Romanticism 1800-1860 International Movement • Historical events o French Revolution – overthrow of monarchy was considered as the start of a new age of liberation o Reaction against Enlightenment – Reason was considered limiting; it did not account for other parts of the human experience, especially emotions and the imagination Literary Origins (Poetry) • William Wordsworth (1798) The Prelude • Percy Bysshe Shelley • Mary Shelley • George Gordon Lord Byron William Wordsworth • Elder statesman of the Romantic Movement • The Prelude: Autobiographical, “The growth of a poet’s mind” o Powerful emotion recollected in tranquility Percy Shelley • Prometheus Unbound: Poem about Greek mythological hero who defied the gods. • Reinterpreted Lucifer/Satan as a Romantic hero in John Milton’s poem Paradise Lost about the Creation Story. • Drowned in a small boat accident Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley • Percy Shelley overshadowed by his wife who wrote the novel Frankenstein which is subtitled The Modern Prometheus . • The novel was written as part of a ghost story contest among famous Romantic poets to pass the time during bad weather. Frankenstein • The title character is the scientist who created the monster, not the monster himself. • Dr. Frankenstein is the modern Prometheus who defies morality by creating life unnaturally through his monster. • Like the original Prometheus, Frankenstein suffers for his transgression when his monster turns on him. Original vs. Hollywood George Gordon, Lord Byron • Famously handsome • Colorful character and ladies man who had countless affairs including with his half-sister • Most famous work was, Don Juan, a comic poem about a promiscuous adventurer. • Died while fighting in the Greek revolution for independence and is revered as a national hero. Byron Romanticism • No fixed doctrine • Themes: Out-of-the-box o Individualism o Emotion o Transgression o Extremes o Nature How did America deal with the Romantic Movement? Proto-Romanticism • Washington Irving: Sentimental, elegiac feeling for a past replaced by an uncertain future. Wrote “Rip Van Winkle” and “The Legend of Sleepy Hollow” • James Fenimore Cooper: Mythologized nature that was being cleared and settled by the new nation. Wrote the Leatherstocking Tales: “The Deerslayer”, “The Last of the Mohicans”, “The Pathfinder”, “The Pioneers”, “The Prairie” Transcendentalists • Ralph Waldo Emerson: Used Romanticism to define a distinctive American literature in terms of individualism and a mystical connection to Nature. Wrote “Self-Reliance” and “Nature” • Henry David Thoreau: Applied and expanded Emerson’s ideas. Wrote “Walden” and “Civil Disobedience” Dark Romanticism • Authors explored the darker implications of Romanticism (e.g. Frankenstein) o Edgar Allan Poe: Dealt with gothic subjects. Invented the detective story. “The Raven” o Nathaniel Hawthorne: Explored the psychology of Romanticism “The Scarlet Letter”.