THE ROMANTIC AGE
The romantic Age is also another important period in the history of English Literature. It lasted from the years 1798 to 1824. This is told that it was an imaginative, literary, and intellectual movement that was started in Europe after the age of Queen Victoria. It is also called the Age of Revolution as it was affected by the French and American Revolution in Britain it was started after the writings of ‘Prelude’ and ‘Lyrical Ballades’ by William Wordsworth and the second one was Coleridge and Wordsworth combined work. Romanticism was the nature and individualism has been emphasized.
It also focused on strong emotional aesthetic practice, placing new stress on such emotions as anxiety, and promoting the new aesthetic categories such as sublimity and beauty of nature. This movement was rooted in the German Sturm und Drang movement, which favored perception and emotion over rationalism as in the era of Enlightenment, the proceedings and ideological conception of the French Revolution. “The Romantic Movement in literature was preceded by the Enlightenment and succeeded by Realism” (Wikipedia).
Genres of the Romantic Age:
The genres in the Romantic age were poetry, novel, and drama in which the well-known genre of the phase was poetry.
Poetry in the Romantic Age:
There were three groups of poets in the Romantic Age who wrote romantic approaches in their poetry the first group of poets; their poetry was all about nature and physical landscape. In this way, the prominent figure of this age was Wordsworth, and also other poets considered to be the ‘Poets of Nature’. They talked about their personal feelings and autobiographical work as well.
The Lake Poets: In this group of poets William Wordsworth (1770-1850) was the most popular figure of the age he talked about the life of natural settings and he sketched these scenes in his autobiographical poem, ‘The Prelude’ was all about a kind of autobiographical work in which he narrated his growth of mind written in 1799 but could not publish in his life. His further famous work was ‘The Excursion’ in 1814 and ‘The Recluse’ the second part and third part remained incomplete. He also wrote sonnets such as ‘To Milton’, ‘Westminster Bridge’, and ‘The World is too much with Us’ written with the ideology of thought and language. Similarly, he also wrote Odes such as ‘Ode to Duty’ and ‘Ode on the Intimations of Immortality explaining philosophical aspects of life.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1832) was also one of this group who worked with Wordsworth and wrote under the influence of the French Revolution. His famous work was the poem in Lyrical Ballades ‘The Rime of the Ancient Mariner’ which was the longest poem and his masterpiece showing the Gothic elevation of English Romanticism and also foreign settings. This poem was an imaginative, picture of nature and psychological perspectives on humanity. His ‘Religious Musings’, ‘Destiny of Nations’ and Ode to the Departing Year’ in 1796 was poetical work that expressed political objectives. The poem ‘France’ written in 1798 was also famous. There was another poem ‘Christabel’ a story of a young girl. ‘Kubla Khan’ was also a well-known work of Coleridge in which he portrayed the picture of oriental dreaming. His other work was ‘The Dark Ladie’, ‘Youth and Age’ and ‘Dejection’.
Robert Southey (1774-1843) was also part of Lake Poets. His famous work was ‘Thalaba’, ‘Curse of Kehama’, ‘Madoc’, and ‘Roderick’. Moreover, he wrote some ballads such as, ‘My Days among the Dead are passed’.
The Scott Group: In this group of poets
was Sir Walter Scott
(1771-1832) who got instant
fame with his long narrative poem ‘The Lay of the Last Minstrel’ written in
1805, and ‘Marmion’ in 1808 his best poems having good poetic power. Other work
by Scott was ‘The Lady of Last Minstrel’, ‘Rokeby’ and ‘The Lord of the Isles’.
These poems were written in settings of Middle Ages poetical expressions.
Another member of the Scott group was Thomas Campbell (1774-1844) wrote his famous work ‘Gertrude of Wyoming’ in 1809
adopting the Spenserian stanza style. He also wrote patriotic songs such as ‘Ye
Mariners of England’, ‘Hohenlinden’, and ‘The Battle of the Baltic’. Moreover,
he wrote ballads such as, ‘Lord Ullin’s Daughter’.
Thomas Moore (1779-1852) was the last member of this group who wrote under the spell of Scott's writings. His famous work was ‘Irish Melodies’ which are musical poetical works. He also wrote tales ‘Lalla Rookh’.
The Younger Group: In this group of poets the second generation of the Romantic era are included such as Byron, Shelley, and Keats. The first and second worked mostly in Italy and died at young ages.
Lord George Gordon Byron (1788-1824) wrote the first of his poetical works satirical works. However, he was still influenced by 18th-century satirists and was, perhaps the least "romantic" of the three, preferring "the brilliant wit of Pope to what he called the 'wrong poetical system' of his Romantic contemporaries" (Wikipedia). He wrote ‘English Bards’ and ‘Scottish Reviewers’ in 1809 which were opposite to the soul of romanticism, so he was considered to be the ‘Romantic Paradox’ (Malik, 2017). Moreover, his long poems such as ‘Childe Harold Pilgrimage’ written in two Cantos in 1812 made him famous. His famous Romance ‘The Giaor’ written in 1813 make him popular all around the world. His third and fourth Cantos of ‘Childe Harold’ written in 1816-18 made him one of the great poets of the age and also his satires such as ‘Beppo’ in 1818, ‘The Vision of the Judgment’ in 1822, and Don Juan’ written in 1819-24.
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) was also a major figure of the Romantic Era. His well-known poems are ‘Ozymandias’, ‘Ode to the West Wind’, ‘To a Skylark’, ‘Music’, ‘When Soft Voices Die’, ‘The Cloud’ and ‘The Masque of Anarchy’. An elegy, ‘Adonais’ was written on the death of his friend John Keats. Moreover, Shelley wrote ‘A Defence of Poetry’ presents a drastic view of poetry. ‘Queen Mab’ written in 1813 disclosed that he was a successor to the French and British revolutionary intellectuals of the 1790s. His ‘The Revolt of Islam’ written in 1817 was revolutionized work representing also the image of the French Revolution. He further wrote many famous poems such as, ‘Alastor’ in 1816, ‘Julian and Meddalo’ in 1818 were poems, ‘The Memoriam’ and ‘The Triumph of life’ are elegies. Moreover, he wrote some lyrical poems such as ‘To Constantia Singing’ and ‘Ozymandias’, and ‘Lines Written among the Euganean’ was a sonnet, ‘Stanzas Written in Dejection’, ‘Ode to The West Wind’ one of his best Poem, ‘Cloud’ ‘Skylark’ and ‘O world! O Life! O Time’ is mostly written in natural settings.
John Keats (1795-1821) was a prominent figure in Romantic poets. He was called the poet of Beauty as his famous lines are, “A thing of beauty is a joy forever” and “Truth is beauty and beauty is truth”. He wrote the famous work ‘The Poems’ in 1820 in which ‘Isabella’, ‘The Eve of St. Agnes’, and ‘Lamia’ were the part of these poems. Moreover, the epic poem ‘Hyperion’, and ‘La Bella Dame Sans Merci’ were famous works of John Keats. He was particularly renowned for his sensuousness and imagery. ‘Ode to Psyche’, ‘Ode to a Nightingale’, Ode on a Grecian Urn’, ‘Ode on Melancholy’, ‘Ode to Autumn’. He was also renowned for his aesthetic ideology and negative capability.
Another important poet in this period was George Crabbe (1754–1832) his famous work was ‘The Village’ written in (1783), ‘Poems’ in (1807), ‘The Borough’in (1810), and his poetry collections ‘Tales’ (1812) and ‘Tales of the Hall’ (1819) (Wikipedia).
Prose and Novel in the Romantic Age:
The most noticeable name in the Romantic Age is given as follows:
Charles Lamb (1775-1834) was a well-known literary figure in the History of English Literature and was told to be the ‘The Prince of English Essayists’. His famous work was ‘Essays of Elia’ written in 1823 and ‘Last Essays’ written in 1833 reflecting his personality in a good way.
William Hazlitt (1778-1830) was also a well-known essayist of the Romantic Age. His famous work was ‘The Spirit of the Age’ written in 1825 a critical work.
Another prose writer was Thomas De Quincy (1785-1859) wrote some autobiographical works such as; ‘Confessions of an English Opium-Eater’ which was all about his life. Moreover, he wrote ‘The Caerars’ and ‘Joan of Arc’. He also wrote ‘On The Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth’ one of his famous works.
Robert Southey (1774-1843) also wrote the prose ‘Life of Nelson’ his famous prose writings alongside his poetical work.
In Novel:
Gothic novels and the novel of sensibility were part of this age. The most noticeable name in the Romantic period was Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott. This kind of novel was originated when ‘The Castle of Otranto’ written by Horace Walpole in 1746. Similarly ‘Frankenstein’ by Marry Shelley in 1818.
Moreover, Sir Walter Scott (1771-1832) wrote also novels such as, ‘Guy Mannering’, ‘The Antiquary’, ‘Old Mortality’ and ‘The Heart of Midlothian' were famous for his observations based novels. Moreover, he wrote historical novels such as, ‘Ivanhoe’ written in 1823, ‘The Talisman’ written in 1825, ‘The Monastery’ in 1820, and ‘St. Ronan’s Well’ in 1823.
Jane Austine (1775-1834) works evaluated the novels of sensibility of the Romantic Age. Her plots, though fundamentally comic, highlight the dependence of women on marriage to secure social standing and economic security. Austen talked most often about the woman’s problems and limitations faced by them. Her famous work was ‘Sense and Sensibility’ written in 1811, ‘Pride and Prejudice’ written in 1813, ‘Mansfield Park’ in 1814, ‘Emma’ in 1815, ‘Northanger Abbey’ in 1817 and ‘Persuasion’ written in 1817 were all well-known work.
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