William Blake, Charlotte Bronte and Romanticism Matthew DeCoursey Introduction to Literary Studies II
18 th Century: The Age of Reason Leading thinkers of the 18 th Century looked back to the Middle Ages, and even to Shakespeare s time, as a time of darkness and superstition. They called their movement The Enlightenment, because they were bringing the light of reason to the world.
Reasonable painting Angelica Kauffmann, Cornelia Pointing to her Children as Her Treasures, 1785, Oil on Canvas http://academics.smcvt.edu/awerbel/survey%20of%20art%20history%2 0II/NeoclassicandRomantic.htm
Reasonable city planning Plan of Washington, D.C. Pierre Charles L Enfant, 1791 http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/history/core/pics/0253/img0034.htm
Reasonable religion A neo-classical church in Paris, imitating a Greek temple. http://www.travel-watch.com/hyattparis.htm
But reason can cut out the human, the emotional, the imaginative In Germany, certain writers and artists turned against reason and became the first romantics. The first important Romantic in England was William Blake (Late 18 th -early 19 th century). Following him were William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and especially Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Eighteenth Century: The Citizen of the World Oliver Goldsmith wrote a series of letters from a fictional Chinese philosopher visiting Europe. This seemed reasonable to him, because he could reason out what a person like that would think and do. He used the outside perspective to show how unreasonable were European ways of doing things.
Romanticism In Xanadu did Kublai Khan a stately pleasure-dome decree The wildness, the exotic atmosphere, the impressiveness and imposing nature of an imagined China are what we see here.
The Soul Alone Compare the scenes of ice and rock in Jane s reading in the first chapter of Jane Eyre Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide, wide sea. And never a saint took pity On my soul in agony. (Coleridge) http://www.csulb.edu/library/donors/crawford/s_i_1879_saint-juirs_dore-c.jpg
William Blake against Reason God us keep / From single vision and Newton s sleep. Here, Newton appear in an unnatural position, doing science. virgen.seesaa.net/article/31274363.html
Imagination The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun www.artunframed.com/art_reproductions_8.htm
Neo-Classicism and Romanticism Where neo-classicism valued orderly thought, romanticism valued inspiration, flashes of insight. Neo-classicism dismissed old stories about demons and ghosts as not rational, but romanticism viewed them as imaginative and revealing.
Romantic imagination could be threatening The Great Red Dragon and the Woman Clothed with the Sun (Blake) www.apocalyptic-theories.com/
Blake s Particular Concerns: The Problem of Evil If there is a good God who knows everything and can do anything, why is there any pain in the world? Blake hated the view that the world was as good as it can be already: Everything is for the best in this best of all possible worlds. What is, is right. (Alexander Pope)
The Lamb and the Tiger The Lamb from Songs of Innocence The Tiger from Songs of Experience
The Problem of Religiosity Blake had a strong religious sensibility, but he was troubled that many people used religion for bad ends, sometimes even without knowing it. Some of his work is aimed against hypocrisy, that is, against people who say one thing but do something different.
The Chimney-Sweeper A little black thing among the snow: Crying weep, weep, in notes of woe! Where are thy father & mother? say? They are both gone up to the church to pray. Because I was happy upon the heath, And smil'd among the winters snow: They clothed me in the clothes of death, And taught me to sing the notes of woe. And because I am happy & dance & sing, They think they have done me no injury: And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King, Who make up a heaven of our misery.
Compare Jane Eyre "I should wish her to be brought up in a manner suiting her prospects," continued my benefactress; "to be made useful, to be kept humble: as for the vacations, she will, with your permission, spend them always at Lowood." "Your decisions are perfectly judicious, madam," returned Mr. Brocklehurst. "Humility is a Christian grace, and one peculiarly appropriate to the pupils of Lowood; I, therefore, direct that especial care shall be bestowed on its cultivation amongst them. I have studied how best to mortify in them the worldly sentiment of pride; and, only the other day, I had a pleasing proof of my success. My second daughter, Augusta, went with her mama to visit the school, and on her return she exclaimed: 'Oh, dear papa, how quiet and plain all the girls at Lowood look, with their hair combed behind their ears, and their long pinafores, and those little holland pockets outside their frocks -- they are almost like poor people's children! and,' said she, 'they looked at my dress and mama's, as if they had never seen a silk gown before.'"
The Problem of Social Injustice Please, sir, could I have some more? Illustration from Charles Dickens Oliver Twist. http://www.affordablehousinginsti tute.org/
The Problem of Personality Is it better to be a tiger or a lamb? If you re a tiger, you may be savage and hard. If you re a lamb, then others will walk all over you. Both Blake and Bronte saw a problem here, but tended to prefer tigers. Jane and Rochester are both tigers. Rochester is what is called a Byronic hero, after another Romantic poet.
The Clod and the Pebble (Blake) Love seeketh not Itself to please, Nor for itself hath any care; But for another gives its ease, And builds a Heaven in Hells despair. So sang a little Clod of Clay, Trodden with the cattles feet: But a Pebble of the brook, Warbled out these metres meet. Love seeketh only Self to please, To bind another to its delight; Joys in anothers loss of ease, And builds a Hell in Heavens despite.
The Problem The problem is real enough. You know it from your own life. If all are lambs, there will never be justice. If all are tigers, we are in a hell of domination and greed. So do you find a middle way? Not according to Blake.
The Marriage of Heaven and Hell Be both at once! acstaff.uww.edu/carlberj/heaven hell.htm
Conclusion: Empathy Empathy, feeling what another person feels, is a great virtue for Romantics. They viewed a logical, scientific vision as too cold, the enemy of true humanity. Genuinely human reason and imagination went together.
Conclusion: Blake s Particular Concerns The Problem of Evil: How can there be pain in the world when there is God? The Problem of Religiosity: How is it that religion can be harmful? The Problem of Social Injustice: Why are some rich and some poor? The Problem of Personality: Is it better to be a tiger or a lamb?
Language Notes Thou was the singular of you. By this time, it was used mostly for poetry. Thou subject (like I) Thee object (like me) Thy possessive (like my)
Verbs with Thou Regular verbs take -st or -est, as thou speakest, thou goest. A few very common verbs and auxiliaries take just -t : thou art, thou wilt.
Other verb issues -eth can appear in the third person instead of -s Love seeketh but itself to please. This was useful for poets, because it adds an extra syllable. A few verbs appear with to be in the present perfect: I am come. (Some may know the Christmas carol Joy to the World, the Lord is come. )
Common expressions different from today Ere (pronounced air ) means before Had he treated you as an especial favourite This is the same as If he had treated you We sometimes say this today, but uncommonly. Hitherto : Until now.
Common expressions Hence : from this place (similarly thence, from that place) Ever commonly means always (simply the opposite of never ).