PART FOUR

   EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE(十八世纪英国文学)

 

[内容提要] 十八世纪是一个理性的时代，以理性和大众教育为关键词的启蒙运动蓬勃发展。启蒙运动在文学上表现为新古典主义，其代表人物为诗人蒲柏和词典编撰家约翰逊。十八世纪英国文学的盛事是小说的兴起，以笛福、菲尔丁、斯威夫特为代表的现实主义小说独领风骚。此外，理查孙的书信体小说也赢得了广泛的赞誉。感伤主义代表作家斯特恩的作品系意识流小说的先驱，晦涩难懂，令人望而却步，但由于其对现代派作品的影响巨大，所以在文学史上也不得不提。除了感伤主义小说之外，感伤主义诗歌也留下《墓园挽歌》等千古传颂的佳作。十八世纪末，浪漫主义诗歌兴起，其代表人物为布莱克和彭斯。十八世纪的戏剧门庭冷落，谢里丹成为该时期惟一的重要剧作家。

[学习要点] 启蒙运动；新古典主义；小说的兴起；《鲁宾孙漂流记》主要人物性格分析；笛福小说特点；《格列佛游记》的讽刺艺术；菲尔丁小说艺术分析；《汤姆-琼斯》对港台复仇剧的影响；感伤主义文学；布莱克诗歌特点；彭斯诗歌成就。

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

The Enlightenment Movement

The eighteenth century Europe has witnessed one of the greatest events in human civilization---the Enlightenment. The Enlightenment Movement was a progressive intellectual movement that flourished in France and swept though the whole Western Europe at that time. Its purpose was to enlighten the whole world with the light of modern philosophical and artistic ideas. The enlighteners celebrated reason of rationality, equality and science. They also advocated universal education

The Enlightenment movement has exerted far-reaching influence on the Eighteenth century English literature.

Neoclassicism

In the field of literature, the Enlightenment brought about a revival of interest in the old classical works. This tendency is known as neoclassicism. According to the neoclassicists, all forms of literature were to be modeled after the classical works of ancient Greek and Roman writers and those of the contemporary French ones. They believed that the artistic ideals should be order, logic, restrained emotion and accuracy, and that literature should be judged in terms of its service to humanity. Neoclassicists had some fixed laws and rules for almost every genre of literature.

Alexander Pope is the representative poet of neoclassical school. Samuel Johnson, the writer of the first English dictionary, also follows the neoclassical tradition.

The Rise of the Novel

The summit of eighteenth century English literature is novel. England produces three greatest novelists: Daniel Defoe, father of modern novel and the author of Robinson Crusoe; Jonathan Swift, the greatest English satirist and the author of Gulliver’s Travels; and Henry Fielding, the author of Tom Jones.

Sentimentalism

In the first half of the 18th century, Pope was the leader of English poetry and the heroic couplet the fashion of poetry. By the middle of the century, however, sentimentalism gradually made its appearance. Sentimentalism came into being as the result of a bitter discontent among the enlightened people with social reality. The representatives of sentimentalism continued to struggle against feudalism, but they sensed at the same time the contradictions in the process of capitalist development. Dissatisfied with reason, which classicists appealed to, sentimentalists appealed to sentiment, "to the human heart.' Sentimentalism turned to the countryside for its material, and so is in striking contrast to classicism, which had confined itself to the clubs and drawing-rooms, and to the social and political life of London.

Sentimentalism also finds its voice in English fiction (Richardson; Goldsmith; Sterne).

 

REALISTIC FICTION

Daniel Defoe ( 1660-1731)

Defoe’s major works

Defoe is chiefly remembered for his novels His most famous novels include: Robinson Crusoe; Captain Singleton, Moll Flanders and Colonel Jacque.

Besides his novels, he has produced a famous poem Hymn to Pillory and some notable pamphlets such as The True-born Englishmen and The Shortest Way with the Dissenters.

Comments on Defoe

1.       Defoe is chiefly remembered for his novels. The central idea of his novels is that man is good by nature but may succumb to an evil environment. The writer wants to make it clear that various crimes and vices result from social evils.

2.       Defoe’s novels take the form of memoirs or pretended historical narratives. They are chiefly told in the first person’s point of view.

 

Robinson Crusoe: The Story

Robinson Crusoe is based upon the experiences of Alexander Selkirk, who had been marooned in the island of Juan Fernandez off the coast of Chile and who had had lived there in solitude for five years. On his return to England in 1709, Selkirk’s experiences became known, and Steele published an account of them in the Englishman, without, however, attracting any wide attention. That Defoe used Selkirk’s story is practically certain; but with his usual duplicity he claimed to have written Robinson Crusoe in 1708, a year before Selkirk’s return. However that may be, the story itself is real enough to have come straight from a sailor’s logbook.

The events depicted in the story date back to the middle of the 17^th century and originate in the family of an old, disabled English gentleman, Mr. Crusoe. He designs his son, Robinson, for the law, but the young man has firmly set his mind on becoming a sailor. One day, Robinson, who is now nineteen years old, disregards his parents’ advice and sets out to sea.

While on board Robinson lives through a bad fright during a storm and is almost ready to return home but the call of the sea is too strong to be stilled. In London Robinson is persuaded by an old captain to embark on a ship bound for Guinea with a cargo of various merchandise. On the way Robinson is captured by a Turkish rover and sold into slavery. After many perils and adventures he escapes to Brazil, where he becomes a sugar planter. He prospers and thinks of making a permanent stay in that country, but some planters, aware of his former transactions in Africa, beguile him into another voyage to that continent for the purpose of bartering cheap trinkets for gold and procuring slaves.

A frightful storm changes the course of the ship and she is wrecked off the coast of an uninhabited island. Of all ship’s crew Robinson alone escapes to the shore after strenuous efforts.

For fear of wild animals he spends he spends the night in a high tree. In the morning Robinson sees the wrecked ship lying close to the shore. He swims to it at ebb –tide to find no living creature on board, except a dog and two cats.

Robinson builds a raft and pilots between tides from ship to shore the store of necessities that consists of bread, rice, barley, corn, planks, lead and gunpowder, an axe and two saws.

Then Robinson sets up a durable tent for his habitation and storage of goods.

In time Robinson plants barley and seed corn; and harvests fine crops in the coming years.

He spends many months of hard toil in shaping a stone mortar for grinding grain. He strives for days and days to make earthenware pots. It takes Robinson over five months to fell a huge tree and fashion it into a boat in which he plans to escape from the heavy boat and launch it.

Robinson’s will power in bettering his living conditions is amazing: strong winds, rains, and earthquakes do not stop him from attaining his once set resolutions and plans. He explores the island, hunts, makes clothes from the hides of the killed animals, gathers grapes and dries them into raisin, domesticates wild goats, smokes and salts meat.

Grown wise with experience, Robinson builds a smaller and lighter boat which he succeed in launching into the sea through a narrow half-mile canal, dug by him in the course of two years.

But Robinson is compelled to abandon his dream to circumnavigate in to a powerful current and carried away far out to sea. Through inhuman efforts Robinson brings the boat to shore, never to set sail on it again.

Many years goes by ... One day Robinson sees the imprint of a man's naked foot on the sand. He learns that a certain part of the island is occasionally visited by cannibals who come there to celebrate their victories over their enemies and to devour their captives. Robinson witnesses one such celebration and manages   to save one of the victims. This man, whom Robinson names Friday to Commemorate the day of his rescue, proves to be clever young savage and becomes Robinson's true and faithful companion.

With Friday's help Robinson builds another boat and is about to leave the island, when a group of cannibals with three prisoners land again for their traditional feast.

Robinson and Friday kill the savages and release tile captives, one of whom happens to be Friday's father, and the other is a Spaniard from a wrecked ship. The latter relates to Robinson that his comrades, seventeen in number live on a neighboring island. Robinson decides to offer them hospitality and dispatches Friday's father and the Spaniard in a boat for the survivors. Meanwhile an English ship drops anchor off the island. Its crew is in mutiny and the rebels put ashore the captain and his officers. Robinson interferes and helps the captain to recover his ship.

Graceful for his assistance the captain takes Robinson and Friday to England. The ringleaders of the mutiny are left on the island with sufficient food and ammunition. Later on, they are joined by the Spaniards and a colony is formed.

Wishing to see the island he has spent so many years on, Robinson Crusoe paid a visit to it. During an attack from the Indians his faithful Friday was killed.

The success of Robinson Crusoe induced the author to continue the story of his hero's adventures. The second part of the book is almost as exciting as the first one. Old as he was, Robinson Crusoe's spirit of adventure was far from being tamed. He started on a new hazardous expedition, visiting China, Siberia and other distant countries. He returned home via Archangel.

During his travels he had to overcome innumerable obstacles, and often exposed his life to danger. But to the very end he remained courageous, persevering and cheerful. The third and last part of the book is filled with religious and moralistic discourse.

Brief Analysis of Robinson Crusoe

1.       Robinson is a grand hero in westerners’ eyes. He survived in the deserted island and led a meaningful life.

2.       Robinson is a colonist, as can be seen from his selling the boy who helped save his life at the beginning of the novel.

3.       Robinson is a capitalist, as can be seen from his disposal of the gold coins he happens to find on the wrecked ship.

4.       Robinson is a man chauvinist, as can be seen from his comment on women.

5.       Robinson Crusoe is the first important English novel in the picaresque tradition. It is also the fundamental work in English island literature.

 

Jonathan Swift (1667--1745)

Swift’s major works

His major stories include: The Battle of the Books, A Tale of a Tub, and Gulliver’s Travels. His most famous essay is A Modest Proposal. He is also a productive poet.

Comments on Swift

1.       Swift is one of the realist writers. His realism is quite different from Defoe's. Defoe's stories are based upon the reality of human life, while all of Swift's plots come from imagination.

2.       His satire is marked by outward gravity and an apparent earnestness. This makes his satire all the more powerful. He not only criticizes the evils of the English bourgeoisie but those of other bourgeois countries. Women’s ignorance also serves as a target of his satire, as can be seen from his short poem The Furniture of a Woman’s Mind. The poem reads,

A Set of Phrases learnt by Rote;

A Passion for a Scarlet-Coat;

When at a play to laugh, or cry,

Yet cannot tell the Reason why:

Never to hold her Tongue a minute;

While all she prates has nothing in it.

Whole Hours can with a Coxcomb sit,

And take his Nonsense all for Wit:

Her learning mounts to read a Song,

But, half the Words pronouncing wrong;

Has every Repartee in Store,

She spoke ten Thousand Times before.

Can ready Compliments supply

On all occasions, cut and dry.

Such Hatred to a Parson’s Gown,

The Sight will put her in a Swown.

For conversation well endured;

She calls it witty to be rude;

And, placing Raillery in Railing,

Will tell aloud your greatest Failing;

Nor makes a Scruple to expose

Your bandy Legs, or crooked Nose.

Can, at her morning tea, run over

The scandal of the day before.

Improving hourly in her skill,

To cheat and wrangle at Quadrille.

3.       Swift expresses democratic ideas in his works. This exerts strong influence on later writers, such as Sheridan, Fielding, Byron and even Bernard Shaw.

4.       Swift is one of the greatest masters of English prose. His language is simple, clear and vigorous. He said, "proper words in proper place, makes the true definition of a style". There are no ornaments in his writings. In simple, direct and precise prose, Swift is almost unsurpassed in English literature.

DETAILED STUDY OF HIS MASTERPIECE

Gulliver’s Travels

The book contains four parts, each of them deals with one particular voyage of the hero and his extraordinary adventures on some remote island.

In the first part, Gulliver goes to sea as a ship's surgeon. In a big storm the ship is wrecked and he is cast upon the shore of the island of Lilliput. While asleep, he is captured and bound by thousands of the inhabitants there. They are all six-inch tall. Gulliver soon finds out everything on the island is ten times as small as the things in the human world. The Lilliputians call him, "the Great Man-Mountain".  They have great difficulties to build a house and prepare food for him. In this country there are two parties, which are distinguished by the use of high and low heels. (Obviously here Swift satirizes the Tories and the Whigs in England ). There are civil strife and war between Lilliput and the neighboring country due to an argument "Should eggs be broken at the big end or the little end ?' ( Here Swift laughs at the religious controversies between the Catholics and the Protestants in England ). In this country Gulliver finds out that chief ministers and candidates for high official posts are given their jobs in accordance with their skill in dancing on a rope or in leaping over a stick or creeping under it backwards and forwards. (Here Swift criticizes the corruption of the English ruling class.)

The first part is full of references to current politics. Lilliput is the miniature of England. Swift's satire is directed against the English ruling class, the two political parties and the religious disputes.

In the second part, Gulliver again goes to sea and his ship is again wrecked in a storm. Gulliver is abandoned on the land of the Brobdingnagians. He soon finds out that all the inhabitants there are sixty-foot tall and everything is much taller and bigger than that in the human world. The Brobdingnagians prove to be superior to the men and women of Gulliver's society in wisdom and humanity as well as in stature. Compared with them, he is very small, insignificant, mean and unworthy. The king, who regards Europe as an ant hill, despises the Europeans by saying, we cannot but conclude the bulk of your natives to be the most pernicious race of little odious vermin that Nature ever suffered to crawl upon the surface of the earth.

In this part, the King of Brobdingnag is described as a wise and kind King, and the inhabitants are said to be a civilized race.  The law of the country is used to defend the natives' freedom and happiness.

After Gulliver's account of the English society, the king condemns English social system and the aggression wars. Here we see that the writer Swift censures these evils through the mouth of the King.

The third part, which is often considered to be the least interesting, deals with a series of the hero's adventures at several places. The first place that Gulliver gets to is the floating island of Laputa. Gulliver finds out here the King and the noble persons are a group of absent-minded philosophers and astronomers who care for nothing but mathematics and music and who speak always in mathematical terms of lines and circles. They often do fruitless research work, for example a scientist makes researches on how to get sun light from cucumbers.  Another scientist is studying how to construct a house by first building the room and then laying the base. Through these descriptions, Swift satirizes the scientists who keep themselves aloof from practical life.

In the country of Laputa, the king and his ministers have cruel methods of suppressing any rebellion of the people living on the continent below.  Whenever the people rise up against them, they make the flying island hover over the place of the rebellion and thus preventing sun light and rain from reaching it, or let the island drop directly upon the heads of the rebellion people. Here Swift condemns the cruelty of the ruling class to the people.

Then Gulliver comes to the island of Sorcerers. Here he has the chance of meeting the famous dead persons in ancient and modern history (including Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, Homer and Aristotle). Then the Sorcerers show him the House of Lords in Ancient Rome which is attended by heroes and some half-man and half-god figures and the English parliament which is the assembly of a group of peddlers, pickpockets, robbers and ruffians. This part contains Swift's sharp satire against all kinds of English social institutions. While criticizing the English ruling class, Swift praises the English people, thinking they are honest, brave, and have truelove for freedom but he points out that the ruling bourgeoisie has brought some evil influence upon them.

The fourth part describes the hero's voyage to the country of the Houyhnhnms and has generally been considered the best part of the book because the satire here is the sharpest and the bitterest.

In this part Gulliver appears as the captain of a ship and goes to sea. His sailors conspire against him. He is made a prisoner and east upon the shore of an island, which is the land of the Houyhnhnms, who are horses endowed with reason, and who are the governing class. In this country there is a species of wild animals called Yahoos. The horses are extremely intelligent and noble, and possessed of all good qua[i-ties, while the Yahoos, though in many ways they are like human beings, are low and vile and despicable and no better than beasts. Gulliver praises the life and virtues of the horses and feels disgusted with the Yahoos.  When Gulliver returns home, he can't endure the human life there. To him all his country folks are the hateful Yahoos. This part does not show Swift's hatred and disgust for all the humanity. It just shows that he hates those hypocritical people. He cherishes deep love for the rank and file.

 

Henry Fielding (1707-1754)

Fentures of Fielding's novels

1.       Fielding's method of relating a story is telling the story directly by the author. His rigid style stands for the order of the universe.

2.       Satire abounds everywhere in Fielding's works.

3.       Fielding believed in the educational function of the novel. The object of his novels is to present a faithful picture of life, while sound teaching is woven into their very texture.

4.       Fielding is a master of style.  His style is easy, unlabored and familiar, but extremely vivid and vigorous. His sentences are always distinguished by logic and musical rhythm. His command of language is remarkable. His language is characterized by clarity and suppleness. The plot construction is usually complicated and masterly made, each thread is clearly [aid out as the story develops, though the story may consists of several major and minor threads.

Tom Jones: A Detailed Synopsis

Of all the landed gentry in Somersetshire, Squire Allworthy is the most highly regarded for his benevolence, good nature, and wealth. He lives in peaceful retirement with his maiden sister, Bridget. Returning one night from a several months' stay in London, he is shocked to find a baby boy lying in his bed. He takes to the foundling and insists on bringing it up himself rather than leave it on the churchwarden's doorstep.

The foundling's parentage is a great mystery. The Squire and his sister act on the assumption that the mother must be Jenny Jones, a servant of the local schoolmaster, Partridge; Jenny Jones had spent some time nursing Bridget during an illness. Fearing local gossip, Squire Allworthy sends Jenny away. The schoolmaster leaves the county, too. The foundling is named Tom Jones.

Soon after, Bridget marries the fortune-hunting half-pay officer, Captain Blifil, by whom she has a son. The two boys are brought up together. Captain Blifil, who had hoped to inherit Squire Allworthy's money, dies of an apoplectic fit while his son is still a boy.

Tom and young Blifil don't get along together, for Tom is good-natured, easy-going, and highly mischievous, while Blifil is a spiritless prig, always concerned with the impression he is making on his elders. Allworthy hires Thwackum and Square to educate Tom. This they try to do with frequent beatings. But when Tom catches the pompous Square in bed with the local slut, Molly Seagrim, his education ends. Tom's one friend is Allworthy's lazy, shiftless gamekeeper, Black George, and together they go poaching about the countryside, and getting into scrapes which sadden the affectionate Squire.

On an estate nearby lives Squire Western with his lovely daughter, Sophia. The Squire is a hard-   drinking, hard-riding, choleric man. Tom spends a good deal of time with the Westerns because the   Squire admires his rough and ready manner and his horsemanship while Sophia is impressed with    his goodness of heart. One day while out hunting, Tom breaks his arm catching Sophia's runaway horse. He stays with the Westerns while recovering. He and Sophia fall in love.

When Tom learns that Squire Allworthy is ill and not likely to recover, he rushes to his      benefactor's bedside, where he finds Blifil in obsequious attendance. But Allworthy makes a  miraculous recovery, and Tom is so delighted that he gets roaring drunk. Blifil, whose mother has recently died, takes offense at Tom's behavior. Tom offers to apologize, but Blifil insultingly refers to his illegitimate birth and the two lads fight.

Meanwhile, Sophia becomes interested in Blifil, a favorite with the ladies, in order to conceal her real love for the penniless, imprudent Tom. When her aunt arrives from London, she assumes that Sophia and Blifil will marry, and tells Squire Western to prepare for the wedding. When Sophia's aunt learns the truth, both she and Western are outraged. Much as the fox-hunting squire likes Tom, he refuses to consider a foundling as a son-in-law.

Now that Squire Allworthy is fully recovered, Blifil tells him about Tom's drunken behavior the night he was so sick, implying that Tom didn't care what happened to him and couldn't wait for the reading of the will. Enraged and disillusioned with Tom whom he liked more than his legitimate nephew, Allworthy reproaches Tom--who is too dismayed to defend himself-- and banishes him from the house. He gives Tom ₤500 to help him make his way in the world. Tom carelessly loses the money.

Sophia, too, is in disgrace. Refusing to marry Blifil under any circumstances, she is locked up in her room by her father. But with the connivance of her maid Honor, she manages to slip out at night and heads for her aunt's house in London.

On the road, Tom falls in with a band of rowdy soldiers and gets into a fight with them at an inn. His wounds are treated by the local barber, who turns out to be the banished Partridge. Partridge becomes Tom's companion on his adventures. They meet a beautiful, middle-aged woman named Mrs. Waters, who is fighting off the advances of a soldier in a forest. Tom rescues her and takes her to the inn at Upton, where she lures him into her bed.

Also arriving at the Upton inn on their way to London are Sophia and her maid. Before long the inn is in an uproar when an enraged husband looking for his runaway wife shows up and is led to Tom's room, where he discovers Tom with Mrs. Waters, who starts to scream. The man is a Mr. Fitzpatrick, not Mrs. Waters' husband at all; but by the time everything is straightened out, Partridge has inadvertently revealed to Sophia her lover's infidelity. Sophia departs in a fury, leaving her muff behind for Tom to discover in the morning.

Soon after she leaves the inn, Sophia meets Mrs. Fitzpatrick, her cousin, who fled the inn when her jealous husband caused the row with Tom. Together they travel to London. Here Sophia is introduced to the sophisticated Mrs. Bellaston, who promises to show the unspoiled country girl the pleasures of the town.

Tom and Partridge follow Sophia to London, where they find congenial lodgings at the home of Mrs. Miller. Soon Tom is admitted to the social circle and to the beds of Lady Bellaston and Mrs. Fitzpatrick. One night, seeing Sophia at a play, he assures her of his eternal devotion and promises to reform. The quarrel is patched up. Partridge finds love, too, in London with Nancy Nightingale, whose father objects to him as a suitor. However, Tom good-naturedly persuades Nightingale to allow the match, to the delight not only of Partridge but of Nancy's friend Mrs. Miller, as well.

When he learns of Sophia's escape from his house, Squire Western abandons fox-hunting long enough to pursue his daughter to Lotion. He finds her at Lady Bellaston's lodgings and removes her to his own. Tom is broken-hearted because he knows the squire will never approve of his marriage to Sophia. To add to his misery, Partridge brings the news that Squire Allworthy has also arrived in London with Blifil who is now going to marry Sophia. Tom goes to Mrs. Fitzpatrick for advice, but with typical bad luck he is discovered there by her jealous husband, who challenges him to a duel. Tom wounds him and is immediately hustled off to jail.

In his cell Tom is visited by the Mrs. Waters with whom he spent the night at Upton. Partridge later identifies her as the former Jenny Jones, reputedly Tom's mother. The lad is so shocked by this coincidental incest that he determines to reform his casual, promiscuous ways. Mrs. Miller defends Tom, telling Squire Allworthy that Tom was not at fault in the duel with Mr. Fitzpatrick, a fact that Mr. Fitzpatrick, on recovering from his wound, graciously acknowledges.

Indeed, Squire Allworthy is about to forgive Tom when he learns of Tom's behavior with Mrs. Waters. Once again the good man is furious with Tom, but Mrs. Waters assures him that she is not, indeed, Tom's mother. The real mother, she tells the Squire, was his own sister, Bridget. On her deathbed, Bridget left a message with Blifil concerning Tom's true parentage.  Blifil had treacherously destroyed the message. Blifil had also tried to bribe witnesses to get Tom hanged for the duel with Mr. Fitzpatrick, even though that gentleman had not died of his wounds.

Now that Tom is exonerated, he is released from prison and his fortune improves. Squire Allworthy's affection for him returns. He apologizes to Sophia for trying to force Blifil on her and tells Squire Western that Tom is his heir, for the young man is indeed his nephew. This convinces Squire Western that Torn, after all, is worthy to marry Sophia, and the match takes place. Everyone rejoices except the odious Blifil who is sent away with a yearly stipend, Tom and Sophia live happily on Squire Allworthy's estate.

 

ENGLISH NOVELISTS OF SENTIMENTALIST TRADITION

In the field of prose fiction the 18^th century, sentimentalism had its most outstanding expression. There were three novelists who followed this tradition in novel writing. They are Samuel Richardson , Oliver Goldsmith and Laurence Sterne .

Samuel Richardson (1689-1761 )

Biographical Introduction

Richardson was the son of a joiner. He received little education. He had a natural talent for writing letters. When he was still a boy, he was frequently employed by working girls to write love letters for them. This early experience and his fondness for the society of ladies gave him the intimate knowledge of the hearts of sentimental and uneducated women. We can see this from his novels. Moreover, Richardson was a keen observer of life. This is also manifest in all of his works.

When he was seventeen, he began to learn the printer’s trade. He followed this trade to the end of his life. When he was 50, he had already had a small reputation as a writer of elegant epistles. Then some publishers came to him with a proposal that he write a series of Familiar Letters, which could be used as models by people who could not write. Richardson gladly accepted the proposal. He made these letters tell the connected story of a girl’s life. Thus he contrived a novel in the form of letters about a virtuous serving girl named Pamela Andrews. This is his first novel entitled “Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded “.

Pamela, or Virtue Rewarded

The novel was written in the form of a series of letters from the heroine to her parents and two friends, telling them in great detail her adventures at her employer’s house. The first part of the novel tells us that Pamela the heroines is a young maidservant in a rich family. After the mistress’s death, her son Mr. B. pursues the beautiful maid with sweet words. He wants to make love to her and seduce her. In order to avoid more troubles, she leaves the house and goes away.

Moved by Pamela’s virtue Mr. B begins to have true love to the girl and determines to marry her.

The second part deals with Pamela’s life after marriage, with how she tries to bear the burden of a profligate husband and how she does all her best to reform him.

In this novel for the first time Richardson gave a detailed of the 18^th century. There isn’t much action in the story but the novel is extremely long because Richardson describes and analyses the thoughts and especially the feelings of the heroine in great detail. The chief contribution of this novel to the development of the English novel lies in the penetrating psychological study of the heroine. Moreover the novel criticizes the bourgeois moral standards and moral hypocrisy.

Features of Richardson’s novels

1.         Richardson is the first novelist of sentimentalist tradition. His novels have a moral purpose. His Chief object in most of his works is to inculcate virtue and good deportment.

2.         Richardson is an outstanding novelist because he had much sympathy for women in their inferior social status and entered into detailed psychological study of female characters and because he not only showed the conflict between the helpless woman and the social evils around her, but also laid bare, though perhaps quite unwittingly the moral hypocrisy of the aristocratic–bourgeois society of his day.

3.         All of his novels are written in the form of letters, known as epistolary novel.

 

Laurence Sterne ( 1713-1768 )

The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy

This novel is Sterne’s masterpiece. It consists of nine books. The first two books describe how the family anticipates the hero’s birth and how the hero is born. In the four middle books (from the 3rd to the 6th) the excitement over the birth of the hero is described, and the unfortunate misnaming of the baby at the christening is followed by discussions on the possibility of changing the name. And then his father consults with his mother and a scholar whether to put the growing boy into breeches and what kind of breeches to be made for the son. The 7th book deals with a married woman 

The novel is totally different from the novels of Defoe and Fielding and Smollett. It does not pretend to be an objective narration of the life and adventures of any hero. Emphasis is laid upon the subjective consciousness of the characters rather than upon their external actions. Just like Richardson’s novels, it gives a detailed psychological analysis of the characters. This arouses the readers’ interest and curiosity by creating suspense and sometimes provides for them significant passages.

The novel has an unusual and queer artistic form. Sterne consciously plays all sorts of tricks in his style of writing. Incidents are not arranged in their normal chronological order. The novel is not begun with its preface and dedication, but they are placed in the middle of things, would be cut short unexpectedly and another episode would be introduced. A sentence would be written and called a chapter. Occasionally entire chapter would be a blank, left to the imagination of the reader to fill in, and then sometimes these blanks would be unexpectedly filled in by the author himself. Punctuation marks are frequently juggled with, and pictures of curves and fantastic drawings sometimes appear on the pages instead of words. Whimsicality dominates the form of the novel as well as its contents, and in the place of logic there is haphazardness and irrationalism. Underneath all this we may discern the author’s humor and his apparent desire to supplant reason with sentiment.

Features of Sterne’s novels

1.       Sterne was the representative of sentimentalism in the 18^th century. To him sentiment was more important than reason.

2.       Sterne gave detailed descriptions of the characters’ inner thought and feeling. His deep psychological analysis was a good example for later writers.

3.       Sterne’s characters are ordinary persons. Sterne described the unimportant i9nterest of the character ironically and humorously. They are like real persons with faults and merits.

POETRY OF SENTIMENTALISM AND PRE-ROMANTICISM

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

Biographical Introduction

Should auld acquaintance be forgot,

And never brought to min’?

Should auld acquatintance be forgot,

And days o’ auld lang syne?

(chorus)  For auld lang syne, my dear,

For auld lang syne,

We’ll tak a cup o’ kindness yet,

For auld lang syne!

This is Auld Lang Syne, the thematic song to the world famous movie Waterloo Bridge. The words of this song is composed by Robert Burns, the national poet of Scotland in the 18^th century.

Burns was the eldest son of a poor Scotch peasant family. From childhood he had to struggle with poverty and toil in the fields day and night. Burns had only a little education. He had a great passion for Scottish folk songs and an intimate knowledge of Scottish poets and their works. When he was 16, he was already the principal laborer on the farm, but his interest in poetry developed and he already started writing some poetry. When he was 27, the poet resolved to go abroad. He gathered together some of his early poems and published them under the title Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect. The collection was a great success and took all Scotland by storm. The poet’s name became known. Encouraged by the success of his collection, Burns decided to give up his journey abroad and went to Edinburgh to arrange for another edition of his poems. He was welcomed and feasted by the best of the Scottish society. But nobody gave him real help, and very soon he found himself looked down upon by the aristocracy. Then he left the city in anger and disappointment.

The last few years of the poet’s life was miserable. Though he was appointed the collector of liquor revenue, he could only get a small salary. He lived in poverty. His support for the French Revolution brought him much trouble. In 1796, when he was only 37 years old, he died.

Classifications of his poetry

a.       lyrics of love and friendship

Most of Burns’ poems are lyrics on love and friendship. They have a great charm of simplicity. They are very musical and can be sung. His best known lyrics of this kind include: John Anderson, My Jo, A Red,Red Rose and A Fond Kiss, of which A Red, Red Rose is the most popular among Chinese students of English.

b.       patriotic poems

Burns wrote some patriotic poems, in which he expresses his deep love for his motherland. The best-known piece is My Heart is in the Highlands.

c.       Scottish ballads

Burns wrote some verse tales, which he based on the old Scottish legends. In these poems, he sings of the heroic spirit of the Scottish people in their struggle against their rulers. The best example of these poems is John Barleycorn. John Barleycorn is a legendary Scottish peasant hero. He rose up and led the peasants in a rebellion. He becomes a symbol of the indestructible strength and indomitable courage of the people.

d.       Poems to show sympathy for the poor

Burns wrote some poems to express his hatred for the oppression of the ruling class and his love for freedom. A best-known poem of this kind is A Man’s A Man for A’That.

 

WILLIAM BLAKE ( 1757--1827 )

Blake’s major works

1. Songs of Innocence

This collection contains poems written for children. Through the mouths of the little children, the poet expresses his love for the beauty of the world. Each poem in the collection is the expression of love and tender feeling and of belief in the goodness of nature. Using the language of little babies, Blake expresses his delight in the sun, the hills, the streams; the insects and the flowers. The best-known poem in the collection is The Lamb.

The whole collection is pervaded with the breath of simplicity and fancy, The sweetest poems are those cradle songs. The melody is simple, artless, and yet exquisite,

2. Songs of Experience

This collection is the matured counterpart of the first one. The poems show that the poet's eyes are opened the evils and vices of the world, He points out that the earth is unhappy and she lacks love and gaiety. The miserable living conditions of the poor are described. Through symbolic method, Blake expresses his democratic ideas. The best-known poems in the collection are The Tiger, The Fly, London, and The Chimney Sweeper.

3. The Marriage of Heaven and Hell

It is Blake’s most important prose work. It acquires the great popularity because of its fresh and independent outlook. In this work, Blake expresses his revolt against the capitalist oppression, and exposes and attacks all civil, moral and religious codes. The central idea of this work is his denial of the authority of injustice.

Comments on Blake

1.       William Blake occupies an important position in English literature. He was the most extraordinary literary genius of his age. His lyrics display all the characteristics of the romantic spirit. He paved the way for the romantic poets of the 19th century.

2.       William Blake’s poetry used to be labeled mysterious. As a matter of fact, the mysterious atmosphere of his poems is an inalienable part of his creative imagination, which is essential to good versification.

 

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

1.       Define the following terms: enlightenment; neoclassicism; sentimentalism; the rise of the novel.

2.       Name the representative realistic novelists in the eighteenth century England and comment on them.

3.       Name the representative sentimental novelists in the eighteenth century England and comment on them.

4.       Comment on Robinson Crusoe.

5.       Write about Henry Fielding’s literary style.

6.       Name the two romantic poets at the end of the eighteenth century and comment on them.