英国文学Part Romanticism.docVIP

Part V The Romantic Period I Historical Background 1.1 The British Industrial Revolution When: 1760s — mid 1800s How: The Enclosures (The Enclosure Movement) The agricultural mechanization Influence: The transfer of population The fate of peasant farmers The capitalist class Workers’ disturbances: the Luddite riots (p.3, para 1) Peterloo Massacre (p. 4, para 1) 1.2 The French Revolution When: July 14, 1789 (p.3, para 2 ) How: The Heavily-exploited Parisian people rose and stormed the Bastille, the symbol of feudalism (p.3, para 2 ) Influence on Britain the laboring people and the progressive intellectuals (p.3, para 3 ) clubs and society: doctrine (p.3, para 3 ) writers (p.3, para 3) bourgeoisie (p.3, para 3) The political writers: Edmund Burke Thomas Paine (p.4, para 2) The Reform Bill of 1832 (p.5, para 2) II Cultural Background 2.1 The Romantic Movement By the beginning of the 19th century a movement had taken place in intellectual life. It manifested itself not only in England but also in Germany and France. It displayed the spirit of idealism as opposed to realism. During the Romantic period, English letters were characterized by an emotional and imaginative quality and by individuality in style. Major writers Older group: Negative Romanticism The so-called Lake School of English poets (William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey.) expressed new theories as to the subject-matter and language of poetry. These three poets were often called as the older poets. They made an impressive contribution to poetry. Conservative Younger group: Positive Romanticism The later romanticists (George Gordon Bryon, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats) were poets of revolt who, unlike the Lake School, never recanted their revolutionary principle. These three poets were often called as the y