CONFRONTO: London di William Blake e Composed Upon Westminster Bridge di Wordsworth

London is is about the people of London and the conditions of the urban poor and their physical and moral misery. He focuses on the ugly side of the city.	Westminster bridge is a more positive view of London and is more concerned with the beauty and harmony of the buildings and nature together.
Walks through the streets of London in the darkness of night and his perspective is at street level, narrow and restrictive.	Views London from Westminster bridge his perspective is panoramic.
Draws attention to the suffering of individuals and presents the woes of several figures; the chimney sweepers, soldiers and young harlots .	Describes the urban environment ignoring its unpleasant and industrial aspects . Shows general image of the city in the absence of human activity.
The mood and atmosphere of the poem is negative bitter and disillusioned.	The mood and atmosphere is positive, beautiful and peaceful.
He attacks the institutions of England ; the church, the monarchy and the rich ruling class.
There is dynamic activity , the harlots curse, the soldiers sigh,  every cry of every man.	Describes a still motionless landscape.
Describes and interprets what he sees.	Expresses the emotion that he feels at the sight of what he sees.
Against the social consequences of the industrial revolution .	Against the industrial revolution refuges in the beauty of nature.
Simple structure, simple  but powerful language. Uses repetition, chartered, marks, cry, every. Metaphor 8th line Synecdoche (chimney sweepers , soldiers ) Alliteration  blasts blight	Petrarchan sonnet composed of 14 lines and divided in 22 quatrains and 2 terzet. descriptive words , gentle sounds to reflect the calm nature of the poem. The rhyme scheme is ABBA ABBA CDC DCD. The poet uses metaphor, repetition, personification and simily.

William Blake - Infant joy - Infant sorrow - London - COMMENTO

William Blake, born in London the 1757, was an engraver. He started writing in his late twenties,                                                                                                                                 in 1789 he published  the songs of innocence, and in 1794 the which he engraved himself. these are the original publications: instead of printing the book normally he engraved both the words and the pictures on copper plates with a special technique of this own called "illuminated printing".

INFANT JOY

This poem focuses on the gift of life in a newborn, and celebrates happiness. It is presented in a form of an imaginary dialogue between a mother and his newborn child who’s two days old. The mother asks the baby how he wants to be called, and he names himself Joy because joy is the only emotion he has experienced so far. The mother blesses the baby with the name Joy, and hopes that joy will always be his lot in life.

Charles Dickens - Hard Times - A Christmas Carol

Charles Dickens was born in 1812 in Portsmouth, but in his early years moved to London because of his father’s critical economic situation. In fact, at the age of twelve he was withdrawn from school and forced to work in a blacking factory. This experience marked him for life and influenced all his works. When his father’s economic situations improved, he continued his studies, became a journalist and published 14 successful novels, among which Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Hard Times and A Christmas Carol.

HARD TIMES: It tells the story of a school teacher, Thomas Grangrind, a citizen of Coketown, who believes on the importance of utilitarianism, reason and calculation; he is very rational and narrow minded. He  has two children: Louisa and Tom, who he raises, trying to suffocate every tendency to imagination. He does the same with his students: he considers them as numbers and pitchers which he has to fill with information and knowledge. (Sissy, whose father is a circus keeper).  His daughter married an old and rich factory owner, as her father wanted, but has an un happy marriage. She is distracted by another man, Mr Bounderby, but when he tries to seduce her, she runs to her father asking for help. In that moment Mr. Grandgreed understands that his life of facts and figures is a non sense and decides to change. The novel represents  an open criticism to the effects of the industrial society: materialism and utilitarianism.

The novel in the Romantic Age - Walter Scott - Jane Austen

The 18^th century is a period known as the Age of Revolutions. In fact  two of the most important revolutions broke out: The French Revolution, which brought new ideas and beliefs; and the Industrial Revolution, which transformed Britain’s social structure.

All these changes had their effect on the development of the novel: novelists preferred to avoid or tie to the way of the world fiction, and preferred to concentrate on the linear history of one or more characters and issues. The two most important British novelists are Jane Austen and Walter Scott, who can be considered as polar opposites, but they actually depicted in different ways the same society in which they lived.

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott  was a Scottish writer and poet and one of the greatest historical novelists. He was born in 1771, in Edinburgh. An early illness left him lame in the right leg, however he had great physical endurance. He attended Edinburgh High School and studied arts and law at Edinburgh University.

In the 1810s Scott published several novels. : Waverley, Rob Roy a portrait of one of Scotland's greatest heroes and Ivanhoe  set during the reign of Richard I is perhaps the best known of Scott's novels today. He died in 1832.

He preferred setting his novels in the past, in fact he is considered the greatest historical novelist. By describing the past, however Scott creates parallels with the world of his own time, criticizing or celebrating its aspects.

Giuseppe Parini - Vita - Opere - Pensiero

Vita

Giuseppe  Parino nacque il 23 maggio 1729 a Bosisio, in Brianza da una famiglia di modeste condizioni. Dopo i primi studi fu condotto a Milano presso la prozia Anna Maria Lattuada che gli lasciò una piccola rendita annua, a condizione che divenisse sacerdote, per questo motivo il giovane, pur senza vocazione, intraprese la carriera ecclesiastica. Nle frattempo aveva pubblicato una raccolta di liriche sotto il nome di Ripano (anagramma di Parino), che gli valse l’ammissione all’Accademia dei Trasformati, uno dei centri più importanti della cultura milanese, che si avvicinava alle nuove istanze illuministiche ma con posizioni più moderate rispetto all’Accademia dei Pugni.

Nel 1754 entrò al servizio ldel duca Gabrio Serbelloni, come precettore dei figli, e, proprio dall’osservazione del Palazzo Serbelloni, egli potè conoscere dall’interno il mondo dell’aristocrazia milanese che avrebbe poi rappresentato satiricamente nel “Giorno”. Il palazzo era un ambiente culturale molto vivo che Parini decise di lasciare in seguito a una discussione con la duchessa Maria Vittoria e divenne precettore di Carlo Imbonati. Nel frattempo aveva già pubblicato i due poemetti satirici, il “Mattino” e il “Mezzogiorno”, che gli conferirono grande prestigio e gli permisero di poter assumere degli incarichi ufficiali: la direzione della Gazzetta di Milano” e la cattedra di “belle arti” nelle Scuole Palatine di Maria Teresa, regina d’Austria.

In questo contesto entrò in contatto con molti artisti neoclassici che influenzarono i suoi orientamenti poetici nell’ ultima parte della sua vita.

Romeo and Juliet - Riassunto

“Romeo and Juliet”, written by William Shakespeare, speaks about the contrast between two important families of Verona: the Couplets and the Montagues, and the love between their two children: Romeo and Juliet. They first meet at a masked ball given by the Couplets, in which Romeo manages to secretly enter. In the famous “balcony scene” Romeo overhears Juliet speaking to herself, saying that she has fallen in love with Romeo. With Friar Lawrence’s help the two lovers are secretly married the next day. Unfortunately, the same day Romeo gets involved in a fight in which, his friend Mercutio is murdered by Tybalt, Juliet’s cousin. Romeo avenges Mercutio’s murder by killing Tybalt, and he’s then banished to Mantua. In the meantime Juliet’s father wants her to marry Count Paris; but, with Friar Lawrence’s help, she drinks a potion that will give her the appearance of death for 40 hours and after her awakening Romeo will take her to Mantua. The Friar plans to tell Romeo about the strategy. But the message fails to reach Romeo in time and Romeo, believing Juliet dead drinks a poison and dies; when Juliet wakes up, finding Romeo dead, she takes his knife and kills herself. In the last scene the two families, united by this tragedy, are reconciled.