The Romantic Period

1. The Romantic Period 1798-1832

2. Historical Background: Political Oppression vs. Political Reform • The Monarchy • “Out-of-Touch” – the monarchy became less and less popular because of corruption and indifference to the British people • Industrialization and Urbanization • 1807 – Robert Fulton launched the steamboat • 1814 – George Stephenson built a steam locomotive • Textile Industry – the forefront of change • Spinning jenny • Power loom • The Reform Bill of 1832 extended the right to vote but not to the working classes

3. What is the relationship between place and literature? • Key terms: opposition and escape • Romanticism • Defined by opposition to the commonplace and the familiar, not like love stories • Much of the literature is set in faraway locations • Nature – a common theme • Creating the fantastic • Honoring the common person • The Lake District • Inspired English Romanticism • Located in the northwest of England, a picturesque region • Initiated the focus of Nature as a common theme • A contrast to the urban city of London – poets wanted to escape to experience solitude and nature

4. How does literature shape or reflect society? • Key terms: revolution • French Revolution • England and France went to war • Led to the abolition of slavery in England and its empire as political reform • The Reform Bill of 1832 – expanded voting rights • Industrial Revolution • Advanced society with economic progress • Man vs. machine – economic progress exacted an enormous human price • Literary Responses • Authors addressed the problems in their changing world • Some writers spoke out against the ills they saw, others looked inward or far away to see worlds that might be • William Blake’s “The Chimney Sweeper” – discusses child labor

5. What is the relationship of the writer to tradition? • Key terms: rejection and revival • Rejection of previous tradition • No more heroic couplets and satires – the new literature was authentic and sincere • Use of ordinary speech to appeal to the common or uneducated class • Revealed personal thoughts and feelings • Rebelled against politics and the economic system • Revival • The Sonnet • The Ode – oldest forms of poetry, a lyric poem in the form of a lengthy address to a person or abstract entity, always serious and elevated in tone. • The Gothic – a story of terror and suspense • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein • The Comic Novel – focused on the manners of middle-class people, depicting the follies of families. • Jane Austen’s Emma and Pride and Prejudice