Transcript
BRITISH LIT. II
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD:1785-1830
A PERIOD OF GREAT CHANGE
FOR CENTURIES ENGLAND HAD
BEEN AN AGRICULTURAL
SOCIETY W/ A POWERFUL
LANDHOLDING ARISTOCRACY.
PERIOD OF CHANGE (cont.)
NOW THE COUNTRY WAS BEING
TRANSFORMED INTO A MODERN
INDUSTRIAL NATION OF LARGE-
SCALE EMPLOYERS & A GROWING,
RESTLESS MIDDLE CLASS.
THE POLITICAL CONTEXT
THE AMERICAN & FRENCH REVOLU-
TIONS
ECONOMIC INFLATION &
DEPRESSION
THREATS TO THE EXISTING SOCIAL
ORDER FROM NEW, REVOLUTIONARY
IDEAS
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION
AT FIRST WIDELY SUPPORTED BY
ENGLISH LIBERALS & RADICALS,
WHO ADVOCATED A DEMOCRATIC
REPUBLIC FOR ENGLAND THROUGH
EITHER PEACEFUL EVOLUTION OR
POPULAR REVOLUTION.
FRENCH REVOLUTION (cont.)
AS THE REVOLUTION BECAME IN-
CREASINGLY BLOODY, HOWEVER
(CULMINATING IN THE “REIGN
OF TERROR”), ENGLISH
SYMPATHY WANED.
FRENCH REVOLUTION (cont.)
NAPOLEAN, THE CHAMPION OF
THE REVOLUTION, HIMSELF
BECAME A DESPOT WHO WAS
ULTIMATELY DEFEATED BY
OTHER REACTION-ARY TYRANTS.
CONDITIONS IN ENGLAND
A TIME OF HARSH POLITICAL RE-
PRESSION, IN SPITE OF THE
NEED FOR POLITICAL CHANGES
BROUGHT ABOUT BY THE
INDUSTRIAL REVOLU-TION.
PHYSICAL & SOCIAL CHANGES
MILL TOWNS GREW. THE LANDSCAPE WAS
INCREASINGLY SUBDIVIDED. FACTORIES SPEWED SMOKE &
POL-LUTION OVER EVER-EXPANDING SLUMS.
THE POPULATION WAS INCREASING-LY DIVIDED INTO RICH & POOR.
LACK OF REFORM
ECONOMIC & POLITICAL
REFORMS WERE SLOW TO
OCCUR BECAUSE OF THE
PREVAILING LAISSEZ-FAIRE (“LET
ALONE”) PHILOSOPHY.
LACK OF REFORM (cont.)
THE CONSEQUENCES WERE LOW
WAGES FOR MOST WORKERS,
HORRI-BLE WORKING CONDITIONS,
& LARGE-SCALE EMPLOYMENT OF
WOMEN & CHILDREN IN
CRUSHING OCCUPATIONS (SUCH
AS COAL MIN-ING).
LACK OF REFORM (cont.)
IN THE FACE OF ECONOMIC
DEPRES-SION & TECHNOLOGICAL
UNEM-PLOYMENT, WORKERS (WHO
HAD NO VOTE) HAD TO RESORT TO
PROTESTS & RIOTS, INCURRING
FURTHER RE-PRESSION.
LACK OF REFORM (cont.)
WHILE THE POOR OF ENGLAND
SUFFERED, HOWEVER, THE
LEISURE CLASS PROSPERED.
ROMANTICISM
A DIFFICULT TERM TO DEFINE B/C
OF THE VARIETY OF LITERARY
ACHIEVEMENTS, AND WRITERS
OF THE PERIOD WERE ONLY
LATER LABELED “ROMANTIC.”
ROMANTICISM (cont.)
BUT MANY HAD A SENSE OF THE
“SPIRIT OF THE AGE”—THAT A GREAT
RELEASE OF CREATIVE ENERGY WAS
OCCURING AS AN ACCOMPANIMENT
TO POLITICAL & SOCIAL CHANGE.
ROMANTICISM (cont.)
THE ROMANTIC PERIOD WAS
SEEN BY MANY AS AN AGE OF
NEW BEGIN-NINGS & UNLIMITED
POSSIBILITIES.
POETIC THEORY & PRACTICE
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH TRIED
TO ARTICULATE THE SPIRIT OF
THE NEW POETRY OF THE
PERIOD IN THE PREFACE TO
LYRICAL BALLADS (1800, 1802).
ROMANTIC POETRY
THE ROMANTIC CONCEPTION OF
POETRY WAS OF THE
“SPONTANEOUS OVERFLOW OF
POWERFUL FEEL-INGS.”
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)
THE ESSENCE OF POETIC
CONTENT WAS SEEN AS THE
MIND, EMOTIONS, &
IMAGINATION OF THE POET (NOT
THE OUTER WORLD).
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)
THE FIRST-PERSON LYRIC POEM
BE-CAME THE MAJOR LITERARY
FORM OF THE ERA, W/ THE “I” OF
THE POEM OFTEN REFERRING
DIRECTLY TO THE POET.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)
IN KEEPING W/ THIS, POEMS
ABOUT THE DEVELOPMENT OF
THE SELF BECAME A MAJOR
POETIC FORM.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)
ROMANTICISM ALSO PLACES
GREAT EMPHASIS ON THE
CONCEPT OF POETIC
SPONTANEITY & FREEDOM.
POETIC SPONTANEITY (cont.)
IN THE ROMANTIC VIEW, THE INI-
TIAL ACT OF POETIC COMPOSITION
MUST ARISE FROM IMPULSE, BE
FREE FROM RULES INHERITED
FROM THE PAST, & RELY ON
INSTINCT, IN-TUITION, & FEELING.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)
ROMANTIC POETS ALSO EMPHASIZE
THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCURATELY
OBSERVING & DESCRIBING NATURE,
WHICH SERVES AS A STIMULUS TO
THINKING & TO THE RESOLUTION OF
PERSONAL PROBLEMS & CRISES.
ROLE OF NATURE (cont.)
IN ROMANTIC POETRY THE LAND-
SCAPE IS OFTEN GIVEN HUMAN
QUALITIES OR SEEN AS A
SYMBOL SYSTEM REVEALING
THE NATURE OF THE DIVINE.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)
ROMANTIC POETS ALSO FREQUENT-
LY GLORIFY THE COMMONPLACE.
IN THIS PERIOD, HUMBLE, RUSTIC
SUBJECT MATTER & PLAIN STYLE
BECAME THE PRINCIPAL SUBJECT &
MEDIUM OF POETRY.
THE COMMONPLACE (cont.)
ROMANTIC POETS SOUGHT TO
RE-FRESH READERS’ SENSE OF
WONDER ABOUT THE ORDINARY
THINGS OF LIFE, TO MAKE THE
“OLD” SEEM NEW.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)
IN SPITE OF THE ABOVE
COMMENTS ABOUT GLORIFYING
THE COMMON-PLACE, MANY
ROMANTIC POEMS ALSO EXPLORE
THE REALM OF MYSTERY & MAGIC,
THE STRANGE & SUPERNATURAL.
THE STRANGE (cont.)
THESE KINDS OF POEMS OFTEN
IN-CORPORATE MATERIAL FROM
FOLK-LORE, SUPERSTITION, ETC.
& ARE SET IN FARAWAY PLACES
OR THE DISTANT PAST.
THE STRANGE (cont.)
ROMANTIC POETS OFTEN SHOWED
AN INTEREST IN UNUSUAL MODES
OF EXPERIENCE, SUCH AS
VISIONARY STATES OF
CONSCIOUSNESS, HYPNO-TISM,
DREAMS, DRUG-INDUCED STATES, &
SO FORTH.
ROMANTIC POETRY (cont.)
ROMANTIC POETRY ALSO PLACES
GREAT EMPHASIS ON THE
CONCEPTS OF INDIVIDUALISM,
NONCONFORM-ITY, & INFINITE
STRIVING.
INFINITE STRIVING (cont.)
HUMAN BEINGS WERE SEEN AS
POSSESSING GREAT POWER &
POTENTIAL THAT HAD
FORMERLY BEEN ASCRIBED
ONLY TO GOD.
INIDIVIDUALISM (cont.)
MANY WRITERS DELIBERATELY
ISOLATED THEMSELVES FROM
SOCIETY IN ORDER TO FOCUS
ON THEIR INDIVIDUAL VISION.
INIDIVIDUALISM (cont.)
THE THEME OF EXILE BECAME COM-
MON IN ROMANTIC LITERATURE, W/
THE ROMANTIC NONCONFORMIST
OFTEN PORTRAYED AS A GREAT SIN-
NER OR OUTLAW.
THE NOVEL (cont.)
THE TWO MAJOR NOVELISTS OF
THE PERIOD WERE SIR WALTER
SCOTT & JANE AUSTEN (A VERY
UNROMANTIC WRITER).
Wordsworth: The Lamb
top related