THE ROMANTIC POETS
CHANGE! Great political, economic and social change American Revolution French Revolution (Napoleon ) Industrial Revolution Romanticism is a response to the Industrial Revolution
ROMANTICISM’S RESPONSE emotion and imagination vs. reason and science reaction against the cold, rational science of the Enlightenment individual experiences vs. society as a whole the individual, personal, emotional movement of protest for freedoms and reform civilian life and work conditions spontaneity vs. order common man vs. ruling class
“ROMANTIC” explored new, psychological and mysterious aspects of human experience fascination with youth and innocence (seeing the world as “new”) social idealism: question authority in order to imagine better, fairer, happier ways to live ability to adapt to change
ROMANTICS: “MIND POETS” sought a deeper understanding of the bond between human beings and the world of the senses often used natural poetic forms
CENTRAL POETS William Wordsworth Samuel Taylor Coleridge John Keats Percy Bysshe Shelley( ) Mary Shelley ( ) Lord Byron ( ) Jane Austen( )