Revolution! In what ways have you participated in or been a witness of a revolution? How did the experience have an effect on you?
Romanticism: A Historical Approach Talk to a partner next to you. Make a list of what you know about the French Revolution and the Industrial Revolution.
Themes of Romantic Period Spread of democratic ideals through the American and French Revolutions and the disillusionment created by the failure of the French Revolution. Reactions against the harsh living and working conditions created for poor people in urban areas by the Industrial Revolution and laissez-faire economics. Fascination with nature and country life, which seemed a blissful retreat compared to the squalor of city slums.
Literary Timeline 1800-1900
Historical Context French Revolution: 1787-1799 History! Romanticism: 1798-1870 A Revolt against Enlightenment Movement
The French Revolution & Literature The Road to Ruin (1792), Thomas Holcroft: predicted that the French Revolution would "fertilize a world, and renovate old earth!" The Prelude (1805), William Wordsworth: Was thrilled with joy, France standing on the top of golden hours, And human nature seeming born again. (6.340–42; NAEL 2.346)
The French Revolution and Literature Looking back in 1815, Thomas Noon Talfourd — an eminent jurist who was also a poet and playwright — analyzed the fashion in which the French Revolution had shaped the great literature of the age: “At one moment, all was hope and joy and rapture; the corruption and iniquity of ages seemed to vanish like a dream; the unclouded heavens seemed once more to ring with the exulting chorus of peace on earth and good-will to men. . . .” But "on a sudden" the "sublime expectation[s] were swept away" in "the terrible changes of this August spectacle." And an immediate effect "of this moral hurricane . . . this rending of the general heart" was "to raise and darken the imagination," and so to contribute "to form that great age of poetry which is now flourishing around us."
The Romantic Movement “The essential feature of the French Revolution as a cultural influence was that it had failed.” “The greatest poetry of the age was written not in the mood of revolutionary exaltation but in the mood of revolutionary disenchantment and despair, after the succession of disasters that began with the Reign of Terror in 1793–94.” “A number of the major Romantic poems, however, did not break with the formative past, but set out to salvage grounds for hope in a new and better world. That is, Romantic thought and imagination remained apocalyptic in form, but with a radical shift from faith in a violent outer transformation to faith in an inner moral and imaginative transformation — a shift from political revolution to a revolution in consciousness — to bring into being a new heaven and new earth.” Hudson, D., & Adams, M. (2014). “The romantic period: Topics. The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Retrieved from: http://www.wwnorton.com/college/english/nael/romantic/topic_3/welcome.htm
The Industrial Revolution 18th to 19th centuries, a period during which predominantly agrarian, rural societies in Europe and America became industrial and urban. A shift to powered, special-purpose machinery, factories and mass production. Improved systems of transportation, communication and banking. Also resulted in often grim employment and living conditions for the poor and working classes. History!
William Blake: Songs of… Songs of Innocence, 1789. Blake continued to experiment with the process of illuminated writing and in 1794 combined the early poems with companion poems entitled Songs of Experience. The title page of the combined set announces that the poems show "the two Contrary States of the Human Soul." Robert Gleckner has pointed out in reading the poems one should always consider the point of view of the speaker and the context of the situation.
The Chimney Sweeper Read and annotate both poems. One was published in Songs of Innocence and one was published in Songs of Experience. Line from poem Connection to Romanticism Song of Innocence or Experience? Why?
The Chimney Sweeper How did Blake’s view of the Chimney Sweeper change as a result of the prevailing attitudes and significant events of the time period? Support your answer with evidence from the poems, your knowledge of the historical context from the PowerPoint and/or your personal knowledge.
Literary Rebellion Romanticism, in some aspects, is a rebellion against the literary movement that came before, Enlightenment, in that it rejected this constant push for the progress of mankind, recognizing what is sacrificed for progress. Why might a focus on emotions and nature be a necessary response to a movement that was so heavily based on reason and progress?