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The Enchafèd Flood: Or the Romantic Iconography of the Sea
Excerpt from The Enchafèd Or the Romantic Iconography of the Sea
Revolutionary changes IN sensibility OR style are rare. The most famous is, perhaps, the conception of 'amor' which appeared in Europe in the twelfth century. The disappearance, during the Sixteenth, of allegory as a common literary genre is another. The complex of attitudes and styles which emerges towards the end of the eighteenth century and is called, more conveniently than accurately, Romanticism is a third.
These chapters are an attempt to understand the nature of Romanticism through an examination of its treatment of a Single theme, the sea.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
Revolutionary changes IN sensibility OR style are rare. The most famous is, perhaps, the conception of 'amor' which appeared in Europe in the twelfth century. The disappearance, during the Sixteenth, of allegory as a common literary genre is another. The complex of attitudes and styles which emerges towards the end of the eighteenth century and is called, more conveniently than accurately, Romanticism is a third.
These chapters are an attempt to understand the nature of Romanticism through an examination of its treatment of a Single theme, the sea.
About the Publisher
Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com
This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.
164 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1920
2 people are currently reading
142 people want to read
About the author
W.H. Auden
620 books1,066 followersPoems, published in such collections as
Look, Stranger!
(1936) and
The Shield of Achilles
(1955), established importance of British-American writer and critic Wystan Hugh Auden in 20th-century literature.
In and near Birmingham, he developed in a professional middle-class family. He attended English independent schools and studied at Christ church, Oxford. From 1927, Auden and Christopher Isherwood maintained a lasting but intermittent sexual friendship despite briefer but more intense relations with other men. Auden passed a few months in Berlin in 1928 and 1929.
He then spent five years from 1930 to 1935, teaching in English schools and then traveled to Iceland and China for books about his journeys. People noted stylistic and technical achievement, engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and variety in tone, form and content. He came to wide attention at the age of 23 years in 1930 with his first book, Poems ; The Orators followed in 1932.
Three plays in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood in 1935 to 1938 built his reputation in a left-wing politics.
People best know this Anglo for love such as "Funeral Blues," for political and social themes, such as "September 1, 1939," for culture and psychology, such as The Age of Anxiety , and for religion, such as For the Time Being and "Horae Canonicae." In 1939, partly to escape a liberal reputation, Auden moved to the United States. Auden and Christopher Isherwood maintained a lasting but intermittent sexual friendship to 1939. In 1939, Auden fell in lust with Chester Kallman and regarded their relation as a marriage.
From 1941, Auden taught in universities. This relationship ended in 1941, when Chester Kallman refused to accept the faithful relation that Auden demanded, but the two maintained their friendship.
Auden taught in universities through 1945. His work, including the long For the Time Being and The Sea and the Mirror , in the 1940s focused on religious themes. He attained citizenship in 1946.
The title of his long The Age of Anxiety , a popular phrase, described the modern era; it won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. From 1947, he wintered in New York and summered in Ischia. From 1947, Auden and Chester Kallman lived in the same house or apartment in a non-sexual relation and often collaborated on opera libretti, such as The Rake's Progress for music of Igor Stravinsky until death of Auden.
Occasional visiting professorships followed in the 1950s. From 1956, he served as professor at Oxford. He wintered in New York and summered in Ischia through 1957. From 1958, he wintered usually in New York and summered in Kirchstetten, Austria.
He served as professor at Oxford to 1961; his popular lectures with students and faculty served as the basis of his prose The Dyer's Hand in 1962.
Auden, a prolific prose essayist, reviewed political, psychological and religious subjects, and worked at various times on documentary films, plays, and other forms of performance. Throughout his controversial and influential career, views on his work ranged from sharply dismissive, treating him as a lesser follower of William Butler Yeats and T.S. Eliot, to strongly affirmative, as claim of Joseph Brodsky of his "greatest mind of the twentieth century."
He wintered in Oxford in 1972/1973 and summered in Kirchstetten, Austria, until the end of his life.
After his death, films, broadcasts, and popular media enabled people to know and ton note much more widely "Funeral Blues," "Musée des Beaux Arts," "Refugee Blues," "The Unknown Citizen," and "September 1, 1939," t
In and near Birmingham, he developed in a professional middle-class family. He attended English independent schools and studied at Christ church, Oxford. From 1927, Auden and Christopher Isherwood maintained a lasting but intermittent sexual friendship despite briefer but more intense relations with other men. Auden passed a few months in Berlin in 1928 and 1929.
He then spent five years from 1930 to 1935, teaching in English schools and then traveled to Iceland and China for books about his journeys. People noted stylistic and technical achievement, engagement with politics, morals, love, and religion, and variety in tone, form and content. He came to wide attention at the age of 23 years in 1930 with his first book, Poems ; The Orators followed in 1932.
Three plays in collaboration with Christopher Isherwood in 1935 to 1938 built his reputation in a left-wing politics.
People best know this Anglo for love such as "Funeral Blues," for political and social themes, such as "September 1, 1939," for culture and psychology, such as The Age of Anxiety , and for religion, such as For the Time Being and "Horae Canonicae." In 1939, partly to escape a liberal reputation, Auden moved to the United States. Auden and Christopher Isherwood maintained a lasting but intermittent sexual friendship to 1939. In 1939, Auden fell in lust with Chester Kallman and regarded their relation as a marriage.
From 1941, Auden taught in universities. This relationship ended in 1941, when Chester Kallman refused to accept the faithful relation that Auden demanded, but the two maintained their friendship.
Auden taught in universities through 1945. His work, including the long For the Time Being and The Sea and the Mirror , in the 1940s focused on religious themes. He attained citizenship in 1946.
The title of his long The Age of Anxiety , a popular phrase, described the modern era; it won him the Pulitzer Prize in 1947. From 1947, he wintered in New York and summered in Ischia. From 1947, Auden and Chester Kallman lived in the same house or apartment in a non-sexual relation and often collaborated on opera libretti, such as The Rake's Progress for music of Igor Stravinsky until death of Auden.
Occasional visiting professorships followed in the 1950s. From 1956, he served as professor at Oxford. He wintered in New York and summered in Ischia through 1957. From 1958, he wintered usually in New York and summered in Kirchstetten, Austria.
He served as professor at Oxford to 1961; his popular lectures with students and faculty served as the basis of his prose The Dyer's Hand in 1962.
Auden, a prolific prose essayist, reviewed political, psychological and religious subjects, and worked at various times on documentary films, plays, and other forms of performance. Throughout his controversial and influential career, views on his work ranged from sharply dismissive, treating him as a lesser follower of William Butler Yeats and T.S. Eliot, to strongly affirmative, as claim of Joseph Brodsky of his "greatest mind of the twentieth century."
He wintered in Oxford in 1972/1973 and summered in Kirchstetten, Austria, until the end of his life.
After his death, films, broadcasts, and popular media enabled people to know and ton note much more widely "Funeral Blues," "Musée des Beaux Arts," "Refugee Blues," "The Unknown Citizen," and "September 1, 1939," t
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
April 8, 2023
W.H. Auden's The Enchafèd Flood: Or the Romantic Iconography of the Sea is a fascinating look at literature as it pertains to the sea. There is, in particular, an interesting analysis of Melville's Moby Dick, Don Quixote, and the poetry of Rimbaud and Mallarmé. It is a joy to read the three essays in this book if for no other reason than to enjoy the many quotations from Romantic literature.
This one is a keeper.
This one is a keeper.
December 14, 2013
Como todo lo de Auden, es impresionante. La edición donde lo leí no es ésta, sino la de la UNAM en su bella colección de Poesía y ensayo. Sirve mucho para consultar aunque no está tan bien como otros de sus trabajos (por ejemplo, sus ensayos sobre Shakespeare). Tenía algunos errores que no sé si eran de la edición en español o del original en inglés. Identifiqué que un verso de Mallarmé estaba horriblemente mal traducido. El verso es: la carne es triste y he leído todos los libros, la traducción decía La silla es triste. ¿La silla?... en fin. Es asombrosa la relación que puede hacer de las cosas, por lo que para escribir un ensayo resulta muy útil si se le abre al azar. En fin, en fin, lo recomiendo como todo lo del gran Auden.
April 11, 2020
This spectacular book took a long time to finish, due to the amount of re-reading, and cross referencing needed for me to persuade my aging brain to understand. Covering in detail several of my long time favourites, Moby Dick, Don Quixote, Shakespeare, and some long forgotten Old Testament lore, Wystan Auden led me on a delightful but arduous educational romp through literature. He was an exceptionally brilliant man.
April 26, 2020
More 3.5 stars: I see myself reading this again in a more suited frame of mind, but not terribly often after that.
I like Auden, but he's perhaps a little too sharp and unripened in this. (At forty-two? Well, life's funny.) I must also admit my bias: I much prefer Auden when he's in Classical Scholar mode as opposed to Catholic Scholar, and he's much more the latter here. Still, he was a poet and a genius -- even if I don't vibe with his conclusions, he's always fascinating in his pursuit of truth, and in how he frames it.
Also, this book made me eager to read Moby-Dick when literally nothing else has. (If only to come up with a rebuttal to Auden's cheeky little comments on Quakerism.) So there's that.
I like Auden, but he's perhaps a little too sharp and unripened in this. (At forty-two? Well, life's funny.) I must also admit my bias: I much prefer Auden when he's in Classical Scholar mode as opposed to Catholic Scholar, and he's much more the latter here. Still, he was a poet and a genius -- even if I don't vibe with his conclusions, he's always fascinating in his pursuit of truth, and in how he frames it.
Also, this book made me eager to read Moby-Dick when literally nothing else has. (If only to come up with a rebuttal to Auden's cheeky little comments on Quakerism.) So there's that.
April 21, 2021
I very much need to read Moby Dick now.
May 20, 2022
3.5, in realtà...
June 25, 2024
Un genio ameno y erudito. Un poeta deleitándose goloso en estas conferencias sobre la imaginación poética. Un libro algo disperso en sus argumentos, pero pleno de hallazgos afortunados.
August 4, 2024
Abbandonato
April 7, 2025
Read for a course: The Blue Humanities
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews