Romantic English Literature

Historical background

A revolutionary energy was at the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the theory and practice of literature, but the very way people perceive the world.

French Revolution--- the storming of Bastille--- Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity--- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: glorify human

nature; claim for social democracy

French RevolutionFrench Revolution

BastillBastillee

Population shifts Industrial revolution

--- increasing merchanization; development of industry

--- economic depression

--- disparity between the rich and the poor

--- Luddite riots: workers’ disturbances

Cultural background The Romantic Movement: negative attitude towards

the existing social and political conditions.

Core --- reaction against neoclassicism

Time --- 1798~1832 1798: Lyrical Ballads

(William Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge) 1832: the death of Sir Walter Scott;

the passage of the Reform Bill

Manifesto --- Lyrical Ballads

Lyrical Ballads Walter Scott

Characteristics of Romanticism

Imagination Idealization of Nature Individualism Glorification of the commonplace The lure of the exotic

Imagination

Man is all imagination, God is man and existsin us and we in him…All things exist in the

human imagination. (William Blake)

Imagination: the supreme faculty of the mind (dynamic and active)

Imagination can change and create Imagination can unify different elements

into a complex whole.

Example: Kubla Khan (Coleridge) It is about a dream the poet had one evening. Kublan Khan is the great emperor in the Yuan

Dynasty.

Suggested poems: William Blake: “The Tyger” S. T. Coleridge:

“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Nature Yet having felt the power of nature, by the gentle

agency of natural objects, led me on to feel thepassions that were not my own. (Wordsworth)

Different perspectives about nature: -- a healing power; -- a source of subject and image; -- a refuge from the artificial constructs of civilization. Describing natural phenomena Capturing “sensuous nuance” Nature poetry: one of meditation

IndividualismI must create my own system or be enslaved by

another man’s. (William Blake)

Middle ages: emphasize on God; man lived chiefly for the future world

Renaissance period: man is the center of all concern; emphasized on the dignity of man and the importance of the present life

Enlightenment: saw man as social man; the general or universal characteristics of human behavior were more suitable subject matter

Romanticism: Saw man as an individual in the solitary state Emphasized the special qualities of each

individual’s mind “I am not made like anyone I have seen; I dare

believe that I am not made like anyone in existence. If I am not superior, at least I am different.” (Rousseau)

Value the exploration and evaluation of the inner self

 

A prominence of first-person lyric poem

“I” – the direct person of the poet

example: Prelude (Wordsworth) A change of direction from attention to the

outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit

Suggested poems: Wordsworth: Prelude Byron: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

The Lure of the Exotic Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey: lived by the

riverside Byron and Shelley: self-imposed exile Expanded the imaginary horizons spatially and

chronologically:

-- the Middle Ages

-- images of distant places Allow free play to the supernatural

Suggested poems: Wordsworth: Lucy Grey, The Solitary

Reaper, It is a Beauteous Evening Milton: “London, 1802” George Gordon, Lord Byron: Maid of Athens,

Adieu, Adieu, Man and Nature

Literary features

Poetry

--- Pre-romanticism:

William Blake, Robert Burns

--- Lakers (the first generation):

Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey

--- Revolutionary poets (the second generation)

Byron, Shelley, Keats

William BlakeTyger, Tyger, burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What immortal hand or eye

Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

--- from “The Tyger”

1. Point of view Politically Blake was a rebel, making

friends with those radicals. Literarily Blake was the first important

romantic poet, showing contempt for the rule of reason, opposing the classical tradition of the 18th century, and treasuring the individual’s imagination.

3. Writing features Blake writes his poems in plain an direct

language. He presents his view in visual images rather

than abstract ideas. Symbolism in wide range is a distinctive

feature of his poetry.

Wordsworth--- poetry is spontaneous--- nature inspires poetry--- common subjects can be poetic (the world of

simple, natural things, in the countryside or among the people)

Coleridge --- the strange, the exotic, the mysterious--- the combination of the natural with the

supernatural , the ordinary with the extraordinary

Byron --- revolt against society--- a prototype of romantic hero, “Byronic hero”Shelley--- the external tyranny is the main enemy--- inherent human goodness will eliminate evil

from the world and usher in an eternal reign of love

Keats--- a response to sensuous impressions--- love of nature and art, a compassion for

humanity

Novel

--- Jane Austen: love and marriage

--- Walter Scott: historical novels Prose

--- newspapers, magazines, and periodicals

--- Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey

William Wordsworth---“All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow

of powerful feelings.”

---Wordsworth “endeavored to bring language near to the real language of man”.

According to the subject matters, Wordsworth’s short poems can be divided into two groups: the poems of nature and the poems about human life. He is a poet of nature and a master hand in searching and revealing the feelings of the common people.

“a worshipper of nature” Common life --- the only subject of literary

interest

Poetic career

Lyrical Ballads

--- simple language

--- sympathy with the poor

--- fusion of natural description with expressions of

inward states of mind

“Lucy” poems

--- harmony between humanity and nature The Prelude

--- spiritual record of his mind and his philosophy of

life