Unit 4 English

Rebels & Dreamers: Romantic Period

French Revolution

• motto: liberty, equality, fraternity

• Democratic Ideals and Rebels

Industrial Revolution

• growth of manufacturing is boosted

  • terrible conditions and no child labor laws

• faith of science & reason are no longer applied in a world of tyranny & factories

  • leaders aren’t noble & poor working conditions

The Romantics were…

living in aftershock of the revolutions (French & Industrial) and writing in response to them

Napoleon Bonaparte

infamous French Emperor who was exiled

Reform Bill of 1832

right to vote

Peterloo Masacre

those in power vs those who want reform

King George 3

old, mad, despised, dying

Regency Era

KG3 insane so son inherit throne because

King George 4

extravagant, obese, separation from wife in ugly/public quarrel

William

KG4 brother who succeed him

no legitiment heir so his niece succeed (Victoria)

strange and far away places

Romantic poets seek something beyond this world to escape stain of the cities (factories)

-Lake District, Kubla Khan, Ozymandias

William Wordsworth (background info)

native of Lake district

worship nature/natural world

escape city to nature

London

rebirth and new infrastructure (St Paul Cathedral fire and Brighton Pavillion)

Bath

Jane Austen’s home

Napoleonic Wars

England vs France

disillusionment

N’s defeat reestablish order

Democratic Ideals

free in personal life, choose gov, equality

William Wilberforce & abolishing slavery

Reform Bill 1832

Mary Wollstonecraft

Rights for Women- education

William Blake

against child labor (Chimney Sweeper)

Lord Byron

debating the death penalty for unemployed weavers?

quinticential

Byronic Hero

Romantic (style)

the opposite of drab, ordinary, conventional, routine, predicted, expected

Romantics (people)

rebellious

authentic and sincere

ordinary speech for the common man

reveal personal thoughts and feelings

Byronic Hero

mysterious, brooding, threatening, outsider, good looks

Sir Walter Scott

invent historical novel

elements of Romanticism

simple/direct language

honor the common man

interest in the beauty/power of nature (sublime)

healing powers of nature

imagination

exotic/far away setting

seek the unknown/forbidden knowledge

rebel against societies norms

power of solitude/unability to live in the city

dreams. superstitions, legends

power of individuality/deep self awareness

expression of intense feelings

all things are connected

The Gothic

mysterious/suspencful background

old castle/large estate

romance

emotion distress (women)

omens, vision, ghosts, supernatural events

storms/bad weather

inner beast

Titern Abbey

William Wordsworth

speaking to his sister, retelling his experience from the last time he was there (5 years ago), he encourages her to go so she can experience the same thing

The World Is Too Much With Us

William Wordsworth

points out the ills of society, man’s connection to nature, consumerism, pagan reference

London 1802

William Wordsworth

vanity and materialism in London, call on John Milton for help, morality

She Walks in Beauty

Lord Byron

idealized beauty, focus on inner life & individual, unconventional compared to society(her dark hair), light and dark imagery, natural imagery

Ozymandias

Percy Bysshe Shelley

desert imagery, exotic and faraway places, legacy of tyrant

When I Have The Fears That I May Cease To Exist

John Keats

mortality, deep self awareness, solitude