Toward the end of the century came a medieval revival. Its most influential phase
was the Gothic vogue. Following trends suggested in the Graveyard School
of poetry, the Gothic novel strongly stimulated the feelings. Key ingredients
of gothic tales: suspense, ghosts and other supernatural agents or effects, dungeons,
secret passageways, nocturnal terrors, ruins, skeletons, unspeakable mysteries,
rapes and murders--all with the single aim of shocking the reader.
Horace Walpole, The Castle of Otranto 1764
Ann Radcliffe, The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1794; The Italian,
1797
William Beckford, Vathek, 1786
Matthew Gregory, The Monk, 1796
The Gothic vogue introduced the non-rational into the mainstream of literature. (Click the image above for a larger picture and a brief explanation.)
Bishop Percy's Reliques of Antient Poetry (1765) reflects an interest in ballads that helped to break down the dominance of neoclassic poetic diction.
Deism: empirical proof of an all-wise, all-powerful first cause (the Creator) is readily available in all of physical nature. Eighteenth-century natural religion: evidence of the senses, viewing, God's handiwork proves his existence and describes his nature. Esthetic responses involved are a form of religious worship.
Shaftesbury: Anthony Ashley Cooper, the 3rd earl of Shaftesbury (1671-1713), was a moral philosopher who believed that man's innate goodness finds immediate and overflowing response in the beauty and harmony of nature--communion with beauty elevates the soul.
Associationist psychology: if the mind is formed by whatever the senses feed upon, the man desirous of cultivating correct ideas and offering the widest scope for the goodness that is innate within him will constantly refresh and purify himself with natural beauty. Also: specific qualities in natural scenes and objects will evoke appropriate qualities in the beholder (e.g., physical serenity in landscape will produce emotional serenity; storm scene will stir turbulent emotions).
James Thomson, "The Seasons," 1726-30. Although he was the best known eighteenth century poet of nature, he rarely viewed nature as it was; he viewed nature through the eyes of painters and of earlier poets. His description relied heavily on generalization.
Click here for an example of this type of poetry as seen in John Dyer's "Grongar Hill" and James Thomson's "A Hymn."
The picturesque: habit of viewing nature as if it were an infinite series
of more or less well-composed subjects for painting. This can also be seen in
the change from formalized English gardens at this time. (Click the image at the
left for a larger picture and a brief explanation.)
The
sublime: elements such as storms, turbulent seas, torrents, vast caverns,
deep, dark woods, fearsome deserts, blasted heaths moved readers emotionally.
The sublime is associated with dimensions of greatness and founded on awe and
terror. (Click the image at the right for a larger picture and a brief explanation.)
The chief importance of the picturesque and the sublime: taught people not only to see with their eyes, but also to feel through them. The profound experience of external nature that is basic to romantic poetry (sensory impressions culminating in profound emotional experiences, almost mystical illuminations) was prepared for in this fashion.
Cult of the "Noble Savage": man exists in a state of harmony with nature, uncorrupted by the progressive sophistication of civilization
Exoticism: growing interest in far-off regions and peoples, as a result of growing disillusionment with contemporary civilization
SHIFTS IN CRITICAL THEORY
 |
 |
© Scott Foll 2000. All rights reserved.