Romanticism
The Industrial Revolution
• Began in the 18th century and continued on through
the 19th century
• Marked changes in agriculture, manufacturing, mining,
transportation, and technology which had a significant
effect on the social, economic and cultural conditions
• The revolution began in Britain and later spread
throughout Western Europe, North America and Japan
• These major changes sparked the Romantic
Movement
Romanticism…What is
it?
 Reaction against Enlightenment
 The Romantics Elevated the importance of the
imagination, they referred to it as the “supreme
faculty of the mind”
 Express feeling, emotion, and imagination of the artist
or writer
 Reflected Nationalism and focused on nations’ past
 Writers created characters who were misunderstood
or rejected by society around them feelings and
ideas are the only barometer for right and wrong
Themes
 Evocation and/or criticism of the past
 Emphasis on women and children
 Heroic isolation – “The Byronic Hero”
 Respect for a new, wilder, untrammeled and “pure” nature
 Mockery of Industrialism and war
 Emphasis on individualism and subjectivity
 Emotions over rationality
 Fascination with the past, the supernatural, and the exotic
Literary Techniques
 Alliteration: the repetition of the same sound at the beginning of a word. Used for
emphasis
 Apostrophe: when an absent person, an abstract concept, or an important object
is directly addressed
 Ballad: a relatively short narrative poem, written to be sung, with a simple and
dramatic action. The ballads tell of love, death, the supernatural, or a combination
of these.
 Personification: giving human qualities to animals or objects.
 Imagery: A common term of variable meaning, imagery includes the "mental
pictures" that readers experience with a passage of literature. It signifies all the
sensory perceptions referred to in a poem, whether by literal description, allusion,
simile, or metaphor. Imagery is not limited to visual imagery
 Metaphor: A comparison or analogy stated in such a way as to imply that one
object is another one, figuratively speaking.

Sonnets: Lyric poems that are 14 lines long falling into three coordinate quatrains
and a concluding couplet
Ralph Waldo Emerson
• Biography
• Born in Boston, Massachusetts on May 25, 1803
• Raised by his mother after his father died when he was 8
years old
• Graduate from Harvard College and was a minister but
he had doubts so he quit and traveled Europe instead,
wife died about the same time he quit
• His writings reflect optimism, mysticism, and love of
nature—best known for “The Sphinx” and “Bacchus” in
which he praises the human self and nature.
• Believed in the divinity of nature and of the individual
• Later went on to become the founder of the
Transcendentalist Movement
Berrying
May be true what I had heard,
Earth’s a howling wilderness
Truculent with fraud and force,”
Said I, strolling through the pastures,
And along the riverside.
Caught among the blackberry vines,
Feeding on the Ethiops sweet,
Pleasant fancies overtook me:
I said, “What influence me preferred
Elect to dreams thus beautiful?”
The vines replied, “And didst thou deem
No wisdom to our berries went?”
Published in 1847
Analysis
• “Earth’s a howling wilderness”
• Symbolism Earth is referring to the beauty of the nature and by
howling wilderness he means the people because he is against the
Industrial Revolution and this means that the people are wild and
he goes on say, “ Truculent with fraud and force”, basically saying
that humans are savage and barbaric
• “Caught among the blackberry vines,
• Feeding on the Ethiops sweet”
• By this, Emerson is referring that Nature is pure since it hasn’t had
any of the “light” impact of the Industrial Revolution, according to
his preference because he is against it all and in the end of the
poem he writes, “The vines replied, “And didst thou deem/ No
wisdom to our berries went?” Giving the vines a voice shows how
he personifies Nature
William Wordsworth
Biography(1770-1850)
•
Wordsworth mother died when he was eight
•
Established his love for poetry at Hawkshead grammar school
•
Before his final semester at St. John’s college in Cambridge, he set on a walking tour.
•
He came across the French revolution during this walking tour
•
One of his most influential moments was when he met the poem Samuel Coleridge
•
The death of his daughter in 1847 made him lose his will to write poetry and later died in
1850.
•
Notable Works: The Prelude (1850), The Lyrical Ballads, written with Samuel
Coleridge, Poems in Two Volumes, The Excursion
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge,
September 3, 1802
Earth hath not anything to show more fair:
Dull would he be of soul who could pass by
A sight so touching in its majesty:
This City now doth, like a garment, wear
The beauty of the morning; silent, bare,
Ships, towers, domes, theatres and temples lie
Open unto the fields, and to the sky;
All bright and glittering in the smokeless air.
Never did sun more beautifully steep
In his first splendor, valley, rock, or hill;
Ne'er saw I, never felt, a calm so deep!
The river glideth at his own sweet will:
Dear God! The very houses seem asleep;
And all that mighty heart is lying still!
•
Published in 1807
Analysis
Personification
Wordsworth use of personification is used throughout the whole poem as a way to glorify
nature and even make it seem as if nature has it’s own mind and thoughts.
“The river glideth at his own sweet will”
Paradox
Wordsworth creates a paradox between “touching” and “majesty”
“A sight so touching in its majesty”
Theme
The theme of nature is used, but there is a deeper meaning in which Wordsworth includes the
city of London as part of that beauty in nature
“The City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning”
George Gordon Bryon (1788-1824)
Biography
• Born in London to a single mother, he lived his childhood in poverty
• Endured taunts by fellow schoolmen because of his physical deformity
(a club foot)
• When he was 10, he inherited his uncle’s estate and became known as Lord Byron
• He created the concept of the 'Byronic hero' - a defiant, melancholy young man,
brooding on some mysterious, unforgivable event in his past.
• He lived a frivolous life and accumulate a lot of debt because of his travels but it was
through this that the inspiration from his poetry came from (the Grand Tour,
Switzerland with Percy Shelley)
• His political views were also evident in his poetry because he had a seat in the House of
Lords – a strong advocate for social reform
• Notable Works: Don Juan, Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
• In 1824, he decided that action was more important than poetry and took arms to aid
the Greeks in their fight with the Ottoman Turks
• However he died before he saw action because he contracted a deadly fever on
April 19, 1824
So we’ll go no more a roving
•
So, we’ll go no more a roving
So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
And the moon be still as bright.
For the sword outwears its sheath,
And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
And love itself have rest.
Though the night was made for loving,
And the day returns too soon,
Yet we’ll go no more a roving
By the light of the moon.
Published in 1830
Analysis
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Symbolism
“The sword outwears its sheath” symbolizes how the speaker’s soul is still intact
while his body is slowly wasting away due to old age
Personification
“Love itself have rest” – to emphasize how at first, love is wonderful but then
the speaker realizes that sometimes you have to take a step back and look at
what’s in front of you (“heart must pause to breathe”)
Assonance
“So we’ll go no more a roving” which repeats the “o “ sound which helps to
create a nostalgic tone in the poem
Theme
• Although love is powerful and irresistible, it is ephemeral
Edgar Allan Poe
• Biography
• Born January 19, 1809 in Boston, Massachusetts
• Well known for his tales of mystery and horror which
inspired the modern detective story
• Acclaimed for his short story/poem, The Raven
• Married his cousin Virginia Clemm in 1835
• Relationships with the females in his life were critical to the
emotion brought forth in his historical poetry
• His mother, and his wives died while he was still alive, and
he watched the love of his life, Virginia, die as well
Annabel Lee
It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and meYes!- that was the reason (as all men know,
In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.
I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than loveI and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than weOf many far wiser than weAnd neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulchre
In this kingdom by the sea.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride,
In the sepulchre there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.
Published in 1849
Analysis
• "The Kingdom"
Symbolic refrain The kingdom starts off as a repetitive
reminder that their love is like a magical fairytale kingdom by the sea.
• The meaning of the phrase is changed later on in the poem when he writes "So that
her highborn kinsman came/ And bore her away from me,/ To shut her up in a
sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea." The term " highborn kinsman" refers to the
power, and prestige of what took away his Annabel Lee, and the way he says that
the kinsman "shut her up in a sepulchre/ In this kingdom by the sea." makes the act
sound eerie and cruel. He morphs the meaning from a unconditional love in a
magical kingdom by the sea to something tyrannical and cruel that wants to take
his love away.
• "The Angels, seraphs, and the sea.."
• The angels and the sea are represented as something evil and malicious, trying to
tear away his love "in the kingdom by the sea". He blames them for the loss of his
beloved Annabel Lee. The sea is the last image left in the mind of the reader, and
everyone knows that the sea is vast, deep and destructive. And even Annabel's
grave is next to this chaotic, uncontrollable sea.
3 AP Style Writing Prompts
Prompt 1: All throughout history, poets have conveyed their
emotions through poetic representation and the use of extensive
figurative language. Identify the poetic period in which it was
written construct a well written essay on the following poem and
explain how the author utilized figurative language to bring
across his emotion.
Prompt 2: Many poets have conveyed feelings in their writings.
Identify two pieces of writings that portray the poets feelings
and/or attitudes about the society that they live in or the past
that they wish they lived in.
Prompt 3: All throughout history, poets have portrayed their
imaginations and feelings about change in their writings. Identify
a poetic period in which poets fully convey the prospect of
change and fully identify the poetic period and explain how it fits
into the movement.
The Tiger by William Blake
TIGER, tiger, burning bright
What the hammer? what the chain?
In the forests of the night,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What immortal hand or eye
What the anvil? What dread grasp
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
In what distant deeps or skies
When the stars threw down their spears,
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
And water'd heaven with their tears,
On what wings dare he aspire?
Did He smile His work to see?
What the hand dare seize the fire?
Did He who made the lamb make thee?
And what shoulder and what art
Tiger, tiger, burning bright
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
In the forests of the night,
And when thy heart began to beat,
What immortal hand or eye
What dread hand and what dread feet?
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Resources
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http://www.emersoncentral.com/poems/berrying.htm
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http://www.google.com/imgres?q=eugene+delacroix+liberty+leading+the+people&um
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http://www.adnax.com/biogs/lb.htm
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http://www.online-literature.com/byron/
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http://www.buzzle.com/articles/romanticism-characteristics-of-romanticism.html
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http://academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu/english/melani/cs6/rom.html
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http://questgarden.com/51/72/7/070523132110/process.htm
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_Byron
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wordsworth
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http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/PRbyron.htm