THE ROMANTIC AGE

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THE ROMANTIC AGE

• 1798-1832

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The Romantic Age

• The beginning of the Romantic Age in English
  literature is usually set in 1798, the year in
  which William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor
  Coleridge published a book of their poems called
  Lyrical Ballads.

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Lyrical Ballads
William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Characteristics of Lyrical Ballads

• the natural or commonplace, and the supernatural
  or romantic
• concern with the poets own life, emotions, and
  subjective experience
• Wordsworth All good poetry is the spontaneous
  overflow of powerful feelings.

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Characteristics of Lyrical Ballads

• intense love of nature
• Wordsworth is considered to be the greatest of
  all the Romantic nature poets
• Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey
• Considered to be one of the finest expressions in
  English poetry of the power and value of the
  natural world

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The Romantic Age

• The Romantic Age traditionally ends in 1832, with
  the death of Sir Walter Scott and the passage of
  the First Reform Bill in Parliament.

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Romanticism

• Romance
• Originally referred to highly imaginative
  medieval tales of knightly adventure
• Often times, these tales involved amorous
  encounters between a knight and his lady.

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The Romantic Age

• Refers to the older definition of the term
  Romance
• Generally refers to the rich imaginative activity
  displayed in the world of knights
• Deeply characteristic of late eighteenth- and
  early nineteenth-century writers.
• Think of romance as freely imaginative
  idealizing fiction.

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Contrasting the Characteristicsof the Eighteenth
Century

• Stressed reason and judgment
• Romantic writers emphasized imagination and
  emotion
• Concerned with the general or universal in
  experience
• Romantic writers were concerned with the
  particular
• Asserted the values of society as a whole
• Romantic writers championed the value of the
  individual human being

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Contrasting the Characteristicsof the Eighteenth
Century

• Sought to follow and to substantiate authority
  and the rules derived from authority
• Romantic writers strove for freedom
• Primary inspiration came from classical Greek and
  Roman authors
• Romantic writers took a revitalized interest in
  medieval subjects and settings

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The Spirit of the Age

• Romantic writers saw themselves as reacting
  against the thought and literary practice of the
  preceding century
• A shared sense of liberated energy and fresh
  departure similar in some respects to what we
  find in the Renaissance

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Changes in England

• Enormous literary energy in England
• The size of the reading public had increased
  rapidly during the eighteenth century

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The Historical Background

• Two major revolutions disrupted the English sense
  of security and well being
• The revolt of the English colonies in America
• The French Revolution

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The French Revolution

• Rejection of authority
• Overthrow of the government of a great European
  power from within
• The Crown and the ruling classes feared the
  effects of the French Revolution
• English liberals and radicals viewed the early
  stages of the French Revolution a triumph of
  popular democracy

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The French Revolution

• Many writers of Romanticism were enthusiastic
  supporters of the Revolution in its early stages
• William Wordsworth
• William Godwin
• William Hazlitt

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The French Revolution

• William Godwin
• William Hazlitt

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The French Revolution

• Eventually, the French Revolution gave way to
  bitter disappointment as events took an
  increasingly violent and repressive course
• Revolutionary extremists gained control of the
  government in 1792

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September Massacres

• Executed hundreds of the imprisoned nobility

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Reign of Terror

• In 1793, King Louis XVI executed
• Thousands of those associated with the old regime
  were guillotined

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Napoleon
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Napoleon

• Emerged as dictator and eventually as emperor of
  France
• Strove to conquer Europe and establish a new
  dynasty

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Englands Reaction to theFrench Revolution

• Even the most ardent supporters of the Revolution
  were left in disillusionment and despair
• The English government and ruling classes
  implemented severe repressive measures against
  those who sympathized with democratic ideals or
  reform

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Englands Reaction to theFrench Revolution

• The Whigs in Britain tried to come to terms with
  Napoleon
• The Tories, who controlled the country, saw
  Napoleon as a threat to their political and
  social system

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Waterloo

• The Battle of Waterloo in 1815
• Napoleons final defeat
• Cause for celebration for the British
  conservative forces
• Sad time for the British sympathizers with the
  ideals of the French Revolution

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The Industrial Revolution

• A major shift occurred during the eighteenth and
  nineteenth centuries from hand labor to new
  methods of manufacturing made possible by
  power-driven machines

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The Industrial Revolution

• Ultimately more important in transforming
  European society
• In its own may have been more violent in its
  impact on human life
• It was in England that the Industrial Revolution
  had its earliest and most substantial foundation

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The Industrial Revolution

• The Industrial Revolution in England marks the
  beginning of our modern era
• Profound economic and social changes
• Existing principles and structures of government
  unable to handle these changes

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The Industrial Revolution

• Many places developed into sprawling, dirty
  industrial cities
• Working and living conditions were horrible
• Men, women and children labored for long hours
  under intolerable conditions for wages that were
  barely enough to keep them alive
• Workers had no vote
• Prevented by law from forming labor unions

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The Industrial Revolution

• England was sharply divided into two classes
• A wealthy class of property owners who held
  economic and political power
• A poor class of wage earners deprived of
  virtually all rights and possessions

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Governments Response tothe Industrial Revolution

• Guided by a policy of noninterference
• known as laissez faire
• allow to do
• According to this belief, only the unhampered
  operation of economic laws would result in wealth
  and prosperity sufficient to secure the welfare
  of the country

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Governments Response tothe Industrial Revolution

• Very little was done by government to control and
  to organize the economic forces and social
  changes unleashed by the coming of the industrial
  age
• The most decisive acts were those taken against
  the workers demands for better conditions, and
  against those reformers who, the government
  thought, went too far in urging social change

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Lack of Leadership in England

• King George III, who had held the throne since
  1760, was declared incurably insane in 1811.
• England was then ruled until 1820 by his son, the
  Prince of Whales, who acted as Regent

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Lack of Leadership in England

• The years of the Regency were a time of lavish
  social display and indulgence by the upper
  classes
• Most of those who held power paid little
  attention to the alteration in English life or to
  the hardships of the working class

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The Romantic Age

• A time of vast and largely unguided political and
  economic change
• Most of the writers of this period were deeply
  affected by the French Revolution and by the
  Industrial Revolution
• Many of the main literary concerns of the
  Romantic writers reflect these historical issues

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The Romantic Age

• Free itself from the rules and standards of
  eighteenth-century literature
• Dignity of the individual
• Interest in the language and experience of the
  common people
• Writers or artists must be free to explore their
  own imaginative worlds
• Love of the unspoiled natural world

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Political Action

• No serious political action until 1832
• In 1832, Parliament passed the First Reform Bill
• Extended the vote to more (but by no means to
  all) citizens, curtailed the political privileges
  of the aristocracy, and redistributed
  parliamentary representation.

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The Romantic Age

• 1832 is the year that traditionally marks the end
  of the Romantic Age
• It was a time of soaring aspiration and bitter
  disappointment, rather than of progress and
  achievement

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Five Greatest Romantic Poets

• William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
• George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
• Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
• John Keats (1795-1821)

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William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
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Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
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George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
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Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
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John Keats (1795-1821)