The Romantic age 1789-1837

The Romantic age 1789-1837

         Romantic period has started with the publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, both were the prominent poets of the age and they have proved that it was 

“The second creative period of English literature”

    

    Majority of writers were not ready to accept their identity as a romantic writer but after the lectures of August Schlegel about romanticism he has depicted classicism as ‘plastic’ and materialistic and romantic age as ‘organic’, and because of this point of view Romanticism has started in its flaw.

      The important movement has been started from Berlin, in Berlin there were a lot of space for writers and all artists. They encouraged writers, painters and singers to establish their works.

       In this age there were several movements were going on, it was a time when two books about England have been published,

     1)    Adam Smith: “Wealth of Nation”, it was all about condition of forced laborers.

     2)     Thomas Paine: “Rights of Man”, it was about industrialism versus individual.

       The age was also known as “An age of Revolution” there were three revolts going together, Anglo Saxon period of freedom, American Commonwealth and French Revolution. All this movements brought the term ‘Individualism’ and people started thinking in different way.

Historical Background

                               

         1)    French revolution : it was a revolution for man’s freedom,

“Liberty, Equality and fraternity”

      When the reform bill has passed in 1832, it has changed the view of world towards England.

Reform Bill –

1)    Prevention of child labour

2)    The abolition of  the restriction upon Catholics in parliament

3)    Freedom of press

4)    Abolition of slavery

5)    Establishment of thousands of schools

These all reformed laws were continued in The Victorian Age.

      2)   Economic Condition:

    

     In this age England was the wealthy nation of world it has became,

“The workshop of the world”

And its wealth was increasing wilderly, but the problem was of its distribution. By the unequal distribution of the wealth, rich were becoming richer and poor were getting poorer. The condition of workhouses was becoming worst. English man and women were becoming slaves of the workhouses. They used to work there for almost sixteen hours. From the age of five a person can work there. These were the effects of industrialization. Charles Dickens has presented this in his works like “Oliver Twist”.

 


       These were the economic facts of the age. this was the darkness behind the great light of England.

Here are some important characteristics:

 

       1)   Romantic Enthusiasm:

   

      This was an age of Romance and new young writers with new ideas of life. Imagination was flourishing in the air of England. As Wordsworth wrote about age that,

“Bliss was in that down to be alive,

But to be young was very heaven”

      People were more attracted with the imagination of Coleridge and natural approach of Wordsworth towards Mother Nature. Scott, Byron and Shelly made the age more enthusiastic with their natural, realistic as well as imaginative writing.  It was like,

“Finding tongues in trees, books in brooks, Sermons in stones, and good in everything”

    2)   Woman as novelists:

       This was the first time when women have started writing. Women have given a chance to get education and they have used this freedom given by the so called patriarchal society. They have proved that they have skills far better than man. This was not any competition between male and female writers but it was expressing the feelings of being a woman in the society.

“When woman is given like a fair opportunity, she responded magnificently.”

As the age was of emotions and woman is best in expressing the emotions than man. The age has attracted woman to write and she has contributed in literature. Mrs. Anne Radcliffe (1764-1823) was one of the most successful women writers. Her novels were popular not among crowd of novel readers but also the teo main literary figure of the age, Scott and Byron.

    3)   An age of poetry:

            

           The pervious century was of Prose and this age was of Poetry. In the Elizabethan Age, man has naturally turned to poetry as happy man to singing.  In this age the poetry of Scott, Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelly, Keats, Moore and Southey. Coleridge, Wordsworth and Southey were Lake Poets.  As Wordsworth has written that,

“Fill your paper with the breathing of your heart”

     4)   Modern magazines:

        The Modern magazines were the important medium which has given a chance to new poets to express their skill of writing snd knowledge of poetry. There were some important Magazines like,

1.    Blackwood’s Magazine (1817)

2.    Edinburgh Review (1802)

3.    The Quarterly Review (1808)

4.    The Westminster Review (1824)

5.    The Spectator (1828)

6.    Fraser’s Magazine (1830)

The Poets of the Age:

                  There were two major poets of the age William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge. Other poets are as below.

          1)   Walter Scott: (1771 – 1832)

            He had a great instinct of presenting poetry and he was also a novelist. The poetry of Wordsworth and Coleridge was read by a select few, but Scott’s Marmion  and his Lady of the Lake aroused a whole nation to enthusiasm, and for the first time romantic poetry became really popular. His way of Poetry writing was story telling style.

    

Poetry	Novels
The Lay of the Last Minstrel	The Waverley Novels series
Marmion	The Siege of Malta
The Lady of the Lake	Bizarro – unfinished novel
The Lord of the Isles
The Vision of Don Roderick

       2)   Robert Southey (1774 – 1843)

“How beautiful is night!

A dewy freshness fills the silent air”

        Southey was a poet Laureate before Wordsworth in 1813 till his death 1843. He was among the Lake poets and presented Nature in his poems.

Poetry

Poems 1797

Madoc

The Curse of Kehama

A Vision of Judgement

3)   George Gordon Byron – Lord Byron: (1788 – 1824)

       Mostly George Gordon Byron was known as Lord Byron. His poetry was full of imaginations and supernatural elements. His life was full of grief, as he wrote,

“My days are in the yellow leaf,

The flowers and fruits of love are gone:

The worm, the canker, and the grief

Are mine alone”

Poetry

Don Juan

Hours of Idleness

The Bride of Abydos

Lara, A Tale

The Dream

4)   Percy Bysshe Shelly: (1792 – 1822)

“O world, O life, O time ! On whose last step I climb,

Out of day and night, A joy has taken flight;”

       He was known as “Mad Shelly” among the youth. He did in very young age of thirty. His poems contained the melodious quality of Romanticism and a different point of view towards the nature than Wordsworth had. 

Poetry

Original Poetry by Victor and Cazire

The Devil's Walk: A Ballad

Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem

The Revolt of Islam

The Dream

5)   John Keats: (1795 – 1821)

          Keats was the last Romanticist. The style of Keats was worshipping beauty in his poetry. Other Romanticists were involving Nature, moral duties, political satire but Keats was the only who was a devotee of beauty. As per him,

“A thing of beauty is joy forever”

Poetry

La Belle Dame sans Merci

Ode to a Nightingale

The Eve of St. Agnes

Ode to Grecian Urn

Ode to Psyche

To read more about all the ages of English literature: Click here

Reference: William J. Long, English Literature