Zgryźliwość kojarzy mi się z radością, która źle skończyła.
During the , literature reflected the worldview of the (or Age of Reason) – a rational and scientific approach to religious, social, political, and economic issues that promoted a secular view of the world and a general sense of progress and perfectibility. Led by the philosophers who were inspired by the discoveries of the previous century (Newton) and the writings of Descartes, Locke and Bacon.
They sought to discover and to act upon universally valid principles governing humanity, nature, and society. They variously attacked spiritual and scientific authority, dogmatism, intolerance, censorship, and economic and social restraints. They considered the state the proper and rational instrument of progress. The extreme rationalism and skepticism of the age led naturally to deism; the same qualities played a part in bringing the later reaction of romanticism. The of Denis Diderot epitomized the spirit of the age.
During the end of the 19th century would be the pioneer of the Gothic Novel. Her novel, The Castles of Athlin and Dunbayne in 1789, sets the tone for the majority of her work, which tended to involve innocent, but heroic young women who find themselves in gloomy, mysterious castles ruled by even more mysterious barons with dark pasts. The Romance of the Forest would follow and her most famous novel, , is considered the ultimate Gothic Novel of the late 18th century.
Increased emphasis on instinct and feeling, rather than judgment and restraint. A growing sympathy for the Middle Ages during the Age of Sensibility sparked an interest in medieval ballads and folk literature. Ann Radcliffe's novel would embody all of this in The Mysteries of Udolpho.
with the expansion of the city, and the consequent depopulation of the countryside as a result of the , or of pastures. Most peasants poured into the city to work in the new factories.This abrupt change is revealed by the change of meaning in five key words: industry (once meaning "creativity"), democracy (once disparagingly used as ""), class (from now also used with a social connotation), art (once just meaning "craft"), culture (once only belonging to farming).
But the poor condition of workers, the new class-conflicts and the pollution of the environment causes a reaction to and industrialisation prompting poets to rediscover the beauty and value of nature. Mother is seen as the only source of wisdom, the only solution to the ugliness caused by machines.
The superiority of nature and instinct over had been preached by and his message was picked by almost all European poets. The first in were the , a small group of friends including and . These early brought a new emotionalism and introspection, and their emergence is marked by the first romantic Manifesto in English literature, the "Preface to the ". This collection was mostly contributed by Wordsworth, although Coleridge must be credited for his long and impressive , a tragic ballad about the survival of one sailor through a series of supernatural events on his voyage through the south seas which involves the slaying of an albatross, the death of the rest of the crew, a visit from Death and his mate, Life-in-Death, and the eventual redemption of the Mariner.
Coleridge and Wordsworth, however, understood romanticism in two entirely different ways: while Coleridge sought to make the supernatural "real" (much like sci-fi movies use special effects to make unlikely plots believable), Wordsworth sought to stir the imagination of readers through his down-to-earth characters taken from real life (for eg. in "The Idiot Boy"), or the beauty of the that largely inspired his production (as in "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey").
The "Second generation" of Romantic poets includes , , and . Byron, however, was still influenced by 18th-century satirists and was, perhaps the least 'romantic' of the three. His amours with a number of prominent but married ladies was also a way to voice his dissent on the hypocrisy of a high society that was only apparently religious but in fact largely libertine, the same that had derided him for being physically impaired. His first trip to resulted in the first two cantos of , a mock-heroic epic of a young man's adventures in Europe but also a sharp satire against London society. Despite Childe Harold's success on his return to England, accompanied by the publication of and his alleged incestuous affair with his half-sister Augusta Leigh in 1816 actually forced him to leave England for good and seek asylum on the continent. Here he joined Percy Bysshe Shelley, his wife Mary, with his secretary Dr. on the shores of during the 'year without a summer' of 1816.
Although his is just a short story, Polidori must be credited for introducing , conceived from the same competition which spawned Mary Shelley's , to English literature. Percy, like Mary, had much in common with Byron: he was an aristocrat from a famous and ancient family, had embraced atheism and and, like him, was fleeing from scandal in England.
Shelley had been expelled from college for openly declaring his . He had married a 16-year-old girl, Harriet Westbrook whom he had abandoned soon after for Mary (Harriet took her own life after that). Harriet did not embrace his ideals of and , and was not as educated as to contribute to literary debate. Mary was different: the daughter of philosopher and revolutionary , she was intellectually more of an equal, shared some of his ideals and was a feminist like her late mother, , author of Vindication of the Rights of Women.
One of Percy Shelley's most prominent works is the . Despite his apparent refusal to believe in , this poem is considered a homage to , the recognition of a spiritual presence in nature.
Mary Shelley did not go down in history for her poetry, but for giving birth to : the plot for the is said to have come from a nightmare during stormy nights on Lake Geneva in the company of Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Polidori. Her idea of making a body with human parts stolen from different corpses and then animating it with was perhaps influenced by 's invention and 's experiments with dead frogs. 's chilling tale also suggests modern organ transplants, tissue regeneration, reminding us of the moral issues raised by today's medicine. But the creature of Frankenstein is incredibly romantic as well. Although "the monster" is intelligent, good and loving, he is shunned by everyone because of his ugliness and deformity, and the desperation and envy that result from social exclusion turn him against the very man who created him.
John Keats did not share Byron's and Shelley's extremely revolutionary ideals, but his cult of is as important as Shelley's. Keats was in love with the ancient stones of the that Lord Elgin had brought to from , also known as the ). He celebrates ancient Greece: the beauty of free, youthful love couples here with that of classical art. Keats's great attention to , especially in his is quite new in romanticism, and it will inspire 's and then 's belief in the absolute value of art as independent from .
Some rightly think that the most popular novelist of the era was , whose grand historical romances inspired a generation of painters, composers, and writers throughout Europe. His most remembered work, , continues to be studied to this day.
In retrospect, we now look back to , who wrote novels about the life of the landed gentry, seen from a woman's point of view, and wryly focused on practical social issues, especially marriage and choosing the right partner in life, with love being above all else. Her most important and popular novel, , would set the model for all Romance Novels to follow. Jane Austen created the ultimate hero and heroine in Darcy and Elizabeth, who must overcome their own stubborn pride and the prejudices they have toward each other, in order to come to a middle ground, where they finally realize their love for one another. In her novels, Jane Austen brings to light the hardships women faced, who usually did not inherit money, could not work and where their only chance in life depended on the man they married. She brought to light not only the difficulties women faced in her day, but also what was expected of men and of the careers they had to follow. This she does with wit and humour and with endings where all characters, good or bad, receive exactly what they deserve. Jane Austen started a genre that is still followed today. Her works generally are seen as 'realist' and not romantic in the artistic sense.
Poet, painter and printmaker is usually included among the English Romanticists, though his visionary work is much different from that of the others discussed in this section.
It was in the (1837-1901) that the novel became the leading form of literature in English. Most writers were now more concerned to meet the tastes of a large middle class reading public than to please aristocratic patrons. The best known works of the era include the emotionally powerful works of the sisters; the satire by ; the realist novels of ; and 's insightful portrayals of the lives of the landowning and professional classes.
emerged on the literary scene in the 1830s, confirming the trend for . Dickens wrote vividly about life and the struggles of the poor, but in a good-humoured fashion which was acceptable to readers of all classes. His early works such as the are masterpieces of comedy. Later his works became darker, without losing his genius for .
The were English writers of the 1840s and 1850s. Their novels caused a sensation when they were first published and were subsequently accepted into the canon of great English literature. They had written compulsively from early childhood and were first published, at their own expense, in 1846 as poets under the pseudonyms Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell. The book attracted little attention, selling only two copies. The sisters returned to prose, producing a novel each in the following year. Charlotte's , Emily's and Anne's were released in 1847 after their long search to secure publishers.
An interest in rural matters and the changing social and economic situation of the countryside may be seen in the novels of , , and others. Leading poetic figures included , , , , , and .
developed as a separate genre. Some works become globally well-known, such as those of and , both of whom used . , such as those of and , were written for adults but are now generally classified as for children. At the end of the Victorian Era and leading into the Edwardian Era, was an English author and illustrator, best known for her children’s books, which featured animal characters. In her thirties, Potter published the highly successful children's book in 1902. Potter eventually went on to published 23 children's books and become a wealthly woman. Her books along with Lewis Carroll’s are read and published to this day.
Poezja metafizycznaPoezja metafizyczna - nurt zapoczątkowany przez angielskiego . Występowała na przełomie i w. Łamiąc wcześniejsze reguły poeci wprowadzali do liryki język nauki, filozofii i teologii. Wiersze tego typu mieszały tematykę religijną, filozoficzną i erotyczną, przy czym znakomicie wyrażały atmosferę i niepewności, charakterystyczną dla czasów po gwałtownym zmierzchu .
Reprezentanci poezji metafizycznej to: , , , , . Związani ze światopoglądem chrześcijańskim i postawą żarliwej wiary, modlitwy, tworzyli poezję intelektualną wyrosłą z europejskiego barokowego niepokoju, atmosfery niepewności, świadcząc utworami lirycznymi o wielkości i głębi zawierzenia Bogu. Twórczość poetów odnosiła się do rozwiązania zagadki ludzkiego bytu. Cechował ją intelektualizm i powaga tematu.
Paradise Lost is an epic account of the .
Milton's story contains two arcs: one of Satan () and another of . The story of Satan continues the epic convention of large-scale warfare. It begins after Satan and the other rebel angels have been defeated and cast down by God into , or as it is also called in the poem, . In , Satan must employ his rhetorical ability to organize his followers; he is aided by his lieutenants and . and are also present. At the end of the debate, Satan nominates himself to poison the newly-created . He braves the dangers of the alone in a manner reminiscent of or .
The story of Adam and Eve's temptation and fall is a fundamentally different, new kind of epic: a domestic one. Adam and Eve are presented for the first time in Christian literature as having a functional relationship while still without . They have passions, personalities, and sex. Satan successfully tempts Eve by preying on her vanity and tricking her with ...