Victorian poetry: Browning (My last Duchess) and Tennyson, Appunti di Inglese

Scarica Victorian poetry: Browning (My last Duchess) and Tennyson e più Appunti in PDF di Inglese solo su Docsity! Victorian Poetry: Early Victorian Poetry: late Romantic tendecies During the Victorian Age people were passionate with poetry and a new current of poets is born; they are the Late Romantics and imitate the style and the themes of the great names of the past, but with the new belief that poetry can be used for politics or social issues. Among them 2 poets poets outstand: Alfred Tennyson (who believes that the glory of the past is represented in Greek and Roman poetry and inherits Keats' verbal sensuousness) and Robert Browning (who is fascinated with the Middle Ages and owns Shelly's prophetic force). Unlike the Romantic poets, they don't believe in a life vision since they are interested in ethical questions and are less confident and think they can not solve the religious and scientific problems. The dramatic monologue: The early Victorian poets prefer indirect ways to express human and social problems, such as the dramatic monologue: a long poem in which only one character who speaks about himself or something that happened to him (most important author is Robert Browning). The main features are: - is recited by a first-person speaker (a historical figure: duke or nobleman); - is set in a precise historical and geographical context; - a silent listener is present, who just listens and makes no questions; - is focused on a crucial point; - the language is colloquial and syntax and punctuation are voluntarily incorrect, since they imitate real speech. Poetry of sensual dreaming: Alfred Tennyson's verses are characterised by musical grace, sadness and are set in a dreamy past. His main work is Ulysses (1842) and, even if the character is classic, the author re-innovates the story, giving his own interpretation: Ulysses is represented as old, disillusioned (the heroism is not necessary any more and the epic world is over) and has the desire to break conventions. Tennyson's melody and sensuality leads to Aestheticism. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood: It is founded by artists and poets in 1848; they want a return to the purity of late medieval Italian art and to the simplicity of mysticism of the Middle Ages, since they prefer spiritual values instead of Raphael's stylization, which deletes the initial pureness and simplicity of art; in fact, their motto is "back to nature", which is more spontaneous. The Aesthetic Movement: The Victorian Age is characterised by materialism and loss of interest in beauty and this movement starts in French to find something that was lost and its major theoretical representative is Walter Peter who, in his work "Studies in the History of the Renaissance" (1873), states that the only way to combat the meaninglessness of existence is to live hedonistically, devoting oneself to pleasures. They believe that men should imitate art to live a happy life, in fact their motto is "Art for Art's Sake" which means that art (and men) should look for pleasure and satisfaction and not be instrumental for anything. The culmination of the movement is reached with the Irish-born Oscar Wilde, who becomes the leader of the Aesthetic Movement. How the language changes: The geographical extension of the British Empire means for Britain an expansion also of the English language: English becomes the most widespread language in the world and gains many new words coming from the colonies; some example are: Native North Americans (caribous, opossum, totem), Mexico (chocolate, tomato), West Indies (barbecue, canoe, hurricane, potato, tobacco), Perù (alpaca), Brazil (jaguar, poncho), India (cashmere, curry, jungle), Africa (banana, gorilla, chimpazee, zebra), Australia (boomerang, kangaroo). My last Duchess – Robert Browning: ►“My Last Duchess” is a famous dramatic monologue written by Robert Browning and published in 1842; it also gives an insight into the psychological state of the speaker. The Duke of Ferrara is negotiating his marriage to the niece of the Count of Tyrol. On the staircase of his place the Duke points out to the Count’s envoy the portrait of his previous wife, probably murdered on his orders. The monologue shows perfectly the Duke’s cruelty by telling the story from his perspective and underlying the Duchess’ purity and simplicity; everything the Duke says revels his own character. The picture keeps an ideal image of the Duchess: her portrait has the same importance to the Duke now as the living person ad in life, except that now she is under his complete control. Summary: ►At the beginning of the poem, the Duke of Ferrara (the speaker) is in his home, gawking at the Duchess’ painting, his previous wife (the result of Frà Pandolf’s hard work). Then he makes a question to the silent listener, asking him to take sit and look carefully at the painting, since usually the Duke does not show it to strangers (he still has power over his dead wife, he is the one who decides to who show the painting). ►Then the Duke describes his last wife: she was a shy and cheering girl, was happy hearted and a simple person and, to prove his statements, he explains that to her everything is the same: she like the same way a jewel (=brooch) given by her husband, the sunset and some cherries. The Duke does not approve her attitude of giving the same importance to her but, at the same time, he does not want to make her notice that he does not like her behavior, because that would make him lower than he actually is. ►The Duke then says that if he was good in speaking, which is not (false modesty), he would have underlined the fact the Duchess was making a mistake and that her behavior disgusted him but, saying it he would have stooped (and he did not stoop). After that, the speaker confesses in an indirect way, that this situation was intolerable to him and he gave order to kill her. ►In the last part of the poem we find out who the silent listener is: he is the count’s servant and the Duke speaks with him (even though he is not an important person) because he wants something from the Count, that is to marry his daughter (the Duke does not speak directly with the Count because he comes from a higher position in the social class (etiquette). Then the speaker explains that he would not disallow the dowry and, showing off his richness (through a Neptune’s statue) to marry up. Personality: • Duke: arrogant, selfish, ambitious, falsely modest, cruel; • Duchess: kind, shy, naive. Alfred Tennyson (1809-92): He was born in 1809 and went to study in Cambridge, were his poetry developed quickly thanks to ht e “Apostles” (=group of writers and intellectuals), lead by Arthur Hallam. He was made Poet Laureate (after Wordsworth’s death) and was made peer in 1884; he died in 1892. Tennyson led a quite painful life: he had a dysfunctional family and a drunken father, has two brother who had been interned into a mental institute, suffered from epilepsy, lost his best friend (his sister’s lover) because of a brain malformation and invested a huge amount of money in a business that shortly after failed. For Tennyson, poetry was an instrument to escape from reality and his hard life is shown in his pessimistic themes (guilt, murder, avarice, social climbing and grief). The latest part of his life got better, since his poetry was appreciated by the Queen; Tennyson is known for the musical grace of his verse, his eclecticism (combined Romantic elements and a classical atmosphere) and his elegiac tone, that shows the meaninglessness of life and a purposeless world. In addiction, his subjects are often taken from the Middle Ages or a classical part. Ulysses – Alfred Tennyson: Tennyson’s Ulysses is a complex figure: he is the Homeric warrior (=a restless figure ever open to knowledge and experience who find the meaning of life through travels) and the Dante’s character (=whose endless searching becomes a desire for forbidden experience). In the dramatic monologue, Ulysses’ nomadic nature is in contrast with his son Telemachus’ purpose to build up a stable society in Ithaca; the speaker has more in common with his mariners, who still feel the urge to travel ti the unknown. The old Ulysses can not accept the monotonous life at Ithaca and still feels ready for new adventures. Summary: ►At the beginning of the poem, Ulysses (the speaker) is still married with His old wife and he suffers because he is the leader of savage people, who spent the life saving money (to get rich), sleeping and eating not knowing the values that that Ulysses lived for. He says that he can not rest from travel or stand to be in Ithaca, since he wants to live his life until his last breath. After many great and painful moments (spent in company and alone) he became a legend. ►Then Ulysses remembers how the thirst of knowledge led him to know many different things. He also fought many battles and is the result of all the experiences he lived. He still has the desire to travel, because the world out there gets bigger every day and he can not stay in Ithaca, ►After that, the speaker affirms that breathing does not mean living and, even though life is hard and heavy and he is old, future is a mystery to be discovered and every hour is a gift. Then, we find out who the silent listener is, that is his son, Telemachus, to whom Ulysses wants to leave the reign of Ithaca, since he knows how to do his job and how to create a stable society. Leaving the island to his son, Ulysses can follow his vocation, that is travel. ►We know that the speaker is about to start a new travel, since he describes the harbor and describes his mariners, who lived many adventures with him. Even though they are as old as Ulysses, they still something to fight for, just as the protagonist. He promotes his friends to paddle and travel until they die. At the end,