because when bad things happen, we can’t
always have faith in God
- God is seen as absent - he created the perfect system in which people
are supposed to believe in

- people who benefited from this way of thinking were the rich people -
they had no need to believe in metaphysical as they were privileged and
had everything
- they believed they were predestined to be rich and knowledgeable so
they saw no need for lower classes to change their positions as they
were fixed positions;

- Willey compares the notion of Christendom which includes the legend of

the Fallen Universe, and the Newtonian Universe characteristic to this
time
- Christendom: good vs evil, evil exists
- Newtonian Universe (universe governed by rational and understandable
laws): perfect world, made all good, and evil does not exist
- this Newtonian attitude could be dangerous as all evil could be justified
(God planned for it), people had no idea what God’s plan was, so it
must fit in it -> people could do whatever they wanted and justify it by
saying it was the plan of God
Alexander Pope
An Essay on Man: Epistle I

- not a philosophical essay, mixture of different popular ideas that people

(educated elite) had
- tries to justify God’s wisdom and the nature of Universe and Man
- there was this need to justify because they was a great distinction
between the ideal state and the reality full of violence, poverty and
despair, lower class and privileged

● he is addressing someone: we have the apostrophe - stating the subject

matter = the world, most importantly about nature, society, plants
and animals, creation of the world, ultimately wants to justify the
way that God created the world (‘a mighty maze, but not without a
plan’ basis of deism)

● one cannot soar to the new social status - social statuses are fixed
● don’t blame heaven and God as God created perfection thus he created
man as perfect as he ought to be, he gave man knowledge so the
knowledge is proportionate to his state and his place, his existence is
limited, man cannot be any better than how he’s born; there is no
improvement possible; essentially our time is limited, a point in space
● LIMITED POWER OF MEN - we should not strive for more, because
there is not supposed to be more; we are already blessed enough;
negates the very existence of change and human nature is the same
since the beginning of this world; God is everywhere; people cannot
understand why the world was created in such a way

● God prescribes you a page, your present and your current state, we
don’t have any knowledge about future; people have no free will and
don’t know what is about to happen
● God distributes knowledge in accordance to the hierarchy thus
knowledge is limited, man doesn’t know what angels or spirits know;
animals and plants don't possess the knowledge that man does; if we
had knowledge about our future, we would only suffer and be miserable
● he praises the blindness over knowledge for the future in the way that
we should only look close in front of us without wandering too far; each
person should do the things in their might, each person should only fulfil
their part and nothing else
● our existence is predetermined = everyone has something to do, some
sense of equality
● nothing is irrelevant

- pinion (zubcanik)
- what is left is to hope - a sense of hope that God gives them
- the only thing certain is ultimately death - they have to adore God and
have hope in him
- what is left is hope and feeling relevant
- negates the whole myth of heaven and hell

- if we had too much knowledge we wouldn’t be able to comprehend it

- if one person stops performing their predestined role, the Earth
becomes unbalanced, detaches from its’ orbit = everything falls apart
and falls into chaos
- warnings for rebellious men not to break the order
- everyone has their own place in the system, and should not reach to be
more; our bodies are perfectly working mechanisms in a perfect world
- God is everywhere - in nature, sky, wind, etc
- evil truly does not exist in this world

Essay on Critisism
Alexander Pope

- consists of certain statements and premises of the entire tradition

neoclassicism
- summarizes certain statements, offers no new ideas
- not addressing mankind as a whole, talking about artists, writers,
criticism and critics
- want of sth = lack of sth. (here, lack of talent, skill; paragraph 1)
- someone can mislead our sense = critics can often do so if they are bad
judges
- literary criticism and opinions were taken for granted - their thoughts
and criticism often widely acknowledged and accepted
- there are more bad critics than bad writers
- critics usually wrote in prose rather than verses which writers used (this
essay was an exception; sometimes, critics were writers and vise versa)
- no one has the same opinion about something (maybe partially, but
rarely in totality; we cling to our own judgement)
 - not all writers are talented, not all critics have great taste; their common
ground is that they are God’s creation and that their talents were
developed as natural
- all of us were born with certain knowledge - some to write, some to write
- anyone can judge and have an opinion of sth, but there is a hierarchy -
those on the bottom should know that they have no talent to judge and
should move on from that
- the right to judge comes only if you excel at writing; you cannot judge if
you haven’t written something amazing and beautiful
- talks about how natural rules ought to be followed
- we have to mimic the natural rules in our writing
- no belief in human creativity - characteristic of the Renaissance period
- you can only be good at one thing - example: you can only be good at
painting and nothing else; either linguists or literature, you can’t be good
at both according to Pope
- no progress, no development, no experiments - they made peace with
their position
- we should shape our judgement according to Nature’s standard as it
does not make mistakes
- these rules, even though are unseen, guide each motion
- writers should make order and respect old rules
- human pride is the vice of fools
- proud people think they are all knowing in their ignorance
- having little to no knowledge (or shallow knowledge) is dangerous,
people should strive to fully understand everything they learn

8. 11. 2021.

‘Preface to Shakespear’ by Samuel Johnson (1765)

- Classic document of English literary criticism;

- Filled with neoclassical values;

● First two paragraphs: talk about the dead - the art of previous
generations is revered, of a higher order, while contemporary art is
usually criticized; Critics of the 18th century took aold art for granted
and doubted their counterparts;
 ● Second two paragraphs: discuss the characteristics of a good literary
piece (timeless, should increase in popularity over time, must be more
prominent that other piece); Mentions Shakespear because of the
universality of his work and because of it possessing these
characteristics;

- Essay could be divided into the sections: pro-Shakespear, Shakespeare

faults, and unity of time, place and action

● Third pair: only presentations of general nature could have a prolonged

pleasuring effect on readers (neoclassical ideal); Good pieces last
against time - if they don’t, they failed to present general nature properly
- Shakespear is praised by being called ‘the Part of Nature’, a prototype
of a good nature-mimicking poet;
● Fourth pair: talks about Shakespear being better than modern
dramatists - their giving too much attention to love, stressing its
importance excessively, is what they were doing wrong (it was
inadequate for neoclassicism, which was the age of reason) =>
misrepresentation of life
● Paragraph nine: ‘transitory’ paragraph - slowly begins going into the
errors of Shakespear’s writing - he disregards the principles of natural
writing by mixing styles - his writing has no rules
● Fifth pair (10 & 11): Johnson claims to be impartial, yet he remains
rather subjective - first Shakespear’s fault is sacrificing virtue for
convention - solely entertaining the audience, teaches no moral lesson
(neoclassicists have ‘role models’ in their stories for teaching the
readers); Johnson contradicts himself and his praisal of Shakespear’s
characters
● Sixth pair: second Shakespear’s fault - his plots - not well-developed
(sloppy or irrational writing) - Johnson claims that Shakespear became
corrupted with money by the end, so he finished his pieces poorly

- First piece to ever criticize Shakespear

● Seventh pair: analyzes the unity of time and place within Shakespear’s
pieces - Shakespear wrote about topics widely displaced through
history and with a substantial time difference between them; Johnson
once again contradicts his praisal of Shakespear’s characters for their
properties, which were universal against a great time interval and rather
inconsistent to their own periods;
 ● Eight pair: complements Shakespear’s unity of action - connected and
clear plot, easy to comprehend - place of accurate representation of
nature; all stories are held within one piece, no sequels to stories, very
important for the quality; discusses credibility of Shakespear’s work =
unity of time, place and action, as well as him adhering to rules peculiar
to the genre; more value in credibility and moral instruction than
entertainment; unity of time is crucial as audiences would get confused
by a plot spanning over decades, but fit in a few-hour-long play

12. 11. 2021.

‘A Modest Proposal’ - Jonathan Swift (1729)

- Swift - Anglo-Irish satirist, essayist, political writer for the left wing, ‘Gulliver's
Travels’, ironic style - Swiftian satire
- A satirical essay
* A persona = mask for the narrator/speaker
- Original title: ‘A Modest Proposal for Preventing the Children of Poor People
in Ireland from being a Burden to their Parents or Country, and for making
them Beneficial to the Public’
- Scientific view on economic problems
- Objective, scientific language of a highly-educated persons, gives off a
trustworthy impression

● First three paragraphs: describes the melancholic, poor state in Ireland -

beggars, jobbles women and children; Catholic families had multiple
children (women always accompanied by a few of her own); Dressed in
rags - the children usually grew up into thieves and other social
burdens; Sometimes even men couldn’t find work - jobless family
providers; the persona demands a fair, moral cheap, and easy solution,
whose invention would deserve public praise (a trace of mercantilist
philosophy - a focus on economic reason); children are considered a
burden to their parents as they are expensive
● Second three paragraphs: we realize that the ‘persona’ is against
abortion, he’s a reasonable man of science, represents the ideas of the
Englihtenment; A child doesn’t cost more than two shilling in the first
year of its life - fairly cheap, sustainable by milk only - thins that the
persona thinks he can solve the problems of children being a burns and
problems of abortion
● Third three paragraphs: the estimate of children born per year is
evidence of the great effort invested into this idea by the persona
 (reason and logic = more Enlightenment symbols); Contradictions to the
mercantilist philosophy - money isn’t in focus anymore; Children usually
start thieving at about six years old (undreage is below six, above six
are adults): Children before 12 years are considered objects in the
economy - after 12, they are not profitable (children can be sold for a
lot less than what was initially spent on them); one-year-old children are
the best food (according to Native American specialist)
● Fourth two paragraphs: the proposal of treating children as livestock -
breeding children, marriage is pointless; Allowing plentiful feeding in the
final month before sale in order to yield more edible surface; Perfect
weight of a child is 28 pounds (around the end of the first year of life) =>
fair, cheap, and easy solution
● Next five paragraphs: the first sentence is actually Swift speaking,
illustrating his anger with rich landlords in Ireland and their steep rent;
Continuing with the notion - most fruitful month for bearing children is
March (nine months after Lent) - the persona mocking Roman
Catholics; Landlords should be happy as tenants would actually be
raising their food for them; Using the skiing of children for gloves and
boots is advised - less of the child gets wasted
● Following two paragraphs: children should be a good substitute for
venison; Only young children should be considered, older children can
be used for other purposes - they become more masculine and
therefore less tender; Slaughtering these children would also be cruel
murder; The older females could be used as breeders
● Final three: old people are important, and should be neglected; The
proposed solution with children could decrease the Papist population
(the persona considers them pests by stating that they are overrun by
them)

15.11.2021.
1. J. Swift – “Modest Proposal” – satirical essay – Juvenalian satire
● left off at the part where he starts listing all of the advantages that his very modest
proposal would have for the whole of the Irish society
● read the first one where he lists that the results of his proposal would greatly lessen
the number of people as he calls them, he refers to them as Berman so she
concludes that they would no longer be overwhelmed by them that is they would get
rid of this pest who are being as he says principle breeders of the Niesha
page 26, part 4, 5
● The second consequence of his proposal: he says that the poor tenants will have
something valuable of their own - he talks about tenants possessing something of
value, he is referring to the children in this case their value is being a bartering ship,
they have already have all of their possessions or their other possessions seized by
the landlords, there is corn and cattle so children are seen merely as a commodity
something of value to be used in trading or in paying instead of money.
● The third consequence: it would streamline the production of food which would then
better the economy he says the money would circulate within the borders of the
country among themselves and the goods once again referring to the children would
be homegrown so they would know where their food comes from
● it would not need to import goods and by doing that more for their food instead they
will do it locally their will grow their children locally and by doing that save some
money as well so once again a very Mercantilist approach to bettering the economy
● The fourth consequence: pretty straightforward and it says that it would merely be a
relief to the mothers to be rid of the children after a certain period.
● in a way it denies any kind of an emotional connection between a parent and a child
and their relationship is nearly reduced to that of owner and commodity where the
owner’s goal is to sell the commodity for the highest price within a certain amount of
time, so there they would have one obligation left.
● The fifth consequence: so, children would be treated as food and with this new type
of meat as he says both the chefs and the maliers or whoever would try to come up
with new recipes, which would then attract new customers once again focusing on
this economical aspect of turning money around and selling commodities for money -
in this case commodity being specialty food specialty dishes
● Acquiring new ways of preparing melas and will earn money that way – high-end
restaurants where meals are sold for the higher price
● The accent is on this economical growth of the country
● The sixth consequence: he gives the comment on the position of women in society,
how they further benefit from his solution, because he already listed that they would
only have to take care of their children for a limited amount of time, they do not have
life-long commitment to them as they would have had to that point – the first
advantage
● The fact that their children are going to be sold would have improved the overall
relationship between the husband and the wife – the wives would treat the children
better and the husbands would more tender and kinder towards their wives – not to
cause the portion
● Sarcastic, because he is pointing out the wrong doings of the society, the bad position
of women, they are being physically mistreated by their husbands, which was a norm
for women. He is pointing out that there is something wrong about treating your wife
better sourly you are focused on the money you are going to get from her pregnancy
and not because you are truly happy that she is with child and not mistreat her
because you actually have feelings for them, against abortion and domestic violence.
 ● Even though everything would be fine in the eyes of the public, women both from the
low parts of the social sphere as well as the upper-class women or treated he says as
cows in calf, so they were there to produce children to produce heirs
● marriages were not formed out of love, but out of the quorum, out of social practice,
out of monetary gain. There were rules on who you could marry and you could not,
based on your social class and social standing.
Till end
● This persona quite thoroughly covered the topic, covered a problem debated on
every aspect that of the solution that he's proposing
● he has read other proposals and found fault with them
● he is a scientific man, if someone were to propose a better solution than this one, he
is offering he is of course willing to accept it. However, there is this ultimate
question, this ultimate dilemma that he wants the other authors to consider
● He wants him to ask the parents of these children, metaphorical children, what they
would prefer - that their children die “peacefully” when they are infants or do they
wish upon their children the same fate of poverty and begging misery that they
themselves had gone through.
● As a true man, man of the age of reason, the persona ends this essay by saying “I
profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in
endeavoring to promote this necessary work…” he wants to say that there is no
conflict of interest on his part, he is not selfish, he only thinks of the country and the
children, he only wants the best for everyone.
● The last sentence: he is not looking to get rich himself, he is not being selfish, the
youngest – 9 years old, has already passed the prime age or slaughter. He wants to
point to his objectivity in the matter to his personal detachment form the problem,
making himself the best candidate to offer the perfect solution.

Horatian satire: roman antiquity ,criticize playfully through humor, always

lighthearted, not strong as Juvenalian satire, not harsh and accusing tones such as
Juvenal, his satires have some pattern – Some sort of a gentle ridicule of social issues

Juvenalian satire: writing style similar to Swift, to provoke some sort of a change,
epiphany about the problems that the society is facing. Harsh and strong criticize
and accuse society. The harshest
Menippean satire: the rarest type of satire, attacks incompetent people, focused on
attacking a mental attitude rather than specific individuals or institutions.

2. Jane Austen – “Pride and Prejudice”- Horatian satire, criticize certain social practices
Late 18th century period is called the period of Pre-Romanticism. She belongs to the
period of sensibility, sentimentalism, she is the writer of sentimental novels and she
still follows certain Neoclassical rules. Main topics: marriage, society, class
differences,… she criticizes them quite satirically and prepares the ground for the
Romantic period.
 Chapter 1
● The relationship between Mr. and Mrs. Bennet: high level of formality related to their
social standing, she does not call him by his name which is the characteristic of the
period, sounds like a profession not a marriage.
● For woman at a time marriage was a profession, her job was to be a wife, to give and
raise the children (with the help of her servants - the higher class)
● Mr. Bennet is represented as witty, intelligent, well read, he is mocking his wife and
makes fun of her, wants to beg him, aware of his position in society and has much
more freedom than his wife and daughters, fed up with his wife’s stupidity.
● They have been married for 23 years, he never actually tried to teach her something,
instead he mocked her. He seems more miserable than Mrs. Bennet, who only has no
marriage to obsess over. After all these years, they do not really understand each
other, it is a marriage based on appearance, there is no love and affection.
● “It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good
fortune, must be in want of a wife.” – very ironic statement, Austen mentions both
money and marriage and she mentions this first, because that is what patriarchal
tradition and culture is about. The man is supposed to be a provider for his wife, his
family.
● The insight in how marriage was arranged, couples did not meet on their own, usually
in the presence of both of their families, relatives, no time to know one another only
on their appearance and behavior.
19.11.2021.
● Transitory period between The Age of Reason and The Age of Romanticism called The
Age of Sensibility.
● This transitory period is important for literature because it contains certain
occurrences, transformations that happened in the literary spheres, particularly
pertaining to certain views about nature (the notion of the subline literature) and
landscape.
● There are also melancholic, sentimental feeling, which are explored in poetry (poetry
that is referred to as Graveyard poetry), in which there is a shift in more objective way
of writing, that is particular for the period of Neoclassicism, towards of more
subjective, spontaneous and individual interpretation of the world – characteristic for
the period of Romanticism.
● Representatives: Jane Austen, Horace Walpole, Thomas Gray
● Thomas Gray – known as Graveyard poet, representative of this Age of Sensibility and
Sentimentalism. He was a classical scholar, quite privileged because he had a very good
education, later he became a professor. Known for his self-criticism, during his lifetime
he published only 13 poems in total.
● Graveyard poets: Oliver Goldsmith, William Cooper, Christopher Smart
1. Thomas Gray – “Elegy Written In a Country Church – Yard”
● Elegy – sad poem, the crucial part is that it mourns for the loss of something, it focuses
on melancholy emotions.
 ● 4-line stanzas, he uses familiar iambic pentameter, AB rime, associated with Elegiac
poetry
● In this poem he meditates upon mortality, upon life and death
The first 3 stanzas:
● As if something is coming to an end the end of the day, everything is very quiet, but in
a sad way as well it looks bleak
● From the title of the poem, we can see that he is in a country church – yard, which
implies that he was also at the graveyards because they are usually located in church –
yards
● Tolling of the bell – probably 8 o’clock at night, he is walking down the countryside at
dusk and he is inspired by his surroundings, starts wondering about the death of all
men(both poor and rich) that he assumes buried in this graveyard.
● Symbolism – the end of a day, the end of a certain period, which if we expand a
metaphor can also refer to the ending of a life. It signalizes transition for life to death,
in a way all of these natural cycles that occur in everyday life.
● He uses all of these descriptions to set a scene for his meditations, for his ponderings
about mortality
● His surroundings are quite beautiful, calm, very serious, but despite that life is not
described as happy, there is this melancholic feeling (nostalgia). Drowsy tinklings –
referred to the nearby streams, which are meant to put us to sleep.
The next 2 stanzas:
● Describes the graves of Great Men, yew – tree usually planted in graveyards (symbol of
death), heaps of earth and dirt – individual graves
● Lowly bed – 6 ft underground, so not even the loudest sounds are able to raise the
death.
● Even though he is surrounded by all of the people that once were, but no longer living,
he is completely alone and there is a feeling of solitude which is vital for Graveyard
poetry.
● Melancholy allows the speaker to reflect about mortality
The next 2 stanzas:
● Describes the people who are buried in the graveyard – there is the feeling of
nostalgia, lament for the simple lives that they have led, separated from their families
and their loved ones. They are farmers, family men, he is talking about lower classes,
talks about the lives of simple people and the deaths of the humble, talking about life’s
simple pleasures of returning home and having your wife and children wait your arrival
– ordinary folk
● The poor die before they can make an impact on the world
● He idealizes them in a way, the simplicity in their life is what made them happy, as like
he wants to be like them. There is distance between the speaker and the decease
death people, he was not present during their lives and he idealizes simplicity and
happiness.
The next 2 stanzas – Important:
● “Let not Ambition mock their sickle yield” it addresses the aristocracy, do not mock
them, their simple lives and do not think that they are not important, do not look with
contempt on what they have done during their lives, because they have something the
aristocrats could never experience.
● The difference between the classes, between the rich and the poor is very obvious in
this poem.
● Everyone is equal in death, both the rich and the poor, he considers the lives and
deaths of poor and rich people alike. The same destiny awaits both classes.
The next 4 stanzas:
● Do not fault them for being poor, that was simply their destiny. Naturalization of
poverty, of admitting they were simply born poor, they could not do anything about it
which is characteristic of the period of Neoclassicism.
● He draws a comparison with the lives and deaths of rich people, upper classes – no
matter how rich you are and how you adorn your resting place, that will not prolong
your life, it will not bring the death back to life. All of the riches that they possessed
during their life will not save them from dying.
● We are all meant to die and money cannot stop it.
● Neglected spot – graves which are not marked, in that grave maybe lies an artist or a
politician, someone who had the potential to do something good – could have changed
the world, someone who has died too young, could not fulfill his destiny and had the
time to do what he was meant to achieve.
● Reflects on the death that comes after a very normal life span.
● “Rich with the spoils of time, did ne’er unroll “- they did not fulfill their potential, did
not reach this knowledge that was supposed to be available to them during their lives.
● He is trying to praise the modesty of these graves, trying to idealize, only says the best
about these neglected graves, he realizes that all men must die.
● Noble rage – points out that you cannot divide the world into lower (nobility) and
upper class (aristocracy) because he uses noble to refer to someone’s creative talents.
Nobility or wealth does not come as birth right, it is not innate, as opposed to this
creative talent, potential that a person possesses.
● These people in unmarked graves might have had to repressed their creativity, their
talents and focus on surviving day to day. Their poverty repressed their creativity and
they could not fulfill the potential they were born with.
The next 2 stanzas:
● He uses examples of nature (full many of gem of purest ray serene…) he says that these
people who are buried might have possessed that light of creativity, talent, compares
them to flowers, mourns of what could have been, nostalgic for something that could
not happen. Flowers represent all of these people of wasted potential, not recognized
by the world, the same metaphor in William Wordsworth poems.
● “Some mute inglorious Milton here may rest,
 Some Cromwell, guiltless of his country’s blood.”
He is singing their praises, singing about these unsung heroes, the ordinary people who
lived their lives anonymously, undiscovered, unknown. Double meaning, their
anonymity was a shield, some sort of protection, they are lucky that they did not
participate in politics, because they are not seen as guilty. Only positive and neutral
things can be said about them because nothing is known about them. They are
privileged because they are forgotten by history.
● Very Neoclassical because he neutralizes this lack of social mobility, it is good that no
one knows them, that they did not achieve anything as it could have had bad
consequences.
The next 3 stanzas:
● Because they were poor, they did not kill anyone to get to the throne, not greedy and
not commit crimes. They were innocent because they were poor, they were not
murderers, betrayers of the monarchy. Did not have the opportunity to change the
status quo.
● Background of envy, he writes very nostalgically about these simple lives, he idealizes
them, he mourns their unfulfilled potential, more meditative.
● This is not truly an elegy; it has some elegiac motives – more meditative
● Their perception of the world was different, they did not anything about sins, murder,
betrayal.
● They lived quiet lives, sheltered lives but they were honest people and they could not
be remembered negatively, honest because they were poor.
The period of Romanticism – the period of lyrical ballads
Initiated by the period of Sensibility and Sentimentalism which preceded it. The Subjects of
writing are not only well-educated people, but authors also not putting emphasize on
writing style and grammar stylistic devices, everything is much more spontaneous,
subjective. Poems and texts talk about lower classes, people and their lives.
2. William Wordsworth– “The Female Vagrant”
The first stanza:
● The poem starts in an idealistic way and the female speaker describes the pastoral
life that she used to live on her father’s land.
● Here the writer lets his speaker to tell her own story, he emphasizes that her story is
artless – she is not a skillful storyteller, no grammatical correct version of the story,
raw, no fancy words. The pastoral way of life that she describes is humble, enjoyable
(life was her sleep – she slept peacefully, did not have worries), not affected with the
negatives that come along with capitalism, materialism, so she is both physically and
mentally healthy.
● Wordsworth is giving a voice to a woman who spent her childhood in poverty, but
loved nature, she found serenity in nature, before it all got taken away from them.
Before capitalism and industrialism infected the land and divided it up into plots as
 they started buying out property from their neighbours and ultimately from her
father as well.

WEEK 5 // 22.11.2021.
THE FEMALE VAGRANT
By William Wordsworth
- *prva strofa je prethodno predavanje*
- Her father focused on her education, since he was uneducated, but also
focused on her moral education (praying)
- Breaking the norm that poor people are uneducated
- The author likes including marginalized characters
- In the next two stanzas she’s talking about her simple life, celebrating her
childhood, she found beauty in simplicity of life with her animals; beauty of
nature
- The author talks literally about nature, the surrounding
- In the next few stanzas it talks about how time flies
- 20 years passed and something happened to their home, they had to leave
their house, what was basically the destiny of many families in that time, their
land was taken, her father was offered gold but he refused because the land
means a lot to them due to all the memories; he refused but his neighbors
didn’t
- He appreciated the land and he was very modest and down to earth, but
eventually he was forced to leave, there was no such place for that kind of
person in the capitalist era
- He was fishing for living, but he was pressured to sell the land in order to
survive
- He was left with nothing at the end
- They simply had to find a new home because they were homeless
- They are not only leaving the house, they are leaving their memories, he was
married there
- She does not pray, she things God left them, stopped believing in him
- After losing their home, they turned to her childhood sweetheart
- He did not reject her, he helped her and got married
- They do not have easy lives, three children
- Made them happy but for a while
- She had hope again
- They still lived modest lives
- Her father dies, the situation changes but not drastically
- He gave up his food to give to children, he sacrificed himself for them
- They had to stop working, they struggled a lot, her husband couldn’t find a
job, tried to join the army
- It’s a good thing he died, he didn’t have to see his son in law and
grandchildren perish as well
- Industrial era destroyed nature as well, besides everyone’s lives and
families, the green fields were destroyed, polluted
- No notice was given to this destruction, no one acknowledged
- A lot of parallels with the contemporary issues
- She did not dare to for help, she was not used to that, she did not know how
to beg
- She was starving to death, she lost everyone, husband died in war, children
starved to death
- Completely alone for the first time, goes to the hospital
- She doesn’t mind the noise in the hospital, noises of the people around her
- She doesn’t feel the emotions as she used to, he has no ability to
sympathize with other people, she was completely broken
- She was not provided a new house when dismissed from the hospital, she
lives on the streets, finds shelters
- Turns to nature, nature is her shelter, her food
- Even though she’s surviving, she’s suffering mentally, she is scarred
- She doesn’t feel hope, she is lonely, completely alone in this world
- Whenever she tells her story, she doesn’t feel any relief after telling, which
would be a natural thing to feel, she is wounded, but strong
- She missed her old life
- Things are gradually getting worse and worse

THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION

By William Blake
- Most known for his collection of poems Songs of Experience and Songs of
Innocence
- Usually described as “revolutionary visionary” and “visionary revolutionary”
- Known for his creativity in his art on many levels
- Everything is on a larger scale with him
- He wants to extend the limits and laws of nature
- Celebrates human potential
- Not a fan of relying on reason
- He was eccentric, people avoided him, nije bas bio normalan
- Politically and socially active, inspired by the French Revolution, he was
changing the society
Part A
It is separated to section A and section B. Blake believes if someone relies on
reason, they completely discard imagination. You have to break certain
boundaries in order to progress, to grow.
Principle 1
- He believes in values od reason; we are not born as good and evil, we learn
about that, TABULA RASA
- The only input from the world is from of our 5 senses, nothing much
- Intuition is not a bodily sense
Principle 2
- No room for imagination, robot
- We can only understand things we perceive
- We cannot understand other people’s emotion
- Excludes emotional and social intelligence
Principle 3
- You only understand what u perceive
- You need a 6th sense (intuition) to push you to think and imagine various
outcomes
Principle 4
- If you’re only concerned with the physical world, with your senses, your
thoughts are going to be about this world
- You will not have spiritual thoughts, you would not use your imagination
- Limited perception alters their thoughts, they’re shallow
Principle 5
- You cannot perceive something you cannot see
- They didn’t see the benefit of imagination
- We cannot desire we haven’t experienced
Principle 6
- We can only want and desire only what our reason or mind tells us that we
can get/achieve
- This was the way lower social classes were kept in their place, they didn’t let
them think that they could do better, that it was an unreachable goal to live a
better life
With this Part A, the author represents theology really well (These are not the
things he believes in). In Part B he will tell us his own opinion on this topic.

WEEK 5 // 26.11.2021.
THERE IS NO NATURAL RELIGION
By William Blake
Part B
Principle 1
- opposite of the principle 1 in part A
- He uses his mind in order to perceive, not only his 5 senses, uses
imagination, intuition
- Maybe there is something spiritual, unexplainable
Principle 2
- As we learn more, we change our minds, that’s normal
- Reason changes when we learn new things
- Without change there is no progression
- We cannot increase knowledge only through our five senses
- There is something beyond reason – imagination
- For Blake: imagination > reason
- Imagination enables progress
Principle 3 is missing
Principle 4
- Imagination is “the bounded” and the reason is “the possessor”
- Reason is keeping the imagination under control
- If we only rely on reason and senses, we won’t really progress, wouldn’t
develop the understanding of the world
- if we let imagination go, we would think out of the box and soon get to new
ideas and change the “clockwork mechanism”
- u need to step out of ur comfort zone
Principle 5
- if everyone could be possessed by imagination, they would break the limits
that reason set, they would push for more, not settle for less
- encourages people to be creative
Principle 6
- we can never have enough, we always thrive for more
- people will never be completely satisfied
- “the more money you have, the more you need it”
Principle 7
- Anything we desire, we can achieve, one way or another
- There is no progression if we only use 5 bodily senses, we will just go down
the dull road, we need to break the routine
If you’re only rational, if you only use reason, you are limited only to the
material/physical world. However, if you’re capable of imagining, you can
discover all the potential. Therefore, you’re able to see God. This means that
the God is our creation, not vice versa. By creating him, we become God-like.
Blake says that we create our own destiny, you are the one that creates your
own plan. This is basically a direct attack on theology, an ideology that
dominated during the 18th century. We can see a radical turnabout from one
era to another; romanticism was going for rebellion, change, progress.

THE TYGER (From Songs of Experience)

William Blake
- One of Blake’s greatest poems
- Contrary to “The Lamb”
- Sounds like a song sang by a child, very rhythmic
- Tiger is a product of imagination, not spoken about a real tiger
- Do not mention God that much, be more careful
- Focus is on the human radicalism and human potential (characteristic for
Blake)
- Celebrating the divinity and beauty of creation through this poem
- In the first stanza, he asks the tiger who is his creator
- We know that the tiger is created through imagination
- “forest of the night” = dark parts of our mind
- Human beings are immortal when they create/use their imagination
- No matter how scary the tiger looks, it could never be as scary as the mind
of its creator – the dangerous potential of our minds
- Second stanza, asking the questions “where is this inspiration coming
from?”, “who had enough courage to invent you?” – implying that in order to
create something, you need to dare to imagine
- When the idea became a reality, his mind couldn’t comprehend it
- Stanza 5, first two lines: Reference from “The Paradise lost”, when he
describes the fall
- Did the same person that created the Lamb (the good) create the Tiger too?
(the bad) Of course it is, human imagination is endless
- Was he happy with his creation? He was
- The final stanza is a repetition of the first one, with a slight change (could ->
dare)

THE LAMB (from Songs of Innocence)

- The same question, who made the lamb? The child asked this question
- The tiger and lamb are completely opposite
- Lamb is innocent, soft, vulnerable
- The speaker is probably a child because they are innocent as well
- Children lack the knowledge of evil, therefore they see the world in the
brightest light and this makes you want to protect them
- The reference to Jesus Christ meaning that the lamb of God created lamb
(????), just like Jesus is not just a son of God, but also God’s creation (ja
stvarno ne znam sta je ovde htela da kaze)
- Who is Jesus? A celestial being or a human being?
- When the child asked, Blake answered that the man made the lamb
- Both the lamb and the child are called by Jesus’ name, they are both living
beings, they are both products of imagination
- Everyone from the poem come from Blake’s imagination as well