ROMANTIC PERIOD IN ENGLISH LITERATURE: 1785-1830 - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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ROMANTIC PERIOD IN ENGLISH LITERATURE: 1785-1830

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Title: ROMANTIC PERIOD IN ENGLISH LITERATURE: 1785-1830


1
ROMANTIC PERIOD IN ENGLISH LITERATURE 1785-1830
  • A BRIEF OVERVIEW

2
SOCIAL POLITICAL CONTEXT
  • PERIOD OF GREAT CHANGE IN ENGLAND
  • AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY W/ POWERFUL LANDHOLDING
    ARISTOCRACY WAS GIV-ING WAY TO MODERN INDUSTRIAL
    NA-TION OF LARGE-SCALE EMPLOYERS A GROWING,
    RESTLESS MIDDLE CLASS.

3
PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)
  • AMERICAN FRENCH REVOLUTIONS WERE HUGELY
    IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE.
  • THREATS TO EXISTING SOCIAL STRUC-TURE WERE BEING
    POSED BY NEW, REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS.

4
PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)
  • A TIME OF HARSH POLITICAL REPRES-SION IN ENGLAND,
    IN SPITE OF NEED FOR CHANGES BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE
    INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

5
PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)
  • MILL TOWNS GREW, THE LANDSCAPE WAS INCREASINGLY
    SUBDIVIDED, FACTORIES SPEWED POLLUTION OVER
    SLUMS, THE POPULATION WAS IN-CREASINGLY DIVIDED
    INTO RICH POOR.

6
PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)
  • REFORMS DID NOT OCCUR BECAUSE THE PHILOSOPHY OF
    LAISSEZ-FAIRE (LET ALONE) PREVAILED.

7
LACK OF REFORM (cont.)
  • CONSEQUENCES WERE LOW WAGES, HORRIBLE WORKING
    CONDITIONS, LARGE-SCALE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN
    CHILDREN IN BRUTALLY HARD OCCUPATIONS (SUCH AS
    COAL MINING).

8
LACK OF REFORM (cont.)
  • IN THE FACE OF TECHNOLOGICAL UN-EMPLOYMENT
    POVERTY, WORKERSWHO COULD NOT VOTEHAD TO RESORT
    TO PROTESTS RIOTS, INCURRING FURTHER
    REPRESSION.
  • BUT WHILE THE POOR SUFFERED, THE LEISURE CLASS
    PROSPERED.

9
PLIGHT OF WOMEN
  • WOMEN OF ALL CLASSES WERE RE-GARDED AS INFERIOR
    TO MEN, WERE UNDEREDUCATED, HAD LIMITED
    VO-CATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES, WERE SUB-JECT TO A
    STRICT CODE OF SEXUAL BE-HAVIOR, AND HAD ALMOST
    NO LEGAL RIGHTS.

10
PLIGHT OF WOMEN (cont.)
  • IN SPITE OF THE ABOVE, THE CAUSE OF WOMENS
    RIGHTS WAS LARGELY IGNORED.

11
ROMANTICISM
  • TERM ROMANTICISM IS DIFFICULT TO DEFINE B/C OF
    THE VARIETY OF LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS, AND WRITERS
    OF THE PERIOD WERE ONLY LATER LABELLED ROMANTIC.

12
ROMANTICISM (cont.)
  • BUT MANY HAD A SENSE OF THE SPIRIT OF THE
    AGETHAT A GREAT RELEASE OF CREATIVE ENERGY WAS
    OCCURING AS ACCOMPANIMENT TO POLITICAL SOCIAL
    REVOLUTION. IT WAS SEEN AS AN AGE OF NEW
    BEGIN-INGS LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES.

13
POETIC THEORY PRACTICE
  • WORDSWORTH TRIED TO ARTICULATE THE SPIRIT OF THE
    NEW POETRY IN THE PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLADS
    (1800, 1802).

14
CONCEPT OF POETRY, THE POET
  • POETRY WAS SEEN AS THE SPONTA-NEOUS OVERFLOW OF
    POWERFUL FEELINGS THE ESSENCE OF POETRY WAS THE
    MIND, EMOTIONS, IMAGI-NATION OF THE POET (NOT
    THE OUTER WORLD).

15
POETRY THE POET (cont.)
  • FIRST-PERSON LYRIC POEM BECAME THE MAJOR ROMANTIC
    LITERARY FORM, WITH I OFTEN REFERRING DIRECTLY
    TO THE POET.
  • THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF BE-CAME A MAJOR TOPIC
    OF ROMANTIC POETRY.

16
POETRY THE POET (cont.)
  • POETS OFTEN SAW THEMSELVES AS PROPHETS IN A TIME
    OF CRISIS, REVIS-ING THE PROMISE OF DIVINE
    REDEMP-TION IN TERMS OF A HEAVEN ON EARTH.

17
POETIC SPONTANEITY, FREEDOM
  • INITIAL ACT OF POETIC COMPOSITION MUST ARISE FROM
    IMPULSE BE FREE FROM THE RULES INHERITED FROM
    THE PAST AND RELY ON INSTINCT, INTUITION,
    FEELING.

18
NATURE
  • IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATE OBSERVA-TION DESCRIPTION
    OF WILD NATURE, WHICH SERVES AS A STIMULUS TO
    THINKING TO THE RESOLUTION OF PERSONAL PROBLEMS
    CRISES.

19
NATURE (cont.)
  • LANDSCAPE WAS OFTEN GIVEN HU-MAN QUALITIES OR
    SEEN AS A SYS-TEM OF SYMBOLS REVEALING THE NATURE
    OF GOD.
  • CLOSENESS W/ NATURE WAS SEEN AS BRINGING OUT
    HUMANITYS INNATE GOODNESS.

20
GLORIFICATION OF THE COMMON- PLACE
  • HUMBLE, RUSTIC SUBJECT MATTER PLAIN STYLE
    BECAME THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECT MEDIUM OF POETRY.

21
THE COMMONPLACE (cont.)
  • POETS SOUGHT TO REFRESH READERS SENSE OF WONDER
    ABOUT THE ORDI-NARY THINGS OF EXISTENCE, TO MAKE
    THE OLD WORLD SEEM NEW.

22
THE SUPERNATURAL STRANGE
  • MANY ROMANTIC POEMS EXPLORE THE REALM OF MYSTERY
    MAGIC INCORPORATE MATERIALS FROM FOLKLORE,
    SUPERSTITION, ETC. ARE OFTEN SET IN DISTANT OR
    FARAWAY PLACES.

23
THE STRANGE (cont.)
  • RELATED TO THIS WAS A RENEWED INTEREST IN THE
    MIDDLE AGES (AND THE BALLAD FORM) AS A BEAUTIFUL,
    EXOTIC, MYSTERIOUS BYGONE ERA.

24
THE STRANGE (cont.)
  • THERE WAS ALSO GREAT INTEREST IN UNUSUAL MODES OF
    EXPERIENCE, SUCH AS VISIONARY STATES OF
    CONSCIOUS-NESS, HYPNOTISM, DREAMS, DRUG-INDUCED
    STATES, AND SO FORTH.

25
INDIVIDUALISM STRIVING
  • HUMAN BEINGS WERE SEEN AS ESSEN-TIALLY NOBLE
    GOOD (THOUGH COR-RUPTED BY SOCIETY), AND AS
    POSSESS-ING GREAT POWER POTENTIAL THAT HAD
    FORMERLY BEEN ASCRIBED ONLY TO GOD.

26
INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)
  • THERE WAS A GREAT BELIEF IN DEMO- CRATIC IDEALS,
    CONCERN FOR HUMAN LIBERTY, A GREAT OUTCRY
    AGAINST VARIOUS FORMS OF TYRANNY.

27
INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)
  • THE HUMAN MIND WAS SEEN AS CRE-ATING (AT LEAST IN
    PART) THE WORLD AROUND IT, AND AS HAVING ACCESS
    TO THE INFINITE VIA THE FACULTY OF IMAGINATION.

28
INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)
  • REFUSING TO ACCEPT LIMITATIONS, HUMAN BEINGS SET
    INFINITE, INAC-CESSIBLE GOALS, THUS MAKING
    FAIL-URE IMPERFECTION GLORIOUS AC-COMPLISHMENTS.

29
INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)
  • THIS REFUSAL TO ACCEPT LIMITA-TIONS FOUND
    EXPRESSION IN BOLD POETIC EXPERIMENTATION.

30
INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)
  • MANY WRITERS DELIBERATELY ISO-LATED THEMSELVES
    FROM SOCIETY TO FOCUS ON THEIR INDIVIDUAL VISION.
  • THEME OF EXILE WAS COMMON, W/ THE ROMANTIC
    NON-CONFORMIST OFTEN SEEN AS A GREAT SINNER OR
    OUTLAW.

31
Glorification of Youth
  • Romanticism valued childhood as a time of purity
    and innocence, whereas adulthood signified
    corruption and experience.
  • Romantic writers wrote glowingly in praise of The
    Child as a wise teacher of important truths.
  • The child is father of the man (William
    Wordsworth, My Heart Leaps Up)

32
Glorification of Youth, continued
  • In perhaps his most noted work, Wordsworth also
    described The Child as a mighty prophet! and
    seer blest! (Ode Intimations of Immortality
    from Recollections of Early Childhood, Stanza
    VIII).
  • Many other Romantic poets, including Blake,
    exhibited similar sentiments about the purity of
    childhood.
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