Romantic Period (England) Katie Menssen Mackenzie Baesman Historical ❖ May 1789 - beginning of the French Revolution ➢ began in 1789 and ended in the late 1790s ➢ reconstructed their country’s political landscape, destroying centuries-old organizations such as ■ absolute monarchy ■ feudal system ● distribution of land in trade for service ➢ strong influence on ideals and art of Romantic Period ❖ 1793 - France declares war on England ❖ 1798 - William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge produce Lyrical Ballads ➢ mark the start of the Romantic Period ❖ 1801 - Act of Union establishes United Kingdom of Ireland and Great Britain ❖ 1812 - US declares war on Britain ❖ 1818 - Mary Wollstonecraft - published Frankenstein ➢ considered one of the greatest Gothic romances ❖ American Revolution taking place at this time ➢ Napoleonic Wars ❖ period ended with the passing of the Great Reform Bill Philosophical ➢ The truest experiences are found in nature. ➢ Filter the experience through imagination and emotion. ➢ Jean Jacques Rousseau ○ French enlightenment ○ “Savages” v. “social men”- living inside selves v. outside ○ reason is root of all problems ➢ William Goodwin ○ government is a corrupting force in society- dependence and ignorance ○ “mental enslavement” ○ Private judgement and public discussion ➢ Often competing and opposing philosophies and points of view ➢ Individual opinion is expressed- think for themselves Scientific and Technological ➢ “mechanical romanticism” ○ became popular ■ between the time that Napoleon ruled in 1815 to the conquest of Napoleon III in 1851 ➢ electromagnetism ○ defined as “the phenomena associated with electric and magnetic fields and their interactions with each other and with electric charges and currents” ➢ photographic reproduction ➢ grand operas ➢ phantasmagorias ○ defined as “a shifting of phantasms, illusions, or deceptive appearances, as in a dream or as created by the imagination” ➢ automatons ○ defined as “a mechanical figure or contrivance constructed to act as if by its own motive power; robot” ➢ socialist utopias ➢ all a part of mechanical romanticism of time period Scientific and Technological ❖ André-Marie Ampère ➢ discovered electromagnetism ❖ Alexander von Humboldt ➢ a traveling German polymath ■ defined as a person of great and varied learning ❖ François Arago ➢ scientist-engineer who designed the daguerreotype photographic process Literary ➢ Wrote about the marvelous and supernatural, the exotic, and the medieval ➢ Also found beauty in the simple life of rural people and aspects of everyday life. ➢ Wrote about everyday experiences enhances by imagination and emotion. ➢ Introduced the idea of individual opinions and independent thought ➢ Simple everyday language ➢ Poetry Poetry ➢ Introduced the idea of individual thought ➢ Became known as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling” ➢ Viewed as very imaginative and expressive ➢ Intuition over reason ➢ Nature is a major influence Authors to Know ➢ William Blake ○ Work dated previous to Romantic movement (1790s) ○ attended art school ○ Poetical Sketches- protesting war, tyranny, King George III ○ Said he saw God at age of four, angels in trees, brothers- Songs of Innocence More Authors ➢ William Wordsworth ○ Lived in the Lake District- biggest influence ○ Year long walking tour in France ○ Letter to the Bishop of Llandaff- unpublished in support of French Revolution ○ Lyrical Ballads- “common speech” protesting hierarchy of epic poetry More Authors ➢ Lord Byron (George Gordon Noel Byron) ○ Most flamboyant and notorious of the major romantics ○ Leader of the poetic revolution ○ demanded freedom for the oppressed ○ catharsis of strong emotion .