Monday, April 25, 2011

Life of D. H. Lawrence

Outcast. Poet. Novelist. Thinker. Playwright. Misinterpreted. British. Critic. All These words describe David Herbert Lawrence, or D. H. for short, an English Poet from The nineteenth century who stepped outside the boundaries of writing during his time to create some dramatic and memorable literary works. His most famous works include, Sons and Lovers (1913) and Women in Love (1920).
Born on September 11, 1885 into a working class family in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, D. H. Lawrence took in the hardships of a dysfunctional family in the countryside. He often referred to his struggles in his literary works. His educational career began at Beauvale Board School , then onto Nottingham High School, and from there, to University at the University College Nottingham where he received a teaching certificate in 1908. It was during his years in schooling that Lawrence began his writing. His first novel, The White Peacock was published in 1911.
Lawrence’s most influential friend and guide was Jessie Chambers. Chambers was the man who showed Lawrence’s poems and short stories to the well known editor of the paper, English Review. The poems and stories were immediately published and Lawrence began to get a reputation for his poems and short stories. In 1912, Lawrence published his next two novels, The Trespasser and Sons and Lovers. During this time, Lawrence became ill with pneumonia for the second time. He chose to travel abroad and expand his writing. He fell in love with a married woman, Frieda Weekley. After her divorce with her former husband, Weekley and Lawrence married in 1914.
Lawrence’s childhood influenced his writing greatly. He often went back to Eastwood, his birthplace, to contemplate on his early life. Growing up in a mining town surrounded by country side, living with a drinking father and dysfunctional parents, and the hardships of a working class all shaped the literary works of Lawrence. He referenced these and other aspects of his life such as his lovers in many of his poems, stories, essays, and novels. Sons and Lovers can be directly paralleled to Lawrence’s early life. Some would say the novel is a quasi-autobiography of his childhood.
World War I broke out during some of the most influential years in Lawrence’s life. He was still living in England at this time. He and his wife, Weekley, were barely getting by. They were living in poverty in a cottage in Cornwall in the countryside. Because of Lawrence’s anti-war opinions and Frieda Weekely being of German decent, the couple was exiled out of their rural home to London and Derbyshire. Lawrence began to have problems with his wife as well. They fought more frequently and after participating in a secret society named The Apostles, Lawrence questioned his sexuality. This turmoil created some of Lawrence’s greatest pieces.
He left England never to return in 1919. He and his wife first moved to Italy and then eastward to Australia on a long journey to the United States. He wrote Kangaroo while in Australia and in this novel admits that because he was outcasts for his pacifist feelings during World War I, he did not wish to actively participate in society. After his American traveled in New Mexico and Mexico, Lawrence returned to Italy and wrote the controversial novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover in 1926. The book describes the sexual love of two lovers in different classes and concludes that sexual intercourse goes hand in hand with love.
Throughout Lawrence’s life, he produced numerous poems. His early ones were written in conservative rhythmic patterns but eventually he turned to free verse. One of his most remarkable poems was Birds, Beast, and Flowers written in 1923 about his nature experiences in the Mediterranean and America.
D. H. Lawrence is remembered as liberal poet who expertly puts emotion, intuition, sensation, and sexuality into his literary works. He turned away from the traditional Victorian ways to a more modern way of thinking where he allows emotion to take over and delves deeply into the human mind.

Sources

"Lawrence, D.H." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online School Edition.Encyclopædia Britannica, 2011. Web. 25 Apr. 2011.


“ Women in Love.” EBSCOhost. Magill’s Survey of World Literature, Revised Edition; January 2009, p1-2

“Lady Chatterley’s Love.” EBSCOhost.
Masterplots, Fourth Edition; November 2010, p1-3

Terence Ian Fitton Armstrong "John Gawsworth"

Terence Ian Fitton Armstrong who was most commonly known under the pen name of John Gawsworth was born on June 29, 1912. He has 17 major poems or anthologies of poems, and 2 major short stories underneath his pen name. some of his more important writings were his first published Confession, 1931 and his last collection which was kind of a best of John Gawsworth, Collected Poems of John Gawsworth, 1948. He was born in the Baron’s Court district of London, a small and recently built district when he was born. His parents, Frederick Percy Armstrong and Ethel Jackson Armstrong divorced while Terence was very young. After the divorce, Terence seemed to have some resentment of his dad and was troubled by it as he was growing up. Sometime after his parents divorced his mom decided to go to Canada and married her former husband’s brother, Leaving Terence behind in London to live in a garret, which is the top floor in a house, normally a room in the attic of a house or apartment. He also started to work around town in a couple of the bookstores. After working in the bookstores awhile he eventually met and took after Arthur Machen, who was a reader for a local publisher, Ernest Benn. About this time he began to write free verse underneath his pen name of John Gawsworth. In 1933, he married Barbara Kentish who was the social editor of the British newspaper The Daily Mail. With his wife working at a newspaper Terence decided to start compiling horror and mystery short stories and anthologies to put into the newspaper, which created an increase in sales for the newspaper. Terence was very well known for his works, and the detail that he went into with them made him a very popular writer. Often he wrote collaborations of stories that he would piece together from various friends that he would piece all together into one story. in 1941 he enlisted into the RAF underneath his real name of Armstrong after a eries of failed medical tests kept him out of the army. By the later part of his career the stressful life of a writer began to catch up to him, leading him into alcoholism and fits of drunken rage, to the point of which he chucked his typewriter out of the window in one instance. Along with his drunkenness he was dealing with the psychological stress that the divorce of his parents had put on him when he was a very young child, which led him to feed his ego and put himself out there as a more interesting man than he really was. After the type writer incident Terence kept writing poems, but instead choosing to hand write them and keep them in small hand journals. As he started to age he developed diabetes and began to fall ill. He kept writing from the different hospitals he was a patient at. Finally at the age of 58 he received a very large and substantial amount of inheritance, enough money to cure him of his ailments, and allow him to retire. Unfortunately he passed away from a pulmonary embolism two days before he received notification of the inheritance.

www.lib.uiowa.edu/spec-coll/bai/eng.htm


http://web.ebscohost.com.wf2dnvr11.webfeat.org/ehost/detail?sid=9a41e0a6-7fbf-4dfa-b653-177cddcf53df%40sessionmgr104&vid=1&hid=112&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#db=lfh&AN=103331LM32049790302813


http://www.alangullette.com/lit/shiel/essays/shiel_gawsworth.htm

British awesome-ness, Whom I Am Researching

Ivor Gurney

The British poet that I have chosen for my research project is the poet, Ivor Gurney. I have chosen this poet for a variety of reasons, which include the time period in which he lived. Ivor Gurney was born during the time of World War One, so that much of his work was revolved around the central theme of the war. He lost many of his friends throughout the war, so his poetry was dedicated to their memories and to the continual fight of the other brave soldiers as they continued the battle of the century. He is not a very recognized poet, but the few poems that I have read by him so far, including his poem titled Beauty, have intrigued me to learn more about him and about his works throughout my project.

John Milton

John Milton was born to John Sr. and Sara Milton on December 9th, 1608 in Cheapside, England. His father’s job was a scrivener; this basically meant that he was a glorified secretary. John Milton Sr. also composed church music, this led to John Milton Jr. enjoying music for the rest of his life.
His family was pretty well off so they were able to afford him tutors to teach him at home. At the age of twelve he entered St. Paul’s School. Just 5 years later he was he was admitted into Christ’s College in Cambridge. However one year later he was suspended from school for getting in an aggressive argument with his tutor. After the suspension John left Cambridge for London. While he was in London he acquired an interest for poetry. Time passed and he returned to Christ’s College, this time he was given a new tutor. He was not happy at Christ’s College, he felt as if none of the fellow students liked him and he was also dissatisfied with the curriculum. John graduated with honors from Christ’s College in 1632. After his graduation he left Cambridge and went to London, this was so he could do some private study and literature composition. During this time he wrote many literary works one of his more famous works that came out during this time period was the poem “On Shakespeare”. In 1637 his mother died and then months later his good friend died, Edward King. Shortly after the deaths of his two loved one he composed a remarkable elegy, titled, “Lycidas”.
Milton set out for a tour around Europe. This tour was to include many famous sites in Europe. Some of the sites Mr. Milton visited included Paris, Florence, Rome, Naples, and Geneva. In Milton found out that he had lost another good friend. His childhood friend, Charles Diodati, was the victim of death. John had to end his tour of Europe because there were many rumors that civil war was brewing in England. Shortly after he ended his tour he wrote a poem “Epitaphium Damonis”. This was a Latin poem he wrote in memory of his good friend.
In 1642 John married Mary Powell. She was 17 years old while he was 34. This relationship did not work out too well, the two were often very unhappy. Mary ended up leaving to visit the family home and did not return. Milton wanted to divorce on the grounds of incompatibility. Through all of this Milton planned to remarry Mary on her return. When she returned they seemed to have fixed the problems in their relationship. In 1646 their first child, Anna was born. In 1651 his first son was born. The year 1652 was a horrible year for Milton. He lost his sight and this event prompted him to write the sonnet “When I Consider How My Light is Spent”. Mary gave birth to their 4 child Deborah but Mary died just a few days later and his son John died a month later.
In 1663 John spent his time tutoring students. He also worked on his life’s work the epic Paradise Lost. It is considered as one of the greatest pieces of English literature. The crazy thing is that he did all of this while he was blind he basically wrote it in his head and told his aides what to write down. In 1667 the epic was published in ten books. The book met instant success. In 1674 Milton met his end. He was buried at a church in St. Giles.

Shakespeare's Biography

Biography of William Shakespeare:
William Shakespeare (1564-1616) ---The date of his actual birth is up to debate, though it is believed that he was born on April 23. Shakespeare also perished on this very same day 52 years later. He was a British poet, player, playwright, and very talented in all three fields. He is known to have written 38 plays. As a young man, William was a student of a local grammar school in his home of Stratford. In 1582, Shakespeare married to a young woman by the name of Anne Hathaway. He was 18 and his wife 26 at the time of this event. They had three children, a daughter Susanna, and twins: Hamnet and Judith. Hamnet died at the age of 11. Following the birth of his twins, William disappeared from record, reappearing in London, England in 1592. It was here where he began to build his career as an actor and playwright. Shakespeare’s first tragedy, Titus Andronicus, was written in 1593. Soon after, the theatres closed due to the plague for 1593 and much of 1594. It was during this time that Shakespeare wrote two narrative poems for the Earl of Southampton. The majority of William’s poems were 154 sonnets. By 1594, Shakespeare was acting, writing, and managing the play of, "King's Men." This became a world famous play, extremely popular to the people of London, England. The success that Shakespeare had is very apparent when compared to other playwrights of this age. His company was the most accomplished in the city of London in his day. A number of his plays were published and sold in octavo editions, or "penny-copies" to the more literate of his audiences. Never before had a playwright been so highly recognized that it was sold as literature. Though Shakespeare could not be considered wealthy, by London standards, his prosperity allowed him to purchase New House and retire in comfort to Stratford in 1611. Shakespeare wrote his will in 1611, handing down his properties to his daughter Susanna. Susanna married in 1607 to Dr. John Hall. To his surviving daughter Judith, he left £300, and to his wife Anne he left "my second best bed." It is said that William Shakespeare died on his birthday, April 23, 1616, although this is probably more of a romantic myth than reality. Shakespeare was interred at Holy Trinity in Stratford on April 25. In 1623, two working companions of Shakespeare from the Lord Chamberlain's Men, John Heminges and Henry Condell, printed the First Folio edition of the Collected Works, of which half the plays contained were previously unpublished. The First Folio also contained Shakespeare's sonnets. William Shakespeare leaves a legacy of unrivaled creativity and intelligence in poetry, acting, and as a playwright. Many aspects of William Shakespeare’s life are questionable such as if he wrote all the plays attributable to him. However the fact that we cannot provide sufficient evidence that he did not write all of his plays, allows Shakespeare to remain the greatest playwright of all time.

William Blake

William Blake is an interesting character to read and learn about. Not only was he a poet, he was also an artists. Most of his poems were his paintings. He was also a very religious man that expresses his religious beliefs in many of his poems. Many critics and readers believe that his writings were childish and I want to know why his poems and books were put down as hits.

Friday, April 22, 2011

Biography of Lewis Carroll

The poetry, novels, letters and essays under the name of Lewis Carroll have been widely influential in children's literature since his lifetime during the Victorian Era. The brilliance of Charles Dodgson (Lewis Carroll) has been evident since his birth in Cheshire, England on January 27, 1832. The first of eleven children, Charles was raised in a surprisingly close-knit, upper-class family. His wholesome upbringing sparked wonder in the young Dodgson. Innocent exploration filled the days and nights of Charles's childhood and later inspired the themes interweaved in his literary works.
Dodgson was an extremely bright pupil, writing poetry beginning in grammar school. In college he studied and eventually gained success in literature as well as mathematics. He excelled in the subjects to such an extent that he was appointed a lecturer in math and was adopted eternally into the Christ Church, his alma mater. Dodgson became a deacon, and lived his life wearing clothes of such, upheld his vows and never married. After college, Charles embarked on an investigation of his infatuations. He began publishing his writings in newspapers and magazines, and soon became known under his well-known pseudonym, Lewis Carroll.
Due to his love for tedious details, Charles also found himself passionate for photography. In the Victorian Era, developing photographs was an extremely difficult process, and involved the use of many chemicals and perfect timing, so it was perfect for Dodgson’s logical and math-oriented brain. The subjects that frequented Dodgson’s pictures and free time engagements were young children, most oftenly pre-pubescent girls. He believed young girls to be the embodiment of youth and beauty. A surprising factor of his photography was that the young subjects were usually nude; sparking the idea of Dodgson’s supposed pedophilia.
Charles was often accompanied by young children on his outings to plays, social events and even outwardly stated he preferred children to adults. Charles had been inflicted with a stammer that affected greatly his self confidence since his youth, but it was rumored that his speech impediment disappeared when speaking with children. Charles was fascinated by children of all types, but his favorite by far was Alice Liddell. Dodgson was taken by Alice, and she was the muse for most of his literary works, the most popular being Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
Despite his apparent good health, Charles died from a bronchial infection on January 14, 1898 in Surrey, England. The legacy of this famed writer lives on, however, in his many literary works that were innovative and unheard-of for Dodgson’s time. Charles was the first writer to use a female as the main character, and also pioneered the strategy of using a child’s point of view as the main plot. He is said to be one of the “inventors of childhood”, or children’s literature for this very reason.
The literary era of Charles's time was the Romantic Period. The signs of this are evident in the themes of his work. Strange, far away places were common settings in a Romantic novel, which was obvious in Carroll’s creation of Wonderland. The common man as a hero was another popular theme, and Carroll epitomizes this with his use of Alice, a small girl, saving the poor creatures from the wickedness of the Queen. The bizarre fantasy and nonsense that often accompanies his writing is also cliché for this period of literature.
Not only the literary era, but in the historical context of Carroll’s works, the Victorian Era provides a supporting backbone for the themes throughout his work. The Victorian Era was a time of science, advancement and discovery. This is evident in Dodgson’s many publications of his discoveries and theories in mathematics and science. Child labor was a big issue during this time period, which was also a time when children first began to read books. There is a distinct correlation between this historical situation and Carroll’s writing. He addressed political and social themes in his use of the gallant white knight, and it’s reflection of Victorian gentlemen and their values.
Carroll is often classified as writing nonsense literature and is recognized by his use of made-up words and comic verse, but it’s for this reason he was one the most avant-garde and influential writers of his time.




Sources

Bump, Jerome. Victorian Studies; Winter 85, Vol. 28 Issue 2, pg. 316.
Indiana University Press.


Smith, Roger. Dictionary of World Biography: The 19th Century; January 2000, p1-3


Leach, Karoline. Charles Lutwidge Dodgson (Lewis Carroll): A Brief Biography. 22 April 2011. <www.victorianweb.org/authors/carroll/themeov.html>


ASHLEY