Romanticism in literature

strayed from the optimistic

Enlightenment idea of human

dominion over nature and the

belief that Reason would

ultimately reign supreme.

ROMANTICISM1785 -1830

Revolutionary and chaotic, emotional rather than rational

The Romantic movement abhorred the 18th century's orderly imposition

on nature and the designs of squared, tidy gardens.

Romanticism preferred the vast wildernesses of an indifferent and

unpredictable nature with its endless forests, towering clouds and

deafening waterfalls from icy giant peaks.

Honesty about feelings were now more important than wit; being and

behaving genuine more important than artifice.

Themes such as liberation, mysticism, exotic orientalism, human

insignificance and a darker psychology were common.

Poems and paintings alike found the moon and dreams more interesting

than the sun and conscious thought.

FAMOUS AUTHORS

Jane Austen Mary Shelley

JANE AUSTEN

English novelist whose works of romantic fiction,

set among the gentry, earned her a place as one of

the most widely read writers in English literature,

her realism and biting social commentary cementing

her historical importance among scholars and critics.

Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Emma.

MARY SHELLEY

British novelist, short story writer, dramatist,

essayist, biographer, and travel writer.

Best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or,

The Modern Prometheus (1818).