1. The Romantics The Raft of the Medusa
1819 Oil on canvas 491 x 716 cm Musee du Louvre, Paris

2. Historical Background 1780-1830
The French Revolution-the lower-class rebelled to try to create a democratic government as opposed to a dictatorship

3. Impact of the French Revolution
British writers and artists were moved (to say the least) by the cry of the French for “Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity”

4. Characteristics of Romanticism
Literature focuses on the individual
Considered optimists
Believe in the possibility of progress & social & human reform
Attack all forms of tyranny, evils of industrialism such as urban blight, a polluted environment, and the alienation of people from nature & one another
See humanity as naturally good, but tainted by society and institutions of religion, education, & gov’t.

5. England’s Impact on Romanticism
The Industrial Revolution took place from
Eng. Went from an agricultural to an industrial society
Rev. helped make Eng. Prosperous and powerful
Workers were exploited and working conditions were horrible

6. Industrial Revolution’s Impact
Towns turned into cities
Villagers forced to seek work in factories
Wages were meager & hours/days were long
Children suffered greatly

7. England Awakens
English society realized its obligations to the poor, miserable, & helpless
Reformers church and gov’t assumed responsibilities
Sunday schools were organized
Hospitals were built
Regulations were put in place for child labor
Even prisons were being reformed

8. Romanticism Rises
England’s Romanticism movement affected all countries of Western Europe
Romanticism comes in many shapes and sizes
What made one person a Romanticist did not necessarily mean the same for others

9. Romanticism-In Brief
Romanticism can best be summarized by stating that it represented an attempt to rediscover the mystery & wonder of the world.
It was an attempt to go beyond ordinary reality into the deeper, less obvious, and more elusive levels of individual human existence.

10. Romantic Poets
Nature was principal source of inspiration, spiritual truth, & enlightenment
Focused on the ordinary person & common life in order to affirm the worth & dignity of all humans, and to repudiate the evils of a class system that artificially designated a few select people as more important than others b/c of wealth, position, or name

11. The Poets Robert Burns 1759-1796 William Blake 1757-1827
William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats

12. Romantic Writers Thomas De Quincey 1785- 1859
Confessions of an English Opium Eater; On the Knocking at the Gate in “Macbeth”
Mary Shelley
Frankenstein