1 The Romantic Period
2 The House of Hanover
3
4 George III r. 1760-1820 1st Hanoverian king born in EnglandAmerican colonies lost during his reign Good family man: 15 children Highly cultured 1768: founded Royal Academy of Arts 65,000 of his books went to British Museum “Farmer George” – interested in botany and agriculture Mental derangement, perhaps caused by porphyria, led to Regency under his son (later George IV) in 1811. George III (reigned ) was determined to appoint his own ministers and reassert some of the Monarch's independence lost under the first two Georges. However, George's accession in 1760 marked a significant change in Royal finances; it was agreed that the whole cost of the Civil List should be provided by Parliament in return for the surrender of hereditary revenues by the king for the duration of his reign. His reign saw the loss of the American colonies in After an uprising in Ireland in 1798, the Act of Union of 1801 linked Ireland and England and dissolved the Irish Parliament; instead Irish representatives went to the Westminster Parliament. George was a conscientious King and a devoted father and husband; his interest in botany and farming earned him the nickname 'Farmer George'. In 1788 he became mentally deranged, although this may have been due to porphyria, a hereditary physical disorder. George recovered by 1789, but then relapsed, becoming permanently deranged in 1810. George III, portrait by Johann Zoffany (1733/4-1810) © Royal Collection
5 George IV r.1820-30 Known for extravagant lifestylePrince Regent : final victory in Napoleonic Wars at Battle of Waterloo – June 1815 Known for extravagant lifestyle Illegally married a Catholic widow, Maria Fitzherbert, 1785 Married Caroline of Brunswick, 1795 – disastrous Catholic Emancipation 1829 over the king’s protests George II (reigned ), at the age of 60, was the last British sovereign to fight alongside his soldiers, at the Battle of Dettingen in in Germany, against the French. Like his father, for much of his reign George's political options were limited by the strength of the Jacobite cause (James Stuart the Old Pretender, and then his son, Charles Edward Stuart), with which many of the Tories were linked. George's reign was threatened in 1745 when Charles Edward Stuart, the Young Pretender, landed in Scotland. After some initial success (which led to the national anthem in its current form becoming popular among the Hanoverian loyalists), Charles was defeated at the Battle of Culloden in April 1746 and the Jacobite threat was over. The foundations of the industrial revolution were laid during George's reign, with new levels of production in industries such as coal and shipbuilding and also in agriculture, together with a rapid rise in population. Overseas, trade was boosted by successes such as Clive's victories in India at Arcot (1751) and Plassey (1757), which placed Madras and Bengal under British control, and Wolfe's capture of French-held Quebec in 1759 (part of a successful campaign which transferred Canada with its wealthy trade in fish and fur from French to British rule). As the country prospered and George's reign lengthened, his early unpopularity (he did not travel far in England, and much preferred Hanover) changed into a general respect. The King's eldest son, Frederick, died in George's grandson therefore inherited the throne, on George's death in 1760 Portrait of George IV of the United Kingdom in the robes of the Order of the Garter as Prince Regent, 1816, by Sir Thomas Laurence.
6 William IV r Joined navy as young man, served as Lord Admiral: “the Sailor King” His reign saw major reforms: the poor law updated municipal government democratised child labour restricted slavery abolished throughout the British Empire Reform Act of 1832 refashioned the British electoral system
7 Queen Victoria r Portrait of Queen Victoria in her Coronation robes and wearing the State Diadem, by Franz Xavier Winterhalter The Royal Collection © 2006, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II
8 ROMANTIC REVOLUTIONS
9 Industrial RevolutionPower-driven machinery replaced hand labor 1765: James Watt – the steam engine Industry moved from homes and workshops to factories Population moved from agricultural countryside to industrial cities Enclosure of “commons” into large farms and privately owned estates Laissez faire economic policy – free operation of economic laws –governmental non-interference 1776: Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations
10 Political Revolutions
11 American Revolution 1775-1783 Colonies’ alliance with France1776: Declaration of Independence Broad intellectual and social shifts republican ideals: liberty and rights as central values, rejects aristocracy and inherited political power, expects citizens to be independent and calls on them to perform civic duties. liberal democracy: representative democracy (with free and fair elections) along with the protection of minorities, the rule of law, a separation of powers, and protection of liberties (thus the name liberal) of speech, assembly, religion, and property. 1787: Constitution and Bill of Rights
12 Quaker Met Ben Franklin in London – who advised him to move to America 1776: Common Sense: attacked British monarchy and argued for American independence 1787: Returned to Britain 1791: The Rights of Man: proposed universal male suffrage, progressive taxes, family allowances, old age pensions, maternity grants and abolition of House of Lords 1792: Became a French citizen and elected to National Convention – opposed execution of Louis XVI 1794: Age of Reason: questioned truth of Old Testament and Christianity 1802: returned to America Tom Paine Auguste Milliere, Thomas Paine National Portrait Gallery, London
13 French Revolution and Napoleon 1789-18151789: Fall of Bastille and Declaration of the Rights of Man 1792: September Massacres of imprisoned nobility 1793: The Reign of Terror Execution of Louis XVI and Marie Antoinette France declared war against Britain 1794: Fall of Robespierre 1804: Napoleon crowned Emperor of France 1815: Napoleon’s defeat at Waterloo
14 Edmund Burke 1729-97 Anglo-Irish statesman and philosopher: Whig member of House of Commons Opposed absolute monarchy and supported American colonies against the king 1790: Reflections on the Revolution in France: saw French Revolution as a violent rebellion against tradition which would end in disaster. Joshua Reynolds, Edmund Burke Scottish National Portrait Gallery
15 Mary Wollstonecraft 1790: Vindication of the Rights of Men: response to Burke in defense of the ideals of the French Revolution 1792: A Vindication of the Rights of Women 1794: An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution
16 Official British Reaction to the French Revolution and NapoleonCurtailment of civil liberties and harsh repression suspension of the writ of habeus corpus advocates of political change charged with treason 1791: Rejection of a bill to abolish the slave trade 1793: Declaration of war against France : Napoleonic Wars
17 Intellectual Revolutions
18 Mary Wollstonecraft Professional writer, philosopher and feminist 1797: married William Godwin Died of childbirth fever – after giving birth to Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (Shelley)
19 Writings by Mary WollstonecraftThoughts on the Education of Daughters (1787) Mary: A Fiction (1788) Original Stories from Real Life (1788) Of the Importance of Religious Opinions (1788) (translation) The Female Reader (1789) (anthology) Young Grandison (1790) (translation) Elements of Morality (1790) (translation) A Vindication of the Rights of Men (1790) A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792) An Historical and Moral View of the French Revolution (1794) Letters Written during a Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark (1796) Contributions to the Analytical Review ( ) (published anonymously) The Cave of Fancy (1798, published posthumously; fragment) Maria, or The Wrongs of Woman (1798, published posthumously; unfinished) Letters to Imlay (1798, published posthumously) Letters on the Management of Infants (1798, published posthumously; unfinished) Lessons (1798, published posthumously; unfinished)
20 Original Stories from Real Life1788 Children’s book by Mary Wollstonecraft Engraved illustrations by William Blake Original Stories is primarily about leaving the imperfections of childhood behind and becoming a rational and sympathetic adult. Throughout the text, Wollstonecraft emphasizes the balance of reason and sympathy.
21 Wollstonecraft’s A Vindication of the Rights of Women, 1792Advocated equal education, egalitarian marriage, and full citizenship for women Primary Importance of Education: “As a proof that education gives this appearance of weakness to females, we may instance the example of military men, who are, like them, sent into the world before their minds have been stored with knowledge or fortified by principles. The consequences are similar; soldiers acquire a little superficial knowledge, snatched from the muddy current of conversation, and, from continually mixing with society, they gain, what is termed a knowledge of the world; and this acquaintance with manners and customs has frequently been confounded with a knowledge of the human heart. But can the crude fruit of casual observation deserve such a distinction? Soldiers, as well as women, practice the minor virtues with punctilious politeness. Where is then the sexual difference, when the education has been the same? ”
22 William Godwin Journalist, political philosopher and novelist Founder of philosophical anarchism 1793: An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice 1794: Things as They Are or the Adventures of Caleb Williams – first mystery novel 1799: Fleetwood. or The New Man of Feeling 1817: Mandeville 1797: married Mary Wollstonecraft 1801: married Mary Jane Clairmont Championed individual against coercive government
23 The “Wollstonecraft Scandal”1789: William Godwin published Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman and Wollstonecraft’s Letters to Imlay after Wollstonecraft’s death The works revealed Mary Wollstonecraft’s affair with Gilbert Imlay, her suicide attempts, and her rejection of Christianity Ruined her reputation for decades: “Wollstonecraft was now branded as a whore and an atheist, and other women who dared to show sympathy with her ideas could not expect to escape calumny.” – Margaret Kirkham, Jane Austen, Feminism and Fiction
24 Godwin-Wollstonecraft Family
25 CLASSICISM vs. ROMANTICISM
26 Neo-Classicism vs RomanticismGreek/Roman influence Emphasis on Society Age of Reason Rationality Philosophy Deism Euro-centric Cities Enlightenment Science Medieval/Oriental influence Emphasis on Individual Age of Passion Emotion Imagination Spirituality Interest in the Exotic Nature: pastoral and wild Revolution Social Justice
27 NATURE Neo-Classical RomanticUniversal Subject to human control Gardens Source of peace and tranquillity Untamed nature: dangerous/evil Particular Beyond human control Mountains, oceans, forests Source of inspiration and spirituality Untamed nature: exhilarating/sublime
28 LOVE Neo-Classical RomanticUniversal Subject to human control Marriage Social Contract Economic Contract Attraction between social and intellectual equals Source of peace and tranquillity Particular Beyond human control Passion Individual choice Search for soul-mate Forbidden attractions: social, exotic, incestual Source of inspiration, exhilaration and despair
29 Louis Michel van Loo Portrait of DiderotNeo-Classical Artist Social Arbiter of Taste Elitist Moral Intellectual Critic Louis Michel van Loo Portrait of Diderot
30 Romantic Artist Loner Unconventional Amoral Genius ProphetGeorge Gordon Lord Byron
31 Romantic Genres
32 Romantic Prose Genres Literary criticism The familiar essay The NovelHistorical novels Novels of manners Novels of sensibility Gothic novels
33 Literary Criticism Literary critics became the arbiters of tasteDebate over the artistic value as well as the utilitarian value of critical literature 1802: Edinburgh Review 1809: Quarterly Review Thomas DeQuincy William Hazlitt Charles Lamb Samuel Taylor Coleridge
34 The Familiar Essay Intimate commentaries in which the essayist reveals his/her own feelings on a wide range of subjects Idiosyncratic and eccentric The typical familiar essay, whatever its theme, seemed to carry the reader into a personal conversation with an intelligent and learned writer Thomas DeQuincy William Hazlitt Charles Lamb Leigh Hunt
35 Jane Austen and the Novel of MannersNovels dominated by the customs, manners, conventional behavior and habits of a particular social class Often concerned with courtship and marriage Realistic and sometimes satiric Focus on domestic society rather than the larger world Other novelists of manners: Anthony Trollope, Edith Wharton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Margaret Drabble
36 Historical Novels Novels that reconstruct a past age, often when two cultures are in conflict Fictional characters interact with with historical figures in actual events Sir Walter Scott ( ) is considered the father of the historical novel: The Waverly Novels ( ) and Ivanhoe (1819)
37 Gothic Novels Novels characterized by magic, mystery and horrorExotic settings – medieval, Oriental, etc. Originated with Horace Walpole’s Castle of Otranto (1764) William Beckford: Vathek, An Arabian Tale (1786) Anne Radcliffe: 5 novels ( ) including The Mysteries of Udolpho Widely popular genre throughout Europe and America: Charles Brockden Brown’s Wieland (1798) Contemporary Gothic novelists include Anne Rice and Stephen King
38 Frankenstein by Mary Shelley 1797-1851Inspired by a dream in reaction to a challenge to write a ghost story Published in (rev. ed. 1831) A Gothic novel influenced by Promethean myth The first science fiction novel
39 The Brontës Charlotte (1816-55), Emily (1818-48), Anne (1820-49)Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre transcend sentiment into myth-making Wuthering Heights plumbs the psychic unconscious in a search for wholeness, while Jane Eyre narrates the female quest for individuation Brontë.info: website of Brontë Society and Haworth Parsonage The Victorian Web portrait by Branwell Brontë of his sisters, Anne, Emily, and Charlotte (c. 1834)
40 English Romantic TheatreCloset drama: drama meant more to be read than performed Prominent in the early 19th c. when melodrama and burlesque dominated the theater, and poets attempted to raise dramatic standards: Joanna Baillie: Plays on the Passions, Samuel Taylor Coleridge: Remorse, 1813 George Gordon Lord Byron: Manfred, 1817 Percy Bysshe Shelley’s The Cenci and Prometheus Unbound, 1819 Robert Browning’s Strafford (1837) and Pippa Passes (1841)
41 Lyric Poetry Search for an authentic language of feeling rather than artifice Wordsworth: “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings recollected in tranquility” 1st person voice of the poem – during this period usually associated with the poet – sometimes biographical and confessional Revived older poetic forms: blank verse: unrhymed iambic pentameter the sonnet: 14 lines of iambic pentameter the ballad: mixed narrative story with lyrical description the ode: poem of praise – new kinds of subjects occasional poem: usually political, often satirical sentimental poem: commentary on personal events, such as the birth of a child
42 Charlotte Smith Anna Letitia Barbauld Female Pioneers Mary Robinson
43 Anna Letitia Barbauld 1743-1825Poet, Educator, Activist, Editor 1773: Poems and Pieces in Prose 1774: Married Rochemont Barbauld – school at Palgrave Poetry: Devotional Pieces (1775) Political and domestic poems Children’s literature: Lessons for Children ( , 4 vols) Hymns in Prose for Children (1781) Evenings at Home ( , 6 vols) Editor: The British Novelists (1810, 50 vols.) The Female Speaker (1811) Anna Letitia Barbauld 1775 Wedgewood Cameo
44 Charlotte Turner Smith 1749-1806Poet, Novelist, Activist Poetry: Revived sonnet form Elegiac Sonnets ( , 9 eds.) The Emigrants (1793) Beachy Head (1807) Novels: Emmeline (1788) Ethelinde, (1789) Celestina (1791) Desmond (1792) The Old Manor House (1793) The Emigrants (1793) The Wanderings of Warwick (1794) The Banished Man (1794) Montalbert (1795) Marchmont (1796) The Young Philosopher (1798) The Letters of a Solitary Wanderer (1800)
45 Mary Darby Robinson ca. 1757-1800Gainsborough, 1781 Mary Darby Robinson ca Actress, poet, novelist Poetry Poems (2 vols. 1775) Poems (1791) Sappho and Phaon (1796) Petrarchan sonnet sequence Lyrical Tales (1800) 7 Novels, including: Vacenza (1792) The Widow (1794) Angelina (1796) Walsingham (1797) Memoirs (1801) Mistress of King George IV
46 Sonnets Sappho and Phaon by Mary Darby RobinsonSonnet II Sonnet III High on a rock, coaeval with the skies, A Temple stands, rear'd by immortal pow'rs To Chastity divine! ambrosial flow'rs Twining round icicles, in columns rise, Mingling with pendent gems of orient dyes! Piercing the air, a golden crescent tow'rs, Veil'd by transparent clouds; while smiling hours Shake from their varying wings--celestial joys! The steps of spotless marble, scatter'd o'er With deathless roses arm'd with many a thorn, Lead to the altar. On the frozen floor, Studded with tear-drops petrified by scorn, Pale vestals kneel the Goddess to adore, While Love, his arrows broke, retires forlorn. Turn to yon vale beneath, whose tangled shade Excludes the blazing torch of noon-day light, Where sportive Fawns, and dimpled Loves invite, The bow'r of Pleasure opens to the glade: Lull'd by soft flutes, on leaves of violets laid, There witching beauty greets the ravish'd sight, More gentle than the arbitress of night In all her silv'ry panoply array'd! The birds breathe bliss! light zephyrs kiss the ground, Stealing the hyacinth's divine perfume; While from the pellucid fountains glitt'ring round, Small tinkling rills bid rival flow'rets bloom! HERE, laughing Cupids bathe the bosom's wound; THERE, tyrant passion finds a glorious tomb!
47 The first of the great English Romantic poets, as well as a painter and printer, and engraver.Illuminated books: c.1788: All Religions Are One and There Is No Natural Religion 1789: Songs of Innocence and Thel 1790–1793: The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 1793: Visions of the Daughters of Albion and America: a Prophecy 1794: Europe: a Prophecy, The First Book of Urizen and Songs of Experience 1795: The Book of Los The Song of Los and The Book of Ahania c.1804–c.1811: Milton: a Poem 1804–1820: Jerusalem Non-Illuminated 1783: Poetical Sketches 1789: Tiriel 1791: The French Revolution 1797: The Four Zoas William Blake (b. Nov. 28, 1757, London--d. Aug. 12, 1827, London) was the first of the great English Romantic poets, as well as a painter and printer and one of the greatest engravers in English history. Largely self-taught, he began writing poetry when he was twelve and was apprenticed to a London engraver at the age of fourteen. His poetry and visual art are inextricably linked. To fully appreciate one you must see it in context with the other. A rebel all of his life, Blake was once arrested on a trumped up charge of sedition. Of course, he was a complete sympathizer with the forces of revolution, both in America and France. He was a personal friend of Thomas Paine and made the American War of Independence and French Revolution parts of his grand mythology in his America: A Prophecy and Europe: A Prophecy. Blake is frequently referred to as a mystic, but this is not really accurate. He deliberately wrote in the style of the Hebrew prophets and apocalyptic writers. He envisioned his works as expressions of prophecy, following in the footsteps (or, more precisely strapping on the sandals) of Elijah and Milton. In fact, he clearly believed himself to be the living embodiment of the spirit of Milton. Most of Blake's paintings (such as "The Ancient of Days" above, the frontispiece to Europe: a Prophecy) are actually prints made from copper plates, which he etched in a method he claimed was revealed to him in a dream. He and his wife colored these prints with water colors. Thus each print is itself a unique work of art. As an artist Blake broke the ground that would later be cultivated by the Pre-Raphaelites. His work is for the most part done on a very small scale. His illuminated works and engravings are all only inches in size, yet they are meticulous in detail. And each of them is, in a sense, merely a part of a titanic whole.
48 Lyrical Ballads, 1798, 1800, 1802 Poems by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Heralds the beginning of the Romantic Period in England Poetry that uses normal, everyday language Emphasis on the voice of the living poet “The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purpose of poetic pleasure.” Title Page of the 1st Edition
49 Keats Coleridge The Poet as Rock Star Shelley Byron Wordsworth