Romantic+Britain

** History and Culture of Romantic Britain: **

The Romantic period of British Literature (18th and 19th centuries) have a diverse range of theme, style, and pieces of work (literature, art, etc.) more than any other time period of British Literature. In England, Romanticism had the largest influence from the end of the late 1700's to about 1870. Poetry was the main literature style used, but writers and novelists also expressed these same themes of Romanticism. This time period was in uprising to the Age of Enlightenment and opposed the scientific study of nature. Romanticism had a huge impact on the study of history and methodolgy, education, and natural history.

** Ideas of Romanticism: ** Romanticism is focused more on individuals and not society as a whole. It put an emphasis on intuition, imagination, and feeling. The importance and power of logic and reasoning became less important. This was a reaction different from the one of the Enlightenment ideas and perspectives. Charles Baudelaire, a French poet, describes Romanticism as “precisely situated neither in choice of subject nor exact truth, but in a way of feeling.” The Romantic movement developed the idea of originality and artistic inspiration.



** Music: ** Mozart, Haydn, and Beethoven, all classical music composers, were named the three “Romantic Composers”. Beethoven represented the beginning of musical Romanticism. The music of Romanticism includes folk music, lyrical ballads, and melodies. The piano was the most often used instrument, and the tuba and saxophone were created during this time period.



** Timeline: ** **1798:** //Lyrical Ballads//, a poetry collection by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth is introduced. **1800:** The year marks Ludwig van Beethoven’s creative work with his piece, Eroica. **1802:** Christianity is accepted and welcomed by Romanticism. **1803:** The painting //The Pass of Saint Gotthard, Switzerland// by J.M.W. Turner is displayed. **1807:** Thomas Moore puts Irish melodies (including his //The Minstrel Boy// and //The Last Rose of Summer//) out to the public. **1813:** The Waltz becomes popular in the ballrooms of London. Jane Austen’s infamous novel, //Pride and Prejudice//, is published. **1815:** Catholicism gains acceptance. Gothic architecture becomes popular in cathedrals. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">**1818:** Shakespeare’s works are made public after being censored. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">**1826:** Felix Mendelssohn shows his literary potential through the novel, “//Overture to a Midsummer Night’s Dream//”. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Johann Wolfgang von Goethe displays the emotion of romance in his novel, “//The Sorrows of the Young Werther//”. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">**1831:** The Hunchback of Notre Dame is published by Victor Hugo. <span style="color: #333333; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Mary Shelley's //Frankenstein// is published. ([|Timeline Information])

<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">**Language of Romantic Britain:**

Johann Gottlieb Fichte stated that: //“Those who speak the same language are joined to each other by a multitude of invisible bonds by nature herself, long before any human art begins; they understand each other and have the power of continuing to make themselves understood more and more clearly; they belong together and are by nature one and an inseparable whole. ...Only when each people, left to itself, develops and forms itself in accordance with its own peculiar quality, and only when in every people each individual develops himself in accordance with that common quality, as well as in accordance with his own peculiar quality—then, and then only, does the manifestation of divinity appear in its true mirror as it ought to be.”// ("To the German Nation",1806) The people focused on creating national languages.



<span style="font-family: Georgia,serif;">** Literature of Romantic Britain: ** <span style="color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">There was one artist whose voice was a major part of this time period, his name was William Wordsworth. He created and published a piece called Lyrical Ballads. This later would be known to the English literature as the opening to the Romantic period. Charles Lamb, Jane Austen, and Sir Walter Scott where some of the other artist that had works in the beginning of the Romantic British period. Mary Shelly was a writer also during this period and is known for her great gothic romance, Frankenstein. Another great romantic poet of this time was John Keats, who was known for his merging in language of great power and beauty.