1. The Romantic Period

2. During this time period Mary Shelley published Frankenstein
Romantic Period
During this time period Mary Shelley published Frankenstein
(Published in 1818)

3. Romantic Period
REMEMBER…
This period starts 732 years after the end of the Anglo-Saxon time period in England.

4. Romantic Period
Thus, we are jumping ahead in English history and literature
-The Anglo Saxons
-The Middle Ages
-The Renaissance
-The Restoration and 18th Century
-The ROMANTIC PERIOD

5. Romantic Period
The actual period is said to begin with the FRENCH REVOLUTION
The period is said to end with the PARLIAMENTARY REFORMS OF 1832 that laid the political foundations for modern Britain

6. Romantic Period
You may be wondering:
What does the word
“ROMANTIC ” mean in the context of this period?

7. Romantic Period
The word “romantic’” comes from the term “ROMANCE,” and romance was one of the most popular genres of medieval literature.

8. Romantic Period
The romance genre allowed writers to explore new, more PSYCHOLOGICAL AND MYSTERIOUS aspects of human experience.

9. Romantic Period
The writers of the Romantic period lived in England during a time of SOCIAL UPHEAVAL.
The INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION in England changed the way people lived, where people lived, and how business was done.
(England changed from an agricultural society to an industrial nation w/ almost everyone living in the city)

10. Romantic Period
Writers before this time period tended to rely on SCIENCE and REASON to base their writings on…(Remember, the Restoration was often called the “Age of Reason”)
Writers soon after this time period, such as the Victorian era, wrote to AFFECT CHANGE in society.

11. Romantic Period
In contrast, the Romantic writers focused on PERSONAL EXPERIENCE and IMAGINATION in their work. (This change in thinking was thought to be NEEDED b/c of all the political, economic, and social changes taking place…remember… INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION)
Thus, they were not as concerned with “REASON”… Imagination was superior!

12. Romantic Period
Romantic literature that included the elements of mystery, horror, and the supernatural is known as GOTHIC

13. Gothic Literature Gothic novels tended to feature TROUBLESOME TONES
REMOTE SETTINGS
MYSTERIOUS EVENTS

14. Gothic Literature
The characters’ INNER EMOTIONAL LIVES receive a lot of attention.

15. The struggle between GOOD vs. EVIL is prominent
Gothic Literature
The struggle between GOOD vs. EVIL is prominent

16. Romantic Poets/Poetry
The Romantic period could be argued to start with the selling of Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems

17. Romantic Poets/Poetry
The era has been most identified with with six poets:
William Blake
William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats
George Gordon “Lord Byron”

18. Romantic Poets/Poetry
Remember, before this time the American Revolution had taken place and the French Revolution was taking place.

19. Romantic Poets/Poetry
The American Rev. not only cost England economically, but it was also a loss of prestige and confidence.

20. Romantic Poets/Poetry
The French Rev. was a prime example of an anointed king being OVERTHROWN by a democratic mob.
French Rev. meant the triumph of radical principles…the English worried this would spread.

21. Romantic Poets/Poetry
The French called for a worldwide revolution
In 1793 England declared war on France
In 1804 Napoleon Bonaparte declared himself dictator of France. (Napoleon just as bad as executed king, associated w/ “tyrant”)

22. Romantic Poets/Poetry
As a result of all the changes in western Europe, especially in France, conservatives in England institute severe repressive measures
It outlawed collective bargaining and kept suspected spies in prison without a trial

23. Romantic Poets/Poetry
However, many Romantics (including poets) supported the idea of revolution/change, and clung to their hopes for the “DAWN OF A NEW ERA” through peaceful change
Hopes provoked and shaped by upheavals in English life brought about by the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

24. Romantic Poets/Poetry
Remember, Industrial Revolution brought many people to the city to work in factories where machines replaced handmade articles.
City populations greatly increased and resulted in very POOR LIVING CONDITIONS.

25. Romantic Poets/Poetry
Industrial Revolution also caused land to no longer be communally owned. This resulted in MANY LANDLESS PEOPLE
Thus, these landless people MIGRATED TO THE CITY in search of work or charity.

26. Romantic Poets/Poetry
The economic cause of all this misery was called “LAISSEZ FAIRE”
Translated means “let (people) do (as they please)”
Meaning economic forces were out of the government’s control
Result = rich grew richer and the poor got poorer. (children also suffered because they were often times forced to work)

27. Romantic Poets/Poetry
As a result…
Frustrated by England’s resistance to political and social change during this age of revolution around the globe, the ROMANTIC POETS became dedicated to bringing about change.

28. Romantic Poets/Poetry
These poets believed in the force of literature.
They turned from the formal, public verse of the 18th century Augustans to a more private, spontaneous, lyric poetry.
These lyrics expressed the belief that IMAGINATION, rather than reason, was the best response to the forces of change.

29. Romantic Poets/Poetry
The term “Romantic” has at least THREE useful meanings relevant to the Romantic poets.

30. Romantic Poets/Poetry
#1: A Child’s Sense of Wonder:
“Romantic” signifies a fascination with youth and innocence…particularly the freshness and wonder of a child’s perception of the world.
This perception seemed to resemble the age’s sense of a “new dawn”…like what Wordsworth saw in his first experience in France as “human nature being born again.”

31. Romantic Poets/Poetry
#2: Social Idealism:
The term “Romantic”refers to a view of cyclical development of human societies. This is the stage when people need to question tradition and authority in order to imagine better - that is, happier, fairer, and healthier - ways to live. Romantic in this sense is associated with idealism.

32. Romantic Poets/Poetry
#3: Adaptation to Change:
The term “Romantic”suggests an ability to change- an acceptance of change rather than a rigid rejection of it. In the so-called Romantic period of the first half of the 19th century (up to the Civil War in America), Western societies met the conditions necessary for industrialization. This demanded that people acquire a stronger and stronger awareness of change, and that they try to find a way to adapt to it.

33. Romantic Poets/Poetry
Overall, the term “romantic” signifies a fascination with youth and innocence, a questioning of authority and tradition for idealistic purposes, and an adaptation to change.

34. Romantic Poets/Poetry
It is a mistake to think of the Romantics as “nature poets.”
Rather, these poets were “mind poets” who sought a deeper understanding of the bond between human beings and the world of the senses.

35. Romantic Poets/Poetry
Their search led them to a third, more mysterious element present in both the mind and nature….this element is a creative power that makes things happen…this power is the IMAGINATION.
The Romantics thought this superior to human reasoning.

36. Romantic Poets/Poetry
Each of the Romantics had his or her own special view of the imagination.
However, all of them believed that the imagination could be stimulated by both nature and the mind itself.
These poets had a strong sense of nature’s mysterious forces, which both inspire the poet and hint at the causes of great changes taking place in the world.

37. Romantic Poets/Poetry
Romantic poems usually present imaginative experiences as very powerful or moving.
This suggests that the human imagination is also a kind of desire - a motive that drives the mind to discover things that it cannot learn by rational or logical thinking.

38. Restoration versus Romanticism
Scientific observation of outer world; logic
Pragmatic (practical)
Science, technology
General, universal experiences
Optimistic about present
Moderation, self-restraint
Aristocratic; society as whole
Nature controlled by humans
Examine inner feelings, emotions, imagination
Idealistic (optimistic)
Mysterious, supernatural
Concerned with the particular (very specific)
Romanticizing the past
Excess, spontaneity
Concerned with common people and individuals
Felt nature should be untamed

39. Important Dates
: American Revolution (fighting ended in 1781)
: French Revolution
1798: Publication of Lyrical Ballads
: Romantic Period

40. “The Big Six” Romantic Poets
William Blake
William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats
George Gordon, Lord Byron

41. Other Romantic Writers
Jane Austen
Leigh Hunt
Mary Shelley
Mary Wollstonecraft
Sir Walter Scott
Robert Southey

42. Key Romantic Themes Irrational experiences (dreams and drugs)
Awareness of process and current conceptions of art and introspection
Longing for the infinite encounter through intense experiences of sublime nature (storms, mountains, oceans)
Imagination
Egotism
The particular
The remote
The primitive
The medieval
The East
The sublime
Nature

43. Pastoral
Definition: “The pastoral is a mode of poetry that sought to imitate and celebrate the virtues of rural life (a nature poem).”
Examples: “To My Sister” by William Wordsworth and “Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats

44. Ode
Definition: “An ode is a formal address to an event, a person, or a thing not present. There are three types: Pindaric, Horatian, and Irregular.”
Examples: “Ode to the West Wind” by Percy Bysshe Shelley and “To Autumn” by John Keats