Romanticism

Romantic Movement XVIII
European movement originated in Germany by Goethe. Werther, the young boy who killed himself for love.
Political back ground: Revolution and reaction
Began in 1798 with the publication of the lyrical Ballads by William Wordsworth and Coleridge
Finishes in 1832 with the death of Sir Scott
The tree decades were characterized by the political stagnation and repression,the change of power to conform the economic and social realities of a new industrial age that inaugurated the Victorian age.
Two important books inaugurated the revolution. One Tom Paine’s rights of man (1791-2), and William Godwin’s inquiry concerning political justice (1793)
Influential events: The accession to power by the Jacobin extremist, the “September massacres”, the execution of kingLouis XVI and the royal family in France, the storming of the bastille, the guillotining of thousands of people under Robespierre and the Reign of terror, the emergence of Napoleon first dictator, and then emperor.
Wordsworth and other English liberal writers felt disillusion and began a lyric revolution named romanticism.
The population was becoming polarized in “The 2 nations” 2 differentclasses, the labor and the capital.
The French rev. and the constitution of the EEUU awoke feelings that everything was possible, not only in the political and social arrangements fields, but also in the intellectual and literary enterprises.
Characteristics:
Opposite to neoclassic (sober art, natural and simple appreciation and mimetic; rigor of poetic patterns)

Love of nature: The industrialrev. had taken man from the peaceful country life to the city life, transforming man’s natural order. Nature was appreciated to find man’s true identity. Romantic weren’t satisfied with just observing and describing nature, they used the answers they obtained by such observation.
Emotions prevail first than the rationality: the opposite to the neoclassical style, the new concept of good poetry wascompletely “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” by Wordsworth.
Artist, the creator: for the first time, poems were writing in first person, so the author gained supremacy. The poet was seen as a creator of a piece of work which reflected his individual and inner mind.
Nationalism: poesy used to be only for the gentry and well educated people, and the country folks were not consideredto fit to enjoy poetry. Romanticism changed all these and influenced by the ballads and folklore created by the masses or the common people, the culture and traditions, language and customs of their own country developed a sense of nationalism. The language used in these new poems was simply and similar to the one used every day.
The glorification of the common place: Wordsworth led thepolitical changes to poetical experiments. The subjects of his poems were about humble people, the delinquent, the ignominious, etc.
Exotism: love of the exotic, along with sentimentality and spirituality, mysterious locations, the use of drugs, to feel awe by hypnotism and new experiences.
Supernatural: the fascination for the mysterious and unreal, led to the development of the gothic romance, popularduring the period. In Frankenstein the natural goodness is being corrupted by an evil authority.
Individualism, nonconformity, and Apocalyptic Expectation: the rejection of the 18th century recommendation of set accessible goals and avoid political, intellect, moral or artistic extremes, was rejected, and now the mind was able to imagine and perceive the universe in a new and individual way.Coleridge, Byron and shelly wrote about the solitary protagonist who is separated from society because he has rejected it, or because it has rejected him.
Against traditionalism: reject the traditional concept and institutions; church , monarchy, politicians.
Man: world of liberty, equality and fraternity.
The romantics helped to define and to create the modern world, the way we think and...