AP English Literature THE ROMANTIC PERIOD 1785 1830

AP English Literature THE ROMANTIC PERIOD: 1785 -1830

A PERIOD OF GREAT CHANGE n FOR CENTURIES ENGLAND HAD BEEN AN AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY W/ A POWERFUL LANDHOLDING ARISTOCRACY.

PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont. ) n NOW THE COUNTRY WAS BEING TRANSFORMED INTO A MODERN INDUSTRIAL NATION OF LARGESCALE EMPLOYERS & A GROWING, RESTLESS MIDDLE CLASS.

THE POLITICAL CONTEXT n THE AMERICAN & FRENCH REVOLU- TIONS n ECONOMIC INFLATION & DEPRESSION n THREATS TO THE EXISTING SOCIAL ORDER FROM NEW, REVOLUTIONARY IDEAS

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION n AT FIRST WIDELY SUPPORTED BY ENGLISH LIBERALS & RADICALS, WHO ADVOCATED A DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC FOR ENGLAND THROUGH EITHER PEACEFUL EVOLUTION OR POPULAR REVOLUTION.

FRENCH REVOLUTION (cont. ) n AS THE REVOLUTION BECAME IN- CREASINGLY BLOODY, HOWEVER (CULMINATING IN THE “REIGN OF TERROR”), ENGLISH SYMPATHY WANED.

FRENCH REVOLUTION (cont. ) n NAPOLEAN, THE CHAMPION OF THE REVOLUTION, HIMSELF BECAME A DICTATOR WHO WAS ULTIMATELY DEFEATED BY OTHER REACTION-ARY TYRANTS.

CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND n A TIME OF HARSH POLITICAL RE- PRESSION, IN SPITE OF THE NEED FOR POLITICAL CHANGES BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION.

PHYSICAL & SOCIAL CHANGES n MILL TOWNS GREW. n THE LANDSCAPE WAS INCREASINGLY SUBDIVIDED. n FACTORIES SPEWED SMOKE & POL- LUTION OVER EVER-EXPANDING SLUMS. n THE POPULATION WAS INCREASING- LY DIVIDED INTO RICH & POOR.

LACK OF REFORM n ECONOMIC & POLITICAL REFORMS WERE SLOW TO OCCUR BECAUSE OF THE PREVAILING LAISSEZ-FAIRE (“LET ALONE”) PHILOSOPHY.

Impact of Industrial Revolution on the Common People n THE MOST IMPORTANTASPECT OF THE I. R. WAS THE APPLICATION OF INDUSTRIAL PRINCIPLES OF PRODUCTION TO HUMAN WORK n THE MACHINE BECAME A MODEL OF THE FACTORY n ASSEMBLY LINES AND MASS PRODUCTION RESULTED FROM THIS DEVELOPMENT n WORKING PEOPLE WERE PUT UNDER DANGEROUS AND DEHUMANIZING CONDITONS FOR LOW WAGES

LACK OF REFORM (cont. ) n THE CONSEQUENCES WERE LOW WAGES FOR MOST WORKERS, HORRIBLE WORKING CONDITIONS, & LARGE -SCALE EMPLOYMENT OF WOMEN & CHILDREN IN CRUSHING OCCUPATIONS (SUCH AS COAL MINING).

LACK OF REFORM (cont. ) n IN THE FACE OF ECONOMIC DEPRES- SION & TECHNOLOGICAL UNEMPLOYMENT, WORKERS (WHO HAD NO VOTE) HAD TO RESORT TO PROTESTS & RIOTS, INCURRING FURTHER REPRESSION.

LACK OF REFORM (cont. ) n WHILE THE POOR OF ENGLAND SUFFERED, HOWEVER, THE LEISURE CLASS PROSPERED.

THE PLIGHT OF WOMEN n WOMEN OF ALL CLASSES WERE REGARDED AS INFERIOR TO MEN & HAD ALMOST NO LEGAL RIGHTS.

PLIGHT OF WOMEN (cont. ) n WOMEN WERE UNDEREDUCATED, HAD LIMITED VOCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES, AND WERE SUBJECT TO A STRICT CODE OF SEXUAL CONDUCT.

PLIGHT OF WOMEN (cont. ) n THOUGH THE CAUSE OF WOMEN’S RIGHTS WAS LARGELY IGNORED, REFORM OF MALE POLITICAL RIGHTS GRADUALLY MOVED FORWARD.

ROMANTICISM n A DIFFICULT TERM TO DEFINE BECAUSE OF THE VARIETY OF LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS, AND WRITERS OF THE PERIOD WERE ONLY LATER LABELED “ROMANTIC. ”

ROMANTICISM (cont. ) n BUT MANY HAD A SENSE OF THE “SPIRIT OF THE AGE”—THAT A GREAT RELEASE OF CREATIVE ENERGY WAS OCCURING AS AN ACCOMPANIMENT TO POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CHANGE.

ROMANTICISM (cont. ) n THE ROMANTIC PERIOD WAS SEEN BY MANY AS AN AGE OF NEW BEGINNINGS AND UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES.

ENLIGHTMENT VS. ROMANTICISM n ENLIGHTMENT ENSHIRNED REASON – ROMANTICS CELEBRATED MADNESS n ENLIGHTMENT CRITICIZED ENTHUSIASM AND DISTRUSTED THE EMOTIONAL SIDE OF HUMANITY –ROMANTICS CALLED ON HUMANS TO TRUST THEIR INSTINCTS AND FEELINGS n ENLIGHTENMENT BELIEVED SCIENCE WAS THE IDEAL OF HUMAN ACHIEVEMENT – ROMANTICS EMPHASIZED POETRY

ENLIGHTMENT VS. ROMANTICISM n ENLIGHTENMENT EMPHASIZED PROGRESS – ROMANTICS SOUGHT TO RETURN TO AN IDEALIZED PAST, WHILE ALSO REALIZING THE IMPOSSIBILITY OF SUCH A RETURN n THEREFORE: n ROMANTICS REPLACED THE ENLIGHTENMENT’S OPTIMISM WITH A SENSE OF TRAGEDY AND MELANCHOLIA

THE ‘BIG SIX’ OF ENGLISH ROMANTICISM n WILLIAM BLAKE (1757 -1827) n WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770 -1850) n SAMUELTAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772 -1834) n GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON (1788 - 1824) n PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY(1792 -1822) n JOHN KEATS (1795— 1821)

“FATHERS” OF ROMANTIC POETRY n WORDSWORTH AND COLERIDGE PUBLISHED THE LYRICAL BALLADS IN 1798 n VOLUME CONTAINED “TINTERN ABBEY” (WORDSWORTH) AND “RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER” (COLERIDGE)

POETIC THEORY & PRACTICE n WILLIAM WORDSWORTH (1770 -1850) TRIED TO ARTICULATE THE SPIRIT OF THE NEW POETRY OF THE PERIOD IN THE PREFACE TO LYRICAL BALLADS (1800, 1802).

ROMANTIC POETRY n THE ROMANTIC CONCEPTION OF POETRY WAS OF THE “SPONTANEOUS OVERFLOW OF POWERFUL FEELINGS. ”

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont. ) n THE ESSENCE OF POETIC CONTENT WAS SEEN AS THE MIND, EMOTIONS, AND IMAGINATION OF THE POET (NOT THE OUTER WORLD).

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont. ) n THE FIRST-PERSON LYRIC POEM BE- CAME THE MAJOR LITERARY FORM OF THE ERA, WITH THE “I” OF THE POEM OFTEN REFERRING DIRECTLY TO THE POET.

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont. ) n IN KEEPING WITH THIS, POEMS ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE SELF BECAME A MAJOR POETIC FORM.

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont. ) n ROMANTIC POETS ALSO OFTEN SAW THEMSELVES AS PROPHETS IN A TIME OF CRISIS, REVISING THE BIBLICAL PROMISE OF DIVINE REDEMPTION IN TERMS OF A “HEAVEN” ON EARTH.

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont. ) n ROMANTICISM ALSO PLACES GREAT EMPHASIS ON THE CONCEPT OF POETIC SPONTANEITY & FREEDOM.

POETIC SPONTANEITY (cont. ) n IN THE ROMANTIC VIEW, THE INI- TIAL ACT OF POETIC COMPOSITION MUST ARISE FROM IMPULSE, BE FREE FROM RULES INHERITED FROM THE PAST, AND RELY ON INSTINCT, INTUITION, AND FEELING.

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont. ) n ROMANTIC POETS ALSO EMPHASIZE THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATELY OBSERVING AND DESCRIBING NATURE, WHICH SERVES AS A STIMULUS TO THINKING AND TO THE RESOLUTION OF PERSONAL PROBLEMS AND CRISES.

ROLE OF NATURE (cont. ) n IN ROMANTIC POETRY THE LAND- SCAPE IS OFTEN GIVEN HUMAN QUALITIES OR SEEN AS A SYMBOL SYSTEM REVEALING THE NATURE OF THE DIVINE.

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont. ) n ROMANTIC POETS ALSO FREQUENT- LY GLORIFY THE COMMONPLACE. n IN THIS PERIOD, HUMBLE, RUSTIC SUBJECT MATTER AND PLAIN STYLE BECAME THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECT AND MEDIUM OF POETRY.

THE COMMONPLACE (cont. ) n ROMANTIC POETS SOUGHT TO RE- FRESH READERS’ SENSE OF WONDER ABOUT THE ORDINARY THINGS OF LIFE, TO MAKE THE “OLD” SEEM NEW.

ROMANTIC POETRY (cont. ) n IN SPITE OF THE ABOVE COMMENTS ABOUT GLORIFYING THE COMMONPLACE, MANY ROMANTIC POEMS ALSO EXPLORE THE REALM OF MYSTERY AND MAGIC, THE STRANGE AND SUPERNATURAL.

THE STRANGE (cont. ) n THESE KINDS OF POEMS OFTEN IN- CORPORATE MATERIAL FROM FOLKLORE, SUPERSTITION, ETC. AND ARE SET IN FARAWAY PLACES OR THE DISTANT PAST.

THE STRANGE (cont. ) n ROMANTIC POETS OFTEN SHOWED AN INTEREST IN UNUSUAL MODES OF EXPERIENCE, SUCH AS VISIONARY STATES OF CONSCIOUSNESS, HYPNOTISM, DREAMS, DRUG-INDUCED STATES, AND SO FORTH.