ROMANTIC PERIOD IN ENGLISH LITERATURE: A BRIEF OVERVIEW

SOCIAL & POLITICAL CONTEXT  PERIOD OF GREAT CHANGE IN ENGLAND: AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY W/ POWERFUL LANDHOLDING ARISTOCRACY WAS GIV- ING WAY TO MODERN INDUSTRIAL NA- TION OF LARGE-SCALE EMPLOYERS & A GROWING, RESTLESS MIDDLE CLASS.

 AMERICAN & FRENCH REVOLUTIONS WERE HUGELY IMPORTANT ELEMENTS OF THE POLITICAL LANDSCAPE.  THREATS TO EXISTING SOCIAL STRUC- TURE WERE BEING POSED BY NEW, REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS. PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)

 A TIME OF HARSH POLITICAL REPRES- SION IN ENGLAND, IN SPITE OF NEED FOR CHANGES BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)  MILL TOWNS GREW, THE LANDSCAPE WAS INCREASINGLY SUBDIVIDED, FACTORIES SPEWED POLLUTION OVER SLUMS, & THE POPULATION WAS IN- CREASINGLY DIVIDED INTO RICH & POOR.

PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)  REFORMS DID NOT OCCUR BECAUSE THE PHILOSOPHY OF LAISSEZ-FAIRE (“LET ALONE”) PREVAILED.

LACK OF REFORM (cont.)  CONSEQUENCES WERE LOW WAGES, HORRIBLE WORKING CONDITIONS, LARGE-SCALE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN & CHILDREN IN BRUTALLY HARD OCCUPATIONS (SUCH AS COAL MINING).

LACK OF REFORM (cont.)  IN THE FACE OF TECHNOLOGICAL UN- EMPLOYMENT & POVERTY, WORKERS—WHO COULD NOT VOTE— HAD TO RESORT TO PROTESTS & RIOTS, INCURRING FURTHER REPRESSION.  BUT WHILE THE POOR SUFFERED, THE LEISURE CLASS PROSPERED.

PLIGHT OF WOMEN  WOMEN OF ALL CLASSES WERE RE- GARDED AS INFERIOR TO MEN, WERE UNDEREDUCATED, HAD LIMITED VO- CATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES, WERE SUB- JECT TO A STRICT CODE OF SEXUAL BE- HAVIOR, AND HAD ALMOST NO LEGAL RIGHTS.

PLIGHT OF WOMEN (cont.)  IN SPITE OF THE ABOVE, THE CAUSE OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS WAS LARGELY IGNORED.

ROMANTICISM  TERM “ROMANTICISM” IS DIFFICULT TO DEFINE B/C OF THE VARIETY OF LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS, AND WRITERS OF THE PERIOD WERE ONLY LATER LABELLED “ROMANTIC.”

ROMANTICISM (cont.)  BUT MANY HAD A SENSE OF “THE SPIRIT OF THE AGE”—THAT A GREAT RELEASE OF CREATIVE ENERGY WAS OCCURING AS ACCOMPANIMENT TO POLITICAL & SOCIAL REVOLUTION. IT WAS SEEN AS AN AGE OF NEW BEGIN- INGS & LIMITLESS POSSIBILITIES.

POETIC THEORY & PRACTICE  WORDSWORTH TRIED TO ARTICULATE THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW POETRY IN THE PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLADS (1800, 1802).

CONCEPT OF POETRY, THE POET  POETRY WAS SEEN AS THE “SPONTA- NEOUS OVERFLOW OF POWERFUL FEELINGS”; THE ESSENCE OF POETRY WAS THE MIND, EMOTIONS, & IMAGI- NATION OF THE POET (NOT THE OUTER WORLD).

POETRY & THE POET (cont.)  FIRST-PERSON LYRIC POEM BECAME THE MAJOR ROMANTIC LITERARY FORM, WITH “I” OFTEN REFERRING DIRECTLY TO THE POET. THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF BE- CAME A MAJOR TOPIC OF ROMANTIC POETRY.

POETRY & THE POET (cont.)  POETS OFTEN SAW THEMSELVES AS PROPHETS IN A TIME OF CRISIS, REVIS- ING THE PROMISE OF DIVINE REDEMP- TION IN TERMS OF A “HEAVEN” ON EARTH.

POETIC SPONTANEITY, FREEDOM  INITIAL ACT OF POETIC COMPOSITION MUST ARISE FROM IMPULSE; BE FREE FROM THE RULES INHERITED FROM THE PAST; AND RELY ON INSTINCT, INTUITION, & FEELING.

NATURE  IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATE OBSERVA- TION & DESCRIPTION OF WILD NATURE, WHICH SERVES AS A STIMULUS TO THINKING & TO THE RESOLUTION OF PERSONAL PROBLEMS & CRISES.

NATURE (cont.)  LANDSCAPE WAS OFTEN GIVEN HU- MAN QUALITIES OR SEEN AS A SYS- TEM OF SYMBOLS REVEALING THE NATURE OF GOD.  CLOSENESS W/ NATURE WAS SEEN AS BRINGING OUT HUMANITY’S INNATE GOODNESS.

GLORIFICATION OF THE COMMON- PLACE  HUMBLE, RUSTIC SUBJECT MATTER & PLAIN STYLE BECAME THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECT & MEDIUM OF POETRY.

THE COMMONPLACE (cont.)  POETS SOUGHT TO REFRESH READERS’ SENSE OF WONDER ABOUT THE ORDI- NARY THINGS OF EXISTENCE, TO MAKE THE “OLD” WORLD SEEM NEW.

THE SUPERNATURAL & STRANGE  MANY ROMANTIC POEMS EXPLORE THE REALM OF MYSTERY & MAGIC; INCORPORATE MATERIALS FROM FOLKLORE, SUPERSTITION, ETC.; & ARE OFTEN SET IN DISTANT OR FARAWAY PLACES.

THE STRANGE (cont.)  RELATED TO THIS WAS A RENEWED INTEREST IN THE MIDDLE AGES (AND THE BALLAD FORM) AS A BEAUTIFUL, EXOTIC, MYSTERIOUS BYGONE ERA.

THE STRANGE (cont.)  THERE WAS ALSO GREAT INTEREST IN UNUSUAL MODES OF EXPERIENCE, SUCH AS VISIONARY STATES OF CONSCIOUS- NESS, HYPNOTISM, DREAMS, DRUG- INDUCED STATES, AND SO FORTH.

INDIVIDUALISM & STRIVING  HUMAN BEINGS WERE SEEN AS ESSEN- TIALLY NOBLE & GOOD (THOUGH COR- RUPTED BY SOCIETY), AND AS POSSESS- ING GREAT POWER & POTENTIAL THAT HAD FORMERLY BEEN ASCRIBED ONLY TO GOD.

INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)  THERE WAS A GREAT BELIEF IN DEMO- CRATIC IDEALS, CONCERN FOR HUMAN LIBERTY, & A GREAT OUTCRY AGAINST VARIOUS FORMS OF TYRANNY.

INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)  THE HUMAN MIND WAS SEEN AS CRE- ATING (AT LEAST IN PART) THE WORLD AROUND IT, AND AS HAVING ACCESS TO THE INFINITE VIA THE FACULTY OF IMAGINATION.

INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)  REFUSING TO ACCEPT LIMITATIONS, HUMAN BEINGS SET INFINITE, INAC- CESSIBLE GOALS, THUS MAKING FAIL- URE & IMPERFECTION GLORIOUS AC- COMPLISHMENTS.

INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)  THIS REFUSAL TO ACCEPT LIMITA- TIONS FOUND EXPRESSION IN BOLD POETIC EXPERIMENTATION.

INDIVIDUALISM (cont.)  MANY WRITERS DELIBERATELY ISO- LATED THEMSELVES FROM SOCIETY TO FOCUS ON THEIR INDIVIDUAL VISION. THEME OF EXILE WAS COMMON, W/ THE ROMANTIC NON-CONFORMIST OFTEN SEEN AS A GREAT SINNER OR OUTLAW.

Glorification of Youth  Romanticism valued childhood as a time of purity and innocence, whereas adulthood signified corruption and experience.  Romantic writers wrote glowingly in praise of The Child as a wise teacher of important truths.  “The child is father of the man” (William Wordsworth, “My Heart Leaps Up…”)

Glorification of Youth, continued  In perhaps his most noted work, Wordsworth also described The Child as a “mighty prophet!” and “seer blest!” (“Ode Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood,” Stanza VIII).  Many other Romantic poets, including Blake, exhibited similar sentiments about the purity of childhood.