British Romanticism
Introduction to the Social/Cultural
Contexts
Influences behind British
Romanticism
British Romanticism
the Europen Enlightenment of the 18th Century
the Industrial Revolution
German Romanticism (1770s--)
The Age of Enlightenment
• The faith in the autonomy of reason as
instrument
• The belief in mankind’s essentially
similarity in all ages and origins
• The projected order governing nature, man,
society and human perfectibility
The Industrial Revolution
• Agricultural, technological, and
communication progresses through
machines and systematic organization
• Increase of population and urbanization
• The rise of the middle/working classes, their
rights versus feudalistic hierarchy
German Romanticism
• Time: 1770s-• Figures: J. G. von Herder, Johann Wolfgan
von Geothe, Fridrich Schiller
• The enlightenment: the mind as recipient of
the universe; German Romanticism: the
mind as the creator of experience
• Aiming to establish indigenous German
literary tradition
Influences behind British
Romanticism
British Romanticism
1.the emphasis on nature: the sublime and the mysterious
2. the mind: the imaginative, the emotional, and the prophetic voice/vision
3. individual mind versus society
the Europen Enlightenment of the 18th Century
1. faith in the autonom of reason as instrument
2. belief in the mankind as essential y similar in ages and orgins
3. projected order governing the world and mankind's perfectability
the Industrial Revolution
1. agricultural and technological progresses
2. increase of population and urbanization
3. the rise of the middle/working classes
German Romanticism (1770s--)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schil er
1. the mind creates, not receiving experience/universe
2. aiming to establish indigenous German literary tradition
Influences behind British
Romanticism
British Romanticism
1.the emphasis on nature: the sublime and the mysterious
2. the mind: the imaginative, the emotional, and the prophetic voice/vision
3. individual mind versus society
the Europen Enlightenment of the 18th Century
1. faith in the autonom of reason as instrument
2. belief in the mankind as essential y similar in ages and orgins
3. projected order governing the world and mankind's perfectability
the Industrial Revolution
1. agricultural and technological progresses
2. increase of population and urbanization
3. the rise of the middle/working classes
German Romanticism (1770s--)
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Friedrich Schil er
1. the mind creates, not receiving experience/universe
2. aiming to establish indigenous German literary tradition