The Romantic Age Conti.

Lecture 15

History of English Literature

COMSATS Virtual Islamabad

The Romantic AgeConti.

Outline of the LectureRomantic age poets (Conti.)

John KeatsProse- WritersNovelistsTheir Eminent Works

JOHN KEATS

www.themegallery.comLOGO

LifeJohn Keats, one of the greatest English poets and a

major figure in the Romantic movement, was born in 1795 in Moorefield, London. His father died when he was eight and his mother when he was 14; these sad circumstances drew him particularly close to his two brothers, George and Tom, and his sister Fanny.


Keats was well educated at a school in Enfield, where he began a translation of Virgil's Aeneid.

In 1810 he was apprenticed to an apothecary-surgeon. His first attempts at writing poetry date from about 1814, and include an `Imitation' of the Elizabethan poet Edmund Spenser.


• In 1815 he left his apprenticeship and became a student at Guy's Hospital, London; one year later, he abandoned the profession of medicine for poetry.


Keats' first volume of poems was published in 1817. It attracted some good reviews, but these were followed by the first of several harsh attacks by the influential Blackwood's Magazine. Undeterred, he pressed on with his poem `Endymion', which was published in the spring of the following year.


Keats toured the north of England and Scotland in the summer of 1818, returning home to nurse his brother Tom, who was ill with tuberculosis. After Tom's death in December he moved into a friend's house in Hampstead, now known as Keats House.


There he met and fell deeply in love with a young neighbour, Fanny Brawne. During the following year, despite ill health and financial problems, he wrote an astonishing amount of poetry, including `The Eve of St Agnes', 'La Belle Dame sans Merci', `Ode to a Nightingale' and `To Autumn'.


His second volume of poems appeared in July 1820; soon afterwards, by now very ill with tuberculosis, he set off with a friend to Italy, where he died the following February.


Keats and his friend Joseph Severn arrived in Rome, after an arduous journey, in November 1820. They found lodgings in a house near the Spanish Steps. Keats rallied a little at first, and was able to take gentle walks and rides, but by early December he was confined to bed, extremely ill with a high fever.


Severn nursed him devotedly throughout the next few distressing and painful weeks. Keats died peacefully, clasping his friend's hand, on 23 February 1821.


Here lies one whose name was writ in water 〈 The Grave of Keats 〉

Where young grows pale, and spectre-thin, and dies 〈 Ode to a Nightingale 〉

Keats WorksOde to a NightingaleOde to a Grecian UrnOde to Melancholy The Poems

Three narrativesIsabellaThe Eve of St. Agnes and LamiaHyperion

• La Belle Dame Sans Merci

William Hazlitt

Thomas De Quincey

Charles Lamb

The Romantic prose writers

William Hazlitt

a literary critic

two major works of criticism

Lectures on the English Poets

The English Comic Writers

Less didactic than his 18th-century counterparts

William Hazlitt

He had a passionate interest in literature but was not above allowing his radical political convictions and personal bias to color his criticism. What he enjoyed, he wrote about with enthusiasm and directness; what he disliked, he condemned.

He states that the essays are an attempt “to recollect all I have ever observed or thought upon a subject and to express it as nearly as I can.”

Thomas De Quincey

Confessions of an English Opium Eater

a powerful and imaginative book

His subjects are taken from personal experience, politics, history, and literature.

Thomas De Quincey

De Quincey advocated “impassioned prose,” elaborate and musical. Attempting to penetrate beneath the surface of things, he advocated a style which would extend the range of prose into the realm of poetry. The display of great learning, the sprinkling of classical allusions, the seemingly illogical digressions can, at times, make his writing ponderous and weighty.

Charles Lamb

He gives his own acute and wry observations in graceful, flowing sentences which meander with the charm of fine conversation, the result of a subtle craftsmanship characterized by urbanity and good taste.

Charles Lamb nostalgic and wistful in Dream Children

lively and humorous in A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig

a gentle person, sympathetic tomankind, but amused by thecontradiction and follies of people,including himself

Under the mask of Elia, Lamb indulges in the most characteristic of Romantic tendencies — personal memoirs, reminiscences of past life.

Time and again in the essays Lamb returns to the world of childhood, weaving autobiographical details and fanciful imaginings into a reality of its own.

He is more concerned with creating a mood and with evoking a response. To do this he uses the rambling, ornate style more typical of the seventeen century than of his own age. His is a style not often imitated well. However, his wry observations of London and his cherished recollections of past days are models for the personal essay.

Essays of Elia

Terje KissaKeirin Miilmaa

C.R.Jacobson GymnasiumSupervisors:M.Maasen

T.Pukk Viljandi 2002

Novelists in the Romantic Period

Terje KissaKeirin Miilmaa

C.R.Jacobson GymnasiumSupervisors:M.Maasen

T.Pukk Viljandi 2002

Jane Austen

Jane Austen’s biography Was born in 1775 in Hampshire in

England She was the seventh child out of

eight In 1783 she moved to

Southampton 1785-1786 she went to Abbey

boarding school 1782 and 1784 plays were staged

by the Austen family In 1801 she and her family moved

to Bath where the most productive work was done

She died in Winchester in 1817, aged 41.

Jane Austen’s WritingsNorthanger AbbeySense and SensibilityPride & Prejudice Mansfield Park PersuasionEmmaJuvenilia

Love and FriendshipLady SusanThe WatsonsSanditon

The Pride &PrejudicePublished in 1813A love storyThis is wittiest of

Jane Austen's novel

The PlotA love story between Miss Elizabeth and

Mr.Darcy

Themes in “Pride& Prejudice”

Interrupting characters such as Mr.Collins

Hidden emotionsDifferences between families Initial misunderstandings

The CharactersMr.BennetJane Elizabeth Mary, Kitty Lydia

BingleyLouisa Hurst

CarolineMr. CollinsOld Mr. DarcyLady Ann DarcyMr. Darcy

Georgiana DarcyLady Catherine Colonel FitzwilliamMr. GardinerMrs. GardineSir WilliamLady LucasOld Mr. WickhamWickham

Mr.DarcyVery proudRichEducatedHaughty

Miss ElizabethLivelyWith quick witYoung BeautifulProudIntelligentLoyal

The Mansfield ParkPublished in 1814Solemn and

moralistic novelA classic story of

adultery

The PlotThe story of Fanny Price A strong friendship between Fanny and

her cousin Edmund

Miss FannyPoorVulnarableBeautifulYoungGood principles

Mr.EdmundWealthyCaringHelpfulKindhearted

Sense and SensibilityPublished in 1797 The first of Jane

Austen's novels to be published

A love story

Characters

John Dashwood Mr Dashwood Fanny DashwoodMarianne Dashwood Elinor Dashwood Mrs. DashwoodEdward FerrarsMargaret DashwoodMrs. Jennings Sir John Middleton

ThomasBetsyColonel BrandonJohn WilloughbyCurateCharlotte PalmerLucy SteelePigeonMaid to Mrs. JenningsMiss Grey

The PlotLost moneyLoveLearning to balance sense and sensibility to

find happiness in love.

Jane Austen’s MuseumIn this house used to

lived Jane and her sister Cassandra

In this house she wrote and revised her famous novels

In 1949 the house was opened as the museum

The museum contains her memorabilia and artefacts

The SummaryJane Austen was one of the greatest

women writers of the 19th century.In her novels the characters are similar to

her brothers and sistersMany famous films have been made based

on her novels such as “Pride& Prejudice” and “Mansfield Park”

Sir Walter ScottScottish Novelist and Poet

Early Life was born August 15 1771 in College Wynd, in Old Town of Edinburgh to a

solicitor Caught polio and survived however he lost use of his right leg Sent to Sandyknowe , his grandparents farm, in order to restore his health Taught to read by his aunt Jenny, who influenced the speech patterns and

tales/legends which he used in later works given private tutoring in arithmetic and writing by James Mitchell attended grammar school in Sandyknowe and met James Ballantyne who later

became his business partner Nov. 1783,at age 12, started studying at the University of Edinburgh Began an apprenticeship with his fathers office Later became a lawyer in Edinburgh

Sir Walter Scott

1771-1832

Smailholm Tower

“Oh what a tangled web we weave, When first we practice to deceive!”

Writing Influence◊ Work is influenced by the 18th century Enlightenment◊ His work is popular throughout Europe during his time period◊ Believed every human was practically decent regardless of class,

religion, politics and ancestry◊ Major theme in historical works is tolerance◊ Waverley novels express belief in need for social progress◊ First novelist to portray peasants realistically and equal to merchants,

kings and soldiers◊ Central theme of many novels were conflicts between opposing

cultures

Start of Literary Career Began to write at 25 by translating works from German Became an ardent volunteer in yeomanry where he met and later

married Margaret Charlotte Charpentier in 1791 Had five children together Invested in money over time through various jobs and events like being

a lawyer, sheriff-deputy, wife’s income, inheritance and from writing Founded a printing press with his poetry Succeeded in publishing numbers of poems over the next ten years

Famous WorksNovels

Waverley*Guy ManneringThe AntiquaryRob RoyIvanhoeKenilworthThe PirateThe Fortunes of NigelPeveril of PeakQuentin DuwardRedgauntletTales of CrusadersWoodstockChronicles of Canongate 2nd SeriesAnne of Geirstein

Poems

William and HelenThe Minstrelsy of the Scottish border*Marmion*The Lay of the Minstrel*The lady of the lake*The vision of Donald RoderickBonnie Dundee*Harold the DauntlessThe Lord of the IslesRokebyThe Field of WaterlooThe Bridal of Triermain

Famous Works (conti.)Short Stories

Chronicles of the canongate 1st series: The Highland Widow, The Two Drovers and the Surgeon’s Daughter.

The keepsake stories: My Aunt Margaret’s Mirror, The Tapestried Chamber and Death of the Laird’s Jock

Tales

Of My Landlord:1st Series, The Black Dwarf and Old Mortality2nd Series ,The Heart of Midlothian3rd Series, The bride of Lammermoor and A legend of Montrose4th Series ,Count Robert of Pairs and Castle Dangerous

Tales

From Benedictine SourcesThe AbbotThe Monastery

Novel Life

Waverley and other to follow within the first five years all followed Scottish historical setting

Always published novels under the name Author of Waverley or as “the Tales of…” with no author

many years passed and when he could finally come out in the open he chose to remain hidden and used the name The Wizard of the North

When he published ivanhoe he steered away from Scottish history to English romance in 12th -century.

Wrote several books which were sympathetic towards Jews- were written around the time of the Emancipation of Jews in England.

As his fame grew he was granted title of the baronet, which became Sir Walter Scott

He included little punctuation in his drafts and mostly left them for the printers to supply

Around 1825 started to go bankrupt, his company almost collapses Instead of declaring bankruptcy he traded in his house and income to his

creditors hoping to get out of debt He kept writing and publishing fiction until he died in Abbotsford in 1832 Was buried in Dryburgh Abbey Abbotsford House was a farmhouse which was developed into an enriched

palace that Scott bought over time costing him over £25,000 He essentially invented the modern historical novel Influence the Edinburgh's central railway station now called Waverley Station He contributed to the reinvention of Scottish culture His novels followed the rehabilitating of public perception instead of following

southern distrust of hill bandits

References

A Critical History of English Literature by David Daiches

A Critical History of English Literature by Dr. MullikThe Norton Anthology of English Literature: Norton

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