The Age of Revolutions: Britain and America's Historical Period of War and Revolution, Sintesi del corso di Inglese

Scarica The Age of Revolutions: Britain and America's Historical Period of War and Revolution e più Sintesi del corso in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Britain and America After George I, we have George II, III, IV. There was as usually a war with France because France was always the traditional enemy of England.  Navigation Act = with this act English established that the ships that transported the woods from the colonies had to be only British ships. This costs the disappointment of the Dutch who were good navigators. One of the most important events that’s happened in this period is the American Revolution. This period is named The Age of Revolutions because there were three important revolutions:  American Revolution  French Revolution  Industrial Revolution The first British people gone to American were Puritans (named Pilgrim Fathers). After the Pilgrim Fathers more and more English people went to America. Little by little the number of British people in America became very high. The English people defeated the French in Canada. A war I usually expensive so the taxation increase to pay the expenses for the war. So after that British defeated the French in Canada they wanted that the British colonies in America contributed to pay the expenses of the war with high taxation in particular because they said that if they had defeated the French in Canada, British colonies didn’t have to fear any attack from the north. British colonists refused because they said that they hadn’t any representative in the parliament, so why the slogan ‘’No taxation no representation’’. And also the colonies asked English government to remove the duties on the imported woods from Britain. After many protests the British government removed the duties on the woods with one exception: the tea. They don’t removed the taxation on tea because English tea was a sort of symbol. It happened that one day a ship arrived at Boston harbor and there was the famous Boston tea party. There was the Boston tea party because the American colonist threw the cargo of tea in the sea. So the war between Britain and American colonies started and during this war there were different kinds of factions. There were:  The patriots, who were the people who wanted to be separated from the British government.  The loyalist, who were the people who wanted to stay with the British Parliament. There were a lot of intellectuals who supported the American cause. In this war George Washington became the leader of the American army, so he became also the 1st American President. An important date is the 4th July 1776 because in this date was signed the ‘’Declaration of Independence’’. One of the most important person who contributed to write this declaration was Thomas Jefferson. In this declaration there were a lot of important statements like: “every man has the right to be happy”. In XXXX England recognized the independence of the colonies. 1 Industrial and Agricultural Revolution There isn’t a precise date but we can say that it goes from 1760 to 1840. It is called “revolution” because this kind of changes changed the society radically. This revolution isn’t only industrial, but it is also an agricultural revolution. The scientific thinking of this period contributed to the beginning of the revolution. In fact, the scientific thinking was applied to the inventions. The most important invention in this period were:  In Agriculture: 1. ‘’Enclosures’’ (that contributed to the increase of the production of food); 2. Animals were bred selectively; 3. The drainage of the soil (the soil became more fertile); 4. The people were better fed.  In Industry: 1. The spinning wool (which increase the production); 2. The power loom; 3. The steam engine. This improvements cause an increase in the production of food and clothes. Most of the people moved from the countryside to the town. The towns were named ‘’mushroom towns’’ because they turned up everywhere in the country. The town were usually near the factories which were built near the coal fill, in the North of England. Cotton replaced wool, steel replaced wood. If new articles were produced, it was necessary to transport these articles from one place to another, so it was necessary to improve the transports. Infact, the roads were improved, but the most revolutionary kind of transport was the Railway. Because of the railway people could move from one place to another easily. In addiction because of the railway:  the dialects became less extreme because people talked to each other in only one language to be understood;  The printing press was improved because the newspapers and the books were transported in other places;  People can receive fresh food because it was transported quickly. In this period was made up the Lunar Society. The Lunar Society was a group of learned people who met in Birmingham on the nights of full moon because with the full moon the streets were better lit so they were considered safer. The negative aspects of Industrial Revolution One of the most negative effects of the industrial revolution were the differences between rich and poor. The landowners and the factoryowners became richer and richer. The landowners, with their money, exploited better their lands and produced more food becoming richer. At the same time the factoryowners became richer because of the industrial production which increased the production of products like food and clothes. Who lived in the countryside lost the lands because rich people included them in their possessions. 2 Emotion vs Reason Usually, when a new age start, there isn’t a precise date; it is something that develops slowly. Before the Romantic Age we have the Pre-romantic Age, which develops in the last thirty years of the 18 th century. The first writers who showed a new sensibility were:  Thomas Gray “An Elegy Written In a Country Churchyard”  Richardson “Pamela” (an epistolary novel which talks about feelings)  Lorence Stern “Tristan Shandy” (a sentimental novel) The elegy was a short composition which talks about someone who was died or someone who was left in a faraway. It is usually sad. Changes Neoclassical Age Pre-romantic Age - It is important the reason. - It isn’t important reason but feelings - The view of society through reason. - The singular inspiration of the single poet - The feelings and the emotions were repressed because they are controlled by the reason. - The senses became more important because they were the way to express feelings - The general rules are shared values New Interests  The interest for countryside, humble people, rural life, exc. Because the towns had become uglier and uglier because of the effects of the industrial revolution. Most of the writers, intellectual, found in the rural life a sort of refuge to escape this world.  The interest for melancholy, meditation, suffering of the poor, the death. The taste which developed in this period is the taste for the ruins, old castles, abbeys.  The interest for the past because they rejected the present and they interested in the past. In particular they are interested in the medieval past (architecture, legends, traditions). The middle age had always been considered a barbarous age but now it is synonymous of exoticism. The New Key Words  Nature: They had a pantheistic view of nature (God everywhere in nature, so the elements of nature are linked to God). The poet didn’t describe the nature just in the physical aspect but he described it as a living being. 5  Beauty: The two most important figures who contributed to give the new idea of beauty were: Hume: He was a Scottish historical and philosopher. He said that beauty doesn’t belong to the object itself, but it belongs to the mind of who observe the object. Because each mind perceive the object in a different way. Burk: He introduced the new idea of Sublime which was in contrast with the traditional idea of beauty. Usually when we talk about beauty we mean regularity, harmony, balance. Instead sublime was linked with irregularity, fear, terror (something which gives intense emotions).  Sublime: A sort of intense emotion which derives from impressive powerful of nature and sometimes it is connected with fear and terror.  Imagination: (in contrast with reason) Is considered the central point of the creating process. The poet gives much importance to the subconscious. It was explored in different ways: through drugs, dreams, madness.  Childhood: In the past it was seen just as a state to become adult, now it is a state to be admired because children are considered purer and nearer to God because they hadn’t been corrupted by civilization.  Individualism: Men is seen in his solitary state. There is the exaltation of the individualism. There is a taste for the outcast, for everything is not conform to the normality. This taste lead to the cult of the hero (in the romantic age we have the figure of the rebel, the Byronic hero). The figure of the Romantic Hero (Prometheus by Shelly) was a negative figure because he is always in contrast with the society. Another reason is that he is always haunted by his faults and sometimes by the wasted time. Rousseau One of the most important figures who contributed to support this idea was Rousseau. He was a French philosopher who had a particular idea of civilization. Civilization was considered positive because with it men could live in wealthier conditions. But Rousseau saw in the civilization also negative aspects because in according to him civilization had corrupted man. This idea of Rousseau lead to a new theory: the theory of “The Noble Savage”. This theory said that even if the savage was primitive but he has a better knowledge of himself and the world around him, so it can be considered superior than the civilized man. He is superior than the civilized man also because he, such as the child, isn’t corrupted by civilization so he was closer to God. This idea of the noble savage lead to the cult of the exotic (there was a cult of everything which is faraway in space or in time). Romanticism Most of the writers of the 18th century travelled in different European countries (Milton went to Italy) and this was called the “European Grand Tour”. Apart from Milton other writers had a grand tour in Europe. 6 In the Romanticism the ideal of travelling has changed. They considered a journey as a challenge (they liked not to go around to travel just to see beautiful landscapes, but they liked to go faraway in remote and dangerous places). Romanticism in Europe developed in different places. At first in Germany, anticipated by the movement of “Storm and Stress”. In France it started with Madame De Steal who opened in paris a lot of cultural circles; she wrote “De L’Allemagne” and she didn’t support Napoleon so she left France and went to Switzerland. In England Romantic Age started with the publication of the Lyrical Ballads (which are collections of poems which were written by William Wordsworth and Coleridge). In Italy Romanticism started with “La Lettera Semiseria” by Berchet. The word “Romance”, in the middle age was associated to the romances languages (vernacular languages derived from the Latin). Later the romances became the works written in the romances language. Later romance were considered cycle of romances (the medieval romances were about knights, fabulous, supernatural elements). During the 17 th century the world “Romantic” was associated to everything which meant fantastic, fabulous. Later this word was associated to the landscape and then to the feelings that someone feel when we look a landscape until we arrived in the 19th century that is the Romantic Age and the word “Romantic” is associated to melancholy, sadness. Poetry There are different kinds of poetry:  Pastoral Poetry: Exalted the rural life, the pleasure and happiness of rural life for its simplicity because it was free from corruption. One of the most important exponent of this kind of poetry was William Cowper who created the famous aphorism “God made the country and men made the town”.  Ossian Poetry: Were cycles of poems about Ossian (who was an Irish warrior who lived in Scotland in the 3rd century). They were melancholic poems because they talked about the suffering about war and love.  Folk Poems: This kind of poems were about the legends, sonnets, ballads, romances, of Middle Age.  Graveyard School: The setting of this poems was a cemetery or ruins. The most important exponent of this school was Thomas Gray who wrote “An Elegy Written In a Country Churchyard”. Imagination was important to change reality. The poet was considered a sort of Visionary, a Prophet and a teacher. Visionary because he was able to see behind the surface of reality before other men. Prophet because after he understand the reality he thought it to the other men. The style in the past was very elevated. Now, as we talk about everyday life, is more simple. 7