Man's Relationship Status Change from Romantic to Early 20th Century

Over a span of roughly 120 years that the Romantic era to the early 20^th century covered, I noticed that a common focus of the literary movements of Romanticism and that of the Early Twentieth Century gradually shifted from man’s relationships with nature to that man’s relationships in society. Romantic authors typically wrote pieces that centered around the common man’s relationship to nature, particularly of the individual’s experience. Early Twentieth Century authors on the other hand, wrote works that generally spoke to man’s relationships in society and nature was left by the wayside as merely description of setting if mentioned at all. Obviously, not all literary works followed this mold as per the period’s rules, but on the whole the authors of each respected period conformed to these different focuses of relationships with nature and society.

Romanticism is widely known for being primarily about nature and the individual’s emotions or sensibility that is experienced while in nature. In our class we read countless pieces that support the nature relationship concentration. William Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads,” “Tintern Abbey,” and “Nutting” all reference man’s relationship to nature as important elements. In his “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” where he described what poetry should involve, Wordsworth stated that men who lead rural lives “are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature,” (Broadview 148). Wordsworth believed true poetry should involve the common, rural man because these types of lives are closer to nature—to him these rural people have a stronger, better relationship to nature and this should be admired in poetry. His other poems clearly meet the expectations he set in his “Preface” well.

In “Nutting” a scene of a picturesque hazelnut grove is described by the speaker who saw both at the time and looking back on as a peaceful and beautiful place in nature before he ruined it by tearing down branches to get hazelnuts (Broadview 156-157). As readers, we can clearly see the meaningfulness this hazelnut grove has on the speaker of the poem in line 2 “I speak of one from many singled out” and lines 51-52 “I felt a sense of pain when I beheld/ The silent trees and the intruding sky,” (Broadview 156-157). The speaker has remembered this particular scene from his past and felt bad for ruining the bower and hurting the trees. We can infer that this emotional impact shows that this speaker valued his relationship with nature, particularly these specific woods. “Tintern Abbey” shows much of the same relationship the speaker of the poem has with nature. When he needs a break from the urban city he simply remembers the calming, stunning landscape he hasn’t scene in years. Wordsworth went beyond nature being a beautiful escape to this speaker by incorporating the speaker feeling as he has gotten older that nature is his spiritual center in lines 110-112, “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse/ The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul/ Of all my moral being” (Broadview 146). This particular speaker’s relationship with nature is more of religious one than just being that respite from urban life. Though not quite the same as Wordsworth’s poetry, Romanticist Samuel Coleridge’s poetry also focused on man’s relationship with nature.

Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” both have the focus of an individual man’s connection with nature. The unique work, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” clearly shows that a man whose relationship with nature was not one of respect and appreciation was punished horribly at sea until he appreciated the beauty of sea wildlife. “A spring of love gushed from my heart… And from my neck so free/ The Albatross fell of…” is the moment when the Mariner’s punishment ends as his feelings for nature turn positive (Broadview 288). Since this disrespect turned to respect theme is the whole point of the Mariner’s story, we can see that Coleridge’s piece also valued the man to nature relationship. “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” is much more like Wordsworth’s and other Romanticist poets’ works. In this poem, the speaker is jealous of his friends going on a beautiful hike while he is stuck in a little garden. He obviously appreciates and is jealous of the wild nature scenes his friends will be witnessing, “…They, meanwhile, Friends… On springy heath, along hill-top edge, Wander in gladness” (Broadview 294). And at first he disregards the garden’s beauty by calling it his prison before finding beauty even within the smaller setting. He comes to the sweeping declaration, “That Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure” (Broadview 295). The speaker seems to be saying that nature is always there for those that have come to respect it.

The speaker also claims that nature is for the human soul, “…keep the heart/ Awake to Love and Beauty,” which further supports the importance of the relationship humans should have with nature in order to be open to beauty (Broadview 295).  Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge focused mostly on the serene and loving sort of relationship men could have with nature, but even the different genres of writers at the time mentioned this theme. Even the Gothic literature of the time commented on nature and how it affects humankind through the sense of sublimity—feeling small and insignificant yet awed in the face of something magnificent in nature.  

Let’s fast-forward about 120 years and enter the early 20^th century. The focus of man’s relationship of nature has gradually shifted in the course of the Victorian age and came to focus on man’s relationship with that of his society. In this class we also read a lot of war related poetry, but there were many examples of Early Twentieth Century works that distinctly explore individuals figuring out their relationship and place in social society.

Bernard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession, has numerous characters of different societal positions all attempting to figure out how to interact with each other and within the society. Mrs. Warren runs several brothels and has not told her daughter about it, Sir George Crofts is higher up on the social ladder but still a bit crooked, Praed an artist, moneyless and profession-less Frank, his father the Reverend and finally freshly graduated and daughter of a prostitute Vivie are thrown together by Shaw. As readers we can see that the differences among the social standings create humorous but telling situations. For example, the Reverend asks whose garden he is entering before doing so as his position keeps him held accountable (Broadview 1079). The Reverend also makes the point that social standing is important to keep up by telling Frank to think about it before marrying Vivie. He states, “I was speaking of higher things. Social position, for instance,” (Broadview 1079). Mrs. Warren also knows where she likes to be in society. She didn’t want to stay in the poor working class as a girl, but she also does not want to quit working and retire as a rich woman among “good society” like her sister did (Broadview 1105). Even though Vivie’s mother like’s her seedier standing, she wants a better social position for her daughter: “Havnt I told you that I want you to be respectable? Havnt I brought you up to be respectable?” (Broadview 1105).  These are just a few instances where a characters connection to society is discussed in Shaw’s play about the daughter of a prostitute trying to create her own place in society. Vivie’s struggle to figure out societal positions and norms is comparable to Laura’s of Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party.”

Laura from “The Garden Party” fails to understand why her upper class family will not postpone their party out of respect for the family of the lower class whose husband and father had died. Her mother outright tells her that “People like that don’t expect sacrifices from us,” however, Laura still does not comprehend the implications of position. The rest of the short story goes on to describe the difficulty Laura faces in understanding her’s and other’s relationship/place in society. If this upper class girl is having difficulty in her own country, imagine the struggle of navigating class structure in a colonialized India.

E.M. Forster’s Passage to India illustrates a very real depiction of the Anglo-Indians’ and locals’ relationships in society. In this novel, Forster gave the reader insight to Aziz’s (and other natives’) justified distaste of the British superiority in addition to the complex class relationships between the Indian people. However, it is clear by the end that Aziz feels the society of colonial Indian does not create healthy, friendly relations when he tells Fielding, “Down with the English anyhow…We may hate each other, but we hate you most,” (Forster 361). The locals may not like each other, but they can stand united hating the British. The importance of man’s relationship to society is apparent by how Forster made Aziz believe that once the society in place failed and the British no longer colonized Britain would an Englishman and an Indian be able to be friends (Forster 362). Fielding himself is another character that wrestles with his relationship with society. As an Englishman, he is expected to behave as the others with a superiority complex and refusal to mingle with local people and he is most definitely expected to side with the English in the case against Aziz. He knows as soon as he picks the Indian’s side that  “he would be called ‘anti-British,’” (Forster 193). Fielding’s decision greatly impacts his relationship to the surrounding society—the British condemn and ban him from the club while the Indians celebrate him as one of their own.

Through many of our readings we’ve had the opportunity to read and discuss, to me it is apparent that multiple Early Twentieth Century writers preferred to write pieces that prodded readers to contemplate an individual’s relationship and position in society. It is also widely acknowledge that many Romantic writers wrote about the individual’s relationship to nature. There are clearly many pieces from each time period where these relationships were not prominent themes, but I started noticing and paying attention to these focuses while reading pieces from the Victorian age. I feel the Victorian era was the middle ground where many writers played with both man’s relationship to nature and society. I found the exploration of both themes in the readings to be extremely thought provoking, but I’ve decided that the exploration of man’s relationship to society of the Early Twentieth Century to pique my interest a bit more.

Social Issues that Contribute to Death

Two poems, "The Chimney Sweeper" (1789) by William Blake and "Dulce et Decorum Est" (1920) by Wilfred Owen, discuss death resulting from social issues. While both poems utilize first-person speakers who experience the social injustice and witness (or at least realize the potential for) a person's death, the speakers share very different attitudes toward the specific death.

"The Chimney Sweeper" addresses social issues of poverty, child labor, and unhealthy working conditions. To deal with his dangerous work reality,  the speaker tells of  Tom's (Tom is a new co-worker) dream of an angel who unlocks black coffins and sets thousands of sweepers free: "Then down a green plain leaping laughing they run/And wash in a river and shine in the Sun," (lines 11-16). The angel makes a conditional promise to Tom: "If he'd be a good boy/He'd have God for his father & never want joy," (lines 19-20). It's curious that Tom, and not the speaker, experiences this dream. Despite not experiencing the dream himself,  and Tom waking from the dream to the harsh reality of life as a chimney sweep, the speaker reiterates the angel's promise in the last line of the poem:  "So if all do their duty, they need not fear harm." Possibly the speaker is making the best out of a hopeless situation. Possibly the speaker actually believes that it's his duty to be a chimney sweep, and that by doing good as a chimney sweep, he will get the promises made by the angel. The speaker in "Dulce et Decorum Est" holds no such hope. 

"Dulce et decorum est pro patria mori" is Latin for "Sweet and fitting it is to die for one's country," (see footnote to "Dulce et Decorum Est"). This sentiment mirrors the promise made by the angel in "The Chimney Sweeper," yet the speaker of this poem calls it "The old Lie," (line 27). After recounting the hardships of marching during WWI, the speaker intensifies the frenzied situation in the second stanza, revealing the fear and desperation resulting from gas-shells. In the final stanza, the speaker addresses the reader: "If in some smothering dreams, you too could pace...could watch...could hear..." (lines 17-24), essentially could witness the violent and sickening death--if  you could see what I see, the speaker insists, "you would not tell with such high zest/To children...The old Lie," (lines 25-27).

Both social issues, children as chimney sweeps and war, are dangerous. Chimney sweep labor laws were rarely enforced (see footnote 1 to poem), and society at large seemed to overlook the injustice. While the dangers of war and chimney sweeping may seem unbalanced in comparison, the more unbalanced aspect lies in the resulting opinion of the situations.  In contrast to "The Chimney Sweeper," which promotes a future dream-like hope for children entering this line of work, "Dulce et Decorum Est" graphically reveals the reality of war and fights against instilling false ideas of glory and nobility in new recruits.  

Impacts of Literature on Culture

Literature has always been a driving force for social change. The words of great authors have been the catalyst for change countless times throughout written history, holding an uncanny ability to provoke emotion through their works that push the common people to fight for something better for themselves and others. For instance, Percy Bysshe Shelley's Song to the Men of England, called out the slavery of the common English man, detailing how they work themselves into their graves for men who neither care for them, nor have their best interests in mind. "In this song, which became a hymn for the British labor movement, Shelley urges the proletariat to force change in the social and economic order" (412). This poem forced a change in the common people, resulting in them standing up for their basic human rights and demanding better for themselves and their families. Another example not discussed in class, V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, calls attention to the corruption in modern day democracy, pointing out the submission the common people have unwittingly submitted themselves to, slaving away beneath corrupt politicians. This work, which became an even more influential movie, inspired entire movements and freedom fighter groups, from Occupy Wall Street and the hacktivist group Anonymous to Democracy Spring. It showed the common people how blind they had been and called for them to change it, which the people have been fighting to do ever since, adopting the Guy Fox mask used by V in both the graphic novel and film as a symbol for freedom.

Authors have always used literature to drive social change, whether or not people originally looked at that push the way they do now is a question that will likely never be answered. Today, there is more awareness placed on the power an author holds and their ability to inspire change and readers have come to assume that is what any work is attempting now. The most popular books are typically those with a message trying to be told that readers can easily cling to. We now understand that literature exists to make a statement and to send a message; after all, that is what writing was created to do in the first place, to communicate ideas. We may never know if people originally recognized that fact, recognized the messages hidden within an author's works, but we can most certainly say that people today do.

Women in Literature - Romanticism & The Early 20th Century

Women in Literature - Romanticism & The Early 20th Century (Northanger Abbey & Passage to India)

Women have long taken a backseat in the literary world, both as writers and literary figures. Until recently, many classical artists fell behind the shadow of the male writer in historic periods of literature and art. In present day, most people recognize the critical female writers behind popular novels and works, such as Jane Austen or Mary Wollstonecraft. I feel that there is a significantly measured jump in the presence of women in such acclaimed literature, even within short frames of mere centuries. 

Jane Austen’s Northanger Abbey generated plenty of discussion and class material during this semester. The social roles and constraints surrounding Catherine and her company played directly into the novel’s plot. Catherine wove through the delicate web of culture and proprietary to meander toward her own satisfaction. Catherine’s role in her social sphere was directly correlated to her gender. That is, what Catherine was bound by was the expectations surrounding someone female. Her interactions, choices, and upbringing were determined by a world where every person has a position they must abide by. Catherine’s gender, in this sense, is central to who she is and how she maneuvers through Austen’s gothic parody. Being a woman, Catherine directly reflects the gothic protagonists speckling popular novela at the time. 

E.M. Forester’s exploratory story in A Passage to India features a central female character, Adela Quested. Adela ventures to Chandrapore with her companion Mrs. Moore, in an attempt to discover ‘the real india’. Adela, like Catherine, also faces an aggressive social caste within which she must contain herself. Adela is bound by very similar rules as Austen’s protagonist, but unlike Catherine, Adela’s femininity is not the central attribute of her character. While her gender is pivotal at times in the novel (i.e. the caves situation, her relationship with Aziz), Adela is not restrained by her gender in the same manner as Catherine. Where Catherine is defined by her gender and the plot centralizes it, Adela’s gender is a secondary aspect to her character. Catherine is unable to say no because she is a woman - Adela is unable to say no because it is not something she desires to do. 

Though the difference is small, I feel that this progression of female characters in popular narratives shows the steps toward popular fiction as we know it today - women as heroines, fighting outside of their social norms. Women in Austen and Forester’s stories fight dissension within their own gender stratification. 

Passions

Relationships are the basis of human happiness. Love in human relationships is suppose to fill us, and surround us. What happiness can we really have without loving relationships in our lives? Eliot references epic love tales to show his audience destruction, death, and the emptiness relationships cause. In the first section Eliot references Tristian and Isolde. The specific part that is referenced is when Tristian is dying waiting for his love Isolde, but there is no sign of her. Tristian is dying because of Isolde, yet alone awaiting her arrival. This scene shows the audience the destruction, and emptiness relationships can cause. In a dying Tristian is losing his life and Isolde is losing the love of her life to death. This scene is about the destruction and loss love can bring to us. In the next section of the poem Eliot again references epic love tales, myths, and legends. The first line is “The Chair she sat in, like a burnished throne.” This line references the first meeting of Cleopatra and Antony. The epic tale of love that also ends in death, and the loss of love. Reading further in the section Eliot again references the legend of Dido, and Aeneas, using the sentence "Flung their smoke into laquearia," as well as referencing the myth of Philomela. This section tells of love stories that don't end happy. All the relationships referenced within the first two sections are full of destruction, loss, death, and sadness. Dido commits suicide, Philomela is raped by her husband's friend, and she also commits suicide. These stories don't hold love and happiness. Eliot portrays relationships that end in pain and sadness. Why portray relationships in this light? In the title of section three is "The Fire Sermon" this a sermon preached by Budda against passions, passions that consume people and prevent their regeneration. The title of the Waste Land's third section could give the audience some insight to why Eliot decides to references the love stories filled with destruction, death, and loss. The relationships Eliot references are full of passions; passions of lust, anger, and envy. These passions push the relationship to destruction, death, loss, and emptiness. Perhaps Eliot was showing his audience that passions do not always lead us down a road of love and happiness, but passions and desires without the guidance of religion can lead to a road of destruction and loss. 

Water, Water Everywhere

One of the images that stands out the most in The Waste Land is water - the lack thereof, the overabundance thereof, and even just as a backdrop to other scenes. If one were to pick out a single image that unites the many disparate pieces of The Waste Land, it would have to be water.

At the very beginning of the poem, water appears as the rain in April, the cruellest month. As discussed in class, Eliot approaches images of death breeding new life with disgust rather than hope, implying that water's life-giving power should not be used to to "[breed] lilacs out of the dead land" or "[stir] dull roots with spring rain." Already, the attitude of Eliot's speaker is complicated; water is passingly mentioned as a bringer of life, but the speaker clearly thinks that bringing life amid death is 'cruel.'

Section III begins with another piece of complicated imagery that includes water. The speaker describes "[wind crossing] the brown land, unheard," and notes several times that "the nymphs are departed," lamenting the decayed state of nature. This scene on the bank of the "Sweet Thames" seems to regard even a lack of pollution as a negative thing; "The river bears no empty bottles, sandwich papers,/Silk handkerchiefs, cardboard boxes, cigarette ends,/Or other testimony of summer nights." It seems that, to the speaker, even trash by the riverside would be positive because it would indicate the presence of life. Without this evidence, the river runs on through the "brown land," with nobody stopping to enjoy it. In this post-apocalyptic scene, water seems 'cruel' because it persists among the destruction, reminding the speaker of what life used to be here.

Perhaps the most interesting combination of attitudes toward water appears in section IV and on into the beginning of section V. Picking up from where section I warned "fear death by water," section IV describes (and is titled after) exactly that, depicting Phlebas being picked clean by the sea and warning "you who turn the wheel and look windward" to consider this image. Here, the sea - water in abundance - is terrifying and powerful. In section V, there is "no water but only rock," immediately bringing the reader to just the opposite of section IV. The speaker here describes the lack of water as being so desperate that "one cannot stop or think," before descending into a flowing series of images of what it could be like if only there were water. "But there is no water." In section IV, water is cruel in abundance. In section V, water is cruel in its absence. Again, Eliot combines opposite images into an overall experience that is both confusing and horrifying.

Finally, at the end of the poem, the fisher king "[sits] upon the shore/Fishing, with the arid plain behind [him]," wondering "Shall I at least set my lands in order?" Water appears here at the end of The Waste Land as a backdrop to the fisher king's failed grail quest, there to give the king comfort even as he sits at the edge of a wasteland. The attitude of section III seems to come back in some measure, as the water shows evidence of life, but the life that is here is pathetic, impotent - a failure. The poem almost comes full circle as the water, which should by all means be a positive symbol, appears in this final scene to be very cruel.

The Waste Land

The Wasteland was a response to the fragmentation of Western culture after the end of World War I. After World War I, many European countries were in debt and spiritually exhausted. They thought themselves the pinnacle of civilization, and then they fought a war not for morals, not because one country sought to conquer another, but because of chaos and secrecy, resulting in millions of lives lost horrifically, and the environment destroyed by the war. This can be more clearly seen on page 1325, when Eliot goes on about a rock without water. Water in the Wasteland symbolized many things, from life and death, to spirituality and a necessity for the sustainment of life. Here, it has a more religious feeling as Eliot uses it describe how the spirituality of Western Culture had become dreary and almost in a dying state after World War I. The water can be a symbol for spirituality itself and Eliot makes sure to note in the footnotes that he was referencing a part in the Bible with in which water was referred to as spiritual life. Spirituality was still quite important to Europe back then, especially Britian with it's Church of England headed by their monarch. So the lack of spirituality would be a true dread to British to realize that they had fallen so far, which was perhaps Eliot's point to highlight how with the falling of spirituality in society, so would Western culture begin to collapse.

On page 1321, the bar patrons hold a conversation concerning one of the bar patron's husband coming back from the war and whether or not she had spent the money given to her properly. The whole conversation takes place while the bar is closing and the wife is told that her husband would leave her if he realizes how irresponsible and selfish she was with the money given to her. Her response was that she cared little. Another patron, all of them being friends, hinted at replacing her husband, but not in a devious way. The whole conversation maintains of dreary tone with out enthusiasm, as if the patrons had lost all interest in the conversation despite it pertaining to the husband of the wife and therefore one of their friends. Their dreary and empty conversation is due to the state of mentality that the war has placed the people, and therefore the culture, of Western civilization. Depressed by the war and horrible aftermath, especially debt, the people are beginning to let go of their morals, not out of fun or want, but out of depression. With the loss of morals, the state of mentality, and therefore the culture, of Western civilization will falter further than it already has in a downward spiral. This can be further seen as almost everywhere in the Wasteland, the characters are depressed, such as on the first page of the story, pertaining to the narrator's thoughts on how April is cruel month. These thoughts are a result of the narrators depression and how she wishes everything to be left covered up and not forced into life so that she not feel dead inside by the site of all the life around her while she maintains in depression.