An introduction to "The romantic age"

THE ROMANTIC AGE

1760 – 1837

William Blake

William Wordsworth

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

WHAT IS ROMANTIC?

Wanderer above the Sea of Fog

1818

Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows

1831

HISTORICAL CONTEXT.A Time Of Soc ia l And Po l i t i ca l S tab i l i t y

1760 - King George III

ascended to the throne

He ruled Britain for about 50

years

Controversial figure: between

popularity and unpopularity

Officially declared insane in

1811 : his son became regent

until his father’s death - 1820

WINDS OF CHANGE…

1775 – 1783 American War of Independence

1776 American colonies

declare their

independence and

George Washington

becomes the firts

President of the United

States

1789 – 1791 The French

Revolution

«Liberty, equality

and fraternity»

Intellectual circles

Blake, Coleridge

and Wordsworth

Fascination and Fear

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION1760 - 1850

Coal and steam as sources of

power

Steam-powered machines

Mass production Enclosures Acts:

common lands were closed and

assigned to landowners

People moving from the

country to the city

Exploitation of workers >>

Luddite Riots 1811-12

Critical living conditions in

cities

Triumph of scientific, technological

and industrial progress

The Great Exhibition –

1851

BRITISH POLITICS

Domestic Affairs

• 1783 – 1801 + 1804 –

1806

• William Pitt the Younger

Prime Minister

• Reformism and

Conservativism (esp.

after the French

Revolution)

• Repression of protests

• 1801 Act of Union

Loyalist

Propaganda

Nationalism

against France

Financial ability

moral integrity

Peterloo

Massacre 1819

@St Peter’s

Fields

Manchester

BRITISH POLITICSForeign Affairs

Failure of the

French

Revolution1804

Napoleon

Bonaparte

Emperor of France

1800 – 1815

Napoleonic Wars

Many «traitors to the revolution»

executed

Violence and Terror1805

Napoleon

defeated

@

Trafalgar

1815

@ Battle of

Waterloo

1814-15

Congress of

Vienna

Austria –

England –

Prussia – Russia

AFTER GEORGE II I

1811 – 1820 : George IV (Prince Regent > King)

Trade Unions legalised

Reform of the prison system

1830 : King William IV

Whig majority in Parliament > Reformism

1832: first Reform Act > vote for middle-class men

1833 : Abolition of Slavery

Some important facts and

achievements

ROMANTIC LITERATURE

Poetr

y

A reaction

to the

«tyranny»

of Reason

Age

of

Revolution

s

Affirmation

of

individual

subjective

dimension

Intensity

Imagination

POETRY OF CONTRAST

Innocence

Youth

Country

Man

Language

Experienc

e

Age

City

Nature

Expressio

n

Solitude

Wanderin

gs of the

Soul

Sehnsucht

Desire for

sthg distant

unattainable