The Influence of Sir William Jones’ Oriental Studies over late 18th and 19th c. English Poetry

This thesis examines the influence of Sir William Jones and his Oriental studies over the late 18th and 19th c. English poetry. In particular, this work focuses on the way Jones’ ideas about the concepts of imitation and originality in poetry were received by the Romantic poets. To illustrate Jones’ views about poetry, three essays have been analysed: “On the poetry of the Eastern Nations” and “On the Arts commonly called imitative”, which were published in Jones’ book Poems consisting chiefly of Translations from the Asiatic Languages (1772), and “On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India, written in 1784 and since revised” in Asiatick Researches vol. 1 (1799). Jones’ influence over English poetry in terms of the new exotic imagery imported by Eastern cultures has been analysed in his translation of the Sanskrit drama by Kālidāsa Sacontalá, or the Fatal Ring: an Indian Drama by Cálidás, translated from the original Sanscrit and Pracrit (1789) and in his original poems “Nine Hymns to Hindu Deities”, which were collected in The Works of Sir William Jones in Six Volumes, vol. 6 (1799). As example of his direct influence over Romantic poetry, the annotated epic poem The Curse of Kehama (1810) by Robert Southey has been analysed.

Questa tesi esamina l’influenza di Sir William Jones e dei suoi studi orientali sulla poesia inglese tra fine Settecento e Ottocento. Questo lavoro si concentra in modo particolare sulla ricezione da parte degli autori romantici delle idee di Jones sui concetti di imitazione e originalità in poesia. Per illustrare le idee di Jones in merito a questi concetti vengono analizzati tre saggi: “On the poetry of the Eastern Nations” and “On the Arts commonly called imitative”, pubblicati in “Poems consisting chiefly of Translations from the Asiatic Languages” (1772), e “On the Gods of Greece, Italy, and India, written in 1784 and since revised” pubblicato in “Asiatick Researches” vol. 1 (1799). L’influenza di Jones tramite l’importazione di nuove immagini esotiche dale culture orientali è stata analizzata nella sua traduzione dal sanscrito del dramma indiano di Kalidasa “Sacontalá, or the Fatal Ring: an Indian Drama by Cálidás, translated from the original Sanscrit and Pracrit” (1789) e nei suoi “Nine Hymns to Hindu Deities”, editi in “The Works of Sir William Jones in Six Volumes”, vol. 6 (1799). Come esempio di influenza diretta sul romanticismo viene analizzato il poema epico annotato di Robert Southey “The Curse of Kehama” (1810).