American Literature in the 19th Century: Melville, Poe, and Whitman
LIT 50: Victorian Literature
1. Introduction
2. From 1837 to 1901
Queen Victoria was the English monarch since her arrival to the throne when she was only 18. She witnessed a period of complex changes in different fields, such as the great expansion of the British Empire together with its power overseas at peak performance / regarding politics, the Chartist movement began in 1839 with demands for electoral reform & universal male suffrage, & it was carried out by radical reformers. In this period, England was also involved in different conflicts overseas: in 1854 England took part in the Crimean War where they fought together with France, the Ottoman Empire & Sardinia against Russia & achieved a victory. A few years later, 1857, the Indian Mutiny took place, which was a rebellion against the rule of the British East India Company / during the 2nd part of Queen Victoria’s reign 2 politicians acquired the utmost importance: Gladstone & Disraeli. On the one hand, Gladstone was liberal & humanitarian. On the other hand, Disraeli was imperialist & nationalistic. Queen Victoria preferred the company of Disraeli over Gladstone’s. The latter supported the cause of the so-called Irish Question / concerning leisure, the most common form of entertainment was reading aloud. Moreover, the new education acts of the period made education compulsory, which produced an enormous reading public. Also, the cheapening of printing & paper increased the demand for books among which the most popular form was the novel / in science & technology, inventions such as the telephone, the telegraph, the steam engine & the Spinning Jenny appeared / historians distinguish early, mid & late Victorian England: the early period from 1830 to 50, in which rural England was deeply transformed due to the emergence of the Industrial Revolution; the mid-period from 1850 to 73, which saw the highest point of the British imperial expansion, & economic & political prosperity; & the late period from 1873 to 1901, since 73 is the year of the Great Depression which marks the decline of the British Empire
3. Victorian Literature: The Novel
3.1 Early Victorian Novelists
3.1.1 Charles Dickens
Born in 1812, Dickens’s work is usually divided into early novels & mature novels. The novels of the 1st period include Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby & The Old Curiosity Shop. The latter works are Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Hard Times, Little Dorrit, A Tale of Two Cities, Great Expectations, & Our Mutual Friend / his early work had lots of improvisations, but his later works are more tightly controlled. The main features of Dickens’s style are: *his description of cities & relationships between people *the naming of characters to evoke basic features of their character *the themes of his novels are denunciatory
3.1.2 The Brontë Sisters: Charlotte & Emily
Charlotte was born in Yorkshire. She was a devout writer, getting to publish her 1st novel, Jane Eyre, in 1847 under the pseudonym Currer Bell / her sister, Emily, English novelist & poet, produced only 1 novel, Wuthering Heights 1847, a novel of passion & hate set on the Yorkshire moors. Emily was perhaps the greatest of the 3 Brontë sisters. In 1846 they published jointly a volume of verse, Poems by Currer, Ellis, & Acton Bell; it contained 21 of Emily’s poems / by midsummer of 1847, Emily’s Wuthering Heights & Anne’s Agnes Grey had been accepted for joint publication, though publication of the 3 volumes was delayed until the appearance of their sister Charlotte’s Jane Eyre
3.1.3 William Thackeray
Thackeray was born in India, but after his father’s death, he was sent to England / his early writing appeared in volumes as The Book of Snobs, which includes the historical novel Barry Lyndon. His fame came with the novel Vanity Fair 1847-48. Set at the time of the Napoleonic wars, Thackeray crafted one of the most fascinating immoral female characters, Becky Sharp /in his time he was regarded as the only possible rival of Dickens for his description of contemporary life as he could show life’s cruelties & people’s weaknesses. His weapon is satire, & his main aim is moral reform
3.1.4 Elizabeth Gaskell
She was a novelist, a short-story writer & the first biographer of Charlotte Brontë. Her literary career started at the middle of her life, when the death of her son intensified her sense of community with the poor/ her 2 more famous pieces of work are Mary Barton & North and South / Mary Barton is considered her masterpiece, it depicts a humane picture of working-class life in a large industrial town in the 1840s / in North & South she presents a picture of English life from the point of view of the middle class, representing a contrast between rural & industrial England of the 2 nations / in North & South she presents a picture of English life from the point of view of the middle class, representing a contrast between rural & industrial England
3.1.5 Wilkie Collins
Collins became an early master of the mystery story, & pioneer of detective fiction. His 1st published work was Memoirs of the Life of William Collins, a memoir to his father, the landscape painter. His fiction followed shortly after: Antonina; or the Fall of Rome and Basil. Under Dickens’s influence, Collins developed a talent for characterization & humor. His 1st major work, The Woman in White, appeared in Dickens’s All the Year Round
3.2 Late Victorian Novelists
3.2.1 George Eliot
George Eliot or Mary Ann Evans was settled in London as a free-lance writer & she developed the method of psychological analysis characteristic of modern fiction. Her major works include Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Middlemarch, & Daniel Deronda / Middlemarch is her masterpiece. Under her hand the novel had developed from a mere entertainment into a highly intellectual form of art
3.2.2 George Meredith
At the age of 18, Meredith concentrated on writing poems & articles & making translations. Because they brought in little money, he turned to writing prose / in his novels he more than once portrayed sympathetically the witty woman trapped in a relationship with a self-centred man. The novel The Ordeal of Richard Feverel is one of his finest works, being rich in allusions, metaphors, lyrical prose, clever dialogue, & psychological insights. Afterward, he produced a comedy, Evan Harrington, & a volume of poems, Modern Love. He finally won critical acclaim with the novels The Egoist & Diana of the Crossways
3.2.3 Thomas Hardy
Hardy devoted himself to reading poetry & he even wrote verses in the 1860s, but they didn’t achieve massive popularity. Then, he turned to prose / he wrote The Poor Man and the Lady, a novel which was never published. In his next novel, Under the Greenwood Tree, he used humor to describe an episode of social change / Hardy’s final works Tess of the d’Urbervilles & Jude the Obscure are considered his finest novels, which are thought to anticipate the 20th century’s most recurrent themes such as the society’s sexual mores
4. Bibliography
- Abrams, M.H. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Norton: London
- Novak, M.E. Macmillan History of Literature. Eighteenth-Century English Literature. Macmillan: London
- Sanders, A. The Short Oxford History of English Literature. OUP: Oxford
LIT 51: Oscar Wilde & George Bernard Shaw
1. Introduction
2. Wilde & Shaw in British Drama
British drama of the early 19th century was marked by mediocrity & decay. Victorian strict morality & the predominance of the novel as the literary genre”par excellenc”, were factors that didn’t favour the development of the dramatic genre at the time / the late 19th century, however, witnessed the modernization of British drama, mainly thanks to the works of 2 outstanding playwrights: Oscar Wilde & Bernard Shaw. Both had a completely different view of drama: Wilde focused on plays as a source of entertainment, while Shaw considered that theatre had the serious purpose of instructing the audience in order to change society & improve the world / in the following sections we will briefly analyze the main features & works of these 2 authors. Let us start with Oscar Wilde
3. Oscar Wilde (1854-1900)
3.1 Early Life & Views
He grew up in a rich educated family which favoured an intellectual & artistic atmosphere. He studied in Trinity College & later in Oxford, where he started to stand out as a talented author / during his university life in Oxford he embraced Aestheticism. This trend defended that art was superior to life & nature. The motto”art for art’s sak” implied that artists should make art with the only aim of searching for beauty. This way, art is amoral & doesn’t have to be committed to social concerns
3.2 Main Works
Among Wilde’s early works we can stand out The Happy Prince and Other Tales 1888 as a collection of children’s tales. Another collection of tales worth mentioning is Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime and Other Stories 1891, where he included the famous The Canterville Ghost, where he mocked British superstitions / he also stood out as a great essayist, with his collection of essays Intentions 1891, in which he exposed his theory of art. However, Wilde is best-known for a novel & for his comedies of manners / The Picture of Dorian Gray 1891, his only novel, combined Gothic supernatural elements & the”art for art’s sak” doctrine. It’s the story of a young man & his portrait. As the man grows old, he remains handsome & young, but his portrait changes, reflecting the corruption of his soul. Some of its themes are the role of beauty for escaping the brutalities of the world, criticism to the shallow values of society, which appreciates appearance over goodness & even the idea that the sacrifice of one’s self to another leads to destruction / as far as drama is concerned, Wilde’s successful comedies of manners were written & performed between 1892 & 1895. These social comedies mock Victorian morals. With witty humor, they portray a hypocritical society behind the mask of good manners. This way, although they may seem frivolous & only seeking a mere laugh, their aim is to attack Victorian assumptions & decorum. Wilde’s language was full of puns, wordplay, sarcasm & irony. Among these comedies of manners, we must highlight Lady Windermere’s Fan 1892, a satire about marriage, & The Importance of Being Earnest 1895, about obscure social origins / Wilde’s capacity for irony & sarcasm is present in all his literary output, especially in his epigrams, a subgenre of which he was a master. His success, however, wouldn’t last for long, as we will see in the next lines
3.3 Final Years
His final years were marked by scandal. Due to his homosexual affairs, he was imprisoned for 2 years. When he was released, he found himself socially rejected, so he moved to France. There he wrote The Ballad of Reading Gaol 1898, a testimony of his time in prison/ today Wilde is remembered as one of the most ironic writers in English literature thanks to his witty & frivolous style
4. George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)
4.1 Early Life & Views
Dramatist, lecturer, essayist, art critic and social spokesman, George Bernard Shaw is one of the leading figures of 20th-century drama. He stands out for his social commitment, reflected throughout all his literary output / Shaw was born in Dublin in 1856 & moved to London in 1876, where he started to write. He was actively involved in politics. He was one of the founders of the Fabian Society, an organization of intellectuals who desired to transform Britain into a socialist state by means of progressive legislative changes & education / he believed that drama should have a serious social purpose, & this idea can be observed in virtually all of Shaw’s plays, even in his funniest comedies. In his plays we can find themes such as prostitution, war, religion, family disturbances, health or economics / George Bernard Shaw was a master of the “well-made play”, in which both the characters & the story are realistically pictured to achieve the audience’s identification
4.2 Main Works
Throughout 60 years of literary career, he wrote around 50 plays in which he dealt with the problems of his time / Shaw’s early plays were ideological attacks on the evils of capitalism. Under the name of Plays Unpleasant, he produced 3 plays dealing with moral problems. Then he turned to comedy in Plays Pleasant, a collection of 4 plays, which showed a gentler criticism / although his latter comedies were better accepted by the public, Shaw’s real success was John Bull’s Other Island 1904. This play deals with the Irish question / before WWI, Shaw wrote some of his best plays. Among them, we can mention The Doctor’s Dilemma, a satire on the medical profession, & Androcles & the Lion, a play about religious exaltation/ Shaw’s comic masterpiece, Pygmalion, was written in 1913. It’s a drama about phonetics in which a Cockney flower girl is trained to speak RP in order to make her pass as a lady / the outbreak of WWI changed Shaw’s literary production. He wrote the essay Common Sense About the War, which was considered unpatriotic for accusing Britain of being equally guilty with the Germans, & provoked a decline in his popularity. The only play that he wrote during that period was Heartbreak House 1919, which projected the bitterness about British politics & society / Shaw’s master work arrived in 1924. We refer to Saint Joan, a great play which made Shaw be accepted again among the audience. This play deals with the character of Joan of Arc, who is not portrayed merely as a martyr, but as a stubborn woman. This work led to him being awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1925
4.3 Final Years
Shaw also wrote prose, among which we must mention The Intelligent Woman’s Guide to Socialism 1928 / Shaw’s main contributions to 20th-century drama are his plays of ideas, dramas of moral passion & conflict which served him to discuss contemporary concerns
5. Bibliography
- Abrams, M. et al. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. London: Norton
- Carter, R. et al. The Routledge History of Literature. London: Routledge
- Ford, B. The New Pelican Guide to English Literature. London: Penguin
LIT 53: The Novel, Short Story & Poetry in the US: Herman Melville, Edgar Allan Poe, & Walt Whitman
1. Introduction
2. American Literature in the 19th Century
Throughout the 19th century, authors like Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Poe, Dickinson or Melville laid the foundations of the present American literature, moving away from British literary models. Emerson’s Transcendentalist tenets, as shown in Nature 1836, would change the course of American literary tradition / Transcendentalism was defined as the”recognition of the human capacity of knowing the truth intuitively, transcending the reach of sense”. Then, Transcendentalists defended the prevalence of Reason over Understanding. Also, nature is seen as something ennobling that is connected to divinity / in the topic we are dealing with 3 of the most relevant American authors in the 19th century: Melville, Poe & Whitman. Each one of them used their literary art to respond to the world outside in their own way. Let us start with Melville
3. Herman Melville (1819-1891)
3.1 Biographical Data
After his father’s death he had to support his family working in various jobs, but it was after his adventures as a seaman in 1845 that he found inspiration to write / his first literary success, Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life, was published in 1846, & later followed by Omoo. These adventure novels showed the happiness of the Polynesian tribespeople / his masterpiece, Moby Dick, was published in 1851 with little success, & his later novels met a similar fate/ he died in 1891 almost forgotten by the American public, but in the 1920s he began to be recognized as one of the great American writers
3.2 Main Features of Melville’s Novels
Melville was a distinctive writer. To begin with, his novels show an extraordinary verbal intricacy: his texts are often compared to”onion”, with different layers of interpretation. Secondly, we must stand out the symbolism & obscurity of meaning present in virtually all his works. Finally, an important aspect is the geographical & psychic exploration with extensive descriptions / moreover, there are some constant themes in his works: the division between good & evil, universe against human happiness, & life at sea as an allegory of the search for truth / in Typee 1846, the main theme is the contrast between the vices of civilized people & the virtues of the tribes. In Omoo 1847 he took up the narrative of Typee; & White Jacket 1850, he dealt with a more accentuated symbolism mixing fantasy & adventures / at this point, we must pay attention to his most influential work: Moby Dick
3.3 Moby Dick: The Greatest American Epic
Moby Dick is quite difficult to classify as a novel: it contains romantic elements, realistic details, symbolism, melodramatic aspects, humor & even passages of pure lyric / the novel begins when the narrator, Ishmael, decides to go to sea on a whaling ship, willing to live adventures. Captain Ahab is searching for revenge as the whale Moby Dick had bitten off one of his legs / it’s a psychological journey inside the human soul: Ahab is guilty of an excess individualism. Another theme is the limits of human knowledge: nobody understands the real nature of Moby Dick. There’s also a sense of fatalism in the novel: nature is seen as a hostile environment in which men suffer constant struggles /to conclude, we must state that Moby Dick is one of the landmarks in American literature &, its author is a precursor of many narrative techniques in present metafiction
4. Edgar Allan Poe (1809-1849)
4.1 Biographical Data
Born in Boston, he spent a period of schooling in England & then a whole year in the University of Virginia. As an adult, he published poems & wrote for magazines, trying to make a living out of writing in New York / Poe has remained an example of”poet maudi”: he embraced Romantic agony & portrayed mentally anguished landscapes far from nature & society. He is nowadays best known for his short stories, full of psychotic characters, terror & nightmare-like situations, together with a romantic concern with the occult & the satanic
4.2 Poetry & Literary Criticism
Poe started his literary career as a poet. In fact, The Raven and Other Poems 1845 was his best-known book of poems / there’s a permanent duality in his poetic work: terror & sadness are in contrast to an idealistic impetus, sensitivity towards beauty & sweetness to women/ finally, he incorporated effects of musicality in his poems, taking the goal of poetry to create pleasure / as a literary critic, Poe was mainly concerned with artistic integrity & purity of style. He was not successful in America but was widely recognized in Europe, especially among French poets such as Baudelaire
4.3 Short Stories
Poe wrote both horror & detective short stories. Among them, the most famous is The Murders of the Rue Morgue, where he introduced the French detective M. Dupin, who with his brilliant logical mind solves unsolvable mysteries/ his short horror stories have made him transcendent in American literature, which showed several pervasive features: obsession with death & dark forces, violence, madness & a taste for the grotesque / his tales can be divided into 4 groups: *tales of death, like Shadow *tales of crime, like The Black Cat *tales of survival after dissolution, like Morella *tales of fatality, like The Man of the Crowd / the focus of most of his tales is the subjectivity of a character who portrays interior dramas of the self. His best short stories end in death or madness, & heroes don’t succeed
5. Walt Whitman (1819-1892)
5.1 Biographical Data
Born in New York, as a young man, he worked as a journalist for several newspapers, where he wrote prose & poetry. In 1855, he published his first edition of Leaves of Grass, which was a commercial failure. It was criticized for its exaltation of carnal love & its free verses & long lines. He worked as a nurse during the American Civil War, when he wrote some of his best-known poems, such as”Oh Captain! My Captain”. Later he published Democratic Vistas, a prose work, & his last long poem,”A Passage to Indi”
5.2 Nature in American Poetry & Transcendentalism
In the 19th century, transcendentalist poets regarded nature as a means of salvation & is a source of inspiration for Whitman’s optimism & celebration of the self
5.3 Leaves of Grass: A Work in Progress
Leaves of Grass was first published in 1855, & though little appreciated, it was recognized by other poets like Emerson. It’s the most influential volume of poems in American literature. Over time there were plenty of additions, revisions & groupings of poems. In fact, the first edition had only 12 poems while the last had almost 300. It was Whitman’s life work, which grew & changed as he & America did / the main theme of the first edition is nature without check. The self, half body, half soul, is greatly celebrated in this work. Whitman finds in Nature the same godlike reunion with the Oversoul/ in the 3rd edition of Leaves of Grass, 2 poems stand out:”Children of Ada” &”Calamu”. The former is a celebration of sex as a means for the rebirth of the spirit. The latter expresses the ecstasies & agonies of manly love / finally, another common theme is America & democracy. The poem”Passage to Indi”, which is about the brotherhood of the world & a future global connection (it celebrates the Suez Canal construction) / as for the poems’ form, Whitman wrote in American vernacular, the spoken language, & composed in free verses
6. Bibliography
- Levine, R. The Norton Anthology of American Literature. NY: Norton
- Hayes, K. A Journey Through American Literature. OUP
- Parini, J. The Oxford Encyclopaedia of American Literature. OUP