Matthew Lewis Presentation

Matthew Gregory Lewis, "Tales of Wonder"

Biographical Information and Information Leading to Composition of "Tales of Wonder" [Citation for the below information: (Peck)]:

•Born July 9, 1775 to Frances Maria Sewell and Matthew Lewis (both of whom came from well-known, respected, and relatively wealthy families).

•Eldest of 4 children--Matthew, Maria, Barrington (named after one of Matthew Lewis Sr.'s upper-level directors), Sophia Elizabeth.

•Obtained his curiosity of entertainment from his mother, who had literary inclinations (early in his career, she acted as his literary agent and she eventually published poems herself).

•The relationship between Matthew’s mother and father was quite complicated, with Matthew caught in the middle. When Matthew was six, his mother left her husband, taking the music master, Samuel Harrison as her lover. Supposedly while separated, Matthew’s mother obtained a lover and frequently moved in order to avoid her husband. Her husband discovered her secret and on the day she birthed another man’s child, he showed up at her home. He later petitioned for divorce because of her adultery (which she did not contest), but the bill of divorce was rejected and they were married until death.

•As a result, Matthew’s mother was forced to retreat from society and fled to France. Matthew, being the eldest, played mediator between his parents and kept in contact with both (he believed his father to be in the right, but held his mother dear). He even told people that his mother was his aunt to avoid talking about the awkward situation and hopefully never awaken the scandal. 

•He spent his summer vacation of 1791 in Paris, where he is said to have first been inspired in what would later become The Monk, his most famous work.

•While in Paris, he would send his mother songs for plays that she was writing and plays that he translated into English that she could sell to Drury Lane (he frequently gave his mother money whenever he could). 

•Matthew’s father wished for his son to take up a diplomatic career (much like his own), so Matthew spent the summer of 1792 in Germany. There in Weimar, he met Johann Wolfgang van Goethe, and his desire to have something of his on stage grew.

•When Lewis graduated, he was fully intent on writing, but passively accepted his father’s plan for him to have a career in diplomacy. In 1794, his father got him a job in the British embassy to Holland.

•Lewis did not like The Hague (capital city of South Holland in the Netherlands) or its Dutch citizens and because he was so bored, he produced The Monk there in ten weeks.

•Lewis obtained a seat in Parliament in 1796 because of his father.

•From age 14-21, he lived the acceptable life of the son of a well-to-do government official. But during that time, one of the things that remained constant was his drive to become an author.

•He said he would spend his time “scribbling Novels and Plays” that thus had the power “to deluge the town with such an inundation of Ghosts and Magicians, as would satisfy the thirst of the most insatiable swallower of wonders."

•In 1802, Lewis withdrew from parliamentary career.

•Matthew and his father had a falling out 1803 when Lewis Sr. became involved with a woman, Mrs. Ricketts, who forced her way into the family circle, gained influence over him and caused him to treat his son poorly. Apparently, she claimed that the only reason they weren't married was because they were waiting for Matthew's mother to die. She also forced Lewis Sr. to write Matthew out of his will and instead leave the family fortune to her. They superficially made up in 1805.

•Matthew’s father grew ill and died in 1812. It was discovered then that Matthew's father, while disappointed in Matthew's failed diplomatic career, never intended to disown his son and instead left almost all of the family fortune to Matthew. 

•Poems was his last publication.

•In 1815, he went to visit estates in the West Indies.

•In the summer of 1816, he visited Percy and Mary Shelley at Geneva, Switzerland.

•In 1817, he took a second trip to Jamaica, which brought on the yellow fever that resulted in his death on the voyage back to England. He was buried at sea. 

•There was no indication that Matthew Lewis ever had a serious love life. There are reports that he was heterosexual and had a relationship with a woman, but there are also reports that he was homosexual. 

Composition:

The Monk (included because it contributes to "Tales of Wonder")

•The gothic was characterized by shock, debauchery, and black magic. Most of Lewis’ work is categorized as being in the “horror gothic” genre. ("Gothic Fiction")

•Education: Marylebone Seminary (where the students were largely of the nobility and gentry and the curriculum included Latin, Greek, French, writing, arithmetic, drawing, dancing, and fencing); Westminster School (at age 8, where he distinguished himself as an actor and showed his love of theatre); Christ Church-Oxford (at the age of 15, earned his B.A. in the Spring of 1794 and eventually his M.A.). This education is the exact same as his father's, who wanted Lewis to follow in his diplomatic footsteps (an aspiration that Lewis always followed, but never really engaged in, always having the desire to write). It is said that the violence he experienced at school between the boys of Westminster serves as inspiration for the violent nature of his Gothic work. (Peck) and (MacDonald)

•Lewis was influenced by Ann Radcliffe’s “The Mysteries of Udolpho” and Horace Walpole’s “The Castle of Otranto” (Peck)

•Inspiration for the gothic nature of his work came from places he had lived. Growing up, he lived in Stanstead Hall; an Old Nurse would frequently tell him stories about a room in the house, which was supposed to be haunted. Lewis's sister Sophia wrote to Walter Scott after her brother's death saying that Matthew would go “past that gloomy chamber, [and] on the way to his dormitory, he would cast a glance of terror over his shoulder, expecting to see the huge and strangely-carved folding doors fly open, and disclose some of those fearful shapes that afterwards resolved themselves into the ghastly machinery of his works. To such juvenile feelings he ascribed some of the most stricking scenes in The Castle Spectre” (Peck). Matthew Lewis explained to Byron many years later that his quarters at Weimar were haunted. Matthew Lewis was apparently "awakened every morning by the rustling of papers in a closet adjoining his room but never found anyone there. The servant of the house explained that this phenomenon was occasioned by the ghost of the former owner, a mother who every day at the house of her death had continue to search frantically the closet filled with foreign newspapers for new of her only son, who had been lost at sea” (Peck). 

•George Ticknor: “A very decent looking man compared with the form my imagination had given to the author of The Monk and The Castle Spectre" (Peck). 

•The Monk immediately achieved celebrity status for Lewis, however, about a year after its appearance, an injunction to restrain its sale was obtained. This led to a second edition in which Lewis cited himself as the author and removed what he believed was objectionable ("Monk Lewis")

•The Monk was so influential in his career that it earned Lewis the nickname of “Monk” Lewis (Peck).

•Included four supernaturalist elements that exerted great influence on the Gothic tradition of horror: the demonic temptress (or succubus); the Bleeding Nun; the Wandering Jew; and the diabolous ex machina (Thomson).

•Success of The Monk opened up the theatre to him and he wrote The Castle Spectre, his most famous and popular play (Peck). 

•Like Walter Scott, Matthew Lewis collected and translated poems. In 1798, Lewis met William Erskine in London, who showed him some of Walter Scott’s (then unknown) translated poems; Lewis expressed interest in Scott and asked him to contribute to his Tales of Wonder project. Walter Scott agreed because of the fame surrounding Lewis's name that came from The Monk's success (Peck).

•Lewis introduced Scott to London society, arranged that his own publisher print some of Scott’s work, and used his influence in theatre to have Scott’s House of Aspen produced (Peck).

•Tales of Wonder was first referred to as “Tales of Terror,” but then title changed closer to publication (Peck).

•The poems that were included in Tales of Wonder were collected as early as 1793, but the work was constantly delayed. This was due to several things, including Lewis’s desire for perfect translations of the four elemental spirit poems [Walter Scott said about "The Erl-King" to a friend: “I assure you, there is no small impudence in attempting a version of that ballad, as it has been translated by Lewis” (Peck).] and his brother's death on January 13, 1800 (Peck). 

•During this time, Scott was only patient with Lewis out of respect, but printed An Apology for Tales of Wonder in 1799, 9 ballads which later appeared in Tales of Wonder. Only 12 copies of this publication were sold and labeled as specimens of printing.

•Accumulation of poems from Lewis, Sir Walter Scott, and Robert Southey.

Publication:

•Very first edition printed at the end of 1800, early 1801 by J. Bell (Peck)

•Printed in two volumes (Peck). 

• Royal octavo (where each page is 1/8 the size of the original piece of paper) on heavy paper, 10" by 6¼" (Peck). 

•Price: 1 guinea (Peck). 

•Of 60 pieces, 2/3 had already been printed before (Peck). 

•The Macbeth quote in the beginning was quite common for Gothic-oriented words. It was considered “citing the Bard” as an "attempt by authors to provide a legitimizing presence for one of the period’s most popular but controversial forms of literary expression” (Lewis).

•Variety of metrical feet, stanza forms, and rhyme schemes (Peck).

•Included a range of subject matter, some representing Gothic matter in its most violent (Osric the lion), some attempting to ridicule Gothic verse, such as "Cinder King," and "Maid of the Moor" (Peck). 

•Second London edition in 1801, which reduced the number of ballads from 60 to 32 (Peck). 

•Edition of 1836 only had 23, while an edition in 1925 only had 8 (Peck). 

Reception:

•The public was disappointed by Tales of Wonder. Lewis attributed this to false hopes raised by the delay, the fact that the popularity of ballads was already decreasing, his own misguided sense of humor (by including poems that mocked the Gothic style), and that by including many well-known poems, the work was expanded to two expensive volumes (Peck). 

•Lewis received much negative attention from critics, although he was successful commercially. ("Matthew Lewis (writer)") 

•Lewis received much criticism for having "for the author" on the title page of the first edition of Tales of Wonder. This statement usually means that all of the money earned by the book goes to the author, not the publisher. Many people called the work “Tales of Plunder” for this reason. It was changed to "for the publisher" in the second edition (Peck). 

•Much of the negative criticism revolved around his dual position as a parliamentary member and author. Some criticism was on the grounds of a lack of originality. ("Matthew Lewis (writer)")

•Coleridge’s review, “Yes! The author of the Monk signs himself a LEGISLATOR! We stare and tremble.” ("The Monk")

•Parreaux, “every reviewer or critic of the book, no matter how hostile he was, felt compelled to at least pay lip-service to Lewis’s genius.” ("The Monk")

•Byron, in The English Bards and Scotch Reviewers, "Wonder-working Lewis, Monk or Bard, who fain wouldst make Parnassus a churchyard; Even Satan's self with thee might dread to dwell, And in thy skull discern a deeper hell." Four years after this review, Lewis and Byron met and according to Mary Shelley, Lewis asked Byron why he called him “Apollo’s sexton” to which Byron found it “difficult to reply to this categorical species of reproof.” After this encounter, they frequently spent time together. Byron valued Lewis’ friendship and profited from his literary advise. (Peck). 

•Scott: “few persons have exhibited more mastery of rhyme, or greater command over the melody of verse” (Peck).

•More Wonders was an attack on Tales of Wonder that appeared in pamphlet form in 1801, under the pseudonym “Mauritius Moonshine” and was reviewed by the Monthly Mirror 9. Thomas Dermody later claimed authorship in a letter to a friend. The letter and review date the parody before February 1801, making it the earliest satiric response to Tales of Wonder. ("More Wonders")

•Tales of Terror is a collection of poems that parodies the Tales of Wonder. It was anonymously published and though some thought that Lewis was involved (because of the original title of Tales of Wonder), but this was proved to be untrue. This parody appeared in June of 1801. (Peck).

Bibliography:

"Gothic Fiction." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 29 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gothic_fiction>.

Lewis, M. G. Tales of Wonder. Ed. Douglass H. Thomson. Peterborough, Ont.: Broadview, 2010. Print.

MacDonald, D. L. Monk Lewis: A Critical Biography. Toronto: University of Toronto, 2000. Print.

"Matthew Lewis (writer)." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Lewis_(writer)>.

"The Monk." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 2012. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Monk>.

"Monk Lewis." Monk Lewis. N.p., n.d. Web. 5 Oct. 2012. <http://personal.georgiasouthern.edu/~dougt/lewis.htm>.

"MORE WONDERS." MORE WONDERS. N.p., n.d. Web. 6 Oct. 2012. <http://www.litgothic.com/Texts/dermody_wonders.html>.

Peck, Louis F. A Life of Matthew G. Lewis. Cambridge: Harvard UP, 1961. Print.

Thomson, Douglass H. "Information on Lewis and the Tales for Your Editorial Work."Personal Webpage of Douglass H. Thomson. Georgia Southern University, n.d. Web. <http://personal.georgiasouthern.edu/~dougt/lewis.htm>.

Group Presentation: Sir Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott

COMPOSITION:

General - Scott was introduced to writing through his Aunt Jenny teaching him how to read. He began writing during high school and continued through college where he formed a Poetry Society and joined a Literary Society. Though he was called to bar and was following in his father's footsteps, Scott's calling shows in his writings. He indulged in his love of ballads and would make yearly ballad-collecting trips to Liddesdale. It was through his collecting that pre-Romantic German poets and dramatists, who had gone unnoticed during their time, were discovered. It was through the discovery of these works that he was inspired and began to produce translations of them.

PUBLISHING

The Lay of the Last Minstrel was published in 1805 by James Ballantyne. It was originally intended to be a third edition of 'The Minstrelsy", however, because of its length it was made into its own story.

The Partner:

RECEPTION

The Lay of the Last Minstrel was an outrageous success and had six editions in three years. Sales rose up to 27,000 copies in ten years, a feat not easily reached.

The Lay received rave reviews from the public and the critics.

Francis Jeffery (Edinburgh Review) found many of the passages were "in the very rank of poetical excellence"

The Critical Review "praised the skill with which Scott had refined the 'rich but unspoiled ore' of ballad poetry.'"

The Annual Review said it was "elegant, spirited, and stroking" and was a breath of fresh air from stiff classical poetics.

However, The Lay was not without its own negative critiques. It typically centered around how Scott brought in the fantastical (like the Goblin Page) into something that felt like it was supposedly more historical and about the land of Scotland.

The Literary Journal and Monthly Review though the plot was "obscure and far-fetched".

His works inspired many paintings of the Melrose Abby

Biography/Interesting

Early Years -

• Was the ninth child, but only the fourth to survive
• Was struck with polio at 18 months that left him lame in his right leg the rest of his life
• Was sent to live with his grandparents to be healed

Middle Years -

• He entered High School of Edinburgh in 1779
• While attending he made friends with James Ballantyne, his future business partner and printer of his major works
• Apprencitied to his father as a writer to the signet
• 1792 he was called to the bar

Romance - He fell in love with Williamina Belsches and began courting her when she was fourteen. He had a enough money to marry her but not enough to support a woman of her social standing. He wrote her a letter, declaring his love and intention and was answered favorably. However, in 1769 he went on a trip to the North to visit her parents. She had met William Forbes, heir of a banking family, and their engagement was announced. Scott was heartbroken and humiliated. It is rumored that this heartbreak peeks in some of his writing.

In 1797 he met Charlotte Charpenter, a woman of French descent, and three weeks later they were married. Though his parents disproved because of her lineage, they eventually approved. They were married and had five children together.

Later Years -

• 1825-1826 the Ballantyne Printing business crashed due to economic times and Scott went into serious debt
• Took a grand tour of Eurpoe being welcomed and celebrated wherever he went
• Died in 1832 at his home
• After his deaths his novels continued to sell and his debts were eventually paid off

After Death

Sir Walter Scott was acclaimed as the innovator of the modern historical novel genre. He had a large influence on Scottish culture and tourism in Scotland.

His works were read at dinner by the Prime Minster

And a monument stands in Princess Street Gardens in Edinburgh. It is the largest monument to a writer in the world.

Citation

http://www.walterscott.lib.ed.ac.uk/index.html 

Paige Lollie: Scott & Twain

This was an idea that I had when we were discussing Scott and the preservation of the oral stories. I thought it might be a bit random and might not fit, but it was a similarity and idea that I couldn't shake off.

Mark Twain wrote "How to Tell a Story" and it was a little explanation on the art of telling a story (more so in the oral tradition than the written). The pauses, the tone, eye-contact, etc. And I was curious if Scott was trying to do the same thing? By having it written down, we at least have some memory of the stories, but could he also be showing how one is to speak and tell it? Maybe he doesn't want the art of oral-tradition to be completely lost.

I could be totally off with this assumption though.

Tales of Wonder

I really enjoyed both the water and the fire king. I love the fantastic elements. What I really loved about the water-king was how it flips the notion of chivalric love on its head. The water-king betrays his bride and thus, she dies. The poem ends warning women to be cautious of men's intentions. I found it interesting how in the romantic era their is a poem about men's intentions and how they are questionable. I also found it interesting how the poem mocks chivalric love. M.G. Lewis was definitely mocking the idea of fantastical elements and chivalric love.

Scott and Minstrelsy Presentation by Nicole and Laura

-->Here's the presentation: http://prezi.com/qpnyuhj1jjao/sir-walter-scott-the-minstrelsy-of-the-scottish-border/

Sir Walter Scott

• Sir Walter Scott was born on August 15^th, 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• Father was Walter Scott a solicitor. Mother was Anne Rutherford. Both parents could trace lineage back to border clans. On Anne’s mother’s side the family line can be traced back to the Earls of Douglas who are mentioned in The Minstrelsy.
• Ninth child. Six died.
• Scott was lame in his right leg after contracting polio but grew over six feet tall and was said to have wonderful endurance.
• Grandmother and Aunt fostered Scott’s love for ballads in Sandyknowe.
• Attended Edinburgh high school and Edinburgh University where he studied the arts and law.
• After being called to the bar, in 1799 he became Sheriff Depute of Selkirk County.
• Married Charlotte Carpenter on Christmas Eve, 1797. They had five children.
• He started a printing/publishing company with his friend James Ballantyne. When the company crashed Scott accepted all of the debts.
• Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border was his first major work and was published in 1802. It is a collection of ballads and folklore which he edited and according to some people changed a little. He argued that poetry is meant to be fluid.
• Scott gained much fame from The Lay of the Last Minstrel in 1805. Other works include Marmion, a historical romance in tetrameter in 1808. The Lady in the Lake in 1810.
• He began writing novels which include Ivanhoe(1819) Waverly(1814) and Guy Mannering(1815)
• Wrote The Life of Napoleon 1827 and it was nine volumes.
• He died in England on September 21^st, 1832 and is buried at Dryburgh Abbey.

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border
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• The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border was very popular and had five editions in just nine years. Translated into German, Danish, Swedish, and published in North America.
• There were forty-three new ballads added to the last edition.
• Twenty-nine historical pieces and twenty-four romantic ballads included in Minstrelsy by the second edition.
• Critics were favorable to Minstrelsy. The Monthly Review did not react favorably but still complimented Scott on his style.
• Quote by friend and publisher Ballantyne “I shall ever think the printing the Scottish Minstrelsy one of the most fortunate circumstances of my life.”

I curious about the use of rhythm in these poems. The rhythm really seems to draw the reader in and also makes them feel the impact of the poem more. Maybe it's just because the poems are creepy, but it kind of makes me think of the way that Poe uses the rhythm for the heartbeat in The Tell-Tale Heart.

Tales of Woe

I enjoyed Lewis a lot. Gothic literature is probably my favorite and I am a huge fan of Poe. Lewis' poems are definitely different than Poe's poems but they both have that gothic element. "Bathwell's Bonny Jane" was my favorite because I enjoyed the sadness at the end of the poem. I find it interesting that the castle mentioned as the setting belonged to the Douglas family, as they seem to pop up everywhere lately. I agree that the poems do have that damsel in distress element but I think that was a large part of the "knights and their ladies" type of stories.

Matthew Lewis: Wait...what?!

I am kinda stumped to find the deeper meaning within the Lewis poems. They're fantastic to read and I understand the plot that goes on within each, but extracting anything else from them has me quite stumped. I am loving the overall flow of the poetry; I've been reading it aloud to try and see if that brings me a deeper understanding (to no avail, alas!) and the lines roll off the tongue. I'he verses appear to be in pentameter, though I'm not sure it is iambic. Something seems just slightly off for it to be so.

Ladies Beware

Lewis' tales are fun reads. Having said that, the women of at least the first three tales suffered horrible fates, it just reinforces the idea of a victimized female being deserving of her fate. These woman didn't just have bad luck but they lacked something that earned them some punishment. A little annoying especially because it seems to be a recycled notion in society.

Spooky Tales

I was a little unsure about Lewis. I thought I would love Lewis because he seemed a little bit like Edgar Allen  Poe. However, after reading the ballads I came to the conclusion that while the ballads are creepy and interesting, they just do not hold my attention and don't leave much of an impression.  I thought it was very interesting that Lewis collected these creepy ballads from other countries, he seems to be collecting little tokens of their cultures. I agree Ellie's idea that Lewis seems to be trying to give young women love advice; don't give your love away too easily because the "love of your life" might end up hurting you, or in this case he might drown you. Tales of Wonder also seems to be the first of the Gothic genre, I'm interested in knowing how Lewis came up with the idea of Gothic literature and how well this collection of ballads was received.

Corpse Bride, Anyone?

I was skeptical about whether I would like Lewis's poetry or not, but now I feel foolish for ever doubting his work.  Reading Lewis's poetry was like watching a Tim Burton film.  I loved the Gothic style of his work as well as the romantic themes within them.  Lewis's poems seem to try and give love advice to young women, telling them not trust every handsome knight they come across, like in The Water-King, or don't make promises you can't keep like in Alonzo the Brave.  This is good advice written into fun poetry.  

To Prof. Porter:  Thanks for putting these poems closer to Halloween. Reading them during this time of the year really added to the overall effect of the poems. Hats off to you. :)

Bonny Jane, the damsel.

I really disliked Bonny Jane as a damsel, her crying and need for help from the creepy monk made this tale seem like a bad horror movie. I know many people enjoyed this for its Gothic fantasy characteristics, but I could not enjoy the fantasy in this poem like others. I guess the poems I have liked that incorporated fantasy don't make it as obvious like Lewis did with the monk's "iron fangs."

I cannot gush enough about Lewis. His work has been my favorite out of everything we've read so far. Maybe it's because I have a special fondness for him because I've been researching him for the research project, or maybe it's because I have a weakness for all things of a fantastical nature. But regardless, I love everything about him.

My personal favorites were "The Fire-King" and "The Water-King." One of the things I found the most interesting during my research was Lewis's influence on Walter Scott. I can see some of those similarities, not only in subject matter, but also in mood, although Lewis definitely seems darker than Scott. I also read about how Tales of Wonder was delayed because of Lewis's desire to translate the poems perfectly and maintaining perfect rhyme. I like the inconsistencies in meter and style across poems. I love the rhyme scheme. I love the subject matter. I LOVE EVERYTHING.

Lewis on Catholicism

While reading "The Water-King" I felt that Lewis was trying to send a message, if you will. It seemed as though "the water-king" was some kind of protector or warrior for young maidens. I think the moral of the poem was for young women to abandon their sexual desires and submit to abstinence, perhaps? I also did a bit of research on Lewis and found that much of "The Monk" (one of his most influential Gothic novels) highlights the downfalls of Catholicism. I think this can be reflected throughout the poem, as well, as it seems he is criticizing catholic perspectives.

Also, I really enjoyed reading "The Erl-King" which Lewis included in the "Tales of Wonder" collection. I too have listened to Schubert's musical rendition many times, and so when I was able to put words behind the music the poem was really brought to life.

Bonny Jane

I’m not sure how I feel about Lewis’ Bonny Jane. I’m having a hard time with the take away. Jane wants to marry a peasant named Edward. He father doesn’t approve. But a clergyman tells her he has a plan to get her to Edward so long as she knows she loves him. The clergyman ends up trying to have her for himself but a storm swamps the boat and they all die. I see this as a ghost story more than anything. There isn’t really a take away. It gives you the chills. 

Matthew Lewis

Poetry seems easier for me when it reads like a narrative and that's how I felt about "The Water-King". It almost seemed like a fairy tale with the use of king, knight and sweet love. "Believe not every handsome knight." "The Fire-King" also felt like a fairy tale to me, maybe even a damsel in a castle. Maybe a fairy tale mixed with religious perspective. A man on a journey to slay a dragon. Lewis was enjoyable to read for me.

Moste Potente Poems

     I'm not sure that I've ever fallen in love with a poet or his works as fast as I have fallen for Lewis. His ballads are wrought with such imagery that I can fall into the rhythm of the poem quite easily and just get lost in the stories that he tells. I have found myself actually interested in the outcome of the works, rather than giving them a quick read-through and then going out to "find the meaning" or make a few notes about certain devices before moving on. My second read-throughs of the poems are out of pure want, rather than need.
     The persistence of Gothic themes in Lewis' ballads is rampant, and I have to say that I enjoy it. The morals, love stories, castles, spirits, flames and the supernatural all feed into what has been a long-standing enjoyment of fantasy in me. I have already briefly mentioned the rhythm a bit, but I want to really consider the importance of his limericks: their sing-songy feel contribute to the overall impact of the poetry more than I thought possible. I can honestly say that I will be doing much more than the required reading here, as far as Lewis goes, and I may have found the next book to rest at the ever-important spot on my bedside for those sleepless nights.

Finally, Gothic literature

Some of my favorite stories of all time come from Gothic literature, so I was pretty excited when I realized this was a Gothic writer. Reading Matthew Lewis' poems was interesting to me because it seemed like a callback to Grimm Fairy Tales type of storytelling: that is, characters suffering the consequences of their actions in morbid, albeit exaggerated, manners. It's a vast difference from a majority of the texts we've read in class so far, with the exception being Charlotte Smith and Anne Finch. Lewis, like most Gothic writers, play up to the dark side of the life, and how we, as readers, like to travel there. So that begs the question: why is this a required reading in a Romanticism class? While Lewis' poems are  different from the texts we've read so far in class, Gothic literature shares a lot of common threads with traditional Romanticism, such as the use of vivid imagery, idealization of nature, and with techniques such as messing with form/meter. In a sense, Gothic literature is just an extension of Romanticism.

Lewis Might Be My New Favorite Gothic Writer

I really, really enjoyed reading Lewis' poems. It might be because I have a soft spot for Gothic poetry.  Gothic Romanticism interests me because they share plenty of the same elements, but they are vastly different.  Lewis' poems also have a knight and courtly love element as well.  He seems to have had troubles with the ladies (or maybe he has a thing for damsels in distress) especially after reading "The Water King", "Bothwell's Bonny Jane", and "Alonzo The Brave".   Lewis' creates an interesting tone and mood when he basically kills off the women of his poems.  In "The Water King" and "Alonzo The Brave" the knights who are suppose to protect women are turned into monsters who steal them away for their own keeping.  In "Bothwell's Bonny Jane", the monk is another figure women are suppose to be able to trust, and yet Lewis turns this stereotype into something else.  This makes his poems seem much more treacherous.  And treacherous poetry is my personal favorite. 

The Erl-King

Even though this wasn't one of the poems we were supposed to focus on, "The Erl-King" and "The Erl-King's Daughter" stood out to me the most out of any of these poems. One of my favorite pieces of Romantic music is "der Erlkönig" by Franz Schubert. Goethe first wrote the poem in the late 1700s and Schubert later set the poem to music. I didn't realize until reading Lewis' "Tales of Wonder" that Goethe's work was actually based on the legend of the Erl-King's daughter, which is included in this book. I love everything about Gothic stories and weird fairy tales, which Gothic authors seem to have loved too. I'm really glad this book of poetry was included in the course readings this semester!

Gothic themes

I enjoyed reading Matthew Lewis because it is more of a gothic theme. Gothic themes seem to interest me a lot and I found myself actually caring what happens next unlike some of the other things we have read. I think that Lewis did a great job with keeping the reader interested by throwing in drastic changes like when the monk stole her and held a dagger to her neck in "Bathwell's Bonny Jane".  That is just something that we normally don't read about during this time. I was caught by surprise, but very intrigued at the same time.

Matthew Lewis is great!

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Matthew Lewis- all of his stories were highly entertaining. The elements of magic and fantasy were similar to those in Scott's Lay of the Last Minstrel. It seemed that all of Lewis' characters that were killed by magical beings had betrayed people in one way or another and therefore deserved it; Lewis seems to be a believer in justice. All of the works we read by Lewis were so engaging and interesting, I really loved it!

Dark and Twisty

There are parts of me that really love Lewis' work in "Bathwell's Bonny Jane" and then there are other parts of me that feel rather indifferent. I loved the overall message and content of the text because it reminded me a bit of Flannery O'Connor (Love her!), but I felt as though the language was a bit slow. I was bored with the wording of the text but the story was so good that I could not stop reading. I really kind of did not see the ending happening the way that it did.  

Lewis and the gothic

Lewis was really interesting to research. I enjoy the gothic genre and this type of literature seems to be something of a turning point. Lewis seems different even from The Last Lay or other narrative poetry in that it seems more focused on entertainment. The gothic is like the foundation of the horror genre, this is where we get the ticklish delight of all the racy, scandalous, suspense, scary.  The supernatural is also more prominent here than in other works that we have read and Lewis takes things further than his contemporaries. Tales of Wonder fits well with the class since it's a collection of works, many of which Lewis translated.

Collecting Ballads

I really enjoyed reading The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Borders because it gave me a lens in which to view the work that Scott had put forth in the world. I had never really thought about ballads in connection with folklore or fairy tales, something that is told and handed down through the generations. The extent to which Scott went searching for the originals and his detailed accounts of how these ballads moved through the people was fascinating. I was especially interested in how the ballads where written down (page 4), and how much thought and work was put in to making the ballad what it once was, "to remove obvious corruptions, and fit the ballads for press." Even the process of getting the ballads, from the border lands or from up in the mountains, you collect more of the history of the culture from whence the ballad originated. Even the very work of collecting itself, seems to me, romantic.

Records and Roots

Reading the excerpts from Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border really helps to illustrate Scott's interest and motivation. He may be a writer, but his is equally a historian of his native country. He travels around Scotland trying to get on record any remnants of the works of old minstrels and bards and the like. I thought the insight into the life of a minstrel was interesting: They could travel around the country with only their songs as payment for food and shelter. Sounds like a pretty good gig to me! (Unless you're a really bad singer and can't get fed or something.)
The Douglas Tragedy at the end of the excerpt is even more significant to Scott because he can trace his mother's lineage back to that clan. I think wanting to know more about his roots drove him to explore Scottish culture on a whole new level. I get that way with my heritage. Although I don't really know many famous people I'm related to, just exploring the different cultures is really fascinating.

Amazing, yet overwhelming

So this is my first post about Lay of the Last Minstrel.  I missed class on Tuesday, so I feel like I'm playing catch-up.  I really enjoyed reading the passage, but there were some points where it was hard to keep track of all the different characters and names.  I would just have to keep reading and realize it would stick eventually.  It reminded me of watching Game of Thrones, when you're presented with all of this information and you have to sift through it as you go.  It doesn't help that there is the distinction between the southerners and the others.  I think what I enjoy about this is the constant action.  I feel like I can get swept up into the action, and it is easiest to understand when they are conversing, as in Canto IV, Stanza VI when he is simply relaying a message.  I wish I could have had a more modernized version to compare to.  I tried looking for good notes online, but nothing seemed to read the way I needed.  I read a little bit about the reception, and I can understand why it was so well received   It's like a breath of fresh air compared to some of the more structured and stiff things we've looked at in the past (not that I haven't enjoyed those as well).  I'm impressed and excited for the class discussion tomorrow, so I can try and get on the same page as everyone else.

Keats Presentation

John Keats
Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes (1820)

Composition
Character and Personality Descriptions

• Born: October 31st, 1795
• A childhood friend said “the generosity & daring of his character- in passions of tears or outrageous fits of laughter always in extremes will help to paint Keats in his boyhood.
• One of Keats focuses was the power of love.  He fell in love with a neighbor, Fanny Brawn, and it is this passionate love that inspired many of his sonnets, such as Bright Star.
• He was orphaned by the age of 19.  It is because of his multiple experiences with death that Keats chooses to focus a lot on mortality/immortality and what that can entail.   
• There was an instance in which Keats realized his own mortality and that his death was near. He said
  “…I know the color of that blood; it is arterial blood. I cannot be deceived in that color." Keats believed that "I have left no immortal work behind me - nothing to make my friends proud of my memory - but I have lov'd the principle of beauty in all things, and if I had had time I would have made myself remember'd."‘
• Died: February 21st, 1821 at the age of 25

Keats on his deathbed. 

"Here lies one whose name was writ in water"

Publication

• Keats wrote his first poem in 1814, but was published two years after in 1816- at the age of 21.
• Took a four month tour of the countryside in 1817 and wrote the first books of Endymion
• Published his most successful book of poetry while bedridden, La Mia, Isabella, and The Eve of St. Agnes
• This collection of poetry was written in 1819 and published in July of 1820, while Keats was bedridden with tuberculosis, a disease which had claimed the lives of numerous family members, including his brother who he nursed on his deathbed.
• The book of poetry is composed of three major narrative poems, listed in the title, as well as several of his famous Odes (Grecian Urn, Nightingale, Psyche, and Melancholy)
• Published by Taylor and Hessey
• The three narrative poems all focus on some aspect of love, all are emotionally charged and focus on some aspect of it being an all consuming emotion (sadness, happiness, revenge, etc.)
• First edition costs anywhere from $20,000-$30,000
• Original boards
• Rebacked with original spine
• Comes in a "full green morocco pull-off case"
• Printed as a large duodecimo with a half title and a publisher's advertisement
• Large duodecimo: 7x 4 1/8in

Keats' dedication to Fanny

Part of the manuscript for Lamia, Isabella, and The Eve of St. Agnes

First edition of Lamia, Isabella, and The Eve of St. Agnes

The contents page for Lamia, Isabella, and The Eve of St. Agnes

Reception

• Because poetry was the hobby of the rich Keats was called “ignorant and unsettled” and a “pretender” because of his lower socioeconomic status.
• Slow sales but well received by critics and general audience
• Keats said that if this book wasn't successful he would return to being an apothecary, an apprenticeship he had before he quite to pursue poetry full time.

Works Cited

• "1820 - Publication of Keats’s Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes and Other Poems, Shelley’s Prometheus Unbound." Romanticism. Keats-Shelley House, 2010. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://www.keats-shelley-house.org/en/romanticism/timeline-1820>.
• Keats, John. "Lamia." The Literature Network, n.d. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://www.online-literature.com/poe/2055/>.
• "Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems." David Brass Rare Books. N.p., 2012. Web. 13 Oct. 2012. <http://www.davidbrassrarebooks.com/wp-content/plugins/wp-shopping-cart/single_book.php?sbook=1226>.
• "The Life of John Keats." John Keats: Table of Contents. N.p., Mar. 2004. Web. 14 Oct. 2012. <http://englishhistory.net/keats/life.html>.