Romantic Period

BRITISH LIT. II

THE ROMANTIC PERIOD:1785-1830

A PERIOD OF GREAT CHANGE

FOR CENTURIES ENGLAND HAD

BEEN AN AGRICULTURAL

SOCIETY W/ A POWERFUL

LANDHOLDING ARISTOCRACY.

PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)

NOW THE COUNTRY WAS BEING

TRANSFORMED INTO A MODERN

INDUSTRIAL NATION OF LARGE-

SCALE EMPLOYERS & A GROWING,

RESTLESS MIDDLE CLASS.

THE POLITICAL CONTEXT

THE AMERICAN & FRENCH REVOLU-

TIONS

ECONOMIC INFLATION &

DEPRESSION

THREATS TO THE EXISTING SOCIAL

ORDER FROM NEW, REVOLUTIONARY

IDEAS

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

AT FIRST WIDELY SUPPORTED BY

ENGLISH LIBERALS & RADICALS,

WHO ADVOCATED A DEMOCRATIC

REPUBLIC FOR ENGLAND THROUGH

EITHER PEACEFUL EVOLUTION OR

POPULAR REVOLUTION.

FRENCH REVOLUTION (cont.)

AS THE REVOLUTION BECAME IN-

CREASINGLY BLOODY, HOWEVER

(CULMINATING IN THE “REIGN

OF TERROR”), ENGLISH

SYMPATHY WANED.

FRENCH REVOLUTION (cont.)

NAPOLEAN, THE CHAMPION OF

THE REVOLUTION, HIMSELF

BECAME A DESPOT WHO WAS

ULTIMATELY DEFEATED BY

OTHER REACTION-ARY TYRANTS.

CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND

A TIME OF HARSH POLITICAL RE-

PRESSION, IN SPITE OF THE

NEED FOR POLITICAL CHANGES

BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE

INDUSTRIAL REVOLU-TION.

PHYSICAL & SOCIAL CHANGES

MILL TOWNS GREW. THE LANDSCAPE WAS

INCREASINGLY SUBDIVIDED. FACTORIES SPEWED SMOKE &

POL-LUTION OVER EVER-EXPANDING SLUMS.

THE POPULATION WAS INCREASING-LY DIVIDED INTO RICH & POOR.

LACK OF REFORM

ECONOMIC & POLITICAL

REFORMS WERE SLOW TO

OCCUR BECAUSE OF THE

PREVAILING LAISSEZ-FAIRE (“LET

ALONE”) PHILOSOPHY.

LACK OF REFORM (cont.)

THE CONSEQUENCES WERE LOW

WAGES FOR MOST WORKERS,

HORRI-BLE WORKING CONDITIONS,

& LARGE-SCALE EMPLOYMENT OF

WOMEN & CHILDREN IN

CRUSHING OCCUPATIONS (SUCH

AS COAL MIN-ING).


IN THE FACE OF ECONOMIC

DEPRES-SION & TECHNOLOGICAL

UNEM-PLOYMENT, WORKERS (WHO

HAD NO VOTE) HAD TO RESORT TO

PROTESTS & RIOTS, INCURRING

FURTHER RE-PRESSION.


WHILE THE POOR OF ENGLAND

SUFFERED, HOWEVER, THE

LEISURE CLASS PROSPERED.

ROMANTICISM

A DIFFICULT TERM TO DEFINE B/C

OF THE VARIETY OF LITERARY

ACHIEVEMENTS, AND WRITERS

OF THE PERIOD WERE ONLY

LATER LABELED “ROMANTIC.”

ROMANTICISM (cont.)

BUT MANY HAD A SENSE OF THE

“SPIRIT OF THE AGE”—THAT A GREAT

RELEASE OF CREATIVE ENERGY WAS

OCCURING AS AN ACCOMPANIMENT

TO POLITICAL & SOCIAL CHANGE.

ROMANTICISM (cont.)

THE ROMANTIC PERIOD WAS

SEEN BY MANY AS AN AGE OF

NEW BEGIN-NINGS & UNLIMITED

POSSIBILITIES.

POETIC THEORY & PRACTICE

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH TRIED

TO ARTICULATE THE SPIRIT OF

THE NEW POETRY OF THE

PERIOD IN THE PREFACE TO

LYRICAL BALLADS (1800, 1802).

ROMANTIC POETRY

THE ROMANTIC CONCEPTION OF

POETRY WAS OF THE

“SPONTANEOUS OVERFLOW OF

POWERFUL FEEL-INGS.”

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

THE ESSENCE OF POETIC

CONTENT WAS SEEN AS THE

MIND, EMOTIONS, &

IMAGINATION OF THE POET (NOT

THE OUTER WORLD).


THE FIRST-PERSON LYRIC POEM

BE-CAME THE MAJOR LITERARY

FORM OF THE ERA, W/ THE “I” OF

THE POEM OFTEN REFERRING

DIRECTLY TO THE POET.


IN KEEPING W/ THIS, POEMS

ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF

THE SELF BECAME A MAJOR

POETIC FORM.


ROMANTICISM ALSO PLACES

GREAT EMPHASIS ON THE

CONCEPT OF POETIC

SPONTANEITY & FREEDOM.

POETIC SPONTANEITY (cont.)

IN THE ROMANTIC VIEW, THE INI-

TIAL ACT OF POETIC COMPOSITION

MUST ARISE FROM IMPULSE, BE

FREE FROM RULES INHERITED

FROM THE PAST, & RELY ON

INSTINCT, IN-TUITION, & FEELING.


ROMANTIC POETS ALSO EMPHASIZE

THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATELY

OBSERVING & DESCRIBING NATURE,

WHICH SERVES AS A STIMULUS TO

THINKING & TO THE RESOLUTION OF

PERSONAL PROBLEMS & CRISES.

ROLE OF NATURE (cont.)

IN ROMANTIC POETRY THE LAND-

SCAPE IS OFTEN GIVEN HUMAN

QUALITIES OR SEEN AS A

SYMBOL SYSTEM REVEALING

THE NATURE OF THE DIVINE.


ROMANTIC POETS ALSO FREQUENT-

LY GLORIFY THE COMMONPLACE.

IN THIS PERIOD, HUMBLE, RUSTIC

SUBJECT MATTER & PLAIN STYLE

BECAME THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECT &

MEDIUM OF POETRY.

THE COMMONPLACE (cont.)

ROMANTIC POETS SOUGHT TO

RE-FRESH READERS’ SENSE OF

WONDER ABOUT THE ORDINARY

THINGS OF LIFE, TO MAKE THE

“OLD” SEEM NEW.


IN SPITE OF THE ABOVE

COMMENTS ABOUT GLORIFYING

THE COMMON-PLACE, MANY

ROMANTIC POEMS ALSO EXPLORE

THE REALM OF MYSTERY & MAGIC,

THE STRANGE & SUPERNATURAL.

THE STRANGE (cont.)

THESE KINDS OF POEMS OFTEN

IN-CORPORATE MATERIAL FROM

FOLK-LORE, SUPERSTITION, ETC.

& ARE SET IN FARAWAY PLACES

OR THE DISTANT PAST.

THE STRANGE (cont.)

ROMANTIC POETS OFTEN SHOWED

AN INTEREST IN UNUSUAL MODES

OF EXPERIENCE, SUCH AS

VISIONARY STATES OF

CONSCIOUSNESS, HYPNO-TISM,

DREAMS, DRUG-INDUCED STATES, &

SO FORTH.


ROMANTIC POETRY ALSO PLACES

GREAT EMPHASIS ON THE

CONCEPTS OF INDIVIDUALISM,

NONCONFORM-ITY, & INFINITE

STRIVING.

INFINITE STRIVING (cont.)

HUMAN BEINGS WERE SEEN AS

POSSESSING GREAT POWER &

POTENTIAL THAT HAD

FORMERLY BEEN ASCRIBED

ONLY TO GOD.

INIDIVIDUALISM (cont.)

MANY WRITERS DELIBERATELY

ISOLATED THEMSELVES FROM

SOCIETY IN ORDER TO FOCUS

ON THEIR INDIVIDUAL VISION.

INIDIVIDUALISM (cont.)

THE THEME OF EXILE BECAME COM-

MON IN ROMANTIC LITERATURE, W/

THE ROMANTIC NONCONFORMIST

OFTEN PORTRAYED AS A GREAT SIN-

NER OR OUTLAW.

THE NOVEL (cont.)

THE TWO MAJOR NOVELISTS OF

THE PERIOD WERE SIR WALTER

SCOTT & JANE AUSTEN (A VERY

UNROMANTIC WRITER).

Wordsworth: The Lamb

Education

Romantic Period