‘Annihilating All That’s Made / Reducing to a Green Thought in a Green Shade’: Allusions from Metaphysical Poets in the English ‘Estate Text’ of the 20th – 21st Centuries (M. Gatty, J. H. Ewing, K. Grahame, F. H. Burnett et al.)

Abstract

The paper examines the influence of English metaphysical poets of the 16th – 17th centuries (A. Marvell, G. Vaughan, T. Traherne, J. Herbert) on the children’s “estate” novel of the Victorian era. The author conducts analysis for what purpose the children’s writers (M. Gatty, J. H. Ewing et al.) introduce the appropriate intertext into their novels and stories (to emphasize the unsteadiness of the world; to create “volatile” nostalgic images; depicting the estate as an earthly paradise, etc.). The study discusses the quotes they use (both as epigraphs and inclusions in the fabric of the narrative), as well as considers how these ideas were perceived by English “estate” authors of the 20th century (K. Grahame, F. H. Burnett, Ph. Pearce, et al.). The paper pays special attention to the novel “Under the Salisbury Spire” by E. Marshall, the first novel for children, where a poet, a representative of the “metaphysical school”, is introduced as one of the main characters. The research also touches upon the reception of metaphysical works in Russian literature of the middle of the 20th century, associated with the estate theme (works by A. A. Akhmatova, V. V. Nabokov, N. A. Zabolotsky, et al.).