Transcript BRITISH LIT. II

THE ROMANTIC PERIOD:
1785-1830
A PERIOD OF GREAT CHANGE

FOR CENTURIES ENGLAND HAD
BEEN AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY
W/ A POWERFUL LANDHOLDING
ARISTOCRACY.
PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)

NOW THE COUNTRY WAS BEING
TRANSFORMED INTO A MODERN
INDUSTRIAL NATION OF LARGE-
SCALE EMPLOYERS & A GROWING,
RESTLESS MIDDLE CLASS.
THE POLITICAL CONTEXT

THE AMERICAN & FRENCH REVOLUTIONS

ECONOMIC INFLATION & DEPRESSION

THREATS TO THE EXISTING SOCIAL
ORDER FROM NEW, REVOLUTIONARY
IDEAS
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

AT FIRST WIDELY SUPPORTED BY
ENGLISH LIBERALS & RADICALS,
WHO ADVOCATED A DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC FOR ENGLAND THROUGH
EITHER PEACEFUL EVOLUTION OR
POPULAR REVOLUTION.
FRENCH REVOLUTION (cont.)

AS THE REVOLUTION BECAME INCREASINGLY BLOODY, HOWEVER
(CULMINATING IN THE “REIGN OF
TERROR”), ENGLISH SYMPATHY
WANED.
FRENCH REVOLUTION (cont.)

NAPOLEAN, THE CHAMPION OF THE
REVOLUTION, HIMSELF BECAME A
DESPOT WHO WAS ULTIMATELY
DEFEATED BY OTHER REACTION-ARY
TYRANTS.
CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND

A TIME OF HARSH POLITICAL REPRESSION, IN SPITE OF THE NEED
FOR POLITICAL CHANGES BROUGHT
ABOUT BY THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.
PHYSICAL & SOCIAL CHANGES




MILL TOWNS GREW.
THE LANDSCAPE WAS INCREASINGLY
SUBDIVIDED.
FACTORIES SPEWED SMOKE & POLLUTION OVER EVER-EXPANDING
SLUMS.
THE POPULATION WAS INCREASINGLY DIVIDED INTO RICH & POOR.
LACK OF REFORM

ECONOMIC & POLITICAL REFORMS
WERE SLOW TO OCCUR BECAUSE OF
THE PREVAILING LAISSEZ-FAIRE
(“LET ALONE”) PHILOSOPHY.
LACK OF REFORM (cont.)

THE CONSEQUENCES WERE LOW
WAGES FOR MOST WORKERS, HORRI-
BLE WORKING CONDITIONS, &
LARGE-SCALE EMPLOYMENT OF
WOMEN & CHILDREN IN CRUSHING
OCCUPATIONS (SUCH AS COAL MINING).
LACK OF REFORM (cont.)

IN THE FACE OF ECONOMIC DEPRESSION & TECHNOLOGICAL UNEM-
PLOYMENT, WORKERS (WHO HAD NO
VOTE) HAD TO RESORT TO PROTESTS
& RIOTS, INCURRING FURTHER REPRESSION.
LACK OF REFORM (cont.)

WHILE THE POOR OF ENGLAND
SUFFERED, HOWEVER, THE LEISURE
CLASS PROSPERED.
ROMANTICISM

A DIFFICULT TERM TO DEFINE B/C
OF THE VARIETY OF LITERARY
ACHIEVEMENTS, AND WRITERS OF
THE PERIOD WERE ONLY LATER
LABELED “ROMANTIC.”
ROMANTICISM (cont.)

BUT MANY HAD A SENSE OF THE
“SPIRIT OF THE AGE”—THAT A GREAT
RELEASE OF CREATIVE ENERGY WAS
OCCURING AS AN ACCOMPANIMENT
TO POLITICAL & SOCIAL CHANGE.
ROMANTICISM (cont.)

THE ROMANTIC PERIOD WAS SEEN
BY MANY AS AN AGE OF NEW BEGINNINGS & UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES.
POETIC THEORY & PRACTICE

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH TRIED TO
ARTICULATE THE SPIRIT OF THE
NEW POETRY OF THE PERIOD IN THE
PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLADS (1800,
1802).
ROMANTIC POETRY

THE ROMANTIC CONCEPTION OF
POETRY WAS OF THE “SPONTANEOUS
OVERFLOW OF POWERFUL FEEL-
INGS.”
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

THE ESSENCE OF POETIC CONTENT
WAS SEEN AS THE MIND, EMOTIONS,
& IMAGINATION OF THE POET (NOT
THE OUTER WORLD).
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

THE FIRST-PERSON LYRIC POEM BECAME THE MAJOR LITERARY FORM
OF THE ERA, W/ THE “I” OF THE
POEM OFTEN REFERRING DIRECTLY
TO THE POET.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

IN KEEPING W/ THIS, POEMS ABOUT
THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF
BECAME A MAJOR POETIC FORM.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

ROMANTICISM ALSO PLACES GREAT
EMPHASIS ON THE CONCEPT OF
POETIC SPONTANEITY & FREEDOM.
POETIC SPONTANEITY (cont.)

IN THE ROMANTIC VIEW, THE INITIAL ACT OF POETIC COMPOSITION
MUST ARISE FROM IMPULSE, BE
FREE FROM RULES INHERITED FROM
THE PAST, & RELY ON INSTINCT, INTUITION, & FEELING.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

ROMANTIC POETS ALSO EMPHASIZE
THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATELY
OBSERVING & DESCRIBING NATURE,
WHICH SERVES AS A STIMULUS TO
THINKING & TO THE RESOLUTION OF
PERSONAL PROBLEMS & CRISES.
ROLE OF NATURE (cont.)

IN ROMANTIC POETRY THE LANDSCAPE IS OFTEN GIVEN HUMAN
QUALITIES OR SEEN AS A SYMBOL
SYSTEM REVEALING THE NATURE OF
THE DIVINE.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

ROMANTIC POETS ALSO FREQUENTLY GLORIFY THE COMMONPLACE.

IN THIS PERIOD, HUMBLE, RUSTIC
SUBJECT MATTER & PLAIN STYLE
BECAME THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECT &
MEDIUM OF POETRY.
THE COMMONPLACE (cont.)

ROMANTIC POETS SOUGHT TO REFRESH READERS’ SENSE OF WONDER
ABOUT THE ORDINARY THINGS OF
LIFE, TO MAKE THE “OLD” SEEM
NEW.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

IN SPITE OF THE ABOVE COMMENTS
ABOUT GLORIFYING THE COMMON-
PLACE, MANY ROMANTIC POEMS
ALSO EXPLORE THE REALM OF
MYSTERY & MAGIC, THE STRANGE &
SUPERNATURAL.
THE STRANGE (cont.)

THESE KINDS OF POEMS OFTEN INCORPORATE MATERIAL FROM FOLKLORE, SUPERSTITION, ETC. & ARE SET
IN FARAWAY PLACES OR THE
DISTANT PAST.
THE STRANGE (cont.)

ROMANTIC POETS OFTEN SHOWED
AN INTEREST IN UNUSUAL MODES OF
EXPERIENCE, SUCH AS VISIONARY
STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, HYPNO-
TISM, DREAMS, DRUG-INDUCED
STATES, & SO FORTH.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)

ROMANTIC POETRY ALSO PLACES
GREAT EMPHASIS ON THE CONCEPTS
OF INDIVIDUALISM, NONCONFORM-
ITY, & INFINITE STRIVING.
INFINITE STRIVING (cont.)

HUMAN BEINGS WERE SEEN AS
POSSESSING GREAT POWER &
POTENTIAL THAT HAD FORMERLY
BEEN ASCRIBED ONLY TO GOD.
INIDIVIDUALISM (cont.)

MANY WRITERS DELIBERATELY
ISOLATED THEMSELVES FROM
SOCIETY IN ORDER TO FOCUS ON
THEIR INDIVIDUAL VISION.
INIDIVIDUALISM (cont.)

THE THEME OF EXILE BECAME COMMON IN ROMANTIC LITERATURE, W/
THE ROMANTIC NONCONFORMIST
OFTEN PORTRAYED AS A GREAT SINNER OR OUTLAW.
THE NOVEL (cont.)

THE TWO MAJOR NOVELISTS OF THE
PERIOD WERE SIR WALTER SCOTT &
JANE AUSTEN (A VERY UNROMANTIC
WRITER).
Wordsworth: The Lamb
Little lamb, who made thee?
Little lamb, I'll tell thee;
Dost thou know who made thee,
Little lamb, I'll tell thee:
Gave thee life, and bid thee feed
He is called by thy name,
By the stream and o'er the mead;
For He calls Himself a Lamb.
Gave thee clothing of delight,
He is meek, and He is mild,
Softest clothing, woolly, bright;
He became a little child.
Gave thee such a tender voice,
I a child, and thou a lamb,
Making all the vales rejoice?
We are called by His name.
Little lamb, who made thee?
Little lamb, God bless thee!
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little lamb, God bless thee!