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
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:
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
|
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