The Romantic Period

1
The Romantic Period

• 1780-1830

2
Sources of Inspiration

• Examination of inner feelings, emotions,
  imagination
• The literature of the Middle Ages

3
Attitudes and Interests

• Idealistic
• Interested in the mysterious and supernatural
• Concerned with the particular
• Sought to develop new forms of expression
• Romanticized the past
• Tended toward excess and spontaneity
• Appreciated folk traditions

4
Social Concerns

• Desired radical change
• Favored democracy
• Concerned with the common people
• Concerned with the individual
• Felt that nature should be untamed

5
Two Generations of Poets

• 1st Generation included Robert Burns, William
  Blake, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor
  Coleridge.
• 2nd Generation included George Gordon, Lord
  Byron, Percy Shelley, and John Keats.

6
Leaders of the Time

• Robert Burns and William Blake were the
  forerunners of the romantic literature in their
  subject matter, themes, and style.
• Burns published his Poems Chiefly in the Scottish
  Dialect (1896).
• Blake produced his companion books, Songs of
  Innocence and Songs of Experience.

7
The Official Beginning

• The poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor
  Coleridge teamed up to publish Lyrical Ballads
  (1798).
• This publication marks the official beginning of
  the Romantic Period in English literature.

8
Romantic Prose Writers

• Essayists included Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt,
  Mary Wollstonecraft, and Thomas De Quincey.
• Novelists included Mary Shelley, Jane Austin, and
  Sir Walter Scott