British Romanticism

celebrating nature and the human spirit1750 - 1837

Romanticism Buzz Words

REACTIONARY

RELIEF DRIVEN

PASTORAL

SIMPLE PLEASURES

REVOLUTIONARY

William Wordsworth:

“Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes

its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility”

Historical, social, cultural forces

• The Industrial Revolution

• brought a shift from economy based on farming and handmade goods to an economy based on manufacturing by machines in factories.

• Cities and towns grew

• Wealth was only gained by a small portion of people

• Most people experienced horrible working conditions, poverty, slums, disease

Political Unrest• American, French, and Latin American Revolutions

• Growing political unrest

• American revolution: 1776 -1781

• French Revolution: 1789

• democratic protest again royal despotism

• idealistic assertion of human equality

• Latin American Revolutions: 1790s-1824

• influenced by American and French

• Revolt again Spanish rule

• The Napoleonic Wars

• 1793 France declares war on Britain

• battle from 1793-1815

• Britain defeats France at the battle of Waterloo 1815

Basics of Romanticism• Romanticism sprang from a reaction against Enlightenment values

• Enlightenment praised reason and logic

• Romanticism focused on extreme physical sensation and mental states

• Romanticism celebrated emotion, whimsy, nightmares, innocence of childhood, quests, heroism, the sublime

• Focused on celebrating nature and the picturesque

• Scenery, wilderness, interest in the natural state of people

• Trusted instinct and imagination

Types of Romantic Poetry

Epitaph: a brief statement, often inscribed on a gravestone, that commemorates a dead person.

Elegy: a poem mourning a death or another great loss.

Lyric Poetry: poetry that expresses a speaker’s personal thoughts and feelings. Usually short and creates a single, unified impression.

Ballad: a narrative song or poem which usually recount an exciting or dramatic episode.

Ode: a serious lyric poem, dignified and sincere in tone and style.

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge,September 3, 1802

by, William Wordsworth

Earth has not anything to show more fair:

Dull would he be of soul who could pass by

A sight so touching in its majesty:

This City now doth like a garment wear

The beauty of the morning; silent , bare,

Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie

Open unto the fields, and to the sky,

All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.

Never did the sun more beautifully steep

In his first splendour, valley, rock, or hill;

Ne'er saw I, never felt a calm so deep!

The river glideth at his own sweet will:

Dear God! the very houses seem asleep;

And all that mighty heart is lying still!