1. 1784ish-1832ish

2. Responses to/against 18 th c. Lit Extension of literacy Literature as a way of changing the world Looking to classical literature for models Continued influence of journalism, reviews, subscription publishing Reaction against Neoclassical certainty Questioning authority, rather than claiming to have it Excess and emotion rather than moderation, reason, restraint (though Romantic poetry is technically very accomplished)

3. The Age of Revolutions Revolution replaces complacency The American Revolution: challenge to British supremacy and colonialism The French Revolution: overthrow of perceived tyranny The Industrial Revolution: economic and class-structures shaken up Political Revolution: Rise of the commons and the Reform Bill of 1832 Religious Revolution: increase in nonconformity and individualism in religious expression

4. Zeitgeist “The Spirit of the Age” Elevation of Imagination over Reason, Science, Empiricism, Certainty Elevation of ‘nature in the raw’ over Nature Methodized Celebration of sensibilities, of perception through feeling rather than through the intellect

5. Attitudinal Shifts

6. Different Viewpoints

8. Poetic Theory and Practice The poet not as moralist but as vates (prophet) Spontaneity and freedom over rules Irregularity and impulsive forms (rise of the ode), metrical experimentation Glorification of the ordinary, the common, and the outcast rather than General Principles Embellishment with the supernatural and the strange (“The Gothic”)

9. Major Genres Poetry The ode The lyric Non-fiction prose The reflective essay The familiar essay The letter Drama (often “closet drama”) The novel Gothic novel, novel of purpose, novel of manners, the romance

10. The Sublime Longinus defined the sublime as differing from beauty and evoking more intense emotions by vastness, a quality that inspires awe and even terror. Whereas beauty may be found in the small, the smooth, the light and the everyday, the sublime is vast, irregular, obscure and superhuman. Definition from Grove Dictionary of Art Becomes fashionable to travel to wild and rugged places, such as the Alps, Snowdonia and the Lake District

11. Sublime/Beautiful/Picturesque http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/engl203/overviews /sublime.htm http://faculty.winthrop.edu/kosterj/engl203/overviews /sublime.htm

12. Mary Wollestonecraft http://www.bbc.co.uk/hi story/british/empire_sea power/wollstonecraft_01. shtml http://www.bbc.co.uk/hi story/british/empire_sea power/wollstonecraft_01. shtml

13. George Gordon, Lord Byron http://faculty.winthrop.e du/kosterj/engl203/auth ors&primaryreadings/by ron.htm http://faculty.winthrop.e du/kosterj/engl203/auth ors&primaryreadings/by ron.htm