Weeks 7-9
1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
3. How many fictional accounts (film and other narrative media) can you find about that? Provide some useful links, including Youtube clips (hint: for a start try Ken Russel Gothic on Youtube).
4. Discuss the links between the Villa Diodati "brat-pack" and the birth of Gothic as a modern genre with reference to specific texts by the authors who gathered there and subsequent texts (e.g. The Vampire >> Dracula, etc).
ReplyDelete2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816…
For me there are some interesting comments and observations on the web about what happened at Villa Diodati but the first thing that helped me to know what happened and allowed me to get a feel for the mood experienced by the writers, was the song by Rasputina called “1816 the year without a summer”. It made it clear that it was a rough summer during the time Mary and the others were at the Villa Diodati (2013). We see it was called “the year without summer” and was gloomy, dark and depressing (2013). They were tough times in the Villa with the change of the weather decidedly so due to the “Volcano Tambora” also we have the “Benjamin Franklin and his experiments with electricity” creating a backdrop of events that allows the writers at the villa to in-vision dark science or dark forces ( it makes me wonder Franklin = Frankenstein ?) as I will later on show science was a key topic of conversation for the group. Members of the group on that summer event were Mary, her husband and others including Bryon were all staying at the Villia Diodati. This may not be a professional way of displaying the back drop of events through music but it creates a strong image for me and if you see the music video of the song, you can see in your own mind the writers in the villa in the cold, thinking darkly and spooky imagery within their minds, taking up Byron's challenge duelling to create the best story.
Now we have set the scene, we also find some interesting written facts about the events to fit the scene of what happened such as that the group was joined by Dr John Polidori (Heely, 2010). He could have been an influence of the Doctor in the story Mary Shelley created. It’s also noted that Mary Shelley had an interest in science (Patterson, 1996) which could be a strong factor in what she thought of during that time in the Villa. So we can see that the setting is dark in its own way, with cold bad weather helping to create a perfect atmosphere for story telling, or poem telling with a dark twist of science. During one evening it’s established by one web site the group was in fact taking about science and the idea of “reanimating the dead” (Bio. website). Then we have Bryon getting everyone to create a horror story (Heely, 2010) like a contest as noted by Vigliotti (2013). All this leading up to the creating of the idea of Frankenstein in Mary Shelley's mind within a waking dream (Shelley House, 2010). Byron created a work called “Fragment of a Novel” which later on was used by Dr John Polidori to write the first modern Vampire story. I hope this creates a good start to understanding what could have happened at the Villa and through these perceptions we find in the world wide web portrayed through different mediums such as music as well as written works. I’m very keen to see what else happened at the Villa and what it leads to down the road for our writers involved. Cheers ☺
Hi Nick,
DeleteSome really, really cool ideas you've got down here. A lot of things I hadn't even thought of. I particularly enjoyed how you went in to the social setting (i.e Ben Franklin and the undertones of dark forces at work), and the psyche of some of those staying at the Villa without dragging on or being boring (something I seem to struggle with). It really helps with understanding 'that' summer as a whole.
Good stuff!
Hi Nick,
DeleteGreat points about how the story of Frankenstein came about with the use of the Villa Diodati, seems like an ominous place to set the scene. Also seeing the little movie clip Paul showed in the lecture made it seem interesting, I can understand that would be an ideal place for Mary Shelley, Dr John and Byron to come up with the great stories there.
The song was quite interesting too, I listened to it and found it to better then what I had expected it to sound like but the annoying thing was the string instruments, on how they played them rather than strumming or plucking them they kind of slid across them. I dont know how to explain it but it was an interesting technique. But that song is quite insightful about that year.
Great points Nick as always
Cheers
Tamiana
"BELIEVE IT"
Hi Guys
ReplyDeleteHeres the song and my references for the first entry I made. The system wouldn't let me write so much in one comment...how dare I....
1816 The Year without a Summer By Rasputina
In the Spring of 1815 there began an era of unpredictable weather,
It did not lift until 1851. You remember 1816 as the year without a summer.
June 1816, a sudden snowstorm blankets all the countryside,
So Mary Shelley had to stay inside and she wrote Frankenstein,
Oh, 1816 was the year without a summer.
Grain couldn't ripen under these conditions,
It was brought indoors in urns and pots.
It'd go from ninety-five degrees to freezing within hours,
A brutal struggle for the people and the starving livestock.
During the most severe years of this little ice age
We looked for scapegoats to blame.
Many people tried to blame it all on a vast free-Mason conspiracy,
Or Benjamin Franklin and his experiments with electricity.
The eruption of the volcano Tambora
Blanketed the earth with ash.
That was a real cause discovered by some explorer
Years later, looking back at the past.
I will give you my red colour
To take away your sickly pallor.
For you are so very choleric of complexion,
Please beware the mounting sun and all dejection.
References
Bio. Mary Shelley Biography Aruthor (1797-1851) Retrieved 17 April 2014 form
http://www.biography.com/people/mary-shelley-9481497#awesm=~oBETWQxwWKuKnc
Heely, G. (2010) Percy Shelley, Lord Byron, John Polidori, and the Summer of 1816 retrieved from http://voices.yahoo.com/percy-shelley-lord-byron-john-polidori-summer-7308628.html
John Polidori and the Vampyre Byron retrieved 16 April 2014 from
http://web.archive.org/web/20100324045146/http://www.angelfire.com/jazz/louxsie/polidori.html
Keats-Shelley House 1816-Bryon and Shelley meet in Geneva Retrieved form
http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/en/romanticism/timeline-1816
Patterson, A. (1996). What genre of literature best describes the Frankenstein Tale? Retrieved from
http://www.watershedonline.ca/literature/frankenstein/faq2.html
Rasputina, (2013). 1816 The year without a summer Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xEXMJMEARcc
Rasputina -1816, The year without a Summer Lyrics Retrieved 16 April 2014 from
http://www.lyrics007.com/Rasputina%20Lyrics/1816,%20The%20Year%20Without%20A%20Summer%20Lyrics.html
Vigliotti, J. (2013) 10 things you never knew about frankensteins monster. Retrieved from http://listverse.com/2013/10/29/10-things-you-never-knew-about-frankensteins-monster/
Hi Nick!
DeleteWow! That was intense Nick. Very interesting and cool music. I found one particular website points out that after the night of Byron’s challenge the group meet again for late night of story telling, where Byron recited a particular poem called Christabel by Samuel T. Coleridge. This poem caused a great deal of stress to Percy who perceived Mary as the key villian from the poem. This stress caused him to run out of the room. As noted in the article Mary felt guilty about the incident where the article indicates it could have affected Mary’s ideas. I wonder if this issue could have created the impression of abandonment that means it might reasonably influence Victor Frankenstein’s character to abandon his creation in the story.
References
Coleridge, S. T. (2014). Christabel. Retrieved from
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173227
Woodbridge, K. (2014). Mary Shelley and Frankenstein: the summer of 1816. Retrieved from
http://www.marywshelley.com/essays/the-summer-of-1816/
Cool stuff Mew,
ReplyDeleteDid you know, when the group was at the villa they were not only experimenting with writing ideas and the ideas of science but they were very heavy on the drugs as well. This must have had a lasting affect on their imaginations which were already running wild with ideas. Check out the sources of this information " the real story of Frankenstein's Monster " (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf4w8heMmKA) documentary the information starts at about 23:00 minutes into the show. I'm pretty certain imagery from the imagination and personal issues really do boil up when your high on a certain drug giving the visions power and leading oneself down a committed path such as Mary with her dream and the writing challenge creating a driving force in her mind that had to be satisfied as Frankenstein. What do you guys think?
"The Real Story of Frankensteins Monster" retrieved 8 May 2014 from You Tube
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nf4w8heMmKA
This is an excellent point Nick, the correlation between mind altering substances and writers has always been evident throughout modern history. However, due to each drug affecting each individual internally and differently, we cannot precisely state WHAT the affect on the texts were but we can however acknowledge that the drug taking would have made some sort of difference to the overall outcome of putting the quill to paper. I love your point and agree with it in totality.
Delete2. Go online and see if you can find out anything about what really happened at the Villa Diodati that fateful summer in 1816...
ReplyDeleteThere doesn't seem to be a definitive version of events that can be agreed upon, so I have scrounged through what I did find and compiled a summary of what (to me, at least) seems to be a somewhat accurate account of what took place that summer.
Firstly, centuries before the twentieth were generally colder and wetter due to something known as The Little Ice Age, which lasted from 1560 until 1850 when a period of warming began. This coupled with the fact that a large volcanic eruption (Mt Tambora) caused widespread death and famine and what is known as the 'last great subsistence crisis in western history'. It was the largest eruption since the year 180 and the amount of ash in the air blocked the sunlight so much that even in the summer months temperatures were often freezing.
In the summer of 1816 Lord Byron and his person physician Dr. John Polidori rented the Villa Belrive, which Byron later named the Villa Diodati after the family he leased it from, on the shores of Lake Geneva, Switzerland. Around the same time, Percy Shelley, Mary Goodwin (soon to be Shelley), and her step-sister Claire Clairmont similarly rented Maison Chapuis further down the Lake.
On the night of June 16, Mary and Percy were stuck in a particularly violent storm and could not return home to Chapuis and instead found refuge with Byron and Polidori at the Villa Diodati. The group read German ghost-stories aloud to each other which inspired Lord Byron to challenge the group to see who could write the best horror-story. Percy penned something forgettable, Lord Byron began a fragment of a story which Polidori later turned in to The Vampyre, while Mary was struggling to come up with anything.
1816 is on record as the coldest summer even in Europe and it rained constantly in Switzerland. This led to the group having to spend all of their time indoors finding ways to entertain themselves. On the evening of June 17 during their nightly discussions, Byron read aloud the poem Christabel by Samuel T. Coleridge, at which point Percy percieved Mary to be the villainess of the story. He stormed out the room, which undoubtedly effected Mary and the ideas within the story she was about to develop. It also worth noting that she remained largely silent during the night-time vigils.
On the night of June 21 the group discussed "whether the principle "whether the principle of life could be discovered and whether scientists could galvanize a corpse of manufactured humanoid". That night upon going to bed Mary recalled having a "waking dream" in which she "saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together. I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life.."
The following morning Mary had apparently realised that this was in fact the makings of the story she desperately sought to create and she wrote down what would famously become the opening lines of Chapter 5 in her novel Frankenstein: The Modern Prometheus. "It was a dreary November night that I beheld my man completed..." It is interesting to note, again, that Mary and the others are confirmed to have been on Opium for a large amount of their time at the Villa which could actually explain Percy's paranoia as well as Mary's "waking dream" (or nightmare) as the phrase "pipe dream" literally means the intensely vivid dreams people can experience when using Opium.
I don't think there will ever be any definite way to know exactly what transpired at the Villa Dioadati in 1816, the only 'true' evidence we have are fragments of myth, and unreliable first-hand accounts. For now, hopefully this serves as somewhat of an insight in to the legendary summer on Lake Geneva.
Cool stuff Max,
DeleteHave you seen John Polidori's dairy of the events that happened on Byron's travels with the group in 1816. Mew put me on to this and it was very interesting and is considered basis of what could have been closest single source of a the true account of the events. theres a copy available on the internet archive (see the link below) its an interesting read if you have the time.
Cheers Nick :)
References
The Diary of Dr. John William Polidori, 1816, relating to Byron, Shelley, etc.
http://www.archive.org/stream/diaryofdrjohnwil00polirich/diaryofdrjohnwil00polirich_djvu.txt
No, I wasn't even aware of it! I'll be sure to check it out cheers :)
DeleteQ)
ReplyDelete1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
The Romantic sublime is often described as "pointing to the heights of something truly extraordinary" (Llewellyn & Riding, 2013). These were ideas and concepts, specifically artwork, that desired to inspire awe and wonder in the viewer or reader.
The Garden of Love is a great example of a piece that reflects the notion of the Romantic Sublime. The stark contrast between the poet's childhood memories in the first stanza (which appear to be those of joy and nostalgia) to the last stanza.
In the first version, the poem begins with the writer visiting this garden he used to play in and saw that a chapel was erected. In the last stanza, he describes that where there should be flowers, graves and tombstones are there instead with priests who are "binding with briars [his] joys and desires".
From this last paragraph it seems to imply that he does not find it favourable that priests, and furthermore a church, have practically ruined this Garden of Love "that so many sweet flowers bore". It appears as though he truly dislikes the fact that a religious denomination has lay claim on this garden.
In the second version of the poem, two lines were removed "A Chapel was built in the midst /
Where I used to play on the green" to be replaced with "And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And Thou shalt not, writ over the door". Overtime, the writer seems to hold an even deeper disregard and dislike for the church and, in extension, religion.
Altogether, the contrast of the beginning and end of this poem is evident, and displays ideals of the Romantic Sublime by portraying a nostalgic, joyful scene to something more dark and sinister (i.e., death by mentioning graves and tombstones, and the particular usage of "black" which is not exactly the happiest colour).
Personally, many of the written and aesthetic artworks don't particularly elicit any kind of awe or wonder, and aren't "truly extraordinary". However, this is probably because I was brought up in the 21st century and am likely immune to some of the effects and reactions of what the artists were trying to convey. Something that was considered Sublime in previous centuries may not be seen as particularly Sublime today. Of course, everything is up to interpretation.
References:
Tate. (2013). The art of the sublime. Retrieved from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/what-is-the-sublime-r1109449
Hamlett, L. (2013). Sublime Religion: Benjamin Robert Haydon’s The raising of Lazarus. Retrieved from http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/lydia-hamlett-sublime-religion-benjamin-robert-haydons-the-raising-of-lazarus-r1129549
Sorry, mistake in my reference in my previous post, it should be: "pointing to the heights of something truly extraordinary" (Tate, 2013).
DeleteMike informed us during today's tutorial lesson that Romanticism was an ideological movement that lead to the literary movement. He continued on saying that Romanticism was a reaction to the advent of Industrialisation, and further stated that the Green movement of the 21st century stems from the notions of Romanticism. His explanations were able to provide a clearer understanding on my views on Romanticism which has lead me to add more to my previous post.
In the literature, The Garden of Love, the author also seems to highlight the negative side of Industrialisation. Through the building of the church in the garden, the church itself was built at the expense of the garden and its flowers, which is what Mike had explained: destroying nature to pave the way for technological advances.
What does everyone else think?
Hi Shell (Marshmallow),
DeleteSince I too was in class found that what Mike said to be very useful. Finding out the difference in putting the capital "R" in the word Romanticism is talking about the ideological movement rather than putting the small "r" meaning that you are talking about romance, I thought that was quite important.
Shell great post about the sublime text and the use of the text "The Garden Love" in comparison with it. I do agree with you about the author talking about the negative side of industrialization and how the church is built with the expense of the garden, thats seems to be how we live these days.
After I heard Mikes point in class about sublime it made me think more about the text more and re-think the text I was going to write up.
Cheers
"BELIEVE IT"
Interesting stuff guys so from what I can understand through the story and the cool comments made, we have the symbolism of the distraction of the garden through the church. I like what what Tamiana wrote about negative side of industrialisation thats pretty cool.
Deletethe imagery for me was two fold to try and wake the people up out of the destructive system that they have taken for granted or have lived in all their lives they no of no other way.
one was more about the churches control over nature and how it has dominance over it. life is gods territory we have the rights over what is natural and who is good and bad. Our way is gods way the right natural way, thus we will place our buildings and graves anywhere we like for we are doing gods work. This trampling over natures cycle of life where we see graves which forever will be a reminder of death only one part of the cycle.
We also see that children with the priest where the priest dominates them already at a young age. The child has no chance to be natural to be a child, he or she must instantly conform to the way of the church which is not natural were natural is indoctrinated and we must follow the churches rules not life's rules. Where life is a cycle the church is a stuck form of black, depressed, rules and controls preventing the cycle of life or the journey of innocence or joy to continue within the child leading to the "binding with briars, my joys and desires". Its almost a form of cursing the individual forcing them to be part of the unit where as an individual is not a threat. And as part of the group wouldn't mind or even see the destruction of the garden for they are to worried about other churchly matters. interesting as Tamiana notes what happens and points it out to " how we live these days" is a good point. We are so worried about faith islam or Russian and china rampaging over other countries we seem to forget the pollution, global warming and the issues of over population and too much growth. we are trapped in group concerns not thinking as individuals despite artists in a romanticism way trying to wake us up and take notice. Dose anyone know of any cool artists doing this now I can think of ai weiwei?
Also isn't interesting in the garden of love you can't writ over the door but its ok to destroy or writ over the garden with graves.
Oh well those are just my thoughts...hope they help ....:)
PS sorry for the bad grammar and spelling of my last post. Definalty writing on a iPad in a car is a super bad idea....but I was inspired by the last two posts. Next time I will carry a note book and write it up properly on the computer at home .... :(
Delete1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples...
DeleteDefinitions of sublime: “The term Sublime can be seen as something above simple beauty, and almost reaching the level of the supernatural in its ability to affect our emotions and actions.”
“Of high spiritual, moral, or intellectual worth.” (Mifflin, 2009).
I think that the above definitions relate to bringing the Romantic notion and sublime together in “The Garden of Love”. It may be a short poem but it has a lot of context in it and you can see how the poem progresses. So what the person remembers what the Garden use to be to what it now and how it has developed and changed.
From the simple beauty of the “many sweet flowers” and having to be able to “play on the green” to seeing it developed into “a Chapel” where it is “filled with graves” “tomb-stones” and seeing “Priests in black gowns, were walking their rounds”. This reminds of that saying “If you love something, let it go. If it comes back to you, it’s yours forever. If it doesn’t then it was never meant to be.” So this is about how he loves the garden so much that when he left and came back to it, it was not the same and had changed and now it can no longer be “The Garden of Love” which he once loved and remembered it as.
This poem is spilt into two poems with different parts as Shell stated one has “A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green.” And the other has “And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And Thou shalt not, writ over the door;”. But when John R. Mabry wrote an explication on the poem he combines the two into one and puts it as “A Chapel was built in the midst, Where I used to play on the green. And the gates of this Chapel were shut, And "Thou shalt not" writ over the door;” (Mabry, n.d.). I find reading this poem as one has more meaning behind it and you can see it as a completed poem to me that is. The lines that stick out to me are “and the gates of this Chapel were shut, And “Thou shalt not” writ over the door;” and these are very powerful lines “The implication is that organized religion is intentionally forbidding people from enjoying their natural desires and pleasures.” (Gordon & Wang. 2011.)which you can see, and knowing that the Romanticism era was against the takeover of technology, construction and all things that where against nature.
The thing that confused me was why is the poem called “The Garden of Love”? I feel it should have been called The Garden I Loved or The Garden. There was nothing in the poem describing why it was called The Garden of Love. It was more how it had changed from when he had remembered it to be back in his younger days.
Cheers
Tamiana
“BELIEVE IT”
Reference
H. Mifflin., (2009). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Marbry, J. R. (n.d.). An Explication of Willaim Blake’s “The Garden of Love”. Retrieved from: http://www.apocryphile.org/jrm/articles/garden.html
T, Gordon & B, Wang. (2011). ed. "Songs of Innocence and of Experience Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "The Garden of Love"". Retrieved from : http://www.gradesaver.com/songs-of-innocence-and-of-experience/study-guide/section33/
Hey Shell
DeleteI initially thought that as well, "how are these themes even relevant right now?" but if you look at my comment on W Baker's post, I feel that sublime has been reemerging throughout modern times. The rise of the sublime came forth due to industrialization. I fully agree with this - lets take a step back and focus on the hippy movement of the 70s to the ideals that organizations such as Greenpeace and WWF are selling nowadays. I will take a step further and state that sublime reemerges to attempt to uphold the paradigmatic balance of industry and spirituality.
Q: How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader? Discuss one or two examples
ReplyDeleteRomanticism refers to a literary and artistic movement in the 1800s and came from a psychological desire to escape from reality (Kathleen & Rausch, 1997). The Romantic literatures and arts valued imaginary and emotion rather than seek for a fact or a logic explanation. It represented a deep respect for nature as its beauty or “sublime”, and believed that science was risky and dangerous. It’s also against the idea of industrial revolution, enlightenment, progression or technology advancement, and urbanization.
The Romantic sublime reflects the form of expression as noted by Richey (2014) such as:
1. Nature: prefers a beautiful forest or waterfall more than a big city landscape
2. Childhood: presents an age of innocence, growing or movements. The childhood time is the period of enjoyment before the adulthood that affected by a lot of surrounding problems
3. Religion: displays faith, belief, spiritual and mystical are charming and beauty, and also hard to understand. To represent the Catholic churches are very central and have a pretty design especially painting and art works.
4. Emotion: no reason for any kind of emotions. Its personal nature state being built up by his/her feeling and desire.
5. Love: looks at the emotion, falling in love and designs to marry because of love, the love that is no economic or politic involvement.
6. Nostalgia: captivating the sentimental moments or yearning for a period in the past.
One particular example of the Romantic sublime is “The Deserted Village” by Oliver Goldsmith, the pastoral poem that was published in 1770. The background is the radical changes from a rural life to urbanization and the countryside depopulation (Welford, 2013). Richey (2014) also notes “the origin of the Romantic movement as a rebellion against the values of the enlightenment and the ugliness of the Industrial Revolution, and the Romantics offered a critique of progress as defined by technological advancement and luxury”.
Goldsmith portrays many ideals of romantic expression such as the beautiful village, Sweet Auburn, which he felt nostalgia about his childhood and the place after the devastation is begun.
Sweet Auburn, loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheered the labouring swain;
Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
Seats of my youth, when every sport could please,
How often have I loitered o’er thy green,
Where humble happiness endeared each scene;
How often have I paused on every charm,
The sheltered cot, the cultivated farm...
However, it expresses nostalgia for past and fear for future, combined with anger at the cases of the changes (Welford, 2013). Although the industrialization brings the luxury for mankind after the enclosure movement, it is exchanged by devastation and destroys the beautiful scenic nature. (Richey, 2014)
The man of wealth and pride
Takes up a space that many poor supplied;
Space for his lake, his park’s extended bounds,
Space for his horse, equipage, and hounds
His seat, where solitary sports are seen,
Indignant spurns the cottage from the green;
Around the world each needful product flies,
For all the luxuries the world supplies:
(carried forward)
The above example helped me to understand a fashion of what Romanticism is, but now I will bring it back to the texts we examined. Another great example within the text that Shell B has effectively explained is “The Garden of Love” by William Blake in our reader. We see a rebellion of the churches from enlightenment against that of nature and childhood such as:
ReplyDeleteSo I turn’d to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore,
And I saw it was filled with graves,
This, to my limited exposure shows that the church is destroying the love that was direct to the child via nature and the mother. The child now has to read the Bible or see the priest who is the bearer of the love of God. The way that the child is taught seems to be a superior to the love of the mother and nature, which is now dead and covered by graves and the church buildings over nature. This is reinforced by the imagery where I can see the two girls being instructed by a male priest. Thus, personally, it reinforces the concept of Man in an industrialized world is to be seen as the holder of love and truth not the female love or nature itself.
As I have less exposure to English Romantic sublime, as an English second language user, but I believe that many creators these day present their romantic works influenced by the original Romantic sublime persuasion. The modern media such as one of my favorite movies “Avatar” could be a comparison example between an old and modern piece of work. The movie portrays nature (indigenous people, forest, ecosystem, and lives) against science (military industry, science, mining investment, technology). Even though the movie theme describes the battle among human (indigenous people against the oppression of alien people), nature is the heart and power forming belief, faith, spiritual, love and solidarity for all of lives in the Pandora world.
Cheers!
References
Kathleen, M., & Rausch, R. (1997). NTC’s dictionary of literary terms. Retrieved
From http://www.uh.edu/engines/romanticism/introduction.html
Oliver Goldsmith. (n. d.). The Deserted Village. Retrieved May 9, 2014, from
http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173557
Richey, T. (2014, February 16). Romanticism [Video file]. Retrieved from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky6qKSCvSMw
Pateman, T. (2004, 1991). The sublime is key concepts: A guide to aesthetics,
criticisms, and the arts in education. London, England: Falmer Press.
Welford, J. (2013). Poetry analysis the Deserted Village by Oliver Goldsmith.
Retrieved from
http://www.humanities360.com/index.php/poetry-analysis-the-deserted-village-by-oliver-goldsmith-1214/
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteWow, you have obviously done a lot of work on this subject, there is so much to talk about in accordance with the sublime (I chose the same question). I pose the question, is the sublime relevant today? If so, is it because we all share an affinity to what is defined as sublime?
DeleteI feel that avatar is an amazing example and should have used it in my question, the indigenous people against science or 'progress' as they call it is a prime example of sublime. The imagery within avatar, ie the beautiful trees, lush forests, etc are what comes to mind when I think sublime. Lets not forget the fact that the Na'Vi are a race which resemble gods (especially Gods from Eastern Philosophy, such as Vishnu or Shiva) we humans share a particular attraction to the super human. movies such as 'superman', 'batman' and 'X-men' have attained high levels of popularity. We are drawn to the supernatural and/or spiritual and I have found that even speaking with atheists, I have yet to meet one that is not into Sci-Fi - which further proves the point that we are attracted to the super-normal and mythical.
Good work!
My references:
ReplyDeleteBlashcke, J. (2011). Frankenstein's Moon: Astronomers Vindicate Account of Masterwork. Retrieved from http://www.txstate.edu/news/news_releases/news_archive/2011/September-2011/Frankenstein092611.html
Clark, W.S. (1935). Milton and the Villa Diodati. Review of English studies. 51-57.
Clubbe, J. (n.d) Retrieved from http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/clubbe.html
Smedley, R. (2011). Villa Diodati & Mary Shelley. Retrieved from http://www.fuelyourwriting.com/the-writing-spaces-villa-diodati-mary-shelley/
The Summer of 1816 at Villa Diodati. (2011). Retrieved from http://frankenstein.monstrous.com/the_summer_of_1816_at_villa_diodoti.htm
Hi Mew,
DeleteThis is such a detailed post, I really enjoyed it. I had to read it 3 times, 1st time I read it I was impressed and then read it again, and the 3rd time I read it was just to go bits of it, great insightful post.
I enjoyed how you broke to sublime down into the 6 parts and their definitions, that was great.
The comparison of the avatar was a great example of sublime Romanticism, when you brought that up I could see where you were coming from.
Keep up the great work.
Cheers
Tamiana
"BELIEVE IT"
1. How is the Romantic notion of the Sublime reflected in the ideological, conceptual and linguistic construction of the texts under consideration in this Romanticism reader?
ReplyDeleteAccording to Voller (2008), the sublime is an aesthetic or a theory of the way we perceive and are affected by certain stimuli, in particular, cultural presentations or interpretations. The Sublime’s origins are in ancient Greece. Longinus, who was a Greek teacher of rhetoric around the time of 1st or 3rd century AD, is credited to be the main philosopher to theorize about the sublime.
In the 18th century, the notion of the sublime was resurrected and extended; it then became used as a way of talking about the impact of certain aspects or manifestations of nature, for example towering mountains, storms, avalanches etc, or the supernatural, such as demons, angels and ghosts.
According to Voller (2008), the debate about the sublime in the 18th century became important due to the writers and philosophers becoming increasingly interested in how human minds work. I agree with this notion, as these were the days before psychology was a science and the discussions about aesthetics were one of the only ways of talking about the operation of our minds.
Examples within the Romanticism reader include William Blake’s works, in his “Songs of Experience” Blake speaks about seeing himself as an ‘ancient bard’ or a prophet, that heard Jehova speaking to Adam in the Garden;
“Hear the voice of the Bard!
Who Present, Past, & Future sees
Whose ears have heard,
The Holy Word,
That walk'd among the ancient trees.”
(from William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience, 1794)
This poem draws upon sublime imagery to inspire a paradigm shift within the minds of the readers in the stride of Sidartha in a while to draw man away from its’ materialistic nature- however different from Sidartha, to inspire a life of imagination.
Immanuel Kant in “The Critique of Judgement” (1790) further defines the sublime, mainly in contrast to what is beautiful. Kant says that beautiful in nature is quantifiable, in the colour, form, texture, etc of an object. Kant also states that the beautiful is to be “regarded as a presentation of an indeterminate concept of understanding.” With this in mind, we can infer that Kant argues that beauty is a temporary response of understanding, but the sublime goes beyond the aesthetics into the realm of reason.
This leads us to believe that we share a natural affinity for nature, what is beautiful, even though nature destroys as it rebuilds, we are innately mesmerized by the balance of which nature (and the universe) upholds.
The texts that we have studied by William Blake in our critical reader, lead us to believe that the nature of Blake’s work are in ways “transcendentally sublime”, I personally feel that although the word sublime has religious or spiritual connotation, we must view it with a temporalized definition in mind.
Vine (2002) states that “the romantic text is articulated in poetics of incompletion and non-realization – in an ongoing process that asks to be continued in the reader.” With this in mind, our temporal deconstruction of Blake’s works causes us to have a postmodern, temporal understanding of what is sublime in nature and prompting our deconstruction of these respective works to be temporal rather than metaphysical in structure. Furthermore, with Kant’s theories in mind, we may all share a subconscious connection in a Jungian manner of which the sublime is something that we will always allured by regardless of the times, which is why romanticism in its confront with the sublime is still popular to this day.
References
DeleteBell, J. (2011, 27 05). Contemporary Art and the Sublime. Retrieved from TATE: http://www.tate.org.uk/art/research-publications/the-sublime/julian-bell-contemporary-art-and-the-sublime-r1108499
Freeman, D. (2014, 05 21). Sublime: the pleasure of the overwhelming. Retrieved from Art Gallery NSW: http://www.artgallery.nsw.gov.au/calendar/sublime/
Vine, S. (2002). Blake's Material Sublime. Studies in Romanticism, 241 - 250. doi:10.2307/25601558
Voller, J. G. (2008, 01 18). The Sublime and the Gothic. The Literary Gothic, 1 - 5.
I have found an extract which is my interpretation of the modern sublime, from the book "Revenge of the Lawn" which is a collection of short stories written by Richard Brautigan from 1962 to 1970.
ReplyDelete"I was trying to describe you to someone a few days ago. You don’t look like any girl I’ve ever seen before.
I couldn’t say “Well she looks just like Jane Fonda, except that she’s got red hair, and her mouth is different and of course, she’s not a movie star…”
I couldn’t say that because you don’t look like Jane Fonda at all.
I finally ended up describing you as a movie I saw when I was a child in Tacoma Washington. I guess I saw it in 1941 or 42, somewhere in there. I think I was seven, or eight, or six.
It was a movie about rural electrification, a perfect 1930’s New Deal morality kind of movie to show kids. The movie was about farmers living in the country without electricity. They had to use lanterns to see by at night, for sewing and reading, and they didn’t have any appliances like toasters or washing machines, and they couldn’t listen to the radio. They built a dam with big electric generators and they put poles across the countryside and strung wire over fields and pastures.
There was an incredible heroic dimension that came from the simple putting up of poles for the wires to travel along. They looked ancient and modern at the same time.
Then the movie showed electricity like a young Greek god, coming to the farmer to take away forever the dark ways of his life. Suddenly, religiously, with the throwing of a switch, the farmer had electric lights to see by when he milked his cows in the early black winter mornings. The farmer’s family got to listen to the radio and have a toaster and lots of bright lights to sew dresses and read the newspaper by.
It was really a fantastic movie and excited me like listening to the Star Spangled Banner, or seeing photographs of President Roosevelt, or hearing him on the radio “… the President of the United States… “
I wanted electricity to go everywhere in the world. I wanted all the farmers in the world to be able to listen to President Roosevelt on the radio….
And that’s how you look to me."
I feel that this utilizes sublime imagery in a modernistic sense by alluding to electricity and the emotion that it brings in sort of a "pseudo-sublime" manner.