THE ROMANTIC PERIOD

By:NADIEH BADERKHANI

THE POLITICAL BACKGROUND: revolution and Reaction

• ROMANTIC PERIOD the span between 1785 and. 1830. The midpoint of the decade in which Samuel Johnson died and Blake and

Burns published their first poems. This was a turbulent period during which England experienced the

ordeal of change from primarily agriculture society to a modern industrial nation.However, English sympathizers dropped off as the Revolution followed its increasingly grim and violent course:

1.the accession to power by Jacobin extremists. 2.the ‘September Masacres’ of the imprisoned and heplless nobility in

1792 3,followed by the execution of the royal family.

4.the French Republic of the Rhineland and Netherlends 5.French offer of armed assistance to all countries desiring to overthrow

their governments, which brought England into the war against France. 6.the guillotining of thousands in the reign of Terror under Robespierre .

7.after execution in their turn of the man who had directed the Terror. 8.the emergence of Napoleon first as dictator and then as emperor of

France

The early period of the French revolution, marked by the declaration of the Rights of man and the storming of the Bastille and release imprisoned offenders, evoked enthusiastic support from English liberals and radical.

Two influential book: 1.Tom Pain’s Rights of man (justified the French revolution)against 2.Edmund Bruke’s Reflections on the revolution in France.(advocated for England a democratic republic)

more important as an influence on Wordsworth, Shelly, and other poets was William Godwin’s inquiry concerning political justice.(which foretold an inevitable but peaceful evolution in which all property would be equally distributed and all government would wither away.

in England this period was one of harsh repressive measures.

1.public meeting were prohibited. 2.habeas corpus was suspended for the first time in over

hundred years. 3.advocate of even moderate political changes were charged

with high treason in time of war. 4.the outlook of the Napoleonic wars put an end to reform and

to almost all genuine political life in England, for nearly three decades

Industrial revolution

Industrial •THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION- the shift in manufacturing that resulted from the invention of power-driven machinery to replace hand labor•James Watt perfected the steam engine in 1765.•Oliver Goldsmith lamented in THE deserted village as early as 1770

Let alone•Oliver Goldsmith lamented in THE deserted village as early as 1770

•Meanwhile, the population was becoming increasingly polarized into the Disraeli later called the ‘TWO NATION’ the two classes of capital and labor•liberal reformers were dominated by the social philosophy of laissez-faire.

•this theory of ‘LET ALONE’ holds that the general welfare can be ensured only by the free operation of economic laws

Waterloo.peterloo

•in 1815 the conclusion of the French war•the workers had no vote and were prevented by law from unionizing

•after one such outbreak the HOUSE OF LORDS-despite Lord Byron’s eloquent protest –passed a bill making death the penalty for destroying the frames and used for weaving in the stocking industry.•In August of that year, a huge but orderly assembly at ST . peter’s fields, Manchester, was wantonly charged by troops, who killed nine and severely injured hundreds more; this was the notorious

‘Peterloo Masssecre’ so named with ironic reference of the Battle of Waterloo

The spirit of the ageWriters of working in that times did not think of themselves as

‘’Romantic.’’Critics and reviews treated them as independent individual into

separate schools:1’’.The lake school’’: Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Robert Southey

2’’.The cockney school’’ a derogatory term for Londoners Hunt, Hazlitt, John Keats

3’’.The satanic school’’: Byron, Shelley and their followers.In his Defence of poetry Shelly explained this literary spirit as an

accompaniment of political and social revolution and other agree.

William Hazlitt who published a book of essay called ‘’the spirit of the age’’ that was a time of promise, renewal of world-and of letters.

The imagination of many romantic ,indeed, preoccupied with the fact and ideal revolution.

Every writer except Edmund Bruke were in sympathy with French revolution.

Wordsworth and Coleridge in excited daily communion revolutionized on grounds analogous politics democracy the theory and practice of peotry .Lyrical Ballads

poetic theory and poetic Practice

5 .The supernatural and ‘’Strangeness in

Beauty’’

4.The Glorification

of the commonplace

1.The concept of poetry and

the poet

2 .Poetic Spontaneity and freedom

3 .Romantic ‘Nature poetry’

Poetic theory and poetic practice

2.poetic spontaneity and freedom

1.The concept of poetry and the poet

Wordsworth defined good poetry as ‘’the spontaneos overflow’’ of feelings.

Keats listed as an ’’axiom.’’Blake insisted that he wrote from

‘’inspiration and vision. ’’Shelley also maintained that they

are the products of an unconsious creativity.

’‘ the definition of genius’’ Hazlitt remarked ‘’is that it acts unconscously.

The manuscript of Romantic period show that they worked and reworked their texts no less arduously-if perhaps more immediately under the impetus of fist conception- than the poets of early age.

Deep thinking’ Coleridge wrote is attainable only by a man of deep feelings

1.Poetry as primarily an ‘’imitation of human life.

Other romantic theories, however diverse in other aspects. concurred on referring primarily to the mind ,emotions. And imagination of the poet, instead of to the outer world as perceived by the sense, for the origin content ,and defining attributes of a poem.

Lyric poem written in the first person, earlier regarded as minor kind. and romantic forms was often described as the most essentially poetic of al genres.

The Prelude is an instance of a central literary form. European Romanticism.

Blake’s Milton, Shelley’s Promentheus Unbound and keat’s the fall of Hyperion.

4.The Glorification of the commonplace

3.Romantic ‘Nature Poetry’

in two lecture on Wordsworth , Hazlitt declared that the school of poetry founded by Wordsworth was literary equivalent of French revolution, translating political changes into political experience.

The paradox (these poets) set out with was that all things are by nature that equally fit subjects for poetry; or that if there is any preference to be given, those that are the meanest and most unpromising are the best.

Lyrical ballads was to choose incidents and situations from common life, which the source and model is’ humble and rustic life.

Words like ‘common’ ,’ordinary’ ,’everyday’ ,’humble’ to people. His aim throughout is to shatter the lethargy of custom so as to refresh our sense of wonder—indeed, of divinity –in the everyday, the commonplace, the trivial, and the lowly.

The great power of the imagination, according to romantic writers, s that it makes the old world new again.

Because of the prominence of landscape in this period ‘’Romantic poetry’’ has to the popular mind become almost synonymouse with ‘’nature poetry’’

The aim of this poetry was description for its own sake.

While many of the great Romantic lyrics-Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey, ode: intimations of immortality, Coleridge’s Frost at Midnight , Dejection, shelley’s ode to the west ,Keat’s Nightingale-begin with an aspect or change of aspect in the natural scene.

’‘nature poems’’ are in fact meditative poems, emotional problems or personal crisis.

Romantic poems habitually endow the landscape with human life passion.

Romantic poets it was matters of immediate experience to response to the outer universe.

The familiar essay

Rival

review

and magazin

es

At the age of 19th.reviews and magazines were written largely.The essays they included were weak imitations.1n 1802, the Edinburgh Review inaugurated the modern type of periodical publication.In 1829 London magazine printed the work of a group of brilliant writers. such as Hazlitt, Lamb, De Quincey

A familiar

essay

commentary on a nontechnical subject written in a relaxed and intimate mannerSome degree paralleled the course of romantic poetry.Like the poets, these essayists were personal and subjective. Their essay are often candidly autobiographic reminscent, self analystic

The drama19th.were unfavorable to writing for the stage.

1843 only the Drury Lane and Covent Garden

theaters had the right to produce.

The other theaters could be no dialogue except to

music, and so put on mainly dancing,

pantomime, and various types of musical plays.

The drama of that period tend to the extremes of

eithe farce and melodrama .

Nonetheless ,attracted irresistibly by the example

of their idolized Shakespeare.

Closet drama: Byron’s Manfred. and Shelly’s Prometheus Unbound.Coleridge achieved a

minor hi with his tragedy Remorse,which ran of 20

nights.The most capable

Romantic dramatist was surprisingly Shelly The

cenci.

The novel

Two fiction novels

Novel of purpose:These mode

popular at the turn of

the century.Often

written to propagate the new

social and political theories.William Godwin, Gothic terror. Caleb

Williams(1794)

Mary Shelley wrote a thematic novel of terror

which not only is literary

classic but become a popular myth.

Frankenstein(1817)

Gothic novels:

Inaugurated in 1764 by Horace Walpole’s Castel of Otranto.

Setting of these tales in a gloomy

caste of middle age.

These novels

opened up to later

fiction the dark and irrational

side of human nature.The

Mysteries of

Udolpho(1794),)Italian(1797), The monk(1797

)

(

jane austen

(1775-1817)

She is one of the greatest of English novelistsShe is the only important author who seems to be untouched by the political , intellectual, and artistic revolutions of her ageAusten deliberately work within the circumference- the life of provincial English gentlefolk.

Sense and sensibility and Northanger abbey gently ridicule late 18th.

1813-1818 Mansfield park, persuations, pride and prejudice and Emma all about the marrige.

Sir walter scott(1771-1832)

He was contemporary with Jane Austen, but his work in fiction was at an extreme from hers.In 1714 with the anonymous

Waverley, he turned from narrative verse.His great series of Scottish

novels, including Guy Mannering, The Antiquary, old Mortality, Rob Roy, Heart of Midlothian are rooted in historical events .

Ivanhoe is set in 13th.England and Kenilworth in the age of Elizabeth:

andQuentin Dunward the best of his continental romances.Scott’s had an immense international vogue, equalling that Byron and Goethe and become the acknowledge master of the greatest 19th. Novelists, including Balzac and Tolstoy.On the other hand, Jane Austen during her lifetime was admired only by a limited group.Scott’s combination of casualness in design and prodigality in details puts off many readers who have formed their sensibilities on the well –made novel.But even after the achievements of such masters in form as Henry James, Jane Austen remains the sovereign of the intricate, spare and ironic art of the novels of mannaer.

William blake

(1757-1827)

what William Blake called his ‘’Spiritual life’’ was as varied, free, and dramatic as his ‘’Corporeal life’’ was simple, limited ,and unadventurous.

At 10 he dropped schoolAt 14 he served as apprentice for

7 years to engraving James Basire.At 24 he married Catherine

Boucher as an ideal wife for an unorthodox and impecunious genius.

In 1800 when the demand for his work slackened he moved to cottage at Felpham.

At Felpham in 1803 occurred an event that left a permanent mark on Blake’s mind and art. he had an altercation with a soldier

After 3years he moved to London determined to follow his ‘’Divine Vision’’ thought it meant a life of isolation.

When he was in his 60 did he finally attract by small group painters. He died in his 70.

Blake ‘s first book of poems, Poetical Sketches , showed his dissatisfaction with the reigning poetic tradition.

For lyric models he turned back to the Elizabethan and early 17th .poets.

He also experiment with partial rhymes and novel rhythms and employed bold figures of speech that at times approximate symbols.

He published Songs of Innocence (1789) then added supplementary poems and printed Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

The best song of experience such as The Tyger and London.First of Blake’s ‘’minor prophecies’’ completed by 1795.and

then the major prophetic books until 1820: The Four Zoas, Milton, Jerusalem.

In the mid 19th. He acquired a group of admires among the Pre-Raphalites.

In The French Revolution, America, A Prophecy, Europe, a prophacy and the trenchant prophetic satire The Marriage of Heaven and Hell which Blake wrote in the early 1790.

Robert burns

(1759-1796)

a favorite myth of late 18th. Was that there exist natural poets, who warble their native woodnotes wild.

Robert Burns his first volume of Poems in 1786.

He rather enjoyed playing the role of the poets by instinct. although he was a well-read.

Two earlier traditions for his models:1.The Scottish oral traditions of

folklore and folk song2.developed Scottish literary tradition,

which goes back to the late Middle age

He died as heart trouble 37.His education in literature ,

theology ,politics, and, philosophy came mainly from his own reading.

At ate age 15 he fell in love, and was inspired by that event to write his first song.He reached maturity, he cultivated assiduously both (love and poetry)propensities.The Kilmarnock volume is one of the most extraordinary first volumes by any British poet.He was an out spoken admirer of the republican revolutions in America and France.In 1788 Burns was given a commission as excise officer.In 1787 James Johnson, an engraver had enlisted Burns Aid in collecting Scottish folk songs for an anthology called The Scots musical museum.Almost all of his creative work, during the last 12 years of his ljfe, went into writing of songs for the Musical Museum and for George Thomson’s Select collection of original Scottish Airs.Burn’s best poetry was written in scotts.He is often considered a ‘’pre Romantic’’

The reputation is based primarily on his song. The include brilliant satire in a variety of modes, a number of fine verse epistle to friends ,and one masterpiece mock-heroic narrative Tom O’ Shanter.

William wordsworth

(1770-1850)

was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads.

Wordsworth's magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude, a semiautobiographical poem of his early years which he revised and expanded a number of times. It was posthumously titled and published, prior to which it was generally known as the poem "to Coleridge". Wordsworth was Britain's Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death in 1850.

first published poetry with the collections An Evening Walk his "Preface to Lyrical Coleridge's name as author. One of Wordsworth's most famous poems, "Tintern Abbey", was published in the work, along with Coleridge's Ballads", which is called the "manifesto" of English Romantic criticism, Wordsworth calls his

poems "experimental ".The year 1793 saw Wordsworth's and Descriptive Sketches. That

year, he met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in Somerset. The two poets quickly developed a close friendship. In 1797 ,

Wordsworth and Coleridge produced Lyrical Ballads (1798), an important work in the English Romantic movement. The volume

gave neither Wordsworth's nor "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ."The second edition, published in 1800, had only Wordsworth listed

as the author, and included a preface to the poems, which was augmented significantly in the 1802 edition. This Preface to Lyrical Ballads is considered a central work of Romantic literary theory. In it, Wordsworth gives his famous definition of poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions recollected in tranquility: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility." A fourth and final edition of Lyrical Ballads was published in 1805.

From 1795 to 1797, he wrote his only play, The Borderers, a verse tragedy set during the reign of King Henry III of England when Englishmen of the north country were in conflict with Scottish rovers. Wordsworth attempted to get the play staged in November 1797, but it was rejected by Thomas Harris