1. PRE-ROMANTIC AND ROMANTIC PERIOD (1751- 1837)
Origin of the word romantic: from the French word “roman” referred to medieval epic sagas. Initially it meant “exaggerated, unconvincing” but later it took on a positive meaning and was used to describe the expression of personal feelings..

2. Literary background
1751: The poet Thomas Gray published “Elegy written in a country churchyard” which is considered a transitional poem with a neo-classical form and pre-romantic features (interest for nature, search for solitude).

3. Dates to remember 1760 – 1820 Reign of King George III
Beginning of the American War of Independence
1789 Beginning of the French Revolution
1793 – 1815 British war with Napoleonic France > 1805 Battle of Trafalgar > 1815 Battle of Waterloo

4. Historical background
1770: Navigation Acts > All colonial trade must be on British ships colonial produce Great Britain (import)
rest of the world
British ships
colonies
(export)

5. Literary background
1770: In Germany, the young writers of the STURM UND DRANG movement (W. Goethe, J.G. Herder, F. Schiller) meet in Strasbourg. In their works they emphasize the uniqueness, freedom and creativity of the individual and the value of feelings and they regard Nature as Man's true spiritual environment.
Friedrich Schiller
Johann Gottfried Herder
Wolfgang Goethe

6. Historical background
«No taxation without representation»
Boston Tea Party
In Boston, rebels from the American colonies, dressed as Native Americans, throw into the harbour the cargo of tea coming from India on British ships.
Boston Tea Party

7. Historical background
1775: Battle of Lexington > Beginning of the American War of Independence. The American rebels are supported by France.
Battle of Lexington

8. Historical background
1776: On 4 July, in Philadelphia, the Congress signs the Declaration of Independence of the American ex – colonies. The text was written by Thomas Jefferson.

9. Historical background
1783: Treaty of Versailles > Britain recognises the independence of its former colonies. 1787: The 13 independent states which form the new republic adopt a Federal Constitution. George Washington becomes the first president of the United States on America. 1789: In France, the Revolution breaks out.

10. Literary background
1776: In France, the philosopher Jean Jacques Rousseau uses the word “romantique” in his Discours sur l'origine de l'inégalitè and he puts forward his idea of the “noble savage”, who is good, free and happy because he is in contact with Nature.
Jean Jacques Rousseau

11. Literary background
1798: In Germany, a group of German writers and philosophers from Jena (Schlegel, Novalis, Fichte, Schelling) found the cultural review ATHENAEUM in which they define the Romantic Movement in ideological and aesthetic terms. In England, the English poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, express the same ideals in a collection of poems, the LYRICAL BALLADS.

12. Literary background
1800: Wordsworth and Coleridge write a PREFACE to the second edition of the Lyrical Ballads in which they expound the basic principles of Romantic Poetry.
This Preface is considered the manifesto of the Romantic Movement in Britain.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
William Wordsworth

13. Literary background Lyrical Ballads The Power of Imagination
The Power of Nature
The Nostalgia for the past
The Cult of childhood
The Poet as a prophet
The ordinary language
The sublime

14. The Main Romantic Authors
POETS
1st Generation of Romantic Poets : William Blake
William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
2nd Generation of Romantic Poets: George Gordon Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
John Keats

15. The Main Romantic Authors
NOVELISTS
Sir Walter Scott > (Historical Novel)
Jane Austen > (Novel of Manners)
Mary Shelley > (Gothic Novel)