LECTURE VI. KEATS. 1795-1821. Biographical Sketch. His parents. John Keats born in London, 1795. Early associations. School days at Enfield. Extent of his acquirements. Inspired to poetry by Spenser's Faierie Queene: cf. Southey.Life as a surgeon's apprentice at Edmonton. Early efforts in poetry. Life in London. Friendship with Leigh Hunt. Influence exercised on him by the latter; and by the artist, Haydon. Early Sonnets. Unequal powers which they display. Publication of a volume of poems in 1817. Its contents and reception. At work on Endymion. Wanderings in England. In Scotland. Publication of Endymion, 1818. Its reception by the Reviewers. Keats and The Quarterly. Authorship of the review. Its effects on Keats exaggerated. Death of his brother and removal to Hampstead. Begins Hyperion and meets Fanny Brawne. Effects produced by his passion upon his character and his poetic genius. Odes and Sonnets. Composition of Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, Lamia, St. Mark's Eve, and Otho. Keats and the Isle of Wight. La Belle dame sans merci. Beginnings of the end. Visit to Italy with Severn. Illness and death at Rome, 1821. Critical notes. Nature of Keats' genius. Influence of Chatterton. Intermingling of the classic and romantic. Points of contact with Wordsworth and Coleridge. Style and metre of Endymion. Limitations and defects of the longer poems. Supreme quality of some of the Sonnets. Of Isabella. Keats in relation to Greek life and thought (e.g. Hyperion). Keats as an artist in poetic diction. His influence upon art and poetry. University Extension Lectures Syllabus of a Course of Six Lectures on American War of Independence No. 230 by E. L. S. Horsburgh, B.A. Staff Lecturer in History and Literature for the Oxford and American Price, 10 cents Copyright, 1903, by The American Society for the Extension of University Teaching BOOKS RECOMMENDED. As Text-books: Epochs of American History. The Formation of the Union, 1750- Epochs of Modern History. The War of American Independence. As books of Reference: BANCROFT'S History of the United States. Vols. iv-x. FISKE'S American Revolution. 2 vols. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. FISKE'S History of the United States for Schools. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. 'American Statesmen Series ' : Benjamin Franklin. J. T. MORSE, Jun. Houghton, Mifflin & Co. Thomas Jefferson. J. T. MORSE, Jun. LECKY'S History of England in the Eighteenth Century. BURKE'S Speeches on American Questions. Edited by PAYNE, Clarendon Press. GUIZOT's Life of Washington. BRIGHT'S History of England. Vol. iii. Clarendon Press. LECTURE I. GRENVILLE AND THE COMMERCIAL SYSTEM. 1. Rise and development of the American colonies. The French in America. The Seven Years' War and its results. Sense of dependence weakened by extent of British success. Prophecies of ultimate separation between Great Britain and her American colonies. 2. The colonies in relation to the mother-country. The colonial constitutions. Separation and jealousies existing between the colonies. Franklin and the need for a Federal Union. The colonies refuse to federate. The tie binding each to England mainly a tie of sentiment. Views of England as to value of her colonies. The Commercial system and the Navigation Laws. How the system affected the Americans. Its disadvantages and counterbalancing advantages. Laxity of Walpole's government towards colonial questions. Loyalty roused by Seven Years' War. Situation at the close of the war. 3. Fall of Bute's Administration, 1763. George Grenville Prime Minister. Character of Grenville. His proposals in relation to America. Abstract merits of these proposals:(1) To enforce the Commercial System. (2) To maintain a military force in America. (3) To tax America directly in order to raise contributory funds (Stamp Tax). Outcry in America against Grenville's proposals. American objections examined. Grenville and Franklin. Real nature of Grenville's mistakes. The Stamp Tax and its reception in America. Fall of Grenville, 1765. Lord Rockingham succeeds him. Burke and Rockingham. Repeal of Stamp Tax. The Declaratory Act. Views of Americans as to the Declaratory Act. Prospects of permanent pacification. LECTURE II. BURKE AND PITT IN RELATION TO AMERICAN QUESTIONS. 1. Burke's political career to 1763. His mind and character. Natural antipathy to Grenville's policy. Examination of his speeches on American questions. Burke's pleas are based upon (1) His imagination. The rise of the colonies appealed to his imagination in the same way as India, or Marie Antoinette, did in later years. (2) His innate conservatism. Grenville's policy was one of innovation. Direct taxes had never been raised before in America. A sufficient reason for not raising them now. (3) His sense of expediency. The advantages to be gained by a new policy not proportionate to evils to be anticipated. Thus he based his objections not on right, but expediency. 2. Pitt opposes Grenville on grounds of right as well as expediency. His views as to the principles of British freedom. Grenville's policy an infringement of these fundamental principles. Direct taxation must be accompanied by representation in Parliament. Pitt forms a Government on Rockingham's fall, 1766. Nature of this Ministry. Pitt retires to the Lords, 1767. Policy pursued by his late colleagues. Pitt's opposition. Consistency of his views on American questions. He denies that Imperial supremacy is threatened. But with the outbreak of war, America seeks assistance from France. Declaration of Independence. Pitt urges the vigorous prosecution of the war. His death, 1778. Examination and criticism of Pitt's later policy. |