The Romantic Period 1798-1832

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The Romantic Period1798-1832
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• The Beginning
• The beginning of the Romantic Period in England
  was marked by the publication of Lyrical Ballads
  with a Few Other Poems by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
  and William Wordsworth (it contained the poems
  Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Tintern Abbey)

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• Turbulent Times
• A major economic change occurred in England
  during this time transition from an agricultural
  society to industrial nation, with a restless
  working class centered in mill towns
• When England lost America, it lost prestige
  confidence (as well as money)
• The French revolution represented the English
  ruling classes worst fears overthrow of the
  king by democratic rabble, the triumph of
  radical principles
• However, the French revolution made the
  democratic idealists feel exhilarated!
• During the September massacre, hundreds of
  French aristocrats (even those with a slight
  connection to Louis XVI) were executed by
  guillotine
• Napoleon Bonaparte was a French officer turned
  emperor and totally ruthless dictator (name
  synonymous with tyrant now)
• By defeating Napoleon, the English conservatives
  felt they had saved their country from a tyrant
  (via rigid social ideas)
• Napoleons defeat meant idealists like Wordsworth
  felt betrayed. It was the defeat of one tyrant by
  another

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• The Tyranny of Laissez Faire
• The increase in city populations was caused by
  the Industrial Revolution (more people lived by
  the factories) It led to desperate/terrible
  living conditions
• Communal land shared by small farmers taken over
  by individual owners caused people to be
  landless. They then migrated to the city in
  search of work or went on welfare
• A laissez faire policy let (people) do (as
  they please) economic forces operate freely
  without government interference
• This policy resulted in the rich growing richer.
  The poor suffered more, and children suffered the
  most (used for labor)
• The Romantics changed poetry by turning from the
  formal, public verse (of the 18th century
  Augustans) to more private, spontaneous, lyric
  poetry
• The Romantics lyrics expressed their belief that
  imagination, rather than reason, was the best
  response to the forces of change

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• What Does Romantic Mean?
• The romance genre allows writers to explore new,
  more psychological and mysterious aspects of the
  human experience
• Firstly, the word romantic signifies fascination
  with youth and innocence, with growing up by
  exploring and learning to trust emotions
• Secondly a stage in a cyclical development of
  societies when people need to question
  tradition/authority in order to imagine better
  (happier, fairer, healthier), ways to live
  associated with idealism
• Thirdly Western societies reached conditions
  necessary for industrialization and demanded that
  people acquire a stronger awareness of change
  try to find ways to adapt to it

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• Poetry, Nature, and Imagination
• Wordsworths definition of good poetry a
  spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings
• He said this type of poetry should use simple,
  unadorned language to deal with commonplace
  subjects for a particular purpose often a lyric
  that lends itself to spontaneity, immediacy, a
  quick burst of emotion and self-revelation
• The Romantic poets were called nature poets
  because they focused on natural life rather than
  city life (beautiful and permanent forms of
  nature), prized experiences of beauty and
  majesty of nature, not hostile, but full of
  mysterious forces, and were intrigued by way the
  human mind and nature act upon each other
• Wordsworth believe that the mind is a mirror of
  nature. Imagination moves the mind in mysterious
  ways to imitate (without being sacrilegious) the
  power of its Maker and create new realities in
  the mind and in poetry

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• The Idea of the Poet
• What was Wordsworths definition of a poet He
  is a man speaking to men. Speaker (not the poet)
  speaking to something else, makes us consider not
  only the speaking itself, but also the kind of
  speaking taking place
• Lyric poetry is different from Augustan poetry
  since it is more emotional, passionate, speaking
  from the heart we dont hear it, we overhear
  itlike eavesdropping on a private conversation
  (private, NOT public expression)
• The Romantic poets were deeply concerned with
  truths of the heart and the imagination
• This democratic definition of poetry resulted
  in poetry about the ordinary human experience,
  relationship between mind and other
  people/things, speaking should be convincing and
  seems a genuine and sincere account of an
  experience

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• The Romantic Poet
• Wordsworth believed that the poet was a special
  person, endowed with more lively sensibility,
  more enthusiasm and tendernessa greater
  knowledge of human nature, and a more
  comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be
  common among mankind.

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• William Blake believed that the poet was a bard
  an inspired revealer and teacher

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• Samuel Taylor Coleridge believed that the poet
  brings the whole soul of man into activity,
  employing that synthetic and magical powerthe
  imagination.

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• Percy Shelley believed that the poets were the
  unacknowledged legislators of the world.

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• John Keats believed that the poet was physician
  to all humanity and pours out a balm upon the
  world

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• The Byronic Hero
• Characteristics of a Byronic hero
• rash rebels, hailed or resurrected in reaction to
  neoclassical world of restraint
• reckless, wounded manhood
• proud, moody, cynical, defiance on his brow, and
  misery in his heart, implacable in revenge, yet
  capable of deep and strong affection
• devastatingly attractive, yet flawed
• passionate individuals, intellectually searching
• incapable of compromise, forever brooding over
  some past sin, painfully yet definitely alone
• The appeal of these characters was that they
  embodied the pessimism of the age (there was no
  other outlet for creative young men--like Byron)
  they beckon admirers to explore personal
  freedoms and to reject confining conventions,
  and appeal to those lonely and misunderstood.
  Basically, people love the bad boy

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• The Lure of the Gothic
• Gothic literature filled with examples of the
  eerie and supernatural, terror, and gloomy,
  medieval castles
• Gothic architecture reflected rustic
  irregularity, glorious imperfection the wild,
  unpredictable aspects of nature ruins reflect
  human aspirations and failures. It enhanced
  spiritual awareness