Kenneth Millard
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122258
- eISBN:
- 9780191671395
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122258.001.0001
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
The poets writing in the first years of the 20th century have commonly been discussed in isolation. This book considers together seven poets — Henry Newbolt, John Masefield, Thomas Hardy, Edward ...
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The poets writing in the first years of the 20th century have commonly been discussed in isolation. This book considers together seven poets — Henry Newbolt, John Masefield, Thomas Hardy, Edward Thomas, A. E. Housman, John Davidson, and Rupert Brooke — and argues that their work is worthy of more serious critical attention than it has previously received. Through an analysis of numerous individual poems, the chapter isolates certain common concerns: the changing and perhaps fading value of England; a distrust of the medium of language itself; a distrust also of the creative imagination. In its reassessment of these poets, the book provides a literary context for their work, finding in it a kind of pre-War modern British poetry distinct from the Modernism of subsequent decades. In establishing a literary context for the poetry of this century's first decade the book offers a revision of modern literary history and points towards an alternative line in 20th-century British poetry that culminates in the work of Philip Larkin.Less
The poets writing in the first years of the 20th century have commonly been discussed in isolation. This book considers together seven poets — Henry Newbolt, John Masefield, Thomas Hardy, Edward Thomas, A. E. Housman, John Davidson, and Rupert Brooke — and argues that their work is worthy of more serious critical attention than it has previously received. Through an analysis of numerous individual poems, the chapter isolates certain common concerns: the changing and perhaps fading value of England; a distrust of the medium of language itself; a distrust also of the creative imagination. In its reassessment of these poets, the book provides a literary context for their work, finding in it a kind of pre-War modern British poetry distinct from the Modernism of subsequent decades. In establishing a literary context for the poetry of this century's first decade the book offers a revision of modern literary history and points towards an alternative line in 20th-century British poetry that culminates in the work of Philip Larkin.
Kenneth Millard
- Published in print:
- 1991
- Published Online:
- October 2011
- ISBN:
- 9780198122258
- eISBN:
- 9780191671395
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- DOI:
- 10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198122258.003.0007
- Subject:
- Literature, Poetry, 20th-century Literature and Modernism
John Davidson's early writings are characterized by their exploration of a Scottish cultural heritage, which initially he seems to have endorsed. But Scottish literature alone became increasingly ...
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John Davidson's early writings are characterized by their exploration of a Scottish cultural heritage, which initially he seems to have endorsed. But Scottish literature alone became increasingly insufficient for Davidson as his talent and ambition developed. The Scottish poet's aversion to the austerity and self-denial and independent thought was almost programmatic. Davidson's move to London in 1890 is a watershed in his progress at which ostensibly he abandoned Scotland as a source of imaginative inspiration. However, the poverty of his literary career intensified the isolation he felt as a Scot in Edwardian London. This chapter tries to show that Davidson's sense of Scottish identity helped to sustain him in this creative enterprise despite public indifference, and argues that his cultural displacement characterizes him as perhaps unique among Edwardians, as one who anticipates some of the innovations of the Modernists.Less
John Davidson's early writings are characterized by their exploration of a Scottish cultural heritage, which initially he seems to have endorsed. But Scottish literature alone became increasingly insufficient for Davidson as his talent and ambition developed. The Scottish poet's aversion to the austerity and self-denial and independent thought was almost programmatic. Davidson's move to London in 1890 is a watershed in his progress at which ostensibly he abandoned Scotland as a source of imaginative inspiration. However, the poverty of his literary career intensified the isolation he felt as a Scot in Edwardian London. This chapter tries to show that Davidson's sense of Scottish identity helped to sustain him in this creative enterprise despite public indifference, and argues that his cultural displacement characterizes him as perhaps unique among Edwardians, as one who anticipates some of the innovations of the Modernists.
Michael Shaw
- Published in print:
- 2019
- Published Online:
- May 2021
- ISBN:
- 9781474433952
- eISBN:
- 9781474477000
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- Edinburgh University Press
- DOI:
- 10.3366/edinburgh/9781474433952.003.0004
- Subject:
- Literature, Criticism/Theory
In their attempts to advance Scottish cultural revivalism, many writers and artists looked to mythical origins to help bind the national community and define its international connections. This ...
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In their attempts to advance Scottish cultural revivalism, many writers and artists looked to mythical origins to help bind the national community and define its international connections. This chapter illustrates that it was not just Celtic mythical heroes that appealed to cultural revivalists but also Mediterranean paganisms, and that Celtic and Greek gods and mythologies often interacted in Scottish literature and art. The chapter uses John Duncan’s Ramsay Garden murals as a case study, before going on to assess William Sharp/Fiona Macleod’s concern with paganism. Fiona Macleod’s neo-pagan writings reveal the complicated gender dynamics of cultural revivalism in Scotland. The chapter then discusses the significant presence of Pan in fin-de-siècle Scottish culture, before exploring John Davidson’s resistance to both neo-paganism and Scottish cultural revivalism.Less
In their attempts to advance Scottish cultural revivalism, many writers and artists looked to mythical origins to help bind the national community and define its international connections. This chapter illustrates that it was not just Celtic mythical heroes that appealed to cultural revivalists but also Mediterranean paganisms, and that Celtic and Greek gods and mythologies often interacted in Scottish literature and art. The chapter uses John Duncan’s Ramsay Garden murals as a case study, before going on to assess William Sharp/Fiona Macleod’s concern with paganism. Fiona Macleod’s neo-pagan writings reveal the complicated gender dynamics of cultural revivalism in Scotland. The chapter then discusses the significant presence of Pan in fin-de-siècle Scottish culture, before exploring John Davidson’s resistance to both neo-paganism and Scottish cultural revivalism.
- Published in print:
- 2003
- Published Online:
- March 2013
- ISBN:
- 9780226042787
- eISBN:
- 9780226042770
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of Chicago Press
- DOI:
- 10.7208/chicago/9780226042770.003.0003
- Subject:
- Philosophy, History of Philosophy
This chapter is a conversation among three students—Michael, Ronna, and Robert—and their professor Seth Benardete at the University of Chicago. Benardete describes his experience during his ...
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This chapter is a conversation among three students—Michael, Ronna, and Robert—and their professor Seth Benardete at the University of Chicago. Benardete describes his experience during his fellowship at Athens, Rome, and Florence in the early 1950s. In Italy, he had an encounter with James Baldwin, when Baldwin had published his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain. Before going to Athens, Benardete had gone to England, where he had a chance to meet John Davidson Beazley, C.M. Bowra, and Maurice Powicke. He also describes his encounters at Athens with Werner Jaeger, and at Rome with Lord and Lady Beazley and Elliott Carter. Finally, Benardete describes his struggle while writing a dissertation on Homer's The Iliad.Less
This chapter is a conversation among three students—Michael, Ronna, and Robert—and their professor Seth Benardete at the University of Chicago. Benardete describes his experience during his fellowship at Athens, Rome, and Florence in the early 1950s. In Italy, he had an encounter with James Baldwin, when Baldwin had published his first novel, Go Tell It on the Mountain. Before going to Athens, Benardete had gone to England, where he had a chance to meet John Davidson Beazley, C.M. Bowra, and Maurice Powicke. He also describes his encounters at Athens with Werner Jaeger, and at Rome with Lord and Lady Beazley and Elliott Carter. Finally, Benardete describes his struggle while writing a dissertation on Homer's The Iliad.
