PROGRAMMA INGLESE QUINTA SUPERIORE LICEO LINGUISTICO, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica PROGRAMMA INGLESE QUINTA SUPERIORE LICEO LINGUISTICO e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! The life of Mary Shelley Mary was born in London in 1797. Her mother, Mary Wollstonecraft, was a feminist and she attacked the idea that men were superior and demanded equal education for women. Her father, William Godwin, was a social philosopher. Her mother got an infection during childbirth and she died (also Frankenstein’s mother died). After Mary’s mother's death Godwin married another woman, Mrs Clairmont, a widow with two children, one of them was Jane. Mary didn’t go to school but she received an excellent education from her father (home tuition), who encouraged her to write stories. A lot of poets visited Godwin and one of them was Shelley. Shelley had a wife, but their relationship was failing. Mary fell in love with Shelley and they escaped together with Jane to France. Mary gave birth to a baby girl, who died. Shelley, Mary and Jane spent the summer of 1816 with Lord Byron (romantic poet) and doctor Polidori on Lake Geneva in Switzerland, where Mary began writing Frankenstein. The same year, Shelley’s wife commited suicide, and Shelley and Mary got married. 1816 was called “the year without a summer” because of the severe weather conditions, caused by the eruption of the volcano Tambora in Indonesia. The constant rain forced Byron, Mary, Jane, doctor Polidori and Shelley to stay at home. They spent their time reading German ghost stories and one day Byron suggested a competition: they should have written scary stories. Mary had no inspiration for days, but then she heard Byron and Shelley talking about scientific experiments, including the experiment by the italian Luigi Galvani in animating legs of dead frogs with electricity and about how corpses might be animated. Mary had a vision/dream of a student beside the thing he had put together and so she found the idea for her story. Her husband encouraged her to complete her story and Frankenstein was published in 1818. Then Mary, Shelley and Jane travelled to Italy and they visited a lot of cities (In Florence there were a lot of English people). Mary had one son but Shelley, who had sailed to visit Byron in Livorno, died during a storm. Mary returned to England and she devoted herself to the education of her son. She earned her living through writing (“Valperga”, “The last man” set in the future, in which a plague destroys the human race). She died in 1851. (concept of life and death) Part 1 Walton writes to his sister. *A lot of characters write letters, but there is just one receiver: Walton’s sister Margaret.* He says that his dream is to go to the North Pole and that he has always wanted to be an explorer. He wants to go to the North Pole because he thinks that he could have found a passage to the East that could have helped the traders or he would have discovered something useful to science. *Theme of the double: Frankenstein and Walton are two ambitious and overricher men. They are the double of each other. They want to challenge the limits of human beings to discover new things. When they do something they don't think about the consequences.* He hires a ship and a crew, but the men in the crew are not his friends. He starts his voyage. He tells her sister that the ship is surrounded by ice and that suddenly he and the crew see a sledge with a gigantic man. Then they are able to move and the next morning they find another man, Frankenstein, on a sledge and they give him help. He tells them that he is following someone. Walton thinks that Frankenstein is an interesting person. *Epistolary novel: Frankenstein is made up of different kinds of texts. Letters and journal extracts written by Robert Walton, Frankenstein’s own story and the creature’s story.* *The monster is called: The monster; The creature; The devil; The being; The wretche.* Part 2 Victor Frankenstein is born in Geneva. Her father is a magistrate. He has a brother called William and an adopted sister called Elizabeth (her father was an Italian nobleman and her mother a German lady). His dear friend is Henry Clerval. One day Elizabeth becomes ill and Victor’s mother nurses her, but then she becomes ill and she dies of scarlet fever. Victor’s parents' desire is the marriage between Victor and Elizabeth. Victor is interested in science and he goes to the university at Ingolstadt when he is seventeen. Victor goes to hear a lecture by a professor of chemistry, Mr Waldman, and he becomes very interested in the human body (he wanted to create human life). *Modern chemists can perform miracles. They are like gods (modern chemists can perform miracles like gods. They can describe and explain all the events that happen in nature).* He begins to work in his lonely attic room (mansarda) with dead bodies and he creates a creature. *All gothic novels are set in strange, remote and secret places. The attic is far away from the rest of the house. It represents the remotest part of the house.* Frankenstein gets sick because he works a lot (2 years without writing to his family). He completes his creature one cold rainy night in November. *It is an aspect of gothic novels: obscurity, mystery* The creature is horrible, his skin is yellow and wrinkled (rugosa), his hair is long and black, his teeth are pearly and his eyes are watery. *There is a contrast of colours.* Frankenstein has a nightmare and he dreams that Elizabeth kisses him, but then her face changes into the face of the dead mother. *There is a connection with the dream of Mary.* Frankenstein runs away from his apartment. *He abandons his “son”.* The following morning, Frankenstein meets Clerval and they walk to Frankenstein’s apartement. Frankenstein was a little bit worried because of the creature, but the monster had escaped. Clerval tells Frankenstein that his family is worried. Frankenstein, after his creation, decides to stop his studies. He begins reading poets and studying Oriental languages with Clerval. *Because he wants to distract himself from science.* Gothic Frankenstein has elements from two different genres: gothic and science fiction. Goths refers to the people from Germany who invaded Rom. Gothic refers to a kind of art. Gothic architecture became fashionable in the 18th century. Horace Walpole converted his house into a “little gothic castle”. Here he wrote “The castle of Otranto”, which is a gothic novel, full of passion, horror and ghosts. This is how the gothic genre is born. This novel was a success and was imitated by many poets. Gothic novels are full of mystery, horror and supernatural. The settings are secret places, with secret passages (setting in place and in time➡scary atmosphere). Mary’s description of her vision which inspired Frankenstein is a typical example of a gothic scene. In the USA, Edgar Allan Poe wrote gothic short stories and in Britain there are gothic elements in 19th century fiction. In the 20th century horror became popular in fiction and famous writers, like Stephen King, show gothic influences. Part 3 *The narration begins with a letter.* Frankenstein tells his story. He receives a letter from his father and his father tells him that William is dead, because he went on a walk and he didn’t come back. They found him dead create the other being in secret in his laboratory. He selects and collects the best parts for the body. *In this period there was a trade of corpses, dead bodies. Frankenstein said "I selected the best parts”* Frankenstein’s father asks him to marry Elizabeth as soon as possible. So Frankenstein goes to England with Henry. Then Frankenstein travels north alone (he goes to the Orkney islands) and he continues his work. *Orkney islands: North of Scotland.* While he is working, he thinks about the fact that the creature has promised to leave Europe, but the female being has not promised. Moreover, the female creature could be more evil than the monster. *Evil: referred to the appearance of the creature and what he could do.* Maybe they will hate each other or they will have children and they will create other devils. Frankenstein destroys the female creature and the monster sees him by the window. *The creature is the master, he has the power in his hand. He wants to make Frankenstein miserable.* Frankenstein doesn’t create the being because he is afraid to be accused to be the cause of the disappearance of mankind. Frankenstein goes into the sea. At the end he sees land in the distance and he meets Mr Kirwin. *Mary Shelley mentions South America (it was 1816, it had not been completely discovered). and she has a good knowledge of geography.* *She includes travelling because it makes the plot more fast-moving and exciting than if it were set in just one place and some of the places are “Romantic” landscapes.* Part 7 Mr Kirwin tells him that he has found the body of a young man with black finger marks on his neck. The man was Henry. Frankenstein is imprisoned because people think that he is the murderer. Meanwhile Mr. Kirwin allows him to see his father. After the trial he is released, because his innocence is proved. Frankenstein returns to Geneva with his father and he and Elizabeth make the arrangements for the wedding. After the wedding Frankenstein wants to tell her about the creation of the monster. Frankenstein and Elizabeth leave for their honeymoon on Lake Como, but the monster comes to Elizabeth’s room and kills her. Frankenstein returns to Geneva and he finds his father ill. In a few days he dies. Frankenstein wants revenge. He goes to a magistrate and he tells his story but the magistrate says that he is unable to catch the creature. So Frankenstein decides to kill him himself. He begins to travel around the world and follow the monster. He also buys a sledge and some dogs to pull it. Then he finds himself surrounded by ice and Walton finds him. Frankenstein asks him to kill the creature and to pay attention to his words. *Walton is going to be Viktors alter ego, Walton is asked by Frankestein to kill the creature, he has to take revenge on the creature for him.* Part 8 Walton writes some letters to Margaret. Frankenstein is very ill. The crew on the ship is in danger because it is surrounded by ice. Many men have died and the others want to go home. But Frankenstein manages to convince them that they must not give up. But then they decide to return to England. Frankenstein asks Walton to take revenge on the creature for him and to find his tranquillity. Frankenstein dies. One night Walton sees the creature in front of Frankenstein’s body. Walton speaks with the creature and he feels pity for him. The creature tells him that he hates the crime he has committed and he says that the death of Frankenstein is the last part of his plan. But then Walton remembers the words of Frankenstein about the fact that the creature can persuade people with his speeches. The creature hates himself and he says that he will die. Romantic Landscapes The novel of Mary Shelley has romantic elements. Two of these are the importance of the terror and the choice of the landscape. Burke’s book had great influence on romantic art and literature. He associated beauty with smallness and smoothness and the sublime with solitude and darkness. He emphasised also the importance of terror. Burke’s ideas contributed also to the rise of the popular gothic genre. In Burke's view pleasure and pain are connected, and energy and power are qualities that must be admired. In the 16th century the English aristocracy started the costume of finishing their son's education by sending them on "the Grand Tour", a nice journey through Europe, that ends at the historic sights of Rome and Naples. Horace Walpole and Thomas Gray spent 3 years on the tour. For all the romantic travellers, the Alps were an example of sublime nature. The typical romantic landscapes are wild nature and ruins. Romantic artists were Salvator Rosa and the German Caspar David Friedrich. *Romantic landscape in Frankenstein: Artic, the forest during the night, the Orkney Islands (remote places).* 4.1 Britain and America George III came to the throne in 1760 and he reigned for 60 years (his reign is one of the longest in English history). He introduced taxes on corn, tea and paper to reduce the public debt, due to the Seven Years’ War, which caused opposition in the American colonies. At the Boston Tea Party (1773) some rebels threw the British tea coming from India into the harbor. The rebels considered the taxes unjust as the colonies had no political power. They said: ”no taxation without representation”. The Americans divided into Patriots, who wanted independence, and Loyalists, who wanted to remain part of Britain and the War of Independence began in 1775. The Americans set up an army under the command of George Washington. The Declaration of Independence, written by Thomas Jefferson, was signed on 4th July 1776: the values were life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. In 1781, at the Battle of Yorktown, the British army was defeated and Britain recognised the Independence of its colonies with the treaty of Versailles in 1783. In 1787 the United States of America adopted a federal constitution and Washington became the 1st president. In Britain George III asked William Pitt to become Prime Minister and he tried to reduce the public debt. In 1801 the act of Union joined Ireland and Britain to form the new United Kingdom. The Irish flag was added to create the Union Jack. 4.2 The Industrial Revolution At the end of the 18th century economic changes took place in England. The origins of the economic transformation can be traced back to the Black Death and the rise in living standards that followed it. The population increased and agriculture intensified. During the industrial revolution: ● openfields were enclosed into smaller portions of land to make more efficient arable farm (the owner of the fields earned money); ● the soil was drained (prosciugato) and made more fertile, so that the cereal production increased; ● animals were bred selectively; Economic activity was diversified: ● the clothing of ordinary people changed (textile production): linen underwear, stockings (calzature), ribbons (nastri) and hats began to be produced; ● more people began to consume things for pleasure, like coffee, tea, tobacco and also alcohol; ● people began buying more goods for the house (pots and pants). During the 18th century there were important technological innovations: ● Steam engine (macchina a vapore) (1712), which made pumping water out of coal mines possible; ● Spinning Jenny (1764) ● Loom (telaio) ● Steam locomotive All the energy was produced by coal. This changed the geography of the country: the new factories were built near the coalfields of the Midlands and the North (here there were coal mines). People moved from the South to the North and small towns, called “Mushroom towns'', were built near the factories. These towns lacked elementary public services (water supply, sanitation, street-cleaning, open spaces); the air and the water were polluted by smoke and filth (sporcizia), the houses were overcrowded. In the factories workers had to work for long hours (65-70 hours) and the conditions in factories were appalling, unhealthy. They lived a monotony and sad life. New work patterns were imposed, determined by the mechanized regularity of the machine. There was also an increase in the mortality rate. Moreover, women and children were prized by the employers because they could be paid less and were easier to control. They were also small and so they could move more easily in mines and factories or pass between the machines in the cotton industry to carry out repairs. 4.3 The French Revolution riots and a reforms George III suffered a severe mental confusion. He became incapable of reigning and his son, the future George IV, was made Prince Regent (Regency). Meanwhile in France, in 1789, there was a revolution and in 1792 the French declared their country a republic. The royal family and thousands of people considered as enemies of the Revolution were executed during a period called the “Terror”. Then succeeded the reign of Napoleon. France declared war on Britain and Holland (1793). The hero of the British navy, Nelson, was killed during the conflict between France and Spain in Cape Trafalgar in 1805. Napoleon was finally defeated at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. The costs of the war were huge. The price of bread increased and this led to riots in the cities, while in the factories the so-called “Luddites (lodits)”, named after their leader Ludd, destroyed the machines. The authorities tried to repress discontent. In England George III was succeeded by his son George IV. He won the title of “First Gentleman of Europe” for his lavish and extravagant behavior. During his reign the trade unions were legalized. Robert Peel created the Metropolitan Police, known as “bobbies”. George IV was succeeded by his brother William IV. When William died, Victoria succeeded him to the British throne. 4.4 A new sensibility In the second half of the 18th century a new sensibility emerges. A new generation of poets establish new trends. While the early 18th century poets dealt with impersonal material, with loud and noble eloquence, the later poets use subjective material, expressing a lyrical and personal experience of life. The poetry at this time is reflective. The poets are less Frankenstein can also be an example of a SF novel. A science fiction story is generally based on an imaginary development in science and technology or an imaginary change in the environment, both of which could be scientifically possible in future. The protagonist is a student of science and Mary Shelley has been inspired by scientific experiments. William Blake Life and works William Blake was born in London in 1757. He came from a humble family, so when he was young he was sent to a workshop, where he worked as an engraver (craftsman= incisore). Then he studied at the Royal academy of Arts, which included the most important artists. He made illustrations for the Bible and drawings inspired by the "Divine Comedy" (“Paradise”) of Dante. Blake had a strong sense of religion. Many works are dedicated to religious themes. His experiences as a craftsman contributed to the development of his poetry, which is regarded as early Romantic. He emphasized the importance of imagination over reason. He created the method of “illuminated printing” which combined pictures with poetic texts. He wrote poems and created images. He died in London in 1827. His most important works were collections of poems: “Song of Innocence” and “Song of Experiences”. Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience ● In the "Songs of Innocence'' he believed in the values of the French revolution. He expresses his enthusiasm for the liberal ideas. In this collection he underlines the quality and features of childhood: the child is the main figure and represents purity, innocence. The language is simple and musical (it was read also to children). But if we go deeper we understand that the message is complex, it deals with religion, philosophy and reality. ● The "Songs of Experience '' appeared during the period of the Terror in France. Blake created the counterpart of the “Songs of Innocence”. The language is pessimistic. “Experience”, identified with adulthood, coexists with and completes “Innocence”. Imagination and the poet With imagination Blake can know the world. The poet becomes a prophet who tries to warn men of the evils of society. Blake’s interest in social problems Blake was concerned with the political and social problems of his time: he supported the abolition of slavery and the ideas of the French Revolution. Later, disappointed, he focused his attention on the evil consequences of the Industrial Revolution. Style Blake’s poems have a simple structure and an original use of symbols. His verse is linear and rhythmical and is characterized by a frequent use of repetition. Complementary opposites He has a vision of “complementary opposites”: good and evil, male and female, reason and imagination, cruelty and kindness. For Blake contrary states exist not in linear sequence, but in parallel: they are simultaneous. The two states coexist not only in the human being but also in the figure of the Creator, who can be the God of love and the God of energy and violence at the same time. THE LAMB (pag 270) The Lamb is a poem by William Blake published in the Songs of Innocence. The rhyme scheme is a kissed rhyme or endline rhyme (AABBCC). There is also an internal rhyme (line 4th stream-mead). The sound is smooth. The language is musical and simple but the content is more complicated. The text is divided into two stanzas. In the 1st stanza there is the question “Who made thee” (he wants to know who created the Lamb), where the author is speaking directly with the Lamb. Here there are many adjectives that underline the purity and innocence of the Lamb. In the 2nd stanza there is the answer to the poet's question: ”He (God)”. The main theme of the poem is the Creator and his goodness. The Lamb is the best known biblical symbol referring to Christ. Blake emphasizes how this condition of innocence and purity is connected with childhood: the Lamb and the child both have a "tender voice", they are "meek" and images of Christ. The poet shares the divine power of creation and the innocence of the child and the Lamb. Analisi: The prevailing vowel (assonance) sound is ‘ee’ (thee, stream, feed, thee, mead)’; the prevailing consonant (alliteration) sounds are ‘l’ (I’ll), ‘s’ (bless, softest) and ‘m’ (meek, mild). The poet speaks in the first person: the "I mode". I (the poet) , the lamb (God) , childhood. I➡ the poet, like a child. The lamb➡ God. Childhood➡is a state of life where the human being is uncorrupted, pure (when Frankestein created the creature, it was pure) The Lamb The poet contemplates the Lamb and wanders who created it Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life, and bid thee feed, By the stream and o’er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, woolly, bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice? Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? The poets finds the answer Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee, Little Lamb, I’ll tell thee. He is called by thy name, For He calls Himself a Lamb. He is meek, and He is mild; He became a little child. I a child, and thou a lamb, We are called by His name. Little Lamb, God bless thee! Little Lamb, God bless thee! L'agnello Piccolo agnello, chi ti ha creato? Lo sai chi ti ha creato? Ti ha dato la vita e ti ha dato da mangiare, Dal torrente e sopra la prateria; Ti ha dato vestiti di gioia, vestiti più morbidi, di lana, brillanti; Ti ha dato una voce così tenera, che rallegra tutte le valli! Piccolo agnello, chi ti ha creato? Sai chi ti ha creato? Piccolo agnello, te lo dirò, Piccolo agnello, te lo dirò. È chiamato con il tuo nome, Perché lui si definisce un agnello. Lui è docile e mansueto; lui divenne un piccolo bambino. Io, un bambino, e tu, un agnello, siamo chiamati col suo nome. Piccolo agnello, Dio ti benedica! Piccolo agnello, Dio ti benedica! The Lamb (God) Consonance (little lamb): it’s an alliteration, a repetition of the consonants. The poet The question the poet asks the Lamb Description of the Lamb He (God) The answer Repetition Assonance (repetition of vowels) THE TYGER (pag 271) The Tyger is a poem by William Blake published in the Songs of Experience. In the title Tyger is written with y instead of i because it was an archaic spelling. It is composed of 6 stanzas. In the Tyger there are a lot of questions, but there is no answer. The language is simple, it is an everyday language. The length of the words is short. Repetitions, alliterations and the use of harsh sounds make the rhythm fast and hammering. The tyger is the protagonist of the poem. It is a wild, aggressive animal, the opposite of the Lamb (the lamb is a farm animal). It symbolizes adulthood and the men's pain during this period of life. In the poem there is a reference to Dante ("In the forest of the night", the obscurity before the creation), to the myth of Icarus (line 7) and of Prometheus (line 8). Blake also represents the negative aspects of the Industrial Revolution. The poet asks himself how the same person can create a pure animal (the lamb) and an aggressive one (the tiger) (line 20). Important is the complementary opposite: God can be the God of love or the God of violence. He is an immortal and powerful being. Fascination for humble life, childhood and the use of simple language are Romantic features in the poem. In the Tyger there are also gothic elements, like a scary atmosphere, mystery, the night, the obscurity. The Tyger Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, and what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? And what dread feet? What the hammer? What the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? What dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And water’d heaven with their tears: Did He smile His work to see? Tigre! Tigre! Ardi brillante Nelle foreste della notte, Quale mano o occhio immortale Diede forma alla tua spaventosa simmetria? In quali distanti abissi o cieli Accese il fuoco dei tuoi occhi? Sopra quali ali osa slanciarsi? Quale mano osa afferrare il fuoco? Quale spalla, quale arte Poté torcerti i tendini del cuore? E quando il tuo cuore iniziò a battere, Quale tremenda mano? Quali tremendi piedi? Quale martello e quale catena? In quale fornace fu il tuo cervello? E quale incudine? Quale terribile presa osò afferrare i terrori letali? Quando le stelle gettarono le loro lance E inondarono il con le proprie lacrime Sorrise Dio osservando il proprio lavoro? Colui che l’Agnello creò, creò anche te? William Wordsworth William Wordsworth was born in Cumberland in 1770. He graduated from st. John College, Cambridge. He had been on a walking tour of France and the Alps. He was enthusiastic about the French Revolution. He fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon, who gave him a daughter. The brutal developments of the Revolution caused him a nervous breakdown. Then he moved to Dorset with his sister Dorothy. She constantly supported him. He met Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Their friendship developed English Romantic poetry: they produced a collection of poems called "Lyrical Ballads". The second edition also contained Wordsworth’s "Preface", which was to become the Manifesto of English Romanticism. He was made Poet Laureate. The Manifesto of English Romanticism For Wordsworth poetry was a solitary act. He belonged to the first generation of Romantic poets, so he theorized about poetry. Wordsworth dealt with man, nature and everyday things trying to make them interesting for the reader, while Coleridge wrote about the supernatural and mystery making them seem real. In his Preface Wordsworth explained that the object of the poem should deal with everyday situations and with ordinary people. The language should be simple. In humble rural life man is nearer to his own purer passions. The relationship between man and nature Wordsworth shared Rousseau’s faith in the goodness of nature and in the excellence of children. He thought that man could achieve that good through the cultivation of his feelings and senses. His poetry offers interaction between nature and man that are inseparable. Man is an active participant in nature. Wordsworth saw nature as something that includes both inanimate and human nature and a source of pleasure and joy. The importance of the senses and memory For Wordsworth nature was also a world of perceptions. Memory was important in the process of growth of the poet's mind and allowed him to give poetry its life and power. The poet's task and styles The poet has a great sensibility. The power of imagination enables him to communicate his knowledge, so that he becomes a teacher. A CERTAIN COLOURING OF IMAGINATION The text is taken from the preface of “Lyrical Ballads”. Wordsworth expressed a new concept of poetry, which emphasized the authenticity of rustic life, the use of a simple language and the importance of emotions and imagination, in contrast to the Augustan poets, who were influenced by society and they used an elaborated language. At the beginning of the text Wordsworth writes an introduction where he tells about what he is going to say. The object of Wordsworth is to describe stories from common life, using a spoken and easy language, to present situations in an unusual way, with imagination, and he also describes what a poet in his opinion is: a poet is a “man speaking to a man”, that means that he is a man like any other one. But a poet has got much more sensibility and enthusiasm than other men, he has a great knowledge of human nature, a comprehensive soul. He has more imagination that makes him look at nature with different eyes; he has got a good ability in the communication of his feelings to the reader. Episodes of rustic life are chosen because in that condition the passions are less under the control of reason and so feelings can be communicated easier. Education and civilisation are seen in a negative way. It is necessary to return to a primitive state. The language is not sophisticated, because he believes that simple feelings have to be expressed with simple expressions. In this way everybody can understand what the poet says and not only a little intellectual elite. At the end he speaks about poetry and emotions. He says that poetry takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility, then it's contemplated, and gradually re-produced, recreated. We find this topic in the poem Daffodils, when the poet remembers and describes his feeling after he had seen the flowers. I WANDERED LONELY AS A CLOUD-DAFFODILS This poem hasn't got a title, so the title is the first line. It is important because it is about the walk that the poet and his sister Dorothy take. STANZA 1-3 The poem opens with the I mode: the poet and his sister are wandering without a fixed idea of where they were going. This beginning is about loneliness. Wordsworth describes the number of daffodils (ten thousand), their colours (shine, golden) and their movement. The daffodils are personified (they toss, dance and are compared to a crowd). They are all around the lake where the poet was walking lonely, they are a lot as stars in the milky way. The poet is hypnotized by the flowers and his feelings are happiness, impression and astonishment. Verbs are all past tenses. STANZA 4 The poet re-appears. He has changed the time and the setting of the scene. He talks about himself. He is lying on his sofa and as a flash he suddenly remembers the flowers (memory in tranquility) and he feels another time the same happiness and pleasure he had felt when he saw the daffodils for the first time. Verbs turn to present tense. For Wordsworth loneliness isn't a negative thing, because only when you are alone you can imagine and think without problems or worries. figure retoriche Daffodils are flowers and not people, so it is a personification. Daffodils have heads Daffodils are like the stars, they are continuous and they shine (line 7). Inversion (line 10-11) I wandered lonely as a cloud I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vales and hills, when all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company. I gazed – and gazed – but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: Vagavo solitario come una nuvola che fluttua in alto sopra valli e colline, quando all’improvviso vidi una folla, una schiera, di narcisi dorati; vicino al lago, sotto gli alberi, tremolanti e danzanti nella brezza. Intermittenti come stelle che brillano e luccicano nella Via Lattea, si estendevano in una linea infinita lungo il margine della baia: con uno sguardo ne vidi diecimila, che scuotevano il capo in una danza briosa. Le onde accanto a loro danzavano; ma esse superavano in gioia le luccicanti onde: un poeta non poteva che esser felice, in una tale compagnia gioiosa. Osservavo – e osservavo – ma pensavo poco a quale ricchezza un tale spettacolo mi avesse donato: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils. poiché spesso, quando mi sdraio sul mio divano in uno stato d’animo ozioso o pensieroso, essi appaiono davanti a quell’occhio interiore che è la beatitudine della solitudine; e allora il mio cuore si riempie di piacere, e danza con i narcisi. 4.12 Coleridge Coleridge Life Coleridge was born in Devonshire in 1772. He studied at Cambridge University but he didn’t graduate. He was influenced by the French Revolution and its ideals. Then, disappointed, he and the poet Robert Southey planned to move to America and to establish a utopian community in Pennsylvania, called "Pantisocracy", where private ownership didn’t exist. This project, however, came to nothing. When he met William Wordsworth they became friends, they settled in the Lake District in 1800 and started to write “Lyrical Ballads”. He died in 1834. Works ● Biographia Literaria (1817): Here he explained his role in “Lyrical Ballads”. Coleridge wrote about supernatural events trying to make them normal; Wordsworth wrote about everyday events trying to make them interesting to the reader; ● Kubla Khan, probably written under the influence of opium; ● The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is the first poem of the collection Lyrical Ballads. Nature Wordsworth: Nature is seen as a real living being and the expression of God. For Coleridge nature is not a moral guide or a source of consolation or happiness. It represents the ideal of the imagination in reality. It does not identify with God. Nature stimulates the poet to find natural symbols that can reflect emotions, reactions and feelings. The shapes and colors of nature represent and symbolize the emotional and mental states of the poet. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner Plot This poem was composed between 1797 and 1798. It is a ballad divided in seven parts. It is introduced by an “Argument” containing a short summary of the poem and consists of two narratives: the captions and the poem itself. It tells the story of a mariner (outcast) who kills an albatross (sacred law). This story is told by a mariner during a marriage. The mariner stops a wedding guest and he tells him how his ship had been blocked by ice at the South Pole and how the arrival of an albatross has brought good luck with breaking the ice. However the fleet (flotta) was hit by a curse (maledizione) and all the sailors died except one, who had killed the bird. At the end, the concepts of “Death” and “Life in death” come to play: Death wins the lives of the crew members and Life-in-Death the life of the mariner: he has to wander and tell his story eternally. Structure This poem is written in the form of a medieval ballad: the mixture of narration and dialogue; the archaic language, the style rich in repetition, alliteration and onomatopoeia. The ballad