Georgian England – Arts and Literature
The 18th and early 19th centuries were peak periods for literary and artistic innovation as well
as scientific inquiry. Excavations of Pompeii in Italy and the habit of wealthy British families of
doing the Grand Tour (an extended travel period through Europe, particularly Italy) had made
Neo-Classicism the rage – everything became influenced by the Ancient Greeks and Romans. The
Adams brothers, in particular, were renowned for their neo-classically designed buildings. Even
women’s clothing became heavily influenced by ancient Roman designs following the French
Revolution and Napoleon’s robes for his coronation were like those of an ancient Roman Emperor.
After the Battle of the Nile between Napoleon’s forces and Britain, a new design style began to
influence European furniture and fashion. Things began to take on a more ancient Egyptian feel.
The Prince Regent’s (later George IV) pleasure palace, the Brighton Pavilion, took design influences
from both the Romans and the Chinese.
The Romantic Movement was connected to the other great trend in literature of the day,
the rise of the Gothic novel. Gothic novels included elements of horror, seduction and the
supernatural and, although looked down on by the intellectual elite, were loved by many.
They are the precursor to the modern horror story.
Shelley’s wife, Mary, gave us one of the greatest works in this genre with her novel
Frankenstein, but it was the earlier novels of Horace Walpole and Ann Radcliffe that made
Gothic fiction so popular at this time. Jane Austen makes fun of the fashion for the gothic
novel in her book, Northanger Abbey. Her characters are busy devouring The Monk by
Matthew Lewis as the story progresses, and the hapless heroine becomes convinced that the
brother and sister she befriends have horrible secrets they are trying to hide.
In literature, the period is best known for the influence of the Romantic poets. The movement
began with the poetry of William Wordsworth, Robert Southey and Samuel Taylor Coleridge but
expanded its focus greatly with the works of Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats. The
Romantics believed that nature was supreme and that heightened emotions should be celebrated.
Their movement tried to move away from the stilted, formulaic responses to things of the previous
generation of poets.
Novels are said to have been ‘invented’ in the 19th century with Daniel Defoe’s Robinson Crusoe
and the later epistolary (written as a series of letters) novels of Samuel Richardson. Jonathan Swift
developed satire in 1726 with his novel Gulliver’s Travels, but it was Jane Austen who made the
novel popular. Her satirical, romantic tales of young women finding true love in a world that little
valued this concept are still renowned today.
Georgian England – Arts and Literature
Questions:
Use the information from the previous sheet to answer the following questions.
1. What was the Grand Tour and why do you think people went on it?
2. What ancient culture influenced the architecture, clothing
and furniture design of the late 19th century?
3. Who were the Romantic poets and what did they believe?
4. What is an ‘epistolary novel’?
5. Name two important things about the rise of the Gothic novel.
Extension:
Find out more about Gothic fiction and its influences. How does Jane Austen use it in her novel
Northanger Abbey?
Find out about the Brighton Pavilion. What does the design and building of it show us about the
Regency in Britain?