Remember: 1 generation of romantic poets: Worthsworth, Coleridge 2

nd st

Keats, Byron, Shelley The revolution that occurred in the attitude to poetry

Before, it was just Neoclassical period, one of the basic things is that poetry was written according to conventions, rules and precepts. Romantics are seen as introducing new, revolutionary things into poetry. Lyrical ballads Ballad is narrative, not lyrical. So the whole idea is that we combine different genres, narrative and emotional. Plot and emotions. And it is revolutionary. Wordsworth incidents from nature and natural life. His poetry rural poetry, drawing from nature. The truth of nature , Wordsworth

Coleridge supernatural poetry in such a way that they would have the interest of truth shadows of imagination that they will achieve (the supernatural, such a similarity to the truth) so the reader will achieve a willing suspension of disbelief. This concept has been taken up by other creative artists. So, it is connected with the familiarisation of the supernatural there is some truth you can deduce from it, when it is made closer to you, more acceptable. (Coleridge) Wordsworth - everyday life so his idea is to make them unusual by the power of imagination. Defamiliarisation by the power of imagination when making something unfamiliar, exciting and new. So, they pursued quite different goals. So, why Wordsworth choose to write about the rural, everyday life? Because people in the countryside are true to their natures; simplicity the truth of nature. People obey natural time in the countryside, in the city it is a clock time; idyllic attitude towards nature. Wordsworth the language of his poems... the true essence of life and things... he would also use the language of common men, but purifying it from its defects: curses and dialects. So this would be a simple but literary language. It is important what feelings are evoked by actions , not the actions themselves. Wordsworth the object is to find truth and provide pleasure. The power of imagination as central for Romantic poets. When they write about everyday life or supernatural, they are not different in the essence of their poems, because in both imagination

creates emotions and what is perceived as real. What is real stems entirely from imagination. The truth is conceived by imagination. For Coleridge, imagination unifies, fuses binary oppositions. A Poet a great power of imagination, a man, but better from other men. Wordsworth does not describe the everyday life, what is, but what they see with eyes of the imagination. So, the definition of the poet by Wordsworth: a typical definition of him as a prophet, with a deeper understanding. The romantic poets, the second generation, idealized illness, tuberculosis. Why did romantic poets like illness? Why was this so fascinating? - Tuberculosis is a fatal disease, you are not healthy, you are on the borderline between the life and death, the point of transition. You are yet alive, but you see death. Sontag: the fall of great poetry was counted in the reduced numbers of cases of tuberculosis. Why is TB so different from cancer? Tuberculosis was an illness of something human, while cancer was an illness of something horrible. Tuberculosis is the illness of the soul, it attacks lungs. Cancer is more carnal, an illness of the body. There is only one exception leukaemia. So, the first generation would take opium, drugs (Coleridge), and the second would be ill. Coleridge: PRIMARY IMAGINATION the primordial act of creation SECONDARY IMAGINATION an echo of the former, this is poetry. It is not the same as the poem. Poetry the primary imagination. The soul of poetry resides in the poetry. The repetition of the act of creation. It is not fully subjugated to reason The secondary imagination is conscious, rational. It is the act of writing the poem. The main problem romantic poets have is whether in the act of life there is still poetry. They were sensible of the fact that it was impossible to write a poem that would be perfect formally. Wordsworth: poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity. This phrase must be known by every student by heart.

Spontaneity Coleridges prime inspiration. First, we have the emotion, then, we evoke this emotion, emotion recollected in tranquillity, the poem, and then, we retrieve the first feeling but it should also induce this feeling in the reader. The first generation is very reader oriented. They wanted to create the poetry that would have an effect on the reader. Emotion recollected in tranquillity a poem by Wordsworth. The sublime another important concept. The sublime wznioso. The sublime imagination, instincts, powerful emotions. Burke: the beautiful causes positive pleasure. When we frame something, it is under control. The perspective matters. Beautiful is coherent, framed, organized. Bright colours... So, it gives positive pleasure. Beautiful is in the landscape. We see it and pronounce it beautiful. Topographical painting. A passive feeling... The sublime originates in the fearful responses necessary for survival. It belongs to the instincts of self-preservation. The emotion is involved fear. Sublime is closer, lacks any frames or boundaries, overwhelming. Sublime prefers darker colours. It is fascinating, even though one would rather not experience it. there is nothing sublime in nature, the emotions are in us. Fear cannot exist in nature, sublime is a feeling that we determine and decide of. A creative emotion. In sublime, the awe and fear are important - but when we look at it, not when we experience it. So, it should still be a safe emotion. We experience fear without being exposed to the threat. The absent presence each picture implies control, because it is always an illusion of a lack of boundaries, but only an illusion. Kant calls sublime the negative pleasure, look that up! The sublime feeling, pain in pleasure. We perceive the sublime intuitively, but our mind does not follow up, catch up, because it is too slow to encompass it. The sublime forces us to rationalize something that escapes our comprehension. The piece of art is already rationalized, because the sublime is depicted. The mind is forced to extend its boundaries. The sublime forces it. Mathematically sublime and the dynamically sublime. Some landscapes are conventionally sublime. Dynamically sublime the feeling of might that is overwhelming but at the same time fills with awe. Might dynamically sublime.

Mathematically sublime something which is absolutely great behind comparison, in its meaning of space, infinite. Infinity mathematically sublime. Movement etc.

Sublime: pleasure, but not delight? Look at the emotions that are connected with it and write them down. Another division: Beautiful against picturesque Picturesque has this connection with beautiful that there is a certain random and unpredictable element, some strangeness to it. Now, a task that we should tackle at home:

Read: Khubla Khan, and I wander lonely we look for the sublime. And, another point: think about sublime, what is this, or what can it be, the Nazi sublime, how this is connected with the holocaust. And, what is pathetically sublime? Well, the sublime can be very dangerous. It forces the mind to rationalize a product of imagination. Holocaust sublime, Nazi sublime, pathetic sublime. There is a certain Nazi speech that contains the essence of sublime. The question is, who gave this speech?