Tuesday, October 2, 2007

1808 to 1811

Literature
Michael Kohlhaas. Henrich von Kleist. German. 1808. Novella. Horse trader takes law into his own hands to obtain justice from a young dissolute nobleman.

"Marmion, A Tale of Flodden Field." Sir Walter Scott. British. 1808. Narrative poetry. Time of Henry VIII. Lord Marmion rejects his betrothed for a wealthy woman. He is slain at the battle of Flodden Field in 1513.

Faust, Parts I and II. Goethe. German. 1808/32. Play. Yearns to comprehend all experience. Seduces Gretchen. She bears his child, panics and drowns it. "He who exerts himself in constant striving/ Him we can save."

Society
1809. The first U.S. parochial school is founded near Baltimore by English-American widow Elizabeth Ann Seton, a recent convert to Roman Catholicism, who with others starts the Sisters of Charity.

Literature
The Elective Affinities. Goethe. German. 1809. Novel. Marriage collapses as each partner is drawn to another lover. Ottilie, for whom Edouard falls, is in tune with mysterious natural forces.

English Bards and Scotch Reviewers. Lord Byron. British. 1809. Satiric Poetry. Byron attacks critics and older generation of English romantic poets, including Wordsworth, etc.

"Lord Ullin's Daughter." Thomas Campbell. British. 1809. Poetry/Ballads. Father chases eloping daughter. Arrives in time to see her boat capsize and his daughter drowned.

Knickerbocker History of New York. Washington Irving. American. 1809. Satire. Mocks pretensions of early historians and Dutch manners and morals.

Society
1810. France annexes Holland. The emperor annexes other lands along the Channel and North Sea coasts.

1810. President Madison takes advantage of an insurrection in West Florida to seize Spanish territory whose ownership has not been clearly defined in the Louisiana Purchase of 1803.

Literature
"The Lady of the Lake." Sir Walter Scott. British. 1810. Poetry. Ellen Douglas and her suitors in the troubled times of border warfare.

Das Katchen von Heilbronn. Heinrich von Kleist. German. 1810. Play. Perfect love of Katchen for Count von Strahl. Devotion. Knightly and supernatural adventures.

Society
1811. The Battle of Tippecanoe on the Wabash River ends in complete defeat for the Shawnee who have been drawn into battle by Gen. Harrison in the absence of the chief Tecumseh.

1811. "Luddites" riot against English textile manufacturers who have replaced craftsmen with machines at Nottingham. Organized bands, taking their name from a real or imaginary "General Ludd" or "King Ludd," burn one of Richard Arkwright's factories and break into the house of James Hargreaves to smash his spinning jenny.

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