Chapter 24 English Literature

Revolutionary Entertainment Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; Or surely you'll grow double: Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Why all this toil and trouble? The sun above the mountain's head, A freshening lustre mellow Through all the long green fields has spread, His first sweet evening yellow. William Wordsworth The Tables Turned

Like an unexpected cyclone, the late 1700’s and early 1800s witnessed dramatic new thoughts streaming through Europe in literature, art, government, and political philosophy. Wordsworth’s poem, “The Tables Turned,” hinted that something exciting was brewing. This romantic poem revealed the difference between the way Romantics and the Classicists viewed the world. The poem insists that the best way to view the world is through the heart and not the mind. The Romantics believed that science could not teach as much about the world as nature could. This time was called the Romantic Age because of the fascination with the Middle Ages, especially the medieval romances. Many writers and poets were WUI (Writing under the Influence) of two great events that shaped the Romantic writers’ literary concerns: the Industrial and French Revolutions. *If you did not do your homework, one possible response to offer your teacher is that you were applying principles found in Wordsworth’s “The Tables Turned.” See the end of this lesson for the complete text.

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All in Favor of the French Revolution Say “Aye” The French Revolution clearly had more impact on Britain than the American Revolution because the French demonstrated that it was possible for a long-standing government to be successfully challenged on its own soil. The motto of the French Revolution was liberty, equality and fraternity.

William Wordsworth and others

supported these events in France because of the democratic ideals of freedom, equality and fraternity. Those who were against the events in France thought it was a threat to the ruling class and that it would destabilize society. Edmund Burke, an English political thinker and Whig, supported the American Revolution. However, he opposed the French Revolution, accurately predicting the bloodshed and disorder that was to follow in his treatise, Reflections on the Revolution in France.

Meet Fear’s Brothers: Messrs. Hatred and Violence So what led up to this “Reign of Terror” in France? The Jacobin extremists saw their window of opportunity to gain control of the legislative assembly by running on a patriotic platform when France declared war on and invaded Austria. The British reaction to the “Reign of Terror” was fear that the abuses of the Reign would cause the governments to crack down on dissidents in their ranks, which would lead to a loss in citizens’ basic rights. Britain eventually declared war on France to prevent it from controlling the continent.

Though Napoleon had successfully

dominated Europe, he had to abandon his plan to invade Britain after the British defeated the French fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar. In addition, Napoleon’s quest for power came to an end when the French forces were decisively beaten at Waterloo.

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In a Healthy Body, Cells Divide and Grow At the same time, Britain was slowly splitting into two camps – the working class who demanded reform and the ruling class who resisted change. Some of the reforms following the Whig victory in 1830 included voting rights to the male middleclass citizens, laws governing factory safety, and the abolition of slavery. Though struggle and disagreement seem to be the way of life, in many political stability grows because of opposition.

It’s a Classic! In order to understand the revolutionary nature of Romanticism, we must peruse, or consider, the different qualities of Romanticism and Classicism.

Classicists

appreciated elegance and refinement and were interested in maintaining the aristocracy. They believed in following standards and tradition, and that nature should be controlled by human beings. Concerned with society as a whole and emphasizing moderation and restraint, they favored a social hierarchy and felt optimistic about the present. Along with maintaining the aristocracy they were interested in science and technology as well as scientific observation of the outer world and logic. They also valued stability and harmony. Classicists were the “haves” of society and definitely did not want to rock the boat.

Do you see any

comparisons here with either the Democrats or the Republicans?

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The Romantic Mind Romantics appreciated folk traditions and were concerned with common people and the individual. They desired radical changes. They favored democracy, romanticized the past, and were interested in the mysterious and supernatural. They would examine inner feelings, emotions, imagination, and sought to develop new forms of expression.

They tended toward excess and spontaneity.

The

Romantic view of Nature was different from that of the eighteenth century because according to the Romantic way of thinking, nature was not a “force to be tamed and analyzed scientifically; rather, it was a wild, free force that could inspire poets to instructive, spiritual understanding. If you had to choose, who would you like as a friend, a Classicist or a Romantic?

Let There Be Music Musical darlings of the Romantic Age included composers Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. For really exciting listening, click here and when you arrive on the page, scroll down to the second “head” on the page, click on the “Symphonies” hyperlink to the right of his hairline. Then scroll down to “No. 5 in C minor” and click on the “1. Allegro con brio” link. Turn up your speaker and enjoy. For Schubert fans, click here for a wealth of digital pleasure.*

*Confirm with your teacher or computer coordinator that you have the right hardware and software to access these sites.

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Welcome to Pleasure Island Like being lured into an inescapable pit, opening the cover to a Romantic novel might not let you out—with all its alluring and hypnotic pages. One means of escape is to finish the story! You can almost picture a gnarled claw reaching out of the book to slowly and powerfully pull you in – as you sweetly surrender to its reading pleasure. Let’s take a look at where we can find the dark castles, flying monkeys, and elegant selfpity.

“…the most humble novelist, who seeks to confer or receive amusement from his labours…” Mary Shelly, from the Author’s Preface to Frankenstein

Forms of the novel Romantics used were gothic, novel of manners, and historical romance. Standard ingredients of a Gothic novel included brave heroes and heroines, threatening scoundrels, eerie castles, and evidence of the supernatural. An example of the Gothic novel is Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. You may have noticed that romantic novelists did not make a sharp break with the past. Jane Austen’s novels reflect more of the eighteenth century thinking than they do the sentiments of the Romantics. A novel of manners would be Austen’s Pride and Prejudice or Sense and Sensibility. Ivanhoe is considered to be an historical romance. Although some plays and essays were written during this time period, poetry reigned as the dominant literary form.

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Romantic Essayists “Those who have the largest hearts, Have the soundest understandings, and He is the truest philosopher who can forget himself.” William Hazlitt

Three romantic essayists include Charles Lamb, Thomas De Quincy, and William Hazlitt. The life stories of some of the English essayists reminds us of the Indian proverb never to judge your brother until you have walked in his moccasins for two weeks. Many times the enduring fame these writers enjoy came with a hefty price tag. Charles Lamb, for example, was happily engaged to be married – until his mentally ill, older sister murdered their mother with a kitchen knife. In response to that tragedy, he cancelled his happy wedding plans to devote his life to attending his irregular sister. Good, however, struggled out of this collaboration when in 1807 he and his sister Mary wrote “Tales from Shakespeare”. Thomas De Quincy lost his father when he was a child, and suffered under the influence of a dictatorial older brother. He is most known for Confessions of an English Opium Eater. His own addiction led to a tragic end. William Hazlitt’s most famous work is The Spirit of the Age, written about writers and intellectuals of his era. Though his life ended in poverty, his spirit tapped into the eternal essence that encourages us even today through his writings,

Like an escape pod frantically ejecting from the mothership, Romantic poetry broke away from the gravity of traditional poetic restrictions. Wordsworth tapped new and vibrant power sources --his ideas about poetry were different than those who came before him. He insisted on a wider range of topics written for the common people and in the common language. Wordsworth felt that poetry should be free and not structured like the Neoclassicists would argue. He became depressed at the failure of the French Revolution, though he was helped during this time by his sister, Dorothy, and by fellow poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

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Born To Be Wild Like peanut butter and jelly or Batman and Robin, Wordsworth and Coleridge were a dynamic duo--of late eighteenth-century poetry. Eclipsing old writing forms, they penned Lyrical Ballads that defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” It talked about a new approach to poetry. According to Lyrical Ballads we learn that the origin of poetry was from emotions “recollected in tranquility” and the subject matter of poetry should be “incidents and situations from common life.” When Lyrical Ballads was first published, it took off like a lead balloon. As time went on, Wordsworth and Coleridge became more respected among their literary colleagues than they were when their book first was published.

Rebels with a Cause The second generation of Romantic poets rebelled even more than Wordsworth and Coleridge against Neo Classicism. It was an “in your face” “eat my shorts” attitude toward the old poetic ways. By the way, the magazines of the time did not support the Romantic’s new way of thinking. Although the ideas of the Romantic Age may seem far off, they certainly have not faded and are reflected in our culture today. Imagine manufacturing a thought process that would continue in the mind of humankind for many years!

By making Shelly, Coleridge, Byron and Wordsworth your constant reading

friends, you are a step closer to the genius you were intended to enjoy.

Higher still and higher From the earth thou springest Like a cloud of fire; The blue deep thou wingest, And singing still dost soar, and soaring ever singest.

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In the golden lightning Of the sunken sun, O'er which clouds are bright'ning, Thou dost float and run; Like an unbodied joy whose race is just begun. Percy Bysshe Shelley From To A Skylark

“Lines Composed A Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” It has been said that we can find our intended destiny from the great books we read and quality people we meet and imitate. Memories and advice from these sources become our guiding light. Nature owns a similar ennobling effect. In Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” the poet’s memories of his first visit to the Wye valley altered him by changing him from a youth charged with ecstatic love for nature into a mature person who cherishes the solace nature brings. At the second visit, the poet hoped to reinforce his sense of solace nature provides in such a way that it will carry through his entire life. He hopes his sister will gain the same feelings for nature that he now feels. When Wordsworth returns to the Abbey and describes his second visit, he says it is more reflective. His image of “some hermit’s cave, where by his fire/The hermit sits alone” could be said to reflect the Romantic’s rejection of the neoclassical emphasis on society.

The best summary of the

predominant theme in this poem is the renewing and uplifting power of nature. The poem itself celebrates memory.

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“My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold” My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow in the sky: So was it when my life began, So is it now I am a man, So be it when I shall grow old Or let me die! The Child is father of the Man: And I could wish my days to be Bound each to each by natural piety. By William Wordsworth

The title of the poem “My Heart Leaps Up When I Behold” by Wordsworth captures a key element of Romanticism—its emphasis on spontaneous emotion. In the poem the speaker sees a rainbow that makes his heart leap up.

The poet’s hope

throughout the poem is that his love of nature will remain with him all his life. Wordsworth’s paradox, “The Child is father of the Man,” expresses his wish to retain his youthful intimacy with nature. Today, if someone wanted to imitate Wordsworth based on his themes, the most likely suggestion would be to be quiet and look. This last thought is a variation of the saying “If you want to be seen, stand up. If you want to be heard, speak up. If you want to be appreciated, shut up.”

“The Solitary Reaper” Looking at Wordsworth’s “The Solitary Reaper” we notice that the simple direct language he uses is appropriate because he is writing about commonplace subjects and events. The poem would be less effective if it were written in elegant, ornate language, because the poem was written to show the charm of everyday things, elegant language would conflict with the ordinariness of the setting. In the poem we find the “solitary Highland lass” singing and reaping wheat when the speaker sees her. The speaker imagines the woman to be singing about an old sad ballad about battles, or a less noble song about the sorrows human beings feel.

As he continues his walk, the

speaker “bears in his heart” the music of her song.

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Only the Good Die Young? Three names that shine and sing from the Romantic Age are John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelly, and Lord Byron. Keats, born the son of a London stable keeper and outside of elegant society, was trained as a doctor. He is the author of “Ode on a Grecian Urn.” He died in Italy at a young age of tuberculosis. His self-writtten epitaph reads, “Here lies one whose name was writ in water.” Shelly, author of “To a Skylark, ” did not obtain fame in his own lifetime, but is remembered for the emotional intensity he brought to his poetry. The author of the famous Don Juan is Lord Byron. He was a part of the British aristocracy, but later shocked London society with scandals. This led him to flee from London, and he was found dead due to a fever while fighting the Turks with Greek revolutionaries.

One Final Visit to “The Tables Turned” Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives. From “The Tables Turned” William Wordsworth

Wordsworth suggests that the life force of nature caresses and teaches our spirit. “The Tables Turned” states that we can learn more from nature than from wise men, science or art. Wordsworth feels that we learn from reflection and meditation. You might want to keep a small spiral notebook with you at all times to capture the outpouring of this same poetic spirit.

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“When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” When I heard the learn'd astronomer, When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me, When I was shown the charts and diagrams, To add, divide, and measure them, When I sitting heard the astronomer Where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room, How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick, Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself, In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time, Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars. From “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” William Wordsworth

Like two victorious thoroughbreds in a chariot race, “The Tables Turned,” and “When I Heard the Learn’d Astronomer” drive home the theme of the Romantic Age: meditative reflection in nature can teach more than science or reasoning. We cannot experience nature in a laboratory. Figures or statistics cannot measure nature’s true dimensions. The last lines of the poem indicate the comforting magic that awaits a seeker of truth on an intuitively spiritual rather than chillingly intellectual level.

All’s Well That Ends Well You have experienced some of the power our language draws from simple and honest emotions. The joy of poetry helps us to discover sacred moments within ourselves--that without the light of poetry, we might have never seen. Our next lesson reviews Keats, Coleridge, Byron, and the Shelleys. Stay tuned for some up close and personal views of your hidden self in the shimmering mirror of poetic English at its best.

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“The Tables Turned” By William Wordsworth

Up! up! my Friend, and quit your books; Or surely you'll grow double: Up! up! my Friend, and clear your looks; Why all this toil and trouble? The sun above the mountain's head, A freshening lustre mellow Through all the long green fields has spread, His first sweet evening yellow. Books! 'tis a dull and endless strife: Come, hear the woodland linnet, How sweet his music! on my life, There's more of wisdom in it. And hark! how blithe the throstle sings! He, too, is no mean preacher: Come forth into the light of things, Let Nature be your teacher. She has a world of ready wealth, Our minds and hearts to bless-Spontaneous wisdom breathed by health, Truth breathed by cheerfulness. One impulse from a vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can.

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Sweet is the lore which Nature brings; Our meddling intellect Mis-shapes the beauteous forms of things:-We murder to dissect. Enough of Science and of Art; Close up those barren leaves; Come forth, and bring with you a heart That watches and receives.

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