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Unit 12: The Age of Johnson-The Decline of Neoclassicism (Gothic Novel)

William Beckford (1760–1844) the Oriental Romance Notes

Beckford, in Compton-Rickett’s words, “was certainly a man of considerable force of intellect and
brilliant though hectic imagination.” Though he was a novelist of the terror school yet we cannot
include him among the Gothic romancers, as his novel Vathek (1786) had for its background not a
European country of the Middle Agess but the Arabia of yore. He was probably influenced by the
Mass of translated versions of Arabic, Persian, Turkish, and Chinese tales which were flooding the
England of his times. In Vathek there is, to be sure, the usual presence of a good quantity of the
terror apparatus. Vathek is a caliph, a kind of Moslem Faustus, who sells his soul to Eblis (the
Devil). The description of his end and the fiery hell is, indeed, the most terrifying. In league with
Eblis Vathek commits the most blood-curdling crimes, and his end is as horrifying as his deeds.
Beckford succeeds in conveying a rich impression of Oriental magnificence and splendour combined
with unchecked sensuality. Vathek was immensely popular for the exotic thrills offered by it.

Self Assessment

Fill in the blanks:
1. .................... the castle of otranto (1764) is often regarded as the First true Gothic romance.
2. The English novel seems to have grown out of the grooves of conventional realism
and .................... .
3. Horace walpole was the pioneer of the Gothic Novel in .................... .
4. The .................... was first published in 1764.
5. Mary Wollstonecraft shelley's Frankenstein (1817) is in the words of ...................., "the only
novel of terror that is still famous."

12.6 Devotional Verse

In the Devotional style of poetry has a long tradition. For some it is the only poetry; for others it
is cloying or annoying but harmless.
These poems share with other poetry that they serve as a vehicle for creativity often releasing the
writer from the limits of their present circumstances. Some of these poems are a bridge to
psychological peace and are written in extremes of feeling. Emotions are often large and confident,
expressed in obvious language. This poetry may tend to avoid the creative and subtle use of
language, which is why many readers avoid these writers.

Did u know? “Devotional” seems to be a good general name for this style of writing. The
writer is clearly devoted religiously or romantically, devoted without any
equivocation whatsoever.

Devotional Poems Pinnacle of Renaissance Wit

Devotional verse poses a special problem for those readers who hold both spiritual and literary
values. More often than not those who compose religious verse are moved more by a desire to
express a doctrinal truth than to contrive intellectually and aesthetically satisfying verse. Fortunately
for those readers in the Christian tradition, the English Renaissance provides an abundance of
poets of the first order who chose to express tenets of the Faith in well-crafted verse. Among these
was a coterie of poets who have been styled the Metaphysical Poets, the foremost being John
Donne.
The previous number of this series investigated Donne’s career as a contriver of amorous poetry,
before his ordination in 1615 as an Anglican priest. It has been a continuing fascination for readers
that even though the vested John Donne left off writing poems in defense of the pleasures of the

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