Benha University Faculty of Arts Dept of English
Benha University Faculty of Arts Dept. of English Subject: History of English Language and Literature in the 18 th & 19 th Centuries Grade: Third Year students Lecturer: Dr. Wafaa M. El-Deftar Week 8: A Comparison of Features of the 18 th Enlightenment with Those of the 19 th Romanticism & The Features of the Romantic Works
A comparison of features of the 18 th Enlightenment with those of the 19 th Romanticism
w 18 th Enlightenment: w 1. Power of reason w 2. Man is nature’s master w 3. Constrain, rules, limitation w 4. Scientific, not religious w 5. The world is ordered w 6. What things have in common w 7. The middle, sensible ground (city literature, for education, intend of the middle class)
w 19 th Romanticism: w 1. Power of emotion w 2. Nature is powerful and independent w 3. Total freedom w 4. Religious – spiritual and mystical w 5. The world is in living chaos w 6. How things are different w 7. The extremes of imagination (not for education, but means to express feelings)
The features of the romantic works 1. The general feature of the works of the romanticists is a dissatisfaction with the bourgeois society, which finds expression in a revolt against or an escape from the prosaic, sordid daily life, the “prison of the actual” under capitalism. 2. Their writings are filled with strong-willed heroes, formidable events, tragic situations, powerful conflicting passions, and exotic pictures. 3. They resort to symbolic methods. 4. The romanticists paid great attention to the spiritual and emotional role in their works. 5. Poetry, of course, is the best medium to express all these sentiments. In fact, all the romanticists mentioned above were poets.
The characteristics of the Romantic Hero ª 1. The hero as artist ª 2. The hero striving beyond the moral restrictions of society ª 3. The hero who reappears from the ancient classics ªyoung, or possesses youthful qualities ªInnocent and pure of purpose ªSense of honor ªKnowledge of people and life ªLoves nature ªQuests for some higher truth
The Features of Romantic literature 1. Poetry, Prose and Novels “Romantic” literature from literature of previous generations is an emphasis on the role of strong individual feeling and deep reflection on a subject resulting from a unique experience. w we must remember that at this time poetry was the medium by which worthy subjects were discussed while prose literature was limited in its range and the reading of novels often regarded as frivolous. w Yet, this by no means glosses the fact that the Romantic age was also a great age of the novel as many types of novel flourished during this era such as:
The Great Age of the Novel w Gothic Novel: Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (1847) Wuthering Heights - Emily Bronte (1847) w Science Fiction Novel: Frankenstein - Mary Shelley (1817) Dracula – Bramm Stoker (1897) w Novel of Purpose: Hugh Trevar - Thomas Holcroft (1794) w Historical Novel: Ivanhoe - Sir Walter Scott (1819) Les Miserables - Victor Hugo (1862) The Three Musketeers – Alexander Dumas (1844)
The Great Age of the Novel Cont’d. w Although the great novelist Jane Austen wrote during the romantic era, her work defies classification. With insight, grace, and irony she delineated human relationships within the context of English country life. Sir Walter Scott, Scottish nationalist and romantic, made the genre of the historical novel widely popular. Other novelists of the period were Maria Edgeworth, Edward Bulwer. Lytton, and Thomas Love Peacock, the latter noted for his eccentric novels satirizing the romantics.
w 2. Periodicals w We shall see, however, that during the period of the Romantic movement there was an increase in the publication of literary periodicals such as Reviews and Magazines. w The Review was originally a form exclusively for literary criticism and the Edinburgh Review, founded in 1802, is a good example of this type of publication. w Magazines published critical reviews but were intended to publish a wider variety of readings for the general public, ranging from criticism and fiction to advertisements and recipes.
Assignment: Poem analysis w Now that you have studied the features of Romantic literature, read the poems you have been given (Blake’s “The Tiger”, Burns’ “A Red, Red Rose”, Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”, Keats’ “Bright Star”); try to analyze their structure and theme, and demonstrate how they represent the characteristics of romantic works.
- Slides: 11