G
Aestheticism is the belief in ‘art for art’s sake’. People like Wilde did not believe that art had to have a higher moral or political value.
WENDOLEN
I adore you. But you haven't proposed to me yet. Nothing has been said at all about marriage. The subject has not even been touched on.
JACK
Well . . . may I propose to you now?
GWENDOLEN
I think it would be an admirable opportunity. And to spare you any possible disappointment, Mr. Worthing, I think it only fair to tell you quite frankly before-hand that I am fully determined to accept you.
JACK
Gwendolen!
GWENDOLEN
Yes, Mr. Worthing, what have you got to say to me?
JACK
You know what I have got to say to you.
GWENDOLEN
Yes, but you don't say it.
JACK
Gwendolen, will you marry me? [Goes on his knees.]
GWENDOLEN
Of course I will, darling. How long you have been about it! I am afraid you have had very little experience in how to propose.
JACK
My own one, I have never loved any one in the world but you.
Victorian Period – 1830-1901
Modernism – 1890’s – 1940’s
D.H Lawrence (1855-1930)
L
awrence was an author, poet, playwright, essayist and literary critic. Lawrence was often the victim of censorship and official prosecution when it came to his work. He is perhaps most famous for Lady Chatterley’s Lover which was banned when first published. Lawrence’s work often explores the effects of modernity on society confronting issues relating to emotional health and human sexuality.
Piano (1918)
Softly, in the dusk, a woman is singing to me;
Taking me back down the vista of years, till I see
A child sitting under the piano, in the boom of the tingling strings
And pressing the small, poised feet of a mother who smiles as she sings.
In spite of myself, the insidious mastery of song
Betrays me back, till the heart of me weeps to belong
To the old Sunday evenings at home, with winter outside
And hymns in the cosy parlour, the tinkling piano our guide.
So now it is vain for the singer to burst into clamour
With the great black piano appassionato. The glamour
Of childish days is upon me, my manhood is cast
Down in the flood of remembrance, I weep like a child for the past
1914-1918 – World War One
1916 – Battle of the Somme
1916 – Easter Rising in Dublin
Victorian Period – 1830-1901
Modernism – 1890’s – 1940’s
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