The Romantic Period (1800-1830)
What is Romanticism?
The philosophical background (18th century)
Three major movements of thought lie behind the appearance of Romanticism in the 19th
century:
a) Conservatism
b) Revolutionism
c) Utilitarianism
Conservatism
The most influential Conservative thinker was Edmund BURKE (1729-1797), a politician and
a political theorist. The work in which he expanded on his conservative thoughts was
Reflections on the French Revolution. His key word is continuity. He was committed to
institutions that had developed through ages, proving that if an institution stood the test of
time, it should not be abolished. He accepted that there are changes in the society, and does
accepts change if that change involved evolution (development). However, he refused
revolutionary change. Later in their career, Wordsworth and Coleridge, Walter Scott also
became conservatives. The wish of Conservatives is to maintain the mythical and idealised
“merry old England”. In a parliamentary speech in 1790, he said the following:
“Since the House had been prorogued in the summer much work was done in France. The
French had shewn themselves the ablest architects of ruin that had hitherto existed in the
world. In that very short space of time they had completely pulled down to the ground, their
monarchy; their church; their nobility; their law; their revenue; their army; their navy; their
commerce; their arts; and their manufactures...[there was a danger of] an imitation of the
excesses of an irrational, unprincipled, proscribing, confiscating, plundering, ferocious,
bloody and tyrannical democracy...[in religion] the danger of their example is no longer from
intolerance, but from Atheism; a foul, unnatural vice, foe to all the dignity and consolation of
mankind; which seems in France, for a long time, to have been embodied into a faction,
accredited, and almost avowed.”
Revolutionism
The main representatives of the revolutionary idea are Thomas PAINE (1737-1809) and
William GODWIN (1756-1836)
Paine was an ardent critic of Burke, he called himself a professional revolutionist. He
confessed that “My country is the world and my religion is to do good”. His ideology was
based on the equality of mankind, and he favoured the pure state of nature. He was a fervent
believer of the idea of social contract of Rousseau. Thomas Paine’s reply to Burke’s
Reflections… was the “Rights of Man”. He argued that human rights originate in Nature, thus,
rights cannot be granted via political charter, because that implies that rights are legally
revocable, hence, would be privileges:
It is a perversion of terms to say that a charter gives rights. It operates by a contrary effect —
that of taking rights away. Rights are inherently in all the inhabitants; but charters, by
annulling those rights, in the majority, leave the right, by exclusion, in the hands of a few . . .
They . . . consequently are instruments of injustice.
The fact, therefore, must be that the individuals, themselves, each, in his own personal and
sovereign right, entered into a compact with each other to produce a government: and this is
the only mode in which governments have a right to arise, and the only principle on which
they have a right to exist.
Godwin was also a radical, even an anarchist thinker. He held two fundamental theses:
1) the human character is shaped by environment (reflects a deterministic view). Godwin
rejects the idea of free will. He also asserts that all man are equal in a moral sense, man is
essentially good, thus we have the right to have the same opportunities in life. The conclusion
is that the environment should be changed, because it is an obstacle for social equality.
2) reasons should govern man: Reason can destroy all evil.
His work that reflects all these views is entitled An Enquiry Concerning Political Jusitce
(1793)
Utilitarianism
The most prominent expounders of the utilitarian idea is Jeremy BENTHAM (1748-1832) and
John Stuart MILL (1806-1873). (Godwin also embraced these ideas.) They argued that man is
basically an animal, who is to gain pleasure and avoid pain. If society wants to do good, then
all the legislation should be based on the maximal satisfaction for individual and for mankind.
The government should guarantee this. (“The greatest happiness for the greatest number”.) If
there is something that can give pleasure to people, whatever it is, the government should
support it.
Historical and political background
Romanticism is basically middle-class movement (Byron is an exception): Keats, Shelley and
most of the Romantic poets came from this background. The reason for this was that towards
the middle and end of the 18th century, middle class was on the rise (which also facilitated the
birth of the novel). The increased luxury and wealth inspired a desire for the unusual, for the
different, which Romanticism provided.
The Romantic age was the first to feel the negative effects of the Industrial Revolution. As
soon as machines were introduced to industry, many people lost their jobs. The flourishing
providing luxury stood in contrast with the negative aspects of industrialisation, which created
a profound dissatisfaction.
The social transformation of the 19th century also inspired Romanticism. Earlier the society
was closed, in the society, very few decisions were to be made concerning the whole of the
society (the peasants could not influence many people). In the “open society” many people
had the right to vote, to set up manufactures, start business etc. which certainly affected many
people. The society became open to the individuals and individualism. This openness was to
be expressed first in Romanticism. In Byron’s case, however, this individual openness led to
pessimism: what happens if the individual makes a bad decision? If something goes wrong,
that also can affect everyone. There was a realisation that individuals had great responsibility.
Ideologically, the French Revolution also had an enormous influence on the birth of
Romanticism. This was the first such occasion that included a whole continent (Napoleonic
Wars). Also, the French Revolution promised a major breakthrough towards an egalitarian
society, but in a few years it turned into dictatorship and bloodshed (the revolutionaries
started to execute each other), and what started as the abolishment of monarchy led to a new
kind of monarchy in about 10 years (Napoleon crowned himself Emperor in 1804). The huge
disappointment in the failed revolution inspired many Romantic poets.
The main features of Romantic art and literature
1) Medievalism: An interest in the glorious past, an essentially false recreation of the
Middle Ages as the Romantics imagined it. The Middle Ages came to be seen as a
source of inspiration and imitation in literature, painting and architecture. It motivated
the Gothic revival (which goes back to the 18th century), an interest in settings and
events that suggested obscurity, something ancient, darker, fearsome and mysterious,
in general, things that characterised the period before the glorious renaissance of arts.
Gothic architecture (see the Parliament buildings of both England and Hungary), the
Gothic novel, the pre-Raphaelite movement, numerous reworkings of the Arthurian
legend, James MacPherson’s false Ossian poems, Walter Scott’s antiquarian interest
are all part of this trend.
2) Orientalism: Not exactly what we mean today. While Medievalism sought to draw
inspiration from an idealised past, Orientalism would have liked to do this in space.
For the Romantics “Oriental” was not always Japan or China, but everything that was
supposed to be an exotic, remote place. They were not really interested in the wise
past of the orient, but just in the exotic element. See for instance Coleridge’s Kubla
Khan, Byron’s “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage” “Don Juan” or “Giaour”, and the
countless “exotic” settings and characters in fiction.
3) Primitivism: An interest in a less advanced stage of civilisation and the idea that it
brings greater happiness to the people. Morally, savage conditions produce better
people (think of Kipling’s Jungle Book or the idealisation of the countryside, see
Wordsworth), who live in innocent, primitive conditions, while urban civilisation
corrupts and distorts man.
4) Anti-intellectualism is also a key feature of Romanticism, based on the AngloAmerican distrust of the logical and belief in common sense (going back to Locke and
Hobbes). The central idea is that certain aspects of life may not be explained on a
purely rational basis, some sort of obscurity is always needed.
5) Emotionalism: The enjoyment of emotion for its own sake (not for didactic purposes
as it was done in the neo-Classic age). For the Romantics, a poem could be written
about a sort of feeling (happiness), without further justification.
6) Confessionalism, lyricism: The unprecedented occurrence that tne major subject for
the poet became himself, who reveals his own ideas to the reader. The main
characteristic of poetry in this period is that it is mainly lyrical poetry (not narrative),
expresses one or several particular, subjective emotions.
7) Originality: Up to the end of the Classical period, originality was not required, simply
the way of formulating the stories or poems was important, how the poet can use the
well-established classical devices. In Romanticism, originality becomes required. The
main reason for this was the heightened sense of individuality and the fact that
Romantics were expected to fulfil the demands of the middle class: there was no need
to refer to earlier traditions, writers had to invent their own style.
8) Belief in the purgative (cleaning) purpose of the art: according to Aristotle, the
purpose of tragedy is the purgation of the audience through pity and fear (catharsis).
This changes in Romanticism inasmuch as the reason for writing is the purgation of
the writer himself, a kind of self-analysis that uncovers the hidden depths of the soul.
9) The love of Nature: Of course, Nature was written about in every literary period: very
often, however, Nature meant a convenient, decorative background, or the justification
of the perfectness of divine creation. The Neoclassical period tried to remove every
supernatural element from Nature, always wrote about it without human beings (see
Neo-classical landscapes!). For the Romantics: external nature and human nature
cannot be divided. Nature reflects a state of mind. Human nature corresponds to nature
outside. Nature is regarded as a teacher, a guide, a moral standard. Cities, on the
contrary, are seen as not natural environment for human beings, the places of
alienation, corruption and vice.
10) Humanitarianism: This, again, is not a new idea, since Humanitarianism was
frequently made use of by the church. The Romantic idea, however, does not derive
from this religious stance, but it claims that it is our duty to provide the minimum of
physical necessities and maximum of human opportunities to everyone. An
institutionalised support to the helpless should always derive from the state, not from
the church.
11) The belief in progress is based on Hegel’s idea of history (dialectics). The basic idea
is that man is constantly progressing towards a better future.In this sense, revolutions
may be, time to time, necessary to promote development. See Shelley’s “Ode to the
West Wind”
12) Democracy: All the major Romantics went through a Republican period in their lives
A republic is always based on human equality, which is not the invention of the
Romantic period. The Romantics, however, added the emotional aspect to this.
Caspar David Friedrich: Wanderer above
the Sea of Fog (1818)
John Constable: The Hay Wain (1819)
Caspar David Friedrich: The Chalk Cliffs
of Rügen (1818)
William Turner: Steamer in a Snowstorm (1842)
John Henry Fuseli: The Nightmare (1781)
Two generations
I. Blake, Wordsworth, Coleridge - 1793-1810
Started out as supporters of the French Revolution.
Later they got disappointed because their Romantic poetry was based on the change of
the world.
II. Byron, Shelley, Keats - 1810-1824
Remained supporters of the idea of the French Revolution
Up to the end of their lives they had not given up their ideas
The first generation of Romantic poets
William Blake (1757-1827)
Some critics consider him a Romantic,
others a pre-Romantic poet. The reasons
for this are first, that Blake started earlier
than most of the Romantics (Wordworth’s
and Coleridge’s Lyrical Ballads were
published in 1798), secondly, Blake never
belonged to any school, or group; he was
one of the most individual, idiosyncratic
poets in England. He was both a poet and a
painter-engraver, he made illustrations to
his works.
Blake was not really considered an outstanding poet in the 19th century. As it happens with
great artists so often, his talent was discovered later by those who sought justification for their
work and taste. Blake was “discovered” by W. B. Yeats and James Joyce in the 20th century.
Most modern interpretations agree on one point: he is an outstanding poet whose works have
to be considered together with his paintings. Blake created a wholly individual, private
mythology. In his first work (Poetical Sketches, 1783 – mind the word “sketches” referring to
an unfinished work, as opposed to the perfection of Neo-Classicism), he refers to well-known
names (Apollo, Minerva) but later creates his own names (Urizen, Thel, Los, Ahania, Zoa).
There are several conjectures as to why Blake turned to this highly individual tone. One
answer is that he did not receive any formal, classical education, though knew a lot about it,
but nobody explained it to him. It may be that he thought all the classical mythological figures
worn, outdated and wanted to do something original; another way of saying this is he rejected
Neoclassicism as a Romantic. Possibly, he had an thoroughly independent mind, and could
create his own figures. In addition, he never really talked about the external world (was not
interested in political events), but mainly about internal forces determining the soul.
HIS POETRY
First period (1789-1793)
After Poetical Sketches, the two most important publications of this period form a twin-book:
Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1793).
Songs of Innocence: this is an imaginative picture of the state of innocence. Blake uses
various sources: the Bible, the pastoral tradition, the fascination with childhood (a
characteristic trait of Romanticism) and an enthusiasm for a supposed primitive condition.
The symbolic animal and central poem in this volume is “The Lamb”.
Songs of Experience: the volume contrasts the innocent, joyful existence with one’s
experience about the actual world, which include suffering injustice, inhumanity. These
experiences, however, are not absolutely evil, but represent a higher, deeper form of
existence. The two (innocence and experience) complete and do not exclude each other.
The symbolic animal and poem is “The Tiger”. It is depicted not as evil, but showing the
complicated creation of God (“He who made the Lamb”), that brings joy and suffering at the
same time.
The Book of Thel (1789). In many aspects,
it carries on the theme of opposition
between two states of existence. Innocence
and experience are contrasted through the
figure of Thel and other characters. Thel
lives in the Vales of Har, an innocent and
edenic paradise. She is different from her
sisters, wanders alone and wonders why all
that live must end. Successively, she asks
the Cloud, the Worm and the Clod of Clay
who shows her the Underworld. Thel,
stricken with horror, flees back to the
Vales. Thel is often assumed to be the
allegory of the unborn spirit who has
gathered experience from her own
discoveries and has decided to remain
forever innocent.
Ancient of Days
Nabukadnezar
Marriage of Heaven and Hell (1790) calls into question the popular view since Dante and
Milton that Hell is the place of punishment. Instead, Blake tries to imagine Hell and Heaven
as the duality of innocence and experience: Hell as the source of pagan energy, a mystical
power, as opposed to the clean and strictly regulated Heaven. The following passage
illustrates this theory, and is also a good example of the highly symbolic and Romantic
writing of Blake:
"Without Contraries is no progression. Attraction and Repulsion,
Reason and Energy, Love and Hate, are necessary to Human existence.
From these contraries spring what the religious call Good & Evil.
Good is the passive that obeys Reason. Evil is the active springing
from Energy. Good is Heaven. Evil is Hell."
Second period: 1793-1827
After 1793, Blake commenced to write more and more complicated poems, which are very
difficult to read, in which he continued to work on his private mythological system. Titles
include:
America, a Prophecy (1793)
Europe, a Prophecy (1794)
The Book of Urizen (1794)
The Four Zoas (1797-1803)
Milton, a Poem in Two Books (1800-1809)
Jerusalem, the Emanation of the Giant Albion (1810-1820)
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Wordsworth’s poetry is in strong contrast with the visionary and symbolic poetry of Blake.
His style is thoroughly simple, understandable, which was, however, a conscious part of the
programme of Romanticism.
Wordsworth lived up to the age of 80, but his effective career lasted about two decades
(~1790-1810). After about 1810 he wrote a lot of poetry, but the quality of it does not even
approximate his earlier writings. He started to deal with poetry around 1785. While attending
the University of Cambridge between 1787 and ‘91, he became acquainted with the poetry of
sensibility, as reflected in his early poems “An Evening Walk” and “Descriptive Sketches”.
These poems, however, are still part of the general-minded poetry of the 18th century, he
expresses no particular and individual feelings in them.
The turn in his career can be attributed to his travels in France (1790-1793) and his meeting
and friendship with Coleridge in 1795. The fruit of their co-operation was Lyrical Ballads
(1798), regarded as the first Romantic publication in England. Out of the 23 poems published
in this volume, 19 were produced by Wordsworth and only four by Coleridge. In 1810, their
friendship ended, and although they reconciled two years later, they could never reach the
productivity of the early years. Wordsworth published his last work in 1842. The next year,
after Robert Southey’s death, he was appointed Poet Laureate (koszorús költő).
Wordsworth’s main idea of poetry is based on the essential unity of the self and Nature,
expressed in the following quotation: “we are part of all that we behold”. According to
Wordsworth, the universe should be considered as an absolute unity, so divinity can be found
in nature and in human nature, too (the two are one). Man must be united with the universe,
he is placed in it and must obey its powers and participate in its plan. The theory of the
workings of poetic mind was influenced by Samuel Hartley’s associationist philosophy /
psychology, which, ultimately goes back to Locke’s tabula rasa idea. The central notion is
that all mental life is the product of perception that generate ideas and these are connected by
associations. These theoretical starting points produce Wordsworth’s reflexive, intellectual
and emotional poetry.
His poetic mind and main ideas on poetic creation are reflected in one of the most important
documents of European Romanticism, “Preface” to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads
(1800). The main theses of the Preface are the following:
“New Poetry” should be based on the reformation of the language of poetry without artificial
literary forms. Poetry’s language should be closer to contemporary pattern. As they explained
it, “The principal object, then, proposed in these poems was to choose incidents and situations
from common life, and to relate or describe them, throughout, as far as possible, in a selection
of language really used by men, and, at the same time, to throw over them a certain colouring
of imagination, whereby ordinary things should be presented to the mind in an unusual aspect;
and further, and above all, to make these incidents and situations really interesting by tracing
in them, truly, though not ostentatiously, the primary laws of our nature: chiefly as far as
regards the manner in which we associate ideas in a state of excitement.”
The subject matter of poetry should be twofold: “humble and rural life” (as opposed to the
corruption of London).
Poetry is defined as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” and “recollection of an
overflow of feelings in tranquillity”. Subjectivism, the speaker’ / poet’s personal experience is
important. The poet is a special person of superior sensitivity who is gifted with imagination
and creative power so that he can understand the essence of all knowledge and could to
communicate this to others. The poet’s role is to be a kind of teacher, conveying the message
of Nature of the supernatural, what is beyond the senses.
Outstanding poems:
“Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey on Revisiting the Banks of the Wye
During a Tour, 13 July 1798” (often abbreviated to “Tintern Abbey”) (1798)
Tintern Abbey by William Turner
“Five years have passed; five summers,
with the length
Of five long winters! and again I hear
These waters, rolling from their mountainsprings
With a soft inland murmur. Once again
Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs,
That on a wild secluded scene impress
Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and
connect
The landscape with the quiet of the sky…”
Prelude, or the Growth of a Poet’s Mind (1799-1805)
14 books, autobiography in verse, but not conventional
The purpose is to explore the psychology of a poet (what forces shaped him to become a poet)
3 stages:
1) Initial paradise of Nature (Childhood)
2) Paradise lost: turns to revolutionary France but gets disillusioned
3) Paradise regained: decision to turn back to Nature, finding happiness
“The Recluse” (1800)
“Resolution and Independence” (1802)
“Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” (1802/04): conveys
the feeling that the poem foresees the decrease of his creative powers
Shorter poems: “I wandered lonely…”, “Composed upon Westminster Bridge”, “The Solitary
Reaper”
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
Like Wordsworth, Coleridge also belonged
to the first generation of Romantic poets.
His work and personality, however, seems
to be less even and perhaps more
complicated than that of his friend. One of
the reasons why Wordsworth became
alienated from him is that Coleridge took
to opium partly because of his lack of will,
partly due to his unhappy marriage.
Coleridge went to Cambridge but left
without a degree.
He became not only a poet but a significant
literary critic and theorist as well. He was
thoroughly interested in politics, religion,
philosophy, (and especially German)
metaphysics.
After 1803 wrote no significant work, and
felt his whole career a failure.
His poetry
He began writing poetry at the age of 15, and published his first volume in 1796. His first
poems were born within the mode of the then-popular poetry of sensibility, and these early
poems show that, like many of his contemporaries, he was also enthusiastic about the French
Revolution. Typical works from this period: “Imitated from Ossian”; “Lines in the Manner of
Spenser”.
The first poems that show something of the Romantic spirit are centred around the themes of
imagination and childhood (“The Aeolian Harp”, “Reflections on Having Left a Place of
Retirement”, “Frost at Midnight”). The common feature of these poems is that the line of
thought in them is circular: they start from the observation of the specific scene, then go on to
distant places and times, and finally return to the starting point. The deeper meaning of this
structure is that the surroundings are reflections of the consciousness, the two cannot be
separated from each other (in other words, the beholder does not only record the scene, but
creates it actively).
Another section of the early poems deal with contemporary events and show an increasing
dissatisfaction with them: “Destruction of the Bastille”; “The Fall of Robespierre”; “France:
An Ode”; “Fears in Solitude”.
The two most important poems in this period are “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner”
(1797/98, final form: 1817 ) and “Kubla Khan” (1798).
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is the most valuable English art ballad in this period.
The source of the poem is the medieval legend of the Jewish tradesman who taunted Jesus
Christ on his way to the Crucifixion; as a punishment, he was condemned to wander all
around the globe and tell his story until Christ’s Second Coming (“the wandering Jew”). Here,
the focus is on the Ancient Mariner’s soul. The mariner committed an offense against
Nature’s law, shot a helpless albatross for no reason. Now he has to suffer. The Albatross is of
course a manifold symbol – stands for the soul, Nature’s sacred law, creative powers (in
which case the Mariner is the allegory of a poet who kills his own abilities, like Coleridge).
“Dejection – An Ode” from 1802 is similar to Wordsworth’s “Ode…” – both poems report
the significant decrease of creative powers.
Coleridge’s main work of literary criticism is Biographia Literaria, or, Biographical
Sketches of my Literary Life and Opinions. This piece contains often unstructured thoughts
about the evolution of English Romanticism and Coleridge’s own development as a poet. The
most cogent part of the work is Chapter 14, which is similar to the above-mentioned
“Preface” to Lyrical Ballads. In this Chapter, Coleridge introduces the concepts of “fancy”
and “imagination”.
According to Coleridge, a poem is similar to a prose composition in that it uses the same
elements, so the difference between the two consists in the different combination of these
elements, so not in the content but in the form: “A poem is that species of composition which
is opposed to works of science by proposing for its immediate object pleasure, not truth”.
Thus, a distinction between the function and role of science and art. Poetry’s main aim /
function is to give pleasure.
This pleasure should derive from the whole of the work, not from different components
(rhyme, decoration, theme, rhythm), conceived of as decorations, as the neo-Classics would
have liked it. Coleridge here sheds light on the organic nature of the poem and its totality: its
parts mutually support and explain each other. As opposed to a poem, in science not the
whole gives pleasure but only parts. Poetry, according to Coleridge, is another way of getting
to know the world besides science. The latter analyses and pulls the world into pieces, discrete
segments, while poetry (and art in general) aims at getting to know the world synthetically,
organically, supposing a union with the subject and the perceived world.
The way to achieve this union, the poet must be an artist of supreme sensibility. Coleridge
introduces another key term, “the willing suspension of disbelief”. “... It was agreed, that my
endeavours should be directed to persons and characters supernatural, or at least romantic, yet
so as to transfer from our inward nature a human interest and a semblance of truth sufficient
to procure for these shadows of imagination that willing suspension of disbelief for the
moment, which constitutes poetic faith. Mr. Wordsworth on the other hand was to propose to
himself as his object, to give the charm of novelty to things of every day, and to excite a
feeling analogous to the supernatural, by awakening the mind's attention from the lethargy of
custom, and directing it to the loveliness and the wonders of the world before us ...”
Another important theme of this chapter is the scrutiny of different types and levels of the
poetic mind. Coleridge argues that the lowest form of this is remembering. He also
distinguishes two other, more creative, types: imagination and fancy. He means by
imagination the kind that mingles different sensations, by “fancy” the other kind that
creatively transforms sensory experiences according to its own laws. True poetry should be
the combination of fancy and imagination. The role of imagination is that it puts things
together, whereas science’s main aim is analysis, taking things apart Imagination and fancy
(e.g. use of metaphor) contribute to a better understanding of the world, by the force of
combination.
Thus, Coleridge rehabilitates the terms “fancy” and “imagination” for poetry. We can
understand the importance of this act if we know that in the previous centuries these words
had a rather negative connotation (see Ben Jonson, Locke). Fancy was taken to mean useless
and even harmful conjectures.
Coleridge, however, never managed to work out a complete theory of poetry, most of his
work was left in fragments.
The second generation of Romantic poets
The first generation of Romantic poets became rather disillusioned with the French
Revolution and their career stopped around 1805-1810. The members of the second
generation were born around 1790, around the time when the revolution broke out.
Consequently, they seemed to be more enthusiastic and less disillusioned by these ideas.
Lord George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)
Life
Byron was born in London, in an aristocratic family (that could trace its origins back to the
Norman lords). He always tried to compensate for his disadvantages of childhood. As a result
of the difference between the temperaments of his father and mother (the father came from a
noble family and gambled a lot, the mother came from a Scottish Calvinist background), the
atmosphere at home was always tense. The father later left the family and went to France.
Byron had another problem as a child: being born with a twisted foot, he was partly lame, but
from a very early age tried to make up for this handicap. He made exercises frequently and
became an excellent sportsman.
In 1805, he went to Cambridge. In 1807, one of his first volumes entitled Hours of Idleness
was published. After graduation, Byron took a seat in the House of Lords. From 1810 on, he
travelled a lot in Greece and the Near East. He made his “Maiden Speech” in the House of
Lords in 1812, with which he raised a scandal around himself for he spoke in defence of
labourers, because of a new bill required death-penalty for those who destroyed machines
(Luddites).
In 1815 he got married, and became good friend of Walter Scott. A year later separate from
his wife because, as it turned out, the marriage was actually a screen against the incestuous
relationship that Byron maintained with his half-sister (Augusta Leigh). His temperament was
passionate and his personality was very complicated. He had many lovers, and – as recent
research has proved – he was actually bisexual. Byron left England forever in 1816 and
settled in Italy. In 1823 he became involved in the Greek war in independence, and died in a
fever.
The young Tennyson cried at the news of his death (“It is as if the Sun had gone out” –
allegedly, he said this).
His poetry
Byron is perhaps the most spectacular pessimist of English Romanticism; to his
contemporaries he appeared as a “showman”, a poseur of Romanticism. He was a very
complex character, united in himself many opposite features. A kind of person difficult to live
with, unreliable, always wanting to be in the centre. He had one real subject: himself. (One
probable reason for this was his physical defect and the exhibitionism arising from this.)
Byron’s character was sometimes truly puzzling: He displayed forms of cruelty and
benevolence, sincerity, rationalism and romantic illusion, conformity and revolt, courage but
also self-pity.
Characteristic features of his works
At least four different features help us to approach Byron’s poetry:
1) He was famous for his exuberant, enthusiastic Romanticism, which gave his popularity
2) Romantic pessimism (“Weltschmerz”): the most typical representative of this. All the
Byronic heroes are titans fighting desperately, but have at least one problem that cannot be
named and comes from within the individual. Also known as “Byronism”
Reasons:
a) External
This was the period of international chaos (Napoleonic wars). This was coupled
with the transformation of England from an agricultural, traditional aristocratic
society to an urbanized, industrialized country
b) Romantic
Suffering was the convention of Romantic writing, featuring certain topics: sin,
remorse, struggle, personal crisis
c) Personal: Byron liked this personal pose, liked to present himself as a depressed
hero who has become tired with the whole world. Another reason could be his
relationship with his half-sister, which induced feelings of sin and remorse in
him. He also had a rather unsatisfactory relationship with his mother, not to
mention his own physical defect.
3) Tradition of 18th century satire: Byron first became famous with the publication of
“English Bards and Scotch Reviewers” (1809), a satirical poem, which imitated the 18th
century heroic couplet form. Byron parodied the poets and literary critics of the time. He,
strangely enough, admired Dryden and Pope as the greatest English poets, whom he saw as
superior to Romantic poets. The poem is thus controversial, because Romantics were
against the practitioners of Neoclassicism
4) Urban sophistication, anti-romantic, not about rural issues, e.g.: Don Juan
Particular poems
The Giaour: A Fragment of a Turkish Tale (1813)
o Within one and half years, this long narrative poem reached 12 editions, and helped to
establish Byron as one of the greatest poets
o The title reflects an interest in the Eastern world and oriental features
o The origin of the story came during Byron's Grand Tour during 1809 and 1810
o In Athens, he became aware of the Turkish custom of throwing a woman found guilty of
adultery in the sea wrapped in a sack.
o A giaour is the Turkish word for infidel or nonbeliever
o Byron designed the story with three narrators giving their individual point of view about
the series of events.
o The main story is of Leila, a member of her master Hassan’s harem, who loves the
giaour and is killed by being drowned in the sea by Hassan.
o In revenge, the giaour kills him and then enters a monastery due to his remorse.
o The design of the story allows for contrast in Christian and Muslim perceptions of love,
sex, death and the afterlife.
o The Giaour is the first work inspired by a noble, hot-blooded Byronic hero, who fights
against Islamic fanaticism
The Corsair (1814)
o The main characters is a pirate hero, called Conrad (a “corsair” means pirate, the
Hungarian word “huszár” is related to it)
o The narrative ends with Conrad’s mysterious disappearance
o The work is semi-autobiographical, Conrad is practically identical with Byron, fights
for boundless freedom
o On the day of its publication 10.000 copies were sold!
Hebrew Melodies (1815)
o A collection of short poems, including “She Walks in Beauty…”
o Shows that Byron could have become the best lyrical poet
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o'er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling place.
And on that cheek, and o'er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
Although the following poem is not included in that volume, it is also a good example of
Byron’s sensitive lyricism
When we two are parted
When we two parted
In silence and tears,
Half broken-hearted,
To sever for years,
Pale grew thy cheek and cold,
Colder thy kiss;
Truly that hour foretold
Sorrow to this.
The dew of the morning
Sank chill on my brow
It felt like the warning
Of what I feel now.
Thy vows are all broken,
And light is thy fame:
I hear thy name spoken,
And share in its shame.
They name thee before me,
A knell to mine ear;
A shudder comes o'er me
Why wert thou so dear?
They know not I knew thee,
Who knew thee too well:
Long, long shall I rue thee
Too deeply to tell.
In secret we met
In silence I grieve
That thy heart could forget,
Thy spirit deceive.
If I should meet thee
After long years,
How should I greet thee?
With silence and tears.
Darkness (1816)
o
o
o
o
The writing of this poem also occurred only months after the ending of his marriage.
A nightmarish picture of the dying Earth in a frigid universe
Presents humanity’s struggle for survival, they become predatory beasts
Its vision is absolutely pessimistic
o The poem, however, has an immediate historical context as well: that year (1816) was
known as the “Year Without a Summer” because Mount Tambora had erupted in the
Dutch East Indies the previous year, casting enough ash in to the atmosphere to block
out the sun and cause abnormal weather across much of northeast America and
northern Europe. Partly, this pall of darkness inspired Byron to write his poem.
o Literary critics were initially content to classify it as a “last man” poem, telling the
apocalyptic story of the last man on earth.
o More recent critics have focused on the poem’s historical context, as well as the antibiblical nature of the poem, despite its many references to the Bible.
“Prometheus” (1816)
o An ode written in octosyllabics
o Consists of three stanzas, very cleverly built up, because Byron sees the archetype of
himself in Prometheus
1) the speaker introduces Prometheus, who is suffering in solitude, looking at the
agony of humanity
2) the speaker attributes his inner conflict to Prometheus, both of them try to
understand the suffering of humankind, both blame Faith/God for rejecting the
possibility of making this suffering easier
3) the speaker identifies himself with Prometheus: “Man is half god and half-dust”.
The line sheds light on the mingled elements that build up man: the suffering in
our lives makes us men, the capacity of surviving and creating things makes us
gods.
Manfred (1817) and Cain (1821)
o Similarly to Shelley’s The Cenci, both are dramatic poems, or closet dramas, not
intended for performance
o They are not real plays, though they have been put on stage
o Dramatic self-portraits, strongly autobiographical
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812-18)
o Childe Harold is regarded as the first travel poem in English literature
o Critics say this work is also strongly autobiographical
o Themes: the quest for self realization, in a kind of a dream world of powerful
emotional release, the Romantic desire to escape
o The first two cantos: Mediterranean tours
o Byron continued the work after he left England – the 3rd canto is totally different, not
continuous with the previous section, but the framework is the same: Childe Harold
travels from Dover to Waterloo, then to Switzerland
o The main character becomes a burnt-out young man
o He had tried everything, all good and evil, but did not find himself and anything worth
living for
o Nature as a subject also becomes important. In the case of Wordsworth, Nature meant
a mystical union with the spirit. In Byron’s case: the protagonist tries to find a place
where man can escape to avoid other men.
o The fourth canto is different from the previous ones, Harold is still travelling within
Italy (to Rome). This is the best known canto, contains famous sayings, universal
problems. Italy becomes the symbol of a burnt-out culture of all western society after a
glorious past, today it is in decay, experiences futility, no future for civilization
o Childe Harold may be regarded as a precursor of the modern, disillusioned man of 20th
century
o Generally, the work is saturated with Weltschmerz, melancholy, disillusionment,
lyricism, desire for solitude, love of liberty, revolt
Don Juan (1819-24, incomplete)
o One coherent unit, one story, 16 cantos, the 17th canto is left unfinished because of
Byron’s death
o Totally different from Childe Harold
o Modelled on a mock-heroic poem
o Don Juan is a skirt-chaser, but unfortunate, he is always seduced against his will. This
may be taken as the satire on the hypocrisy of English upper classes and of false
morality.
o Don Juan himself does not play an important role, things happen around him, he is an
element of the story, but Byron speaks in digressions: talks about how he wrote this
poem, attacks his enemies, criticizes political ideas.
o In modern terms Don Juan is often regarded as an Odyssey of modern man in search
of his soul
o Don Juan is the prototype of passive hero
o He has no real moral principle, has no moral code of life, remain. Immature, never
achieves anything.
o The form is ottava rima, which creates the tone of comedy
o The work contains numerous anti-climaxes (we expect something great and we get
something ridiculous) Also, the sudden changes between Romantic scenes and
realistic matters create the sense of anti-climax
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
Life
Shelley was perhaps the most intellectual poet of the second generation. He came from an
upper-middle class background (as the son of an MP).
Shelley’s poetry was influenced by radical political and religious ideas. He identified himself
with the enlightened and anarchistic theories of William Godwin (An Enquiry into Political
Justice, 1793) – the effect of these ideas can be felt on his being a co-author of a pamphlet
entitled “The Necessity of Atheism” (1811) (the other author was Thomas Jefferson Hogg).
For this writing he was expelled from University College, Oxford. His explicit political views
appear later in his poems “Song to the Men of England” (1819) and “The Masque of
Anarchy” (1819).
Later, Shelley married a lower-middle class girl (Harriet Westbrook). The marriage turned out
to be a failure, Shelley asked Hogg to live in an open marriage with them, then abandoned his
pregnant wife. Three years later Shelley married the daughter of William Godwin, Mary (the
later author of Frankenstein). In 1816, Harriet committed suicide. Following this, Shelley and
Mary Shelley moved to Italy. Shelly died drowning in the Mediterranean Sea on the board of
his ship Don Juan. His funeral was also Romantic: Byron had a funeral pyre built on the
seashore.
His poetry
Shelley seems to unite three personalities in himself: that of the radical reformer, the lyrical
poet and the idealist in philosophy. His being a philosopher poet did not mean, however, that
he was lost in abstract theories: on the contrary, he was obsessed with doing something
significant for people in general (as opposed to Keats, for instance, whose ideal was l’art pour
l’art, art for art’s sake and did not care too much about the world around him). He was also
the great master of verse, renewed the ode, the sonnet and ballad form.
Shelley’s figure became synonymous with “the” suffering, self-torturing Romantic poet. As
Matthew Arnold put it in the Victorian age, Shelley seemed to be a “beautiful and ineffectual
angel beating in the wind his luminous wings in vain”.
First period (1810-14): Scepticism
In these years, the main influences that reached Shelley came from the side of scepticism and
materialism. He followed thinkers like Voltaire, Baron d’Holbach and William Godwin.
Main ideas: Man is innately good, but man-made institutions are essentially corrupt. Shelley
believes that reason should govern man in terms of morals and behaviour and that mankind
can be perfected. Social change, however, must originate not from the individual but from the
complete restructuring of the entire political scheme. This political radicalism is coupled with
strong atheism. Shelley claims that all religions are false, profess love hypocritically to
maintain their own status quo of tyranny and cruelty. “God” is created by Church, which is
viewed by Shelley as the main obstacle of changing society.
“Queen Mab: A Philosophical Poem” (1812/13) is a representative work of this period. It is a
revolutionary poem; in a dream allegory shows past, present and future:
Past
Inadequate
Superstitions
Present
politics and
religion are
criticised
Future
Godwinian,
egalitarian
view of society
Second period (1814-1818): Idealism
The representative poem of this period is “Hymn to Intellectual Beauty” from 1816.
“Intellectual” in Shelley’s dictionary, however, means spiritual, something that is beyond the
senses. The poem records Shelley’s conversion to neo-platonic idealism. It has to be noted
that two trends, political radicalism and neo-platonic idealism constantly mingle in Shelley’s
poetry, which led, for a certain period, to Shelley’s unpopularity in the 19th century.
Equally important is his poem “Ozymandias” (who is in reality the Egyptian ruler Ramses II;
“Ozymandias” is the Greek name of the Pharaoh ). The short poem is a perfect summary of
the idea that political tyranny is overruled by the immortality of art.
Third period (1818-1822): Combined influences
This is his most important period. He wrote, among others, plays that started to question the
generic boundaries of texts.
Prometheus Unbound is a “lyrical drama” in four acts. Prometheus helps mankind without
any personal interest, and opposing the gods, he is punished. He has a high sense of moral
judgement and the act of revolt and humanitarian attitude makes him a perfect Romantic
figure. The central argument of the play is that man is able to determine his own faith.
The Cenci: While Prometheus Unbound is a study of moral reform, The Cenci is just the
opposite: a horrible story, a study of moral deformity. The play reminds one of the gory plays
of the Renaissance, includes: incest, father raping his daughter, daughter killing the tyrannical
father, etc. Message: In this world even the purest people become corrupted
These “plays” are almost impossible to perform on stage. It seems that most of the Romantic
poets were not aware of the fact that a play meant much more than plain text and they did not
play enough attention to the fact that a play should be performed on stage as living, spoken
text. The Cenci was first on stage in England in 1922, then in 1935 and 2001. Antoine
Artaud’s surrealist and highly disturbing performance in 1935 ran for about 14 shows before
closing.
The most outstanding piece of poetry in this period is “Ode to the West Wind”.
Shelley summarised his poetic faith in his study entitled “The Defense of Poetry”. It was
written as the answer for Thomas Love Peacock’s “The Four Ages of Poetry”. Peacock argues
that says poetry lives on for a while, but it is inevitable that it becomes outdated, because
science will replace poetry. Shelley tries to contradict this and claims that “Poets are
unacknowledged legislators of the world”. (This view is close to Petőfi’s idea of the poet as
the leader of the people.) He sees the poet as a prophet who can see more than the average
human beings. Shelley maintains that poetry is absolutely necessary for the society, for
poetry can reveal things hidden for the science (calculation).
John Keats (1795-1821)
Keats was the last-born among the second-generation Romantic poets and the youngest to die.
He was also the lowest in social rank (lower middle class). His mother died in tuberculosis.
Keats worked as an apprentice to an apothecary and a surgeon. In 1818, the first traces of
TBC appeared. He went to Rome to recover, where he died at the age of 25. On his grave the
following line is written: “Here is one whose name was written in water”. Shelley wrote
“Adonais” on Keats’s death.
His first volume was published in 1817 (Poems by John Keats ), and it was rather coldly
received. During 1819, Keats had to face growing problems, financial difficulties, family
matters and hopeless love. His second volume came out in 1820, bringing him moderate
success.
Keats is the least politically minded poet of the three, and is often regarded as the forerunner
of “aesthetic movement” (l’art pour l’art), the representative of the cult of beauty. The
importance of sensation is a recurring theme in the relationship between art and life with
Keats. He displays some dominant features of Romanticism such as the interest in
medievalism, folklore, the concept of imagination and the role of poet. A crucial concept of
his literary theory is “negative capability”: “a state when a man is capable of being in
uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact or reason”.
According to Keats the basic requirement of being a poet and being the receiver of the poem
is the ability to live in uncertainties.
1817: Poems by John Keats contains “On first looking into Chapman’s Homer”
An Italian sonnet that praises the free translation of Homer by George Chapman (1559-1634),
an Elizabethan playwright. The first quatrain states that the speaker is widely read in Western
literature. The second quatrain reports that until now he has accepted Homer’s reputation.
Now that he has read Chapman’s translation, he found a new poet, corresponding to the tastes
of his own generation. Chapman’s translation proves to be more passionate than Pope’s neoclassic rendering of Homer.
MUCH have I travell’d in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-brow’d Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
5
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star’d at the Pacific—and all his men
Look’d at each other with a wild surmise—
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.
10
“Sleep and Poetry” is a long (405-line) poem written in heroic couplets. It is often called
Keats’s “Tintern Abbey”. The poet writes about the nature of poetry and his own imaginative
development as a poet.
WHAT is more gentle than a wind in summer?
What is more soothing than the pretty hummer
That stays one moment in an open flower,
And buzzes cheerily from bower to bower?
What is more tranquil than a musk-rose blowing
In a green island, far from all men’s knowing?
More healthful than the leafiness of dales?
More secret than a nest of nightingales?
More serene than Cordelia’s countenance?
More full of visions than a high romance?
What, but thee Sleep? Soft closer of our eyes!
Low murmurer of tender lullabies!
Light hoverer around our happy pillows!
Wreather of poppy buds, and weeping willows!
Silent entangler of a beauty’s tresses!
Most happy listener! when the morning blesses
Thee for enlivening all the cheerful eyes
That glance so brightly at the new sun-rise.
5
10
15
Endymion, a Poetical Romance (1818). The title poem in this volume is the only one long
poem (more than 1,000 lines) completed by Keats. “Endymion” is an extended parable of
how the speaker wants to have a full communion with the essence of beauty. The poem is a
reworking of the Greek mythological story of the Moon Goddess, Selene, who visits her
lover, Endymion, every night to kiss him. Endymion was among the most handsome creatures
and favoured by Zeus, who let him choose anything he wanted. Endymion chose everlasting
sleep by which he may stay young forever. Others identify Selene with Hypnos.
Jerome Martin Langlois: Diane and
Endymion (1822)
A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:
Its loveliness increases; it will never
Pass into nothingness; but still will keep
A bower quiet for us, and a sleep
Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet
breathing.
Therefore, on every morrow, are we
wreathing
A flowery band to bind us to the earth,
Spite of despondence, of the inhuman
dearth
Of noble natures, of the gloomy days,
Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened
ways::
Made for our searching: yes, in spite of all,
Some shape of beauty moves away the pall
From our dark spirits.
Anne-Louis Girodet de Roussy-Trioson: The Sleep of Endymion (1791)
Lamia, Isabelle, The Eve of St. Agnes and Other Poems (1820): this volume contains all the
poems that made Keats famous. No English poet could publish a single volume which
included excellent works, all in one. The volume contains
o
o
o
o
“Hyperion”
“La Belle Dame Sans Merci”
“Ode to a Nightingale”
“Ode on a Grecian Urn”
“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” (“The Beautiful Lady Without Mercy”) is an art ballad based
on the medieval legend that if somebody eats from the fairy food, that person will be taken
from the land of the living. He returns after seven years, and will found the physical world
distasteful. In the poem the story is used for different purposes. A knight-at-arms is taken
away by la belle dame, when he returns, he cannot love anybody except for the “belle dame”.
“Ode to a Nightingale” is a very cleverly constructed poem based on contrasts. In one stanza
the poet is in bed, suffering in the next one: the Nightingale becomes the symbol of
immorality. In the last stanza: a question not really answered whether poetic imagination is an
over-exaggerated experience or an escape from reality. The poem ends as “Was it a vision, or
a waking dream? / Fled is that music:—Do I wake or sleep?” The poem is an example of
Keats’s theory of “negative capability”.
“Ode on a Grecian Urn” presents a Greek vase, with two drawings on each side. One scene
is a marriage ritual, the other is a representation of sacrifice, thus the two sides of life,
happiness and sadness are contrasted. The poem again explores the relationship of art and
reality: “heard melodies are sweet but those unheard are sweeter”. The other issue is how art
is the aspect of immortality in life, though the creators, we are mortals. The poem concludes
with the famous summary “Beauty is truth and truth beauty”, implying that Beauty is the only
thing that has value in life, that is worth living for. The exclusion of social/political aspects
from life and the concentration on the self-enclosed work of art in its totality is the forerunner
of the end of the 19th century l’art pour l’art idea.