12RomanticisminEngland.pptVIP

Romantic English Literature(1798-1832) Historical Background A revolutionary energy was at the core of Romanticism, which quite consciously set out to transform not only the theory and practice of literature, but the very way people perceive the world. French Revolution -- the storming of Bastille -- Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity(友爱) --Jean-Jacques Rousseau(卢梭): glorify human nature; claim for social democracy Historical Background Declaration of Rights of Man (1791-2), Thomas Paine Inquiry concerning Political Justice (1793), William Godwin “A Vindication(辩护) of the Rights of Woman (1792), Mary Wollstonecraft The principle of Ration was giving way to an individualized, free, liberal, imaginative attitude towards life; a tendency to turn or escape from the tumultuous(喧嚣的) and confusing Here and Now. Historical Background Population shifts Industrial revolution -- increasing mechanization; development of industry --economic depression --disparity(不同) between the rich and the poor --Luddite(路德分子) riots: workers’ disturbances Cultural Background The Romantic Movement: negative attitude towards the existing social and political conditions. Core -- reaction against neoclassicism Time -- 1798~1832 1798: Lyrical Ballads (William Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge) 1832: the death of Sir Walter Scott; the passage of the Reform Bill Manifesto --- Lyrical Ballads Romanticism It is a movement of the 18th and 19th centuries which marked the reaction in literature, philosophy, art, religion, and politics from the neoclassicism and formal orthodoxy of the preceding period. The main romantic temper is shown in predominance of imagination over reason and formal rules (classicism) and over the sense of fact or the actual (realism). Among the aspects of romantic movement in England may be listed: sensibility, primitivism, love of nature, sympathetic interest in the past, mysticism, individualism, romantic criticism, and a reaction agains