1. Romanticism and Romantic Poetry

2. Timeframe of Romantic Poetry
First work of Romantic poetry - Lyrical Ballads by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth in 1798
Traditionally ends with death of Sir Walter Scott in 1832
Some consider poetry produced in Victorian and even Modern eras to be “Romantic”

3. Major features of Romantic Poetry
Freely imaginative idealizing fiction
imagination and emotion
particular as opposed to general or universal experience
value of the individual - link to French revolution
freedom rather than authority

4. Major features continued
Optimistic sense of renewal
Interest in the language and lives of common people
love for unspoiled natural world
revitalized interest in medieval subjects and settings

5. Historical context Prosperity and confidence in 1700’s
American and French revolutions
disappointment in bitter and violent ends - Napoleon
Industrial Revolution
dirty, unorganized cities emerge
huge class shift