1. The Romantic Period 1798-1832 “Beauty is truth, truth beauty.
That’s all you know on Earth
And all you need to know.”
-William Wordsworth

2. Definition
Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature, and music during the 19th century.
Romanticism is characterized by the 5 “I”s
Imagination
Intuition
Idealism
Inspiration
Individuality

3. Imagination Imagination was emphasized over “reason.”
This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the Neoclassical period or “Age of Reason.”
Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art.
British writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it “intellectual intuition.”

4. Intuition
Romantics placed value on “intuition,” or feeling and instincts, over reason.
Emotions were important in Romantic art.
British Romantic William Wordsworth described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

5. Idealism
Idealism is the concept that we can make the world a better place.
Idealism refers to any theory that emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language over matter – thought has a crucial role in making the world the way it is.
Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, held that the mind forces the world we perceive to take the shape of space-and-time.

6. Inspiration
The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master.”
What this means is “going with the moment” or being spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise.”

7. Individuality Romantics celebrated the individual.
During this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements.
Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would write a poem entitled “Song of Myself”: it begins, “I celebrate myself…”

8. Origins
Romanticism began to take root as a movement following the French Revolution.
The publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1792 is considered the beginning of literary Romanticism.

9. The Arts
Romanticism was a movement across all the arts: visual art, music, and literature.
All of the arts embraced themes prevalent in the Middle Ages: chivalry, courtly love. Literature and art from this time depicted these themes. Music (ballets and operas) illustrated these themes.
Shakespeare came back into vogue.

10. Visual Arts
Neoclassical art was rigid, severe, and unemotional; it hearkened back to ancient Greece and Rome
Romantic art was emotional, deeply-felt, individualistic, and exotic. It has been described as a reaction to Neoclassicism, or “anti-Classicism.”

11. Visual Arts: Examples
Romantic Art
Neoclassical Art

12. Music: Components
Classical music emphasized internal order and balance.
Romantic music emphasized expression of feelings.

13. Turbulent Times, Bitter Realities
Some say it started with the French Revolution (1789) and ended with
Parliamentary reforms of 1832 that laid political foundations for modern Britain.

14. : Six Dominate Poets William Blake William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Lived throughout
most of the period.
4. Percy Bysshe Shelley
5. John Keats
6. George Gordon,
Lord Byron
“2nd generation”

15. A Turbulent Age Agricultural society changes to industrialized nation
- Large, restless working class

16. A Turbulent Age American Revolution - Lost 13 colonies
1. economic loss
2. loss of prestige and confidence

17. A Turbulent Age French Revolution
A) To the upper class – represented overthrow of an
anointed king by the “rabble” – their worst fear
– They feared it would spread across the English
Channel to England
B) Democratic idealists were exhilarated
C) “September Massacre” – Hundreds of French
aristocrats who were connected to King Louis XVI
lost their heads from the guillotine

18. A Turbulent Age
D) Napoleon Bonaparte- became first dictator & later emperor of France (1804)
--Becomes ruthless tyrant
and is executed

19. A Turbulent Age
These changes made England more rigid than ever; more repressive
Suspected spies were sent to prison without a trial
England engages in long war with Napoleon
1815, with the help of allies, defeated him at Waterloo, Belgium

20. The Tyranny of Laissez Faire
Industrial Revolution brings changes
Production switches to factories in the cities
Population in the cities increases
Desperate living conditions result
Communal living once shared by small farmers was taken over by individual owners = large numbers of landless people= migration to cities in search of work= people living on welfare

21. Laissez Faire Kept the misery going
Definition- “Let people do as they please”
Economic forces could operate freely without government interference

22. Results of Laissez Faire
Result- Rich got richer and poor got poorer
Small children of the poor were mistreated and used as “beasts of burden”
Coal mines, chimney sweeps

23. Results of Laissez Faire
Poets moved from very structured, formal, “public” poetry to private, spontaneous, lyric poetry
Imagination, not reason is the best response to the forces of change

24. What Does Romantic Mean?
“Romantic” comes from “romance” – one of the most popular genres of medieval literature
Allowed writers to explore new, more psychological and mysterious aspects of the human experience

25. Three Meanings of Romanticism
Fascination with youth and innocence
a. Trust your emotions
b. Sense of identity
Question tradition and authority of the past
a. Imagine happier, fairer, healthier ways to live = idealism
3. Ability to change

26. Poetry, Nature, & Imagination
Wordsworth – poetry should use simple language to deal with commonplace subjects for a particular purpose.
Focused on rural instead of city life
Romantics were called “Nature Poets”
Intrigued by the way nature and the human mind act upon each other
Mind is a “mirror” of nature

27. The Idea of the Poet Poet is “a man speaking to men”- Wordsworth
Each poem has:
A speaker or narrator
Speaking to someone/something
Type of speaking –praising, complaining, etc.
Speaking is emotional and from the heart
Poetry is about human, emotional experiences of ordinary people

28. Byronic Hero: Romantic “Bad Boy”
“A man proud, moody, cynical with defiance on his brow & misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep & strong affection.”

29. Byronic Hero: Romantic “Bad Boy”
George Gordon, Lord Byron
Gave his name to his devastatingly attractive, yet fatally flawed man.

30. Byron’s Heroes Were… Passionate, yet flawed individualists
Intellectually searching
Incapable of compromise
Brooding over mysterious past sins
Painfully, yet defiantly alone

31. Byronic Heroes of Film James Dean – Rebel Without a Cause (1955)
Marlon Brando – The Wild One (1954)

32. Byronic Heroes of Literature
Mr. Darcy –
Pride and Prejudice
Tristan –
Legends of the Fall
(Brad Pitt)

33. Byronic Heroes of Literature
Edward Cullen-
Twilight series
Heathcliff –
Wuthering Heights

34. Gothic Literature
Gothic: Works that contain primitive, medieval, wild, mysterious, or natural elements
Gothic Novel: Gloomy settings, atmosphere of terror or mystery
Example- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley