Romanticism

THE ROMANTIC PERIOD (1789 – 1832)

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

-        the dates vary – the beginning is sometimes associated with the French Revolution and sometimes the year of publication of Lyrical Ballads, 1798, is used as the starting point

-        1832 is the year when Sir Walter Scott, one of the most famous Romantic authors, died

-        however, the transition was gradual and more approaches towards literature coexisted, several authors from the previous period still followed the same rules, others tried to change the face of literature radically  

-        it is seen as a reaction to the Enlightenment or Age of Reason

-        revolutionary ideas led to the political revolutions - in America (the American Declaration of Independence (1776)) and in France (the French Revolution (1789) ) and caused violence and bloodshed

-        the Napoleonic wars, ended with  the Battle of Waterloo (1815), were followed by the rising unemployment and economic depression, the wealth was concentrated in the hands of few people, a lot of others lived in poverty

-        another revolution, the Industrial Revolution changed the lives of people – for the better as well as for the worse

-        it brought about technological advances, which had potential to make the world easier to live in – mass production, developments in transportation and communication

-        more effective farms were created by enclosing areas by fences, producing more food for increasing population, on the other hand, they changed the landscape and influenced a lot of farmers

-        more and more factories worsened pollution

-        a new class, the working class emerged

-        people were moving to the cities, where they often lived in bad conditions 

 LITERATURE

-        in English literature, it differed from European Romanticism, which was more radical and political

-        in contrast to the Augustan literature, the literature written during the Romantic period put emphasis on imagination, feelings and intuition

-        the individual came to the fore, the authors were exploring human soul and describing the inner lives of their characters

-        the protagonist was often unconventional, looking for freedom, expressing (usually) his rebellious spirit

-        supernatural phenomena appeared

-        children were seen as pure, not corrupted, spontaneous

-        authors portrayed the beauty and power of nature in contrast to the city

-        LYRICAL BALLADS (1798) – a collection of poems written by WILLIAM WORDSWORTH and SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE, in which they presented their literary theory – poetry should be more democratic, available to all, closer to everyday speech