1. The Age of Reason Early to Late Eighteenth Century Click Here For Music

2. Dominant Concepts  Discovering truth through human reason  Perfectibility of Man  Deism—God is benevolent but distant  “Great Watchmaker” Theory  Emphasis on Science  Emphasis on Society

3. The Romantic Period 1785-1830 Click Here For Music

4. The Romantic Period 1785-1830

5. Historical Background  Period of Revolution  American and French Revolutions  Democracy transformed to despotism  Napoleonic Wars

6. Historical Background  Change from agricultural to industrial society  Industrial Revolution—new technology  Rise of urban centers of industry  Creation of impoverished working class

7. Historical Background  Pressure for Political, Social, and Artistic Reform  Hunger riots, machine breaking  Women’s movement  First Reform Bill of 1832  Lyrical Ballads of 1798

8. Dominant Concepts  Emotion and Imagination  “The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”  External objects transformed by poet’s feelings  Speaker/hero reflects the poet  Poetry about formation of the self Click Here For Music

10. Dominant Concepts  Individualism  Stresses individual over society  Glorifies desire to go beyond human limits  Infinite longing  Heroes are isolated nonconformists or guilty outcasts

12. Dominant Concepts  Spontaneity and Naturalness  Age of Reason regarded poetry as an art  For Romantics poetry should be spontaneous and inspired  Poetry should be free from rules and artful manipulation

13. Dominant Concepts  Emphasis on Nature  Nature as it reflects the “Mind of Man”  Nature endowed with human qualities  Natural objects symbolize greater concepts  Divine mysteries reflected in nature

14. Dominant Concepts  Glorification of the Commonplace  Wordsworth’s democratization of poetry  Emphasize humble and rustic life  Use plain style and common language  Express the wonder and divinity of the commonplace

15. Dominant Concepts  The Supernatural  Achieves a sense of wonder through supernatural incidents  Supernatural events have psychological significance

16. Dominant Concepts  The Supernatural  Settings in distant past or exotic locales  Unusual modes of experience For more on the supernatural in Romantic Literature, see the PowerPoint Presentation “Gothic Motifs” PowerPoint Presentation “Gothic Motifs”