Esplorazione della letteratura inglese: dal romanticismo al modernismo

►Gray

Gray e Foscolo

He was the considered poet of the Transition between pre-romanticis and romanticis . In his poems he use themes like death. The Elegy became very popular in Italy where it inspired Foscolo’s carme dei Sepolcri. Foscolo and Gray have a different:

Foscolo speaks of the tombs of important people and for him the tombs are a link with the dead.

Gray speaks the tombs of normal people.

►William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth e la natura

He was born in the lake district and he study in Cambridge. He went to France during "French Revolution ,and became a supporter of the "French Revolution". In France he also fell in love with Annette Vallon but a cause of lack of money he returned to England and abandoned Annette. This situation caused a nervous breakdown.

After returning to England, he met the poet "Coleridge". The friendship between W. and C. was very important for romantic poety in fact they wrote the "Lyrical Ballads .The Lyrical Ballad is considered The Romantic Manifesto ,the central themes is nature. Nature was the expression of the ideal in the real ; nature as the coutryside[mountain river are opposed to the town] , as source of inspiration[describe the relationship that joins man to nature] and nature as life-force[for W. Good is present in nature and not separable from it (vision pantheistic)]

Wordsworth was a first English poet to mensioned the children in works . The children for W. weren’t corrupt and had a pure heart.

In This poem The poet with imagination communicates his feelings(sentimenti) and he use a simple language.

She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways

I wandered Lonely as a Cloud

►Coleridge

Coleridge e il soprannaturale

He was born in Devon and he studied in Cambrige. During The French Revolution he was a supporter of French Revolution. Very important in Coleridge's life was the friendships

with Wordsworth. Coleridge and Wordsworth wrote and the "Lyrical Ballads. Coleridge wrote other works such as "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner "Kubla Khan", "Lectures of Poetry and Drama" and

"Biographia Literaria".

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

This poem is divided in to seven parts. It tells about a story of a mariner who kills an albatross. This story is told by a mariner during a marriage. The mariner tells that his ship was blocked by ice ma arriva una Albatros e la nave si libera dal ghiaccio. But the fleet was hit by a curse(maledizione) and all the marinai died except one, who had killed the albatross, and he tells his story to the people he met. Morale:In this poem reality and supernatural events coexist, and the landscape is described as a mysterious place.

The supernatural and the real in the Rime

In the Ancient Mariner Coleridge’s procedure was to mix the supernatural with the real. The presence of supernatural and magic in the Rime are:

The figure of old mariner  he has a glittering(luminosi) eye which has a hypnotic power

The albatross  a sacred bird in many religious and mythical traditions with supernatural powers.

There is a unearthly(oscure) creatures as angel and there is the ship that driven by mysterious forces.

Interpretations of The Rime

Religious : the killing of the albatroos is considered a crime against good and nature.

Artistic : the mariner has an artistic vision and is the artist in searches of truth and happiness.

Autobiographicol : the albatroos is considered one Coleridge’s lover.

Natura

Natura è buona ma se la provochiamo lei si ribella dobbiamo solo amarla

►Blacke

Blake e il simbolismo

Blake was an engrave. When he was twenty he began to wrote poems and for each poems he made a graphic representation so he was called "the poet of symbols". He was inspired by the Bible, his favourite book. He didn't get successfull and he died poor. He was favorable to french and american revolution but he was against church's institution and he was against monarchy. He accused their of being without positive ideals(egli accusa loro di essere senza ideali positivi). His work was dedicated to poor.

songs of innocence the world is full of beauty and happines. the world is compared to eden garden songs of experience in the world there are cruelty, selfishness, social injustice too(anche).

But this two reality coexist, like good and evile(male), purity and corruption and they are in eternal balance and contrast.

The Lamb

The lamb is an extract of songs of innocence by Blake.The poet describes this animal as innocent creature and gentle lamb so symbol of good and innocence because he looks like little child.Blake ask him about his creator and his life

The TigerThe tiger is the most famous of Songs of Experience

The tiger in terrifying powerful beauty but fascinating elegant it is violence aggressive but brave.The qualities of the creator in this case are the powerful intelligence

The chiminey sweepwer

The chiminey sweepwer wtitten by Blacke.In this poem Blacke spaeak about Tom a young boy that became a chiminey sleeper ehen his father sold him and jus mother died.Durinh the night he didi a dream and in this dream he and he friends were saved by an angel.So when Tom after dream he went to work but he wasn’t sand but he was very happy because I he (si comportava bene) he will not be worry.

►Lord Byron

Lord Byron e il romanticismo

Byron was born in London in 1788 and he was born lame. He studied at Harrow and Cambridge while here he published “hours of Idleness” He made the Grand Tour in all the Mediterranean countries and started work on Child Harold's Pilgrimage in which he told about his travel experiences. When he returned in England, he married Anna Isabella , but his violent conduct and his love for his half sister Augusta made the marriage unhappy. So He went in Geneva met Shelley. Succesful when he went in Italy he had a relationship with another woman and he (prese parte) the conspiracy of the carbonary against the Austrians but the conspiracy failed. He became also a supporter of the Greek campaign against Turkish domination. So he spent his life in the campaign and died in 1824 at Missolonghi with a fever. Byron’s literary production consist of lyric, verse dramas, satirical verse and narrative verse. His verse tales are Lara, The Corsair. His verse dramas are “Manfred”.An autobiographical poem is “Childe Harold’s pilgrimage”divided in four (canti). Is based on Byron’s travels and the protagonist represent another version of the Byronic hero, moody and solitaire. In the satirical verse we have “English bards and Scottish reviewers” and Don Juan. Juan is a Spanish nobleman that at the end of the work is been seduced by a married lady and so he excape(sfuggire) from the vengeance(vendetta) of her husband. Byron is considered a romantic and a satirical poet. His characteristics as a romantic poet are: his life full of romantic travels and love affair, his worship of liberty and his approach to nature in fact he sees nature as a reflection of himself, and for this he was attracted by wild scenes of nature .

Byronic hero is a man of dark and mysterious, often melancholy and gloomy, full of secrets, but with courage, (legato) by love for a woman

►The Gothic novel

Il romanzo gotico

This novel is characterized by darkness,mystery ,supernatural event ,the usual setting is a medieval castel and there is a women that is persecuted by a cruel man.

The symbol of the gothic novel is the “castle of Otranto” by Walpole

►The novel of porpouse
This novel is written with the purpose of propagating ideas especially social and political ones.

The best example of this novel is Frenkenstein of Mary Shally.The main themes of Frankenstein are the isolation and social injustice

►The novel of manner

Il romanzo di costume

This novel is characterized by a characters and setting from the middle classes.The main theme of this novel is the love; in fact this novel is centred on love stories between a young women and men but this love isn’t passion it’s only for interest .

The example of this novel is Pride and Prejudice of Jane Austen marriage was essential for financial and social well-being.

►The historical novel

This novel is characterized by a combination of imaginary and historical element-the main characters are unreal -the minor characters are historical characters-the event are set in a defined historical contest-there is a presence of humble people

The symbol of this novel is Scott. He write three type of novel:stories sit in recent past-stories sit in distant past like “Ivanohoe”- stories of Scotland.

►The short story

This novel is characterized by a simple language and simple structure and the plot follows one series of events. In this stories there is the failure of rationality and the protagonist is dominated by instinct , supernatural forces and uncontrollable emotions.

►Mary Shelley

Mary Shelley e Frankenstein

was the daughter of the radical philosopher William Godwin and of Mary Wollstonecraft(the author of A Vindication of the Right of Woman). In 1814 she met Shelley. They fell in love but when she found she was pregnant they run off to Europe, the first work of Mary was Frankenstein, the first example of science fiction . When Mary was twenty-four ,Shelly died, and she remained alone with her three children .So Mary used the rest of her life to editing Shelley’s works .

Frankenstein=The novel speak of the story of a scientist , Victor Frankestein. When he was at the University he created a creature that is composed from a part of dead bodies. This creature had an horrible apparence so he is isolated by the society and he became destructive and homicidial.In fact he killed his creator’s brother and his wife Elizabeth. Frankestein follows the monster to the Artic to destroy it but he died.

Main themes=The excessive use of science;Social injustice;Man is originally good (Rousseau) but when he enter to the society he change ;Tragic end : Victor died for his ambition

Characters= Victor Frankenstein is an isolated individual: this isolation is self-imposed. Also the monster is isolated but his isolation is imposed by the society because it had a prejudice against the monster. The monster represent for Victor:His aggressive instincts;His fear(paura) of the family;His fear for the women;

►Austen

Jane Austen e il matrimonio

was born at steventon a small village and her father was a rector of the village.He spet all her life in the village and she died of conscuption.She lived during the romantic age and the industrial revolution but this period didn’t influence her. She began to write when she was young and she is considered antiromantic.She is considered antiromantic because she belives in the reason but doesn’t belive in feeling ,her first novel deal whith a combination balanced between reason and feeling and the love is considered a feeling opposite to reason.In the Austen’s novel the women had for objective the marrig,in fact all Austen’s works finished with a marriage.The main topic of her novels are the adventure of heroins and the character are (accuratamente) described trow the dialogus

DifettI lackes the vision of historical and social moment in which she living, she doesn’t interest to Romanticism, the word that she describe is limitated.

PREGI she is very much detail, describe the set made up balls,trips,dinner because are occasion to meeting, her characters are reasonable people that don’t hit neither by inner conflicts nor strong passion

►Poe

Edgar Allan Poe e il racconto

Poe’s life was very difficult and tragic .Poe was born in Boston but he was orphaned at two and he live in a new family of Richmon merchant. He went to study to university of Virgina but he was expelled because he loved to bett and he started to drink; after he went to military academy(west point) but he was expelled this one too.After that he married his cousin Virginia but his wife dead young. He became famous in Europa because french poets like Baudelaire translated his works. He was very important for the licterature exspecially in the short story because he introduced a innovative element :contrast between irrationality and rationality .Poe’s works are based on the strict logic and there are a two important element irrationality and rationality. There is rationality when the protagonist isn’t dominated by a istinct and strong passion while there is the irrationality with the influence of uncontrollable emotions fears and mysterious and supernatural forces. Poe use a short story because for him the breavity is essenzial for effects of surprise and to archive a strong emotion on the reader-

►Wilde

Oscar Wilde e il dandy

Oscar Wilde bases his life on two tendences Aesthetism(the cult of beauty) and Aedonism(the cult of pleasure); he was a dandy(a figure that rebels against society as the bohemian) but he is aristocratic, intelligence and he has superiority of spirit). He starts to write his life-style introduces him to the upper-class. The comedies are: “Lady Windermere’s Fan”, “An ideal husband” and “the Importance of being Earnest”. Wilde’s aimes are to satirize ,to provoque and to amaze the public. The plot is just a protext for the exhibition of brilliant dialogues that criticize the upper class. They are witty and short. The fables are: “the happy prince” and the other tales”(story rich of emotion) and the “House of Panegrametes”(demonstration of his diversity) . “The ballad of riding gaol”( it has the characteristics of the medieval ballad ,but it’s not anonymous in this work there is a new view of life and this work has a symbolic and social meaning the soldier becames the symbol of mean’s tragic destiny and analyzes the context of society bases on general hypocrisy ). “The Profundis” is a long autobiographical letter for his lover

THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY(his masterpiece in this work is mixed the cult of Aedonism and of Aestetism whit element and protagonist that represent this two tendences Lord Harry=edonismo\Basil=estetismo)

It’s the only novel,it’s a mystery story, full of symbolic meaning ,centred on the theme of “double personality” (as Stevenson): the dark side rappresents the immortality of Victorian middle class, while the pure and innocent side rappresents the hypocrisy of the Victorian age. The message of the book is that the excess must be punished and the reality cannot be avoided. Also the picture returns to its original beauty and this expresses Wilde’s conception of art: he asserts the superiority of art over life.

►Dickens

Charles Dickens e la società

His father go to prison for debt and he is forced to go to work in a factory. This experience influnced his nocel.The first novel is “The pickwich papers” theat speacks about the adventure of a grouop of people trevelling on the english roads.(are mixed a comic and picaresque elements).”Oliver Twist”(O. is a child that lives in an orphanage when he is 9 he is brought to work hose.After that he escapes and finds a group of children only in the end after many adventures he finds a family) that speaks about work-house(they are apparently charity buldings) his masterpiece is “Copperfield” that is an autobiographical work.The novel present a variety of setting--the characters are divided into good and bad they are vagabonds criminal orphan—the plot are very compkicated and they are caracterized by intrigue and myster.In his works he criticizes all aspects of society in particular he analyzes the problems of industrialization and the social injustice.

►Stevenson

Stevenson e il doppio

He is the poet of the symbolism,infact in his masterpiece “the strange case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde” there are many symbols.in this work there is the “double Personality” theme and it is considered a modern myth(we know the story but not the writer). The story rappresents the conflict between good and evil part of human mind  in this work there is a new conception of the human mind  it’s multiple and made up the different and contrasting pices. Stevenson uses a combination of realism and symbolism in factMr Jekyll is tall and virtuos and rappresent the good sides;Mr hyde is short and uglt anda rappresent the evil sides The are 3 narrators narrator (that isn’t omniscient and tell in third person, Dr Lanyon,old friend of Jekyll, Dr Jekyll(tell in first person).In this work the are elements of crime story : the title(the word “case” remember the police story); the setting(the story is set in a dark London) and the scatter clause (important element for the solution of the story)

►Stoker

Stoker e Dracula

the most important work is Dracula is told through a collection of journal entries letters and telegrams written by many characters. The narrator are non-omniscient because they came to know the events. On a first level Dracula reads like a horror story but a second level Dracula expresses fears and obsessions typical of late Victorian England. Dracula may be read as a metaphor of the crakes in imperial British Victorian society.

►Joyce

James Joyce e Dublino

Joyce in one of most important modernist writers. He bases his literature on psychological truth and he wants explore the unconscious. He use the “stream of consciousness”.

The stream of conscious technique

Joyce is the inventor of the stream of consciousness whit the S.O.C Joyce analyzes the human mind in particular analyzes the chaotic flow of thoughts in the human mind.

In Joyce opinion Dublin is the centre of “paralysis” because it isn’t open to the new and accuses the irish people to be passive

Dubliners

In this work J. analyzes the life in Dublin that the centre of “paralysis” This is “paralysis of will” the irish people accept the limitations imposes by society. In all the stories there is the sense of STAGNATIONS (sense of paralysis). Joyce organizes his stories on the idea of paralysis under 4 aspects: CHILDHOOD,ADOLESCENCE,MATURITY,AND PUBLIC LIFE, the DEAD is similar to an epilogue.The style of the book is difficult. It is realistic because there are many details of characters,places,streets of Dublin. Joyce uses the symbolic effect that becomes the key to a new view of reality. Joyce uses a epiphany- hat is a revelation of consciousness in which the characters realize their condition