The Romantic Period 17981832

1
The Romantic Period1798-1832

• The Victorian Period
• 1832-1900

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What Is Romanticism?

• Romanticism is a philosophical, literary, and
  artistic movement that developed during the late
  eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as a
  reaction against neoclassicism.

• Neoclassicism valued
• reason
• order
• harmony
• restraint
• balance

• Romanticism valued
• emotion
• imagination
• intuition
• freedom
• beauty of nature

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The Beginning of Romanticism

• As a philosophical movement
• Romanticism began with the French Revolution in
  1789.
• As a literary movement
• Romanticism began with the 1798 publication of
  Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems by
  William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
• As an artistic movement
• Romanticism began in the 1760s and 1770s as
  British artists began painting nontraditional
  subjects and experimenting with light and shade.

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A Philosophical Movement

• Romanticism is the idea that
• imagination and naturalness should be celebrated
• ones emotions and sense of will and identity
  should guide actions
• nature is transformativethe human mind and
  nature mirror the others creative properties
• individual liberties are essential and rebelling
  against tyranny is good
• people should question tradition and imagine
  better ways to live

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A Literary Movement

• Romantic literature
• expresses personal experiences and emotions in
  simple, unadorned language
• favors the lyric poem for expression of feelings,
  self-revelations, and imagination
• often turns to a magical past or inner dream
  world
• celebrates the beauty and majesty of nature
• redefines the role of the poet as
• a man speaking to men
• a bard, teacher, and prophet

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An Artistic Movement

• Romantic art
• reflects landscapes and the beauty of the natural
  world
• emphasizes emotions, inspiration, and a dreamlike
  quality
• usually omits scenes of industry

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What Paved the Way for Romanticism?

• Revolution paved the way.
• The British Industrial Revolution (17601830)
• The French Revolution (17891799)

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The Industrial Revolution

• The Industrial Revolution created a miserable
  world for the working class. It
• celebrated machinery and progress
• resulted in overcrowded cities, deplorable living
  conditions, and miserable working conditions

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The Industrial Revolution

• Romantic writers responded to the Industrial
  Revolution by emphasizing

• the power of imagination as a force for change
• the beauty and restorative powers of nature

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The French Revolution

• The beginning of the French Revolution
• signaled the demise of tyranny and the rise of
  democratic principles
• gave the Romantics hope that the world could
  change
• Romantic writers responded to the French
  Revolution by emphasizing
• individual liberty
• the need to question tradition and authority

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The French Revolution

• However, the Romantics optimism was displaced by
  disillusionment as

• the revolution turned more violent and Napoleon
  Bonaparte took power first as a dictator and then
  as emperor of France
• England instituted repressive measures to keep
  radical principles and the revolutionary fever
  from spreading

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Some Romantic Poets

• William Wordsworth (17701850)
• Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge (17721834)
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• George Gordon, Lord Byron (17881824)
• She Walks in Beauty
• John Keats (17951821)
• Ode to a Nightingale

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Romantic Legacies

• Poetry and prose continue to use the everyday
  speech of common people.
• The poet is still viewed as a creative individual
  whose work speaks to readers.
• People are concerned about the impact of industry
  on the environment and quality of life.

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Queen Victoria

• became queen in 1837 when she was only eighteen
• married Prince Albert and had nine children
• set an example for proper manners and moral
  behavior
• expanded the British Empire by the 1890s,
  reigned over one fourth of the worldspopulation

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Victorian Worldviews

• At the beginning of the Victorian period
• people believed that progressadvances in
  science and technologycould solve all social
  problems such as disease, poverty, immorality
• At the end of the Victorian period
• people reevaluated the idea of progress and
  developed a more pessimistic view of life as a
  struggle against indifferent natural forces

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Victorian England

• The Victorian period was characterized by
• colonization
• industrialization
• social reform
• scientific inquiry

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Colonization

• By the 1890s, England had colonized one fourth of
  the globe.
• India, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and many
  African nations were among the colonial holdings.
• The English communicated with their far-flung
  empire by telegraph wires and submarine cables.
• The English benefited commercially from the
  colonies.
• In return, the English worked against the slave
  trade and built roads, railways, bridges, and
  buildings.

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Industrialization
Though it began in the 1760s, the Industrial
Revolutions impact was fully realized in the
Victorian period.

• Benefits
• created many jobs
• improved standard of living for some by creating
  wealth
• offered the lower classes hope of climbing to the
  middle classes

• Problems
• promoted exploitation of workers
• contributed to overcrowding and dismal living
  conditions for lower classes
• created industrial pollution

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Social Reform

• Legislation enacted during the Victorian period
• extended the right to vote to men who owned
  property and then to most working-class men
• limited child labor and the number of hours per
  day and days per week that laborers could work in
  factories
• created public schools and made attendance
  mandatory for children between five and ten years
  old
• gave women the right to control property, see
  their children in the case of divorce, and seek
  higher education

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Scientific Inquiry

• English scientists contributed to scientific
  fields and knowledge.
• Joseph Lister pioneered antiseptic surgery.
• Charles Darwin opened the inquiry into the
  evolution of life forms.
• Charles Lyell proposed an extended view of
  geological time.
• John Dalton hypothesized about the size and
  nature of atoms.

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Scientific Inquiry

• However, many of the new scientific ideas and
  theories were controversial and troubling to
  Victorians.

• Geological descriptions of the worlds creation
  did not match biblical descriptions.
• Theories about the evolution of species disturbed
  the long-held belief that humans were the apex of
  creation.
• Astronomy suggested that the universe was more
  vast than anyone had thought.
• Psychology delved into the workings of the human
  mind and implied that unconscious desires drive
  actions and thoughts.

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Early Victorian Literature

• Early Victorian writers had much in common with
  the Romantics. They
• still trusted in a transcendental power
• sought to make readers aware of the connection
  between earth and heaven, body and soul, and
  material and ideal
• often looked to the past for the settings of
  their plots
• believed in the possibility of self-improvement
  and stressed the rule of the heart

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Mid-Victorian Literature

• The novels of Charles Dickens typify the
  literature of this period and feature
• an honest, hard look at how the lower classes
  lived
• criticism of institutions that served the poor
• an injunction for middle- and upper-class people
  to carefor the poor

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Late Victorian Literature

• Late Victorian literature reflected a sense of
  doubt and pessimism as Realism displaced
  Romanticism.
• The fiction and poetry of Thomas Hardy and A. E.
  Housman told stories of betrayal and troubled
  lives.
• New scientific ideas, a widening gap between rich
  and poor, and problems associated with
  industrialization led people to question the idea
  of progress.