Image Making in James Thomson’s The Seasons (original) (raw)
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Visual Interpretations, Print, and Illustrations of Thomson's The Seasons, 1730 - 1797
Eighteenth-Century Life, 2010
The painterly properties of James Thomson's long poem The Seasons (1730) and the poem's descriptiveness were routinely remarked upon by its earliest readers. Dr. Johnson noted: "His descriptions of extended scenes and general effects bring before us the whole magnificence of Nature, whether pleasing or dreadful.. .. The poet leads us through the appearances of things as they are successively varied by the vicissitudes of the year, and imparts to us so much of his own enthusiasm, that our thoughts expand with his imagery, and kindle with his sentiments." 1 Robert Heron praised the "countless profusion of particular images," while Robert Shiels had denominated description as the "peculiar talent of Thomson." 2 Joseph Warton, among others, hailed the authenticity of Thomson's descriptions but, like Johnson, embedded them in a moral framework, remarking that "pathetic reflection, properly introduced into a descriptive poem, will have a still greater force and beauty, and more deeply interest a reader, than a moral one." 3 Scenes and episodes from Thomson's poem were adapted, visually interpreted, and translated into different media that ranged from Chelsea softpaste candlesticks in the 1750s, Meissen and Derby figurines of allegorical "seasons" (produced throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries), porcelain vases and creamware, to sculpture, decorative fireplace and floor
Literary Imagination, Oxford University Press, 2014
The attitude toward nature in James Thomson’s "The Seasons" has not been duly noted by literary commentators. Instead, the reception of "The Seasons" in modern literary criticism has focused on all sorts of aspects, ranging from visual imagery, to “dislocation, deformity and renewal.” However, when nature as a theme in the poem has been tackled, critics have favored its religious implications—specifically, those pertaining to the historical period in English literature, as well as a number of hypotheses about Thomson’s own relation toward god—over Thomson’s conception of nature on its own terms. Furthermore, none has, in my view, concentrated enough on the most emblematic characteristic of "The Seasons": its unresolved stance toward the natural and its strongly polarized attitude toward it. The aim of this essay is to examine these inconsistencies in order to reveal what they tell us about the period’s changing perspectives, to place "The Seasons"’ reception of the natural in the history of eighteenth-century literature, and to uncover the implications and fertile consequences of Thomson’s view of nature—which spill into para-literary domains.
2014
James Thomson’s descriptive long poem 'The Seasons', originally published in 1730, had a profound impact on eighteenth- and nineteenth-century literature and print culture in Britain and in Europe more generally. This dissertation aims to produce a textual, paratextual, and print-cultural study of Thomson’s poem, from 1730 to 1820. It adopts an interdisciplinary methodological framework, drawing on methodologies of genre theory, print culture studies, book history, and translation studies, to generate a novel understanding of the text by examining the ways in which the poem was mediated both textually and materially throughout the period. Engaging with the latest developments in print culture and book-historical research, it examines the paratextual apparatuses and material packaging of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century editions of The Seasons to make sense of their interpretative and cultural ramifications. It identifies the economic impulses and editorialising strat...
Poems from The Auroras of Autumn: “The Novel,” “Study of Images I,” and “Study of Images II”
Wallace Stevens Journal, 2019
The transcript was heavily edited for readability and circulated among participants for fine-tuning; it thus reproduces the dynamic of exchange without in any way striving to be literal. Readers who come upon this material outside the special issue to which it belongs are advised to read the editorial introduction for an account of the rationale behind the following discussion. Like an epistoLary noveL about HomeLessness ER: Before I read the first poem in this session, "The Novel," I thought it might be worth saying a few words about The Auroras of Autumn in general. We haven't always discussed the books in which poems appeared, though yesterday we debated how "Parochial Theme" fits into Parts of a World. 1 The Auroras of Autumn, as you're aware, has had a slightly checkered history in terms of its reception. Randall Jarrell, in particular, was critical of Stevens's supposedly icy poems that he charged with being inhuman. In one of his reviews, he suggested these poems would be sailing above our heads for centuries-I'm paraphrasing. Despite having some very strong poems in it, the volume has been denounced by several critics
James Thomson’s The Seasons, Gone Gaelic: The Emergence of a Poetic Trend
Proceedings of the Harvard Celtic Colloquium 30, 2011
s The Seasons was undoubtedly one of the most popular poetic works of eighteenth-century Britain. The four poems of which it is comprised were initially published sequentially, but not in order, beginning with 'Winter' in 1726, then 'Summer' in 1727, 'Spring' in 1728, and 'Autumn' included in the full, revised volume in 1730. 1 As Douglas Grant, one of Thomson's most respected biographers, asserts, "The Seasons was once to be found in every household.,,2 It is not surprising, then, that a Highland Scottish poet might be inspired by this greatly influential collection written by his fellow countryman-for Thomson was a Scot, though he left his Lowland home in favour of the London literary scene shortly before penning his first seasonal verse. While Alasdair mac Mhaighstir Alasdair, the aforementioned Highlander, never crossed paths with Thomson during his visits to the Lowlands, he certainly knew of Thomson. What is more, Alasdair bestowed upon him perhaps the greatest mark of respect one poet can show another-he composed a pair of seasonal poems in Scottish Gaelic in imitation of Thomson's magnum opus. And in doing so, Alasdair set off a chain reaction in the Highlands. His poems on summer and winter were so popular they prompted a spate of seasonal verse by nearly all of the best Gaelic poets before the tum of the nineteenth-century: Rob is more commonly known by the English form of his name, rather than E6ghann NATASHA SUMNER examines the intertextual relationships among these authors' seasonal compositions, both by exploring the creative interweaving of shared artistic material and by contextualizing these poetic interactions within a socio-historical framework. 4
International Journal of Linguistics, Literature and Translation
This paper attempts to investigate the depiction of nature in the poetry of Robert Frost and how this treatment simultaneously resembles and differs from that of romantic poetry. Though he belongs to the era of modernism, his poetry carries numerous characteristics of romantic poetry. The researcher tries to compare the poetry of Robert Frost and that of the Romantics how they are identical or dissimilar in the representation of nature. Robert Frost might be called the interpreter of nature and humanity. He shows that he is a close observer of both nature and people. On the other hand, Romantic writers see nature as a source of inspiration, solace in agony, healer in mental illness, rescuer in struggling period, etc. They treat nature as Mother Nature where their poetry tells us the beauty of green forestland, woods, hills and mountains, riverbanks, pastoral scenarios, breezes and winds, fresh air, sunrises, and sunsets, etc. Whereas Robert Frost always tries to make a bridge betwee...
The stylistic construction of verbal imagery in poetry: shooting distance and resolution in
Znaki czy nie znaki? III Józefina Piątkowska, Giennadij Zeldowicz eds. Wydawnictwa Uniwersytetu Warszawskiego, 2019
The notion of imagery is central to literary criticism as it underpins some of the most palpable experiences we have when reading fictional literary texts, prose and verse alike. Yet, its practical use is fraught with impressionism as the verbal image appears based on a relativist ontology that varies with readerly differences, both intrinsic and strategic (e.g. one may have a more visual or a more auditory memory, or give emphasis to more abstract, propositional aspects of a text). As a consequence of this, the verbal image also appear substantially independent from linguistic forms, which makes it problematic for stylistic analysis. This paper addresses and undermines the latter assumption and, in doing so, sets out the basis for a stylistic model of verbal imagery. My approach is twofold: on the one hand, I identify a 'nuclear' image on the basis of semantic and syntactic criteria-this I call the image-frame as opposed to more extensive realizations (i.e. image-complexes) or dynamic ones (i.e. image-scenes); on the other, I attempt to map semantico-grammatical variables onto perceptual effects, focusing on shooting distance and image resolution. In doing so, I draw inspiration from the complementary attempt of Kress and Van Leuween, who in Reading Images: the Grammar of Visual Design (2006 [1996]) propose an array of correspondences between visual strategies and grammatical structures. All the verbal images presented and discussed in this article come from Wilfred Owen, Marianne Moore and Philip Larkin: three poets who have effectively exploited the potential of realist mimesis (i.e. a faithful reproduction of external reality) within a twentieth century aesthetics.