1 The Romantic Period

2 Sources of InspirationExamination of inner feelings, emotions, imagination The literature of the Middle Ages

3 Attitudes and InterestsIdealistic Interested in the mysterious and supernatural Concerned with the particular Sought to develop new forms of expression Romanticized the past Tended toward excess and spontaneity Appreciated folk traditions

4 Social Concerns Desired radical change Favored democracyConcerned with the common people Concerned with the individual Felt that nature should be untamed

5 Two Generations of Poets1st Generation included Robert Burns, William Blake, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. 2nd Generation included George Gordon, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley, and John Keats.

6 Leaders of the Time Robert Burns and William Blake were the forerunners of the romantic literature in their subject matter, themes, and style. Burns published his Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1896). Blake produced his companion books, Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience.

7 The Official BeginningThe poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge teamed up to publish Lyrical Ballads (1798). This publication marks the official beginning of the Romantic Period in English literature.

8 Romantic Prose WritersEssayists included Charles Lamb, William Hazlitt, Mary Wollstonecraft, and Thomas De Quincey. Novelists included Mary Shelley, Jane Austin, and Sir Walter Scott