S1: Introduction, Romanticism Flashcards
What are characteristics of romanticism? (7)
- small human beings vs. Great nature
- turn away from Enlightenment‘s focus on rationality and classicist aesthetics
- interest in the unusual and irregular
- emphasis on emotions (individual=emotional being), the irrational, the uncanny
- focus on the individual and its experience
- belief in special „prophet-like“ nature of poet
- nature becomes a central idea
Whats the historical background of romanticism?
- the French Revolution
- the Industrial Revolution
The French Revolution
- Storm of the bastille (1789, beginning of French Revolution)
- reign of terror (1793-1794, series of massacres and numerous public executions took place in response to revolutionary fervour)
- Napoleonic Wars (1803-1815)
What are characteristics of the Industrial Revolution? (4)
- agricultural society - industrial society
- new poor working class
- luddities (rebellion against mechanical looms)
- Peterborough massacre (1819)
Edmund Burke (1757)
What’s the beautiful? (7)
- Well formed and aesthetically pleasing
- love
- harmony
- smoothness
- delicacy
- calmness
- neo-classical
Edmund Burke (1757)
What’s the sublime?
The sublime is often associated with feelings of awe or even fear when one encounters something grand, vast or overwhelming. Often associated with romantic literature, the sublime can be found in the romantic poets descriptions of nature as something that inspires feelings of awe.
William Galpin (1782)
What’s the picturesque?
„Like a picture“, rustic, variety of landscape and colours, appreciation of „untouched“ nature
Who are romantic poets?
- William Blake (1757-1827)
- William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)
- John Keats (1795-1821)
- George Gordon Byron (1788-1824)
- Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822)
Who is the first generation of romantic poets?
- William Blake
- William Wordsworth
- Samuel Taylor Coleridge
By what is the first generation influenced?
French Revolution
First Generation:
1. sympathies with ………., but later ………..
2. turn to ……….
3. interest in ……………… (Wordsworth/Coleridge, ………..)
- revolutionary ideas, but later disillusionment
- nature
- folk poetry and songs (Lyrical Ballds)
Who are the lake poets?
Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey
Who is the second generation of romantic poets?
- John Keats
- George Gordon Byron
- Percy Bysshe Shelley
Second Generation:
1. felt that the First Generation had „……..“
2. Anti-………..
3. not conforming to ………..
4. „……“ and excessive lifestyle
5. interest in ………
- sold out
- Anti-establishment
- societies rules
- immoral
- darker topics (gothic)
What were William Blake‘s professions?
Poet, painter, visionary and printmaker
What an important work of William Blake?
„Songs of Innocence and Experience“ (1789/94)
- combination of text and illustrations
- two parts: innocence and experience
- simple lyrical form
„Songs of innocence and experience“: What does it criticise?
- child labour
- slavery
- oppression
- negative influence of the church
Where was William Wordsworth born?
Lake District, part of the lake poets
William Wordsworth:
1. Initial admiaration of the ………
2. increasingly ……..
3. ……… as healing force
4. strong connection between poet and ………
- French Revolution
- apolitical
- nature
- nature
What are William Wordsworth biggest works?
- The Prelude
- Lyrical Ballads (together with Coleridge)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge:
1. strong interest in philosophy and ………
2. introspection, ……. (=…..)
- utopian ideas
- dreams (= opium abuse)
What are Samuel Taylor Coleridge‘s major works?
- Rime of the Ancient Mariner (LB)
- Frost at Midnight (LB)
- Kubla Khan
- Christabel
Lyrical Ballads:
1. most poems by …….., only four by ………
2. preface = …………
- Wordsworth, Coleridge
- manifesto of Romantic poetry
Whats a diction?
the way someone pronounces words
