U. 48. Romanticism in Great Britain: Poetry and Novel.

2. Definition of Romanticism

A Pan-European movement.

• Across various countries

• Developed first in Germany (18thC.) Strum und Drang against Enlightenment and reason.

• Expanded to Russia, France, Britain...

2. Definition of Romanticism

In Britain

• Expanded from late 18th century to the first 3 decades of the 19th century.

• Influenced by French Revolution of 1789 (liberté, egalité, fraternité)

• Marks beginning with Lyrical Ballads (1798)

2. Definition of Romanticism

The Romantics and schools within

• Wordsworth and Co. never claimed to be “Romantics”; that is a retrospective term.

• William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and R. Southey → LAKE SCHOOL

• Johns Keats, Leigh Hunt → COCKNEY SCHOOL (mockingly)

• Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley → SATANIC SCHOOL (controversial)John

2. Definition of Romanticism

On modern individualism and William Blake

• Romanticism contributed significantly to the development of modern individualism

• Influenced political movements (democracy, nationalism…)

• William Blake’s Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. He was a precursor of Romanticism.

  • His ideas would become central to Romanticism.

3. Characteristics of Romanticism

3.1. Ideals of the French Revolution

• Romanticism drew inspiration from the French Revolution of 1789 (Déclaration des droits de l’Homme et du citoyen)

• Robespierre’s Reign of Terror → disenchantment and complex view of political change

3. Characteristics of Romanticism

3.2. Libertinism and the subjective experience

• Strong emphasis on:

  • Individualism

  • Imagination

  • Emotion

  • Personal freedom

• Challenge of social and religious norms

• Poetry was a powerful medium for the expression of emitoin

3. Characteristics of Romanticism

3.3. Nature poetry and Pantheism

• Wordsworth and Coleridge → nature as a divine source and as a symbol for emotional renewal

• Nature revealed deeper truths about humanity and the universe

• Counterpoint to Enlightenment ideas (reason over everything).

3. Characteristics of Romanticism

3.4. The mediaeval age

• Enchantment with the mediaeval period → idealisation to escape from rigid Victorian conventions

• Themes of

  • Chivalry

  • Heroism

  • Fatih

  • Mystery

• Inspired future Gothic Romanticism (ruined castles, atmospheric settings)

3. Characteristics of Romanticism

3.5. The supernatural and Exoticism

• Fascination with the supernatural, sought to evoke wonder, mystery, and the unknown

• Dreams, visions, ghosts…

• Interest in foreign lands (Asia, the Mediterranean, etc.)

  • Idealisation of their cultures. Double-edged sword (E. Said)

3. Characteristics of Romanticism

3.6. Love and destruction

• Love as intense, passionate, transformative

• However related as well with: unfulfilled longing, melancholy, suffering, the tragic hero.

• Self-destruction (Goethe’s The Sorrows of Young Werther)

• Romantizication of su1c1de and the complexities of human condition.

4. Poetry

The two generations of poets

1st generation → W. Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge

• Feature: launched the Romantic movement itself

2nd generation → Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and Lord Byron

• Feature → strong individualism, imagination, and deep appreciation of nature. Divergence in styles.

4. Poetry

4.1. The Early Romantic poets. 4.1.1. William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Life

• Born Cockermouth (Lake District, Cumbria) 1770

• Studied at Cambridge

• Spent youth obsessed with the French Revolution, became sympathetic to revolutionary ideas

• Eventual disenchantment and back to England

4. Poetry

4.1. The Early Romantic poets. 4.1.1. William Wordsworth (1770-1850). How did Wordsworth's mature poetry develop?

• While living with his sister Dorothy in the Lake District

4. Poetry

4.1. The Early Romantic poets. 4.1.1. William Wordsworth (1770-1850). Remarkable works

• Often cited as the poet of nature

• After Lyrical Ballads → The Preface (1800) became a key manifesto of Romanticism

  • “Poetry should use simple language and express like spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”

• The Prelude → one of his most important works, published posthumously. Blank verse, the growth of his mind and imagination in relation to nature.

• Poet Laureate of Britain from 1843 until his death.

4. Poetry

4.1. The Early Romantic Poets. 4.1.2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Life and opium addiction.

• Born Devon, 1772

• Studied at Cambridge but dropped out.

• Dreamt of founding a utopia in the Americas named Panistocracy with Robert Southey. Obviously, the idea failed.

• Struggled with opium addiction throughout his life, though it influenced his imagination and production.

4. Poetry

4.1. The Early Romantic Poets. 4.1.2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834) Works

• Most famous poem→ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (explain plot)

• Kubla Khan → exoti themes and dreamlike visions (opium)

• Biographia Literaria → a major work of literary theory, alongside his lectures on Shakespeare, greatly influenced later criticism.

4.2. The Late Romantic poets. 4.2.1. Lord Byron (1788-1824)

• He became the most famous Romantic poet of his time. Gained fame with Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, a semi-autobiographical poem introducing his travels and the Byronic hero. (a proud, rebellious, emotionally complex figure)

• Aristocratic background, scandalous marriage that forced him to move out of England and never return

• Travelled across Europe (Switzerland and Italy) where

4.2. The Late Romantic poets. 4.2.1. Lord Byron (1788-1824). What is Lord Byron’s major work? End of life.

• Don Juan → a satirical epic written in ottava rima that combines humour, adventure, and irony.

• Supported the Greek War of Independence against the Ottomans

• Passed away in Greece.

4.2. The Late Romantic poets. 4.2.2. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). Life.

• A radical Romantic known for his idealism and opposition to authority and religious orthodoxy.

• Expelled from Oxford for a pamphlet on atheism.

• Tumultuous life → marriage with Harriet Westbrook and later infamous elopement with Mary Shelley.

4.2. The Late Romantic poets. 4.2.2. Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822). Works and death.

• Poetry themes→ revolution, freedom, and the power of imagination.

  • Queen Mab → expresses his early radical ideas

  • Ode to the West Wind, The Cloud, and Prometheus Unbound → a more mature philosophical vision

• Died in a boating accident in 1822, aged 29.

4.2. The Late Romantic poets. 4.2.3. John Keats (1795-1821) Life

• The youngest of the Romantic poets, trained as a surgeon before dedicating himself to poetry.

• Wasn’t concerned with politics, and instead focused on the sensory experience.

• Life marked by tragedy, including his own illness (tuberculosis)

• Died at 25

4.2. The Late Romantic poets. 4.2.3. John Keats (1795-1821) Works

• Poetry known for rich imagery, emotional depth

• Endymion → harsh criticism

• Later poems like Ode to a Greek Urn, Ode to a Nightingale, and To Autumn are now considered masterpieces.

• “A thing of beauty is a joy forever”

5.1. Gothic fiction. First paragraph.

• Emerged in the late 18th century as part of the broader Romantic period.

• Term ‘Gothic’ originally referred to mediaeval architecture like castles, monasteries, and ruins.

• Before the emergence of Romanticism → the Graveyard Poets who explored melancholy and the passage of time (sombre atmosphere).

5.1. Gothic fiction and the Historical Novel. Gothic Fiction. The Victorian fascination with the macabre.

• Victorian society was deeply preoccupied by death, and smothered in excessive mourning codes, despite their progress and science.

• Some other preoccupations inluded the anxieties of industrialisation → fascination with the macabre and supernatural as a way to escape and explore fears and desires not easily expressed in everyday life.

5.1. Gothic fiction and the Historical Novel. Gothic Fiction. Frankenstein.

• THE it book of Gothic fiction.

• 1818 and revised edition of 1832.

• Plot → man vs. nature conflict and ethical consequences of scientific ambition.

• Modern Prometheus explain

5.1. Gothic fiction and the Historical Novel. Gothic Fiction. 5.1.1. Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley (1797-1851)

• Neé Godwin → William Godwin and Mary Wollstonecraft

• Mother died → Mary’s early fascination with death

• At 16, infamous elopement with Percy Shelley.

• 18 year old, ghost story contest at Lord Byron’s and terrifying nightmare

5.1. Gothic fiction and the Historical Novel. The Historical novel. Before…what is the historical novel?

• A major literary Romance that reconstructed historical events while combining them with fictional characters

• Aim? To bring the past to life, blending historical fact with imaginative storytelling.

5.1. Gothic fiction and the Historical Novel. The Historical novel. Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832)

• Born Edinburgh and initially trained as lawyer, became a successful writer

• First novel, Waverley, set during the Jacobite uprising of 1745, achieved success → The Waverley Novels.

• Notable for inclusion of Scottish heritage in his historical novels

• Ivanhoe→ plot

5.1. Gothic fiction and the Historical Novel. The Historical novel. Jane Austen (1775-1817)

• Often associated with the Romantic period but wasn’t one in terms of style and themes.

• Unlike Romantics, her novels do not focus o nature, imagination… → realistic portrayal of English society, particulary the middle-upper classes

• Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility.