The Influence of the French Revolution on English Literature

1. French
Revolution
Influence on English Literature

2. • Prepared by: Nilay Rathod
• MA Sem: 1
• Paper 5: History of English Literature
• Roll No: 29
• Enrollment No: 4069206420210030
• Submitted to: Department of English
• Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar
University

3. Introduction
•French Revolution, also called
Revolution of 1789, revolutionary
movement that shook France
between 1787 and 1799 and
reached its first climax there in
1789—hence the conventional term
“Revolution of 1789,” denoting the
end of the ancien régime in France
and serving also to distinguish that
event from the later French
revolutions of 1830 and 1848.
•“The Revolution of 1789 hit
England like a thunderbolt. It shook
up the whole social and political
edifice of Britain.”(woods)

4. What was the
French
Revolution?
•●The French Revolution was a
period of major social upheaval
that began in 1787 and ended in
1799. It sought to completely
change the relationship between
the rulers and those they
governed and to redefine the
nature of political power. It
proceeded in a back-and-forth
process between revolutionary
and reactionary forces.

5. Why did the French
Revolution happen?
• There were many reasons. The
bourgeoisie—merchants,
manufacturers, professionals—had
gained financial power but were
excluded from political power.
• Those who were socially beneath they
had very few rights, and most were also
increasingly impoverished.
• The monarchy was no longer viewed as
divinely ordained.
• When the king sought to increase the
tax burden on the poor and expand it to
classes that had previously been
exempt, revolution became all but
inevitable.

6. What
Caused the
French
Revolution?
https://youtu.be/PBn7iWzrKoI

7. The
Effects
of
French
Revolution
•Before the French Revolution, Catholicism had been the official
religion of France.
•Nearly all of France’s population had been Catholic, after the
French Revolution France’s churches had lost much of their power.
•The French revolution destroyed the social discriminating class
system in France and declared equality for all. The revolution
produced the equality and career open to talents.
•This revolution led to the declaration of rights of man and citizens.

8. Government under
the Old Regime
Monarch ruled by The Divine Right of
Kings.
•God put the world in motion.
•God put some people in positions
of power.
•Power is given by God.
•No one can question God.
•No one can question someone put
in power by God.
•Questioning the monarchy was
blasphemy because it meant
questioning God.

10. William Blake
• Emphasis was placed upon on
“Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity.”
• Attitude towards The Revolution:
he was against authority and
feared government persecution
for his beliefs
• He sympathized with English
radicals like Thomas Pain and
William Goodwin.
• He originally sympathized with
the French revolutionaries, but
the Reign of Terror made him
despise the Revolution.
• Blake was also an artist, and his
paintings express the chaotic and
tumultuous nature of the
revolution.

11. William Wordsworth
•“BLISS WAS IT IN THAT DAWN TO BE ALIVE, BUT TO BE YOUNG WAS
VERY HEAVEN!”
•Famous quote at the beginning of the Revolution expressed his
enthusiasm which did not last long
• The French Captain Michel Beaupuy strongly influenced Wordsworth
in forming political ideals, and his presence was so important to the
young poet that Wordsworth mentions the captain in Book Nine
of The Prelude.
• The young Wordsworth had great hopes for the Revolution, and he
believed that once a republic was firmly in power in France, he and his
contemporaries “should see the people having a strong hand/ In framing
their own laws; whence betters day; To all mankind” (Wordsworth).

12. Jane Austen
• Lived through the American Revolution,
French Revolution, Napoleonic Wars, and
Industrial Revolution.
• Due to the French Revolution, England was
poorly affected politically which made
Austen’s entire life a struggle for survival.
• Although Austen did not directly refer to the
French Revolution in any of her literary
works, the French Revolution did disrupt her
world.
• According to the novel, Jane Austen and the
French Revolution by Warren Roberts,
Robert’s is shocked at the fact that with all of
these hardships in Austen’s life, she did not
directly write about them in any of her works
but did incorporate them indirectly.(Robert)

13. John Keats
• During his life Keats faced many hardships including
being part of the lower class, having poor health, and
limited education.
• Hyperion” and “The Fall of Hyperion” are about Titans’
fall to Olympians, many critics have thought these
works were based off of the French Revolution.
• These show limited evidence that Keat’s was effected
by the Revolution
• “Beauty is truth, truth beauty, – that is all ye know on
earth, and all ye need to know” – From Keat’s “Ode on
a Grecian Urn.(Keats)

14. P. B. Shelley
•Percy Bysshe Shelley was born in 1792, the year of the
deposition of Louis XVI and the September massacres in
Paris.
•Shelley’s views were shaped by the French Revolution
and its aftermath, but he came to maturity in a very
different political climate.
• In 1822 Shelley, moved to Italy with Leigh Hunt and
Lord Byron where they published the journal The
Liberal. By publishing it in Italy the three men
remained free from prosecution by the British
authorities. The first edition of The Liberal sold 4,000
copies.

15. Conclusion
•The French Revolution stirred the British
people and affected their literature in a major
way.
•There was a complete break with the Age of
Reason and a new kind of literature known as
the Romantic Revival came into exist with the
publication of Lyrical Ballad (1798).
•Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey, Byron,
Shelley and Keats were the poets who
specialized in this style of poetry. The prose
literature of the time was illuminated by the
works of Lamb, Hazlitt, De Quincey.

16. Works Cited
• Epstein, James. "Among the Romantics: E. P. Thompson and the Poetics of
Disenchantment." Journal of British Studies 56.2 (2017): 322-350.
• Keats, John. Ode to a Grecian Urn. Chiswick Press, 1897.
<https://www.gleeditions.com/odeonagrecianurn/students/pages.asp?lid
=306&pg=5>.
• Robert, Warrens. Jane Austin and the French Revolution. London:
Macmillan, 1979. Print.
• Woods, Alan. In Defence of Marxism. 23 July 2003. 09 December 2021.
<http://www.marxist.com/british-poets-french-revolution-1.htm>.
• Wordworth, William. "The Prelude; Growth of a Poet's Mind; An
Autobiographical Poem." Vol. 9. London: BRADBURY AND EVANS,
PRINTERS, WHITEFRIARS., 1850. 14 vols. 237-263.