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GOVERNMENT ARTS AND SCIENCE COLLEGE VALPARAI
SEMESTER II
Paper VI - BRITISH LITERATURE – II (DRYDEN TO ROMANTIC AGE)
Unit:1 Wordsworth : Tintern Abbey
Coleridge :Kubla Khan
Shelley : Ode to the West Wind Keats : Ode on a Grecian Urn
Oliver Goldsmith : The Deserted Village
Unit:2 Dryden : All for Love Sheridan
The Rivals
Unit:3 Charles Lamb : The following essays from the Essays of Elia :
1. Old China
2. Dream Children : A Reverie
3. In Praise of Chimney Sweepers
4. Dissertation upon a Roast Pig and
5. Jonathan Swift : Gulliver‗s Travels I
Unit:4 Scott : Kenilworth Jane Austen :
Northanger Abbey
Unit:5 Wordsworth : Preface to Lyrical Ballads Johnson :
Preface to Shakespeare
UNIT-1
Tintern Abbey by William Wordsworth: Summary & Analysis
The poem Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey is generally known as Tintern
Abbey written in 1798 by the father of Romanticism William Wordsworth. Tintern Abbey is one
of the triumphs of Wordsworth's genius. It may he called a condensed spiritual autobiography of
the poet. It deals with the subjective experiences of the poet, and traces the growth of his mind
through different periods of his life. Nature and its influence on the poet in various stage forms
the main theme of the poem. The poem deal with the influence of Nature on the boy, the growing
youth, and the man. The poet has expressed his tender feeling towards nature.
He has specially recollected his poetic idea of Tintern Abbey where he had gone first time in
1793. This is his second visit to this place. Wordsworth has expressed his intense faith in nature.
There is Wordsworth’s realization of God in nature. He got sensuous delight in it and it is all in
all to him. Tintern Abbey impressed him most when he had first visited this place. He has again
come to the same place where there are lofty cliffs, the plots of cottage ground, orchards groves
and copses. He is glad to see again hedgerows, sportive wood, pastoral farms and green doors.
This lonely place, the banks of the river and rolling waters from the mountain springs present a
beautiful panoramic light. The solitary place remands the poet of vagrant dwellers and hermits’
cave.
The poem is in five sections. The first section establishes the setting for the meditation. But it
emphasizes the passage of time: five years have passed, five summers, five long winters… But
when the poet is back to this place of natural beauty and serenity, it is still essentially the same.
The poem opens with a slow, dragging rhythm and the repetition of the word ‘five’ all designed
to emphasize the weight of time which has separated the poet from this scene. The following
lines develop a clear, visual picture of the scent. The view presented is a blend of wildness and
order. He can see the entirely natural cliffs and waterfalls; he can see the hedges around the
fields of the people; and he can see wreaths of smoke probably coming from some hermits
making fire in their cave hermitages. These images evoke not only a pure nature as one might
expect, they evoke a life of the common people in harmony with the nature.
The second section begins with the meditation. The poet now realizes that these ‘beauteous’
forms have always been with him, deep-seated in his mind, wherever he went. This vision has
been “Felt in the blood, and felt alone the heart” that is. It has affected his whole being. They
were not absent from his mind like form the mind of a man born blind. In hours of weariness,
frustration and anxiety, these things of nature used to make him feel sweet sensations in his very
blood, and he used to feel it at the level of the impulse (heart) rather than in his waking
consciousness and through reasoning. From this point onward Wordsworth begins to consider
the sublime of nature, and his mystical awareness becomes clear. Wordsworth’s idea was that
human beings are naturally uncorrupted.
The poet studies nature with open eyes and imaginative mind. He has been the lover of nature
form the core of his heart, and with purer mind. He feels a sensation of love for nature in his
blood. He feels high pleasure and deep power of joy in natural objects. The beatings of his heart
are full of the fire of nature’s love. He concentrates attention to Sylvan Wye – a majestic and
worth seeing river. He is reminded of the pictures of the past visit and ponders over his future
years. On his first visit to this place he bounded over the mountains by the sides of the deep
rivers and the lovely streams. In the past the soundings haunted him like a passion. The tall rock,
the mountain and the deep and gloomy wood were then to him like an appetite. But that time is
gone now. In nature he finds the sad music of humanity.
The third section contains a kind of doubt; the poet is probably reflecting the reader’s possible
doubts so that he can go on to justify how he is right and what he means. He doubts, for just a
moment, whether this thought about the influence of the nature is vain, but he can’t go on. He
exclaims: “yet, oh! How often, amid the joyless daylight, fretful and unprofitable fever of the
world have I turned to thee (nature)” for inspiration and peace of mind. He thanks the ‘Sylvan
Wye’ for the everlasting influence it has imprinted on his mind; his spirit has very often turned to
this river for inspiration when he was losing the peace of mind or the path and meaning of life.
The river here becomes the symbol of spirituality.
Though the poet has become serious and perplexed in the fourth section the nature gives him
courage and spirit enough to stand there with a sense of delight and pleasure. This is so typical of
Wordsworth that it seems he can’t write poetry without recounting his personal experiences,
especially those of his childhood. Here he also begins from the earliest of his days! It was first
the coarse pleasures in his ‘boyish days’, which have all gone by now. “That time is past and all
its aching joys are now no more, and all its dizzy raptures”. But the poet does not mourn for
them; he doesn’t even grumble about their loss. Clearly, he has gained something in return:
“other gifts have followed; for such loss… for I have learnt to look on nature, not as in the hour
of thoughtless youth; but hearing oftentimes the still, sad music of humanity”. This is a
philosophic statement about maturing, about the development of personality, and of the poetic or
philosophic mind as well. So now the poet is able to feel a joy of elevated thought, a sense
sublime, and far more deeply interfused. He feels a sense of sublime and the working of a
supreme power in the light of the setting sun, in round oceans and in the blue sky. He is of
opinion that a motion and a spirit impel all thinking things. Therefore Wordsworth claims that he
is a lover of the meadows and of all which we see from this green earth. Nature is a nurse, a
guide and the guardian of his heart and soul. The poet comes to one important conclusion: for all
the formative influences, he is now consciously in love with the nature. He has become a
thoughtful lover of the meadows, the woods and the mountains. Though his ears and eyes seem
to create the other half of all these sensations, the nature is the actual source of these sublime
thoughts.
The fifth and last section continues with the same meditation from where the poet addresses his
younger sister Dorothy, whom he blesses and gives advice about what he has learnt. He says that
he can hear the voice of his own youth when he hears her speak, the language of his former
heart; he can also “read my former pleasure in the soothing lights of thy wild eyes’. He is excited
to look at his own youthful image in her. He says that nature has never betrayed his heart and
that is why they had been living from joy to joy. Nature can impress the mind with quietness and
beauty, and feed it lofty thoughts, that no evil tongues of the human society can corrupt their
hearts with any amount of contact with it.
The poet then begins to address the moon in his reverie, and to ask the nature to bestow his sister
with their blessings. Let the moon shine on her solitary walk, and let the mountain winds blow
their breeze on her. When the present youthful ecstasies are over, as they did with him, let her
mind become the palace of the lovely forms and thought about the nature, so that she can enjoy
and understand life and overcome the vexations of living in a harsh human society. The
conclusion to the poem takes us almost cyclically, back to a physical view of the ‘steep woods’,
‘lofty cliffs’ and ‘green pastoral landscape’ in which the meditation of the poem is happening.
The poet has expressed his honest and natural feelings to Nature’s Superiority. The language is
so simple and lucid that one is not tired of reading it again and again. The sweetness of style
touches the heart of a reader. The medium of this poem is neither ballad nor lyric but an elevated
blank verse. The blank verse that is used in it is low-toned, familiar, and moves with sureness,
sereneness and inevitable ease. It has the quiet pulse, suggestive of 'central peace', which is felt
in all his great poetry. This is the beauty of Wordsworth’s language.
Kubla Khan by Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Summary and Analysis
Kubla Khan was written in 1798 but not published until 1816. It was then issued in a pamphlet
containing Christabel and The Pains of Sleep. It is one of those three poems which have made
Coleridge, one of the greatest poets of England, the other two being The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner and Christabel.
Coleridge himself describes this poem as the fragment of a dream, a vision seen perhaps under
the influence of opium-which he saw when he had fallen asleep after reading the account of
Kubla Khan in an old book of travels written by Purchas. Kubla Khan is a brilliant achievement
in the field of supernatural poetry.
Coleridge beautifully imagined and skillfully described what he had imagined about a palace
about which he had read. He has achieved remarkable success in making the description lively
and complete. He writes as if he has seen it before him.
The poem begins with the description of the kingdom of Kubla Khan. The action takes place in
the unknown Xanadu (a mythical city). Kubla Khan was the powerful ruler who could create his
pleasure dome by a mere order. Alpha was the sacred river that passed through Xanadu. It
followed through the measureless caverns (caves) to the sunless sea. There were gardens in
which streams were following in a zigzag manner. The gardens had many flowers with sweet
smells and the forests had many spots of greenery. The poet gives a beautiful description of the
remote and distant land cape of Xanadu.
There was a wonderful chasm sloping down the green hill. The cedar trees were growing on both
sides of the chasm. The place was visited by fairies and demons. Coleridge then gives a medieval
tale of love and romance. When the moon declined in the night it was visited by a woman. She
was sad for her lover. Form the chasm shot up a fountain violently. It threw up stones. They were
falling down in every direction. The sacred river Alpha ran through the woods and dales. Then it
reached the unfathomable caverns and sank noisily into a lifeless ocean with a tumult. In that
tumult Kubla Khan heard the voices of his ancestors. They warned him of approaching war and
danger.
In the second part of the poem Coleridge describes the pleasure dome of Kubla Khan. Its shadow
floated midway on the waves. There was mixed music of the fountains as well as of the caves. It
was bright with sunlight and also had caves of ice. Then the poet tells the reader about his vision.
In his vision he saw an Abyssinian maid playing upon her dulcimer. The poet desires to revive
their symphony and song. Her music world inspires with divine frenzy. With the divine frenzy he
would recreate all the charm of Kubla Khan’s pleasure dome. The poet would be divinely
inspired so people would draw a circle around him, and close their eyes with divine fear. The
poet must have fed on honeydew and drunk the milk of paradise.
The supreme strength of Coleridge as a poet lay in his marvelous dream faculty; one might say
that the dream faculty lay at the root of his greatness as a poet and his weakness as a man." It is
this dream element which makes Kubla Khan a thing of wonder in English poetry. Actually the
poem had its origin in a dream. One morning Coleridge fell asleep in his chair after taking a dose
of opium when he was reading about Kubla Khan in Purchas' Pilgrimage. In his dream he
composed, as he himself believes, about two to three hundred lines. On awakening, he appeared
to have a distinct recollection of the whole and instantly and eagerly started writing down the
lines. When he had written fifty lines he was unfortunately interrupted by a man who had come
to him on some business, and detained by him above an hour. On his return to his room, he found
that the rest of the dream had passed away from his memory and therefore he could never finish
the poem. So the poem is only a dream fragment. In itself the poem possesses the qualities of a
dream. It has no logical consistency of ideas. It is a procession of images expressed in language
of haunting melody. It contains no story, no thought, no moral, no allegory or symbolism. It is
appreciated for its shadowy vision and haunting music.
Kubla Khan is a poem of pure romance. All the romantic associations are concentrated in this
short poem. It contains many sensuous phrases and pictures like bright gardens, incense bearing
trees laden with blossoms, sunny spots of greenery etc. Then again the description of the
Abyssinian maid is very romantic in character:
"A damsel with dulcimer In a vision once I saw: It was an Abyssinian maid, And on her dulcimec
she played, Singing of Mount Agora."
Supernaturalism is also a romantic quality. Kubla Khan is a supernatural poem, based on a
dream. There are images and expressions in it which are supernatural in character and create an
atmosphere of mystery and awe: for example 'caverns measure-less to man', 'a sunless sea', 'that
deep romantic chasm' etc. Kubla Khan is a triumph of supernaturalism. It transports us out of the
world of everyday life into a world of wonder and romance.
A Summary and Analysis of Percy Shelley’s ‘Ode to the West Wind’
‘Ode to the West Wind’ is one of the best-known and best-loved poems by Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1792-1822). It is a quintessential Romantic poem. But what does it mean? Its closing words are
well-known and often quoted, but how does the rest of the poem build towards them? The best
way to go about offering an analysis of ‘Ode to the West Wind’ is to go through the poem and
provide a part-by-part summary, pointing out some of the most important features of Shelley’s
poem. So, here goes…
I
O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn’s being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,
Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes:
Shelley begins ‘Ode to the West Wind’ by addressing this wind which blows away the falling
autumn leaves as they drop from the trees. The leaves are various colours, including yellow,
black, and red. It’s as if the leaves have been infected with a pestilence or plague, that makes
them drop en masse.
O thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed
The winged seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave, until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow
Her clarion o’er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:
Shelley continues by describing how the west wind transports (like a charioteer driving
somebody) the seeds from the flowers, taking them to their ‘wintry bed’.
Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and preserver; hear, oh hear!
Shelley concludes this opening section by calling the west wind a ‘Wild Spirit’ (recalling,
perhaps, that the word spirit is derived from the Latin meaning ‘breath’, suggesting the wind)
and branding it both a ‘destroyer’ and a ‘preserver’: a destroyer because it helps to bring the
leaves down from the trees, but a preserver because it helps to disseminate the seeds from the
plants and trees, ensuring they are find their way to the ground so they will grow in the spring.
II
Thou on whose stream, mid the steep sky’s commotion,
Loose clouds like earth’s decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,
Angels of rain and lightning:
Shelley continues to address the west wind in this second section, saying that the wind bears the
clouds along, much as it moves the ‘decaying leaves’ from the trees; as if to spell out this link,
Shelley speaks of the ‘tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean’, suggesting that the skies and the
seas have ‘boughs’ like a tree. It’s as if all of nature is borne along by the west wind.there are
spread
On the blue surface of thine aëry surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head
Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith’s height,
The locks of the approaching storm.
Now Shelley talks about the clouds borne by the west wind as being like locks of har on the head
of ‘some fierce Maenad’: the Maenads were a group of women who followed the god Dionysus
in classical myth. They are sometimes known as the Bacchae (as in a famous play by
Euripides), after Bacchus, the Latin name for the Greek Dionysus. The Maenads’ name literally
translates as ‘raving ones’ because they would drink and dance in a frenzy. The simile draws
attention to the raging, wild nature of the west wind, which heralds the approach of the wild
storm.
Thou dirge
Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre,
Vaulted with all thy congregated might
Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: oh hear!
Shelley concludes this second section by likening the sound of the west wind to a funeral song or
‘dirge’, mourning the death of the year (as it’s autumn and the leaves are falling). The night sky
will be like the dome of a large burial ground or sepulchre, with all of the vapours from the
clouds forming the vaulting (ceiling). Shelley considers the powerful rain, hail, and fire
(lightning) that will ‘burst’ from these vapours when the storm erupts.
III
Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lull’d by the coil of his crystalline streams,
Beside a pumice isle in Baiae’s bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave’s intenser day,
All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them!
Shelley says that the west wind wakened the Mediterranean sea from its summery slumbers. A
dreamy evocation of the Mediterranean, including an isle of pumice rock in ‘Baiae’s bay’ (Baiae
was an ancient Roman town on the northwest shore of the Gulf of Naples), and ‘old palaces and
towers’ overgrown with blue moss and sweet flowers.
Thou
For whose path the Atlantic’s level powers
Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know
Thy voice, and suddenly grow gray with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: oh hear!
Once again, Shelley brings the attention back to the sound of the west wind as it heralds the
coming of the storm. The power of the west wind is also suggested through the idea that the
Atlantic ocean, possessed of ‘level powers’, creates ‘chasms’ and gaps for the wind to echo
within.
IV
If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share
The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O uncontrollable!
Shelley begins the fourth section of his ode to the west wind by thinking about how wonderful it
would be to be free among nature, and to be borne along by the sheer power and motion of the
west wind, much like one of those leaves, or clouds, or ocean waves. Shelley would be
completely free; the only thing that would be freer is the ‘uncontrollable’ west wind itself.
If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be
The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seem’d a vision;
As is common in Romanticism, Shelley thinks back to his childhood, when the world seemed
full of freedom and boundless possibility, and it almost seemed possible that Shelley could
outrun the wild west wind itself.
I would ne’er have striven
As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh, lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!
A heavy weight of hours has chain’d and bow’d
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.
This is where things get a little harder to pick apart and analyse. What does Shelley mean by ‘I
would ne’er have striven / As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need’? Shelley is saying that if
he could recapture that boyhood freedom, he would never have to pray to the west wind in times
of need. He would be free already. As things stand, he can only pray to the west wind to lift him
as it does a wave, a leaf, and a cloud. As things stand, he is not flying up: he is falling, and
falling ‘upon the thorns of life’. In other words, he is suffering, in pain, tormented. Shelley is, of
course, using the idea of falling on the thorns of life as a metaphor for his emotional and
psychological torment.
V
Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies
Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!
Shelley entreats the west wind to play him, as a man would play a lyre (a string instrument not
dissimilar to a harp, and the origin, incidentally, of the word lyric to describe lyric poetry and
song lyrics: there’s something slightly ‘meta’ about a nature poet asking nature to play him like
an instrument). Shelley points out that the forest is already being played like a lyre, since the
west wind makes a pleasing musical sound as it moves through the trees. Shelley likens himself
to the forest in that his ‘leaves are falling’: he is withering away, but also growing older (mind
you, he was only in his mid-twenties when he wrote ‘Ode to the West Wind’!).
We then get a delicious oxymoron, when Shelley refers to the ‘tumult of [the wind’s]
harmonies’. ‘Harmonious tumult’ is somewhat paradoxical, but not for Shelley, who welcomes
the way the wind wildly shakes everything up. There’s a political subtext here: Shelley was
calling for revolution in 1819, as his poem ‘England in 1819’ suggested. Both Shelley and the
forest will sing sweetly, though ‘in sadness’ (the forest because it’s losing its leaves, and Shelley
because he is losing hope). Shelley calls upon the west wind to be his ‘Spirit’, to make them both
as one: wild, impetuous, undaunted.
Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like wither’d leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,
Scatter, as from an unextinguish’d hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken’d earth
The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?
Shelley concludes ‘Ode to the West Wind’ by entreating the wind to scatter the poet’s ‘dead
thoughts’ (ideas he’s abandoned) across the universe. Much as scattering of the withered dead
leaves allows the seeds of next year’s trees to take root and grow, so Shelley believes it is only
by having his old ideas blown away that he can dream of new ones, and with it, a new world, ‘a
new birth’. Shelley sees his poem as a religious incantation or chant, which will magically make
the wind scatter his thoughts like leaves – or, indeed, like ashes and sparks in a fireplace. The
ashes may be dead and burnt, but by moving they often burst into new life, and new sparks
emerge from the ashes. (One wonders whether Gerard Manley Hopkins was recalling ‘Ode to the
West Wind’ when he wrote the closing lines of his poem ‘The Windhover’.)
In the closing lines of the poem, Shelley tells the wind to be like a trumpet announcing a
prophecy, blowing through the poet’s lips to make a sound and alert the sleeping world to
Shelley’s message of reform. In the famous closing words of the poem, ‘If Winter comes, can
Spring be far behind?’, Shelley returns to the earlier imagery of the poem involving the west
wind scattering the dead leaves to pave the way for the new trees next spring; the poem ends on a
resounding note of hope for what the future could bring – for Shelley, nature, and for the
political world.
‘Ode to the West Wind’ was written in 1819 during a turbulent time in English history: the
Peterloo Massacre on 16 August 1819, which Shelley also wrote about in his poem ‘The Mask
of Anarchy’, deeply affected the poet. But the poem is personal as well as political: the west
wind is the wind that would carry Shelley back from Florence (where he was living at the time)
to England, where he wanted to help fight for reform and revolution. Personal and political are
thus closely linked in ‘Ode to the West Wind’, which constantly draws attention to
the aural potential of the wind: it cannot be seen (though its effects certainly can), but it can
be heard, much as the poet’s words could be word, announcing and calling for political reform.
Ode on a Grecian Urn by John Keats: Summary and Analysis
Ode on a Grecian Urn is an ode in which the speaker addresses to an engraved urn and expresses
his feelings and ideas about the experience of an imagined world of art, in contrast to the reality
of life, change and suffering. As an ode, it also has the unique features that Keats himself
established in his great odes.
The features of Keatsian Romanticism and Keats’ philosophy of art, beauty and truth are also
important in this poem. Though it is a romantic poem, we find the unusual classical interests of
Keats in the style and form of this poem. This is a romantic poem mainly because of its dominant
imaginative quality.
Like Wordsworth’s nature, Keats' imagination is a means to understand life, a means of the quest
for truth and beauty, and the most reliable mode of experience and insight. The speaker in the
poem begins with reality- an ancient marble urn with engravings around it. He addresses to the
urn as a virgin bride of quietness. Time is slow for it. It is unchanging, perfect and silent. The
carving around the urn is expressing the story of the pilgrims, lovers and other mysterious people
recorded in times of gods and men on its outside. In the poet's imagination, this world and people
are made immortal and beautiful by art.
The Ode on a Grecian Urn expresses Keats's desire to belong to the realm of the eternal, the
permanent, perfect and the pleasurable, by establishing the means to approach that world of his
wish with the help of imagination. This ode is based on the tension between the 'ideal' and the
'real'. Keats here idealizes a work of art as symbolizing the world of art which represents the
ideal world of his wish at an even deeper level. Then he experiences that world thus created
through imagination. In this poem, the two domains of the transient real and the permanent ideal
are the two facets of a deeper reality, the reality of imaginative experience. The perfect,
permanent and pleasurable world of the Urn, or that of the ideal, stands against the destructive
corrupting and painful effects of time. Keats’ fascination with the immortality of art is duly
counterbalanced with his awareness that it is lifeless. He neither supports gross realism against
truly imaginative art, nor does he wander in imagination alone. Life compensates for the
incompleteness of art and art compensates for the transience of life.
This ode which represents Keats mature vision consists of one of his central philosophical
doctrines of art itself: "Truth is Beauty and beauty truth". This famous maxim of Keats has an
intellectual basis of truth and also an emotional basis in beauty. Art may appeal to the
sensuousness or just the emotion of common people, but Keats' response extends from the
sensuous to the spiritual and from the passionate to the intellectual. Keats establishes a balance
between the real and the ideal, and art and life, and he finds the deepest of reality in its balance.
This ode gives a much importance to passion as to the idea of permanence. It is not a lyric of the
escape of a dying young man, unwilling to face bitter life into the realm of everlasting happiness,
but is a poem that embodies his mature understanding.
Keats indicates a contrast between the unchanging 'Urn' and temporal life in the very beginning
of the poem, but shifting to the other side from where he seems to prefer warm life against the
'Cold Pastoral' where he finally resolves the duality in his doctrine of beauty and truth. The Ode
begins with an apostrophe to the urn: "Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness, / Thou foster child
of silence and slow time, / Sylvan historian". Keats addresses the urn as a bride of quietness that
is still unravished by time. That reminds us of life that is ever ravished by time. The urn narrates
its history in a silent but musical form. The silent music which Keats, the addressee, feels he can
hear is sweeter than the music of the human voice for it is permanent. Unlike the temporal
presentation of poetry which is prone to narrate the histories of human being, the urn narrates a
'leaf-fringed legend' as if it were in space rather than in time. The narration of the urn is itself
liberated from time.
The worlds of reality and of imagination (or the real and the ideal) are explicitly contrasted in
this ode. But the permanence of art created out of imagination is a complement to the temporary
aspect of life. The creation of art and its realization in the contemplation of a higher reality is a
complement to the tragic awareness of temporal and painful life. Even the realities are of two
kinds: the reality of life or the objective reality and the reality of art or the world of imagination.
On the one hand, the lover in the world of the urn can never kiss his beloved as one can in real
life. But on the other hand, the lover on the urn has the privilege that the beauty of his beloved
can never fade away – as it happens in real life. This is why the poet is seeking for the reality of
life to be like that of the ideal art. The urn's immunity to the time could not be an absolute ideal
without the consummation of love. But the temporary satisfaction in life only intensifies the
awareness of transience by consummation itself. The act of imaginative experience can bring
together the unheard into a lasting melody. The poet who is emotionally involved with the
picture of passion also has the unifying vision that reconciles the real with the ideal by idealizing
the real.
In short, the permanently ideal world of the urn is presented in the urn that is lifeless thing when
seen from the viewpoint of real life. But the idea that comes under the domain of imaginative
reality is reconciled in the act of imaginative creation of the urn’s legend. Therefore, the real life
is complemented and enriched by this ideal. Thus, the two domains of the real and the ideal
coming into conflict as usual, ultimately reconcile to make a more permanent truth as asserted in
the 'truth and beauty' maxim. To sum up, in this ode, Keats begins by idealizing, personifying,
and immortalizing a real object. This ideal at first clashes with the real but is reconciled by
imagination and insight at the end. The poem begins with an address to the Grecian urn and with
almost envious amazement, but it ends with the realization that beauty or ideal is also a
dimension of the truth of the real; the beauty of imaginative experience is a part of reality or truth
and the knowledge of all truth is beautiful.
In the Ode on a Grecian Urn Keats tries to state that neither the beauty of nature nor the beauty
of art can console us for the miseries of life. The life of the figures on the urn possesses the
beauty; the significance, and the externality of art; and this, in the third stanza explicitly, and
throughout the poem implicitly, is contrasted with the transitory-ness, the meaninglessness, and
the unpoetic nature of actual life.
The Ode is constructed pictorially in spatial blocks, for the eyes to take in serially. Keats had a
genius for drawing vivid and concrete pictures mostly with a sensuous appeal. The whole of this
poem is remarkable for its pictorial effects. The passion of men and gods, and the reluctance of
maidens to be caught or seized is beautifully depicted.
Analysis of Oliver Goldsmith’s The Deserted Village
When Oliver Goldsmith wrote his 431-line poem in rhyming couplets The Deserted
Village (1770), he exhibited the talent for shrewd observation and scene for which he had gained
a reputation. He also imbued this idealization of English rural life with the simplicity and
unforced grace critics later found his most appealing attributes. He mingles his idealized scenes
with memories of his own careless youth in Ireland. While the tone remained light, Goldsmith
had a serious concern, that of the effects of the agricultural revolution, which resulted in the
enclosure of arable land, often to form private parks or gardens. The Enclosure Acts caused
small farmers whose families had earned their living from the land for generations to lose
everything. Goldsmith’s sad vision of that displacement incorporates hyperbole, as he
exaggerates the resultant migration of yeoman farmers to British cities and to America, as well as
the heartless characters of the wealthy. However, his opposition to “luxury” and support of “rural
virtue” remained sincere, and his nostalgic tone results in a strong sense of longing for a lifestyle
already doomed.
Goldsmith begins in a voice of praise, writing, “Sweet Auburn! Loveliest village of the plain,”
then praises in his second and third lines the abundance of village life, not only because it
produces material results, but because it is a place “Where health and plenty cheered the laboring
swain, / Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid.” He adopts the figurative language of
personification to demonstrate that nature proved kind to Auburn, heavily suggesting that
kindness as a result of right living. The speaker notes that summer, slow to part, leaves behind
many flowers that offer “lovely bowers of innocence and ease” and informs readers this was
where he spent his youth. That adds an authority to the description of a place “Where humble
happiness endeared each scene,” Goldsmith’s use of alliteration calling attention to the fact that
the inhabitants were marked by humility. His selection of adjectives, as in “sheltered cot,”
“never-failing brook,” and “decent church,” all suggest the sterling character of those who reside
at Auburn, as well as of nature, which supports it. Readers will later notice a marked contrast
between the “laboring swain” and the aggressive, greedy individuals whom, despite laws
permitting their actions, Goldsmith envisions as no better than poachers raping the land and
destroying its abundance. Many of the early details support this method, suggesting contrast with
the descriptions that will occur later in the poem. He concludes the first part of his poem with
“These were thy charms—But all these charms are fl ed” in order to signal transition.
In line 36, Goldsmith adds details, which abruptly convert the positive tone to negative,
balancing the opening portion. Readers learn that “sports are fled, and all thy charms
withdrawn,” that “the tyrant’s hand” has invaded the bower and “desolation saddens” the green
of the village. A new “master grasps the whole domain” (39), while a half-tilled field “stints” the
plain. The adjectives turn dark, that rhetorical change echoing the change to Auburn. The brook
is “choked”; the bittern, a local bird, is “hollowsounding”; and even the ruin done to the land is
“shapeless.” Conditions become so bad that “trembling, shrinking from the spoiler’s hand, / Far,
far away thy children leave the land.” The personal possessive pronoun, thy, connotes days past
and represents a reverent attitude toward that past. The accumulating wealth of the present leads
to human decay. The speaker’s attitude toward the encroachers is one of disdain, then warning,
as he notes:
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made;
But a bold peasantry, their country’s pride,
When once destroyed, can never be supplied. (53–56)
The speaker then calls on history to remember a time when “every rood of ground” could support
a worker, requiring only “light labor” to spread the earth’s bounty. Goldsmith uses repetition to
good effect when he writes of the losses resulting from the arrival of “Unwieldy wealth, and
cumbrous pomp”:
These gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom,
Those calm desires that asked but little room,
Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene. (69–71)
They have all disappeared along with “rural mirth and manners.”
The speaker next mourns the loss of a peaceful retirement, as his late life stage fills him with
concerns. He cannot celebrate the wonderful sounds he used to love, as he recalls at evening’s
close,
The swain responsive as the milkmaid sung,
The sober herd that lowed to meet their young,
The noisy geese that gabbled o’er the pool,
The playful children just let loose from school. (117–120)
Now “No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale” and the earth yields a fraction of the bounty it
once did. The speaker feels an especial loss when he remembers the village preacher who never
sought power, but rather spent his time with vagrants and beggars, considering it an honor as he
“relieved their pain.” He extols the virtue of this forgotten individual, remembering the great
service he supplied, filling almost an additional 50 lines. This allows Goldsmith not merely to
praise the preacher with gushing hyperbole, but to make his case that no such individual exists
among the grasping group that displaced the preacher and those to whom he ministered. He does
the same for the “village master,” who “taught his little school,” praising the teacher’s good
humor and love of learning. A strong example of Goldsmith’s exaggeration may be found in
lines 213–216:
While words of learned length, and thundering sound,
Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around;
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew,
That one small head could carry all he knew.
The speaker next recalls “transitory splendors,” including physical details about not only the
village’s inhabitants but also their homes, with “whitewashed wall” and “nicely sanded floor,” as
well as furnishings and a hearth decorated with “aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel gay”
when not being used to protect against the chill. The nostalgic tone proves touching as well as
moving, causing the reader to remember his own home. Goldsmith again attacks the intruders,
then calls on “Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen,” who witness the change to judge which is
superior, the “splendid” and “happy land” or an area to which “rich men flock from all the world
around,” purporting to have a wealth that
Takes up a space that many poor supplied;
Space for his lake, his park’s extended bounds,
Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds;
The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth
Has robbed the neighboring fields of half their growth. (276–280)
Not only have the intruders ruined the property, they have driven the rightful inhabitants away,
moving the speaker to ask, “Where then, ah where, shall Poverty reside, / To ‘scape the pressure
of contiguous Pride?” He answers his own grim question with an equally grim reply. Some move
to the city, where they find only work at a trade that cannot support them, and they suffer
mightily. Others leave the country, traveling to a place inhabited only by terrors, including
“blazing suns that dart a downward ray,” “Matted woods where birds forget to sing / But silent
bats in drowsy clusters cling;” and “the dark scorpion gathers death around.” He notes the
destruction to local lands but does not ask readers to interfere. Rather, he bids the scene farewell,
asking that it continue to remind humans of its existence:
Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
Redress the rigors of the inclement clime;
And slighted truth, with thy persuasive strain
Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain. (421–424)
Goldsmith’s hope made clear in his last few lines is that nature itself can teach man the folly of
his ways. His speaker hopes man will eventually learn that “states of native strength,” although
“very poor, may still be very blest” and remain far preferable to the devastation caused by the
base desires of an arrogant few. Goldsmith’s close friend and confidant Samuel Johnson
composed the final four lines:
That Trade’s proud empire hastes to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the labored mole away;
While self-dependent power can time defy
As rocks resist the billows and the sky.
While Goldsmith’s “Auburn” was based on his childhood home of Athlone, Ireland, Auburn was
another name for Lissoy Parsonage, where he lived. The Deserted Village inspired the
name Auburn for towns the world over.
UNIT-2
All for Love Study Guide
Dryden himself acknowledged that his 1667 play All for Love is an imitation of William
Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra, which was written in the early 1600s). It is a heroic drama
that follows many of the same story beats of Shakespeare's Anthony and Cleopatra, but Dryden
confines the action of the story to Alexandria and details the last hours of Anthony and
Cleopatra's doomed relationship. It examines not only the end of their relationship, but the end of
the Egyptian empire.
The original production premiered in 1677 and was performed by the King's Company, then
revived in 1704 at Lincoln's Inn Fields. For a time, Dryden's version of the story became the
preferred one, and Shakespeare's version was not performed again after its premiere until 1813 in
London.
All for Love has become Dryden's best-known and most widely-read play. It is rarely performed
by contemporary theater companies.
All for Love Summary
The play begins with Serapion, a priest of Isis, discussing the fact that there have been many
dark omens manifesting in the natural world recently. Alexas, Cleopatra's eunuch, suggests that
this is nonsense, and warns that Cleopatra's relationship with Antony, the Roman general, is on
the rocks.
When Ventidius, one of Antony's former generals, comes to fetch him, Serapion throws a feast in
honor of Antony's birthday. Ventidius wants to lure Antony back to Rome and tells the mournful
Antony that there is a legion waiting to fight with him in Syria, but only if he is willing to leave
Cleopatra behind and move on. Antony is not taking any visitors, as he is trying to will himself
to stop loving Cleopatra, but Ventidius does not take no for an answer and eventually convinces
Antony to leave Cleopatra and join the Romans.
Cleopatra is inconsolable when she learns that Antony is leaving her. She sends Alexas to bring
Antony a bracelet on her behalf. When he delivers the bracelet, Antony has trouble fastening it,
and Alexas tells him that Cleopatra ought to do it. Antony goes to Cleopatra and when he sees
her in person, is dissuaded from leaving Egypt. She tells him that she refused an offer from
Octavius, which proves her love for him.
Ventidius tries yet again to get Antony to leave Egypt. He brings both Antony's old
friend, Dolabella, as well as Antony's wife, Octavia, and daughters, to convince him to come
back to Rome. Antony previously banished Dolabella for seeming to fall in love with Cleopatra,
but Antony has forgiven him upon his return. Octavia manages to convince Antony to return to
Rome, and Octavia and Cleopatra have a confrontation.
Antony plans to leave Egypt and sends Dolabella to deliver the news to Cleopatra, as he believes
that Dolabella will be best suited to communicate his regret at having to leave. When Dolabella
goes to Cleopatra, Cleopatra and Alexas make a plan to make Antony jealous: Cleopatra will
attempt to seduce Dolabella, which will lure Antony back to her.
When Cleopatra attempts to seduce Dolabella, she has second thoughts and does not pursue
anything. However, Ventidius and Octavia see the interaction and tell Antony that Dolabella is
having an affair with the Egyptian queen. Antony is heartbroken, but still wants to believe the
best of Cleopatra, which offends Octavia, who denounces him once and for all, and leaves him.
Dolabella and Cleopatra try and tell Antony that there was no affair, but he does not believe
them.
In the final act, Antony leads his troops in battle against Caesar, but instead of fight the Romans,
they greet them as friends and turn against Egypt. Hearing of Egypt's doom, Cleopatra attempts
to flee, leaving Alexas behind. In order to save his own life, Alexas tells Antony that Cleopatra
killed herself. Antony is heartbroken, and he and Ventidius kill themselves. Just as Antony is
dying, Cleopatra rushes on, having heard of Alexas' lie. After Antony dies in her arms, Cleopatra
asks Charmion and Iras, her attendants, to bring her aspics (small snakes), so that she can get
bitten by them and die. She and her two attendants die from snake bites.
All for Love Character List
Antony
A previously-successful Roman general, Antony has essentially gone into retirement following
his humiliating defeat at Actium. As the play begins, his relationship with the beautiful Egyptian
queen Cleopatra is unraveling. He is passionately attached to Cleopatra, unable to extricate
himself from their intense relationship. Throughout the play he is described as possessing large
and unsubtle feelings, which both make him a brave and great man, but can also undermine him.
Towards the end of the play, he attributes any political and military success he has had to his
love for Cleopatra.
Cleopatra
Cleopatra is the infamous queen of Egypt who has already enjoyed a romantic relationship with
Caesar before taking up with Antony. She is described as sexually irresistible, and expresses her
love for Antony as passionately as he expresses his for her. While she wants to act in ethical and
pure ways that reflect her commitment to Antony, she is easily swayed by the strategizing of her
eunuch, and is not above manipulation.
Cleopatra is ultimately just as committed to Antony as she is to her, and when given the
opportunity to live in Caesar's court, opts to kill herself instead.
Octavia
Octavia is Caesar's sister and wife to Antony. She travels to Egypt in order to convince Antony
to return to his country and his family. She is presented as pure and noble-hearted, committed to
doing what is right for her family and country. In this respect, she is the opposite of Cleopatra
and Antony, who respond only to their passions.
Dolabella
Dolabella is one of Antony's dearest old friends. They had a very intimate friendship until
Antony suspected Dolabella of being attracted to Cleopatra, his beloved. Dolabella comes to
Rome in order to convince Antony to leave Egypt and returns to Rome.
Ventidius
Antony's old general, Ventidius is an older man who has Antony's best interest in mind. He
consistently tries to convince Antony to leave Cleopatra behind and return to his life in Rome in
order to uphold his political power. In spite of his desire to help, he misinterprets certain events
and does not do a good enough job of preventing Antony from falling back into his codependent
relationship with Cleopatra. At the end of the play, he chooses to kill himself instead of killing
Antony.
Serapion
A priest of Isis who portends bad fortune for Rome.
Alexas
Alexas is Cleopatra's eunuch, and the closest thing the play has to an antagonist. Throughout the
play, he conspires to keep Cleopatra and Antony together while also protecting himself, which
leads to chaos and tragedy. He is also a tragic figure, who is depicted as lying only to maintain
his precarious position in society. He is ultimately captured by the Roman troops.
All for Love Themes
Passion
Perhaps the most important theme in the play, and what keeps Cleopatra and Antony in a
magnetic pull towards one another the entire time, is passion. Both of the lovers feel
passionately—in both a sexual and romantic sense—towards one another. The passion they feel
for one another exceeds all reason, and it is what keeps Cleopatra and Antony continually
making poor decisions on behalf of their respective countries.
Passion, throughout the play, wins out against reason time and time again. Whenever Antony is
on the brink of leaving Egypt once and for all, he is once again called back by his passion for
Cleopatra. Likewise, at the end, after Antony has died, Cleopatra determines that she would
rather die than live under Caesar. She chooses death over life because of her passionate love of
Antony.
The Political Ramifications of Love
From the start, characters gossip about the political implications that Antony and Cleopatra's
affair have had on the world. In this we see that their personal affairs are inextricable from the
political realms in which they rule. Antony's love for Cleopatra has led him to abandon not only
his family, but his country, and has wreaked havoc on his political reputation.
Later in the play, Antony suggests that any success he has had is due to his love for Cleopatra.
When he believes that Cleopatra is dead, he tells Ventidius, "I was but great for her; my power,
my empire,/Were but my merchandise to buy her love;/And conquered kings, my factors." This
suggests that any political success Antony had was due to his desire for Cleopatra, further
conflating the personal with the political.
Manipulation and Persuasion
Many of the characters seek to manipulate or persuade one another in different ways. Ventidius
tries to persuade Antony to leave Egypt several times in the play. Dolabella and Octavia also
undertake to convince him to leave Cleopatra behind. Meanwhile, Cleopatra and her attendants,
particularly Alexas, seek to strategize about how to keep Antony there. Time and time again,
Alexas comes up with plots to keep Cleopatra and Antony together, manipulating information in
order to ensure the union. Indeed, Ventidius does this also, persuading Antony that Dolabella and
Cleopatra are having an affair when they are not.
Power
The play concerns two influential leaders, Antony, a Roman leader, and Cleopatra, the queen of
Egypt. Both of these rulers wield a tremendous amount of power, but when the play opens, their
power is faltering as a result of their affair. Cleopatra's attendants want her to continue her affair
with Antony in order to sustain her power over Rome, while Antony's advisors want him to
disengage from Cleopatra as he is neglecting his loyalty to the Roman republic. Thus, the force
that is in direct conflict with love is power and its preservation.
Jealousy
In a last-ditch effort to win Antony back, Cleopatra takes Alexas' advice and makes an attempt to
make him jealous. She judges that jealous love is not as pure as real love, but goes along with the
plan to a point. Indeed, jealousy is a major currency and theme in the play, especially in terms of
how it pertains to love. Antony is jealous of Cleopatra and Dolabella's connection, even though
Dolabella is a trusted and beloved friend. Additionally, Octavia is jealous of the love that Antony
gives so freely to Cleopatra, but refuses to give to her.
Death
By the end of the play, both Cleopatra and Antony choose death over a life apart. Antony
commits suicide under the false belief that Cleopatra is dead. Then, seeing that Antony has killed
himself, Cleopatra chooses to kill herself rather than face Caesar and his potential mercy. Both of
the characters see a world in which the other is dead as an unlivable world, and so choose death.
This is at once tragic and romantic, the ultimate sacrifice for one's beloved.
Duty
One of the main ways that Antony's advisors try to convince him to leave Egypt is by invoking
the importance of duty. They often tell him that he needs to give up his individual romantic
freedom in order to do what is best for Rome, but he is unable to pull himself away. Octavia, his
wife, visits him and pleads with him that it is his duty to return to his family. She does not claim
to be able to ignite the same passion that Cleopatra does, instead suggesting that it is her duty as
a wife to remain loyal to him. Throughout the play, the Roman characters invoke the importance
of duty, even when Antony is unable to access his own sense of obligation.
The Rivals Study Guide
The Rivals by Richard Brinsley Sheridan is a comedy of manners in five acts that premiered at
Covent Garden Theatre in 1775. It is considered one of Sheridan's best-known works and in
addition to receiving many revivals, it has served as an inspiration for musicals and
contemporary television shows, such as Maverick, a show which appeared on television between
1957 and 1962.
The Rivals was Sheridan's first play. During the time that Sheridan was writing, he and his wife,
Elizabeth Linley, were living beyond their means, as "Eliza" had given up her career as a singer,
as was customary for a young wife to do. Sheridan's completion of The Rivals was in part a
project he undertook to earn some money for his household.
The play premiered in 1775, with Mary Bulkley, a comedian, in the role of Julia Melville. It was
met with scorn from the public and from critics on its opening night. Audiences even threw
apples at the actor playing Sir Lucius O'Trigger, who was perceived as being a rude
representation of Ireland. Sheridan listened to his public and not only rewrote the part, but recast
it. Afterward, it was met with critical acclaim, not only in England, but also in the colonies. The
play was allegedly George Washington's favorite play.
The Rivals Summary
The play begins with a preface written by the author, Sheridan, in which he outlines what the
audience is about to see. Sheridan writes in the preface that the success of the play was
unexpected for him, as was the way in which the play was initially received. After a disastrous
first night, he was forced to rewrite certain parts. Sheridan claims that the reason the play was
unsuccessful was that it was the first play he had ever written and because he did not research the
writing style enough.
Sheridan then talks about various critics who, in his opinion, misjudged his play and only wanted
to make him feel bad and did not want to see him improve as a writer. Sheridan also expresses
his opinion that critics should not write harsh criticism about anyone who they do not know
personally.
Next, Sheridan presents the prologue of the play, a prologue which was presented only on the
first night. The prologue presents a scene in which an attorney is trying to give money to a court
official to present a brief speech on behalf of a poet.
A second prologue is then presented during which an actress comes on stage playing the role of
the Muse and claiming that the purpose of the play is to transmit a moral lesson.
The play then begins with two servants meeting accidentally on the streets in the city of Bath.
The servants, Fag and Thomas, talk about their masters and Thomas tells Fag that his master, Sir
Anthony, has decided to move his entire family to the city. It is then revealed that Fag works for
Sir Anthony’s son, Captain Absolute, who decided to change his name to Ensign Beverley,
hoping to win the affection of a woman named Lydia Languish who prefers poor people. The
two servants part when Fag sees his master in the distance.
The next scene takes place in Lydia’s home where one of her servants, Lucy, returns from
running an errand. Lucy was sent to bring her mistress some books, and then she lists all the
books she was able to find for Lydia. Julia, Lydia’s cousin, enters and tells Lydia about Sir
Anthony and his arrival in town. The two then discuss their love interests and each criticizes the
other, even though they both have secret relationships.
Lydia then tells her cousin about how she had never had a fight with her lover, Beverley, so she
faked a letter just to have a reason to fight with him. Unfortunately, the plan back-fired and
Lydia didn’t get a chance to mend things with him. Julia tries to assure Lydia that if Beverley
really loves her, he will not give up that easily. Lydia also tells Julia that she does not care if
Beverley is rich or not and that she will willingly give up her money just to be with him.
Next, Julia talks about her fiancé, a man named Faulkland, who is always questioning Julia about
her love for him. The two fight frequently, but Julia still claims that she loves him.
When Sir Anthony arrives, Julia leaves in a hurry before he enters the room. Sir Anthony comes
with a woman named Mrs. Malaprop, Lydia’s guardian, and they begin talking with her about
Beverley and how their relationship is a mistake. When Lydia disagrees, she is sent from the
room. Sir Anthony expresses his concern regarding the quality of Lydia’s education, claiming
that the education she receives makes her act too independently. Sir Anthony then proposes to
marry Lydia to his son and tells Mrs. Malaprop to do everything she can to convince Lydia to
accept the match.
After Sir Anthony leaves, Mrs. Malaprop writes her own letter to her admirer, a man named Sir
Lucius, and has Lucy deliver the letter. After Lucy takes her leave, Mrs. Malaprop begins talking
to herself and revealing how she orchestrated the release of certain bit of information behind her
master’s back and how she did everything she could to turn the things in her favor.
In the second Act, Fag talks with his master and tells him that his father is in town. Fag claims
that he lied to Sir Anthony about Absolute’s visit and the two agree to tell Sir Anthony that the
reason Absolute is in town is that he is recruiting soldiers.
Faulkland then enters and they soon begin to talk about Lydia. Faulkland advises Absolute to try
and convince his father and Mrs. Malaprop to accept the match, but Absolute refuses, saying that
if Lydia were to find out that he has money, she will reject him. They talk next about Julia and
how Faulkland feels as if he will never be able to love another woman except Julia. Absolute
then reveals to Faulkland that Julia is in town but advises Faulkland to be patient and to wait
until he goes to see her. Acres, a man who was close to Julia, comes in and tells Faulkland that
Julia was well during his absence. Instead of feeling happy, Faulkland feels betrayed, not
knowing how Julia can be happy when he is miserable. After hearing this, Faulkland leaves the
room, angry.
Alone, Acres and Absolute talk about Lydia and Acres expresses his love for Lydia and his
hatred for Beverley, not knowing that Absolute is Beverley.
After Acres leaves, Sir Anthony enters, telling his son that he plans to marry him to a woman,
but does not tell him who the woman is. Absolute tries to tell his father that he already loves
someone, but Sir Anthony refuses to listen to what his son has to say and leaves, angered by his
son’s disobedience.
In the second scene of the second act, Lucy delivers a letter from Malaprop to Sir Lucius who is
unaware of the fact that Delia, the woman he thinks he is talking with, is an old woman and not a
17-year-old girl. After Sir Lucius leaves, Fag appears on the scene and calls out Lucy for her act.
Then, Lucy tells Fag about Absolute and how he will compete for Lydia’s love as well. Fag
leaves laughing, not telling Lucy that Absolute and Beverley are the same man.
Act 3 returns to Absolute who has found out from Fag that Sir Anthony plans to marry him to
Lydia, the woman he loves. Soon after finding out about the woman’s identity, Absolute meets
with his father and tells him that he has agreed to marry whoever his father has selected for him.
Sir Anthony is surprised to see his son changed so much and promises he will arrange for him to
meet his future wife.
Faulkland meets with Julia. Having heard about her happiness in his absence, he expresses his
disapproval. Julia tries to reassure him that she loves him, but he does not accept it and she ends
up leaving the room, crying.
In the next scene, Absolute goes to visit Mrs. Malaprop about Lydia and they begin talking about
Lydia and her passion for Beverley. Mrs. Malaprop tells Absolute that she was unable to
convince Lydia to give up her passion for Beverley but that she hopes the two will get along fine.
Mrs. Malaprop then gives Absolute a letter written by Beverley and he pretends to laugh at it and
at how Beverley planned to win Lydia by using Mrs. Malaprop.
Absolute tricks Malaprop and proposes to scheme together. Absolute tells Malaprop that she
should let Lydia and Beverley continue to correspond, and that he will come when the two try to
elope. Malaprop then calls Lydia down and Absolute convinces her that he somehow managed to
fool her aunt into believing that he is Absolute. He then proposes that they run away together,
but Lydia is reluctant to accept. The two are interrupted when Mrs. Malaprop enters the room
and begins to criticize Lydia for rejecting Absolute.
Acres talks with his servant about dancing, when suddenly Sir Lucius appears. They begin
talking about Lydia, the woman they both love, and how she loves another man, named
Beverley. Sir Lucius doesn't realize that they are both pining for the same woman, and tells
Acres that he should provoke Beverley into a duel since his reputation and honor have been
tainted. Lucius leaves after he helps Acres write a letter challenging Beverley to a duel.
Acres becomes worried that he will die, even though everyone assures him he will survive. Acres
sends for Absolute and asks him to deliver the letter to Beverley and to make sure that Beverley
understands just how dangerous an opponent he is. Through this, Acres hoped to make Beverley
deny the duel and thus save his honor.
Meanwhile, Mrs. Malaprop tries to convince Lydia to accept Absolute and forget about
Beverley. Absolute comes to see Lydia with his father, but Lydia refuses to look at him.
Absolute tries to convince his father to leave him alone with Lydia, but he refuses. Left with no
other choice, Absolute talks with Lydia and she recognizes him as Beverley. Not knowing what
else to do, Absolute reveals the truth to everyone in the room, telling Lydia that the only reason
why he lied to her is to test whether she would still love him even if he was a poor man.
While Sir Anthony is pleased with how things have turned out, Mrs. Malaprop realizes that
Absolute made fun of her through his letters. When Lydia and Absolute are alone, Lydia tells
Absolute she no longer loves him because he deceived her and treated her like a child. Absolute
tries to convince Lydia to marry him, but says he will not force her should she want to find
someone else. The scene ends with Lydia storming out of the room. Sir Anthony tells Mrs.
Malaprop she needs to convince Lydia to accept the match.
Absolute leaves Lydia’s home and runs into Lucius, who wants to fight with him. Absolute does
not understand why, but agrees to meet with him that night at six o'clock—the same time and
place given by Acres for his duel with Beverley. Faulkland also appears, and Absolute asks him
to be his second in the duels. Faulkland refuses at first, saying that he needs to mend things with
Julia. A letter she sent him made him change his mind and also to come up with a plan to test her
love.
Faulkland sends a letter to Julia, telling her he must flee the country because he did something
terrible and that he wishes she could come with him. However, the only way for her to go with
him is if she were to be married to him. When the two meet, Julia tells Faulkland that she will
marry him, and will follow him anywhere, no matter the circumstances.
Being sure that Julia loves him, Faulkland tells her the truth and promises to marry her the next
day. Julia, however, is enraged that Faulkland does not trust her and is playing tricks on her, so
breaks up with him.
Lydia then enters and tells Julia about everything that happened. Julia confesses to knowing
about Beverley’s identity and while Lydia remains mad, Julia urges her to accept Absolute as her
husband and marry him. The two ladies are interrupted by David who comes to tell them about
the duel, so both women and Mrs. Malaprop rush to stop the men from injuring or possibly
killing one another.
In the park where the men were supposed to meet, Absolute's father passes through by chance.
Absolute manages to convince his father that he plans to go to Lydia, so his father leaves him
alone.
Meanwhile, Lucius coaches Acres about the art of dueling. As Lucius presents some of the
possibilities of the duel, Acres gets even more scared as he realizes that he might die. When
Absolute and Faulkland appear, Absolute reveals his identity, but Acres refuses to fight against
his best friend. Lucius, on the other hand, is more than happy to fight against Absolute, and they
prepare to duel.
Before the fight can start, Sir Anthony and the women appear and the duel stops. Sir Anthony
demands to know why Lucius wants to fight his son and he tells Sir Anthony that Absolute
insulted his honor. Lucius then takes out the letters written to him by Delia. Lydia claims that she
was not the author of those letters. Upon seeing the letters, Mrs. Malaprop admits to being the
one who wrote them. Sir Anthony proposes that Lucius marry Mrs. Malaprop, but Lucius
refuses.
Faulkland and Julia reconcile at Sir Anthony’s insistence, and the play draws to an end. The last
character to speak is Julia, who expresses her hope for everyone in their group to continue being
in love with their partner even in old age
The Rivals Character List
Captain Jack Absolute
An entitled aristocrat masquerading as a poor but honest ensign for the purpose of wooing the
romantic Lydia Languish. He is dogged in his determination to win Lydia's hand, and he has a
playful approach to their courtship. Eventually, when the truth comes out, Lydia is angry with
Jack, but he continues to fight for her affections nonetheless.
Lydia Languish
Lydia is a 17-year-old noblewoman inclined to fantasy, whose views on love are shaped mainly
by dramatic sentimental novels. As a result, she believes that the pinnacle of romance is wrapped
up in a life of poverty, and wants to forfeit her inheritance to be with a poor man. She falls in
love with such a man when she meets Ensign Beverley, but little does she know that he is
actually the equally noble Jack Absolute.
Sir Anthony Absolute
Jack's conservative, traditionalist father, Sir Anthony, is firm in his belief that he has the right to
choose whom his son will marry. He is strict and authoritarian, and seems to care more about his
influence than about the actual decisions he is making for his son. He has gout.
Mrs. Malaprop
Lydia’s aunt who has a particularly quirky relationship to the English language, often misusing
words. She is very protective of Lydia and, like Anthony, wants Lydia to do exactly as she
desires. She is smitten with Lucius O'Trigger, who has no idea that it is Malaprop that he is
corresponding with. She is perhaps the most comedic character in the play.
Bob Acres
Bob Acres is a country squire who is also in love with Lydia. He is a bumpkin trying to become
a more sophisticated city person, and his primary means of doing so is in affecting a new sense
of fashion. When he learns that his rival, Ensign Beverley, is actually just an alter ego for Jack
Absolute, he no longer wishes to duel, as Jack is his friend.
Sir Lucius O’Trigger
Lucius is an Irishman who believes he is corresponding with Lydia via letter, and is shocked to
find that he is actually in touch with Lydia's aunt, Mrs. Malaprop. Before he learns this, he
challenges Jack Absolute to a duel, and is determined to win out no matter what.
Faulkland
A friend of Jack's who is in love with Julia. While Julia returns his affections, Faulkland is
exceedingly insecure, and believes that she doesn't actually love him. He is constantly worrying
and testing her love, which tries her patience and only drives her away. However, by the end of
the play, they are reunited, and he is more confident in Julia's love for him.
Lucy
The scheming maid of Lydia who creates a great deal of the misunderstandings in the play. For
instance, it is she who brings Lucius' letters to Malaprop instead of to Lydia.
Julia
Julia is a beautiful young woman who is in love with Faulkland, but must contend with his
overwhelming insecurities.
The Rivals Themes
Social customs
As a "comedy of manners," the play examines the ways that people, and especially the upper
classes, interact and conduct themselves in polite society. Much of the comedy in The Rivals
comes from the fact that it is a play about society and social customs, and the ways that the
characters are pushed beyond the limits of propriety into more absurd relations. The younger
characters must bend to the whims of their parents, and seek to rebel against these strictures in
whatever way they can. The servants meddle in their masters' affairs. The play examines the
ways that emotion, desire, and the more unruly aspects of the human condition cannot always fit
into the strictures of polite society.
Honor
The men in the play are all preoccupied with preserving their sense of honor. When they feel as
if someone has insulted their honor or the honor of someone they care about, they defend it
vehemently, a contentious dynamic that often results in the challenge of a duel. Lucius O'Trigger
is the character who preaches the importance of honor most vehemently, as when he encourages
Acres to duel with Beverley, saying, "What the devil signifies right when your honour is
concerned? Do you think Achilles, or my little Alexander the Great, ever inquired where the
right lay? No, by my soul! they drew their broadswords..."
Women's place in society
Another major theme in the play is the role of women in society. The female characters in the
play are not afforded very much control over their own fates. Lydia must forfeit her fortune if
she wants to marry for love, Julia must contend with the jealous and insecure suspicions
of Faulkland, and Mrs. Malaprop—though she is less sympathetic—is regularly disparaged by
the other characters for her age. It would seem that the 18th-century society in which the play is
set is not particularly friendly to women's desires. However, the epilogue presents a different
perspective on the matter, as the figure of the muse tells the audience that, though it seems that
men have all the power, women are in fact the more powerful members of society, because they
hold a romantic sway over men. The desirability of women is their principal power, according to
the play.
Romance
The play is, ultimately, a romance. While little time is spent examining the love between the
various characters, and more often than not they are caught up in quarrels and deceptions, the
two young couples, Jack and Lydia and Julia and Faulkland, are at the thematic center of the
narrative. The character of Lydia is particularly hung up on the concept of romance as it pertains
to fiction. The young noblewoman loves nothing more than to lie around and read romantic
sentimental novels, complete with star-crossed lovers and poverty. Her notion of romance is a
somewhat naive if pure one, as she believes that true love is about finding someone who is
constant even in poverty. In order to prove his steadfast love, Jack Absolute pretends to be poor
in his courtship of her.
Deception
The entire plot of the play is built around the deception of Jack Absolute. In the very first scene,
we learn that he is pretending to be a lowly ensign in order to win the affection of Lydia
Languish, who wants to marry someone poor. While Jack is actually a very wealthy nobleman,
he assumes the identity of a poor man in order to win over his beloved. This deception is a
central aspect of the narrative arc.
Additionally, Lucy the maid and Faulkland, Jack's friend, pursue their own deceptions. Lucy, as
the maid in Mrs. Malaprop's house, is privy to her employers' secrets—both Lydia and
Malaprop's. As such, she controls who receives which information when. She brings Lucius
O'Trigger's letters for Lydia to Mrs. Malaprop, setting off a whole slew of misunderstandings.
She also tells Lydia about Mrs. Malaprop's epistolary affair. Faulkland deceives his lover, Julia,
as a way of testing her love. Worried that she does not love him enough, he tells her that he must
flee the country, and asks her to come with him, even though this is a patent lie. She agrees to
flee the country, but when he informs her that he devised the premise of his exile to test her love,
she becomes angry with him, and calls off their engagement.
Language
A running joke in the play is the fact that Mrs. Malaprop often uses language poorly. She
substitutes words that do not mean what she thinks they mean into her conversation, which
creates a great deal of confusion, and provides comic fodder. Indeed, her misuse of words even
led to the coinage of the term "malapropism," which means the unintentional substitution of the
wrong word. Malaprop's misuse of language is connected to her pretentious attitude, her lack of
self-critique, and her desire to appear learned.
Authoritarianism and Generational Conflict
Making the plot all the more complicated is the tight hold that the members of the older
generation have over the decisions of the younger generation. Mrs. Malaprop has told Lydia that
she is forbidden from marrying someone poor, and if she disobeys this command she will lose
her inheritance. Indeed, it is this ultimatum that leads Lydia to want to rebel and marry someone
poor in the first place. Throughout the play, Malaprop disapproves of how inquisitive and
independent Lydia is, railing against her penchant for reading and her disobedience.
Anthony Absolute, Jack's father, is also an especially authoritarian parental figure. He decides to
pick Jack's bride, and when Jack expresses his resentment of this arrangement, becomes
infuriated. Jack's contentment is less important to Anthony than his obedience, and when Jack
refuses this arrangement, Anthony yells, "Zounds! sirrah! the lady shall be as ugly as I choose:
she shall have a hump on each shoulder; she shall be as crooked as the crescent; her one eye shall
roll like the bull's in Cox's Museum; she shall have a skin like a mummy, and the beard of a
Jew—she shall be all this, sirrah!—yet I will make you ogle her all day, and sit up all night to
write sonnets on her beauty."
UNIT-3
Charles Lamb: Essays Summary and Analysis of "Old China"
Summary
"Old China" opens with a bashful admission that Elia has an affection for old china. When he
enters a new house, he always asks to see its china collection first. And while he is fixated on old
china, he can't quite remember the first time that that he became aware of its existence.
He then goes on to describe the various scenes that one can find emblazoned in blue on a white
background. Elia speaks in mystifying terms of figures floating above the ground in their
depicted scenes, of men with women's faces, and of an illustration of a tea ceremony that
concludes in a woman entering a boat with one foot stepping off a grassy riverbed.
One afternoon while Elia is drinking Hyson tea with his cousin Bridget, he remarks on china
they're drinking from—a set he just bought recently. He reflects on their good fortune in recent
years, and how they can afford such luxuries now. But Elia sees a look of disagreement on
Bridget's face, and she launches into a monologue questioning the extent to which they can
actually appreciate this china now that it's financially easily within reach.
She recalls a time from their past when they were poorer, when Elia held off on buying a new
suit when his old one was looking shabby because he bought a book that Elia and Bridget had to
rebind and repair. Now he never brings her any gifts, much less a dilapidated book. She recalls
when they used to go for picnics and ask people to borrow a table cloth, and when they used to
sit in the rafters when seeing a play, even though Elia would now only attend one sitting in the
pit.
Bridget reminds him of the foods they used to eat that they considered luxuries, such as
strawberries early in the season. Now, she says, anything they could treat themselves to above
their typical means would be a greedy indulgence. She asks whether perhaps they were happier
when they were poorer, if they could better enjoy those ephemeral pleasures, and whether they
are now too easily satisfied by anything they can afford.
Elia responds that perhaps they were happier when they were poorer, but notes that they were
also younger then. The fact that things were harder when they were younger should make them
appreciate their current lot even more. Desiring those old, poorer days to return is a fantasy.
Instead, Elia suggests, they should focus on the fantasy tableau portrayed in the china they're
holding.
Analysis
"Old China" is often considered something of a riddle amongst Lamb's essays, as it drifts into a
memory in a similarly fluid manner that Elia drifts into the tea ceremony scene that he gazes at in
the piece of china earlier in the story. In both the case of the scene in the china and his
conversation with Bridget, drinking tea opens a door to a speculative kind of reflection. A
parallel can be drawn here with the famous madeleine cookie that the protagonist of Marcel
Proust's In Search of Lost Time tastes right before he's catapulted into a vast landscape of
memory.
At the heart of the essay is a meditation on class. The essay begins with Elia speaking of the
"great houses" he enters—meaning homes of the wealthy—and he is clearly infatuated with the
material trappings of the wealthy's lifestyle. Bridget, on the other hand, invites him to remember
a time when they couldn't even afford to buy a table cloth to throw a picnic with. This class
discourse speaks to a tension in British life at the time just before the Victorian period when the
gulf between the rich and poor was about to explode.
Additionally worth noting here is Lamb's use of ekphrasis, a literary device in which writing
describes a piece of art. Here, the description of china both helps draw us into the essay by
sparking our visual imagination and helps characterize Elia himself, as we learn about his
fixation on the masculine/feminine dichotomy and the dandyish pleasure he takes from enjoying
the finer things in life. The description of the scene in the tea cup also primes the reader for
another kind of reflection, one equally rooted in a character's imagination.
Charles Lamb: Essays Summary and Analysis of "Dream–Children; A Reverie"
Summary
Children love to listen to stories of their elders as children, the essay begins, because they get to
imagine those elders that they themselves cannot meet. Elia's children gather around him to hear
stories about their great-grandmother Field, who lived in a mansion that she cared for on behalf
of a rich family who lived in a different mansion. Young Alice scoffs at Elia's recollection of that
rich person removing a detailed wood carving depicting the story of the Children in the Wood to
put up an ugly marble thing instead.
At Field's funeral, Elia recounts, everyone praised her goodness and religious faith: she could
recite Psalms and some of the New Testament from memory. She was a great dancer until she
was stricken by cancer, but even in the grip of that disease, she didn't lose any of her good
spirits. She was convinced that two ghosts of infants lived in her house, but she didn't consider
them harmful, so it didn't bother her much. But the young Elia was terrified of them, and always
needed help getting to sleep, even though he never saw them.
The young Elia used to wander the grounds of that mansion admiring all of the marble busts and
wondering when he may himself turn into one. He spent his days picking the various fruit from
around the grounds of the estate. Elia breaks from his recollection to notice his children John and
Alice splitting a plate of grapes.
Elia continues that Field loved all of her grandchildren, but especially Elia's elder brother John
L., a handsome and great-spirited young man who rode horses from a young age. John used to
carry Elia around on his back when the younger brother became lame-footed. When John fell ill,
Elia felt he wasn't able to care for his brother as well as when John had cared for him, and when
John died, Elia was reserved in emotion but consumed by a great sorrow. At this point in the
telling, Elia's children start to cry, asking not to hear about their uncle, but to hear about their
dead mother instead.
So Elia begins by telling them of the seven years he spent courting their mother Alice, with all of
its difficulties and rejection. But when he goes to look at his daughter Alice, she has disappeared.
A disembodied voice tells Elia that they are not Alice's children, that the real father of Alice's
children is a man named Bartrum, and they are just dreams. With that, Elia wakes up in his arm–
chair, with Bridget by his side, and John L. gone forever.
Analysis
"Dream Children" is a formally unique essay, channeling the logic and flow of a dream in a
series of long sentences of strung together phrases and no paragraph breaks to be found. Lamb
deftly uses these stylistic conceits to pull the reader into a reverie, creating a sense of tumbling
through this dream world with its series of dovetailing tangents. In fact, the essay could prove
confusing and hard to navigate until the reader gets to the end when, with a savvy twist, Lamb
explains the formal oddness of the yarn he has been spinning all along. We're ripped out of this
odd dream state into the most familiar state Lamb can be found in—sitting next to his sister.
To some extent, this piece blurs genre lines between essay and fiction. Commonly, we
understand essays to be works of non-fiction, but in this one Lamb uses his typical interior-
facing autobiographical approach to make room for a fictional narrative inside of a dream. The
fact that his children exist is a fiction, as is the idea that he married Alice, as may be the
existence and deaths of Field and John L. We know that the real life Charles had a brother John
Lamb, but in choosing the rare occasion to write of his real life brother inside of this vivid
dream, Lamb seems to be choosing to write about a fantasized version of his real life.
In his book Metaphors of Self: The Meaning of Autobiography, the literary theorist James Olney
says that the most fruitful approach a writer can take in an autobiography is not to follow a
formal or historical one but to, "see it in relation to the vital impulse to order that has always
caused man to create and that, in the end, determines both the nature and the form of what he
creates." This explanation of autobiography rings true generally of Charles Lamb's work, but
doubly so with "Dream Children." Here, Lamb models his essay on a dream, bringing the fantasy
that fuels his creative energies to the fore, blurring the lines between that fantasy of his past life
and that life to which he dedicates his writing practice.
Charles Lamb: Essays Summary and Analysis of "The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers"
Summary
Elia remarks that he likes to meet young chimney sweepers, boys who have just recently started
out in the profession. He speaks of the drama of one of those young boys disappearing down a
chimney as if lost forever, only to rise out of it like the ghost in a stage direction in
Shakespeare's Macbeth. He then begins talking of a sassafras tea called Saloop served a shop in
London which he himself hasn't tried, but which is treasured as a delicacy by the young
chimneysweeps.
Mr. Read, who owns the Salopian house, boasts that his is the only one in town despite the
countless imitators. Other vendors serve it on the street to the chimney sweeps at dawn, as the
young chimney sweeps take a moment before they embark on their work to enjoy the tea with a
slice of bread. On the subject of the street, Elia says that the only street encounters he enjoys are
with the young chimney sweeps. He recalls a time he fell on his back on ice, leading a grinning
chimney sweep to laugh at him in a way that was so infectious that Elia couldn't keep from
grinning himself.
While Elia is not very interested in a fine set of teeth—indifferent to the nice teeth of a well-off
man or woman—he is captivated by the teeth of a chimney sweep, as they smile through their
soot-covered faces. In this smile, he sees a dying nobility. On the subject of nobility, Elia
recounts a story at Arundel Castle, when a young chimney sweep fell through a chimney he was
cleaning into a decadent bedroom, and couldn't help but take a nap in the luxurious bed. Elia
suggests that the boy was a young nobleman lured back to his original state, transformed for a
moment by the castle's trappings.
James White, Elia's friend, has similar feelings about the boys, and hosts an annual feast for
young chimney sweepers, where the elder ones are excluded. A woman walks around serving the
boys sausages and James pours ales for them, acting as if the drink was fine wine, even
enunciating the name of the brewer. He boisterously entertained the boys. Elia mourns the death
of James White, who took half the fun of the world when he died.
Analysis
Lamb's ode to chimney sweepers most closely resembles his praise of old china, as in both
essays he expands on a pet obsession which few others in the world see the merit in. Lamb
clearly saw himself as something of an advocate for the under-appreciated things in life. To a
large extent, this is a Romantic impulse, as he takes something mundane and works to show its
profundity. Tied up in this are class relationships—a common theme in Lamb's work.
Take the discussion of teeth. He dismisses the fine teeth of rich people out of hand, but declares
that he is fascinated with the teeth of chimney sweeps, which show true nobility. The idea that
nobility is something inherent to one's character and not simply a trapping of class echoes
Lamb's class critique in "Grace Before Meat." There, too, he explored how the poor have more
class and dignity than the rich, who can afford any old pleasure or vanity.
There are some uncomfortable aspects of this essay which speak to the very different time that
was Lamb's era. Modern readers may bristle at Lamb's invocation of "nigritude" and "Africans"
to describe little white British boys covered in soot. The language betrays an uncomfortable
construction of race, which would have been a relatively new concept at the time of Lamb's
writing, developed as a means for the European imperial project to subjugate non-European
peoples. Perhaps it's best to think of "The Praise of Chimney-Sweepers" as a peculiar time-
capsule which shows us early 19th-century Britain, warts and all, with chimneys swept by little
orphan boys and a white monoculture that saw blackness as something that could be playfully
assigned to dirty chimney sweepers.
Charles Lamb: Essays Summary and Analysis of "A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig"
Summary
The narrator opens the essay by asserting that for a long period of early human history, people
did not cook their meat but ate it raw. He claims that this was hinted at in the writings of
Confucius, who mentioned an era known as the "cook's holiday," implying that the Chinese did
not cook animals prior to his writings. According to the narrator, Confucius' essay goes on to
describe how roasting was discovered by Bo-bo, the son of swineherd Ho-ti.
Bo-bo was one day playing with fire, as he was wont to do, and accidentally burned down his
family's cottage along with the nine pigs that were trapped in the blaze. While trying to devise an
explanation for what happened, Bo-bo was tempted by the smell of the burnt pigs and went to
taste them. He found these burnt pigs delicious and could not stop eating them. Ho-ti was not just
upset with Bo-bo for burning down the cottage, but for being enough of a fool to eat the pigs.
Bo-bo eventually convinced his father to try the pig, and the father loved it too, but they agreed
to keep the burnt pigs a secret. Yet, more and more frequently, a cottage fire could be seen at Ho-
ti's property, at all hours of the day and night.
When their secret was found out, Ho-ti and Bo-bo were placed on trial in their town. During this
trial, the jurors asked to try the burnt pig in question, and finding it delicious, they decided to let
the father and son off. The judge was outraged, but a few days later there was one of those
mysterious fires at his house too. Soon enough, these fires were occurring all around town, and
the burnt pig became a cherished food.
Done with this history, the narrator begins singing the praises of roast pig, speaking of the
crackling skin and succulent fat. He draws a humorous link between the swine—so often
considered a gluttonous, base animal—and the type of man who enjoys eating that swine.
The narrator admits to enjoying all of the fine meats available, from strange foul to oysters, and
sharing them with friends. He then recalls how, as a child, having nothing to offer a beggar on
the street, he brought that beggar a plum cake his auntie had baked. He blames the hypocrisy of
his giving spirit on the indiscretion. The essay concludes with an anecdote about how ancient
people used to sacrifice pigs by whipping them, raising a moral conundrum about enjoying the
meat of that animal. But the narrator seems indifferent to the conundrum, and suggests a tasty
sauce made of shallots to eat the pig with.
Analysis
Among the most light-hearted of Lamb's essays is this freewheeling comic dissertation on the
pleasure of eating roasted pig. It features a copious use of the literary device of hyperbole, with
Lamb going to all sorts of eccentric ends to extol the flavor of roasted pork. The logic of
hyperbole is also evident in Lamb's use of a heightened tone to tell the absurd story of how roast
pork was discovered after a house fire in China. Once again, Lamb construes literary devices and
narrative forms in such a way that he manages to sneak some fiction into his essay work. The
fable he constructs speaks to how odd it is that humans eat cooked animals at all.
We can see the tropes of Romanticism on full display in this essay, even though the subject of
that Romantic meditation is a curious one. Lamb uses florid language and a subjective voice to
give a vivid account of his experience with his subject. But whereas, for instance, fellow
Romanticist Henry David Thoreau uses these techniques to describe Walden Pond and meditate
on how his experience there reflects on man's participation in society, Lamb makes a culinary
delight the subject of his Romantic inquiry, indulging his epicurean side and reflecting on the
way good food makes friends out of those who may otherwise be suspicious of one another.
The culinary essay in and of itself is a storied subgenre. The most famous one may be Jonathan
Swift's "A Modest Proposal," which satirically advocates cooking and eating England's children.
A more recent popular example is David Foster Wallace's "Consider the Lobster," which like
Lamb's essay explores the delights of eating lobster but, unlike Lamb's, lingers on the inherent
cruelty of cooking and eating the animal. In the case of Swift's, Wallace's, and Lamb's essays,
there is an essential social component to their discussion of a specific food, and they seek to
extract some wisdom about the human condition from practices of cooking and eating.
Gulliver's Travels Summary
Lemuel Gulliver is a married English surgeon who wants to see the world. He takes a job on a
ship and ends up shipwrecked in the land of Lilliput where he is captured by the
miniscule Lilliputians and brought to the Lilliputian king. The Lilliputians are astonished by
Gulliver’s size but treat him gently, providing him with lots of food and clothes. Gulliver is at
first chained to a big abandoned temple then, after surrendering his weapons and signing articles
of allegiance to Lilliput, he is granted his liberty. He befriends the king and puts out a fire in the
palace by urinating on it. He successfully assists Lilliput by stealing the
neighboring Blefuscans’ war ships and receives a high honor, but the Lilliputian king begins to
cool towards Gulliver when Gulliver refuses to help enslave the Blefuscans. Gulliver makes
friends with the Blefuscans’ when they come to make peace and, soon after, an unnamed man of
the court informs Gulliver that the Lilliputian court plans to accuse him of treason and put out his
eyes. Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu and then returns to England.
Gulliver soon sets out on his next voyage and is stranded in the land of Brobdingnag where the
Brobdingnagians are immense giants and Gulliver feels like a Lilliputian. After being forced to
perform exhausting freak shows by the Brobdingnagian farmer, Gulliver is sold to the
Brobdingnagian queen, the farmer’s daughter and his loving caretaker Glumdalclitch in tow. In
the court, Gulliver is well cared for but everyone laughs frequently at his physical mishaps.
Gulliver tries to maintain his dignity with little success. He offers to help the Brobdingnagian
king strengthen his power by using gunpowder and is puzzled the king’s disgust, concluding
that, though the Brobdingnagians are a good-hearted people, they are just not as sophisticated as
humans. One day, the box Gulliver is carried around in for outings gets snatched up by a bird on
the beach and, dumped in the sea, he is picked up by a human ship and carried back to England.
Back among humans, Gulliver is astonished by their littleness.
Gulliver sets out yet again to sea and is again stranded, this time getting taken up by the
Laputians to their floating island. He meets the Laputian king and observes life in Laputa
where everyone is so obsessed with abstract mathematical, musical, and astronomical theory that
they are utterly incompetent about practical matters and can barely hold a conversation. Gulliver
is disgusted when he visits the city of Lagado below and sees the destructive influence the
Laputians’ theories have had, turning a once functioning people into a broken society. He tours
the academy where the projectors contrive useless scientific projects. Afterwards, Gulliver visits
Glubbdubdrib and meets ghosts of history, visits Luggnagg and meets the power-
crazed Luggnaggian king and the grim immortal Struldburgs, and finally returns to England.
Gulliver sets out on his fourth voyage only to be mutinied and stranded in a land where the noble
and reasonable horses, the Houyhnhmns, do their best to control the foul degenerate
human Yahoos. Gulliver tries to distance himself as much as possible from the Yahoos and,
indeed, the Houyhnhmns, especially Gulliver’s mentor, the master horse, see Gulliver is
different because he has a rational mind and wears clothing. The more Gulliver learns from the
Houyhnhmns, the more he admires their uprightness, egalitarianism, and reason, and he
eventually turns against humankind, wanting to live forever among the Houyhnhmns. As he
learns about the Houyhnhmns from the master horse, the master horse also learns about
humanity from Gulliver, and concludes that the Yahoos Gulliver has come from are really not
very different from the filthy Yahoos among the Houyhnhmns. Much to Gulliver’s chagrin, the
Houyhnhmns ultimately insist that Gulliver return to his own country. Though he tries to avoid
returning to human society, Don Pedro’s ship picks Gulliver up and forces him to return to
Europe. Back home, Gulliver remains disgusted by all the Yahoos around him, including his
family members, and spends all his time with horses, reminiscing longingly about the
Houyhnhmns. He concludes by assuring the reader that everything he’s described is true and that
he’s written his travels solely for the public good so that the wretched Yahoos around him might
learn from the virtuous beings of other lands.
Gulliver's Travels Character List
Gulliver
Captain Lemuel Gulliver, the narrator.
Blefuscudians
The sworn enemies of the Lilliputians, they live on a neighboring island. Gulliver flees to their
island when the Lilliputians convict him of treason.
Brobdingnagians
The inhabitants of Brobdingnag. They are giant creatures relative to Gulliver.
The Emperor
The leader of the Lilliputians. He initially is friendly toward Gulliver but changes his mind about
him when Gulliver refuses to continue fighting Blefuscu and puts out a fire in the Empress's
chamber by urinating on it.
The Farmer
During his stay in Brobdingnag, Gulliver calls the farmer who takes him in his master. The
farmer eventually sells Gulliver to the Queen.
Flimnap
Gulliver's enemy at Lilliput, he accuses Gulliver of sleeping with his wife.
Glumdalclitch
Her name means "little nurse" in Brobdingnagian. This is what Gulliver calls the farmer's
daughter, who cares for him during his stay in Brobdingnag.
Mrs. Mary Burton Gulliver
Gulliver's wife.
Houyhnhnms
A species of horses who are endowed with great kindness and virtue. Gulliver lives among them
for several years and afterwards is extremely reluctant to return to England.
The King
Gulliver and the King of Brobdingnag spend dozens of hours discussing politics and comparing
their two cultures.
Laputans
The inhabitants of a floating island who wear mathematical and astronomical symbols and have
trouble paying attention.
Lilliputians
The inhabitants of Lilliput. They are about five to six inches tall. They are the sworn enemies of
the Blefuscudians of a neighboring Island.
Munodi
The Balnibarbi Lord who shows Gulliver around and teaches him about why the island is so
barren.
Don Pedro
The captain of the Portuguese ship that picks Gulliver up after his voyage to the country of the
Houyhnhnms.
The Queen
The Queen of Brobdingnag finds Gulliver very entertaining. Because of her huge size, Gulliver
is disgusted when she eats.
Reldresal
A friend of Gulliver's in Lilliput. He helps Gulliver settle into the strange new land and later
helps to reduce Gulliver's possible punishment for treason from execution to having his eyes put
out.
Yahoos
The Houyhnhnms' word for humans. Yahoos in the country of the Houyhnhnms are disgusting
creatures.
Gulliver's Travels Themes
The Body
Throughout Gulliver's Travels the narrator spends a great deal of time discussing the human
body-going so far as to detail his own urination and defecation. In each of the various lands to
which Gulliver travels, he comes face to face with excrement. In Lilliput he urinates on the
queen's apartment to put out a fire; in Luggnagg the professors work to turn excrement back into
the food it began as; in the country of the Houyhnhnms the Yahoos throw their excrement at
each other and at him.
Looking at the body from new perspectives gives Gulliver a special insight into the body's
materiality. When he is relatively small, he can see the minute, ugly details of others' bodies. By
looking closely at the body as a material thing and paying attention to what humans do on a daily
basis, Swift makes it impossible to look at humans as exclusively spiritual or intellectual beings.
Literature and Language
Gulliver is a reader: "My Hours of Leisure I spent in reading the best Authors ancient and
modern, being always provided with a good number of books." He reads whenever he has the
time. And on each of the islands he visits, he makes a point of noticing whether the inhabitants
write or do not write. The Lilliputians, for instance, write diagonally like the ladies of England.
The Houyhnhnms lack a form of writing, but Gulliver spends a great deal of time considering
how they pass on their history.
Gulliver is also a master linguist, making him a man of virtually all peoples. On each of the
islands he visits, he learns the language quickly, sometimes being taught by learned scholars (as
in Lilliput) and once being taught by a young girl (in Brobdingnag). His ability to communicate
suggests the value of communication across cultures. Once Gulliver has learned the language of
a given society, he visits the King or Queen or Emperor or Governor and discusses politics. This
ability to share knowledge is beneficial to both parties.
Narrow-Mindedness and Enlightenment
Throughout his journeys Gulliver comes into contact with several different races of people, all of
which are narrow-minded in some way. Many of the peoples are conspicuously narrow-minded,
such as the Lilliputians, who have wars over the correct way to cut open an egg. (Such squabbles
over unimportant matters are a common object of satire.) Even the Houyhnhnms, who are so
revered by Gulliver, cannot believe there are other reasonable ways of living.
Much of Swift's satirical focus is on people who cannot see past their own ways, their own
power, or their own beliefs. Readers (especially his contemporary readers) can see themselves in
some of this satire.
Otherness
Otherness plays a large part in Gulliver's Travels. Throughout his journeys Gulliver never quite
fits in, regardless of how long he stays. Partly this is a matter of size. In Lilliput, he is the only
giant. In Brobdingnag, everyone else is giant and he is small. Mainly, however, it is a matter of
being different and simply from elsewhere. On his final journey, when he is captain and his crew
mutinies, they leave him on an uncharted island. In Houyhnhnm, where there actually are human
beings, they are disgusting creatures with whom Gulliver certainly cannot relate. Finally, after
spending years with the Houyhnhnms and coming to consider them better in every way than
humanity, Gulliver is still a human. Yet, his experience has made him an outsider in England,
completely disgusted with even his own wife and children.
Perspective and Relativity
In Gulliver's Travels the reader comes to realize that much in the world really is relative.
Gulliver's first journey lands him in Lilliput where he is called the Mountain Man, because the
people there are only five to six inches tall. On the other hand, in Brobdingnag, Gulliver is tiny
compared to the enormous creatures who find him and keep him as a pet.
Gulliver spends a great deal of time pondering this situation when he arrives in Brobdingnag. He
writes, "In this terrible Agitation of Mind I could not forbear thinking of Lilliput, whose
Inhabitants looked upon me as the greatest Prodigy that ever appeared in the World: where I was
able to draw an Imperial Fleet in my Hand .... I reflected what a Mortification it must prove to
me to appear as inconsiderable in this Nation as one single Lilliputian would be among us."
Gulliver adds, "Undoubtedly Philosophers are in the right when they tell us, that nothing is great
or little otherwise than by Comparison."
Perspective and relativity do not only apply to size, however, in Gulliver's Travels. After
spending time with the Houyhnhnms, Gulliver considers them above humanity in nearly every
way. Returning to England, Gulliver is repulsed by the humans he formerly loved and instead
chooses to spend his time in the barn with his horses. The question remains about what in the
world is not relative after all; size is relative, but what about space itself? Is time relative in the
novel as well? A careful reader will find many universals in the midst of so much cultural
relativity.
Travel
The novel is set in the traditional mode of satirical travel literature. Many other classic works use
the same device, such as Chaucer's Canterbury Tales and Homer's Odyssey. Travel in the case of
Gulliver's Travels gives Swift the opportunity to compare the ways of humanity, more
specifically those of the English, with several other ways of living. Travel also keeps the story
entertaining. It is not often that a person finds a book with four sailing journeys each interrupted
by torrential storms, although one should remember that the Age of Exploration in Europe
provided many stories of travels and discoveries of new lands and new peoples.
Truth and Deception
Truth and deception are prominent themes in Gulliver's Travels. For one thing, the reader is
constantly questioning whether or not Gulliver is a reliable narrator-simply because what he is
conveying is so fantastic. Most critics and readers determine that Gulliver is reliable, however.
One sign of his honesty is established within the first few pages, when he tells the reader about
where he came from.
Our comfort with Gulliver's reliability is challenged in the last chapter of the novel, though,
when Gulliver tells his readers he cannot tell a lie and swears this oath: "Nec si miserum Fortuna
Sinonem Finxit, vanum etiam, mendacemque improba finget," which in English means, "Nor if
Fortune had molded Sinon for misery, would she also in spite mold him as false and lying."
Lying does appear within Gulliver's journeys. In Lilliput he learns that for the Lilliputians lying
is a capital punishment and is considered worse than stealing. In the country of the Houyhnhnms,
Gulliver is surprised to learn that the Houyhnhnms have no concept of what it means to lie. Their
complete honesty is part of what makes Gulliver decide that they are the noblest creatures on
Earth.
UNIT-4
Walter Scott's Art of Characterization in Kenilworth
Art of Characterization in Kenilworth
Scott abandoned Fielding's art of characterization. In Fielding, Jane Austen and Dickens we
find a study of man's conscience too. But in Scott the characterization is limited only to the
external observation. Hence Scott remains moored to the surface. He does not examine
his characters from within.
However, Scott makes his characters lively by the virtue of their vitality and extra
embellishment. In his personages he displays a fecundity resembling that of nature itself,
fecundity derived from his comprehensive acquaintanceship with all sorts and conditions of men.
Scott is an inspired, and exalted, pageant-master of enormous energy and sparing no expense,
who organizes a procession through the ages, from the medieval to the nineteenth-century
moment, in which every degree of humanity played a part, and wore the appropriate costume. He
is a vast gallery of characters. He portrays kings and queens, outlaws and cut-throats, men of law
and of war, girls and crones, witches and even ghosts. But his characters are shaped by a historic
living. Some of them are moulded by the forces of religion and religious strife.
On the whole Scott appears a more consummate artist in the portrayal of male characters than
those of women. Yet some of his heroines are wholly literary and remembered chiefly as poetic
creations. Lucy Ashton, Jeanie Deans, Amy, and Queen Elizabeth are among such poetic
creations.
In Kenilworth we find flat characters. Most of them are static : they do not change. Queen
Elizabeth is a character who does not change. So are Giles Gosling, Anthony Foster, Janet,
Tressilian. However, it is in his static characters that he has excelled more than in the dynamic
characters.
Amy is the heroine of Kenilworth. She is simple and innocent creature she is more sinned
against than sinning. She can be compared with Shakespeare's heroines. She has been portrayed
in a very lively manner. She is present in the novel from the beginning to the end. She is the
pivot on whom the whole novel revolves.
The hero of the novel is not Dudley but Tressilian because Trasilian's work appears to be more
heroic than that of the Earl. The Earl Dudley is simply a cultured villain ; a serpent under flower.
Then we find the directly-drawn characters in Kenilworth, They are presented directly
because they do not appear with a dramatic twist. They are what they are. They are not going to
change in any circumstance. They differ in relation to the change in situation but in the essentials
and fundamentals of their personality. Scott paints his characters hurriedly. Instead of describing
their minds and soul, Scott is satisfied to describe their body and dress.
Scott's characters are more individuals than types. In Kenilworth too, we have individual
characters. There are some super-vital characters also. Sir Walter Raleigh is one of them. He is
young, ambitious and daring. He is an Elizabethan gallant. He is a man of action. The extra
daring on his part wins for him the esteem of the Queen Elizabeth. His thoughts as well as his
movements are directed to a purposive end. He has been cut out by nature to rise in life. This
character is different from other characters in matters of exuberance. Consciously he does not
step on others to enhance his chances of further promotion. He is aided by the vagary of chance
now and then.
In Kenilworth we find both the silent and voluble characters. The characters like Gosling,
Michael Lambourne and Dick, the pedagogue talk too much, whereas Tony Foster, Amy
Robsart, Tressilian, etc. talk too little.
Most of Scott's characters are robust and have guts. Tressilian is the dashing character and the
minor character, Dickie Sludge has plenty of guts. Scott portrays his characters with contrast and
analogy. Amy has been drawn in contrast to Elizabeth ; Tressilian to Varney; the Earl of Sussex
to the Earl of Leicester. Characters are developed not only with the help of conversations
between the characters themselves, but also by the direct descriptions.
Scott portrays his characters in Kenilworth minutely and yet he does not make any of his
characters grotesque and verbose. The characters in Kenilworth can be read like an open book.
They have nothing to conceal. Their secrets are not the secrets of the soul but of the outer
circumstances. As human beings live in a glass case, and can thus be seen without any
obstruction.
Kenilworth conceives characters in the spirit of romance rather than in that of a scientific
novel. The doings of the characters have a shade of romance. Though the characters may be of
historical reality yet they behave in a romantic manner. We are reminded of the saying of
Somerset Maugham who states that the facts are poor story-tellers. We have to study them with
the colouring of imagination. Some of them remain muffled in the cloak of secrecy, but secrecy
does not hold long.
Northanger Abbey Study Guide
Jane Austen wrote Northhanger Abbey while she was residing in her childhood home in
Steventon, England, but the novel is largely set in the resort town of Bath, where Austen visited
for a month-long vacation in 1797. Originally entitled Susan, the first draft of the novel was
written between 1798-9, and it was the earliest novel Austen completed and intended for
publication. In 1803, Austen made the final changes to Susan and sold it to publisher Benjamin
Crosby and Co. for 10 pounds, but for unknown reasons the publisher never saw fit to print the
manuscript. After enduring years of frustration, Austen bought back the manuscript in 1816,
several years after her famous novels Pride and Prejudice and Mansfield Park had already been
published. Austen changed the heroine’s name to Catherine By that time, Austen was already ill,
and on July 18th 1817 she would die of kidney disease, five months before her earliest novel was
published as Northanger Abbey. Her brother Henry oversaw the publication of the novel, and the
Biographical Notice he added to the novel was the first public disclosure of Jane Austen’s
identity as an author, though her friends and families had enjoyed her private readings for years.
In the Notice, Henry mournfully laid out the merits of his recently deceased sister, remembering
that “her temper was as polished as her wit.” Henry also attached a Postscript to the Notice in
which he quotes from a letter that Austen herself wrote a few weeks before her death. In the
letter, Austen modestly describes her prose as a “little bit of ivory, two inches wide, on which I
work with a brush so fine as to produce little effect after much labor.” But if Austen’s novels are
akin to miniature portraits, her literary brush never fails to portray the subtle shades of each
character, and her skill is already evident in her youthful novel Northanger Abbey.
Northanger Abbey Summary
As Austen's novel opens, we are introduced to Catherine Moreland, a seventeen-year old girl
who is invited to go on a trip to Bath with her wealthy neighbors, Mr. and Mrs. Allen. Catherine
has never been away from home for an extended period of time, and she is excited to see the
famed resort town.
At Bath, Catherine is inducted into the social world of balls and entertainments. During one of
their first nights in town, Catherine attends a ball in a venue called the Lower Rooms and meets a
wealthy young clergyman named Henry Tilney. Henry charms Catherine with his gentle
witticisms, and she is delighted to dance with him. Catherine seeks him out the next day at
another social gathering, but Henry is nowhere to be found. Instead, Catherine is introduced to
Mrs. Allen's friend Mrs. Thorpe, who has three daughters near Catherine's age. The eldest of
these daughters, Isabella, befriends Catherine. It turns out that their brothers, James and John, are
friends from Oxford. When James and John come to Bath for a visit, Isabella reveals her
fondness for James, and John attempts to court Catherine by offering her carriage rides in the
countryside. During the course of their first carriage ride, Catherine notes that John spends a
great deal of his time bragging, but nonetheless she agrees to dance with him when he asks her to
be his dance partner.
At the ball that night, Henry returns, and Catherine wishes she could dance with him instead. It
turns out that Henry left Bath for a week, but now that he is back Catherine finds herself
increasingly enamored of him. John's presence becomes obtrusive and even odious to her.
Meanwhile, Isabella and James have dove headlong into an open courtship, and Catherine finds
that the two people she loves best in Bath--her brother and her closest friend--are devoting more
and more time to each other, at the exclusion of her company. Catherine decides to become
friends with Henry's sister Miss Tilney in order to fill the sudden lack of companionship. Of
course, she also wants to know more about Henry.
Catherine schedules a walk in the countryside with Miss Tilney and Henry, but on the morning
of their walk it is raining, and the Tilneys do not arrive exactly on time. Isabella, James, and John
persuade Catherine not to wait for them any longer, and Catherine agrees to go on a carriage ride
instead. As soon as they set out, Catherine sees the Tilneys walking down the street. She is angry
because John lied to her about their whereabounts: he'd told her that he had seen them leave town
in a carriage earlier that day. Catherine wants to leave the carriage, but John only urges the
horses to go faster.
The walk is rescheduled for another day, and Catherine hopes that her friendship with the
Tilneys can continue to progress. Once again, Isabella, James and John implore her to go on
another carriage ride, and this time John sneaks away and tells the Tilneys that Catherine has to
reschedule yet again. Catherine is visibly angry by this dishonest gesture, and she rushes over to
the Tilneys' house to make amends. They accept her explanation, and the long-awaited walk is
very pleasant.
Meanwhile, James and Isabella become engaged during the course of their carriage ride.
Catherine is happy at the pending union. James rushes off to get his parents' approval. He is
successful, but he also reveals that his father can only provide them with a modest income.
Isabella's expectations of a wealthy, lavish lifestyle are dashed by this news, and her demeanor
sours, though she attempts to hide it. To make matters worse for James, the dashing Captain
Tilney, Henry's older brother, arrives in Bath and begins to woo Isabella.
Caught between her friend and her brother, Catherine is relieved when the Tilneys invite her to
escape from the hustle of Bath and visit their house in the country, Northanger Abbey. Fueled by
her knowledge of Gothic novels, Catherine imagines that the historic home is host to a variety of
family secrets, and her imagination is incited when she discovers that Mrs. Tilney died of a
sudden illness in the house. Catherine visits Mrs. Tilney's bedroom and cannot find any evidence
for wrongdoing, but nonetheless she deludes herself into thinking that General Tilney had a hand
in his wife's death. Her Gothic reverie is interrupted by Henry, who corrects her mistake and tells
her to stop imposing her own fictional interpretations on reality: his father would never do such a
thing to his mother. Catherine repents, and life returns to normal for a brief time.
Suddenly, Catherine receives a letter from James stating that his engagement with Isabella has
been broken off. Even more shockingly, James says that Isabella is now engaged to Captain
Tilney. This turns out not to be true, as Catherine discovers when Isabella sends her a letter
revealing that Captain Tilney has jilted her and left town. By now, Catherine is disgusted by
Isabella's dishonorable and untrustworthy character, and she chooses not to respond to the letter.
After a month at Northanger Abbey, Catherine is mysteriously cast out of the house by General
Tilney. She goes home in disgrace and has a hard time settling into her former routine. Most of
all, she misses Henry and wishes that she could be in communication with him. Before too many
days pass, however, Henry surprises Catherine with a visit. He asks for her hand in marriage and
explains that his father acted so rudely because he was informed that Catherine was not as rich as
he had supposed her to be. Catherine is glad that the mystery is cleared up, but they still have to
obtain the General's permission to get married. They finally get his consent after Miss Tilney
marries a landed aristocrat, raising the family's status in the country. In the aftermath of this
convenient marriage, Henry and Catherine seal their own matrimonial bliss.
Northanger Abbey Character List
Catherine Morland
Naïve, innocent, and imaginative, Catherine is the protagonist of the novel. Before going to Bath
with the Allens, Catherine has never been away from her family home in Fullerton for an
extended period of time. Catherine’s main occupation is reading Gothic novels, particularly
Anne Radcliffe’s The Mysteries of Udolpho. This leads her to imagine herself as the heroine of a
Gothic murder mystery when she visits the Tilneys at Northanger Abbey. Catherine eventually
realizes her mistake and repents her accusations of General Tilney, whom she believed played a
part in his wife’s death. Catherine matures over the course of the novel and becomes more
independent and adept at assessing the true characters of those around her. Her infatuation with
Henry deepens into a genuine affection, and her patience is rewarded by their marriage.
James Morland
Catherine’s brother, James attends Oxford University during the school year, where he enjoys
the pleasures of undergraduate life with his friend John Thorpe. James is studying to be a
clergyman, although during the course of the novel we only see him in a domestic setting. When
James accompanies John on a family vacation to Bath, he falls in love with John’s sister Isabella,
and they become engaged. James eventually repents this affair when he discovers Isabella’s
disloyalty, and he leaves Bath in a bitter mood.
Mr. and Mrs. Morland
Catherine’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Moreland play only a minor role in the story. They are
depicted as warm, loving, and eager to provide for their children within their limited means.
They allow their children to go away for long stretches of time, but they also want their children
to appreciate their life at home. This is why Mrs. Morland urges Catherine to readjust quickly to
her normal routine after she returns from Bath.
Henry Tilney
Handsome and kind, Henry is the object of Catherine’s affection. He splits his time between his
family home at Northanger Abbey and his parish house at Woodston. Henry is steadfast and
devoted to his family, particularly his sister. Henry is also realistic and rational, hence why he
reprimands Catherine for her imagined Gothic fantasy during her visit. In contrast to Catherine,
Henry has read a variety of books in all kinds of subject areas. This gives him an advantage in
their conversations, and Henry seeks to increase Catherine’s knowledge of the world and other
people’s motivations, particularly in the case of his brother’s flirtation with Isabella. Although he
is generally a good son,Henry has a strained relationship with his overbearing father and is not
afraid to defy his father’s most unreasonable wishes—this is made most apparent when he
proposes to Catherine despite his father’s disapproval.
Eleanor Tilney (Miss Tilney)
Henry’s sister, Miss Tilney is also a loyal and devoted friend to Catherine. Miss Tilney
withstands long stretches of loneliness when Henry is gone from Northanger Abbey and she is
forced to endure her father’s temper alone. She is eager to serve others and generally self-
effacing. Miss Tilney seldom voices her own desires; instead, she sets out to care for her loved
ones and make her guest feel at home. Miss Tilney is a passive figure whose self-sacrifices are
meant to stand in contrast with Isabella’s active and selfish scheming.
Isabella Thorpe
Isabella is an ambitious young woman who befriends Catherine in Bath. Her goal in life is to
marry a wealthy man, but this is difficult since she has no fortune. Isabella sets her sights on
Catherine’s brother James, and their mutual flirtation leads to their engagement. Upon
discovering that James will only have a modest income, Isabella is infuriated and disappointed,
but she attempts to hide her feelings from Catherine. When the dashing Captain Tilney arrives in
Bath, Isabella begins a new flirtation with him despite being engaged. Her plot to switch suitors
is ultimately foiled, and both men leave her.
Captain Frederick Tilney
The oldest child of the Tilney family, Captain Tilney is proud and insolent, much like his father.
He flirts with Isabella in Bath for his own amusement only to take off after her engagement is
broken off. In this light, Captain Tilney is an egotist who enjoys toying with women’s affections
and soliciting their devotion, even at the expense of another man’s happiness.
John Thorpe
Isabella’s brother, John is boastful and arrogant. He courts Catherine by taking her out for
carriage rides in the country and spends the entirety of their time together bragging about what a
good driver he is. John is clueless about other people’s desires and mistakenly assumes that
Catherine returns his sentiments. Late in the novel, we find out that John had been spreading
inflated rumors of Catherine’s wealth before his hopes were dashed by her rejection.
General Tilney
The despotic father of Henry, Miss Tilney, and Captain Tilney, General Tilney is a proud,
materialistic man who spends his days managing his estate at Northanger Abbey. His wife died
many years ago, and he avoids entering her former bedroom so that he will not be reminded of
her. General Tilney is a gracious host to Catherine during the majority of her stay at his estate,
but we find out that his hospitality is motivated by his misguided greed—he wants to advance his
family’s own social position and initially thinks that Catherine is a rich, eligible young woman.
His anger emerges when he finds out that he was wrong, but he is placated by his daughter's
marriage to a nobleman and later gives Henry his consent.
Mr. and Mrs. Allen
Mr. and Mrs. Allen are a wealthy, childless older couple who host Catherine at Bath. Mrs. Allen
is obsessed with fashion and the petty gossip of the town. Mr. Allen is more practical. The Allens
serve as parental figures for Catherine during their stay at Bath. They introduce her to the
festivities that characterize life in the resort town and introduce her to the Thorpes.
Mrs. Thorpe
Isabella’s mother, Mrs. Thorpe is an indulgent woman who is eager to make her children happy
at any cost. She is particularly permissive towards Isabella, her favorite daughter. Mrs. Thorpe is
an old friend of Mrs. Allen’s and shares her concern with the emblems of wealth and refinement.
Northanger Abbey Themes
Consumer Culture
Many of the characters in Northanger Abbey define themselves on the basis of their material
wealth. On this basis, they are obsessed with the acquisition and upkeep of material objects. Mrs.
Allen, for instance, is always worried about tearing her latest ball gown. Upon arriving in Bath,
Catherine and Isabella spend a portion of each day walking around town, viewing the window
displays, and Isabella is constantly comparing her attire with other women's. General Tilney is
the novel's most materialistic character. He has devoted his life to outdoing his wealthy peers in
the size, scale, and expense of his estate. Upon arriving at Northanger Abbey, Catherine is
constantly asked to compare and judge the General's possessions against Mr. Allen's. General
Tilney solicits Catherine's praise as a measure of his success. He is the consummate consumer
and also values people according to their wealth. Austen's writing seems implicitly critical of
these attitudes, but it is worth noting that Austen -- as exemplified especially in her more famous
novels -- is more humanist than satirist; this is to say her humor is always gentle, laced with real
affection for her characters and their foibles. They may fret about their possessions in excess, but
they do so in well-meaning ways.
Imagination vs. Reality
Catherine's imagination is shaped by her experience reading the Gothic novels of Anne
Radcliffe. Upon arriving at Northanger Abbey, Catherine is crestfallen when she realizes that her
imagined ideal of the house--a former dwelling place for nuns, with all its original features
intact--does not match the reality of the renovated and modern mansion. Fueled by her fantasies,
Catherine still expects to encounter the same scary objects she has read about--bloody daggers
and ghostly shrouds--hidden in secret places throughout the house. Even when she finds only
banal objects (such as a quilt) in place of their imagined counterparts, Catherine refuses to
relinquish her vision of Northanger's mysterious history until reality intrudes in the form of
Henry's admonishment. Austen hereby proposes a sort of meta-critique of fiction and the
suspension of disbelief it requires: only by divorcing herself from such fiction can Catherine
truly grow. Austen explores this idea playfully, even going so far as to wield tropes one might
associate with more deliberately "meta" works of literature, as I note later in this section.
Marriage and Courtship
Concerns over matters of marriage and courtship proliferate in Northanger Abbey. Throughout
the novel, Austen foregrounds the economic significance of marriage: in 18th century England,
fortunes were built through family alliances. Isabella's schemes center around her desire to find a
rich husband, and she uses a variety of techniques to ensure that she will be noticed, whether it is
openly flirting with James or pretending to ignore Captain Tilney's attentions after she is
engaged. John attempts to court Catherine and makes her an offer of marriage through his sister,
and he spreads wildly exaggerated notions of her wealth in order to build up his own reputation
in Bath. Luckily, Catherine does everything in her power to rebuff him. Catherine's relationship
with the landed and wealthy Henry progresses slowly: they have a gradual courtship that is based
on a mutual respect and esteem. Miss Tilney also gets married at the very end of the novel to a
wealthy young nobleman. Through these constant referrals to a potential spouse's wealth, we see
why General Tilney is so calculating over his childrens' marriages. Tellingly, Henry and his
sister do not believe that Captain Tilney has engaged himself to Isabella because she is poor.
Readers and Reading
Letters and novels abound in Austen's depiction of English social life. Catherine receives the
most important news largely by reading letters, whether it is James' letter announcing the end of
his engagement or Isabella's letter informing her that Captain Tilney has left Bath. Letters are
still the primary form of communication in the rapidly modernizing country, and characters wait
eagerly for the mail coach to arrive (as when, earlier in the novel, Isabella waits for James to
write telling of his father's approval for their marriage). Novels, on the other hand, provide the
characters of Northanger Abbey with escapist visions of other worlds, where melodramatic
occurences happen on a daily basis. For a young woman like Catherine, reading allows her to
access the kind of dramatic conflict that her own life lacks, at least until she arrives at
Northanger Abbey.
On a more abstract level, Austen writes many asides to the reader where she directly calls our
attention to the novel's fictional qualities: she wants us to know that we are reading a work of art
whose features are in large part derived from inherited conventions from other books. For
example, Austen lets us know from the very beginning of the novel that we are meant to compare
Catherine with the heroines of earlier novels. Austen directly challenges the cliches of the
emerging genre in order to solidify her own voice as a writer.
Ownership and Estates
In Northanger Abbey, the individual estates reflect the character of their owners. Fullerton,
Catherine's home, is a modest and busy place where the rhythms of family life predominate--the
influence of Mr. and Mrs. Morland may be felt in its industrious environs. In contrast,
Northanger Abbey is an ostentatious manor house whose sweeping rooms are filled with the
latest heating fixtures and furnishings. General Tilney's personality is infused throughout the
main rooms of the house: its large proportions and meticulous arrangement are the visible signs
of his status-conscious demeanor. Catherine is never at home at Northanger Abbey unless the
General is absent.
On the other hand, Catherine takes immediate delight in Woodston, Henry's parish house. Most
rooms in Woodston are tastefully furnished, yet one of the most important rooms--the drawing
room--is still empty, thus calling our attention to Henry's bachelor state. Tellingly, Catherine
finds real delight in the view of the fields from the drawing room window, and this turns out to
be her favorite room. Though she does not know it yet, Woodston is her future home, and
Catherine will have the chance to decorate the room according to her growing taste.
Social Etiquette
Austen explores the rules of English society throughout her novel by staging multiple violations
of discreet etiquette and polite behavior. At Bath, Isabella and James dance together more than
twice in one night, and Isabella worries that others will think they are behaving scandalously.
Catherine arguably acts in a rude way when she refuses to go on a carriage ride with John,
Isabella and James, thus undermining their expectations that she will always act in an obliging
and pleasant manner. However, John undermines Catherine's honesty by falsely reporting to the
Tilneys that she cannot go on their scheduled walk, and Catherine is angry because he has made
her appear absentminded and neglectful of her appointments. Finally, General Tilney violates the
code of hospitality when he turns Catherine out of his house without proper notice. Austen is
here, as ever, an observer of mores, and the precision of her language offers a modern reader a
fascinating look into what life was like in her time. What is perhaps more important than her
usefulness as a time-capsule, however, is the fundamental universality of her observations: we
may no longer live with the same exact codes as her characters, but we share with them the same
nervousness, the same petty squabbles, the same day-by-day mistakes, and the same romantic
dreams.
The Gothic Novel
Over the course of the story, Catherine is enamored and subsequently disenchanted by the Gothic
novels of Anne Radcliffe. At first, Catherine is willing and eager to absorb everything that she
has read or heard about The Mysteries of Udolpho. We hear her raving about the novel in several
scenes during her stay in Bath. During her carriage ride to Northanger Abbey, Henry's story
similarly absorbs her attention.
In many ways, Henry's retelling of the Gothic horror tale is doubled by Austen's account of
Catherine's quest to discover the circumstances behind Mrs. Tilney's death.
Borrowing the plot details of various novels, Catherine attempts to interpret the General's
character to conform to the outlines of the evil and mysterious villain, a stock character in the
Gothic novel. Catherine even comes to believe that General Tilney has kept his wife locked in a
secret chamber all these years and faked her death to their children. Austen's description of
Catherine's overeager fantasy is clearly a parody of many Gothic conventions, ranging from the
existence of a long-suffering female victim to the suppression of a family's history in hidden
rooms and locked chests.
UNIT-5
Overview
Author
William Wordsworth
Year Published
1850
Type
Essay
Genre
Argument, Nonfiction, Philosophy
At a Glance
The Preface is considered a revolutionary step forward in introducing Romantic poetry to world
literature. Wordsworth and his close friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834) collaborated
in explaining their new ideas of poetry and the poet's task. These views on poetry are based on a
love of nature and on the use of common feelings and language, away from what Wordsworth
and Coleridge saw as the falseness and needless complexities of the past. Wordsworth believed
poetry should reflect everyday language rather than fit itself to established formulas, such as
form, meter, and poetic diction, as it had in the past. The Preface has been called "Wordsworth's
best-known critical work, and his most original essay in aesthetics." It continues to be read and
discussed in the study of Romantic literature, as well as of succeeding centuries of realism and
modernism in poetry and prose.
About the Title
After first publishing his Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth felt the need to explain and defend his
new techniques in poetry, in the hope of attracting an audience who would continue to
understand and appreciate his work. He wrote a Preface for the first edition in 1800 and made
revisions throughout his life. The 1802 version formed the basis for the final edition of 1850. The
title, "Preface," was never changed, giving it a sense of ongoing novelty.
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads | Main Ideas
Poetry as the Language of Common People
The Preface to Lyrical Ballads presents Wordsworth's explanation for the new type of poetry he
published in 1798. He continued to revise the Preface in the hope of gaining a larger reading
audience and further recognition by other writers. He rejects previous conventional approaches
to literature as emotionally barren, overlooking the connection he values between the thoughts
and language of common people and the poet's ability to transmit the experience at the same
accessible level. He speaks of poetry as existing from the poet as one person to other persons,
with minimal or no intermediary needed. He recognizes some refinement of anything considered
vulgar or offensive would need revising, but otherwise no real barriers need exist. As a
Romantic, Wordsworth values the humble, rustic ways of countryfolk, people who he believes
have directly experienced the truths of nature. Their experiences can be transmitted in poetry that
includes the same honesty and directness that he finds in homogenous rural settings. Poems he
creates spring from the overflow of genuine feelings. These lead to reflection and simple wisdom
and then are restated in ordinary language to recreate the original emotion.
The Preface rejects reliance on standards from the Classical or Enlightenment eras—Pope and
Johnson among the British poets he names—because they overlook the lives of common people
who speak humble and unadorned language.
Prose and Poetry
Devoting much attention to emphasizing the close connection of poetry with prose, Wordsworth
shows little patience for efforts in past eras to perfect standards for either poetry or prose at the
expense of the other. For him, both share the same purpose: to speak plainly and honestly in
language reflecting the lives of living people and not close themselves off to the other form. He
does not believe in a separation of poetry and prose as two opposed approaches but instead states
repeatedly they come from the same origins and spirit and should be accessible at equal levels.
Wordsworth places little value on the factual or scientific in literature. He is far more interested
in the emotions arising from an immediate experience that is later reflected upon, assimilated,
and understood. He can see the significance of scientific inquiry and knowledge, but for speaking
the truths of the lives of his contemporaries, he keeps a distance between instinctive literature
and applied scientific literature. For Wordsworth, this type of literature does not unite the
scientist with ordinary people on a daily basis, but instead keeps him isolated in a world of facts.
Writing as he was in the first years of the 1800s, he could not anticipate the enormous role
scientific research and experimentation has assumed since then. The Preface ushers in a new
world of literary sensibility, and is focused ahead of that changing world. However,
scientifically, it seems naïve.
Role of the Poet
At the heart of the Preface, Wordsworth gives extended treatment to the role of a poet, according
to the views he has expressed on language and content. The poet is a person of the common
people, attuned to them and sensitive to their experiences, and at the same time the poet is
someone in a special position. Wordsworth explains, "The poet, singing a song in which all
human beings join with him, rejoices in the presence of truth as our visible friend and hourly
companion." The poet is the "rock of defense for human nature; an upholder and a preserver,
carrying everywhere with him relations and love." Wordsworth adds, "The poet binds together
by passion and knowledge the vast empire of human society ... and over all time."
As the new scientists of Wordsworth's time forged ahead in chemistry and botany, so the poet
represents "the first and last of all knowledge ... as immortal as the heart of man ... The poet will
lend his divine spirit to aid the transfiguration" into knowledge. But for Wordsworth and others
he hoped to inspire, the role of art stands far apart from applied science of any kind. The poet
remains a special person, an individual who can take the ordinary experiences of common people
and articulate those experiences coherently into felt passions and controlled emotions that touch
on moral truth and rightness.
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads | Context
Wordsworth and Other Writers
Wordsworth was very conscious of many figures in the history of English literature. In his own
education, he had read the great writers, appreciating some and finding others not to his taste or
to his desire to write in a new form and style. The previous century, up to around the time of
Wordsworth's birth in 1770, had produced the famous Augustan Age of poets and essayists, such
as Alexander Pope (1688–1744). These writers relied on classical models; often used elegant but
unnatural diction (word choice) and quotations from Latin; and aimed for sophistication, wit, and
urbanity, or refined manners. They exalted reason as capable of controlling the baser instincts
associated with nature, which the Augustans distrusted as wild and unshaped by society. With
little interest in the lives of ordinary people, Augustans frequently portrayed high society and
nobility in carefully crafted and often satiric works.
As the Augustan Age waned, Samuel Johnson (1709–84) and others of his time rejected
neoclassicism and instead relied heavily on reason and common sense to control excesses of
imagination and sentiment. Language was used deliberately to instruct, but writers still took little
interest in common people or themes. However, poets such as Thomas Gray (1716–71), William
Blake (1757–1827), and Robert Burns (1759–96) are sometimes called proto-Romantics, or
those in the early stages of Romantic thought. In their work they dispensed with formulaic
classical models, such as rhyming couplets, in favor of blank, or unrhyming, verse. Poetry
became more immediate and accessible in plainer speech and vocabulary, calling objects what
they really were. And in poems like "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard" and "Is There for
Honest Poverty," everyday people emerged as serious poetic subjects.
Looking back at his predecessors, Wordsworth wanted to build on these innovations and, at the
same time, accomplish something more radical, even revolutionary for the aesthetics of his time.
In the Preface he does not hesitate to give examples of the type of poetry he dislikes as
insufficiently down to earth. Seeking to unify simplicity in life and in art, Wordsworth believed
he could write to bring about this realization. Although he knew Samuel Johnson's work was
greatly esteemed, he contrasted some of Johnson's lines with those from a popular folk ballad
and found Johnson's lines "neither interesting ... nor [leading] to anything interesting; the images
neither originate in that sane state of feeling which arises out of thought, nor can excite thought
or feeling in the Reader." This analysis became the standard by which Wordsworth was to judge
the craft of the poet he hoped to be in his own time.
Rise of Romanticism
Wordsworth is one of the most important Romantic writers, and the Preface to his Lyrical
Ballads is considered a manifesto for understanding Romanticism. The Romantic movement is
generally dated from late in the 18th century through the first decades of the 19th. Critics have
noted 1798 and the appearance of Wordsworth and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads in that year as the
actual starting point of the movement. The Preface Wordsworth wrote to explain those poems
plays a large role in clarifying the aims of Romanticism as a way of thought and as a watershed
moment in European and American culture.
Romanticism influenced all the arts, not only literature. Most Romantic writers worked
independently, but others, like Wordsworth and Coleridge, collaborated, despite differing views.
They did not refer to themselves as Romantics, for the term came into popular use much later
with critics and anthologizers. Later in the 19th century, other movements, such as realism and
naturalism, arose under the influence of science and changing conditions in urban and rural life.
Romanticism then came to be associated with an earlier outpouring of emotions and new ways of
looking at life that were superseded by the course of history.
Romantic writers shared certain common beliefs, among them a strong bond with nature. This
bond manifested itself in a desire to live in rural settings and a preference for land work over
factory production despite the prevailing industrial development. In addition, they believed in the
power of literature to bring about social change and to explore new horizons and passions, not
conforming to old or "accepted" wisdom. In their preference for individual consciousness over
the collective expressions of ideas, Romantic writers relied on the imagination to form a new
vision of the world. Finally, a belief in the purity and simplicity of childhood was the lens for
understanding in the Romantic worldview.
Critics have noted that in the past, for the most part, art reflected reality and followed certain
principles of the artist. However, in Wordsworth's poetry, for the first time, art tended to
illuminate the real from within by revealing the soul and nature of things rather than the external
reality itself. In a simplified sense, everything is feeling, not fact, as in the episode in
Wordsworth's Prelude in which the young boy fears being pursued by a vengeful mountain after
taking a boat. The mountain is capable of neither feeling nor motion, but to the frightened child it
is full of meaning. Ordinary people may experience similar feelings, which a poet may emulate.
To the Romantics, this kind of experience leads to poetry, as Wordsworth explains in the
Preface.
Coleridge and the Preface
Although his poems often focus on the pleasures of solitude, Wordsworth was influenced all his
life by other people, places, and events. The closest collaboration came from poet Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, whom he met in 1795 and with whom he began an important literary partnership.
Together they conceived the idea of the Lyrical Ballads, which they published anonymously in
two editions, the first in 1798. The subsequent 1800 edition was published with only
Wordsworth's name. Although they had a loose agreement to work equally on the ballads,
Wordsworth—steady, industrious, and organized—wrote much more than the unstable, opium-
addicted Coleridge. For a time the Wordsworth and Coleridge families lived near each other and
traveled together, but the two men became estranged in 1810 after Coleridge received reports of
critical remarks Wordsworth had made about him. Their work together ended, and Coleridge
died in 1834.
Critics often have studied Coleridge's influence on Wordsworth—rather than the reverse. When
Wordsworth speaks in the Preface about "friends" advising him to write an explanation for his
new poetry and strong beliefs he wished to spread, "friends" is widely assumed to be Coleridge.
Wordsworth sometimes claimed much of the abstract theory behind the Preface was not his and
originally responded to his friend's urging by stating he "never cared a straw about the theory—
and the Preface was written at the request of Coleridge out of sheer good nature."
Coleridge had strong opinions about what his friend had written and disagreed with many of the
changes Wordsworth made in later versions. Coleridge claimed the Preface placed too much
emphasis on pure association with nature and not on poetic creativity. He did not fully agree with
Wordsworth's take on the almost identical natures of poetry and prose and the essence of "poetic
diction." Because the two men's works are so different—and given their on-again, off-again
friendship—it is unlikely Coleridge would have fully aligned himself with his friend's statements
about poetry. He found Wordsworth exaggerated in some of his theoretical ideas, and these
judgments may have contributed to the decline of Wordsworth's reputation in the last decades of
his long life.
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads | Summary
Summary
The Preface to Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge appeared after the first publication
of the poems and then in numerous revised forms until the end of Wordsworth's career. It
remains the clearest statement of Romantic principles as it lays out the purpose and practice of
writing poetry and its close relation to prose. It also explains the profession, or craft, of the
"poet" and the role of poetry in giving a voice to contemporary and simplified ways of living that
stay close to the truths of nature. For Wordsworth, as for all the Romantic writers, one
discovered these primary laws of nature through experiences in the natural world—experiences
that, when combined with emotion, produced poetry.
Importance of Subject Matter
Wordsworth emphasizes why and how he chooses the subjects for his poems. He separates his
work from that of past ages and literary figures, showing they have been too "literary" by
emphasizing formal or classical models of artificial conventions. Rather than the recording of
actual observations or events, Wordsworth believes emotional truths and fidelity to nature are the
keys to providing ordinary readers with insights into their own conditions of life. He favors a
"humble and rustic" rural existence (yet without narrating anything unsettling or violent) to
urban life because it seems simpler and more natural. Wordsworth also favors a more unified,
common population that shares similar experiences. In cities like rapidly expanding London, the
permanence of natural truths seems absent. The short-lived values of shifting populations give no
connection to the past or the promise of future tranquility for the common people, whose
experiences can form the basis for poetry as well as prose. Wordsworth sought to make ordinary
experiences seem more extraordinary and enduring. As nature reveals permanence and
unchanging truths, the new literature Wordsworth proposes would share the simplicity, and
depth, of people's lives.
Characteristics of Poetry
Wordsworth says poetry must arise from the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes
its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." Although a poet should make a poem seem
spontaneous, the creation of it is not. Poetry must reflect emotion, or passion—not simply record
observations. The poet must draw from real-life experiences and describe them in ordinary
language, and the poet must "throw over them a certain coloring of the imagination, whereby
ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect." It is the imagination that
permits the poet to touch on the eternal, making the surrounding world new and connecting the
people with that world.
Wordsworth analyzes what he sees as four parts of the poet's creative process. The poet first
observes something that creates a powerful emotion. Then he tranquilly contemplates and
reflects on the emotion. During this period the poet may recall other things that relate to the
observation itself or to the past in some way. Such contemplation is personal, intended only for
the poet. The tranquility of contemplation disappears after a time, and then the poet distills all
these thoughts, eliminating some and keeping others so that the original emotion is recreated in a
way that is more universal. Finally the poet is ready to write, with the aim of sharing the emotion
with an audience.
Poetry, therefore, doesn't arise from classical models or through an immediate inspiration on any
supernatural level. It arises through experience on an ordinary level—understood and reflected
upon. Wordsworth rejects elaboration or literary devices as artificial and uses numerous
examples of earlier poets' work in his discussion. He hopes to lead readers to meditate on their
own emotions and arrive eventually at a more moral and true conception of themselves and of
life. Poetry can achieve the finest level of art by being simple and straightforward.
Poetry and Prose
Wordsworth devotes much of the Preface to examining his views on poetry and prose. He rejects
past distinctions of one being more heroic or a higher art than the other. His aim is to reveal both
as sharing the most important characteristics of "the language of men." As he simplifies the art of
being a poet into being "a man speaking to men," he essentially erases the lines separating prose
from poetry. He sees the distinction of both as opposed to science, as he understands it, because
the relatively new field of science focuses on the factual. Moreover, he sees the scientist as
making discoveries on their own, away from others, and not influencing the common condition,
which for Wordsworth is the essence of poetry. For Wordsworth, who favors free,
straightforwardly rhymed lines over traditional rhyme and meter in poetry, the use of most meter
produces a forced type of "verse" rather than the "naked," simpler poetry that shares truths with
prose.
He explains that he chooses to write poetry—with a proper and natural "Poetic Diction"—rather
than prose because it offers more possibilities for his imagination to explore the natural passions
of men and give them form. However, he refuses to acknowledge any strict separation between
poetry and prose because both must spring from emotion and reflection. Wordsworth writes,
"They both speak by and to the same organs ... their affections are kindred, and almost identical,
not necessarily differing even in degree." He ends the Preface by saying that whether he writes in
prose or verse, the essential principle of his art—made of imagination and sentiment—will
employ "one and the same language" of meter or prose.
Analysis
The Preface as Writing
Although the Preface itself is a work of prose, Wordsworth quotes much poetry within it and,
like his verses, places the same emphasis on common experience being illuminated by the
imagination. It is clearly the manifesto of an individual explaining a radically new approach to
something that has had a long existence already. In his essay he sets himself as both alone and
with the common experience of others as heralding a new age in understanding and
communicating feelings and emotions in a changed world. During his long career, Wordsworth
often saw himself as embarking on new and uncharted paths. He had a broad and thorough
education in the canon of Western literature and used this background in new ways.
Many past movements saw themselves as either inheriting literary traditions or making their
own, but Wordsworth was the first to base his work on the actual lives of ordinary people. The
Preface often alternates between proudly staking out his own principles and calling on the views
of his contemporaries, as when he begins with "Several of my friends are anxious for the success
of these Poems." His own voice is loud and clear, unafraid to criticize even good intentions in
others. He seems always aware of a performance art in which he quotes others against each
other, with his own views making the judgments on levels of quality. Whereas Coleridge wrote
with more abstract emphasis on the unusual and even the supernatural, Wordsworth focuses on
the ordinary, the voices of the common folk, of whose assumed simplicity and homogeneity he
approves, even though they may have little experience with poetry.
The Preface was revised and republished several times: beginning from the period when
Wordsworth spoke as a young radical voice through his recognition as a leading literary voice.
As both a young and mature man, he embraced sharply different ideas from those of other poets.
During the high point of the Romantic movement, which the manifesto seems to have ushered in,
his emphasis on feeling and individualism became commonly held.
The Preface on Verse and Prose
The long essay in its various versions returns numerous times to the question of types of writing.
Wordsworth devoted his life to writing, never having had another occupation or seeming to
search for one. When his formal education ended, he traveled as widely as he could with limited
resources, and his poems are often shaped by these experiences. When Lyrical Ballads appeared,
it gained considerable attention. Its detractors objected to Wordsworth's choice of subject matter
and disagreed with his emphasis on common people, rustic and even illiterate lives of poverty,
real human passions, and feelings joined with reflection. Although Wordsworth avoided extreme
or vulgar examples of these things, his detractors found such points of interest to be outside the
realm of poetry. Having taken poetry to this new territory, Wordsworth in the Preface proceeds
to examine how the actual forms of writing can best conform to such aims. He goes deeply and
repeatedly into comparing and contrasting the range of powers open to the poet in both prose and
poetry.
Past literary movements frequently have emphasized one of these genres over the other,
depending on the work and reputations of the writers of the time. Wordsworth seems intent on
using the best of both, not excluding one in favor of the other, but seeking always to find the
most appropriate genre. He spent decades of his life writing poems in various formats and voices
but dispensed with many rules and formulas. The Preface is his great prose work and never
enters poetic territory despite its focus on it. Wordsworth repeats that efforts to privilege verse or
prose are wrongheaded, for both share the same instinct for truth and human passion in the
communal sense. Science, on the other hand, seems new and impersonal, based on facts that
poetry cannot affect or change. His aim to raise his readers' moral sense appears untouched by
scientific study or research.
To make prose and verse allies, in a sense, against the potential changes in society is also to limit
the poet's own impact in the future. Also, Wordsworth's emphasis on emotions will eventually
lessen his influence, as new ways of looking at the world will emerge and people will judge the
Romantic era with different eyes. In time, the effort to convince the world that poetry and prose
are essentially similar in approach and content can be judged independently of form will result in
these becoming commonplace ideas. However, these ideas were often ignored by others, as poets
and prose writers continued to go their separate ways.
Wordsworth as Judge
The usefulness of the Preface in judging merit in poetry depends on several factors. Wordsworth
appears neither modest nor boastful when citing his own poems and measuring them against
others, including works of well-known writers. A few pages into the text, Wordsworth harshly
criticizes the 18th-century poet Thomas Gray. Quoting lines from one of Gray's few poems,
Wordsworth says the verse is far from simple truths that could be expressed in either prose or
more natural-sounding poetry. Wordsworth dismisses more than half of Gray's sonnet as having
no value. Gray's other major work, "Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard," with its canonical,
or scriptural, lines "on the paths of glory" and "far from the madding crowd," remains among the
most quoted and best-loved poems of all time, so it may seem odd to find Gray so faulted.
Similarly, Samuel Johnson's writing is noticeably said to have "contemptible matter."
But throughout, nothing indicates Wordsworth is issuing such opinions specifically to promote
his works over others. He seems to have given serious thought to his views and taken a long and
broad view of literature before his own time. The emphasis remains not on him personally but on
what any poet may achieve when he focuses on the correct foundations for a common and
humble source of truth. He appears willing to view his own work as an experiment in poetic
diction, newly formed and purified of what he believes it lacked before. He admits to putting
store in what others think of his work and having doubts about whether he can achieve the high
goals he has set. Wordsworth sees his Lyrical Ballads as innovative and connected to a high
level of truth and significance, if not a high level of life and society.
Ages after the Preface made its judgments, and Wordsworth's own reputation has endured its ups
and downs, it is doubtful many contemporary readers would use either his praise or his criticisms
as the basis for their own reactions to literature. Modern readers can understand how
Wordsworth saw people and society and his need to express new ideas in the hope they would
lead to progress in life as well as art. He returns again and again to the need to take down
barriers, as in the traditional separation of prose and poetry, but such forms continue to exist,
even strictly, for some. Passion and commitment to change motivate Wordsworth, and using
literature as a means to effect change can be understood and appreciated in a democratic society
that values free expression. If readers do not actively judge the writers Wordsworth mentions,
they can value him for his openness and ability to take risks in his opinions.
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads | Quotes
1.
Several of my friends are anxious for the success of these Poems ... and ... have advised me to
prefix a systematic defense of the theory.
Narrator
Wordsworth notes that others, most likely his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge, recognized that
the Lyrical Ballads were so different from familiar forms of poetry in the past that an explanation
would help their reception and sales.
2.
There would be something like impropriety in abruptly obtruding upon the public ... poems so
materially different.
Narrator
Wordsworth believed he (together with Coleridge) had entered new and different terrain from
what the English reading public was familiar with. He apologizes for such newness and hopes he
will encourage more readers to try to follow his work.
3.
The principal object ... in these Poems was to choose incidents and situations from common
life ... in a selection of language really used by men.
Narrator
This is the heart of Wordsworth's Preface. The poet bases his theory for the type of poetry he
wants to create on the actual lives of ordinary people living at that time, not on classical models.
He says his diction—word choice and vocabulary—will come from the common people, too,
filtered through him.
4.
Humble and rustic life was generally chosen because ... the passions of the heart ... can attain
their maturity ... and speak a plainer and more emphatic language.
Narrator
Wordsworth relies on the simple truths of nature and claims to find them in the countryside
rather than in the city. He is not interested in the faster and more diversified state of urban life.
He prefers straightforward and sometimes one-dimensional situations in which truths may
emerge without ambiguities.
5.
Such a language, arising out of repeated experience and regular feelings, is a more
permanent, and a far more philosophical language.
Narrator
Wordsworth rejects poets of the past who realistically record their own experiences in elevated
language that is artificial, capricious (fickle), and arbitrary. Such language has little or nothing to
do with the event. Wordsworth aims to express the permanent meanings of natural truths.
6.
Causes, unknown to former times ... blunt ... discriminating powers of the mind ... and reduce
it to savage torpor ... Great national events ... are daily taking place, and the increasing
accumulating of men in cities.
Narrator
Wordsworth rejects the pressures of urbanization, mass events, and confusing communications.
These sentiments typify his reaction to growing industrialization and the shift from rural to urban
life. He issues a call for the literature he would like to create: a literature of the common people
and common needs. The Preface is his hope for action—to live simply, avoid urbanization, and
communicate through emotion and imagination.
7.
My purpose was to imitate, and as far as it is possible, to adopt the very language of men.
Narrator
Wordsworth rejects the standard "poetic diction" of elevated language, figures of speech, and
personifications using false phraseology. He hopes to achieve this purpose with no falsehoods of
language, clichés, and emptiness. He aims for good, honest poetry and good sense in a language
all can understand.
8.
Some of the most interesting parts of the best poems will be found to be strictly the language
of prose when prose is well-written.
Narrator
Wordsworth devotes much attention to proving for his readers that the old distinctions between
prose and traditional poetry are not valid. He prefers simple, rhymed poetry rather than the
forced diction of meter, which has characterized so much of poetry in the past. He finds no
essential differences between good prose and good poetry when the language and content of both
aspire to the common good and truth.
9.
Poetry sheds no tears "such as Angels weep," but natural and human tears ... the same
human blood circulates through the veins of them both.
Narrator
As an example, Wordsworth criticizes the poetic language of John Milton as being unnatural and
forced, not the common images people know from their own lives. Like prose, poetry will not be
true and moral in regard to life if it uses such expressions. It will merely follow meter and
form—the opposites of good prose and poetry both. Wordsworth reiterates his belief that diction
should not distinguish poetry from prose.
10.
It shall appear to some that my labor is unnecessary, and that I am like a man fighting a
battle without enemies.
Narrator
Wordsworth knows his struggle to gain acceptance for the type of poetry he is writing may seen
futile. Most people are unaware of the false excesses of the past and don't object to them because
they associate them with poetic tradition. Wordsworth thinks he has the unenviable task of
breaking through and revealing more honest and meaningful expressive powers. Recognizing
many readers will not see the sense of his commitment to a different approach, he wants to
introduce a new value system for all literature and at best is unsure how—and if— his ideas will
be understood or accepted.
11.
The Man of science seeks truth ... in his solitude. The Poet sing[s] a song in which all human
beings join with him.
Narrator
Wordsworth makes many sharp contrasts in the Preface. One of the most memorable juxtaposes
the solitary new man of science, whose impact on humanity is presumed to be solitary. In
contrast, the poet lives among the people, listening to and repeating their language. The idea of
solitary science without connection to ordinary lives dates from a time when sciences, as modern
times know them, were young.
12.
The poet is chiefly distinguished from other men by a greater promptness to think and feel ...
and a greater power in expressing such thoughts.
Narrator
Poetry, Wordsworth states, is the spontaneous expression of feelings that must be reflected on to
express human truths. Not all men reflect with equal talent, however. As a poet, Wordsworth
believes that the ability to reflect rapidly and truthfully is what makes the poet one with people
and yet apart as a creator.
13.
Poets do not write for Poets alone, but for men ... [a poet] must express himself as other men
express themselves.
Narrator
Wordsworth has in mind for himself, and for others who may be inspired by his Preface, the task
of being among the people and also somehow separate. His passions are the same as those of
others, and he must use the language of others. But at the same time, he refines and shapes it and,
in his special role, leads his readers toward a better sense of what is moral and significant in life.
14.
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion
recollected in tranquility.
Narrator
Wordsworth bases his theory of poetry on strong and universal emotions. These feelings may be
experienced to the fullest when the poet is undistracted. Wordsworth encourages quiet
contemplation of the emotion until the time for thought ends and composing the poem begins.
This way, the poet can best recapture the original emotion. Although it may be long gone by this
time, the poet makes it alive again.
15.
Of two descriptions ... well executed, the one in ... verse will be read a hundred times where
the prose is read once.
Narrator
Wordsworth emphasizes the basic connection of good poetry and good prose. But he himself
continues to write poetry because it offers him more opportunities in language and more
creativity. He greatly admires honest prose writing but is convinced poetry will endure longer
and be more meaningful over time.
Preface to Shakespeare by Samuel Johnson Summary
Samuel Johnson’s preface to The Plays of Shakespeare has long been considered a classic
document of English literary criticism. In it Johnson sets forth his editorial principles and
provides an appreciative analysis of the “excellences” and “defects” of the work of the
good Elizabethan dramatist. Many of his points became fundamental tenets of recent criticism;
others give greater insight into Johnson’s prejudices than into Shakespeare’s genius.
The resonant prose of the preface adds authority to the views of its author.
Perhaps no other document exhibits the character of eighteenth-century literary criticism better
than what’s commonly referred to as Johnson’s Preface to Shakespeare. Written after Johnson
had spent nine years laboring to supply an edition of Shakespeare’s plays, the Preface to
Shakespeare is characterized by sweeping generalizations about the dramatist’s work and by
stunning pronouncements about its merits, judgments that elevated Shakespeare to the
highest spot among European writers of any century. At times, Johnson displays the tendency of
his contemporaries to fault Shakespeare for his propensity for wordplay and for ignoring the
stress for just deserts in his plays; readers of subsequent generations have found these criticisms
to reflect the inadequacies of the critic quite they are doing those of the dramatist.
What sets Johnson’s work aside from that of his contemporaries, however, is that the immense
learning that lies beneath numerous of his judgments; he consistently displays his familiarity
with the texts, and his generalizations are rooted in specific passages from the dramas. Further,
Johnson is that the first among the good Shakespeare critics to worry the playwright’s sound
understanding of attribute. Johnson’s specialize in character analysis initiated a critical trend that
might be dominant in Shakespeare’s criticism (in fact, all of dramatic criticism) for quite a
century and would cause the good work of critics like Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lamb, and A. C.
Bradley.
The significance of the Preface to Shakespeare, however, goes beyond its contributions to
Shakespeare scholarship. First, it’s the foremost significant application of a critical principle that
Johnson espoused consistently which has become a staple of the practice since a comparison. His
systematic plan to measure Shakespeare against others, both classical and contemporary, became
the model. Second, the Preface to Shakespeare exemplifies Johnson’s belief that good
criticism is often produced only after a good scholarship has been practiced. The critic who
wishes to gauge an author’s originality or an author’s contributions to the tradition must first
practice sound literary reading and research to know what has been borrowed and what has been
invented.
Characteristically, Johnson makes his Shakespeare criticism the inspiration for general
statements about people, nature, and literature. he’s a real classicist in his concern with the
universal instead of with the particular; the very best praise he can bestow upon Shakespeare
is to mention that his plays are “just representations of general nature.” The dramatist has relied
upon his knowledge of attribute, instead of on bizarre effects, for his success. “The pleasures of
sudden wonder are soon exhausted, and therefore the mind can only rest on the steadiness of
truth,” Johnson concludes. it’s for this reason that Shakespeare has outlived his century and
reached the purpose at which his works are often judged solely on their own merits, without the
interference of private interests and prejudices that make criticism of one’s contemporaries
difficult.
Johnson feels that the readers of his time can often understand the universality of Shakespeare’s
vision better than the audiences of Elizabethan England could, for the intervening centuries have
freed the plays of their topicality.
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