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The Romantics

The Romantics. 1780 – 1830.

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The Romantics

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  1. The Romantics 1780 – 1830

  2. I.The Romantic Age brought a more daring, individual, and imaginative approach to literature and life. The writers of this time turned away from the ideas of the Age of Reason and valued the individual rather than society. The Romantics were optimists who believed in the possibilities of progress and social / human reform.

  3. I. An Age of Revolution • A. The French Revolution was a tremendously important influence on the Romantic writers. William Wordworth probably would have moved to France and sided with the revolutionaries had he not been barred from traveling there by the government.

  4. A. While the writers from the Age of Reason regarded evil as a basic part of human nature, the Romantics saw humanity as basically good, but corrupted by society and its institutions. • B. While it inspired the Romantic writers, the outcome (Reign of Terror) contributed to a sense of disillusionment because the oppressed classes became as violentand corrupt as their former rulers.

  5. I. The Industrial Revolution • A.It took place in England from 1750 – 1850, and changed England from and agricultural to an industrial society. • B.Housing problems resulted because villagers moved to the cities in search of work and wound up living huddled together in slums.

  6. A.Labor laws were not yet developed so many children were exploited in the coal mines and textile factories. • B.Church and government officials and social reformers brought about positive change in the lives of the working classes by organizing Sunday schools, building hospitals, and reforming the prisons and regulating the conditions of child labor.

  7. I.Revolution Elsewhere in the World • A.The Age of Revolution also affected Latin America. • B.In the 1780s colonists revolted against 300 years of foreign rule in Peru, Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela. • C.The first successful revolt which led to independence was the Haitian revolt in 1803.

  8. A.Simon Bolivar fought for more than twenty years to win independence for what later became Venezuela, Colombia, Panama, Bolivia, and Ecuador. • B.The U.S. population was growing and moving west. Settlers from all different ethnic backgrounds were leaving the cities in the east to get their piece of the American dream through the acquisition of land to farm or otherwise develop. • C.Increase in land area (Louisiana Purchase) and industry led to a tremendous boom time in the United States

  9. I.A New Spirit in Life and the Arts • A.The favorite subject matter for Romantic writers was nature. Nature was the principle source of inspiration, spiritual truth, and enlightenment. • B.Poets of the Romantic Age focused on the ordinary person and common life in order to validate the worth of all people, an d to condemn the evils of an artificial class system that only valued the elite.

  10. A.There was an increased interest in medieval ballads, Gothic-styled romances filled with castles, secret passageways and supernaturalism of all kinds. • B.The writers of the Romantic Age emphasized the past, nature, and the Gothic tale of horror.

  11. I.Two Generations of Poets • A.Seven Major poets have come to epitomize this era in England • 1.The First Generation (1786 – 1830): Blake, Burns, Wordsworth, and Coleridge • 2.The Second Generation (1810 – 1824): Byron, Shelley, and Keats

  12. A.The First Generation • 1.William Blake - His vision is the concept of “contraries”, meaning it is necessary to experience opposites in order to understand life (i.e. pain and joy, success and failure, prudence and excess)

  13. A.The First Generation • 2. Robert Burns– His lyrics on love, nature, patriotism and the nobility of the common man, and the spontaneous emotions of the heart are expressed in native dialect.

  14. 1. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge– Together they wrote the Lyrical Ballads, which set forth a formula for a new type of poetry. The poetic principles they believed in are as follows: • a.Ordinary life is the best subject for poetry because the feelings of simple people are sincere and natural • b.Everyday language of common people best conveys their feelings and is therefore best suited for poetry. • c.the expression of feeling is more important in poetry than the development of an action or storyline • d.poetry is the “spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion,” and “it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility

  15. A. Second Generation • 1.Lord Byron– the most popular English poet abroad. He was reckless, bitter and in constant revolt against society. He is also regarded as one of the greatest satirical poets since Alexander Pope. He was unswervingly dedicated to the cause of freedom and liberty. • 2.Percy Shelley– He was rebellious, scandalous and charismatic. The keynote of Shelley’s character was his revolt against tyrannical influences. He believed that the church, state and commerce of his day led to superstition, selfishness, and corruption. He wanted to reform the world. • 3.John Keats– His most famous line was “Beauty is truth, truth is beauty,” which explores the relationship between art and life.

  16. I.Overall, the literature of the Romantic Age is about the uniqueness of the individual, a deep personal earnestness, sensuous delight in both common and exotic things of this world, a yearning for ideal states of being, and an interest in things mysterious and mystical. Any bitterness noted in these writings is simply the writers’ reactions against an increasingly mechanical and materialistic society.

  17. Introduction, from Songs of Innocence 1. Who is the speaker of the poem? The piper, who is the poet 2. What kind of songs does the piper play? Cheerful and happy songs; songs of pleasant glee

  18. Introduction, from Songs of Innocence 3. What is unusual about line 18, “And I stained the water clear”? this is a reversal because staining water implies a marring with a dark color 4. What is the tone of the poem? The tone is light, joyful

  19. Introduction, from Songs of Innocence 5. What is the effect of the repetition in lines 16 – 19? The repetition in lines 16-19 suggests the breathlessness of an excited or happy child

  20. Introduction, from Songs of Experience 1. In the first line, who is the reader instructed to listen to? The Bard (a poet of olden times) 2. What can the Bard do? He can see the past, present and future

  21. Introduction, from Songs of Experience 3. To whom does the “Holy Word” refer? Jesus 4. In stanza 2, the setting is described as being in the evening. How has the setting changed in stanza 4? It is now daybreak

  22. Introduction, from Songs of Experience 5. In stanza 4, what does the Bard call upon the Earth to do? To “Turn away no more”

  23. The Lamb, from Songs of Innocence 1. How is the Lamb’s wool described in the first stanza? It is “clothing of delight / softest clothing, wooly bright” 2. What has the Lamb been given that makes “all the vales rejoice”? A tender voice

  24. The Lamb, from Songs of Innocence 3. How does the repetition of “Little Lamb” throughout the poem reflect its content? It emphasizes the innocent, childlike qualities being addressed in the poem 4. Who or what does the Lamb represent? Jesus Christ

  25. The Lamb, from Songs of Innocence 5. How is Jesus described in lines 15 – 17? His childlike qualities are described; He is meek, he is mild

  26. The Tyger, from Songs of Experience 1. In your own words, what question is asked in the first stanza? Who could have created an animal as frightening as the tyger? 2. What “fire” is referred to in stanza 2? The fire of the tyger’s eyes is referred to, as it was reflected in the distant deeps or skies

  27. The Tyger, from Songs of Experience • 3. In stanza 4, what further suggestion is given concerning the creation of the Tyger? That it was forged like iron in a smithy 4. In stanza 5, what question is asked about the Tyger and the Lamb? Did the same creator make them both?

  28. The Tyger, from Songs of Experience 5. How are the Lamb and the Tyger different? The Lamb is described as soft, innocent; the Tyger is described as fearful, deadly

  29. Holy Thursday, from Songs of Innocence 1. Where are the children walking in stanza 1? They are walking to St. Paul’s Cathedral 2. To what is the parade of children compared? It is compared to the flow of the Thames

  30. Holy Thursday, from Songs of Innocence 3. In stanza 2, what metaphors are used in connection with the children? They are called “flowers of London town” and “multitudes of lambs” 4. What quality about the children is emphasized in the poem? Innocence

  31. Holy Thursday, from Songs of Experience 1. The tone of this poem is evident in stanza What is it? The tone is one of harshness and anger 2. In stanza 1, what makes the speaker angry about the care given to the “Babes reduced to misery”? They are “Fed with cold and usurious hand; their caretakers are unfeeling and greedy”

  32. Holy Thursday, from Songs of Experience 3. How is London described in the second stanza? As a “land of poverty” 4. For whom is it “eternal winter”? for the children of poverty

  33. Holy Thursday, from Songs of Experience 5. How does this poem contrast with “Holy Thursday” from Songs of Innocence? This poem is more critical of the treatment of the poor children, while the other poem takes a much more idealistic view of these children.

  34. Proverbsof Hell from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 1. What do the proverbs in line 1 and line 20 have in common? Each ascribes to a certain time of day or time of life an appropriate activity 2. In line 4, what connection is implied between Prudence and Incapacity? The speaker implies that they often go together; those who claim to be prudent may be masking a lack of ability

  35. Proverbsof Hell from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 3. How is Blake’s use of contrasting experiences illustrated in line 23? The contrasting experiences are “ enough” and “more than enough” 4. What human quality is criticized in line 24? Deception

  36. Proverbsof Hell from The Marriage of Heaven and Hell 5. Do these proverbs still have meaning for people today? Yes – they are universal truths

  37. To a Mouse 1. What has happened at the beginning of the poem to cause the mouse to be “cow’rin’ and tim’rous”? the mouse and her nest have been uprooted by a plow 2. In stanza 2, how does the speaker indicate his similarity to the mouse? He calls him “earth-born companion” and “fellow-mortal”

  38. To a Mouse 3. For what action does the speaker excuse the mouse in stanza 3? The speaker excuses the mouse for thievery of food, saying it must live 4. What does the speaker lament in stanzas 4 and 5? Why? He laments the destruction of the mouse’s nest because of the impending winter and the lack of materials with which to build a new nest

  39. To a Mouse 5. In stanza 7, what comfort does the speaker offer the mouse? He tells the mouse that he (the mouse) is not alone in having his efforts prove fruitless, that both mice and men suffer the same problem 6. According to the poem, how is the mouse different from the speaker? The mouse must deal with only the present, whereas the speaker has regrets over the past and fears the future

  40. A Red, Red Rose 1. In stanza 1, to what things does the speaker compare his “ luve”? He compares her to a “red, red rose” and to a “melodie …sweetly played in tune” 2. In stanza 2, to what exaggerated limit does the speaker say he w ill love his “bonny lass”? he says he will love her “Till a’ the seas gone dry

  41. A Red, Red Rose 3. Write down another use of hyperbole in stanza 3. The speaker says he will love her “Till…the rocks melt wi’ the sun 4. What does his “fare thee well” in line 13 suggest as to the occasion for the poem? It implies that he is leaving for a journey and assuring her of this love for her

  42. A Red, Red Rose 5. What does the poem imply about the age of the lovers? It implies that they are young. He describes her as a “rose / that’s newly sprung in June”

  43. Auld Lang Syne 1. According to the poem and the footnote, what does “Auld Lang Syne” mean? It means old times, former times, in the good old days 2. What is the general tone of the poem? The tone of voice is nostalgic, slightly regretful

  44. Auld Lang Syne 3. What takes place in stanzas 2 and 3? The friends toast to old times and share good memories 4. In stanzas 4 and 5, what specific shared memories are mentioned? Running together on the hillsides among the flowers; paddling in the brook

  45. Auld Lang Syne 5. What lines let you know that much time has passed since they did those things together? Line 15 –“but we’ve wandered monie a weary fit…” line 19 –“But seas between us braid hae roared” 6. What do the friends do in the final stanza? They shake hands and take a goodwill drink

  46. Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey 1. How long has it been since the speaker has been at Tintern Abbey? Five years 2. How do the first few lines of the poem establish the physical setting of the poem? The speaker refers to the “waters, rolling from their mountain springs” and to “lofty cliffs.” It is a “wild, secluded scene.”

  47. Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey 3. Where does the speaker say he is, as he describes the features of the landscape? Sitting under a sycamore tree 4. Lines 9 – 22 describe the pastoral elements of the scene. In lines 25 – 28, what does the speaker say these scenes have given him? “sensations sweet, Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart”

  48. Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey 5. The natural surroundings of Tintern Abbey have provided pleasant memories; according to lines 62 – 65, what does the speaker realize? That the beautiful scenes are the cause of “present pleasure” and “Life and food for future years,” as well

  49. Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey 6. Summarize the speaker’s reaction to nature when he first “came among these hills.” He was younger, more exuberant, less pensive. Then, nature was like an “appetite” or “passion” to him, based solely on his sensual responses.

  50. Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey 7. According to lines 88 – 102, how was the speaker’s attitude toward nature changed? He experiences nature with his whole self, mind, and soul, rather than his senses only 8. In line 115, who is referred to as “my dearest Friend”? his sister Dorothy

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