romanticism in english literature presentation

Romantic English Literature

Sep 01, 2014

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Romantic English Literature. Historical background. A revolutionary energy was at the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the theory and practice of literature , but the very way people perceive the world . French Revolution

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Historical background Arevolutionary energy was at the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the theory and practice of literature, but the very way people perceive theworld. • French Revolution --- the storming of Bastille --- Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity --- Jean-Jacques Rousseau: glorify human nature; claim for social democracy

French Revolution

Population shifts • Industrial revolution --- increasing merchanization; development of industry --- economic depression --- disparity between the rich and the poor --- Luddite riots: workers’ disturbances

Cultural background • The Romantic Movement: negative attitude towards the existing social and political conditions. Core --- reaction against neoclassicism Time --- 1798~1832 • 1798: Lyrical Ballads (William Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge) • 1832: the death of Sir Walter Scott; the passage of the Reform Bill Manifesto --- Lyrical Ballads

Lyrical Ballads Walter Scott

Characteristics of Romanticism • Imagination • Idealization of Nature • Individualism • Glorification of the commonplace • The lure of the exotic

Imagination Man is all imagination, God is man and exists in us and we in him…All things exist in the human imagination. (William Blake) • Imagination: the supreme faculty of the mind (dynamic and active) • Imagination can change and create • Imagination can unify different elements into a complex whole.

Example: Kubla Khan (Coleridge) • It is about a dream the poet had one evening. • Kublan Khan is the great emperor in the Yuan Dynasty. Suggested poems: • William Blake: “The Tyger” • S. T. Coleridge: “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”

Nature Yet having felt the power of nature, by the gentle agency of natural objects, led me on to feel the passions that were not my own. (Wordsworth) • Different perspectives about nature: -- a healing power; -- a source of subject and image; -- a refuge from the artificial constructs of civilization. • Describing natural phenomena • Capturing “sensuous nuance” • Nature poetry: one of meditation

Individualism I must create my own system or be enslaved by another man’s. (William Blake) Middle ages: emphasize on God; man lived chiefly for the future world Renaissance period: man is the center of all concern; emphasized on the dignity of man and the importance of the present life Enlightenment: saw man as social man; the general or universal characteristics of human behavior were more suitable subject matter

Romanticism: • Saw man as an individual in the solitary state • Emphasized the special qualities of each individual’s mind “I am not made like anyone I have seen; I dare believe that I am not made like anyone in existence. If I am not superior, at least I am different.” (Rousseau) • Value the exploration and evaluation of the inner self

A prominence of first-person lyric poem “I” – the direct person of the poet example: Prelude (Wordsworth) • A change of direction from attention to the outer world of social civilization to the inner world of the human spirit Suggested poems: • Wordsworth: Prelude • Byron: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

The Lure of the Exotic • Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey: lived by the riverside • Byron and Shelley: self-imposed exile • Expanded the imaginary horizons spatially and chronologically: -- the Middle Ages -- images of distant places • Allow free play to the supernatural

Suggested poems: • Wordsworth: Lucy Grey, The Solitary Reaper, It is a Beauteous Evening • Milton: “London, 1802” • George Gordon, Lord Byron: Maid of Athens, Adieu, Adieu, Man and Nature

Literary features • Poetry --- Pre-romanticism: William Blake, Robert Burns --- Lakers (the first generation): Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey --- Revolutionary poets (the second generation) Byron, Shelley, Keats

William Blake Tyger, Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye Could frame thy fearful symmetry? --- from “The Tyger”

Point of view • Politically Blake was a rebel, making friends with those radicals. • Literarily Blake was the first important romantic poet, showing contempt for the rule of reason, opposing the classical tradition of the 18th century, and treasuring the individual’s imagination.

3. Writing features • Blake writes his poems in plain an direct language. • He presents his view in visual images rather than abstract ideas. • Symbolism in wide range is a distinctive feature of his poetry.

Wordsworth --- poetry is spontaneous --- nature inspires poetry --- common subjects can be poetic (the world of simple, natural things, in the countryside or among the people) Coleridge --- the strange, the exotic, the mysterious --- the combination of the natural with the supernatural , the ordinary with the extraordinary

Byron --- revolt against society --- a prototype of romantic hero, “Byronic hero” Shelley --- the external tyranny is the main enemy --- inherent human goodness will eliminate evil from the world and usher in an eternal reign of love

Keats --- a response to sensuous impressions --- love of nature and art, a compassion for humanity

Novel --- Jane Austen: love and marriage --- Walter Scott: historical novels • Prose --- newspapers, magazines, and periodicals --- Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey

William Wordsworth ---“All good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” ---Wordsworth “endeavored to bring language near to the real language of man”.

According to the subject matters, Wordsworth’s short poems can be divided into two groups: the poems of nature and the poems about human life. He is a poet of nature and a master hand in searching and revealing the feelings of the common people. • “a worshipper of nature” • Common life --- the only subject of literary interest

Poetic career • Lyrical Ballads --- simple language --- sympathy with the poor --- fusion of natural description with expressions of inward states of mind

“Lucy” poems --- harmony between humanity and nature The Prelude --- spiritual record of his mind and his philosophy of life

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Romanticism

A Movement Across the Arts

• Romanticism refers to a movement in art, literature, and music during the 19 th century.
• Romanticism is characterized by the 5 “I”s

Imagination

Inspiration

Individuality

• Imagination was emphasized over “reason.”
• This was a backlash against the rationalism characterized by the Neoclassical period or “Age of Reason.”
• Imagination was considered necessary for creating all art.
• British writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge called it “intellectual intuition.”
• Romantics placed value on “intuition,” or feeling and instincts, over reason.
• Emotions were important in Romantic art.
• British Romantic William Wordsworth described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”
• Idealism is the concept that we can make the world a better place.
• Idealism refers to any theory that emphasizes the spirit, the mind, or language over matter – thought has a crucial role in making the world the way it is.
• Immanuel Kant, a German philosopher, held that the mind forces the world we perceive to take the shape of space-and-time.
• The Romantic artist, musician, or writer, is an “inspired creator” rather than a “technical master.”
• What this means is “going with the moment” or being spontaneous, rather than “getting it precise.”
• Romantics celebrated the individual.
• During this time period, Women’s Rights and Abolitionism were taking root as major movements.
• Walt Whitman, a later Romantic writer, would write a poem entitled “Song of Myself”: it begins, “I celebrate myself…”
• Romanticism began to take root as a movement following the French Revolution.
• The publication of Lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1792 is considered the beginning of literary Romanticism.
• Romanticism was a movement across all the arts: visual art, music, and literature.
• All of the arts embraced themes prevalent in the Middle Ages: chivalry, courtly love. Literature and art from this time depicted these themes. Music (ballets and operas) illustrated these themes.
• Shakespeare came back into vogue.

Visual Arts

• Neoclassical art was rigid, severe, and unemotional; it hearkened back to ancient Greece and Rome
• Romantic art was emotional, deeply-felt, individualistic, and exotic. It has been described as a reaction to Neoclassicism, or “anti-Classicism.”

Visual Arts: Examples

Neoclassical Art

Romantic Art

• “Classical” musicians included composers like Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and Franz Josef Haydn.
• Romantic musicians included composers like Frederic Chopin, Franz Lizst, Pyotr Il’yich Tchaikovsky

Music: Components

• Classical music emphasized internal order and balance.
• Romantic music emphasized expression of feelings.
• In America, Romanticism most strongly impacted literature.
• Writers explored supernatural and gothic themes.
• Writers wrote about nature – Transcendentalists believed G o d was in nature, unlike “Age of Reason” writers like Franklin and Jefferson, who saw G o d as a “divine watchmaker,” who created the universe and left it to run itself.

Romanticism in Literature: Definition and Examples

Finding beauty in nature and the common man.

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Romanticism was a literary movement that began in the late 18th century, ending around the middle of the 19th century—although its influence continues to this day. Marked by a focus on the individual (and the unique perspective of a person, often guided by irrational, emotional impulses), a respect for nature and the primitive, and a celebration of the common man, Romanticism can be seen as a reaction to the huge changes in society that occurred during this period, including the revolutions that burned through countries like France and the United States, ushering in grand experiments in democracy.

Key Takeaways: Romanticism in Literature

• Romanticism is a literary movement spanning roughly 1790–1850.
• The movement was characterized by a celebration of nature and the common man, a focus on individual experience, an idealization of women, and an embrace of isolation and melancholy.
• Prominent Romantic writers include John Keats, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Mary Shelley.

Romanticism Definition

The term Romanticism does not stem directly from the concept of love, but rather from the French word romaunt (a romantic story told in verse). Romanticism focused on emotions and the inner life of the writer, and often used autobiographical material to inform the work or even provide a template for it, unlike traditional literature at the time.

Romanticism celebrated the primitive and elevated "regular people" as being deserving of celebration, which was an innovation at the time. Romanticism also fixated on nature as a primordial force and encouraged the concept of isolation as necessary for spiritual and artistic development.

Characteristics of Romanticism

Romantic literature is marked by six primary characteristics: celebration of nature, focus on the individual and spirituality, celebration of isolation and melancholy, interest in the common man, idealization of women, and personification and pathetic fallacy.

Celebration of Nature

Romantic writers saw nature as a teacher and a source of infinite beauty. One of the most famous works of Romanticism is John Keats’ To Autumn (1820):

Where are the songs of Spring? Ay, where are they? Think not of them, thou hast thy music too,– While barred clouds bloom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble-plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn Among the river sallows, borne aloft Or sinking as the light wind lives or dies;

Keats personifies the season and follows its progression from the initial arrival after summer, through the harvest season, and finally to autumn’s end as winter takes its place.

Focus on the Individual and Spirituality

Romantic writers turned inward, valuing the individual experience above all else. This in turn led to heightened sense of spirituality in Romantic work, and the addition of occult and supernatural elements.

The work of Edgar Allan Poe exemplifies this aspect of the movement; for example, The Raven tells the story of a man grieving for his dead love (an idealized woman in the Romantic tradition) when a seemingly sentient Raven arrives and torments him, which can be interpreted literally or seen as a manifestation of his mental instability.

Celebration of Isolation and Melancholy

Ralph Waldo Emerson was a very influential writer in Romanticism; his books of essays explored many of the themes of the literary movement and codified them. His 1841 essay Self-Reliance is a seminal work of Romantic writing in which he exhorts the value of looking inward and determining your own path, and relying on only your own resources.

Related to the insistence on isolation, melancholy is a key feature of many works of Romanticism, usually seen as a reaction to inevitable failure—writers wished to express the pure beauty they perceived and failure to do so adequately resulted in despair like the sort expressed by Percy Bysshe Shelley in A Lament :

O world! O life! O time! On whose last steps I climb. Trembling at that where I had stood before; When will return the glory of your prime? No more—Oh, never more!

Interest in the Common Man

William Wordsworth was one of the first poets to embrace the concept of writing that could be read, enjoyed, and understood by anyone. He eschewed overly stylized language and references to classical works in favor of emotional imagery conveyed in simple, elegant language, as in his most famous poem I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud :

I wandered lonely as a Cloud That floats on high o'er vales and Hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden Daffodils; Beside the Lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Idealization of Women

In works such as Poe’s The Raven , women were always presented as idealized love interests, pure and beautiful, but usually without anything else to offer. Ironically, the most notable novels of the period were written by women (Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë, and Mary Shelley, for example), but had to be initially published under male pseudonyms because of these attitudes. Much Romantic literature is infused with the concept of women being perfect innocent beings to be adored, mourned, and respected—but never touched or relied upon.

Personification and Pathetic Fallacy

Romantic literature’s fixation on nature is characterized by the heavy use of both personification and pathetic fallacy. Mary Shelley used these techniques to great effect in Frankenstein :

Its fair lakes reflect a blue and gentle sky; and, when troubled by the winds, their tumult is but as the play of a lively infant, when compared to the roarings of the giant ocean.

Romanticism continues to influence literature today; Stephenie Meyers’ Twilight novels are clear descendants of the movement, incorporating most of the characteristics of classic Romanticism despite being published a century and half after the end of the movement’s active life.

• The Editors of Encyclopedia Britannica. “Romanticism.” Encyclopedia Britannica, Encyclopedia Britannica, Inc., 19 Nov. 2019, https://www.britannica.com/art/Romanticism.
• Parker, James. “A Book That Examines the Writing Processes of Two Poetry Giants.” The Atlantic, Atlantic Media Company, 23 July 2019, https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2019/07/how-two-literary-giants-wrote-their-best-poetry/594514/.
• Alhathani, Safa. “EN571: Literature & Technology.” EN571 Literature Technology, 13 May 2018, https://commons.marymount.edu/571sp17/2018/05/13/analysis-of-romanticism-in-frankenstein-through-digital-tools/.
• “William Wordsworth.” Poetry Foundation, Poetry Foundation, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/william-wordsworth.
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ROMANTICISM IN THE ENGLISH LITERATURE

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1.1: Romanticism in Literature

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As a literary movement in England, Romanticism could be said to have fired its first salvo in 1801 with William Wordsworth’s (1770-1850) “Preface” to the Lyrical Ballads . Lyrical Ballads is a collection of poetry that Wordsworth co-published with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834). The term “Romanticism,” describing this movement, came after the fact. Romanticism lasted until the mid-1820s, with the deaths of the poets Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) and George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824).

In his preface to Hernani (1830), Victor Hugo wrote that “Romanticism was nothing more than liberalism in literature.” Romanticism can be considered a rebellion against the conservative thought and literature of the eighteenth-century Age of Reason, a period that looked to ancient Rome and classical forms for models of perfection. The eighteenth-century Age of Reason was politically conservative and monarchic; other features, especially in terms of literature, include decorum, conventionality/ models, harmony, artificiality, logic, and objectivity. Romanticism is neither romance nor the desire for prettiness or sentimentality; instead, it is closer to being anti-eighteenth century, or a repudiation of what went before. The idea of liberalism, to which Hugo referred, is expressed in the Romantic desire for an egalitarian (as opposed to monarchic) government, and for the freedom of the individual.

Romanticism regarded as values subjectivity and individuality—indeed, individual subjectivity. It shifted the eighteenth century’s focus on outward action to a new focus on inward action, that is, to action in the mind. Romantic literature scrutinized feelings and the relation of feeling to the outer world. Sincerity, openness, transparency, and spontaneity allowed that relationship to be more apparent, and the lyric, or song-like expression of an individual’s emotions, became a characteristic Romantic genre. The imaginative individual created from the external impressions of natural beauty and human civilization an ideal of perfection within themselves, the embodiment of which they then sought to find in the external world. The Romantic image—of the skylark, nightingale, midnight frost—epitomizes their quest for a union of the organic and the imaginative (through imaginative perception). The “closet drama,” or dramas not intended to be (or even able to be) performed, and the historical novel, in which time and place could be conflated, were genres well-suited to Romantic expression. Related qualities of the unformulated, or innocent; the unconscious; and the mysterious (and even “exotic”) actuated Romantic focus on, or interest in, children, and the child-like; nature, and those perceived as being close to nature, like agricultural workers; and the imaginative, or the poet.

The imaginative individual’s response to nature, even to the possibility of animism in nature, reflected the importance of emotion over logic and order, for uncultivated nature. And nature in its most awe-inspiring “inhuman” forms inspired a range of emotions, from love to terror. In such moments of extreme emotion, the Romantic writer often felt connected with the sublime, with something beyond themselves, and so could see more deeply into the world than could “insensitive” individuals or those who accepted conformity or imitation. The ability to see things beyond the routine, to express thought and feeling combined, to be authentic individuals uncorrupted or made numb by society characterized the Romantic’s attitudes towards and use of children and poets as touchstones. Because children— and Romantic writers—did not conform yet to societal pressures, their imaginations were truer, more active, and even prophetic in their power. Romanticism lauded and upheld the imagination as a form of individual power and freedom for all humans.

The different pressures placed upon the actual individual power and freedom of women, blacks, Roman Catholics, the rural poor, and the displaced, among others, also received nuanced attention and expression. William Blake’s (1757- 1827) ironies, Mary Shelley’s (1797-1851) “monstrous” creativity, and Charlotte Smith’s (1749-1806) anti-slavery activism, for example, demonstrated the fragility and tentativeness of any powers and any freedoms as well as the possible futility and danger of prophecy.

romanticism

What is romanticism definition, usage, and literary examples, romanticism definition.

Romanticism  (roe-MAN-tuh-SIZZ-um) was a literary movement that emphasized individualism and emotion. The Romantic era lasted from the end of the 18th century to the middle of the 19th century, but its effects are still evident throughout modern literature.

Romantic works were a reaction to the  Age of Enlightenment  and the advancing  Industrial Age , a time in which science and rationalization began to take firmer hold in the public consciousness. Romantic literature challenged this new wave of ideas by telling stories rooted in emotion, nature, idealism, and the subjective experiences of common men and women.

It’s important to note that romanticism, as a literary movement, is not the same thing as the literary genre of romance novels. Romanticism may be an influence on today’s romance novels, but romance novels do not typically possess all the elements central to Romantic-era literature. Also, the term  Romantic  does not refer directly to romantic love. It comes from the medieval French  romaunt , the term for an epic, chivalrous quest told in verse.

The History of Romanticism

Romantic literature emerged at a time when the world was undergoing a sea-change of thoughts and ideas. The Age of Enlightenment produced a new breed of philosophers and scientists who challenged long-held ideas about how humans thought, lived, and came to be. The Industrial Revolution, quite naturally, was hot on the heels of the Enlightenment. The ideas and theories formed in the latter now came to life in exciting new inventions that changed the way people lived and worked.

There is always some degree of nostalgia for “the old days” when new ways of life come into fashion, and it’s this phenomenon that gave birth to romanticism. The movement harkened back to a time when things were simpler and more straightforward. Life and literature depended on the heart and one’s more primitive emotions—not science or theory or overt religiosity.

The romantic movement began in Germany. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s  The Sorrows of Young Werther  was a seminal early romantic work infused with a sense of nationalism, which became a hallmark of German romanticism. As romanticism spread throughout Europe and beyond, however, it didn’t concern itself with any explicitly nationalist tendencies.

English romanticism began in Great Britain, with the emergence of poets like Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, and Percy Bysshe Shelley. The 1798 publication of  Lyrical Ballads  included works by Wordsworth and Coleridge and launched the English movement. During the peak of the English romantic era in the 1810s, the works of Jane Austen took centerstage.

Dark romanticism is a subset of romantic literature that also started in Germany. These works feature elements of the macabre, grotesque, or demonic. They are similar to gothic fiction, but while gothic works are largely horror-centric, the spookier elements of dark romanticism don’t overshadow the romantic characteristics. Dark romantic writers include E.T.A. Hoffmann, Edgar Allan Poe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.

American romanticism generally held the same ideals as English romanticism: individualism; a rich, emotional, isolated life; the beauty of nature; and moral uprightness. One of the first notable American romantic works was William Cullen Bryant’s  poem  “To a Waterfowl” in 1818. Other American romantic authors, like Washington Irving, James Fenimore Cooper, and Emily Dickinson, followed.

The Elements of Romanticism

There are six elements common to most romantic works: the common man, the idealization of women, individuality, isolation, nature, and pathetic fallacy.

The Common Man/Woman

Romantic writers felt that the average reader should be able to understand and enjoy their works. This sentiment often extended to the relatability of characters they created. Heathcliff Linton from Emily Brontë’s  Wuthering Heights , for example, is a servant; Charlotte Brontë’s titular protagonist in  Jane Eyre  is a governess. Virtually all of Jane Austen’s heroines were average young ladies, usually looking for love. While Romantic characters may have uncommon adventures or exceptional experiences, they are not larger-than-life personalities of towering might or intellect.

The Idealization of Women

The exception to the common woman in romantic literature was the idealized woman. Romantic writers would represent certain female characters as innocent, naïve bundles of perfection that needed sheltering and, in some cases, outright worship. Their admirers were nothing short of haunted by them. Take Edgar Allan Poe’s poem “ Annabel Lee ”:

For the moon never beams, without bringing me dreams

Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;

And the stars never rise, but I feel the bright eyes

And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side

Of my darling—my darling—my life and my bride,

In her sepulchre there by the sea—

In her tomb by the sounding sea.

Poe’s narrator puts his lover on a pedestal, enamored by her beauty and, in many ways, he was obsessed with their “love that was more than love.” Not even death can keep Poe’s narrator from loving and glorifying Annabel; he even insinuates that angels were so jealous of the love he and Annabel shared that they killed her.

Individuality

Characters and their internal lives were a priority for Romantic writers. They gave readers access to the characters’ innermost thoughts and desires, emphasizing the minutia that made them tick. This hyper-focus on subjective thoughts and experiences opened the doors for an increased perception of the spiritual—and, sometimes, the supernatural.

Wuthering Heights  is a classic example of Romantic individualism, most notably in Heathcliff. He is an example of a Byronic hero—a figure in Romantic literature who is miserable yet affectionate, moody yet proud and defiant. Heathcliff is so passionately in love with Cathy that even after her death, he can think only of being with her:

You know I was wild after she died; and eternally, from dawn to dawn, praying her to return to me her spirit! I have a strong faith in ghosts: I have a conviction that they can, and do, exist among us! The day she was buried, there came a fall of snow. In the evening I went to the churchyard. It blew bleak as winter—all round was solitary. I didn’t fear that her fool of a husband would wander up the glen so late; and no one else had business to bring them there. Being alone, and conscious two yards of loose earth was the sole barrier between us, I said to myself—“I’ll have her in my arms again!”

Heathcliff’s loss leads to become a tortured, vengeful man, and much of  Wuthering Heights  focuses on his evolution from a solitary youth to a besotted young man, to a bitter, heartbroken individual.

Isolation and its accompanying melancholy played a key role in the experiences of romantic characters and, often, their authors. This loneliness and estrangement from the rest of humanity gives the character a way to express the uniqueness of their experiences and thoughts.

John Clare, often called the quintessential romantic poet, wrote about the beauty of isolation and nature on the farm where he spent his life in the poem “I Am!”:

I am—yet what I am none cares or knows;

My friends forsake me like a memory lost:

I am the self-consumer of my woes—

They rise and vanish in oblivious host,

Like shadows in love’s frenzied stifled throes

And yet I am, and live…

Clare characterizes himself as a long-forgotten entity who receives no regard except from himself. As such, it’s almost as though he doesn’t even exist—his emotions dissipating to nothing for no one is there to experience them.

Nature was a source of endless inspiration and beauty for romantic writers. They often viewed nature as a teacher; a living, breathing entity; a god or goddess; or some combination of them all. For example, in the poem “Auguries of Innocence,” William Blake celebrates nature and its awe-inspiring majesty:

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

This kind of reverence for nature is what makes Mary Shelley’s  Frankenstein   a prominent example of romantic writing.

Pathetic Fallacy

This is an offshoot of the reverence for nature characteristic of romantic works. Pathetic fallacy is a type of personification where romantic writers attributed human feelings and thoughts to aspects of nature. In the poem “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” with the title itself giving human characteristics to a cloud, William Wordsworth writes about coming upon a field of daffodils:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee…

The Function of Romanticism

Literary romanticism honors universal human emotions like love, loss, triumph, and failure. These works did not center on bold religious statements or scientific theories; instead, they highlight a collective sense of morality and right versus wrong. They existed as accessible pieces of literature that featured the common man as a character to attract the common man as a reader. The result was that ordinary people were considered worthy of respect and even celebration. Romantic works also underscored the value of nature in the richness of the human experience, as well as the need for isolation to attain emotional or spiritual growth.

Romanticism and Other Literary Movements

Romanticism vs. Naturalism

Naturalist  works use scientific theories of observation and detachment to tell their stories. This approach is, in many ways, the opposite of romanticism, which concentrates on emotions, feelings, ideals, and the singularity of lived experiences.

Naturalist literature is usually gritty and intense, and outside forces like heredity and environment determine the fate of the characters. In romanticism, destiny and spiritual guidance influence what happens to the characters.

Romanticism vs. Realism

Realism  and naturalism share some qualities, but realism is more about writing style, whereas naturalism is a writing philosophy. Put another way: Realism is a technique to describe the way things are, and naturalism examines why things are the way they are.

Works of realism do not embellish, adorn, or attempt to romanticize characters, situations, or experiences; they reflect reality. Works of romanticism are typically idealist in nature, with a sentimentalized worldview and overly descriptive  prose .

Romanticism vs. Transcendentalism

Emotions drive romanticism, which places the movement somewhat at odds with the aims of transcendentalism. It is intuition, not emotion, that is the overarching theme for many transcendentalist works.

Transcendentalist writers believed that people and nature were innately good, and autonomy and independence were crucial for individual freedom. Again, this theory contrasts with romanticism, which often pits good characters against evil characters and features deep, sometimes obsessive, love and codependence.

Writers Known for Romanticism

• Jane Austen,  Pride and Prejudice ,  Sense and Sensibility
• William Blake,  Songs of Innocence and of Experience
• Charlotte Brontë,  Jane Eyre
• Emily Brontë,  Wuthering Heights
• Robert Burns, “A Red, Red Rose,” “To a Mouse”
• John Clare, “I Am!,” “Autumn”
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge,  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• James Fenimore Cooper,  Leatherstocking Tales ,  The Last of the Mohicans
• Emily Dickinson, “Because I Could Not Stop for Death,” “‘Hope’ Is the Thing with Feathers”
• Johann Wolfgang von Goethe,  The Sorrows of Young Werther
• Nathaniel Hawthorne,  The Scarlet Letter
• T.A. Hoffmann,  The Sandman
• Washington Irving,  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow ,  Rip Van Winkle
• John Keats, “Ode to a Nightingale”
• Lord Byron,  Don Juan
• Edgar Allan Poe, “Annabel Lee,”  “The Raven”
• Walter Scott,  Rob Roy ,  Ivanhoe
• Percy Bysshe Shelley,  “Ozymandias,”  “To a Skylark”
• Mary Shelley,  Frankenstein
• William Wordsworth, “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud,” “The Prelude”

Examples of Romantic Literature

1. Edgar Allan Poe, “ The Raven ”

Poe’s 1845  poem  is about a man pining for his lost love, Lenore. Caught in a state between wakefulness and sleep, the man notices a raven perching on a bust over the door. He begins talking to this bird, who only ever utters the same word in response: “Nevermore.”

           Then, methought, the air grew denser, perfumed from an unseen censer

Swung by Seraphim whose foot-falls tinkled on the tufted floor.

           “Wretch,” I cried, “thy God hath lent thee—by these angels he hath sent thee

           Respite—respite and nepenthe from thy memories of Lenore;

Quaff, oh quaff this kind nepenthe and forget this lost Lenore!”

           Quoth the Raven “Nevermore.”

Slowly, the narrator loses his grip on sanity and sees the bird as a supernatural visitor. In the above stanza, he hallucinates, thinking angels have sent the raven to make him forget Lenore.

2. Mary Shelley,  Frankenstein

Shelley’s 1818 novel centers on Dr. Victor Frankenstein and his attempts to reanimate a corpse. After his first successful experiments, Frankenstein reflects on his creation:

No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source, many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me. No father could claim the gratitude of his child so completely as I should deserve theirs. Pursuing these reflections, I thought, that if I could bestow animation upon lifeless matter, I might in process of time (although I now found it impossible) renew life where death had apparently devoted the body to corruption.

Frankenstein starts to feel guilty that he carelessly brought new life into the world, and he flees in disgust, ashamed of what he has done. This reaction leads to the novel’s devastating events, as the Creature seeks revenge against Frankenstein for creating him and then relegating him to the life of an outcast.

3. Emily Dickinson “‘Hope’ Is the Thing with Feathers”

Dickinson’s poem, published after her death, is a testament to hope:

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

And sweetest – in the Gale – is heard –

And sore must be the storm –

That could abash the little Bird

That kept so many warm –

I’ve heard it in the chillest land –

And on the strangest Sea –

Yet – never – in Extremity,

It asked a crumb – of me.

Dickinson imbues the short piece with many of the hallmarks of Romantic literature: a reverence for nature, a connection with emotions (in this case, a desire for comfort and optimism), personification of “the little Bird,” and a deep sense of isolation from the rest of the world.

Further Resources on Romanticism

SkyMinds has an in-depth look at  romanticism in art and literature .

The British Library explains the central ideas and influences of  British romanticism .

Pubstarr has a short video on  the Romantic Era  and its impact on art and literature.

The Britannica website discusses  romanticism in French literature .

A University of Houston website considers  romanticism  as a period, movement, style, and genre.

Related Terms

• Characterization
• Figurative Language
• Narrative Poem
• Perspective

Romanticism in English Literature | Characteristics of romanticism

Romanticism was a wide artistic and intellectual tendency that emerged in the late eighteenth century and reached its peak during the early Nineteenth Century. Romanticism was in a way a response to the absence of human passion and emotions of the Enli ghtenmen t and Neoclassicism.

Neoclassicism stressed on decorum, reason, and rationality, in contrast, romanticism stressed on subjectivity, passion, and feelings. Romanticism dismissed neoclassicism by producing a work of art that was very subjective and emotional. The aims of romanticism comprised an extreme concentration on individuality, worship of nature, which was projected as a massive repository of symbols, of human feelings and desires, and of naturalness. Generally, the Romantic period is noticeable for some major disruptions for instance the French Revolution, Industrial Revolution, the rise of nationalism, and so on. 

Table of Contents

The French Revolution and Romanticism:

The French Revolution played a big part in impacting Romantic writers. As the revolution started to escalate, the autocratic kingship that had governed France for years fell down in just three years. This led to a complete change in society. Before the French Revolution, compositions and literature were generally written about and to noblemen and churchmen and hardly ever for and about the common man. But when the monarchy collapsed due to the French Revolution, and with the arrival of Romantic writers, the way of writing literature also changed. Romantic poets such as Wordsworth , Coleridge , Shelley, and Byron began writing for the common man. 

Read More: Summary of Preface to Lyrical Ballads

Industrial Revolution and Romanticism:

In reaction to the growing cities and industrialization in Britain, romantic writers produced works determined by and in condemnation of the Industrial Revolution. For example, Shelley in his poem “Ode to the West Wind” spoke against the cruelty of urbanization. In this poem, the wind, which symbolizes Mother Nature and its seasonal variation, gives birth to life wherever it goes. On the other hand, the industrial revolution with its low living conditions, ill-treatment of children, and demolition of nature bring downfall wherever it goes. In his poem “The Chimney Sweeper” Blake gives importance to the child-like and innocent satisfaction that turns up from nature. The children are rescued from the laborious work as chimney sweepers by an angel, who rescues them to nature. This depicts that nature is the only place where we can escape from the cruelty of this industrial revolution. 

Read More: Hellenism in John Keats’s poetry

Characteristics of Romanticism

Many romantic thinkers such as William Blake, William Wordsworth , and P.B Shelley rebel against the industrialized, ambitious pattern of cities to what Shelley entitled the ideals of “unity” and “ calculation” . Instead, for spiritual relaxation, romanticists shifted to nature, to Rousseauistic ideals of basic, primary, and pure lifestyle. Wordsworth maintained that the poet should use the language of rustic life. Wordsworth, together with William Blake and S. T Coleridge, glorified the innocence of childhood and revived old forms of verse namely the ballad and the folktale.   

The concept of nature for the romantics was completely different from that of the neoclassicists. For the neoclassicists, the term “nature” intended ‘general human nature’ or the universal characteristics of men of all time. For them, it might also signify the everlasting, irreversible, and principle order of the universe. But for the romantic thinkers, nature was transformed into a living power that interconnects all things. According to Coleridge, nature was a “language of God”.  

Read More: A Tale of Two Cities as a Historical Novel

Major Romantic Poets and their works:

The first leading representative of English Romanticism was William Blake. According to him, the world in which we live is full of oppositional forces and contradictions and it is the poet’s job to harmonize. But the English Romantic Movement reached its highest level in the works of William Wordsworth and S.T Coleridge. 

Read More: Coleridge’s concept of imagination

William Wordsworth: Wordsworth’s “ Pr eface to Lyrical Ballads ” can be considered as a manifesto of the Romantic Movement. In this work, Wordsworth maintained that poetry is that feeling and emotion which is spontaneous and it should employ the language of rural life. Wordsworth rejected the neoclassicists who focused more on reason, decorum, and order instead he emphasized more on subjectivity, emotion, and feelings. Wordsworth felt that neoclassical poetry was beyond the understanding of common people and their language was extremely pretentious and refined. Accordingly, Wordsworth proposed a new kind of language i.e. the language of humble and rustic people. Some famous romantic poems by Wordsworth were “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” , “The Prelude” , “Lines written a few Miles Tintern Abbey” , “The Solitary Reaper” and so on. 

Samuel Taylor Coleridge : In his most influential work “ Biographia Literaria” , Coleridge analyzed his concept of imagination and fancy . According to him, there are chiefly two kinds of imagination: primary imagination and secondary imagination. Primary imagination functions in our daily perception, uniting the diverse inputs collected through the senses. This primary imagination assists us to formulate an understandable outlook of the world. On the contrary, the secondary imagination is creative. It creates new combinations and syntheses. Some famous romantic poems by Coleridge were “ The Rime of the Ancient Mariner ”, “ Kubla Khan ”, “ Dejection: An Ode” and so on. 

Characteristics of Romantic poetry:

• Romantic Poetry is the intense and creative expression of the unconstrained and spontaneous feeling in man. At the same time, romantic poetry is related not with a man in his pretended, unnatural, boasting social life but with a man in his basic modesty, simplicity, innocence, and untouched by the good and bad of society. Hence, romantics such as Wordsworth and Coleridge greatly idealized childhood and often used it as a subject matter in their poetry. 
• Nature is the dominant theme of romantic poetry. Romantic poets approach nature as a living spirit. To Shelley and Wordsworth, nature appears to have been imbued with a soul that connects all things and circumstances and provides the objects a continuation and a movement. 
• The elements of nature are shown in romantic poetry not only as the framework or backdrop to convey human impression and sentiment but as an infinite source of delight and pleasure. Nature is not only a living spirit but also a teacher, guide, and protector. Wordsworth defines the role of nature as an educator of man:

“Knowing that Nature never did betray

The heart that loved her-

One impulse from a vernal wood

May teach you more of man

Of moral evil and of good,

Than all the sages can.”

• The Monk in “The Canterbury Tales”
• Charles Lamb as an essayist
• Henrik Ibsen as a dramatist
• Jane Eyre as a Victorian Novel
• Significance of the title The Way of the World by William Congreve

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Romanticism in English literature (the 19th century)

1. 7. romanticism in english literature (the 19th century), 2. 1.historical background. definition of the term., 8. william wordsworth (1770-1850), 13. 4.the later romantics, 14. george gordon byron.

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The Romantics - useful context

An accessible PowerPoint presentation designed to introduce students to Romantic poetry, as well as three of its most prolific poets: William Blake, John Keats and John Clare.

This informative resource includes key facts about:

• Romanticism's concern with the imagination and associated themes
• autobiographical details and a summary of the key works of the three poets.

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Lindy Leslie, Teachit English Editor

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