COMPETENCES: Summing up key facts, ideas and literary trends of an age
Overview
4 The Romantic Age
POETRY - an accent on feelings and emotions;
- the idea that poetry can express
• I n the last three decades of the
and create truth;
PROSE
18th century poets begin to express • G
othic novels flourished in England
- a totally new interest in the inner
their dissatisfaction with the values between 1765 and the beginning of
world of the self.
of Classicism and reject the idea the 19th centuries.
that reason is the leading faculty • T
he English Romantics can be
divided into two main groups: • T
he three main trends of the
of man’s intellect.
- the First Generation of Romantic novel are:
• Pre-Romantic poetry is characterised - the novel of manners, brought
Romantics, which includes
by: to unrivalled perfection by Jane
William Wordsworth and
- the use of classical forms to Austen;
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who
express Romantic themes; - the novel or purpose, which
focus on ‘common life’ and give
- the exaltation of primitive life; responds to the era’s need to
importance to imagination;
- a meditative tone; support the spread of certain
- the Second Generation of
- the rediscovery of the Middle philosophical or political ideas and is
Romantics, which includes Lord
Ages and of its literature; developed mainly by Mary Shelley;
Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and
- the treatment of unusual themes
John Keats, who embody the ideal - the historical novel, whose main
such as ‘the exotic’, ‘the sublime’;
of the poet as a rebel. spokesperson is Walter Scott.
- a certain fascination for death,
graveyards and ruins. • W
illiam Wordsworth (1770-1850): • M
ary Shelley’s (1797-1851)
his poems focus on rustic life and masterpiece Frankenstein, or the
• William Blake (1757-1827) is a rather
are characterised by the use of the Modern Prometheus (1818). It
isolated and eclectic figure whose
common language of ordinary people. anticipates modern science fiction
works do not fall easily into any of
the literary categories of tradition. • W
ordsworth’s poetry is the and focuses on universal themes.
expression of ‘emotions recollected • J ane Austen (1775-1817) is the
• B
lake’s works are contained in a
in tranquillity’. author of a series of universal
collection called Songs of Innocence
and of Experience (1794) and are • Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772- masterpieces such as Sense and
characterised by the dual opposition 1834): his works are pervaded by Sensibility (1811), Pride and Prejudice
between ‘Innocence’ and ‘Experience’. a strong sense of mystery. His The (1813), and Mansfield Park (1814).
Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798) • A
usten’s novels analyse human
• T
he birth of English Romanticism
is a long poem suspended in a characters, the limits imposed by
is marked by the publication of the
dreamlike atmosphere. social conventions on feelings, and
Preface to the Lyrical Ballads (1801)
by the poet William Wordsworth. • Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792- 1822): the condition of life of the women.
his poems celebrate love and They usually focus on a limited
• T
he main traits of British number of characters in a small
freedom and give voice to people’s
Romanticism are: provincial area and explore human
desire to free themselves from the
- the role played by nature; interactions through the use of vivid
oppression of old institutions.
- a distrust in progress and factories; dialogues and irony.
- a vivid interest in rustic life; • John Keats (1795-1821): his
- a rejection of all the conventions poems are a celebration of beauty,
of Neo-classical poetry; sensuality and eternal life.
ACTIVE PROJECT DIGITAL LITERACY • COMMUNICATION • COLLABORATION
ork in small groups. Read these quotes and guess who
1. W
pronounced them. Choose among the following authors:
a J. Keats b W. Wordsworth c G.G. Byron d S.T. Coleridge
Explain the reasons for your guesses. Share your guesses
with the other groups.
se the web to check if your guesses were correct or not.
2. U
How many did you get?
sing the information that you know about Romanticism, make
3. U I l ve n t man the less
an interactive presentation in which you point out how the Romantic authors mentioned
but nature m re.
in this activity conceived nature. Conclude your presentation with your own definition of nature.
