Literature 6v Romantic period #1

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What is a key feature of neoclassical literature?

A

Promotion of romantic ideals

B

Focus on individualism

C

Emphasis on emotional expression

D

Use of reason and logic

Which author is known for neoclassical satire?

A

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

B

Jonathan Swift

C

John Keats

D

William Wordsworth

What does neoclassicism value in literature?

A

Personal feelings

B

Nature and beauty

C

Chaos and spontaneity

D

Order and restraint

The Romantic Period

6VWO Literature

Romantic period

•1780 - 1840

•Industrial Revolution: The rich get richer and the poor poorer

•In literature:

•More attention is paid to individual freedom and responsibilities

•Concerned with the fate of the poor

•Reaction to the age of reason: emotion valued higher

•Inspiration in the beauty of nature and the unknown

•Rebellion against authority and the fixed rules of society

•Simple words, natural style

William Blake

•Born in London in 1757

•Didn’t go to school until the age of ten (Drawing School)

•Worked for himself; producing illustrations for books

•Married to an illiterate woman, taught her to read and write - no kids

•Started writing poetry - simple verses and nursery rhymes

•He put poetry and illustrations of the same page

•A rebel against authority and the fixed rules of society
(like many other romantics)

SONGS OF...

Innocence

•First major collection - 1789

•Influenced by nursery rhymes, ballads, hymns

•Children and the joys of childhood innocence as their subject

•Many, like "The Chimney Sweeper," are about the ways in which childhood innocence is destroyed

Experience

•1794

•Reflects his negative view of London

•Tone of anger and protest

•The child arrested in its development by social and religious oppression

Although his graphical work met with general approval, his poetry was regarded as rather eccentric and some people went as far as to question his sanity.  Most literary critics describe Blake as a pre-romantic.

Innocence

Experience

A metaphor is a figure of speech that describes an object or action in a way that isn’t literally true but helps explain an idea or make a comparison.

Here are the basics:

•A metaphor states that one thing is another thing

•It equates those two things not because they actually are the same, but for the sake of comparison or symbolism

•Metaphors are used in poetry, literature, and anytime someone wants to add some color to their language

Metaphor

The Chimney Sweeper

Find the metaphors in the poem (songs of innocence) for the following things:

•Their whole life being about chimneys.

•Being forced to work.

•The black chimneys that they are in.

•The miserable lives they live.

What do these parts from the songs of experience actually meam (mataphorically):

•They clothed me in the clothes of death,

•And taught me to sing the notes of woe.

How to analyse a poem:

1. How does it sound? (Rhyme scheme, Rhythm, Flow, Pace…)

2. What are some of the details? (People or objects, references to history or other works)

3. Who is talking? Who are they talking to? (speaker, audience)

4. What does it mean? (Themes, subjects)

5. Can you find examples of literary devices? (symbols, similes, metaphors…)