1. The Romantic Era in British Literature

2. Let’s take a step back to the Age of Reason to better understand the Romantic Era

3. Age of Reason vs. Romantic Era
In the Romantic Era, Writers stressed:
Imagination and Emotion
Concern with the particular experience
The value of the individual human being
The value of freedom
In the Age of Reason, Writers stressed:
Reason and Judgment
Concern with the universal experience
The value of society as a whole
The value of rules

4. What does it mean to call something Romantic?

5. For each statement, write down “A” if you agree or “D” if you disagree
1. The answers to life’s most puzzling questions can be found through discussions with a simple person who lives in the country close to nature—not with a sophisticated, well-educated person from the city.
2. The answer to life’s most puzzling questions can be found through a connection with nature.
3. The use of one’s imagination is more important than rational (based on reason or fact) thought.
4. Subjectivity (personally biased) is more important than objectivity (unbiased).

6. 5. Knowledge is gained through gut reactions and subjective hunches rather than level-headed, objective, rational thought.
6. Nature is more important than art.
7. Experimental trial and error is a better process than the conventional scientific method.
8. Poetry should be spontaneous and full of emotion, not planned and straightforward.
9. Sensitivity, feelings, and spontaneity are more important than intellectualism.
10. “Dare to be” is a better motto than “dare to know.”

7. Are you Romantic? Tally up your number of As:
3 or fewer As = not romantic
4 or 5 As = sort of romantic
6 or 7 As = highly romantic
8-10 As = extremely romantic
Has your idea of the word Romantic changed in
any way? If so, how?

8. Romanticism
The words Romantic or Romance originally referred to Medieval tales of knights written in the original Roman language - Latin. These tales often included love stories between a knight and his lady - resulting in the modern meaning of romance.
When talking about the Romantic Era in literature, we are actually referring to romantic as “freely imaginative fiction” and not romantic as in “romantic love”

9. Definition
Contrary to what you may think, the term Romanticism is not just about romantic love (although love is sometimes the subject of romantic art).
Romanticism is an international artistic movement that re-defined the ways in which humans in Western civilization thought about themselves and their world.

10. Historical Considerations
Dates:
Romantic period officially beings in 1798, with the publication of Lyrical Ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge
Ends in 1832 with the deaths of Sir Walter Scott and the German Romantic poet, Goethe.
Affected all of the arts (literature, music, painting, and philosophy)

11. “The Age of Revolutions”
Since the early Romantic period includes the American (1776) and the French (1789) revolutions, it has been called the “age of revolutions” (changes.
It was a time of massive energy (intellectual, social, artistic).

12. The Role of Imagination
Imagination now replaced reason as the supreme faculty of the mind—hence the flowering of creative activity in this period
For Romantic thinkers, the imagination was the ultimate “shaping,” or creative power, the approximate human equivalent to divine creative powers.
The imagination enables humans to “read” nature as a system of symbols.

13. Celebration of Nature A healing power A refuge from civilization
Viewed as “organic,” (alive) rather than “mechanical” or “rationalist”
A source of refreshment and meditation

14. The Everyday and the Exotic
Romantic writers embraced everyday realism (poetry of Wordsworth)
Promoted exotic ideas suggested by technology and the imagination (a beautiful soul in an ugly body, as in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein or Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame).

15. Characteristics of the Romantic Era
1. Common Man and Childhood over Urban Sophistication
Romantics believed in the natural goodness of humans, which is hindered by the urban life of civilization. They believed that the savage is noble, childhood is good and the emotions inspired by both beliefs causes the heart to soar.
2. Emotions over Reason
Romantics believed that knowledge is gained through intuition rather than deduction. This is best summed up by Wordsworth who stated that “all good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

16. 3. Nature over Artificial
Romantics stressed the awe of nature in art and language and the experience of sublimity through a connection with nature. Romantics rejected the ideas of the industrial revolution .
4. The Individual over Society
Romantics often elevated the achievements of the misunderstood, heroic individual outcast.
5. Imagination over Logic
Romantics legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority.

17. Which characteristics of the Romantic Era does this painting evoke?
William Turner. Arundel Castle, with Rainbow, 1824

18. Which characteristics of the Romantic Era does this painting evoke?
William Blake, Jacob’s Ladder, (English)

19. Which characteristics of the Romantic Era does this painting evoke?
John Constable, The White Horse, 1819 (English)

20. To the Romantics, nature provided the pattern on which to base their creative lives.
The Romantics watched as cities grew, industry prospered and farming life declined. In an effort to reclaim nature, the Romantics made it a central force in their lives and their literature. Nature was celebrated as a source of delight, an image of love, and a model of moral perfection.

21. What Romantic Era themes does this painting evoke?
Emotion over reason
Individual over society
Imagination over logic
Natural over artificial
John Constable, Dedham Church and Vale, 1800

22. Five Major Romantic Era Poets
William Wordsworth
William Blake
Lord Byron
Percy Shelley
John Keats

23. William Blake Started writing poetry when he was twelve
Blake was a nonconformist who associated with some of the leading radical thinkers of his day
He rebelled against traditional poetic forms and techniques
He valued imagination over reason

24. Archetypes
Blake claimed that he had mystical visions which were the source of his inspiration
These visions were based on archetypes: plot patterns, character types, or ideas with emotional power and widespread appeal.
Archetypes reveal in symbolic form universal truths about humanity.

26. William Wordsworth Considered the “Father of Romanticism”
Helped to launch the Romantic Age
His most famous work is The Prelude chronicles the spiritual life of the poet
Has an interest and sympathy for the life and troubles of the “common man”
He is considered the nature poet by focusing ordinary people in country settings

27. Journal
Write about a place that brings you comfort in times of disappointment or despair.
How does this location impact your mood?
What elements are around you there?
How do those elements provide a soothing atmosphere?
Provide an example of a time when you found solace there.

28. Romantic Elements
Direct quote and citation from textbook
Paraphrase the speaker’s feelings in your own words
Fascination/ Awe of Nature
Intuition/ Emotion superior to Intellect
Use of direct, everyday language & Intensely personal experiences
Celebration of Innocence, especially in childhood
Disdain for industrialism and technology

29. Lord Byron
Born in London to a poor but noble family (he came from a long line of handsome, but irresponsible aristocrats)
At the age of 10 he inherited his great-uncle’s title and became Lord Byron
At college he was interested in making friends, playing sports, spending money, gambling, drinking, and generally anything that wasn’t academic.

30. Lord Byron
At college he wrote Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, which depicted a young hero not unlike himself – moody, sensitive, and reckless. He was an overnight sensation and celebrity!
“mad, bad, and dangerous to know”
Byronic hero: dark, brooding hero, impassioned by a cause, a misfit, a loner, a wanderer

31. Lord Byron
Led a scandalous life, with numerous affairs (with both men and women)
When his marriage broke up in 1816, the scandal drove him from England and he never returned
He settled in Italy
In 1823 he joined a group of revolutionaries in Greece. However he died of a fever not long after joining the army.

32. Percy Shelley
Born into the British upper class and attended the finest schools
Was a terrible student and spent most of his time wandering the countryside and performing his own scientific experiments
Published The Necessity of Atheism at college and was expelled
To avoid his father’s rage, Shelley went to London instead of going home

33. Percy Shelley
In London he met an unhappy schoolgirl named Harriet Westbrook who persuaded him to elope
The marriage was troubled and Percy ended up meeting and falling in love with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin
When Harriet tragically died in 1816, Shelley married Mary

34. Percy Shelley
His radical politics, tract about atheism, and separation from his first wife, made him an outcast in England
He and Mary settled in Italy along with another famous outcast Lord Byron
He died in a boating accident at the age of 29
He was not famous until after his death

35. Types of Odes
Ode: lyric poem that pays respect to a person or thing, usually directly addressed by the speaker
Pindaric Ode: uses groups of 3 stanzas, one of which differs from the other two
Horatian Ode: contains only one type of stanza
Irregular Ode: has no set pattern

37. John Keats
During his life, his poems did not receive favorable reviews by the critics
The poetry of Keats is characterized by sensual imagery, most notably in his odes