The Romantic period in British literature saw the rise of nature-inspired poetry that questioned politics and celebrated individualism. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads in 1798, marking the beginning of Romanticism. Romantic writers embraced emotions over reason and valued personal experiences. Some key Romantic figures included William Blake, William Wordsworth, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and Mary Shelley, whose novel Frankenstein exemplified themes of the period.

1. Romanticism It’s not all hugs & kisses!

2. Romantic Period in British Literature a time of nature-inspired poetry, political questioning, and individualism.

3. The Beginning William Wordsworth co- published a “new kind” of poetry with friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge. “ Lyrical Ballads” (1798) - the beginning of the Romantic Period.

4. Historic Connections German literary movement Sturm und Drang suffering main character martyr , a rebel, an iconoclast going against society.

5. ROMANTICS question authority and values question anything that infringes on personal liberty

6. Byronic Hero Movies popularize the ideal of an irresistible bad boy, This stereotype entered our culture in the Romantic poetry of Lord Byron. These ill-fated but beautifully emotional characters are called “Byronic Heroes.”

7. Byronic Hero Captain Jack Sparrow?

8. The ability to describe ordinary events as extraordinary is characteristic of Romantic literature. ORDINARY = EXTRAORDINARY

9. The Romantics… valued individual experience, trusted in emotions rejected the social ‘us’ and embraces the ‘me’! let Intuitions, feelings, and emotions rule. believed man’s heart was a more valuable guide than his head. EMOTIONS RULE

10. THE BIG 8 ROMANTICS WILLIAM BLAKE WILLIAM WORDSWORTH SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE JANE AUSTEN LORD BYRON PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY JOHN KEATS MARY WOLLSTONECRAFT SHELLEY

11. ROMANTIC NOVELS Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein representative of the period.

12. Romanticism: 12 Characteristics Sensibility Primitivism Love of Nature Sympathetic Interest in Past Mysticism Individualism Idealization of Rural Life Enthusiasm for Wild/Irregular/Grotestue Unrestrained Imagination Enthusiasm for “Uncivilized” or Natural Human Rights Emotional Psychology in Fiction

13. Characteristic #1 Sensibility Awareness Consciousness raising

14. Characteristic #2: Primitivism The belief that man continues to corrupt nature of man Primitive = sense of goodness, Purity, Connection to God

15. Characteristic #3: Love of Nature A preference for a world that is untamed, or unspoiled by man

16. Characteristic #4: Sympathetic Interest in the Past Medieval Period

17. Characteristic #4 Cont. Picturesque Details that are unnatural because they are so ‘picture perfect” that they could not exist in the real world.

18. Nostalgia: Showing a preference for living in the past, rather than the present, because the past is considered to be better, simpler, or more exciting.

19. Characteristic #5: Mysticism Belief that there is common flow of spiritual matter shared by all Once a person dies their spirit returns to common pool of life

20. Characteristic #6: Individualism Emphasis on the uniqueness of each individual

22. Characteristic #7: Idealization of Rural Life Love of the Country Simplicity

23. Characteristic # 8: Enthusiasm for the wild, irregular, or grotesque in nature & art Wild and untamed Unexplainable

25. Characteristic # 9: Unrestrained imagination No Limits to what you can do!

26. Characteristic # 10: Enthusiasm for Uncivilized or natural Savage man Indian stereotypes

27. Characteristic #11: Sentimental Melancholy Focus on death “ Graveyard School”

28. Characteristic #12: Emotional Psychology in fiction Frankenstein Denied love, search for acceptance, rejected, turns to hate