Seminar XII Pre-romantic Poetry

Transcription

1 Seminar XII Preromantic Poetry Robert Burns ( ) His poetry glorifies the Scottish peasant and the past of the country. It is based on Scottish folklore not only in matter, but also in form which make the poems frank, melodious and intelligible. There is nothing hypocritical about Burns. He sings about the things he likes including drink and women with gusto and without shame. He has a deep sympathy with the downtrodden, whether man or beast, which enables him to write a perfectly serious ode to a mouse. These three selected poems show just one of the distinctive styles he was capable of writing in: rough, earthly style of his land, with a dialect almost unintelligible to many English men, but brisk and vigorous and above all EXTREMELY REFRESHING. To a Mouse; On Turning Her up in Her Nest with the Plow, November 1785 The legends goes that Burns was ploughing in the fields while he accidentally destroyed a mice s nest, which they needed to survive the winter, Burns was so inspired that he presumably composed the poem while holding the plough Burns develops a strong parallel between mice and men: they are both poor earth companions and fellow mortals (2 nd stanza), But, Mouse, you are not alone (the penultimate stanza), the mouse is even better off since she is touched only by the present (last stanza) whereas men although they cannot see forward are aware of dreary prospects Little, well groomed, cowering, timid beast, Oh, what a panic is in your heart! You need not start away so hasty With bickering prattle! I would be loath to run and chase you, With murdering scraper And weary winter coming fast, And cozy here, beneath the blast, You thought to dwell, Till crashed the cruel plough passed Out through your cell. I'm truly sorry man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, And justifies that ill opinion Which makes you startle At me, your poor, earth born companion And fellow mortal! I doubt not, sometimes, that you may steal; What then? Poor beast, you must live! An odd ear in twentyfour sheaves Is a small request; I will get a blessing with what is left, And never miss it. Your small house, too, in ruin! Its feeble walls the winds are scattering! And nothing now, to build a new one, And bleak December's winds coming, Both bitter and piercing! You saw the fields laid bare and empty, That small heap of leaves and stubble, Has cost you many a weary nibble! Now you are turned out, for all your trouble, Without house or holding, To endure the winter's sleety dribble, And hoarfrost cold. But Mouse, you are not alone, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes of mice and men Go often askew, And leave us nothing but grief and pain, For promised joy! Still you are blessed, compared with me! The present only touches you: But oh! I backward cast my eye, On prospects dreary! And forward, though I cannot see, I guess and fear![ Of coarse green foliage! The penultimate stanza: The bestlaid schemes o mice a men / Gang aft agley (go oft awry) later used by John Steinbeck in his famous novella Of Mice and Men (1937) A Red, Red Rose (1796) One of the Scottish folk songs Burns collected and preserved in the final ten years of his life. He claimed to have it picked up in the country. The lyrics are simple and effective. Rose, traditionally associated with declarations of love, is the bestsuited metonymical device to express the sincerity of the feeling. Love is described as both fresh red rose newly

2 sprung in June and refreshingly sweet melodie / That s sweetly played in tune while being longlasting a I will love thee still, my dear//till a the seas gang dry// While the sand o life shall run. Auld Lang Syne (1796) English translation: Should old acquaintance be forgot, and never brought to mind? Should old acquaintance be forgot, and old lang syne? For auld lang syne, my dear, for auld lang syne, we'll take a cup of kindness yet, for auld lang syne. Auld Lang Syne is a poem written by Burns an set to the tune of a traditional folksong. It many Englishspeaking countries it is used to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight. The title may be translated as Old Long Since Burns claimed to have taken it from an old man. Some of the lines are clearly collected and not invented. It opens with a rhetorical question Should old friendships be forgotten? The answer is clearly no. William Blake ( ) Blake s poetry once responds readily to all contemporary events and has a strong social note. All his works reflect his strong visual imagination. Christ for him was the representative of the spiritual goodness (the image of Lamb), a personification of human character, whereas God the Father was a symbol of tyranny, of an absolute authority. He rejects reason and law and conventional religion and says the mankind can be fulfilled only through the senses and the imagination. His short poems highlight and reject the repressions he spent his life fighting against: law, religion, science. Every human being should be capable of perceiving the ultimate truth without any help of the reason. Reason is dangerous as well as science we should live in a state of unfettered individual freedom relying on the power of our insight and instincts. Blake underlined the dualism of his philosophical and existential persuasion of the contrary nature of things. by writing two fully illustrated and handprinted collections of Songs of Innocence (1789) as a contrary to the Songs of Experience (1794). Songs of Innocence (1789) Songs of Experience (1794)

3 Songs of Innocence (1789) The Lamb Songs of Experience (1794) The Tyger The Lamb is a counterpart to The Tyger. The Lamb is a metaphor for Jesus Christ ( The Lamb of God in John 1:29). The opening question Little Lamb who made thee/ Dost thou know who made thee is answered at the end of the poem where the creator is identiffied as God.. The Lamb is described as a pure, gentle, lovely creature compared with the baby Jesus. Originally the poem was meant to be sung, the tune, however, got lost. The Tyger is one of the bestknown poems in English. The poet wonders about he nature of the tyger, asking repeatedly about the creator of his fearful symmetry. Blake uses trochaic verse, alliteration and vivid imagery to reflect the ferocious, cruel nature of the animal. The Tyger is both beautiful and cruel as well as the Lamb is beautiful and gentle. By juxtaposing the two poems the author wanted to emphasise the fact that the same creator who made the Lamb made the Tyger. Experience is not evil as well as the Tyger is not the face of evil but another aspect of that which created us. Songs of Innocence contains mainly poems positive in tone, celebrating innocence, childhood and nature. Songs of Experience provide a contrast and show the effects of life on the previously developed themes.

4 Holy Thursday Songs of Innocence (1789) Songs of Experience (1794): Holy Thursday is a poem which appears in both collections. In Songs of Innocence it rather focuses on the description of a ceremony of the English Church celebrating the ascension of Jesus (39 days after Easter) where it was customary to march the children from the charity schools I pf London to a service at St.Paul s cathedral. These were mainly orphans and were scrubbed clean and marched two by two on the occasion. They wore colourful dresses and Blake compares these to flowers. Their singing seems to have the power of raising them above their old, lifeless guardians. The poems counterpart in Songs of Experience refers to the same occasion, it, however does not merely escribe it but uses it question social and moral justice and the hypocrisy of the society. England is rich and fruitful land, but because its profitoriented authorities it reduces children s lives to misery and eternal winter. Church is accused of being complicit in creating poverty. Songs of Experience (1794) London is one of the few poems which does not have any corresponding poem in Songs of Innocence. It describes dangerous industrial conditions Charter d streets + charter d Thames, child labour Chimneysweeper s cry, prostitution the youthful Harlot s curse and poverty marks of weakness, marks of woe, institutions and law the mindforg d manacles, the ignorance of monarchy, aristocracy and even church every blackning Church appalls,/ And the hapless Soldier s sigh/ Runs in blood down Palace walls. A Poison Tree is an allegorical poem describing the outcome of repressed anger or feelings towards an individual, which eventually lead to a disaster. It is possible to read the narrator as a divine figure who uses the tree to seduce mankind into disgrace.

5 The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (17903) The Marriage of Heaven and Hell (written ) turns the existing eighteenthcentury world upside down. God, who stands for reason and repression, is set against Satan, who stands for energy and freedom. Blake develops the idea of unifying the ageold vision of cosmos polarized by Heaven and Hell by marrying them.. According to him, things typically associated with Hell, such as physical desire or material are also part of divine order. The book is written in prose except for the opening "Argument" and the "Song of Liberty". The poet goes to Hell only to find it different from the described by his predecessors, Milton or Dante. Hell is viewed as a place full of energy and creation, not as a place of punishment and despair, as opposed to the common perception of Heaven, which is regulated and authoritarian. The most famous part of the book is the Proverbs of Hell, whose chief aim is to liberate the thoughts of constrictions stipulated by common morality and piety. Examples: