Nineteenth Century Literature

Nineteenth-Century Literature is a quarterly journal devoted to the study of all literary genres of the era. In its new incarnation, Nineteenth-Century Fiction included essays on American fiction, thus creating the opportunity for comparative assessments of two national literatures.

The Background of Nineteenth Century Literature

Wartime Literature

There were revolutions across Europe in the 1790s. Fear of revolution and the conditions of war lead to suppression of public meetings and censorship

Wordsworth and Coleridge turned away from their initial sympathy with the French revolution to opposition to it.

Post-War Alliances

After the defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo in 1815, nationalist movements sprang up across Europe. Shelley, Keats, and Byron all accused Coleridge and Wordsworth of apostasy, that is, of having changed sides. Byron and Shelley both had links with such radical groups. Both chose to live in exile.

In nineteenth century literature we have this so called Romanticism. Now, what is Romanticism?

Romanticism

This means:

• Valuing of self as subject matter

• Valuing of emotion

This includes:

• Interest in the exotic, bizarre and extraordinary

• Nature as the catalyst for visionary or transcendent experience

It was the predominant literary movement of the early part of the 19th century.

The movement emphasized intense emotion as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as apprehension, horror and terror, and awe- especially that which is experienced in confronting the new aesthetic categories of the sublimity and beauty of nature.

It promoted the individual imagination as a critical authority allowed of freedom from classical notions in the art form.

It assigned a high value to the achievements of “heroic” individualists ad artists, whose examples, it maintained, would raise the quality of society.

In 19th century literature we have these what we call Gothic Novel, Rise of Novels, Novels of Virtue and Victorian Novels.

Gothic Novel

The Gothic form, named for the Medieval architectural style of cathedrals and castles of the period, emerged in the 18th century. Gothic tales were set in dark castles, crypts, and churches.

Gothic fiction was written with the intention of providing audiences with a good scare. Gothic novels and tales were very popular through the 19th century, but not considered “high art”.

RISE OF NOVELS

Sentimental Fiction

• Sentimental, sensationalist or “scandal” fiction was tremendously popular

• The female authors who wrote them found ample means of supporting themselves through this kind of writing.

• These novels usually include the tale of “fallen women”

• Illicit sexuality was their main focus.

Novels Of Virtue

• Novels of virtue also emerged as instructional texts for female behavior.

• Their authors saw them as countering the looser morals of scandal fiction heroines

• These too provided with the means to be self-supporting authors.

Victorian Novels

• The novel as a form reached a peak in popularity during the 19th century.

• Often referred to as the Victorian period, after Queen Elizabeth.

• The novel gained artistic respect in the 19th century as well, expanding the form thematically and artistically.

The 19th century in Western literature ---one of the most vital and interesting periods of all --- has special interest as the formative era from which many modern literary conditions and tendencies derived.

William Blake

William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognized during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. What he called his prophetic works were said by 20th-century critic Northrop.

A spiritual writer throughout his life, Blake wanted to expose religious corruption and refocus modern worship on its pure origins. Like much of his religious work, this poem contains subtle sexual imagery and violence, themes Blake explored on a larger scale with the “Prophetic books.”

William Blake was a poet and a painter who was born in Soho in London in 1757. He is an important figure of the Romantic age. As well as painting Blake also made books of his poems which he illustrated. One of his most famous works is a book called Songs of Innocence and Experience.

THE LAMB

"The Lamb" is a poem by English visionary William Blake, published in his 1789. Is little of the suspicion of urban environments found elsewhere in Blake's poetry. Lines 1,2, 9, 10, 19 and 20 are all similar addresses directly to the lamb, with the Romantic ideals that dominated the late 17th and early 18th centuries.

Little lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee,

Gave thee life, and bid thee feed

By the stream and o’er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing, woolly, bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice.

Making all the vales rejoice?

Little lamb, who made thee?

Dost thou know who made thee?

Little lamb, I’ll tell thee;

Little lamb, I’ll tell thee:

He is called by thy name,

For He calls Himself a Lamb.

He is meek, and He is mild,

He became a little child.

I a child, and thou a lamb,

We are called by His name.

Little lamb, God bless thee!

Little lamb, God bless thee!

“The Lamb” As a Representative of Wonder: As this poem is about the creation of lamb, Blake builds the idea that everything present in the universe reflects the image of its creator. Throughout the poem, the innocent child shows amazement about the creation of the lamb and compares its innocence with God.

In Christianity, the lamb represents Christ as both suffering and triumphant; it is typically a sacrificial animal, and may also symbolize gentleness, innocence, and purity. When depicted with the LION, the pair can mean a state of paradise. In addition, the lamb symbolizes sweetness, forgiveness and meekness.

END!!!