The
Romantic Period
Associate
Adjunct Professor Becky
Villarreal
Brief
Lecture:
One of the
fundamentals of Romanticism is the belief in the
natural goodness of man. Romantic poets believed in
the value of self-expression and delighted in
self-analysis. The list of Romantic characteristics in
18th and 19th British literature include: faith in
God, sensibility, love of nature, sentimentality,
mysticism, and individualism. Romantic poets inspired
the transcendentalists
of the 19th century.
For English
literature, the most significant expression of
Romanticism occurs in Wordsworth's preface to the
second edition of the Lyrical Ballads (1800),
where he maintains that "all good poetry is the
spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings."
The
phenomenon of Romanticism is too diverse and
contradictory to admit of an easy definition. As
Lovejoy suggests, "Typical manifestations of the
spiritual essence of Romanticism have been variously
conceived to be a passion for moonlight, for red
waistcoats, for Gothic churches . . . for talking
exclusively about oneself, for hero-worship, for
losing oneself in an ecstatic contemplation of
nature."
The Romantics
had a keen interest in the past, in particular, the
literature and art of those who came before them.
In the 14th century,
an Italian poet, Petrarch,
wrote the first known sonnets about his love for a
fair maiden named Laura. Petrarch's eloquence and
rhyme scheme influenced Shakespeare and countless
poets that followed. In Romantic poetry, Wordsworth
similarly writes of his beloved Lucy.
The Romantics often weave
Greek
mythology into
their poetry. For example, Ovid's Metamorphoses
describes several seduction scenes that are echoed in
works of poets such as Keats and Blake.
Finally, the
Romantic poets make frequent references to the works
of Homer. According the Joseph
Campbell,
the author of The Hero with a Thousand Faces,
the mythological hero sets forth from his home and is
lured into adventure. In his book, Campbell describes
in detail the various stages that the hero must
undergo: separation, initiation, and return. While on
his adventure, he encounters a shadowy presence that
guards the passage. In The
Odyssey,
there are several dark forces, but the primary foe is
Poseidon, who dooms Odysseus to a life of wandering
the seas. According to Campbell, the hero may defeat
or subdue this force and proceed alive into the dark
side, or be slain. In The Odyssey, the hero encounters
several obstacles (Cerces, Calypso, and other gods)
before he journeys to Hades. Campbell asserts that
once the hero arrives at the final stage of his
journey, he gains his reward. In the case of Odysseus,
he is finally able to return home to his son and
wife.
There are
several parallels to Homer's The Odyssey in
British Romantic poetry. For example, Lord Byron's Don
Juan is similar to Odysseus
in that he falls prey to "the wiles" of the women he
encounters, but unlike Odysseus, he is
aimless.
One
modern day Odysseus is J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter. Of
course, the main characters in Tolkien's The Lord
of the Rings and The Hobbit also come to
mind.
Step
One: After reading
the textbook assignments and the corresponding links
above, access the links below to review terminology
that you will need to know in order to discuss and
write about poetry.
Basic
Poetry Terms
Next, read the guidelines
below on Explication. You will be explicating poetry
in the Midterm Exam, quizzes, and in future
papers.
Explicating
a Poem
Step
Two: Please check the
schedule
to see when Paper 1 and other assignments are due.
Then you may go on to the Jane
Austen Lecture.
In this painting by
Blake, Dante meets Beatrice, the crowned
figure on the chariot. Beatrice was the love
of Dante's life and the subject of his first
collection of poems, Vita Nuova. She
died when she was only 25 years old -- hence
her presence in the afterlife as the central
figure of The Divine Comedy.
Anxious that Dante
had gone astray after her death, it is
Beatrice who arranges for Virgil to guide him
through Hell and Purgatory. She is veiled,
but Dante senses who she is and begins to
tremble. The rich and bright colors express
Dante's delight. Beatrice represents more
than love. In the scheme of the poem, she is
divine revelation and grace.
from
Tate Online
Beatrice
Addressing Dante from the Car
(1824-27)
by
William Blake
Created
by Becky Villarreal Austin Community College
2003
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