Today we are going to discuss one of the most famous American romanticists James Fenimore Cooper. He was born on 15thSeptember 1789 and he died on 14thSeptember 1851. Cooper was enrolled in the Yale University for his degree but he was a notorious prankster and was expelled in his third year without completing his degree.
He wrote a number of social, political, and historical fiction and non-fiction novels. His daughter Susan Fennimore Cooper was also an author who wrote for women's suffrage. Her only novel was Elinor Wylkys.
The most famous works of James Cooper include The Spy, an espionage tale set in the American Revolutionary War period, and historical novel series of the frontier period known as the Leatherstocking Tales. Leatherstocking Tales introduced the very popular and appreciated American frontier scout icon character Natty Bumppo, a Romantic character who got immense success with the novel The Last of the Mohicans.
Cooper was equally admired and criticized by the bigwigs of the literary world. Henry David Thoreau was inspired by Cooper’s individualistic theme and ideas of writings. D.H Lawrence believed Cooper’s work is lovely, mature, and sensitive art. Cooper was the first American Novelist who introduced African, African-American & Native American characters in his books.
Victor Hugo termed Cooper as the “greatest novelist of the century outside France.”
Mark Twain, who was a staunch realist and somehow always criticized romanticism, criticized Cooper’s novels too in his essay “Fernimore Cooper’s Literary Offences.”
James Cooper joined the Navy in 1809 and he got married in 1811. Chance led him to experiment with fiction which became the line of work in which he was to achieve immense fame.
His first work was Precaution, published in the year 1820. It was more like an imitation of contemporary domestic novels like those of Amelia Opied or Jane Austin and it didn’t gain much success.
He was reading a novel to his wife and at some time, he got irritated and claimed that he can write a better novel. So his wife challenged him to write a novel for her. And that was the beginning of his great career as an author who became one of the most read romantic American writers. He published Precaution anonymously.
2) The Spy; A Tale of the Neutral Ground. It was published in the year 1821. It was his first successful novel. The story is based on American Revolutionary War and tells the story of a peddler named Harvey Birch who is suspected of being a spy of the British crown. However, in the end, it is revealed that he, not a spy but a patriot.
Cooper’s most famous works were the series the Leatherstocking Tales. It was a series of five novels. The storyline of each of these five novels is set in the 18th century. Each of the novels features Natty Bumppo, an American Frontier Scout whom the European-American settlers recognized as ‘Leatherstocking, ‘the trapper’, and ‘the pathfinder’. Native Americans recognized Natty Bumppo as ‘Deerslayer’, La Longe Carbine’, and ‘Hawkeye.’
The Leatherstocking series was published from 1827-1841. These were romantic novels and Natty Bumppo was a character representing ideals of Individualism with very high morals.
Natty Bumppo is the child of white parents who was raised by Native Americans of the Delaware Tribe and he was educated by Moravian Christians. As an adult, he becomes a fearless warrior who can use many weapons and his favorite weapon is the long rifle. His foster brother is Chingachgook and his nephew is Uncas who are native Indians.
So Natty Bumppo is a mixture of various cultures, he represents a brave honest, larger-than-life character, and hence Natty Bumppo became the model for idealistic American folk hero. He is known as the romancer of the forest, prairie, and the sea.
Such stories as The Pilot, The Deerslayer, The Last of the Mohicans, The Pathfinder, The Pioneer, and The Prairie dealing as they do for the most part with the clash of the new civilization with primitive Young America, have no peers in the romantic fiction.
The five novels of the Leatherstocking series were
1) The Pioneers: It was the first of the Leatherstocking series. It was published in the year 1823. The subtitle of The Pioneers is “The Sources of the Susquehanna: A Descriptive Tale. It is a historical novel set in 1793.
2) The Last of the Mohicans: it was published in the year 1826 and its subtitle is ‘A Narrative of 1757.” It depicts the was between French forces and the Native Americans with British characters involved. It is set in 1757.
3) The Prairie: It was published in 1827 and the subtitle of The Prairie is ‘A Tale.’ It was set in 1804, that is, the storyline is based on real events of the time during 1804.
4) The Pathfinder: It was published in the year 1827 and the subtitle of this novel was The Inland Sea. Its storyline is based on the historical events during 1758-1759.
5) The Deerslayer: The subtitle is The First Warpath. It was published in the year 1841 and it is set in 1740-1755.
So this is all about James Fenimore Cooper. He inspired other Romanticists including Herman Melville and Nathaniel Hawthorne. We will continue to discuss other literary gems of America in the upcoming editions. Please stay connected to the Discourse.
Hello and welcome to the Discourse. We will move now to discuss one of the most vivid section of English literature, the Elizabethan Drama.
First, we will discuss the nature of Drama, its historical background, and origin and then we will go through the works of some of the greatest dramatists of all times that belonged to the Elizabethan Era of English literature.
Drama, Definition, Types, and Effect
Drama can be defined as an articulate story presented in action. The story must be articulated or presented in spoken words and it must be in action too. Unlike pantomime, it is spoken and it includes the act of mimicry.
The story must be articulate as presented in spoken words and it must be in action too. Thus it includes acting. A drama can be effective or it can be ineffective. For a drama to be effective, it must have some conflict. There must be some clash between man and his surroundings or situations.
If that conflict is a trivial one, presented with a sense of slapstick humor, it is known as FARCE.
If the conflict is a serious and important one, and the drama ends happily for the hero and heroine, it is known as COMEDY. A comedy includes quaint circumstances, unusual characters, and witty remarks.
If the conflict is serious but the drama has an unhappy ending, it is known as TRAGEDY In such Dramas, the protagonist has a Tragic flaw that leads to his downfall.
A MELODRAMA is an exaggerated drama, it is sensational and it appeals directly to the senses of audience, Just like a Farce, its conflict is trivial.
A Musical Drama includes music and dances too.
Historical Background of Drama
The origins of drama can be found in Ancient religions including the Greeks, Indian, Chinese & Egyptian religions. The drama was an essential part of Greek religious ceremonies associated with Dionysus, God of life and death, God of wine, and the God of fertile Earth.
Greek Theater
In Ancient Greece, there used to be groups of 12-50 people who used to sing dithyrambs, ancient Greek hymns to praise and please Dionysus. These groups were known as the chorus. These groups used to compete with each other. Initially, they didn’t have any leader or Hero.
By 532 BC, Thespis arouse as the leader of the chorus and he became the first recorded actor of ancient Greek drama.
Gradually mew playwrights and techniques of acting were developed and we had some great Greek dramatists such as Sophocles, Aeschylus, Euphorian, Euripides, and many more.
Drama in Roman Civilization
Romans continued the culture of Greek drama but now they had varied subjects and were not limited to religious subjects. They were Farce and they included clowns performing obscenities, poetic meter, mocking, and other nuances, The influential Roman dramatists of Roman Farce included Novius and Pomponius.
Greeks and Romans used to have architectural structures for the performances of Dramas that included Theatron, Skene, Orchestra, Acoustics.
Dramas in Old and Middle English Period
Roman dramas were corrupt forms of Greek dramas and they were further corrupted by the end of late Roman Empire.
As Christianity arose and the Church got hold of power, all dramas and theaters were banned and dismantled. However, the Church soon realized that to suppress drama is akin to suppress laughter and tears and it is not workable. So, the Church started utilizing drama for its own purpose. This is the reason why it is a common and acceptable saying that “the cradle of the drama rested on the altar.”
1st stage of English Drama
The Church promoted religious forms of dramas to proselytize common people and to spread doctrines of the Bible.
Miracles and Mysteries
Initially, Gospel stories were depicted by a series of living pictures in which the performers acted the story but didn’t speak. Gradually, the actors started dialogues and they acted their parts.
Most of the playwrights during the Old English period were written by the clergy and hence they were in Latin or in Norman or vernacular French language. These plays were either Mysteries or Miracles.
Mysteries were plays whose stories were taken directly from the Bible and other scriptures while Miracles were the stories from the lives of saints and martyrs.
The drama of the middle English period included a juggler, a jester, and a tumbler to offer modest hilarity and amusement. Debate poetry such as The Owl and the Nightingale promoted drama.
The Church used drama to promote religion and the Mass were the occasions when Mysteries and Miracles were played in the Church.
The first Miracle that was depicted was Lucas de Santa Katherina.
2nd Stage
Mysteries and Miracles were not only helping in the spread of Christianity, these were the only source of mass amusement during those times. People started to gather in large numbers just to watch Miracles and Mysteries. So, in the fourteenth century, the Church decided to entrust some guilds to perform dramas in Market-place outside of the Churchyard. Each guild used to perform a play representing their particular trades. For example, the guild of fishermen used to perform the Flood, a mystery based on the Bible.
Since the times of Greeks, Masks were used in drama to offer allegorical essence. A monstrous head with movable jaws was used to represent Hell or Satan. The actors used different symbols to represent other aspects. The white Papal was used to represent God and godliness.
Gradually, Miracles became more popular, they were more successful than Mysteries. Each big town used to have its own cycle of plays to be performed annually. The plays were all religious in nature and they were used to be performed on scaffolds in open space. The Church was losing its grip and by the end of the Thirteenth-century Guilds were becoming more active in dramas. There were four main cycles of Dramas, the York cycle, Towneley Cycle, Chester Cycle, and Coventry Cycle.
The York Cycle
York cycle consisted of 48 plays that have been preserved till the present day. They were written in Northumbrian dialect and were staged in the York town. The first play dealt with the creation of the World and Fall of Lucifer, the next three plays showed Fall of Man, and then Story of Cain and Abel, 8th and 9th plays dealt with the making of Arc, the Flood, and so on.
The Towneley Plays
These were performed near Wakefield and hence are also known as Wakefield plays. Five of the plays of the Towneley cycle were similar to that of the York cycle. The Towneley cycle consisted of 32 plays starting with the Creation of World and ending with the Hanging of Judas.
The Chester Cycle
There were 25 plays in Chester cycle and these were more serious plays. The series started with the Fall of Lucifer and then, the creation of World, Fall of Man, and so on.
The Coventry Cycle
It had 42 plays and these were divided in two parts and were used to be played in alternate years. The first part contained 28 plays to be played first and the second contained the next 14 plays to be played in the second year. The last performance of the Coventry cycle was done in 1591.
3rd Stage
In the third stage, the drama was parting ways from religious scriptures. Mysteries and Miracles were replaced by Moralities and Interludes.
Morality Plays
Moralities were serious plays, didactic, dealing in allegory and abstractions. The characters of Moralities used to represent Sin, Grace, Repentance, Virtues etc. Hero of Moralities always depicted mankind.
The first morality play was Play of Lord’s Prayer. Other popular moralities included Magnificence and Necromancer. Moralities completely replaced Mysteries and Miracles during the reign of Henry VI. The Church had lost power. The characters of moralities were allegorical, symbolical or abstract. One of the earliest moralities was The Castle of Perseverance.
The most popular Morality play was Everyman in which God sends Death to summon every creature to give an account of their life, their good deeds, and the bad, in this world. Everyman contained allegorical characters and at the end, a Doctor explains the conclusion.
The Interludes
The interludes were the last step in the making of regular English Drama. Interludes didn’t have allegorical characters. Moralities were sermons in disguise but Interludes were aimed at the amusement of the audience. The interludes of John Heywood were very popular during the reigns of Henry VIIIth who continued to perform interludes in the reign of Queen Mary too. John Heywood was a friend of Thomas More. He wrote many popular interludes including The Merry Play between Johan Johan, Sir John the Priest, Tib and his Wife, and others.
Small companies of actors were formed and these companies were employed by houses of Nobility for the amusement of noblemen and women. When leave was granted to these actors, they used to play for the public. Thus the pure motive of public entertainment by drama was gradually taking its roots.
4th Stage
In the fourth stage, English tragedy dramas were developed. This stage was influenced by the renaissance and the Church had lost power. Play writers of these days we're influenced by Seneca’s tragedies and the result was the first English Drama Gorbuduc written by Thomas Sackville and Thomas Norton. It was performed by the Gentlemen of the Inner Temple in front of Queen Elizabeth I on 18th January 1561.
Gorbuduc is a pure Tragedy. The story is, Gorbuduc, the king of Britain divided his realms in his lifetime to his sons Ferrex and Porrex. The sons fell to dissension. The younger son killed the elder one. The mother that more dearly loved the elder, for revenge, killed the younger. The people moved with the cruelty of the fact, rose in rebellion, and slain both father and mother. The nobility assembled and most terribly destroyed the rebels; and afterward for want of issue of the Prince, whereby the succession of the crown became uncertain, they fell to civil war in which both of them and many of their supporters were killed and the land for a long period remained almost desolate and miserably wasted.
5th Stage
Since interludes were performed for the nobility, they gave rise to better set up of stage, curtains and other impressive innovations in dramatic acts and that gave rise to the English Theaters. Playhouses were established. Some of the major playhouses were
1) The Theater, opened in 1576, established just outside the city of London by James Burbage.
2) The Curtain Theater (1577)
3) The Rose (1587)
4) The Swan (1595)
5) The Globe (1599)
6) The Fortune (1600)
7) Red Bull (1604)
So this was all about the History of Drama, we began with Greek tragedies and moved to Roman Farce to Old and Middle English period Mysteries and Miracles. We learned the development of Moralities and Interludes and we learned the summary of the first English drama Gorbuduc. We also discussed the development of the stage and the establishment of Elizabethan theaters. In the next section, we will continue our discussion on Elizabethan Drama and Dramatists. Thanks and regards.
Hello and Welcome to the Discourse. So we have covered the Early American literature and we have also seen the works of abolitionist authors. Now we will move towards American Romanticism.
The very first American Romantic author that we will discuss is Herman Melville. He was a dark romanticist.
Dark Romanticism is a sub-genre of Romanticism. Generally, it is associated with Satan, devils, ghosts, ghouls, vampires, and werewolves, that is, with the supernatural powers of evil.
Romanticism is the celebration of human virtues, strength, courage, and success. On the other hand, Dark Romanticism suggests that no matter how strong, virtuous, hard-working, determined, and brave a human hero is, he is not infallible, He may commit mistakes and that will result in his failure.
Dark Romantic authors create such characters who are strong, virtuous, determined, and impressive and they struggle to make their life better. But eventually, situations prompt them to commit mistakes and they self-destruct themselves under the supernatural powers of evil.
In American literature, the three major and popularly known authors who created such Dark Romantic characters & literature are Edgar Allen Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Herman Melville.
Herman Melville (1819-1891)
Melville was born in New York City in the year 1819. His father was a successful rich merchant. However, his father died in 1832 under huge debts and the family suffered an extreme financial crisis. He left his studies and turned to work to earn his living and for his family.
In 1839, he joined a merchant ship as a common sailor. But at heart, he was an adventurist. As he got some financial security, he turned to join a whaler ship named Acushnet.
A whaler is a huge strong-built ship that is used to catch and hunt whales. On the sea, he left the ship in the Marquesas Islands where he came in contact with the native people of the Islands who were uncivilized and cannibalistic.
Herman Melville wrote several essays, books, novels, novellas, and he wrote some poetry too. We will discuss all his major works in brief and we will expand our discussion on Moby Dick, which is not only his best and most successful book but is also known as one of the Greatest Novels of American Literature.
1) Typee: A Peep at Polynesian Life (1846)
This book is considered a classic in travel and adventure literature. In this book, Melville partly depicted his own experiences on the Island Nuku Hiva in the South Pacific Marquesas Islands group where he visited in 1842.
This book was the most successful book of Melville during his lifetime and it gave him the title of “the man who lived among the cannibals.”
The story of Typee tells about how the narrator loses his ship and reaches Nuku Hiva Island. Here, he meets a voluptuously beautiful young native girl named Fayaway and falls in love with that girl.
The book in fact expresses strong support and sympathy towards the native tribes and it criticizes the missionaries attempting to civilize them. The theme is pretty similar to the current situations of tribes in the Andaman and Nicobar islands where missionaries try to infiltrate and convert native tribesmen to Christianity.
2) Omoo: A Narrative of Adventures in the South Pacific Sea. (1847)
This work is a sequel to Typee and it is also based on the real-life experiences of Melville. It was published in the year 1847. The hero of Typee leaves Nuku Hiva island on a whaling ship that moves towards Tahiti. A mutiny occurs on the ship, some people are murdered and a third of the crew members are imprisoned on Tahiti.
This story was the source of the American exploitation movie Omoo Omoo subtitled The Shark God.
3) Moby Dick: The White Whale (1851)
This third and most successful work of Herman Melville was published in the year 1851. It is also known as The White Whale. A sailor named Ishmael narrates his experiences on a whaling expedition with his captain Ahab.
During his lifetime of Melville, Moby Dick was an unsuccessful, failure, out-of-print novel. However, it gained prominence and became one of the most successful novels of America after his death. Nobel Laureate author William Faulkner praised the novel and said he wished he had written the book himself. D. H. Lawrence, another successful author called Moby Dick “One of the strangest and most wonderful books in the world.”
Summary of Moby Dick
The novel begins with the line “Call me Ishmael.” It is one of the most famous openings of a book.
The novel tells the story of a sailor captain Ahab, his crew member Ishmael, and a white whale named Moby-Dick. The title of the whale Moby Dick is based on the real albino male whale named Mocha Dick who was notorious for its attacks on sailor ships and was very difficult to catch.
Also, the end of the novel is inspired by the sinking of the whaler ship Essex that drowned in the sea in 1820.
Moby Dick is the epitome of Dark Romance and Melville was inspired by Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and the Bible to write this classic.
The narrator is Ishmael who travels from Manhattan Island to New Bedford, Massachusetts to find a job at some whaling expedition. He meets a Polynesian named Queequeg who is very strong built and frightening, but later on, it is revealed that he is a very kind-hearted and good person. Both of them join the whaler ship Pequod, owned by Bildad and Peleg. They introduce them to the Captain of the ship, Ahab.
A man named Elizah stops them and warns that if Ishmael and Queequeg both board the ship, the whaler will suffer dire consequences. Anyways, the ship leaves the harbor.
Captain Ahab is a proud, experienced sailor who is determined to take revenge against a white albino whale known as Moby Dick who bit off his leg at the knee on his previous voyage. He is obsessed with his desire to take revenge. He decorates the ship with whale teeth and his own prosthesis leg is made of a whale’s jaw bone.
Captain Ahab announces that he will offer a Doubloon (a precious gold coin) to the man who sees Moby Dick first and informs him. Apart from the crew, there are five more people on the ship whose leader is Fedallah. Captain Ahab tells that they are a special team to help him in hunting Mobi Dick. Fedallah is Ahab’s harpooner.
The Chief mate is Starbuck who opposes Ahab and says that he didn’t come to take revenge but to make money. Ishmael on the other hand, finds himself supporting captain Ahab.
Their ship Pequod makes 9 sea encounters or ‘gams’ with other whaler ships. A Gam is a social visit of the Captain and Chief mate of one ship to the other. The two captains meet at one ship, and the two chief mates meet at the other. Their first of the gams happens with Albatross whaler. Ahab asks whether they have seen the white whale. Ahab misses the customary meet because of his obsession with vengeance.
Pequod's second sea encounter is with whaler Town-Ho. This ship conveys a concealed story. A defiant crew person disobeys a rude and exploitative officer and the officer punishes him brutally. Later on, that officer chases Mobi Dick but he falls from the boat and Mobi Dick kills him.
On the course of the sea, Ahab’s crew members kill two whales, a Right Whale, and a Sperm Whale. They fasten the head of the two whales on yardarms opposite each other. Ishmael compares them philosophically and says the right whale represents Lockean, stoic and the sperm whale represents Kantian, platonic.
A sea-storm causes severe damage to the boats of the ship Pequod. While others suggest Ahab return, he becomes more adamant to take revenge. In the storm, many boats are lost in the sea and they seek Ahab’s help but he refuses and continues to search Mobi Dick.
Pequod's Next Gam happens with the whaler Rachel. Rachel represents Angelic help. The captain of this ship Captain Gardiner. This ship is searching for its crew members who went behind Mobi Dick to chase it but were lost. Captain Gardiner asks Ahab to help him in searching them but he refuses and goes on in his quest to kill Mobi Dick.
The last gams of Peaquod are with whaler Delight. It is in an almost destroyed state and many crew members have been killed by Moby Dick. The Captain of Delight shouts that Mobi Dick cannot be killed, the harpoon which can kill Mobi Dick hasn’t been forged yet. But Ahab refuses to listen and continues his search.
The next day, Ahab feels the presence of Mobi Dick in nearby waters. He takes the gold coin himself as he was the first person to see Mobi Dick. He orders all except Starbucks to lower their boats and chase Mobi Dick. Mobi Dick attacks and destroys many boats including Ahab’s boat leaving Ahab in the waters. His harpooner Fedallah is also killed. Ahab also loses his whalebone leg but returns back to the ship.
Starbucks requests his captain to give up his obsession and return but Ahab says that he will return only after slaying Mobi Dick. Starbucks feels like shooting and killing captain Ahab as he sleeps, but doesn’t do so.
Ahab sees Mobi Dick again on the third day and many sharks also come along with the albino whale. Ahab lowers his boat again to attack Moby Dick with the other two boats and harpooners. Starbucks again remains back on the board while Ishmael accompanies Ahab. However, Mobi Dick destroys two boats. Ahab plants his harpoon in the white whale’s flank. In pain, Moby Dick destroys the last boat too and vanishes away. All others return to the ship but Ishmael fails to return and he is left behind in the sea.
Now Moby Dick attacks the ship Pequod brutally and destroys it. All drown and Mobi Dick kills them while Ahab is on the other side. Mobi Dick returns to Ahab in waters and Ahab stabs the whale with his harpoon again. However, the wire of his harpoon gets tangled and it loops on his neck. Being hurt, Moby Dick swims back and Ahab is strangulated as his neck was entangled with the wire attached with the harpoon stabbed in Mobi Dick.
Thus, every crew member of the ship dies except Ishmael who was left behind. He keeps on floating on the water for a day and a night and then he sees the whaler Rachel again which was still searching for their lost crew members. Captain Gardiner rescues Ishmael and saves his life. Ishmael feels that the ship Rachel is the Angel of God who came to save his life.
The main weakness of captain Ahab was his pride that lead him to the path of self-destruction despite being warned by his crew-members, sailors, and nature itself many a time.
4) Billy Budd, Sailor (1924)
The last work of Melville was Billy Budd, the Sailor. It is an unfinished work without a clear ending as Melville died in 1891 before completing this novella. His wife and his biographer tried to complete the book as per their own intentions and transcriptions and it was published in the year 1924. It also got a huge success.
The story-line is interesting. Billy Budd is a handsome sailor who is falsely accused of treachery by a fellow sailor. While refuting, they both fight and Billy Budd inadvertently kills the other sailor without the intent of murder. The ship captain Edward Vere realizes that Billy Budd is innocent and he was falsely accused of treachery and his intentions were also not to kill the murdered sailor. However, as per the law of mutiny, Billy Budd must be sentenced to death.
Battle Pieces and Aspects of War (1866)
So these were the four major works of Herman Melville, Typee, Omoo, Mobi Dick, and Billy Budd. Apart from these, Melville also tried poetry. The title of his poetry collection is Battle-Pieces and Aspects of War which was published in the year 1866. It is a collection of poetry written on the subject of the Civil War of America. While these poems were recognized but weren’t appreciated much during the life of Melville. However, in the latter half of the twentieth century, his poems and especially this collection Battle Pieces and Aspects of War was hugely appreciated and many critics mentioned it as one of the best series of Civil War lyrics next only to that of Walt Whitman.
That is all for today, we will come up with another literary gem of American Literature in our next vlog. Please subscribe to the Discourse and stay connected. Thanks and regards!
