FIRST PAPER

 

14227 Teatro Inglés Siglos XIX y XX Grupo A

 

  
Guillermo Carnero Garrido.


Title of the Paper: Paper on W. Wordsworth and Romanticism.

Title of the Second Paper: Comparison between Victorian and Romantic Era.

TrabajoMiguel

 

Abstract:

 

This essay attempts to bring together three of the great authors of the Victorian English literature, Lord Byron, John Keats and Oscar Wilde. We will prove that Wilde was extraordinarily influenced by Byron’s way of living. Wilde constructs his personality and his image out of Byron’s. They both have in common some biographical aspects, vital experiences, a nostalgic longing for childhood. Wilde really admired the Byronic hero. They both share the same attitude towards the social and political establishment, which they ironically criticize. Both Wilde and Byron have a passion for the classical world. They will end up their lives going into exile.

Keat’s background and life was completely different from Wilde’s, but the former influenced Wilde regarding classical world and Italy, the Mediterranean and his interest in Shakespeare’s works.

What Wilde really admires about Keats is his ability to assimilate impressions so perfectly expressed. (A. SANDERS The Short Oxford History of English Literature, Oxford Press, N. Y. 1994, p. 385).

We will see how Keats is actually mentioned several times in Wilde’s poems.

Something that strucks me as being obvious, is the fact that with Romanticism the poet, understood as a whole in society, becomes important, and enters a dimension that had never been studied before.

He is not someone “normal” in the traditional sense of the term, and he has some unique, inalienable and original features that make him an extravagant and curious being. Lord Byron was pretty much this way: he was a rebel, original and theatrical; it was the dandy model for the artists that would follow.

Romantic poetry tends towards egotism and subjectivity as never before.

Art will develop until the end of Modernism with this individualism basis coming from the artist himself who considers art as a projection of himself, and also a projection that’s justifiable by him. It’s the famous theory of  Art for Art’s sake.

 

 

 

 

Auto-evaluation:

I have always been deeply concerned about the English Romantic topic since I was an adolescent, for it was a subject that interested my parents, and I guess I was influenced by this fact. The first time I heard about English Romantic poetry was William Beckford’s. Ever since I have really enjoyed going deeply in this topic, and I think I have learned many interesting details, reading all the information I could get access to. It actually encouraged me into reading more and more, and, as I was studying, I think I understood what the romantic mentality means.

At the same time, I regret not having a methodology that would allow me to be more precise and efficient, and because of this lack of ‘self-confidence’ when doing this kind of work, I had to read, re-read; and change many things until I finally got the “final cut”, so to speak.
Since I have worked hard, I suppose I have done my best, and I consider my papers worth reading.

 

Academic year 2005/2006
© a.r.e.a./Dr.Vicente Forés López
© Guillermo Carnero
guicarga@alumni.uv.es
Universitat de València Press