The Romantic Age

Transcription

1 The Romantic Age Snow Storm: Hannibal and his army crossing the Alps, JMW Turner (1812) Contents Robert Burns: A Red, Red Rose... 2 William Blake: The Lamb... 3 William Blake: The Tyger... 4 William Blake: London... 5 William Wordsworth: Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, Tina Dickow: Copenhagen... 7 Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (excerpt)... 8 Iron Maiden: Rime of the Ancient Mariner Lord Byron: She Walks In Beauty Jane Austen: Emma (excerpt) Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (excerpt) Walter Scott: Ivanhoe (excerpt)

2 Robert Burns: A Red, Red Rose O my luve's like a red, red rose, That's newly sprung in June; O my luve's like a melodie That's sweetly play'd in tune. As fair art thou 1, my bonnie lass 2, So deep in luve am I; And I will love thee 3 still, my dear, Till a' the seas gang 4 dry. Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear, And the rocks melt wi' the sun: I will luve thee still, my Dear, While the sands o'life shall run. And fare thee weel 5, my only Luve! And fare thee weel, a while! And I will come again, my Luve, Tho' it were ten thousand mile! (1796) 1 thou = you 2 bonnie lass = pretty girl 3 thee = you 4 gang = go 5 fare thee weel = goodbye 2

3 William Blake: The Lamb Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life, and bid thee feed 6 By the stream and o'er the mead 7 ; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, woolly, bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales 8 rejoice? Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee? Little Lamb, I'll tell thee, Little Lamb, I'll tell thee: He is called by thy 9 name, For he calls himself a Lamb. He is meek 10, 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! (1789) 6 bid thee feed = told you to eat 7 mead = field 8 vales = valleys 9 thy = your 10 meek = gentle 3

4 William Blake: The Tyger Tyger 11! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Could frame 12 thy fearful symmetry 13? In what distant deeps or skies Burnt the fire of thine 14 eyes? On what wings dare he aspire 15? What the hand dare sieze the fire? And what shoulder, & what art. Could twist the sinews 16 of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread 17 hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain? In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil 18? what dread grasp Dare its deadly terrors clasp? When the stars threw down their spears, And watered heaven with their tears, Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger! Tyger! burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? (1794) 11 tyger = tiger 12 frame = make 13 symmetry = shape 14 thine = your 15 aspire = fly high 16 sinews = muscles 17 dread = frightening 18 anvil = heavy iron block on which metal is shaped with a hammer 4

5 William Blake: London I wander thro' 19 each charter'd 20 street, Near where the charter'd Thames does flow, And mark 21 in every face I meet Marks of weakness 22, marks of woe 23. In every cry of every Man, In every Infant's cry of fear, In every voice, in every ban 24, The mind-forg'd 25 manacles 26 I hear. How the Chimney-sweeper's cry Every black'ning Church appalls 27 ; And the hapless 28 Soldier's sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls. But most thro' midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlot's 29 curse Blasts 30 the new born Infant's tear 31, And blights 32 with plagues the Marriage hearse 33. (1794) 19 thro = through 20 charter d = privileged; the ruling classes hold a charter, a privilege. The use of the word 'Chartered' is ambiguous. It may express the political and economic control that Blake considered London to be enduring at the time of his writing. Blake's friend Thomas Paine had criticised the granting of Royal Charters to control trade as a form of class oppression. However, 'chartered' could also mean 'freighted', and may refer to the busy or overburdened streets and river, or to the licenced trade carried on within them. 21 mark = note 22 weakness = humility 23 woe = grief 24 ban = prohibition 25 mind-forged = created by man s reason, not rooted in nature 26 manacles = chains tying hands together 27 appall = horrify 28 hapless = unfortunate 29 harlot = whore 30 blast = destroy 31 tear = eye 32 blight = destroy 33 hearse = vehicle for carrying a coffin 5

6 William Wordsworth: Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802 Earth has not anything to show more fair 34 : Dull 35 would he be of soul who could pass by A sight so touching in its majesty: This City now doth, like a garment 36, wear The beauty of the morning; silent, bare 37, Ships, towers, domes 38, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky; All bright and glittering in the smokeless air. Never did sun more beautifully steep 39 In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill; Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep! The river glideth at his own sweet will: Dear God! the very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still! (1802) Claude Monet: Thames Below Westminster, c fair = beautiful 35 dull = boring 36 garment = clothes 37 bare = naked 38 dome = round, circular roof 39 steep = bathe 6

7 Tina Dickow: Copenhagen Copenhagen I ve never seen you look this bright Just awaken From the beauty snooze you took last night Oh, this tingling feeling To be the blood inside your veins I ve been leaving believing I could find a better place And all this time You were right here Copenhagen I ve never felt your grip so tight Care is taken You ll catch me if I slip, I ll be alright Oh, this wonderous feeling To be walking your empty streets I ve been leaving believing I d find better streets than these But all this time You were right here Outside my window At my feet In my heart In the air I breathe Copenhagen (2010) 7

8 Samuel Taylor Coleridge: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (excerpt) Three young men are walking together to a wedding, when one of them is detained by a grizzled old sailor and can do nothing but sit on a stone and listen to his strange tale. The Mariner says that he sailed on a ship, and he recalls that the voyage quickly darkened, as a giant storm rose up in the sea and chased the ship southward where the ship was stuck inside a maze of ice. But then the sailors encountered an Albatross, a great sea bird. As it flew around the ship, the ice cracked and split, and a wind from the south propelled the ship out of the frigid regions, into a foggy stretch of water. The Albatross followed behind it, a symbol of good luck to the sailors, but the old sailor confesses that he shot and killed the Albatross with his crossbow. Alone, alone, all, all alone, Alone on a wide wide sea! And never a saint took pity on My soul in agony. The many men, so beautiful! And they all dead did lie: And a thousand thousand slimy things Lived on; and so did I. I looked upon the rotting sea, And drew my eyes away; I looked upon the rotting deck, And there the dead men lay. I looked to Heaven, and tried to pray: But or ever a prayer had gusht, A wicked whisper came, and made my heart as dry as dust. I closed my lids, and kept them close, And the balls like pulses beat; For the sky and the sea, and the sea and the sky Lay like a load on my weary eye, And the dead were at my feet. The cold sweat melted from their limbs, Nor rot nor reek did they: The look with which they looked on me Had never passed away. An orphan's curse would drag to Hell A spirit from on high; But oh! more horrible than that Is a curse in a dead man's eye! Seven days, seven nights, I saw that curse, And yet I could not die. 8

9 The moving Moon went up the sky, And no where did abide: Softly she was going up, And a star or two beside. Her beams bemocked the sultry main, Like April hoar-frost spread; But where the ship's huge shadow lay, The charmed water burnt alway A still and awful red. Beyond the shadow of the ship, I watched the water-snakes: They moved in tracks of shining white, And when they reared, the elfish light Fell off in hoary flakes. Within the shadow of the ship I watched their rich attire: Blue, glossy green, and velvet black, They coiled and swam; and every track Was a flash of golden fire. O happy living things! no tongue Their beauty might declare: A spring of love gushed from my heart, And I blessed them unaware: Sure my kind saint took pity on me, And I blessed them unaware. The self same moment I could pray; And from my neck so free The Albatross fell off, and sank Like lead into the sea. (1798) 9

10 Iron Maiden: Rime of the Ancient Mariner Hear the rime of the ancient mariner See his eye as he stops one of three Mesmerises one of the wedding guests Stay here and listen to the nightmares of the sea. And the music plays on, as the bride passes by Caught by his spell and the mariner tells his tale. Driven south to the land of the snow and ice To a place where nobody's been Through the snow fog flies on the albatross Hailed in God's name, hoping good luck it brings. And the ship sails on, back to the North Through the fog and ice and the albatross follows on. The mariner kills the bird of good omen His shipmates cry against what he's done But when the fog clears, they justify him And make themselves a part of the crime. Sailing on and on and north across the sea Sailing on and on and north 'til all is calm. The albatross begins with its vengeance A terrible curse a thirst has begun His shipmates blame bad luck on the mariner About his neck, the dead bird is hung. And the curse goes on and on and on at sea And the thirst goes on and on for them and me. "Day after day, day after day, we stuck nor breath nor motion as idle as a painted ship upon a painted ocean Water, water everywhere and all the boards did shrink Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink." There calls the mariner There comes a ship over the line But how can she sail with no wind in her sails and no tide. See...onward she comes Onward she nears out of the sun See, she has no crew She has no life, wait but there's two. Death and she Life in Death, They throw their dice for the crew She wins the mariner and he belongs to her now. Then...crew one by one 10

11 they drop down dead, two hundred men She...she, Life in Death. She lets him live, her chosen one. "One after one by the star dogged moon, too quick for groan or sigh each turned his face with a ghastly pang and cursed me with his eye four times fifty living men (and I heard nor sigh nor groan) with heavy thump, a lifeless lump, they dropped down one by one." The curse it lives on in their eyes The mariner he wished he'd die Along with the sea creatures But they lived on, so did he. And by the light of the moon He prays for their beauty not doom With heart he blesses them God's creatures all of them too. Then the spell starts to break The albatross falls from his neck Sinks down like lead into the sea Then down in falls comes the rain. Hear the groans of the long dead seamen See them stir and they start to rise Bodies lifted by good spirits None of them speak and they're lifeless in their eyes And revenge is still sought, penance starts again Cast into a trance and the nightmare carries on. Now the curse is finally lifted And the mariner sights his home spirits go from the long dead bodies Form their own light and the mariner's left alone. And then a boat came sailing towards him It was a joy he could not believe The pilot's boat, his son and the hermit, Penance of life will fall onto him. And the ship it sinks like lead into the sea And the hermit shrieves the mariner of his sins. The mariner's bound to tell of his story To tell this tale wherever he goes To teach God's word by his own example That we must love all things that God made. 11

12 And the wedding guest's a sad and wiser man And the tale goes on and on and on. (1984) 12

13 Lord Byron: She Walks In Beauty She walks in beauty, like the night Of cloudless climes 40 and starry skies; And all that 's best of dark and bright Meet in her aspect 41 and her eyes: Thus mellow'd 42 to that tender light Which heaven to gaudy 43 day denies. One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impair'd 44 the nameless grace Which waves in every raven 45 tress 46, Or softly lightens o'er her face; Where thoughts serenely 47 sweet express How pure, how dear their dwelling-place. And on that cheek, and o'er that brow, So soft, so calm, yet eloquent 48, The smiles that win, the tints that glow, But tell of days in goodness spent, A mind at peace with all below, A heart whose love is innocent! (1814) 40 climes = climates 41 aspect = appearance 42 mellow d = softened, ripened 43 gaudy = too bright 44 impair d = damaged 45 raven = black 46 tress = lock of hair 47 serenely = calmly 48 eloquent = able to impress an audience (veltalende) 13

14 Jane Austen: Emma (excerpt) "As a friend!"--repeated Mr. Knightley.--"Emma, that I fear is a word--no, I have no wish--stay, yes, why should I hesitate?-- I have gone too far already for concealment.--emma, I accept your offer-- Extraordinary as it may seem, I accept it, and refer myself to you as a friend.--tell me, then, have I no chance of ever succeeding?" He stopped in his earnestness to look the question, and the expression of his eyes overpowered her. "My dearest Emma," said he, "for dearest you will always be, whatever the event of this hour's conversation, my dearest, most beloved Emma--tell me at once. Say `No,' if it is to be said."-- She could really say nothing.--"you are silent," he cried, with great animation; "absolutely silent! at present I ask no more." Emma was almost ready to sink under the agitation of this moment. The dread of being awakened from the happiest dream, was perhaps the most prominent feeling. "I cannot make speeches, Emma:" he soon resumed; and in a tone of such sincere, decided, intelligible tenderness as was tolerably convincing.--"if I loved you less, I might be able to talk about it more. But you know what I am.--you hear nothing but truth from me. --I have blamed you, and lectured you, and you have borne it as no other woman in England would have borne it.-- Bear with the truths I would tell you now, dearest Emma, as well as you have borne with them. The manner, perhaps, may have as little to recommend them. God knows, I have been a very indifferent lover.-- But you understand me.--yes, you see, you understand my feelings-- and will return them if you can. At present, I ask only to hear, once to hear your voice." While he spoke, Emma's mind was most busy, and, with all the wonderful velocity of thought, had been able--and yet without losing a word-- to catch and comprehend the exact truth of the whole; to see that Harriet's hopes had been entirely groundless, a mistake, a delusion, as complete a delusion as any of her own--that Harriet was nothing; that she was everything herself. (1816) 14

15 Mary Shelley: Frankenstein (excerpt) It was on a dreary night of November that I beheld the accomplishment of my toils. With an anxiety that almost amounted to agony, I collected the instruments of life around me, that I might infuse a spark of being into the lifeless thing that lay at my feet. It was already one in the morning; the rain pattered dismally against the panes, and my candle was nearly burnt out, when, by the glimmer of the half-extinguished light, I saw the dull yellow eye of the creature open; it breathed hard, and a convulsive motion agitated its limbs. How can I describe my emotions at this catastrophe, or how delineate the wretch whom with such infinite pains and care I had endeavoured to form? His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful!--Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips. The different accidents of life are not so changeable as the feelings of human nature. I had worked hard for nearly two years, for the sole purpose of infusing life into an inanimate body. For this I had deprived myself of rest and health. I had desired it with an ardour that far exceeded moderation; but now that I had finished, the beauty of the dream vanished, and breathless horror and disgust filled my heart. Unable to endure the aspect of the being I had created, I rushed out of the room, and continued a long time traversing my bedchamber, unable to compose my mind to sleep. At length lassitude succeeded to the tumult I had before endured; and I threw myself on the bed in my clothes, endeavouring to seek a few moments of forgetfulness. But it was in vain: I slept, indeed, but I was disturbed by the wildest dreams. I thought I saw Elizabeth, in the bloom of health, walking in the streets of Ingolstadt. Delighted and surprised, I embraced her; but as I imprinted the first kiss on her lips, they became livid with the hue of death; her features appeared to change, and I thought that I held the corpse of my dead mother in my arms; a shroud enveloped her form, and I saw the grave-worms crawling in the folds of the flannel. I started from my sleep with horror; a cold dew covered my forehead, my teeth chattered, and every limb became convulsed: when, by the dim and yellow light of the moon, as it forced its way through the window shutters, I beheld the wretch -- the miserable monster whom I had created. He held up the curtain of the bed; and his eyes, if eyes they may be called, were fixed on me. His jaws opened, and he muttered some inarticulate sounds, while a grin wrinkled his cheeks. He might have spoken, but I did not hear; one hand was stretched out, seemingly to detain me, but I escaped, and rushed down stairs. I took refuge in the courtyard belonging to the house which I inhabited; where I remained during the rest of the night, walking up and down in the greatest agitation, listening attentively, catching and fearing each sound as if it were to announce the approach of the demoniacal corpse to which I had so miserably given life. Oh! no mortal could support the horror of that countenance. A mummy again endued with animation could not be so hideous as that wretch. I had gazed on him while unfinished; he was ugly then; but when those muscles and joints were rendered capable of motion, it became a thing such as even Dante could not have conceived. I passed the night wretchedly. Sometimes my pulse beat so quickly and hardly that I felt the palpitation of every artery; at others, I nearly sank to the ground through languor and extreme weakness. Mingled with this horror, I felt the bitterness of 15

16 disappointment; dreams that had been my food and pleasant rest for so long a space were now become a hell to me; and the change was so rapid, the overthrow so complete! Morning, dismal and wet, at length dawned, and discovered to my sleepless and aching eyes the church of Ingolstadt, its white steeple and clock, which indicated the sixth hour. The porter opened the gates of the court, which had that night been my asylum, and I issued into the streets, pacing them with quick steps, as if I sought to avoid the wretch whom I feared every turning of the street would present to my view. I did not dare return to the apartment which I inhabited, but felt impelled to hurry on, although drenched by the rain which poured from a black and comfortless sky. I continued walking in this manner for some time, endeavouring, by bodily exercise, to ease the load that weighed upon my mind. I traversed the streets, without any clear conception of where I was, or what I was doing. My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear; and I hurried on with irregular steps, not daring to look about me:-- "Like one who, on a lonely road, Doth walk in fear and dread, And, having once turned round, walks on, And turns no more his head; Because he knows a frightful fiend Doth close behind him tread." 49 (1816) 49 This is a quotation from Coleridge s The Ancient Mariner 16

17 Walter Scott: Ivanhoe (excerpt) But Ivanhoe was already at his post, and had closed his visor, and assumed his lance. Bois-Guilbert did the same; and his esquire remarked, as he clasped his visor, that his face, which had, notwithstanding the variety of emotions by which he had been agitated, continued during the whole morning of an ashy paleness, was now become suddenly very much flushed. The herald, then, seeing each champion in his place, uplifted his voice, repeating thrice Faites vos devoirs, preux chevaliers! After the third cry, he withdrew to one side of the lists, and again proclaimed, that none, on peril of instant death, should dare, by word, cry, or action, to interfere with or disturb this fair field of combat. The Grand Master, who held in his hand the gage of battle, Rebecca s glove, now threw it into the lists, and pronounced the fatal signal words, Laissez aller. The trumpets sounded, and the knights charged each other in full career. The wearied horse of Ivanhoe, and its no less exhausted rider, went down, as all had expected, before the well-aimed lance and vigorous steed of the Templar. This issue of the combat all had foreseen; but although the spear of Ivanhoe did but, in comparison, touch the shield of Bois-Guilbert, that champion, to the astonishment of all who beheld it reeled in his saddle, lost his stirrups, and fell in the lists. Ivanhoe, extricating himself from his fallen horse, was soon on foot, hastening to mend his fortune with his sword; but his antagonist arose not. Wilfred, placing his foot on his breast, and the sword s point to his throat, commanded him to yield him, or die on the spot. Bois-Guilbert returned no answer. Slay him not, Sir Knight, cried the Grand Master, unshriven and unabsolved kill not body and soul! We allow him vanquished. He descended into the lists, and commanded them to unhelm the conquered champion. His eyes were closed the dark red flush was still on his brow. As they looked on him in astonishment, the eyes opened but they were fixed and glazed. The flush passed from his brow, and gave way to the pallid hue of death. Unscathed by the lance of his enemy, he had died a victim to the violence of his own contending passions. This is indeed the judgment of God, said the Grand Master, looking upwards Fiat voluntas tua! (1820) 17