The Night-Death binomial as a poetic ploy - a cross-cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionism

The essay describes the use of the Night-Death binomial and tracks its evolution from the eighteenth century to Expressionism across Great Britain, Germany, Spain, and Austria, at the hand of poems such as Edward Young’s Night Thoughts (1745), Novalis’s Hymnen an die Nacht, (1800), José Blanco White...

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Main Author: Lioba Simon-Schuhmacher
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais 2015-11-01
Series:Aletria: Revista de Estudos de Literatura
Online Access:http://www.periodicos.letras.ufmg.br/index.php/aletria/article/view/8240
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author Lioba Simon-Schuhmacher
author_facet Lioba Simon-Schuhmacher
author_sort Lioba Simon-Schuhmacher
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description The essay describes the use of the Night-Death binomial and tracks its evolution from the eighteenth century to Expressionism across Great Britain, Germany, Spain, and Austria, at the hand of poems such as Edward Young’s Night Thoughts (1745), Novalis’s Hymnen an die Nacht, (1800), José Blanco White’s sonnet “Night and Death” (1828), and Georg Trakl’s “Verwandlung des Bösen” (1914). Romanticism brought along a preference for the nocturnal: night, moonlight, shades and shadows, mist and mystery, somber mood, morbidity, and death, as opposed to the Enlightenment’s predilection for day, light, clarity, and life. The essay analyses how poets from different national contexts and ages employ images and symbols of the night to create an association with death. It furthermore shows how, with varying attitudes and results, they manage to convert this binomial into a poetic ploy.
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spelling doaj.art-9174ae806a0240a798dc70fe32d8ef082022-12-22T01:56:56ZengUniversidade Federal de Minas GeraisAletria: Revista de Estudos de Literatura1679-37492317-20962015-11-0125112914410.17851/2317-2096.25.1.129-1447525The Night-Death binomial as a poetic ploy - a cross-cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionismLioba Simon-SchuhmacherThe essay describes the use of the Night-Death binomial and tracks its evolution from the eighteenth century to Expressionism across Great Britain, Germany, Spain, and Austria, at the hand of poems such as Edward Young’s Night Thoughts (1745), Novalis’s Hymnen an die Nacht, (1800), José Blanco White’s sonnet “Night and Death” (1828), and Georg Trakl’s “Verwandlung des Bösen” (1914). Romanticism brought along a preference for the nocturnal: night, moonlight, shades and shadows, mist and mystery, somber mood, morbidity, and death, as opposed to the Enlightenment’s predilection for day, light, clarity, and life. The essay analyses how poets from different national contexts and ages employ images and symbols of the night to create an association with death. It furthermore shows how, with varying attitudes and results, they manage to convert this binomial into a poetic ploy.http://www.periodicos.letras.ufmg.br/index.php/aletria/article/view/8240
spellingShingle Lioba Simon-Schuhmacher
The Night-Death binomial as a poetic ploy - a cross-cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionism
Aletria: Revista de Estudos de Literatura
title The Night-Death binomial as a poetic ploy - a cross-cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionism
title_full The Night-Death binomial as a poetic ploy - a cross-cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionism
title_fullStr The Night-Death binomial as a poetic ploy - a cross-cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionism
title_full_unstemmed The Night-Death binomial as a poetic ploy - a cross-cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionism
title_short The Night-Death binomial as a poetic ploy - a cross-cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionism
title_sort night death binomial as a poetic ploy a cross cultural look from the graveyard poets to expressionism
url http://www.periodicos.letras.ufmg.br/index.php/aletria/article/view/8240
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