Optimus2g

Download file

The Romantic Period: 1798-1837

The Romantic Period (sandwiched between the French Revolution & the beginning of Queens Victoria’s reign) was characterized largely by a belief in the primacy of the imagination. A reliance and emphasis upon nature was the cornerstone of the writers and artists from this brief, but rich time period in English literature. No figure stood out as greatly from this time period than William Blake (1757-1827), who is considered as being the first of the Romantics. Spontaneity and human impulse were considered to be good by him, as long they belonged to the individual and weren’t anyone else’s---conformity to social norms was condemned by the Romantics. Reason only existed on the periphery of energy, which was the heart of his philosophy, and characterized this literary period. This is best exemplified in Blake’s “The Marriage of Heaven and Hell,” in which a synthesis between energy (representative of “Hell”) and reason is created, with sensual desire and impulses serving as the driving force in this noteworthy work, with reason (the “heavenly” metaphor) existing only as a secondary factor.

William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge must be mentioned as being “first generation” Romantics, along with Blake, with their 1798 collaborative work, “Lyrical Ballads” being a beacon and benchmark for this era. Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles from Tintern Abbey,” “Intimations on Mortality,” “The Prelude” & Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” are all examples of essential works contained in this volume, which many point to as being the actual start of the Romantic period itself. The best way to categorize the collaborative contributions Wordsworth & Coleridge is to remember that Wordsworth made the natural seem supernatural and that Coleridge portrayed the supernatural as being natural truths.

A movement such as this was driven by certain political and social milestones that were occurring as well, such as: (1) the French Revolution & (2) the rise of Industrialism. These factors served as the driving forces behind writers such as Thomas Paine’s “Rights of Man” (written in 1791 as a response to infamous pro-establishment politician Edmund Burke’s Reflections on the Revolution in France) the Mary Wollstonecraft’s “A Vindication of the Rights of Women,” in terms of relating this spirit of imagination and reaffirmation between nature and the soul, expressed via the newfound freedom and thinking of the masses over the gentry classes that gave rise to the French Revolution, just across the French Channel, in the first place.

The group of poets who came to be known as the second generation of Romantics included the following George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1822), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), and John Keats (1795-1821). They all wrote sonnets, odes, and epics dealing with nature. Byron’s epic, Don Juan, and his autobiographical Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, both were exemplary of his melancholic state, along with his witty and irreverent style exemplifying his contempt for others from this time period, such as Coleridge and Wordsworth themselves. Shelley’s sonnets and odes, such as “Ode to the West Wind”, were characterized by their sensory imagery, emphasizing natural beauty. Keats’ poetry, unlike Byron’s, was not inspired by depressive states, rather it was focused on intensity—regardless of the emotional form that it came in, (love, pain, or otherwise). Keats’ “Ode to a Nightingale,” “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” and “Ode on Melancholy” are exemplary of this style of writing. What must be noted is that all of these “second generation” Romantics all died tragically young, with the “first generation” Romantics—Coleridge and Wordsworth outliving them. What these figures all had in common was that they highlighted the imperfections of man, via an emphasis upon human emotion and natural themes. They all sought to bring their ideas to the literary forefront, because these ideas—to them—were hidden in the background previous to the 1800s, for far, too long without being completely explored.

Works Cited:

Burke, Edmund. “Reflections on the Revolution in France.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed., Vol. 2. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt & M.H. Abrams. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. pp. 152-158.

Lombardi, Esther. “Romantic Period: Where Did it All Begin?” http://classiclit.about.com/od/britishromantics/a/aa_britromantic.htm (Retrieved 24 February, 2007).

Philp, Mark. “Revolution.” The Romantic Age: British Culture 1776-1832, Ed. Iain McCalman (Oxford UP, 1999), pp.17-26.

Wollstonecraft, Mary. “A Letter to the Right Honorable Edmund Burke.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed., Vol. 2. Ed. Stephen Greenblatt & M.H. Abrams. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. pp. 158-163.

Download file

Victorian Poetry: 1837-1901

The Victorian Age (1837-1901), the sixty-four year period in which Queen Victoria ascended to the throne of England, was characterized by a belief in logic and hard work. The characteristics of earnestness, moral responsibility, and domestic propriety (Abrams 980) have put it at odds with the Modern period (1901-the second half of the twentieth century), since it is a period of literary history that defines itself in terms with its break from the Victorians. Succinctly stated, Victorian thought tended to emphasize the rational as being part and parcel of what was considered to be important during that poetic era. As a result, we are given an idea of what poets from the Victorian period tended to concentrate on, subjectwise and thematically. The moral standards of the Victorian era poets did not fluctuate with historical experience, whereas those of the Modern period did. Jeffrey Folks, a modernist literary critic, characterized Victorians as “representing the product of a historical ‘process’ that has led to a dissociation of mind and feeling, an alienation of artist and community, and isolation of the present from a past of myth and tradition (Folks 55).” Folks has an axe to grind with the Victorians because of their rigid social stance, which is plain to see, but this comparison between Modernist and Victorian values helps to put a spotlight onto the Victorian poet’s imaginative lens.

Poets of this age who are known far and wide to this day for their works include Alfred Lord Tennyson, who wrote "Idylls of the King", twelve narrative poems about Arthurian legend, and Robert Browning who wrote "A Grammarian’s Funeral". In it, Browning celebrates a man who pursued knowledge and learning, echoing the Victorian theme of social betterment over useless living, which would be a waste of any person’s existence. This epitomizes the theme of not wasting one’s time that was popular during this age. Browning’s wife, Elizabeth, also was played a significant role in this era. She wrote, "Aurora Leigh", an epic feminist poem as well—a precursor for feminist poetry.

Gerard Manley Hopkins, was a Catholic priest whose passion for his religion overtook and inspired him to write "God’s Grandeur", "As Kingfishers Catch Fire", & "That Nature is a Heraclitean Fire and of the comfort of the Resurrection". These poems, whose diction and imagery were inspired by Hopkins’ profound faith still resonates within people to this day. Other examples of poetry from this era include works by Rudyard Kipling. Kipling’s rightist, pro-English, pro-establishment, and pro-military stances were at work in three of his other more famous poems titled "Danny Deever", "Recessional", and "The White Man’s Burden". They reflected the haughty attitude that the British, as well as other Europeans had towards the lands they conquered and the people that they subjugated—which Kipling viewed ultimately as “a favor” and “honor” that the British were bestowing upon them, also in keeping with the concept of Victorian social betterment. The stoic tone used by Kipling in these poems, as well as his others, are typical of the end of the nineteenth century. Stoicism, also characteristic of the poetry of William Ernest Henley ("Invictus"—Latin for “unconquered”) and A.E. Houseman ("To an Athlete Dying Young"), was the primary tone of this time because it embodied the Victorian ideals of conformity and resignation to one’s fate and social duties.

Thomas Hardy was a Victorian era poet who believed in chance as the overriding determiner of people’s lives. This attitude was a sort of pre-cursor to the experimental attitude that Modernists had towards life, except that he did not go all the way through the reflective process, in the same manner that the Modernists did. Hardy’s belief in historical determinism implied that free will of any kind did not exist. The fatalistic attitude that Modernists would have taken regarding the matter of will is that mankind makes its own destiny, rather than having it decided for them. This fatalistic attitude of Hardy’s was at work in his poem titled "Hap", in which he points out through his poetry that some force, more powerful than him, has made him suffer the way that the narrator is in this poem, with chance once again producing unhappiness here, leaving him out of the equation of determining his own fate.

Oscar Wilde, whose famous who was put on trial for and convicted of “gross indecency” was a lightning rod for this age. Some of his famous poems include Portia, The Harlot’s House, and Flower of Love. His works symbolized the Romantic Movement, which preceded the Victorian Age being put on trial, even though this review is about Victorian poetry and themes based around steadfastness of character and adherence to the social codes and mores of the day. Wilde’s personality as reflected by his literature and poetry were radical departures from the honored precepts of this age. It is his focus on the self and his bisexuality that ultimately doomed him and characterized the Victorian attitude towards this sexuality, behavior, and thinking—which he symbolized to the Victorians.

Works Cited:

Abrams, M.H., et al., eds “The Victorian Age: 1830-1901.” The Norton Anthology of English Literature. 8th ed., Vol. 2. New York: W.W. Norton & Co., 2006. pp. 979-1001.

Cobb, James C. Rev. of William Faulkner: The Making of a Modernist,
by Daniel J. Singal. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 64, No. 4.
(Nov., 1998): 777-778.

Folks, Jeffrey J. “Allen Tate and the Victorians.” South Atlantic Review, Vol. 50, No. 2.
(May, 1985): 55-66.

Grantham, Dewey W. Rev. of The War Within: From Victorian to Modernist Thought in the South, 1919-1945, by Daniel Joseph Singal. The Journal of Southern History, Vol. 49, No. 3. (Aug., 1983): 472-473.