Neo-Classical and Sentimental English Poetry

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    The poetry of the 18 th century: Neo-classicism andSentimentalism

    Neo-Classicism

    The main representatives:John DRYDEN , Samuel JOHSON andAlexander POPE.

    The social basis of Neo-Classicism is the bourgeoisie (nagypolgrsg) that at this point is thesupporter of absolute monarchy, only later does it turn against it. (The independent middle-class and lower-middle class will represent the protestant novel.)

    The name of classicism comes from the Latin word classis meaning class. This expressesthe highly normative nature of this art.

    First, Classical art rests on the idea of the compromise: it rejects the high emotions of theBaroque art and the irrationality and vulgarity of popular literature. Its aims are theobservation of rules and creating a calm, balanced, poised atmosphere in works of art thatsuggest order and stability, as opposed to the ecstatic and chaotic art of the Baroque. This wasdone first, with the copying of Antique (Roman, rather than Greek) models. The imitation ofAntiquity was just a pretext for the observation of rules, it was not an end in itself.

    Secondly, one of the central ideas wasthe imitation of nature , done with reference toreason and common sense. What resembled the order of nature, was thus natural,agreeing to common sense, thus beautiful and worthy of being represented in art. The stylisticelements in drama is not grandiosity and high passion but the rule of classical unity, that is,one action should take place at one place within 24 hours.

    The best visible example of both the observation of rules through the imitation of nature wasthe introduction of theheroic couplet in the majority of poems. Thus, the poem was easy tounderstand, which served the didactic, enlightened purpose of the poets well, and this formreflected balance, proportion, rhythm, harmony, pattern which were thought to be theessential features of reason, nature andnatural attitudes. An example from Popes Essay onCriticism.

    u u u u u A little learning is a dangrous thing;

    u u u u u Drink deep, or taste not the Pierian spring:

    u u u u u There shallow draughts intoxicate the brain,

    u u u u u And drinking largely sobers us again.

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    The poets of Neo-Classicism saw in nature mainly orderliness, reason, pattern, divinestructure, proportion and logic as opposed to later, Romantic poets, for whom nature(Nature) was essentially a mystic, transcendental, majestic experience. Let us see somequotations to illustrate this:

    ALL are but parts of one stupendous whole,Whose body Nature is, and God the soul;That, changed through all, and yet in all the same,

    Great in the earth, as in th ethereal frame, Warms in the sun, refreshes in the breeze, 5

    Glows in the stars, and blossoms in the trees,Lives through all life, extends through all extent,

    Spreads undivided, operates unspent:(Pope, Essay on Man)

    First follow Nature, and your Judgment frameBy her just Standard, which is still the same:Unerring Nature , still divinely bright, [70]Oneclear , unchang'd andUniversal Light,Life, Force, and Beauty, must to all impart,

    At once theSource , and End , andTest of Art .

    (Pope, Essay on Criticism)

    A perfect Judge will read each Work of WitWith the same Spirit that its Author writ,

    Survey the Whole, nor seek slight Faults to find,Where Nature moves, and Rapture warms the Mind;

    Nor lose, for that malignant dull Delight,The gen'rous Pleasure to be charm'd with Wit.

    But in such Lays as neither ebb, nor flow,Correctly cold, and regularly low,

    That shunning Faults, one quiet Tenour keep;We cannot blame indeed--but we may sleep.

    In Wit, as Nature, what affects our HeartsIs nor th' Exactness of peculiar Parts;'Tis not a Lip, or Eye, we Beauty call,

    But the joint Force and full Result of all.Thus when we view some well-proportion'd Dome,The World's just Wonder, and ev'n thine O Rome!)

    No single Parts unequally surprize;All comes united to th' admiring Eyes;

    No monstrous Height, or Breadth, or Length appear;The Whole at once is Bold, and Regular.

    (Pope, Essay on Criticism)

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    The intel lectual backg rou nd o f the 18 th cen tury

    Very conveniently, we can divide the 18th century into two periods. The first half istraditionally regarded as the age ofNeo-Classicism and the Enlightenment, while the secondhalf is dominated bySentimentalism and pre-Romanticism.

    The beginning of the 18th century in the symbolic sense is theGlorious Revolution of 1688 .In that year, after the Civil War of 1649-60 and the Restoration period (1660-1688), that is,after the rule of the Stuart house, a major turning point takes place in English history. James IIwas dethroned, he fled to France, and a new king, William III was invited from the Netherlands. The next year, the Parliament issued theBill of Rights that began to turnEngland into aconstitutional monarchy . Naturally, it did not resemble todays democracy inany sense, but several important measures were introduced: the Parliament could not bedissolved at the rulers will, regular elections had to be organised and MPs could not bearrested for what they said in the Parliament. The kings power gradually lessened and theParliament began to control the countrys politics. Traditionally, this system is called like theking rules but does not govern. This is somewhat an oversimplification of the matter, for theking did govern, he could sign international treaties and wage war, but gradually a balanceevolved between the rulers and the Parliament. This was the democracy of the aristocrats: theelections although held regularly were not democratic, they were open, and rich peoplecould literally buy their seats into the parliament. This kind of system lasted from 1689 to1832 (the First Reform Act) we call this period the long 18 th century.

    As a result of these changes, after the turbulent years of the Civil War and the GloriousRevolution (and we must not forget that these events were even aggravated by the GreatPlague [1665] and the great London fire [1666]), there was obviously a need forstability,

    compromise, moderation and reason . Thus, the first half of the 18th

    century is described bythe rule of reason, a reaction against the high passion of the Baroque and the fight againstfanaticism.

    The two concepts that went hand in hand with this need for stability were the Enlightenmentand Neoclassicism. TheEnlightenment in England came after the civil war and its mainfunction was to introduce the rule of reason and stability. In France, however, it was areaction against the established social and political order (Voltaire, Diderot), a kind ofrevolution against conventions and norms, and may be regarded as the preparatory force ofthe revolution of 1789. In England, however, it served to express there-establishment oforder and the rule of reason. The artistic expression of this belief was Neoclassicism.

    Philosophically, there was a widespread belief that theAge of Reason had arrived. Anunprecedented zeal appeared to perfect and reform institutions and even people themselves.The world was regarded as basically reasonable, logical and the reflection of a divine pattern.Parallel with this, Nature (naturalness) and common sense became norms to follow, withthe result that religious explanations and justifications began to fade into the background.When a sin was committed, it was regarded not as a sin against God or religion but againstnature, good feeling, propriety, social norms, reason, logic, etc. The secularising spirit wasreinforced by the development of sciences. With the help of them, supernatural explanations began to lose their importance.

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    In literature,satire began to flourish as the main means of educating, ridiculing andcontrolling society and those who deviated from the norms of reason. (See Swift, Dryden,Pope).

    As regards philosophy, two names deserve to be mentioned: Thomas HOBBES and John

    LOCKE. Both represent the typically English philosophical current ofEmpiricism .

    Hobbes Locke

    HOBBES maintained that all knowledge comes to us through the faculty of speech, it isthrough speech that man can think and convey knowledge. He said, For true and false areattributes of speech, not of things. And where speech is not, there is neither truth norfalsehood. This idea refers to the fact that man receive experiences from the outside worldand puts them into words, creating systems of thought. So man is seen as the architect of therational world, developing his own reason, in his own image, based on his experiences. Theother idea of Hobbess refers to the function of monarchy. He was not so optimistic in thissense. He maintained that humans are born to be bad, and only monarchy as a political systemcan repress these negative aspects of humanity. He expanded this idea in his famous work

    Leviathan . There, he describes the society as bellum omnia contra omnes (the fight ofeveryone against everyone), and only absolute monarchy can control this instinct. Heimagines monarchy as a contract between the king and his people (as he may have seen it

    realised in the Glorious Revolution).LOCKE also wrote about the system of government in his Two Treaties on Government.This piece is a sort of theoretical justification for the Glorious Revolution. According toLocke, the societys aim is to maintain a balance between the constitution and the individualrights of the human beings. This theoretical writing had a great effect on the Frenchrevolution and the American war of independence. His other writing deals with the questionsof logic and knowledge, entitled Essay Concerning Human Understanding. This is the mainsource of his theory of Empiricism.

    Other important thinkers of the period: Anthony Ashley-Cooper, the 3rd Earl of Shaftesbury,

    commonly known as SHAFTESBURY, David HUME, George BERKELEY [pronounced ba:kli]

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    Important painters of the period:

    William HOGARTH painted and drew pictures illustrating the contemporary morals of the period. He painted famous series:The Harlots Progress , The Rakes Progress , Marriage a la Mode . He had three important principles: 1) chose the moment of highest tension (e.g.,argument); 2) human emotions are reflected in the gestures; 3) the technique of visual parody.He said: I wished to compose pictures on canvas similar to representation on the stage, andfurther hope that they will be criticised by the same criterion. [] I have endeavoured to treatmy subjects as a dramatic writer: my picture is my stage, and men and women my players,who, by means of certain actions and gestures are to exhibit a dumb show.

    Sir Joshua REYNOLDS first president of the Royal Academy, the most famous portrait painter of the age, an important art critic

    Thomas GAINSBOROUGH famous landscape painter

    Hogarth:Gin Lane

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    Hogarth: Marriage a la Mode, Part 2/6: Shortly after the Marriage

    Architecture : Palladian style (following the neo-Classical architecture of the 16th-centutyItalian architect Andrea Palladio [1508-1580]): Inego JONES, Sir Christopher WREN(designer of St Paul Cathedral)

    Woburn Abbey (Palladian style, designed by Henry Flitcroft in 1746)

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/HogarthMarriage.jpghttp://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f4/HogarthMarriage.jpg
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    Al exan der Po pe (1688-1744)

    Pope was a son of a prosperous linen-merchant and critic, raised in a middleclass background. He had to struggle withseveral drawbacks. He was bornCatholic in the year of Protestant victory (theGlorious Revolution). At that time, seriousmeasures struck the Catholics, for instancea Catholic was not allowed to practicereligion and learn, he could not buy or

    inherit land, had to pay double taxes,couldnt live legally within 10 miles ofLondon. Thus, Pope was educated atirregular times by private tutors, his fatherand himself. The influences that reachedhim at that time came from Virgil, Homer,Spencer, Milton and Dryden.

    The other drawback he suffered fromPotts disease (a form of TBC affecting the bones), after which he became ahunchback and cripple. He stoppedgrowing, and in fact never grew taller than1,37 ms. He never married and remainedan outcast due to his religion and look. Inspite of this, by the age of 17, he wasadmitted to the society of London wits, and by the age of 30, he was the leading poet.Under the premiership Sir Robert Walpole(1721-42) Pope had to leave London, andlived alone, embittered. Curiously, he

    became the official voice of optimistic

    Augustan age (18th

    century).

    His poetry

    First period 1709-1715

    Pastorals (1709)

    This poem well reflects the dominant Neo-classic taste of the time, when skilful imitation wasthe basic principle. Some precedents of neoclassical poetry may be discovered even earlier,for instance, Virgils eclogues translated by Dryden and Spensers The Shepherds Calendar may also be qualified as classical in taste. Pope attempts to recreate the old pastoral state, stillclose to contemporary attitudes. Pastorals follows a recognisable and common pattern,following the change of seasons: spring is thetime of the two shepherds contest; summer isthe season of the lovers complaint; autumn contains alternate speeches and various ideas,while winter includes the elegy on a dead shepherdess. Pastorals contains a lot of descriptionsof landscape, suggesting harmony and order and colourfulness. Man is seen as in perfectharmony with nature. In his Discourse on Pastoral Poetry, he stated that Simplicity,

    brevity and delicacy were the proper qualities of a pastoral poem.

    http://go2.wordpress.com/?id=725X1342&site=danassays.wordpress.com&url=http://dannarhitect.wordpress.com/pope-alexander/&sref=http://danassays.wordpress.com/encyclopedia-of-the-essay/an-essay-on-criticism-by-alexander-pope/an-essay-on-man-by-alexander-pope/
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    Windsor F orest (1713)

    This poem falls into the category of reflective poetry, it is a more theoretical kind of aneulogy of Augustan England and Queen Annes reign (seen as the Golden Age). The poemsmain theme is order ruling over everything (the economic, geographical, political, moral

    state).Essay on Cri tici sm (1711)

    This work (commonly known as Popes first major poem) contains the main critical ideas ofPope as a critic. It is not so much a general essay-poem on criticism as such, but rather acollection of Popes various idea s on literature that echo the views of Aristotle, Horace,Quintilian, Vida and Boileau. Essay on Criticism is practically an instruction to would-bewriters. Its major concerns are: 1. the discussion of neoclassical principles; 2. the formationof literary judgements and 3. description of the basis of true criticism.In section I, Pope warns the would-be poet to avoid clichs:

    And ten low words oft creep in one dull line:While they ring round the same unvaried chimes,With sure returns of still expected rhymes;Wher'er you find "the cooling western breeze",

    In the next line, it "whispers through the trees"; If crystal streams "with pleasing murmurs creep",The reader's threatened (not in vain) with "sleep" . . .

    Other famous quotations: A little learning is a dangerous thing; / Drink deep, or taste not thePierian spring. and To err is human, to forgive divine

    The Rape of th e Lock (Frtrabls) (1720)

    The Rape of the Lock is amock heroic, a mock epic , containing high burlesque and parodyof classical epics. It is based on a real event: Lord Petre cut off Miss Arabella Fermors hair(one lock) at a ball, which caused great scandal at that time and led to a break between thetwo families. Pope writes a comic epic on this petty affair, satirically contrasting the lofty andsophisticated world of gods and angels and the shallowness of the contemporary Londonsociety.

    Pope uses all the epic conventions in a comical way: the invocation, the enumerations(descriptions of soldiers preparing for the battle), description of heroic deeds, epithets. Theabduction of Helen of Troy becomes here the theft of a lock of hair; the gods become minutesylphs; the description of Achilles shield becomes an excursus on one of Belindas petticoats,in preparing for the battle, Belindas combs, pins, powders and patches are enumerated, theheroic deed becomes a card game, etc. Csokonais Dorottya is partly based on this poem.

    The beginning ofThe Rape of the Lock :

    What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,What mighty contests rise from trivial things,

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierian_Springhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierian_Springhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_of_Troyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Achilleshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helen_of_Troyhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pierian_Spring
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    I sing--This verse to CARYL, Muse! is due:This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,

    If She inspire, and He approve my lays.Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel

    A well-bred Lord t' assault a gentle Belle?O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?

    In tasks so bold, can little men engage, And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty Rage?Sol thro' white curtains shot a tim'rous ray,

    And oped those eyes that must eclipse the day: Now lap-dogs give themselves the rousing shake, And sleepless lovers, just at twelve, awake:Thrice rung the bell, the slipper knock'd the ground,

    And the press'd watch return'd a silver sound. Belinda still her downy pillow prest, Her guardian Sylph prolong'd the balmy rest:'Twas He had summon'd to her silent bedThe morning-dream that hover'd o'er her head;

    A Youth more glitt'ring than a Birth-night Beau,(That ev'n in slumber caus'd her cheek to glow)Seem'd to her ear his winning lips to lay,

    And thus in whispers said, or seem'd to say.

    Second period 1715-1726

    In these years Pope wrote little poetry, devoted himself mostly to the translations of Iliad andOdyssey because they brought him a lot of money and made him independent. He also editedShakespeares works. His Shakespeare editions, however, were not re ally accepted becausePope fundamentally misunderstood Shakespeare and following Voltaire, even altered theoriginal texts regularised the metre and rewrote the verses in some places or simply left outsome lines.

    Third period 1726-1744

    The critic Louis Theobald attacked Popes translations. Pope wrote Dunciad which was ananswer to Theobalds criticism (the title comes from the word dunce). Maynard Mackcalled its publication "in many ways the greatest act of folly in Pope's life". Though amasterpiece, "it bore bitter fruit. It brought the poet in his own time the hostility of its victimsand their sympathizers, who pursued him implacably from then on with a few damaging truthsand a host of slanders and lies...". The threats were physical too. According to his sister, Popewould never go for a walk without the company of his Great Dane, Bounce, and a pair ofloaded pistols in his pocket.

    Dunciad is close to the idea ofJohn Drydens MacFlecknoe (full title: Mac Flecknoe; or, A satyr upon the True-Blew-Protestant Poet, T.S. ), a verse mock-heroic satire. It is a directattack on Thomas Shadwell, another prominent poet of the time. After its publication,

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Drydenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Drydenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock-heroichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Shadwellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Shadwellhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satirehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mock-heroichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dryden
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    macflecknoe became a synonym in English for bad poetry (kb. fzfapota). Dunciad alsoattacks intellectual inferiority and moral degeneration and claims that literature is basicallythe embodiment of knowledge of mankind, an educator of mankind. It also points out that poetry is the highest form of knowledge, the rules can be understood and imitated.

    Essay on M an (1732-34)

    A philosophical poem written in heroic couplets. It is the most concise summary of deism anda summary of Popes beliefs on man, moral philosophy, containing his ideas on God andmans place in the universe. Its central idea is that God is transcendent: He created the greatchain of being, which is perfect, but the parts are not necessarily perfect. Some elements dontcomprehend the whole. Sin comes from the misunderstanding of the intentions of God. Secretof wisdom: understanding ones place in the Chain of life, feeling for the whole and feeling athome in your lot, one shouldnt try to belong to another lot. Self -knowledge means notwaiting for God to tell us everything, instead we should study. Studying pattern of natureequals to studying morals. Essay on Man is an affirmative poem of faith: life seems to bechaotic and confusing to man when he is in the center of it, but according to Pope it is reallydivinely ordered. Bessenyei Gyrgy made a prose translation of Popes work with the titleAz embernek prbja. The most famous part is the following:

    Know then thyself, presume not God to scanThe proper study of Mankind is Man.

    Placed on this isthmus of a middle state, A Being darkly wise, and rudely great:With too much knowledge for the Sceptic side,With too much weakness for the Stoic's pride,

    He hangs between; in doubt to act, or rest; In doubt to deem himself a God, or Beast; In doubt his mind or body to prefer; Born but to die, and reas'ning but to err; Alike in ignorance, his reason such,Whether he thinks too little, or too much;Chaos of Thought and Passion, all confus'd;Still by himself, abus'd or disabus'd;Created half to rise and half to fall;

    Great Lord of all things, yet a prey to all,Sole judge of truth, in endless error hurl'd;The glory, jest and riddle of the world.

    Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)

    Johnson, or as he was called at the time, Dr. Johnson, was the most influential poet, literarycritic, lexicographer, essayist, journalist, editor of his age (a quasi literary dictator of his age).

    Samuel Johnson was born as the son of a bookseller (middle class origins). A serious illnesscaused the loss of his eyesight, he was short sighted for one and blind for the other eye. Theoperations left permanent scars on his face and body. Besides he also contracted smallpox. As

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    a result of these problems, he became melancholic, was uncouth in appearance and manner.Went to Oxford, but could not finance his studies. Later he became a teacher, and in 1735,married a widowed woman with three children, who was 20 years his senior, for money.

    After this, he made a famous career, twodoctors degrees were conferred upon him,one by Trinity College of Dublin andanother by Oxford University. UnderGeorge IIIs reign he had no financialtrouble anymore. He always did what hethought right, cared way little for publicmanners. Johnson and Sir Joshua Reynoldsfounded a literary circle, called TheClub, in 1764. Original ly it had 12members and collected the outstandingintellectuals of the age. It continued toexist till the early 20th century.

    The most important source on Johnsonslife is one of his contemporaries, JamesBoswell, who wroteThe Life of Samuel

    Johnson .

    Works

    As a poet, Johnson was perhaps not the greatest talent of his age. Two poems should behighlighted by him:

    London the imitation of 3rd satire of Juvenile. Describes the corruption, vice, the selfishaspect of cosmopolitan life. A lot of parts are translations and adaptations. Target: poverty inLondon

    The Vanity of Human Wishes the imitation of the 10th satire of Juvenile. Johnson againuses translations, and with classic illustrations expresses modern examples. The theme is

    roughly the sameAs a critic and editor, however, he was the most outstanding personage in 18h-centuryEnglish literature. He editedThe Dictionary of the English Language (from 1746 to 1755)The published dictionary was a huge book. Its pages were nearly 18 inches (46 cm) tall, andthe book was 20 inches (51 cm) wide when opened; it contained 42,773 entries, to which onlya few more were added in subsequent editions, and sold for the extravagant price of 4 10s, perhaps the rough equivalent of 350 today. An important innovation in English lexicographywas to illustrate the meanings of his words by literary quotation, of which there are around114,000. The authors most frequently cited include Shakespeare, Miltonand Dryden.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespearehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Miltonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Drydenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Drydenhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Miltonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Shakespeare
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    Johnson also edited Shakespeares plays (published in 1765) and wrote Lives of the Most Eminent English Poets (1779-81), in which he included 52, mostly 17-18th-centuty poets and playwrights, among others, Dryden, Milton, Pope, Swift and Gray.

    After Pope: towards sen t imenta li sm and p re-Romant ic i sm

    Edward Young (1683-1765)

    Young belongs to the so-called Graveyardschool of poetry. This is a typical trend inthe second half of the 18th-centutysentimental poetry. The setting is often agraveyard, a burial ground, or a Gothicminstrel, or some equally melancholic place where the speaker moralizes over problems of life and death and humanvalues (in Hungarian poetry, nyos Plmay be a good example or Klcseys shortreflexive poem Huszt may also becategorised here).

    A Complaint, Or Night Thoughts On Life, Death and Immortality (1742 -45)

    A reflective poem in 9 books. Meditative and narrative passages are about the Nature of the physical world, the nature of man. A clear barrier between the personal and public attitudes.His personal tragedy is always behind the lines: Young, living in a time when patronage wasslowly fading out, was notable for urgently seeking patronage for his poetry, his theatricalworks, and his career in the church: he failed in each area. He never received the degree of patronage that he felt his work had earned, largely because he picked patrons whose fortuneswere about to turn downward. He also lost his wife in 1740. These events may havecontributed to the melancholy tone of the poem.

    The beginning of the poem:

    Tired Natures sweet restorer, balmy Sleep! He, like the world, his ready visit paysWhere Fortune smiles; the wretched he forsakes;Swift on his downy pinion flies from woe,

    And lights on lids unsullied with a tear. From short (as usual) and disturbd repose,

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    I wake: how happy they, who wake no more!Yet that were vain, if dreams infest the grave.

    I wake, emerging from a sea of dreamsTumultuous; where my wreckd desponding thought 10

    From wave to wave of fancied misery

    At random drove, her helm of reason lost.Though now restored, tis only change of pain,(A bitter change!) severer for severe:The day too short for my distress; and night, 15

    Even in the zenith of her dark domain, Is sunshine to the colour of my fate.

    James Thomson (1700-1748)

    Thomson was born in Scotland, then was educated in Edinburgh University. At Edinburgh hestudied metaphysics, Logic, Ethics, Greek, Latinand Natural Philosophy. Later he moved toLondon. In spite of being born in Scotland, he is generally not considered to be a Scottishnational poet.

    His major work isThe Seasons (1726-30). [It is no coincidence that Antonio Vivaldicomposed his Le quattro stagioni , The Four Seasons just around this time, in 1723. ]TheSeasons is a reflective poem, discussing moral, religious and scientific matters and mirrors theideas of contemporary educated people. The description of nature mingles with meditationson man. These descriptive details are listed as proofs of Gods goodness. It has four parts,corresponding to the four seasons. The presentation of Nature diverges somewhat from Neo-classical ideals, using vast prospects, huge scenery, specific and accurate details, evensensuous details. The presentation is full of dynamics, not static, offering a remote, wildromantic scenery.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latinhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_languagehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethicshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logichttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metaphysics
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    Excerpt from Summer (1727):

    Now swarms the village o'er the jovial mead;The rustic youth, brown with meridian toil,

    Healthful and strong; full as the summer-rose Blown by prevailing suns, the ruddy maid, Half-naked, swelling on the sight, and all Her kindled graces burning o'er her cheek. Even stooping age is here; and infant-handsTrail the long rake, or with the fragrant loadO'ercharg'd, amid the kind oppression roll.Wide flies the tedded grain; all in a row

    Advancing broad, or wheeling round the field,They spread the breathing harvest to the sunThat throws refreshful round a rural smell;Or, as they rake the green-appearing ground,

    And drive the dusky wave along the mead,The russet hay-cock rises thick behind,

    In order gay: while, heard from dale to dale,Waking the breeze, resounds the blended voiceOf happy labour, love, and social glee.

    Thomson is also known for being the creator of the English (British?) patriotic song RuleBritannia that was original ly included in his patriotic play Alfred (about the OE king Alfredthe Great) and set to music by Thomas Arne in 1740. It expresses well the forming Britishidentity that particularly accelerated after Englands union with Scotland in 1707. The songemphasises, referring to mythicised historical precedents that Britannia (that is, England,Wales, Scotland and Ireland together) is justified to rule the seas and other lands and build anEmpire.

    1

    When Britain first, at Heaven'scommand

    Arose from out the azure main;

    This was the charter of the land, And guardian angels sang this strain:"Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:"Britons never will be slaves."

    2

    The nations, not so blest as thee, Must, in their turns, to tyrants fall;While thou shalt flourish great and

    free,The dread and envy of them all.

    "Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:"Britons never will be slaves."

    3

    Still more majestic shalt thou rise, More dreadful, from each foreign stroke; As the loud blast that tears the skies,Serves but to root thy native oak."Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:"Britons never will be slaves."

    4

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    Thee haughty tyrants ne'er shalltame:

    All their attempts to bend theedown,Will but arouse thy generous flame;

    But work their woe, and thyrenown."Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:"Britons never will be slaves."

    5

    To thee belongs the rural reign;Thy cities shall with commerce

    shine: All thine shall be the subject main,

    And every shore it circles thine."Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:"Britons never will be slaves."

    6

    The Muses, still with freedom found,Shall to thy happy coast repair;

    Blest Isle! With matchless beautycrown'd,

    And manly hearts to guard the fair."Rule, Britannia! rule the waves:"Britons never will be slaves."

    Thomas Gray (1716-1771)

    A native Londoner, Gray was born into amiddle-class background. Studied at Etonand Cambridge, later became a professor atthe University of Cambridge (remained ascholar till the end of his life). He read theWelsh and Norse poetry (which already points towards a heightened, Romanticinterest in the exotic and ancient). Hewas so much devoted to his studies that herefused to accept poet-laureateship (PoetLaureate = koszors klt). Gray wrotelittle published only 13 poems in hislifetime and produced only 1,000 lines of poetry but he always aimed at perfection.His poetry marks a clear move fromneoclassicism to pre-romanticism

    His most famous poem isElegy written in a Country Churchyard (1751). The beginning of the poem:

    The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,The lowing herd winds slowly o'er the lea,The ploughman homeward plods his wearyway,

    And leaves the world to darkness and tome.

    Now fades the glimmering landscape onthe sight,

    And all the air a solemn stillness holds,

    Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,

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    France, and he returned with a medical degree (it is still quite obscure where he gained thatdegree). He was quite unsuccessful as a doctor.

    He was not only a poet but a novelist as well. In his novelThe Vicar of Wakefield (1766),among others, he describes his travels.The Vicar is a sentimental novel, following the fashion

    of the age, representing the innate goodness of human beings. Goldsmith also worked as adramatist, wrote several popular plays, includingThe Good- Naturd Man andShe Stoops toConquer.

    He settled in London in 1756, where he briefly held various jobs, including an apothecary'sassistant and an usher of a school. Perennially in debt and addicted to gambling, Goldsmith produced a massive output as a hack writerfor the publishers of London, but his few painstaking works earned him the company of Samuel Johnson, with whom he was afounding member of "The Club". The combination of his literary work and his dissolutelifestyle led Horace Walpoleto give him the epithetinspired idiot .Goldsmith was described by contemporaries as prone to envy, a congenial but disorganised personality who once planned to emigrate to America but failed because he missed his ship.His premature death in 1774 may have been partly due to his own misdiagnosis of his kidneyinfection.

    His poetry

    The Deserted Village (1770)

    This is Goldsmiths best -known poem, a pastoral piece written in heroic couplets. Itis basically a lamentation on rural Englandas a lost paradise in the time ofindustrialization (enclosure movement!).The poem operates with the juxtapositionof old values and valueless contemporarylife. The message is that men decaymorally the upholders of virtue are the priest, the schoolmaster, the village-inn,(as a stronghold of community).

    The Deserted Village

    Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain,Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain,Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,

    And parting summer's lingering blooms delayed: Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apothecaryhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_writerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnsonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Club_(dining_club)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Walpolehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horace_Walpolehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Club_(dining_club)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Johnsonhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hack_writerhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apothecary
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    Seats of my youth, when every sport could please, How often have I loitered o'er thy green,Where humble happiness endeared each scene;

    How often have I paused on every charm,The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm, 10

    The never-failing brook, the busy mill,The decent church that topped the neighbouring hill,The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,

    For talking age and whispering lovers made.

    ()

    A time there was, ere England's griefs began,When every rood of ground maintained its man;

    For him light labour spread her wholesome store, Just gave what life required, but gave no more: 60 His best companions, innocence and health; And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.

    But times are altered; trade's unfeeling trainUsurp the land and dispossess the swain;

    Along the lawn, where scattered hamlets rose,Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose;

    And every want to opulence allied, And every pang that folly pays to pride.These gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom,Those calm desires that asked but little room, 70Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene,

    Lived in each look and brightened all the green;These far departing, seek a kinder shore,

    And rural mirth and manners are no more.

    ()

    At church, with meek and unaffected grace, His looks adorned the venerable place;Truth from his lips prevailed the double sway,

    And fools, who came to scoff, remained to pray. 180The service past, around the pious man,With steady zeal each honest rustic ran;

    Even children followed with endearing wile, And plucked his gown, to share the good man's smile. His ready smile a parent's warmth expressed,Their welfare pleased him and their cares distressed;To them his heart, his love, his griefs were given,

    But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven. As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,Swells from the vale and midway leaves the storm, 190

    Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread, Eternal sunshine settles on its head.

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    Robert Burns (1759-1796)

    Burns is Scotlands national poet andcultural icon (his status is very muchsimilar to Petfi in Hungary). Burns was born as the son of a farmer in Scotland, heworked a lot on the fields. He receivedvery sporadic education, but read most ofthe 18th century writers. He remaineduntouched by neoclassicism and outsidethe contemporary English trends. He was,however, familiar with Shakespeare,Milton and Dryden.

    His work is already the precursor of Romanticism. He educated himself in old Scottishliterary forms, he himself collected folk songs, tried to write easily singable poems.

    His collection of poems is entitled Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786). The poemscan be divided into two groups:

    1) Native tradition of Scottish vernacular in verse

    o Poems centring around democratic hostility against aristocracy: The Jolly Beggars o Glorification of simple and humble life: Scotch drink o Mans interdependence on nature To a Mountain Diary o Essential goodness of life: Epistle to a Young Man o Satires on Scottish religious life, mocking hypocrisy: The Holy Fair o Folk narratives and songs based on old folk narratives and ballads: Tom OShanter

    2) Intimate lyricism, emotional sincerity

    o Bawdy songs: Ode to Sprig on an Original Glen o Love lyrics: A Red, Red Rose, John Anderson My Jo o Patriotic and political lyrics: My heart is in the Highlands

    http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/8/84/RobertBurns.jpg
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    OHN ANDERSON, MY JO

    by: Robert B urn s (1759-1796)

    I

    OHN ANDERSON my jo, John,When we were first acquent,Your locks were like the raven,Your bonie brow was brent;

    But now your brow is beld, John,Your locks are like the snaw,but blessings on your frosty pow,

    John Anderson, my jo!

    II

    John Anderson my jo, John,We clamb the hill thegither,

    And mony a canty day, John,We've had wi' ane anither;

    Now we maun totter down, John, But hand in hand we'll go, And sleep thegither at the foot, John Anderson, my jo!

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