1. Romantic Period

2. 1798 Wordsworth and Coleridge publish Lyrical Ballads
1832 death of Sir Walter
Romantic period—European idea of romantic love
Refers to the charming, magical world of medieval romance
“freely imaginative idealizing fiction” EMPHASIS ON NATURAL WORLD
Not really about love between a man and a woman

3. 18th C is marked by reason and judgment (1700s)
19th C (1800s) marked by the Romantic writers’ imagination and emotion
Historical Context:
Prosperous time for middle/upper class
American/French revolution were taking place—signal a time when authority is being questioned
Both sought freedom from prevailing rulers

4. Industrial Revolution
1765 Steam engine—
Transition from hand labour to machines
Marks the beginning of modern era
Despicable urban living
Privatization of farmland that was once communal
Sharply divided classes—wealthy and poor further defined
THUS: Revolutions forced the Romantics to write about freedom as well as (re)Connect with natural world
Wordsworth and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads is a collection of poems that uses “real language of men”—poetry that is about feelings rather than social commentary
Byron, Shelley and Keats
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