Historical Back ground

Romanticism is a revolt of English imagination against neo-classicism
French revolution
The storming of Bastille
Liberty, equality and Fraternity
Glorify human nature, claim for social democracy
Fight against tyrannyPopulation shiftIndustrial Revolution
Increasing merchandization, development of industry
Economic depression
Disparity between rich and poor
The Reform Bill (1832)

Cultural Background
The Romantic Movement: negative attitude towards the existing social and political conditions.
Core - - reaction against neoclassicism 1798 – 1832
1798 lyrical Ballads (W.Wordsworth, S.T Coleridge)
1832 : death of Sir Walter Scott, passage to the Reform Bill

Characteristics of Romanticism
ImaginationIdealization for natureIndividualismGlorification of the commonplaceThe lure of the exotic

Imagination

Man is all imagination; God is man exists in us and we in him….
All things exist in the human being imagination. (William Black)Imagination: the supreme faculty of the mind (dynamic and active)Imagination can change and createImagination can unify different element into a complex whole.

Let us go then, You and I.
When the evening is spread out against the sky
Like a patient etherized upon a table….(T.S Eliot)
Examples
Kubla Khan (Coleridge)
It is about a dream the poet had one evening
Kubla Khan is the great emporer in the Yuan Dynasty.
Sugested Readings
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 the passions 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”
Natural poetry: one of meditation
Example :
“I wandered Lonely as a cloud”
I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd
A host, of golden daffodils,
Besides the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye,
This is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils
Suggested poems:
William Wordsworth: “Tintern Abbey”

Individualism.

I 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, emphasis on dignity of man and importance of present life.
Enlightenment: saw man as social man; the general or universal characteristics of human behavior were suitable subject matter
Romanticism: Saw man as an individual I the solitary stateEmphasized the special qualities of each individual’s mind
“I am not made like anyone I have seen; O 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 selfA promise of first-person lyric poem
“I” – the direct person of the poet example: Prelude (W. 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: Child Harold’s Pilgrimage

Glorification of the commonplace

I have wished to keep the reader in the company of flesh and blood. (Wordsworth) Materials: the commonplace, the nature, the simpleCommon incidents and situationsNatural diction and languageSuggested poem: “The Solitary Reaper” (W.Wordsworth)
The Lure of ExoticWordsworth, Coleridge and Southey: lived by the riversideByron and Shelley: self-imposed exileExpanded the imagery horizons spatially and chronologically:The Middle agesImages of distant placesAllow free play to the supernatural
Suggested Poems
Byron “Child Harold’s Pilgrimage”
Keats “The Eve of St. Agnes”
Coleridge: “Kubla Khan”

LITERARY FEATURES OF ENGLISH ROMANTICISM

Poetry
Lakers (the first generation): words worth, Coleridge, SoutheyRevolutionary poets (the second generation): Byron, Shelley, Keats
Wordsworth - the world of simple, natural things, in the countryside or among the people
Coleridge – the strange, the exotic, the mysterious
Byron – revolt against society, A prototype of romantic hero “Byronic Hero”
Sheeley - 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 Austin: Love and Marriage
Walter Scott: historical novels
Prose
Newspaper, magazines and periodicals
Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey

WILLIAM WORDSWORTHAll good poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”Wordsworth “endeavored to bring language near to the real language of man”According to the subject matter, Wordworth’s short poems can be divided in two groups: the poems of nature and the poems of Human life. He is a poet of nature and a master hand in searching and revealing the feelings of common people.“a worshiper of nature”Common life – the only subject of literary interest.
Poetic Career of Wordsworth.Lyrical Ballads
Simple Language
Sympathy with the poor
Fusion of natural depression with expression of inward states of mind“Lucy” poems
Harmony between humanity and natue
The prelude Spiritual record of his mind and his philosophy of life

GEORGE GORDON BYRON

“One shade the more, one ray the less, Had half impaired the nameless grace”
Literary CareerOn the whole, Byro’s poetry is one of experienceHis literary career was closely linked with the struggle and movements of his ageHis chief contribution is the creation of the “Byronic Hero” – a proud mysterious rebel figure of noble region
Important works
Child Harolds’s Pilgrimage
Don Juan

She Walks In Beauty

She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry strikes;
And al that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspects and her eyes:
Thus meelowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

One shade the more, one ray the less,
Hard half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tree
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.

And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent