Letteratura inglese III, prof. Michelucci 1

XVII century: Historical point of view

It was the period when Britain and Europe came in contact with other cultures, countries, and people. They discovered that they weren’t at the centre of the universe. There were others, even if England and European always tried to dominate the others. Europeans were just a little part of a wide and bigger area that is the world. In this period all the certainties and traditions fell. For example, they had always thought that the Earth was at the centre of the universe and the Sun ran round it. The truth, as Galileo said, was that at the centre there was the Sun. Another important man was Copernico. It’s a time of great change, this brought a great disorientation. This reflected also in literature and arts. They felt like lost, people had to face big changes.

Political changes and conflicts

Another point was that Britain had always been a monarchy. In reality, at a certain point, there was for a little time a republic and not the monarchy. This happened in the 17th century. The republic had as a leader Oliver Cromwell. The king was decapitated and it was a devastating change. Britain had always believed that the king represented and was chosen by God. Killing him was like rebelling to God. It was a period of big changes, a time of intense religious problems, fights, conflicts. There were no certainties, no stability. From a religious point of view, there was the fight between Puritans (radical religious people) and Monarchies (the ones who supported the king). This brought to the explosion of the Civil War. Monarchy and aristocracy were in crisis.

Poetry point of view

There was a strong connection between poetry and history. Poetry reflects the events, the feelings, the society, and changes of that period, that were brought into art and literature. Until the 18th century, literature, theatre, and art were for aristocracy; from the 18th century with the birth of the novel, art was not only for aristocrats but also for other people. In this period there was the Metaphysical Poetry. The term was coined by Samuel Johnson afterwards, to describe a loose group of the 17th century whose works were characterized by the inventive use of conceits, and by a greater emphasis on the spoken rather than lyrical quality of their verse. It was a negative term from the point of view of the people who used it in the 18th century. They said that metaphysical poets were creating a sort of potpourri of different things, topics, so they didn’t do real poetry. They didn’t, at that time, consider themselves as part of a group. When you present something new, different from the tradition, innovative, the old schools always try to label you and have a negative opinion. You are considered to go against traditions so they oppose this. They reflect the intellectual and spiritual crisis of the age. Their work is a blend of emotion and intellectual ingenuity. It combined poetry and metaphysic. Poets tried to explore the recesses of their consciousness. There were frequent references to religious debate, astrology, sea-discovery, alchemy, and philosophy. The most characteristic is that this poetry contained large doses of wit. The language of Metaphysical poets was rich and varied. They used also Latinisms and words of Anglo Saxon origin. Poems were composed by verses, sometimes they are divided into stanzas. The most important were: Vaughan, Marvell, Cleveland, Herbert, Crashaw.

What happened to art?

It was didactic, educated essays, prose (e.g., follow the Bible). The Puritans decided to close theatres. All the production of Shakespeare stopped. Also, arts for pleasure were stopped and considered as immoral, that had to be left away. Poetry and poems in this period were very important. Didactic literature wasn’t very good. Metaphysical tried to escape from this very intense, troubled, tormented period.

Cavaliers vs. Metaphysical (Esame)

Metaphysical poets are always put in contrast with Cavalier poets. Metaphysical were more interesting.

• Metaphysical: Characterized by an unusual degree of intellectualism.
• Cavaliers: They usually didn’t reflect turbulent times of the age.
• Metaphysical: Often draws on material from fields that were not typically associated with poetry, such as law, natural science, metallurgy, medicine...
• Cavaliers: They focused on love, beauty, honour, time. They were very faithful to the monarchy.
• Richard Lovelace, “To Lucasta, going to the wars”

Use of paradoxes and conceits. Metaphysical poets were neglected during the 17th century but they were discovered again in the 20th century. Metaphysical poets were able to express unification of sensibility. They express sensuous thoughts. Unification of brain and feelings, senses. Normal people have lost this ability because of the industrial revolution. We have dissociated brain from the feelings.

John Donne

John Donne was almost Shakespeare contemporary. There is something similar between the two? Or something different? Way of thinking, use of the language, use of the future? It’s very modern and makes appreciate his work. He’s the synthesis of the Elizabethan period. Donne is in between – stability and conflict, monarchy and revolution. He was catholic and he never wanted to deny Catholicism. He doesn’t want to deny Catholicism. At the end of his life, he had to. He made a big mistake, he wasn’t diplomatic. He was very critical. In secret he married the daughter of an Aristocratic court man, he lost his job in court and lived in misery for some years. Paradoxically these were the most important years from a writing point of view. He was very intelligent, married without the approval of the father. He lived in misery, poverty. Then he was helped by a bishop and became a priest. It was a strong decision. At the beginning, he didn’t accept it. His sermons were published as a collection of prose are some of the best sermons of the time. He was a very good and powerful priest and preacher. He wrote songs and sonnets, celebration of the hero. Neoplatonic – celebrates hero, true love. A road to access to the world of the idea. The holy sonnets – the main theme is God. Although the holy sonnets are sonnets. The love for a woman is very holy for him. He admires his lover. He puts the love at the top of the cosmic order, something god-like, something above the world and universe. Celebrating God, Jesus he’s doing it with the very passion. It's like treating his life for God in a passionate way? Sensuous though. Thinking sensuously or reasonable feelings and senses as a great unification of sensibility which is expressed by physical poet? He can feel and love in a holy way his lover.

"Batter My Heart, Three-Person'd God" - Donne

Batter my heart, three-person'd God, for you As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend; Sfascia il mio cuore, Dio in tre persone! Per ora That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend tu solo bussi, aliti, risplendi e tenti di Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new. emendare. ma perché io sorga e regga, I, like an usurp'd town to another due, tu rovesciami e piega la tua forza a spezzarmi, ad esplodermi, bruciarmi e farmi Labor to admit you, but oh, to no end; nuovo. Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend, usurpata città, dovuta ad altri, io mi provo But is captiv'd, and proves weak or untrue. a farti entrare, ma ahi! senza fortuna. la ragione, in me tuo vicerè, Yet dearly I love you, and would be lov'd fain, mi dovrebbe difendere ma è But am betroth'd unto your enemy; prigioniera e si mostra molle o infida. Pure teneramente io t’amo e vorrei essere Divorce me, untie or break that knot again, riamato. Ma fui promesso al tuo nemico. Take me to you, imprison me, for I, Divorziami, disciogli, spezza il nodo, rapiscimi, imprigionami: se tu Except you enthrall me, never shall be free, non m’incateni non sarò mai libero, Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me casto mai se tu non mi violenti.

Summary

God is along with Jesus and Holy Ghost, so they are the Trinity that makes up the Christian “three-personed God.” The speaker begins by asking God to attack his heart as if it were the gates of a fortress town. The speaker wants God to enter his heart aggressively and violently, instead of gently. Then (line 5) the speaker explicitly compares himself to a captured town. He tries to let God enter but has trouble because the speaker’s rational side seems to be in control. Then the speaker admits that he loves God and he wants to be loved, but he’s tied down to God’s unspecified “enemy” instead, whom we can think of as Satan. The speaker asks God to break the speaker’s ties with the enemy. He then explains why he wants all of this: he can’t really be free unless God enslaves and excites him, and he can’t refrain from sex unless God carries him away and delights him.

Structure

It’s a Shakespearean sonnet structure. 4 stanzas and a total of 14 lines. There is a combination of religion and the military world. God has to conquer the souls of people. There’s a castle that needs to be destroyed and rebuilt (that represents human souls).

Religion focus

1st Stanza

The speaker begins by asking God to attack his heart as if it were three gates of a fortress town. The speaker asks God to treat him violently. He wants to bend God’s force because the speaker’s goal is to ‘rise’ and become ‘new’. Becoming new is probably a reference to the Christian idea that true happiness and salvation come only after death, in order to get into heaven, while life on earth must be a continual act of suffering. This may be why our speaker wants to be abused and broken in the earthly world – so that he will be worthy for the afterlife.

• He asks God to ‘batter’ his heart, as opposed to what God has been doing so far: just knocking, breathing, shining, trying to help the speaker heal
• When he asks to become new and rise he asks to have a moment of religious epiphany
• Batter = things used to break down the door of a castle

2nd Stanza

The speaker compares himself to a town that is captured or ‘usurped’. Then he talks about reason. God gave us reason and rationality to defend ourselves from Evil, but now the speaker’s reason seems to have turned on God, so the speaker is having trouble showing his faith in God.

• To another due: suggests that the town belongs to someone else, but we don’t know who this ‘someone’ could be. The likely possibility is that it was originally God’s, and it was subsequently taken over by another.
• Using of simile (similitudine) instead of a metaphor
• Oh: it’s the only word that doesn’t have a meaning. It’s a sigh, an exclamation, a sound. It could be also a theatrical and overly dramatic moment.

3rd Stanza

There’s a shift/change in the tone. The speaker seems to be a bit more candid and personal, he abandons some of the similes and metaphors used before. The speaker asks God to help him to get out of this close engagement that he has with the enemy. Then again the metaphor with the castle. He asks God to imprison him so that he can be free. (This goes back to the Christian idea that a human must suffer in order to get to Heaven).

• Yet dearly I love you: is a very straightforward line
• We don’t know who is this enemy, maybe the evil
• Metaphor of an ‘engagement’ with his enemy, like if the two are fiancés
• Again: means that it isn’t the first time that the speaker needs to ask God for help in getting away from the Devil, maybe

4th Stanza

These lines leave us with some major paradoxes, refusing to pin down exactly what the speaker wants from God.

• Enslave: affascinare, schiavo

"Death, Be Not Proud" - Donne

Death, be not proud, though some have called thee Mighty and dreadful, for thou art not so; Morte, non essere troppo orgogliosa, se anche For those whom thou think'st thou dost overthrow qualcuno ti chiama terribile e possente Die not, poor Death, nor yet canst thou kill me. Tu non lo sei affatto: perché quelli che pensi di travolgere From rest and sleep, which but thy pictures be, in realtà non muoiono, povera morte, nè puoi Much pleasure; then from thee much more must uccidere me. flow, Se dal riposo e dal sonno, che sono tue And soonest our best men with thee do go, immagini, Rest of their bones, and soul's delivery. deriva molto piacere, molto più dovrebbe derivarne da Te, con cui proprio i nostri Thou art slave to fate, chance, kings, and desperate migliori se ne vanno, men, per primi, tu che riposi le loro ossa e ne liberi And dost with poison, war, and sickness dwell, l'anima. And poppy or charms can make us sleep as well Schiava del caso e del destino, di re e And better than thy stroke; why swell'st thou then? disperati, Tu che dimori con guerra e con veleno, con One short sleep past, we wake eternally ogni infermità, And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die. l'oppio e l'incanto ci fanno dormire ugualmente, e molto meglio del colpo che ci sferri. Perché tanta superbia? Perché tanta superbia? Trascorso un breve sonno, eternamente, resteremo svegli, e la morte non sarà più, sarai Tu a morire.

Summary

The speaker talks about Death, who treats as a person. He tells Death not to be so proud because he’s really not as scary or powerful as most people think. The speaker starts talking in contradictions, saying that people don’t really die when they meet Death – and neither will the speaker. He compares Death to “rest and sleep”, two things that aren’t scary at all. Then says that “only the good die young” because the best people know that death brings pleasure, not pain. The speaker calls Death ‘a slave’. People don’t need Death, they can just take drugs and we will have the same effect: falling asleep. So death is just a “short sleep” after which a good Christian will wake up and find himself in eternity.

Structure

It’s a Shakespearean sonnet. It has 4 stanzas, a total of 14 lines. Has a provocative and challenging tone.

1st Stanza

Death thinks to be the biggest, baddest, meanest thing. It’s proud and arrogant. The speaker orders Death not to be proud (the death) and says that people are mistaken in treating Death as some fearsome being. Death thinks that he has the power to kill people but he actually doesn’t. Donne uses the idea of Christian eternity to argue that death is something that people pass through on their way to a new, eternal life. A Christian will experience the death of the body on the earth but his soul continues to live forever.

• He’s starting with an evocative, death. Somebody or something you can control, keep under your power, something you’re not afraid of.
• He’s using the imperative, he’s directly accusing death not to be proud of himself.
• Mighty and dreadful are the adjectives describing you but he’s denying these qualities.
• Most people are not afraid of that.
• Do you think you have the power of putting upside down, killing these people. He’s really provocative. They do not die. You cannot kill me – his faith is so strong that he believes in life after that.
• Your power of killing is very limited.
• You may kill me but you won’t kill my heart, which lasts forever.
• Only a few people are afraid of you and think that you are dreadful.
• Dreadful = terribile
• Mighty: onnipotente
• Some = deminisec effect. Just a part of people not everyone.
• Overthow = kill

2nd Stanza

The speaker compares death to “rest” and “sleep” that are two things that give us pleasure. He claims that rest and sleep are only “pictures” of death. [The comparison of death to sleep or eternal rest is a classic metaphor in Christian writings] Then the speaker says that only good people (soldiers, martyrs, intelligent, scientists, smart) will die soon, to free their souls.

• He’s talking about rest and sleep.
• Two comparisons, one is rest, one is sleep.
• He believes in eternal life.
• Rhetoric question: if you are so dreadful we should get a better pleasure, something more.
• He says that everybody dies but the good, intelligent, scientists, clever people will die first.
• What happened at the death? The body will die but the souls will live. The souls will be free and go somewhere.
• It’s the beginning of a new life.
• Sleep, rest = die
• Picture = fake image, fake imitation
• Delivery = liberation of the soul. Word related to childbirth which adds to the whole “new life” idea.

3rd Stanza

The speaker raises his intensity in these lines, and becomes more hostile towards Death, calling him names and taunting him as a slave. With the metaphor of the slave, the speaker suggests that Death doesn’t act on his own free will, but it is controlled or manipulated by other things like “fate, chance, kings and desperate man”. He says also that Death’s friends (“poison, war, sickness”) are losers. Death and these three things have in common that they all kill lots and lots of people. They’re considered bad or painful ways to die. Now the speaker says that drugs and magic charms work even better than death at bringing on sleep. Donne puts Death in his place, telling him not to “swell” with pride.

• He’s making a sort of list of negative thing: slave. Totally depend on somebody else, to destiny, chance and desperate man. You belong to them.
• Dwell is the home, the place you belong.
• Sounds ‘an’ increasing, ironic part.
• If sleep is a pleasure then we get from them, we don’t you. If I take the poppy and charms I can sleep as well.
• You’re totally swollen but you’re just small, pompous.
• Dwell = dimora
• Stroke = colpo
• Swell = gonfiare – metaphoric way here “perché ti pompi tanti?”
• Desperate man: is someone desperate due to circumstances.