This is a brief presentation to introduce The Romantic Age, historical context and main poets in an English Literature Class

1. THE ROMANTIC AGE
1760 – 1837
William Blake
William Wordsworth
Samuel Taylor Coleridge

2. WHAT IS ROMANTIC?
Wanderer above the Sea of Fog
1818
Salisbury Cathedral from the Meadows
1831

4. HISTORICAL CONTEXT.
A Time Of Social And Pol i t ical Stabi l i t y
1760 - King George III
ascended to the throne
He ruled Britain for about 50
years
Controversial figure: between
popularity and unpopularity
Officially declared insane in
1811 : his son became regent
until his father’s death - 1820

5. WINDS OF CHANGE…
 1775 – 1783 American War of Independence
 1789 – 1791 The French
1776 American colonies
declare their
independence and
George Washington
becomes the firts
President of the United
States
Revolution
«Liberty, equality
and fraternity»
Intellectual circles
Blake, Coleridge
and Wordsworth
Fascination and Fear

6. 1760 - 1850
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
 Coal and steam as sources of
power
 Steam-powered machines
 Mass production  Enclosures Acts:
common lands were closed and
assigned to landowners
 People moving from the
country to the city
 Exploitation of workers >>
Luddite Riots 1811-12
 Critical living conditions in
cities
The Great Exhibition –
1851
Triumph of scientific, technological
and industrial progress

7. BRITISH POLITICS
Domestic Affairs
• 1783 – 1801 + 1804 –
1806
• William Pitt the Younger
Prime Minister
• Reformism and
Conservativism (esp.
after the French
Revolution)
• Repression of protests
• 1801 Act of Union
Financial ability
moral integrity
Loyalist
Propaganda
Nationalism
against France
Peterloo
Massacre 1819
@St Peter’s
Fields
Manchester

8. BRITISH POLITICS
Foreign Affairs
Failure of the
French
1804 Revolution
Napoleon
Bonaparte
Emperor of France
1800 – 1815
Napoleonic Wars
Many «traitors to the revolution»
executed
Violence and Terror
1805
Napoleon
defeated
@
Trafalgar
1814-15
Congress of
Vienna
Austria –
England –
Prussia – Russia
1815
@ Battle of
Waterloo

9. AFTER GEORGE I I I
Some important facts and
achievements
 1811 – 1820 : George IV (Prince Regent > King)
 Trade Unions legalised
 Reform of the prison system
 1830 : King William IV
 Whig majority in Parliament > Reformism
 1832: first Reform Act > vote for middle-class men
 1833 : Abolition of Slavery

10. ROMANTIC LITERATURE
Poetr
y
A reaction
to the
«tyranny»
of Reason
Age
of
Revolution
s
Affirmation
of
individual
subjective
dimension
Intensity
Imagination

11. POETRY OF CONTRAST
Innocence
Youth
Country
Man
Language
Experienc
e
Age
City
Nature
Expressio
n
Wanderin
gs of the
Soul
Solitude
Sehnsucht
Desire for
sthg distant
unattainable