Romantic Age- Pratscher

When was the Romantic Age?

1798-1832

What was the Romantic age mainly about?

Feelings, emotions and imagination

How would romanticists treat nature compared to neoclassical people?

Romanticists would appreciate nature and take in nature unlike how neoclassical people would wonder why things are in nature

What revolution played a role in switching perspective to romanticism?

Industrial Revolution

Why did the industrial revolution play a role in changing perspective?

- Polluted air lots of young people were dying

- Poor working conditions

- lots of poverty & unemployment

What other revolution played a role in changing from neoclassical to romanticism?

French Revolution

- Peasants/lower class ended up winning which Britain saw & realized they had to do things different

What did the British government end up changing?

- Anti-Catholic law= prevented Catholics to have any power. Catholics would have to pay higher taxes then protestants

- Only middle-class men were able to vote which took their minds away from thinking of revolution against the government

- factory safety laws were put into place- specific age & hours, better working conditions

What writing became popular during this time?

Poetry

Who were the first gen romantics?

William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge

- Wordsworth know as nature's poet

- Coleridge was an opium addict

- both were radical for their time in their early years (wanted democracy)

- both became more conservative with age

Who were the second gen romantics?

Byron, Keats & Shelley

- even more radical then the first gen romantics

- felt that first gen romantics weren't radical enough, but second gen didn't do much radical things either

- all died young

- Byron- Aristocracy, very attractive (most beautiful man of his time), many scandalous affairs (which he writes about), born into wealth, died of fever in war

- Keats- born poor, died from tuberculous

- Shelly- Aristocracy, ran away with Mary Shelley and was disowned, died in boating incident

Novels

Novel of Manners- satires (Jane Austin)

Gothic Novels- dark, eerie, villains, ghosts

Historical Romance- based on real people and events

Who wrote the poem 'Kubla Khan'?

Samuel Taylor Coleridge

What substance was Samuel Taylor Coleridge under the influence of while writing 'Kubla Khan'?

Opium

What inspired Coleridge to write 'Kubla Khan'?

A dream after reading a book on Genghis Khan and Kubla Khan

What does Coleridge aim to do in the poem 'Kubla Khan'?

Relive his dream

Why is 'Kubla Khan' considered an unfinished poem?

Coleridge forgot the poem from his dream after hearing someone knocking on his door

What is a notable characteristic of the poem 'Kubla Khan'?

It is unrealistic and lacks a clear plot, tone, message, or theme

Kubla Khan Plot info

- Story takes place at made up place named Xanadu

- Poem starts off with very calming and peaceful description of the nature inside Xanadu

- then the poem gets into a woman being in a place of darkness. Where there is a lot of agitation with the water.

- the women is in a dark, haunted and enchanted place where she is screaming in despair for her demon lover

- With the water being agitated there is an un-ending chaos that is bubbling up from the surface & a lot of pressure being built under the earth which cause an explosion with a lot of water

- Before the explosion the Earth was being described as heavily breathing

- From the explosion rocks come down like there dancing in the sky, the water falls down at its own pace & the water ends up to the lifeless ocean which is creepy cuz the ocean is usually full of life

- After the explosion Kubla Khan heard voices from his ancestors from the water which they predict that a war could happen

- Xanadu is known as the dome of pleasure cuz of all the nature it has inside of it

- The entire dome of pleasure is miraculous thing. Having all the beautiful nature inside a 10-mile place is very miraculous.

- Within Coleridge dream he has a vision of a maid who is from Abyssinian (Ethiopia) maid. This maid is playing the Dulcimer (Folk instrument), and this maid shows that she is a regular person in the romantic era.

- This maid is so good & inspiring with the Dulcimer that Coleridge thinks he could build the dome of pleasure just with the air & make it appear, also all who heard the music would see the sunny caves and ice

- the speaker at the end of the poem is being described with flashing eyes and floating hair

- If you circle someone 3 times you protect someone from outside danger & this now makes the speaker have a positive/God like image

The world is too much with us- Plot info

- Written by Wordsworth

- title means worldly things are too much for us & there are too many materialistic things & our power is not in consumerism

- Wordsworth says we are giving up our connection to nature for material things, we have given our hearts away to materialism, we gave our hearts to scandalous gifts

- The sea is being personified as a person. Very violent storms with lots of waves. The waves of the ocean is being compared to a women's chest (This was said because humans don't know what's really going on with the power of nature)

- Wordsworth says he'd rather be a pagan because they have a lot of Gods who are connected to nature

- Wordsworth was a strong Christian but would like to be like a Pagan because Pagans are very connected to nature and wishes his society could be more connected to nature rather than materialism

- Wordsworth wishes to be in the time of the Pagans so he could be less sad from all the materialism around him

- Wordsworth saw God in nature often

The world is too much with us- Theme & Tone

Theme: Humans need to reconnect to nature and stop focusing on materialism

Tone:

Attitude towards nature- Loving, Valuable, Devoted, Pleasant

Attitude towards materialism- Hateful, Disappointed, Disgusted

Literary devices used: Personification, Similes, Allusions (Triton & Proteus-Pagan Gods), Imagery

In romantic poetry tone is usually the thing that is usually emphasized. In Neoclassical writing theme is usually the thing that is emphasized.

Who wrote 'My Heart Leaps Up'?

William Wordsworth

What makes Wordsworth's heart happy?

Nature

How far back does Wordsworth feel connected to the natural world?

As far back as he remembers

What would Wordsworth prefer if he had to give up his connection to nature?

He would rather die

What does Wordsworth want to see in nature for the rest of his days?

God

What is the tone of 'My Heart Leaps Up'?

Passionate and Devoted

What does 'The Child is Father of the Man' refer to in Wordsworth's work?

Learning and mentoring from his own childhood

How does Wordsworth's childhood influence his adulthood?

It mentored him to his connection to nature and who he has become

Who wrote 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

William Wordsworth

What is the setting described at the beginning of 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

The sun is setting, the sea is calm and gentle, creating a peaceful scene.

What personal experience does Wordsworth describe in 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

He experienced the beauty of the evening.

How does Wordsworth connect his experience of the evening to spirituality?

He connects it to Godlike images, viewing the experience as sacred.

What does the sea symbolize in 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

The mighty being sounding like thunder.

Who does Wordsworth call out to in 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

His daughter, Caroline.

What does Wordsworth observe about Caroline's perception of God in 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

She is not thinking about God's presence; she is enjoying time with her dad.

What does Wordsworth acknowledge about all things created by God in 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

That God is present in all things, including the physical make-up of his daughter.

What is the theme of 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

The natural world is divine.

What tone is conveyed in 'It is a Beauteous Evening'?

Grateful, passionate, peaceful, and devoted.

She walks in beauty

- Written by Lord Byron

- Lord Byron is attending his cousin's funeral

- Byron leaves the funeral to write this poem for how attractive the widow is

- Byron compares the widow to a night full of stars, this is a really big complement during the Romantic era if someone reminds you of something in nature.

- The widows' eyes are her best feature as her eyes are both dark (actual color of her eyes) and bright. Darkness and light are all throughout her.

- The Widows' clothes also represent the stars in the night sky as she wore a black dress with sparkles at the funeral.

- The gaudy day is talking about a sunny day. Byron is talking about her skin tone being pale as she hasn't been in the sunny day of heavens light.

- To be pale it is considered to be more attractive during this time period. There's a good contrast between her dark dress and her pale skin.

-Her hair is very wavy and dark. If her hair got any darker or any lighter, than it would ruin her beauty and wouldn't be as perfect as she is. Her dark hair brings out her nice pale skin.

- Byron makes an assumption of what is going on in her mind. Byron assumes that there are good things going through her head. Byron thinks she's pure, sweet and calm just from how she looks from the outside.

- The widows' cheeks and forehead seem soft. The widow was very self-composed during the funeral service. Byron thinks her cheeks and forehead are communicating to him as he thinks they both feel a connection.

- Because the widow smiles and looks perfect Byron thinks she does good things. Byron assumes she's at peace at her husband's burial.

- Byron assumes that her heart is innocent and thinks she is ready for a new relationship.

Tone: Widow- Passionate, respectful, admiration

When I have Fears that I May Cease to Be

- Written by John Keats

- When Keats wrote this poem, he was in the midst of dying from tuberculous (ends up dying at 24 years old)

- Nature is Keats inspiration for his poems

1st fear= Fear of not being able to write down all his poetry from his busy mind before he dies

2nd fear= He is afraid to lose the ability to look at nature to create his poems

3rd fear= He is afraid that he will die before he experiences real love

Conclusion: Keats is standing alone facing the sea. He is little in stature facing the wide world in front of him. He stands on the shore thinking about his fears sink into nothingness. Keats realizes the fears are not important in the grand scheme of things and there is a whole wide world right in front of him

Tone: Fears- Understanding, Mature, Accepting

Ozymandias

- Written by Shelley

- Shelley is focusing on how powerful nature is compared to humans in this poem

- this poem is about a statue of King Ramses II

- this statue is in Egypt and in a desert

- the statue is broken and falling apart

- parts of the statue are missing as the entire torso is gone

- they only have the face of the statue which is frowning and the legs

- there is a message on the statue and is saying that King Ramses wants people to feel bad about themselves because they are not as powerful as he is

- From King Ramses empire there is nothing left as there's only an empty desert.

Theme: Nature and time are far more powerful than humans