The Romantic Period

1
The Romantic Period

• Rebellion Against Reason

2
In the beginning

• 1798
• Coleridge and Wordsworth sold poems to go to
  Germany

3
Lyrical Ballads

• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (684)
• Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey
  (658)

4
Alternate Timeline

• 1789 French Revolution
• 1832 Parliamentary reforms political
  foundation for modern Britain

5
Six Major Poets

• 1st Generation William Blake, William
  Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• 2nd Generation Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats,
  and George Gordon, Lord Byron all dead by 1825

6
In England

• Conservatives feared spread of French
  Revolution
• Democratic idealists and liberals were
  exhilarated (Wordsworth, et al.)

7
France deteriorates

• 1792 September massacre disillusions English
  idealists
• 1804 Napoleon becomes dictator worse than
  original king

8
England Responds

• Government becomes even more conservative and
  suspicious
• 1805 begins long war with Napoleon
• 1815 England and allies send Napoleon packing

9
Industrial Revolution

• From hand-made to factory production
• City populations explode
• Appalling housing conditions
• Common land now privately owned
• Working conditions at worst

10
Laissez-Faire

• Free to do
• Economic philosophy
• The Rich got richer the Poor got poorer

11
Romantic Response

• Turn away from Englands resistance to social and
  political change and synonymous literary forms
  (formal, public verse)
• Create spontaneous, lyric poetry based on emotion
  and imagination expression of private feelings

12
Reality Bites

• Use your imagination..

13
Romantic

• Beyond refinements of neoclassical
• More genuine
• Psychological and mysterious
• Fascination with youth innocence growing up to
  trust emotions, will, and identity
• Stronger awareness of change/adaptability
• Cycle in development of society idealism
  (question tradition/authority for the better)

14
Gothic Literature

• Extreme Romanticism
• Expressed helplessness about forces beyond
  control revolution, industrialization
• Mary Shelley, Frankenstein (wife of Percy Bysshe
  Shelley)

15
Romantic Poetry

• Wordsworth, the spontaneous overflow of powerful
  feelings
• NOT artful craft and satire
• Simple, unadorned language
• Country NOT city
• Prize beauty and majesty of nature
• Emotion/passion NOT reason

16
Romantic Poet

• Wordsworth, a man speaking to men
• Bard, inspired revealer, and teacher

17
Romantic Reader

• Must imagine the speaker and the situation