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THE ROMANTIC AGE (1760 - 1837) - Coggle Diagram
THE ROMANTIC AGE (1760 - 1837)
BRITAIN & AMERICA
UK:
George III (1760 - 1820):
duties on corn, paper, tea to pay Seven Years War debts
1783: William Pitt as Prime Minister:
economic liberalism (A. Smith)
free trade
division of labour
1791: Society of United Irishmen (Protestants & Catholics aimed at forming their own republic). 1798 uprising. 1801:
Act Of Union
(Ireland joined to Britain).
USA:
1773: Boston tea party ('No taxation without representation')
1775: war of Independence (patriots vs loyalists
1776:
Declaration of Independence
signed in Philadelphia (written by Thomas Jefferson)
1783: Treaty of Versailles (colonies recognised as independent)
1787: USA adopted Federal constitution
1789: first President: George Washington
THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
TECHNOLOGICAL INNOVATION
1712: steam engine (then Watt in 1769 produced a more powerful version)
1787: loom (cloth manufacture linked to water and steam power)
industrial activity near coalfields (migration to North and Midlands, 'mushroom towns')
WORKER'S LIFE
cities lack of elementary public services (water-supply, sanitation, street-cleaning, open spaces)
air and water polluted by smoke and filth
women and children highly prized by employers (paid less and easier to control)
work patterns determined by machines
long working hours, routine, monotony
ECONOMIC CHANGE
new agriculture (fields enclosure, drained soil, animals bred selectively)
diversification of the economic activity (mass-consumption of machine-made goods, especially woollen cloth)
consumption of tobacco, tea, coffee, sugar, alcohol
CAUSES:
changes in agricultural production and farming methods (more people, more demand, more production)
new scientific thinking born of Enlightenment
applied to mechanical and technical fields
availability of navigable rivers and canals
easy availability of coal and iron deposits
urbanisation stimulated of new industries
THE FRENCH REVOLUTION, RIOTS & REFORMS
FRANCE
1792: abolition of monarchy
1793: 'REIGN OF TERROR': royal family executed; France declared war on Britain and Holland
1805: Battle of Trafalgar Square (Nelson detfeated French and Spanish)
1814: Napoleon defeated by Wellington in the battle of Waterloo
UK
Unrest and discontent for:
bad harvests
high taxation
industrial changes
Most famous event: 1819 Peterloo's massacre in Manchester
George IV
(1820-1830)
extravagant and irresponsible behaviour
1824: trade unions legalised
1829: metropolitan police ('bobbies' for Sir Robert Peel)
William IV
(1830-1837)
1832:
Great Reform Act
(vote to all male members of middle classes)
1833: slavery abolished in the West Indies
1833:
Factory Act
limited factory employment of children under 9
A NEW SENSIBILITY
SUBLIME whatever provoked the strongest emotions (terror and pain (Edmund Burke)
View of nature as a real and living being
Early Romantic poetry:
Pastoral poetry (William Cowper)
Nature poetry (James Thomson)
Ossianic Poetry (Ossian, then Macpherson)
Graveyard poetry
William Blake
Subjective poetry: experiences presented for generalised reflection
noisy industrial town vs serenity of the countryside
interest in humble everyday life
meditation on the suffering of the poor and on death
revival of interest in the past
Gothic novel:
intended to arouse fear in the reader
ancient settings
darkness as a powerful element to create a gloomy atmosphere
gothic hero isolated, heroine afflicted with unreal terrors and persecuted by a villain
complicated plots (embedded narratives)