Looks like no one added any tags here yet for you.
American exceptionalism
(cf john Winthrop)
belief at the founding of settlements in the mid- 17th century, that americans were going to form an exemplary society, different from the rest of the world
Autonomy of literature
E.A. Poe
wanted to create art for artâs sake
was against the big national narratives of the time
Byronic hero
archromantic character, invented by Lord Byron
restless and brave
but moody and dark
(ex. Victor Frankenstein)
Cetology
= the study of whales
Moby Dick is not about cetology
Civil disobedience
from âresistance to civil governmentâ by Thoreau
if the law tells you to do unjust things, break the law
Closet-play
play that is only meant to be read
ex. âPrometheus unboundâ by Percy Shelley
colorless all-color of atheism
the idea that we are alone here on earth, that there is nothing beyond this life right here right now
(moby dick, chapter âthe whiteness of the whaleâ)
Cult of beauty
beauty is truth, truth is beauty
feature of romanticism (relating to subjective worldview)
Dark romanticism
a subgenre of romanticism, with more attention to the macabre and the violent
(ex. Wuthering Heights - Emily BrontĂŤ)
Direct discourse
from âhandbook of narrative analysisâ by Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck
= quotation of a characterâs communication
Discourse
from âhandbook of narrative analysisâ by Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck
= written or spoken communication or debate
Epistolary novel
novel shaped as a series of letters
ex. what Jane Austen initially intented âPride and Prejudiceâ to be (aka âfirst impressionsâ)
Esemplastic power
Coleridge âbiographia literariaâ:
imagination, creativity
External focalisation
from âhandbook of narrative analysisâ by Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck
= when a heterodiegetic narrator is describing what is happening, not inside minds
Fancy
Coleridge âbiographia literariaâ:
= what writers can do, associative power (no need for creativity)
Features of romanticism
emancipation of the individual
artistic
political
subjective worldview
insistence on personal feelings
exploration of the mind and soul
cult of beauty
obsession with death
attitudes toward time (past - present - future)
attitudes toward space (indoor - outdoor)
Focalisation
from âhandbook of narrative analysisâ by Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck
= the relation between the object and subject of perception
Free indirect discourse
(popularised by Jane Austen)
= a narrator presenting a characters words as if they were the narratorâs own
from âhandbook of narrative analysisâ by Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck
= a blend between direct discourse and indirect discourse
Great American Novel
after american civil war
trying to tie the nation back together, in culture and in literature
could be Moby Dick (Melville) or the scarlet letter (Hawthorne)
Heterodiegetic narrator
narrator stands outside of the story
in the case of âpride and prejudiceâ: the heterodiegetic narrator crawls in and out of the charactersâ minds as they are trying to understand the world around them
Indirect discourse
from âhandbook of narrative analysisâ by Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck
= paraphrasing what a character says
Infinite I am
Coleridge âbiographia literariaâ:
eternal act of creation, eternal unfolding of the world around us
we cannot fully understand the ongoing creation, but the mind/primary imagination allows us to make an impression
Internal focalisation
from âhandbook of narrative analysisâ by Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck
= when a narrator crawls into minds of characters or when a character is narrating
King Cotton
90% of cotton was made in the south of the US around the late 18th and early 19th century
=> âthis country is ruled by king cottonâ
Lyceum movement
19th century phenomenon of speakers travelling the East Coast of the US, renting themselves out to speak on any topic they wanted to
ex. Ralph Waldo Emerson
Manifest destiny
= The idea that white Americans were divinely ordained to settle the entire continent of North America
Mind forgâd manacles
From William Blake - London
we have rationalised ourselves into slavery
reflecting ideas from Jan-Jacques Rousseau - âle contrat socialâ
âman is born free, but everywhere he is in chainsâ
Monomania
= being overly focused on one goal
(ex. Ahab in Moby Dick)
Mutability
âMutabilityâ by Percy Shelley
idea of transit and change
self is not a solid thing, it is constantly changing, like clouds
we might feel entirely different when waking, depending on our dreams
change is the only constant in life
âMy name is Ozymandias, King of Kings; look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair"!â
Ozymandias (1818) by Percy Byssche Shelley
one of the most important romantic quotes
Negative Capability
John Keats
= something poetry should evoke in a man
let reader experience it, not explain
Noble savage
idea from Rousseau, reflected in âthe world is too much with usâ by Wordsworth
more âprimitiveâ people are more in touch with nature
pagan natural religion
Novel of manners
= genre that explores how people in certain social circles behave
sees characters as a kind of micro-cosmos
popular since romantic period
(ex. Jane Austens novels)
Poetic âgeniusâ
Coleridge âbiographia literariaâ:
(paraphrase:) to combine the childâs sensE of wonder with things that years of life have turned familiar
considers Wordsworth a genius, what a poet should be
Poetry (capital P)
poetry as it should be (Wordsworth)
poetry = âthe spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquilityâ
Poetry (Percy Shelley)
In âa defence of poetryâ (1821)
= the very image of life expressed in its eternal truth
Primary imagination
Coleridge, âBiographia literariaâ:
the world out there is what we perceive in our mind
Romanticism
In UK: 1780s - 1830
In US: later: begins around 1850
purely academic temr, applied to writers in hindsight
originated in Germany (ex. Goethe)
romantics are good at writing about writing
belief that imagination could heal or kill
romantics = writers of extreme emotion
(in US:) focus on democracy
Scriveners
= legal scribes
Secondary imagination
Coleridge, âBiographia literariaâ:
echo of the primary imagination
creative interpretation of the primary imagination that you can control
Sonnet
poem with 14 lines, in English typically 10 syllables per line
ex Ozymandias by Percy Byssche Shelley
Sublime
something so astonishing that itâs impossible to put into words, overwhelmingly terrific
an experience beyond reason, inspires terror, wonder and awe, and fills the mind with a âdelightful horrorâ
The American Renaissance
1830s-1850s
much later than British Romanticism
main theme: what is democracy?
The natural poet
from âto a skylarkâ - Percy Shelley
Skylark: songbird, doesnât even need to think about what art to make
The poetic principle
E.A. Poe:
there is not better poetry than âthe poem written for the poemâs sakeâ
The universe (according to Emerson)
in ânatureâ (1836)
= the soul & nature (nature = everything that isnât you)
Theory of Mind
attempting to understand other people by ascribing mental states or emotions to them
Tormented poet
ex. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, E.A. Poe
idea of âpoète mauditâ (Baudelaire)
poet who lives in pain and frustration with the world, with art, with people
Transcendentalism
belated romanticism in VS
The idealistic system of thought based on a belief in the essential unity of all creation, the innate goodness of humanity, and the supremacy of insight over logic and experience for the revelation of the deepest truths.
focus on selfhood/subjectivity/nonconformity
Unity of effect
E.A. Poe: âphilosophy of compositionâ:
length (about 100 lines)
beauty (a contemplation of the beautiful which excites the soul)
tone (melancholy = âthe most legitimate of all poetical tonesâ)
keynote (refrain, ex. ânevermoreâ)
topic (âthe death [âŚ] of a beautiful womanâ)
originality (it needs to be serious enough for the reader to experience all this, yet âfantasticâ)
= algorithm that guarantees writing good poetry
Variable focalisation
from âhandbook of narrative analysisâ by Luc Herman and Bart Vervaeck
= switching between external focalisation and internal focalisation