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The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement; a Study In Dear Reader, This book was referenced in one of the 185 issues of 'The Builder' Magazine which was published between January 1915 and May 1930. To celebrate the centennial of this publication, the Pictoumasons website presents a complete set of indexed issues of the magazine. As far as the editor was able to, books which were suggested to the reader have been searched for on the internet and included in 'The Builder' library.' This is a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by one of several organizations as part of a project to make the world's books discoverable online. Wherever possible, the source and original scanner identification has been retained. Only blank pages have been removed and this header- page added. The original book has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books belong to the public and 'pictoumasons' makes no claim of ownership to any of the books in this library; we are merely their custodians. Often, marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in these files – a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you. Since you are reading this book now, you can probably also keep a copy of it on your computer, so we ask you to Keep it legal. Whatever your use, remember that you are responsible for ensuring that what you are doing is legal. Do not assume that just because we believe a book to be in the public domain for users in Canada, that the work is also in the public domain for users in other countries. Whether a book is still in copyright varies from country to country. Please do not assume that a book's appearance in 'The Builder' library means it can be used in any manner anywhere in the world. Copyright infringement liability can be quite severe. The Webmaster Cornell University Library The original of tliis book is in tine Cornell University Library. There are no known copyright restrictions in the United States on the use of the text. http://www.archive.org/details/cu31 92401 3259837 THE BEGINNINGS OF THE English Romantic Movement A STUDY IN EIGHTEENTH CENTURY LITERATURE m WILLIAM LYON PHELPS A.M. (harvard), PH.D. (yALe) INSTRUCTOR IN ENGLISH LITERATURE AT YALE COLLEGE BOSTON, U.S.A. GINN & COMPANY, PUBLISHERS 1893 K.c<6;L-^<g Copyright, 1893, By WILLIAM LYON PHELPS. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. TO PROFESSOR J. P. MAHAFFY OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN, IN REMEMBRANCE OF A FEW DAYS IN A DULL VACATION MADE BRIGHT BY HIS KINDNESS PREFACE. This little book gives the results of a search in English literature from 1700 to 1765, for the beginnings of the English Romantic movement. The minor poetry from 1725 to 1765, although desperately dull reading, has satisfactorily rewarded my search. I have reached no startling conclusions, but there is some matter in the book that may fairly be called new ; and a number of points suggested by previous study have been more fully developed. The Spenserian Revival is treated with some approach to thoroughness, and my list of imitations I believe to be much longer than any other ever printed. In the discussion of Ballad Literature and in the chapter on Gray I have also gone" carefully into details. So far as I am aware no book has ever been written on the history of English Romanticism, so that the matter given here is the result of first-hand study. Every statement of fact and every critical opinion, unless the contrary is distinctly stated, are based on references to the original sources, so far as these have been accessible. The prose and poetry of the period I have read very largely in first and early editions. An original edition with the author's first preface is often of the greatest value to the student of a literary development. The utmost care has been taken to secure accuracy in dates. In this kind of work dates are exceedingly important, and different histories, encylopaedias and dictionaries vary so widely from each other, that accuracy is not always easy. Every doubtful date has here been followed up carefully, and the date finally given is based on the best evidences and authorities. vi PREFACE. In this book I have tried to establish two things. First, that the spirit of Romanticism has never been wholly extinct in English literature. Second, that between the years 1725 and 1765 the Romantic movement was a real, if quiet force, and that in these forty years may be found the seeds which sprang to full maturity in Scott and Byron, and in all the subsequent Romantic literature of the nineteenth century. My thanks are due to the officials of the Boston Public Library, and to the librarians of Harvard and Yale Universities, who have always shown me the utmost courtesy. I cannot sufficiently express my obligations to Professor H. A. Beers of Yale, and to Professor Barrett Wendell of Harvard. It was at the suggestion of the former that I first entered upon this line of study, and the generous loan of his own manuscript notes on the period has been an invaluable help. It was Professor Wendell who first suggested the idea of printing my results, a thought that had not previously occurred to me. He also read all of the first draft of my manuscript and made many useful suggestions. My thanks are due to Professor John M. Manly of Brown, who read and annotated my manuscript, and to Professor George Lyman Kittredge of Harvard, who assisted me materially in countless places with his wide learning and unfailing kindness. Mr. Thomas Sergeant Perry of Boston, and Professor T. R. Lounsbury, of Yale, also read extracts and helped me by many fruitful hints, and by much friendly counsel ; and I should also like to express in common with so many other students my appreciation of the inspiration and general stimulus I have received from the kind words of Professor F. J. Child. No sincere student ever came into close contact with this Teacher without becoming both a better scholar and a better man. Any corrections of errors, or suggestions, will be gratefully received and promptly acknowledged. W. L. P. Yale University, 10 March, 1893. CONTENTS. Page INTRODUCTION. What is Romanticism? ... i CHAPTER I. Principal Literary Characteristics of the Augustan Age . 7 CHAPTER II. Reactionary Tendencies during the Augustan Age ... 23 CHAPTER III. The Reaction in Form 36 CHAPTER IV. The Spenserian Revival 47 CHAPTER V. The Influence of Milton in the Romantic Movement — The Literature op Melancholy 87 CHAPTER VI. Revival of the Past — Gothicism and Chivalry .... 102 CHAPTER VII. Revival of the Past — Ballad Literature and Percy , 116 CHAPTER VIII. Revival of the Past — Northern Mythology, Welsh Poetry, and ossian 137 viu CONTENTS. Page CHAPTER IX. The Romantic Movement Exemplified in Gray 155 CHAPTER X. General Summary 171 APPENDICES . 175 INDEX 183 ; INTRODUCTION. WHAT IS ROMANTICISM? Any attempt to make a definition of Romanticism that will be at once specific and adequate is sure to result in failure. It is not simply that the word " Romantic " has both a popular and a critical sense, each of which differs widely from the other ; but that the word is used critically in very different ways. For example, we say that Scott's couplets are Classic, as distinguished from those of Keats, which are Romantic but, speaking critically, it will never do to say that Scott was a Classic poet, because he certainly stands as one of the most prominent figures in English Romanticism. Again, we call Byron a Romantic poet, because his poetry expresses that sentimental melancholy and vague aspiration which characterize the Romantic mood ; but if we take Roman- ticism to be what Heine says it is — the revival of the life and thought of the Middle Ages — we certainly cannot class Byron as a Romantic poet. The word Romanticism is also often applied not to subject, but to method. Any poet, like Victor Hugo for example, who rebels against and ignores the rules of the Classicists, is thereby a Romantic poet. In this sense Wordsworth might be, and in fact is, called a Romanticist, although he differs completely from Scott on the one hand, and fronj Byron on the other. When three poets so utterly unlike as Scott, Byron, and Words- worth are each and all ranked by various critics as belonging to the Romantic school of English literature, it is easy to see that the term must be used in widely different senses. 2 THE ENGLISH ROMANTIC MOVEMENT. I have seen many people who thought they could define Romanticism off-hand ; but I have never seen one who could actually do it when brought to the test. It may be profitable to rehearse a few of the definitions given by critics and men of letters, in order to show the difficulty of getting at something that will satisfy everybody. Heine says, "Was war aber die romantische Schule in Deutschland? Sie war nichts anders als die Wiedererweckung der Poesie des Mittelalters, wie sie sich in dessen Liedern, Bild- und Bauwerken, in Kunst und Leben, manifestiert hatte. Die Poesie in alien diesen Gedichten des Mittelalters tragt einen bestimmten Charakter, wodurch sie sich von der Poesie der Griechen und Romer unterscheidet.
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