Introducing the Romantic Era:1798-1832
A Multimedia Presentation by Dr. Christopher Swann
La Belle Dame Sans Merci, John William Waterhouse (1893)
Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix (1830)
Instructions: Day 1
For the next two days, you will be learning about the literary periods leading
up to the British Romantic Era (1798-1832). The two topics that these lessons
will focus on are the Seventeenth Century and the Enlightenment.
You will be working individually on the assignments. Dr. Swann will be
available to assist you if you run into problems with the program.
These lessons are designed to be easy to follow and move around in. In order
to move to the next slide, click on the mouse button (for Macs) or the left
mouse button (for PCs). To move backwards, click on the Right mouse button
and choose “Previous” (for PCs)
Instructions: Day 1 (continued)
Occasionally you will come to a slide that contains a hyperlink. A hyperlink
will take you out onto the Internet, show you a picture or a poem, lead you to a
sound file, or do other neat things when you click on it. If you get out on the
Net and get lost or run into problems, ask Dr. Swann or Mrs. Temple for help.
If you look at the bottom of the screen when out on the Internet, you will see a
narrow strip of this presentation. To switch back to the lessons from the
Internet, simply click on the part that you see, or click on the “Back” button at
the top of the Internet menu.
Other directions will be given to you at the appropriate times. Remember to
pace yourself so that you will cover all the material, but don’t rush to the end.
Have fun!
Instructions: Day 1 (continued)
Spaced throughout the slides will be questions in boxes for you to answer. When you
come to one (they will be clearly marked), follow the following procedure:
 Click the RIGHT mouse button.
 Choose MEETING MINDER.
 Type in the number of the question you are answering and your
answer. You can move the Meeting Minder box around the screen if
you need to see the presentation.
 Click “OK” after each answer.
Question #1: Did you understand the directions above? If so, type your name for your
first answer.
English Civil War (1642-1660)
After Queen Elizabeth I’s reign (1558-1603), religious and
political grievances which had lain more or less hidden under
the surface came to life. Under Elizabeth, the Anglican
Church—created by Elizabeth’s father Henry VIII—held to
the middle of the road between Catholicism and
Protestantism. Puritans, a sect of Protestantism, worshiped
and even held positions of authority within the Anglican
Church in the time of Elizabeth. When Elizabeth died and
James I became king in 1603, this situation changed; James I
did not conceal his hostility of Puritans and, as head of the
Anglican Church, began dismissing Puritan clergyman.
James I’s son, Charles I, was even worse in the eyes of the
Puritans, not least for marrying the daughter of the king of
France, a Catholic. As most of the English were Protestants,
this fact alone alarmed much of the nation. Charles’ attitude
and behavior did not help the situation—he demanded strict
conformity from Puritan clergy, extorted loans from his
subjects to finance unpopular wars, and generally seemed
determined to be, in the words of Charles Dickens, “to be a
high and mighty king not to be called to account by
anybody.”
Portrait of Charles I,
Anthony van Dyck (c. 1635)
English Civil War (1642-1660) Continued
Eventually arresting Parliament leaders who protested
against his policies, Charles further alienated the
Puritans as his archbishop, Laud, brutally and publicly
persecuted Puritans, even mutilating their faces. This
lead Puritans to question the entire concept of the
“divine right” of Charles’ rule and to make the
following revolutionary statement: “A King is a thing
men have made for their own sakes.” Such a statement
suggests that if a king can be made, then a king can also
be unmade, an idea that both infuriated and terrified
Charles. In 1642, Parliament condemned Charles as a
tyrant, and when Charles sent armed men into
Parliament to seize opposition leaders, the leaders
escaped, Parliament raised its own army, and Charles
fled north with his loyalists, setting off civil war.
Oliver Cromwell, 1650
The king’s supporters, known as Cavaliers because they
were largely skilled horsemen or cavalry, fought against
the Puritan’s New Model Army, led by Oliver
Cromwell. In 1645, Cromwell defeated and captured
Charles I. Meanwhile, the most radical Puritans took
control of Parliament, shut out more moderate members,
and on January 1, 1649, beheaded Charles I and
declared England’s monarchy abolished.
English Civil War (1642-1660) Continued
The English Commonwealth became the new government of England,
replacing the monarchy, and was led by Oliver Cromwell. However, the
execution of Charles I led to a decline in popularity for the Puritans, whose
severe policies outlawing gambling, newspapers, and theater exacerbated
the situation. Cromwell had to rule as a virtual dictator until his death in
1658. As a result of public anger at Puritan policies, Parliament
reconvened and asked Charles II, the son of Charles I, to become king,
which Charles did in 1660, restoring the monarchy.
Question #2: Name two examples (one each) of how both Charles I and the
Puritans acted in ways that created tension and made conditions in England worse.
Warring Poets: Metaphysics vs. Cavaliers
Cavalier Poets
Metaphysical Poets
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John Donne
George Herbert
Andrew Marvell
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Robert Herrick
Richard Lovelace
Metaphysical Poetry:
•Characterized by an unusual degree of intellectualism
•Often draws on material from fields not typically associated with poetry, such as law,
natural science, metallurgy, medicine, etc.
•Employs conceits, unusual and surprising comparisons between two things that would
never be normally associated with one another
•Often employs paradoxes, figures of speech which are apparent contradictions that
reveal a kind of truth
Cavalier Poetry:
•Usually does not reflect turbulent times of the age but focuses instead on love, beauty, honor, and time
•Often light, whimsical, and polished verse—usually written as songs
John Donne (1572?-1631)
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Raised Roman Catholic, originally an active
courtier; composed fine love poems
Eventually became Anglican (Protestant) minister
and turned to religious poetry
Master of metaphysical conceits and paradoxes
Read Donne’s “Holy Sonnet 14” (“Batter my heart,
three-personed God…”) and then answer questions
“No man is an island, entire of itself; every
man is a piece of the continent, a part of the
main. If a clod be washed away by the sea,
Europe is the less, as well as if a promontory
were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of
thine own were. Any man’s death diminishes
me because I am involved in mankind, and
therefore never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; it tolls for thee.”
—from “Meditation 17” by John Donne
“Holy Sonnet 14”
Batter my heart, three-personed God; for You
As yet but knock, breathe, shine, and seek to mend;
That I may rise and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurped town, to another due,
5
Labor to admit You, but O, to no end;
Reason, Your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love You, and would be loved fain,
But am betrothed unto Your enemy.
10
Divorce me, untie or break that knot again;
Take me to You, imprison me, for I,
Except You enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.
three-personed God: the Trinity
viceroy: Deputy
enthrall: Enslave
Question #3: What are the paradoxes in lines 3, 13, and 14?
George Herbert (1593-1633)
Easter Wings
Lord, who createdst man in wealth and store,
Though foolishly he lost the same,
Decaying more and more,
Till he became
5
Most poore:
With thee
O let me rise
As larks, harmoniously,
And sing this day thy victories:
10 Then shall the fall further the flight in me.
My tender age in sorrow did beginne
And still with sicknesses and shame.
Thou didst so punish sinne,
That I became
15
Most thinne.
With thee
Let me combine,
And feel thy victorie:
For, if I imp my wing on thine,
20 Affliction shall advance the flight in me.
store: abundance
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imp: graft
Original Text: George Herbert, The Temple. Sacred Poems and Private Ejaculations
(Cambridge: by Thomas Buck and Roger Daniel, printers to the University, 1633): 34-35.
First Publication Date: 1633. Representative Poetry On-line: Editor, I. Lancashire; Publisher,
Web Development Group, Inf. Tech. Services, Univ. of Toronto Lib. Edition: RPO 1999. © I.
Lancashire, Dept. of English (Univ. of Toronto), and Univ. of Toronto Press 1999.
Born to wealthy aristocratic family;
favorite of King James I
Family friend of John Donne
Chose to become country parson at
remote rural church in 1630; served
poor parishioners until his death in 1630
Poems only published after his death in
his collection, The Temple, which
became enormously popular
Emblem poem: poem that is shaped to
serve as a picture, motto, and
explanation of the poem’s content
Question #4: Why is this poem in
the shape it is in? (What does the
shape have to do with the
content?)
Andrew Marvell (1621-1678)
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Son of Puritan minister, wrote poetry in Greek
and Latin
Tutor to ward of Oliver Cromwell; later unofficial
court poet of Cromwell
Sponsored by John Milton (see Puritans)
Poetry more relaxed than Herbert’s or Donne’s
Read “To His Coy Mistress” online to
answer the following question.
Question #5: Summarize in a sentence the
central ideas found in each of the following
three parts of the poem: lines 1-20, lines 2132, and lines 33-46.
Warring Poets: Metaphysics vs. Cavaliers
Cavalier Poets
Metaphysical Poets



John Donne
George Herbert
Andrew Marvell


Robert Herrick
Richard Lovelace
Metaphysical Poetry:
•Characterized by an unusual degree of intellectualism
•Often draws on material from fields not typically associated with poetry, such as law, natural science,
metallurgy, medicine, etc.
•Employs conceits, unusual and surprising comparisons between two things that would never be normally
associated with one another
•Often employs paradoxes, figures of speech which are apparent contradictions that reveal a kind of truth
Cavalier Poetry:
•Usually does not reflect turbulent times of the age but focuses instead on love, beauty,
honor, and time
•Often light, whimsical, and polished verse—usually written as songs
Robert Herrick (1591-1674)
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•
•
•
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•
Known as greatest songwriter in English language
Poetry is light, whimsical, and joyful to read
Born to wealthy goldsmith, graduated from Cambridge;
ordained a minister, served as chaplain with British troops
fighting in France
Eventually became country parson in southwest England,
where he wrote his verse
Evicted from parish by Puritans after Charles I’s defeat;
returned to native London and published poetry, which was
widely unread in his lifetime
Returned to parish after Restoration of 1660, where he
remained until his death
Click here to read “Delight in Disorder”
Click here to read “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time”
Question #6: Herrick’s poetry often exhibits an attitude of carpe diem (“seize the
day”). How do both of the above poems do this?
Richard Lovelace (1618-1657)
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•
“Pretty boy” of Cavalier poetry—so handsome that
king and queen ordered that he earn his master’s
degree from Oxford before he completed his studies
From extremely wealthy family; quite talented—
playwright, painter, played musical instruments
Chosen by Royalists to demand from Parliament a
restoration of king’s absolute right to authority;
immediately arrested—wrote poetry while
imprisoned
Released from prison and rejoined Charles’ forces
After Charles’ defeat in 1645, Lovelace went to
France and fought against Holland; returned to
England some time later, imprisoned again by
Puritans—where he wrote “To Lucasta”—and, it is
believed, died in poverty
Click here to read “To Lucasta” in order
to answer the following question.
Question #7: How does the speaker attempt
to justify the fact that he is leaving Lucasta?
End of Day 1 Instructions
BEFORE you finish today:
1. Right click the mouse and choose Meeting Minder again.
2. Choose “Export.”
3. Choose “Export Now.”
4. The program will send your answers to Word.
5. In Word, choose print.
6. BEFORE exiting the program, get your paper and check it over.
7. When you are satisfied with your answers, turn them in and exit Word
and Power Point.
Instructions: Day 2
Welcome to your second lesson. On Day 1, you learned about the
English Civil War of the 17th century and the Metaphysical and
Cavalier poets. Today you will learn about the great Puritan poet
John Milton, the Restoration period, the Enlightenment of the
18th century, the Neoclassical ideal, and the Pre-Romantic writers.
Again, pace yourselves and do not hesitate to ask for help if you
need it or have questions.
Instructions: Day 2 (continued)
Spaced throughout the slides will be questions in boxes for you to answer.
When you come to one (they will be clearly marked), follow the following
procedure:
 Click the RIGHT mouse button.
 Choose MEETING MINDER.
 Type in the number of the question you are answering and your
answer. You can move the Meeting Minder box around the
screen if you need to see the presentation.
 Click “OK” after each answer.
Question #8: Did you understand the directions above? If so, type your name for your
first answer.
Puritan Poet: John Milton (1608-1674)
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Ranked with Shakespeare and Chaucer as
one of the greatest poets in the English
language
Born in London into middle-class Protestant
family; mastered Greek, Latin, Hebrew and
many modern European languages before
going to college
Spent years before Civil War reading
everything written in all the languages he
knew; determined to become a great poet
Joined Puritan side in Civil War, wrote
pamphlets in defense of republican principles
of Puritans—Cromwell made him Latin
Secretary of the Commonwealth
Went blind, then imprisoned during
Restoration—later released
In blindness and poverty he wrote Paradise
Lost, the greatest epic in the English
language, about the fall of Adam and Eve and
Satan’s role in that fall—he earned only ten
pounds for his masterpiece!
From Paradise Lost, Book I
“Is this the region, this the soil, the clime,”
Said then the lost Arch-Angel, “this the seat
That we must change for Heav'n, this mournful gloom
For that celestial light? Be it so, since he
Who now is Sovereign can dispose and bid
5
What shall be right: farthest from him is best
Whom reason hath equaled, force hath made supreme
Above his equals. Farewell happy fields,
Where Joy for ever dwells: Hail horrors! Hail
Infernal world! and thou, profoundest Hell
10
Receive thy new Possessor: One who brings
A mind not to be changed by Place or Time.
The mind is its own place, and in it self
Can make a Heaven of Hell, a Hell of Heaven.
What matter where, if I be still the same,
15
And what I should be, all but less then he
Whom Thunder hath made greater? Here at least
We shall be free; the Almighty hath not built
Here for his envy, will not drive us hence:
Here we may reign secure, and in my choice
20
To reign is worth ambition though in Hell:
Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.
But wherefore let we then our faithful friends,
The associates and copartners of our loss
Lie thus astonished on the oblivious pool,
25
And call them not to share with us their part
In this unhappy mansion, or once more
With rallied arms to try what may be yet
Regained in Heaven, or what more lost in Hell?”
Click here for more online information
about John Milton’s life and work.
Here Satan, “the lost Arch-Angel” (line 2),
expresses his despair at losing heaven,
but he also resolves to glory in his lost
condition, saying it is “Better to reign in
Hell than serve in Heaven” (22). Satan’s
great sin was pride and his refusal to
serve God, which led to his expulsion
from heaven. He is speaking to
Beelzebub, his lieutenant, about finding
themselves and their fellow rebel angels
in Hell after God expelled them.
Question #9: What other
examples of Satan’s pride can
you find in this excerpt?
Question #10: What does
Satan mean when he says “The
mind is its own place”? Do you
agree or disagree? Explain.
The Restoration and the Eighteenth Century (1660-1798)
The British monarchy was restored to power in 1660
when Charles II, the exiled son of the beheaded Charles
I, was invited by Parliament to take the throne after
years of the Puritan-run Commonwealth. Unfortunately,
the reign of Charles II was hardly a tranquil one. A
plague swept London in 1665, killing over 70,000
people. Only one year later, the Great Fire of London
destroyed over half of the city’s houses.
Religious and political problems continued to plague
England as well. Charles II, who had lived in Paris
during his exile, reveled in elegance and wore rich
clothes and jewelry, in contrast to the drab mode of dress
and behavior adopted by the Puritans. Perhaps worse
from the Puritan point of view, Charles II was also
Catholic, and when he died, his brother James, a
stubborn man and a devout Catholic, became King
James II. As king, James II alienated Puritans by giving
Catholics powerful governmental positions and
dismissing Parliament when it did not agree with him,
recalling the turbulent reign of Charles I before the Civil
War!
King Charles II
Click here for online information on the
Great Fire of London (1666).
The Restoration (continued)
In 1688, James II’s wife gave birth to a son, signaling another
future Catholic king of England. As a result, Parliament leaders
invited Mary, the Protestant daughter of James II, to take the
throne. The invitation also included Mary’s Dutch husband,
William of Orange, a champion of Protestantism, to rule jointly
with Mary. When William and Mary arrived in England, James II
fled to France, and thus the English called this a “Glorious
Revolution” as there had been no violence whatsoever.
William and Mary, perhaps in gratitude for Parliament’s
essentially giving them the throne, agreed to a Bill of Rights
passed by Parliament. This Bill of Rights established England as
a limited or constitutional monarchy, preventing a king from
suspending the law and giving Parliament the right to approve all
taxes. While still a monarchy, England was now among the most
democratic nations of Europe.
After William and Mary’s deaths, Mary’s sister Anne, a
Protestant, became queen. During her reign, the Act of Union in
1707 joined the realms of England and Scotland, resulting in the
nation of Great Britain with a central government in London.
King William III
(formerly William
of Orange)
Queen Mary died
childless at age
32 of smallpox.
Despite a succession
of 18 pregnancies,
Queen Anne died
childless like her
elder sister Mary
The Restoration (continued)
George I (1714-27) was
magnificently unsuited to
rule England. He spoke
not a word of English, and
his slow, pedantic nature
did not sit well with the
English.*
George III (17601820) could at least
speak the language,
but he was troubled by
periods of insanity that
rendered him unfit to
rule.*
*Information taken from Britain Express website at
<britainexpress.com/History/George_I.htm> and
<britainexpress.com/History/George_III.htm>, accessed
29 January 2002.
Question #11: How did the
English government fundamentally
change during this time period?
During Queen Anne’s reign, England found itself once again
at war with France. This war helped to polarize two political
parties in Parliament. The Tories included aristocrats and
lesser landowners, and were largely conservative and against
change and the war. The Whigs wanted Britain to crush
France once and for all and was largely made up of middleclass merchants and businessmen. In 1713, the year Queen
Anne fell ill, she signed a treaty ending the war. Prior to
this, Parliament had passed a law that only a Protestant could
inherit the throne. When Anne died in 1714, a little-known
relative of James I, George of Hanover, became king.
George I spoke no English and relied on ministers from
Parliament to run the country. These ministers became
known as the cabinet, and the chief minister known as the
prime minister, an arrangement which continues today.
In 1760, another Hanoverian, George III, became king,
though this George was born in Britain and considered
himself English, not German. George III is best remembered
for his disastrous handling of the American colonies, which
led to the American Revolution.
Today, the house of Hanover still rules the throne of England
in the person of Queen Elizabeth II. However, it is now
called the House of Windsor—anti-German sentiment during
World War I led the monarchs to change the family name.
The Enlightenment and the Neoclassical Ideal
Quotes from the Era
Titles are shadows, crowns are empty things,
The good of subjects is the end of kings.
—Daniel Defoe, The True-Born Englishman
Reading is to the mind what exercise is to
the body.
—Richard Steele, The Tatler
To err is human, to forgive divine.
—Alexander Pope, An Essay on Criticism
Proper words in proper places, make the
true definition of style.
—Jonathan Swift, “Letter to a Young Clergyman”
In 1660 in Britain, most people were farmers who rented
land from landlords or cultivated small patches of
common land. One hundred years later, farming had
changed drastically with technological developments and
larger farms which produced much more food with fewer
workers. Those surplus workers migrated to towns to
look for jobs, which spurred the Industrial Revolution.
Inventions such as the steam engine made the production
of manufactured goods skyrocket, which led to greater
numbers of merchants shipping such English goods as
cotton cloth around the world, which led to vast sums of
wealth for merchants and factory owners.
There was also a Scientific Revolution taking place
which, above all, emphasized rationalism and logical
thought and sought through scientific investigation to
explain phenomena in all fields of human activity and in
the natural world. Sir Isaac Newton published his study
of gravity and the movement of planets in 1687. Adam
Smith claimed in The Wealth of Nations that economic
systems were ruled by laws as discoverable as scientific
laws. John Locke, a British philosopher and political
theorist, argued that a monarch’s power came from the
will of the people, not by divine right.
Enlightenment and Neoclassical Idea (cont’)
Enlightenment thinkers saw order and harmony as the foundation of
the world, and they found in the writings of classical ancient Greeks
and Romans the same qualities. Because such thinkers emulated these
classical styles of harmony, restraint, and clarity, they are often called
neoclassical. Such authors make frequent allusions to classical
mythology. They also tend to speak in generalities about the world
rather than focus on particulars. Such neoclassical writers as
Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift were fond of satire, a form which
ridicules the vanities, vices, and follies of society.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Society placed a high premium upon order and stability, which was
maintained by focusing on the aristocracy as the proper social leaders.
Elegance and refinement can be seen in neoclassical verse, art, music,
and architecture. Nature was seen as wild and dangerous and needed
to be tamed by scientific rationalization. If you’ve ever seen a
boxwood garden maze or the palace of Versailles in France, or heard
the music of Bach and Mozart, these are physical and auditory
manifestations of the Enlightenment’s fetish for order and structure.
The growing wealth of the Industrial Age led to more people getting an
education and, hence, to higher levels of literacy. Coffeehouses, like
modern-day Starbucks, proliferated and became the meeting places for
middle-class men to meet and discuss politics, literature and
newspapers, which were also spreading.
Click here to listen to a Mozart
minuet (an Enlightenment-era
dance tune), “Minuet in F”
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (17321806), A Young Girl Reading
Enlightenment Literature
Three Literary Ages:
Age of Dryden
Age of Pope and Swift
Age of Johnson
John Dryden (1631-1700)
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731)
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745)
Alexander Pope (1688-1744)
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
Age of Dryden
John Dryden (1631-1700)
• dominated Restoration period with poems, plays and essays; named
poet laureate by Charles II
• mock-heroic poetry (MacFlecknoe, 1682) often ridiculed real live
people of era
• All For Love best tragedy of period—often seen as remake of
Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra
Quotes from Dryden
Errors, like straws, upon the surface flow;
He who would search for pearls must dive below. (from All for Love)
[Shakespeare] was the man who of all modern, and perhaps ancient poets, had the largest and most
comprehensive soul…Wit, and language, and humor also in some measure, we had before him; but
something of art was wanting to the drama till he came. (from An Essay of Dramatic Poesy)
As from the power of sacred lays
The spheres began to move.
And sung the great Creator’s praise
To all the blessed above;
So when the last and dreadful hour
This crumbling pageant shall devour,
The trumpet shall be heard on high,
The dead shall live, the living die,
And Music shall untune the sky. (Grand Chorus from “A Song for St.Cecilia’s Day”)
Age of Pope and Swift
Daniel Defoe (1660-1731): often considered England’s first novelist
best known for his book Robinson Crusoe (1719), often called first novel in English—click
here to preview
Robinson Crusoe sold as nonfiction—a “true account” of a man marooned on a desert isle
Robinson Crusoe and Moll Flanders (1722) established the genre of modern novel
Jonathan Swift (1667-1745): perhaps greatest satirist in English language
author of Gulliver’s Travels (1726)—children’s story, fantasy, parody of travel books,
political satire
click here to read A Modest Proposal (1729) a satire championing Irish independence
Alexander Pope (1688-1744): premier poet of his era
The Rape of the Lock (1712) seen as best mock-epic poem in English—makes epic tragedy
out of a baron’s cutting off a lock of hair from a lady (based on a true story)
An Essay on Man (1733-34) examines human nature, society, and morals (read first stanza
of Epistle II)
Question #12: In Epistle II of An Essay on Man, Alexander Pope writes that man stands on
“an isthmus of a middle state” and describes the middle state in great detail. In one word,
what is at one end of the isthmus? In one word, what is at the other end?
Age of Johnson
Samuel Johnson (1709-1784)
 quintessential man of letters for his era
 read Hamlet at the age of eight; feared that insanity would deprive him of
his one advantage—his intellect
 compiled first Dictionary of the English Language (1755)—included
word histories
 published and edited collection of Shakespeare’s works, biographies on
poets, newspaper articles, etc.
 subject of James Boswell’s biography Life of Johnson, seen as the finest
biography in English
Quotes from Johnson
It is the fate of those who toil at the lower employments of life, to be rather driven by the fear of evil, than attracted by the prospect
of good; to be exposed to censure, without hope of praise; to be disgraced by miscarriage, or punished for neglect, where success
would have been without applause, and diligence without reward.
from Preface to A Dictionary of the English Language
The end of writing is to instruct; the end of poetry is to instruct by pleasing.
from Preface to the Plays of William Shakespeare
Genius, whatever it is, is like fire in the flint, only to be produced by collision with a proper subject.
from The Rambler #25
No man but a blockhead ever wrote, except for money.
[On second marriages]: The triumph of hope over experience.
Depend upon it, sir, when a man knows he is to be hanged in a fortnight, it concentrates his mind wonderfully.
When a man is tired of London, he is tired of life; for there is in London all that life can afford.
from James Boswell’s Life of Johnson
Pre-Romantic Writers
The Age of Reason was in full swing by the 1750s.
Factories were producing more goods for Britain than ever
before. While this meant economic prosperity for
thousands, it also meant horrible working conditions for
thousands more as men, women, and even children toiled
in filthy factories for up to fourteen hours a day.
Because of these conditions, writers and intellectuals
began questioning whether human reason alone could
solve every problem. The Age of Reason, it seemed, had
not created utopia. Writers began turning away from the
high-flown style of the neoclassicists and instead used
common, everyday language. These were the precursors to
the Romantic era, writers who challenged Enlightenment
ideals and modes.
Mary Wollstonecraft,
the ‘hyena in petticoats’
and radical feminist
A Vindication of the Rights
of Woman
Thomas Gray, poet
“Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard”
Robert Burns, Scotland’s
national bard
“My Luve is Like a Red, Red
Rose” and “To a Mouse”
Thomas Gray (1716-1771)
From Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard
Thomas Gray was a scholar and a country hermit
whose most famous poem, “Elegy Written in a
Country Churchyard,” actually caused a fierce and
unusual struggle between Gray and a dishonest
publisher. The publisher, who had found a copy of
“Elegy,” wanted to print the poem. Gray, in fact, did
not want it published and finally got the copy back.
When “Elegy” was eventually published, Gray refused
to accept payment. This poem has some of the
attributes of neoclassical verse, yet it contains some of
the ideals of the coming Romantic era, like its focus on
the common man.
Question #13: In the excerpt to the right, the
“them” in line 21 refers to a certain group of
dead people. Throughout this excerpt, how
does the speaker characterize this particular
group of dead people—who is he talking about,
and how do you know?
(line 25) glebe: soil
(line 33) heraldry: noble descent
(line 39) vault: church ceiling
(line 41) urn: funeral urn; animated: life-like
(line 43) provoke: call forth
For them no more the blazing hearth shall burn,
Or busy housewife ply her evening care:
No children run to lisp their sire's return,
Or climb his knees the envied kiss to share.
25 Oft did the harvest to their sickle yield,
Their furrow oft the stubborn glebe has broke;
How jocund did they drive their team afield!
How bow'd the woods beneath their sturdy stroke!
Let not Ambition mock their useful toil,
30
Their homely joys, and destiny obscure;
Nor Grandeur hear with a disdainful smile
The short and simple annals of the poor.
The boast of heraldry, the pomp of pow'r,
And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
35 Awaits alike th' inevitable hour.
The paths of glory lead but to the grave.
Nor you, ye proud, impute to these the fault,
If Mem'ry o'er their tomb no trophies raise,
Where thro' the long-drawn aisle and fretted vault
40
The pealing anthem swells the note of praise.
Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath?
Can Honour's voice provoke the silent dust,
Or Flatt'ry soothe the dull cold ear of Death?
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
Known as “the voice of Scotland,” Robert Burns was a poor farmer who, despite never
having a formal education, read the Bible, Shakespeare, and Alexander Pope on his
own, and learned from his illiterate mother Scottish folk songs, legends, and proverbs.
His poetry shows a familiarity with classical poets and an appreciation for Scotland’s
culture and “voice” or particular dialect of English. The poems are honest and seem
natural and spontaneous, yet they are also lyric poems full of melody.
Click here to hear Burns’ “To a Mouse” read aloud in Scottish dialect.
Click here to read Burns’ “My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose.”
Question #14: Name at least six different ways that the speaker of “My Luve is Like
a Red, Red Rose” describes his love, and quote them.
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
Reviled in her day as a 'hyena in petticoats', Mary Wollstonecraft is now recognized as one of the
mothers of British and American feminism. In her most famous work, Vindication of the Rights
of Woman, which was published in 1792 in the immediate aftermath of the French Revolution,
Wollstonecraft applies radical principles of liberty and equality to sexual politics. Rights of
Woman is a devastating critique of the 'false system of education' which she argues forced the
middle-class women of her time to live within a stifling ideal of femininity: 'Taught from infancy
that beauty is women's sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage
seeks only to adore its prison'. Instead, Wollstonecraft dares to address women as 'rational
creatures', and she urges them to aspire to a wider human ideal which combines feeling with
reason and the right to independence.
(Source: Penguin Web Site (http://www.futurenet.co.uk/Penguin/Academic/classics96/britclassicsauthor.html) Accessed 4 April 1997.)
Click here to view a short biography on Mary Wollstonecraft, the mother of Mary Shelley (author
of Frankenstein).
Click here to read the first two paragraphs of Chapter II from A Vindication of the Rights of
Woman.
Question #15: In the first two paragraphs of Chapter II from Wollstonecraft’s
Vindication of the Rights of Woman, what does she argue causes “the follies and caprices
of our sex [women]…our headstrong passions and grovelling vices”?
Enlightenment vs. Romanticism
SOURCES OF
INSPIRATION
ATTITUDES AND
INTERESTS
SOCIAL CONCERNS
CLASSICISM & RATIONALISM
scientific observation of the outer
world; logic
clasical Greek and Roman literature
ROMANTICISM
examination of inner feelings, emotions;
imagination
literature of the Middle Ages
pragmatic
interested in science, technology
concerned with general, universal
experiences
believed in following standards and
traditions
felt optimistic about the present
emphasized moderation and selfrestraint
appreciated elegance, refinement
idealistic
interested in the mysterious & supernatural
concerned with the particular
valued stability and harmony
favored a social hierarchy
interested in maintaining aristocracy
concerned with society as a whole
believed nature should be controlled
by humans
desired radical change
favored democracy
concerned with common people
concerned with the individual
felt that nature should be untamed
sought to develop new forms of expressions
romanticized the past
tended towards excess and spontaneity
appreciated folk traditions
Adapted from chart in Prentice Hall Literature: The English Tradition (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991): 631.
The Enlightenment, while an era of great
scientific and industrial progress, was unable
to address the social, political, and emotional
stressors seething under the surface.
Revolution brewed and then finally exploded
in France. New modes of expression
blossomed. A new respect and love for the
common man, for the individual, took root…
The vanguard for this new era consisted of
poets, each unique, all dedicated to the ideals
of a new age…
The Romantic Era
William Blake (1757-1827)
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
Painter, Poet, Visionary
“Father” of Romantic Poetry
Poet of the Imagination
“The Garden of Love” and “The Tyger”
The Prelude and “Tintern Abbey”
“Kubla Khan” and Rime of the Ancient Mariner
“First Generation”
“Second Generation”
George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824)
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
John Keats (1795-1821)
Scoundrel, Womanizer, Poet
Romantic Revolutionary
“Greatest” Romantic Poet?
“She Walks in Beauty” and
Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage
“Ode to the West Wind” and “Ozymandias”
“La Belle Dame sans Merci” and
“Ode on a Grecian Urn”
End of Day 2 Instructions
BEFORE you finish today:
1. Right click the mouse and choose Meeting Minder again.
2. Choose “Export.”
3. Choose “Export Now.”
4. The program will send your answers to Word.
5. In Word, choose print.
6. BEFORE exiting the program, get your paper and check it over.
7. When you are satisfied with your answers, turn them in and exit Word
and Power Point.