Majestic Indolence: English Romantic Poetry and the Work of Art
Spiegelman examines the theme of indolence-- both positive and negative--as it appears in the canonical work of four Romantic poets. He argues for a renewal of interest in literary formalism, aesthetics, and the pastoral genre. Wordsworth's "wise passiveness," Coleridge's "dejection" and torpor, Shelley's pastoral dolce far niente, and Keats's "delicious...indolence" are seen as individual manifestations of a common theme.
This book is about the things which could unite, rather than divide, poets during the English Civil Wars: friendship, patronage relations, literary admiration, and anti-clericalism. The central figure is Andrew Marvell, renowned for his "ambivalent" allegiance in the late 1640s. Little is known about Marvell's associations in this period, when many of his best-known lyrics were composed. The London literary circle which formed in 1647 under the patronage of the wealthy royalist Thomas Stanley included "Cavalier" friends of Marvell such as Richard Lovelace but also John Hall, a Parliamentarian propagandist inspired by reading Milton.
Added by: badaboom | Karma: 5366.29 | Coursebooks, Literature Studies | 18 August 2011
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Poetry and Poetics
Explaining how poetry arises, where its traditions come from, and how English poetry eventually developed, as an independent body of literature on its own.The text is arranged in two parts: the first is about traditional poetic origins and formulae, especially from the past; and the second is about the use of poetic language, tools and devices, leading up to the more recent present. The first section gives a historical scan or overview; the second part goes into closer observation and analysis of the art of poetry in an attempt to lead the reader into developing a critical ability to see the difference between what is merely good and what is truly excellent.
