1. British Romanticism

2. Literature Before 1798

3. Seventeenth Century Poetry
Ben Johnson: strove for perfection and harmony; writing very classical
John Donne: cerebral writing (metaphysical poetry)
John Milton: religious and classical (Puritan poetry)
Cavalier poetry: classically inspired

4. The Age of Reason/Enlightenment
17th century movement around parts of Europe
Promoted reason and scientific advancement
Writers focused on harmony, restraint, and clarity
Neoclassical writers imitated writers of ancient Greece and Rome
Focused on generalities

5. The Eighteenth Century: Satire
Alexander Pope
An Essay on Man
The Rape of the Lock
Popular critic and satirist
Jonathan Swift
Gulliver’s Travels
Criticized merchant class
Bitter satirist

6. Historical influences on romanticism

7. The Industrial Revolution
By 1750 Britain had begun to industrialize.
Mills and factories caused pollution.
Men, women, and children worked in factories for more than twelve hours a day.
Poor people had trouble finding work, and crowded cities, creating slums.

8. The Industrial Revolution

9. The Industrial Revolution
“Progress” seems to be bring misery.
People lose faith in the power of human reason.
Writers turn away from neoclassicism.
Writers simplify their language and put new emotion into poems.
Thomas Gray was a pre-Romantic poet who began to change poetry .

10. The French Revolution Great influence on British Romanticism
Begins in July 1789
France becomes a constitutional monarchy
British nobles feel threatened by events in France
Many British intellectuals supported the French Revolution’s democratic ideals
The storming of the Bastille, a French prison, on July 14, 1789 began the French Revolution.

11. The Reign of Terror Chaotic phase of the French Revolution
Jacobins gain control of France, abolish the monarchy, and declare the nation a republic
Mob violence breaks out
Louis XVI is executed for treason in 1793
Over one year, 17,000 people are executed.
Maximillien Robespierre was the radical leader of the Jacobins. He was executed in 1793.

12. War Between France and Britain
1793: France declares war on Britain
War lasts until 1815
Admiral Lord Nelson is a famous military hero from this war who broke the French navy at the Battle of Trafalgar.

13. British Reaction
The British turned against the French Revolution following the mass executions
Crackdowns on reformers in Britain begin.
Britain did not want any other European nation to control too much of the continent or have too much influence there
Government outlaws talk of parliamentary reform outside of Parliament, banned public meetings, and suspended certain basic rights.

14. Society’s Problems
During the wars, the British government ignored domestic dissent and the problems caused by the Industrial Revolution:
Overcrowded factory towns
Unpleasant and unsafe working conditions
Long working hours
Low pay
Working class grows restless, protest in riots, and begin to form unions.

15. Society’s Problems Government sided with factory owners
Attempts to form unions are crushed, leading to frequent riots
Two camps form in society: working class who demanded reform and ruling class who resisted reform
British soldiers march on an assembly of cotton workers, killing some, at the Peterloo Massacre in 1819.

16. The Beginnings of Reform
1820’s: new generation of government officials (Tories) begin a few reforms
1824: labor unions are permitted to organize
1829: Catholic Emancipation Act restores economic and religious freedom to Roman Catholics.

17. Serious Reform
Toward the end of the Romantic Era, the new Whig government enacts serious reforms.
Reform Bill of 1832: middle class men get the right to vote, which threatened the traditional dominance of land-owning nobles
The reforms begun at the end of the Romantic Era continued into the next era as well.