"Prometheus Unbound" and Shelley's Prefatory Defense Against Critics
Joe Bohn ENG344W-01 Prof. Hubbell December 5, 2000 "Prometheus Unbound" and Shelley's Prefatory Defense Against Critics Towards the end of the 18th century, Great Britain experienced an unprecedented influx of innovation: the hydraulic printing press, gas lighting, steam-powered mills, optical glass and the first electric battery. Amidst all of this progress, authors found it increasingly feasible to publish their own literary works for mass consumption. Yet, while they were now able to make their works more readily accessible to the public, they were now also faced with the dilemma of having to choose a specific audience. And if this wasn't troubling enough, the author was now to be held accountable by literary critics with respect to any content, which could remotely be regarded as upsetting, radical or offensive. Authors like William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Shelley were at the mercy of critics who were bent on politicizing any literary work and slandering authors at the slightest hint of a political agenda. Percy Shelley, in particular, attempted to defend himself the Preface of his Aeschylean epic drama, Prometheus Unbound, with anticipation of the critic's narrow-mindedness, ready to denounce any legitimacy to their claims (MM 1407-1409) Perhaps, it's best to begin discussing Shelley's defensiveness by looking to and contrasting him with his
Predominately within Keats poetry one must indeed note the antithetic relationships between reality and ideals, rationality and imagination, physical sensations and logical reasoning.
Predominately within Keats poetry one must indeed note the antithetic relationships between reality and ideals, rationality and imagination, physical sensations and logical reasoning. The conflict between beauty and sensation and the clarity of intellect and reason was felt keenly by Keats, to whom true perception was the purity of sensation, free of any intellectual restrictions. Keat's was not simply a poet who longed for a life of sensation rather than thought, but was a man who desired sensation rather than the factual truth. To Keats the sensual imagination was the core of experience and unlike intellectual analysis, it was the abject imagination that brought intensity to all things; "...the imagination has pleasures more airy and luminous than those of sense, more massive and rapturous than those of the intelligence of the pure intellectuals who hunger after truth." (George Santayana quoted in 'Introduction to Keats' William Walsh 1991, Meuthuen Press, Pg 78) Yet in ordinary life Keats could not be described as a sensual person, content with the privations and life of a hermit he maintained in the world. Keats was a platonic poet to whom ideas and abstractions were his life, having a lucid perception of essences and sensations. Furthermore, Keats concept of imagination as a power closely associated with sensation, intuition and a visionary insight; "apprehended a
How does Blake convey his thoughts and feelings towards the treatment of children in the England of his day? In your answer, either make detailed references to one or two poems or range widely across the Songs:
How does Blake convey his thoughts and feelings towards the treatment of children in the England of his day? In your answer, either make detailed references to one or two poems or range widely across the Songs: Because his life spanned an era of such profound change it is impossible to separate the works of Blake from the political and social climate within which they were produced. In conjunction with his views towards the political and social state of Britain at the time, Blake's poetry also draws on his personal views towards the state and influence of organised religion within British society in the 18th century. Many aspects of this political and social climate within which he lived were related, directly or otherwise, to the treatment of Children by those in positions of authority, towards which Blake held strong views that are supported by many of his poems from 'Songs'. The evidence that Blake was incredibly affected by the political and industrial changes happening around him is patent when a comparison of his 'Songs of Innocence' and 'Songs of Experience' is made. For instance, through the comparing and contrasting of 'Nurse's Song' in Innocence and Experience, Blake's changing views towards the treatment of children within society can be clearly detected. Symbolising childhood as a particular state of mind; one open to enjoyment and new experiences, through
Original writing coursework
Furness abbey The Abbey was busy. Children running around everywhere, noise, sound all around. Guides were showing round groups of rowdy tourists from all countries eager to see the sights of the beautiful wrecked monastery. Every Language flying round in the air like bees buzzing round a hive, all proclaiming the same thing in there own tongue. The fact that the monastery was so beautiful. Everywhere there were people and children. All the words were indistinguishable, just becoming one of many that rose up like a great cry to the heavens. The abbey was like a bright and vibrant tear in the tranquil and peaceful countryside. No animals were to be seen amongst the stonewalls some so high and beautifully adorned that you wondered whether you were still in the north west of England, or whether you were in another world of pure beauty. Others were so meagre and ruined that it was impossible to see how they could have been walls at all. All of nature looked dulled in comparison with the vibrancy of the abbey. Here it was clear that humans had total and complete control and Mother Nature had no power. The sun was high in the sky shining brightly overhead bearing down with hot burning fingers piercing the skin and tearing at the flesh within. A slow stream snaked lazily round a bend, licking the corners but never quite touching them it seemed. Then the stream rose up to meet
Comparison of Wordsworth and Malouf.
Wordsworth and Malouf In the poems of Wordsworth and the novel An Imaginary Life by David Malouf, the theme of gaining understanding of our environment through actively engaging with it is a central one. Through William Wordsworth's Romantic poetry and David Malouf's 'An Imaginary Life', I have been able to compare and contrast the ways in which each composer evaluates the wild and draws an understanding about the relationships of humanity to the world. Malouf's prose fiction is written as an interior monologue comprising of no dialogue, which aids us in identifying completely with the narrator, accepting his ideas and his perspective. Wordsworth, representative of his 19th century Romantic literary context reflects in his language the rural, harmonious landscape and the inspirational, spiritual presence in solitary rambling of childhood. In An Imaginary Life, the author takes its protagonist the Roman poet, Ovid to exile from Rome, the centre of culture at the time, to the extreme bleak wilderness at Thomis. Cut off from civilization in an alien landscape, Malouf's truncated description of nature 'No flower. No fruit' emphasizes the emptiness of the land. It is through this exile that Ovid undergoes many changes which eventually lead him to an enlightened state of oneness with nature. Without language, Ovid is lost, a child who has to relearn "Will I have to learn
“Songs of innocence” and “Songs of experience”
William Blake was born in 1757 in London and died in 1827. Some of his most famous are in two volumes of poetry-"songs of innocence" and "songs of experience". "Songs of innocence" written in (1789); were written for children, easy to understand, very simple vocabulary, simple verses, ideal, happy and optimistic. "Songs of experience" written in (1794); had more difficult ideas and vocabulary, pessimistic, realistic and sad. Blake's world was transformed by the "Industrial Revolution". Children worked in mines/factories/up chimney's etc. In the 18th century people were encouraged to accept their role in life by promising a reward of a better life after death providing they are good whilst living on earth. Blake did not share this view at all! Blake did six poems three where "songs of innocence" and the other three were "songs of experience" and all six were made as three pairs each pair consisting of one "songs of Innocence" poem and one "songs of experience" poem. The pairs were as follows:- "Songs of innocence" "Songs of experience" ) Infant Joy Infant Sorrow (Babyhood) 2) Nurses Song Nurses Song (Childhood pre-work) 3) The Chimney Sweeper The Chimney sweeper (Work) In Blake poetry we have studied 6 poems "Infant Joy", "Nurses Song" and "The Chimney Sweep". All these have two separate poems but with the same title the difference between the
Write about two pairs of poems from "Songs of Experience" and "Songs of Innocence" highlighting their differences and showing how these are made clear through Blake's poetic techniques
Write about two pairs of poems from "Songs of Experience" and "Songs of Innocence" highlighting their differences and showing how these are made clear through Blake's poetic techniques In order to complete this coursework I have chosen two contrasting pairs of poems to explain. Two poems will be taken from Blake's "Songs of Experience" while the other two from Blake's "Songs of Innocence." The poems that I have chosen have contrasts amongst themselves. The first poem I have decided to write about is the, "Tiger" and the "Lamb". "The Tiger" is a poem that has no obvious speaker. One can only guess whom the reader maybe, this is because the writer has written it in the third person. When reading the poem one can clearly tell that poem is written in rhyming couplets were the first two lines and the last two lines of each verse tend to rhyme. Tiger! Tiger burning bright In the forests of the night, This is the first line of the poem. The first line is a comparison to the skin and the eye of the tiger, which are known to be incredibly bright and be able to glow throughout the night. What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? The writer by saying, 'What immortal hand or eye' is trying to say that what great being, i.e. God, is able to create an animal of such fear and destruction. The writer has also used the word 'Symmetry' to symbolise the symmetrical
How do poets use the theme of nature in their poems?
How do poets use the theme of nature in their poems? I chose the poem Storm on the Island by Heaney, October by Clarke and Patrolling Barnegat by Whitman from the pre-1914 poetry bank. These three poems are all linked by a central theme of natural destruction, storms and nature. The three poems consisted of many of the same details and descriptions of the storms and each poem had a unique section to that poem. How each of the poems was written was relatively similar and all three poets had used metaphors with two of them using personification. The purpose of October and Patrolling Barnegat are very similar, but Storm on the Island is quite different. All of the poets also use sympathetic background or pathetic fallacy. What is said in the poem is very similar. All three poems have lots of description, such as in Storm on the Island, "...exploding comfortably down on the cliffs," and in October, "...dead arm in the bright trees." At the end of Storm on the Island, Heaney writes about fear and this gives us an insight into the purpose of the poem. In October there is a very vivid description of the scene, "Wind in the poplars and a broken branch..." and this sets the scene very well for the reader, and gives them a very good picture inside their head. The experience that Clarke has when she knows that her friend is dead brings her to write an excellent poem that captures her
Are we observers or participants in this world?
Are we observers or participants in this world? The natural world is defined as everything that we see around us, nature and animals, as well as the people that we live and interact with. Even though, many people see themselves apart from nature and merely as passive observers, others believe that all humans are active participants and are a part of this whole that we call nature. Many people view nature as being apart from them, a separate organism by itself, with no connection to the whole. The vision of this paradox is what blinds them from seeing that we are as a part of nature as the nature is a part of us. These "observers" define nature as only the natural world and the animals, but it is much more than that. Humans are also considered to be an element of this big whole. For instance, Stephen Jay Gould in his essay "Women's Brains" sees women as not being part of the whole or the nature. He sees the role of women in being beautiful, bearing children and performing any number of "feminine" or "house-work" tasks. He draws a clear line between "masculine" and "feminine," and puts them into separate, binary spheres. He promotes and supports his view in quoting Topinard: "The man...who is constantly active in combating the environment and human rivals, needs more brain that the woman, who [is] lacking any interior occupations, whose role is to raise children, love and
Interpretation of "Twilight" by Byron
Interpretation of Byron's Twilight by E. Yanduganova, 1085 ) Structure According to its structure, the poem is a sonnet. It may be formally divided into three quatrains and a distich, so that it resembles a Shakespearean sonnet. However, Renaissance sonnets were traditionally written in 5 feet iamb, while the Twilight is written in tetrameter. If Byron did draw from that tradition, he must have taken into consideration the sonnet 145, which is the only one to have a 4 feet meter. Those lips that Love's own hand did make, Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate', To me that languished for her sake: But when she saw my woeful state, Straight in her heart did mercy come, Chiding that tongue that ever sweet Was used in giving gentle doom; And taught it thus anew to greet; 'I hate' she altered with an end, That followed it as gentle day, Doth follow night, who like a fiend From heaven to hell is flown away. 'I hate', from hate away she threw, And saved my life, saying 'not you'. Not taking into account the debates about this sonnet, we state that it has to do with lovers' vows, which have an unstable nature. It also makes use of the images of day and night, where day is seen as bliss for the lover, and night as a time of misery, a popular Renaissance custom. However, the Twilight's structure is more complicated than that. Indeed, the first quatrain is easily