• Individuality,

• of freedom and liberty

• and the power of the imagination.

The libertarian writings of the French-Swiss thinker Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712-1778), in praise of the essential goodness of nature and natural impulses and in protest against the corruption of society, helped lead to the American War of Independence (1775-1783) and the French Revolution (1789).

In England, the enclosing of common village land with hedges in the interest of big landowners and farmers produced unrest in the countryside. Also, the beginnings of the Industrial Revolution were changing a predominantly rural and agricultural country into a predominantly urban and manufacturing one. A number of poets reflected these profound changes.

DICTATE

Historical Context

• Britain is a large trading empire, the "workshop" of the world.

• Industrial Revolution - new processes of manufacture, an increase in the export of finished cloth rather than of raw material, coal and iron industries developed.

• The population increased from 7 mln to 14 mln people.

• Much money was invested in road- and canal-building. The first railway line (1830)

• The outburst of political activity – the Great French Revolution of 1789, the bitter wars with Napoleon's France that ravaged Europe for almost 25 years.

• outbreaks against machinery

• large landowners were enclosing millions of acres of land for their own purposes and thus dispossessing labourers who were reduced either to slaving on the fields of their masters or to migrating in search of the means to support themselves by working 12—14 hours a day for wages notoriously below subsistence level.

DICTATE

The representatives of the early 19^th century poetry were William Blake (1757-1827) and Robert Burns (1759-1796).

William Blake

TELL

William Blake had no systematic education.

He set up a print shop in London, engraving his poems in a pictorial setting to display their themes visually.

In his own day, however, he was virtually unread.

He was acutely aware of the injustice and oppression involved in the use of cheap female and child labour in the new factories and was a strong supporter of the French Revolution.

Free love movement

In particular, Blake is sometimes considered a forerunner of the subsequent 19th century "free love" movement, a broad reform tradition starting in the 1820s that held that marriage is slavery, and advocated for removal of all state restrictions on sexual activity such as homosexuality, prostitution, and adultery, culminating in the birth control movement of the early 20th century.

Blake was critical of the marriage laws of his day, and generally railed against traditional Christian notions of chastity as a virtue.

For Blake, law and love are opposed, and he castigates the "frozen marriage-bed". In Visions, Blake writes

Till she who burns with youth, and knows no fixed lot, is bound
In spells of law to one she loathes? and must she drag the chain
Of life in weary lust?

 Каким заклятьем юную неопытную деву
              Он сочетает с ненавистной старостью? Должна ли
              В цепях усталой похоти она прожить всю жизнь
              И мертвенными ледяными думами завешивать
              Прозрачный небосвод своей весны, сходить с ума,
              И вянущие плечи подставлять бичам зимы,

DICTATE

William Blake followed the symbolic manner of expressing his thoughts and ideas.

Blake was consid­ered eccentric, even mad.

The Bible was an early and profound influence on Blake, and would remain a source of inspiration throughout his life.

TELL

Blake was a professional engraver. Blake began to experiment with relief etching (рельефный оттиск), a method he would use to produce most of his books, paintings, pamphlets and poems and later to illustrate the Bible.

Blake's illustrations of the poem “Divine Comedy” by Dante are not merely accompanying works, but rather seem to critically revise, or furnish commentary on, certain spiritual or moral aspects of the text.

DICTATE

His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of both the Romantic movement and "Pre-Romantic", for its large appearance in the 18th century.

Writings

The earlier work is primarily rebellious in character, and can be seen as a protest against dogmatic religion.

TELL

This is especially notable in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (Марьяж Небес и Преисподней) in which Satan is virtually the hero rebelling against an imposter authoritarian deity.

One may also note his words concerning religion in The Marriage of Heaven and Hell:

All Bibles or sacred codes have been the causes of the following Errors.

1. That Man has two real existing principles Viz: a Body & a Soul.

2. That Energy, calld Evil, is alone from the Body, & that Reason, calld Good, is alone from the Soul.

3. That God will torment Man in Eternity for following his Energies.

But the following Contraries to these are True

1. Man has no Body distinct from his Soul for that calld Body is a portion of Soul discernd by the five Senses, the chief inlets of Soul in this age.

2. Energy is the only life and is from the Body and Reason is the bound or outward circumference of Energy.

3. Energy is Eternal Delight.

DICTATE

Apart from his highly individual illustrations and engravings, Blake is nowadays mainly admired for the apparently simple and mysteriously beautiful Songs of Innocence (1789) and the more forceful and intensely questioning Songs of Experience.

In "The Songs of Innocence" (1789 ) William Blake is full of innocent hopes connected with the symbolic images.

DICTATEIn "The Songs of Experience" (1794) the author reveals his disillusionment caused by ruthlessness and injustice.

I went to the garden of Love,

And saw what I never had seen...

And I saw it was filled with graves,

And tomb-stones where flowers should be...

(from "The Garden of Love")

DICTATE"Jerusalem" is a short poem, which was little known during the century which followed its writing, was included in a patriotic anthology of verse published in 1916. The poem came to symbolise what England was fighting for. Jerusalem is considered to be England's most popular patriotic song.

And did those feet in ancient time Walk upon England's mountains green? And was the holy Lamb of God On England's pleasant pastures seen? I will not cease from mental fight, Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand Till we have built Jerusalem In England's green and pleasant land.

На этот горный склон крутой Ступала ль ангела нога? И знал ли агнец наш святой Зелёной Англии луга? Мой дух в борьбе несокрушим, Незримый меч всегда со мной. Мы возведём Ерусалим В зелёной Англии родной. (перевод С.Маршака)

DICTATE

Looking back on literary history, we can see that Blake's originality of thought and his visionary and symbolic mode of expression was a courageous break with the neo-classical tradition.

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

TELL

О My Luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June;

О My Luve's like the melodie That's sweetly played in tune.

DICTATE

The most outstanding representative of the Early Romanticism in England was Robert Burns. Unlike William Blake, he was very popular in his time. Robert Burns «became the national bard of Scotland.

TELL

Robert Burns is one of the most famous characters in Scottish Cultural History. His importance is immense, not only in terms of his fascinating story and his work……but as a living tradition, carried from generation to generation throughout the World. Everyone, everywhere, who joins in the celebration of Scotland, Scottish Heritage or Scottish Culture, will witness references to Robert Burns.

Biography

Robert Burns (often now referred to as "Rabbie") was born in this sparse little cottage, the eldest son of a poor peasant farmer. Life was extremely harsh and the farm was not succeeding.

Despite the desperate hardship of the farm (where by the age of thirteen Burns did most of ploughing and reaping) he would always have a volume of Scottish ballads ready to read in any spare minute. It was the combination of hard labour and poor food that caused his heart attacks which troubled him during all his life and from which he died.

1^st poem – 15 years - "Handsome Nell", (a poem about his first love, a girl called Nellie & the first indication of his eye for women)

Once I lov'd a bonie lass, Ay, and I love her still; And whilst that virtue warms my breast, I'll love my handsome Nell.

Burns was conscious of the Scottish folk songs and dances of Ayrshire where he was brought up. He wrote his first poem at fourteen.

Robert Burns had acquired a good knowledge of English Literature, Greek, Latin and French. Fortune was against Robert. As a farmer he was very unsuccessful.

He had been courting a local girl, Jean Armour, (later to be his wife) who had become pregnant by him, and as it was then, the girls father and the local community were outraged. Such was the sway of opinion against Burns, he became deeply dejected and was intent on emigrating to Jamaica in the West Indies.

His most brilliant poems appeared in 1785-1786. He published them under the title "Poems Chiefly in Scottish Dialect".

It was met with curious wonder. They could not perceive that an apparently ignorant farmer could write in such a manner.

Robert was by now fluent in French, spoke Latin, studied philosophy, politics, geography, theology & of course, the Bible. He was an accomplished mathematician and would in later years add significantly to his impressive list of subjects. These achievements must be considered in some perspective to fully understand the "oddity" that was Robert Burns. Son of a poor farmer, country boy, & peasant……….quite simply he was a genius of the highest intellect……….and Robert knew it!!

Poems, Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect" was considered to be one of the greatest poetical collections ever written. Its appeal was obvious not only to the educated, but importantly, to the common man just like Burns himself. 

Burns took Edinburgh by storm & had effectively achieved today's equivalent of stardom. 

Although Burns never received more than £20 for his book, it was a great success. Thus he decided to move to Edinburgh. The first Edinburgh edition of Burns's poetry appeared in spring of 1787. He became famous. The so-called "ploughman poet", the "Caledonia's Bard".

For Robert, the combination of poverty, hard work on the farm, story telling, the influence of the Kirk (or Church), his studies, and a tremendous ability to observe life in general, was the making of The Man. He would develop a wicked sense of humour, a controversial frankness decrying hypocrisy, a tender & thoughtful creativity, an alleged thirst for drink, a deep Nationalist pride in his beloved Scotland, and an insatiable passion for Women. 

Burns died aged 37. During his short life he would aspire to great things. After his death, he would become legendary, or as some would say, immortal. His immortality runs deep in the veins of all Scots, perhaps unknowingly, and he has evolved from mere man to being symbolic of all things Scottish. He is now one of the great cornerstones of modern Scottish History and the significance of his memory is celebrated throughout the world.

С романтизмом он в сущности не имел ничего общего. Напротив, его творчество знаменовало последний расцвет шотландской поэзии на родном языке – поэзии лирической, земной, сатирической, подчас озорной.

• Firstly, and most importantly, Burns work is the continuing story of an ordinary Scotsman, his background, his encounters, his observations & thoughts. His poems & letters give a detailed account of the life & times, culture & politics of the day, all of which are readily apparent. His words still ring true today within the Scottish Nation and rouse the great passions for which Scots are famously known, at home and abroad. 

• Secondly, the content, quality, interpretation and variety of his work is quite remarkable. When you understand the words, which can in fact be quite simple to do, it's easy to understand the whole piece. (unlike same other poetic Masters whose works still then require deep thought) Remember, Burns wrote for himself, his friends and his fellow countrymen, not just the academics! 

• Finally, and briefly for those more academically gifted than I, it is clear that the very structure of Burns poetry is unusual in itself Just try looking at the phraseology & rhythm to any of his poems.

Burns Stanzas have 6 lines rhyming aaabab

Their uniforms are so divine,
A shiver tingles up my spine!
I swear I never saw so fine
A band of men.
Their mission: let nothing combine
With oxygen.

My Heart's in the Highlands

My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,

My heart's in the Highlands a-chasing the deer -

A-chasing the wild deer, and following the roe;

My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.

Farewell to the Highlands, farewell to the North The birth place of Valour, the country of Worth; Wherever I wander, wherever I rove, The hills of the Highlands for ever I love.

ROMANTICISM

Romanticism was the greatest literary movement in the period between 1770-1840. It meant the shift of sensibility in art and literature and was based on interdependence of Man and Nature.

Features of Romanticism

• the importance of feeling, emotion and imagination

• the romantic distrust of reason and rationalism

• emphasis on intuition, the instinctive wisdom of the heart

• nature as opposed to civilization.

Romanticism in literature was the reaction of the society not only to the French Revolution of 1789 but also to the Enlightenment.

The common people didn't get neither freedom nor equality

The bourgeoisie was disappointed, because the capitalist way of development hadn't been prepared by the revolution yet.

And the feudals suffered from the Revolution, because it was the Revolution that had made them much weaker.

Everybody was dissatisfied with the result. In such a situation the writers decided to solve the social problems by writing.

In England the Romantic authors were individuals with many contrary views. But all of them were against immoral luxuries of the world, against injustice and inequality of the society, against suffering and human selfishness.

Peculiarities of English Romanticism:

• the Romantic writers of England did not call themselves romanticists (like their French and German contemporaries) though they all depicted the interdependence of Man and Nature

• The Romantic writers based their theories on the intuition and the wisdom of the heart. On the other hand, they were violently stirred by the suffering of which they were the daily witnesses.

• Romantics hoped to find a way of changing the social order by their writing, they believed in literature being a sort of Mission to be carried out in order to reach the wisdom of the Universe.

The Lakists

The interconnection of Man and Nature was glorified by all the Romantics of the Age. But maybe mostly this tendency was described in the poetry of The Lakists (William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, Robert Southey, Thomas De Quincey).

These poets lived in the Lake District and drew inspiration for much of t heir poetry from the scenery of that area. Their biographies have a lot in common.

Wordsworth and Coleridge were born and bred in the country, went to the University of Cambridge. They both began to write poetry under the influence of their enthusiasm for the French Revolution. Wordsworth even spent a few months in France to see the great changes for himself. And finally, they got bitterly disappointed in it, with its cruelty, bloodshed and a new tyranny. They came to the conclusion that the only consolation was in country life and in nature, in withdrawal from the crowded and corrupt life of the town, in philosophy and poetry.

Robert Southey and Thomas De Quincey both were educated at Oxford. Thomas De Quincey, like Coleridge, became an opium addict. Like Coleridge and Wordsworth, he left the University without a degree. Both Southey and Quincey spent most of their life in the company of the Lake poets.

Southey was good at ballads ("Bishop Hatto") and romantic epics ("Roderick, the Last of the Goths"). Quincey sympathized with all miserable creatures ("Confessions of an English Opium-Eater').

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was the bright representative of the second period of English Roman­ticism called the Lake Period.

On his own poetry:

The principal object... which I proposed to myself in these poems was to choose incidents and situations from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as was possible, in a selection of language really used by men; and at the same time, to throw over them a certain colouring of imagination, whereby ordi­nary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual way...

Wordsworth is at his best in descriptions of natural scenery:

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

(from "Lines Written in Early Spring")

WE ARE SEVEN "How many are you, then," said I, "If they two are in heaven?" Quick was the little Maid's reply, "O Master! we are seven." "But they are dead; those two are dead! Their spirits are in heaven!" 'Twas throwing words away; for still The little Maid would have her will, And said, "Nay, we are seven!"

НАС СЕМЕРО "Так сколько ж вас?" - был мой ответ. - На небе двое, верь! Вас только пять". - О, барин, нет! Сочти - нас семь теперь. "Да нет уж двух: они в земле, А души в небесах!" Но был ли прок в моих словах? Все девочка твердила мне: - О нет, нас семь, нас семь! (Перевод И.Козлова)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

Inspired by the French Revolution, he began writing both political and; lyrical poetry:

All thoughts, all passions, all delights,

Whatever stirs this mortal frame,

All are but ministers of Love,

And feed his sacred flame.

(from "Love")

To Nature It may indeed be phantasy, when I Essay to draw from all created things Deep, heartfelt, inward joy that closely clings; And trace in leaves and flowers that round me lie Lessons of love and earnest piety. So let it be; and if the wide world rings In mock of this belief, it brings Nor fear, nor grief, nor vain perplexity. So will I build my altar in the fields, And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be, And the sweet fragrance that the wild flower yields Shall be the incense I will yield to Thee, Thee only God! and thou shalt not despise Even me, the priest of this poor sacrifice

К природе Возможно, здесь игра воображенья, И все же для меня любой предмет Всегда был тайной радостью согрет. А листья и цветы, придя в движенье, Любви и благочестью научали. Пусть надо мной смеется целый свет,— Не испугаюсь я, о нет, Не сдамся ни унынью, ни печали. Я средь лугов алтарь воздвигну свой, И пусть венчает небосвод мой храм, Пусть аромат цветочный полевой Взойдет к Тебе, как лучший фимиам! Я пред Тобой — священник в этом храме, Не возгнушайся ж бедными дарами!

Coleridge is best well-known for his ballads “Ancient Mariner” and “Christabel”

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, first published in Lyrical Ballads (1798), is written in traditional English ballad style (a ballad is a narrative composition in rhythmic verse, often with repeated lines). A sailor has inexplicably and cruelly killed an albatross - a bird which traditionally brings good luck to seamen.

Coleridge's manner is more full, animated, and varied; Wordsworth's more equable (равномерный), sustained, and internal. The one might be termed more dramatic, the other more lyrical.

Wordsworth and Coleridge together composed and published a small volume of poems under the title "Lyrical Ballads". The bulk of the volume was composed by Wordsworth. Coleridge contributed the poem of "The Ancient Mariner" and four short lyrics to the "Ballads" that were published in 1798.

The Later Romantics

George Gordon Byron, Percy Byshe Shelley, John Keats were the representatives of the highest level of the Age of Romanticism and all the three were greatly influenced by the Lakists. Unlike the Conservative Lake poets, the Later Romantics were progressive poets. They were young revolutionary rebels, talented and fascinating.

Byron called the style of William Wordsworth "dull and simple", while his own poetic manner is often vivid and vigorous. His noble origin, charm, mysterious love affairs, eventful life, independence and pride, a great lyrical power established him as a Romantic poet and rebellious aristocrat.

Byron's friend Percy Byshe Shelley, also a revolutionary idealist, the lover of classical poetry, was very metaphorical.

John Keats was the youngest among the Revolutionary Romantics. He died at 25 of tuberculosis. The style of his poetry was lofty and very lyrical. Keats was fond of writing odes. His talent made the poet mysterious and charming. Keats deeply felt the interdependence of Man and Nature and in his "Ode to a Nightingale" emphasized the contrast between the ugliness of Life and the beauty of the world of Nature.

George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)

George Gordon Byron, later George Gordon Noel, commonly known simply as Lord Byron, was an English poet and a leading figure in the Romantic movement. Amongst Byron's best-known works are the brief poems She Walks in Beauty, When We Two Parted, and So, we'll go no more a roving, in addition to the narrative poems Childe Harold's Pilgrimage and Don Juan. He is regarded as one of the greatest British poets and remains widely read and influential.

George Gordon Byron was born in London. His father was English, but mother was of the Scottish origin. When Byron was ten, his great uncle died, and the boy inherited the title of Lord. Lord Byron and his mother moved to Nottinghamshire where they got a small pension from the government.

Lord Byron was educated at Cambridge. When he was twenty-one he became a member of the House of Lords. In 1809 he went on a two-year-long voyage to Portugal, Spain, Albania, Greece and Turkey.

In 1812 Byron published the first two parts of his major work "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" in which he described his journey to the foreign lands.

Byron’s creative works:

1. The London period (1812-1816)

"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (parts 1, 2 )(1812)

"The Corsair" (1814)

"Lara" (1814);

2. The Swiss period (May-October, 1816)

"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (part 3)

"Manfred" (a philosophic drama);

3. The Italian period (1816-1823)

"Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" (part 4)

"Don Juan" (1818-1823)

"Cain" (1821)

"The Vision of Judgment" (1821);

4. The Greek period (1823-1824)

Several lyrical poems.

All the periods of his literary activity were marked by the corresponding periods of his political life.

Later Byron spoke in favour of the oppressed Irish people. His speeches brought him a lot of enemies from the reactionary circles. They hated him and began to persecute Byron.

Moreover, Byron was unhappy in his private life. In 1815 he parted with his wife. Byron wrote his poem "When We Two Parted":

When we two parted When we two parted In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold, Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold Sorrow to this.

Когда мы расстались Когда мы расстались В слезах и молчаньи, Сердца обрекались На годы печали, Холод бледнеющих щек, Губ холодна печать, Этот час нас вечно обрек На скорбь и печаль.

In Italy Byron participated in the political movement for the liberation of Italy. He left Italy for Greece in summer 1823. Byron went there to fight for the liberation of that country from Turkish oppression. Even during his Greek period Byron couldn't do without writing. But he managed to write only several lyrical poems, because he died on April 19, 1824 of a dangerous fever. He was only 36. Byron's heart was buried in Greece, because the Greeks considered him their national hero; Byron's body was brought to England and buried in West­minster Abbey.

CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE

It is one of the first lyrico-epic poems in European literature. The lyrico-epic poem combines narrative with lyrics. This is a poem about travel, history and politics. The character of Childe Harold has much in common with the author's one. In the preface to the poem Byron writes of his intention to be "either descriptive or sentimental, tender or satirical". This poem consists of four cantos. It is written in a nine-line stanza with the last line lengthened.

The character of Childe Harold is symbolic. Byron portrays his own outlook: demand for absolute personal freedom and rebelliousness.

In the opening lines Childe Harold is leaving his country for other countries, hoping to find Good there. When his ship is far from England he sings "Good Might" to his Motherland. These stanzas have a different structure, they are written more in form of a ballad.

Then Byron moves the reader along from country to country, throughout the pilgrimage. The Second Canto takes the reader to Greece. This country doesn't arouse Childe's delight as Spain does. The greatness off Greece is in the past only, in its beautiful ruins:

Cantos the Third and the Fourth are connected with Switzerland and Italy. Childe Harold continues his journey up the river Rhine, and on his approach to Switzerland he appears in the poem for the last time. The Fourth Canto is devoted to Italy and its people. The poet worries about the fate of the Italian people. He calls for human liberty. The noble and glorious past of Italy is contrasted to the ignoble present.

Italia! О Italia! thou who hast

The fatal gift of beauty, which became

A funeral dower of present woes and past,

On thy sweet brow is sorrow plough'd by shame,

And annals graved in characters of flame.

Byron's romanticism was coloured with grief at the sight of the corrupting influence of absolute power — and hopes for faithful future.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)

Thus born at the country seat of a wealthy and aristocratic family, Shelley was educated at Eton and Oxford. But he was extremely unhappy at school. He was nicknamed "a mad Shelley" because of his lack of interest both in games and in studies. From his earliest childhood Shelley had been a rebel against cruelty and tyranny — whether that of school, father, priest or king. In his dedication to the "Revolt of Islam'" (1817)! Shelley says:

I do remember well the hour which burst

My spirit's sleep. A fresh May day it was.

When I walked forth upon the glittering grass,

And wept, I knew not why;

Until there rose

From the near school-room voices that, alas!

Were but one echo from a world of woes —

The harsh and grating strife of tyrants and of foes.

So, without shame I spoke:

— "I will be wise,

And just, and free, and mild, if in me lies

Such power, for I grow weary to behold.

The selfish and the strong still tyrannize

Without reproach or check."

I then controlled my tears, my heart grew calm,

And I was meek and bold.

Shelley graduated from Eton and entered Oxford. The range of his interests was broad enough to include philosophy, science, history, politics and literature. Shelley was extremely interested in the radical Whig's stand for Irish Freedom and discussed the current events in Ireland with his friend Hogg. Shelley published a book of poems in which he cursed war, praised heroes of the French Revolution and glorified freedom:

Percy Bysle Shelley was Byron's friend. His poetic style is symbolical and often metaphorical, it is rather complex for the common readers to understand. Like Byron, Shelley was persecuted on account on both his revolutionary views and his behaviour. During this time Shelley wrote the main part of his first important poem "Queen Mab" — a long allegorical piece about the past, present and future state of the world. It was published by the radical publishers and quoted by the working class.

His elegy "Adonais" was dedicated to John Keats. Shelley praised Keats, though he had not been his close friend.

I weep for Adonais — he is dead.

O, weep for Adonais, though our tears

Thaw not the frost which finds so dear a head!

And, thou, sad Hour, selected from all years.

To mourn our loss, rouse thy obscure compeers

And teach them thine own sorrow, say: with me

Dided Adonais; till the Future dares

Forget the past, his fate and fame shall be

An echo and a light into eternity!

By that time Shelley had also written two important prose works: an essay "In Defence of Poetry" where he attacked the point of view that poetry is only an ornament of life; the second essay was written on "A Philosophic View of Reforms". Both works were un­published during Shelley's life.

The end of his life Shelley spent in Italy. He was greatly impressed by its nature, art, history and literature. On 8th of July, 1823, he set off in his little sailboat for the voyage. There was a great storm; and ten days later Shelley's body was cast up on shore. In one of the pockets there was a volume of Keats's poems. The famous English journals accepted his death with joy: "Now he knows whether there is a God or not."

Shelley's unconventional life and uncompromising idealism, combined with his strong disapproving voice, made him an authoritative and much-denigrated figure during his life and afterward. Shelley remained unknown till 1840. Only radical press quoted him. Up until his death, with approximately 50 readers as his audience, it is said he made no more than 40 pounds from his writings.

He became an idol of the next three or even four generations of poets, including the important Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets. He was admired by Karl Marx, Oscar Wilde,Thomas Hardy,George Bernard Shaw, Bertrand Russell, Upton Sinclair, Isadora Duncan, and Jiddu Krishnamurti ("Shelley is as sacred as the Bible.")

From “Hymn to the Intellectual Beauty” Spirit of BEAUTY, that dost consecrate With thine own hues all thou dost shine upon Of human thought or form,—where art thou gone? Why dost thou pass away and leave our state, This dim vast vale of tears, vacant and desolate? Love, Hope, and Self-esteem, like clouds depart And come, for some uncertain moments lent. Man were immortal, and omnipotent, Didst thou, unknown and awful as thou art, Keep with thy glorious train firm state within his heart. Thou messenger of sympathies, That wax and wane in lovers’ eyes— Thou—that to human thought art nourishment, Like darkness to a dying flame!

Из «Гимна интеллектуальной красоте» Куда ты скрылся, Гений Красоты, Свой чистый свет способный принести Телам и душам в их земном пути? Зачем, исчезнув, оставляешь ты Юдоль скорбей и слез добычей пустоты? Любви, Надежд, Величья ореол, Подобно облаку, растает вмиг; Да, человек бессмертья бы достиг И высшее могущество обрел, Когда б в его душе воздвигнул ты престол, Предвестник чувств, что оживят Изменчивый влюбленный взгляд, О жизнетворный разума родник, Меня целишь ты - так в ночи Виднее слабые лучи!

John Keats (1795-1821)

John Keats's origin was not as noble as Byron's or Shelley's. His father was a manager of stables. His parents died of tuberculosis when the boy was young. In 1815 John became a student of Guy's Hospital. His life was short but colourful.

Like Shelley, Keats created his own world of imagination. Like Shelley, Keats hated oppression, but he never mixed his political thoughts with his feelings and emotions caused by nature. Keats's poetry centres around mythology, love and nature.

Ode to a Nightingale Thou wast not born for death, immortal Bird! No hungry generations tread thee down; The voice I hear this passing night was heard In ancient days by emperor and clown: Perhaps the self-same song that found a path Through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, She stood in tears amid the alien corn; The same that ofttimes hath Charm'd magic casements, opening on the foam Of perilous seas, in faery lands forlorn.

Ода соловью Но ты, о Птица, смерти непричастна, — Любой народ с тобою милосерд. В ночи все той же песне сладкогласной Внимал и гордый царь, и жалкий смерд; В печальном сердце Руфи, в тяжкий час, Когда в чужих полях брела она, Все та же песнь лилась проникновенно, — Та песня, что не раз Влетала в створки тайного окна Над морем сумрачным в стране забвенной.

John Keats ha's always been regarded as one of the principal Later Romantics of the Age of Romanticism in English Literature when all the preferences were given to the sphere of feelings, emotions and imagination.

In 1819 he changed from writing about Scotland with Ivanhoe.

Walter Scott described the epoch of the Norman Conquest. The events took place at the end of the 12th century when the Normans who had come from France and conquered England in 1066 were now fighting for absolute power in the country. Richard the Lionheart ruled the country. But Richard spent all his life and too much money fighting. Prince John plotted against Richard the Lionheart, he tried to seize the power in England.

The plot of the story centres round the young Anglo-Saxon knight, Ivanhoe, who had quarrelled with his father and was driven away from his house. He fought together with Richard the Lionheart, and secretly returned to England, to his love, beautiful Lady Rowena.

The language of the novel is rich and colourful. The author revealed his feelings through the thoughts and dialogues of the main characters. Walter Scott was a master of dialogue, he introduced Scottish dialects into his characters' speech.

Ivanhoe, a tale of chivalry, was set in the age of Richard the Lion-Hearted. Wilfred of Ivanhoe loves Rowena, but his father plans marry her to Athelstane of Coningsburgh. Ivanhoe serves with King Richard in the crusades. King's brother John tries to usurp the throne with the help of Norman barons. Richard appears in disguise at the tournament at Ashby de la Zouch, where he helps Ivanhoe to defeat John's knights. At the tournament Sir Brian falls in love with Rebecca, a beautiful Jewess. She is taken captive with her father Isaac, Rowena, Ivanhoe, and Cedric by the Norman barons and imprisoned in Torquilstone. The King and his band of outlaws, among them Robin Hood, release the prisoners. Rebecca is carried off by Bois-Guilbert and charged of witchcraft. Ivanhoe appears as her champion, opposing Bois-Guilbert, who dies. Rebecca, seeing Ivanhoe's love for Rowena, leaves England with her father. - Michael Ragussis has argued that Scott's Isaac the Jew and his daughter Rebecca restaged England's medieval persecution of Jews and criticized the barbarity of persecution and forced conversion. In the story Rebecca is a healer and a voice of moderation between Saxon knights and Normans.

Lecture 6

The Nineteenth Century Literature. Realism

The Victorian age might better be described, however, as one of prose. It was the age of historical novels introduced as a genre by Walter Scott (1771 – 1832); of long novels of William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 – 1863) and Charles Dickens (1812 – 1870); of the first wonderful women writers Jane Austen (1775 – 1817), Charlotte (1816—1855) and Emily Bronte (1818 – 1848), George Eliot (real name Mary Ann Evans) (1819 – 1880); of the best horror tale ever written – "Dracula" (1897) by Bram Stoker (1847 – 1912); of the first detective stories about Sherlock Holmes written by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (1859 – 1930); of wonderful books for children by Lewis Carroll (real name Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (1832 – 1898); of the first science fiction novels by Herbert Wells (1866-1946) "The Time Machine", "The Invisible Man", "The War of the Worlds"; fascinating books by Robert Louis Stevenson (1850 – 1894); witty plays, novels and fine poems by Oscar Wilde (1854 – 1900).

Historical context

• 1815 the defeat of Napoleon → Britain occupied a strong position in the world

• Development of industry, trade and navy

• control under the world markets

• at home: unemployment was increasing, the prices doubled, the disappointment of the working class was growing.

• the end of 1820's the rise of a powerful manufacturing and trading class was obvious

• the political victory of the bourgeoisie brought no relief to the working class and worsened their living conditions.

• Crime and misery caused much trouble.

• Several uprisings between 1815 and 1830.

• The Whigs wanted to avoid the revolution only by reform. The Tories were more conservative: they hoped that Parliament would accept only the rich. Nevertheless, the middle class was represented in Parliament. The poor were still kept out of it.

1838 - a People's Charter, demanding the democratic changes of the Parliament, including the right to vote and be elected.

The Chartists revived the revolutionary poems of Byron and Shelley. Shelley's "Song to the Men of England" became a Chartist marching-songю

The Reign of Queen Victoria (1837-1901)

Victoria was only 17. She was beautiful and people looked at her with adoration, in "perfect silence". She reigned for 64 years and was the first to live in Buckingham Palace. Her personal behaviour was the example of moral dignity and faith to her country and her husband Prince Albert. Victoria managed to make Britain powerful and strong.

At the same time there was social injustice and poverty everywhere.

• The Chartist Movement in 1838 was the sign that the revolution might be near.

• The use of child labour in the coal mines and factories led to the Miner’s Act in 1842, forbidding children from working underground, and the Factory Act in 1847, reducing the working day.

Romanticism now seemed too abstract with its symbols and mystery. Demand for a new literary presentation of the social problems. Hardships and sufferings of the common people were described in realistic prose. A new literary trend, Critical Realism, came into being.

Critical Realism:

To reflect the relationships between men and women in the rapidly changing society: love may be a great pleasure, but marriage is a great misfortune.

George Eliot wrote about innocent and good-natured young lady who suffered a lot after her marriage to a selfish and cold-hearted man.

Sisters Bronte wrote about the eventful lives of generous but unknown girls.

Robert Browning entitled his collection of poems "Men and Women" (1855). In it the author pointed out the idea that every time we try to get close to a lover we only find emptiness:

I try the fresh fortune,

Range the wide house from the wing to the centre.

Still the same chance! she goes out as I enter.

Interest in children was great because of their specific way of thinking, life experience and moral values. Among the writers of the Age of Critical Realism it was Charles Dickens who wrote mainly about the injustice of the law and education, the relationships between adults and children, the rich and the poor. "Oliver Twist", "David Copperfield", "Dombey and Son", "Little Dorrit" described the lives of children who became the symbol of the changing society.

Critical Realism had to reflect life as it was.

Critical realism is a philosophical view of knowledge. On the one hand it holds that it is possible to acquire knowledge about the external world as it really is, independently of the human mind or subjectivity. That is why it is called realism. On the other hand it rejects the view of naïve realism that the external world is as it is perceived. Recognizing that perception is a function of, and thus fundamentally marked by, the human mind, it holds that one can only acquire knowledge of the external world by critical reflection on perception and its world. That is why it is called critical.

Realistic prose took the shape of short essays, more objective and informative than romantic literature had been. But the influence of the romantic writers of the beginning of the 19th century was observed even in the works of the realest realist of England Charles Dickens. In his "Christmas Tales" the author revealed the atmosphere of Victorian traditions and created the fairy image of a ' beautiful family party.

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

Nowadays people know the name of Charles Dickens as well as they know the name of William Shakespeare.

Charles Dickens was popular in his time, he published his stories and novels in his own magazines. Furthermore, Dickens was a successful dramatist who staged the scenes from his works while travelling around the world. Thus the writer emphasized the importance of the novel, turning it into a kind of theatre.

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth into a middle-class family of a civil servant John Dickens. Charles spent his childhood in the atmosphere of love and friendship, though his mother, Elizabeth, was a snobbish, demanding, rather hard and rather silly.

When Dickens was eleven he went to London, because his father secured the position of a clerk there. Very soon Charles realized that his happy childhood had been left behind. The family lived in poverty. Charles schooling came to an end and he had to continue to contribute to the family funds. James Lamert, a family relative, wound him job in warehouse for several shillings a week. Meanwhile, John Dickens was put into prison for debts. When John Dickens was released, he decided to take his son Charles away from the warehouse, but Charles's mother didn't want to lose the money her son was earning. Charles Dickens could never forgive her. When Dickens was fifteen he became a lawyer's clerk. In 1832, having learned shorthand, Charles secured a full time position in "The Mirror of Parliament". He wrote sketches and signed them "Boz". It was his nickname. As a result, his first book "Sketches by Boz" was published on his 24th birthday.

The next two years Charles Dickens devoted to his famous "Pickwick Papers", the publication which brought him fame and money, and the opportunity to marry Kate Hogarth, the daughter of a colleague. In "Pickwick Papers" he mocked at the English court , Law and Parliamentary elections. At 25 Charles Dickens was already famous. It was a successful period.

During the next six years of writing Charles Dickens observed life and attacked debtors, prisons, schools and workhouses. Dickens learned more from life than from books, and he wrote about the social evils and injustice, about many homeless "hunger-worn outcasts".

In his "Oliver Twist" (1838) Dickens treated the horrors of workhouses and crime. The conditions on Yorkshire boarding school were described in "Nicholas Nickleby" (1839).

Charles Dickens was a very thoughtful writer. There was a very important element in his work - his power of characterization. Most of the people in his stories are in a sense "types", they are based on real-life people, though he gave them an independent vitality.

In spite of a large family (by 1844 Dickens had got five children), Dickens couldn't help travelling. Dickens and his household left England for Italy. They came back home in autumn 1845, with the sixth child born abroad. After returning to England he began to work on his novel "Dombey and Son", and in 1848 the book was. published. In 1850 "David Copperfield" was printed. The main character resembles Dickens himself. In it the author compares life with flowing water: "Let me think, as I look back upon that flowing water, now a dry channel overgrown with leaves, whether there are any marks along its course, by which I can remember how it ran."

During the next period of his life (1852-1860)Charles Dickens managed to write and publish his great novels: "Bleak House", "Little Dorrit" and "Hard Times". He visited Italy and Paris, took an active part in political life of England, started his "Great Expectations". But in his private life Dickens was not happy, he had 9 children and a wife to who he felt neither interest nor respect.

Dickens's love of humanity and the inherent goodness of common man opposed to the egoism of the upper classes makes him a central figure in the literature of England in the 19th century.

Oliver Twist

Oliver Twist is the second novel by Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan Oliver Twist, who escapes from a workhouse and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin, naively unaware of their unlawful activities.

Oliver Twist is notable for Dickens' unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives. The book exposed the cruel treatment of many a waif-child in London, which increased international concern in what is sometimes known as "The Great London Waif Crisis": the large number of orphans in London in the Dickens era. The book's subtitle, The Parish Boy's Progress alludes to Bunyan's The Pilgrim's Progress.

The book calls the public's attention to various contemporary evils, including the Poor Law, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of his time by surrounding the novel's serious themes with sarcasm and dark humour. It is likely that Dickens's own early youth as a child labourer contributed to the story's development.

In Oliver Twist, Dickens mixes grim realism and merciless satire as a way to describe the effects of industrialism on 19th-century England and to criticise the harsh new Poor Laws. Oliver, an innocent child, is trapped in a world where his only options seem to be the workhouse, Fagin's gang, a prison, or an early grave. From this unpromising industrial/institutional setting, however, a fairy tale also emerges. In the midst of corruption and degradation, the essentially passive Oliver remains pure-hearted; he steers away from evil when those around him give in to it, and in proper fairy-tale fashion, he eventually receives his reward — leaving for a peaceful life in the country, surrounded by kind friends.

Sisters Bronte

Among the three sisters Bronte /’brɒnti/ (Anne, Charlotte, Emily) Emily and Charlotte were the most popular. All the sisters Bronte died when they were young. They managed to reveal the brutality of social life, introduce the reader to the depths of passions and the inner world of their personages.

Emily was the author of her only novel "Wuthering Heights" (Грозовой перевал), published in 1847, about a gipsy boy, picked up by a landowner in Liverpool, and brought up by him as one of his own children.

Emily Bronte (1818-1848) lived in the world of her own imagination. She died at the age of thirty, leaving a great number of lyrical and philosophical poems, such as "Castle Wood":

No sighs for me, no sympathy,

No wish to keep my soul below;

The heart is dead since infancy,

Unwept — for let the body go.

Jane Eyre

In Charlotte Bronte's "Jane Eyre" we read about a poor girl, educated at a miserable boarding school and: sent to Thomfield Hall to teach the daughter of Mr Rochester. Jane Eyre is not beautiful, but Mr Rochester falls in love with her. Mr Rochester has a wife. When Jane learns that his wife is alive, she runs away. Later Thomfield Hall is burnt down and the wife is killed. In his attempt to save her, Mr Rochester comes blind and loses all hope for future. On hearing of the tragedy, Jane marries him and makes him happy.

Jane Eyre is a first-person narrative of the title character. The novel goes through five distinct stages: Jane's childhood at Gateshead, where she is emotionally and physically abused by her aunt and cousins; her education at Lowood School, where she acquires friends and role models but also suffers privations; her time as the governess of Thornfield Hall, where she falls in love with her Byronic employer, Edward Rochester; her time with the Rivers family at Marsh's End (or Moor House) and Morton, where her cold clergyman-cousin St John Rivers proposes to her; and her reunion with and marriage to her beloved Rochester. Partly autobiographical, the novel abounds with social criticism. It is a novel considered ahead of its time. In spite of the dark, brooding elements, it has a strong sense of right and wrong, of morality at its core.

William Makepeace Thackeray (1811-1863)

William Makepeace Thackeray is often compared to Charles Dickens. The writers are very different in outlook and artistic method, in education and background. But they have one very important common thing: both reveal the truth about the social wrongs of the society, its hypocrisy and dishonesty.

Thackeray started as a journalist, writing articles and reviews for a famous humorous paper "Punch". In 1847 he published his novel "Vanity Fair" and became very popular.