1 Flashcards
Beide: Caedmon’s Hymn
- Earliest surviving old English poetry
- Spread of Christianity
- Early 8th century, written in Latin
- Attempt to establish a Christian version of a Pagan tradition
= kann man gut lesen, Gedicht und Text
Beowulf
- Author: unknown Anglo-Saxon, 8th-11th century
- Epic poem, narrative verse
- Engagement with Scandinavian past and Germanic and Scandinavian culture
- Merge of Christian and Pagan ideals
- Oral tradition (poet)
- Elements of oral composition: formulatic elements, accentuated meter, oral interaction (Hwaet), each line divided in 2 sections
= Gedicht. Kann man ok lesen.
Epic poem
- Heroic protagonist
- Epic setting
- Supernatural elements
- Elevated language
- Oral tradition passed on
Canterbury Tales
- Geoffrey Chaucer, 1386
- Collection of stories written in ME (24 tales), told by pilgrimage
- ordinary characters, middle class
- Church depicted as greedy
= Gedicht, kann man schlecht lesen
More Darthur
- Sir Thomas Malroy, published 1485 William Caxton
- Arthurian Tale
- chivalry code, courtly love
- Lancelot’s and Guinevere’s affair
= kann man gut/ok lesen, Gedicht
Renaissance (6)
- 15th-16th century
- Rebirth
- Era of light after dark Middle Ages
- Italian models
- New forms of gaining knowledge
- Questioning the authority
Humanism
- Focus on individual
- Book of God -> book of nature
- Critical engagement w/ texts
- Study of Greek/Latin texts
- Educational project
- Translation project
Mary Sydney, Psalm 119:0 (5)
- Not a word by word translation
- Made it more poem-like
- Every bible verse = triplet
- Longer
- More personal/emotional
Henry Howard, George Gasciogne, Thomas Wyatt, Earl of Surrey (1557) (3)
- Sonnets, main form required to change bc. Of difference of languages
- Petrarchan love poetry: unreachable love, longing lover
- Petrarchan (sonnet writing) transition transported into English
Italian sonnet
ABBA ABBA CDE CDE
English Sonnet
ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Pastoral (4)
- Idealised country setting
- Classical models
- No interest in realistic depiction of country life
- To impress monarch, get his/her attention
Example: Christopher Marlowe: “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love)
The Tudor-rule (5)
- Set up state as modern administration = job opportunities, social mobility
- Elevation into aristocracy possible
- More open society: trying out new roles (Theatre)
- Questioning of social structures
- Elizabeth I: cult of Elizabeth, art/sciences, Protestantism and Catholicism co-existed
Elizabethan outdoor theatre (10)
- Possibility for artificial light limited (daylight)
- No curtain
- Upper and lower parts of the stage
- Fixed set
- Boy actors for female parts
- New form of leisure activity (affordable)
- Crowded (diseases)
- Pillars on stage
- Surrounded by audience (sports arena)
- Designed like universe
Categories of Shakespeare plays (6)
- Romantic comedies: As you like it
- Romances: Winter’s Tale
- Tragicomedy/Problem Plays: Measure for Measure
- Tragedies: King Lear
- Histories: Richard II
- Roman Plays: Anthony and Cleopatra
Characteristics of Renaissance Drama (6)
- Medieval mystery and mortality plays: bible story
- Tragedies: Italian tradition: stock characters, revenge, violence
- Turn to classical features
- Themes: catharsis
- Much more realistic (humanism)
- Parallel plots
The 12th night (7)
- Shakespeare 1601-1602
- Romantic comedy
- Viola/Cesario: Disguised as man to survive in foreign land, loyalty and love towards Duke Orsino
- Lady Olivia: wealthy countess, in love w/ Cesario
- Sebastian: Viola’s twin brother, believed to be dead
- Duke Orsino: in love w/ Olivia, falls for Viola
- Truth vs. appearance: puns, mistaken identity, pretence, untruth
“The Unfortunate Traveller” by Thomas Nashe, 1594 (4)
- Picturesque tale
- About traveller that masters adventures
- Main character: sometimes immoral, lower class
- Meets real famous people, described by him
“Utopia” (Thomas More, 1516) (7)
- Socio-political satire
- First book: detailed description of lower class England, critique
- Second book: description of island Utopia (communal ownership of property, welfare system, six hour workday, …)
- Shows influence of humanist thought
- Thomas More: narrator, voice of reason
- Peter Giles: friend of more
- Raphael Hythloday: “nonsense” traveller
“The Fairie Queen” by Edmund Spenser (1599) (12)
- 11 books
- Epic poetry
- EModE
- Spenserian Stanza
- To glorify Elizabeth I and Tudor dynasty
- Each knight represents virtue, one book is one knight
- Archaic language
- Drawing on classics
- Christian ideals, wants to be national tale
- Book 3: Female knight
- Only first 6 books complete
- Courtesy book: behaviour book, popular at that time
Lovelace: “To Lucasta, going to the wars” (3)
- Love and war poem
- Chivalry framework = but age of chivalry passed
- Belief in tradition
Metaphysical poetry (4)
- School of poetry that Broke down with conventions of Elizabethan poetry + chevalier poets
- Dark and obscure
- Surprising combination of 2 fields that lie apart (f.e. Magic and logic) = paradox
- No Petrarchan transcendence, concrete physical love
John Donne: “The Anniversary” (3)
- Very dark assessment of his own mind and contemporary situation
- Beginning: “All kings, …”
- How do you gain knowledge
John Donne: “The Sun Rising” (3)
- First verse: aggressive, irregular, breaking rules of poetic composition
- Second verse: speaker calls sun bad names
- Third verse: semantic fields: sex and geography, colonialism and gender
= metaphysical poetry
Herbert: “Redemption” (3)
- Typical for metaphysical poetry
- Power hierarchies
- Beginning: “having been tenant …”
John Milton: “Paradise Lost” (6)
- Vocabulary of pastoral, lots of enjambements, Latinate
- Typical epic elements
- Main topic: defence of God (Theodicy)
- Wants to surpass classical models
- Milton’s unusual satan
- Political, religious, patriotic
John Dryden (4)
- Satire and plays
- Criticism: “An Essay on Dramatic Poesy”
- translations
- “Absalom and Achitophel” poem: celebrates restoration of king
Rochester: “Satire Against Reason and Mankind” (3)
- Satire against Hobbes
- Irony
- Critic on reason
Rochester: “The Imperfect Enjoyment” (3)
- Excessive Lifestyle, sexual enjoyment
- Elevated verse form, language of war
- Unsuccessful sex
Been: “The Disappointment”
Also the women’s sexual disappointment
John Bunyan: The Pilgrim’s Progress (1678) (6)
- Personal spiritual pilgrimage
- Biblical language = Familiarity
- Christian allegory
- About Christian: A Christian on spiritual journey
- Burden = sin
- Plot: Trajectory of dear - struggle - reward
The Royal Society (3)
- Society for advancement of sciences
- Effort to use a simple language (European trend)
- Literature + science treated as one knowledge block
Isaac Newton: “Principa Mathematica” (1687), “Opticks” (1702) (5)
- Gravity
- Optics
- Poets celebrated Newton
- Science as popular entertainment
- Algarotti, “Newton for the Ladies” (1742)
Samuel Pepys: “Diaries” (4)
- The Great fire of London 1666
- Popularity of diary at that time
- Extreme detailed description
- Sex in code
Aphra Behn: “Oronooko” (1688) (6)
- Romance format combined with travel report (Empirical influence)
- Elements of heroic drama
- Tradition of noble savage, orientalism and exoticism
- Oronooko and Imoinda
- Gender disguise and (sexual) intrigues
- Dedication to Lord Maitland (supporter of James II)
Daniel Defoe: “Robinson Crusoe” (1719) (5)
- Disguised as travel report
- Empirical
- Brings together diverse trends: focus on individual, spiritual experience, discovery, colonialism, religious aspect
- Extreme detail
- Step away from Behn (romance, aristocracy)
17th - 18th century theatre (6)
- female actresses
- Moveable stage, technology, spacial illusions
- Much more expensive
- Artificial acting style
- Light in auditorium on
- Aristocratic/middle class audience
Main genres (17th-18th century) (4)
- Re turn of opera (oratorio: english form, biblical references = Handel: “The Messiah” (1741))
- Heroic drama: Dryden: “All for Love” (1678): fight for honour, good ppl rewarded, set in “exotic” place
- Comedy of manners: very dominant
- Sentimental comedy: Steele: The Conscious Lovers
Restoration Comedy: Comedy of Manners
- For Example Behn: “The Rover”
- Themes:
- interconnection of love, sex, marriage, money
- wit vs. Affectation
- hypocrisy of socially accepted behaviour
- old vs. Young
- country vs. City - Stock types:
- gay (married) couple
- rake (instead of young hero)
- wit
- fop (fashion)
- former mistress
- lecherous old man/woman
- country bumpkin (very naive)
The Way of the world by William Congreve (1700) (2)
- Characters: telling names, a lot of connections
- Mirabell: protagonist
- Millimant
- Lady Wishfort: Millamants aunt
- … - prose, plays around with possibilities of wit, turns syntax around (reversed meaning)
Early 18th century period labels (6)
- age of reason
- Age of Enlightenment
- age of empiricism
- Augustan age
- neoclassicism
- age of commerce
Joseph Addison and Richard Steele: „The Spectator“ (1710-1711) (4)
- read all across Europe - 60.000 readers
- social gossip, stories, ironic description of contemporary life my Mr. Spectator
- neo-classicist ideal: everything should be fun, but it should also teach you something
- cultivating mind and manners
Jonathan Swift: „Gulliver‘s Travels“ (1726) (6)
- satire, adventure, fantasy
- Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput
- Part II: A voyage to Brobingnag (Giants)
- Part III: A voyage to Laputa, Luggnagg, Glubbdubdrup, and Japan
- Part IV: A voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms (rational horses)
- critique of science and reason
Swift: „Battle of the Books“ (1704) (2)
- satire, allegory
- ancient classics vs. Modern literature
Augustan Poetics (5)
- variety, but harmony
- politeness
- follow nature
- truth and beauty are eternal
- no ordinary language
Mock-epic (4)
- hidden irony
- comic effect
- antithesis
- example: Alexander Pope: „The Rope of the Lock“
Mock pastoral (2)
- satirises urban life
- Jonathan Swift „Description of a it’s Shower“
Georgian Period (5)
- foundation to sentiment
- literature concerned with teaching virtue (teaching on how to use reason)
- landscape as way of teaching
- return of the native
- graveyard poetry
James Thompson: „The Seasons“
- most of poem descriptive (landscape)
- some didactic elements
Example for didactic poetry
Pope: Essay on Man
Graveyard poetry
- melancholy + spooky thrill
- transition to Gothic era
- transition from neoclassicism to romanticism
Cowper: The Castaway
Serious depression: the poets situation is worse than the protagonist drowning
Gray: Elegy written in a country churchyard (6)
- lonely poet
- nature
- simple and poor people/simple life
- classical tradition of pastoral
- atmosphere of graveyard
- heroic couplet: neoclassicism, but slower speech (element of transition)
The return of the native as motive of the Georgian period
- return to native rather than classics
- Britain get interested in their own history
- importance of the sublime
Robert Burns: Tom o‘ Shanter (Scottish poet) (3)
- man gets drunk and comes home and has visions
- renewed Scottish poetry: satire (like pope) + Scottish native tale
- Popian couplet + native traditions (language)
Samuel Richardson „Pamela, or, Virtue Rewarded“ (3)
- about servant girl
- epistolary novel
- conversion of man bc. Reads virtuous girls letters
Henry Fielding „Shamela“ (3)
- ironic prose (early 18th century tradition)
- response to Pamela, about her brother
- short tale
Whats an example for comic epic poem in prose?
Henry Fielding: „Joseph Andrewes“
Lawrence Sterne: „Tristram Shandy“ (3)
- establishment of moral as form
- autobiographical first person
- unusual plot line
Fanny Burney: „Evalina, or, the History of a Young Ladys Entrance into the World“ (4)
- action focused plot: adventure and travel
- focus on social convention
- focus on experience (like Pamela)
- novel of manners
Lawrence Sterne „A Sentimental Journey“
Travel as exploration of the self“
Walpole: „Castle of Otranto“
Combined elements of romance with elements of the supernatural (inspired by Macbeth and Hamlet)
Radcliffe „Mysteries of Udolpho“ and „The Italian“
Established role of sublime landscape experience
Abolition Movement
= Movie of sentiments used in abotiotion movement to raise awareness
- Ouladah Equiano „The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, of Gustavus Vassa, the African, written by Himself“
Major authors of late medieval literature
- Geoffrey Chaucer
- Thomas Malroy
- Margery Kempe
Major Renaissance dramatists + one play
- Christopher Marlowe (Doctor Faustus)
- Ben Jonson (The Alchemist)
- John Webster (The White Devil)
Major Renaissance Authors (4)
- Thomas More
- Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey
- Edmund Spenser
- Mary Sidney Herbert, Countess of Pembroke
Major authors of 17th century poetry (3)
- John Donne
- John Milton
- Richard Lovelace
Major authors of Restoration Poetry (3)
- Aphra Behn
- John Dryden
- John Milton
Major authors of Restoration and early 18th c prose (5)
- John Milton
- John Bunyan
- Samuel Pepys
- Aphra Behn
- Daniel Defoe
Major authors of 17th and 18th c drama (5)
- Ben Jonson
- John Dryden
- William Congreve
- Aphra Behn
- Richard Steele
Major authors of mid- to late 18th c. Poetry and prose (3)
- Samuel Johnson
- Lawrence Sterne
- Ann Radcliffe
Now in contiguous drops the flood comes down,
Threatening with deluge this devoted town.
To shops in crowds the daggled females fly,
Pretend to cheapen goods, but nothing buy.
The Templar spruce, while every spout’s abroach,
Stays till ’tis fair, yet seems to call a coach.
The tucked-up sempstress walks with hasty strides,
While seams run down her oiled umbrella’s sides.
Jonathan Swift: A Description of a city shower
Mock-pastoral
Early 18th c poetry
Nu sculon herigean / heofonrices Weard
[Now must we praise / heaven-kingdom’s Guardian,]
Meotodes meahte / and his modgeþanc
[the Measurer’s might / and his mind-plans,]
weorc Wuldor-Fæder / swa he wundra gehwæs
[the work of the Glory-Father, / when he of wonders of every one,]
ece Drihten / or onstealde
[eternal Lord, / the beginning established.]
He ærest sceop / ielda bearnum
[He first created / for men’s sons]
heofon to hrofe / halig Scyppend
[heaven as a roof, / holy Creator;
ða middangeard / moncynnes Weard
[then middle-earth / mankind’s Guardian,]
ece Drihten / æfter teode
[eternal Lord / afterwards made –]
firum foldan / Frea ælmihtig.
[for men earth, / Master almighty.]
Caedomns Hymn, Bede
Old English Poetry
Although I cannot say that I was ill treated in this island, yet I must confess I thought myself too much neglected, not without some degree of contempt; for neither prince nor people appeared to be curious in any part of knowledge, except mathematics and music, wherein I was far their inferior, and upon that account very little regarded.
Gullivers Travels Jonathan Swift
18th c
Neoclassicism
Some of our mayds sitting up late last night to get things ready against our feast to-day, Jane called us up about three in the morning, to tell us of a great fire they saw in the City. So I rose and slipped on my nightgowne, and went to her window, and thought it to be on the backside of Marke-lane at the farthest; but, being unused to such fires as followed, I thought it far enough off; and so went to bed again and to sleep. About seven rose again to dress myself, and there looked out at the window, and saw the fire not so much as it was and further off. So to my closett to set things to rights after yesterday’s cleaning. By and by Jane comes and tells me that she hears that above 300 houses have been burned down to-night by the fire we saw, and that it is now burning down all Fish-street, by London Bridge.
Samuel Pepys, Diary
Restoration and early 18th c.
The which O pardon me thus to enfold
In couert vele, and wrap in shadowes light,
That feeble eyes your glory may behold,
Which else could not endure those beames bright,
But would be dazled with exceeding light.
O pardon, and vouchsafe with patient eare
The braue aduentures of this Faery knight
The good Sir Guyon gratiously to heare,
In whom great rule of Temp’raunce goodly doth appeare.
Edmund Spenser
The Faerie Queene
Renaissance
And first a dirty smock appeared,
Beneath the armpits well besmeared.
Strephon, the rogue, displayed it wide,
And turned it round on every side.
On such a point few words are best,
And Strephon bids us guess the rest,
But swears how damnably the men lie,
In calling Celia sweet and cleanly.
Now listen while he next produces
The various combs for various uses,
Filled up with dirt so closely fixt,
No brush could force a way betwixt.
The Ladys Dressing Room
Jonathan Swift
Scatological poetry
Early 18th c poetry
FAIN. Now I remember, I wonder not they were weary of you; last night was one of their cabal-nights: they have ’em three times a week and meet by turns at one another’s apartments, where they come together like the coroner’s inquest, to sit upon the murdered reputations of the week. You and I are excluded, and it was once proposed that all the male sex should be excepted; but somebody moved that to avoid scandal there might be one man of the community, upon which motion Witwoud and Petulant were enrolled members.
MIRA. And who may have been the foundress of this sect? My Lady Wishfort, I warrant, who publishes her detestation of mankind, and full of the vigour of fifty-five, declares for a friend and ratafia; and let posterity shift for itself, she’ll breed no more.
FAIN. The discovery of your sham addresses to her, to conceal your love to her niece, has provoked this separation. Had you dissembled better, things might have continued in the state of nature.
MIRA. I did as much as man could, with any reasonable conscience; I proceeded to the very last act of flattery with her, and was guilty of a song in her commendation. Nay, I got a friend to put her into a lampoon, and compliment her with the imputation of an affair with a young fellow, which I carried so far, that I told her the malicious town took notice that she was grown fat of a sudden; and when she lay in of a dropsy, persuaded her she was reported to be in labour. The devil’s in’t, if an old woman is to be flattered further, unless a man should endeavour downright personally to debauch her: and that my virtue forbade me. But for the discovery of this amour, I am indebted to your friend, or your wife’s friend, Mrs. Marwood.
The way of the world
William Congreve
17th-18th c drama
Her bright Eyes sweat, and yet Severe,
Where Love and Shame confus’dly strive,
Fresh Vigor to Lisander give :
And whispring softly in his Ear,
She Cry’d — Cease — cease — your vain desire,
Or I’ll call out — What wou’d you do ?
My dearer Honour, ev’n to you,
I cannot — must not give — retire,
Or take that Life whose chiefest part
I gave you with the Conquest of my Heart.
Behn: The Disappointment
Restoration
This was a time of suffering for the powerful demon who dwelt in darkness, when he heard loud rejoicing in the hall every day. There was the sound of the harp and the sweet song of the minstrel, who told about the creation of men, long ago; he said that the Almighty made the earth, the beautiful land bounded by the water; then, triumphant, he placed the sun and the moon as a light to lighten those who dwell on the land, and adorned the earth with branches and leaves; and he also created every living creature which moves after its kind.—Thus the retainers of Hrothgar lived in joy and happiness, until the hellish fiend began his wicked deeds.
Beowulf
Old english
This was a time of suffering for the powerful demon who dwelt in darkness, when he heard loud rejoicing in the hall every day. There was the sound of the harp and the sweet song of the minstrel, who told about the creation of men, long ago; he said that the Almighty made the earth, the beautiful land bounded by the water; then, triumphant, he placed the sun and the moon as a light to lighten those who dwell on the land, and adorned the earth with branches and leaves; and he also created every living creature which moves after its kind.—Thus the retainers of Hrothgar lived in joy and happiness, until the hellish fiend began his wicked deeds.
Beowulf
Old english
Beneath those rugged elms, that yew-tree’s shade,
Where heaves the turf in many a mould’ring heap,
Each in his narrow cell for ever laid,
The rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep.
The breezy call of incense-breathing Morn,
The swallow twitt’ring from the straw-built shed,
The cock’s shrill clarion, or the echoing horn,
No more shall rouse them from their lowly bed.
18th c
Age of sentiment
Elegy written in a country churchyard
Thomas Gray
Thy beams, so reverend and strong
Why shouldst thou think?
I could eclipse and cloud them with a wink,
But that I would not lose her sight so long;
If her eyes have not blinded thine,
Look, and tomorrow late, tell me,
Whether both th’ Indias of spice and mine
Be where thou leftst them, or lie here with me.
Ask for those kings whom thou saw’st yesterday,
And thou shalt hear, All here in one bed lay.
The Sun Rising
John Donne
17th c
A gown made of the finest wool
Which from our pretty Lambs we pull;
Fair lined slippers for the cold,
With buckles of the purest gold;
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love
BY CHRISTOPHER MARLOWE
Pastoral,
Renaissance
When I consider how my light is spent,
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one Talent which is death to hide
Lodged with me useless, though my Soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning chide;
“Doth God exact day-labour, light denied?”
Sonnet 19: When I consider how my light is spent
BY JOHN MILTON
17th c
Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show,
That she, dear she, might take some pleasure of my pain,—
Pleasure might cause her read, reading might make her know,
Knowledge might pity win, and pity grace obtain,—
I sought fit words to paint the blackest face of woe;
Studying inventions fine her wits to entertain,
Oft turning others’ leaves, to see if thence would flow
Some fresh and fruitful showers upon my sunburn’d brain.
Astrophil and Stella 1: Loving in truth, and fain in verse my love to show
BY SIR PHILIP SIDNEY
Renaissance
32 “By Goddes soule,” quod he, “that wol nat I;
“By God’s soul,” said he, “that will not I;
3133 For I wol speke or elles go my wey.”
For I will speak or else go my way.”
3134 Oure Hoost answerde, “Tel on, a devel wey!
Our Host answered, “Tell on, in the devil’s name!
3135 Thou art a fool; thy wit is overcome.”
Thou art a fool; thy wit is overcome.”
3136 “Now herkneth,” quod the Millere, “alle and some!
“Now listen,” said the Miller, “everyone!
3137 But first I make a protestacioun
But first I make a protestation
Geoffrey Chaucer: The Millers Prologue And Tale
Canterbury Tales
Medieval Period
Whoso list to hunt, I know where is an hind,
But as for me, hélas, I may no more.
The vain travail hath wearied me so sore,
I am of them that farthest cometh behind.
Yet may I by no means my wearied mind
Draw from the deer, but as she fleeth afore
Fainting I follow. I leave off therefore,
Sithens in a net I seek to hold the wind.
Sir Thomas Wyatt
Whoso List to Hunt, I Know where is an Hind
Renaissance Lyric
Those who want Slaves, make a Bargain with a Master, or Captain of a Ship, and contract to pay him so much a-piece, a matter of twenty Pound a Head for as many as he agrees for, and to pay for ’em when they shall be deliver’d on such a Plantation: So that when there arrives a Ship laden with Slaves, they who have so contracted, go a-board, and receive their Number by Lot; and perhaps in one Lot that may be for ten, there may happen to be three or four Men; the rest, Women and Children: Or be there more or less of either Sex, you are oblig’d to be contented with your Lot.
Aphra Behn
Oronooko
Restoration
Like as a huntsman after weary chase,
Seeing the game from him escap’d away,
Sits down to rest him in some shady place,
With panting hounds beguiled of their prey:
So after long pursuit and vain assay,
When I all weary had the chase forsook,
The gentle deer return’d the self-same way,
Thinking to quench her thirst at the next brook.
Edmund Spenser
Amoretti #67
Renaissance
He that knows one of their towns knows them all–they are so like one another, except where the situation makes some difference. I shall therefore describe one of them, and none is so proper as Amaurot; for as none is more eminent (all the rest yielding in precedence to this, because it is the seat of their supreme council), so there was none of them better known to me, I having lived five years all together in it.
Thomas More
Utopia Book 2
Renaissance
In heaven at his manor I him sought;
They told me there that he was lately gone
About some land, which he had dearly bought
Long since on earth, to take possessiòn.
Redemption by George Herbert
17th c lyric
What dire offence from am’rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing—This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This, ev’n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If she inspire, and he approve my lays.
Alexander Pope
The Rape of the Lock
18th c
Neoclassicism
Mock epic
VIOLA What country, friends, is this?
CAPTAIN This is Illyria, lady.
VIOLA And what should I do in Illyria?
My brother he is in Elysium.
Perchance he is not drowned: what think you, sailors?
The 12th night
Shakespeare
Renaissance
When in disgrace with fortune and men’s eyes,
I all alone beweep my outcast state,
And trouble deaf Heaven with my bootless cries, And look upon myself, and curse my fate, Wishing me like to one more rich in hope, Featur’d like him, like him with friends possess’d, Desiring this man’s art, and that man’s scope, With what I most enjoy contented least:
Yet in these thoughts myself almost despising, Haply I think on thee,–and then my state
(Like to the lark at break of day arising
From sullen earth) sings hymns at heaven’s gate;
For thy sweet love remember’d such wealth brings That then I scorn to change my state with kings’.
Shakespeare
Sonnet 29
Renaissance
No, said Hopeful, you shall not go first, for your mind being troubled may lead you out of the way again. Then for their encouragement they heard the voice of one saying, “Let thine heart be toward the highway, even the way that thou wentest: turn again.” Jer. 31:21. But by this time the waters were greatly risen, by reason of which the way of going back was very dangerous. (Then I thought that it is easier going out of the way when we are in, than going in when we are out.) Yet they adventured to go back; but it was so dark, and the flood was so high, that in their going back they had like to have been drowned nine or ten times.
John Bunyan
Pilgrim‘s Progress
Restoration, early 18th c
Smiling, she chides in a kind murmuring noise,
And from her body wipes the clammy joys,
When, with a thousand kisses wandering o’er
My panting bosom, “Is there then no more?”
She cries. “All this to love and rapture’s due;
Must we not pay a debt to pleasure too?”
The Imperfect Enjoyment
BY JOHN WILMOT EARL OF ROCHESTER
Restoration
And will persue th’instructive Tale
To shew the Wise in some things fail.
The Reverend Lover with surprize
Peeps in her Bubbys, and her Eyes,
And kisses both, and trys — and trys.
The Evening in this Hellish Play,
Beside his Guineas thrown away,
Provok’d the Preist to that degree
He swore, the Fault is not [in] me.
Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, “The
Reasons That Induced Dr. Swift to Write a Poem Called the Lady’s Dressing Room”
18th c
Neo-classicism
In a little time after, amongst the poor chained men, I found some of my own nation, which in a small degree gave ease to my mind. I inquired of these what was to be done with us; they gave me to understand we were to be carried to these white people’s country to work for them. I then was a little revived, and thought, if it were no worse than working, my situation was not so desperate: but still I feared I should be put to death, the white people looked and acted, as I thought, in so savage a manner; for I had never seen among any people such instances of brutal cruelty; and this not only shewn towards us blacks, but also to some of the whites themselves.
Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano
18th c
Age of sentiment
I sent thee late a rosy wreath,
Not so much honouring thee
As giving it a hope, that there
It could not withered be.
But thou thereon didst only breathe,
And sent’st it back to me;
Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,
Not of itself, but thee.
Related
Ben Jonson: song: To Celia
17th c
Gather ye rose-buds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying;
And this same flower that smiles today
Tomorrow will be dying.
To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time
BY ROBERT HERRICK
17th c
O what a lantern, what a lamp of light
Is thy pure word to me. To cleere my paths, and guide my goings right. I swear and swear again, I of the statutes will observer be, Thou justly dost ordaine.
Mary Sidney Herbert
Psalm 119:O
Renaissance
Had we but world enough and time,
This coyness, lady, were no crime.
We would sit down, and think which way
To walk, and pass our long love’s day.
To his coy mistress
Andrew Marwell
17thc
Did bring such terror, made his heart to ache.
That place he left, to champian plains he went, Winding about, for to deceive their scent,
And while they snuffling were, to find his track,
Poor Wat, being weary, his swift pace did slack.
The Hunting Of The Hare
Margaret Cavendish
17thc
Hurled headlong flaming from th’ ethereal sky
With hideous ruin and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th’ Omnipotent to arms.
John Milton
Paradise Lost
Restoration
Hurled headlong flaming from th’ ethereal sky
With hideous ruin and combustion down
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire,
Who durst defy th’ Omnipotent to arms.
John Milton
Paradise Lost
Restoration
MiddleAges
- Romans, Anglo-Saxons, Vikings
- Caedmons Hymn, Beowulf
- Pagan/Christian ideals, poet
Late medieval
- Norman Conquest
- Canterbury Tales
- Arthurian, travel reports, pilgrimages
Renaissance
- Tudor, Protestants vs. Catholics
- Psalm translations, Shakespeare, The Unfortunate Traveller (Thomas Nashe), Utopia (Thomas More), Faerie Queene (Edmund Spenser)
- Humanism, Translations, sonnets, Pastoral
Early 17th c.
- Civil War, Oliver Cromwell vs. Charles I
- To Lucasta, going to the wars (Lovelace), The Anniversary + The Sun Rising (John Donne), Redemption (Herbert)
- metaphysical poetry
Restoration
- Restoration Charles II, London Plague and Fire
- Paradise Lost (John Milton), Pilgrims Progress (John Bunyan), Oronooko (Aphra Behn), Robinson Crusoe (Daniel Defoe)
- satire/sex/science
17th-18th c.
- Theatres reopened
- The Way of the World (William Congreve)
- classism, arguments, jokes, morality, rise of the merchant
Early 18th c
- gin lane and beer street, money as current
- The Spectator (Joseph Addison and Richard Steele), Gullivers Travels (Jonathan Swift), The Rope of the Lock (Alexander Pope)
- Augustan poetics, mock epic + pastoral
Late 18th c.
- Scotland = UK, 7 years war, French Revolution
- The Seasons (James Thompson), Elegy written in a country churchyard (Thomas Gray), Evalina (Frances Burney)
- didactic, graveyard poetry, native, sentiment
