Comparative study of Tennyson and Brownimg

Name: Trivedi Hezal K.

Roll No: 35

PG Reg. No. PG15101040

M.A. – English Regular, Semester-2

Year: 2016

Course No. 6: The Victorian literature

Unit-4 – Tennyson and browning: a study of poets (1850 – 1890)

Assignments Topic- Comparative study of Tennyson and browning

Submitted to: S.B. Gardi Department of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

(Gujarat – India)

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Introduction:

The period of 1820 to 1900 known as the age of ‘Victoria’. During this period Queen Victoria developed the much literary forms. So, this age in English literature known as the ‘Victorian Age’. During that period many great writers gave their best contribution to English age as a gift. , Browning, Dickens, Meredith, Carlyle, Macaulay and Ruskin there are some great stars of the age. Tennyson the prominent poet of the age. The Victorian era of British history was the period of queen Victoria’s reign from 20 June 1837 until her death on 22 January 1901. The Victorian age is especially remarkable because of its period of its rapid progress in all the arts and science and in mechanical inventions. It was long period of place personality referred sensibilities and national self confidence for Britain. Victorian as is also known for the age of newspaper, the magazine, and the modern novel. The two main poets are Alfred lord Tennyson and Robert Browning.

Alfred lord Tennyson: 

He was Poet Laureate of Great Britain and Ireland during much of Queen Victoria's reign and remains one of the most popular British poets. Tennyson excelled at penning short lyrics, such as "Break, Break, Break", "and The Charge of the Light Brigade “,” Tears, Idle Tears “and” Crossing the Bar". Much of his verse was based on classical mythological themes, such as Ulysses, although In Memoriam A.H.H. was written to commemorate his best friend Arthur Hallam, a fellow poet and fellow student at Trinity College, Cambridge, who was engaged to Tennyson's sister, but died from a brain haemorrhage before they could marry. Tennyson also wrote some notable blank verse including Idylls of the King, "Ulysses”. As a pictorial poet, he follows the example of Keats. His all poems most probably based on imagery of nature and other natural elements. His description of each line built our-selves to see the magic of his art and surprisable deep and beautiful scene of the picture of the poem.

Tennyson’s Poetry:

His most famous volumes and poems are:

 Volume of Poems - 1833

 Poems, Chiefly Lyrical - 1830

  Timbuctoo

 Isabel

 Madeline

 The Lady of Shallot

 The Lotos-Eater

 The Palace of Art

 Ulysses

 Locksley Hall

 In Memoriam

 Idylls of the King

 Enoch Arden

 Locksley Hall Sixty Years After

   Tennyson’s Plays:

         

   Queen Marry - 1875

   Harold - 1876

   Becket - 1884

   The Falcon - 1879

   The Cup - 1881

   The Foresters – 1892

Robert browning:

His first work is Pauline and it was written in 1833.

:

Robert Browning (1812 –1889) was an English poet and playwright whose mastery of dramatic verse, especially dramatic monologues, made him one of the foremost Victorian poets. Browning was famous for his dramatic monologues and commentary on social institutions. He truly observer of Renaissance period and he admire for it. By talking about the Renaissance, Browning can make his cultural criticism somewhat less biting. He also gains access to a wealth of sensuous detail and historical reference, which he can then use to add vibrancy to his verse. Browning aspires to redefine the aesthetic. The rough language of his poems often matches the personalities of his speakers. Browning uses colloquialisms, and rough meter to portray inner conflict and to show characters living in the real world. In his earlier poems this kind of speech often accompanies patterned rhyme schemes; “My Last Duchess,” for example, uses rhymed couplets.

                                                       

Browning’s Poetry:

         His most famous and noticeable poems are as under:

 Porphyria’s Lover

 Soliloquy of the Spanish Cloister

 My Last Duchess

 The Bishop Orders His Tomb at Saint Praxed’s Church

 Home-Thoughts, From Abroad

  Fra Lippo Lippi

 A Toccata of Galuppi’s

 Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came

 Memorabilia

 Andrea Del Sarto

 Two in the Campagna

Browning’s Plays:

         His plays like,

 Bells and Pomegranates – 1846

  Pippa Passes -1841

 King Victor and King Charles – 1842

 The Return of the Druses – 1843

  A Blot on the ’Scutcheon – 1843

 Colombes Birthday – 1844

  Luria; and a Soul’s Tragedy – 18

Comparative study of Tennyson and browning:

Tennyson and Browning are the two literary titans of the Victorian age who towered over all other poets of the period for about help a century. However, as poets they have very little in common. While Tennyson was completely a representative of his age who glorified the greatness of England, its democracy and freedom, and dreamed of “The Parliament of Man, The Federation of the World”, Browning kept apart from all the political and religious turmoil of the age. In fact, Browning lived and wrote as if such things as Reform Bills, Catholic Emancipation, The Crimean War, The Indian Mutiny that never been. The only evidence we have of Browning’s patriotism is furnished by two little poems, “Home Thoughts from Abroad” and “Home thoughts from sea”. It is true that he lived in Italy after his marriage, and so had no interest in the tendencies and movements in Victorian England. But he was quite unresponsive to the Italian freedom struggle also even when Mrs. Browning was so-sympathetic to it. It means that Browning had no interest in contemporary history. His main interest was in the remote part, especially in the Italy of the Renaissance.

Being a poet of the 19th century, Tennyson could not escape the influences of Romanticism. In his poetry Nature always predominates. In fact, it is nicely said that if Byron is the poet of the mountains and oceans, Shelley of cloud and air, Keats of the perfume of evening, Wordsworth of the meaning and mysteries of Nature as a whole, Tennyson is the poet of flowers, trees and birds. In the words of Harrison, “Of flowers and trees, he must be held to be the supreme master, above all who have written in English, perhaps indeed in any poetry”. Moreover, he is a perfect painter of Nature because he has portrayed it not only as benevolent, but also as cruel, “red in tooth and claw”. Just like a scientist he has penetrated through the nature. No doubt, Browning also loved Nature and also shows a keen appreciation of her beauties is such poems as “Home Thoughts from Abroad”, “Soul” etc., but Nature was nothing special to him. In fact, Nature except for a brief period in the 18th century has been a perennial element of English poetry and especially after Wordsworth it is inconceivable that any poet could do with it, to which Browning is no exception. Browning interest in Nature is neither prominent, nor persistent as in the case of Tennyson 

                 Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning belong to the Victorian age and they occupy a prominent place as a pre-eminent poet of their age. Both the poets apply new techniques and styles in poetry writing. But both these poets adopt their own style in their writing. Browning focuses on the psyche of his frantic characters and tries to look into deep inside of such characters in his writings. Browning tries to understand human nature, religion, and society properly. He studies the innermost psychology of characters. On the other hand, Tennyson draws material from external specific realities, ideas, and objects and tries to express it through ornate language. Another significant difference between poems of Alfred Tennyson's and Robert Browning is in their nature of expression. Browning's writings are always energetic but in Tennyson’s tone of expression is generally melancholic where he tends to give touch of nostalgia. Their poetic concerns are hardly related. Browning systematically depicts the essence of a character whereas Tennyson gives importance in inducing and endorsing a particular mood.

Comparison and differences in there poems

1)    BROWNING’S : "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" 

2)    Tennyson's "Mariana".

Two poems which perhaps have rather more in common are Browning's "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" and Tennyson's "Mariana". In both these poems, the description of landscape indicates the state of mind of the poem's central character. And neither poem is describing something beautiful or attractive!

'Mariana' is thickly atmospheric. The 'lonely moated grange' is from the outset a neglected and isolated place, just as the person within is neglected and lonely. The details of the landscape present a smoothly grey picture, but are nonetheless lovely descriptions, such as:

 "Hard by a poplar shook always

                                    All silver-green with gnarled bark"

The girl herself is unchangingly dreary, as emphasized by the repetition of her "I am a weary" statements with each stanza. No insight into her character is offered—she reflects the landscape as much as it reflects her. There is a strong sense of stillness conveyed within the poem, everything—especially Mariana—is passive.

"Childe Roland" by contrast has a very strong sense of movement and progress. It is not possible to forget that this is a journey through a landscape. The central character's reaction to the dreadful country through which he must pass reveals his mood and expectation of death very clearly, and his emotional reactions to what he sees become part of the description. Browning's jagged and hideous landscape is reflected in the uncomfortable language he uses to convey it, again contrasting with Tennyson's more mellifluous style.

These two poets are, as can be seen, very different in their approach to the idea of the narrative. Tennyson presents beautiful scenes, indeed he cannot help but do so even when the subject matter is supposed to be dull, and he offers many images which can be plucked from the poems and kept like little jewels on their own. Browning's poems are less lovely but more lively, and his focus is far less on conveying the appearance than on conveying the inner life of his characters. His language is more complicated and less elegant, and it is hard to extract a line or two from a poem such as 'My Last Duchess', partly because the sentence structure is long and involved, and partly because the work needs to be read as a whole.

Conclusion:

                         In the and we can say that browning’s place in our literature will be better appreciated by comparison with his friend Tennyson.  Whom we just studied in our respect, especially in their methods of approaching the truth, the two man are the exact opposites.  Tennyson is the first artist and then the teacher, but with browning the message is always the important thing and he careless, too careless, of the form in which it is expressed. 

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Wordsworth as a nature poet

Name: Trivedi Hezal K.

Roll No: 35

PG Reg. No. PG15101040

M.A. – English Regular, Semester-2

Year: 2016

Course No. 5:  The Romantic Literature

Unit-4 – Wordsworth and Coleridge: A study of poets (1798 – 1850)

Assignments Topic- Wordsworth as nature poet

 Submitted to: S.B. Gardi Department of English

Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

(Gujarat – India)

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Introduction:

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is one of the greatest British Romantic poet as well as a poet of Nature. He is one of the most important English poet and a founder of the romantic movement of English literature, a style of writing that focuses on emotion and imagination.  He is a high-priest of nature and worshiper of Nature. His love of Nature is perhaps truer, more sincere and more loving than that of any other English poet. He had a complete philosophy of nature. He believed that there is a divine spirit pervading all the objects of nature. This belief finds a complete expression in his nature poem.. According to Tinturn Abbey, nature removes the depression and agony of human mind. He was often called a ‘nature poet’ because of his emphasis on the connection between humans and the natural world. He became widely successful and was named poet laureate of England in 1834.

The aim of Wordsworth:  

·        Glorification of his nature poetry in work.

·        He revealed inner soul of nature in his work.

        “One impulse from the vernal wood

          May teach you more of man

          Of moral evil and of good

           I hand all the sages can”

Wordsworth as a poet of nature:

                                Wordsworth’s house and garden in Cokermouth

  As a poet of nature, Wordsworth stands supreme. He is a worshiper of nature, nature’s devoted or high – priest. His love of nature was probably truer, and more tender, then that of any other English poet, before or since. Nature comes to occupy in his poem a separate or independent status and is not treated in a casual or passing manner as by poets before him. Wordsworth had a full – fledged philosophy, a new and original view of nature.

Wordsworth is claimed to be the high priest of nature. Truly speaking, he is a worshiper of nature, which occupies an eminent place in his poetry. At least, three things must be noted in his treatment of nature:

(i)  That it has a living personality,

(ii) That it exercises a healing influence on the aggrieved souls,  

     and,

(iii) That it is a great moral teacher.

Wordsworth believed that we can learn more of man and of moral evil and good from nature than from all the philosophies. In his eyes, “nature is a teacher whose wisdom we can learn, and without which any human life is vain and incomplete”. This inters relation of nature and man is very important in considering Wordsworth’s view of both: three points in his creed of nature may be noted:  

·        He conceived of Nature as a living Personality. He believed that there is a divine spirit pervading all the objects of Nature. This belief in a divine spirit pervading all the objects of Nature may be termed as mystical Pantheism and is fully expressed in Tintern Abbey and in several passages in Book II of “The Prelude”.

·        Wordsworth believed that the company of Nature gives joy to the human heart and he looked upon Nature as exercising a healing influence on sorrow-stricken hearts.

·        Above all, Wordsworth emphasized the moral influence of Nature. He spiritualised Nature and regarded her as a great moral teacher, as the best mother, guardian and nurse of man, and as an elevating influence. He believed that between man and Nature there is mutual consciousness, spiritual communion or ‘mystic intercourse’. He initiates his readers into the secret of the soul’s communion with Nature. According to him, human beings who grow up in the lap of Nature are perfect in every respect.

 Wordsworth was true devoted to nature to humanity.

                              “Nature not only gave him the

                                Matter but wrote his poem for him”

                                                        -Matthew Arnold                   

        Wordsworth was in a true sense the most romantic and the purest soul of nature. His love of nature was boundless. For the great love he is considered a greatest poet of nature. To the Nature poet Wordsworth, Nature is a best friend of man who never deceits her lover.

Wordsworth use of nature in his poetry:

Nature is a huge part in romanticism. Many romantics viewed nature as a healing power and a source of subject and image. It encompasses how nature can touch and change one’s life for the better. They view it as organic and don’t like scientific views. Wordsworth uses nature in so much of his work.  

(1)               “ I wandered lonely as a cloud”

In the poem William Wordsworth reveals his relationship with nature. His choices of words throughout the poem make it clear that his relationship with nature is good one. The whole poem is about nature. It talks about clouds, vales, hills, trees, the breeze, stars, the Milky Way, a bay, waves, and most of all daffodils. Nature brings a state of imagination. It brings people into a different state of mind, an ambiance to encompass the world and make it a better place.  In this poem, a host of daffodils stops the speaker while travelling through nature. The word “host” makes it transform into a vision, which is imagination.

(2)              “The Thorn”

Wordsworth also uses nature throughout the whole poem. It talks about a thorn overgrown with lichen, rocks and stones, moss, mountains, a stormy winter gale, clouds, a muddy pond, a hill of moss, spikes, branches, and stars.

(3)              “Ode on Intimations of Immorality”

Wordsworth uses nature to explain his perception on the beauty of nature. He uses meadows, groves, streams, the earth, rainbows, roses, birds, lambs, seasons, mountains, seas, valleys, the sun, flowers, and stars.

(4)              “To a Skylark”

In “To a Skylark” he uses clouds, the sky, a nest, sloths, mountains, rivers, dusty winds, and heaven to portray nature.

(5)              “Composed Upon Westminster Bridge”

In “Composed upon Westminster Bridge” nature is described by the earth, the sky, fields, valleys, rocks, and beautiful hills.

(6)              “The table turned”

·        The speaker is telling his friend that nature has more to teach than books, and that he should go outside rather than seek refuge in dry pages.

·        Emphasizes the importance of being a part of nature.

·        Strong element of irony.

Wordsworth vs. other poets on nature:

(1) Wordsworth and Shelly:

According to Shelley, nature represents a powerfully sublime entity which feels utter indifference for man. Certainly, Shelley describes such beautiful scenes. According to him, nature is at once splendorous and deadly, a dynamic force that cannot be tamed by man. While appreciating nature's aesthetic majesty, Shelley warns man not to equate beauty with tranquillity. Rather, Shelley advises us to view nature from both sides of the coin, admiring its unapproachable synthesis of power and grace.

For Wordsworth, on the other hand, nature plays a more comforting role. Like Shelley, Wordsworth sees nature as an eternal and sublime entity, but rather than threatening the poet, these qualities give Wordsworth comfort.

(2) Wordsworth and Tennyson:

The personifications of nature found in William Wordsworth's "Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey" and Alfred Tennyson's “In Memoriam” use the identical technique of picturing the nature of the natural world, but to extraordinarily different ends.

(3) Wordsworth and Coleridge:

He grasps the concept that nature exposes the pain in human life, a theme that Coleridge meditates in "Dejection: An Ode." Age and experience have given Wordsworth new awareness that allows him to see the suffering of human society reflected in nature. Likewise, Coleridge hears nature, in the form of the wind playing upon the eolian lute, telling stories of humanity.

(4) Wordsworth and Shakespeare:

Shakespeare and Wordsworth used nature as a critical part of their poetry.  Shakespeare seemed to use nature as a metaphor, a way to articulate artistic themes or ideas.  For example, in discussing love felt by another towards another, "Shall I compare thee to a summer's day," we see nature being used as a member of an "army of metaphors,”. Nature was seen as an artistic tool to explore connection between artist, subject, and reader.  Wordsworth used nature in a similar way, but his employment of nature was more in line with his Romantic philosophy.  In this setting, nature was linked to subjective experience and artistic expression.  It made nature an indispensable part to Wordsworth's poetry, as opposed to Shakespeare who was more akin to viewing it as a means to an artistic ends as opposed to the end itself.

That is as we all know it is true that Wordsworth and Shakespeare, both are the undisputable     master of English Literature , thus it is also noteworthy that Shakespeare not only treats the "human nature "as you pointed out but he also uses the theme of nature in its globality.

Shakespeare has used nature as the one who speaks to us just as Wordsworth has done therefore. So, it is unfair to say that Shakespeare only deals with the nature of man only.

Conclusion:

Wordsworth’s attitude to Nature can be clearly differentiated from that of the other great poets of Nature. He did not prefer the wild and stormy aspects of Nature like Byron, or the shifting and changeful aspects of Nature and the scenery of the sea and sky like Shelley, or the purely sensuous in Nature like Keats, or interested mainly in human nature rather than its pure form like Shakespeare. It was his special characteristic to concern himself, not with the strange and remote aspects of the earth, and sky, but Nature in her ordinary, familiar, everyday moods. He did not recognize the ugly side of Nature ‘red in tooth and claw’ as Tennyson did. Wordsworth stressed upon the moral influence of Nature and the need of man’s spiritual discourse with her.

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