Literatura inglesa by UNMSM-PROLEX

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Yony Cárdenas Cornelio

FACULTAD DE EDUCACIÓN DECANO Dr. Carlos Barriga Hernández DIRECTORA ACADÉMICA Dra. Elsa Barrientos Jiménez DIRECTOR ADMINISTRATIVO Prof. Enrique Pérez Zevallos PROGRAMA DE LICENCIATURA PARA PROFESORES SIN TÍTULO PEDAGÓGICO EN LENGUA EXTRANJERA DIRECTORA Mg. María Emperatriz Escalante López COMITÉ DIRECTIVO Dra. Edith Reyes de Rojas Lic. Walter Gutiérrez Gutiérrez Yony Cárdenas Cornelio Literatura Inglesa: Británica Serie: Textos para el Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera Primera edición Lima, marzo de 2009 ©

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Facultad de Educación, Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos

Av. Germán Amézaga s/n. Lima 1, Ciudad Universitaria UNMSM - Pabellón Administrativo de la Facultad de Educación - 2.º piso, oficina 203

Teléfono: 619-7000 anexos 3021, 3022 / E-mail: prog_idiomas_edu@unmsm.edu.pe

Website: www.unmsm.edu.pe/educacion/licenciatura/index.htm

Ilustración de carátula: David A. Villanueva C. Diseño, diagramación e impresión: Centro de Producción Editorial e Imprenta de la UNMSM Este libro es propiedad del Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera de la Facultad de Educación de la Universidad Nacional Mayor de San Marcos. Ninguna parte de este libro puede ser reproducida o utilizada por cualquier medio, sea éste electrónico, mecánico o cualquier otro medio inventado, sin permiso por escrito del Programa.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

CONTENIDO Introduction

9 UNIT ONE The beginnings of English Literature

1.1. Historical background of earliest England

1.2. Literature of Earliest England

1.3. A Celtic story: Cuchulain /’kʊkʊlɪn/. Analysis

1.4. An Anglo-Saxon poem: “Beowulf”. Analysis

Activity

40 UNIT TWO Medieval England

2.1. Historical background of Medieval England

2.2. Literature of Medieval England

2.3. “Sir Gawain and the Green knight”. (Author unknown). Analysis

2.4. Geoffrey Chaucer. “The Canterbury Tales”. Analysis

Activity

85 UNIT THREE The Elizabethans

3.1. Historical background of the Elizabethans Period

3.2. Literature of the Elizabethan Period

3.3. William Shakespeare. “Hamlet”. Analysis

3.4. Christopher Marlowe. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”. Analysis

110

3.5. Walter Raleigh. “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd”. Analysis

111

3.6. Benjamin Johnson. “To Celia”. Analysis.

113

3.7. Edmund Spencer. “Amoretti”. Analysis.

115

Activity

120

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

UNIT FOUR The Puritans 4. The puritans

126

4.1. Historical background of the Puritanism

128

4.2 Literature of the Puritanism

131

- John Milton. “Paradise Lost”. Analysis.

132

- John Bunyan. “The Pilgrim’s Progress”. Analysis

139

- Francis Bacon. “Of Travel” “Of Studies”. Analysis

145

Activity

158 UNIT FIVE LITERATURE OF The ClassicisM

5. The Classicists

162

5.1. Historical Background of the Classicists

162

5.2. Literature of the time

164

- Alexander Pope. (Poetry). “An essay on Criticism”. Analysis.

168

- John Dryden. “Alexander’s Feast” or “The power of the music”. Analysis.

174

- Jonathan Swift. Gulliver’s Travel (Prose). Analysis.

182

- Daniel Defoe. From Robinson Crusoe (Prose). Analysis.

192

Activity

201 UNIT SIX LITERATURE OF The Romanticism

6. The Romanticists

206

6.1. Historical background of the Romanticists

206

6.2. Literary tendencies of the Romanticism

207

- William Wordsworth. The complete poetical works. Analysis of “Lucy Gray”, “She Dwelt the Untrodden Ways”, “The solitary Reaper” and “It is Beauteous Evening”

211

- George Gordon, Lord Byron. “Maid of Athens, ere We Part” From “Adieu, Adieu¡”. “Man and Nature”

222

Activity

230

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

UNIT SEVEN The Victorians 7.1. Historical background of the Victorian Period.

236

7.2. Victorian Literature.

238

- Charles Dickens. “From David Copperfield”. “Oliver Twist”. Analysis.

241

- Emily Bronte. “The Old Stoic”. “Last Lines”. Analysis.

259

- Jane Austin: “Sense and Sensibility”. Analysis.

262

Activity

265 UNIT EIGTH Twentieth-Century England

8.1. Historical background.

270

8.2. Literature of our day.

274

- Alfred Noyes. “The highwayman”. Analysis.

278

- Thomas Hardy. “Weathers”. “The oxen”. “The man he killed”. Analysis.

281

Activity

289

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Introduction This Anthology has been designed to develop the course of British Literature in the Programme of Foreign Languages, Faculty of Education at San Marcos University. It has been designed considering the 10 years of experience teaching this course, as part of the regular subjects of English speciality in our University. We have considered some of the materials designed by our students who prepared interesting ones. We can mention Liz Patricia Rivera, César Orosco Rojas, Carmen Hidalgo Sanabria, Joel Cárdenas, Gabriela Arenas, among others This Anthology follows mainly the book designed by Nell M. Robinson and Charles F. Webb which is entitled “Literature of England “which is an excellent book because it allows lots of participation and production by part of the students. We have also considered other sources such as “An Introduction to English Literature” by Jorge Luis Borges, “A short History of English Literature” by Robert Barnard, as well as many interesting web pages and the Encyclopaedia Britannica. The book has 8 units. The first is about the Beginnings of English Literature, then The Medieval Literature, The Elizabethan’s Literature, The Puritans’ Literature, The Classicists, The romanticists, the Victorians and the Literature of the Twentieth Century England. In every unit we have selected only the most representatives masterpieces to be analysed in class. We recommend the students who are enrolled in the programme of Foreign Languages to read and develop all the questionnaires we have in each chapter so as to get into the field which is amazing and nurturing. This course also aims at training you in an engaged, informed and perceptive reading of different kinds of texts. Finding different ways of analysing literary texts, raging from style, genre-based, characters, symbols, motifs, setting etc.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

While we work in the classroom students will be evaluated considering the following aspects: 1) Ability to report concisely, both oral and in written form any of the selected pieces. 2) Prepare Charts based on the information 3) Develop transferable skills that will improve your English competence. 4) Enjoy and develop the pleasure of reading finding new ideas, concepts, feelings, ways of thinking, giving opinions, etc. 5) Indirectly improve the competence of the language. Finally this literature course aims to develop independent thought and the ability to communicate information effectively. It will also encourage you to work independently, to discover and synthesize information, and to be able to select the most relevant materials from a wide range of reading. You will also analyze complex questions, exercise problemsolving skills, organize of your own arguments, and present a coherent, reasoned and well-supported set of conclusions in clear prose. I am sure you will enjoy reading this Anthology¡

YONY CÁRDENAS CORNELIO

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

UNIT ONE

The beginnings of English Literature

Objectives 1. Learn the Historical background of earliest Literature. 2. Read a Celtic story about Cuchulain. /’kʊkʊlɪn/ trying to find out the content. 3. Recognize Cuchulain’s qualities. 4. Read about Beowulf and his outstanding traits of character. 5. Recognize the qualities of Beowulf. 6. Learn some literary terms that characterize this period.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

1.1. Historical background of earliest England Did you ever dream of finding a pot of gold? that’s just what happened to a labourer in England not long ago. He was helping to level the site of a new chain store when out from a bank of dirt poured a cascade of green coins. They were strange coins, not like any he had seen before, but coins unmistakably. Further digging disclosed a bronze jug full of coins; a bronze bowl full to the brim, with the remains of the leaden sheet that had covered it; and a wooden keg with bronze hoops, packed tight with thousands of coins. Who had buried them there –and when – and why? Why hadn’t he come back to dig them up? We don’t know the answers to any of those questions. But one thing we do know that our civilizations, and that if we dig deep enough and at the right places we shall find traces of those other civilizations, of those other peoples who lived before us-perhaps fifty years ago, or a hundred, or seven several thousand years ago.

Prehistoric man in Britain Not far from where the coins were found are remains of one of the earliest civilizations in Britain –a great circular earthwork over a mile in circumference. Here, within its safety, prehistoric men set their rude round huts. All through the south of England can still be seen prehistoric burial mounds, or tumuli. Stonehenge and other even larger stone circles still stand, impressive witnesses of an ancient religion carried on many hundreds of years before the birth of Christ. For centuries these early peoples hunted and grew simple crops and mined and traded –even as far from home as the eastern shores of the Mediterranean. Then, came a series of invasions from the mainland.

The Celts reach Britain About seven hundred years before Christ, Celtic tribes on the continent began to work their way westward, and, through the centuries, finally reached the coast of what is now Spain an France. But not all of them stopped there. Wave after wave of these Celts swept across the sea into the island still further west, pushing back to the north and west the peoples who were already there. From one of the earliest Celtic groups the language of Ireland has taken its name –Gaelic. From a later group, the Brythons, the island came to be called Britain. (Relies of their civilizations are still being unearthed –metal collars, weapons, bronze brooches)

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Romans come – and go Meanwhile the power or Rome had been growing; the Roman Empire was expanding. In 55 B.C. Julius Caesar and his soldier, lured by rumours of tin mines and oyster beds in the islands to the west, pushed their galleys into the sea and rowed across the channel to the south coast of Britain. And, though they withdrew within a few months, it wasn’t long before other Roman legions landed. Gradually the Romans pushed back the Celts –into Cornwall, into Wales, into Scotland, into Ireland. And they built great roads for their soldiers to march on, and great walls in the north to hold back the “barbarians”, and they stationed their legions along the borders for protection. Within that security, Roman gentlemen built themselves beautiful villas with painted walls and mosaic floors and heating systems and great baths and beautiful gardens. They built theatres for their amusement and temples for the worship of their gods. And for over four hundred years Romans lived in Britain. But meanwhile not all was going well in Rome itself. Barbaric tribes were thrusting against the Roman frontiers. The legions stationed in Britain were needed back home. One by one they were withdrawn from Britain or returned of their own accord to the continent. So gradually roman Britain was left more and more exposed to invasion.

Another race invades Britain – earliest “English” For some time tribes from along the west coast of the North Sea had been harassing the coast of Britain –Angles and Saxons and Jutes. As there were fewer Roman legions to defend the land these Anglo –Saxons (as they came to be called) became more and more daring, and gradually they took over the whole of eastern and central and southern Britain. The Roman residents and the Romanized Britons, who had been living with them for four centuries, fled before the invaders or were killed by them. (One of them took time to bury his money in whatever container he could put his hands on before he fled, planning to come back for it when it was safe again – but he never returned, and there the coins stayed until they were uncovered over fifteen hundred years later by a man digging the foundation of a chain store.) For two hundred years confusion reigned in the land now called, after the latest invaders (the Angles), England. These new invaders, the Anglo–Saxons, or English, were a very different sort of people from the Celts and from the Romans. They had a great of civilization. They had stories and poems about their heroes (some of these were written down later and you can read them), and they, like the Celts, did metal work. But in comparison with the Romans they were barbaric people. They had never seen anything like the roman villas or temples. They didn’t know what to do with the baths or heating systems. They tumbled the beautiful pillars of porticos into wells, tore down the villas, and built campfires on the mosaic floors with the sky above them. (You can still see traces of the fires in floors that have been excavated).

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

As temples were hacked to pieces and villas went up in flames and the people who had lived in them were slaughtered by the invading barbarians, it must have seemed to those who lived through the terrible days as if all that was good in Britain was coming to an end. But if the Romans had not been driven out and replaced by the new invaders, we should have today a much less vigorous nation and a much poorer English literature. It was the invasion of Britain by the Angles and Saxons and jutes – the earliest “English”– that saved the people from becoming weak and, possibly, effete as the Roman Empire decayed and that brought the vigour and freshness necessary to make her a great nation with a unique literature. For barbarians though they were – fierce and ruthless toward their enemies – these first “English” had many fine qualities. They were sturdy and fearless, loyal to their leaders, generous, and with a strong sense of honour and truth. They were country dwellers, rather than city dwellers like the Romans. They were lovers of the land, as Englishmen have been ever since. Though they first came to raid and destroyed, gradually they settled down to till the soil, bringing over their women and children from the old country and building their own familiar kinds of home rather live in the luxurious but strange villas left by the Romans. So the English took over the land – except the parts where the Celts still held out, in the north and west. And they developed their kind of civilization for about six hundred years.

Christianity reaches Britain Meanwhile there had been a very different kind of “invasion” – one that in time would help to tame the barbarians and bring order and peace to the land. This was the coming of Christianity to Britain. Just when and how of the new religion first reached England we do not know. During the first century after Christ a Roman legion that had served in Jerusalem was transferred to Britain. Perhaps some of those soldiers had become Christians and spread news of Christianity among the Britons. Perhaps word of it came through merchants from the Continent. In whatever way Christianity first reached Britain it was fairly well established by A.D. 314, for we have a record that two bishops, one from London and one from York, were sent over to the continent to a church council in that year. With the withdrawal of the Romans and the invasion of Britain by the heathen Saxons, however, Christianity was almost completely stamped out, except in such remote districts as Wales. Early in the 5th century Christianity again began to spread. It reached Ireland in a most dramatic way. The sixteen-years-old son of a well-to-do Celtic-Roman family in the west of Britain was captured by a band of raiders from Ireland, taken back home with them, and sold as a slave. But six years later he managed to escape to the continent, and, after many adventures, returned to Ireland to Christianize his former captors. He succeeded beyond belief. Before his death, about 461, there were monasteries and churches throughout Ireland.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

In fact Christianity was so firmly established in this westernmost island that it persisted here even when it nearly disappeared in England. The name of the boy was Patrick – known to us now as Saint Patrick. Another Irish monk, Columba, later carried Christianity across to Scotland, and from there if filtered down into northern England. Meanwhile a missionary sent from Rome to its far province had landed in the south of England – Saint Augustine. He too established monasteries and churches, and gradually his followers carried Christianity northward. So there were two forces at work to the Christianize England – one from the north and one from the south. And everywhere more and more monasteries and churches were being founded and becoming centers of learning and culture.

The new culture is threatened by the Vikings For a time, in the 8th and 9th centuries, this new culture was threatened and almost destroyed. Attracted by the richness of the land and the growing wealth of the monasteries, a fierce tribe of sea-faring men from Norway and Denmark began to raid and pillage along the south and east coasts. Later, in their shallow-draught long-boats, they rowed far up the rivers, slaughtering, burning, and pillaging as they went. Many precious manuscripts and works of art from the monasteries were lost to us forever during those raids. Still later these Danes, or Vikings as they called themselves, began to settle down in north-eastern England. If it hadn’t been for Alfred, king of the English in the south, they might have overrun the entire island. But Alfred and his warriors held them back. Moreover, when times were less troublous Alfred did much to restore and preserve what was left of the culture of southern England. He encouraged education, invited scholars to his court, himself made translations of various Latin works, and was very possibly responsible for organizing the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, scattered notes that had been kept in various monasteries on early English history and our chief source of knowledge about those early years. Though for a time a large part of England was ruled by the Danish king Canute, the Danes (Vikings) ultimately lost their power. Meanwhile, however, many of the Danes had intermarried part of the northern peoples of England.

1.2. THE LITERATURE OF EARLIEST ENGLAND How literature changes as it is passed along The earliest peoples of England had no written literature. They had no writing as we understand it – only, after a time, systems of notches and lines on stone or wood to keep simple records. But they did have storytellers who sang of the triumphs and tragedies of their people, and these stories were passed down by word of mouth from generation to generation-an oral literature.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

As always happens when stories are passed on orally, each teller changed or added to them according to his interests and to the time in which he lived. Men who were sung as heroes by their poets because they were strong and brave became stronger and braver as the stories were passed along, until a hundred years later they had taken on supernatural qualities, and the stories told of wonderful deeds such as no mere man could do. When the Christian monks got hold of the old stories, they gave them a religious twist. Though the stories were of pagan heroes who had lived, possibly, before the time of Christ, the monks added to them references to Christ and Christianity. So these very early stories are like snowballs that have rolled through the centuries, keeping the essentials with which they started but picking up more and more layers as they move along from teller to teller.

Literature as a reflection of life Because literature takes on the characteristics of its time, we can learn much through it of the people of the past – even more, often, than from the material things of their civilizations that still survive. If the literature of a period is chiefly of war and conquest, these are very probably the chief interest of storyteller and of listener. If, on the other hand, he makes his hero gentle and courteous and trustworthy, then those qualities, we can be sure, are the ones that he most admires and the ones that his listeners, or his readers, like to hear about. So a story or poem or play tells us something not only of the people about whom the author writes, but of the writer himself and the people for whom he is writing-their interests and their ideals.

The languages of earliest England Another change taking place in literature is the change in language. All the earliest selections in this book you will read in translation. Though we speak of these stories as part of English literature, there was no single English language until the 15th century, or later. Each new race that came into England brought its own language. The Celts spoke Gaelic – and Gaelic is still spoken in parts of Ireland and Scotland. The Romans brought Latin – which persisted for many years after they had withdrawn from Britain, as the language of the church and of law and scholarship. The invaders from the northern part of the continent brought their Germanic languages. And finally, with the coming of the Normans, Norman – French was introduced into England. Not only were different languages in use in different parts of Britain and by different classes of society, but all the languages were changing. Anglo – Saxon and Early English would look to you like foreign languages. It is only in the English of medieval times that you will begin to find some words that look or sound familiar, and only when you come to Chaucer. In the 14th century, you will find that you can read his poetry in the original with not too much difficulty.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

1.3. A Celtic story, Cuchulain

Hero of the Celts How he won his name Many of the earliest Celtic poems center about Cuchulain (‘Kʊ.kʊ.lɪn). These stories may have taken shape as early as the first century, but the earliest manuscript of them that has been preserved dates a thousand years later. And it was another eight hundred years before the stories were put into modern English that we can read easily. So the story that you have here has been making its way to you through nearly two thousand years of history –through the mouths of poets, the quills of medieval manuscript copyists, and the pen of a 20th century Irish woman (1) who believed that the old tales of her people were so fine and so beautiful that they should be put into language that all can read (2). The story that follows tells how Cuchulain won his name. As a child he was not called Cuchulain, but Setanta, who had come to live as a member of the boy troop at the court.

Cuchulain, the heroe of the Celts

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Cuslayshound.jpg “Cuchulain Slays the Hound of Culain”, illustration by Stephen Reid from Eleanor Hull’s The Boys’Cuchulain, 1904

There was a great smith in Ulster of the name of Culain, who made a feast at one time for Conchubar and for his people. When Conchubar was setting out to the feast, he passed by the lawn where the boy troop were at their games, and he watched them awhile, and he saw how the son of Dechtire was winning the goal from them all. “That little lad will serve Ulster yet,” said Conchubar; “and call him to me now,” he said,” and let him come with me to the smith’s feast. “I cannot go with you now,” said Setanta, when they had called to him, “for these boys have not had called to him, “for these boys have not had enough of play yet.” “it would be too long for me to wait for you,” said the king. “There is no need for you to wait; I will follow the track of the chariots,” said Setanta. So Conchubar went on to the smith’s house,

and there was a welcome before him, and fresh rushes (3) were laid down, and there were poems and the feast was brought in, and they began to be merry. And then Culain

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

said to the king: ”will there be any one else of your people coming after you to-night? “There will not,” said Conchubar, for he forgot that he had told the little lad o follow him. “But why do you ask me that?” he said. “I have a great fierce hound,” said the smith, “and when I take the chain off him, he lets no one come into the one district with himself, and he will obey no one but myself, and he has in him the strength of a hundred.” “Loose him out,” said Conchubar, “until he keeps a watch on the place.” So Culain loosed him out, and the dog made a course round the whole district, and the came back to the place where he was used to lie and to watch the house, and every one was in dread of him, he was so fierce and so cruel and so savage. Now, as to the boys at Emain when they were done playing, every one went to his father’s house, or to whoever was in charge of him. But Setanta set out on the track of the chariots, shortening the way for himself as he was used to do with his hurling stick and his ball.(4) When he came to the lawn before the smith’s house, the hound heard him coming, and began such a fierce yelling that he might have been heard through all Ulster, and he sprang at him as if he had a mind not to stop and tear him up at all, but to swallow him at one mouthful. The little fellow had no weapon but his stick and his ball, but when he saw the hound coming at him, he struck the ball with such force that it went down his throat, and through his body. Then he seized him by the hind legs and dashed him against a rock until there was no life left in him. When the men feasting within heard the outcry of the hound, Conchubar started up and said: “it is no good luck brought us on this journey, for that is surely my sister’s son that was coming after me, and that has got his death by the hound.” On that all the men rushed out, not waiting to go through the door, but over walls and barriers as they could. But Fergus (5) was the first to get to where the boy was, and he took him up and lifted him on his shoulder, and brought him in safe and sound to Conchubar, and there was great joy on them all. But Culain the smith went out with them, and when he saw his great hound lying dead and broken there was great grief in his heart and he came in and said to Setanta: “There is no good welcome for you here.” “What have you against the little lad?” said Conchubar. “It was no good luck that brought him here, or that made me prepare this feast for yourself, king,” he said:” for from this out, my hound being gone, my substance will be wasted, and my way of living will be gone astray. And, little boy,” he said, “That was a good member of my family you took from me, for he was the protector of my goods and my flocks and my herds and of all that I had.” “Do not be vexed on account of that,” said the boy, “and I myself will make up to you for what I have done.” “How will you do that?” said Conchubar. “This is how I will do it: if there is a whelp of the same breed to the had in Ireland, I will rear him and train him until he is a good hound as the one killed; and until that time, Culain,” he said, “I myself will be your watch-dog, to guard your goods and your cattle and your house.”

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

“You have made a fair offer,” said Conchubar. “I could have given no better award myself.” Said Cathbad the druid (6) “And from this out,” he said “your name will be Cuchulain, the hound of Culain.” “I am better pleased with my own name of Setanta, son of Snaltim,” said the boy. “Do no t say that,” said Cathbad, “for all the men in the whole world will some day have the name of Cuchulain in their mouths.” “If that is so, I am content to keep it,” said the boy. And this is how he came by the name Cuchulain.

Vocabulary on Cuchulain 1. grief very great sadness, especially at the death of someone. 2. Smith

someone who makes things out of metal, especially by heating and hammering it to shape it. 3. Fling (throw) verb [T usually + adverb or preposition] flung, flung to throw something or someone suddenly and with a lot of force: He crumpled up the letter and flung it into the fire. 4. Smash (break noisily)

To cause something to break noisily into a lot of small pieces: Rioters ran through the city centre smashing windows and looting shops.

5. Distraught

Extremely worried, anxious or upset: The missing child’s distraught parents made an emotional appeal for information on TV. 6. Duel

1 [C] a formal fight in the past, using guns or swords, arranged between two people as a way of deciding an argument: The two men fought a duel over the lady. 7. Vow

To make a determined decision or promise to do something.

After the awful meals we had last Christmas, I vowed to do more of the

cooking myself

Footnotes 1. Lady Augusta Gregory. 2. The pronunciation of the two most important names has been given you. Don’t trouble about the Gaelic pronunciation of the others; pronounce them as they look. 3. In early times rushes were used to cover the floor for warmth. 4. Setanta would bit the ball a head of him, throw the hurling stick after it, then run and catch them before they reached the ground. 5. Former king of Ulster, who gave up the throne to Conchubar. 6. The druids were members of an ancient Celtic religious order, often teachers and philosophers as well as assistants to the priests.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

8. Chariot

14. hurl

a two-wheeled vehicle that was used in ancient times for racing and fighting and was pulled by a horse. 9. Lawn

an area of grass, especially near to a house or in a park, which is cut regularly to keep it short 10. Hound (animal)

11. Astray away from the correct path or correct way of doing something 12. Struggle (FIGHT)

o use a lot of effort to defeat someone 13. Savage

to throw something with a lot of force, usually in an angry or violent way 15. flock (GROUP)

group of sheep, goats or birds, or a group of people 16. herd

a dog used for hunting, especially a foxhound

a large group of animals of the same type that live and feed together 17. breed to keep animals for the purpose of producing young animals in a controlled way, or (of animals) to have sex and reproduce.

extremely violent, wild or fuerce Vocabulary presented by Carmen Hidalgo, graduated student from Education Faculty, UNMSM

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Reading Comprehension Questions 1. For what qualities besides physical strength is Cuchulain praised? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. The Celtic people are known for their imagination, their love of nature, of colour and beauty, of the supernatural, of exaggeration, of humour. Of which of these do you find evidence in this Cuchulain story? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Making comparisons

1. What other stories of the past do you know in which the heroes have superhuman strength or skill? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Characters of Cuchulain story Name: Cúchulainn, Cú Culaind, Cúcullin, Cúcán Horses: The Grey of Macha, Sainglend the Black Birth Name: Setanta Associated Deities: Lugh Lámhfada, Dagda, Manannan. Father: Sualtam Sualtach Mother: Dechtire Wife: Emer Consorts: Uathach daughter of Scathach. Aoife. Fann of the Sidhe. Foster Father: Fergus Mac Roich Province: Ulster King: Conchubar of Ulster (also his uncle) Tutor: Scathach the warrior woman Druid: Cathbad serving King Conchubar Son: Conlaoch

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

( born by Aoife the conquered warrior woman ) Friends: Ferdiad, Laegaire Battle Winner, Conall the Victorious. Enemies: Medb of Connaught, Magician Calatin serving Queen Medb. Weapons: Cruaiden Cadatchenn his hereditary sword, His Crimson throwing shield.

Analysis of the major characters Cuclulain Cúchulainn was born Setanta son of human parents, Sualtam the warrior hero and Dechtire half sister to Conchobar the King of Ulster. His divine lineage includes the fact that he was an ancestor of the Dagda - the good god, and son of Lugh the sun god or god of light.

Physical Attributes Cúchulainn was short in stature yet no one could look upon him in his splendor without blinking. The heat of his body could melt snow and ice for yards around, he glowed red and when he dipped his body in water to bathe the water hissed and turned to steam. He could send himself into a battle fury where he had. He had supernatural powers. ‘ A handsome lad was he that stood there, Cúchulainn son of Sultan. Three colours of hair had he; next to his skin the hair was brown, in the middle it was red; on the outside it was like a diadem of gold; comparable to yellow gold was each glittering long curling splendid beautiful thread of hair, falling freely down between his shoulders. About his neck were a hundred tiny links of red gold flashing, with pendants hung from them. His headgear was adorned with a hundred different jewels. On either cheek he had four moles, a yellow, a green, a blue and a red. In either eye he had seven pupils, sparkling like seven gems. Each of his feet had seven toes, each of his hands seven fingers; his hands and feet were endowed with the clutching power of hawk’s talons and hedgehog’s claws. He wore his gorgeous raiment for great gatherings; a fair crimson tunic of five plies all. The champion carried a trusty special shield coloured dark crimson with a pure white silver rim all around its circumference; at his left side hung a long golden hilted sword. Beside him in his chariot was a lengthy spear, together with a keen aggressive javelin fitted with a hurling thong and rivets of white bronze. In one hand he carried nine heads and nine more in the other; he held these heads as emblems of his valour and skill in arms, and at the sight of him the opposing army shook with terror.’

Taken from: This description is taken from a translation in The Cúchullin Saga edited by Eleanor Hull in 1898:

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

1.4. An Anglo-Saxon poem BEOWULF (Author unknown) Type of Work: Heroic epic poem Setting: “Land of the Geats,” southern Sweden and Denmark; c. sixth century

EARLIEST ENGLISH POEM Beowulf is the earliest surviving piece of English literature. The story takes place in Denmark and southern Sweden, sometime in the early 6th century, and there is no mention in it of England. But it took its final form only after Germanic tribes from near Denmark had crossed over to Britain, probably in the 7th century. The earliest written copy that we have was not made until about 1000. Told first by pagan people, the story has many references to the pagan Wyrd, or Fate. But it has, also, references to Christ and Christianity, these references added later by the Christian monks who wrote it down. So, early as the written story is, its roots go down still deeper into the past by several years.

An epic poem Beowulf is the type of narrative poem known as an epic, that is, a long dignified poem which recounts the struggle of great forces against each other. Here Good is pitted against Evil as the hero Beowulf fights against one evil force after another.

The form of Anglo – Saxon verse The first English poem is written in the most common Anglo-Saxon verse form, which is alliterative – that is, the music of the poetry depends, not on rhymes at the ends of lines, but on similar sounds at the beginnings of words (alliteration ). Each line has four strong beats or accents, and there is an obvious break in the middle of the line.

LINES FROM BEOWULF IN THE ORIGINAL ANGLO-SAXON Da com of more Grendel gongan Mynte se man-scatha Sumne besyrwan Wod under wolcnum, Gold-sele gumena Faettum fahne; Thaet he hrothgares

under mist-hleothum godes yrre baer; manna cynnes in sele tham hean to thaes the he win-reced gearwost wisse ne waes thaet forma sith ham gesohte

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

TRANSLATION Then came from the moor

under misty hillsides

Grendel gliding,

god’s ire he bare

Was minded, that murderer of mannes kind Some to ensnare

in that solemn hall

Waded he under the welkin till he the wine house Gold hall of grooms

With filigrees fretted; That he hrothgar’s

might get well in sight nor was it the first time home had sought

Because of this break the line is sometimes spoken of as a double-barrelled line, and the break is sometimes indicates by the way in which the poem is printed (as above). Though each line has two distinct parts, with two beats in each, it is held together by the alliteration, at least one word in the first part always alliterating with al least one word in the second part. Beowulf consists of at least three separate stories, each recounting an exploit of the hero against a monster or dragon. The first story – of his encounter with Grendel is given here. [In those days, Hrothgar was king of the Danes, and he and his great hall Heorot were famed far beyond his borders. But evil days fell upon him and his people. Two beastlike monsters of superhuman size and strength, a male and a female, began to haunt the hall. Nightly Grendel, the male, came down upon Heorot, ravaging and slaughtering the warriors. For twelve years terror stalked the land. News of Hrothgar’s plight spread far. Finally it reached the land of the Geats (ye´at.-gets) in southern Sweden, where Hygelac (haigé.lak) reigned. Here young Beowulf, one of Hygelac’s warriors (or thanes), heard it, and, eager for adventure, determined to set sail for Denmark with a small band of his followers to aid the friendly king.]

Summary of Beowulf (Modern English) The successful ruler of the Danes, Hrothgar, builds a great mead hall called Heorot. Soon after the hall is built, a monster named Grendel begins to plague Hrothgar’s kingdom. Emerging from the darkened marsh, Grendel regularly invades the hall, attacking and killing Hrothgar’s sleeping warriors. The fierce Grendel devours as many as 30 warriors at one time. Grendel’s attacks on the mead hall and his devouring of Hrothgar’s warriors continue for twelve years. News of Grendel’s attacks spreads to the land of the Geats, ruled by Hygelac. After hearing of Hrothgar’s misfortune, Beowulf, a mighty Geat warrior, decides to travel to

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Denmark to destroy Grendel. Beowulf and fourteen other warriors make the journey to Denmark. One of Hrothgar’s coastal guards questions Beowulf as he arrives at the Danish shore, so Beowulf states his purpose and asks to be led to Hrothgar’s hall. Hrothgar gladly welcomes Beowulf and his men. A feast is held to honor Beowulf. Unferth, one of Hrothgar’s men, questions Beowulf’s ability to defeat Grendel by reminding him of a swimming contest that Beowulf apparently lost. Beowulf responds that he was attacked by many sea monsters during the contest and killed them all. Beowulf then questions Unferth’s character, in part by reminding him that Unferth killed his own brother. After the feast, Hrothgar and his men leave the hall to sleep; Beowulf and his warriors remain to guard the hall. In the night, Grendel enters the hall, attacking and devouring one of the sleeping warriors. Beowulf, without weapon or armor, grabs Grendel’s hand and tears off the monster’s right arm. The injured monster flees back to his den in the nearby marsh. Beowulf hangs Grendel’s severed arm in Hrothgar’s hall to announce the victory. Hrothgar celebrates Grendel’s defeat, but Grendel’s mother attacks the hall the next night to avenge the death of her son. She enters the hall at night and seizes Aeschere, one of Hrothgar’s most valued warriors, fleeing with him. Grendel’s mother also steals the severed arm of her son. Beowulf is not sleeping in the hall that night and does not find out about the attack until the next morning. In the morning, Hrothgar leads Beowulf and the other warriors to the marsh. Near the marsh, the men discover Aeschere’s severed head. Beowulf decides to seek the den of Grendel’s mother to avenge Aeschere’s death. Unferth then offers Beowulf the use of Hrunting, the Danes’ mightiest sword Beowulf descends into the murky waters and is attacked by monsters. Beowulf finally finds the den of Grendel’s mother. Beowulf attacks Grendel’s mother but fails to wound her with the sword, so he engages in a fierce hand-to-hand battle. As the monster begins to overwhelm Beowulf, the warrior sees an old sword in the lair. Beowulf grabs the sword and stabs Grendel’s mother, killing her. He then sees the weakened Grendel lying nearby. Beowulf uses the sword to sever Grendel’s head and takes the head and the mighty sword with him as he swims back to the surface of the marsh. As Beowulf swims to the surface, the sword begins to melt until only the head and hilt remain. The Danes rejoice when they find out about Beowulf’s victory, honoring Beowulf with another feast. Beowulf returns Unferth’s sword and offers Hrothgar the hilt of the sword discovered in the den. Beowulf then leaves Denmark for his own homeland. Once back to the land of the Geats, Beowulf is rewarded with riches and is honored by Hygelac, the leader of the Geats. Many years pass, and Beowulf himself eventually become the leader of the Geats. One of Beowulf’s men discovers a treasure hoard guarded by a dragon and steals a golden goblet, which he gives to Beowulf. Angered by the theft, the dragon ravages Beowulf’s land. Although he is old, Beowulf decides to fight the dragon. Beowulf’s weapons prove useless against the dragon, so Beowulf attacks the dragon with his bare hands. All but one of Beowulf’s warriors flee from the scene; only the devoted Wiglaf remains. The dra-

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

gon bites and injures Beowulf, but after Wiglaf attacks the dragon with his sword, Beowulf is able to stab and kill the dragon. Beowulf’s injuries from the battle with the dragon are fatal. Dying, Beowulf looks upon the dragon’s treasure and gives some of his own golden armor to Wiglaf. Beowulf’s funeral follows, with the hero’s body ritually burned. In a burial mound, the Geats bury Beowulf’s ashes with the treasures gained from the dragon’s lair. The poem ends with the Geats mourning the death of their great leader. http://www2.ivcc.edu/rambo/beowulf_summary.htm

Beowulf The coming of Beowulf Brave was the band he had gathered about him, fourteen stalwarts seasoned and bold, seeking the shore where the ship lay waiting, a sea skilled mariner sighting the landmarks. Came the hour of boarding; the boat was riding. The waves of the harbour under the hill, the eager mariners mounted the prow; billows were breaking, sea against sand. In the ship’s hold snugly they stowed their trappings. Gleaming armour and battle-gear; launched the vessel, the well-braced bark, seaward bound on a joyous journey. Over breaking billows, with bellying sail, and foamy beak, like a flying bird, the ship sped on, till the next day’s sun, showed sea-cliffs shining, towering hills and stretching headlands. The sea was crossed, the voyage ended, the vessel moored. And the Weder people (1) waded ashore with clatter of trappings and coats of mail; gave thanks to god that his grace had granted sea-paths safe for their ocean-journey.

How Hrothgar received Beowulf (The Danish coastguard challenged them, but, on being assured of their friendly purpose, led them to Heorot. After Beowulf had told his name and his purpose in coming to Denmark, he and his men were courteously received by old king Hrothgar, who listened with glad heart to Beowulf’s boast that he would kill the monster Grendel and so free Heorot from its curse). Then in the beer-hall were benches made ready. For the Geatish heroes, noble of heart, proud and stalwart, they sat them down, And a beer-thane served them; bore in his hands. The patterned ale-cup, pouring the mead (2) While the scoop’s (3) sweet singing was heard in the hall. There was joy of heroes, a host at ease, A welcome meeting of Weder and Dane How Beowulf encountered Grendel

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

How Beowulf encountered Grendel

Then Hrothgar with drew with his host of retainers The prince of the Seyldings,(4) seeking his queen The Geatish hero put all his hope In his fearless might and the mercy of god! He stripped from his shoulders the byrny (5) of steel Doffed helmet from head; into hand of thane (6) Gave inlaid iron, the best of blades; Bade him keep well the weapons of war Beowulf uttered a gallant boast The stalwart Geat, here he sought his bed: ‘I count my self nowise weaker in war Or grapple of battle than Grendel himself Therefore I scorn to slay him with sword, Deal deadly wound, as I we’ll might do! In the shades of darkness we’ll spurn the sword If he dares without weapon to do or to die And god in his wisdom shall glory assign The ruling lord, as he deems it right.

Footnotes: 1. Weder people. Another name for the Geats (Beowulf and his men) 2. mead. A drink made with honey and water and yeast or malt. 3. a bard’s or a professional poet’s. A scoop’s business was to compose and sing poems about the heroes. He sang to the accompaniment of a harp. 4. seyldings Danes 5. byrny or byrnie coat of linked mail 6. thane. A warrior related to his king by tribal descent and bound to do him service…

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Vocabulary on Beowulf 1. Feign

7. Armour UK, US armor

to pretend to feel something, usually an emotion: You know how everyone feigns surprise when you tell them how old you are. 2. Grab (take with hand)

to take hold of something or someone suddenly and roughly: A mugger grabbed her handbag as she was walking across the park. 3. wrestle

to fight with someone (especially as a sport) by holding them and trying to throw them to the ground: He has wrestled professionally for five years.

a weapon with a long sharp metal blade and a handle, used especially in the pas 5. Rush (hurry)

1 [I or T; usually + adverb or preposition] to (cause to) go or do something very quickly: Whenever I see him, he seems to be rushing 6. Track (path)

1 strong protective covering, especially for the body: Police put on body armour before confronting the rioters. 8. Lair

4. Sword

1 [C] a path or rough road which is made of earth rather than having a surface covered with stone or other material: The house is at the end of a dirt/an unmade track.

a place where a wild animal lives, often underground and hidden, or a place where a person hides: a fox’s lair 9. Ash (powder) the soft grey or black powder that is left after a substance, especially tobacco, coal or wood, has burnt: cigarette ash 10. Haunt / ‘hnt/v to cause problems for someone over lon period of time. 11. Ravage / ‘rFvɪdƷ/ v to destroy or badly damage a town or an area. 12. Stalk / stk/ n to follow a person or animal in order to watch or attack them. 13. Stalwart /stlwət/ n. someone who is loyal to a particular organization or set of ideas a n d works hard for them.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

14. Bold /bld/adj not afraid of taking risk and making difficult decisions. 15. Sight /saIt/ v

24. Wisdom /’wzdm/n the ability to understand things and make good decisions because you have a lot of experience.

to see something from a long distance 25. Deem /di:m/ v away or see something you have been looking for. to think of something in a particular way or as having a particular quality. 16. Stow /st/ v to put or pack something tidily away in a space until you need it again. 17. Gleaming /'gli:mŋ/ adj the brightness of something that shines. 18. Wade /wed/v to walk through water that is not deep. 19. Grant /gr:nt/v

26. Stronghold /stroŋhld/ n.

An area that is strongly defended by a military group. 27. Befall /bf:l/ v if something unpleasant or dangerous befalls you, it happens to you. 28. Slay (past slain)

to kill someone. to give someone something or allow them 29. Fiend /fi:nd/adj to have something that they ask for.

20. Curse /kз:s/v to swear in an angry way. 21. Slay /sle/ v

a very cruel , evil or violent person. 30. Creep / kri:p/v to move very quietly and slowly, especially to avoid attracting attention.

to kill someone – used specially in 31. Glare /gle/ newspaper. 22. Wound /wu:nd/n

to look at someone or something in an angry way, usually for a long time.

a deep cut made in your skin by a knife 32. Snare /snз:/ v or bullet. 23. Dare /de/ v

to catch an animal by using a snare.

to be brave enough to do something that 33. Burst / bз:st /v is risk or that you are afraid to do. if something bursts, or if you burst it, it breaks open suddenly and something such as air or water comes out of it.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

34. Seal /si:l/v to close something very tightly or firmly. 35. Sever /’sevə/ v to cut through something completely, separating it into two parts or to become cut in this way. 36. Fate /feɪt/n a power that, some people believe, controls what happens to people in their lives. 37. Clutch /klΛt∫/ v to hold something tightly because you do not want to lose it. 38. Swift / swɪft/adj happening or moving very quickly. 39. Gobble /’gɒbəl/v to eat something very quickly especially in an impolite way. 40. Humble /’hΛmbəl/ adj someone who is humble is not proud and does not think that they are better than other people.

41. Boast / bəʊst/v to talk too proudly about yourself and tell other people how good or clever you are. 42. Claw /kl/n a sharp curved hard part on the toe of an animal or bird. 43. Gri: /grɪp/ v to hold something very tightly. 44. Groan /grəʊn/v to make a long low sound to show that you are unhappy or in pain. 45. Hideous /’hɪdiəs/ adj very ugly or unpleasant. 46. Defeat / dɪ’fi:t/ v if you defeat someone in a game, battle, or election, you win. 47. Wrought /rt/ v to cause a lot damage or problems. 48. Feeble /’fi:bəl/adj extremely weak.

Vocabulary prepared by César Orosco and Paul Medina, graduated students from Education Faculty, UNMSM.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

I. Reading Comprehension questions 1. What are Beowulf’s outstanding traits of character? Which of these would be admired in a “hero” today? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What qualities does he have in common with Cuchulain? How do the two heroes differ? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ II. The early English 1. Which of Beowulf’s qualities do his own people and the Danes most admire? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What is their feeling toward the sea? Toward their leaders? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ III. The poem 1. What justification is there for calling Beowulf an English poem? 2. What evidence do you find that the poet who finally wrote the poem down was a Christian? What references to the pagan Wyrd, or fate? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Anglo-Saxon poets often used descriptive phrases in place of the name of an object, as “whale-road” for ocean “prince of the Weders” for Beowulf. These phrases are called kennings. What other kennings can you find? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Find especially good examples of alliteration ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Which of the following words describe the sound and rhythm of the poem-smooth, abrupt, vigorous, and delicate? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Find descriptions that you like especially. What kinds of things does the poet seem most to enjoy describing? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Principal Characters of “Beowulf” Beowulf: (Beow) a Geat hero. He is the son of Scyld Shefing, and a strong king in his own right. He is often confused with the hero of the poem. He is a thane of the Geat king Hygelac and eventually becomes King of the Geats. The poem relates his heroic exploits over 50 years, including the fights with Grendel and his mother and with the treasureguarding dragon. Hrothgar: King of the Danes. He is the King of the Danes at the time of Grendel’s assaults. He builds the hall Heorot as a tribute to his people and his reign. Unferth: a Danish warrior. A thane of Hrothgar’s, he taunts Beowulf in the hall about his swimming contest with Breca. However, Beowulf shames him in the boasting match. His name means “discord.” Wiglaf: Beowulf’s nephew and loyal court noble. This is Beowulf’s kinsman through Ecgtheow’s family, the Waegmundings. He is the only thane of Beowulf’s that stays with him during the battle with the dragon. Hygelac: This King of the Geats is also Beowulf’s uncle. Upon hearing Beowulf’s courageous exploits, he gives Beowulf nearly half his kingdom. Grendel: This man-monster is a descendant of Cain. He attacks Heorot after hearing the sounds of revelry there. Beowulf eventually kills him, with his severed arm hung as a trophy in Heorot. His mother attempts to avenge his death. Grendel’s Mother: She is, of course, the mother of the man-monster Grendel. She comes to Heorot seeking vengeance for the death of her son. Beowulf kills her. The Dragon: This is the third and last monster that Beowulf must defeat. After a Geat slave steals from his treasure, he goes on a rampage. Beowulf defeats him, but not before striking a mortal blow to him.

Secondary Characters Scyld Shefing: He is known as one of the first great kings of the Danes. Upon his death he is given a remarkable burial at sea. Eventually he becomes the great-grandfather of Hrothgar, king during Grendel’s attacks upon the Danes. Heorot: This is the hall that Hrothgar builds in celebration of his reign. It is the site both of many happy festivals and many sorrowful funerals. Wulfgar: He is one of Hrothgar’s faithful thanes. As the watchman for the Danes, he is the first to greet Beowulf and his thanes to the land of the Danes. He also deems the Geat visitors as people worthy enough to meet with Hrothgar.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Ecgtheow: He is Beowulf’s father. He is a Waegmunding by birth and a Geat by marriage. When he was younger, Hrothgar helped him settle a feud with the Wylfingas. Wealhtheow: She is Hrothgar’s queen and the mother of his two sons. Her name comes from the Anglo-Saxon words for “treasure bearer.” She actually has the duty of presenting necklaces and mead-cups at court. Sigemund: He is an ancient Germanic hero whose story is recounted after the fight with Grendel. He was known as the famous dragon slayer. Heremod: He was an ancient Danish king who went from being a good king to a ruthlessly evil king. Hrothgar uses him as an example of bad kingship for Beowulf. Hildeburh: Her story in recounted during the second feast for Beowulf at Heorot. She is an ancient Danish princess who was married into the Frisian royalty. Her brother and her son were both killed in a war with the Frisians at Finnesburh. Hrothulf: He is Hrothgar’s younger brother. Wealhtheow calls upon him to protect her young sons if it should ever be necessary to do so. Aeschere: Apparently he is one of Hrothgar’s important officials and faithful thanes. Grendel’s mother kills him, and Hrothgar is inconsolable. Hrunting: Unferth gives this sword to Beowulf to use in killing Grendel’s mother. It is unable to cut her, however, so Beowulf discards it. Later he returns it to Unferth with his thanks. Freawaru: She is the daughter of Hrothgar who is unmentioned until Beowulf tells Hygelac about her. Beowulf believes that her marriage to a Heathobard prince will do more harm than good for the Danes. Naegling: Beowulf won this sword in a fight between the Geats and the Frisians. He uses it in the battle with the dragon.

Analysis of Main Characters Beowulf The protagonist of this epic Old English poem is at times sketched in the broad strokes you might expect in a seminal tale about heroes, monsters, battle, revenge, honor and God. But Beowulf is no cartoon character. Rather, this Geatish warrior from southern Sweden is defined by three principal traits: his desire to demonstrate his valor in defense of others, his concern for his lineage and oaths of loyalty, and his religious faith. Beowulf: Beowulf is the hero of the epic. He is a renowned Geat warrior who travels to the Danish king Hrothgar to aid him in his fight against Grendel. Showing great courage, strength and daring, Beowulf vanquishes Grendel and Grendel’s mother. He also behaves in an exem-

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

plary fashion, pledging his friendship to Hrothgar, who rewards him with lavish gifts, and then honoring his own king, Hygelac. Beowulf become king of the Geats and reigns for fifty years. He continues to behave in a way that all admire. As well as being courageous, he is generous, tactful, kind, prudent, resolute, and even-tempered. Even as an old man, he does not shirk his duty when it comes to fighting the dragon. He meets his death with dignity, dying as he had lived, with courage and honor.

Beowulf: A Man of Many Values In the epic poem, Beowulf, a monster named Grendel has been invading Heorot, a communal mead hall, and has been killing and devouring the Geat warriors. As their only way to end this massacre, the Geats asked Beowulf to defeat this monstrous beast. He was successful in doing this and in the meantime killed Grendel’s mother, although it was of greater challenge. Then, Beowulf, after ruling the Geats peacefully for fifty years, faced even a greater challenge: He was relied on by his people to defeat a dragon that was very fierce an....

Beowulf: The Ultimate Hero A hero is one who places himself or herself at risk for another by performing great deeds of courage. Often in our society today, athletes are looked up to as heros. Brett Favre is an excellent example of a modern day hero. He is looked up to by many for his strength, leadership, and success. While on the football field, he is willing to risk his “life” by running the ball in when there is no one else to go to. Favre also gives all of the glory to God. Whenever he has conquered another team, or made the winning play, all praise is g....

Beowulf: An Anglo-Saxon Epic Hero The epic poem Beowulf describes the most heroic man of the Anglo- Saxon times. The hero of the poem, Beowulf, is portrayed as an invincible warrior with all the amazing, nonhuman like traits required by an Anglo- Saxon hero. He is able to use his super-human physical strength and courage to defend and put his people before himself at all times. He encounters life ending monsters and ferocious beasts but never fears death while fighting them. Beowulf has great leadership skills and sometimes boasts about all his achieve....

A Celtic hero Throughout history, many heroes and gods have stood out in Celtic literature. Although many of these heroes are very important, Cuchulainn is the one that is most often represented in Irish culture today. His death is often used as a symbol, appearing on coins and statues. His deeds are repeated in literature often, and remains an important symbol to those of Celtic descent, even after all this time.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

1. kennings

Literary Terms

A kenning (Old English) is used instead of an ordinary noun. For example, Old poets might replace sverð, the regular word for “sword”, with a compound such as ben-grefill “wound-hoe” or a genitive phrase such as randa íss “ice of shields”. The term kenning has been applied by modern scholars to similar figures of speech in other languages too, especially Old English. Some examples: Primary meaning

Kenning translated

Original Kenning

Bear

Bear wolf

Beowulf

Arm

Mountain of the hawk

Hauka fiol

Blood

slaughter

Slaughtering warriors

Kill enemies

Feed the eagle

They fed the eagle

The sea

Swan road

Swan rad

2. Alliteration Alliteration is the repetition of initial sounds in neighboring words. See Assonance and Consonance. Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds but not consonant sounds as in consonance.

Example: fleet feet sweep by sleeping geeks. Consonance is the repetition of consonant sounds, but not vowels, as in assonance.

Example: lady lounges lazily , dark deep dread crept in Examples of Alliteration Wordsworth: And sings a solitary song That whistles in the wind. The matching or repetition of consonants is called alliteration, or the repeating of the same letter (or sound) at the beginning of words following each other immediately or at short intervals. A famous example is to be found in the two lines by Tennyson: The moan of doves in immemorial elms, And murmuring of innumerable bees.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The ancient poets often used alliteration instead of rhyme; in Beowulf there are three alliterations in every line. For example: Now Beowulf bode in the burg of the Scyldings, Leader beloved, and long he ruled In fame with all folk since his father had gone . . .

Modern poets also avail themselves of alliteration, especially as a substitute for rhyme. Edwin Markham’s “Lincoln, the Man of the People” is in unrhymed blank verse, but there are many lines as alliterative as: She left the Heaven of Heroes and came down To make a man to meet the mortal need A man to match the mountains and the sea The friendly welcome of the wayside well

Like rhyme, alliteration is a great help to memory. It is powerful a device that prose has borrowed it. It is the alliteration which makes us remember such phrases as: “sink or swim,” “do or die,” “fuss and feathers,” “the more the merrier,” “watchful waiting,” “poor but proud,” “hale and hearty,” “green as grass,” “live and learn,” “money makes the mare go.” While alliteration is the recurrence of single letter-sounds, there is another kind of recurrence which is the echo or repetition of a word or phrase. This is found in many kinds of poetry, from nonsense rhymes to ballads. The repeated words or syllables add an extra beat and accentuate the rhythm. They are often heard in “choruses” or “refrains,” as in Shakespeare’s “With a hey and a ho and a hey nonino” or Rudyard Kipling’s: For it’s Tommy this, an’ Tommy that, an’ “Chuck him out, the brute! But it’s “Savior of ‘is country” when the guns begin to shoot.

3. Repetition Repetition of a sound, syllable, word, phrase, line, stanza, or metrical pattern is a basic unifying device in all poetry. It may reinforce, supplement, or even substitute for meter, the other chief controlling factor in the arrangement of words into poetry. The repetition of a phrase in poetry may have an incantatory effect as in the opening lines of T. S. Eliot’s “Ash-Wednesday”: Because I do not hope to turn again Because I do not hope Because I do not hope to turn....

Excellent use of repetition occurs through the whole of Rudyard Kipling’s “Tommy” “Danny Deever” and Alfred Noyes’s “The Barrel-Organ” especially in such lines as: Come down to Kew in lilac-time, in lilac-time, in lilac-time; Come down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn’t far from London!)

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

And you shall wander hand in hand with love in summer’s wonderland; Come down to Kew in lilac-time (it isn’t far from London!)

4. Rhythm Recurrences of stressed and unstressed syllables at equal intervals, similar to meter. However, though two lines may be of the same meter, the rhythms of the lines may be different. For example, if one were to read the last two lines of Robert Frost’s, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” with equal speed, the lines would be the same in meter and rhythm. However, if one were to read the last line more slowly (as it should be read), the meter would be the same but the rhythm different. This is because while the meter of a line is identified by the pattern within each foot, the rhythm is accounted for by larger units than individual feet.

5. Caesura Caesura is a natural pause or break. Example: England - how I long for thee!

6. Oral tradition of literature Stories that are or have been transmitted in spoken form, such as public recitation, rather than through writing or printing. Most pre-literate societies used to have oral literature.

7. Poetry Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to its apparent meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics.

8. Unique verse form (Free verse poetry writing) Free Verse poetry does not have a strict pattern of rhyming. It does not have regular meter, rhyme, fixed line length, or a specific stanza pattern.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

9. Rhyme In poetry, a pattern of repeated sounds. In end rhyme, the rhyme is at the end of the line, as in these lines from “Ars Poetica” by Archibald MacLeish: A poem should be palpable and mute As a globed fruit Dumb As old medallions to the thumb When one of the rhyming words occurs in a place in the line other than at the end, it is called Internal rhyme.

10. Rhyme Scheme The pattern of rhymed words in a stanza or generalized throughout a poem, expressed in alphabetic terms. Consider the following lines from Robert Frost’s Stopping By Woods On A Snowy Evening: Whose woods these are I think I know. - A His house is in the village, though; - A He will not see me stopping here - B To watch his woods fill up with snow. – A My little horse must think it queer - B To stop without a farmhouse near - B Between the woods and frozen lake - C The darkest evening of the year. – B He gives his harness bells a shake - C To ask if there is some mistake. - C The only other sound’s the sweep - D Of easy wind and downy flake. – C The woods are lovely, dark and deep. - D But I have promises to keep, - D And miles to go before I sleep, - D And miles to go before I sleep. - D In an analysis of the poem, the rhyme scheme above would be expressed as AABA BBCB CCDC DDDD.

http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Activity After you have answered all the questions after every reading in this unit , please, answer all the questions from your mind. If you cannot do it, please go back to the materials and start reading again. This activity will give fluency and you improve your English competence. 1. What have you learned from this chapter? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the historical background of this period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What are the names of the cultures that contribute to the formations of English Culture? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Is Christianity important in the literary production? Explain this influence? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Prepare a summary of Cuchulain /’kʊ kʊ lɪn/ story on your own words, then mention the qualities of the hero. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Prepare a summary about Beowulf on your own words (unknown author). ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. What are the themes, recurrent elements (motifs), symbols in Cuchulain and Beowulf? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 8. What are the values in the two main characters: Cuchulain and Beowulf? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 9. What literary devices does Cuchulain use in the plot? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 10. What literary devices does Beowulf use? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Old English/Anglo-Saxon Period Years: 449-1066 Content:  Strong belief in fate  Juxtaposition of church and pagan worlds  Admiration of heroic warriors who prevail in battle  Express religious faith and give moral instruction through literature

Style/Genres:

 Oral tradition of literature  Poetry dominant genre  Unique verse form • Alliteration • Repetition • 4 beat rhythm • Caesura

Effect: 

Christianity helps literacy to spread



Introduces Roman alphabet to Britain



Oral tradition helps unite diverse peoples and their myths

Historical Context:

 Life centred around ancestral tribes or clans that ruled themselves.  At first the people were warriors from invading outlying areas: Angles, Saxons,Jutes, and Danes .  Later they were agricultural.

Key Literature/Authors:  Cuchulain, a Celtic story  Beowulf  Bede

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

Bibliography 1. Robinson, Nell M. and Webb, Charles F. Literature of England, 1985, Ginn and Company. 2. John McRae. Reading between the Lines. Cambridge University Press. 1984. 3. Ronald Carters. Literature and the Learner: Methodological Approaches. British Council.1990. 4. Seymour Chatman. Literary Styles: A Symposium. Oxford University Press. 5. Cleanth Brooks. Understanding Poetry. Yale University.- 1984. 6. Alan Duff. Literature. Oxford University Press. 1991. 7. Marjorie Westcott. Drama I. Macmillan Company.1996. 8. Michael Cummings. The Language of Literature. Pergamum Press. Lyd. Oxford. 1985. 9. Harner, James L. Literary research guide: a guide to reference sources for the study of literatures in English and related topics. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1993. 10. Abrams, M.H. Glossary of literary terms. 5th ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1998. 11. Altick, Richard Daniel. The art of literary research. 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 1981. 12. Barzun, Jacques. The modern researcher. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1992. 13. Baugh, Albert Croll. A literary history of England. 2nd ed. New York: Appleton-CenturyCrofts, 1967. 14. The Cambridge guide to literature in English. Ed. Ian Ousby. Revised Edition. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 15. The Cambridge history of English literature. Ed. A. W. Ward, A. R. Waller. New York; London: Putnam, 1907-33. 15 v. 16. Harmon, William; Holman, C. Hugh. A handbook to literature. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1996. 17. A Dictionary of modern critical terms. Ed. Roger Fowler. Rev. ed. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987.

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/passionateshepherd.htm http://apo.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/villanova/hemingway/original.htm http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-inanothercountry/ http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/33810.html http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

UNIT TWO

LITERATURE OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND

Objectives 1. Be informed about the historical background of Medieval England. 2. Value the literary production of this period 3. Understand the plot of “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight” and “Canterbury tales”. 4. Recognise the themes, the recurrent structures (motifs) and the symbols behind the masterpieces. 5. Learn some literary terms that characterise the Medieval literary production.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

2.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND The way was prepared for the Norman conquest of England during the reign of the Saxon King Edward, later known as Edward the Confessor because he was so religious. During the reign of the Danish Canute in England, Edward has lived in France at the Norman court, and when he came back to England as king, he brought many Normans with him, giving them some of the most important positions at court and in the Church. This established a Norman faction in the country, which became more and more powerful during the weak rule of Edward. For Edward was a very weak king; he lacked utterly the kingly qualities oh his great ancestor Alfred. The Saxon earls rose in oppositions to the Norman intruders. Vikings from Norway began a new series of the north. Internal dissension and attacks from without so weakened the kingdom that at Edward’s death not even Saxon Harold, his successor, could reunify and restrengthen England in time to hold it against simultaneous invasions in the north (by Vikings) and in the south (by Duke William and his Normans). When, in 1066, William landed on the south coast of England near Hastings, a great battle was fought, Harold was defeated and killed, his army was routed – and the Normans became the new conquerors of England. As the Romans had done a thousand years before him, William pushed his way northward and westward, building, not roads and walls and villas like the Romans, but enormous stout castles. The oldest part of the Tower of London was built by William – to defend the city from any possible attack up the Thames River, and all over England there are still sturdy thick-walled castles built by the Normans.

How the coming of the Normans changed life in England With the coming of the Normans there began a new way of life in England. Though the Norman conquerors were of the same basic stock as the early English, they were, by the time they crossed into England with William, quite a different people. They were descendants of Scandinavians who had settled in France at about the time their kinsmen were ravaging England, and, though they retained their Scandinavian vitality and love of adventure; they had acquired something of French manners and culture and had learned the French language. Hence the influences that they introduced into England were as much French as Scandinavian. Most important for a political development, they brought with them their love of law and order and their great administrative ability. Under them England became more unified, her political organization more stable. The Normans also brought with them the feudal system.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

What was feudalism? Feudalism was a political and social system common in the Middle Ages, first on the continent, later in England. It was based upon the relationship of lord to vassal. At the top of the system was the king, who, theoretically at least, held all the land. Under him, holding land from him and owing homage or allegiance were the nobles (dukes or barons) and the clergy. Under them in turn were lesser nobles (knights), and under them the peasants, or villeins, some free, some bound to the soil and to their respective lords as owners of the soil. The system was like a great pyramid with the peasants at the base and the king at the apex, each group owing service to the smaller group above, and, indirectly, to the king at the top. Harsh as the system was in some respects and unpopular with the freedom-loving English, it did enable the Norman conquerors to rivet (to maintain) the country together as it had never been joined before.

Chivalry, an outgrowth of feudalism As an outgrowth of the feudal system, there grew up an institution known as chivalry. The word comes form the French chevalier, meaning “horseman” or “knight”, and is used to describe the qualities of the ideal knight – honour, devotion to God, loyalty to one’s lord, valour and generosity toward one’s foes, protective kindness to the weak, courtesy. A kind of sense of honour and respect for woman and religion had existed among the ancient Celts and the early English, but it was not until the Normans came to England that these social and moral forces were organized into an elaborate set of rules and regulations.

2.2. THE LITERATURE OF MEDIEVAL ENGLAND How the coming of the Norman affected literature Much of the literature of the Middle Ages tells of the chivalrous deeds of noble knights, and it was through the Normans that this type of story first reached England. During the 12th century there grew up in France a group of romantic stories – some about national heroes, some about the English Arthur and his knights. Told partly in prose and partly in rhymed verse, these stories were called metrical romances. They became very popular in France, were brought over to England by the Normans and, after being translated, became popular with the English too. In fact, one of the finest of the metrical romances, Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, was written by an Englishman.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

THE PYRAMID OF FEUDALISM

http://tayci.tripod.com/feudalism.html The pyramid The Pope The King Nobles Knights / Vassals Freemen Servants Peasants / Villeins

Thought Norman and Saxon became reconciled to each other only after many years of enmity and hard feeling, very soon after the coming of the Normans the general tone of literature began to be more cheerful. It was only after the Conquest that English literature began to show those traits suggested by the term “merry.” When we speak of ”Merry England” today, we are thinking not of the stern stark life described in Anglo-Saxon literature, but of ballads of Robin Hood and his merry men in Sherwood forest, of the tales of joustings and feastings at Arthur’s court, and of the gay, often humorous, poems of Chaucer.

In addition to bringing a new kind of subject matter and a less somber mood into English literature, the Normans also brought a new device for making poetry musical -rhyme. Before the coming of the Normands, the music of poetry had depended chiefly on alliteration, as in Beowulf and “The Ruined City”. Now, thought alliteration was still used, rhyme was introduced – and has continued to be used down through the centuries ever since.

The language of England becomes more like modern English But more important to our literature than the bringing of new subject matter, a happier mood, or novel literary devices was the effect which the coming of the Normans to England had upon our language as a whole. During the three or four hundred years following the Conquest, the English language was made into that amazingly rich and flexible instrument that was to make possible the poetry of Chaucer, of Shakespeare, of Milton, and the writings of all great English authors and poets since their times. Before 1066 there had been two languages current in England – Latin (used by the Church and the legal profession) and English, in various dialects. Now a third one was added – French. In fact French became the exclusive language of the aristocracy, while Latin remained the language of churchmen and lawyers. English, despised by both groups, continued only as the language of the peasant, and ceased almost entirely to be a written language. So while courtly poetry was being written in French, and

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

dignified ecclesiastical literature and ponderous legal documents were being written in Latin, English was being tossed about on the tongues of the common people to meet their everyday needs. Naturally the language itself became simpler and more flexible. Also it became richer. For thought the gentry could, in general, speak only French, and the peasants who worked on their lands could speak only English, in time some French words were picked up into the English language – especially those for which there was no English equivalent. The word chivalry, you have already seen, is of French origin. When, later, during the Hundred Year’s War with France, French, as the “enemy’s language,” began to fall out of favour and English gradually came to replace it, it was a very different language from that used before the conquest. It was an English not far removed that we use today, and a tool ready to hand for Chaucer, first poet to write in modern English, and for Wycliffe and his followers, first to make a complete translation of the Bible into English.

THREE MEDIEVAL POETS Three poets stand out above all the other writers of his medieval period – all writing in English (though in quite different kinds of English), all of interest today. Only one can be named with certainty – Geoffrey Chaucer. And he is the only one whose dates we know with fair accuracy: he died in 1400; he was born, probably, in 1340. The other two, both living during Chaucer’s lifetime, are more or less shadowy figures. The author of the long poem the Vision of William concerning Piers Plowman was certainly named William, and probably Langland. The third poet, though the author for one of the most beautiful romances in England’s early literature, Sir Gawain and the Green knight, is unknown. The story was written about 1370, but by whom we can only guess from the internal evidence of the story itself.

2.3. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Author unknown)

(Translated into modern prose by Jessie L. Weston) The second of our three medieval poets, the unknown author of Sir Gawain and Green Knight, was more modern in his verse from than Langland, less modern in his subject matter. He wrote of king Arthur and his Round Table and courtly life, as was the current Norman style, and he used a strange intricate verse form that was both alliterative, like Anglo-Saxon poetry, and rhymed, like French poetry. But though he used the French device of rhyme and based his story, almost certainly, on French sources, his story is quite definitely English. Notice especially the kinds of weather and landscape that he describes and the virtues that he emphasizes in his hero. Though the translation that is given here is in prose, it retains many of the qualities of the original poetry. Notice especially the use of alliteration and the balance of the sentences.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Author unknown) Plot Overview During a New Year’s Eve feast at King Arthur’s court, a strange figure, referred to only as the Green Knight, pays the court an unexpected visit. He challenges the group’s leader or any other brave representative to a game. The Green Knight says that he will allow whomever accepts the challenge to strike him with his own axe, on the condition that the challenger find him in exactly one year to receive a blow in return. Stunned, Arthur hesitates to respond, but when the Green Knight mocks Arthur’s silence, the king steps forward to take the challenge. As soon as Arthur grips the Green Knight’s axe, Sir Gawain leaps up and asks to take the challenge himself. He takes hold of the axe and, in one deadly blow, cuts off the knight’s head. To the amazement of the court, the now-headless Green Knight picks up his severed head. Before riding away, the head reiterates the terms of the pact, reminding the young Gawain to seek him in a year and a day at the Green Chapel. After the Green Knight leaves, the company goes back to its festival, but Gawain is uneasy. Time passes, and autumn arrives. On the Day of All Saints, Gawain prepares to leave Camelot and find the Green Knight. He puts on his best armor, mounts his horse, Gringolet, and starts off toward North Wales, traveling through the wilderness of northwest Britain. Gawain encounters all sorts of beasts, suffers from hunger and cold, and grows more desperate as the days pass. On Christmas Day, he prays to find a place to hear Mass, then looks up to see a castle shimmering in the distance. The lord of the castle welcomes Gawain warmly, introducing him to his lady and to the old woman who sits beside her. For sport, the host (whose name is later revealed to be Bertilak) strikes a deal with Gawain: the host will go out hunting with his men every day, and when he returns in the evening, he will exchange his winnings for anything Gawain has managed to acquire by staying behind at the castle. Gawain happily agrees to the pact, and goes to bed. The first day, the lord hunts a herd of does, while Gawain sleeps late in his bedchambers. On the morning of the first day, the lord’s wife sneaks into Gawain’s chambers and attempts to seduce him. Gawain puts her off, but before she leaves she steals one kiss from him. That evening, when the host gives Gawain the venison he has captured, Gawain kisses him, since he has won one kiss from the lady. The second day, the lord hunts a wild boar. The lady again enters Gawain’s chambers, and this time she kisses Gawain twice. That evening Gawain gives the host the two kisses in exchange for the boar’s head. The third day, the lord hunts a fox, and the lady kisses Gawain three times. She also asks him for a love token, such as a ring or a glove. Gawain refuses to give her anything and refuses to take anything from her, until the lady mentions her girdle. The green silk girdle she wears around her waist is no ordinary piece of cloth, the lady claims, but possesses the magical ability to protect the person who wears it from death. Intrigued, Gawain accepts the cloth, but when it comes time to exchange his winnings with the host,

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Gawain gives the three kisses but does not mention the lady’s green girdle. The host gives Gawain the fox skin he won that day, and they all go to bed happy, but weighed down with the fact that Gawain must leave for the Green Chapel the following morning to find the Green Knight. New Year’s Day arrives, and Gawain dons his armor, including the girdle, then sets off with Gringolet to seek the Green Knight. A guide accompanies him out of the estate grounds. When they reach the border of the forest, the guide promises not to tell anyone if Gawain decides to give up the quest. Gawain refuses, determined to meet his fate headon. Eventually, he comes to a kind of crevice in a rock, visible through the tall grasses. He hears the whirring of a grindstone, confirming his suspicion that this strange cavern is in fact the Green Chapel. Gawain calls out, and the Green Knight emerges to greet him. Intent on fulfilling the terms of the contract, Gawain presents his neck to the Green Knight, who proceeds to feign two blows. On the third feint, the Green Knight nicks Gawain’s neck, barely drawing blood. Angered, Gawain shouts that their contract has been met, but the Green Knight merely laughs. The Green Knight reveals his name, Bertilak, and explains that he is the lord of the castle where Gawain recently stayed. Because Gawain did not honestly exchange all of his winnings on the third day, Bertilak drew blood on his third blow. Nevertheless, Gawain has proven himself a worthy knight, without equal in all the land. When Gawain questions Bertilak further, Bertilak explains that the old woman at the castle is really Morgan le Faye, Gawain’s aunt and King Arthur’s half sister. She sent the Green Knight on his original errand and used her magic to change Bertilak’s appearance. Relieved to be alive but extremely guilty about his sinful failure to tell the whole truth, Gawain wears the girdle on his arm as a reminder of his own failure. He returns to Arthur’s court, where all the knights join Gawain, wearing girdles on their arms to show their support.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Translated into modern prose by Jessie L. Weston)

King Arthur lay at Camelot upon a Christmas-tide, with many

a gallant lord and lovely lady, and all the noble brotherhood of the Round Table. (1). There they held rich revels with gay talk and jest; one while they would ride forth to joust and tourney, and again back to the court to make carols; for there was the feast holden fifteen days with all the mirth that men could devise, song and glee, glorious to hear, in the daytime, and dancing at night. Now the New Year had but newly come in, and on that day a double portion was served on the high table to all the noble

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

guests, and thither came the king with all his knights, when the service in the chapel had been sung to an end. And another custom he had also, that came of his nobility, that he would never eat upon an high day till he had been advised of some knightly deed, or some strange and marvellous tale. Or still some stranger knight should seek of him leave to joust with one of the Round Table, that they might set their lives in jeopardy, one against another, as fortune might favour them. Thus the king sat before the high tables and spoke of many things; and there good Sir Gawain was seated by Guinevere the queen, and at the lower tables sat many valiant knights. Then they bare the first course with the blast of trumpets and waving of banners, with the sound of drums and pipes, of song and lute, that many a heart was uplifted at the melody. Now I will say no more of the service, but that ye may know there was no lack, for there drew near a venture that the folk might well have left their labour to gaze upon. As the sound of the music ceased, and the first course had been fitly served, there came in at the hall door one terrible to behold, of stature greater than any on earth; from neck to loin so strong and thickly made, and with limbs so long and so great that he seemed even as giant. And yet he was but a man. But men marvelled much at his colour, for he rode even as a knight yet was green all over. For he was clad all in green, with a straight coat, and a mantle above, Hose had he of the same green, and spurs of bright gold with silken fastenings richly worked; and all his vesture was verily green. All the trappings of his steed were of metal of like enamel, even the stirrups that he stood in stained of the same and stirrups and saddle-bow alike gleamed and shone with green stones. Even the steed on which he rode was of the same hue, a green horse, great and strong, and hard to hold, with broidered bridle, meet for the rider. The knight was thus gaily dressed in green, his hair falling around his shoulders; on his breast hung a beard, as thick and green as a bush. The knight bore no helm nor hauberk, (2) neither shaft nor buckler (3) to smite nor to shield, but in one hand he had a holly-bough, that is greenest when the groves are bare, and in his other an axe, huge and uncomely, a cruel weapon in fashion, if one would picture it. The knight rideth through the entrance of the hall and greeted no man, but looked ever upwards; and the first words he spoke were, “Where is the ruler of this folk? I would gladly look upon that hero, and have speech with him.” Then was there great gazing to behold that chief, for each man marveled what it might mean that a knight and his steed should have even such a hue as the green grass; and that seemed even greener than green enamel on bright gold. Therefore were the gallant knights slow to answer, and gazed astounded and sat stone still in a deep silence through that goodly hall, as if a slumber were fallen upon them. Then Arthur beheld this adventurer before his high dais, (4) and knightly he greeted him high, for fearful was he never. “Sir,” he said, “thou art welcome to this place – lord of this half am I, and men call me Arthur. Light thee down, and tarry awhile, and what thy will is, that shall we learn after.”

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

“Nay,” quoth the stranger, “so help me he that sitteth on high. I was not mine errand to tarry any while in this dwelling; but the praise of this thy folk and thy city is lifted up on high, and thy warriors are holden for the best and the most valiant of those who ride mail clad to the fight. And here, as I have heard tell, is fairest courtesy; therefore have I come hither as at this time. Ye may be sure by the branch that I bear here that I come in peace, seeking no strife. But if thou be as bold as all men tell, thou wilt freely grant me the boon I ask.” And Arthur answered, ”Sir Knight, if thou cravest battle here thou shalt not fail for lack of a foe.” And the knight answered, “Nay, I ask no fight; in faith here on the benches are but beardless children; were I clad in armour on my steed there is no man here might match me. Therefore I ask in this court but a Christmas jest. (5) If any one in this hall holds himself so hardy, so bold both of blood and brain, as to dare strike me one stroke for another, I will give him as a gift this axe to handle as he may list, and I will abide the first blow, unarmed as I sit. Then shalt thou give me the right to deal him another, the respite of a year and a day shall he have. Now haste, and let see whether any here dare say aught.” Now if the knights had been astounded at the first, yet stiller were they all, high and low, when they had heard his words. The knight on his steed straightened himself in the saddle, and rolled his eyes fiercely round the hall. He frowned and twisted his beard, waiting to see who should rise, and when none answered he cried aloud in mockery. “What, is this Arthur’s hall, and these the knights whose renown hath run through many realms? Now are the praise and the renown of the Round Table overthrown by one man’s speech, since all keep silence for dread ere ever they have seen a blow!” [Filled with indignation at the taunt, King Arthur seized the axe and was about to deal the blow, when Gawain intervened and asked that he might accept the Green knight’s challenge. Arthur granted his request.] Gawain stepped to the stranger, axe in hand, and he, never fearing, awaited his coming. Then the Green knight spoke to Sir Gawain, “Make we our covenant ere we go further. First, I ask thee, knight what is thy name? Tell me truly, that I may know thee.” “In faith,” quoth the good knight, “Gawain am I, who give thee this buffet let what may come of it; and at this time twelvemonth will I take another at thine hand with whatsoever weapon thou wilt, and none other.” Then the Green knight swiftly made him ready, he bowed down his head, and laid his long locks on the crown that his bare neck might be seen. Gawain gripped his axe and raised it on high, the left foot he set forward on the floor, and let the blow fall lightly on the bare neck. The sharp edge of the blade sundered the bones, smote through the neck, and clave it in two, so that the edge of the steel bit on the ground, and the fair head fell to the earth that many struck it with their feet as it rolled forth. The blood spurted forth, and glistened on the green raiment, but the knight neither faltered nor fell be started forward with outstretched hand, and caught the head, and lifted it up; then he turned to his steed, and took hold of

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

the bridle, set his foot in the stirrup, and mounted. His head he held by the hair, in his hand. Then he seated himself in his saddle as if naught ailed him, and he were not headless. He turned his steed about, the grim corpse bleeding freely the while, and they who looked upon him doubled them much for the covenant. For he held up the head up the head in his hand, and turned the face towards them that sat on the high dais, and it lifted up the eyelids and looked upon them and spoke as ye shall hear. “Look, Gawain that thou art ready to go as thou hast promised. Come thou, I charge thee, to the Green Chapel; such a stroke as thou hast dealt thou hast deserved, and it shall be promptly paid thee on New Year’s morn. Many men know me as the knight of the Green Chapel, and if thou askest, thou shalt not fail to find me. Therefore it behoves thee to come, or to yield thee as recreant.” (6) With that he turned his bridle, and galloped out at the hall door, his head in his hands, so that the sparks flew from beneath his horse’s hoofs. Whither he went none knew, no more than they wits whence he had come; and the king and Gawain they gazed and laughed, for in sooth this had proved a greater marvel than any they had known a foretime. And they spent that day in gladness, but Sir Gawain must well bethink him of the heavy venture to which he had set his hand. II

This beginning of adventure had Arthur at the New Year. But now had they stern work on hand. Gawain was glad to begin the jest in the hall, but ye need have no marvel if the end be heavy. For thought a man be merry in mind when he has well drunk, yet a year runs full swiftly, and the beginning but rarely matches the end.

For Yule was now over-past, and the year after, each season in its turn following the other. For after Christmas comes crabbed Lent, that will have fish for flesh and simpler cheer. But then the weather of the world chides with winter; the cold withdraws itself, the clouds uplift, and the rain falls in warm showers on the fair plains. Then the flowers come forth, meadows and grove are clad in green, the birds make ready to build, and sing sweetly for solace of the soft summer that follows thereafter. The blossoms bud and blow in the hedgerows rich and rank, and noble notes enough are heard in the fair woods. After the season of summer, with the soft winds, when zephyr (7) breathes lightly on seeds and herbs, joyous indeed is the growth that waxes thereout when the dew drips from the leaves beneath the blissful glance of the bright sun. But then comes harvest and hardens the grain, warning it to wax ripe ere the winter. The drought drives the dust on high, flying over the face of the land; the angry wind of the welkin (8) wrestles with the sun; the leaves fall from the trees and light upon the ground, and all brown are the groves that but now were green, and ripe is the fruit that once was flower. So the year passes into many yesterdays, and winter comes again, as it needs no sage to tell us.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica [When the Christmas season was near, a farewell feast was given in Gawain’s honour, and on the morrow he took his leave of the king and the knights and ladies of the court.]

So rode Sir Gawain on an errand that he held for no jest. No comrade had he save his steed, and none save God with whom to take counsel. At length he drew nigh to North Wales. And ever he asked, as he fared, of all whom he met, if they had heard any tidings of a Green knight in the country thereabout, or of a Green Chapel? And all answered him, Nay, never in their lives had they seen any man of such a hue. And the knight wended his way by many a strange road and many a rugged path. Many a cliff did he climb in that unknown land, where afar from his friends he rode as a stranger. Sometimes he fought with dragons and wolves; sometimes with wild men that dwelt in the rocks; another while with bulls, and bears, and wild boars, or with giants of the high moorland that drew near to him. Yet he cared not so much for the strife; what he deemed worse was when the cold clear water was shed from the clouds, and froze ere it fell on the fallow ground. More nights than enough he slept in his harness on the bare rocks, near slain with the sleet, while the stream leapt bubbling from the crest of the hills, and hung in hard icicles over his head. Thus in peril and pain, and many a hardship, the knight rode alone till Christmas Eve, and in that tide he made his prayer to the blessed Virgin that she would guide his steps and lead him to some dwelling. On that morning he rode by a hill, and came into a thick forest, wild and drear. On the bare twigs the birds chirped piteously, for pain of the cold. The knight upon Gringalet rode lonely beneath them. [Suddenly he saw ahead of him a castle within a moat. He called out to the porter asking for shelter, and, a few minutes later, was welcomed graciously by the lord of the castle]

III [For three days Gawain was entertained by the lord of the castle and his beautiful young wife. Then, mindful that the time of his appointment with the Green Knight was near at hand, he was about to depart. But his host, learning why Gawain must leave, assured him that the Green Chapel was only two miles distant and that he might; therefore, remain at the castle for yet another four days. Gawain, nothing unwilling consented]

The next morning, before starting out for a day’s hunting, the lord of the castle made a

curious agreement with Gawain, who was to stay behind at the castle – that evening they should exchange whatever each had won during the day. During the lord’s absence, his young wife attempted, unsuccessfully, to induce Gawain to make love to her. Before leaving she kissed him. That evening the lord presented Gawain with the game he had killed, and Gawain, as his part of the agreement, gave his host a kiss. The next day the same thing happened: The lady was even more insistent but still unsuccessful. Again the kissed Gawain before leaving, and again, in the evening, the lord presented to Gawain the game he had killed, and Gawain returned to the lord the kiss he had received. On the third day, while her lord was out hunting, the lady tried to give Gawain a gold ring, but he refused it. She then offered him her green and gold girdle, saying that it was a magic girdle that would protect whoever wore it from injury or harm. Mindful of his meeting with the Green knight, so near at hand, Gawain accepted the girdle, promising to say nothing of it to her lord. Again she kissed him before leaving. That night, as before, Gawain returned the kiss to his lord but of the girdle he said nothing.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Now the New Year drew nigh, and the night passed and the day chased the darkness,

as is God’s will; but wild weather wakened therewith. The clouds east the cold to the earth, with enough of the north to slay them that lacked clothing. The snow drave smartly, and the whistling wind blew from the heights, and made great drifts in the valleys. The Knight, lying in his bed, listened, for though his eyes were shut, he might sleep but little, and hearkened every cock that crew. He arose ere the day broke, by the light of a lamp that burned in his chamber, and called to his chamberlain, bidding him bring his armor and saddle his steed. The other gat him up, and fetched his garments, and robed Sir Gawain. Thus the knight went on his way with the one man who should guide him to that dread place where he should receive rueful payment. The two went by hedges where the boughs were bare, and climbed the cliffs where the cold clings. Naught fell from the heavens, but ‘t was ill beneath them; mist brooded over the moor and hung on the mountains; each hill had a cap, a great cloak, of mist. The streams foamed and bubbled between their banks, dashing sparkling on the shores where they shelved downwards. Rugged and dangerous was the way through the woods, till it was time for the sun-rising. Then were they on a high hill; the snow lay white beside them, and the man who rode with Gawain drew rein by his master. [Failing to persuade Gawain to give up his dangerous quest, the man rode off, leaving Gawain to go his way alone]

Then the Knight spurred Gringalet, and rode adown the path close in by a bank beside a grove. An ill-looking place he thought it. Then he drew in his horse and looked round to seek the chapel, but he saw none and thought it strange. Then he saw as it were a mound on a level space of land by a bank beside the stream where it ran swiftly. “Ah,” quoth Gawain, “can this be the Green Chapel? Here might the devil say his matins at midnight!” Helmet on head and lance in hand, he came up to the rough dwelling, when he heard over the high hill beyond the brook a wondrous fierce noise, that rang in the cliff as if it would cleave asunder ‘T was as if one ground a scythe on a grindstone. “By God,” quoth Gawain, “I trow that gear is preparing for the Knight who will meet me here. Alas! Naught may help me, yet should my life be forfeit, I fear not a jot!” With that he called aloud. “Who waiteth in this place to give me tryst? Now is Gawain come hither: if any man will aught of him let him hasten now or never.” “Stay,” quoth one on the bank above his head, “and ye shall speedily have that which I promised ye.” Yet for a while the noise of whetting went on ere he appeared, and then he came forth from a cave in the crag with a fell weapon, a Danish axe newly dight, wherewith to deal the blow. An evil head it had, four feet large, no less, sharply ground, and bound to the handle by the lace that gleamed brightly. And the knight himself was all green as before, face and foot, locks and beard, but now he was a foot. When he came to the water he would

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

not wade it, but sprang over with the pole of his axe, and strode boldly over the bent (9) that was white with snow. Sir Gawain went to meet him, but he made no low bow. The other said, “Now, fair sir, one may trust thee o keep tryst. Thou art welcome, Gawain, to my place. Thou has timed thy coming as befits a true man. Thou knowest the covenant set between us. Have off thy helm from thine head, and have here the pay; make me no more talking than I did then when thou didst strike off mi head with one blow.” “Nay,” quoth Gawain “by God that gave me life, I shall make no moan whatever befall me, but make thou ready for the blow and I shall stand still and say never a word to thee, do as thou wilt.” With that he bent his head and showed his neck all bare, and made as if he had no fear, for he would not be thought adread. Then the Green Knight made him ready, and grasped his grim weapon to smite Gawain. With all his force he bore it aloft with a mighty feint of slaying him: had it fallen as straight as he aimed he who was ever doughty of deed had been slain by the blow. But Gawain swerved aside as the axe came gliding down to slay him as he stood, and shrank a little with the shoulders, for the sharp iron. The other heaved up the blade and rebuked the prince with many proud words: “Thou art not Gawain,” he said, “who is held so valiant, that never feared he man by hill or vale, but thou shrinkest for fear ere thou feelest hurt. Such cowardice did I never hear of Gawain! Neither did I flinch from thy blow, or make strife in King Arthur’s hall. My head fell to my feet, and yet I fled not; but thou didst wax faint of heart ere any harm befell. Wherefore must I be deemed the braver knight?” Quoth Gawain, “I shrank once, but so will I no more; I cannot replace it. But haste, Sir Knight, by thy faith, and bring me to the point, deal me my destiny, and do it out of hand, for I will stand thee a stroke and move no more till thine axe have hit me – my troth on it.” “Have at thee, then,” quoth the other, and heaved aloft the axe with fierce mien, as if he were mad. He struck at him fiercely but wounded him not, withholding his hand ere it might strike him. Gawain abode the stroke, and flinched in no limb, but stood still as a stone or the stump of a tree that is fast rooted in the rocky ground with a hundred roots. Then spoke gaily the man in green, “So now thou hast thine heart whole it behoves me to smite. Hold aside thy hood that Arthur gave thee, and keep thy neck thus bent lest it cover it again.” Then Gawain said angrily, “Why talk on thus? Thou dost threaten too long. I hope thy heart misgives thee.” “For sooth,” quoth the other, “so fiercely thou speakest I will no longer let thine errand wait its reward.” Then he braced himself to strike, frowning with lips and brow, ‘t was no marvel that is pleased but ill him who hoped for no rescue. He lifted the axe lightly and let it fall with the edge of the blade on the bare neck. Though he struck swiftly, it hurt him no more than on the one side where it severed the skin. The sharp blade cut into the flesh so that the blood ran over his

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

shoulder to the ground. And when the knight saw the blood staining the snow, he sprang forth, swift-foot, more than a spear’s length, seized his helmet and set it on his head, east his shield over his shoulder, drew out his bright sword, and spoke boldly (never since he was born was he half so blithe) , “Stop, Sir Knight, bid me no more blows, I have stood a stroke here without flinching, and if thou give me another, I shall requite thee, and give thee as good again. By the covenant made betwixt us in Arthur’s hall but one blow falls to me here. Halt, therefore.” Then the Green Knight drew off from him and leaned on his axe and looked on Gawain as he stood all armed and faced him fearlessly – at heart it pleased him well. Then he spoke merrily in a loud voice, and said to the knight, “Bold sir, be not so fierce; no man here hath done thee wrong, nor will do, save by covenant, as we made at Arthur’s court. I promised thee a blow and thou hast it – hold thyself well paid! I release thee of all other claims. If I had been so minded I might perchance have given thee a rougher buffet. First I menaced thee with a feigned one, and hurt thee not for the covenant that we made in the first night, and which thou didst hold truly. All the gain didst thou give me as a true man should. The other feint I proffered thee for the morrow: my fair wife kissed thee, and thon didst give me her kisses for both those days I gave thee two blows without scathe-true man, true return. But the third time thou didst fail, and therefore hadst thou that blow. For ‘t is my weed thou wearest, that same woven girdle, my own wife wrought it. Now know I well thy kisses, and thy conversation, and the wooing of my wife, for ‘t was mine own doing. I sent her to try thee, and in sooth I think thon art the most faultless Knight that ever trod earth. As a pearl among white peas is of more worth than they, so is Gawain, I’ faith, by other knights. But thou didst lack a little, Sir Knight, and wast wanting in loyalty, yet that was for no evil work, nor for wooing neither, but because thou lovedst thy life therefore I blame thee the less.” Then the other stood a great while, still sorely angered and vexed within himself; all the blood flew to his face, and he shrank for shame as the Green Knight spoke; and the first words he said were, “Cursed be ye, cowardice and covetousness, for in ye is the destruction of virtue.” Then he loosed the girdle, and gave it to the knight. “Lo, take there the falsity, may foul befall it! For fear of thy blow cowardice bade me make friends with covetousness and forsake the customs of largess and loyalty, which befit all knights. Now am I faulty and false and have been afeared: from treachery and untruth come sorrow and care. I avow to thee, Sr. Knight, that I have ill done; do then thy will. I shall be more wary hereafter.” Then the other laughed and said gaily, “I wot I am whole of the hurt I had, and thou hast made such free confession of thy misdeeds, and hast so borne the penance of mine axe edge, that I hold thee absolved from that sin, and purged as clean as if thou hadst never sinned since thou wast born. And this girdle that is wrought with gold and green, like my raiment, do I give thee, Sir Gawain, that thou mayest think upon this chance when thou goest forth among princes of renown, and keep this for a token of the adventure of the Green Chapel, as it chanced between chivalrous knights. And thou shalt come again with me to my dwelling and pass the rest of his feast in gladness.” Then the lord daid hold of him, and said, “I wot we shall soon make peace with my wife, who was thy bitter enemy.” But Sir Gawain said nay, he would in no wise do so; so they embraced and kissed, and commended each other to the Prince of Paradise, and parted right there, on the cold ground. Gawain on his steed rode swiftly to the king’s hall, and the Green Knight got him whithersoever he would.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Sir Gawain, who had thus won grace of his life, rode through wild ways on Gringalet, and thu s he came in safety again to the court. Then joy awakened in that dwelling when the king knew that the good Sir Gawain was come. King Arthur kissed the knight, and the queen also, and many valiant knights sought to embrace him. They asked him how he had fared, and he told them all that had chanced to him. He showed them the wound in the neck which he won for his disloyalty at the hand of the knight; the blood flew to his face for shame as he told the tale. Then the king comforted the knight, and the court laughed loudly at the take, and all made accord that the lords and the ladies who belonged to the Round Table, each hero among them, should wear bound about him a baldric of bright green for the sake of Sir Gawain. And to his was agreed all the honour of the Round Table, and he who ware it was honoured the more thereafter, as it is testified in the book of romance.

Footnotes 1. The famous table in the Arthurian legend at which an equal place was reserved for each knight to indicate equality of rank. There were no special seats of honour 2. Helm nor hauberk. Helmet nor coat of mail 3. Shaft nor buckler. Spear nor shield 4. Dais. A platform at the end of the hall where sat the king and the chief guest. 5. Jest. In Midldle English, jeste, or geste, meant “a deed,” “an exploit.” 6. A coward and deserter. 7. Zephyr. A gentle breeze. 8. Welkin. The vault of the sky. 9. A kind of coarse grass.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Vocabulary on Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

1. Holly 7. Whet (INTEREST) a small evergreen tree with shiny sharp whet someone’s appetite to inleaves and small round red fruit crease someone’s interest in and desire for something, usually by gi2. Bargain (agreement) ving them a small experience of it: I’ve read an excerpt of the book on the an agreement between two people or Web and it’s whetted my appetite. groups in which each promises to do so8. Silk (CLOTH) mething in exchange for something else: a delicate, soft type of clo“I’ll tidy the kitchen if you clean the car.” th made from a thread produced “OK, it’s a bargain.” by silkworms, or the thread itself: 3. Shield a silk dress 1 in the past, a large flat object made of 9. Decree metal or leather that soldiers held in front an official statement that something of their bodies to protect themselves must happen: 4. Chaste The decree stopped short of a full dec1 not having had sex, or only halaration of independence. ving a sexual relationship with the person whom you are married to: 10. Henceforth In the past, a woman needed to be chaste to make a good marriage. adverb (ALSO henceforward) FOR5. Boar MAL OR LEGAL a male pig kept for breeding on a farm, starting from this time: or a type of wild pig Henceforth, the said building shall be the property of Brendan Duggan. 6. Girdle 1 [C] OLD-FASHIONED an elastic piece of underwear for women worn around the waist and bottom to shape the body

(Prepared by Carmen Hidalgo, Graduated from Education Faculty)

Literatura Inglesa: BritĂĄnica

Reading Comprehension questions Thinking back over the story 1. What did you enjoy about Sir Gawain and the Green Knight? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Where are the moments of greatest suspense? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What would be an appropriate title for each of the four parts of the story? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. What qualities do you admire in Gawain? In Arthur? In the Green Knight? Where do they give evidence of the knightly qualities of honour, devotion to god, loyalty to oneâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Lord, valour and generosity? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. What kinds of the things does the poet most enjoy describing? Find examples of especially vivid descriptions. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Comparing 1. What qualities does Gawain show that were absent, or less emphasized, in Beowulf? In Cuchulain? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Which of the three heroes are perfect? Which shows some weakness? Do you prefer a perfect hero or one who has some weakness? Why? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Compare Sir Gawain and King Arthur as they appear here with the same characters as they are portrayed in other versions of the Arthur stories that you know. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

What makes it last 1. What qualities does this story have that account for its having survived for more than five hundred years? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Are these the same qualities that account for any piece of literature’s surviving? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Your guess about the author Thought no one knows even the name of the author of Sir Gawain and probably never will many scholars have made surmises about him. Here are some of the theories about him that have been put forward: He had once lived at court He was no longer a young man when he wrote Sir Gawain. He was associated with a monastery, possibly had retired to one. He lived in or near a Celtic section of Britain, possibly near the border of Wales. What evidence can you find in the story for or against each? Using your imagination Write an imaginary biography of the author or Sir Gawain, basing it on what you learn of him from this story. Plan a new edition of the story. What colour or colours would you use for the cover? What scenes would you illustrate if you were limited to three? (you may like to sketch or paint one them.)

Characters of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Sir Gawain. The story’s protagonist, Arthur’s nephew and one of his most loyal knights. Although he modestly disclaims it, Gawain has the reputation of being a great knight and courtly lover. He prides himself on his observance of the five points of chivalry in every aspect of his life. Gawain is a pinnacle of humility, piety, integrity, loyalty, and honesty. His only flaw proves to be that he loves his own life so much that he will lie in order to protect himself. Gawain leaves the Green Chapel penitent and changed.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Green Knight.A mysterious visitor to Camelot. The Green Knight’s huge stature, wild appearance, and green complexion set him apart from the beardless knights and beautiful ladies of Arthur’s Camelot. He is an ambiguous figure: he says that he comes in friendship, not wanting to fight, but the friendly game he proposes is quite deadly. He attaches great importance to verbal contracts, expecting Sir Gawain to go to great lengths to hold up his end of their bargain. The Green Knight shows himself to be a supernatural being when he picks up his own severed head and rides out of Arthur’s court, still speaking. At the same time, he seems to symbolize the natural world, in that he is killed and reborn as part of a cycle. At the poem’s end, we discover that the Green Knight is also Bertilak, Gawain’s host, and one of Morgan le Faye’s minions. Bertilak of Hautdesert. The sturdy, good-natured lord of the castle where Gawain spends Christmas. We only learn Bertilak’s name at the end of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. The poem associates Bertilak with the natural world –his beard resembles a beaver, his face a fire –but also with the courtly behavior of an aristocratic host. Boisterous, powerful, brave, and generous, Lord Bertilak provides an interesting foil to King Arthur. At the end of the poem we learn that Bertilak and the Green Knight are the same person, magically enchanted by Morgan le Faye for her own designs. The Green Knight (also known as Bertilak de Hautdesert and the Host) (In-Depth Analysis) Bertilak’s wife. Bertilak’s wife attempts to seduce Gawain on a daily basis during his stay at the castle. Though the poem presents her to the reader as no more than a beautiful young woman, Bertilak’s wife is an amazingly clever debater and an astute reader of Gawain’s responses as she argues her way through three attempted seductions. Flirtatious and intelligent, Bertilak’s wife ultimately turns out to be another pawn in Morgan le Faye’s plot. Morgan le Faye.The Arthurian tradition typically portrays Morgan as a powerful sorceress, trained by Merlin, as well as the half sister of King Arthur. Not until the last one hundred lines do we discover that the old woman at the castle is Morgan le Faye and that she has controlled the poem’s entire action from beginning to end. As she often does in Arthurian literature, Morgan appears as an enemy of Camelot, one who aims to cause as much trouble for her half brother and his followers as she can. King Arthur. The king of Camelot. In Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Arthur is young and beardless, and his court is in its golden age. Arthur’s refusal to eat until he hears a fantastic tale shows the petulance of youth, as does Arthur’s initial stunned response to the Green Knight’s challenge. However, like a good king, Arthur soon steps forward to take on the challenge. At the story’s end, Arthur joins his nephew in wearing a green girdle on his arm, showing that Gawain’s trial has taught him about his own fallibility. Queen Guinevere. Arthur’s wife. The beautiful young Guinevere of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight seems to have little in common with the one of later Arthurian legend. She sits next to Gawain at the New Year’s feast and remains a silent, objectified presence in the midst of the knights of the Round Table.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Analysis of Major Characters Sir Gawain Though Gawain and Guinevere share the high table at the New Year’s celebration in Arthur’s court, he describes himself as the least of Arthur’s knights in terms of both physical prowess and mental ability. His modest claim to inferiority and his high status at court—he is Arthur’s nephew and one of Camelot’s most famous knights—testify to both his humility and his ambition. Gawain seeks to improve his inner self throughout the poem. After Gawain arrives at Bertilak’s castle in Part 2, it is evident that his reputation is quite widespread. To Gawain, his public reputation is as important as his own opinion of himself, and he therefore insists on wearing the green girdle as a sign of shame at the story’s end. He believes that sins should be as visible as virtues. Even though the Green Knight essentially tricks Gawain by not telling him about his supernatural abilities before asking Gawain to agree to his terms, Gawain refuses to back out of their deal. He stands by his commitments absolutely, even when it means jeopardizing his own life. The poem frequently reiterates Gawain’s deep fears and anxieties, but Gawain’s desire to maintain his personal integrity at all costs enables him to conquer his fears in his quest for the Green Knight. Gawain is a paragon of virtue in Parts 1 and 2 of the poem. But in Part 3 he conceals from his host the magical green girdle that the host’s wife gives him, revealing that, despite his bravery, Gawain values his own life more than his honesty. Ultimately, however, Gawain confesses his sin to the knight and begs to be pardoned; thereafter, he voluntarily wears the girdle as a symbol of his sin. Because Gawain repents of his sin in such an honorable manner, his one indiscretion in the poem actually ends up being an example of his basic goodness. Gawain is not a static character. In his encounter with the Green Knight, he recognizes the problematic nature of courtly ideals. When he returns to Arthur’s court at Camelot, the other lords and ladies still look to him like lighthearted children, but Gawain is weighed down by a new somberness. Though he survives his quest, Gawain emerges at the end of the poem as a humbled man who realizes his own faults and has to live with the fact that he will never live up to his own high standards.

The Green Knight (also known as Bertilak de Hautdesert and the Host) The Green Knight is a mysterious, supernatural creature. He rides into Arthur’s court on New Year’s Eve almost as if summoned by the king’s request to hear a marvelous story. His supernatural characteristics, such as his ability to survive decapitation and his green complexion, immediately mark him as a foreboding figure. The Green Knight contrasts with Arthur’s court in many ways. The knight symbolizes the wildness, fertility, and death that characterize a primeval world, whereas the court symbolizes an enclave of civiliza-

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

tion within the wilderness. But, like the court, the Green Knight strongly advocates the values of the law and justice. And though his long hair suggests an untamed, natural state, his hair is cut into the shape of a courtly garment, suggesting that part of his function is to establish a relationship between wilderness and civilization, past and present. At Gawain’s scheduled beheading, the Green Knight reveals that he is also the host with whom Gawain stayed after his journeys through the wilderness, and that he is known as Bertilak de Hautdesert. As the host, we know Bertilak to be a courteous, jovial man who enjoys hunting for sport and playing games. A well-respected and middle-aged lord, the host contrasts with the beardless Arthur. In fact, his beard is “beaver-hued,” a feature which associates the host with the Green Knight. Other clues exist in the text to connect the host with the Green Knight. For instance, both the Green Knight and the host value the power of verbal contracts. Each makes a covenant with Gawain, and the two agreements overlap at the end of the poem.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight Themes, Motifs & Symbols 1) Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work.

The Nature of Chivalry

The world of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is governed by well-defined codes of behavior. The code of chivalry, in particular, shapes the values and actions of Sir Gawain and other characters in the poem. The ideals of chivalry derive from the Christian concept of morality, and the proponents of chivalry seek to promote spiritual ideals in a spiritually fallen world. The ideals of Christian morality and knightly chivalry are brought together in Gawain’s symbolic shield. The pentangle represents the five virtues of knights: friendship, generosity, chastity, courtesy, and piety. Gawain’s adherence to these virtues is tested throughout the poem, but the poem examines more than Gawain’s personal virtue; it asks whether heavenly virtue can operate in a fallen world. What is really being tested in Sir Gawain and the Green Knight might be the chivalric system itself, symbolized by Camelot. Arthur’s court depends heavily on the code of chivalry, and Sir Gawain and the Green Knight gently criticizes the fact that chivalry values appearance and symbols over truth. Arthur is introduced to us as the “most courteous of all,” indicating that people are ranked in this court according to their mastery of a certain code of behavior and good manners. When the Green Knight challenges the court, he mocks them for being so afraid of mere words, suggesting that words and appearances hold too much power over the company. The members of the court never reveal their true feelings, instead choosing to seem beautiful, courteous, and fair-spoken.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

On his quest for the Green Chapel, Gawain travels from Camelot into the wilderness. In the forest, Gawain must abandon the codes of chivalry and admit that his animal nature requires him to seek physical comfort in order to survive. Once he prays for help, he is rewarded by the appearance of a castle. The inhabitants of Bertilak’s castle teach Gawain about a kind of chivalry that is more firmly based in truth and reality than that of Arthur’s court. These people are connected to nature, as their hunting and even the way the servants greet Gawain by kneeling on the “naked earth” symbolize (818). As opposed to the courtiers at Camelot, who celebrate in Part 1 with no understanding of how removed they are from the natural world, Bertilak’s courtiers joke self-consciously about how excessively lavish their feast is (889–890). The poem does not by any means suggest that the codes of chivalry be abandoned. Gawain’s adherence to them is what keeps him from sleeping with his host’s wife. The lesson Gawain learns as a result of the Green Knight’s challenge is that, at a basic level, he is just a physical being who is concerned above all else with his own life. Chivalry provides a valuable set of ideals toward which to strive, but a person must above all remain conscious of his or her own mortality and weakness. Gawain’s time in the wilderness, his flinching at the Green Knight’s axe, and his acceptance of the lady’s offering of the green girdle teach him that though he may be the most chivalrous knight in the land, he is nevertheless human and capable of error.

The Letter of the Law Though the Green Knight refers to his challenge as a “game,” he uses the language of the law to bind Gawain into an agreement with him. He repeatedly uses the word “covenant,” meaning a set of laws, a word that evokes the two covenants represented by the Old and the New Testaments. The Old Testament details the covenant made between God and the people of Israel through Abraham, but the New Testament replaces the old covenant with a new covenant between Christ and his followers. In 2 Corinthians 3:6, Paul writes that Christ has “a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The “letter” to which Paul refers here is the legal system of the Old Testament. From this statement comes the Christian belief that the literal enforcement of the law is less important than serving its spirit, a spirit tempered by mercy. Throughout most of the poem, the covenant between Gawain and the Green Knight evokes the literal kind of legal enforcement that medieval Europeans might have associated with the Old Testament. The Green Knight at first seems concerned solely with the letter of the law. Even though he has tricked Gawain into their covenant, he expects Gawain to follow through on the agreement. And Gawain, though he knows that following the letter of the law means death, is determined to see his agreement through to the end because he sees this as his knightly duty.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

At the poem’s end, the covenant takes on a new meaning and resembles the less literal, more merciful New Testament covenant between Christ and his Church. In a decidedly Christian gesture, the Green Knight, who is actually Gawain’s host, Bertilak, absolves Gawain because Gawain has confessed his faults. To remind Gawain of his weakness, the Green Knight gives him a penance, in the form of the wound on his neck and the girdle. The Green Knight punishes Gawain for breaking his covenant to share all his winnings with his host, but he does not follow to the letter his covenant to decapitate Gawain. Instead of chopping Gawain’s head off, Bertilak calls it his right to spare Gawain and only nicks his neck. Ultimately, Gawain clings to the letter of the law. He cannot accept his sin and absolve himself of it the way Bertilak has, and he continues to do penance by wearing the girdle for the rest of his life. The Green Knight transforms his literal covenant by offering Gawain justice tempered with mercy, but the letter of the law still threatens in the story’s background, and in Gawain’s own psyche.

2) Motifs Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

The Seasons At the beginning of Parts 2 and 4, the poet describes the changing of the seasons. The seasonal imagery in Part 2 precedes Gawain’s departure from Camelot, and in Part 4 his departure from the host’s castle. In both cases, the changing seasons correspond to Gawain’s changing psychological state, from cheerfulness (pleasant weather) to bleakness (the winter). But the five changing seasons also correspond to the five ages of man (birth/infancy, youth, adulthood, middle age, and old age/death), as well as to the cycles of fertility and decay that govern all creatures in the natural world. The emphasis on the cyclical nature of the seasons contrasts with and provides a different understanding of the passage of time from the more linear narrative of history that frames the poem.

Games When the poem opens, Arthur’s court is engaged in feast-time customs, and Arthur almost seems to elicit the Green Knight’s entrance by requesting that someone tell him a tale. When the Green Knight first enters, the courtiers think that his appearance signals a game of some sort. The Green Knight’s challenge, the host’s later challenge, and the wordplay that takes place between Gawain and the lady are all presented as games. The relationship between games and tests is explored because games are forms of social behavior, while tests provide a measure of an individual’s inner worth.

3) Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Pentangle According to the Gawain-poet, King Solomon originally designed the five-pointed star as his own magic seal. A symbol of truth, the star has five points that link and lock with each other, forming what is called the endless knot. Each line of the pentangle passes over one line and under one line, and joins the other two lines at its ends. The pentangle symbolizes the virtues to which Gawain aspires: to be faultless in his five senses; never to fail in his five fingers; to be faithful to the five wounds that Christ received on the cross; to be strengthened by the five joys that the Virgin Mary had in Jesus (the Annunciation, Nativity, Resurrection, Ascension, and Assumption); and to possess brotherly love, courtesy, piety, and chastity. The side of the shield facing Gawain contains an image of the Virgin Mary to make sure that Gawain never loses heart.

The Green Girdle The meaning of the host’s wife’s girdle changes over the course of the narrative. It is made out of green silk and embroidered with gold thread, colors that link it to the Green Knight. She claims it possesses the power to keep its wearer from harm, but we find out in Part 4 that the girdle has no magical properties. After the Green Knight reveals his identity as the host, Gawain curses the girdle as representing cowardice and an excessive love of mortal life. He wears it from then on as a badge of his sinfulness. To show their support, Arthur and his followers wear green silk baldrics that look just like Gawain’s girdle.

2.4. Geoffrey Chaucer. The Canterbury Tales Geoffrey Chaucer While Will Langland was gravely poring over his books and struggling with his “vision” in a poor London dwelling and the author of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, possibly in the quiet of a monastery cloister, was setting down his late of knights and ladies of olden times, young Geoffrey Chaucer was leading an active, adventurous life, very much in the center of things. Born in London (in 1340?) the son of a wine merchant, he must have known the busy life of a middle-class merchant from his earliest days. When he was a lad of seventeen, he became page in the household of Prince Lionel, third son of King Edward III. England was at war with France then, as it was during much of Chaucer’s life, and Chaucer went with Lionel to France, was taken prisoner, and, with the help of a contribution from the king himself, was ransomed. On his return to England he became a member of the household of the king, was sent several times on important diplomatic missions to France and Italy, and married one of the queen’s maids-in-waiting.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

When he was about thirty-four, he was made controller of the customs in the Port of London. All day he worked in his office and about the shipping, coming into contact with all sorts of seamen and landsmen who swarmed about the banks of the Thames. At night he went home to his dwelling over Aldgate, one of the great old gates to the City, and here too he could watch the life of London. Later in his life he became clerk of the king’s works at various places, including Windsor and Westminster. As such he would be often among masons and carpenters and other workmen, talking with them, watching and listening to them-and enjoying it all. For Chaucer was a friendly, jolly man who liked people and who must have been liked by them – all Kinds At one time, around 1374, Chaucer was very well of, with pensions from John of Gaunt, another son of Edward III, and from the king himself-first from Edward III, later from his successors, Richard II and Henry IV – and with good salaries for the various offices he held. Later, during troublous political changes, he lost both pensions and offices. He knew prosperity and he knew poverty. Moreover he engaged in a variety of occupations – as courtier, soldier, diplomat, civil servant. In his later life he was made justice of the peace, and a year later became a Member of Parliament. And always he was the student and poet, reading and rereading his favourite books and poems, and beginning very early to write poetry himself. His earliest poetry was translations from the French. His first poem in English was The Book of the Duchess, written, in 1369, on the death of the Duchess Blanche, wife of his patron John of Gaunt. Many poems followed, but it was not until 1389 that he began the actual writing of the Canterbury Tales.

The Canterbury Tales Whan that Aprille with his shoures soote The droghte of Marche hath perced to the roote, And bathed every veyne in swich licour, Of which vertu engendred is the flour; Whan Zephirus eek with his swete breeth Inspired hath in every Holt and heeth The tendre croppes and the yonge sonne Hath in the Ram his halfe cours y-ronne, And smale fowles maken melodye, That slepen at the night with open eye, (So priketh hem nature in hir corages); Than longen folk to goon on pilgrimages, And palmers for to seken straunge strondes, To ferne halwes, couthe in sundry londes; And specially, from every shires ende Of Engelond, to Caunterbury they wende, The holy blisful martir for to seke, That hem hath holpen, whan that they were seeke.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Canterbury tales The Canterbury tales is a series of tales set in a framework. Chaucer tells of the journey of a group of pilgrims from London to the shrine of St. Thomas a Becket in Canterbury * Cathedral, twenty-nine in all besides Chaucer himself and Harry Bailey, host of the inn from which they set out. To pass the time on the way, each pilgrim was, according to Chaucer’s plan, to tell two tales on the journey to Canterbury and two more on the return journey – 120 tales in all. That was a vast project for any man to undertake, even if he could give full time to it – as Chaucer could not. Only twenty tales were completed. Tales in the collection are many kinds, serious, humorous, sad, romantic, or moralistic, according to the nature of their tellers. You will surely enjoy the story of the journey itself, which is the framework of the tales. Only the prologue (and that not entire) is given here, telling how the pilgrims met and what they were like. A few lines are given in the original so that you can see how much Chaucer’s English is like the English language of today. These lines are followed by a retelling of the story in modern English that keeps much of the feeling of the original poem as written by Chaucer.

Canterbury Tales

When the sweet showers from skies of April

blue The drought of March have pierced through and through And bathed each vein in sap whose silent power Quickens the bud and nourishes the flower, When the soft west wind with his fragrant breath Awakened hath in every wood and heath The tender shoots and when the blithe young sun His summer course through heaven hath well begun, And little birds scarce wait till night is gone To hail with melody the springing dawnFor so the joy of nature pricks the heartThen people long from houses to depart

And go a- journeying for love of God To far-off shrines whose fame is noised abroad, And especially from every county’s end Of England men to Canterbury wend The holy blissful Martyr to adore Whose help has healed them of the ills they bore. Once it befell when I, in such a season, In Southwark (1) at the Tabard lodged, for reason That from this London inn do travellers start For Canterbury and, devout of heart, I too would make the pilgrimage that spring, Some nine and twenty folk (2) came gathering Together there, as friendly chance did fall, And pilgrims of Saint Thomas were they all,

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Who on the morrow toward his shrine would ride? The chambers and the stables were so wide That there were beds for all and of the best; And shortly, when the sun had sunk to rest, So had I spoken with them every one That I was of their fellowship anon And promised to rise early and to go Together with them whitherward you know But nevertheless, while I have time and space, Before I further in this story pace, Methinks‘t were well to tell you all I can About my fellow-pilgrims man by man, Both of what worldly rank they seemed to be And how their very selves appeared to me, The look of them, the array that they were in, And at a knight then will I first begin.

There was a KNIGHT, well worthy of the

name, Who from the time when he to manhood came And rode in armour forth, loved chivalry, Honour and truth, fair-dealing, courtesy. Full bravely had he served his king in war, Fought for our faith in heathen lands afar, And ever won such honour with his sword In feasts men placed him highest at the board; (3) But of his bearing modest as a maid; He never yet in all his life had said, To any mortal, word of scorn or spite. He was a very perfect gentle knight, But as for his array, his worthiness

Showed in his horses more than in his dress. The tunic that he wore was coarse and plain And from his coat of mail had taken stain, For he from travel was but lately come And sought the Saint before he sought his home. With him there was his son, a gay young SQUIRE. Love was his song and all his heart’s desire. His locks were curly as if laid in press. Of twenty years of age he was, I guess. Well-formed he was and of a goodly height, Active and strong and valorous in flight, For thrice already had he wielded lance In Flanders and the pleasant fields of France, And borne him well, for such a little space, In hope to stand within his lady’s grace With white and red his clothes were broidered so He seemed a meadow where bright blossoms grow. Singing he was, or fluting, all the day; He was as fresh as is the month of May. Short was his gown, with sleeves both long and wide; Well could he sit his horse and well could ride. He could make songs and many a tale recite And he could tilt (4) and dance and draw and write. Singing of love beneath the moonlight pale, He slept no more than doth a nightingale. Courteous he was, lowly and serviceable, And carved before his father at the table.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

A YEOMAN and no retinue beside

They had, for so it pleased the knight to ride, A yeoman clad in coat and hood of green. A sheaf of peacock-arrows bright and keen Under his belt he bore in archer’s wise. His shafts were feathered skilfully, to rise Not over high nor yet to droop too low, And In his hand he bore a mighty bow. There was likewise a nun, a, PRIORESS, Called Madame Eglantine. Her smile was coy; Her greatest oath was only by Saint Loy, Who helps the goldsmiths fashion trinkets fine. Sweetly she sang the services divine A little through her nose, and French she spoke Full fluently and like to gentlefolk Who are in merry England born and grown, For French of Paris was to her unknown Her ways at table were most fine of all; Upon her breast she let no morsel fall, But daintily her strip of bread would dip Within the broth nor wet her finger-tip, Nor spill a drop as to her mouth it went. Upon good manners all her mind was bent. When the cup passed down the board, she wiped so clean Her upper lip no stop of grease was seen Upon the wine when she had drunken, nor Was there a dish she would be snatching for? And surely she would put us at our case With gracious words and little pleasantries, And yet took pains that it should well be seen By these her courtly airs and stately mien

To her was due most reverent respect. As for her conscience,‘ t was no less select So pitiful (5) she was, if it should hap She saw a mouse caught fast within a trap Her tears would flow, even though its life was fled. Some little hounds she had and those she fed On roasted meat and milk and wheaten bread, And sore she wept if one of them was dead, Or stroke of pilgrim’s staff should make one smart, For all was conscience, all was tender heart. Full gracefully her gathered kerchief lay Upon her modest shoulders; eyes as gray As glass; a little mouth all red and soft; A comely nose; a forehead there a loft Broad as my hand, for truly I must own Not anyone could call her underground. Her cloak was in the fashion, I divined; About her arm a rosary was twined Of coral, with some few green beads that told The longer prayers and with a brooch of gold, On which was written first a crowned. A, And after. Amor vincit omnia, To wit, Love conquers all. With her rode on A NUN her chaplain and a FRIEST, Sir John.

A CLERK OF OXFORD with us journeyed,

A scholar who loved logic more than bread. Learn as a rake the horse was that he sat, And he himself. I warrant, was not fat, A hollow look he had and sober, too;

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

A threadbare cape he wore, as scholars do. For as yet he had no parish, nor would bend His sacred learning to a worldly end; For he would rather have at his bed’s head Twenty volumes, bound in black or red, Of Aristotle and his philosophy, Than garment rich or fiddle or psallery; Yet, thought philosopher, he did not hold Their magic stone transforming clay to gold, But all the money thath is friends could spare He spent on books and learning, while his prayer Rose ever that in peace the souls of those Who gave him means to study might repose. Study was all he cared for, all he heeded; Not one word spoke he further than was needed, And that was to the purpose, quick and short, Uttered with dignity, of high import, Inspiring unto virtue was his speech, And gladly would he learn and gladly teach.

There was a WIFE OF BATH, that thriving city. A little deaf she was, the more the pity. At weaving cloth no Fleming could outdo her; Not Ghent (6) itself could hold a candle to her. In the entire parish, goodwife was there none Might pass before her, when some relicbone

Invited to the altar; if they should, Her anger threw her out of pious mood. Of finest weft her kerchiefs; I’ll be bound Those that she wore on Sunday weighed ten pound, With golden net so richly were they spread, Her well tied stockings were of scarlet-red; Full supple were her riding-boots and new; Bold was her face, and fair, and red of hue. A worthy woman she, as husbands five Might have avouched, were one of them alive. Thrice had she journeyed to Jerusalem, In far-off streams had wet her mantle’s hem, To Rome had roamed, a pilgrimage had made. To our lady of Boulogne, her vows had paid. To good Saint James Of Spain, and by the Rhine Had seen in proud Cologne the Magi’s Shrine Much did she know of wandering by the way. Between her teeth were gaps, the sooth to say, Upon and amber easily she sat Well wrap from wind, and on her hear a hat As broad as is a target or a shield; A riding-skirt her gala dress concealed She rode astride and wore a pair of spurs. In bantering a lively tongue was hers; In love spells and in charms she dealt, perchance For of that art she knew the blithe old dance.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Parson’s Portrait

A good man was ther of religioun, And was a povre persoun of a town, But riche he was of hooly thoght and werk. He was also a lerned man, a clerk, That cristes gospel trewely wolde preche; His parisshens devoutly wolde he teche. Benygne he was, and wonder diligent, And in adversitee ful pacient, And swich he was ypreved ofte sithes. Ful looth were hym to cursen for his tithes, But rather wolde he yeven, out of doute, Unto his povre parisshens aboute Of his offryng and eek of his substaunce. He koude in litel thyng have suffisaunce. Wyd was his parisshe, and houses fer asonder, But he ne lefte nat, for reyn ne thonder, In siknesse nor in meschief to visite The ferreste in his parisshe, muche and lite, Upon his feet, and in his hand a staf.

This noble ensample to his sheep he yaf, That first he wroghte, and afterward he taughte. Out of the gospel he tho wordes caughte, And this figure he added eek therto, That if gold ruste, what shal iren do? For if a preest be foul, on whom we truste, No wonder is a lewed man to ruste; And shame it is, if a prest take keep, A shiten shepherde and a clene sheep. Wel oghte a preest ensample for to yive, By his clennesse, how that his sheep sholde lyve. He sette nat his benefice to hyre And leet his sheep encombred in the myre And ran to londoun unto seinte poules To seken hym a chaunterie for soules, Or with a bretherhed to been withholde; But dwelte at hoom, and kepte wel his folde, So that the wolf ne made it nat myscarie; He was a shepherde and noght a mercenarie. And though he hooly were and vertuous, He was to synful men nat despitous, Ne of his speche daungerous ne digne, But in his techyng discreet and benygne. To drawen folk to hevene by fairnesse, By good ensample, this was his bisynesse. But it were any persone obstinat, What so he were, of heigh or lough estat, Hym wolde he snybben sharply for the nonys. A bettre preest I trowe that nowher noon ys. He waited after no pompe and reverence, Ne maked him a spiced conscience, But Crists loore and his apostles twelve He taught, but first he followed it himself.

Footnotes 1. Just across the Thames River from London. 2. The count is a little confused since Chaucer at one time in the poem mentions three priests in the Prioress’s party and in another place only one. 3. Highest at the board. In the most important position, at the head of the table. 4. Tilt. To joust, to engage in a combat of lances. 5. Here, full of pity. 6. Ghent. A city in Flanders (now Belgium) famous for its wearing

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Vocabulary On Canterbury Tales 1. nourish verb [T]

1 to provide people or living things with food in order to make them grow and keep them healthy:Children need plenty of good fresh food to nourish them. She looks happy and well nourished. This cream is supposed to help nourish your skin. 2. scarce

adjective not easy to find or obtain: Food and clean water were becoming scarce. scarce resources

3. wend

verb wend your way to move slowly and indirectly:The thieves then wended their way through the dark back streets to the docks.

4. sink (GO DOWN BELOW)

verb [I or T] sank or US ALSO sunk, sunk to (cause something or someone to) go down below the surface or to the bottom of a liquid or soft substance: The Titanic was a passenger ship which sank (to the bottom of the ocean) in 1912.

5. array

noun [C usually singular] a large group of things or people, especially one which is attractive or causes admiration and often one which has been positioned in a particular way: There was a splendid array of food on the table.They sat before an array of microphones and cameras.

6. Carve verb [I or T]

1 to make something by cutting into especially wood or stone, or to cut into the surface of stone, wood, etc:

This totem pole is carved from/ out of a single tree trunk. He carved her name on a tree. Some of the tunnels in the cliff are natural, some were carved out (= cut into the rock) by soldiers for defensive purposes.

7. feather

noun [C] one of the many soft light things which cover a bird’s body, consisting of a long thin central part with hair-like material along each side: peacock/ostrich feathers feather pi llows (= those containing feathers) The bird ruffled its feathers.

8. coy (SECRETIVE)

adjective intentionally secretive: She’s very coy about her age.

9. clay

noun [U] thick, heavy earth that is soft when wet, and hard when dry or baked, used for making bricks and containers 10. roam verb [I + adverb or preposition; T] to move about or travel, especially without a clear idea of what you are going to do: After the pubs close, gangs of youths roam the city streets. She roamed around America for a year, working in bars and restaurants.

11.hint (INDIRECT STATEMENT) noun [C]

something that you say or do that shows in an indirect way what you think or want: [+ that] He’s dropped (= given) several hints to the boss that he’ll quit if he doesn’t get a promotion. Did she give you any hints about where she was going? You can’t take (= understand) a hint, can you? Just go away and leave me alone!

Vocabulary prepared by Paul Medina, Graduated Student from Education, UNMSM.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Reading Comprehension questions The story of the pilgrimage 1. Where does Chaucer first meet with the pilgrims? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What reason other than religious devotion does Chaucer suggest might have influenced the pilgrims to make the journey to Canterbury? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Who besides Chaucer joins the party? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. How long a journey was it from London to Canterbury? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. How do the pilgrims travel? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. What are the terms of the proposal made by the Host? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ The pilgrims 1. Nine of the pilgrims are described in the selection in this book. Which ones do you remember most vividly after a first reading? Which of the others can you name? What details do you remember about the appearance of each? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. How does Chaucer seem to feel toward the different characters?-(a) Which ones does he respect and admire? (b) At which was he amused? (c) Were there any of whom he disapproved? If so, who and for what? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Which do you think Chaucer himself will most enjoy on the journey? Why? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Where in Chaucer’s experience might he have come into contact with each type of character represented? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Some Stories of the Summary of some stories of the canterbury tales The Reeve’s Tale In Trumpington, near Cambridge, dwells Symkin, a proud, thieving Miller. He has a wife, the daughter of the parish priest, an ugly daughter, Malyne, and an infant child. Two students, Aleyn and John, bring the college’s wheat to be ground into flour, determined to outwit the thieving miller. Aleyn watches the grain pouring in the hopper, John watches it coming out. The Miller lets their horse run off into the fens; John and Aleyn run after it, and the Miller steals some of their grain.

The Knight’s Tale [Theseus, duke of Athens, returning with Ypolita from his conquest of the Amazons, turns aside to defeat Creon, the tyrant of Thebes, who has unjustly refused burial for his victims. Among the wounded are Palamon and Arcite, young Thebans of royal blood. Theseus condemns them to perpetual imprisonment. From the window of their cell they see the lovely Emily, Ypolita’s young sister, with whom both fall in love. They argue over who shall have her, though both are helplessly imprisoned. Perotheus, a friend of Theseus, obtains Arcite’s release on the condition he never returns to Athens. Arcite is so ravaged by love he is no longer recognizable; he returns to Athens, disguised, and takes service in Theseus’ household. Palamon, by help of a friend, escapes from captivity. He hides in a woodland where he comes upon Arcite bemoaning his love for Emily. The two former friends engage in deadly battle. Theseus, hunting with his queen Ypolita and Emily, comes upon the duel and stops it. The ladies plead for the lives of the young men, and Theseus spares them and arranges for a great tournament, with one hundred knights to a side, to determine who shall have Emily. The tournament is held a year later. Palamon prays to Venus to grant him Emily and the goddess agrees; Arcite prays to Mars for victory, and Mars agrees. Wise old Saturn finds a way to satisfy both Mars and Venus. Palamon loses the tournament; he is captured, and Arcite rides through the arena in triumph. But a fury sent from hell by Saturn frightens his horse, who suddenly rears and fatally injures him. Medicine does not avail, and he dies. All are deep in mourning, Theseus is so saddened that only his old father Egeus can comfort him. But years ease the pain, and in Parliament Theseus proposes the marriage of Emily and Palamon, which brings final peace between Thebes and Athens. They live in perfect love, with never a harsh word between them.]

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Miller’s Tale [John, a rich old carpenter of Oxford has a young wife, the eighteen-year-old Alisoun, whom he guards carefully, for he is very jealous. He has a boarder, the clerk Nicholas, who makes advances to Alisoun; she quickly agrees and they determine to consummate the affair. Absolon, the parish clerk and village dandy, also lusts for Alisoun, but he woos her in vain, for Nicholas is there first. Nicholas tricks John into thinking that Noah’s flood is coming again; John rigs up three kneading tubs, in which he, Nicholas, and Alisoun can float until the waters recede. When the flood is due, all three climb up into the tubs. John goes to sleep, Alisoun and Nicholas go back to the bedroom. They are interrupted by Absolon, who has come to woo Alisoun at the window. She promises him a kiss and puts her backside out the window. Absolon kisses it. He soon realizes his mistake. He gets a hot coulter (plow blade) from Gervase, the smith, and returns to ask for another kiss. Nicholas puts his backside out, Absolon strikes it with the red-hot coulter, Nicholas yells for water; the carpenter awakes and thinks the flood has come, cuts lose his tub and falls and breaks his arm. The neighbors rush in, and all are convinced old John is mad.]

The Reeve’s Tale [In Trumpington, near Cambridge, dwells Symkin, a proud, thieving Miller. He has a wife, the daughter of the parish priest, an ugly daughter, Malyne, and an infant child. Two students, Aleyn and John, bring the college’s wheat to be ground into flour, determined to outwit the thieving miller. Aleyn watches the grain pouring in the hopper, John watches it coming out. The Miller lets their horse run off into the fens; John and Aleyn run after it, and the Miller steals some of their grain. They finally catch the horse and ask the Miller to put them up for the night. All must sleep in the one room of the house -- John and Aleyn in one bed, the daughter in another, and the Miller and his wife in yet another, with the baby’s cradle at its foot. Aleyn determines to have recompense for the lost grain, and he gets in bed with the daughter. John, not to be outdone, moves the cradle to the bottom of the bed in which he lies. When the wife gets up in the night to go to the privy, she feels about for the cradle, finds it, and gets in bed with John. In the early morning Aleyn returns to his own bed but, finding the cradle, goes instead to the Miller’s bed. The Miller awakes, a fight

The Cook’s Prologue The Cook’s Tale (The Cook extends a dish in one hand and holds a meathook in the other.) [Perkyn Revelour, a dissolute apprentice of London, is discharged by his master for theft. He moves in with a fellow thief whose wife runs a shop as a front and swyved for her livelihood.]

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The Wife of Bath’s Prologue [Alisoun, the Wife of Bath, has been married five times and is ready for another husband: Christ never specified how many times a woman should marry. Virginity is fine but wives are not condemned; the Apostle said that my husband would be my debtor, and I have power over his body. Three of my husbands were good and two bad. The first three were old and rich and I picked them clean. One of my old husbands, emboldened with drink, would come home and preach against women; but I got the better of him. My fourth husband was young and he had a mistress. I pretended to be unfaithful and made him burn in his own grease. I already had my eye on young Jankin, pall-bearer for my fourth, and he became my fifth and favorite husband. He beat me. Once when he was reading aloud from his Book of Wicked Wives, I tore a page from his book, and he knocked me down (so hard I am still deaf from it). I pretended to be dying, and when he leaned over to ask forgiveness, I knocked him into the fireplace. We made up, and he gave me full sovereignty in marriage; thereafter I was kind and faithful, and we lived in bliss.]

The Friar’s Tale [An avaricious archdeacon has in his employ a sly summoner, a thief and pimp. This summoner, out to serve a false summons on a poor widow, meets a gay yeoman, clad all in green. The summoner (ashamed of his true occupation) claims to be a bailiff; the yeoman says that he too is a bailiff. They swear to be brothers and share all that they get. The yeoman, the summoner learns, is a devil. They come upon a carter who curses his horses. Take them, says the summoner; they are ours. No, says the devil, the curse did not come from the heart. Then they come upon a poor old woman on whom the summoner tries to serve a false summons. She curses him; it comes from the heart, and the devil carries him off.]

The Man of Law’s Tale [Syrian merchants carry home to their Sultan news of the beautiful and virtuous Custance, daughter of the Emperor of Rome. He loves her unseen and agrees to adopt Christianity if she will be his wife. The Emperor agrees and Custance leaves sadly for Syria. The Sultan’s mother, enraged that her son has determined to take a new faith, arranges a massacre at a welcoming banquet. All are slain except Custance, who is set adrift in a rudderless boat. She drifts to Northumbria. She is taken in by a constable and his wife Hermengild, both of whom become Christian. An evil knight slays Hermengild and blames Custance for the deed. King Alla holds court, and the knight who accuses Custance is struck dead. Alla marries Custance. They have a male child, Maurice. Donegild, the king’s mother, by falsified letters makes Alla think Custance has borne a monster, and she contrives the exile of Custance and her son. They are set adrift in the same rudderless boat in which she arrived. Alla learns the truth and slays Donegild.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Custance drifts near a castle, where the lord’s steward comes aboard and tries to rape her; aided by heaven, she knocks him overboard and drifts on. A Roman senator, returning from a punitive expedition to Syria, comes upon Custance in her boat and brings her and her son to Rome. Meanwhile, King Alla has set out from for Rome to do penance for killing Donegild. Alla and Custance are reunited when Alla sees Maurice and recognizes his resemblance to Custance. She is then reunited with her father, the Emperor. Later Mauruce succeeds to the imperial throne. Alla and Custance return to Northumbria. When Alla dies, Custance returns to her father in Rome.]

The Nun’s Priest’s Tale [In a chicken yard owned by a poor widow, the rooster Chaunticleer lives in royal splendor with his seven wives, of whom his favorite is the fair Pertelote. He dreams that he is attacked by a strange beast (a fox, which he does not recognize because he has never seen one). Pertelote advises he forget the dream; dreams, she says, come from indigestion. Chaunticleer insists on the power of dreams to predict the future. But he takes her advice. Later that day a fox appears and by trickery seizes Chaunticleer and carries him off, pursued by all of the old widow’s household. Chaunticleer tells the fox to taunt his pursuers; the fox opens his mouth to do so, and Chaunticleer is free to fly into a tree. Chaunticleer, the fox The Prologue of the Nun’s Priest’s Tale.]

The Pardoner’s Prologue and Tale [The pardoner describes his professional tricks in his prologue and then delivers a sermon embodying an exemplum of three riotous young men, frequenters of a tavern, who set out to kill Death. They meet a mysterious old man and rudely demand that he tell them where death is. He tells them to follow the crooked path; they will find death under a tree. They find gold; and the youngest then goes into town for food and drink. He poisons the wine. When he returns his two friends kill him and then drink the wine. They too die. This, the Pardoner says, is the reward of gluttony. Then the pardoner offers to sell his wares to the Host, who rudely rebuffs him. The Knight must intervene to make peace, and the pilgrimage continues.]

The Prioress’s Tale [In far-off Asia a little child walks through the ghetto on his way to school, singing Alma redemptory’s as he goes. The Jews, outraged, hire a homicide who seizes the child, cuts his throat, and throws the body in a privy. The child’s distraught mother searches for him throughout the ghetto. Wondrously the child begins to sing; the provost comes, puts the Jews to death, and has the child carried to the church. There the child explains that the Virgin Mary laid a grain upon his tongue and he will sing until it is removed. When the grain is removed the child gives up the ghost. He is buried as a martyr.]

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Geoffrey chaucer’s Literary Production Major works The Canterbury Tales

The Complaint of Chaucer to his Purse

The Book of the Duchess

The Complaint of Mars

The House of Fame

The Complaint of Venus

Anelida and Arcite

A Complaint to His Lady

Parlement of Foules

The Former Age

Troilus and Criseyde

Fortune

The Legend of Good Women

Gentilesse

Treatise on the Astrolabe

Lak of Stedfastnesse

Short poems An ABC Chaucers Wordes unto Adam, His Owne Scriveyn The Complaint unto Pity

Lenvoy de Chaucer a Scogan Lenvoy de Chaucer a Bukton Proverbs To Rosemounde Truth Womanly Nobles

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Chaucer’s Vocabulary Pay special atention to the conjunctions (repeated here): al for, for that Als, al so for to and, and if other, outher but, but if or... or eek/eke sin/syn forthy sithe(n) Forwhy ther(as) wher

although, even if Because As in order to If Or if, unless either... or Also Since Therefore Since Because Where whether; also used to introduce a question

The auxiliary (“helping” or “modal”) verbs should also be considered carefully: Do, did have their modern meanings but they are also used as causative verbs: And for our owne tresor doon us hange (And have us hanged for our own treasure). Gan, gonne are used for periphrastic plurals somewhat like modern “do” and “did”: And homward gonne they ride. Kan, koude Most often means “can, know how to” but it can also be a transitive verb meaning “know” She koude muchel of wandryng (She knew much of wandering).” Let, leet usually means “allow, permit” but it is also used as a causative” duc Theseus leet crye (Duc Theseus had [caused to be] announced). May, mighte usually have their modern meanings but they often carry the older meaning of “can, could”: “I se,” quod he, “as wel as ever I mighte (“I see,” he said, “as well as I ever could.”) Mot(e), moot have two contrary senses, “may” and “must”: Also moote I thee (“As I may prosper”), A man moot nedes love (A man must by necessity love).

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Shal, shullen have their modern meaning (How shal the world be served? but they are also used with a sense of obligation (“must”): Whoso shal telle a tale (Whoever must tell a tale). Shal, shullen are also sometimes used with an understood verb of motion: for I shal to Surrye (For I must go to Syria). Wol, will, wolde usually mean “will” or “would” but they may also carry the meaning “desire, want to”: He wolde the see were kept (He wanted the sea to be guarded), That I wol lyve in poverte wilfully? (That I want to live in voluntary poverty?).

Literary Terms of the Medieval Literature 1. Folk Ballad. Noun 1.

A Folk Ballad is any narrative song, but in technical terms a ballad is a specific literary form. The word comes from the Late Latin and Italian word “ballare,” meaning “to dance.” A ballad is a song that tells a story, and was originally a musical accompaniment to a dance. We can distinguish three main types of ballads: the folk ballad, the broadside ballad, and the literary ballad.

folk ballad - a song that is traditionally sung by the common people of a region and forms part of their culture

The folk ballad belongs to the oral tradition. It is anonymous, and it is transmitted from singer to singer by word of mouth. The folk ballad is found among illiterate and semiliterate peoples, and is still a living tradition in Sicily, parts of Greece, and the central Balkans. Folk ballads have certain common characteristics. The story, which often begins abruptly and moves rapidly, is told as an impersonal narrative, primarily through dialogue and action.

The theme is often tragic and the events sensational (though there are also a number of comic ballads). A ballad typically deals with a single episode, with minimal imagery or background information, and little attempt to develop character. Many ballads also have refrains or use the technique of incremental repetition, a rhetorical device in which the same phrase is repeated with progressive variations over the course of the poem. 2. Epithet. p⋅i⋅thet /‘p t/ –noun 1. any word or phrase applied to a person or thing to describe an actual or attributed quality: “Richard the Lion-Hearted” is an epithet of Richard I. 2. a characterizing word or phrase firmly associated with a person or thing and often used in place of an actual name, title, or the like, as “man’s best friend” for “dog.” 3. a word, phrase, or expression used invectively as a term of abuse or contempt, to express hostility, etc.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Synonyms of epithet: 1. Nickname, designation, appellation. . 2. Curse, insult, abuse.

3. Kennings Kenning is a term that has been applied by modern scholars to similar figures of speech in other languages too, especially Old English.

4. Moral stories. Stories relating to principles of right and wrong; i.e. to morals or ethics; “moral philosophy”. Stories concerned with principles of right and wrong or conforming to standards of behavior and character based on those principles; “moral sense”; “a moral scrutiny”; “a moral lesson”; “a moral quandary”; “moral convictions”; “a moral life” [antonym: immoral, amoral]. Adhering to ethical and moral principles; “it seems ethical and right”; “followed the only honorable course of action”; “had the moral courage to stand alone” [syn: ethical, honorable, honourable] http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/ http://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/lit_terms.html http://www.virtualsalt.com/litterms.htm

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Activity After you have answered all the questions after every reading in this unit , please, answer all the questions from your mind. If you cannot do it, please go back to the materials and start reading again. This activity will give fluency and you improve your English competence. 1. What have you learned from this chapter? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the historical background of this period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Does the Feudalism contribute to the literary production of this period? Explain. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. What are the themes, recurrent elements (motifs) and symbols in “sir Gawain and the Green Knight? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. What are the themes, recurrent elements (motifs), and symbols in “The Canterbury Tales? Explain. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Prepare a summary in your own words about the “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight ” ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. Prepare a summary about “The Canterbury Tales”. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 8. What literary device do you find in “Sir Gawain and the Green knight? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 9. What story from “The Canterbury Tales” you liked? Explain why? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 10. What is a folk ballad? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Middle English Period (The Medieval Period) Years: 1066-1485 Content:  Plays that instruct the illiterate masses in morals and religion  Chivalric code of honour.  Romances  Religious devotion

Style/Genres:  Oral tradition continues  Folk ballads  Mystery and miracle plays  Morality plays  Epithets  Kennings (literary figures)  Moral tales Effect:

 Church instructs its people through the morality and miracle plays  An illiterate population is able to hear and see the literature Historical Context:  Crusades bring the development of a money economy for the first time in Britain  Trading increases dramatically as a result of the Crusades  William the Conqueror crowned king in 1066  Henry III crowned king in 1154 brings a judicial system, royal courts, juries, and chivalry to Britain

Key Literature/Authors:  Geoffrey Chaucer  William Langland  Unknown “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight”

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

Bibliography 1. Robinson, Nell M. and Webb, Charles F. Literature of England. 1985, Ginn and Company. 2. John McRae. Reading between the lines. Cambridge University Press. 1984. 3. Ronald Carters. Literature and the Learner: Methodological approaches. British Council.1990. 4. Symour Chatman. Literary Styles: A Symposium. Oxford University Press. 5. Cleanth Brooks. Understanding Poetry. Yale University. 1984. 6. Alan Duff. Literature. Oxford University Press. 1991. 7. Marjorie Wescott. Drama I. Macmillan Company. 1996. 8. Michael Cummings. The Language of Literature. Pergamum Press. Lyd. Oxford. 1985. 9. Harner, James L. Literary research guide: a guide to reference sources for the study of literatures in English and related topics. New York: Modern Language Association of America, 1993. 10. Abrams, M.H. Glossary of literary terms. 5th ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1998. 11. Altick, Richard Daniel. The art of literary research. 3rd ed. New York: Norton, 1981. 12. Barzun, Jacques. The modern researcher. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1992. 13. Baugh, Albert Croll. A literary history of England. 2nd ed. New York: Appleton-Century-Crofts, 1967. 14. The Cambridge guide to literature in English. Ed. Ian Ousby. Revised Edition. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 15. The Cambridge history of English literature. Ed. A. W. Ward, A. R. Waller. New York; London: Putnam, 1907-33. 15 v. 16. Harmon, Willliam; Holman, C. Hugh. A handbook to literature. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1996. 17. A Dictionary of modern critical terms. Ed. Roger Fowler. Rev. ed. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

UNIT THREE

THE ELIZABETHANS

Objectives 1. Take into account the historical background and the literary production of this period. 2. Recognize the importance of Queen Elizabeth in the literary production. 3. Familiarise with the most representative writers of this period: Shakespeare. 4. Study Christopher Marlowe and Ben Jonson and their literary production. 5. Interpret the themes, the recurrent structures and the symbols behind the most representative characters of literary production.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

3.1. Historical background of the Elizabethans Period The two Elizabeth’s On a dark day, in February 1952 a young woman little older than you stepped from a plane at a London airport after a long flight from South Africa. The death of her father, George VI of England, had called home the girl whom the whole world had known as Princess Elizabeth. Now she was to be proclaimed queen of England. The world waited with interest to see what name she would choose to bear as sovereign. http://www.elizabethan-era.org.uk/index.htm

Elizabeth! The young queen’s choice stirred the imagination of her people. For four hundred years “Elizabethan Age” had been words of magic to English minds. They called vividly to mind the times of the earlier Elizabeth, of “good Queen Bess,” when England was stretching out in all directions, exploring the physical world, seeking to conquer new realms of the mind and spirit.

THE RENAISSANCE OUTSIDE ENGLAND To understand the great Elizabethan Age in England, one must know something about the Renaissance, or Rebirth, sometimes called the Great Awakening, which began in Italy and spread rapidly over Europe during the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries, bringing the Middle Ages to a close. The most important stimulus to this rebirth of learning was the discovery of the precious classical manuscripts (Greek and Roman) that had been lost to Europe during the Middle Ages, ever seized with delight the idea from the ancient philosophers that men should cultivate sound minds in sound bodies, enjoy earthly pleasures and intellectual happiness in all its forms. Life was breaking free from the moulds of feudalism and monastic thought. The new emphasis on Man – his language, his arts, and his way of life – came later to be called humanism. A spirit of inquiry and curiosity was taking the place of the unquestioning acceptance of authority of the Middle Ages. The desire for knowledge resulted in new inventions, among them the invention of movable type (1438), which made the production of books comparatively easy and cheap, and opened the treasures of the mind to all who could read. Improvements were made on older inventions, such as the mariner’s compass, making longer voyages possible.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Pushing out the horizons Out of the same Renaissance spirit of curiosity and adventure came a tremendous increase in geographical knowledge. In 1492 Columbus discovered America. Five years later English explorers crossed the Atlantic and laid the foundations for their country’s claim to lands in the New World, as Columbus and subsequent Spanish explorers did for Spain. Within the next century navigators from Portugal as well as from England succeeded in sailing around the world. In science also a new spirit began to show itself. Astronomers, physicists, chemists, and physicians began to substitute direct, personal investigation for a blind acceptance of old explanations of the causes of things.

The Reformation One of the chief differences between the Renaissance and the preceding period lay in the effort of the individual to liberate himself from the bonds of Feudalism and other rigid institutions of the Middle Ages. In religious matters there appeared a new interpretation of the relation of the individual Christian to the Church and God. This movement, thought not altogether free from undesirable elements, finally resulted in a further liberation of the human spirit, and is often referred to as the Reformation.

THE RENAISSANCE IN ENGLAND Elizabeth I The Renaissance came late to England. Her island position gave her an isolation that was sometimes an advantage. In this case it was so, for when the full impact of the Renaissance came, in the reign of Elizabeth I, England was riped for its influences, as she would not have been before. Henry VIII, Elizabeth’s father, had done away with numerous entanglements with nations on the Continent and had furthered England’s independent destiny as a nation when he severed the Church of England from the Church of Rome. His establishing the Church of England, with the king as its head, contributed another factor to the growing sense of national unity. The island nation was slowly growing toward democratic government at home – and prestige abroad – becoming, moreover, a power for freedom and for the right of the individual. And what of the young woman of twenty-five who was to shape her country’s destiny in this most fateful of times, for a region of nearly half a century? Her mother, Anne Boleyn, had been beheaded by order of Elizabeth’s father, Henry VIII, she has been neglected by her self-absorbed father; she had been surrounded from early childhood by treachery, plottings, and suspicion, with no kinsfolk whom she could trust. It was lucky that this young woman had a level head. She had the judgment to choose wise advisers, and the wisdom to heed, in the main, their advice. Despite neglect, she had grown up an accomplished woman of the Renaissance: master of languages, skilled in music, adventurous in mind. She had magnetism throughout life that attached to her in loyalty not only those close to her but the English people as a whole.

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Renaissance in England at its height The Renaissance began to influence England as early as 1400, but it was not until the last half of the 16th century that it reached its height there. It was then that the Renaissance flowered in its distinctively English form, in the way of life known as the Elizabethan Age. England rose to full stature among the nations as undisputed mistress of the seas when in 1588 the English fleet, under Drake, destroyed the great Armada that Spain had believed invincible. English navigators pushed to all parts of the globe, with Renaissance curiosity and dauntless spirit, adding to man’s knowledge of his world and exploring new lands in the queen’s name. Sir Francis Drake sailed around the world; Sir Walter Raleigh founded colonies in Virginia.

The New Learning in England

Meanwhile England’s intellectual life grew apace, centring in the universities of Oxford and Cambridge. Oxford in particular became a center of Greek learning, and developed in a high degree the spirit of humanism, emphasizing the well-rounded life as the ideal toward which men should strive. To the humanist the “complete” gentleman was one well trained both in body and in intellect. The Elizabethans found a close approach to the ideal in the scholar-poet-soldier Sir Philip Sidney. English humanists attained such high international reputation that scholars from the Continent came to study under them at Oxford. Likewise in the scientific movement of the Renaissance, England had her part. Sir Francis bacon, the versatile statesman-philosopher-scientist, was one of the pioneers in laying the foundations of modern laboratory science. An important effect of England’s foreign contacts was a quickening of the imagination of English writers. When the Italian discoverer Christopher Columbus, financed by Spanish capital, sailed forth into the unknown western sea in 1492, he was yielding to the thirst for new knowledge and new experiences that characterized the whole Renaissance. Sir Francis Drake, who sailed round the world in 1577-1580, and Sir Walter Raleigh, who founded colonies in the New World a few years later, were only two of a host of Englishmen who visited strange and far-off lands during the reign of Elizabeth. The greatest treasure to come to England from the expanded world was the store of fancies rich and strange that New World concept stirred in the Elizabethan imagination. Returning sailors brought back marvellous accounts of countries whose wonders confirmed or surpassed the wild tales contained in medieval books of travel. Englishmen felt that a new world had been opened up to them. They looked upon America as a land of marvels and of untold possibilities. The Spaniard Ponce de Leon imagined that the Fountain of Youth was located somewhere in America; the English were not far behind him in the wonders that they attributed to the land beyond the Atlantic. To the people of the Renaissance, America was not only a new world but a new Eden. The idea of America as a land of freedom, plenty, and opportunity had already begun to take shape.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

3.2. LITERATURE OF THE ELIZABETHAN PERIOD The Elizabethan’s adventurous way with words This stirring time saw a flowering of literature unsurpassed in England, or indeed in any other country. The English language was at a flexible and exciting stage, fitting it well to be the medium of expression for a new idea seeking new shapes. Records of exploration and adventure, songs of love, sonorous sermons, and poetic dramaall shared in the rich impassioned flow of words. Both poets and prose writers were word-makers, each contributing his newly found treasure. Perhaps the new English word was taken from an ancient classic or from a medieval manuscript; perhaps it was borrowed from the French or Italian; more likely it was a boldly invented combination of sounds to fit a new concept. In those days neither no dictionary, nor rules of grammar imposed restrictions as the Elizabethan period did.

The bible English prose, stirred by the spirit of the times, was shaking off its earlier cumbersome forms, and its sentences began to take shapes more like those of modern English. By far the greatest triumph of Elizabethan prose was the King James Bible. In the early centuries of Christianity the Bible had been translated into Latin from the Hebrew of the Old Testament and the Greek of the New Testament. When in the early 17th century the changes brought about by the Reformation made better translation desirable, and the printing press had made their general circulation possible, English scholars were appointed to set about the task of creating an official version. The result was the King James Bible, named for James I, who became king in 1603 after Elizabeth’s death. It is one of the finest products of Elizabethan genius, and one of the chief literary treasures of the English-speaking world. The Bible in the original is a collection of nearly all literary forms: story, drama, history, mythology, biography, essay, lyric poetry. To that variety of form was added the colourful imagination of the ancient Hebrew people, the alert, original thinking of the Greeks, and the picturesque Elizabethan language. There have been, and will continue to be, many other translations made, valued by different churches for religious reasons. For example, there is the well-known Douay Version, translated about the same time as the King James Version and sponsored by the Roman Catholic Church. But purely for literary quality, scholars are agreed that the King James Bible is unsurpassed. The English language at this time was in its most plastic state and was richly vital. The same vocabulary that Shakespeare used is also the vocabulary of the King James Bible. This translation was so successful that it remains the standard example of what constitutes great style in the way of simplicity, concreteness, and vividness of words. The Bible,

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

its conceptions, its ideals, its truth, its spirit, and its very language have wrought themselves into the culture of our race. Its phrases give dignity to our common speech and touch with their familiar beauty many of the best passages in our literature.

Poetry The Elizabethan Age was above all an age of poetry. In fact, in the glory of its prose, the King James’ Bible, is stirringly poetic in its colourful, rhythmic lines. Poetry is the language of the emotions, and the Elizabethan was an excited, highly stimulated person, with strong feelings. The queen and her court encouraged poetry, especially lyrics, and poems in her honour. Since the Elizabethans loved to sing, and music was an intimate part of their daily living, most lyrics were written to music. The sonnet, imported from Italy, became popular with the Elizabethans, who gave even this set pattern their own original twist. Of the many narrative poems, also popular in the period, Spenser’s Faerie Queene has the most secure place in literature. It too, although medieval in subject matter, was inspired by the queen and written in her honour.

Drama Drama was the crowning glory of the Elizabethan Age, and it too took poetic form. Amusements such as jousting and bear baiting, that were popular in the Age of Chivalry, were dying out with the feudal system. The time for drama to take a central place in the world of entertainment had come. The queen loved plays, and always was a good friend to players. And the people of London, nobles and commoners, took both plays and players to their hearts. So ensued a time of unparalleled creative activity in the drama, and there emerged the plays of Shakespeare. Of course the miracle of Shakespeare’s genius did not come unheralded, nor was he alone in the flowering of drama that marks the Elizabethan Age. The mysteries, miracle plays, and moralities had prepared the way for further development of the drama, and had accustomed the public to seeing plays with delight. Early playwrights had been experimenting: John Lyly (Lil’i), for instance, ten years before Shakespeare’s earliest plays appeared, was writing clever comedies, in graceful though artificial style. Christopher Marlowe, in his amazing output before untimely death cut off his few creative years, in Doctor Faustus and other dramas, had familiarized playgoers with blank verse as the sonorous and vigorous medium for poetic drama. Thus in “Marlowe’s mighty line” the form that Shakespeare was to use so effectively was shaping for his hand. The goodly company of Shakespeare’s contemporaries – such men as Thomas Dekker, Ben Johnson, and the collaborators Beaumont and Fletcher – all contributed to the variety and interests of the Elizabethan stage, stimulated one another, and were stimulated in turn by eager audiences and the favour of the Queen. Yet when all is said, Shakespeare, like every other man of supreme genius, stands apart on his own mountain top, his plays the chief glory of one of the most creative times that the English-speaking people has known.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

This, then, is the Elizabethan Age in literature. The vitality of the Renaissance world, the greatness and discernment of the queen, the awakened enterprise and imagination of a vigorous young nation combined to produce a treasure far outshining the gold and precious stones that Europe sought so eagerly in the New World. 3.3. William Shakespeare If you were to visit Stratford on Avon, you would pause at the end of Clopton Bridge to admire a group of to statues representing William Shakespeare and characters from his plays – your first close touch with the man to whom the whole English-speaking world pays homage as its greatest poet and dramatist. Undoubtedly you too, like thousands of others, would have come to pay homage and to learn what is known of him. Surprisingly enough, the known facts about the man who for over three hundred years has been Stratford’s most profitable industry are few. William Shakespeare was born at the Henley Street home of his parents on April 23, 1564, the son of John and Mary Arden Shakespeare. Little is known of his ancestry except that he came of good yeoman stock. His mother’s people were prosperous, influential farm people. One evidence of their station is the dovecote which still remains at Wilmcote, the ancestral home of Mary Arden, for a dovecote could he maintained only by special permission of the government. John Shakespeare, a Glover by trade, not only kept a shop at Henley Street but became prominent in town affairs. He was, in time, made a squire and granted a coat of arms. What education Shakespeare had was undoubtedly acquired at the free grammar school of Stratford, which remains today just as it was in his time except that the desk at which he sat has been removed to his birthplace. Here in the second-floor schoolroom, he studied principally Latin. When he was about thirteen, financial difficulties at home forced him to leave school. It is interesting to note that it was in this same building that he probably saw the performances of theatrical groups who performed in the town council hall on the first floor. In 1582 he married Anne Hathaway of Shottery, a woman eight years his senior. To them were born a daughter, Susanne, and twins, Judith and HamLet. Just when or why he left Stratford is not known. One tradition ascribes his departure to threatened prosecution for stealing deer; another says that he joined a

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

band of strolling players. In any event there is evidence that he found work as an actor and became a member of a theatrical company which, under the leadership of Richard Burbage, the greatest actor of the times, presented plays at the Globe. By 1592, if we are to judge by the words of Robert Greene, a contemporary dramatist, Shakespeare was in London and on his way to fame. Greene speaks of him as an “upstart crow.” Beyond this and the knowledge that he associated with Ben Jonson and other literary figures at the Mermaid Tavern, his life in London remains a secret. Under the patronage of the young Earl of Southampton, he wrote many dramas and poems which brought him popularity, fame, and moderate wealth. When he was about fifty, he returned to Stratford and purchased New Place, one of the finest houses in the town. Today nothing remains except the cellar and a beautiful garden containing specimens of all plants and flowers mentioned in his plays. The house was razed by a subsequent owner who was refused a tax abatement when he complained to town officials that he was plagued by visitors desiring to see Shakespeare’s home. On April 23, 1616 at the age of fifty-two, Shakespeare died, leaving provision in his will that he be buried in the chancel of Trinity Church in Stratford. To guard against the common practice of removing the bones of those buried for many years, Shakespeare had this epitaph placed on his tomb: “Good friend, for Jesus’ sake forbeare To dig the dust enclosed heare; Bleste be the man that spares these stones, And curst be he that moves my bones.”

No other English writer has ever equalled Shakespeare in versatility, power of language, or understanding of human nature. In 1623 a collection of his plays known as the First Folio was compiled by the actors and friends with whom he had worked. His later works are more complex; rhymed verse gave way to more blank verse and prose; simple characters struggling against external situations became men and women torn by such inner conflicts as jealousy, indecision or desire for power.

Reconstructed Globe Theatre, London.

For convenience Shakespeare’s literary production has been divided into four periods. During the first period, or period of experimentation (1590-1595), he wrote two long poems, Venus and Adonis and the Rape of Lucrece, in addition to several types of drama including the historical plays about Henry VI and the romantic comedy Midsummer Night’s Dream. The second period (1595-1600) comprises his works dealing with English history, such as Henry IV and Henry V,

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

plus several delightful comedies, including As You Like It. The third period (1600-1610) was the period of the great tragedies: Julius Caesar, Hamlet, Macbeth, Othello, and King Lear. The fourth and last period (1610-1616) was one of serene thoughtfulness resulting in the lovely romantic plays Cymbeline, A Winter’s Tale, and The Tempest. The plots of Shakespeare’s plays, like those of all playwrights of his time, were not original. They were shaped and blended from historical chronicles, existing plays, or popular legends; but in the remaking, he transformed them into the most powerful dramas in the English language. Literary Production Comedy

History

Tragedy

Poetry

All’s Well That Ends Well

Henry IV, part 1

Antony and Cleopatra The Sonnets

As You Like It

Henry IV, part 2

Coriolanus

A Lover’s Complaint

The Comedy of Errors

Henry V

Hamlet

The Rape of Lucrece

Cymbeline

Henry VI, part 1 Julius Caesar

Venus and Adonis

Love’s Labours Lost

Henry VI, part 2 King Lear

Funeral E

Measure for Measure

Henry VI, part 3 Macbeth

The Merry Wives of Windsor

Henry VIII

Othello

The Merchant of Venice

King John

Romeo and Juliet

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

Richard II

Timon of Athens

Much Ado About Nothing

Richard III

Titus Andronicus

Pericles, Prince of Tyre Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Troilus and Cressida Twelfth Night Two Gentlemen of Verona Winter’s Tale

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Hamlet by william Shakespeare Plot Overview On a dark winter night, a ghost walks the ramparts of Elsinore Castle in Denmark. Discovered first by a pair of watchmen, then by the scholar Horatio, the ghost resembles the recently deceased King Hamlet, whose brother Claudius has inherited the throne and married the king’s widow, Queen Gertrude. When Horatio and the watchmen bring Prince Hamlet, the son of Gertrude and the dead king, to see the ghost, it speaks to him, declaring ominously that it is indeed his father’s spirit, and that he was murdered by none other than Claudius. Ordering Hamlet to seek revenge on the man who usurped his throne and married his wife, the ghost disappears with the dawn. Prince Hamlet devotes himself to avenging his father’s death, but, because he is contemplative and thoughtful by nature, he delays, entering into a deep melancholy and even apparent madness. Claudius and Gertrude worry about the prince’s erratic behavior and attempt to discover its cause. They employ a pair of Hamlet’s friends, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, to watch him. When Polonius, the pompous Lord Chamberlain, suggests that Hamlet may be mad with love for his daughter, Ophelia, Claudius agrees to spy on Hamlet in conversation with the girl. But though Hamlet certainly seems mad, he does not seem to love Ophelia: he orders her to enter a nunnery and declares that he wishes to ban marriages. A group of traveling actors comes to Elsinore, and Hamlet seizes upon an idea to test his uncle’s guilt. He will have the players perform a scene closely resembling the sequence by which Hamlet imagines his uncle to have murdered his father, so that if Claudius is guilty, he will surely react. When the moment of the murder arrives in the theater, Claudius leaps up and leaves the room. Hamlet and Horatio agree that this proves his guilt. Hamlet goes to kill Claudius but finds him praying. Since he believes that killing Claudius while in prayer would send Claudius’s soul to heaven, Hamlet considers that it would be an inadequate revenge and decides to wait. Claudius now frightened of Hamlet’s madness and fearing for his own safety, orders that Hamlet be sent to England at once. Hamlet goes to confront his mother, in whose bedchamber Polonius has hidden behind a tapestry. Hearing a noise from behind the tapestry, Hamlet believes the king is hiding there. He draws his sword and stabs through the fabric, killing Polonius. For this crime, he is immediately dispatched to England with Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. However, Claudius’s plan for Hamlet includes more than banishment, as he has given Rosencrantz and Guildenstern sealed orders for the King of England demanding that Hamlet be put to death. In the aftermath of her father’s death, Ophelia goes mad with grief and drowns in the river. Polonius’s son, Laertes, who has been staying in France, returns to Denmark in a rage. Claudius convinces him that Hamlet is to blame for his father’s and sister’s deaths. When Horatio and the king receive letters from Hamlet indicating that the prince has returned to

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Denmark after pirates attacked his ship en route to England, Claudius concocts a plan to use Laertes’ desire for revenge to secure Hamlet’s death. Laertes will fence with Hamlet in innocent sport, but Claudius will poison Laertes’ blade so that if he draws blood, Hamlet will die. As a backup plan, the king decides to poison a goblet, which he will give Hamlet to drink should Hamlet score the first or second hits of the match. Hamlet returns to the vicinity of Elsinore just as Ophelia’s funeral is taking place. Stricken with grief, he attacks Laertes and declares that he had in fact always loved Ophelia. Back at the castle, he tells Horatio that he believes one must be prepared to die, since death can come at any moment. A foolish courtier named Osric arrives on Claudius’s orders to arrange the fencing match between Hamlet and Laertes. The sword-fighting begins. Hamlet scores the first hit, but declines to drink from the king’s proffered goblet. Instead, Gertrude takes a drink from it and is swiftly killed by the poison. Laertes succeeds in wounding Hamlet, though Hamlet does not die of the poison immediately. First, Laertes is cut by his own sword’s blade, and, after revealing to Hamlet that Claudius is responsible for the queen’s death, he dies from the blade’s poison. Hamlet then stabs Claudius through with the poisoned sword and forces him to drink down the rest of the poisoned wine. Claudius dies, and Hamlet dies immediately after achieving his revenge. At this moment, a Norwegian prince named Fortinbras, who has led an army to Denmark and attacked Poland earlier in the play, enters with ambassadors from England, who report that Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead. Fortinbras is stunned by the gruesome sight of the entire royal family lying sprawled on the floor dead. He moves to take power of the kingdom. Horatio, fulfilling Hamlet’s last request, tells him Hamlet’s tragic story. Fortinbras orders that Hamlet be carried away in a manner befitting a fallen soldier. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/summary.html

Characters Hamlet by William Shakespeare Character List Hamlet. The Prince of Denmark, the title character, and the protagonist. About thirty years old at the start of the play, Hamlet is the son of Queen Gertrude and the late King Hamlet, and the nephew of the present king, Claudius. Hamlet is melancholy, bitter, and cynical, full of hatred for his uncle’s scheming and disgust for his mother’s sexuality. A reflective and thoughtful young man who has studied at the University of Wittenberg, Hamlet is often indecisive and hesitant, but at other times prone to rash and impulsive acts. Claudius. The King of Denmark, Hamlet’s uncle, and the play’s antagonist. The villain of the play, Claudius is a calculating, ambitious politician, driven by his sexual appetites and

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

his lust for power, but he occasionally shows signs of guilt and human feeling—his love for Gertrude, for instance, seems sincere. Gertrude. The Queen of Denmark, Hamlet’s mother, recently married to Claudius. Gertrude loves Hamlet deeply, but she is a shallow, weak woman who seeks affection and status more urgently than moral rectitude or truth. Polonius. The Lord Chamberlain of Claudius’s court, a pompous, conniving old man. Polonius is the father of Laertes and Ophelia. Horatio. Hamlet’s close friend, who studied with the prince at the university in Wittenberg. Horatio is loyal and helpful to Hamlet throughout the play. After Hamlet’s death, Horatio remains alive to tell Hamlet’s story. Ophelia. Polonius’s daughter, a beautiful young woman with whom Hamlet has been in love. Ophelia is a sweet and innocent young girl, who obeys her father and her brother, Laertes. Dependent on men to tell her how to behave, she gives in to Polonius’s schemes to spy on Hamlet. Even in her lapse into madness and death, she remains maidenly, singing songs about flowers and finally drowning in the river amid the flower garlands she had gathered. Laertes. Polonius’s son and Ophelia’s brother, a young man who spends much of the play in France. Passionate and quick to action, Laertes is clearly a foil for the reflective Hamlet. Fortinbras. The young Prince of Norway, whose father the king (also named Fortinbras) was killed by Hamlet’s father (also named Hamlet). Now Fortinbras wishes to attack Denmark to avenge his father’s honor, making him another foil for Prince Hamlet. The Ghost. The specter of Hamlet’s recently deceased father. The ghost, who claims to have been murdered by Claudius, calls upon Hamlet to avenge him. However, it is not entirely certain whether the ghost is what it appears to be, or whether it is something else. Hamlet speculates that the ghost might be a devil sent to deceive him and tempt him into murder, and the question of what the ghost is or where it comes from is never definitively resolved. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern. Two slightly bumbling courtiers, former friends of Hamlet from Wittenberg, who are summoned by Claudius and Gertrude to discover the cause of Hamlet’s strange behavior. Osric. The foolish courtier who summons Hamlet to his duel with Laertes. Voltimand and Cornelius. Courtiers whom Claudius sends to Norway to persuade the king to prevent Fortinbras from attacking.

100

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Marcellus and Bernardo - The officers who first see the ghost walking the ramparts of Elsinore and who summon Horatio to witness it. Marcellus is present when Hamlet first encounters the ghost. Francisco - A soldier and guardsman at Elsinore. Reynaldo - Polonius’s servant, who is sent to France by Polonius to check up on and spy on Laertes.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare Analysis of Major Characters (Spark Notes)

Hamlet Hamlet has fascinated audiences and readers for centuries, and the first thing to point out about him is that he is enigmatic. There is always more to him than the other characters in the play can figure out; even the most careful and clever readers come away with the sense that they don’t know everything there is to know about this character. Hamlet actually tells other characters that there is more to him than meets the eye—notably, his mother, and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern—but his fascination involves much more than this. When he speaks, he sounds as if there’s something important he’s not saying, maybe something even he is not aware of. The ability to write soliloquies and dialogues that create this effect is one of Shakespeare’s most impressive achievements. A university student whose studies are interrupted by his father’s death, Hamlet is extremely philosophical and contemplative. He is particularly drawn to difficult questions or questions that cannot be answered with any certainty. Faced with evidence that his uncle murdered his father, evidence that any other character in a play would believe, Hamlet becomes obsessed with proving his uncle’s guilt before trying to act. The standard of “beyond a reasonable doubt” is simply unacceptable to him. He is equally plagued with questions about the afterlife, about the wisdom of suicide, about what happens to bodies after they die—the list is extensive. But even though he is thoughtful to the point of obsession, Hamlet also behaves rashly and impulsively. When he does act, it is with surprising swiftness and little or no premeditation, as when he stabs Polonius through a curtain without even checking to see who he is. He seems to step very easily into the role of a madman, behaving erratically and upsetting the other characters with his wild speech and pointed innuendos. It is also important to note that Hamlet is extremely melancholy and discontented with the state of affairs in Denmark and in his own family—indeed, in the world at large. He is extremely disappointed with his mother for marrying his uncle so quickly, and he repudiates Ophelia, a woman he once claimed to love, in the harshest terms. His words often indicate his disgust with and distrust of women in general. At a number of points in the play, he contemplates his own death and even the option of suicide.

101

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

But, despite all of the things with which Hamlet professes dissatisfaction, it is remarkable that the prince and heir apparent of Denmark should think about these problems only in personal and philosophical terms. He spends relatively little time thinking about the threats to Denmark’s national security from without or the threats to its stability from within (some of which he helps to create through his own carelessness).

Claudius (Spark Notes) Hamlet’s major antagonist is a shrewd, lustful, conniving king who contrasts sharply with the other male characters in the play. Whereas most of the other important men in Hamlet are preoccupied with ideas of justice, revenge, and moral balance, Claudius is bent upon maintaining his own power. The old King Hamlet was apparently a stern warrior, but Claudius is a corrupt politician whose main weapon is his ability to manipulate others through his skillful use of language. Claudius’s speech is compared to poison being poured in the ear—the method he used to murder Hamlet’s father. Claudius’s love for Gertrude may be sincere, but it also seems likely that he married her as a strategic move, to help him win the throne away from Hamlet after the death of the king. As the play progresses, Claudius’s mounting fear of Hamlet’s insanity leads him to ever greater self-preoccupation; when Gertrude tells him that Hamlet has killed Polonius, Claudius does not remark that Gertrude might have been in danger, but only that he would have been in danger had he been in the room. He tells Laertes the same thing as he attempts to soothe the young man’s anger after his father’s death. Claudius is ultimately too crafty for his own good. In Act V, scene ii, rather than allowing Laertes only two methods of killing Hamlet, the sharpened sword and the poison on the blade, Claudius insists on a third, the poisoned goblet. When Gertrude inadvertently drinks the poison and dies, Hamlet is at last able to bring himself to kill Claudius, and the king is felled by his own cowardly machination.

Gertrude (Spark Notes) Few Shakespearean characters have caused as much uncertainty as Gertrude, the beautiful Queen of Denmark. The play seems to raise more questions about Gertrude than it answers, including: Was she involved with Claudius before the death of her husband? Did she love her husband? Did she know about Claudius’s plan to commit the murder? Did she love Claudius, or did she marry him simply to keep her high station in Denmark? Does she believe Hamlet when he insists that he is not mad, or does she pretend to believe him simply to protect herself? Does she intentionally betray Hamlet to Claudius, or does she believe that she is protecting her son’s secret? These questions can be answered in numerous ways, depending upon one’s reading of the play. The Gertrude who does emerge clearly in Hamlet is a woman defined by her desire for station and affection, as well as by her tendency to use men to fulfil her instinct for self-preservation—which, of course, makes her extremely dependent upon the men

102

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

in her life. Hamlet’s most famous comment about Gertrude is his furious condemnation of women in general: “Frailty, thy name is woman!” (I.ii.146). This comment is as much indicative of Hamlet’s agonized state of mind as of anything else, but to a great extent Gertrude does seem morally frail. She never exhibits the ability to think critically about her situation, but seems merely to move instinctively toward seemingly safe choices, as when she immediately runs to Claudius after her confrontation with Hamlet. She is at her best in social situations (I.ii and V.ii), when her natural grace and charm seem to indicate a rich, rounded personality. At times it seems that her grace and charm are her only characteristics, and her reliance on men appears to be her sole way of capitalizing on her abilities.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Themes, Motifs & Symbols Themes Themes are the fundamental and often universal ideas explored in a literary work. 1) The Impossibility of Certainty What separates Hamlet from other revenge plays (and maybe from every play written before it) is that the action we expect to see, particularly from Hamlet himself, is continually postponed while Hamlet tries to obtain more certain knowledge about what he is doing. This play poses many questions that other plays would simply take for granted. Can we have certain knowledge about ghosts? Is the ghost what it appears to be, or is it really a misleading fiend? Does the ghost have reliable knowledge about its own death, or is the ghost itself deluded? Moving to more earthly matters: How can we know for certain the facts about a crime that has no witnesses? Can Hamlet know the state of Claudius’s soul by watching his behavior? If so, can he know the facts of what Claudius did by observing the state of his soul? Can Claudius (or the audience) know the state of Hamlet’s mind by observing his behavior and listening to his speech? Can we know whether our actions will have the consequences we want them to have? Can we know anything about the afterlife? Many people have seen Hamlet as a play about indecisiveness, and thus about Hamlet’s failure to act appropriately. It might be more interesting to consider that the play shows us how many uncertainties our lives are built upon, how many unknown quantities are taken for granted when people act or when they evaluate one another’s actions.

103

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

2) The Complexity of Action Directly related to the theme of certainty is the theme of action. How is it possible to take reasonable, effective, purposeful action? In Hamlet, the question of how to act is affected not only by rational considerations, such as the need for certainty, but also by emotional, ethical, and psychological factors. Hamlet himself appears to distrust the idea that it’s even possible to act in a controlled, purposeful way. When he does act, he prefers to do it blindly, recklessly, and violently. The other characters obviously think much less about “action” in the abstract than Hamlet does, and are therefore less troubled about the possibility of acting effectively. They simply act as they feel is appropriate. But in some sense they prove that Hamlet is right, because all of their actions miscarry. Claudius possesses himself of queen and crown through bold action, but his conscience torments him, and he is beset by threats to his authority (and, of course, he dies). Laertes resolves that nothing will distract him from acting out his revenge, but he is easily influenced and manipulated into serving Claudius’s ends, and his poisoned rapier is turned back upon himself.

3) The Mystery of Death In the aftermath of his father’s murder, Hamlet is obsessed with the idea of death, and over the course of the play he considers death from a great many perspectives. He ponders both the spiritual aftermath of death, embodied in the ghost, and the physical remainders of the dead, such as by Yorick’s skull and the decaying corpses in the cemetery. Throughout, the idea of death is closely tied to the themes of spirituality, truth, and uncertainty in that death may bring the answers to Hamlet’s deepest questions, ending once and for all the problem of trying to determine truth in an ambiguous world. And, since death is both the cause and the consequence of revenge, it is intimately tied to the theme of revenge and justice—Claudius’s murder of King Hamlet initiates Hamlet’s quest for revenge, and Claudius’s death is the end of that quest. The question of his own death plagues Hamlet as well, as he repeatedly contemplates whether or not suicide is a morally legitimate action in an unbearably painful world. Hamlet’s grief and misery is such that he frequently longs for death to end his suffering, but he fears that if he commits suicide, he will be consigned to eternal suffering in hell because of the Christian religion’s prohibition of suicide. In his famous “To be or not to be” soliloquy (III.i), Hamlet philosophically concludes that no one would choose to endure the pain of life if he or she were not afraid of what will come after death, and that it is this fear which causes complex moral considerations to interfere with the capacity for action.

4) The Nation as a Diseased Body Everything is connected in Hamlet, including the welfare of the royal family and the health of the state as a whole. The play’s early scenes explore the sense of anxiety and dread

104

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

that surrounds the transfer of power from one ruler to the next. Throughout the play, characters draw explicit connections between the moral legitimacy of a ruler and the health of the nation. Denmark is frequently described as a physical body made ill by the moral corruption of Claudius and Gertrude, and many observers interpret the presence of the ghost as a supernatural omen indicating that “[s]omething is rotten in the state of Denmark” (I.iv.67). The dead King Hamlet is portrayed as a strong, forthright ruler under whose guard the state was in good health, while Claudius, a wicked politician, has corrupted and compromised Denmark to satisfy his own appetites. At the end of the play, the rise to power of the upright Fortinbras suggests that Denmark will be strengthened once again.

Motifs (Recurrent Structures) Motifs are recurring structures, contrasts, or literary devices that can help to develop and inform the text’s major themes.

1) Incest and Incestuous Desire The motif of incest runs throughout the play and is frequently alluded to by Hamlet and the ghost, most obviously in conversations about Gertrude and Claudius, the former brother-in-law and sister-in-law who are now married. A subtle motif of incestuous desire can be found in the relationship of Laertes and Ophelia, as Laertes sometimes speaks to his sister in suggestively sexual terms and, at her funeral, leaps into her grave to hold her in his arms. However, the strongest overtones of incestuous desire arise in the relationship of Hamlet and Gertrude, in Hamlet’s fixation on Gertrude’s sex life with Claudius and his preoccupation with her in general.

2) Misogyny Shattered by his mother’s decision to marry Claudius so soon after her husband’s death, Hamlet becomes cynical about women in general, showing a particular obsession with what he perceives to be a connection between female sexuality and moral corruption. This motif of misogyny, or hatred of women, occurs sporadically throughout the play, but it is an important inhibiting factor in Hamlet’s relationships with Ophelia and Gertrude. He urges Ophelia to go to a nunnery rather than experience the corruptions of sexuality and exclaims of Gertrude, “Frailty, thy name is woman” (I.ii.146).

3) Ears and Hearing One facet of Hamlet’s exploration of the difficulty of attaining true knowledge is slipperiness of language. Words are used to communicate ideas, but they can also be used to distort the truth, manipulate other people, and serve as tools in corrupt quests for power. Claudius, the shrewd politician, is the most obvious example of a man who

105

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

manipulates words to enhance his own power. The sinister uses of words are represented by images of ears and hearing, from Claudius’s murder of the king by pouring poison into his ear to Hamlet’s claim to Horatio that “I have words to speak in thine ear will make thee dumb” (IV.vi.21). The poison poured in the king’s ear by Claudius is used by the ghost to symbolize the corrosive effect of Claudius’s dishonesty on the health of Denmark. Declaring that the story that he was killed by a snake is a lie, he says that “the whole ear of Denmark” is “Rankly abused. . . .” (I.v.36–38).

Symbols Symbols are objects, characters, figures, or colors used to represent abstract ideas or concepts.

1) Yorick’s Skull In Hamlet, physical objects are rarely used to represent thematic ideas. One important exception is Yorick’s skull, which Hamlet discovers in the graveyard in the first scene of Act V. As Hamlet speaks to the skull and about the skull of the king’s former jester, he fixates on death’s inevitability and the disintegration of the body. He urges the skull to “get you to my lady’s chamber, and tell her, let her paint an inch thick, to this favor she must come”—no one can avoid death (V.i.178–179). He traces the skull’s mouth and says, “Here hung those lips that I have kissed I know not how oft,” indicating his fascination with the physical consequences of death (V.i.174–175). This latter idea is an important motif throughout the play, as Hamlet frequently makes comments referring to every human body’s eventual decay, noting that Polonius will be eaten by worms, that even kings are eaten by worms, and that dust from the decayed body of Alexander the Great might be used to stop a hole in a beer barrel. http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/characters.html

Reading Comprehension on Hamlet Read the questions and answers to understand Hamlet’s plot? Act I. Scene i 1. Why have Marcellus and Bernardo asked Horatio to join them on their watch? They have seen the ghost of King Hamlet. They want Horatio to verify the ghost exists. 2. What exactly do Marcellus, Bernardo, and Horatio see? They see the ghost of King Hamlet. He is dressed in armour.

106

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

3. Why is the country preparing for a possible war? Prince Fortinbras of Norway is planning an attack. He wants to get back land his father lost to the Danes. 4. Why does Bernardo believe the supernatural events he has seen are taking place? He believes it is a bad omen. It could be because of the impending war with Norway that the ghost of the King is stalking the parapet. 5. What does Horatio say they should do at the end of this scene? Why does he believe they should take this action? Horatio believes they should tell Hamlet about the ghost. He believes the ghost will speak to hamlet when it will not speak to them.

Scene ii 1. Why does the King address the court? The King addresses the court first to thank them for their understanding and patience. He has just married Gertrude not long after King Hamlet’s death. His marriage to his sister-in-law so soon after his brother’s death has created a delicate political situation. He also wants to publicly reveal how he is handling the present tensions with Norway. In order to prevent the possible war, he is sending two diplomats, Cornelius and Voltimand, to Norway to discuss with the present King of Norway what young Prince Fortinbras is up to. 2. What does Laertes ask of the King? He asks for permission to return to school in France. 3. What comments do the King and Queen make about Hamlet’s recent behavior? How does Hamlet respond to the Queen’s question, “Why seems it so particular with thee?” The King and the Queen comment about Hamlet’s grief. They believe it is excessive. They want him to move on and stop mourning the loss of his father. Hamlet responds to the Queen by saying his grief doesn’t seem excessive, it is excessive. He feels a deep and abiding sense of loss. 4. The King goes on to comment more about Hamlet’s behavior. What argument does he put forth to try to convince Hamlet to behave otherwise? He says it is “unmanly” to act so grief-stricken. He says it is only natural to lose a father. He also points out that he is naming Hamlet as the next heir to the throne. 5. In his soliloquy, Hamlet reveals his state of mind. What is his opinion of the world? His mother? What does he dwell on the most?

107

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Hamlet sees the world as an awful, corrupt place. He sees his mother as a weak, fickle woman. He dwells on the loss of his father and his mother’s remarriage the most. 6. What event does Horatio say brought him to Elsinore? How does Hamlet respond to this statement? Horatio says he came for King Hamlet’s funeral. Hamlet says Horatio must have come for the wedding because it followed so soon after the funeral. He says the funeral food was used for the wedding. Hamlet is kidding, but he (Hamlet) is bitter about the quickness of the marriage. 7. How does Hamlet respond to the news Horatio brings about the ghost? Hamlet responds by saying this is strange. He wants to know how the ghost looked and acted. To himself, he says he suspects “some foul play.”

Scene iii 1. According to Laertes, how should Ophelia think of all the attention Hamlet has been giving her? Laertes thinks Ophelia should not take Hamlet’s displays of love/affection very seriously. He wants her to see it as something temporary that could change (like a “fashion”). 2. Why is Laertes afraid that Ophelia’s heart may be broken? What action does he caution her against? Laertes is afraid Ophelia’s heart will be broken because even if Hamlet is in love with her, he may not be able to marry her. He is a prince; therefore, his “will is not his own.” He may have to marry for political purposes. Ophelia is not a woman of great political influence. He warns her to guard her virtue when he tells her not to “open” her “chaste treasure.” 3. How does Ophelia respond to this advice? Ophelia responds by saying that she will consider her brother’s advice, but he had better not be a hypocrite. He needs to guard his virtue as well with the women he pursues. 4. Polonius offers Laertes nine different pieces of advice. What are they? Are these worthwhile suggestions? See the other transparency for the advice. Overall, the advice seems to be good. 5. According to Polonius, how should Ophelia think of all of the attention Hamlet has been giving her? How does Polonius instruct his daughter to behave? Polonius agrees with Laertes. He believes Ophelia shouldn’t take Hamlet’s profes-

108

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

sion of love seriously. He thinks it is dangerous for her to be spending so much time alone with Hamlet, and he worries that she could “tender” him “a fool.” This means he’s afraid she could end up making him look foolish as a parent because she could wind up pregnant and unmarried. He instructs Ophelia to no longer see or speak with Hamlet.

Scene iv 1. Why do Hamlet, Horatio, and Marcellus hear the sound of trumpets in the distance? How does Hamlet feel about this customary action? There is a celebration in the castle that night. The customary action is that every time the King finishes a drink, the trumpets blare. Hamlet thinks this is a custom that should be ignored. He thinks celebrating drinking like this has given the Danes a bad reputation as drunkards. 3. How does Hamlet immediately react to the sight of the ghost? When Hamlet first sees the ghost, he is overwhelmed by a desire to be with it. He says he doesn’t care if the ghost leads him to his death, he will follow it. Here we see again how depressed Hamlet is as he cares so little for the value of his life. 4. What comment does Marcellus make about Denmark? How does Horatio respond to Marcellus? Marcellus says, “Something is rotten in the state of Denmark.” Marcellus believes the appearance of the ghost is a sign that evil exists in Denmark. To this, Horatio says, “Heaven will direct it.” Horatio believes God has a plan. He seems to have faith in divine Providence.

New Place, Stratford-upon-Avon, construida en el sitio de la casa de Shakespeare. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bardo_de_Avon

Scene v 1. What directive does the ghost give Hamlet?

He gives him the directive to avenge his murder.

2. Previously, what had the people of Denmark been led to believe was the cause of King Hamlet’s death? According to the ghost, what actually happened? In what way was the manner of his death particularly awful? They had been led to believe the King had been bitten by a poisonous snake while asleep in his orchard. The ghost tells Hamlet that his brother, Claudius, killed him. Claudius poured a “leprous distilment” into the “porches of his ear.” This death was

109

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

particularly awful because it caused his skin to scale over and his blood to curdle. In addition, because he was killed in his sleep, he had no opportunity to confess his sins or to receive last rites; therefore, he died with all of his “imperfections” intact. Now he must spend time in Purgatory to atone for these indiscretions. 3. What does Hamlet vow (accept) to do?

Hamlet vows to get revenge. He pretends to write down his vow and sign it.

4. What favours does Hamlet ask of Horatio and Marcellus? He wants them to swear to tell no one what they’ve seen or heard that night. Hamlet plans to “put on an antic disposition” now, which means he plans to act as though he has lost his mind. He also doesn’t want Horatio or Marcellus to let anyone know this is an act. 5. How does Hamlet view his newfound mission? Hamlet sees it as a “curse.” This is our first clue that he doesn’t want to do what he has vowed to do. He will procrastinate. This is his tragic flaw. http://www.saratogaschools.org/academic/terry/hamletsite/WordDocs/Reading%20Comp%20Act%20I%20%20 Notes.doc

3.4. Christopher Marlowe Christopher Marlowe (1564-1593) was, next to Shakespeare, the greatest dramatist of the 16th century. It used to be thought that he was killed in a tavern brawl at the early age of twenty-nine; now some scholars think that he escaped to France. He was born in Canterbury, the son of a shoemaker. He attended Cambridge University and some-what later appeared in London, where he lived a wild and exciting life. He was a fearless rebel, denouncing the accepted religious ideas of his time so violently that the government ordered his arrest. His untimely death (or disappearance), however, prevented the carrying out of the order. His most important contribution to literary development was his successful use of blank verse and his influence on the style of other writers, especially Shakespeare. His extravagant, sonorous verse, which Jonson termed Marlowe’s “mighty line,” varies between sublimity and bombast. In a short time he produced four great tragedies, the two most famous being The Tragedy of doctor Faustus and Tamburlaine. “The Passionate Shepherd to His Love” is his best-known lyric.

The Passionate Shepherd to his Love The romantic pleasures of the shepherd’s life presented in Christopher Marlowe’s “The Passionate Shepherd to his Love” have delighted readers for more than three hundred years. Its playful message pictures an idyllic love, setting forth the Elizabethan ideal of courtship.

110

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Come live with me and be my love, And we will all the pleasures prove, (1) That valleys, groves, hills, and fields, Woods, or steepy mountain yields. And we will sit upon the rocks, Seeing the shepherds feed their flocks, By shallow rivers, to whose falls Melodious birds sing madrigals. And I will make thee beds of roses, And a thousand fragrant poises, A cap of flowers and a kirtle Embroider’d all with leaves of myrtle; A gown made of the finest wool, Which from our pretty lambs we pull; Fair lined slippers for (2) the cold, With buckles of the purest gold;

Christopher Marlowe.

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christopher_Marlo

A belt of straw and ivy buds With coral clasp and amber studs; And if these pleasures may thee move Come live with me and be my love. The shepherd swains shall dance and sing For thy delights each May morning; If these delights thy mind may move, Then live with me and be my love

3.5 Sir Walter Raleigh Sir Walter Raleigh (1552-1618) was a famous courtier, adventurer, seafarer, and writer of Elizabethan Age. He was born in Devonshire, where he acquired his love of the sea. Later he attended Oxford, saw military service against the Spaniards and against the Irish, and won the favour of Queen Elizabeth I. He delighted in organizing expeditions to the New World in search of gold. Under King James I, he was imprisoned for thirteen years in London Tower on charges of treason and was executed there. While in prison he did much of his writing, which, in general, reflects his misfortune and despondency. His History of the World is a monument of Elizabethan prose, but his lyric “the Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd” is a probably his most famous piece even though it is not most representative of his work. Footnotes: Experience, enjoy. Against, to keep out

111

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd The practical, commonsense reply of the nymph to the romantic pleas of the shepherd gains humour through sharply contrasted points of view. Sir Walter Raleigh’s poem is fully as playful, dainty, and musical as the one which it answers. If all the world and love were young, And truth in every shepherd’s tongue, These pretty pleasures might me move, To live with thee and be thy love, Time drives the flocks from field to fold, When rivers rage and rocks grow cold, And Philomel becometh dumb; The rest complains of cares to come. The flowers do fade, and wanton (1) fields To wayward winter reckoning yields; A honey tongue, a heart of gall, (2) Is fancy’s spring, but sorrow’s fall? Thy gowns, thy shoes, thy beds of roses, Thy cap, thy kirtle, and thy posies Soon break, soon wither, soon forgotten, In folly ripe, in reason rotten. Thy belt of straw and ivy buds, Thy coral clasp and amber studs, All these in me no means can move, To come to thee and be thy love

Footnotes 1. Luxuriant. 2. Bitterness. 3. Increase. 4. End. 5. You, (Span ti) poetic.

112

http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Raleigh

But could youth last, and love still breed, (3) Had joys no date, (4) nor age no need, Then these delights my mind might move To live with thee (5) and be thy love.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

3.6 Ben Jonson Ben Jonson (1572(?)-1637), a personal friend of Shakespeare’s, was the first poet laureate of England. His life was adventurous and varied, including work as a bricklayer’s apprentice, military service in Flanders and against Spain, and prison sentences for killing a man in a duel and for offending the government by an allusion in one of his plays. Important among his realistic comedies are the gay and witty Volpone (or The Fox), Every Man in His Humour, Epicene (or The Silent Woman), and the Alchemist. As a lyric poet he is remembered for the everpopular “To Celia,” “The Noble Nature,” and “To My Beloved Master, William Shakespeare.” Although Ben Jonson was primarily a playwright, his Reputation as a poet lives through this song, A delicate compliment to a lady To Celia Drink to me only with thine eyes,

I sent thee late (2) a rosy wreath, (3)

And I will pledge with mine;

Not so much honouring thee

Or leave a kiss but in the cup,

As giving it a hope, that there

And I’ll not look for wine.

It could not wither’d be.

The thirst that from the soul doth rise

But thou thereon didst only breathe,

Doth ask a drink divine;

And sent’st it back to me;

But might I of Jove’s nectar (1) sup,

Since when it grows, and smells, I swear,

I would not change for thine.

Not of itself, but thee.

Footnotes 1. The drink of the gods. 2. Lately. 3. Rosy wreath. Wreath of roses.

113

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

How well did you read? What are the “pleasures” which Marlowe’s shepherd offers? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ What objection does Raleigh’s “nymph” make to each argument of the shepherd? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Exercising your judgment Which of the enticements that the shepherd of Marlowe’s poem offers do you think might really be found in a shepherd’s life? What ones would be highly improbable? How do the points of view differ in these two poems by Marlowe and Raleigh? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ 1. What elements of romance are evident in “To Celia”? What line first indicates the lover’s failure to win his lady’s love? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Point out the pastoral elements in the poems by Marlowe and Raleigh. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

Elizabethan words

Check your understanding of these words with the dictionary: madrigals coral kirtle swains myrtle nymph Look up the original meaning of nymph and swain and compare with the use of the use of these words in these poems.

To again skills and information

Try writing a parody, making the shepherd and the nymph people of today. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Look up information about Theocritus, the “father of the pastoral”. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ Find additional material on the lives of Marlowe and Raleigh and report your findings to the class. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________

114

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

3.7 Edmund Spenser Edmund Spenser (1552-1599), “the poet”, seemed marked for disillusionment and personal tragedy despite his pre-eminence as a poet. Born of a middle-class London family, he was educated at the Merchant Taylor’s School and at Pembroke Hall, Cambridge, where he formed many close friendships despite his poverty and ill health. A position in the household of the Earl of Leicester brought him into contact with many prominent persons. Among his friends were Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Philip Sidney, and Gabriel Harvey, the critic. In 1579, upon the publication of The Shepherd’s Calendar, a series of twelve pastoral poems, he was immediately acknowledged the greatest living English poet. As a result of this recognition his friends later procured for him a place as secretary to Lord Gray, lord deputy in Ireland. Spenser remained there eight years, although he found life in Ireland uncongenial. Upon the advice of Sir Walter Raleigh, Spencer sought further preferment at court. He took with him the first three books of his great allegorical poem, The Faerie Queene. The poem was well received, and Spencer was granted a pension; but he failed to win a more attractive position. Returning to Ireland, he expressed his disillusionment in “Colin Clout’s Come Home Again.” In 1594 he married. His courtship is celebrated in the Amoretti and his marriage in the beautiful Epithalamion. Five years later tragedy struck when his castle at Kilcolman was burned, and one of his children perished in the flames. Spenser himself was sent to London to report the disaster. There he became ill and died. He was buried in Westminster Abbey. His greatest work, The Faerie Queene, is an elaborate allegory * rich in musical verse and beautiful imagery. It was widely imitated and therefore exercised much influence, upon English literature. Even modern poets try to acquire Spenser’s gift of brilliant pageantry and his remarkable feeling for form, colour, and sound.

From AMORETTI In the sonnet sequence Amoretti, Spenser celebrates his courtship of the lady whom he later married. Footnotes: Folly. The glorious…beauty. My sweetheart.

115

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

XXXVII

LXI

What guile is this, that those her golden tresses

The glorious image of the Marker’s beauty, (2)

She doth attire under a net of gold,

My sovereign saint, the idol of my thought,

And with sly skill so cunningly them dresses That which is gold or hair may scarce be told? Is it that men’s frail eyes, which gaze too bold, She may entangle in that golden snare,

Dare not henceforth, above the bounds of duty, T’ accuse of pride, or rashly blame for ought. For being, as she is, divinely wrought,

And, being caught, may craftily enfold

And of the brood of angels heavenly born,

Their weaker hearts, which are not well aware?

And with the crew of blessed saints upbrought,

Take heed, therefore, mine eyes, how ye do stare

Each of which did her with their gifts adorn-

Henceforth too rashly on that guileful net,

The bud of joy, the blossom of the morn,

In which if ever ye entrapped are,

The beam of light, whom mortal eyes admire;

Out of her bands ye by no means shall get. Fondness (1) it were for any, being free, To covert fetters, though they golden be!

What reason is it then but she should scorn Base things that to her love too bold aspire! Such heavenly forms ought rather worshipt be Than dare be loved b men of mean degree.

116

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Reading Comprehension Activity Paraphrase the sonnet Amoretti by Spencer. ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ What is meant by betters in the last line of Spenser’s sonnet XXXVII? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ What is the rhyme scheme behind Spenser’s sonnets XXXVII and LXI? ______________________________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________________________ What is a sonnet? A highly structured fourteen line poem or “little song” with a particular rhyming scheme called the iambic pentameter. The sonnet can be thematically divided into two sections: the first presents the theme, raises an issue or doubt, and the second part answers the question, resolves the problem, or drives home the poem’s point. This change in the poem is called the turn and helps move forward the emotional action of the poem quickly, as fourteen lines can become too short too fast.

Sonnets were first written in Italian and were traditionally love poems. Though the son-

net is a form that can be experimented with, it has remained true to its original length of fourteen lines and its Anglicized meter of iambic pentameter. Petrarch developed the sonnet to one of its highest levels during early Renaissance Italy, but it wasn’t translated into English until the sixteenth century. From there, Shakespeare made the sonnet famous in England and others followed his lead. The sonnet can be thematically divided into two sections: the first presents the theme, raises an issue or doubt, and the second part answers the question, resolves the problem, or drives home the poem’s point. This change in the poem is called the turn and helps move forward the emotional action of the poem quickly, as fourteen lines can become too short too fast.

117

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Most sonnets are one of two kinds: A) Italian (Petrarchan). This sonnet is split into two parts, an octave and a sestet. The octave is composed of two envelope quatrains rhyming “abba abba” (Italian octave). The sestet’s rhyme pattern varies, though it is most often either “cde cde” (Italian sestet) or “cdc dcd” (Sicilian sestet). The turn occurs at the end of the octave and is developed and closed in the sestet. Over the years, the Italian sonnet has been the most favoured type of sonnet.

Donald Justice- “Sonnet: The Poet at Seven” And on the porch, across the upturned chair, The boy would spread a dingy counterpane Against the length and majesty of the rain, And on all fours crawl under it like a bear To lick his wounds in secret, in his lair; And afterwards, in the windy yard again, One hand cocked back, release his paper plane Frail as a mayfly to the faithless air. And summer evenings he would whirl around Faster and faster till the drunken ground Rose up to meet him; sometimes he would squat Among the bent weeds of the vacant lot, Waiting for dusk and someone dear to come And whip him down the street, but gently home.

Notice the turn at line 9, “And summer evenings . . .” and how it develops and closes the poem by the last line. Justice changed the form a bit, rhyming the sestet “ccd dee,” or viewed as couplets “cc dd ee.” B) English (Shakespearian). This contains 3 Sicilian quatrains and one heroic couplet at the end, with an “abab cdcd efef gg” rhyme scheme. The turn comes at or near line 13, making the ending couplet quick and dramatic. Not many modern writers have taken to writing the Shakesperean sonnet. e. e. cummings, not known to the general public for sonnet writing, supplies us with a Shakespearean sonnet example: When what hugs stopping earth than silent is more silent than more than much more is or total sun oceaning than any this tear jumping from each least eye of star and without was if minus and shall be immeasurable happenless unnow shuts more than open could that every tree or than all his life more death begins to grow

118

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

end’s ending then these dolls of joy and grief these recent memories of future dream these perhaps who have lost their shadows if which did not do the losing spectres mine until out of merely not nothing comes only one snowflake and we speak our names Here are two other almost common sonnet types:

Spenserian. this sonnet is very similar to the Shakespearian sonnet in form, though its rhyme scheme is slightly different. It is written with 3 Sicilian quatrains and an ending heroic couplet. It rhymes “abab bcbc cdcd ee”, such that the rhyme scheme interlocks each of the quatrains, much like the terza rima is made of interlocking triplets. http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/CraftOfPoetry/sonnet.html

119

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

Activity After you have answered all the questions after every reading in this unit , please, answer all the questions from your mind. If you cannot do it, please go back to the materials and start reading again. This activity will give fluency and you improve your English competence. 1. What have you learned from this chapter? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the historical background of this period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What genres pointed out in the Renaissance Period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. What do you know bout William Shakespeare? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Prepare a summary about Hamlet plot? ___________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________ ___________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. What are the main characters in Hamlet? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. Analyse the mayor Characters? (Hamlet, Claudius and Gertrude) ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

120

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

8. What are the themes, motifs and symbols behind Hamlet’s Characters? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 9. What do you know about Christopher Marlow and analyse his masterpiece “The passionate Shepherd and his love”? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 10. What about Sir Walter Raleigh and his masterpiece “The Nymph’s Reply to the Shepherd. Make your own interpretation. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 11. What do you know about Benson and his literary production “To Celia”? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 12. What do you know about Edmund Spencer and his literary production “Amoretti”? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 13. What literary terms have you learned in this chapter? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

121

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Renaissance Years: 1485-1660

Content:

 world view shifts from religion and after life to one stressing the human life on earth  popular theme: development of human potential  popular theme: many aspects of love explored:  unrequited love  constant love  timeless love  courtly love  love subject to change

Style/Genres:  Poetry  sonnet  Drama  written in verse  supported by royalty  tragedies, comedies, histories  Metaphysical poetry  elaborate and unexpected metaphors called conceits

Effect:

 Commoners welcomed at some play productions (like ones at the Globe) while conservatives try to close the theatres on grounds that they promote brazen behaviours.  Not all middle-class embrace the metaphysical poets and their abstract conceits Historical Context:  War of Roses ends in 1485 and political stability arrives  Printing press helps stabilize English as a language and allows more people to read a variety of literature.  Economy changes from farm-based to one of international trade

122

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Key Literature/Authors:  William Shakespeare  Christopher Marlowe  Sir Raleigh  Benjamin Jonson  Edmund Spenser  John Donne  Cavalier Poets  Metaphysical Poets  Andrew Marvell

123

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Bibliography 1. Robinson, Nell M. and Webb, Charles F. Literature of England, 1995, Ginn and Company. 2. Robinson, Nell M. and Webb, Charles F. Literature of England, 1985, Ginn and Company”. 3. John McRae. Reading between the lines. Cambridge Unversity Press. 1984. 4. Charlyn Wessels. Drama. Oxford Unversity Press. 1988. 5. Ronald Carters. Literatura and the Learner: Methodological Approaches. British Council.1990. 6. Symour Chatman. Literary Styles: A Symposium. Oxford Unversity Press. 7. Cleanth Brooks. Understanding Poetry. Yale University. 1984. 8. Alan Duff. Literatura. Oxford Unversity Press. 1991 9. Marjorie Wescott. Drama I. Macmillan Company. 1996. 10. Michael Cummings. The Language of Literatura. Pegamon Press. Lyd. Oxford. 1985. 11. Roger Mover. Reading literatura. Longman. 1996. http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/passionateshepherd.htm http://apo.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/villanova/hemingway/original.htm http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/characters.html http://www.saratogaschools.org/academic/terry/hamletsite/WordDocs/Reading%20 Comp%20Act%20I%20%20Notes.do http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-inanothercountry/ http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/33810.html http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/CraftOfPoetry/sonnet.html

124

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

UNIT FOUR

THE PURITAN LITERATURE

Objectives 1. Understand the production of the puritan literature. 2. Be aware of the historical background of the Puritanism. 3. Study John Milton and the “Paradise Lost”. 4. Study John Bunyan and the “The Pilgrim’s progress.” 5. Study Francis Bacon and his most important essays “0f travel” and “Of studies”. 6. Study in much more detail the essays “Of revenge”, “of parents and children”, “Of love”, “Of adversity”, and “Of beauty”.

125

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

PURITANISM

4. THE PURITANS At the edges of Atlantic Ocean in Plymouth, Massachusetts, rests a very ordinary-looking rock bearing the date 1620. Nothing in its appearance suggests its historical importance. For the Pilgrims, members of an English Puritan group who landed there in 1620, it was the threshold of a new world. There they would have freedom to worship God according to the dictates of their conscience. Behind their landing lies a long story of strife, exile, and determined adherence to religious conviction in spite of all sufferings.

PURITANS The Puritans were a group of people who grew discontent in the Church of England and worked towards religious, moral and societal reforms. The writings and ideas of John Calvin, a leader in the Reformation, gave rise to Protestantism and were pivotal to the Christian revolt. They contended that The Church of England had become a product of political struggles and man-made doctrines. The Puritans were one branch of dissenters who decided that the Church of England was beyond reform. Escaping persecution from church leadership and the King, they came to America. The Puritans believed that the Bible was God’s true law, and that it provided a plan for living. The established church of the day described access to God as monastic and possible only within the confines of “church authority”. Puritans stripped away the traditional trappings and formalities of Christianity which had been slowly building throughout the previous 1500 years. Theirs was an attempt to “purify” the church and their own lives. What many of us remember about the Puritans is reflective of the modern definition of the term and not of the historical account. Point one; they were not a small group of people. In England many of their persuasion sat in Parliament. So great was the struggle that England’s Civil War pitted the Puritans against the Crown Forces. Though the Puritans won the fight with Oliver Cromwell’s leadership, their victory was short-lived; hence their displacement to America. Point two, the witchcraft trials did not appropriately define their methods of living for the 100+ years that they formed successful communities. What it did show was the danger that their self-imposed isolation had put them in.

126

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Most of the Puritans settled in the New England area. As they immigrated and formed individual colonies, their numbers rose from 17,800 in 1640 to 106,000 in 1700. Religious exclusiveness was the foremost principle of their society. The spiritual beliefs that they held were strong. This strength held over to include community laws and customs. Since God was at the forefront of their minds, He was to motivate all of their actions. This premise worked both for them and against them. The common unity strengthened the community. In a foreign land surrounded with the hardships of pioneer life, their spiritual bond made them sympathetic to each other’s needs. Their overall survival techniques permeated the colonies and on the whole made them more successful in several areas beyond that of the colonies established to their south. Each church congregation was to be individually responsible to God, as was each person. The New Testament was their model and their devotion so great that it permeated their entire society. People of opposing theological views were asked to leave the community or to be converted. Their interpretation of scriptures was a harsh one. They emphasized a redemptive piety. In principle, they emphasized conversion and not repression. Conversion was a rejection of the “worldliness” of society and a strict adherence to Biblical principles. While repression was not encouraged in principle, it was evident in their actions. God could forgive anything, but man could forgive only by seeing a change in behavior. Actions spoke louder than words, so actions had to be constantly controlled. The doctrine of predestination kept all Puritans constantly working to do good in this life to be chosen for the next eternal one. God had already chosen who would be in heaven or hell, and each believer had no way of knowing which group they were in. Those who were wealthy were obviously blessed by God and were in good standing with Him. The Protestant work ethic was the belief that hard work was an honor to God which would lead to a prosperous reward. Any deviations from the normal way of Puritan life met with strict disapproval and discipline. Since the church elders were also political leaders, any church infraction was also a social one. There was no margin for error. The devil was behind every evil action. Constant watch needed to be kept in order to stay away from his clutches (garras). Words of hell fire and brimstone flowed from the mouths of eloquent ministers as they warned of the persuasiveness of the devil’s power. The sermons of Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan minister, show that delivery of these sermons became an art form. They were elegant, well formed, exegetical renditions of scriptures... with a healthy dose of fear woven throughout the fabric of the literary construction. Grammar children were quizzed on the material at school and at home. This constant subjection of the probability of an unseen danger led to a scandal of epidemic proportions. Great pains were taken to warn their members and especially their children of the dangers of the world. Religiously motivated, they were exceptional in their time for their interest in the education of their children. Reading of the Bible was necessary to living a pious

127

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

life. The education of the next generation was important to further “purify” the church and perfect social living. Three English diversions were banned in their New England colonies; drama, religious music and erotic poetry. The first and last of these led to immorality. Music in worship created a “dreamy” state which was not conducive in listening to God. Since the people were not spending their time idly indulged in trivialities, they were left with two godly diversions. The Bible stimulated their corporate intellect by promoting discussions of literature. Greek classics of Cicero, Virgil, Terence and Ovid were taught, as well as poetry and Latin verse. They were encouraged to create their own poetry, always religious in content. For the first time in history, free schooling was offered for all children. Puritans formed the first formal school in 1635, called the Roxbury Latin School. Four years later, the first American College was established; Harvard in Cambridge. Children aged 6-8 attended a “Dame school” where the teacher, who was usually a widow, taught reading. “Ciphering” (math) and writing were low on the academic agenda. In 1638, the first printing press arrived. By 1700, Boston became the second largest publishing center of the English Empire. The Puritans were the first to write books for children, and to discuss the difficulties in communicating with them. At a time when other Americans were physically blazing trails through the forests, the Puritans efforts in areas of study were advancing our country intellectually. Religion provided a stimulus and prelude for scientific thought. Of those Americans who were admitted into the scientific “Royal Society of London,” the vast majority were New England Puritans. The large number of people who ascribed to the lifestyle of the Puritans did much to firmly establish a presence on American soil. Bound together, they established a community that maintained a healthy economy, established a school system, and focused an efficient eye on political concerns. The moral character of England and America were shaped in part by the words and actions of this strong group of Christian believers called the Puritans. Prepared by Kay Kizer: http://www.nd.edu/~rbarger/www7/puritans.html

4.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF PURITANISM The beginnings of Puritanism Even during the Elizabethan period many people felt that the Renaissance spirit of unrestrained enjoyment of the world was morally wrong and should be frowned upon. Soon after the beginning of the Reformation there arose in the Church of England a movement

128

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

toward greater strictness of life and simplicity of Church organization and worship. This movement is called Puritanism. It led eventually to the formation of a large number of sects, each of which claimed to hold the only correct views on religion and government. It was to one of these sects the Pilgrims belonged. Though belonging to various religious groups, the Puritans had this in common: they were all determined to resist tyranny in church and state, and were filled with a passion for liberty and rightcousness.

Two ways of life These Puritans, nicknamed Roundheads because of their short-cropped hair, contrasted sharply with the Cavaliers, or Royalists, supporters of king and the Established Church. The Puritan wanted reform in manner of living as well as in church and state. He practiced himself, and wanted to enforce or others, plainness and simplicity in dress. He was prudent and frugal; worldly desires loomed in his mind as sins; gayety and’ luxury were frowned upon. The typical Cavalier, on the other hand, carried on the Renaissance tradition of zest for living. He was gay and dashing: he dressed his hair in long loose curls, wore plumed hats, and affected clothes of velvet, silk, or satin. Aristocratic by birth, his mode of life was graceful and cultured. Besides this courtly type of Cavalier, there were scholars and religious leaders who remained loyal to the Royalist cause, just as, on the Puritan side, there were men like John Milton, who championed the basic principles of Puritanism but not its extremes – men of breadth and culture. Who enjoyed the gracious living of their times at its best. On both sides, between the extremes, were thoughtful men of sincere convictions. Cavalier was the name used by Parliamentarians for a Royalist supporter of King Charles I during the English Civil War (1642–1651). Prince Rupert, commander of much of Charles I’s cavalry, is often considered an archetypical Cavalier.

Sir Anthony van Dyck ca.1638, Lord John Stuart and his brother Lord Bernard. Both died fighting for the King

“Cavalier” is chiefly associated with the Royalist supporters of King Charles I in his struggle with Parliament in the English Civil War. At first appears as a term of reproach and contempt, applied by the opponents of King Charles I during the summer of 1642:

The Stuarts and “divine right” While Elizabeth had lived, the queen’s moderation and good judgment had kept all factions reasonably contented. Englishmen, despite differences, were still joined in loyalty to their traditions and to their queen. No such loyalties bound the people to her successor.

129

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Ironically, Elizabeth’s next of kin was James Stuart, son of the hapless Mary Queen of Scots, hated by Elizabeth while she lived, and put to death by the queen’s orders. Now, uniting the two kingdoms, James VI of Scotland became also James I of England. To the English he was a foreigner. With the Puritans he was especially unpopular because of his insistence on the doctrine of the divine right of kings. This doctrine held that in the solemn ceremony of the anointing, at the coronation, the king became God’s appointed ruler and representative. Thus the King would seem not to be accountable to Parliament. Such a doctrine ran counter to both the religious and the political ideas of the Puritans. James I, not unnaturally, regarded the Puritans as fanatical and seditious and, consequently, treated them severely. It was during his reign that groups like the Pilgrims began to seek freedom from tyranny by becoming voluntary exiles in distant lands. In 1625 James was succeeded by his son; Charles I, also a believer in divine right. The struggle between king and Parliament became increasingly bitter. Parliament, largely Puritan, questioned rule by divine right. Charles called Parliament only when he needed them to levy taxes to meet his extravagant personal demands. More often than not Parliament refused to meet his demands. Then the king levied taxes without Parliament’s consent.

Parliament’s firm stand for English liberties In 1628 Parliament won a signal victory in the safeguarding of English liberties by enacting the Petition of Right, which said that taxes could not be levied without the consent of Parliament and that a man could not be imprisoned without trial. In 1629 Charles dismissed Parliament and ruler without it for eleven years. When he did recall it (in 1640), the rift between king and Parliament was wider than ever. War seemed inevitable.

The nation at war In 1642 war actually began. At first the superior training of the king’s men gained them military advantage, but finally the Roundheads, directed by the military genius of Oliver Cromwell, won the victory. So great had grown Parliament’s power under the Puritan influence that, in 1649, they did what had never before been done in English history – they tried a king for his life, convicted him of treason to the English people, and executed him. Though Cromwell was convinced that, as long as the king lived, it would be impossible to end the conflict permanently, many English people disapproved of the way the trial was conducted and of the extreme action taken.

Cromwell administers the Commonwealth Parliament now set up a new type of government, which they called a commonwealth. As lord Protector, the title chosen for the head of the new government, Oliver Cromwell steered England ably through the critical time that followed. During the period of the

130

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Commonwealth Cromwell, though hated by many, won respect both at home and abroad. He declared religious freedom, expanded the navy and merchant fleets, and encouraged colonization. In fact, the foundations of British colonial were laid during this period. Education also was encouraged, and the reading public increased. Large tracts of land which had been taken from the people for royal estates were returned to the nation. But the Commonwealth was short-lived. When Cromwell died and was succeeded by his less-able son, the English people, weary of Puritan repressions, welcomed Charles II back from exile, and restored the monarchy.

4.2. LITERATURE OF THE PURITANISM The cleavage between Cavaliers and Puritans was reflected by opposing elements in the literature of the period. In mood, writing varied from the worldly and frivolous to the sober and pessimistic. Its form and artistic purpose, too, were widely varied.

Three prose masterpieces Prose writing flourished as never before, but consisted for the most part of sermons, controversial tracts, and political documents, most of which are not important to us today. Three prose masterpieces, nevertheless, emerge as a lasting part of English literature: John Bunyan’s allegory, The Pilgrim’s Progress, which has been more widely read than any other book in the English language except the Bible; John Milton’s Areopagitica, an eloquent defence of the freedom of the press; Isaak Walton’s The Compleat Angler, a classic handbook on the art of fishing, interwoven with a quiet philosophy of life; and Francis Bacon.

Cavalier and Puritan in poetry The poets of the period fall into several differing groups. The Cavalier poets, so called because they were chiefly gentlemen of the court of Charles I, wrote gay, witty, fanciful verse on love and other worldly themes. The Puritans wrote in a serious manner about serious subjects. Much of the poetry of this period, both Cavalier and Puritan, was marred by artificial language and by obscure comparisons.

Milton stands alone The crowning glory of the Puritan Age is the poetry of John Milton. As a poet, Milton ranks below none but Shakespeare. Chaucer is the only other English poet approaching him in stature. Like all men of genius, he is not entirely typical of his age, for in both prose and verse his ideas go far beyond those of his contemporaries. His master work is the epic Paradise Lost, one of the greatest poems of all time. Along with Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s

131

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Progress it enjoyed wide popularity in this country, and had profound influence upon the thought and writing of late 17th- and early 18th- century New England.

AN EPIC POEM John Milton The greatest poet of the 17th century was John Milton (1608-1674), the son of a London attorney who was a Puritan and a man of considerable culture. Milton received much of his early education at home and from private tutors. Later he attended St. Paul’s school and Christ College, Cambridge, where he proved a good student, especially in foreign languages and English literature. His life divides into three periods, each determined by an important decision. The first is known as the youthful period, spent at his father’s home in Horton, near London. Here, after making a difficult choice between entering the Church as a career and devoting himself to literature, he gave himself to study and communing with nature. It was this period which produced the companion poems “L’Allegro” and “IL Penseroso,” the mask * Comus, and the elegy Lycidas. Following the years at Horton he travelled in Europe until the disturbed affairs of his own country brought him home to London, where he continued to devote himself to his studies and to tutoring. When, however, the Puritans came into power, about 1640, Milton entered the second phase of his life by vigorously supporting the Puritan cause. From 1640 to 1660 he wrote almost no poetry but threw all his energy into writing controversial political and religious pamphlets. He was an ardent supporter of Oliver Cromwell and became Latin Secretary under the Commonwealth. His failing eyesight warned him that he should give up the heavy demands of his office, but so PARADISE LOST firm were his convictions that he chose certain blindness Paradise Lost by John Milton rather than discontinue the work in which he so ardently believed. The most noted work of this second period was the Areopagitica, a prose work opposing censorship of the press. With the restoration of a king to the throne in 1660, Milton was forced to go into hiding and was finally arrested. Fortunately he escarped punishment and was released, but his political career was ended. He was now blind, his labours in the Puritan cause seemed lost, and in the London fire of 1666 most of his property was destroyed. This third period, however, produced the greatest literary epic in the English language, Paradise Lost. For

132

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

many years Milton had planned to write a poem on the Fall of men. With the aid oh his daughters and friends, who wrote from his dictation, he brought the poem to completion in five years. It was followed by Paradise Regained. His last work was Samson Agonistes, a drama which presents a kind of allegory of Milton’s own life. Samson, like Milton, was blind, but he destroys the wicked, and the cause of Jehovah triumphs. Throughout Milton’s poetry shines his belief that good will triumph in the end. No other poem in the English language approaches Paradise Lost in loftiness of theme, sublimity of conception, and dignity of expression. In twelve books, the poet relates the story of the Fall of Man. After the customary invocation to the Muses and a statement of his purpose, Milton goes back to a pre-creation period when there was only a heaven of archangels ruled by God. Satan, one of the angels, desiring supreme power himself, wins followers and wages war against God. Defeated, Satan and his angels are cast out of Heaven. For nine days and nights they fall through space into Hell, a place prepared for them as far removed from Heaven as possible. There they lie, stunned, for a space of nine days and nights. Satan, the first to revive, arouses his companions and in council resolves to carry on implacable was against the Most High. Knowing that God plans the creation of Man and of Earth, the wily Satan determines to fight to fight God by winning Man to his side. God, foreseeing Satan’s strategy, sends an angel to forewarn Adam and Eve of their coming trial. Satan, however, succeeds in tempting them and bringing about their fall. When Michael, God’s messenger, descends to expel Adam and Even from Paradise, he prophesies the history of Man up to the ascension of Christ. The following selection from Book I, describing the fall of Satan and his angels, illustrates the majesty of Milton’s style, his use of classical allusions, and his inexhaustible flow of imagery. The opening line strikes the keynote of the epic that human unhappiness is the result of disobeying God’s will.

133

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste Brought death into the World, and all our woe, With loss of Eden, till one greater Man (1) Restore us, and regain the blissful seat, Sing, Heavenly Muse, that, on the secret top Of Oreb, or of Sinai, (2) didst inspire That shepherd who first taught the chosen seed (3) In the beginning how the heavens and earth Rose out of Chaos: or, if Sion (4) hill Delight thee more, and Siloa’s brook that flowed Fast by the oracle of God, (5) I thence Invoke thy aid to my adventurous song, That with no middle flight intends to soar Above the Aonian mount, (6) while it purses Things unattempted yet in prose or rhyme. And chiefly Thou, O Spirit, that dost prefer Before all temples the upright heart and pure, Instruct me, for thou know’st; Thou from the first Wast present, and, with mighty wings outspread, Dove-like sat’st brooding on the vast Abyss, And mad’st it pregnant: what in me is dark Illumine, what is low raise and support; That, to the height of this great argument, (7) I may assert Eternal Providence, And justify the ways of God to men. Say first – for Heaven hides nothing from thy view, Nor the deep tract of Hell – say first what cause Moved our grand Parents, in that happy state, Favoured of Heaven so highly, to tall off From their Creator, and transgress his will For one restraint, (8) lords of the World besides. Who first seduced them to that foul revolt?

134

The infernal Serpent; he it was whose guile, Stirred up with envy and revenge, deceived The mother of mankind, what time (9) his pride Had cast him out from Heaven, with all his host Of rebel Angels, by whose aid, aspiring To set himself in glory above his peers, He trusted to have equalled the Most High, If he opposed, and, with ambitions aim Against the throne and monarchy of God, Raised impious war in Heaven and battle proud, With vain attempt. Him the Almighty Power Hurled headlong flaming from the ethereal sky, With hideous ruin and combustion, down To bottomless perdition; there to dwell In adamantine (10) chains and penal fire, Who durst defy the Omnipotent to arms. Nine times the space that measures day and night To mortal men, he, with his horrid crew, Lay vanquished, rolling in the fiery gulf, Confounded, thought immortal. But his doom Reserved him to more wrath; for now the thought Both of lost happiness and lasting pain Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes, That witnessed (11) huge affliction and dismay, Mixed with obdurate pride and steadfast hate. At once, as far as Angel’s ken, (12) he views The dismal situation waste and wild. A dungeon horrible, on all sides round, As one great furnace flamed; yet from those flames No light; but rather darkness visible Served only to discover sights of woe, Regions of sorrow, doleful shades, where peace And rest can never dwell, hope never comes That comes to all; but torture without end

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Still urges, and a fiery deluge, fed With ever-burning sulphur unconsumed. Such place Eternal Justice had prepared For those rebellious; here their prison ordained In utter darkness, and their portion set, As far removed from God and light of Heaven As from the center thrice to the utmost pole. (13) Oh, how unlike the place from whence they fell! There the companions of his fall, o’erwhelmed With floods and whirlwinds of tempestuous fire, He soon discerns; and, weltering by his side. One next himself in power, and next in crime, Long after known in Palestine, and named Beelzebub. * To whom the Archenemy, And thence in Heaven called Satan, (14) with bold words Breaking the horrid silence, thus began: “If thou beest he – but, Oh, how fallen! How changed From him! – who, in the happy realms of flight, Clothed with transcendent brightness, didst outshine Myriads, though bright – if he whom mutual league, United thoughts and counsels, equal hope And hazard in the glorious enterprise,

Joined with me once, now misery hath joined In equal ruin; into what pit thou seest From what height fallen; so much the stronger proved He with his thunder; and till then who knew The force of those dire arms? Yet not for those, Nor what the potent Victor in his rage Can else inflict, do I repent, or change, Though changed in outward luster, that fixed mind, And high disdain from sense of injured merit, That with the Mightiest raised me to contend, And to fierce contention brought along Innumerable force of Spirits armed, That durst dislike his reign, and, me preferring, His utmost power with adverse power opposed In dubious battle on the plains of Heaven, And shook his throne. What though the field be lost? All is not lost – the unconquerable will, And study of revenge, immortal hate, And courage never to submit or yield, And what is else not to be overcome. That glory never shall his wrath or might Extort from me. To bow and sue for grace With suppliant knee, and deify his power.

Footnotes 1. Jesus. 2. Oreb and Sinai were twin peaks where Moses tented sheep and where God spoke to him from the burningbush. 3. the chosen seed. Israelites. 4. Sion. Zion, a hill in Jerusalem. 5. the oracle of God. The temple of Jerusalem. 6. Aonian mount. Helicon in Greece, supposed to be the home of the Muses*. Milton means that he intends to write on a theme higher than any which Greek poetry had attempted. 7. Theme. 8. One restraint. That they should not eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. 9. What time. When. 10. Unbreakable. 11. Gave evidence of. 12. Sight. 13. To the utmost pole. Three times the distance from the center of the earth to the outmost sphere of the universe. 14. Satan. A Hebrew word meaning “adversary.”

135

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Remembering details

The first twenty-six lines form the characteristic introduction – an invocation and a statement of purpose. State the purpose expressed in these lines. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Choose details to show that, even though Milton was blind, physical things were vividly recreated in his mind’s eye – phrases from which an artist might paint the scene as Milton saw it. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ To what other senses do his descriptions appeal? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ This poem in a epic. It is written in blank verse. What other epic have you studied? Review what you know about epics and blank verse. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ What is Satan’s reaction to finding himself in hell? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Paraphrase Satan’s speech in lines 157-169. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ An author, even in narrative poetry, often reveals ideas and emotions which he himself shares. Do you find any such emotions in this selection? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

136

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Word chat

The richness of Milton’s vocabulary reflects his extensive knowledge of Latin. Two word families are widely used in Paradise Lost. The first is the group of words that begins with omnias omnipotent, to which you can give a literal translation. Give other words of this family which you know. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ A less familiar group contains those beginning with arch-, an adjective meaning “highest” or “chief,” such as archenemy. Find at least one other example of this group. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Look up the pronunciation of the word archangel and note how it is different from the other two words that begin with arch-. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

To think about

All through Milton’s work is evidence of his conviction that the free will of man must co-operate with the will of God to bring about a new and better order in the world. What effect did this philosophy apparently have on Milton’s actions? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Do you think it is a good philosophy to hold? Why or why not? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

137

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

John Milton From Areopagitica In 1643 the lords and Coinmous passed an ordinance by which only books approved by them or their official agents could be printed. Areopagitica is Milton’s impassioned plea for freedom of the press, written in the form of an address to Parliament. In spite of it England continued to require the licensing of books until 1694 – twenty years after Milton’s death and fifty years after publication of the Areopagitica. The following excerpt is a remarkable tribute to the power of the printed page. I deny not but that it is of the greatest concernment, in the Church and Commonwealth, to have a vigilant eye how books demean themselves, as well as men; and thereafter to confine, imprison, and do sharpest justice on them as malefactors; for books are not absolutely dead things, but do contain a potency of life (1) in them to be as active as that soul was whose progeny they are; nay, they do preserve as in a vial the purest efficacy and extraction of that living intellect that bred them. I know they are as lively, and as vigorously productive, as those fabulous dragon’s teeth: (2) and being sown up and down, may chance to spring up armed men. And yet, on the other hand, unless wariness be used, as good almost kill a man kills a good book: who kills a man kills a reasonable creature, God’s image; but he who destroys a good book kills reason itself, kills the image of God, as it were, in the eye. Many a man lives a burden to the earth; but a good book is the precious lifeblood of a master spirit, embalmed and treasured up on purpose to a life beyond life. “Tis true, no age can restore a life, whereof perhaps there is no great loss; and revolutions of ages (3) do not oft recover the loss of a rejected truth, for the want of which whole nations fare the worse. We should be wary, therefore, what persecution we raise against the living labours of public men, how we spill (4) that seasoned life of man preserved and stored up in books, since we see a kind of homicide may be the thus committed, sometimes a martyrdom, and if it extend to the whole impression, (5) a kind of massacre, whereof the execution ends not in the slaying of an elemental life, but strikes at the ethereal! And fifth essence, (6) the breath or reason itself; slays an immortality rather than a life.

Footnotes 1. but do contain a potency of life. In books, men’s ideas and knowledge live on to provoke thought in other minds in coming generations. The seed thus planted may influence action and opinion in succeeding ages. 2. Cadmas. 3. revolutions of ages. Milton refers to the loss of ancient learning with the fall of the Roman 3. Empire and its revival during the Renaissance. 4. Destroy. 5. the whole impression. The entire number of books printed in one issue. 6. fifth essence. Quintessence. Ancient philosophers believed that besides the four elements – earth, water, fire, and air – there was a fifth element, an ethereal quintessence which was the last and highest power in a natural body.

138

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

A significant title For the title of this powerful address, Milton chose a word derived from the Greek Areopagus, the name of a hill where the highest court of ancient Athens was held. In later times the functions of this court were limited to trials for murder. Keeping in mind that this address is Milton’s plea for mercy to those who would “kill a good book” .

Reading Comprehension Activity

What is “Areopatigita” about? Explain in your own words. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

What language does “Areopatigita” come from? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

How do you think the title “Areopatigita” is appropriate? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

John Bunyan One of the marvels of literary history is that a humble, uneducated, itinerant preacher should have produced The Pilgrim’s Progress, which ranks as one of the greatest allegories * of all time. John Bunyan (1628-1688) was the son of a tinker and later followed the same trade as his father. While menders of pots and pans were necessary to the welfare of a community, tinkers as a class, who in those days usually went from place to place to ply their trade, were held in disrepute for their gypsylike mode of life. John Bunyan’s father, however, had settled in Elstow, where John was born and where he received what little education he had. During Bunyan’s boyhood Puritan fervour was at its height and left its indelible mark upon his sensitive imagination. In later life he wrote of his great wickedness as a youth, but we know that he drew a picture highly exaggerated because of his Puritan ideals. At

139

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

the age of ten, for example, he was filled with remorse because he enjoyed participation in childhood games. As he grew older the conflict between his tastes and his scruples distressed him, particularly his liking for such diversions as dancing and ringing bells – harmless though these would seem to be. At the age of seventeen he joined the army. The death of a comrade (friend) in battle convinced Bunyan that he had been spared by special providence. When he returned home, therefore, he turned more than ever to religion and began preaching to gatherings throughout the countryside. In 1660, with the Stuart restoration, nonconformist preaches were forbidden to hold meetings. As Bunyan was preaching in a farmhouse he was arrested and placed in Bedford jail, where he remained for twelve years. Periodically he was brought before tribunals, who laughed at him, threatened him, or promised him freedom if he would desist from preaching. Although Bunyan had wife and four children, one a blind daughter, without means of support, he stubbornly refused to capitulate. Since he could not follow his tinker’s trade in jail, he took up the making of laces, which could be sold outside. It was during this long imprisonment that Bunyan had the dream which he developed into The Pilgrim’s Progress, first published in 1678. while he was in prison and after his release, he continued to preach and his fame became widespread, bringing many offers from larger, more fashionable parishes; but Bunyan preferred to live his remaining years among his friends in familiar countryside. Two of his other well-known works are The Life and Death of Mr. Bad man and Grace Abounding.

From The Pilgrim’s Progress In The Pilgrim’s Progress, Bunyan has set forth, in simple, direct prose, the trials and tribulations that beset a typical Christian on his way through life. Because it is a good story as well as a very wise book it appeals to readers of all ages. Numerous editions on both sides of the Atlantic and translations into over a hundred languages and dialects bear witness to is continued popularity. The story opens with the author’s dream in which he sees the hero, Christian, leaves his worldly-minded family and neighbours in the City of Destruction and being his journey to the Celestial City. On the way he receives advice from Evangelist, the preacher. His progress is retarded by such people as Pliant, Obstinate, Mr. Worldly Wiseman, Sloth, and Hypocrisy; however, Discretion, Prudence, Piety, Charity, and others give aid and good counsel to the wayfarer (liter). He overtakes another traveller, Faithful, who joins him. As they approach the town of Vanity Fair, Evangelist appears to warn them of dangers lurking (be hidden) there. The following selection beings with their arrival in Vanity Fair.

140

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

From the Pilgrim’s Progress

Then I saw in my dream that, when they were got out of the wilderness, they presently saw

a town before them, and the name of that town is Vanity; and at the town there is a fair kept, called Vanity Fair. It is kept all the year long. It beareth the name of Vanity Fair because the town where it is kept is lighter than vanity, and also because all that is there sold, or that cometh thither, is vanity. As is the saying of the wise, “All that cometh is vanity.” (1) This fair is no new erected business, but a thing of ancient standing. I will show you the original (2) of it. Almost five thousand years agone, (3) there were Pilgrims walking to the Celestial City as these two honest persons are; and Beelzebub, Apollyon, and Legion, with their companions, perceiving by the path that the Pilgrims made that their way to the city lay though this town of Vanity, they contrived here to set up a fair, a fair wherein should be sold all sorts of vanity, and that it should last all the year long. Therefore at this fair are all such merchandise sold, as houses, lands, trades, places, honours, preferments, titles, countries, kingdoms, lust, pleasures; and delights of all sorts, as wives, husbands, children, masters, servants, lives, blood, bodies, souls, silver, gold, pearls, precious stones, and what not. And, moreover, at this fair there is at all times to be seen juggling, cheats, games, plays, fools, apes, knaves, and rogues, and that of every kind. Here are to be seen, too, thefts, murders, adulteries, [and] false swearers. Now, as I said, the way to the Celestial City lies just though this town where this lusty fair is kept; and he that will go to the City, and yet not go though this town, must needs “go out of the world.” (4) The Prince of princes himself, when here, went though this town to his own country, and that upon a fair day too. Yea, and, as I think, it was Beelzebub, the chief lord of this fair, that invited him to buy of his vanities; yea, would have made him lord of the fair, would he but have done him reverence as he went though the town. Yea, because he was such a person of honour, Beelzebub had him from street to street, and showed him al the kingdoms of the world (5) in a little time, that he might, if possible, allure the Blessed One to cheapen (6) and buy some of his vanities; but he had no mind to the merchandise, and therefore left the town without laying out so much as one farthing (7) upon these vanities. This fair, therefore, is an ancient thing, of long standing, and a very great fair. Now these Pilgrims, as I said, must needs go though this fair. Well, so they did; but, behold, even as they entered into the fair, all the people in the fair were moved, and the town itself as it were in a hubbub about them; and that for several reasons; for. First, the Pilgrims were clothed with such kind of raiment as was diverse (8) from the raiment of any that traded in that fair. The people, therefore, of the fair, made a great gazing upon them. Some said they were fools, some they were bedlams, (9) some they were outlandish (10) men.

141

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Secondly, and as they wondered at their apparel, so they did likewise at their speech, for few could understand what they said. They naturally spoke the language of Canaan, * but they that kept the fair were the men of this world; so that, from one end of the fair to the other, they seemed barbarians each to the other. Thirdly, But that which did not a little amuse the merchandisers was that these Pilgrims set very light by (11) all their wares; they cared not so much as to look upon them; and if they called upon them to buy, they would put their fingers in their ears, and cry, “Turn away mine eyes from beholding vanity,” (12) and look upwards, signifying that their trade and traffic was in heaven. One chanced mockingly, beholding the carriage of the men, to say unto them, “What will ye buy?” But they, looking gravely upon him, answered, We “buy the truth.” (13) At that there was an occasion taken to despise the men the more: some mocking, some taunting, some speaking reproachfully, and some calling upon others to smite them. At last things came to a hubbub and great stir in the fair, insomuch that all order was confounded. Now was word presently brought to the great one of the fair, who quickly came down and deputed some of his most trusty friends to take these men into examination, about whom the fair was almost overturned. So the men were brought to examination; and they that sat upon them (14) asked them whence they came, whither they went, and what they did there in such an unusual garb. The men told them that they were pilgrims and strangers in the world and that they were going to their own country, which was the heavenly Jerusalem; and that they had given no occasion to the men of the town, nor yet to the merchandisers, thus to abuse them and to let (15) them in their journey, except it was for that, when one asked them what they would buy, they said they would buy the truth. But they that were appointed to examine them did not believe them to be any other than bedlams and mad, or else such as came to put all things into confusion in the fair. Therefore they took them and beat them, and besmeared them with dirt, and then put them into the cage that they might be made a spectacle to all the men of the fair. There, therefore, they lay for some time, and were made the objects of any man’s sport or malice or revenge, the great one of the fair laughing still at all that befell them. But the men being patient, and not rendering railing (16) for railing, but contrariwise, blessing, and giving good words for bad, and kindness for injuries done, some men in the fair that were more observing, and less prejudiced, than the rest began to check (17) and blame the baser sort for their continual abuses done by them to the men. They, therefore, in angry manner, let fly at them again, counting them as bad as them in the cage, and telling them that they seemed confederates and should be made partakers of their misfortunes. The others replied that, for aught they could see, the men were quiet and sober, and intended nobody any harm; and that there were many that traded in their fair that were more worthy to be put into the cage, yea, and pillory too, than were the men that they had abused. Thus, after divers words had passed on both sides, the men behaving themselves all the while very wisely and soberly before them, they fell to some blows among themselves, and did harm one to another. Then were these two poor men brought before their examiners again, and there charged as being guilty of the late hubbub that had been in the fair. So they beat them pitifully, and hanged irons upon them, and led them in chains up and down the fair, for an example and a terror to others, lest any should speak in their behalf or join themselves unto them. But Christian and Faithful behaved themselves yet more wisely, and received

142

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

the ignominy and shame that was cast upon them with so much meekness and patience that it won to their side, though but few in comparison of the rest, several of the men in the fair. This put the other party yet into greater rage, insomuch that they concluded (18) the death of these two men. Wherefore they threatened, that the neither cage nor irons should serve their turn, but that they should die, for the abuse they had done and for deluding the men of the fair. [Christian and Faithful are tried before a law court in Vanity Fair. Faithful is condemned to death and executed, but Christian escapes and proceeds on his way to the Celestial City.]

Taking a second look 1. What characteristics typical of the Puritans are embodied in Christian and Faithful? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. From this selection do you judge that Bunyan had a sense of humour or does it seem just a dull sermon? Give evidence to support your answer.

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Footnotes: 1. See Ecclesiastes 11:8 2. Origin. 3. Almost … agone. That is, almost from the beginning of the world. In Bunyan’s day the world was believed to be about five thousand years old. 4. go … world. Die. 5. showed … world. According to the New Testament the devil took Jesus “up into an exceeding high mountain” and showed him “all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them,” adding, “All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” Jesus refused. (Matthew 4:8-10.) 6. Beat down the price of, bargain for. 7. The smallest English coin, equal to one fourth of a penny. 8. Different. 9. Lunatics. 10. Foreign. 11. set … by. Cared little for. 12. Turn … vanity. See Psalm 119:37. 13. buy the truth. See Proverbs 23:23 14. sat … them. Examined them as judges. 15. Hinder. 16. Abusive language. 17. Reproach. 18. Determined on.

143

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

3. The characters of an allegory represent abstract qualities. Is this true in the case of Christian? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. What incidents suggest that Bunyan drew upon his own experiences? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Explain the allegory in the following phrases:

a. This fair is no new-erected business, but a thing of ancient standing. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ b. The way to the Celestial City lies just through this town. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________ c. Few could understand what they said. ________________________________________________________________ ________________________________________________________________

Bunyan’s language

Find quaint turns of phrase which Bunyan uses.

What similarity is there to the language of the Bible?

A theme suggestion

Write a description of a modern Vanity Fair.

144

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Francis Bacon Sir Francis Bacon. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bacon001.jpg

The Elizabethan Age produced no more remarkable, but contradictory, character than Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1626). In the 18th century Alexander Pope wrote that Bacon was “the wisest, brightest, meanest, of mankind.” Ben Jonson, Bacon’s contemporary, however, appraised him more kindly. Francis Bacon was born in London in 1561, the son of Nicholas Bacon, lord keeper to Elizabeth I. His mother, who was a remarkable student of Greek and Latin, apparently influenced the literary tastes of her young son. At the age of twelve he entered Trinity College, Cambridge, where he studied law. After travel on the Continent, he returned to serve in the English court. Politically ambitious, he failed to find high favour with Elizabeth I, but in the Earl of Essex he found a friend and patron whom he served as confidential adviser. It has been held against his memory that he gave testimony which helped to convict Essex on a charge of treason and then received benefits from the confiscated estate after the execution of his friend. Following the death of Elizabeth I, his political fortunes rose rapidly, resulting in his appointment as Lord Chancellor by King James I. He was soon deprived of the office, for he was convicted of taking bribes. He was released after a few days in jail, but his political downfall was complete. Bacon, admitting freely that he had accepted gifts, still maintained that he was innocent as he had never permitted a gift to influence a decision. The rest of his life was occupied with writing and scientific experiment. Bacon considered that his political and scientific writings in Latin were his most important contributions to thought, especially The Advancement of Learning and Novum Organum, which emphasized the importance of the experimental method in science. Ironically, however, his essays remain his most important contribution – the works which he wrote in English rather than in Latin because he considered them unworthy of preservation.

Sir Francis Work Essays (1597) The Elements of the Common Law of England (1597) A Declaration of the Practises & Treasons Attempted and Committed by Robert, late Earl of Essex and his Complices (1601) Francis Bacon His Apology, in Certain Imputations Concerning the late Earl of Essex (1604)

145

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Certain Considerations Touching the Better Pacification and Edification of the Church of England (1604) Valerius Terminus of the Interpretation of Nature (1604) The Proficience and Advancement of Learning (1605) De sapientia veterum liber (1609) The Charge of Sir Francs Bacon, Knight, the King’s Attorney-General, Touching Duels (1614) The Wisdom of the Ancients (1619) Novum Organum (1620) The History of the Reign of King Henry the Seventh (1622) Apophthegms, New and Old (1625) The Translation of Certain Psalms (1625) The New Atlantis (1626) Sylva Sylvarum (1627) Scripta in naturali et universli philisophia (pub. 1653) “Of travel” by Sir Francis Bacon Paradoxically, our world is larger and yet much smaller than the world of Elizabeth I. Our maps today show hundreds of square miles of territory unknown to the Elizabethan. On the other hand, the remotest spot can now be reached in less time than it took an Elizabethan to travel a few hundred miles – and by more people. But though the known world was geographically smaller in Elizabeth’s day, and though only the wealthy few were able to travel about in it, the advantages of travel were recognized even then, and were set down by one of the most thoughtful men of his time – Francis Bacon. Do you think that the values that he sets forth are still important today? Travel, in the younger sort, (1) is a part of education; in the elder, a part of experience. He that travelleth into a country before he hath some entrance into (2) the language goeth to school, and not to travel. That young men travel under some tutor, or grave servant, I allow well; (3) so that he be such a one that hath the language, and hath been in the country before; whereby he may be able to tell them (4) what things are worthy to be seen in the country where they go; what acquaintances they are to seek; what exercises or discipline the place yieldeth. For else young men shall go hooded, (5) and look

146

Literatura Inglesa: BritĂĄnica

abroad little. It is a strange thing, that in sea voyages, where there is nothing to be seen but sky and sea, men should make diaries; but in land-travel, wherein so much is to be observed, for the most part they omit it; (6) as if chance were fitter to be registered than observation. Let diaries therefore be brought in use. The things to be seen and observed are, the courts of princes, specially when they give audience to ambassadors; the courts of justice, while they sit and hear causes; and so of consistories, ecclesiastic; (7) the churches and monasteries, with the monuments (8) which are therein extant; the walls and fortifications of cities and towns, and so the havens and harbours; antiquities and ruins; libraries; colleges, disputations, and lectures, where any are; shipping and navies; houses and gardens of state and pleasure, near great cities; armoires; arsenals; magazines; (9) exchanges; burses; (10) warehouses; exercises of horsemanship, fencing, training of soldiers and the like; comedies, such whereunto the better sort of persons do resort; treasuries of jewels and robes; cabinets and rarities; (11) and, to conclude, whatsoever is memorable in the places where they go. After all which the tutors or servants ought to make diligent inquiry. As for triumphs, masks, feasts, weddings, funerals, capital executions, and such shows, men need not be put in mind of them; yet are they not to be neglected. If you will have a young man to put his travel into a little room, and in short time to gather much, this you must do. First as was said, he must have some entrance into the language before he goeth. Then he must have such a servant or tutor as know-eth the country, as was likewise said. Let him carry with him also some card or book describing the country where he travelleth; which will be a good key to his inquiry. Let him keep also a diary. Let him not stay long in one city or town; more or less as the place deserveth, but not long; nay, when he stayeth in one city or town, let him change his holding from one end and part of the town to another; which is a great adamant (12) of acquaintance. Let him sequester (13) himself from the company of his countrymen, and diet (14) in such places where there is good company of the nation where he travelleth. Let him upon his removes from one place to another, procure recommendation to some person of quality residing in the place whither he removeth; that he may use his favour in those things he desireth to see or know. Thus he may abridge his travel with much profit. As for the acquaintance which is to be sought in travel; that which is most of all profitable, is acquaintance with the secretaries and employed men of ambassadors: for so in travelling in one country he shall suck the experience of many. Let him also see and visit eminent persons in all kinds, which are of great name abroad; that he may be able to tell how the life agreeth with the fame. (15) For (16) quarrels, they are with care and discretion to be avoided. They are commonly for mistresses, healthâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s, place, and words. And let a man beware how he keepeth company with choleric (17) and quarrelsome persons; for they will engage him into their own quarrels. When a traveller returneth home, let him not leave the countries where he hath travelled altogether behind

147

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

him; but maintain a correspondence by letters with those of his acquaintance which are of most worth. And let his travel appear rather in his discourse than in his apparel or gesture; and in his discourse let him be rather advised in his answers, than forward to tell stories; and let it appear that he doth not change his country manners (18) for those of foreign parts; but only prick in some flowers of that he hath learned abroad into the customs of his own country.

“Of studies” by Sir Francis Bacon When you rebel against the routine of school and studies, try to picture a world in which comparatively few had the privilege of education. What attributes did the scholar have and how was he regarded by the less fortunate? Francis Bacon here presents a commonsense evaluation of studies. Studies serve for delight, for ornament, and for ability. Their chief use for delight is in privateness and retiring; for ornament, is in discourse; and for ability, is in the judgment and disposition of business. For expert men can execute, and perhaps judge of particulars, one by one; but the general counsels, and the plots and marshalling of affairs, come best from those that are learned. To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgment wholly by their rules, is the humour (1) of a scholar. They perfect nature, and are perfected by experience: for natural abilities are like natural plants that need pruning by study; and studies themselves do give forth directions too much at large, except they be bounded in by experience. Crafty (2) men contemn studies, simple men admire (3) them, and wise men use them; for they teach not their own use; but that (4) is a wisdom without (5) them, and above them, won by observation. Read not to contradict and confute; nor to find talk and discourse; but to weight and consider. Some books

Footnotes: 1. Here, persons, people. 2. Entrance into. Knowledge of. 3. I … well. Is, in my opinion, advisable. 4. The young men whom he accompanies. 5. As if blindfolded. 6. That is, making diaries. 7. Consistories ecclesiastic. Church courts. 8. Tombs and other relies of the past. 9. Storage places for arms and ammunition. 10. Banks. 11. Cabinets and rarities. Such things as are exhibited in museums. 12. Used in the old sense of something that attracts. 13. Hide. 14. Eat. 15. How … Jame. Whether the man lives up to his reputation. 16. As regards. 17. See “humours” 18. Change … manners. Exchange the manners of his own land for those of another.

148

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

are to be tasted, others to be swallowed, and some few to be chewed and digested; that is, some books are to be read only in parts; others to be read, but not curiously; (6) and some few to be read wholly, and with diligence and attention. Some books also may be read by deputy, and extracts made of them by others; but that would be only in the less important arguments, and the meaner (7) sort of books, else distilled books are like common distilled waters, (8) flashy (9) things. Reading maketh a full man; conference a ready man; and writing an exact man. And therefore, if a man write little, he had need have a great memory; if he confer little, he had need have a present wit; (10) and if he read little, he had need have much cunning, to seem to know that (11) he doth not. Histories make men wise; poets, (12) witty; the mathematics, subtitle; natural philosophy, (13) deep; moral, grave; logic and rhetoric, able to contend. Abeunt studia in mores, (14). Nay there is no stond (15) or impediment in the wit, but may be wrought out (16) by fit studies: like as diseases of the body may have appropriate exercises. Bowling is good for the stone (17) and reins; (18) shooting for the lungs and breast; gentle walking for the stomach; riding for the head; and the like. So if man’s wit be wandering, let him study the mathematics; for in demonstrations, if his wit be called away never so little, he must begin again. If his wit be not apt to distinguish or find differences, let him study the schoolmen; for they are cymini sectores. (19) If he be not apt to beat over matters, (20) and to call up one thing to prove and illustrate another, let him study the lawyers’ cases: so every defect of the mind may have a special receipt.

Footnotes 1. See “humours”. 2. Practical. 3. Wonder at. 4. Their own use. 5. Beyond, outside of. 6. With great care. 7. Subject matter. 8. Liquors, essences. 9. Tasteless, insipid. 10. A present wit. An alert mind. 11. that which. 12. Poetry. 13. natural philosophy. Science. 14. Abeunt … mores “Studies influence our characters and lives.” 15. Obstacle. 16. wrought out. Removed. 17. A disease of the bladder. 18. Kidneys. 19. cymini sectores. “Hairsplitters.” 20. apt … matters. Skilled in analysis.

149

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Checking specific points 1. Does Bacon discuss travel for its advantages to the inexperienced or the experienced traveller? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What three purposes, according to Bacon, do studies serve? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What in Bacon’s day was the attitude of the practical man toward the scholars? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________ 4. Note the specific values which Bacon gives to certain subjects. Do you agree with him? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

The art of writing 1. Make a summary of “Of travel”. 2. Make a summary of “Of studies”. What do you think? (Using your judgment) 1. As a part of your experience, you many take a trip with your class to Cusco to some other point of interest. How would your tour correspond to Bacon’s idea of what a traveller should observe?

2. What items from Bacon’s essay do you think should be omitted for the modern traveller?

150

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

3. If Bacon were living today, what are some aspects of modern life that he might choose to write on? Be prepared to defend your choices. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Things to do (to develop your skill) Select several sentences that seem good topic sentences for paragraphs or themes. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Select six epigrams from these essays. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. As part of your discussion about “distilled” book (Essays that teaches something, written by Milton).

Suggestions for reading 1. Besides the essays given above, you may well read those entitled “Of revenge,” “Of parents and children,” “Of love,” “Of beauty“and “Of Adversity, as well as any others whose titles strike your fancy. 2. Paraphrase the Essays in an oral and written way.

151

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

OF REVENGE REVENGE is a kind of wild justice; which the more man’s nature runs to, the more ought law to weed it out. For as for the first wrong, it doth but offend the law; but the revenge of that wrong, putteth the law out of office. Certainly, in taking revenge, a man is but even with his enemy; but in passing it over, he is superior; for it is a prince’s part to pardon. And Salomon, I am sure, saith, It is the glory of a man to pass by an offence. That which is past is gone, and irrevocable; and wise men have enough to do, with things present and to come; therefore they do but trifle with themselves that labour in past matters. There is no man doth a wrong, for the wrong’s sake; but thereby to purchase himself profit, or pleasure, or honour, or the like. Therefore why should I be angry with a man, for loving himself better than me? And if any man should do wrong, merely out of ill-nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or briar, which prick and scratch, because they can do no other. The most tolerable sort of revenge, is for those wrongs which there is no law to remedy; but then let a man take heed, the revenge be such as there is no law to punish; else a man’s enemy is still before hand, and it is two for one. Some, when they take revenge, are desirous, the party should know, whence it cometh. This is the more generous. For the delight seemeth to be, not so much in doing the hurt, as in making the party repent. But base and crafty cowards, are like the arrow that flieth in the dark. Cosmus, duke of Florence, had a desperate saying against perfidious or neglecting friends, as if those wrongs were unpardonable; You shall read (saith he) that we are commanded to forgive our enemies; but you never read, that we are commanded to forgive our friends. But yet the spirit of Job was in a better tune: Shall we (saith he) take good at God’s hands, and not be content to take evil also? And so of friends in a proportion. This is certain, that a man that studieth revenge, keeps his own wounds green, which otherwise would heal, and do well. Public revenges are for the most part fortunate; as that for the death of Caesar; for the death of Pertinax; for the death of Henry the Third of France; and many more. But in private revenges, it is not so. Nay rather, vindictive persons live the life of witches; who, as they are mischievous, so end they infortunate.

OF PARENTS AND CHILDREN The joys of parents are secret; and so are their griefs and fears. They cannot utter the one; nor they will not utter the other. Children sweeten labors; but they make misfortunes more bitter. They increase the cares of life; but they mitigate the remembrance of death. The perpetuity by generation is common to beasts; but memory, merit, and noble works, are proper to men. And surely a man shall see the noblest works and foundations have proceeded from childless men, which have sought to express the images of their minds, where those of their bodies have failed. So the care of posterity is most in them, that have no posterity. They that are the first raisers of their houses, are most indulgent towards their children; beholding them as the continuance, not only of their kind, but of their work; and so both children and creatures. The difference in affection, of parents towards their several children, is many times unequal; and sometimes unworthy; especially in the mothers; as Salomon saith, A wise son rejoiceth the father, but an ungracious son shames the mother. A man shall see, where there is a house full of children, one or two of the eldest respected, and the youngest made wantons;

152

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

but in the midst, some that are as it were forgotten, who many times, nevertheless, prove the best. The illiberality of parents, in allowance towards their children, is an harmful error; makes them base; acquaints them with shifts; makes them sort with mean company; and makes them surfeit more when they come to plenty. And therefore the proof is best, when men keep their authority towards the children, but not their purse. Men have a foolish manner (both parents and schoolmasters and servants) in creating and breeding an emulation between brothers, during childhood, which many times sorteth to discord when they are men, and disturbeth families. The Italians make little difference between children, and nephews or near kinsfolks; but so they be of the lump, they care not though they pass not through their own body. And, to say truth, in nature it is much a like matter; insomuch that we see a nephew sometimes resembleth an uncle, or a kinsman, more than his own parent; as the blood happens. Let parents choose betimes, the vocations and courses they mean their children should take; for then they are most flexible; and let them not too much apply themselves to the disposition of their children, as thinking they will take best to that, which they have most mind to. It is true, that if the affection or aptness of the children be extraordinary, then it is good not to cross it; but generally the precept is good, Optimum elige, suave et facile illud faciet consuetudo. Younger brothers are commonly fortunate, but seldom or never where the elder are disinherited.

OF LOVE The stage is more beholding to love, than the life of man. For as to the stage, love is ever matter of comedies, and now and then of tragedies; but in life it doth much mischief; sometimes like a siren, sometimes like a fury. You may observe, that amongst all the great and worthy persons (whereof the memory remaineth, either ancient or recent) there is not one, that hath been transported to the mad degree of love: which shows that great spirits, and great business, do keep out this weak passion. You must except, nevertheless, Marcus Antonius, the half partner of the empire of Rome, and Appius Claudius, the decemvir and lawgiver; whereof the former was indeed a voluptuous man, and inordinate; but the latter was an austere and wise man: and therefore it seems (though rarely) that love can find entrance, not only into an open heart, but also into a heart well fortified, if watch be not well kept. It is a poor saying of Epicurus, Satis magnum alter alteri theatrum sumus: as if man, made for the contemplation of heaven, and all noble objects, should do nothing but kneel before a little idol and make himself a subject, though not of the mouth (as beasts are), yet of the eye; which was given him for higher purposes. It is a strange thing, to note the excess of this passion, and how it braves the nature, and value of things, by this; that the speaking in a perpetual hyperbole, is comely in nothing but in love. Neither is it merely in the phrase; for whereas it hath been well said, that the arch-flatterer, with whom all the petty flatterers have intelligence, is a man’s self; certainly the lover is more. For there was never proud man thought so absurdly well of himself, as the lover doth of the person loved; and therefore it was well said, That it is impossible to love and to be wise. Neither doth this weakness appear to others only, and not to the party loved; but to the loved most of all, except the love be reciproque. For it is a true rule, that love is ever rewarded, either with the reciproque, or with an inward and secret contempt. By how much the more, men ought to beware of this passion, which loseth not only other things, but itself! As for the other losses, the poet’s rela-

153

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

tion doth well figure them: that he that preferred Helena, quitted the gifts of Juno and Pallas. For whosoever esteemeth too much of amorous affection, quitteth both riches and wisdom. This passion hath his floods, in very times of weakness; which are great prosperity, and great adversity; though this latter hath been less observed: both which times kindle love, and make it more fervent, and therefore show it to be the child of folly. They do best, who if they cannot but admit love, yet make it keep quarters; and sever it wholly from their serious affairs, and actions, of life; for if it check once with business, it troubleth men’s fortunes, and maketh men, that they can no ways be true to their own ends. I know not how, but martial men are given to love: I think, it is but as they are given to wine; for perils commonly ask to be paid in pleasures. There is in man’s nature, a secret inclination and motion, towards love of others, which if it be not spent upon some one or a few, doth naturally spread itself towards many, and maketh men become humane and charitable; as it is seen sometime in friars. Nuptial love maketh mankind; friendly love perfecteth it; but wanton love corrupteth, and embaseth it.

OF BEAUTY Virtue is like a rich stone, best plain set; and surely virtue is best, in a body that is comely, though not of delicate features; and that hath rather dignity of presence, than beauty of aspect. Neither is it almost seen, that very beautiful persons are otherwise of great virtue; as if nature were rather busy, not to err, than in labor to produce excellency. And therefore they prove accomplished, but not of great spirit; and study rather behavior, than virtue. But this holds not always: for Augustus Caesar, Titus Vespasianus, Philip le Belle of France, Edward the Fourth of England, Alcibiades of Athens, Ismael the Sophy of Persia, were all high and great spirits; and yet the most beautiful men of their times. In beauty, that of favor, is more than that of color; and that of decent and gracious motion, more than that of favor. That is the best part of beauty, which a picture cannot express; no, nor the first sight of the life. There is no excellent beauty, that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. A man cannot tell whether Apelles, or Albert Durer, were the more trifler; whereof the one, would make a personage by geometrical proportions; the other, by taking the best parts out of divers faces, to make one excellent. Such personages, I think, would please nobody, but the painter that made them. Not but I think a painter may make a better face than ever was; but he must do it by a kind of felicity (as a musician that maketh an excellent air in music), and not by rule. A man shall see faces, that if you examine them part by part, you shall find never a good; and yet altogether do well. If it be true that the principal part of beauty is in decent motion, certainly it is no marvel, though persons in years seem many times more amiable; pulchrorum autumnus pulcher; for no youth can be comely but by pardon, and considering the youth, as to make up the comeliness. Beauty is as summer fruits, which are easy to corrupt, and cannot last; and for the most part it makes a dissolute youth, and an age a little out of countenance; but yet certainly again, if it light well, it maketh virtue shine, and vices blush.

154

Literatura Inglesa: BritĂĄnica

Of Adversity It was an high speech of Seneca (after the manner of the Stoics), that the good things, which belong to prosperity, are to be wished; but the good things, that belong to adversity, are to be admired. Bona rerum secundarum optabilia; adversarum mirabilia. Certainly if miracles be the command over nature, they appear most in adversity. It is yet a higher speech of his, than the other (much too high for a heathen), It is true greatness, to have in one the frailty of a man, and the security of a God. Vere magnum habere fragilitatem hominis, securitatem Dei. This would have done better in poesy, where transcendences are more allowed. And the poets indeed have been busy with it; for it is in effect the thing, which figured in that strange fiction of the ancient poets, which seemeth not to be without mystery; nay, and to have some approach to the state of a Christian; that Hercules, when he went to unbind Prometheus (by whom human nature is represented), sailed the length of the great ocean, in an earthen pot or pitcher; lively describing Christian resolution, that saileth in the frail bark of the flesh, through the waves of the world. But to speak in a mean. The virtue of prosperity, is temperance; the virtue of adversity, is fortitude; which in morals is the more heroical virtue. Prosperity is the blessing of the Old Testament; adversity is the blessing of the New; which carrieth the greater benediction, and the clearer revelation of Godâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s favor. Yet even in the Old Testament, if you listen to Davidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s harp, you shall hear as many hearse-like airs as carols; and the pencil of the Holy Ghost hath labored more in describing the afflictions of Job, than the felicities of Solomon. Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; and adversity is not without comforts and hopes. We see in needle-works and embroideries, it is more pleasing to have a lively work, upon a sad and solemn ground, than to have a dark and melancholy work, upon a lightsome ground: judge therefore of the pleasure of the heart, by the pleasure of the eye. Certainly virtue is like precious odors, most fragrant when they are incensed, or crushed: for prosperity doth best discover vice, but adversity doth best discover virtue.

155

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Literary Terms 1. Allegory is a form of extended metaphor, in which objects, persons, and actions in a narrative, are equated with the meanings that lie outside the narrative itself. The underlying meaning has moral, social, religious, or political significance, and characters are often personifications of abstract ideas as charity, greed, or envy. Thus an allegory is a story with two meanings, a literal meaning and a symbolic meaning.

Example: Other examples: Fairie Queen Spenser; Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan; Young Goodman Brown by Nathaniel Hawthorne

2. Metaphor Metaphor comparison of two unlike things using the verb “to be” and not using like or as as in a simile. The simplest and also the most effective poetic device is the use of comparison. It might almost be said that poetry is founded on two main means of comparing things: simile and metaphor. We heighten our ordinary speech by the continual use of such comparisons as “fresh as a daisy,” “tough as leather,” “comfortable as an old shoe,” “it fits like the Paper on the wall,” “gay as a lark,” “happy as the day is long, pretty as a picture.” These are all recognizable similes; they use the words “as” or “like.” 3.

Personification Personification is giving human qualities to animals or objects. Example: a smiling moon, a jovial sun

In “Mirror” by Sylvia Plath, for example, the mirror--the “I” in the first line--is given the ability to speak, see and swallow, as well as human attributes such as truthfulness.

I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions. Whatever I see I swallow immediately Just as it is, unmisted by love or dislike. I am not cruel, only truthful

4. Symbol Symbol is using an object or action that means something more than its literal meaning. The practice of representing things by means of symbols or of attributing symbolic meanings or significance to objects, events, or relationships.

156

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

A system of symbols or representations. A symbolic meaning or representation.

Example: The bird of night (owl is a symbol of death)

Simile Simile is the comparison of two unlike things using like or as. Related to metaphor Example: He eats like a pig. Vines like golden prisons. http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/index.html

157

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Activity After you have answered all the questions after every reading in this unit , please, answer all the questions from your mind. If you cannot do it, please go back to the materials and start reading again. This activity will give fluency and you improve your English competence. 1. What have you learned from this chapter? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the historical background of this period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Who are the puritans? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Who are the Stuarts? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. What literary genres characterise the Puritanism? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. What do you know about John Milton and his “Paradise Lost”? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. Comment on “Areopagitica? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

158

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

8. Write about John Bunyan and “the Pilgrim’s Progress? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 9. What literary devices does “Cuchulain” use in the plot? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 10. What literary terms have you learned in this period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 11. Write about Francis Bacon and his masterpiece “Of travel” and “Of Studies” ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 12. Using your own words summaries “Of Revenge”, “Of parents and Children”, “Of love”, “Of beauty”, and “Of adversity”. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

159

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

Bibliography 1. Robinson, Nell M. and Webb, Charles F. Literature of England, 1985, Ginn and Company. 2. John McRae. Reading between the lines.Cambridge Unversity Press. 1984. 3. Charlyn Wessels. Drama. Oxford Unversity Press. 1988. 4. Ronald Carters. Literatura and the Learner: Methodological Approaches. British Council.1990. 5. Symour Chatman. Literary Styles: A Symposium. Oxford University Press. 6. Cleanth Brooks. Understanding Poetry. Yale University. 1984. 7. Alan Duff. Literatura. Oxford Unversity Press. 1991 8. Marjorie Wescott. Drama I. Macmillan Company.1996. 9. Michael Cummings.The Language of Literatura. Pegamon Press. Lyd. Oxford. 1985. 10. Roger Mover. Reading Literatura. Longman. 1996. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/bacon.html http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/passionateshepherd.htm http://apo.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/villanova/hemingway/original.htm http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/characters.html http://www.saratogaschools.org/academic/terry/hamletsite/WordDocs/Reading%20Comp%20 Act%20I%20%20Notes.do http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-inanothercountry/ http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/33810.html http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

160

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

UNIT FIVE

LITERATURE OF THE CLASSICISM

Objectives 1. Read about the classicists and its characteristics. 2. Be informed about the historical background of the Classicism. 3. Value the literary production of the Classicism. 4. Comprehend the plot of “An essay on Criticism” of Alexander Pope and the message behind the text. 5. Study to John Dryden and his literary production, analysing “Alexander’s Feast “or “The power of music. 6. Study Jonathan Sweet and the motifs, symbol, and “the Gulliver’s Travel”. 7. Recognise the themes, motifs and symbols of “Robinson Crusoe” written by Daniel Defoe. 8. Get familiar with literary terminology that characterise this period.

161

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

5.THE CLASSICISTS Sometimes we have to excavate to turn up the treasures of the past, but frequently the heritage of another age is still part of our present. Much of what was good in the Age of Classicism remains to please and enrich us today. The newspaper, novel, and magazine had their beginnings then. Ideas in our Declaration of Independence and in our Constitution can be traced to John Locke, a philosopher of that age. In matter of taste too, we are in immediate touch with this part of our past. The classicists, so called because of their admiration for the literature and art of Greece and Rome, became sensitive to the classic ideals of form –to balance, proportion, clarity, and restraint. These were concepts that went into the design of the Capitol in Washington. The skill of the great classic craftsman of the time adds grace to many modern homes, in reproductions of chairs and table designed by Sheraton, Heppplewhite, or Chinppendale. Even such familiar, neatly balanced sayings as “ To err is human, to forgive divine” and fools rush in where angels fear to tread” (first shaped by an 18th-century poet) make us answer that the Age of Classicism is with us still. Homer http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classics

5.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND In English literature the period begins with the return of Charles II (a Stuart) to England and the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, and it may be said to end in 1798, when Lyrical Ballads, a little volume of poetry by Wordsworth and Coleridge, was published. This poetry made it clear that a definite break had been made away from classical ideas of subject matter and form. SOME OF WREN’S LONDON CHURCHES Growing importance of the people Many significant developments underlie the history of these changing times. By forcing the abdication of James II in 1688 and inviting his daughter Mary and her Dutch husband William to rule, Englishmen rejected the theory of the divine right of kings: kings now ruled by the will of the people. Although many Britishers still did not have the right to vote (women, for example), yet a basic principle of democracy, long implicit in English common law, had at last become established: that the will of the majority should prevail.

162

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

During this period the idea of the importance of the individual was growing. Under a system of free enterprise, agriculture, industry, and trade were expanding. A whole new middle class was coming into existence and growing in power and in importance in national life. The American Revolution It was during the reign of George III that relations with the American colonies were so badly mismanaged by the king and his ministers that the colonies revolted. Though an intelligent minority in England, including the statesmen Burke and Pitt, opposed the King’s dictatorial policies, their warnings went unheeded, the colonies were lost to Britain, and the United States was established as an independent nation. The outcome of this struggle was another sign of the growing power of the people’s will. The loss of the American colonies did much to convince British rulers and their ministers that the time for dictatorial exercise or royal power was past. A period of gracious living The 18th century was a time of great fortunes, both among the aristocracy and the “newly rich” of the middle class. This wealth made possible, for the privileged few, such gracious, leisurely living as is difficult to conceive of in our swift-moving, high-pressure 20th century. Spacious mansions were erected, beautiful in their classic proportions. Estates were elaborately landscaped with formal gardens and trim paths. In the drawing rooms ladies elegantly gowned made witty conversation and observed an elaborate code of manners. Gentlement, dressed in rich fabrics, talked cleverly of politics and literature. When they tired of talk, there was the theatre to enjoy, or Italian opera, or a new symphony by Haydn. Painters were commissioned to paint portraits for wealthy patrons, and musicians to compose chamber music for special occasions. Even London was becoming more gracious. It was no longer the city that Shakespeare had known. After the Great Fire destroyed large areas in 1666, a new and more modern city began to replace the medieval town. Streets were widened; new avenues were opened. Magnificent palaces and churches in the classical style of architecture began to rise, many of them designed by the great architect Christopher Wren. The coffee houses, gathering places for men of all types, became, many of them, the centers for various literary and professional groups, and matched the salons of the wealthy in good talk. That is one side of the picture. The other side of the picture In sharp contrast to the splendour of the town houses of the wealthy and the parks and boulevards of the fashionable parts of London was the squalor of other parts of the city.

163

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

London’s population was becoming denser. Streets in the older parts of the city were ill-paved, muddy, and dark, making travel, even by gilded coach or sedan chair, both uncomfortable and hazardous. Thousands were poor and miserable. Pickpockets roamed the streets, and highwaymen, even in the outskirts of London, took advantage of hapless travelers. Despite the surface polish of the age, the utmost brutality was practiced in the punishment of criminals, and even toward the unfortunate insane. What was true of London was true throughout England: elegance and squalor existed side by side.

5.2. THE LITERATURE OF THE TIME An age of reason and form The 18th-century gentleman lived according to a philosophy of “common sense,” by reason, not by the emotions. The cultured Englishman adopted an attitude of critical detachment, suppressing all feeling. This period is, consequently, often called the Age of Reason. The 18th-century return to classicism was, therefore, very different from the joyful Renaissance spirit with which the Elizabethans had embraced the culture of Greece and Rome. To the Elizabethans it had been the substance of the classics that fired the imaginations – a whole way of thinking and living. To the 18th century it was the form of the classics that appealed – the orderliness and restraint. In the 17th century Puritan repression had gone to extremes. Then, in protest, during the Restoration, the pendulum had swung equally far in the other direction – to unrestrained pleasure-seeking and moral laxity. Both extremes were basically repugnant to the moderation-loving English people. So it was natural for them to turn for relief to the order, balance, and secure patterns of the classic tradition. Conventions of the classicist in literature The writers of this period composed literature according to a set of fixed rules and critical theories which, they believed, were those followed by ancient authors. Because they frequently misunderstood the principles of literary art illustrated in ancient masterpieces, they are sometimes called pseudoclassicists, or false classicists. The chief doctrines of the Classical School in English literature are the following: 1. Poetry should be composed according to fixed rules. Form is more important than content; the way a thing is said is more important than what is said. The classicists disliked anything that was irregular. They believed it more important to follow the rules than to try to be an “original genius.” In their opinion the world is at its best when nature is arranged and governed by laws and restrictions. Influenced by this love of whatever is orderly, the classicists admired the average cultivated man of drawingroom society rather than the simple, unlearned peasant; they preferred the carefully

164

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

trimmed hedges of a formal Italian garden to the tangled woods and wandering lanes of the countryside; and they thought the balanced architecture of a Greek temple superior to the less regular construction of a Gothic cathedral. 2. Poetry should be witty and clever rather than emotional. Instead of showing deep feeling, the poet should be calm and critical. In the opinion of the classicists, Shakespeare, who had paid scant attention to the classical rules, was little better than an inspired barbarian. 3. The established verse form was the heroic couplet. * This had been used as far back as the time of Chaucer, but was revived by the classicists and brought to perfection by Alexander Pope. 4. Poetry should use a special vocabulary. According to the classicists certain words and phrases were “elegant,” and hence suitable for use in poetry; others were not and were called “low.” In the poetry of the Age of Classicism a woman is apt to be referred to as a “female” or, better still, a “fair”; a hunter does not aim a gun, he “poises the levelled tube.” This desire on the part of the classicists to exclude from the vocabulary of poetry many common words made the literature, especially the poetry, seem artificial. Many classicists also carried too far the use of personification. For example, we often find such phrases as “dread Solitude,” “horrid Desolation,” and “pallid Fear,” which show little sign of personification except that the nouns are capitalized. In spite of all their faults, however, the classicists performed a real service to literature by emphasizing the importance of order and care in literary composition. The tide turns In the latter half of the 18th century a new movement was coming into conflict with classicism. Hence this part of the period is sometimes called the Age of Transition. Emotion reasserted itself; there were many people who felt that cold reason was not enough; that life was becoming too formal, too hedged in by rules and restrictions. Two great preaches, Whitfield and Wesley, led a religious revival, appealing to the emotions and teaching that God speaks through the heart. The upper classes began to speak with pity of the woes of the poor and wretched, though they did not yet do much about such conditions. In others words, the glittering surface of life, delightful though it was for the cultivated 18th-century Englishmen, was not enough for the more thoughtful and perceptive among them. Thus we see again the pendulum about to swing back, this time from pure reason to feeling, from contentment with smooth surfaces to exploration of the strong undercurrents beneath them, from rules and restrictions to new freedoms. These were trends that led to the flowering of the Romantic Movement in the next century, and they were increasingly apparent as the 18th century drew to a close.

165

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Drama When the vigor of the Elizabethans dwindled, drama had declined rapidly from the peak it had reached in Shakespeare. Playwrights had met lean days when the Puritans closed the theatres. The Restoration, to be sure, flung them wide open, and numerous plays were written, but the taste of the time was somewhat vulgar and cynical. Hence Restoration drama, in the main, was thin and lacking in enduring significance. From the latter half of the 18th century, however, there did come three comedies that still delight audiences today: The Rivals and The School for Scandal, by Richard Brinsley Sheridan, and She Stoops to Conquer, by Oliver Goldsmith.

Poetry Since verse, according to the standards of the Age of Classicism, was supposed to instruct, it was often a criticism of social, political, religious, or literary matters. The greatest poets of the early part of the period were Dryden and Pope, both of whom were characteristically classical poets. Later in the 18th century, however, certain poets began to break away from classical restrictions to new kinds of subject matter and new forms. Two of the most notable poems to show these new trends are Goldsmith’s Deserted Village and Gray’s Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard.

Nonfiction prose The Age of Classicism is primarily an age of prose. Criticism, satire, and argumentative writing flourished, as was natural in an “age of reason.” Swift wrote Gulliver’s travels, a bitter attack on the follies on mankind. Addison and Steele, in short prose articles, commented good-humouredly on the faults and foibles of contemporary life, so introducing a new type of prose literature – the informal essay. Their Tatler and Spectator, in which these essays first appeared, were the forerunners of the modern magazine. Later in the century there came the first biography of any value, Boswell’s Life of Johnson, still considered by many scholars the greatest biography ever written. Many fine political speeches were written and delivered during this period. Of especial interest to Americans is Edmund Burke’s speech urging conciliation with the American colonies, a model of logical reasoning convincingly presented.

The novel It was during the 18th century that the novel had its origin. As the Age of Classicism advanced, the lower and middle classes of English society became better educated and more influential than they had ever been before. Heretofore those of the common people who could read at all and who liked fiction had had to be satisfied with tales of Knights and fair ladies, literature written by and for aristocrats. The newly educated reading public desired literature better suited to their tastes and dealing with people more like themselves. The

166

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

result was a new type of literature, the novel. The modern realistic novel began as a narrative written for readers of the lower classes and depending for its appeal not upon thrilling plot or romantic setting so much as upon characters taken from real life. Between 1700 and 1725 Daniel Defoe, best known for his Robinson Crusoe, became popular by writing narratives that depicted realistically the fortunes of characters drawn from the lower classes. He was especially gifted in making pure fiction seem like fact. Defoe was followed by Samuel Richardson, a London printer who began by writing love letters for servant girls and ended by being the most successful novelist of his day. His first story, Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded, tells of the temptations and final triumph of a virtuous servant girl, and has been called the first real English novel. In Clarissa Harlowe, sometimes referred to as Richardson’s masterpiece, the author traces the tragic history of a heroine of the upper classes, whose downfall is caused by a fascinating, aristocratic villain. In his effort to get to the very bottom of his characters’ emotions and metal reactions, Richardson is a predecessor of the modern psychological novelists. Another important early writer of novels was Henry Fielding. Fielding, disgusted with the exaggerated sentimentalism and overdone morality of Richardson’s characters, wrote Joseph Andrews, Tom Jones, and other novels to show how people actually talked and acted. The hero of Tom Jones is a young man who is a very human mixture of good and bad qualities. Later in the century Oliver Goldsmith wrote the first novel of simple family life in rural England, The Vicar of Wakefield, still read with enjoyment today for its gentle humour and lovable characters. Meantime, while the novel of real life was developing, another type of story was becoming increasingly popular, the Gothic romance, tales of mystery and the supernatural, of ancient castles and gloomy, ghost-haunted dungeons. These romances paved the way for Sir Walter Scott’s stories of medieval life and for modern mystery stories.

A summing-up The 18th century saw wealth and prosperity increasing, and great families developing comfortable, cultured, and gracious living to a high degree. Conversation became a fine art. Great emphasis was laid on elegant manners. The influence of the period in architectural design, in furniture, and other objects connected with the amenities of living is still apparent on both sides of the Atlantic. The English people “went to school“ during this period, both in literature and in living, to the classic ideals of restraint, balance, and proportion, and came out the better for the experience. It was time, however, for them to go beyond this schooling; such patterns could be too restricting for natural growth. Long before the century ended there were stirrings of revolt from rigid patterns, both in writing and in living – a revolt soon to express itself, in all phases of life and the arts, in the Romantic Movement.

167

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Alexander pope (Epigrams in Verse) http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki Archivo:AlexanderPope.jpg

Alexander Pope (1688-1744) suffered from poor health, which resulted in deformity. As a Roman Catholic and therefore a member of a minority religion at that time, he was prevented from entering the filed of politics, and it was to politics that many literary men of the period turned to win fame and fortune. His religion also barred him from the universities. These facts, plus his unfortunate temperament, made him an embittered man. He let his wit become waspish and went to any lengths to ridicule an enemy. By such mistakes he brought on many bitter quarrels and estranged even some of his friends. On the other hand he was a man of genius. Unable to secure the kind of education he wanted, he dug out knowledge for himself. By wide reading he filled the gap left by the lack of a normal education. His first book of poetry was published when he was twenty-one but it had been written when he was only seventeen. In this frail boy, several of the great writers of the day saw the poet who was to become one of England’s greatest literary figures.

In 1711 he published An Essay on Criticism. This was a poem setting forth the rules of the classicists. The Rape of the Lock, which appeared in the following year, was a humorous mock-heroic epic. He rapidly became the literary lion of London, the friend of wits, poets, painters, and politicians. He translated Homer’s Hiad and Odyssey in couplets, and the response to these translations was so overwhelming that Pope was able to buy a small estate at Twickenham, near London. Here he lived a secluded life, entertaining a circle of literary friends. It was here the wrote The Dunciad, a biting satire on his literary enemies, and his Essay on Man, lines and couplets of which have become household quotations. At his death he was universally acclaimed as England’s greatest poet. His aim was not so much novelty or emotional power as the expression of ideas in the most fitting and epigrammatic language. He is remembered for his wit, for his knack of putting things clearly and unforgettably, and for his command of easy, flowing language.

168

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Epigrams from AN ESSAY ON CRITICISM Many of these extracts from. An Essay on Criticism will seem to you strange as subjects for poetry. The purpose of the classicists was, however, to instruct rather than to entertain or to arouse emotions, and this held even for their poetry. The rules Pope laid down for criticism are today regarded as either commonplace or else partly false. The form of these epigrams, however, is so perfect, and their expression so witty or so pithy that many have become a part of our daily speech, quoted by countless persons who have no idea of their source. An Essay on Criticism was the first major poem written by the English writer Alexander Pope (1688-1744). However, despite the title, the poem is not as much an original analysis as it is a compilation of Pope’s various literary opinions. A reading of the poem makes it clear that he is addressing not so much the ingenuous reader as the intending writer. It is written in a type of rhyming verse called heroic couplets. The poem first appeared in 1711, but was written in 1709. It is clear from Pope’s correspondence that many of the poem’s ideas had existed in prose form since at least 1706. It is a verse essay written in the Horatian mode and is primarily concerned with how writers and critics behave in the new literary commerce of Pope’s contemporary age. The poem covers a range of good criticism and advice. It also represents many of the chief literary ideals of Pope’s age. Pope contends in the poem’s opening couplets that bad criticism does greater harm than bad writing

Alexander Pope by Walter Jackson Bate In the Essay on Criticism (1711), written in 1709 when he was hardly twenty-one, Pope was trying to write a poetical essay which would hold the same important place in English that Boileau’s Art Poétique (1674) was holding in French criticism. If it did not quite attain this position, the reason is not that Pope’s essay is inferior to Boileau’s. It is simply that English writers of any period, including the age of Pope, have a way of refusing to form schools and follow manifestoes. Still, Pope’s Essay on Criticism is not only the last but perhaps the most rewarding of the important critical essays in verse modeled on Horace’s Art of Poetry. It draws upon the previous verse-essays of Horace, Vida, and Boileau, as well as those of two minor Restoration writers, the Earls of Mulgrave and Roscommon. It also draws upon precepts from the Roman Quintilian and the French critics, Rapin and Le Bossu. Above all, its general tone is kept comparatively liberal and flexible by the influence of Dryden, and, to some extent, of Longinus. The background is broad. This may partly explain why the Essay on Criticism is more comprehensive in what it covers than any of the other Horatian verse-essays, including that of Boileau. It also quite equals Boileau in edge of style, and it surpasses him in compactness.

169

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Let’s see some of the fragments from “An essay on Criticism” and their interpretation.

AWARENES OF HIS OWN LMITATIONS 46-67 But you who seek to give and merit Fame, And justly bear a Critick’s noble Name, Be sure your self and your own Reach to know. How far your Genius, Taste, and Learning go; Launch not beyond your Depth, but be discreet, And mark that Point where Sense and Dulness meet. Nature to all things fix’d the Limits fit, And wisely curb’d proud Man’s pretending Wit: As on the Land while here the Ocean gains, In other Parts it leaves wide sandy Plains; Thus in the Soul while Memory prevails, The solid Pow’r of Understanding fails; Where Beams of warm Imagination play, The Memory’s soft Figures melt away. One Science only will one Genius fit; So vast is Art, so narrow Human Wit; Not only bounded to peculiar Arts, But oft in those, confin’d to single Parts. Like Kings we lose the Conquests gain’d before, By vain Ambition still to make them more: Each might his sev’ral Province well command, Wou’d all but stoop to what they understand.

KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE IN ITS GENERAL FORMS 68-87 First follow NATURE, and your Judgment frame By her just Standard, which is still the same:

NATURE DEFINED 70-79 Unerring Nature, still divinely bright, One clear, unchang’d and Universal Light, Life, Force, and Beauty, must to all impart, At once the Source, and End, and Test of Art. Art from that Fund each just Supply provides, Works without Show, and without Pomp presides: In some fair Body thus th’ informing Soul With Spirits feeds, with Vigour fills the whole, Each Motion guides, and ev’ry Nerve sustains; It self unseen, but in th’ Effects, remains.

170

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

NEED OF BOTH WIT AND JUDGEMENT TO COINCIVE 80-87 Some, to whom Heav’n in Wit has been profuse. Want as much more, to turn it to its use, For Wit and Judgment often are at strife, Tho’ meant each other’s Aid, like Man and Wife. ‘Tis more to guide than spur the Muse’s Steed; Restrain his Fury, than provoke his Speed; The winged Courser, like a gen’rous Horse, Shows most true Mettle when you check his Course.

TACT 572-577 ‘Tis not enough your Counsel still be true, Blunt Truths more Mischief than nice Falsehood do; Men must be taught as if you taught them not; And Things unknown propos’d as Things forgot: Without Good Breeding, Truth is disapprov’d; That only makes Superior Sense belov’d.

COURAGE 578-583

Be Niggards of Advice on no Pretence; For the worst Avarice is that of Sense: With mean Complacence ne’er betray your Trust, Nor be so Civil as to prove Unjust; Fear not the Anger of the Wise to raise; Those best can bear Reproof, who merit Praise.

THEIR OPPOSITES 584-630 ‘Twere well, might Criticks still this Freedom take; But Appius reddens at each Word you speak, And stares, Tremendous! with a threatning Eye Like some fierce Tyrant in Old Tapestry! Fear most to tax an Honourable Fool, Whose Right it is, uncensur’d to be dull; Such without Wit are Poets when they please. As without Learning they can take Degrees. Leave dang’rous Truths to unsuccessful Satyrs, And Flattery to fulsome Dedicators,

171

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Whom, when they Praise, the World believes no more, Than when they promise to give Scribling o’er. ‘Tis best sometimes your Censure to restrain, And charitably let the Dull be vain: Your Silence there is better than your Spite, For who can rail so long as they can write? Still humming on, their drowzy Course they keep, And lash’d so long, like Tops, are lash’d asleep. False Steps but help them to renew the Race, As after Stumbling, Jades will mend their Pace. What Crouds of these, impenitently bold, In Sounds and jingling Syllables grown old, Still run on Poets in a raging Vein, Ev’n to the Dregs and Squeezings of the Brain; Strain out the last, dull droppings of their Sense, And Rhyme with all the Rage of Impotence!

Conclusions 1. In Pope’s couplets from 46-47 find out phrases that support the idea of AWARENESS ON ONE’S OWN LIMITATION? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. In Pope’s couplets from 68-87 find out phrases that support the idea of KNOWLEDGE OF NATURE IN ITS GENERAL FORMS? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. In Pope’s couplets from 70-79 find out phrases that support the definition of NATURE? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. In Pope’s couplets from 80-87 find out phrases that support the need to both WIT AND JUDGEMENT TO COINCIVE. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

172

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

5. In Pope’s couplets from 80-87 find out phrases that support the need to both WIT AND JUDGEMENT TO COINCIVE. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. This time find phrases that support the idea of TACT in the couplets 572-577 ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. Now, find phrases that support the idea of COURAGE in the couplets 578-583 ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 8. Finally, find phrases that support the idea of THEIR OPPOSITES in the couplets 584630. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

173

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

John Dryden John Dryden (1631-1700) was born into a well-todo Puritan family, though he ended his days as a Roman Catholic. He began as a supporter of the Commonwealth under Cromwell, but went over to the Royalist side. He was a man of changeable ideas, turning readily toward those opinions most likely to advance his fortunes. After attending Trinity College, Cambridge, he married Lady Elizabeth Howard. He was a worldly man, dependent on the favour of the court for his livelihood. As a writer of comedies he was tremendously successful, but his heroic tragedies were more important. In these Nell Gwyn, the famous actress, appeared. All for Love, or The world Well Lost was his version of Anthony and Cleopatra. It was an attempt to make Shakespeare’s play conform to the rules of the classicist. John Dryden http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Dryden

He wrote satires, of which the poem Absalom and Achitophel is probably the best. He took part in the literary feuds of the time and enjoyed lording it over a deferential circle at Will’s coffeehouse. He was made poet laureate, but he was later deprived of his office on political charges. He was the first great English writer to give up the involved and artificial style of most of his contemporaries and predecessors of the Classicist School.

“Alexander’s feast” or “The power of music” As the subtitle says, the theme of this poem is the power of music, especially the power of music to rouse emotion to such a pitch that it is expressed in action. This is an ode. An ode is a lyric poem (one intended as a song) on an important (lofty) subject. Sometimes an ode has a complicated rhyme scheme. Greek and Latin poets were fond of writings odes, and many English odes are imitations of these earlier poems. Perhaps for this reason English odes often make allusions to Greek or Latin heroes and myths. Therefore to read this poem easily you should recall several things. Alexander the Great was only thirty-three when he died, master of the known world. He was a man of great charm, ruthless force, and a natural leader of men. One of the most beautiful women of the ancient world accompanied him on his Asiatic campaigns. She was known as Thais. According to legend she induced him to set fire to the city of Persepolis. Bacchus was the god of wine and revelry. The Furies were divinities who pursued evildoers and hounded them into misery and misfortune. They were loathsome women in black garments whose hair was infested with snakes. Blood dripped from their eyes. In the Furies suggest that revenge is being sought for the Greek soldiers whom the Persians killed.

174

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The ode relates what happened when Alexander gave banquet to celebrate his conquest of Persia. The banquet took place in Persepolis. Timotheus, Alexander’s musician, stood forth to play and sing. He sang of ambition, the joy of wine, the beauty of pity, the ecstasy of love, and the thrill of revenge. As he sounded each theme, the emperor and his companion showed the effect the music had upon them. Finally on the note of revenge, Alexander reached up and, with Thais and the other revellers, seized the torches from the wall and set the city in flames. Thus the poet suggests that music can conquer and compel the conqueror of the world. In a single night in 1697, Dryden wrote this ode at the request of the Saint Cecilia Society of London. This, as might be guessed, was a musical organization. Look up St. Cecilia in an unabridged dictionary in order to understand the last stanza.

A song in honour of Saint Cecilia’s Day, 1697 Alexander’s feast or The power of music

I ‘Twas at the royal feast for Persia won By Philip’s warlike son— (1) Aloft in awful (2) state The godlike hero sate On his imperial throne; His valiant peers were placed around, Their brows with roses and with myrtles bound (So should desert in arms be crowned); The lovely Thais by his side Sate like a blooming eastern bride 10 In flower of youth and beauty’s pride:— Happy, happy, happy pair! None but the brave None but the brave None but the brave deserves the fair!

CHORUS Happy, happy, happy pair! None but the brave, None but the brave, None but the brave deserves the fair.

II Timotheus (3) placed on high 20 Amid the tuneful quire With flying fingers touched the lyre; The trembling notes ascend the sky And heavenly joys inspire. The song began from Jove (4) Who left his blissful seats above— Such is the power of mighty love! A dragon’s fiery form belied (5) the god Sublime on radiant spires (6) he rode

175

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

When he to fair Olympia (7) pressed, 30 And while he sought her snowy breast, Then round her slender waist he curled, And stamped an image of himself, a sovereign of the world. - The listening crowd admire the lofty sound! A present deity! they shout around: A present deity! the vaulted roofs rebound! With ravished ears The monarch hears, Assumes the god, Affects to nod, 40 And seems to shake the spheres.(8) CHORUS With ravished ears The monarch hears, Assumes to nod, And seems to shake the spheres III The praise of Bacchus then the sweet musician sung, Of Bacchus ever fair and ever young: The jolly god in triumph comes! Sound the trumpets, beat the drums! 50 Flushed with a purple grace He shows his honest face: Now give the hautboys breath; he comes, he comes! Bacchus, ever fair and young, Drinking joys did first ordain; Bacchus’ blessings are a treasure, Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure:

176

Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure, Sweet is pleasure after pain. CHORUS Bacchus’ blessings are a treasure, Drinking is the soldier’s pleasure; Rich the treasure, Sweet the pleasure, Sweet is pleasure after pain. 60 IV Soothed with the sound, the king grew vain; Fought all his battles o’er again, And thrice he routed all his foes, and thrice he slew the slain. The master (10) saw the madness rise, His (11) glowing cheeks, his ardent eyes; And while he Heaven and Earth defied Changed his hand and checked his pride. He chose a mournful Muse Soft pity to infuse: He sung Darius great and good, By too severe a fate Fallen, fallen, fallen, fallen, Fallen from his high estate, And weltering in his blood; Deserted, at his utmost need, 80 By those his former bounty fed; On the bare earth exposed he lies With not a friend to close his eyes. With downcast looks the joyless victor sate, Revolving in his altered soul

Literatura Inglesa: BritĂĄnica

The various turns of Chance below; And now and then a sigh he stole, And tears began to flow. CHORUS Revolving in his altered soul The various turns of chance below; 90 And, now and then, a sigh he stole, And tears began to flow. V The mighty master smiled to see That love was in the next degree; â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;Twas but a kindred-sound to move, For pity melts the mind to love. Softly sweet, in Lydian measures Soon he soothed his soul to pleasures. War, he sung, is toil and trouble, Honour but an empty bubble; 100 Never ending, still beginning, Fighting still, and still destroying; If the world be worth thy winning, Think, O think, it worth enjoying: Lovely Thais sits beside thee, Take the good the gods provide thee! The many rend the skies with loud applause; So Love was crowned, but Music won the cause. The prince, unable to conceal his pain, Gazed on the fair 110 Who caused his care, And sighed and looked, sighed and looked, Sighed and looked, and sighed again: At length with love and wine at once oppressed

The vanquished victor sunk upon her breast. VI Now strike the golden lyre again: A louder yet, and yet a louder strain! Break his bands of sleep asunder And rouse him like a rattling peal of thunder. Hark, hark! the horrid sound Has raised up his head: As awaked from the dead And amazed he stares around. Revenge, revenge, Timotheus cries, See the Furies arisel See the snakes that they rear How they hiss in their hair, And the sparkles that flash from their eyes! Behold a ghastly band, Each a torch in his hand! Those are Grecian ghosts, that in battle were slain And unburied remain Inglorious on the plain: 140 Give the vengeance due To the valiant crew! Behold how they toss their torches on high, How they point to the Persian abodes And glittering temples of their hostile gods. - The princes applaud with a furious joy: And the King seized a flambeau with zeal to destroy; Thais led the way

177

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

To light him to his prey, And like another Helen, fired another Troy! Chorus And the king seized a flambeau with Zeal to destroy; Thais led the way To light him to his prey 150 And, like another Helen, fired another Troy

With Nature’s mother-wit, and arts unknown before. - Let old Timotheus yield the prize Or both divide the crown; He raised a mortal to the skies; She drew an angel down! 180

VII - Thus, long ago, Ere heaving bellows learned to blow, While organs yet were mute, Timotheus, to his breathing flute And sounding lyre, Could swell the soul to rage, or kindle soft desire. 160 At last divine Cecilia came, Inventress of the vocal frame; The sweet enthusiast from her sacred store Enlarged the former narrow bounds, And added length to solemn sounds,

At last divine Cecilia Came, Inventress of the vocal frame; The sweet enthusiast, from her sacred store Enlarged the former narrow bounds, And added length to solemn sounds, With Nature’s mother-wit, and arts unknown before. Let old Timotheus yield the prize, Or both divide the crown: He raised a mortal to the skies; She drew and angel down

Grand Chorus

Footnotes 1. Philip’s … son. Alexander the great.* 2. Awe –inspiring. 3. Musician to Alexander. 4. With. 5. Disguised. 6. Coils of the dragon. 7. Olympias, the mother of Alexander. 8. Assumes … spheres. Acts the part of his father, Jove, whose nod shook the universe. 9. Hautboy. A musical instrument with a high tone, now called an oboe. 10. Timotheus. 11. What are the antecedents of the pronouns in lines 70-75?

178

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

A poem for a special occasion

For what special occasion did Dryden write the ode? At whose request? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

A conclusion

How do both Timotheus and Cecilia prove the power of music? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

How an author plans

1. Who were at the feast? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What story does Timotheus tell to show the divine ancestry of Alexander? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What effect on the emperor did the tribute to Bacchus produce? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. How did the song to pity affect Alexander? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. How had Timotheus carefully prepared the conqueror to respond to the call to revenge? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

179

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Title of Piece

Prose or Poetry

Secular Masque, The

Poetry

To My Dear Friend Mr. Congreve On His Commedy Call’d The Double Dealer

Poetry

A Song For St. Cecilia’s Day, 1687

Poetry

To The Pious Memory Of The Accomplished young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew...

Poetry

Religio Laici

Poetry

To The Memory Of Mr. Oldham

Poetry

Mac Flecknoe

Poetry

Song To A Fair Young Lady Going Out Of Town In the Spring

Poetry

Troilus And Cressida

Poetry

A Song From The Italian

Poetry

Marriage A-La-Mode

Poetry

Absalom And Achitophel A Poem

Poetry

Your Hay It Is Mow’d, And Your Corn Is Reap’d

Poetry

Why Should A Foolish Marriage Vow

Poetry

Veni, Creator Spiritus

Poetry

To The Pious Memory Of The Accomplished Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew

Poetry

To The Memory Of Mr Oldham

Poetry

The Medal

Poetry

Song (Sylvia The Fair, In The Bloom Of Fifteen)

Poetry

Song From Marriage-A-La-Mode

Poetry

Song From An Evening’s Love

Poetry

Song From Amphitryon

Poetry

Song For Saint Cecilia’s Day, 1687

Poetry

Ode

Poetry

Hidden Flame

Poetry

Heroic Stanzas

Poetry

Happy The Man

Poetry

Farewell, Ungrateful Traitor!

Poetry

An Ode, On The Death Of Mr. Henry Purcell

Poetry

Alexander’s Feast; Or, The Power Of Music

Poetry

Absalom And Achitophel

Poetry

Song (Sylvia The Fair, In The Bloom Of Fifteen)

poem

Song From An Evening’s Love

poem

Heroic Stanzas

poem

Song From Amphitryon

poem

Veni, Creator Spiritus

poem

180

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

To My Dear Friend Mr. Congreve On His Commedy Call’d The Double Dealer

poem

The Medal

poem

An Ode, On The Death Of Mr. Henry Purcell

poem

Song For Saint Cecilia’s Day, 1687

poem

To The Memory Of Mr Oldham

poem

Song To A Fair Young Lady Going Out Of Town In The Spring

poem

Farewell, Ungrateful Traitor!

poem

Mac Flecknoe

poem

Religio Laici

poem

A Song From The Italian

poem

Your Hay It Is Mow’d, And Your Corn Is Reap’d

poem

Hidden Flame

poem

Troilus And Cressida

poem

Alexander’s Feast; Or, The Power Of Music

poem

Why Should A Foolish Marriage Vow

poem

Ode

poem

To The Pious Memory Of The Accomplished Young Lady Mrs. Anne Killigrew

poem

Song From Marriage-A-La-Mode

poem

Happy The Man

poem

Absalom And Achitophel

poem http://www.eliteskills.com/a/John+Dryden

181

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (1667-1745) was born in Ireland, though both his parents were English. Growing up in poverty, he became bitter, proud, and independent. At Trinity College, Dublin, he was considered extraordinarily dull. Then for a while he was secretary to a relative in England, a position which he heartily detested. During this time he took orders in the Church of England. In the meantime he had begun to exercise his gift for writing satire. Soon afterward he had an opportunity to put this dangerous talent to effective use. Most of the literary men of the time were members of one or the other of the two chief political parties of the day, the Whigs and the Tories. Swift’s scornful genius Jonathan Swift http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonathwas put at the service first of the Whigs and then of an_Swift the Tories. His brilliant wit soon made him a powerful molder of public opinion. Spurred on by political ambition, he found himself a power in the government. But his genius was always exerted in the service of men of less ability than himself. He never won the political or ecclesiastical recognition he longed for. When his political hopes failed, he retired to Ireland with the somewhat disappointing reward of the deanship of St. Patrick’s in Dublin. Characteristically defending the oppressed, he championed the cause of Ireland against England, and was acclaimed the hero of the Irish people. With all his bitterness, Swift had a most Kindly nature. All who knew him loved him. Though he never married, he was loved by two women, and his affection for one of them (Esther Johnson, whom he called Stella) is the most charming thing in his life. He is one of the greatest geniuses of the period and one of the most brilliant prose writers in the English language. He struck at political scheming and dishonesty, religious sectarianism, literary squabbling, vice; wherever he saw shams and hypocrisy he aimed an unerring blow. The most famous of his works are A Tale of a Tub and Gulliver’s Travels, two of the most brilliant allegorical *satires in literature.

Gulliver’s Travels is one of the few great books of the world that appeal equally to the young and to the mature reader. To the beginner it is a fascinating account of the adventure of an imaginary hero, Lemuel Gulliver. He made a series of voyages to far – off lands of strange peoples. In one country, horses ruled and men were disgusting brutes. In another, the inhabitants were of gigantic size. In “A Voyage to Lilliput,” Gulliver tells of a country where the people were less than six inches tall, and everything else was in proportion. Swift hated insincerity and sham. In “A Voyage to Lilliput” he voices indirectly his suspicion of the false science of his day, and his dislike for the

182

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

schemings and corruption of courtiers and government officials. His contempt for the pettiness of mankind in general runs underneath the whole tale. To his brilliant though embittered mind the civilized nations of Europe seemed petty. Their quarrels and social formalities were as ridiculous as those of the Lilliputians.

Plot overview Gulliver’s Travels Gulliver’s Travels is a novel by Jonathan Swift that is both a satire on human nature and a parody of the “travellers’ tales” literary sub-genre. It is widely considered Swift’s magnum opus and is his most celebrated work, as well as one of the indisputable classics of English literature. Part I: A Voyage to Lilliput The book begins with a short preamble in which Gulliver, in the style of books of the time, gives a brief outline of his life and history prior to his voyages. We learn he is middle-aged and middle-class, with a talent for medicine and languages, and that he enjoys travelling. This turns out to be fortunate. Upon careful reading, this introduction proves to be one of the most satirical points in the book: laced with innuendos and other forms of ironic humour: a trademark of Swift’s writing. On his first voyage, Gulliver is washed ashore after a shipwreck and awakes to find himself a prisoner of a race of 6 inch (15cm) high people, inhabitants of the neighbouring and rival countries of Lilliput and Blefuscu. After giving assurances of his good behaviour he is given a residence in Lilliput and becomes a favourite of the court. There follow Gulliver’s observations on the Court of Lilliput, which is intended to satirise the court of then King George I. After he assists the Lilliputians to subdue their neighbours the Blefuscudans (by stealing their fleet) but refuses to reduce the country to a province of Lilliput, he is charged with treason and sentenced to be blinded. Fortunately, Gulliver escapes to Blefuscu, where he builds a raft and sails out to a ship that he spotted on the horizon which takes him back home. The feuding between the Lilliputians and the Blefuscudans is meant to represent the feuding countries of England and France, but the reason for the war is meant to satirize the feud between Catholics and Protestants. Part II: A Voyage to Brobdingnag While exploring a new country, Gulliver is abandoned by his companions and found by a farmer who is 22 meters tall (the scale of Lilliput is approximately 12:1, of Brobdingnag 1:12) who treats him as a curiosity and exhibits him for money. He is then bought by the Queen of Brobdingnag and kept as a favourite at court. In between small adventures such

183

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

as fighting giant flies and being carried to the roof by a monkey, he discusses the state of Europe with the King, who is not impressed. On a trip to the seaside, his “travelling box” is seized by a giant eagle and dropped into the sea where he is picked up by sailors and returned to England. Part III: A Voyage to Laputa, Balnibarbi, Glubbdubdrib, Luggnagg and Japan Gulliver’s ship is attacked by pirates and he is abandoned on a desolate rocky island. Fortunately he is rescued by the flying island of Laputa, a kingdom devoted to the arts of music and mathematics but utterly unable to use these for practical ends. The device described simply as The Engine is possibly the first literary description in history of something resembling a computer. Laputa’s method of throwing rocks at rebellious surface cities also seems the first time that aerial bombardment was conceived as a method of warfare. Gulliver is then taken to Balnibarbi to await a Dutch trader who can take him on to Japan and thence to England. While there, he tours the country as the guest of a low-ranking courtier and sees the ruin brought about by blind pursuit of science without practical results in a satire on the Royal Society and its experiments. He also encounters the struldbrugs, unfortunates who are both immortal and very, very old. He travels to a magician’s dwelling and discusses history with the ghosts of historical figures, the most obvious restatement of the “ancients versus moderns” theme in the book. The trip is otherwise reasonably free of incident and Gulliver returns home, being determined to stay a homebody for the rest of his days. Part IV: A Voyage to the Country of the Houyhnhnms Despite his intention at the end of the third part to remain at home, Gulliver returns to sea where his crew mutinies in order to become pirates. He is abandoned ashore and comes first upon a race of (apparently) hideous deformed creatures to which he conceives a violent antipathy. Shortly thereafter he meets a horse and comes to understand that the horses (in their language Houyhnhnm or “the perfection of nature”) are the rulers and the deformed creatures (“Yahoos”) are human beings in the basest form. Gulliver becomes a member of the horse’s household, and comes to both admire and emulate the Houyhnhnms and their lifestyle, rejecting human beings as merely Yahoos endowed with some semblance of reason which they only use to exacerbate and add to the vices Nature gave them. However, an Assembly of the Houyhnhnms rules that Gulliver, a Yahoo with some semblance of reason, is a danger to their civilization and he is expelled. He is then rescued, against his will, by a Portuguese ship that returns him to his home in England. He is, however, unable to reconcile himself to living among Yahoos; he becomes a recluse, remaining in his house, largely avoiding his family, and spending several hours a day speaking with the horses in his stables. The book finishes with a peroration against Pride that is ironically boastful and seems to be intended to show that Gulliver’s reason may have turned. Swift’s point is that the basic difference between humans and the Yahoos is largely artifice. However, no definite answer is forthcoming from the text and critics have argued this point for years. It is interesting that this fourth voyage seems to have been the one that has most engaged literary critics over the years. Some readers chose to see it as proof of Swift’s incipient

184

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

mental deterioration (he suffered from an inner-ear disorder which led contemporaries, and Swift himself, to question his sanity.) Most famously, William Thackeray described it as “filthy in word, filthy in thought, furious, raging and obscene” (1853). Science fiction writer Robert A. Heinlein made his own comment by inverting the scenario in Starman Jones, where a stray spaceship lands on a planet where carnivorous horse-like creatures dominate all other fauna including human-like creatures resembling Swift’s Yahoos. These “horses” are in the opinion of some, the story’s clear villains, who not only butcher and eat humans (local and extraplanetary alike) but also practice euthanasia of old and weak members of their own species. Much of the plot is devoted to the Earth humans courageously fighting them. By Liz Patricia Rivera Sanchez, Graduated from Education Faculty, UNMSM.

From Gulliver’s Travels [The supposed narrator, Lemuel Gulliver, born in England and educated as a physician, went to sea as a ship’s doctor. On one of his voyages his ship was wrecked in a remote region of the South Seas, and all hands except Gulliver were apparently lost. He, however, succeeded in swimming ashore, where, weary and sleepy, he found himself on an unknown coast.]

Chapter I I lay down on the grass, which was very short and soft, where I slept sounder than ever I remembered to have done in my life, and, as I reckoned, above nine hours; for, when I awaked, it was just daylight. I attempted to rise, but was not able to stir; for as I happened to lie on my back, I found my arms and legs were strongly fastened on each side to the ground; and my hair, which was long and thick, tied down in the same manner. I likewise felt several slender ligatures (1) across my body, from my armpits to my thighs. I could only look upwards; the sun began to grow hot, and the light offended my eyes. I heard a confused noise about me; but, in the posture I lay, could see nothing except the sky. In a little time I felt something alive on my left leg, which, advancing gently forward over my breast came almost up to my chin; when, bending my eyes downward as much

185

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

as I could, I perceived it to be a human creature, not six inches high, with a bow and arrow in his hands, and quiver at his back. In the meantime I felt least forty more of the same kind (as I conjectured) following the first. I was in the utmost astonishment, and roared so loud that they all ran back in a fright; and some of them, as I was afterwards told, were hurt with the falls they got by leaping from my sides upon the ground. However, they soon returned, and one of them, who ventured so far as to get a full sight of my face, lifting up his hands and eyes by way of admiration, cried out in a shrill but distinct voice â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Hekinah degul! The others repeated the same words several times, but I then knew not what they meant. I lay all this while, as the reader may believe, in great uneasiness. At length, struggling to get loose, I had the fortune to break the strings, and wrench out the pegs, that fastened my left arm to the ground; for by lifting it up to my face, I discovered the methods they had taken to bind me, and, at the same time, with a violent pull, which gave me excessive pain, I a little loosened the strings that tied down my hair on the left side, so that I was just able to turn my head about two inches. But the creatures ran off a second time, before I could seize them; whereupon there was a great shout in a very shrill accent, and after it ceased, I heard one of them cry aloud, Tolgo phonac; when, in an instant, I felt above an hundred arrows discharged on my left hand, which pricked me like so many needles; and, besides, they shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs in Europe, whereof many, I suppose, fell on my body (thought I felt them not), and some on my face, which I immediately covered with my left hand. When this shower of arrows was over, I fell a groaning with grief and pain, and then striving again to get loose, they discharged another volley larger than the first, and some of them attempted with spears to stick me in the sides; but by good luck I had on me a buff jerkin, (2) which they could not pierce. I thought it the most prudent method to lie still, and my design was to continue so till night, when, my left hand being already loose, I could easily free myself; and as for the inhabitants, I had reason to believe I might be a match for the greatest armies they could bring against me, if they were all of the same size with him that I saw. But fortune disposed otherwise of me. When the people observed I was quiet, they discharged no more arrows; but, by the noise I heard, I knew their numbers increased; and about four yards from me, over against my right ear, I heard a knocking for above an hour, like that of people at work; when, turning my head that way, as well as the pegs and strings would permit me, I saw a stage erected, about a foot and a half from the ground, capable of holding four of the inhabitants, with two or three ladders to mount it; from whence one them, who seemed to be a person of quality, made me a long speech, whereof I understood not one syllable. Being almost famished with hunger, having not eaten a morsel for some hours before I felt the ship, I found the demands of nature so strong upon me, that I could not forbear showing my impatience (perhaps against the strict rules of decency) by putting my fin-

186

Literatura Inglesa: BritĂĄnica

ger frequently to my mouth, to signify that I wanted food. The hurgo (for so they call a great lord, as I afterwards learned) understood me very well. He descended that several ladders should be applied to my sides; on which above an hundred of the inhabitants mounted, and walked towards my mouth, laden with baskets full of meat, which had been provided and sent thither by the kingâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s orders upon the first intelligence he received of me. I observed there was the flesh of several animals, but could not distinguish them by the taste. There were shoulders, legs, and loins, shaped like those of mutton, and very dressed, but smaller than wings of a lark. I ate them by two or three at a mouthful, and took three loaves at a time, about the bigness of musket bullets. They supplied me as they could, showing a thousand marks of wonder and astonishment at my bulk and appetite. I then made another sign that I wanted drink. They found by my eating that a small quantity would not suffice me; and being a most ingenious people, they slung up, with great dexterity, one of their largest hogsheads, then rolled it towards my hand, and beat out the top: I drank it off at a draught; which I might well do, for it did not hold half a pint, and tasted like a small (3) wine of Burgundy, but much more delicious. They brought me a second hogshead, which I drank in the same manner, and made signs for more; but they had none to give me. When I had performed these wonders, they shouted for joy, and danced upon my breast, repeating, several times, as they did at first, Hekinah degul. They made me a sign that I should throw down the two hogsheads, but first warning the people below to stand out of the way, crying aloud, Borach mivola; and, when they saw the vessels in the air, there was an universal shout of Hekinah degul. Soon after, I heard a general shout, with frequent repetitions of the words, Peplom selan, and I felt great numbers of people on my left side, relaxing the cords to such a degree, that I was able to turn upon my right, and so get a little ease. But, before this, they had daubed my face of ointment very pleasant to the smell, which, in a few minutes, removed all the smart of their arrows. These circumstances, added to the refreshment I had received by their victuals and drink, which were very nourishing, disposed me to sleep. I slept about eight hours, as I was afterwards assured; and it was no wonder, for the physicians, by the emperorâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s order, had mingled a sleepy potion (4) in the hogsheads of wine. It seems that, upon the first moment I was discovered sleeping on the ground, after my landing, the emperor had early notice of it by an express; and determined in council, that I should be tied in the manner I have related (which was done in the night, while I slept), that plenty of meat and drink should be sent to me, and a machine prepared to carry me to the capital city. This resolution, perhaps, may appear very bold and dangerous, and I am confident would not be imitated by any prince in Europe on the like occasion. However, in my opinion, it was extremely prudent, as well as generous; for, supposing these people had endeavoured to kill me with their spears and arrows, while I was asleep, I should certainly

187

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

have awaked with the first sense of smart, which might so far have roused my rage and strength, as to have enabled me to break the strings wherewith I was tied; after which, as they were not able to make resistance, so they could expect no mercy. Five hundred carpenters and engineers were immediately set at work to prepare the greatest engine (6) they had. It was a frame of wood, raised three inches from the ground, about seven feet long and four wide, moving upon twenty-two wheels. The shout I heard was upon the arrival of this engine, which, it seems, set out in four hours after my landing. It was brought parallel to me as I lay. But the principal difficulty was to raise and place me in this vehicle. Eighty poles, each of one foot high, were erected for this purpose, and very strong cords, of the bigness of packthread, were fastened by hooks to many bandages, which the workmen had girt round my neck, my hands, my body, and my legs. Nine hundred of the strongest men were employed to draw up these cords by many pulleys fastened on the poles; and thus in less than three hours I was raised and slung into the engine, and there tied fast. All this I was told; for, while the whole operation was performing, I lay in a profound sleep, by the force of that soporiferous (7) medicine infused into my liquor. Fifteen hundred of the emperor’s largest horses, each about four inches and a half high, were employed to draw me towards the metropolis, which, as I said, was half a mile distant. We made a long march the remaining part of that day, and rested at night with five hundred guards on each side of me, half with torches, and half with bows and arrows, ready to shoot me, if I should offer to stir. The next morning, at sunrise, we continued our march, and arrived within two hundred yards of the city gates about noon. The emperor, and all his court, came out to meet us; but his great officers would by no means suffer his majesty to endanger his person by mounting on my body. At the place where the carriage stopped there stood an ancient temple, esteemed to be the largest in the whole kingdom; which, having been polluted some years before by an unnatural murder, was, according to the zeal of those people, looked upon as profane, and therefore had been applied to common use, and all the ornaments and furniture carried away. In this edifice it was determined I should lodge. The great gate, fronting to the north, was about four feet high, and almost two feet wide, through which I could easily creep. On each side of the gate was a small window, not above six inches from the ground; into that on the left side the king’s smith conveyed four scored and eleven chains, like those that hang to a lady ‘s watch in Europe, and almost as large, which were locked to my left leg with six and-thirty padlocks. Over against this temple, on the other side of the great highway, at twenty feet distance, there was a turret at least five feet high. Here the emperor ascended, with many principal lords of his court, to have an opportunity of viewing me, as I was told, for I could not see

188

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

them. It was reckoned that above an hundred thousand inhabitants came out of the town upon the same errand; and, in spite of my guards, I believe there could not be fewer than ten thousand, at several times, who mounted my body, by the help of ladders. But a proclamation was soon issued, to forbid it, upon pain of death. When the workmen found it was impossible for me to break loose, they cut all the strings that bound me; whereupon I rose up, with as melancholy a disposition as ever I had in my life. The chains that held my left leg were about two yards long, and gave me not only the liberty of walking backwards and forwards in a semicircle, but, being fixed within four inches of the gate, allowed me to creep in, and lie at my full length in the temple.

A conclusion 1. What general idea is Swift expressing by making everything in Lilliput tiny? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

How an author plans 1. Why do you think Swift planned to have Gulliver wake in a position that made him learn very gradually about Lilliput and the Lilliputians? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What is suggested about the efficiency of European arms and weapons in the 18th century? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What comment on royalty is implied? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ Footnotes 1. Bindings. N. A cover. V. something you have to do.

189

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

4. What is Swift ridiculing in the inventory of his pockets? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Which articles would you have been unable to identify without Gulliver’s explanation? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Size alone easily impresses human beings. Many loyal citizens are extravagantly pleased when their city increases in size. What may be more important than the size of a city to its inhabitants, the whole state, or the nation? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Words 1. We use as a common expression the phrase “to feel small”; if someone makes you “feel small,” what does he do to you? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Explain how Swift was trying to make his fellow countrymen “feel small.” ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What is satire? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Why do you think that a satirist must feel superior to those he ridicules? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

190

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

5. Why is satire a dangerous weapon? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. How are the targets of a satire likely to feel about the satirist? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

191

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (1661-1731) was born in London, where his father, a retired butcher, saw to it that he received a good education. He thought of entering the Church, but gave up this plan and went into business. Before long he found himself bankrupt, perhaps because he paid more attention to politics than to his own affairs. He now supported himself as a journalist, writing for political papers. He did not always write on the same side of a question, since a journalist’s fortunes in those days depended on his standing well with the political party in power. Defoe has a gift for writing imaginary histories with such minute and realistic* detail that everyone thought they were true. His Journal of the Plague Year, though largely imaginary, is so convincing that many people have mistaken it for the account of an eyewitness. Robinson Crusoe (1719) is almost pure fiction based on a few historical facts; yet it contains so many seemingly accurate details that the reader is tempted to accept it as an account of actual events. It is one of the earliest pieces of English realistic fiction of the novel type. Whatever his real motive, Defoe was the first English writer of fiction to portray scenes from actual life with anything like true realism. Plot overview Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe is a novel by Daniel Defoe, first published in 1719 and sometimes regarded as the first novel in English. The book is a fictional autobiography of the title character, an English castaway who spends 28 years on a remote island, encountering savages, captives, and mutineers before being rescued. This device, presenting an account of supposedly factual events, is known as a “false document”, and gives a realistic frame to the story. The full title of the novel is The Life and Strange Surprising Adventures of Robinson Crusoe of York, Mariner: who lived Eight and Twenty Years, all alone in an uninhabited Island on the coast of America, near the Mouth of the Great River of Oroonoque; Having been cast on Shore by Shipwreck, wherein all the Men perished but himself. With An Account how he was at last as strangely deliver by Pirates. Written by Himself. Crusoe leaves England on a sea voyage in September 1651 against the wishes of his parents. The ship is taken over by Salè pirates and Crusoe becomes the slave of a Moor. He

192

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

manages to escape with a boat and is befriended by the Captain of a Portuguese ship off the western coast of Africa. The ship is en route to Brazil. There with the help of the Captain, Crusoe becomes owner of a plantation. He joins an expedition to bring slaves from Africa, but he is shipwrecked in a storm about forty miles out to sea on an island near the mouth of the Orinoco river on September 30, 1659. His companions all die; he manages to fetch arms, tools and other supplies from the ship before it breaks apart and sinks. He proceeds to build a fenced-in habitation and cave, keeps a calendar by making marks in a piece of wood. He hunts, grows corn, learns to make pottery, raises goats, etc. He reads the Bible and slowly becomes religious, thanking God for his fate in which nothing is missing but society. He discovers native cannibals occasionally visit the island to kill and eat prisoners. At first he plans to kill the savages for their abomination, but then he realizes that he has no right to do so as the cannibals have not attacked him and do not knowingly commit a crime. He dreams of capturing one or two servants by freeing some prisoners, and indeed, when a prisoner manages to escape, Crusoe helps him, naming his new companion “Friday” after the day of the week he appeared, and teaches him English and converts him to Christianity. (In those days, British - and Dutch - whites often called coloured servants and slaves “Thursday”, “Friday”, “January” etc.) After another party of natives arrive to partake in a grisly feast, Crusoe and Friday manage to kill most of the natives and save two of the prisoners. One is Friday’s father and the other is a Spaniard, who informs Crusoe that there are other Spaniards shipwrecked on the mainland. A plan is devised where the Spaniard would return with Friday’s father to the mainland and bring back the others, build a ship, and sail to a Spanish port. Before the Spaniards return, an English ship appears; mutineers have taken control of the ship and intend to maroon their former captain on the island. The captain and Crusoe manage to retake the ship. They leave for England, leaving behind three of the mutineers to fend for themselves and inform the Spaniards what happened. Crusoe leaves the island on December 19, 1686. He travels to Portugal to find his old friend, the Captain, who informs him that his Brazilian plantation was well cared for and he has become wealthy. From Portugal, he travels overland to England, to avoid mishaps at sea, via Spain and France; during winter in the Pyrenees, he and his companions have to fend off an attack by vicious wolves. Back in England, he decides to sell his plantation, as returning to Brazil would entail converting to Catholicism. Later in life, after marrying, having three children and becoming widowed, he returns to his island for a last time. The book ends with a hint about a sequel that would detail his return to the island, which had been discovered.

By Liz Patricia Rivera Sanchez, Graduated from Education Faculty, UNMSM.

193

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

From Robinson Crusoe Robinson Crusoe was astonishingly popular in its own day and has been read and enjoyed by hundreds of thousands of readers since then. It started a wholly new kind of literature. The stories you read today of castaways on a desert island are the literary descendants of Defoe’s tale. So too, after a fashion, are the stories of trips to the moon or of colonizing Mars. Robinson Crusoe, though based to a slight extent on the experiences of actual castaways, was almost entirely the work of Defoe’s powerful imagination. His experiences as a reporter helped him to give the story so many lifelike touches that it was hard for readers to believe that Robinson Crusoe was pure fiction and not carefully reported fact. Its popularity comes partly from its attempt to answer a question that every civilized person asks sooner or later: “How might a man survive without tools, implements, weapons, or any other conveniences of civilization?” The hero is an uneducated man with no more than average strength. He faces the forces of nature on an uninhabited island. There are a few advantages allowed him by the author: he does not have to defend himself from hostile inhabitants nor from extreme cold; there are some harmless animals and birds on the island, from which he obtains some food; from the shipwreck he saves a few things. Because the story is told by the hero himself in simple, matter-of-fact language, you will from the first that the experiences are real. As one difficulty after another arises and is crudely but successfully overcome, you will continue to wonder, “Could I have done that?” “Would I have thought of that?” You will identify yourself completely with Crusoe and find yourself living the shipwrecked sailor’s life.

How an author plans 1. Why does Defoe spend so much time discussing the problem of the spade and Crusoe’s effort to make pottery? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What does the struggle to produce a boat add to the realism of the story? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What things did Crusoe save from the wrecks that are mentioned in this extract? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

194

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

4. What was his original reason, do you think, for saving each? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. What additional purposes did some serve? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. How do you know that Crusoe had a sense of humour? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. What advantage did this quality have? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 8. What effect did solitude have on Crusoe’s behaviour? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 9. What is the best example you can find to prove your point? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Interpretations on Robinson Crusoe Despite its simple narrative style and the absence of the supposedly indispensable love motive, it was well received in the literary world. The book is considered one of the most widely published books in history (behind some of the religious texts). It has been a hit since the day it was published, into modern times. The true symbol of the British conquest is Robinson Crusoe: “He is the true prototype of the British colonist… The whole Anglo-Saxon spirit is in Crusoe: the manly independence, the unconscious cruelty, the persistence, the slow yet efficient intelligence, the sexual apathy, the calculating taciturnity”. Robinson is not a hero, but an everyman. He begins as a wanderer, aimless on a sea he does not understand; he ends as a pilgrim, crossing a final mountain to enter the promised

195

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

land. The book tells the story of how Robinson gets closer to God, not through listening to sermons in a church but through spending time alone amongst nature with only a Bible to read. This view was not welcomed by the established Anglican church of the time, which thought the message in the book was anarchic and close to heresy. Defoe’s views are reflected in those of Christian anarchism. Robinson Crusoe is filled with religious aspects. Defoe was himself a Puritan moralist, and normally worked in the guide tradition, writing books on how to be a good Puritan Christian, such as The New Family Instructor (1727) and Religious Courtship (1722). While Robinson Crusoe is far more than a guide, it shares many of the same themes and theological and moral points of view. Interpretation prepared By Liz Patricia Rivera Sanchez, Graduated from Education Faculty, UNMSM.

Character’s List on Robinson Crusoe 1. Robinson Crusoe: the main character of the story, he is a rebellious youth with an inexplicable need to travel. Because of this need, he brings misfortune on himself and is left to fend for himself in a primitive land. The novel essentially chronicles his mental and spiritual development as a result of his isolation. He is a contradictory character; at the same time he is practical ingenuity and immature decisiveness. 2. Xury: a friend/servant of Crusoe’s, he also escapes from the Moors. A simple youth who is dedicated to Crusoe, he is admirable for his willingness to stand by the narrator. However, he does not think for himself. 3. Friday: another friend/servant of Crusoe’s, he spends a number of years on the island with the main character, who saves him from cannibalistic death. Friday is basically Crusoe’s protege, a living example of religious justification of the slavery relationship between the two men. His eagerness to be redone in the European image is supposed to convey that this image is indeed the right one. 4. Crusoe’s father: although he appears only briefly in the beginning, he embodies the theme of the merits of Protestant, middle-class living. It is his teachings from which Crusoe is running, with poor success. 5. Crusoe’s mother: one of the few female figures, she fully supports her husband and will not let Crusoe go on a voyage. 6. Moorish patron: Crusoe’s slave master, he allows for a role reversal of white men as slaves. He apparently is not too swift, however, in that he basically hands Crusoe an escape opportunity. 7. Portuguese sea captain: one of the kindest figures in the book, he is an honest man who embodies all the Christian ideals. Everyone is supposed to admire him for his extreme generosity to the narrator. He almost takes the place of Crusoe’s father. 8. Spaniard: one of the prisoners saved by Crusoe, it is interesting to note that he is treated with much more respect in Crusoe’s mind than any of the colored peoples with whom Crusoe is in contact.

196

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

9. Captured sea captain: he is an ideal soldier, the intersection between civilized European and savage white man. Crusoe’s support of his fight reveals that the narrator no longer has purely religious motivations. 10. Widow: she is goodness personified, and keeps Crusoe’s money safe for him. She is in some way a foil to his mother, who does not support him at all. 11. Savages: the cannibals from across the way, they represent the threat to Crusoe’s religious and moral convictions, as well as his safety. He must conquer them before returning to his own world. 12. Negroes: they help Xury and Crusoe when they land on their island, and exist in stark contrast to the savages. List of Characters prepared by Cesar Orosco Rojas, graduated from Education Faculty, UNMSM.

Daniel Defoe literary production Fiction Novels: Captain Singleton Robinson Crusoe The Farther Adventures of Robinson Crusoe A Journal of the Plague Year Memoirs of a Cavalier Moll Flanders Roxana: The Fortunate Mistress Atalantis Major Journal of the Plague Year Captain Jack Pamphlets: Dissenter Tales: Travellers’ tale. Books: Through the Whole Island of Great Britain The Complete English Tradesman London the Most Flourishing City in the Universe

197

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Literary Terms 1. Couplet A couplet is a pair of lines of verse. It usually consists of two lines that rhyme and have the same meter. Some cultures have decorative traditions associated with them. E.g. “True wit is nature to advantage dressed What oft was thought, but ne’er so well expressed.” Alexander Pope 2. Verse may refer to poetry. Poetry: --Verse (poetry), a line of poetry, a stanza … Blank verse is a type of poetry having regular meter but no rhyme. Blank Verse is written in iambic pentameter, without rhyme. Many of the speeches in the plays of William Shakespeare are written in blank verse; this example is from Macbeth:

Tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, Creeps in this petty pace from day to day, To the last syllable of recorded time; And all our yesterdays have lighted fools The way to dusty death. Out, out, brief candle! Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player That struts and frets his hour upon the stage And then is heard no more: it is a tale Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.

Free verse is a type of poetry written without the use of strict meter or rhyme, but that is still recognizable as ‘poetry’. Mirror, Mirror My game face is blue. I must put it back on, see How much of my glory was real And how much fever. I see drawn eyes, too much marring,

198

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

A suit of swan feathers Without the matching shape. And however I imagine lights, No straw spins to gold. I see as I have been seen, Not radiant, but ashine in hope Yet to see a finish.

by Katherine Foreman

3. Satire satire: a literary tone used to ridicule or make fun of human vice or weakness, often with the intent of correcting, or changing, the subject of the satiric attack. Satire is often strictly defined as a literary genre or form; although, in practice, it is also found in the graphic and performing arts. In satire, human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement. Although satire is usually meant to be funny, the purpose of satire is not primarily humour in itself so much as an attack on something of which the author strongly disapproves, using the weapon of wit. A very common, almost defining feature of satire is its strong vein of irony or sarcasm, but parody, burlesque, exaggeration, juxtaposition, comparison, analogy, and double entendre are all frequently used in satirical speech and writing. The essential point, however, is that “in satire, irony is militant”. This “militant irony” (or sarcasm) often professes to approve the very things the satirist actually wishes to attack. 4. Ode Ode (from the Ancient Greek ὠδή) is a form of stately and elaborate lyrical verse. A classic ode is structured in three parts: the strophe, the antistrophe, and the epode. Different forms such as the homostrophic ode and the irregular ode also exist. 5. Lyric poetry Lyric poetry refers to a usually short poem that expresses personal feelings, which may or may not be set to music.[1] Aristotle, in Poetics, contrasted lyric poetry with drama and epic poetry. An example would be a poem that expresses feelings and may be a song that could be performed to an audience. 6. Essays An essay is usually a short piece of writing. It is often written from an author’s personal point of view. Essays can be literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author.

199

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The definition of an essay is vague, overlapping with those of an article and a short story. Almost all modern essays are written in prose, but works in verse have been dubbed essays (e.g. Alexander Pope’s An Essay on Criticism and An Essay on Man). While brevity usually defines an essay, voluminous works like John Locke’s An Essay Concerning Human Understanding and Thomas Malthus’s An Essay on the Principle of Population provide counterexamples. It is very difficult to define the genre into which essays fall. Aldous Huxley, a leading essayist, gives guidance on the subject: Like the novel, the essay is a literary device for saying

7. Novels A novel (from the Italian novella, Spanish novela, French nouvelle for “new”, “news”, or “short story of something new”) is today a long narrative in literary prose. The genre has historical roots both in the fields of the medieval and early modern romance and in the tradition of the novella. The latter supplied the present generic term in the late 18th century. The definition of the term in the last two or three centuries has usually embraced several other criteria: artistic merit, fictional content, a design to create an epic totality of life, a focus on history and the individual. Critics and scholars have related the novel to several neighboring genres. On the one hand, it is related to public and private histories, such as the non-fiction memoir and the autobiography. On the other hand, the novel can be viewed as a form of art, to be evaluated critically in terms of the history of literature and calling for a specific sensitivity on the part of the reader to fully understand and properly appreciate it. http://www.google.com.pe/search?hl=es&q=literary+terms&meta= http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/

200

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Activity After you have answered all the questions after every reading in this unit , please, answer all the questions from your mind. If you cannot do it, please go back to the materials and start reading again. This activity will give fluency and you improve your English competence. 1. What have you learned from this chapter? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the historical background of this period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Comment firefly on the characteristics of this period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. What genres were developed primarily? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Study Alexander Pope and make a summary about his epigraph on “An essay on Criticism”. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Study John Dryden and analyse briefly “Alexander’s Feast “ or “ The power of Music”. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. Study Jonathan Swift and his masterpiece “Gulliver’s Travel” ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

201

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

8. Study Daniel Defoe and his work “Robinson Crusoe” ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 9. What literary devices have you learned in this unit? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 10. Prepare a Chart of the Classicism. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

202

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The Classicists (The Restoration) Years: 1660-1798 Content:  Emphasis on reason and logic  Stresses harmony, stability, wisdom  Locke: a social contract exists between the government and the people. The government governs guaranteeing “natural rights” of life, liberty, and property

Style/Genres:  Satire: uses irony and exaggeration to poke fun at human faults and foolishness in order to correct human behavior  Poetry  Essays  Letters, diaries, biographies  Novels

Effect:  emphasis on the individual  belief that man is basically evil  approach to life: “the world as it should be”

Historical Context:  50% of the men are functionally literate (a dramatic rise)  Fenced enclosures of land cause demise of traditional village life  Factories begin to spring up as industrial revolution begins  Impoverished masses begin to grow as farming life declines and factories build  Coffee houses—where educated men spend evenings with literary and political associates Key Literature/Authors: Alexander Pope, John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, Daniel Defoe, Samuel Johnson, John Bunyan,

203

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Bibliography 1. Robinson, Nell M and Webb, Charles F. Literature of England, 1985, Ginn and Company. 2. Robinson, Nell M. and Webb, Charles F. Literature of England, 1985, Ginn and Company” 3. John McRae. Reading Between the Lines. Cambridge Unversity Press. 1984. 4. Charlyn Wessels. Drama. Oxford Unversity Press. 1988. 5. Ronald Carters. Literatura and the Learner: Methodological Approaches. British Council.1990. 6. Symour Chatman. Literary Styles: A Symposium. Oxford Unversity Press. 7. Cleanth Brooks. Understanding Poetry. Yale University. 1984. 8. Alan Duff. Literatura. Oxford Unversity Press. 1991 9. Marjorie Wescott. Drama I. Macmillan Company. 1996. 10. Michael Cummings. The Language of Literatura. Pegamon Press. Lyd. Oxford. 1985. 11. Roger Mover. Reading Literatura. Longman. 1996. http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/%7Erbear/bacon.html http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/passionateshepherd.htm http://apo.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/villanova/hemingway/original.htm http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/characters.html http://www.saratogaschools.org/academic/terry/hamletsite/WordDocs/Reading%20Comp%20 Act%20I%20%20Notes.do http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-inanothercountry/ http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/33810.html http://dictionary.cambridge.org/

204

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

UNIT SIX

LITERATURE OF THE ROMANTICISM

Objectives 1. Learn about the historical background of the Romanticism. 2. Deepen the information about the literary tendencies of the Romanticism. 3. Get familiar with literary genders that characterise the Romanticism. 4. Study William Wordsworth and his biography and analysis of “Lucy Gray” and “It is a Beauteous Evening”. 5. Study Lord Byron, his biography and analysis of his masterpieces “Maid of Athens, ere we Part” and “Adieu, Adieu”. 6. Use all this information for oral production. 7. Familiarise with some literary terms that characterise this period.

205

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Chapter VI

6. THE ROMANTICISTS The year 1798, in which the Lyrical Ballads of Wordsworth and Coleridge was published, is usually given as the initial date of the Romantic Period, and 1832, the year of Scott’s death, as its terminal boundary. But, as you have seen, the forces of romanticism were at work long before 1798 and have continued to be active right up to the present time. Today we apply the term romantic to scenes or happenings that are strange and unusual, especially Gaspar David Friedish those involving love or adventure. An ancient mossRepresenting the Romanticism covered ruin, a lake by moonlight, lofty mountains, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanticism -any of these we may think of as romantic scenes. th th For the 18 and early 19 centuries, however, the word romantic had a much more specific meaning. Romanticism then meant the abandonment of the old, accepted rules in society, in politics, and in literature, and the establishment of new standards. The Romantic Movement brought into English life a new freedom, a new regard for the individual, and a new feeling for truth and beauty. It brought also new responsibilities and new dangers.

6.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND Romanticism in politics One form of romanticism was political. Democratic ideas were in the air on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. In France the oppressed people sought freedom from the social injustice under which they had suffered since the Middle Ages. The ideals of the French Revolution had a profound influence in England; the motto “Liberty, equality, fraternity” became the slogan of romantic democracy throughout Western Europe and America. Even before the French Revolution the people of America expressed their faith in democracy by establishing, in 1776, a government founded upon the principle that “all men are created free and equal.” The struggle for freedom in the 18th century was, as is always the case with such a struggle, charged with dynamite. In France it exploded into the uncontrolled violence of the French Revolution. But in England the romantic enthusiasm of the people was tempered by sound common sense, so that, while they advanced toward freedom, they moved toward it along a road of moderation.

206

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The industrial revolution During the Romantic Period the industrial life of England underwent a change which in effect amounted to a peaceful revolution. The industrial revolution began in the latter half of the 18th century, during the Age of Classicism and continued until the middle of the 19th century. During its progress England ceased to be mainly an agricultural country and became mainly an industrial country dotted with towns and cities whose people lived chiefly by manufactured goods for sale at home or abroad. The change was brought about by the invention of machinery and the increased use of coal for smelting iron. In 1765 James Watt invented an early form of the steam engine; in 1768 Richard Arkwright constructed an improved machine for spinning yarn; in 1785 Edmund Cartwright made a usable power loom for weaving cloth; other new machines were invented for knitting stockings and making lace. Transportation was greatly improved by the construction of better roads, by the digging of canals, and, finally, by the building of railroads. The first English railway was opened in 1825, a few years before the beginning of the first railroad in America. The first steamboat in England was operated soon after 1800, about the same time that Fulton’s Clermont made its trial run on the Hudson River in America. In 1825 the first steamship reached Liverpool from America, thus uniting the two countries more closely than ever before. The industrial revolution also resulted in a rapid growth of English towns, especially in those districts where manufacturing could be carried on to advantage. The growth of the towns brought with it housing problems, slum areas, and, in many cases, poverty and discontent among the labouring classes. The social problems of the industrial centers were rendered more difficult by an enormous increase in the population of England. During the early years of the industrial revolution the population of the whole country was not much more than ten millions; by the latter part of the 19th century it had increased to more than forty millions.

6.2. LITERARY TENDENCIES OF THE ROMANTICISM The appeal of the common man Partly because he was gaining political influence, the common man was respected and idealized as never before. As is usual in steps forward, poets and idealists led the way. Burns, in 1794, had declared boldly that the worth of a man depends, not on his social rank, but on the kind of stuff he’s made of. “The rank is but the guinea’s (1) stamp, The man’s the gowd (2) for a’ that.”

207

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Goldsmith, even earlier, had written of “a bold peasantry, their country’s pride”. Gray had raised the question whether the simple folk buried in a village churchyard had not had potentialities which “their lot (poverty and lack of opportunity) forbade” them to fulfill. The romanticists maintained that the humble and obscure had such potentialities, and political romanticism was determined to improve their lot.

A new awareness of childhood The new admiration for simplicity and naturalness turned the romanticists’ attention in sympathy and love toward children. Before the late 18th century children had rarely been treated with understanding. The romanticists regarded the very young reverently, looking upon them as unspoiled by the artificializing influences of society. Wordsworth especially liked to write of the simplicity and naturalness of children. Children were occasionally portrayed realistically in the pages of novels.

A new feeling for nature To the classicist the ideal landscape was an orderly garden with clipped hedges and trimmed walks. The romanticist found greater charm in country scenes where the natural loveliness of woods and streams was untouched by the hand of man. Where the classicist, with his passion for order, abhorred the untamed aspects of nature, the romanticist found wild beauty in lofty mountains and deep forest, and a freedom and majesty in the power of ocean. Whatever aspect of nature the romanticists admired, they found in it more than mere pleasure. Lord Byron sought the solitude of nature as an escape from man and a solace for man’s imperfections. William Wordsworth found in nature a revelation of God. To Percy Bysshe Shelley nature was the starting point for lofty flights of imagination; to John Keats, the song of the nightingale was the key to realms of sheer beauty and romance.

New emphasis on the individual Where the classicist had sought as his ideal the general and the impersonal, the romanticist strove to express his own personality, regardless of whether he followed the established rules of literature or of society. In other words, the classicist had sought to view the world objectively; the romanticist was likely to be highly subjective.*His test of rightness was more often the response of his heart than of his head, of his emotions than of his reason. In short the romantic was likely to be an individualist. Hence romantic poetry and prose are frequently most interesting for the view they give us of the writer’s own Footnotes 1. A gold coin, formerly current in England. 2. Gold.

208

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

opinions, prejudices, hopes, fears, joys, and sorrows. They depend for their permanent value on the depth and significance of his personality. At its worst, emotional responsiveness can be overdone and slip over into sentimentality. At its best, it flowers in tenderness toward helpless childhood, toward defenseless wild creatures, toward the poor and wretched.

Revival of interest in earlier times The enthusiasm of the romanticists for simplicity and spontaneity led them to admire the literature of the Middle Ages, and they returned frequently to that period for subject matter, mood, and treatment. The romances of the age of chivalry had, for many centuries, appealed to poets. Now a new interest, the appeal of the common man, turned the romanticists toward another type of early literature, the ballads, and the poetry of the common people. Collecting ballads became a valued literary enterprise. Percy’s Reliques, published in the late 18th century, was widely read and admired. Many other collections of ancient ballads and songs were made, including Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border, edited by Sir Walter Scott. Poets wrote imitations of the popular ballads. Ancient Scandinavian and Celtic legends, too, became popular as themes. Poets of more recent times, disregarded or frowned upon by the classicists, regained their popularity – Shakespeare, Spenser, and Milton. Shakespeare, no longer considered “an inspired barbarian”, was looked upon as England’s greatest dramatic writer and as one of the world’s most original geniuses.

THE LYRIC Old restrictions removed Although both lyric and narrative poetry flourished during the Romantic Period, it was in the lyric that the romantic spirit found its most characteristic expression. Here, in the most personal form of poetry, the romantic individualists could freely spread their wings. The romantics sought new forms as well as new subjects. The heroic couplet, though still employed occasionally, now assumed a flexibility more like that found in Chaucer’s poems than in Pope’s measured lines. The ballad stanza, because of the enthusiasm for folk poetry, became very popular. The ode took on new life in the hands of the romantic poets, and they revived old and long-neglected verse forms, such as blank verse, the sonnet, and the Spenserian stanza. In their desire for striking and unfamiliar forms, some poets invented new forms or adapted old ones, as Shelley did when he used the Italian terza rima in his “Ode to the Wets Wind”.

209

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

In language too the romantics were experimentalists. Abandoning the artificial, high-flow vocabulary of early 18th-century verse, they came closer to the language of everyday speech. Wordsworth, in his preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads, maintained that the vocabulary of poetry should be selected from the language of common men.

The pendulum still swings In our own times, both in England and in America, poets are experimenting vigorously. Similar movements are going on in the other arts-music and painting, for example. You will approach the work of these modern experimentalists with more understanding and sympathy if you become familiar with the recurrent pattern of action and reaction, acceptance and revolt – the classic spirit, then the romantic – that is an essential part of growth in the arts. Certain elements that the experimentalists contribute, in any age, become part of the main stream, while the excesses to which some enthusiasts are carried away disappear by process of natural selection.

THE NOVEL Two novelist stand out in the Romantic Period – Sir Walter Scott and Jane Austen. Scott took the old familiar themes of the Gothic romance, breathed into them the breath of life, and changed them from melodrama to real literature. From 1814, when Waverley appeared, almost until his death in 1832, Scott was busy writing and publishing a long series of novels, most of which reveal the same love of nature and vital interest in the past that are found in his poetry. Scott’s work illustrates the enthusiasm of the romanticists for the past of Britain, especially the age of chivalry. His historical novels are romantic because they tell of thrilling adventures, beautiful distressed ladies, brave handsome heroes, and chivalrous outlaws. The scenes are laid amid wild mountain scenery, in dark forests, in gorgeous palaces, or in gray and moss-grown castles of a bygone age. The novels were enormously popular in their day and aroused a taste for historical fiction that has continued right down to the present time. Very different are the novels of Jane Austen. Living in a little village in southern England, she wrote of what she knew best – the life she saw going on about her and of which she herself was a part. Jane Austen’s novels concern activities of village life, such as a ball, an elopement, or the arrival of an eligible young man in the neighbourhood rather than great spectacular events. But so keen is Jane Austen’s observation of the different types of people, so witty and humorous her portrayal of them (chiefly through conversations), and so skillful her handling of her plots, that she is just as lively reading today as when she first held up the mirror to her own times. For she did much more than portray amusingly the life of the late 18th century. She caught in her characters certain basic human traits so accurately and so penetratingly that as we read we find ourselves thinking, “Why, that’s just like Mrs. So-and-so-or Mr. Such-and-such,” and chuckling to ourselves. This

210

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

timelessness of her characters, of course, accounts, in part, for the success of recent dramatizations of her best-known novel, Pride and Prejudice, which has been popular both on the stage and in the movies.

THE ESSAY Naturally in an age that emphasized the individual, the familiar essay was a flourishing form. The Romantic Period is rich too in essays of literary criticism with a new approach. Instead of applying the formal rules of the classicists, romantic critics approached the works of others with sympathy and tried to understand the personality and intention of the writer before attempting to interpret his work.

A SUMMING-UP G. K. Chesterton, 20th – century writer, says, with an Irishman’s wit that the most important event of English history in the 18th and 19th centuries was one which never happened. He means an English revolution to parallel the French Revolution. He goes on to develop the idea that all the thoughts and feelings in ferment in Europe of the period boiled up in France in violent action, but in England took the form of the Romantic Movement, the rebellions finding expression in pattern-breaking writings, but in comparatively orderly social change. The English “revolution” consisted in the breaking away from formalism and restraint, the new central position of the individual, and the importance given to his thoughts and feelings, and the interest in the comman man and in the betterment of his condition. These, together with the change from an agricultural to an industrial economy, added up to a “revolution” as far-reaching in its effects as its counterpart across the Channel. But the changes followed the traditional path of the English-speaking people – the road of moderation.

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was born in the north of England of a good family. At school he read widely and took long lonely walks. After taking a degree at St. John’s College, Cambridge, he went abroad for a year, and became an ardent sympathizer with the ideals of the French revolutionists. On his return, having no money, he felt obliged to look for work. At this critical stage, however, he received an unexpected legacy from a friend, and so was able to devote himself entirely to literature.

Willian Wordsworth http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Wordsworth

211

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

From this time Wordsworth’s outer life assumed a tranquil pattern, although his “inner weather” was sometimes stormy. He made his home with his talented and understanding sister Dorothy. Her sympathetic care helped him though a period of bitter disillusionment over the excesses of the French Revolution. That the idealism which he believed was the spirit of the revolution should have ended in the bloody Reign of Terror was almost more than the sensitive poet could bear. (Idealists who saw new freedoms for mankind in the Russian Revolution suffered a like disillusionment, in our own century, in the excesses of the Communist regime.) In his later years Wordsworth, like many another, departed from the radical views of his youth, becoming definitely conservative in his political opinions. The Lake District of northwestern England, where Wordsworth made his home – first in the village of Grasmere, later at Rydal – contributed much to his personal contentment, and its landscape inspired some of his best writing. The peaceful day-by-day life there is recorded in Dorothy Wordsworth’s Journal. In 1802, Wordsworth married Mary Hutchison, a friend whom he had known since his school days. Wordsworth’s friendship with Coleridge, which developed in 1796, marked an important period in the lives of both poets. Their association resulted in a book of poems, Lyrical Ballads, published in 1798. In the preface to the 1800 edition, which has been called “the Declaration of Independence of the Romantic Movement,” Wordsworth explained and defended his poetic theories. In brief, he held; 1. that the simplest of people, scenes, and occurrences, close to Nature, played upon by imagination and feeling, could yield the finest poetry, and touch on profound problems. 2. that the language of common speech, rather than high-flown “poetic diction” conveyed best the feeling of a true poem; 3. that “emotion recollected in tranquillity” could best be made to live in poetry. In other words the best time for composition was not in the midst of an emotional experience but afterward, when it could be recreated after reflection. This famous preface, and indeed the poems themselves, encountered the contempt of the critics at first, but gradually the ideas of the romanticists gained ground. In 1843 Wordsworth, on Southey’s death, was made poet laureate – an appointment that few in the early years of the century would have thought possible for a romanticist, and an indication of the degree to which the Romantic Movement had prevailed. Wordsworth is above all the poet of nature. He was wonderfully sensitive to the most trivial of her sights and sounds. Between nature, man, and the Creator he sensed a mysterious bond. To him nature had the power to give joy and strength and consolation, to unite us on the one hand to God, and on the other to our fellow man.

LUCY GRAY In “Lucy Gray” Wordsworth took a simple story of a tragedy among humble countryfolk and sought to throw around it an atmosphere of mystery and romance. Because the story is of the sort that might have formed the subject of a popular ballad, the author composed his poem in a stanza form somewhat like that common in the ballads.

212

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Lucy Gray by Wordsworth Oft I had heard of Lucy Gray: And, when I crossed the wild, (1) I chanced to see at break of day The solitary child. No mate, no comrade Lucy knew; She dwelt on a wide moor, -The sweetest thing that ever grew Beside a human door! You yet may spy the fawn at play, The hare upon the green; But the sweet face of Lucy Gray Will never more be seen. “To-night will be a stormy nightYou to the town must go; And take a lantern, Child, to light Your mother through the snow.” “That, Father! will I gladly do: ‘Tis scarcely afternoonThe minster-clock (2) has just struck two, And yonder is the moon!” At this the Father raised his hook, And snapped a faggot-band; (3) He plied his work;-and Lucy took The lantern in her hand. Not blither is the mountain roe: With many a wanton stroke Her feet disperse the powdery snow, That rises up like smoke. The storm came on before its time: She wandered up and down; And many a hill did Lucy climb: But never reached the town.

The wretched parents all that night Went shouting far and wide; But there was neither sound nor sight To serve them for a guide. At day-break on a hill they stood That overlooked the moor; And thence they saw the bridge of wood, A furlong from their door. They wept – and, turning homeward, cried, “In heaven we all shall meet”; When in the snow the mother spied the print of Lucy’s feet. Then downwards from the steep hill’s edge They tracked the footmarks small; And though the broken hawthorn hedge, And by the long stone-wall; And then an open field they crossed: The marks were still the same; They tracked them on, nor ever lost; And to the bridge they came. They followed from the snowy bank Those footmarks, one by one, Into the middle of the plank; And further there were none! -Yet some maintain that to this day She is a living child; That you may see sweet Lucy Gray Upon the lonesome wild. O’er rough and smooth she trips along, And never looks behind; And sings a solitary song That whistles in the wind.

213

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The story itself

1. What was Lucy’s purpose in going? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What fate befell her? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

The poet’s craft 1. A friend of Wordsworth’s said that one purpose of the poet in “Lucy Gray” was “to exhibit poetically entire solitude.” What features of the poem create the impression of solitude?

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

2. What supernatural elements does the poem contain? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Have you ever seen the moon by day? If so, can you tell how its appearance suits the poet’s purpose? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Is the meter the same as in “We Are Seven”? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

A comparison In what ways does this poem remind you of the old ballads?

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Footnotes 1. Here, open, uninhabited country. 2. Church clock. 3. A band for binding the faggots (twigs) which the father was gathering.

214

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways This is one of several poems known as the Lucy poems. Just who Lucy was is unknown, but it is thought that she was a young girl whom Wordsworth came to know as he walked through one of the remoter parts of the Lake District, near where the Dove River raises. She dwelt among the untrodden ways

A violet by a moosy stone

Beside the springs of Dove,

Half hidden from the eye

A Maid whom there were none to praise

Fair as a star, when only one

And very few to love:

Is shining in the Sky. She lived unknown, and few could Know When Lucy ceased to be; But she is in her grave, and, oh, The difference to me!

The poet’s artistry 1. The best lyric poetry suggests and leaves to the imagination much more than it actually tells. What lines are especially effective in this power of stirring the imagination? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. The strongest emotional impact comes from restraint. What lines give the impression of deep feeling kept under rigid control? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Show that the last two lines are an example of economy of language, the setting forth in a few words of profound emotion. ___________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

The solitary reaper The original idea of “The Solitary Reaper” was suggested to Wordsworth while he was on a walking tour through the Highlands of Scotland in 1803. To the poet’s imagination the peasant girl reaping grain on a lonely mountain side was an appealing object, and her song, which he did not understand because she sang in Gaelic, her native language,

215

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

brought to his mind a host of suggestions from medieval legends and from the folk poetry of his own day. He carried away the memory of the song in his heart and later, recollecting it “in tranquillity,” turned it into poetry.

The Solitary Reaper Behold her, single in the field,

Will no one tell me what she sings?-

Yon solitary Highland Lass!

Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow

Reaping and singing by herself;

For old, unhappy, far-off things, (1)

Stop here, or gently pass!

And battles long ago:

Alone she cuts and binds the grain

Or is it some more humble lay,

And sings a melancholy strain;

Familiar matter of to-day?

Oh listen! for the vale profound

Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,

Is overflowing with the sound.

That has been, and may be again?

No nightingale did ever chaunt

Whate’er the theme, the maiden sang

More welcome notes to weary bands

As if her song could have no ending;

Of travellers in some shady haunt,

I saw her singing at her work,

Among Arabian sands:

And o’er the sickle bending;-

A voice so thrilling ne’er was heard

I listened, motionless and still;

In spring-time from the cuckoo-bird

And, as I mounted up the hill,

Breaking the silence of the seas

The music in my heart I bore,

Among the farthest Hebrides.

Long after it was heard no more

Footnotes 1. Note the haunting suggestiveness of this and the succeeding line. They are regarded as one of the best expressions of romanticism in English literature.

216

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Wordsworth’s theories of poetry 1. Explain how this poem illustrates Wordsworth’s theories of poetry. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Details that form a picture

1. If you were planning to draw an illustration for the poem, what lines would give you clues, both for the girl herself and for the setting? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Melodious sound

1. What words or lines seem to you to give the most musical and pleasing sound effect? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Meaning in stanza 3

1. What does the poet think may be the subject of the girl’s song? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What folk songs do you think of that spring from any of these themes? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

“It is a Beauteous Evening” The sonnet* “it is a Beauteous Evening” illustrates Wordsworth’s passionate love of humanity and nature as revelations of beauty and of God. In it the poet’s delight in the calm evening reminds him that young people, because of their closeness to nature, are constantly near to God.

“It is a Beauteous Evening It is a beauteous evening, calm and free, The holy time is quiet as a Nun Breathless with adoration; the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquillity;

217

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The gentleness of heaven broods o’er the Sea: Listen! the mighty Being is awake, And doth with his eternal motion make A sound like thunder – everlastingly. Dear Child! (1) dear Girl! that walkest with me here, If thou appear untouched by solemn thought, Thy nature is not therefore less divine: Thou liest in Abraham’s bosom all the year (2) And worship’st at the Temple’s inner shrine God being with thee when we know it not.

The thoughts of the sonnet 1. What is the theme of the octave in this sonnet? of the sestet? What idea unifies the two?

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

2. Why does the poet think it not important that the child seems “untouched by solemn thought “ in experiencing the beauties of the evening?

___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Footnotes 1. Wordsworth’s daughter Caroline. 2. Thou … year. Thou art always close to God.

218

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

LONDON, 1802 In the sonnet “London, 1802” the poet calls upon Milton, whit his free, bold spirit, to come back to life and recall England from artificiality and corruption to her ancient state of “inward happiness.” Milton! thou shouldst be living at this hour: England hath need of thee: she is a fen (1) Of stagnant waters: altar, sword, and pen, Fireside, the heroic wealth of hall and bower, Have forfeited their ancient English dower Of inward happiness. We are selfish men; Oh! raise us up, return to us again; And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power. Thy soul was like a Star, and dwelt apart: Thou hadst a voice whose sound was like the sea: Pure as the naked heavens, majestic, free, So didst thou travel on life’s common way, In cheerful godliness; and yet thy heart The lowliest duties on herself did lay.

Why Milton? 1. What facts in the life of Milton suggest that he strongly believed in simple living, freedom, and noble ideals? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What evils of his own time does the poet think a Milton might combat? ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Footnotes 1. Marsh, bog.

219

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Your own choice 1. What lines, either separate or consecutive, do you like best in this sonnet? Why? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. To what great American might a modern poet address similar lines? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

The World Is Too Much with Us Wordsworth, like many other writers of the Romantic Period, was convinced that the increasing complications of human life resulting from commercialism and the desire to “get and spend” blinded men to the beauties of nature, and thus tended to destroy the art of happy living. The ancient pagans, he implies, saw more of the true beauty of nature than the civilized people of England in his day.

The World is Too Much with us The World is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers Little we see in Nature that is ours; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! This Sea that bares her bosom to the moon; The winds that will be howling at all hours, And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers; For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not. Great God! I’d rather be A pagan suckled in a creed outworn; So might I, standing on this pleasant lea, (1) Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn; Have sight of Proteus* rising from the sea; Or hear old Triton* blow his wreathed horn.

220

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Finding the meaning 1. State in simple prose each idea expressed in this sonnet. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Tell whether you find any of the ideas applicable today. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

A conclusion Judging by this poem, what do you think Wordsworth’s attitude was toward the industrial revolution and its effects on England?

WORDSWORTH’S LYRICS – GENERAL DISCUSSION The sonnet form Work out the rhyme scheme of the three sonnets included here. Do they follow the Italian or the English pattern?

Possible defects Wordsworth, in his liking for simplicity in theme and language, has been charged with being at times so simple as to be commonplace and unpoetical. If you find any instances of these defects, discuss the passages with the class, giving reasons for your opinion.

Wordsworth’s poetic creed Which of Wordsworth’s lyrics best illustrate his theories of poetry? Explain your answer.

Modern parallels 1. What evils of society referred to in Wordsworth’s a lyric have been in some measure corrected in our times? Which, if any, have grown worse? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

221

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

2. If Milton should come back to earth and visit our country today, what would he find which fell short of his ideals? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Your own experience 1. What has your reading of the lyrics revealed to you either in (1) aspects of nature which you previously had not observed, or (2) new emotional experiences? Illustrate your answer by quotation from the poems.

George Gordon, Lord Byron George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824), has been both praised and blamed far too much. His noble birth, his extraordinarily handsome appearance, his adventurous life and compelling personality, his spontaneous genius, and his scorn for conventionality, all made him a popular and romantic hero. His defiance of the conventions probably brought upon him more blame than he deserved. As for Byron’s background, his father was a scapegrace who had married his mother for her money. His mother seems to have been violent in her ways, alternating between affectionate behaviour and scornful treatment of her son, who certainly found no security or steadying influence in his home life. His handicap of lameness, unsuccessfully treated by quack doctors, embittered the proud boy. He was educated at Harrow, one of the best of preparatory schools and later at Cambridge. After graduation from Cambridge he made a two-year tour of Europe, in the course of which he visited Greece and swam the Hellespont in imitation of the fabled Leander. On his return to England he published the first part of Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, a long poem giving an account of the author’s wanderings, and containing lyric passages of great beauty. With this poem he leapt at once to dazzling heights of fame and social prominence. In 1815 came his unfortunate marriage to Anne Isabella Milbanke. After his divorce Byron went to Italy and plunged into a life of dissipation. Toward the end of Byron’s life his nobler instincts asserted themselves. Always a passionate rebel against injustice and tyranny, he threw himself into the struggle for Greek independence from Turkey. A year after joining the Greek insurgents he became the commander-in-chief at Missolonghi, where, in the course of the campaign, he died of a fever.

222

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Maid of Athens, ere We Part “Maid of Athens” shows the poet’s remarkable skill in composing light, musical, metrically perfect verses as a graceful compliment. The lady to whom the poem was addressed, presumably Theresa Macri, at whose home Byron longed on his first visit to Athens, would have been very foolish if she had taken his allusions to his heart too seriously. Maid of Athens, ere we part,

By that lip I long to taste;

Give, oh, give me back my hearth!

By that zone-encircled (1) waist;

Or, since that has left my breast,

By all the token-flowers that tell

Keep it now, and take the rest!

What words can never speak so well;

Hear my vow before I go,

By love’s alternative joy and woe,

By those tresses unconfined,

Maid of Athens! I am gone:

Woo’d by each Aegean wind;

Think of me, sweet! when alone,

By those lids whose jetty fringe

Though I fly to Istambol,

Kiss thy soft cheeks’ blooming tinge;

Athens holds my heart and soul:

By those wild eyes like the roe,

Can I cease to love thee? No!

An illustration 1. If you wished to make an illustration in colour for “Maid of Athens” what lines would you select to work from? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

What do you think? 2. Does the Greek refrain add or detract from the effect of the poem? Give reasons for your answer ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Footnotes 1. Encircled by a girdle, or belt.

223

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

3. Why do you suppose that Byron used the Greek? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ From “Adieu, Adieu!” “Adieu, Adieu!” portrays Byron’s feelings when, stung by criticism which he felt to be unjust, he left England never to return. It illustrates the poet’s fondness for making himself the hero of his poems and for indulging in sentimental self-pity. From “Adieu, Adieu!” Adieu, adieu! my native shore Fades o’er the waters blue; The night-winds sigh, the breakers roar, And shrieks the wild sea-mew. (1) Yon sun that sets upon the sea We follow in his flight; Farewell awhile to him and thee, My native land – Good night! A few short hours, and he will rise, To give the morrow birth; And I shall hail the main (2) and skies, But not my mother earth. Deserted is my own good hall, Its hearth is desolate; Wild weeds are gathering on the wall, My dog howls at the gate.

Footnotes 1. A sea gull. 2. Open sea.

224

And now I’m in the world alone, Upon the wide, wide sea; But why should I for others groan, When none will sigh for me? Perchance my dog will whine in vain, Till fed by stranger hands; But long ere I come back again He’d tear me where he stands. With thee, my bark, I’ll swiftly go Athwart the foaming brine; Nor care what land thou bear’st me to, So not again to mine. Welcome, welcome, ye dark blue waves! And when you fail my sight, Welcome, ye deserts, and ye caves! My native land – Good night

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Background in poet’s life 1. What allusions to facts of Byron’s life do you find in this poem? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Viewpoints 1. In what ways is this poem representative of the Romantic Movement? Of Byron himself? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Your own response

1. Do you feel sympathetic with the feelings Byron expresses here? Why or why not? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

225

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Man and nature From Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Byron appears at his best and exemplifies the Finest aspect of the Romantic Movement in his hatred of tiranny and his genuine love for nature. “Man and Nature” shows his genunine love for nature. “Man and nature” shows his intensely emotional response to desert, forest, and ocean – the wild aspects of nature which the Age of Classicism feared and shunned. Here Byron’s unsatisfied tumultuous personality finds the symphathy and release which his contacts with man never give

→The Desert← Oh that the Desert were my dwell

Ye Elements¡-in whose ennobling

ing-place.

stir

With one fair Spirit for my minister

I feel myself exalted – can ye not

that I might all forget the human

Accord me such a being? Do I err

race,

In deeming such inhabit many a spot,

And, hating no one, love but only

Though with them to converse can

her¡

rarely be our lot?

→The forest← There is a pleasure in the pathless

From these our interviews, in which

woods,

I steal

There is a rapture on the lonely shore,

From all I may be or have been be-

There is society where no intrudes,

fore,

by the deep Sea, and music in its

To mingle with the Universe, and

roar:

feel

I love not man the less, but Nature

What I can ne’er express, yet cannot

more,

all conceal.

226

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The ocean Roll on, thou deep and dark blue

playful spray,

Ocean – roll ¡

And howling, to his Gods, where

Ten thousand fleets sweep over thee

haply lies.

in vain;

His petty hope in some near port or

Man marks the earth with ruin – his

bay.

control

And dashest him again to earth

Stops with the shore; - upon the

-there let him lay.

watery plain The wrecks are all thy deed, nor doth remain

The armaments which thunderstrike

A shadow of man’s ravage, save his

Of rock-built cities, bidding nations

own,

quake

When, for a moment, like a drop of

And monarchs tremble in their capi-

rain,

tals,

He sinks into thy depths with bub-

The oak leviathans, whose huge ribs

ling groan,

make

Without a grave, unknell’d, unconffin’d,

Their control creator the vain title take

and unknown.

Of lord of thee, and arbiter of war,

the walls

These are thy toys, and,as the snowy His steps are not upon thy paths-

flake,

thy fields.

They melt into thy yeast of waves,

Are not a spoil for him-thou dost

which mar

arise.

Alike the Armada’s pride or spoils

And shake him from thee, the vile

of Trafalgar.

strength he wields For earth’s destruction thou dost all despise, Spurning him from thy bosom to the skies, And sent’st him, shivering in thy

Thy shores are empires, changed in all save theeAssyria, Greece, Rome, Carthage, What are they? Thy waters washed them power

227

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

while they were free,

slime

And many a tyrant since; their shores

The monsters of the deep are made;

obey

each zone

The stranger, slave, or savage; their

Obeys thee, thou goest forth, dread,

decay

fathomless, alone.

Has dried up realms to deserts:-not so tho, Unchangeable save to thy wild waves’ play; Time writes no wrinkle on thine azure brow; Such as creation’s dawn beheld, thou rollest now. Thou glorious mirror, where the Al-mighthy’s form Glasses itself in tempest: in all time, Calm or convulsed-in breeze, or gale, or storm, Icing t he pole, or on the torrid clime Dark-heaving;-boundless, endless, and sublime The image of Eternity-the throne of the Invisible, even from out thy

228

And I have loved thee, Ocean ¡ and my joy. Of youthful sports was on thy breast to be Borne, like the bubbles, onward: From a boy I wanton’d with thy breakers- they to me Were a delight, and if the freshening Sea Made them a terror-‘twas a pleasing fear, For I was as it were a child of thee, And trusted to thy billows far and near, And laid my hand upon thy name-as I do here.

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The thought behind the images 1. Critics have said that Byron sought nature as an escape from man. What evidence do you find in the first two stanzas that Byron was not anti-social, but had a wistful desire for ideal human companionship? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What lines express best the power and vastness of the ocean as contrasted with man’s puny strength? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What lines show that in his own way (very unlike that of Wordsworth) Byron too found God in nature? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Read again the introduction to the Romanticists, and then list the features that make this poem romantic. The young Byron How do we become acquainted with the boy Byron in the last stanza? What feelings of his does the poem share with us?

Most impresive lines A disappointed would-be poet in Edgar Lee Masters’ Spoon River Anthology said, a hundred years after Byron’s day, “How great it is to write the single line ‘Roll on, thou deep and dark blue Ocean-roll” What lines in “Man and Nature” do you find most memorable and impresive? If you wish to read more “Sonnet on Chillon” “Know ye the Land where the Cypress and the Myrtle” “She walks in Beauty” “So, We’ll go No more a Roving” -“When we two parted” -“Fare thee well”

229

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Activity After you have answered all the questions after every reading in this unit , please, answer all the questions from your mind. If you cannot do it, please go back to the materials and start reading again. This activity will give fluency and you improve your English competence. 1. What have you learned from this chapter? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the historical background of this period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What are the characteristics of the Romanticism? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. What literary genres characterise this Romantic period? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Study Wordsworth, his biography, and analysis of “Lucy Gray”, “She Dwelt among the Untrodden Ways” and “It is a Beauteous Evening? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. According to Wordsworth in what sense the commercialism is affecting people nowadays? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 7. Analyse the poem “Lucy Gray” and “Sew dwelt among the Untrodden Ways”. What do they illustrate? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 8. What does the poem “The solitary reaper” illustrate? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

230

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

9. What do the poems “It is a Beauteous Evening” illustrate’, “London, 1802” illustrate and “The world is too much with us? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 10. Prepare a summary about George Gordon, Lord Byron’s biography, his “Adieu, Adieu” and “Man and Nature”? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

231

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Romanticism

Years: 1798 – 1832

Content: human knowledge consists of impressions and ideas formed in the individual’s mind introduction of gothic elements and terror/horror stories and novels in nature one can find comfort and peace that the man-made urbanized towns and factory environments cannot offer

Style/Genres:  poetry  lyrical ballads

Effects:

 Evil attributed to society not to human nature  Human beings are basically good  Movement of protest: a desire for personal freedom  Children seen as hapless victims of poverty and exploitation

Historical Context:  Napoleon rises to power in France and opposes England militarily and economically gas lamps developed  Tory philosophy that government should NOT interfere with private enterprise  middle class gains representation in the British parliament  Railroads begin to run

Key Literature/Authors:  Novelists: Jane Austen, Mary Shelley  Poets: William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Robert Burns, William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Shelley, John Keats,

232

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

Bibliography 1. Robinson, Nell M. and Webb, Charles F. Literature of England, 1985, Ginn and Company. 2. John McRae. Reading Between the Lines. Cambridge University Press. 1984. 3. Ronald Carters. Literature and the Learner. Methodological Approaches. British Council.1990. 4. Seymour Chatman. Literary Styles: A Symposium. Oxford University Press. 5. Cleanth Brooks. Understanding Poetry. Yale University. 1984. 6. Marjorie Westcott. Drama I. Macmillan Company. 1996. 7. Michael Cummings. The Language of Literature. Pergamum Press. Lyd. Oxford. 1985. 8. Abrams, M.H. Glossary of literary terms. 5th ed. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1998. 9. Barzun, Jacques. The modern researcher. 5th ed. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 1992. 10. Baugh, Albert Croll. A literary history of England. 2nd ed. New York: Appleton-CenturyCrofts, 1967. 11. The Cambridge guide to literature in English. Ed. Ian Ousby. Revised Edition. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 1993. 12. The Cambridge history of English literature. Ed. A. W. Ward, A. R. Waller. New York; London: Putnam, 1907-33. 15 v. 13. Harmon, William; Holman, C. Hugh. A handbook to literature. 7th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1996. 14. A Dictionary of modern critical terms. Ed. Roger Fowler. Rev. ed. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1987. http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/passionateshepherd.htm http://apo.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/villanova/hemingway/original.htm http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-inanothercountry/

233

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/33810.html http://dictionary.cambridge.org/ http://www.tnellen.com/cybereng/lit_terms/

234

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

UNIT SEVEN

THE VICTORIANS

Objectives 1. Be informed about the Historical background of the Victorian Period. 2. Analyse the Victorian Period and the literary genders that characterise this period. 3. Study Charles Dickens and his literary production “David Copperfield”. 4. Be aware of the themes, motifs and symbols behind David Copperfield. 5. Learn About Emily Bronte: her biography, literary production and analysis of the Old Stoic. 6. Ger familiar with some literary terms that characterise this period.

235

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

7.1. HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF TH E VICTORIAN PERIOD In the days of the young queen Because Victoria lived to be an old lady and through many of her latter years dressed in morning for her deceased husband, Prince Albert, “Victorian” signifies to most people a sedate, even somber mood. They forget that when Victoria came to the throne she was a girl of eighteen, charming her people with her light-hearted joy in simple pleasures. She danced and rode to hounds, delighted in parties and in young society. No less did she please the more serious portion of her court by conscientious attention to affairs of state. The English people were enthusiastic about their young queen even as they are today about Elizabeth II.

One of the longest and most eventful reigns in England’s history This was the spirit in which one of the longest reigns in English history began. Victoria came to the throne in 1837 and ruler until her death in 1901. It has been fashionable to use the term “Victorian” for a limited little group of ideas, such as rooms over cluttered with objects, minds too self-satisfied and sure of all the answer, a blind optimistic faith in progress and uplift. It is well to remember, however, that generalizations are dangerous and likely to be far from the truth. But out of the Kaleidoscope of Victoria’s reign, certain patterns and movements do emerge.

Social changes at home and abroad During the early 19th century, England, as a result of the double impact of the Napoleonic* wars and the industrial revolution, was faced with high taxes and the need for improving conditions for the many workers drawn to the cities by the new factories. Many far-reaching reforms took place. Abuses in local and national government were gradually removed; the right to vote was extended to all male taxpayers, and other new privileges were given to the average citizen. The popular slogan was “The greatest happiness for the greatest number.” Another sign of the times was the speed with which middle-class families were rising to power and influence through large-scale industry. In their struggle for social prestige and culture, they became purchasers of art objects and of books.

236

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

While such growth and change were taking place at home, British possessions overseas were developing too, and some of the colonies were well on the way toward becoming self-governing democracies. Hand in hand with reforms in government went a quickened sense of public responsibility. The masses, having gained the vote, could make their needs felt. The interest in the common man, which the romanticist had felt, bore fruit in humanitarian activities, such as social-service and public-health administration. Working hours were shortened, and conditions in mines and factories were improved. In 1833 Great Britain abolished slavery in her colonies. Many societies were formed for the purpose of doing good to mankind. The Salvation Army began its work in the poorer section of London a little after 1850. During the Crimean War, Florence Nightingale and other women, by their unselfish labours in the army hospitals, laid the foundation for the established of the Red Cross. This new attitude of moral responsibility for the unfortunate found expression in literature: Dickens in his novels was constantly prodding his generation to social reform; Mrs. Browning, in the “The Cry of the Children,” turned the public’s attention to the evils of child labour.

The advance of science and invention Social changes were accompanied by a remarkable advance in science and invention. Geologists and astronomers discovered that the universe is an orderly whole regulated by definitive laws. The practical application of discoveries in magnetism, electricity, and preventive medicine greatly increased human comfort and convenience; In fact, the results of scientific investigation were so spectacular that the possibilities of advancement through science for the good of all seemed almost unlimited. While some people valued science only for its material benefits, others saw in it possibilities for a nobler, freer development of mankind. Yet many thoughtful men and women were disturbed by scientific discoveries which seemed to challenge the world as they had known it and even to contradict some religious teachings. Still others, because they expected science to solve all problems, were disillusioned. Meanwhile all these developments and reactions to them were reflected in the literature of the age. Tennyson, for instance, in In Memoriam, reflects the uncertainty people went through in learning to understand and reconcile new discoveries and knowledge in light of their beliefs and earlier knowledge.

Education extended and modernized Because of the broad extension of the right to vote early in the 19th century, the common people had hitherto undreamed-of power. Hence they were demanding, and others were demanding for them, the opportunity for education. The question of the Kind of education most suitable for them led to a re-examination of education in general. Had education developed to keep pace with the changing times? Such men as the scientist Huxley

237

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

were influential both in promoting education for the working class and in modernizing that for the privileged classes. For example, laboratory science, previously unknown in the schools, was introduced; the number of government-supported schools was increased; and by the end of the 19th century free elementary schooling was open to practically every child in the British Isles.

Growth of empire The reign of Victoria was remarkable for free intercourse with the world at large. About the middle of the 19th century British ships were admitted to certain seaports of China and Japan, thus opening new and extensive fields to culture and commerce. Because of her connection with India and other parts of the Far East, Great Britain kept constant watch over her sea routes though the Mediterranean. By the year 1900 she had interests of one kind or another in Canada and Australia, in Egypt, South Africa, and India. As the result of her widely spread possessions, Victoria could say that she ruled an empire upon which the sun never set.

Interest in other nations The revolutionary movements which took place in France and other European countries in the late 1840’s were watched with keen interest by the people of England. During the War between the States in America, England’s cotton industry suffered severely because of the blockade of Southern ports, and public sympathy was sharply divided. In 1851 the first world’s fair was held in London. It was housed in an enormous glass structure known as the Crystal Palace. The royal family sponsored it. The Great Exhibition, as it was called, served to acquaint the English people with the products of other lands and fostered hope of international peace through world commerce.

7.2. VICTORIAN LITERATURE Change The classicists had been generally satisfied with things as they were; the Victorians, on the other hand, believed that the world and its inhabitants were constantly changing, chiefly for the better. Scientists and poets too wrote of the changing universe. So in the portrayal of human character, writers began to feel that human beings cannot pass though the world without changing for better or for worse. It became the fashion for writers of fiction to make the characters they created gradually improve as the result of courage and self-sacrifice, or grow worse because of selfishness and sin. To George Eliot and some of her contemporaries human character was the outcome of a moral struggle between a person’s will to do good and the temptation to do evil. Other writers were fatalist, belie-

238

Literatura Inglesa: BritĂĄnica

ving that human will power has little or no effect in changing human character. To them, changes in human character result, not from personal effort, but from irresistible outward forces. They believed that the individual is powerless to alter his life or change his fate. Hence, though much Victorian literature is optimistic in tone, the later literature of the period frequently expresses pessimism concerning mankindâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s supposed helplessness in his struggle against fate, environment, or heredity. Among those who sought to escape from the modern world, with its machinery and its lack of idealism, was a group of artists and social theorists who loved the Middle Ages and who wished to revive in painting and literature the simplicity of early Italian art before the time of Raphael. They are called Pre-Raphaelites.* Others, of whom Cardinal Newman was the greatest, tried to restore to religion the mysticism and charm which they saw in the life of the Middle Ages.

Emphasis upon law and order As the Victorian Period advanced, many English people began to feel that the tendency of the Romantic Period toward self-expression might result in excess and anarchy. A reaction set in. The English, always conservative at heart, began again to stress the importance of law, order, and self-control.

End-of-century mood Toward the close of the century a feeling of world-weariness found its way into literature. Some poetry was frivolous and imitative, or merely pretty. A few authors, such as Robert Louis Stevenson, sought escape from the present in a world of pure romance. Others, tired of the moralizing and sentimentality of early Victorian writers, began to interpret life more frankly and realistically.

THE NOVEL Though the writing of romantic novels by no means ceased with the close of the Romantic Period, the most marked trait of English fiction since the beginning of the Victorian Period has been the increase in realism* as opposed to romanticism. Charles Dickens published a long series of novels with many characters and elaborate plots. In accordance with the general movement toward social reform which characterized the 19th century, he used the novel as a social force directed against unjust laws, the outmoded school system, and other institutions that seemed to need reform. He defended the poor and the lowly against injustices which he attributed to the rich and the proud. Dickensâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s novels combine pathos, sentimentalism, and humour more successfully than had ever been done before. Among his best-known works are The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield, an autobiographical novel which includes a touching picture of life among the lowly and

239

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

of the sorrows of childhood amid the poverty and misery of the London slums. In what is probably his most popular work, A Tale of Two Cities, he portrays, against a realistic background, the miseries of the French lower classes that led to the horrors of the French Revolution. Along with Dickens ranks another great realistic novelistic of the Victorian Period, William Makepeace Thackeray. Thackeray’s novels, unlike those of Dickens, are not sentimental and have no special humanitarian purpose. They are striking pictures of English society, with its struggles between goodness and vice, its sham sentiment, and its hypocrisy. Again the background of the Napoleonic Wars, Thackeray in Vanity Fair represents the English people at home as frittering away their lives for things of no value, like the citizens of Bunyan’s Vanity Fair. In Henry Esmond, a historical novel, the author makes the people of the 18th century live again. Unlike the historical novels of Scott, Thackeray’s historical novels treat war, not as a romantic spectacle, but as a background for the commonplace and often sordid of the English people. In the same year that Vanity Fair appeared (1847) three novels by three hitherto unknown authors were published – Currer Bell, Ellis Bell, and Acton Bell. Imagine the amazement of the literary world when it finally became known that these names were pseudonyms for three young women, the daughters of a Yorkshire parson, who had lived all their lives in a remote little village on the edge of the bleak northern moors. The three novels were Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Bronte; Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte; and Agnes Grey, by Anne Bronte. All three novels are highly romantic and the same time realistic. In Jane Eyre we have the first plain heroine, a hardworking little governess. In Wuthering Heights the wild moors of the north and the tempestuous emotions of the characters are so vividly portrayed that until recently many students of literature have held that no woman could have written it, that it must have been the work of the one brother in the family, Branwell. It ranks as one of the most powerful novels in English. Anne’s Agnes Grey and her later The Tenant of Wildfell Hall are less remarkable than the novels of her older sisters, but still worth reading. Emily never wrote another novel (she died the following year), but Charlotte wrote several, all of them good reading today: Shirley, The Professor, and Villette. Another woman novelist who wrote under a per name was Mary Ann Evans, who used the name “George Eliot.” George Eliot portrayed with infinite care the life of small centralEngland communities which she knew well; but she was not content to describe only what she saw: she tried to get at the inner forces by which her characters were controlled. Like Dickens, she was a realist with a purpose; but her purpose was, not to reveal some evil of the social system around her, but to emphasize the importance of duty and of the great part that individual character plays in human life. From the lives of many of her characters we may draw the lesson that we should do right, however painful it may be, because by so doing we develop our own personalities and help our fellow men. Among George Eliot’s best-known works are Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, and Silas Marner.

240

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

George Meredith, who wrote somewhat later in the Victorian Period, was both a poet and a novelist. Like George Eliot, he was a psychological realist; that is, he went behind the outward actions of his characters to get at their hidden motives. In The Egoist he portrayed for the first time in English fiction a healthy, athletic woman of independent spirit who would be at home in the 20th century. Thomas Hardy began his writing well before the close of the Victorian Period, and he lived long enough to feel the full effect of the realistic forces at work during the next period. Equally distinguished as poet and writer of short stories, he is probably best known as a novelist. His most popular novels are Far from the Madding Crowd, The Return of the Native, and Tess of the D’Urbervilles. In general his work reflects the pessimism and doubt that found expression in much late Victorian literature. He leaves us with a feeling that human beings are the victims of a cruel and relentless fate, but at the same time capable of meeting that fate with courage. In his treatment of love and sex he is much more frank and realistic than his contemporaries. All his novels are set in southern England (Wessex, as he calls it), where he was born and lived most of his life, a countryside that he describes vividly and realistically. His characters too are chiefly rural folk such as he had known from childhood. During the late 19th and the early 20th century many readers, weary of the moral restraints of Victorian life, craved literature in which they could lose themselves and so escape from the conventional world around them and from the growing commercialism which, they feared, might stifle romance. Such readers hailed with delight the writings of Robert Louis Stevenson. Like Scott, he wrote romantic novels of adventure. Though he used threadbare themes of romantic storytelling, such as pirates and buried treasure, he made them fresh and fascinating, chiefly by making his characters real human beings, not the conventional good men and bad men, heroes and villains, of most other romantic fiction. His writings are also important for their polished but simple style. His most popular novels are Kidnapped and Treasure Island.

Charles Dickens You will find it especially helpful to know something of Dickens’s life (1812-1870), because he used so many oh his own experiences as springboards in his writing. He, like David Copperfield, was born in a village in southeast England. The Micawbers resemble his own parents: his father, like Mr. Micawber, spent some time in a debtor’s prison; his mother, as did Mrs. Micawber, set up a “boarding establishment for young ladies,” for which no pupils appeared. http://www.uni.edu/~gotera/CraftOfPoetry/sonnet.html

241

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The child Charles, after his father’s release from debtor’s prison, was put to work, like David, in factory, drudging long hours pasting labels on bottles of blacking. He too had three years of schooling under an ignorant and tyrannical master. At sixteen he worked for a time in lawyer’s office, where he began to acquire the detailed knowledge of the English legal system that shows in many of his novels. Having studied stenography at night, he moved on from the position of law clerk to become the best political newspaper reporter in London. As a reporter he travelled London streets and the roads leading to the metropolis at all hours of the day and night, coming to know the ways of the underworld and the wretched conditions of the poor. It was here that he developed the intense sympathy with the unfortunate which made his pen a flaming sword against injustice and a most effective instrument in social reform. Even the romances of David and other characters had some background in Dickens’s own life. He too fell in love with a charming but silly girl not unlike David’s Dora. While he did not marry this early sweetheart, but Catherine Hogarth, the daughter of a newspaper associate, he did not find Mrs. Dickens truly congenial to him in temperament, and their marriage, never entirely happy, ended in separation, in 1857. His large family, especially his daughters, were his loyal companions always, despite their continued affection for their mother. Dickens was only twenty-four years old when his first book Sketches by Boz, was published in 1836. Soon thereafter the Pickwick Papers made him famous. This was followed by his first novel, Oliver Twist. From then on his novels made a triumphal progress. There were sixteen in all, as well as many shorter narratives. In 1853, in response to popular appeal, Dickens began giving lectures and readings from his works. His tours both in the British Isles and in the United States were glittering triumphs. In fact the thoughtless portion of our American public embarrassed him by too persistent autograph and souvenir hunting. Some eager admires even attempted to snip off bits of his clothing and hair. This invasion of his privacy may be responsible for the unfavourable view of American life that give in Martin Chuzzlewit-criticism which, however, did him little harm with his enthusiastic American public. Probably his feverish activity in so many directions – writing, dramatics, lecturing – shortened Dickens’s life. He died in 1870, at the comparatively early age of fifty-eight, and is buried in Westminster Abbey. In his writings Dickens always championed the cause of the lowly and the oppressed against the proud and the tyrannical. Many of his novels have as their purpose the correction of some evil in society. They attack the law courts for their slowness, the laws for their severity, the aristocracy for their pride and folly; in short, any social class or institution that appeared to him wasteful, insincere, or unjust. In portraying people, Dickens generally began with an impression from real life, based on observation and experiences, and went on to satirize, burlesque (make fun of), or sentimentalize his characters. The result is a combination of realism, farce, and sentimentalism unique in English literature. With

242

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

an exuberant imagination that amazed the critics, he created more than fifteen hundred characters. The miracle is that many of them, like Mr. Pickwick, Sam Weller, Peggotty, and Mr. Micawber, have as much flesh-and-blood reality for the reading public as do living people in the world today.

From David Copperfield David Copperfield owes some of its reality to the fact that it is based on the author’s own youthful experiences. As, through the first person of the narrative, you slip easily into David’s shoes, you will be living much that the young Dickens himself went through. Early in the novel (which begins with David’s birth in an English village, after his father’s death) we learn that Miss Betsy Trotwood, his father’s aunt, had been offended by her nephew’s marriage, thinking the girlish Mrs. Copperfield a mere “wax doll.” Disappointed that David was a boy, she lost touch with the child and his mother. When David was still a small boy, Mrs. Copperfield married a handsome but cruel and domineering man named Murdstone, who, with his equally disagreeable sister, took over the household. He abused David and made the boy’s mother desperately unhappy, hastening her death. After her death he placed David in a London warehouse, where the child of ten drudged for long hours. When the Micawber family, with whom he had been living, moved from London, David, in despair at losing his only friends, resolved to run away to Dover in search of his aunt, Miss Betsy Trotwood, despite the fear that she might not welcome him. Robbed at the start of his small savings, he made the entire journey on foot, in loneliness and hardship. The selection begins with his arrival in Dover, ragged and exhausted. Read not only to find out what happened but to meet the very real people – Miss Betsy, her eccentric kinsman Mr. Dick, the Murdstones, and David himself. Read too see if you can discover how Dickens makes these portraits lifelike, and to again an insight into the skills that made him, in his time, the world’s most widely read writer of fiction.

From Chapter 13- The sequel of my Resolution

Inquired about my aunt among the boatmen first, and received various answer. The shopkeeper’s, not liking my appearance, generally replied, without hearing what I had to say, that they had got nothing for me. I felt more miserable and destitute than I had done at any period of my running away. My money was all gone, I had nothing left to dispose of; I was hungry, thirsty, and worn out; and seemed as distant from the end as if I had remained in London.

The morning had worn away in these inquiries, and I was sitting on the step of an empty shop at street corner, near the market-place, deliberating upon wandering towards those other places which had been mentioned, when a fly (1) – driver, coming by with his carriage, dropped a horse cloth. Something good-natured in the man’s face, as I handed it up, encouraged me to ask him if he could tell me where Miss Trotwood lived; thought I had asked the question so often, that it almost died upon my lips.

243

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

“Trotwood,” said he. “Let me see. I know the name, too. Old lady?” “Yes,” I said, “rather.” “Pretty stiff in the back?” said he, making himself upright. “Yes,” I said, “I should think it very likely.” “Carries a bag?” said he, “bag with a good deal of room in it; is gruffish, and comes down upon you sharp?” My heart sank within me as I acknowledged the undoubted accuracy of this description. “Why then, I tell you what,” said he. “If you go up there,” pointing with his whip towards the heights, “and keep right on till you come to some houses facing the sea, I think you’ll hear of her. My opinion is, she won’t stand anything, so here’s a penny for you.” I accepted the gift thankfully, and bought a loaf whit it. Despatching this refreshment by the way, I went in the direction my friend had indicated, and walked on a good distance without coming to the houses he had mentioned. Al length I saw some before me; and approaching them, went into a little shop, and inquired if they would have the goodness to tell me where Miss Trotwood lived. I addressed myself to a man behind the counter, who was weighing some rice for a young woman; but the latter, taking the inquiry to herself, turned around quickly. “My mistress?” she said. “What do you want with her, boy?” “I want,” I replied, “to speak to her, if you please.” “To beg of her, you mean,” retorted the damsel. “No,” I said, “indeed.” But suddenly remembering that in truth I came for no other purpose, I held my peace in confusion, and felt my face burn. My aunt’s handmaid, as I supposed she was from what she had said, put her rice in a little basket and walked out of the shop, telling me that I could follow her, if I wanted to know where Miss Trotwood lived. I needed no second permission; though I was by this time in such a state of consternation and agitation that my legs shook under me. I followed the young woman, and we soon came to a very neat little cottage with cheerful bow-windows; in front of it, a small square gravelled court or garden full of flowers, carefully tended, and smelling deliciously. “This is Miss Trotwood’s,” said the young woman. “Now you know, and that’s all I have got to say.” With which words, she hurried into the house, as if to shake off the responsibility of my appearance; and left me standing at the garden-gate, looking disconsolately over the top of it towards the parlour-window, where a muslin curtain partly undrawn in the middle, a large round green screen or fan fastened on to the window-still, a small table, and a great chair, suggested to me that my aunt might be at that moment seated in awful (2) state. The unbroken stillness of the parlour-window leading me to infer, after a while, that she was not there, I lifted up my eyes to the window above it, where I saw a florid, pleasant-looking

244

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

gentleman, with a grey head, who shut up one eye in a grotesque manner, nodded his dead at me several times, shook it at me as often, laughed, and went away. I had been discomposed enough before; but I was so much the more discomposed by this unexpected behaviour, that I was on the point of slinking off, to think how I had best proceed, when there came out of the house a lady with her handkerchief tied over her cap, and a pair of gardening gloves on her hands, wearing a gardener’s pocket like a tollman’s apron, (3) and carrying a great knife. I knew her immediately to be Miss Betsey, for she came stalking out of the house exactly as my poor mother had so often described her stalking up our garden at Blunderstone Rookery. “Go away!” said Miss Betsey, shaking her head, and making a distant chop in the air with her knife. “Go along! No boys here!” I watched her, with my hearth at my lips, as she marched to a corner of her garden, and stooped to dig up some little root there. Then, without a scrap of courage, but with a great deal of desperation, I went softly in and stood beside her, touching her with my finger. “If you please ma’am,” I began. She started and looked up. “If you please, aunt.” “Eh?” exclaimed Miss Betsey, in a tone of amazement I have never heard approached. “If you please, aunt, I am your nephew.” “Oh, Lord!” said my aunt. And sat flat down in the garden-path. “I am David Copperfield, of Bluderstone, in Suffolk, where you came on the night I was born, and saw my dear mama. I have been very unhappy since she died. I have been slighted, and taught nothing, and thrown upon my self, and put to work not fit for me. It made me run away to you. I was robbed at first setting out, and have walked all the way, and have never slept in a bed since I began the journey.” Here my self-support gave way all at once; and with a movement of my hands, intended to show her my ragged state, and call it to witness that I had suffered something, I broke into a passion of crying, which I suppose had been pent up within me all the week. My aunt, with every sort of expression but wonder discharged from her countenance, sat on the gravel, staring at me, until I began to cry; when she got up in a great hurry, collared me, and took me into the parlour. Her first proceeding there was to unlock a tall press, bring out several bottles, and pour some of the contents of each into my mouth. I think they must have been taken out at random, for I am sure I tasted aniseed water, anchovy sauce, and salad dressing. When she had administered these restoratives, as I was still quite hysterical, and unable to control my sobs, she put me on the sofa, with a shawl under my head, and the handkerchief from her own head under my feet, lest I should sully the cover; and then, sitting herself down behind the green fan or screen I have already mentioned, so that I could not see her face, ejaculated at intervals, “Mercy on us!” letting these exclamations off like minute guns.

245

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

After a time she rang the bell. “Janet,” said my aunt, when her servant came in. “Go upstairs, give my compliments to Mr. Dick, and say I wish to speak to him.” Janet looked a little surprised to see my lying stiffly on the sofa (I was afraid to move lest it should be displeasing to my aunt), but went on her errand. My aunt, with her hands behind her, walked up and down the room, until the gentleman who had squinted at me from the upper window came in laughing. “Mr. Dick,” said my aunt, “you have heard me mention David Copperfield? Now don’t pretend not to have a memory, because you and I know better.” “David Copperfield?” said Mr. Dick, who did not appear to me to remember much about it. “David Copperfield? Oh yes, to be sure. David, certainly.” “Well,” said my aunt, “this is his boy, his son. He would be as like his father as it’s possible to be, if he was not so much like mother, too.” “His son?” said Mr. Dick. “David’s son, indeed!” “Yes,” pursued my aunt, “and he has done a pretty piece of business. He has run away. Now, here you see young David Copperfield, and the question I put to you is, what shall I do with him?” “What shall you do with him?” said Mr. Dick, feebly, scratching his head. “Oh! do with him?” “Yes,” said my aunt, with a grave look, and her forefinger held up. “Come! I want some very sound advice.” “Why, if I was you,” said Mr. Dick, considering, and looking vacantly at me, “I should-“ The contemplation of me seemed to inspire him with a sudden idea, and he added, briskly, “I should wash him!” “Janet,” said my aunt, turning around with a quiet triumph, which I did not then understand, “Mr. Dick sets us all right. Heat the bath!” Janet had gone away to get the bath ready, when my aunt, to my great alarm, became in one moment rigid with indignation, and had hardly voice to cry out, “Janet! Donkeys!” (4) Upon which, Janet came running up the stairs as if the house were in flames, darted out on a little piece of green in front, and warned off two saddle-donkeys, lady-ridden, that had presumed to set hoof upon it; while my aunt, rushing out of the house, seized the bridle of a third animal laden with a bestriding child, turned him, led him forth from those sacred precincts, and boxed the ears of the unlucky urchin in attendance who had dared to profane that hallowed ground. To this hour I don’t know whether my aunt had any lawful right of way over that patch of green; but she had settled it in her own mind that she had, and it was all the same to her. The one great outrage of her life, demanding to be constantly avenged, was the passage of a donkey over that immaculate spot. In whatever occupation she was engaged, however interesting to her the conversation in which she was taking part, a donkey turned the current of her ideas in a moment, and she was upon him straight. Jugs of water, and watering-pots, were kept in secret places ready to be discharged on the offending boys; sticks were laid in ambush behind the door; sallies were made at all hours; and incessant war prevailed. Per-

246

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

haps this was an agreeable excitement to the donkey-boys; or perhaps the more sagacious of the donkeys, understanding how the case stood, delighted with constitutional obstinacy in coming that way. I only know that there were three alarms before the bath was ready; and that on the occasion of the last and most desperate of all, I saw my aunt engage, singlehanded, with a sandy-headed lad of fifteen, and bump his sandy head against her own gate, before he seemed to comprehend what was the matter. These interruptions were the more ridiculous to me, because she was giving me broth out of a table-spoon at the time (having firmly persuaded herself that I was actually starving, and must receive nourishment at first in very small quantities), and, while my mouth was yet open to receive the spoon, she would put it back into the basin, cry, “Janet! Donkeys!” and go out to the assault. The bath was a great comfort. For I began to be sensible of acute pains in my limbs from lying out in the fields, and was now so tired and low that I could hardly keep myself awake for five minutes together. When I had bathed, they (I mean my aunt and Janet) enrobed me in a shirt and a pair of trousers belonging to Mr. Dick, and tied me up in two or three great shawls. What sort of bundle I looked like, I don’t know, but I felt a very hot one. Feeling also very faint and drowsy, I soon lay down on the sofa again and fell asleep. It might have been a dream, originating in the fancy which had occupied my mind so long, but I woke with the impression that my aunt had come and bent over me, and had put my hair away from my face, and laid my head more comfortably, and had then stood looking at me. The words “Pretty fellow,” or “Poor fellow,” seemed to be in my ears, too; but certainly there was nothing else, when I awoke, to lead me to believe that had been uttered by my aunt, who sat in the bow-window gazing at the sea from behind the green fan, which was mounted on a kind of swivel, and turned any way. We dined soon after I awoke, off a roast fowl and a pudding; I sitting at table not unlike a trussed bird (5) myself and moving my arms with considerable difficulty. But as my aunt had swathed me up, I made no complaint of being inconvenienced. All this time I was deeply anxious to know what she was going to do with me; but she took her dinner in profound silence except when she occasionally fixed her eyes on me sitting opposite and said, “Mercy upon us!” which did not by any means relieve my anxiety. After tea, we sat at the window – on the look-out, as I imagined, from my aunt’s sharp expression of face, for more invaders – until dusk, when Janet set candles, and a backgammon (6)-board, on the table, and pulled down the blinds.

FROM CHAPTER 14- My Aunt Makes Up Her Mind about Me On going down in the morning, I found my aunt musing so profoundly over the breakfasttable, with her elbow on the tray, that the contents of the urn (7) had overflowed the teapot and were laying the whole table-cloth under water, when my entrance put her meditations to flight. I felt sure that I had been the subject or her reflections and was more than ever anxious to know her intentions towards me. Yet I dared not express my anxiety, lest it should give her offence.

247

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

My eyes, however, not being so much under control as my tongue, were attracted towards my aunt very often during breakfast. I never could look at her for a few moments together but I found her looking at me – in an odd, thoughtful manner, as if I were an important way off, instead of being on the other side of the small round table. When she had finished her breakfast, my aunt very deliberately leaned back in her chair, knitted her brows, folded her arms, and contemplated me at her leisure, with such a fixedness of attention that I was quite overpowered by embarrassment. Not having as yet finished my own breakfast, I attempted to hide my confusion by proceeding with it; but my knife tumbled over my fork, my fork tripped up my knife, I chipped bits of bacon a surprising height into the air instead of cutting them for my own eating, and choked myself with my tea, which persisted in going the wrong way instead of the right one, until I gave altogether, and sat blushing under my aunt’s scrutiny. “Hello!” said my aunt, after a long time. I looked up and met her sharp bright glance respectfully. “I have written to him,” said my aunt. “To-?” “To your father-in-law,” (8) said my aunt. “I have sent him a letter that I’ll trouble him to attend to, or he and I will fall out, I can tell him!” “Does he know where I am, aunt?” I inquired, alarmed. “I have told him,” said my aunt, with a nod. “Shall I – be – given up to him?” I faltered. “I don’t know,” said my aunt. “We shall see.” “Oh! I can’t think what I shall do,” I exclaimed, “if I have to go back to Mr. Murdstone!” “I don’t know anything about it,” said my aunt, shaking her dead. “I can’t say, I am sure. We shall see. “I wish you’d go up-stairs,” said my aunt, as she threaded her needle, “and give my compliments to Mr. Dick, and I’ll be glad to know how he gets on with his Memorial.” I rose with all alacrity, to acquit myself of this commission, thinking as I went, that if Mr. Dick had been working at his Memorial long, at the same rate as I had seen him working at it, through the open door, when I came down, he was probably getting on very well indeed. I found him still driving at it with a long pen, and his head almost laid upon the paper. He was so intent upon it, that I had ample leisure to observe the large paper kite in a corner,

248

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

the confusion of bundles of manuscript, the number of pens, and, above all, the quantity of ink (which he seemed to have in, in half-gallon jars by the dozen) , before he observed my being present. “Do you recollect the date,” said Mr. Dick, looking earnestly at me, and taking up his pen to note it down, “when King Charles the First had his head cut off?” I said I believed it happened in the year sixteen hundred and forty-nine. (9) “Well,” said Mr. Dick, scratching his ear with his pen, and looking dubiously at me. “So the books say; but I don’t see how that can be. Because, if it was so long ago, how could the people about him have made that mistake of putting some of the trouble out of his head, after it was taken off, into mine?” I was very much surprised by the inquiry; but could give no information on this point. “It’s very strange,” said Mr. Dick, with a despondent look at his papers, and with his hand among his hair again, “that I can never get that quite right. I never can make that perfectly clear. But no matter, no matter!” he said cheerfully, and rousting himself, “there’s time enough! My compliments to Miss Trotwood, and I am getting on very well indeed.” “Well, child,” said my aunt, when I went downstairs. “And what of Mr. Dick this morning?” I informed her that he had sent her his compliments, and was getting on very well indeed. “What do you think of him?” said my aunt. I had some shadowy idea of endeavouring to evade the question by replying that I thought him a very nice gentleman. “Is he – is Mr. Dick – I ask because I don’t know, aunt – is he at all out of his mind, then?” I stammered; for I felt I was on dangerous ground. “Not a morsel,” said my aunt. “Oh, indeed!” I observed faintly. “If there is anything in the world,” said my aunt, with great decision and force of manner, “that Mr. Dick is not, it’s that.” I had nothing better to offer than another timid “Oh, indeed!” “He has been called mad,” said my aunt. “I have a selfish pleasure in saying he has been called mad, or I should not have had the benefit of his society and advice for these last ten years and upwards.” “So long as that?” I said. “And nice people they were, who had the audacity to call him mad,” pursued my aunt. “Mr. Dick is a sort of distant connexion of mine; it doesn’t matter how; I needn’t enter into that. If it hadn’t been for me, his own brother would have shut him up for life. That’s all.” “Is it a Memorial about his own history that he is writing, aunt?” “Yes, chid,” said my aunt, rubbing her nose. “He hasn’t been able to draw it up yet, but it doesn’t signify; (10) it keeps him employed.”

249

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

“I say again,” said my aunt, “nobody knows what that man’s mind is except myself; and he’s the most amenable and friendly creature in existence. If he likes to fly a kite sometimes, what of that? Franklin used to fly a kite. He was a Quaker, or something of that sort, if I am not mistaken. And a Quaker flying a kite is a much more ridiculous object than anybody else.” If I could have supposed that my aunt had recounted these particulars for my special behoof, (14) and as a piece of confidence in me, I should have felt very much distinguished, and should have augured favourably from such a mark of her good opinion. But I could hardly help observing that she had launched into them, chiefly because the question was raised in her own mind, and with very little reference to me, though she had addressed herself to me in the absence of anybody else. At the same time, I must say that the generosity of her championship of poor harmless Mr. Dick, not only inspired my young breast with some selfish hope for myself, but warmed it unselfishly towards her. I believe that I began to know that there was something about my aunt notwithstanding her many eccentricities (12) and odd humours, to be honoured and trusted in. Though she was just as sharp that day as on the day before, and was in and out about the donkeys just as often, and was thrown into a tremendous state of indignation, when a young man, going by, ogled Janet at a window (which was one of the gravest misdemeanours (13) that could be committed against my aunt’s dignity), she seemed to me to command more of my respect, if not less of my fear. The anxiety I underwent, in the interval which necessarily elapsed before a reply could be received to her letter to Mr. Murdstone, was extreme. My aunt was a little more imperious and stern than usual, but I observed no other token of her preparing herself to receive the visitor so much dreaded by me. She sat at work in the window, and I sat by, with my thoughts running astray on all possible and impossible results of Mr. Murdstone’s visit, until pretty late in the afternoon. Our dinner had been indefinitely postponed; but it was growing so late, that my aunt had ordered it to be got ready, when she gave a sudden alarm of donkeys, and to my consternation and amazement, I beheld Miss Murdstone, on a side-saddle, ride deliberately over the sacred piece of green, and stop in front of the house, looking about her. “Go along with you!” cried my aunt, shaking her head and her fist at the window. “You have no business there. How dare you trespass? Go along! Oh! you bold-faced thing!” My aunt was so exasperated by the coolness with which Miss Murdstone looked about her, that I really believe she was motionless, and unable for the moment to dart out according to custom. I seized the opportunity to inform her who it was; and that the gentleman now coming near the offender (for the way up was very steep, and he had dropped behind) was Mr. Murdstone himself. “I don’t care who it is!” cried my aunt, still shaking her head, and gesticulating anything but welcome from the bow-window. “I won’t be trespassed upon. I won’t allow it. Go away! Janet, turn him around. Lead him off!” and I saw, from behind my aunt, a sort of hurried battlepiece, in which the donkey stood resisting everybody, with all his four legs planted different ways, while Janet tried to pull him round by the bridle, Mr. Murdstone tried to lead him on, Miss Murdstone struck at Janet with a parasol, and several boys, who had come to see the engagement, shouted vigorously.

250

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Miss Murdstone, during the latter portion of the contest, had dismounted and was now waiting with her brother at the bottom of the steps until my aunt should be at leisure to receive them. My aunt, a little ruffled by the contest, marched past them with great dignity, and took no notice of their presence, until they were announced by Janet. “Shall I go away, aunt?” I asked trembling. “No, sir,” said my aunt. “Certainly not!” Mr. Murdstone seemed afraid of renewal of hostilities, and began: “Miss Trotwood!” “I beg your pardon,” observed my aunt, with a keen look. “You are the Mr. Murdstone who married the window of my late nephew, David Copperfield?” “I am,” said Mr. Murdstone. “You’ll excuse my saving, sir,” returned my aunt, “that I think it would have been a much better and happier thing if you had let that poor child alone.” “I so far agree with what Miss Trotwood has remarked,” observed Miss Murdstone, bridling, (14) “that I consider our lamented Clara to have been, in all essential respects, a mere child.” “It is a comfort to you and me, ma’am,” said my aunt, “who are getting on in life, and are not likely to be made unhappy by our personal attractions, that nobody can say the same of us.” “No doubt!” returned Miss Murdstone, thought, I thought, not with a very ready or gracious assent. “And it certainly might have been, as you say, a better and happier thing for my brother if he had never entered into such a marriage. I have always been of that opinion.” “I have no doubt you have,” said my aunt. “Janet,” ringing the bell, “my compliments to Mr. Dick, and beg him to come down.” Until he came, my aunt sat perfectly upright and stiff, frowning at the wall. When he came, my aunt performed the ceremony of introduction. “Mr. Dick. An old and intimate friend. On whose judgment,” said my aunt, with emphasis, as an admonition to Mr. Dick, who was biting his forefinger and looking rather foolish, “I rely.” Mr Dick took his finger out of his mouth, on this hint, and stood among the group, with a grave and attentive expression of face. My aunt inclined her head to Mr. Murdstone, who went on: “Miss Trotwood. On the receipt of your letter. I considered it an act of greater justice to myself, and perhaps of more respect to you-“ “Thank you,” said my aunt, still eyeing him keenly. “You needn’t mind me.” “To answer it in person, however inconvenient the journey,” pursued Mr. Murdstone, “rather than by letter. This unhappy boy who has run away from his friends and his occupation-“ “And whose appearance,” interposed his sister, directing general attention to me in my indefinable custome, “is perfectly scandalous and disgraceful.”

251

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

“Jane Murdstone,” said her brother, “have the goodness not to interrupt me. This unhappy boy, Miss Trotwood, has been the occasion of much domestic trouble and uneasiness; both during the lifetime of my late dear wife, and since. He has a sullen, rebellious spirit; a violent temper; and an untoward, intractable disposition. Both my sister and myself have endeavoured to correct his vices, but ineffectually. And I have felt – we both have felt, I may say, my sister being fully in my confidence – that it is right you should receive this grave and dispassionate (15) assurance from our lips.” “It can hardly be necessary for me to confirm anything stated by my brother,” said Miss Murdstone, “but I beg to observe, that, of all the boys in the world, I believe this is the worst boy.”

“Strong!” said my aunt, shortly.

“But not all too strong for the facts,” returned Miss Murdstone.

“Ha!” said my aunt. “Well, sir?”

“I have my own opinions,” resumed Mr. Murdstone, whose face darkened more and more, the more he and my aunt observed each other, which they did very narrowly, “as to the best mode of bringing him up; they are founded, in part, on my knowledge of him. It is enough that I place this boy under the eye of a friend of mine, in a respectable business; that he runs away from it; makes himself a common vagabond about the country; and comes here, in rags, to appeal to you, Miss Trotwood.” “But about this respectable business first,” said my aunt. “If he had been your own boy, you would have put him to it, just the same, I suppose?” “If he had been my brother’s own boy,” returned Miss Murdstone, striking in, “his character, I trust, would have been altogether different.” “Or if the poor child, his mother, had been alive, he would still have gone into the respectable business, would he?” said my aunt. “I believe,” said Mr. Murdstone, with an inclination of his head, “that Clara would have disputed nothing which myself and my sister were agreed was for the best.”

Miss Murdstone confirmed this with an audible murmur.

“Humph!” said my aunt. “Unfortunate baby!”

Mr. Dick, who had been rattling his money all this time, was rattling it so loudly now, that my aunt felt it necessary to cheek him with a look, before saying:

“The poor child’s annuity (16) died with her?”

“Died with her.” replied Mr Murdstone.

“And there was no settlement of the little property – the house and garden – upon her boy?” “It had been left to her, unconditionally, by her first husband,” Mr Murdstone began, when my aunt caught him up with the greatest irascibility and impatience. “Left to her unconditionally! Of course it was left to her unconditionally. But when she married again – when she took that most disastrous step of marrying you, in short,” said my

252

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

aunt, “to be plain – did no one put in a word for the boy at that time?” “My late wife loved her second husband, ma’am,” said Mr. Murdstone, “and trusted implicitly in him.” “Your late wife, sir, was a most unworldly, most unhappy, most unfortunate baby,” returned my aunt, shaking her head at him. “That’s what she was. And now, what have you got to say next?” “Merely this, Miss Trotwood,” he returned, “I am here to take David back; to take him back unconditionally, to dispose of him as I think proper, and to deal with him as I think right. I am here, for the first and last time, to take him away. Is he ready to go? If he is not, my doors are shut against him henceforth, and yours, I take it for granted, are open to him.” “And what does the boy say?” said my aunt. “Are you ready to go, David?”

I answered no, and entreated her not to let me go.

“Mr. Dick,” said my aunt, “what shall I do with this child?”

Mr Dick considered, hesitated, brightened, and rejoined, “Have him measured for a suit of clothes directly. “Mr. Dick,” said my aunt triumphantly, “give me your hand, for your common sense is invaluable,” Having shaken it with great cordiality, she pulled me towards her and said to Mr. Murdstone: “You can go when you like; I’ll take my chance with the boy. If he’s all you say he is, at least I can do as much for him then, as you have done. But I don’t believe a word of it.” “Miss Trotwood,” rejoined Mr Murdstone, shrugging his shoulders, as he rose, “if you were a gentleman-“ “Bah! Stuff and nonsense!” said my aunt. “Don’t talk to me!” “How exquisitely polite!” exclaimed Miss Murdstone, rising. “Overpowering, really!” “Good day, sir,” said my aunt, “and good bye! Good day to you, too, ma’am,” said my aunt, turning suddenly upon his sister. “Let me see you ride a donkey over my green again, and as sure as you have a head upon your shoulders, I’ll knock your bonnet off, and tread upon it!” It would require a painter, and no common painter, too, to depict my aunt’s face as she delivered herself of this very unexpected sentiment, and Miss Murdstone’s face as she heard it. But the manner of the speech no less than matter, was so fiery, that Miss Murdstone, without a word in answer, discreetly put her arm through her brother’s, and walked haughtily out of the cottage; my aunt remaining in the window looking after them; prepared, I have no doubt, in case of the donkey’s reappearance, to carry her threat into instant execution. No attempt at defiance being made, however, her face gradually relaxed, and became so pleasant, that I was emboldened to kiss and thank her; which I did with great heartiness, and with both my arms clasped round her neck. I then shook hands with Mr. Dick, who shook hands with me a great many times, and hailed this happy close of the proceedings with repeated bursts of laughter.

253

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

“You’ll consider yourself guardian, jointly with me, of this child, Mr. Dick,” said my aunt. “I shall be delighted,” said Mr Dick, “to be guardian of David’s son.” “Very good,” returned my aunt, “that’s settled. I have been thinking, do you know, Mr Dick, that I might call him Trotwood?” “Certainly, certainly. Call him Trotwood, certainly,” said Mr. Dick. “David son Trotwood.” “Trotwood Copperfield, you mean,” returned my aunt. “Yes, to be sure. Yes Trotwood Copperfield,” said Mr. Dick, a little abashed. My aunt took so kindly to the notion, that some ready-made clothes, which were purchased for me that afternoon, were marked “Trotwood Copperfield,” in her own handwriting, and in indelible marking-ink, before I put them on; and it was settled that all the other clothes which were ordered to be made for me (a complete outfit was bespoke that afternoon) should be marked in the same way. Thus I began my new life, in a new name, and with everything new about me.

Footnotes 1. A light carriage. 2. Inspiring awe or respect. 3. tollman’s apron. An apron with a pocket, worn by tollmen, employees appointed to collect tolls (fees) from travellers along the highways. 4. Donkeys intended for the use of visitors are a common sight at many English seaside resorts, such as Dover. 5. trussed bird. A bird with its wings made fast to its body preparatory to cooking it. 6. A game played by two persons on a specially made board, with pieces, or men, a dice box, and dice. 7. Here, a vessel with a faucet, used to heat water for making tea. 8. Stepfather. 9. Is this date correct? 10. Matter. 11. Benefit. 12. Peculiarities. 13. Offences. 14. Tossing her head. 15. Unprejudiced. 16. An amount of money received yearly.

254

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The author’s methods and insights 1. What details make Mr. Dick real and individual to the reader? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What use does Dickens make of Mr Dick as a means of acquainting David and the reader with Miss Trotwood’s true nature? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What other purpose has he in creating a character like Mr. Dick? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. What details in the breakfast scene show that Dickens understood how embarrassment can affect a child? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Dramatic possibilities of the selection 1. Dickens was greatly interested in plays, and had a share in many productions as an amateur actor and as director. What scenes in this selection show his sense of the dramatic? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What variety in character traits, voice, and manner would an actress need to portray in taking the part of Betsey Trotwood? Who took the part when David Copperfield was filmed? What living actress of stage or screen should you suggest for the role? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

A parallel in our time How do tourists and summer visitors often annoy the permanent residents of resorts today, as the donkey riders annoyed Miss Betsey? _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________

255

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Growth in word power 1. Sacred precincts. One device for creating a humorous effect is to apply to trivial affairs words usually saved for dignified and serious matters. The sudden drop from the sublime to the ridiculous startles the reader into laughter, and he continues chuckling at the incongruity (inappropriateness) of the expressions. (a)To what would sacred precincts usually be applied? (b)To what are they applied here? (c)What two other words in the same sentence have a similar effect? (d)Find instances of this device elsewhere in the selection. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. Parlour. This spelling is standard in Great Britain. (a)How does the ending differ in the United States? (b)What other words show the same variation between the two English-speaking countries? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Disastrous. Look up the derivation and meaning of this word. (a)What is the noun that corresponds to this adjective? The adverb? (b)Explain: “Disaster and related words have their origin in a superstition.” ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Irascibility. (a)What adjective corresponds with this noun? (b)What one-syllable word meaning “anger” is derived from the same root? What is its corresponding adjective? (c)How do the two nouns differ in meaning? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 5. Intractable. What other word in the paragraph is made negative in meaning by the same prefix? What other two prefixes with negative meaning do you find in the paragraph? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Invaluable means “that cannot be valued or appraised; priceless very precious.” The prefix in-has two meanings: not, and in or into. (a)Which of the two applies in invaluable? (b) in inflammable, which means “capable of being set on fire”? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

256

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

7. Ejaculated. Look up to see how Miss Betsey spoke when she ejaculated. List ten verbs meaning speak, indicating after each the manner of speech implied. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens Oliver Twist (1838) is Charles Dickens’ second novel. The book was originally published in Bentley’s Miscellany as a serial, in monthly installments that began appearing in the month of February 1837 and continued through April 1839, originally intended to form part of Dickens’ serial The Mudfog Papers. George Cruikshank provided one steel etching per month to illustrate each installment. Oliver Twist is the first novel in the English language to centre throughout on a child protagonist and is also notable for Dickens’ unromantic portrayal of criminals and their sordid lives. The book’s subtitle, The Parish Boy’s Progress alludes to Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress and also to a pair of popular 18th-century caricature series by William Hogarth, “A Rake’s Progress” and “A Harlot’s Progress”. An early example of the social novel, the book calls the public’s attention to various contemporary social evils, including the Poor Law that states that poor people should work in workhouses, child labour and the recruitment of children as criminals. Dickens mocks the hypocrisies of the time by surrounding the novel’s serious themes with sarcasm and dark humour. The novel may have been inspired by the story of Robert Blincoe, an orphan whose account of his hardships as a child labourer in a cotton mill was widely read in the 1830s. Oliver Twist has been the subject of numerous film and television adaptations, and is the basis for a highly successful musical, Oliver!. This novel is loved by people around the world, while the book itself is now translated into more than 25 languages.

Plot summary Workhouse and first jobs Oliver Twist is born into a life of poverty and misfortune in a workhouse in an unnamed town within 75 miles north of London. Orphaned almost from his first breath by his mother’s death in childbirth and his father’s unexplained absence, Oliver is meagerly provided for under the terms of the Poor Law, and spends the first eight years of his life at a baby farm in the ‘care’ of a woman named Mrs. Mann. Along with other juvenile offenders against the poor laws, Oliver is brought up with little food and few comforts. Around the time of the orphan’s ninth birthday, Mr. Bumble, a parish beadle, removes Oliver from the baby farm and puts him to work picking oakum at the main workhouse (the same one where his mother worked before she died). Oliver, who toils with very little

257

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

food, remains in the workhouse for six months, until the desperately hungry boys decide to draw lots; the loser must ask for another portion of gruel. The task falls to Oliver, who at the next meal tremblingly comes forward, bowl in hand, and makes his famous request: “Please, sir, I want some more.”

“Please, sir, I want some more.” A great uproar ensues. The board of well-fed gentlemen who administer the workhouse, while eating a meal fit for a king, are outraged by Oliver’s ‘ingratitude’. Wanting to be rid of this troublemaker, they offer five pounds sterling to any person wishing to take on the boy as an apprentice. A brutal chimney sweep almost claims Oliver, but, when he begs despairingly not to be sent away with “that dreadful man” a kindly old magistrate refuses to sign the indentures. Later, Mr. Sowerberry, an undertaker employed by the parish, takes Oliver into his service. He treats Oliver better, and, because of the boy’s sorrowful countenance, uses him as a mute, or mourner, at children’s funerals. However, Mr. Sowerberry is in an unhappy marriage, and his wife takes an immediate dislike to Oliver – primarily because her husband seems to like him – and loses few opportunities to underfeed and mistreat him. He also suffers torment at the hands of Noah Claypole, an oafish but bullying fellow apprentice who is jealous of Oliver’s promotion to mute, and Charlotte, the Sowerberry’s maidservant, who is in love with Noah. One day, in an attempt to bait Oliver, Noah insults the orphan’s late mother, calling her “a regular right-down bad ‘un”. Oliver flies into an unexpected passion, attacking and even besting the much bigger boy. Mrs. Sowerberry takes Noah’s side, helps him subdue Oliver, punches and beats Oliver, and later compels her husband and Mr. Bumble, who has been sent for in the aftermath of the fight, into beating Oliver again. Once Oliver is sent to his room for the night, he does something that he hadn’t done since babyhood - breaks down and weeps. Alone that night, Oliver finally decides to run away. He wanders aimlessly for a time, until a well-placed milestone sets his wandering feet towards London.

258

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Emily Bronte Emily Bronte (1818-1848) was born, and lived most of her life, close to the edge of Yorkshire moors. Her mother died when she was there, leaving six children to the care of an aunt and their stern eccentric father, a parson. The oldest two sisters died before they were in their teens. The remaining children —Charlotte, Branwell, Emily and Anne__were left much to themselves, to roam the moors or to amuse themselves within the parsonage, chiefly by writing. They built up for themselves dream worlds with places and characters that became more and more real. From childhood, the Brontes were writing. Three of them lived to see novels and poems by them in print. http://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emily_Bront%C3%AB

Emily Bronte’s life seems uneventful. Twice she went out into the world to teach, but both times she was so home sick for the moors that she actually became ill and was forced to rerun to Haworth. Here, with her father almost a recluse and her brother becoming more dissipated, life was far from easy. Still she wrote and did household duties, un complaining of her failing health. In 1846 the three sisters published s joint volume of their poetry, under pseudonyms that begin with their initials __ Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell. In the following year each of the sisters had a novel published; Emily’s being the romantic, powerful Wuthering Heights but many critics considered the greatest novel in English. Emily died the following year, 1848, a few months her brother Branwell, and less than six months before her youngest sister Anne. Of the five sisters only Charlotte lived to the of Thirty one.

The Old Stoic Three Things have no value for Emily Bronte, as she tells you in stanza 1. What does she value? Riches I hold in light esteem,

And if I pray, the only prayer

And love I laugh to scorn;

That moves my lips for me

And last of Fame was but a dream,

Is, “Leave the heart that now I bear,

That vanished with the morn:

And give me liberty¡

259

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Yes. As my swift days near their goal, “Tis all that I implore In life and death in chainless soul With courage to endure.

To understand the title 1. Who were the Stoics? 2. What was her basic philosophy? 3. What kind of person has the common noun stoic (not capitalized) come to mean?

Following Taught 1. What three things, sought by many, does the Old Stoic hold of little or no value? 2. What two things does he value above all others? 3. Are her values, characteristic of stoic or only of individuals?

Last Lines This poem was written by Emily Bronte just before she died quietly in her Yorshire home, after weeks of uncomplaining illness. The first line sets the mood of this poem. Is it what you would expect from the young woman who wrote the preceding poem? “Last Lines” No coward soul in mine,

Vain are the thousand creeds

No trembler in the world’s storm-troubled sphere:

That move men’s hearts: unutterably

I see heaven’s glories shine, And faith shines equal, arming me from fear.

Vain; Worthless as wither’d weeds, Or idlest froth amid the boundless main,

O God within my breast,

To waken doubt in one

Almighty, ever-present Deity¡

Holding so fast by Thine infinity;

Life_that in me has rest,

With wide-embracing love

As I_undying Life__have power in Thee¡

Thy Spirit animates eternal years,

260

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Pervades and broods above,

There is not room fro Death,

Changes, sustains, dissolves, creates and rears.

Nor atom that his might could render void: Though – Thou art Being and Breath,

Though earth and man were gone And suns and universes cease to be, And Thou were left alone, Every existence would exist in Thee.

And what Thou art my never be destroyed. The steadfast rock of immortality. So surely anchor’d on

Feeling the mood of the poem 1. Which of the following words seem to you to describe the mood of stanza: gentle, vigorous, assured, wistful, forceful, defiant, despairing, and resigned? 2. Does the same mood continue throughout the poem? If not, where does it change?

Following the poet’s thought 1. In the final stanza of “The old Stoic” the poet made a prayer, which lines of this last poem she wrote most clearly show that the prayer which she put on the lips of the old Stoic was answered for the young poet herself? 2. In Stanza 1, what might cause “fear” What prevents the writer from feeling fear? 3. What her idea of God is as expressed in stanza 2? 4. Which lines express her belief in immortality?

261

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Jane Austin Jane Austen (16 December 1775 – 18 July 1817) was an English novelist whose realism, biting social commentary and masterful use of free indirect speech, burlesque, and irony have earned her a place as one of the most widely read and most beloved writers in English literature. Austen lived her entire life as part of a small and close-knit family located on the lower fringes of English gentry. She was educated primarily by her father and older brothers as well as through her own reading. The steadfast support of her family was critical to Austen’s development as a professional writer. Austen’s artistic apprenticeship lasted from her teenage years until she was about thirty-five years old. http://www.pemberley.com/janeinfo/janepict.jpg During this period, she experimented with various literary forms, including the epistolary novel which she tried and then abandoned, and wrote and extensively revised three major novels and began a fourth. From 1811 until 1816, with the release of Sense and Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice (1813), Mansfield Park (1814) and Emma (1816), she achieved success as a published writer. She wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began a third, which was eventually titled Sanditon, but died before completing it. Austen’s works critique the novels of sensibility of the second half of the eighteenth century and are part of the transition to nineteenth-century realism. Austen’s plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Like those of Samuel Johnson, one of the strongest influences on her writing, her works are concerned with moral issues. During Austen’s lifetime, because she chose to publish anonymously, her works brought her little personal fame and only a few positive reviews. Through the mid-nineteenth century, her novels were admired only by members of the literary elite. However, the publication of her nephew’s A Memoir of Jane Austen in 1869 introduced her to a wider public as an appealing personality and kindled popular interest in her works. By the 1940s, Austen was widely accepted in academia as a “great English writer”. The second half of the twentieth century saw a proliferation of Austen scholarship, which explored many aspects of her novels: artistic, ideological, and historical. In popular culture, a Janeite fan culture has developed, centered on Austen’s life, her works, and the various film and television adaptations of them.

262

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Sense and Sensibility Sense and Sensibility is a novel by the English novelist Jane Austen. Published in 1811, it was the first of Austen’s novels to be published, under the pseudonym “A Lady”. The story revolves around Elinor and Marianne, two daughters of Mr. Dashwood by his second wife. They have a younger sister, Margaret, and an older half-brother named John. When their father dies, the family estate passes to John, and the Dashwood women are left in reduced circumstances. The novel follows the Dashwood sisters to their new home, a cottage on a distant relative’s property, where they experience both romance and heartbreak. The contrast between the sisters’ characters is eventually resolved as they each find love and lasting happiness. This leads some to believe that the book’s title describes how Elinor and Marianne find a balance between sense and sensibility in life and love. The book has been adapted for film and television a number of times, including a 1981 serial for TV directed by Rodney Bennett; a 1995 movie adapted by Emma Thompson and directed by Ang Lee; a version in Tamil called Kandukondain Kandukondain released in 2000; and a 2008 TV series on BBC adapted by Andrew Davies and directed by John Alexander. Source:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_Sensibility

Literary Terms 1. Novel - A fictional prose narrative of considerable length, typically having a plot that is unfolded by the actions, speech, and thoughts of the characters. - The literary genre represented by novels. There are different kinds of novels: * political novels * detective novels: (Sherlock Holmes) * serialized novels 2. Elegies. A lyric poem lamenting death. These lines from Joachim Du Bellay’s “Elegy on His Cat” are an example: I have not lost my rings, my purse, My gold, my gems-my loss is worse, One that the stoutest heart must move. My pet, my joy, my little love, My tiny kitten, my Belaud, I lost, alas, three days ago.

263

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

3. Poetry: It deals with writing poems respecting literary devices. Poetry is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning. Poetry may be written independently, as discrete poems, or may occur in conjunction with other arts, as in poetic drama, hymns or lyrics. Poetry, and discussions of it, have a long history. Early attempts to define poetry, such as Poetry often uses particular forms and conventions to suggest at alternative meanings in the words, or to evoke emotional or sensual responses. Devices such as assonance, alliteration, onomatopoeia and rhythm are sometimes used to achieve musical or incantatory effects. The use of ambiguity, symbolism, irony and other stylistic elements of poetic diction often leaves a poem open to multiple interpretations. Similarly, metaphor, simile and metonymy[4] create a resonance between otherwise disparate images—a layering of meanings, forming connections previously not perceived. Kindred forms of resonance may exist, between individual verses, in their patterns of rhyme or rhythm.

4. Drama: comedies of manners Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning “action” which is derived from “to do” (Classical Greek). The enactment of drama in theatre, performed by actors on a stage before an audience, presupposes collaborative modes of production and a collective form of reception. The structure of dramatic texts, unlike other forms of literature, is directly influenced by this collaborative production and collective reception. The two masks associated with drama represent the traditional generic division between comedy and tragedy. They are symbols of the ancient Greek Muses, The use of “drama” in the narrow sense to designate a specific type of play dates from the 19th century. Drama in this sense refers to a play that is neither a comedy nor a tragedy. Drama is often combined with music and dance. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

264

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Analyse “David Copperfield” form social and economic power. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Analyse “David Copperfield” main characters and express how the child felt in that situation. ___________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________

265

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

10. How was London in those times in which “David Copperfield “was written? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 11. Prepare a resume of Emily Bronte’s Biography and analysis on “The Old Stoic” and “The last Lines”. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________

Victorian Period Years: 1832-1900

Content:  onflict C between those in power and the common masses of laborers and the poor  Shocking life of sweatshops and urban poor is highlighted in literature to insist on reform  Country versus city life  Sexual discretion (or lack of it)  Strained coincidences  Romantic triangles  Heroines in physical danger  Aristocratic villains  Misdirected letters  Bigamous marriages

Genres/Styles:  Novel becomes popular for first time; mass produced for the first time * political novels * detective novels: (Sherlock Holmes) * serialized novels

266

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

 Elegies  Poetry: easier to understand

dramatic monologues

 Drama: comedies of manners  Magazines offer stories to the masses

Effect:  Literature begins to reach the masses

Historical Context:  Paper becomes cheap; magazines and novels cheap to mass produce  Unprecedented growth of industry and business in Britain  Unparalleled dominance of nations, economies and trade abroad

Key Literature/Authors:  Charles Dickens, Emily Bronte, Jane Austin, Rudyard Kipling, Robert Louis Stevenson, George Eliot, Oscar Wilde, Alfred Lord Tennyson, Darwin, Charlotte Bronte, Robert Browni.

267

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/passionateshepherd.htm

http://apo.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/villanova/hemingway/original.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/characters.html

http://www.saratogaschools.org/academic/terry/hamletsite/WordDocs/Reading%20 Comp%20Act%20I%20%20Notes.do

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-inanothercountry/

http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/33810.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_Sensibility

ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

268

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

UNIT EIGHT

TWENTIETH-CENTURY ENGLAND

Objectives 1. Be aware of the political and social scenery in the Twentieth Century. 2. Learn about the historical background of the Twentieth Century. 3. Be informed about the literature of our day. 4. Get information about Alfred Noyes’ Biography. 5. Analyze the “The Highwayman”. 6. Get familiar with Thomas Hardy and analyse “Weathers”, The Darnkling Thrush”, “The oxen” and “The man he killed”.

269

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

8.1. The historical background You have touched upon the high spots of over a thousand years of life, with its resultant literature, in the British Isles. It is time now to look at the first half of our own 20th century. Try to see it “in the large,” with the perspective that viewing a thousand years can bring.

Changes in the 20th century Seeds, both good and bad, were planted in the 19th century. From them grew amazing jack-and-the-beanstalk-plants-things good for making, such as increased scientific knowledge, greater educational opportunities, improvement in economic and social well – being, and dreams of and plans for world peace. But from some of the seeds grew evil, poisonous things-the misuse of scientific knowledge, untruthful propaganda, two world wars. The changes of which the Victorian Era had sown the seeds came gradually into being. Among these changes with their roots in the past are several that took place early in the century but that are of the special importance to the England of today. The development of the automobile, the airplane, and the radio eventually made transportation and communication more rapid than inventors ever dreamed. The laying of the pacific cable and the opening of the Panama Canal helped to draw the British Empire closer together. Legislation to give security to workers greatly improved the condition of the condition of the labouring man. Increased legislative power of the House of Commons, accompanied by decreased power of the House of Lords, made England more truly democratic. In the field of culture, the cinema acquainted English movie-goers with a new artistic form. Improved methods of printing made books and magazines more plentiful, public libraries made those publications generally available, and daily papers contributed to the spread of culture by printing sections devoted to literature and art. The radio(called in England “the wireless”),government-controlled, brought good music, plays and numerous other cultural influences into homes of people to whom they had never before been accessible. More recently television, held to the same high standards by the British Broadcasting Corporation and financed, like radio, by license fees paid by the owners of the sets, has had an effect like that of radio in broadening cultural horizons as well as furnishing entertainment. After long resistance, and prolonged Parliamentary debate, England is trying a ten-year experiment in commercially sponsored television, begun late in 1955.

270

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

World War I World War I brought home the fact that nobody wins in modern war. In the years before World War I Germany, Austria, and Italy had formed the triple alliance, England, France, and Russia had formed the triple Alliance, and England, France, and Russia had formed the Triple Entente. In the war itself Germany and its allies were called the Central Powers, and England, France, Russia, and countries with them were called the Allies. Billions of English pounds were spent in World War I, and total English casualties passed the three-million mark. Submarines sank English ships; air raids over London gave faint hints of the winged destruction of the future. With new methods of warfare England could no longer rely on her island position as impregnable. The war ended with every participating nation weakened. The United States was in the war only about a year and a half; yet she felt the after-effects well into the 1920’s and 1930’s. England’s debt was increased, and her labour problems were intensified. The losses of World War I, though, had not been sufficiently drastic to change the basic social pattern. Almost as wide a gap between rich and poor, with consequent unrest, existed in the twenties as before the war.

Between the two world wars Between wars England had to solve internal problems, as well as external dilemmas pertaining to her colonies and to international relationships. The long struggle for woman suffrage culminated in 1918 in votes for women, two years before American women gained the vote through the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution. England’s Labour party, gaining strength, led the Liberal and Conservative parties in further improving the working conditions and the wages of labouring men and women. The centuries-old Irish problem was met by the forming of the Irish Free State (Eire) and a separate state for north Ireland. Harmonious relations between England and her principal dominions were improved by the British commonwealth of nations, an organization in which the dominions were declared equal in status to the mother country, all united by allegiance to the crown. In fact, only India among the far-scattered parts of the British Empire gave serious and persistent trouble to the mother country. The twenties were a time of growing prosperity and optimism. The thirties, however, were shadowed by depression, unemployment, and growing international tension.

World War II The twenty-one year period of peace that followed World War I ended on September 3, 1939. It will take more distance to determine the roots of the second conflict. Sir Winston Churchill, in his six volume history of World War II, ascribes the blame in part to the unrealistic peace terms imposed upon Germany in 1918. In part he ascribes it to the failure of Great Britain and the other democracies to keep themselves strong and armed, and to put sufficient backing and strength behind the League of Nations, on which they were

271

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

relying to keep the peace. The rise of fascism in Italy and Germany, caused by discontent and bad economic conditions following World War I, was an important factor in bringing on World War II. Germany in the 1930’s began to arm and expand, seizing countries beyond her borders one after another. England made strong efforts to avert impending war. But when Hitler’s ruthless followers invaded Poland, in September, 1939, adding still another overpowered nation to their growing list, England and France and other, smaller countries realized that they must stop the German army before it became irresistible. In August, 1939 Russia had suddenly signed a nonaggression pact with Germany, her former enemy. France and England felt that they could no longer rely on Russia to help them against Germany. But in 1941. Hitler attacked his temporary ally, and Russia became one of the United Nations fighting Germany and Japan. When France fell, the English were for a time virtually alone, heroically evacuating defeated troops from Dunkirk, seeking shelter from droning enemy planes overhead, digging methodically in the rubble of homes and schools and churches, and fearing invasion, but nevertheless planning counterattacks on the Continent. The war was a test not only of Britain’s army and navy, but of the whole English people.

The burden of leadership World War I had taken heavy toll of educated young men of the privileged classes, hitherto regarded as the chief source of leadership in every field. There had been fears that other classes would be unable to produce the same quality of leadership. World War II proved the fears groundless. England’s respect for her rank and file deepened, making postwar social reform a certainty. Meantime leaders and followers alike, heartened by their great wartime prime minister, Winston Churchill, were fighting desperately to save their country from the totalitarian menace, and to secure another chance for men of good will everywhere to enjoy a life of freedom and human dignity. There came a time when Germany turned on Russia, her former ally. Here Hitler, greedy for sources of oil and other war materials, made a serious miscalculation. The Russians, after severe initial losses, recovered their territory, forced the surrender of Hitler’s expedition within their borders, and joined with the Allies to help in Germany’s final defeat. There came, a memorable Sunday morning, December 7, 1941, when japans, partner of Germany and Italy, attacked American territory at Pearl Harbor without warning. Once again the United States was unable longer to remain neutral. This time, however, with Great Britain, she set about waging total warfare, resolved to win, not only the victory but the peace as well.

272

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The end of World War II In 1945, first Germany, then Japan, was forced to surrender. World War II was over, but not before the use of new weapons against Japan brought in the Atomic Age, the menace of the 20th century, and at the same time, scientists hope, its promise. The close of the war found Great Britain in a desperate condition. Her funds exhausted, her cities bombed, her people war-weary, her trade disrupted, she faced three major problems. She must stabilize her internal affairs, deal with trouble spots in the British Commonwealth and Empire, and bear her share in the Free World’s program for remaining free. All thereof these problems she has tackled with the same courage, tough-mindedness, and realism which won the free world’s admiration in the Battle of Britain.

The Labour government After the war, Labour government was voted into office by those who feared that the Conservatives would not go so far in social legislation as public opinion demanded. The labour leader Clemet Attlee was made prime minister. The labour government gave the people a large measure of the legislation they wanted. But Prime Minister Attlee saw as well as the Conservatives that financial stability must be rebuilt, or legislation would be powerless to bring decent living conditions. So under Labour leadership, with the “loyal Opposition” helping, wartime rationing was continued. Strict measures were used to get England on its feet financially. In 1951 the people elected a Conservative majority, and Winston Churchill became prime minister again. The belt stayed tightened until, in 1953, sufficient recovery had come about to warrant removal of rationing and reduction in taxes. At first, while rebuilding her bombed cities and her crippled trade and industries, England was operating on borrowed capital, but as soon as possible she began getting on her own independent feet, dispensing with aid from the United States under the Marshall Plan after December, 1950. The Conservatives, despite their desire to keep down costs, retained the greater part of Labour’s social-betterment program, convinced that it was both just and overdue. In 1955 Sir Winston Churchill, at the age of eighty, retired to wellearned leisure. Sir Anthony Eden, for years his second in command, succeeded him as prime minister.

The British commonwealth of Nations Meanwhile in the post war years Britain’s position with the Commonwealth has been strengthened by her granting independence to India. Both India and Pakistan retained ties as dominions. In 1950 Britain agreed to give self-government to the remaining parts of the Empire, as soon as each state wanted and seemed ready for independence, Each has the choice of remaining affiliated to Britain as part of the British Commonwealth or

273

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

of breaking ties completely. This agreement has immeasurably deepened loyalty to the mother country, despite remaining trouble spots. Elizabeth II, since became Queen in 1952, has done a great deal to strengthen Commonwealth ties by her visits to the various dominions and colonies. Great Britain’s vast experience, both in economics and diplomacy, together with her traditional moderation and devotion to “due process of law”, makes her a powerful force for world stability and the ultimate hope of peace.

The British today In 1954, in a broadcast on his on his eightieth birthday, the Novelist W. Somerset Maugham summed up the changes he had seen in England during his lifetime. Commenting on the levelling process that World War II had brought about in the distribution of wealth, he spoke of the “great houses” now converted to schools and institutions, their owners living on small incomes in the porter’s lodge or in a London flat. England’s upper class, he said, have taken their changed circumstances “not only with fortitude but with good will”. He went on: ”The poor, no longer so very poor, no longer so very poor, are better housed and better clothed. They have at last obtained the chance to live decent lives, and can look to the future without misgiving. “It is true that as a nation we are sadly impoverished, but, in compensation, as individuals we are freer. We have rid ourselves of many stupid prejudices. Relations between the sexes are more unconstrained. We are less formal in our dress and far more comfortable. We are less class-conscious. We are less prudish. We are less arrogant. In fact, I think we are nicer people than we were when I was young; and for all the hardships we have had to undergo, the scarcities, the restrictions, the regimentations, I think, we, the great mass of the people, are better off than ever before. The outstanding characteristic of the English people is good humour, and that, however adverse circumstances are, we seem able to maintain. It is a great strength.”

8.2 Literature of our day The writer and his time Events of such magnitude as those of the present century have inevitably affected the thinking and the writhing of modern authors. Rare is the capable, sensitive author who can shut himself in his study and write pretty little poems about flowers while bombs are tumbling from the sky. And how can he remain unmoved while his countrymen struggle for political reforms or while his fellows across the seas suffer for want of bread? A writer knows that literature serves two purposes besides providing enjoyment: it reflects life,

274

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

and it affects life. The writer of true literature is sensitive enough to make of his writing a mirror that reflects at least some of the many facets of life itself. He shows poverty, riches; beauty, ugliness; love, hatred. Everything that is part of life is suitable material for his pen. By reflecting life he increases the understanding of his reader, he makes him see that improvements are necessary, and thus, slowly, the writer affects life. The present attitude towards war, for example, is quite different from the attitude of two thousand, or even one thousand, years ago. Partially responsible for this change are hundreds of writers who have reflected war or its results and who have thus changed people’s attitudes toward it.

Interaction of life and literature in the early 1900’s Part of the mental climate of the early 1990’s was a strong reaction against certain aspects of Victorianism. Many Englishmen began to doubt whether their civilization was as sound, and whether their standards in behavior and human relations were as reliable, as they had been taught to believe. A whole generation grew up on both sides of the Atlantic which maintained that questions of marriage, of morality and religion should be discussed frankly and openly, not hushed up and glossed over. Shocked Victorian eyebrows had been raised over the frank treatment of such questions in plays by the Scandinavian Ibsen.* Already in the 1890’s the young playwright George Bernard Shaw * was slashing about him, defending Ibsen and puncturing balloons of prudishness, sham, and hypocrisy wherever he found them. The years when he was reaching the public most effectively, however, causing widespread discussion, and shaping the thought of his times, were those between 1904 and 1924, when his masterly series of plays, from Man and superman to St. Joan, were appearing on the stage and in print. They became centers of excitement, as Shaw himself continued to be until he died at ninety, in 1950.

The Abbey Theatre William Butler Yeats, poet and dramatist, became influential in the movement for Irish independence, directing the attention of the Irish to the glories and artistic richness of their past, himself taking themes for his poetry from Celtic legendry, and encouraging other Irish writers to do likewise. Presently, with the help of Lady Gregory,* and later joined by many other Irish playwrights, he founded the highly successful Abbey Theatre, in Dublin, for the production of plays on Irish themes.

Social problems A problem in the early 1900’s was the plight of the working man. Many of John Galsworthy concern questions of social justice, and undoubtedly hastened the betterment of conditions. Strife, for example, a play showing the suffering that came from bad labour relations in a strike, sent the audience home thinking, ”What can be done about conditions like

275

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

these?” John Masefield’s early poems, already appearing before World War I, were also drawing attention to “the man whit too weighty a burden, too weary a load “; and the poet has lived to see many of these loads lightened. Some of these influences stemming from the early years of the century you will see continuing with added force in our own day. An example is the increased frankness and realism with which modern writers deal with every aspect of their times-a movement spearheaded by Shaw in the early 1900’s.

Interaction of war on the literature The impact of war upon literature you will be able to trace in the selections given in this section. Only after you have read all these and more, however, and reflected upon their cumulative meaning, will you begin to sense the operation of the reverse process: how literature, the expression of the experience and emotions of gifted writers, sincerely set down, is slowly changing attitudes toward war, and strengthening man’s drive toward world peace.

A look at the mid –century literature scene Now that a decade and more have passed since the war, writing and publishing in England begin to resume a normal pace. Drama and poetry. Strong voices of earlier years are still being heard, for example, that of American –born T.S. Eliot, now especially acclaimed for his plays in verse , who has been joined in that field by the younger Christopher Fry, an outstanding figure in the drama world of today. The poets who earlier in the century were pessimistic and bitter are now, in their mature years, taking the world as they find it, still viewing it realistically but with more optimism. Auden (p712) has meanwhile become an American citizen, making his home in the United States, as T.S Eliot does in Great Britain, and each writer has had valuable effect upon the literature of his adopted country. A new reading public. One outstanding feature of the literary land scape is the marked widening of the reading public in the war and post-war years. War always stimulates reading. People want escape from their anxieties. They are also seeking ways to make the world better, a search which leads them to reading history, economics and philosophy. Science. It is not only that the people who have always read are reading more; in addition a throng of Britishers who earlier did little reading are turning to books. What they want more than anything else is information. The rapid advance of science has much to do with this change. For one thing, the dwellings of Britons of low income are better lighted and heated, both conducive to reading. Then awareness of living in the Atomic Age brings into their lives both menace and promise and makes them want to understand what is going on. Travel books. But this new public does not confine its interest to science and self-preservation. Partly because millions in the armed forces have been in distant regions, and

276

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Britishers at home have had among them the thousands of refugees who fled to Britain from Hitler’s path, curiosity has been stimulated about other lands, other peoples. Books of travel and personal experience are appearing to meet the demand, naturally written in a lighter, simpler style than formerly, for these less seasoned readers. The scope of the novel. The British novel has ranged far in the 20th century: from Arnold Bennett’s studies of the Five Towns, the pottery district of the industrial Midlands, to scenes set in far places, like E.M. Forster’s A Passage to India (1924) and Cry, the Beloved Country (1950), Alan Paton’s poetic novel of racial tensions in South Africa. It has ranged far in mood and purpose, too, from the surfaceentertainmed level to the deeply serious. The most influential novels of the half century, however, have been concerned with two basic questions: the search for deeper understanding of man’s inner self, and the search for the effect of changing social patterns on the individual. A third possible subject in our age, the advance of science, the novelists have left practically untouched, except for such fantastic projections into the future as H.G. Wells’s War of the Worlds, and the “pulps” treatment of science fiction. Perhaps when the world has lived with the Atomic Age longer, novelists will attempt to grapple with its possibilities. The first of the basic themes, man’s inner life, has grown from the development of the science of psychology, and the intense interest our century has had in its findings. One of the first outstanding novels of the century. Conrad’s Lord Jim (1900), shows the hero, cut adrift and no longer sustained by the and traditions of his past, groping vainly to understand himself-and Conrad implies that Lord Jim’s problem is the common problem of 20th-century man. Virginia Woolf in her effort to probe to the deeper levels of inner life, in To the Lighthouse (1927) and other novels, uses the” stream of consciousness” technique, finding original ways with words and images to convey to her reader the workings of her characters’ minds. The second theme, the effect of the changing patters in society on man the individual, Galsworthy treated in a series of novels about the Forsyte family, appearing from 1906 to 1935. Trough the Forsytes he shows the seemingly secure Victorian world built on property and financial prosperity gradually crumbling, and the Forsyte descendants facing increasingly complex problems in the 20th century. In more recent years are George Orwell’s terrifying studies of totalitarianism-Animal Farm (1945) and Nineteen Eighty-four (1949). (the former novel appeared as a motion picture, in cartoon form; the latter was televised on B. B. C., both in 1954, four years after the author’s death, and caused widespread discussion.) The theatre. The today seems in a healthy state, partly because of the activities of arttheatre and amateur groups, and drama festivals, which have taken “good theatre “ all over Britain, and convinced the public that a play can be both thought-provoking and good entertainment. But critics attribute the increase in theatre-goers to movies, on the radio, and television as well. Exposed in our century to plays at the movies, on the radio, and more recently on television, more and more people are eager to see” live” productions. In

277

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

the same way new readers have gone to the printed page, to read for themselves a novel which they had seen dramatized at the cinema, or from which they have heard excerpts on the radio. Documentaries and the featuring of notable personalities and achievements on radio and television have sent the new public in pursuit of non-fiction reading. Biography and history. Finally, in non-fiction, the whole English-speaking world has benefited from 20th century developments. Once biography was the domain of the learned specialist, and made arid territory for the general reader. Early in the century Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) with his Queen Victoria and Elizabeth and Essex proved that a biography could be authentic and at the same time entertaining reading. He broke with the Victorian tradition that the notable person written about must be set on a pedestal, and, by showing faults and oddities as well as virtues, he placed a breathing human personality before the reader. While Strachey has had some unworthy imitators, the “debunking school,” for instance, his influence in humanizing biography and making it a popular form of reading has gone on to our day. G.M. Trevelyan, during nearly half a century, has been doing the same thing for history. By his English Social History, reprinted and brought up to date in 1952, he has show that history can be scholarly and at the same time vivid and enjoyable reading. Arnold Toynbee (p.761), with A Study of history and his lectures on both sides of the Atlantic, has stimulated thought on the meaning that underlies events. Unique in the field of history in our century are the speeches of Sir Winston Churchill and his six-volume History of the Second World War. Seldom has a critical period in history has as its chronicler a man of wit and penetration who is both a master of language and at the same time the statesman most closely associated with the events of his time. Sir Winston’s even later account of the whole course of English history, History of The English-Speaking Peoples, gives a permanent record of this elder statement’s viewpoint, and gives further testimony to the eloquence oh his style. It is hoped that the sampling of 20th-century writing that you will read here will help you to follow such threads as have been indicated, and many more to which your own individual interests will lead you. Then you will have a sense of direction and some trails to follow as new books of all sorts spring up in the literary landscape of the years ahead.

Alfred Noyes Alfred Noyes was born in 1880 in Staffordshire, and was educated at Oxford. Since he was twenty-one, he has attracted attention with his verses. From 1914 to 1923 he was a professor of English at Princeton University. The music and colour that he puts into his verse has made him popular both in England and America. He is fond of the Elizabethan tradition, which he has attempted to immortalize in his poem Drake, an epic filled with love of sea. Two of his most popular poems are “The Highwayman” and “The Barrel Organ.”

278

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

“The Highwayman” is one of the most popular narrative poems written in our century. It has everything: an exciting story, of danger and devotion; romance; colour; and a swinging, singing movement. It’s a fine poem to read aloud. Alfred Noyes (1880-1958) The Highwayman PART ONE I THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees, The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, And the highwayman came riding— Riding—riding— The highwayman came riding, up to the old inn-door. II He’d a French cocked-hat on his forehead, a bunch of lace at his chin, A coat of the claret velvet, and breeches of brown doe-skin; They fitted with never a wrinkle: his boots were up to the thigh! And he rode with a jewelled twinkle, His pistol butts a-twinkle, His rapier hilt a-twinkle, under the jewelled sky. PART TWO I’ll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way! IV She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good! She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood! They stretched and strained in the darkness, and the hours crawled by like years, Till, now, on the stroke of midnight, Cold, on the stroke of midnight, The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers! V The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest! Up, she stood up to attention, with the barrel beneath her breast, She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again; For the road lay bare in the moonlight; Blank and bare in the moonlight; And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love’s refrain .

279

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

VI Tlot-tlot; tlot-tlot! Had they heard it? The horse-hoofs ringing clear; Tlot-tlot, tlot-tlot, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear? Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill, The highwayman came riding, Riding, riding! The red-coats looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still! VII Tlot-tlot, in the frosty silence! Tlot-tlot, in the echoing night! Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light! Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath, Then her finger moved in the moonlight, Her musket shattered the moonlight, Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death. VIII He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood Bowed, with her head o’er the musket, drenched with her own red blood! Not till the dawn he heard it, his face grew grey to hear How Bess, the landlord’s daughter, The landlord’s black-eyed daughter, Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there. IX Back, he spurred like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky, With the white road smoking behind him and his rapier brandished high! Blood-red were his spurs i’ the golden noon; wine-red was his velvet coat, When they shot him down on the highway, Down like a dog on the highway, And he lay in his blood on the highway, with the bunch of lace at his throat. X And still of a winter’s night, they say, when the wind is in the trees, When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas, When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor, A highwayman comes riding— Riding—riding— A highwayman comes riding, up to the old inn-door. XI Over the cobbles he clatters and clangs in the dark inn-yard; He taps with his whip on the shutters, but all is locked and barred; He whistles a tune to the window, and who should be waiting there

280

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

But the landlord’s black-eyed daughter, Bess, the landlord’s daughter, Plaiting a dark red love-knot into her long black hair.

Thinking it over

1. Why do you think this poem has been so popular? 2. What do you yourself especially like about it-if you do like it? If you don’t, tell why.

They story

1. Where did you first feel suspense? 2. Where is the climax? 3. Where are there other moments of suspense?

How the poet works

1. 2. 3. 4.

Where does the poet set the stage for his story? Where does he introduce his characters? Describe the one that is most vivid to you. What devices does the poet use to make his poem move rapidly? Find places (a) where long lines are used to give a sweeping rhythm; (b) where short phrases are used to suggest excitement or agitation. 5. Why are the last two stanzas in italics? 6. Compare the opening stanzas with the closing ones. What details from the beginning are repeated at the end? What effect does this have? Thomas Hardy First an architect, then a novelist, and finally a poet, Thomas Hardy (1840-1928) had a long and productive career. Although he lived most of his life in the Victorian period, his best work in both prose and poetry is thoroughly modern in spirit. Hardy was born in Dorsetshire that south-eastern section of England knows is his stories as Wessex. His father was a builder, and Thomas was early apprenticed to an architect. At thirty-one, Hardy turned from a successful career as an architect to become a writer of fiction. At fifty-eight he turned almost as suddenly to the writing of poetry. Nature and war became his favorite poetic themes. In his treatment of them he shows the compression and the power to suggest much more that is said qualities characteristic of the greatest poetry. While most readers of his poetry will always know him best foe his short lyrics, his most ambitious work is The Dynasts, a long philosophical poetic drama concerning the Napoleonic wars. Hardy’s architectural training shows in the logical construction of the plots of his novels. His episodes dovetail into one another, and within the plot the characters move toward

281

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

the end that Fate has planned for them. Encouraged by George Meredith, already an established novelist, Hardy, soon after the publication of Far from the Madding Crowd, in 1874, gained a reputation as an author of realistic novels. They are filled with a poet’s awareness of nature and characters that seem to step from the pages into life. While his stories are often gloomy in outlook, like the windswept downs of Wessex that make their setting, the ways of the rustics, whom Hardy knew so well, give lightening touches of humor. The people of the downs contribute, too, a down-to-earth common sense that Hardy finds characteristic of men close to the soil, whom he respects and admires. In all that that Hardy writes there is the sense of Fate dominating life, and of human beings struggling with forces too powerful for the, both within themselves and in the external world. Thomas Hardly lived a long life-eighty-eight years. As a novelist he was a late Victorian. But as a poet, he is definitely of our own century, not only because his poems were written chiefly after 1900, but also because, in his subject matter and in his daring experimentations with verse forms, he was essentially modern. The first two lines of this poem let you know by the very lilt of them that the poet is in a playful mood. And the mention of the cuckoo tells you, if you know English birds that the first stanza is about spring weather. How about the second stanza? Weathers This is the weather the cuckoo likes, And so do I; When showers betumble the chestnut spikes, And nestlings fly: And the little brown nightingale bills his best, And they sit outside at “The Travellers Rest”, and maids come forth spring-muslin drest, And citizens dream of the south and west, And so do I. This is the weather the shepherd shuns, And so do I; When beeches drip in browns and duns, And thresh, and ply, And hill-hid tides throb, throe on thoe, And drops on gate-bars hang in a row, And rooks in families homeward go,

And so do I.

282

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Poet’s preference 1. What does the poet like about spring weather? Find as many specific details as you can. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. How does the poet feel about the weather described in the second stanza? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What time of year do you think he is describing? Explain ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

You preference

1. What is your kind of weather? Mention some specific details about it that delight you. 2. What kind of weather do you “shun”? Give five weather do you “shun”? Give five details that you might put into a description written to show why you “shun” it.

Our American weather Why not write a couple of stanzas about two kinds of weather in your own part of the world? You might use Hardy’s rhythm and begin with his first line to get a running start“This is the weather the (Robin) likes” – or some other bird that heralds spring.

The Darkling Thrush Hardy was a country man – as you probably guessed from “Weathers”. Winter or summer he liked to walk the fields and country lanes. Late one bleak December afternoon in 1900, while out for a ramble, he stopped beside a gate that led into a little thickte of trees. Here he had the experience described in this poem. I leant upon a coppice gate When Frost was specter-gray, And Winter’s dregs made desolate The weaking eye of day. The tangled bine-stems scored the sky Like strings from broken lyres, And all mankind that haunted nigh Had sought their household fires.

283

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The land’s sharp features seemed to be The Century’s corpse outleant; His crypt the cloudly canopy, The wind his death-lament. The ancient pulse of germ and birth Was shrunken hard and dry, And every spirit upon earth Seemed fervourless as I. At once a voice arose among The bleak twigs overhead In a full-hearted evensong Of joy illimited; An aged thrush, frail, gaunt and small, In blast-beruffled plume, Had chosen thus to fling his soul Upon the growing gloom. So little cause for carolings Of such ecstatic sound Was written on terrestrial things Afar or nigh around, That i could think there trembled through His happy good-night air Some blessed Hope, whereof he knew And I was unaware.

284

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Following the thought 1. What words and expressions in stanza 1 show desolation and despair? ___________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 2. In stanza 2 Hardy links earth’s winter state with the death of the century. What details here suggest old age and death? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. Why is the song more effective coming from an “angel thrush”, than it would be if it came from a vigorous young bird? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. Do you think the poet would have been as deeply affected if he had heard the song on a spring or summer afternoon? Why? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

The depths beneath the surface Really to share the poet’s experience, you must understand the last stanza. 1. How does the poet account for the thrush’s singing so happily amidst such bleak surroundings? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 2. What thought of religious significance is hinted at here? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 3. What is the mood of the end of the poem? Does it end on a note of despair, hope, assurance? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

285

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

The Oxen Christmas Eve, and twelve of the clock. “Now they are all on their knees” And elder said as we sat in a flock

So fair a fancy few would weave In these years¡ Yet, I feel, If someone said on Christmas Eve,

By the members in hearthside ease.

“Come, see the oxen kneel,

We pictured the meek mild creatures where

In the lonely barton(1) by yonder comb(2)

They dwelt in their strawy pen, Nor did it occur to one of us there To doubt they were kneeling them.

Our childhood used to know, I should go with him in the gloom, Hoping it might be so.

Concerning the thought 1. What was the reaction of the hearthside group to the legend in Hardy’s childhood? _______________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________ 2. In what lines does Hardly allude to the loss of faith in such beliefs in modern times? ___________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 3. Does he feel that our 20th-century toward such legends is all to the good? Or have we lost something by our emphasis on scientific facts? Explain. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 4. What word in the last line also occurs at the end of “The Darkling Thrush”? Is this significant? If so , How? ______________________________________________________ ______________________________________________________ Foodnote: (1) Barton: barn (2) Coom: Valley

286

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

The Man He Killed Hardly lived through three great wars during his long life-the War of 1870 between France and Germany, the Boer War in South Africa, and World War I. But in these two poems he catches something true of any war at any time. Here a bewildered young soldier is speaking. Though the poem is part of Hardy’s great poetic drama the Napoleonic wars, The Dynasts, the young man could just as well be as soldier of later wars.

“Had he and I but met

Just so: my foe of course he was;

By some old ancient (1) inn,

That’s clear enough; although

We should have sat us down to wet Right many a nipperkin¡ (2)

“He thought he’d list, (3)perhaps, Offhand like-just as I-

“But ranged as infantry And staring face to face, I shot at him as he at me, And killed him in his place. “I shot him dead becauseBecause he was my foe,

Was out of work – had sold his traps(4) No other reason why “Yes; quaint and curious war is¡ You shoot a fellow down You’d treat if met where any bar is, Or help to half-a-crown.”

Footnotes: 1. ancient : old 2. Nipperkin: A small glass holding a half pint or less 3. List: Enlist 4. Traps: Small belongings

287

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin TĂtulo PedagĂłgico en Lengua Extranjera

A confused young man 1.

What has just happened to the young man? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

What is troubling him? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

Do you think his experience is unique, or have other young men felt the same way? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

4. Do you think the poem would be true only of a young English soldier? Or might it apply equally to an American, a German, Russian, and Chinese? ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________

288

Literatura Inglesa: Británica

Activity After you have answered all the questions after every reading in this unit , please, answer all the questions from your mind. If you cannot do it, please go back to the materials and start reading again. This activity will give fluency and you improve your English competence. 1. What have you learned from this chapter? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 2. What is the historical background of this period? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 3. What are the characteristics of the Twentieth Century Literature? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 4. What literary genres characterise the Twentieth Century Literature ? __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 5. Study Alfred Noyes and his biography. ___________________________________________________________________ ___________________________________________________________________ 6. Analyse “The highwayman” __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 7. Study Thomas Hardy and his biography. __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 9. Analyse “ Weathers” and “The darkling Thrush”, __________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________ 10. Analyse “The Oxen” and “The man he killed” __________________________________________________________________

_____________________________________________________________ 289

Programa de Licenciatura para Profesores sin Título Pedagógico en Lengua Extranjera

Twentieth Century Literature 2000-Present Content:

* * * *

concern with connections between people exploring interpretations of the past open-mindedness and courage that comes from being an outsider escaping those ways of living that blind and dull the human spirit

Genres/Styles: * * * * * * * *

all genres represented fictional confessional/diaries 50% of contemporary fiction is written in the first person narratives: both fiction and nonfiction emotion-provoking humorous irony storytelling emphasized autobiographical essays mixing of fantasy with nonfiction; blurs lines of reality for reader

Effect:

* too soon to tell

Historical Context:

* a world growing smaller due to ease of communications between societies * a world launching a new beginning of a century and a millennium * media culture interprets values and events for individuals

Key Literature/Authors: Alfred Noyes, Thomas Hardy, Seamus Heaney, Doris Lessing, Louis de Bernieres, Kazuo Ishiguro, Tom Stoppard, Salman Rushdie. John Le Carre, Ken Follett

290

Literatura Inglesa: Britรกnica

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html

http://www.luminarium.org/renlit/passionateshepherd.htm

http://apo.cmaisonneuve.qc.ca/villanova/hemingway/original.htm

http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00212/celtic.html

http://www.sparknotes.com/shakespeare/hamlet/characters.html

http://www.saratogaschools.org/academic/terry/hamletsite/WordDocs/Reading%20 Comp%20Act%20I%20%20Notes.do

http://www.bookrags.com/studyguide-inanothercountry/

http://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/33810.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sense_and_Sensibility

ttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetry

291