I. The Restoration Period. Butler and Dryden. 1. Stunde. You know that in 1660 the Stuarts were restored to the throne. Charles II. came back from his exile in France. He brought his Frenchified courtiers with him to London. Charles had lived at the frivolous court of Louis XIV. at Versailles. As he was an immoral man, the dissolute manners of the French nobility had very much pleased him, had suited his depraved taste. How then could the king introduce French frivolousness into his country without being objected to by anybody? How could London, till then one of the gravest towns in Europe, become one of the gayest? Well, the English nobles, who at the time of the Commonwealth had lost all their political importance, began to cringe to, fawn upon, behave obsequiously to, the king, they proved in every case to be his most obedient servants just as their French equals did at Versailles. And the people longed for peace after the endless troubles of the Civil War, and that's why it suffered itself to be deceived by the seeming affability, complaisance, politeness of King Charles, and pardoned its merry monarch sins less pardonable than those for which his father had suffered death. The Stuarts had brought with them the corrupt manners of the French court, and literary men were as readily willing as the nobles to serve the wanton desires of His Majesty the king. Never before had voluptuousness, coarseness become: made itself so manifest on the stage as after the Restoration. You remember that the Puritans had closed the theatres. seemed as if, to make up for the loss, playwrights vied with each other in being coarse: obscene, indecent, cynical: sneering, heartless in their performances. In the comedies of the period frivolity is all that is wanted, frivolity is their end and aim, their chief contents. Virtue has no more value, it is mocked at, vice is triumphant: exulting shamelessly. Thus the Restor Moosmann, Englische Literaturstunden. 1 It ation marks a real epoch in English literature. It was natural that the new comic drama should give vigorous expression to the reaction against the Puritan severity of manners, which set in after the return of the monarchy. In its excesses, Puritan devotion seemed likely to be hypocrisy: cant, and easily became the object of or laid itself open to satire. Thus, many a satirical attack was made against the earnest and sober Puritans, the religious fanatics who disturbed the pleasures of the fashionable world. The best known of these satires on Puritan sobriety is a mock-heroic epic, called Hudibras. Its author was Samuel Butler, who had been a clerk to one of Cromwell's officers. Hudibras is written in doggerel verse of iambic tetrameters or lines of four iambic feet coupled together by a rhyme, like this: "His puissant sword / unto his side / Near his un daunted heart / was tied." / I'll read to you the beginning of the poem in a German rendering. Humorously summing up the mighty struggle of the Civil War, the author begins thus: ,,Als vormals Groll und Bürgerkrieg, Und schlugen sich wie toll und dumm Auf deren Ehre jeder schwur, Und kannten sie kaum einige nur; Als jeder Pfaff' sein Kanzeltuch Statt Trommelstock mit Fäusten schlug Die Langohrschar mit lautem Zeter Da zog auch unser Ritter aus." He sets forth with his clerk to correct abuses and abolish amusements. Sir Hudibus is a J. P.: a Justice of the Peace, a Laienrichter, an unlearned judge, lay-judge, one of those police magistrates who, though not being lawyers, administer justice in the Petty Sessions, two by two, and in the Quarter Sessions, which are held by all the J. P.'s of the district every quarter of the year. Here they settle the quarrels of less importance. In former days these Quarter Sessions were like so many little parliaments. Sir Hudibras is a fine scholar, hear the following lines: Wie Säue grunzen so natürlich Sprach er das Griechisch, klar und zierlich, "Beside, 'tis known he could speak Greek That Latin was no more difficile Than to a blackbird 'tis to whistle." This comic satire is a rough imitation of Cervantes' comic novel of Don Quixote. But whereas Don Quixote is a nobleminded knight who wants to realise his idea of chivalry by correcting the abuses of his age, Hudibras is a vile rascal who uses piety and chivalry as means of reaching his selfish aims. Hudibras puts on the mask of decency only to perform his knavish tricks. But just as it was1), the satire succeeded in its aim of making a laughing-stock of the Puritans who appear to be ridiculous and base: contemptible. Hence, the book gave so much pleasure to Charles II. that he carried it about with him in his pocket. I have already said that the reaction against the Puritans is also felt in the comedy of the Restoration period. Of all the playwrights of that time John Dryden is the best known. With his wide culture, his high talents, his rare poetic gift, he stood head and shoulders above the other writers of the age and exercised such an influence on his contemporaries that this period of English literature is often called the age of Dryden. He is the chief representative of court poetry under the Stuarts after the Restoration. He was Poet Laureate i. e. an officer in the king's household who gets a salary and whose business it was down to George III. to compose an ode every year for the king's and queen's birthdays. Besides, he was historiographer to the king i. e. the official historian of the court. He 1) "just as it was' is ambiguous. It might mean: 'although it was just (richtig) or 'as it was, without changing' I should say either: 'As it was just (justifiable as it was) or ist hier gemeint 'even as it stood"". und das wrote every kind of poetry, plays, satires, lyrics, epics, fables, and prose criticism. His public life shows that he trimmed his sails according to the wind, which I will let you see next time. 2. Stunde: What period is called the Restoration? When did the Stuarts return from their exile in France? What effect had the return of the court on the life in the capital? What soon became the fashion among society people? Why could the king and his Frenchified courtiers introduce frivolity into English social life without resistance? - What sort of man was Charles II.? What effect had the immoral manners of the court and society on literature? What did literary men chiefly write? comedies and satires for the amusement of the society. What is the characteristic feature of the comedies of the day? To suit the depraved taste: corrupt manners of the London court the English dramatists vulgarized Molière; their comedy is a debased imitation of Molière's, lower in quality, value, character than the French original. It is extremely licentious. The most brilliant of these imitators of Molière and writers of the Comedy of depraved manners were Wycherley and Congreve, whose work was praised even by such critics as Dryden and Voltaire. V. had come to England to make the personal acquaintance of D. I just want to mention their names. Against what is this baseness a reaction? Where else did this reaction find vigorous expression? - What is the most famous of these satires? In what metre is it written ? What does this mock-heroic epic describe? - Of what great comic novel is "Hudibras" a mean imitation? Where is the difference between the two? Who is the chief representative poet of the age? Why could he become the chief writer? What does his public life show? Under Cromwell, he was a thorough Puritan, and accordingly, he wrote on the Protector's death some Heroic Stanzas praising his noble qualities. Charles II.'s return was celebrated by him in a panegyric poem Astraea Redux meaning the returning star, which announces the return of the Golden Age. As Charles was a Protestant, Dryden defended the Church of England against the Dissenters in a satire, called the Layman's Faith. Under James II., who tried to make England a Roman Catholic country, Dryden went over to Catholicism and wrote an allegory which represented the Church of Rome as the immortal hind unspotted and unchanged, while the Church of England was called a Panther, and the Presbyterian Church a wolf. When James II. was driven from the throne and replaced by William, Prince of Orange, the husband of his elder daughter Mary (When?- Whigs and Tories? - Glorious Revolution? - Declaration of Rights?), Dryden lost his laureateship and pension and had to retire into private life. During this period of his adversity he wrote such fine lyrics as a Song for St. Cecilia's Day. Open your books. I'll read it first in a German translation which I owe to one of my young colleagues: 1. Aus Harmonie, aus Himmelsharmonie Erhob sich dieser Weltenbau; Als die Natur noch unter einem Haufen Mißtönender Atome lag Und nicht ihr Haupt erheben konnte, Da klang die Stimme tönend aus der Höh', Da sprangen auf nach ihrer Reih' Das Kalte, Heiße, Feuchte, Trockne Aus Harmonie, aus Himmelsharmonie Von Harmonie zu Harmonie Durchlief er all' der Töne weiten Gang, Bis dann im Menschen mächtig aus es klang. 2. Welch' Triebe kann Musik nicht wecken oder kühlen? Als Jubals Saitenspiel erklang, Da lauschten seine Brüder bang, Bis sie erschauernd niederfielen In Andacht vor dem Himmelsklang. Denn nur ein Gott kann wohnen, wie sie fühlen, Im Innern dieses Wunderbaus, Aus dem so süß es klang heraus. Welch Triebe kann Musik nicht wecken oder kühlen? 3. Der Trompete Geschmetter Zum Kampfe uns weckt, Mit Tönen des Zornes Tödlich uns schreckt. |