lit wykład

the age of sensibility

• pre-romanticism

• turn to sentiment and feeling; spontaneity and sensibility

• freedom of expression

• turn to nature (as response to industrialization)

• American (1775) and French (1789) Revolutions shatter the existing state of things; new ideas begin spreading – the equality of men and the rights of men

• “to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” (American Declaration of Independence)

romanticism

• re-eveluation of the nature of art and the role of the artist in society

• placing emotion and intuition before (or at least on an equal footing with) reason;

• a belief that there are crucial areas of experience neglected by the rational mind;

• a belief in the general importance of the individual, the personal and the subjective

• critique of the faith in progress and rationality

romanticism as an intellectual trend

• literature, paintings, music, architecture

• rejection of order, calm, harmony, balance, rationality, materialism

• emphasis on the individual, subjective, imaginative, personal, spontaneous, emotional, visionary, transcendental aspects

• appreciation of nature

• emotion>reason

• senses>intellect

• focus on the self

• human personality, moods, feelings

• focus on the hero

• imagination a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth

• folk culture

• interest in medieval era

• exoti, remote, mysterious, weird, monstrous, satanic themes

romanticism started with

lyrical ballads (Wordsworth and Coleridge)

1st phase of english romantic poetry

Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake

2nd phase of english romantic poetry

Keats, Byron, Shelley

Key female romantic poets (5)

• Charlotte Smith - elegiac sonnets

• Mary Robinson - pen name Sappho

• Felicia Hemans - records of woman

• Joanna Baillie

• Letitia Elizabeth Landon

Romantic poetry

the source of poetry lies in the particular, unique experience; the poet is a godlike being; poetry should be spontaneous, sincere, intense

William Wordsworth

• orphan

• wanted to relate “situations from common life” in “language really used by men” embodying “the spontaneous overflow of feelings…recollected in tranquillity” (from "Preface" to Lyrical Ballads)

• spent his summer vacation in 1790 on a walking tour through revolutionary France

Gothic revival

interest in medieval gothic architecture led to the gothic revival in england

the gothic novel (gothic romance)

popular in the 18th to early 19th centuries, characterized by an atmosphere of mystery and horror and having a pseudo-medieval setting

castle of otranto np

regency period (1811-1820)

• named after george (prince regent), the temporary king of gb

• jane austen

• Society in the times of Jane Austen: class divisions, poverty, money, marriage and courtship, daily walks, balls, letter writing, visits and revisits

Pantheism

nature and God are indistinguishable

Kant

intuition and instinct

Schlegel

all art has its sources in Hellenic culture

Preface to the lyrical ballads

• conception of the nature and origin of poetry,

• “poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”

Two ways of creating poetry

• spontaneous creation, poetic vision

• recollection of an emotion and contemplation of it, the motivation of a remembrance

Tintern abbey

tranquil recollection, contemplative poem, relation which makes it a moral world, intellectual autobiography, epic of the man of feeling, analysis of his creative development

Jane Austen - Pride and prejudice

• witty social commentary and domestic realism

• Her novels brilliantly satirise marriage, class, and morality

• subtle critique of societal expectations, particularly the limited roles available to women

• Austen bridged reason and emotion with social realism

• domestic novel

Walter Scott - Waverley, Ivanhoe

• revolutionised literature by blending historical accuracy with compelling narrative fiction

• Scottish history and medieval romance to mass audiences, establishing the historical novel as a literary form

• embraced Romantic historical imagination

• historical epics

Mary Shelley

• matka jej umarła jak ją urodziła więc w książkach pisała o nowym życiu np frankenstein i potworek

• Galvanism - the generation of electric current by chemical action (in frankenstein spark of new life)

• Frankenstein responded to contemporary scientific debates, critiquing the potential dangers of unchecked scientific ambition during the Industrial Revolution

• emphasis on emotion, nature and the supernatural

• gothic/sci-fi novel, philosophical novel

women’s role in novels in romanticism

• Austen - subtle exploration of constrained societal roles

• Shelly - exploration of creation, responsibility, maternal absence

• Scott - women are toys to amuse xddddd coś tam że ambition najważniejsze w życiu

Victorian age 1820-1914

• britain - the most powerful empire in the world

• stable gov

• social reform, administrative changes

• growing number of people able to vote (not women)

• class-based society

• industrial revoluton - england becomes the first industrialized country

• technological advancement, e.g. rail network

• exploitation and poverty (slave, child labour) due to rapid industrialization

• conflicts in colonies

science in the Victorian age

• the sciences began to determine cultural perspectives; the central position of the individual (cf. Romanticism) changes into focus on anonymous society, anonymous class, anonymous humanity

• Darwin, Marx, Livingstone

doctrine of separate spheres

men and women are different and are meant for different things

• men - physically strong, sex was central, independent

• women - physically weak, reproduction was central, dependent

Education in the Victorian age

women must have a knowledge of music, singing, drawing, dancing, modern language, how to behave

victorian stereotype of society

• prudish, conservative

• focus on morality and religion

• rules and conventions

however:

• prostitution and venereal diseases

• poverty, crime and violence

sports in victorian age

• cricket, cycling, croquet, horse-riding, water activites, tennis

entertainment in the victorian age

• literature

• music

• theatre and opera

• clubs (for gentlemens)

• circus

• study of birds, butterflies, seashells, beetles, wildflowers

• seances

• middle-class victorians visited the seaside thanks to trains

major characteristics of victorian literature

• realism and social commentary

• moral purpose and earnestness (didactic)

• rise of the novel

• scientific and religious conflict

• description and symbolism

• idealization of women

• gothic elements and sentimentality

themes in victorian literature

• industrialization and urbanization

• social class and reform

• conflict between science and faith

• gender roles and female experience

• imperialism and british identity

Charles Dickens

• began writing as a reporter

• use of hyperbole and caricature

• theatricality and storytelling

• the city as a character

• the vulnerable childs

• failure of institutions

• serial publication and cliffhangers

• psychological realism and guilt

Charlotte Bronte themes

•Female Agency & Independence: Her protagonists are typically plain, working-class governesses who assert their intellectual and moral equality with wealthy, patriarchal figures.

•Inner Psychology: The novels focus heavily on intense emotional interiority and moral choices.

blending gothic elements with intense romanticism and social critique

Emily Bronte themes

• Passion vs. Society: Explores wild, destructive, and all-consuming passions that transcend societal morals.

• Nature & Class: Uses the stark landscape of the moors as a reflection of human nature, alongside severe examinations of poverty and social exclusion.

• Complex narrative structures, unreiable narrators = morally ambiguous look at human nature, love, revenge

frame narrative in wuthering heights

• The story is a nested narrative, told through a series of "boxes" or layers.

• Lockwood: The outermost narrator. He is an urban outsider who misunderstands the rural, wild world of the moors, making him unreliable.

• Nelly Dean: The housekeeper who tells the core story. While deeply knowledgeable, she is biased, manipulative, and frequently judges the characters, forcing readers to question her version of events.

• This multi-layered storytelling distances the reader from the action. It forces the audience to actively piece together the truth about Heathcliff and Catherine's toxic bond.

Anne Bronte (Agnes Grey, tenant of Wildfell Hall) themes

•Realism: Her works eschew romanticized ideals to provide a brutally honest look at Victorian realities, specifically the hardships of working-class governesses.

•Social Reform: She tackled highly progressive, scandalous themes for her time, including marital abuse, alcoholism, and the legal subjugation of women.

Tenant of Wildfell hall - first true feminist novel (direct assault on partriarchal laws)

Brontes and blending elements from two literary eras

•The Gothic Tradition: They adapted 18th-century Gothic tropes (haunted houses, dark secrets, madness) into everyday Victorian settings.

•The Romantic Movement: Their focus on raw emotion, individualism, and the sublime power of nature directly mirrors Romantic philosophy.

VictorianRealism:Despite their romanticism, they offered gritty social critiques regarding class, institutional abuse, and economic inequality

Governess novel (Jane Eyre, Agnes Grey)

•The "Governess Problem": Middle-class women who lost their wealth had few respectable employment options. The governess role was highly precarious.

•Liminal Status: Governesses occupied an awkward social space. They were too educated to be treated like servants, but too poor to be treated as equals by their employers.

•Literary Function: The sisters used the governess figure as an insider-outsider lens to expose the hypocrisy, vanity, and moral decay of the wealthy upper class.

Tone in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Tenant of Wildfell Hall

• Jane - passionate, moral, psychological

• Wuthering - mythic, elemental, dark

• Tenant - realistic, didactic, bold

View of nature in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Tenant of Wildfell Hall

• Jane - mirror of inner psychological states

• Wuthering - wild, spiritual force of freedom

• Tenant - backdrop to human moral struggles

Religious view in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Tenant of Wildfell Hall

• Jane - critical of hypocrisy; values personal faith

• Wuthering - mystical, rejects traditional dogma

• Tenant - deeply christian, advocates universal salvation

Feminist focus in Jane Eyre, Wuthering Heights, Tenant of Wildfell Hall

• Jane - emotional and intellectual equality

• Wuthering - equality of soul and passion

• Tenant - legal, financial and marital rights

George Eliot

• Really Mary Ann Evans

• psychological realism and moral complexity

• educated, which was uncommon for women of her era

Eliot’s works

•Adam Bede (1859)

•The Mill on the Floss (1860)

•Silas Marner (1861)

•Middlemarch (1871–72)

•Daniel Deronda (1876)

Themes in Eliot’s Writing

•Moral responsibility and ethics

•Social class and gender expectations

•Religion and doubt

•Human relationships and personal growth

•Realism and psychological depth

Middlemarch (Eliot)

•Explores interconnected lives in a provincial town

•Focuses on ambition, marriage, politics, and reform

•Praised for its realism and insight into human nature

Eliot’s Legacy

•George Eliot challenged literary and social conventions

•Her novels combine emotional insight with social critique

•Influenced modern psychological fiction

The Aesthetic Movement

•Promoted the idea of ‘art for art’s sake’

•Beauty and artistic expression valued above morality

•Wilde became a leading spokesperson for aestheticism

•His lifestyle and writing reflected artistic elegance

The Picture of Dorian Gray

•Wilde’s only novel

•Explores vanity, corruption, and morality

•Combines gothic fiction with philosophical ideas

•Criticized Victorian hypocrisy and obsession with appearance

Oscar Wilde’s Plays

•Known for sparkling dialogue and satire

•Mocked Victorian manners and social conventions

•Focused on themes of identity, marriage, and class

Themes in Wilde’s Writing

•Beauty and art

•Hypocrisy of Victorian society

•Dual identity and secrecy

•Love, morality, and individual freedom

•Humor and social satire

Trial and Imprisonment Oscar Wilde

•Tried in 1895 for ‘gross indecency’

•Imprisoned for two years

•Lived in exile in France after prison

•Experienced financial and personal hardship

•Died in Paris in 1900

•Buried in Père Lachaise Cemetery

Legacy Oscar Wilde

•Oscar Wilde challenged Victorian values through satire and art

•Influenced modern comedy

•He is remembered for both literary brilliance and personal courage