Treatment of Change and Expansion in Lotos-Eaters and Rip Van Winkle :: Lotos Winkle

Treatment of Change and Expansion in Lotos-Eaters and binge forefront Winkle During the Victorian Era, great accomplishments lead to prosperity for the British Empire. Accomplishments complicate owning nearly a quarter of the worlds drop off and its throng. As a result, trade and commerce expanded, and Great Britain reached the height of its power. Furthermore, science promptly made progress during this eon. These rapid strides in economic and technological advances gave the British people a feeling of pessimism about whether they were progressing for the good. As a result, people began to question mans place, or duty, on earth. Also occurring at bottom the time of the Victorian Era is the American Renaissance. During this period, Americans were expanding their territory according to the sentiment in Manifest Destiny, or the idea that God or character intended for the United States to spread its civilization from coast to coast. Like the British, Americans questioned thei r virtuous responsibility concerning change and working out. Consequently, the concerns of the people were echoed in the literature written during these time periods. For example, the Victorian poet, Alfred Tennyson, voiced his concerns about constant change and expansion in The Lotos-Eaters, while the American writer, Washington Irving, also expressed his concerns in Rip Van Winkle. An examination of the poem, The Lotos-Eaters, and the short story, Rip Van Winkle, reveal that Tennyson and Irving romanticized the purpose of stasis while also questioning the duty of change and expansion. In The Lotos-Eaters, Tennyson romanticizes nature in order to emphasize the virtues of a land that clay in stasis as opposed to a land that is in constant change. When the mariners land on the island, its is described as a land where all things ever seemd the same (Tennyson 24). Tennyson is saying that the beauty of the island has been preserved because no one has attempted to change it. Tennys on is also saying that colonization and expansion lead to industry, which strips nature of its beauty. Furthermore, the atmosphere of the island is romanticized in that there is neither conniving sunlight nor clear moon, only the haze of a seemingly thoroughgoing(a) afternoon the air itself is languid and the stream, not full and rushing nevertheless slender and slow, seems to pause in its fall from the cliff (Ryals 97). The idea of an island that remains constantly at the most pleasant time of day and a stream that is barely moving romanticizes the idea of being at serenity with no worries.