The Romantic Period

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The Romantic Period

• 17981832

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• The American Revolution (1776-1783) was an
  economic and psychological blow to England.
• The Romantic Period began with the French
  Revolution of 1789 and ended with Parliamentary
  reforms of 1832 that laid the political
  foundation for modern Britain.

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• The French Revolution gave hope to British
  progressives that democratic change would occur.
• However, Napoleons rise to power led to violent
  suppression of freedom that rivaled the monarchs
  who preceded him.
• This led to more rigid conservatism in England.

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• The Industrial Revolution produced machines that
  increased city populations, as workers were
  needed in the factories.
• The laissez-faire philosophy led to atrocious
  working conditions that exploited child labor.

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• Romantic poets rebelled against the suppression
  of the time period.
• The main Romantic poets were William Blake,
  William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge,
  Percy Shelley, John Keats, and Lord Byron.

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• Romantic poetry includes an idealistic,
  child-like wonder that suggests an ability to
  change.
• It abandons formal verse for spontaneous, lyrical
  language.
• The Romantics value imagination over reason.

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• The Gothic novel often sets stories in medieval
  castles and includes dark references to the
  supernatural.

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• Romantic Views of Poetry
• Wordsworth says that good poetry is the
  spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.
• I will not reason and compare my business is to
  create. (William Blake)
• Keats writes that a poet is a physician to all
  humanity and pours out a balm upon the world.

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• The Romantics identify imagination as a faculty
  superior to human reasoning.
• It is a motive that drives the mind to discover
  things that it cannot learn by rational or
  logical thinking.

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• Discuss
• Which has made a greater impact in the world
  imagination or reason? Give examples.