William Cobbett

During the 19th century England was experiencing a period of great change which would lead to one of the biggest revolutions in history- the industrial revolution. Agriculture began to decline leading to mass famine and new cities such as Birmingham and Manchester started to emerge as the industrial centres. During the revolution nearly all traces of agriculture and farming were destroyed. The army known as the “Red Coats” destroyed the land all across Britain so that farmers were unable to produce crops or use the land for grazing. Scotland was particularly hit by this as most of their trade came from wool and hunting; when this particular industry was destroyed they were left helpless and forced many Scottish farmers to migrate to either lower parts of the country such as Hampshire to farm or to Canada and The USA.

William Cobbett who was an English Journalist produced a series of articles relating to this change which were published in his 1830 book “Rural Rides”. This article documents Cobbett’s journey around the lower parts of England detailing how bad the situation for farmers had become from the point of view of the farmer. He witnessed tens of thousands of peasants who were struggling to survive and had no option but to migrate to the cities to find factory work.  All this change was due to Corn Laws. Corn Laws were laws brought in to help protect the price of corn, barley, wheat and oats in Britain against that of foreign imports. Through the influence of his papers, he helped to change the Corn Laws and abolish them. In 1844 a law was introduced whereby people were forced to find work in cities otherwise they would be placed in a workhouse where they would eventually starve and die.

Also at the time of Cobbett, we see the growth of socialist philosophies and other movements.
Dickens's voice was one of many helped bring about these changes. He did this through many of his stories on London and how people lived, for example, workhouses and children’s lives in Oliver Twist and the state of the roads and buildings and the idea that people had to sweep the pavements so women could cross them, in Bleak House.

Prometheus? Beethoven? Shelley? Keats?

Having a guest Lecturer for today’s lecture gave me a new perspective on the history of journalism. In today’s lecture, Dr Gary Fennell explained how poetry, music and literature played a vital role in the development of what we call ‘journalism’ today.

A key point of his lecture was the mythological figure that is Prometheus. Prometheus, in Greek mythology, was the ‘Titan’ who created mankind. This was a task given to him by Zeus; he was to create a ‘being or person’ with clay and water in the image of the gods that could have a spirit breathed into it. Prometheus taught man to hunt, how to read and heal themselves if they were unwell. But Prometheus tricked Zeus into believing that mankind would be able to give the gods some sort of offering, Zeus kept fire from mankind. Prometheus, being the creature, took back the fire from Zeus to give to man. This is where he gets the name ‘Bringer of Fire’. Zeus punished him by chaining him to a rock where a vulture would slowly peck out his liver for an eternal sentence, only would he be free when Hercules released him. Because Prometheus was one of the gods, he was immortal; therefore his liver would grow back each day for the vulture to peck away. Some see Prometheus as the champion of oppressed human kind and he was the saviour, liberating the people by giving them fire. The story of Prometheus is a central part in most important literature and musical works.

Beethoven, the German Composer, wrote a ballet called Creatures of Prometheus in 1801. This particular Ballet was highly regarded in the Romantic period. Some called it a master piece others said it lacked originality. The combination of devices that expressed classical style and devices that a commonly found in the Romantic period, I feel, links it to Prometheus because it is an expression of freedom and that is what Prometheus did for the people by giving them fire, even though the action of doing so got him severely punished. Beethoven could have ruined his musical reputation by experimenting in this way, but it didn’t stop him.

Mary Shelley was a substantial part of influencing writing throughout British history. Her famous novel Frankenstein was highly influenced by the Greek myth that is Prometheus as it is considered as a ‘modern’ Prometheus (it’s also the novel’s subtitle). This is due to the ‘warning’ that Shelley is alluding to throughout this novel to the Industrial Revolution and how intelligent mankind will become. This sort of intelligence is similar to that in which we gained form Prometheus giving us fire. Prometheus in the stories parallels Victor Frankenstein. Victor's work by creating man by new means reflects the same innovative work of the Prometheus in creating humans. Victor, in a way, stole the secret of creation from God just like Prometheus stole fire from Zeus to give to man. Both Prometheus and Victor were punished for their creations. Victor loses people close to him as a result of his ‘monster’ and has to suffer a death by him.

Mary’s father Percy Shelley was also an influential writer of this period. One of his famous works is the sonnet Ozymandius. Although this has nothing to do with Prometheus, Ozymandius was a powerful man and Shelley’s writings about him influenced journalism today. Ozymandius, or as we know him Rameses II, was an Egyptian ruler from the 13^th Century BC. He was a proud “King of Kings”. The British museum has sculpture of Ozymandius which was the inspiration for Shelley’s Sonnet. Because the statue in the museum is broken in places, this symbolises Ozymandius’ empire not being his anymore. It is a common quality of a sonnet to celebrate a subject, the celebration in this sonnet links to the irony that his empire is now a blank and empty landscape. Parts of this poem also allude to the power of the British Empire. The inspiration for this poem came from the British Museum, where this statue, a symbol of power has been encased like a prisoner, showing more power by the British. Lines such as “Half sunk, a shattered visage lies” could also be linked to the events in Egypt today with the Egyptian Revolution and the fall of the Egyptian Dictator Hosni Mubarak.

Thanks to another visit to the British Museum we have another influential piece of poetry, this time from the famous English poet John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn. This time however, the inspiration for this poem came from The Townley Vase, a Roman vase from the 2^nd Century BC found in a Roman Villa in Monte Cagnolo. The poem is written in the form of an Ode, divided into five stanzas made up of ten lines each. The ode contains a person’s perspective on a series of designs on the urn. A common quality of an Ode is to signify a self conscious cleverness and wit through artistic creation, it takes a great deal of skill to write a good one and Keats used this one as an opportunity to write a piece of poetry that would have the same value or purpose as a painting or work or art and demonstrate his poetic skills. The poem ends with the notion of beauty and truth. These last two lines are as if the urn is talking to the reader. And on a final point about the poem, it is, similarly to Mary Shelley’s poem, it is a response to the Industrial Revolution. 

The Dreyfus Affair and Emile Zola's J'Accuse

The news, especially lately with the death of Osama Bin Laden, is littered by conspiracy theories from various sources, some with evidence, others with some barmy – un educated - American telling us what they ‘think they saw’. From today’s lecture I learned that conspiracy theories haven’t just appeared in the last few years. Even back in the 19^th Century, they made something of an impact. The great farce that was the Dreyfus Affair, which I’m ashamed to say I’d never heard of until today’s lecture, is a prime example of this. Whilst listening to Brian tell the tale of this disgraceful miscarriage of justice, I truly remember thinking “How can the French Government AND Army let this happen? More to the point, how could they be behind such a thing?” 

Alfred Dreyfus was at epicentre of possibly the biggest miscarriage of justice in French and European history. When important French documents were found in a waste paper bin in the German Embassy, the French Army knew they had a traitor amongst them; someone in the Army was giving away classified information to their German opponents.  To solve this case the French army looked for someone to blame. This is where Dreyfus comes into the equation. Although he was a hard working officer for the French Army because of his Jewish faith he was chosen to have the blame pinned on him. Alfred Dreyfus, once convicted, was to suffer some of the worst punishment any human being could endure, let alone an innocent man should ever go through.  He was sent to Devil’s Island, a deserted piece of land in which they’d built a roofless cell for him to rot in. In his time in the almost hellish prison, he was chained whilst he slept, fed appalling amounts off mineral-less food and was prevented the freedom to talk causing him to lose the ability of speech. To top it off for Dreyfus before being sent to what could have been his death, he was publicly humiliated. When he was charged, the French Army leaders took his medals away from him and broke his sword in front of the rest of military staff. This is possibly the most degrading thing for a soldier to endure. The sentencing of Dreyfus caused France to almost separate into two sides; the side to prove the innocence of Dreyfus, and the side against his freedom, the Dreyfusards and the anti-Dreyfusards.

Germany at this time, had just won the war. This, along with the problems amongst the French Army (the reason Dreyfus was wrongly accused and sent to Devil’s Island), would make France a very miserable place for a very long time. Germany wanted Alsace Lorraine, a place on the border almost in which was originally German owned but became French territory. During this time, the rich people of Paris fled to other places, leaving the poor people to survive and pick up the pieces of broken Paris. The poor people were being robbed of everything, forced to eat street animals such as rodents to survive. When the rich returned to France, the poverty stricken population were to take another pounding. The rich expected their tenants to pay rent for the time they’d been away and the up and coming month.  This led to the people starting a group called The Paris Commune. They did this as a way to find a new order of running things the way they wanted them to be run. This ‘council’ reminded me of the Bohemians from the musical We Will Rock You in that they were trying to rebel against the higher authority to stand up for what they believe in and do what’s best for the country. This Commune allowed the workers to take over and run the city. Socialists majorly made up the group and wanted to separate the state from the church in order to achieve things like making nurseries and abolish working at night. This didn’t sit well with the French Army and they targeted the working class when they went on a giant killing spree. They shot majority of the population but most of their victims were women, mainly because they were either a feminist or suspected of being a feminist, and even children. This is a fine example of how ruthless and cruel the state can be if they want to be. 

At the end of this fighting period in Paris, another officer in the French Army, Lt. Col. Georges Picquart, accused Ferdinand Walsin Esterhazy, another member of the French army, based on finding letters with the same handwriting of that on the important documents found in the German Embassy. Esterhazy was later taken to court based on this evidence.  He was then acquitted; regardless of the fact he was guilty. He was acquitted because the court in which he was put in front of were of French Army status and if he was found guilty the whole French Army, especially the top officers that were responsible for covering up this scandal and sending Dreyfus to that god-forsaken-island, would have to also be punished causing an even greater humiliation than they put upon Dreyfus. To achieve this, a member of the council forged documents to ensure his safety and Lt. Picquart was sent to serve in Africa to ensure his silence.

This is where Émile Zola, a French writer comes into the Dreyfus affair. Shortly after the hearing with Esterhazy, Zola wrote an article that would flip the case on its head and hugely impact journalism today. Zola was utterly infuriated by this miscarriage of justice and so wrote the famous article that is J’Accuse. J’Accuse, meaning I accuse, was aimed at the high officials that sent Dreyfus to Devil’s Island without finding true evidence against him accusing them of obstruction of justice and anti-Semitism. This article risked his entire career as he found out after the article succeeded on the front page of the Paris Daily L’Aurore.  Zola was brought to trial for criminal libel in 1898, and was convicted, sentenced and removed from the Legion of Honor (a legion established by Napoleon for those who show “excellent civil or military conduct delivered, upon official investigation”). To avoid going to prison however, Zola fled to England and returned to France in 1899. Because of all the chaos that J’Accuse had caused Dreyfus was ordered back to France for a re-trial. This re-trial was one of the biggest and most circulated of media events. Many countries had representative reporters to get coverage of the trial. It was so intense that Dreyfus’s solicitor was shot in the back during the trial; the culprit was un-obtained as the police refused to help Dreyfus’ supporters.  During this media circus Dreyfus was found guilty again with “extenuating circumstances” meaning there is no evidence to prove that he did or didn't do it. Eventually Dreyfus was pardoned but this left his followers in turmoil as they then questioned why they followed him in the first place as he accepted the pardon and fight even further for the truth to be found. This wasn't the end however, the far right part of France were to become even more racist than and just as cruel as the Nazis. They wanted to be as extreme as the Nazis were with the Jewish, Dreyfus was just the start. And just to add salt to the wound, later in the Second World War Dreyfus’ granddaughter died in Auschwitz.

The Dreyfus affair was a key example of how powerful the media can be and how the media is a voice for the people. One opinionated letter changed history. I don’t think one voice could be that powerful or influential today but i do believe the media educate and sway the minds of the public more than higher authority, like the government, do. Newspapers today were responsible for the MPs expenses exposé which changed the entire public opinions on our government. If the media didn’t do that, this country would be in more of a mess than they are now. The media may be cruel sometimes but it does what is needed, just like Zola did. He spoke up for what he believed in.