BRITISH ROMANTICISM Characteristics of Romantic Poets Romantic Literature

BRITISH ROMANTICISM Characteristics of Romantic Poets

Romantic Literature (17981850) “romantic” was commonly used to mean natural phenomenon like sunsets, views of the landscape, or rainbows Romanticism was a reaction against Age of Reason (Enlightenment) � Age of Reason –Logic, Science, Order � Romanticism – Feelings, Nature, Imagination

Historical Happenings - Wars French Revolution (1789) � Marie Antoinette says “let them eat cake” � King Louis XVI and Marie beheaded American Revolution (1776) � American fights Britain and wins independence Britain defeats Napoleon at battle of Trafalgar (1805)

Historical Happenings – British Society Industrial Revolution - factories, assembly line, steam power Urbanization - cities grow & expand

Characteristics of Romantic Poets Beauty of the Supernatural � Believed something existed beyond physical world � Spirit world overthrows tyranny in govt and literature � Focused on supernatural energy and beauty Championing of the Individual � Focused on an audience of those who would become the middle class (a shift of balance btwn gentry and farmers/workers) � Free itself from traditional forms and subjects; freer lyric language that emulated natural speech � Interest in childhood (a person at their most natural state)

Characteristics of Romantic Poets The Importance of Nature � Poet is only at peace when in nature � Frequent use of personification with nature � Nature became emotionally expressive; emotion is natural, reason is learned � Shift from faith in reason to faith in the senses, feeling, and imagination The Dangers of Technology � Disdain for technology and industrialism � From interest in urban society to interest in the rural and natural

Major Early Romantic Poets William Wordsworth (1770 -1850) � Considered the nature poet � Focused on ordinary people in rustic settings � Considered the poet as superior to all other writers � Famous poems: “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” “We are Seven” “I Travelled Among Unknown Men”

Major Early Romantic Poets William Blake (1757 -1827) � Known during his lifetime for his engravings to illustrate the works of other authors -- now he’s more famous for his poetry � Had a reliance on the imagination, idealization of childhood, freedom of thought and expression, and an idealization of nature. � Two volumes of poetry – Song of Innocence and Song of Experience � Famous poems: “The Lamb” “The Tyger” “The Chimney Sweeper”

Major Early Romantic Poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772 -1834) �A Lake Poet � Distinct supernatural element � Strongly influenced American Romantics such as Poe and Hawthorne � Opium user (produces euphoric effects) � Famous poems: “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” “Kubla Kahn” “Christabel”

Later Romantic Poets Lord Byron (1788 -1824) � Most famous creations are his dark heroes (Byronic heroes) --- stood out from ordinary humans as larger than life � Famous poems: “

Later Romantic Poets Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 -1822) � Radical non-conformist � Campaigned for social justice � Wife (Mary Shelley) wrote Frankenstein � Famous poems: “Mutability” “Ozymandias” “Ode to the West Wind”

Later Romantic Poets John Keats (1795 -1821) � Considered contact with poets as a threat to his independence � Shunned his contemporaries � Famous poems: “Ode to a Nightingale” “Ode on a Grecian Urn” “Ode on Melancholy”