Ilasdn J SDK

Download as pdf or txt
Download as pdf or txt
You are on page 1of 10

ROMANTICISM-3.

pdf

Martabl20

Literatura Inglesa Ii

Grado en Estudios Ingleses

Facultad de Filología
Universidad de Sevilla

Reservados todos los derechos.


No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
THE END OF THE ENLIGHTNMENT
TRANSITION TO THE HOUSE OF HANOVER
18TH century Hanover rulers: George I, George II and George III.
The second half of the century is known as the “Age of Johnson” because of
Samuel Johnson and his Dictionary of the English Language (1755)

AGRICULTURAL REVOLUTION

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
There were innovations in farming technology. The Enclosure Acts (1750-1860)
allowed individuals to buy their properties, for farmers to control their
production….
There was a population migration from the farms to the cities. Also as a result of
all the innovations, population doubled. This led to the:
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION (1760-1840)
Between 1700 and 1800 England’s population doubled. There was a transition to
a more urban, industrial society. This produced an increase in the number of

Reservados todos los derechos.


factories, consumer culture, mass production…

Great Britain began to see the RISE OF IMPERIALISM  Foundation for the
(Second) British Empire of the 19th century, rise of the nation-state, increase in
slave trade in order to help the production of products liked to the Industrial
Revolution.
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1765-1783)
Revolution in the 13 British Colonies in North America rebelled AGAINST GREAT
BRITAIN, as a result of the heavy taxation and the British threat. Great Britain
did not want to leave so easily these Colonies, so there were conflicts between
them  AMERICAN REVOLUTIONARY WAR (1775-1783), finally the colonies
won, and became independent, The Declaration of Independence (1776).
This idea of revolution is going to influenced romantic poets.
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION (1787-1799)  the rising of the common men
against the monarchy, the government in general. Romantic writers wanted to
sympathy with the common working men, lower classes instead of the monarchy.
After this Revolution, Romanticism began to be seen.

Academia Méndez Núñez – Oposiciones para profesor de inglés – academiamn.com


 ROMANTICISM
Romanticism is a reaction to the Age of Enlightenment, the Age of Reason. A
rejection of Enlightenment ideals (Reason, logic, scientific…). Romantic writers
were fearful of all of these changes that Industrialization implies. They also
thought that Neoclassical writers had taken the idea of soul.

 CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMANTICISM
- PREFERENCE FOR MEDIEVAL LITERATURE  Romantic writers preferred more

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
medieval literature than the classical literature, they preferred to look back to the
Middle Ages (more idealistic time, before so many changes began to take place
with the Industrial Revolution), emphasis on God, religion was so important in
the Middle Ages.
- ORIGINALITY AND IMAGINATION  Romantic writers tried to be original,
whereas neoclassical writers preferred to imitate classical literature. Romantic
writers thought that originality and that the ideas were born of the poet and not
copied were essential. They defended imagination, not only talk about the real

Reservados todos los derechos.


world. Whereas neoclassical writers were more concerned about reality.
- SUBJECTIVITY: Romantic writers believed more in personal feelings, personal
experiences versus neoclassical writers (objective, impersonality).
- INDIVIDUALITY: Romantic writers focused on individual emotions, giving
credibility to the emotions.
 EMOTION (ROMANTICISM) VS SCIENCE AND REASON (NEOCLASSICISM)
In the Romanticism human emotions are preferred over logic and reason
(Neoclassicism). They preferred to use their feelings as oppose to rationality.
This led to the complexity of human emotions  human emotions and feelings
are not simple, playing with the idea of all the different moods, attitudes… It is
possible that you can feel happy, sad… at the same time.
Melancholy  The emotion that they usually described. The idea of being
nostalgic. How romantics were concerned about the Industrial Revolution and
the changes. The nostalgia they feel when thinking about how the world was
after all the modernization with industrialization.
Connection between nature and man’s inner state  The effects of the
Industrial Revolution are affecting nature. Also the mystery of nature, how
things work in a religious sense, existence, dead, what happens when a man
dies.

Consigue hasta 30€ de descuento para tus regalos de navidad en Aliexpress.es


The “sublime”  Romantic poets see nature as something bigger than men
“the hugeness of nature”, how enormous and wonderful is nature compared
with men.
Romantic writers were looking for a reaction in the reader, how a man is looking
the enormity of nature. One individual man looking the natural world around
him, the enormity of nature.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
 ROMANTIC LITERATURE
Neoclassism emphasizes on didactical literature, literature that teaches, that
emphasizes wit, intelligence…
Poetry:
-Lyric poetry
-Odes
-Elegies (Dealing with death, pain…)

Reservados todos los derechos.


-Sonnets and sonnet cycles (sonnets deals with the idea of love, passion…)
So, Romantic literature emphasizes strong emotions.
 WILLIAM WORDSWORTH
He was one of the most important romantic poet who helped found the Romantic
movement in English literature. He belonged to the “Lake Poets”:
“THE LAKE POETS”: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert
Southey and Dorothy Wordsworth. They got their name from an area called the
“Lake District”, in the northern part of England. These poets wrote about this
landscape, where they could find tranquillity, peace, away from the industrial
world
He was born in 1770, he was educated at Cambridge, so he was a well-educated
man. He travelled to France in the midst of the French Revolution and was a
supporter of the new government’s republican ideals. He also travelled to
Germany. As an adult he was very close to his sister, Dorothy. In addition, he was
a very good friend of Samuel Taylor, another founder of Romanticism.
Some of his major works are: The Borderers, Lyrical Ballads Wordsworth
published this work together with Samuel Taylor, Poems in Two Volumes… Also
he published a guided book A Guide through the District of the Lakes.

Academia Méndez Núñez – Oposiciones para profesor de inglés – academiamn.com


“A CHARACTER”

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
“A Character”  An individual in literature. Also, the emotions, personalities, all
of these elements that make up an individual person.
RHYME AND METER: Rhyming couplets (AA, BB, CC…). There are variations,
romantic poets used to play with the rhythm, they did not follow a pattern. It is
divided into quatrains, using the structure to express different ideas in each
quatrain.
STANZA 1
A person that has a strength, that strength could cause harm, pain, grief,
suffering…. First contradiction, there is strength and weakness. Wordsworth is

Reservados todos los derechos.


showing the complexity of human characters, the complexity of human emotions.
Humans are contradictory.
STANZA 2
All these different emotions that a human character has. Showing the complexity
of human beings, humans are not simple creature.
STANZA 3
A character may be various, excellent human being, a person that is virtuous, a
good person, moral person then because they are moral, good then they deserve
to be called virtuous. Having virtuous is the highest moral position you can
achieve.
But on the other hand, there are those individuals that are not virtuous but are
trying very hard. Some individuals are lacking certain qualities that prevent them
from being called virtuous. On the other hand, some individuals are called
virtuous because they have these characteristics, they are good person.
We see the complexity; you can be one or the other.
STANZA 4
The speaker is comparing himself with the character he is describing.
Examining humanity, complexity, examining human emotions. We are moving
from the simplicity of Neoclassicism to the complexity of Romanticism.

“A NIGHT THOUGHT”
NATURE, EMOTIONS (examining human emotions), INDIVIDUALITY (putting himself
out of the crowd, he doesn’t want to be like other human beings),
When he looks to the moon to help him not to be like everyone else, like other human
beings, he is admiring the moon, the beauty of the moon (NATURE CONNECTED TO
HUMANITY)

 SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE (1772-1834)


Taylor also belongs to the “Lake Poets”. He was an educated man, he received his
education at Cambridge. He actually never finished his education. He had some sort of

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
mental disease. He admired studying Shakespeare and Milton.
He met William and Dorothy Wordsworth in 1795. Then he travelled to Germany with
the Wordsworths.

POETRY  First half of his life


The second half of his life was so sad. In this second half he switched from writing
primarily poetry to prose in later life. He grew increasingly more addicted to laudanum/
opium.

Coleridge’s writings influenced American romanticism and transcendentalism.

Reservados todos los derechos.


The most well-known poetic works of Taylor Coleridge are:
-Lyrical Ballads (1798)
-The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
-“Kubla Khan”

-Christabel
His major prose works are:
-Lectures on Politics and Religion
-Lay Sermons
-Biographia Literaria

-On the Constitution of the Church and State

“KUBLA KHAN” (1816)


It was originally written in 1797, then published in 1816 alongside Christabel and The
Pains of Sleep. This poem was the result of a dream after taking opium. One night he
was walking home, he felt very sick and he took opium for medicine, according to a note
that he made, he fall-asleep after taking opium and dreamt about this wonderful palace.
After woke up, he wrote his vision.
The result of an opium-induced “dream” or “reverie”.

Consigue hasta 30€ de descuento para tus regalos de navidad en Aliexpress.es


Kubla Khan was the grandson of Genghis Khan. Military general and Emperor of the
Yuan or Mongol dynasty in China. Written about in the travel narratives of Marco Polo.
Summer capital at Shangdu.

He is jumping into 3 different countries  China, Greece and Ethiopia (we have to
remember that this is a DREAM.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
There is musicality in the poem, he has a very interesting use of rhyme, there is not a
pattern of rhyme but it helps to create musicality.
ROMANTIC CHARACTERISTICS:
1.Nature  Reflection on nature (stanza 2) describing the river, the power of the river.
The power of nature. Nature as something mysterious, the beauty of nature (luxurious
type of gardens).
2. Individuality  Describing for the reader, a dream that he had, his own experience,
his vision.
3. Imagination  He is using imagination and calling the reader to envision his dream,

Reservados todos los derechos.


to imagine those things.
4. Romantics were very interesting in exoticism  He is dreaming about China, Kubla
Khan, a reference to Greece, he is looking to exotic places, outside England.
(ORIENTALISM is a theme that romantic poets explore, making reference to Oriental
places).
The result of the Industrial Revolution, the Romantic authors were very worried,
uncertain of all the changes that were happening in England. So, they escaped from
England and look into other countries.
That’s the reason why he is talking about Xanadu, an isolated place, separated from the
city, a part away from all the scary world (escaping from the reality of England).

 WILLIAM BLAKE
William Blake was a 19th century writer and artist who is regarded as a seminal figure
of the Romantic Age. His writings have influenced many writers and artists through the
ages, and he has been defined as both a major poet and an original thinker.
He was born and raised in London, he was given a Christian education. He claimed to
have had spiritual visions as a child. He was an excellent poet, but madness as well.
He started his career as an engraver and painter. He decided that he was going to do
some innovations in engraving and illustrations. He found a way of publishing his poems
called “Relief etching”. He was very involved in the process of his own publications.
Some of his most important works:

Academia Méndez Núñez – Oposiciones para profesor de inglés – academiamn.com


-Poetical Sketches

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
-All Religions are One

-There is No Natural Religion  He admired and loved God.


-Songs of Innocence (1789)  He wrote “canciones infantiles”, they deal with more
serious themes, reflections on who is Jesus Christ?. The message is more serious.
Innocence side of humans
-Songs of Experience (1794)  26 poems in total, “The Tyger” and “The Angel” are part
of the collection. Addresses the “half” of the human state relating to “experience”.
Originally they were published in 2 different volumes, separately. but they were
somehow related. (The Songs of Innocence as one volume published in 1789, and The
Songs of Experience as the second volume in 1794)

Reservados todos los derechos.


Subtitled: “Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul”

“THE TYGER”
Central question of the poem  What “immortal” being or force is able to create such
a fearful animal as you? (lines 3-4)
Reference to a classical myth  Icarus was wearing the wings in order to escape from
a tower. He dares to fly higher and higher.
Quite of few questions, questioning who or what the creator of the Tyger is.
Did the creator of the Lamb (gentle, mild, pure animal), could also make you, the Tyger
(ferocious, dangerous, evil). The creator can make both. The Lamb is also referred to
Jesus Christ. How could the creator do both good and evil?
“The Lamb” asking similar questions, do you know who creates you, Lamb? With a soft
tone and “The Tyger” are linked together.
There is no an answer at the end of the poem.
DIFFERENCE  “Dare” has a more negative connotation, is challenging the creator,
accusation (judgement), at the beginning is a general question, how could he do it?, he
is wondering what or who could create the Tyger (objective).

The creator’s boldness  “dare”


It is writing in rhyming couplets. He wrote it in a very simple structure, easy for a child
to repeat it. Also for adults because of the questions the speaker is asking.
CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMANTICISM:
-The Tyger for the English is exotic (EXOTICISM), mystery as well.
- NATURE: Tyger is a creature of nature, examining the complexity of nature, looking at
how the tiger was created. Tyger  complex creature.
“THE ANGEL”
Final: She has grown old, more experienced, now she can take care of herself.

CHARACTERISTICS OF ROMANTICISM:
-William Blake can be considered as a pre-romantic writer.
-Imagination: Imagining this dream, so the reader can dream long with the poet.

No se permite la explotación económica ni la transformación de esta obra. Queda permitida la impresión en su totalidad.
-Nature: nature can reflect human emotions, when the morning rises and the angel has
gone she is being able to express herself.
-Individualism: Our narrator telling us information about a dream, the narrator is giving
a very personal reflection on a dream he/she had.

Reservados todos los derechos.

Consigue hasta 30€ de descuento para tus regalos de navidad en Aliexpress.es

You might also like