1. ROMANTICISM IN GREAT BRITAIN

Romanticism is a cultural, artistic & intellectual movement that emerged in Europe as a reaction against the Enlightenment & the Industrial Revolution, both of which emphasized reason, scientific knowledge & progress. Romanticism, by contrast, prioritized emotion, individualism, nature & imagination.

a) THE FIRST GENERATION

a) MARY SHELLEY & GOTHIC FICTION

b) THE SECOND GENERATION

WILLIAM BLAKE: THE POET-PAINTER

Like in poetry, Gothic novels are characterised by supernatural elements, mysterious & tragical events, ancient & isolated locations, and a psychological themes related to family dynamics & repressed sexuality. Horace Walpole's The Castle of Otranto (1764), considered the first Gothic novel, set the tone of Gothic fiction, including haunted, gloomy castles from the Middle Ages, mysterious villains & supernatural-psychological horror. Also, Matthew Lewis' The Monk (1796) represents one of the most shocking, depraved & sensational Gothic novels of its time.

c) JANE AUSTEN & REALISM

b) SIR WALTER SCOTT & HISTORICAL NOVELS

• Visionary & Unappreciated
• Self-published & illustrated
• Radical political/religious views & influences

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH: THE NATURE POET

• Early tragedies & orphaned
• the Nature Poet: Lake District
• Coleridge & Preface to ~
• Revolutionized poetry: more accessible & deeply personal

SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

GEORGE GORDON, LORD BYRON

• Aristocratic but troubled child
• Scandalous affairs, Bisexuality,
  Incest & Exile to Europe
• Travels & influential friendships: Ghost story challenge at Lake Geneva
• Celebrity & the Byronic hero (archetype)

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

JOHN KEATS

• Surrounded by tragedy: father, mother, brother & himself (at 24)
• Surgeon & poor, unappreciated Poet
• Masterpieces in one year

• Scandalous, tragic 1st marriage
• Children's tragic death
• Outcast, Exile to Italy & Accidental death (at 29)
• Posthumous fame & legacy

Unlike the optimism of the Enlightenment era, Romanticism reflected the deep sense of disillusionment & melancholy that many Romantics felt about the world around them. This pessimism came from the negative consequences/aspects of the Industrial Revolution, the loss of innocence & connection with nature, and the increasing mechanization & urbanization of society.

Romantic writers featured tragic heroes who were doomed by
their own flaws or by the injustices of the world, emphasising the idea that life is full of suffering & hardship. The most famous example of pessimism is:

• Lord Byron's character Childe Harold (Childe Harold's Pilgrimage), who embodies the "Byronic hero", a world-weary, introspective figure, disillusioned with society and his own existence.

Writers often sought to transcend or evade the harsh realities of the modern world through imagination, art, and a return to simpler, more idealized times or places. Exotic places or even the Middle Ages as a time with no contraints or rules is preferred over the here & now.

A definining/central feature of Romanticism. The Romantics saw nature as a source of inspiration, spiritual renewal & emotional solace (& a source of beauty, healing & truth), contrasting it with the corruption & artificiality of urban & industrial life. Nature was seen as a reflection of the divine, that God is present in all of nature, denoting it as a spiritual or religious experience.

Nature, in its most overwhelming forms (mountains, storms, oceans), evoked the sublime, feelings of awe & terror due to their vastness or beauty.

The emphasis on emotion was a reaction against the Enlightenment’s focus on reason & logic. Romantics celebrated the full range of human emotions, from joy & love to sorrow & despair, believing that these feelings were central to the human experience. Hence, the best poetry makes use of the poet's imaginative powers to express the greatest intensity of feeling. In turn, imagination was a powerful, almost divine faculty that allowed individuals to transcend reality & access deeper truths through a creative approach to understanding the world. .

Romantics were fascinated by the supernatural, mysterious, unknown, irrational, magical, mystical, gothic, dead... They saw the value of the limits of human understanding, the unconscious mind & dreams, which remained free from the tyranny of the age of reason. Also, the exploration of the Gothic genre, emphasizing dark, mysterious & terrifying elements, and set in eerie, ancient & ruined landscapes.

Romanticism celebrates the uniqueness of the individual, personal freedom & self-expression. The poet is seen as a extraordinary individual, a visionary or a spokesman of society conveying his unique experience or truth thanks to his heightened sensitivity & imagination. The "Romantic hero" was typically a solitary figure, misunderstood or alienated from the world, who often embarked on a quest for deeper meaning.

British Romanticism fostered a growing sense of nationalism, expressed through literature that celebrated local traditions, folklore & landscapes. Simultaneously, Romantics elevated the experiences of ordinary people, their struggles & everyday life.

Some female voices also contributed to the Romantic movement in a more subtle & less controversial early treatment of feminism. Women were generally limited in their prospects, and many found themselves confined to the domestic sphere, and yet they managed to express their concerns.

Mary Shelley's Frankenstein (1818) is probably the most famous Gothic novel from the Romantic era. It is often considered the first true work of science fiction (incorporates elements from emerging scientific knowledge), combined with philosophical & Gothic horror elements. It reflects the Romantic fascination with the sublime & the consequences of transgressing natural boundaries. The novel's famous subtitle links it to the myth of Prometheus, who defied the gods to give fire (& knowledge) to humanity, suffering eternal punishment as a result.

• Despite living during the Romantic period, she was not a Romantic writer. Her novels contain elements from the Enlightenment (reason, order & social critique) as well as certain Romantic features (emotion, individualism & inner life) while maintaining a distinctive style of their own. In fact, she was against Romantic literature which she saw as worthless, since she believed that the true object of literature should be the representation of reality.
• The themes she was most interested in were love & marriage, which often reflects Romantic ideals: her heroines typically reject marriages based on financial security or social status, instead seeking relationships founded on respect, affection & understanding, emphasizing authentic personal relationships over social expectations. E.g., in Pride and Prejudice, Elizabeth Bennet refuses proposals from Mr. Collins & Mr. Darcy, and her eventual union with Darcy is based on love & mutual respect.
• Her novels were based on the everyday lives of the middle- & upper-class circles, with a realistic, critical view on the limitations imposed by society. Austen employs satire & wit to critique social structures like marriage, wealth & class. E.g., absurd male characters like Mr. Collins in Pride and Prejudice or Mr. Elton in Emma, who embody these flaws.

• Sense and Sensibility (1811)
• Pride and Prejudice (1813)
• Mansfield Park (1814)
• Emma (1815)
• Northanger Abbey (✞1817)
• Persuasion (✞1817)

Regarded as Jane Austen's masterpiece, it focuses on the spirited & intelligent Elizabeth Bennet (one of the earliest examples of a strong, independent female protagonist in English literature) and her evolving relationship with the proud & wealthy Mr. Darcy, as she navigates her "prejudices" & he overcomes his "pride". It explores themes of love, class, marriage & personal growth.

The novel’s famous opening sentence - "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife" - is one of the most quoted lines in literature. Also, Mr. Darcy has become one of the most iconic & romanticized characters in literature & pop culture, partly thanks to the 1995 BBC film adaptation (starring Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy), and countless others.

• Born in Edinburgh, and educated there. He was the son of a lawyer and had a legal career before dedicating himself fully to literature, which gave him an understanding of the historical & political conflicts of Scotland & a foundation for his novels. Before becoming famous as novelist, he began successfully as a poet, writing in verse, but he soon gave up this style, because, as he himself put it, Byron had reached the top in this genre.
• As he feared a failure in this new genre, he published his early novels anonymously or under pseudonyms. But he became the 1st English-language author with international celebrity status, his works being translated into numerous languages & celebrated worldwide during his lifetime. Today, he is still the best Scottish writer of all time.
• He is considered one of the founders of the historical novel, for his groundbreaking ability to blend fictional characters & historical events. His Waverley series, beginning with Waverley (1814), (originally known as "written by the author of Waverley") established the historical fiction genre that later influenced authors like Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo & Leo Tolstoy.
• He was the 1st author to take Scotland as a whole country. His romantic portrayals of Scotland’s landscapes, legends & history played a significant role in reviving Scottish indentity, customs & pride both at home & abroad (including the tartan dress as a Scottish symbol & increasing tourism to the Scottish Highlands).

• Waverley: Sympathetic portrayal of both sides
• Rob Roy: Protagonist based on a real historical figure
• Ivanhoe: Popularized the medieval romance genre

• He was the first clear voice of Romanticism even before the movement started as such. Considered a fool & misunderstood by his contemporaries, Blake's works were unappreciated during his lifetime & long after his death for his unconventional ideas. He was a visionary from childhood: he had mystical visions from a very young age, which he recorded in his poetry.
• He trained /apprenticed as an engraver or printmaker. Later, Blake often self-published his own works by combining his poetry with his engravings in what he called "illuminated printing", illustrated & hand-colored by him. He is known as the "poet-painter", one of the few artists who fully integrated visual & literary mediums.
• He had radical political & religious views for his time. Inspired by the American & French Revolutions (which he saw as part of a broader spiritual awakening) & the revolutionary ideas of Thomas Paine, William Godwin, Mary Wollstonecraft, etc., his works often criticized institutional religion & monarchy. At the same time, he was influenced by the Bible & classical mythology, reinterpreting these sources to express his own unique spiritual visions.

• Wordsworth’s early life was marked by personal loss. He was orphaned at a young age, with his mother & his father passing away when he was 8 & 13 respectively. This had a profound impact on him & his works, cultivating a deep sensitivity to the themes of loss & memory.
• He was born & lived in the Lake District (associated with the Lake Poets), a region of England whose natural beauty profoundly inspired his poems, and spent much of his quiet life there. He is known as "the poet of nature", which he saw not just as beautiful, but as a source of spiritual guidance & wisdom with the power to heal & nurture the soul (as seen in Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey & I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud).
• He had an influential friendship with Coleridge. Together, they co-authored Lyrical Ballads (1798), whose Preface is a kind of manifesto for the Romantic movement that Wordsworth used to explain his philosophy of poetry. In this Preface, Wordsworth famously defined poetry as the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”, written in "language really used by men" & born spontaneously as "emotion recollected in tranquility".
• Wordsworth managed to revolutionize poetry by making it more accessible & deeply personal, shifting away from the formal, elaborate style of previous poetic traditions. Hence, he turned his attention to rural life, common people & nature, as well as to reflecting authentic human emotions, instead of intellectual thought or social commentary (emotion over reason).

• Lyrical Ballads (1798): Tintern Abbey
• I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud (1807)
• The Prelude (✞1850)

• Coleridge showed signs of being a child prodigy. His avid reading & intellectual curiosity began at an early age and continued throughout his life. By the time he was 15, he had read works by Homer, Virgil & Shakespeare.
• He was not only a poet but a philosopher & theologian. He studied German philosophy (the works of Immanuel Kant & Friedrich Schelling), and sought to integrate philosophy, theology & literature in his work. His later works, including his Biographia Literaria, combined literary criticism, philosophy & autobiography.
• He co-founded the Romantic Movement by writing Lyrical Ballads (1798) along with Wordsworth. They shared a close but complex friendship, as over time it became strained partly due to Coleridge’s addiction & deteriorating health.
• Coleridge suffered from poor health throughout his life, including chronic pain, depression & anxiety. Also, for much of his adult life he struggled with opium addiction (a common, highly addictive medical drug at the time, which he was prescribed for rheumatic pain), impacting his health, productivity & relationships. That is why he often struggled to complete projects, leaving them fragmented & incomplete despite his immense talent.

• Lyrical Ballads (1798): The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Kubla Khan (1816)
• Biographia Literaria (1817)

Co-authored with Wordsworth. Coleridge contributed several key pieces, including his most famous poem: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner is a long narrative poem about a sailor who is cursed after killing an albatross (a symbol of innocence) during a sea voyage.

• Born in London into an aristocratic family with Stuart blood. He had great physical beauty & a deformity on his right foot which caused him discomfort thoughout his life. His father was known as "Mad Jack", and was notorious for his reckless spending & behaviour, died when he was only 10.
• He was known for his wild & scandalous love life including numerous love affairs & an unconventionally open bisexual lifestyle. Also, his rumored incestuous affair with his half-sister Augusta Leigh caused a major scandal in British society, making him an outcast and is believed to have inspired his later works. At 28, he saw himself forced to leave England due to these scandals & his incresing debts, and he would never return again.
• After leaving, traveled extensively across Europe, living in places such as Switzerland & Italy, where he formed close friendships with Percy & Mary Shelley. They spent the summer of 1816 together at Lake Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary Shelley's Frankestein & Polidori's The Vampyre were produced out of a ghost story challenge (precursors of the Science Fiction & Vampire genres).
• Byron became a literary celebrity/superstar right after the publication of his epic poem Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage (1812) with people flocking to see him and hear him speak. Also, Byron's own works & personal life inspired his creation of the Byronic hero: a flawed, passionate, rebellious & charismatic figure who appears in many of his works. This tormented hero has become a literary archetype (E.g. Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights and Mr. Rochester in Jane Eyre) that extends far beyond Romantic literature into today's popular culture (E.g. Bruce Wayne in Batman and James Bond).

• At just 19, Shelley eloped with Harriet, a 16 year-old schoolgirl. Their marriage was controversial & strained from the beginning. Only 3 years later, he met Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, daughter of the famous feminist Mary Wollstonecraft & of the philosopher William Godwin. They fell in love & eloped to France even though Shelley was still married to Harriet, who, due to this tragic turn of events in her life, suicided by drowning while pregnant, which allowed him to re-marry at age 24.
• Shelley & Mary endured several other personal tragedies such as the deaths of their children, which deeply affected them and led to a period of grief & depression. Their first child, Clara, died as an infant, and their second, William, died of malaria at the age of 3.
• Shelley's scandalous personal life & unorthodox beliefs (he was expelled from Oxford for Atheism) had damaged his reputation & made him an outcast in England. At 26 he decided to leave England permanently & settle in Italy, where he spent the last years of his life and wrote some of his most famous works. At the age of 29 he died tragically overturned by a storm in a boat accident, his dead body being washed ashore.
• Despite his early death, his fame only grew as Mary worked hard to preserve his literary legacy, editing & publishing his works posthumously. Also, Shelley's influence extended beyond his period, being praised by writers & philosophers like Karl Marx & Friedrich Nietzsche for his radical progressive ideas about freedom & individualism as well as religion, politics, marriage & monarchy (E.g. as depicted in The Masque of Anarchy and Queen Mab).

• Queen Mab (1813)
• The Masque of Anarchy (1819)
• Ode to the West Wind (1819)
• Prometheus Unbound (1820)
• To a Skylark (1820)

• Keats was surrounded by tragedy throughout his life. His father died in a riding accident when Keats was just 8. His mother passed away from tuberculosis when he was 14, the same disease that would kill his brother and later Keats himself at age 24, cutting short what might have been an even greater literary career.
• Before dedicating himself fully to poetry, Keats studied to become a surgeon. He completed his medical training in London but decided to pursue his passion for poetry instead. He lived in poverty all his life, relying on a small inheritance & loans from friends to survive. His poetry, though now considered timeless, was often criticized by contemporary reviewers.
• His poetic career only lasted about 6 years and he wrote several masterpieces in a single year (1819 at age 24), the most creative year of his short life while suffering from illness.

• Ode to a Nightingale (1819)
• Ode on a Grecian Urn (1819)
• To Autumn (1819)

Keats reflects on the scenes depicted on an ancient Grecian urn, frozen in time, and contrasts their permanence with the fleeting nature of human life. Thus, exploring the themes of art, beauty & eternity.