The Romantic Period

The Romantic Period

• Refers to the years 1786-1832 in British Literature

• Stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from conservative beliefs and rebellion against social conventions

• The period was a rejection and response to the conventions of Classicism – with its focus on order, tradition, harmony and rational thinking

• The Romantics emphasized the power of the individual

Characteristics of Romantic Literature

• Adventurous, chivalrous, creative, dreamlike, eccentric, emotional, enthusiastic, free, humanitarian, idealistic, imaginative, individualistic, introspective, moody, nature-oriented, passionate, primitive, sensitive, sensual, solitary, unconventional, visionary

Romantic Poets

• John Keats:• Abandoned the

study of medicine to become a poet

• Wrote poems of great beauty and sensuous imagination

• Died of tuberculosis as a young man

Romantic Poets

• Walt Whitman:• American poet

known for his aggressive free verse of lack of inhibitions

• Wrote about man in harmony with the cosmos

• Died in poverty

Romantic Poets

• Percy Bysshe Shelley:• Expelled from university

for writing a pamphlet on The Necessity of Atheism

• Left England to avoid public censure on his radical views of politics and religion

• Wrote about the beauty and freedom of nature and the triumph of the human spirit over restraints

Romantic Poets

• George Gordon (Lord Byron):

• Wealthy, handsome and unconventional

• Left England to live in Europe due to gossip about his romantic affairs

• Dedicated to the concept of freedom, both personally and politically

• Died in the Greek struggle for independence from Turkey

Romantic Poets

• William Wordsworth:

• The prime figure of the English Romantic movement

• Wrote powerfully emotional poems about common life

O Captain My Captain - Walt Whitman

O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;But O heart! heart! heart!O the bleeding drops of red,Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.

O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;Here Captain! dear father!This arm beneath your head!It is some dream that on the deck,You've fallen cold and dead.

My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;Exult O shores, and ring O bells!But I, with mournful tread,Walk the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.