The Romantic Revival (1800 - 1850)

Historical Background

During the late 18th century, Democracy and opportunity for the masses was a thought that was becoming more and
more popular. Many citizens who had not benefited from the victory of Parliament in the Civil War voiced their
discontent. The United States declared independence in 1776 and in 1789 the French Revolution violently ended the
power of the monarchy and aristocracy in France. The new philosophy of the rights of all men was expressed both in
politics and literature. This new form philosophy became one of the main guidelines of a new school of Romantic poets,
writers and philosophers.

It was at this time that the government extended the right to vote to the middle classes because of the threat of a
popular revolution. The working classes however were not allowed to do so until the very end of the 19th century. The
working class survived under awful conditions. As the migration from an agricultural society to an industrial society
gathered force, towns became cities, the population grew out of control and more and more villagers, forced by
economic necessity to seek work in the growing factories, crowded together in dirty slums. Men, women and children
worked from sunrise to sunset for insignificant wages. During this so called Industrial Revolution no child who was able
to pull a cart in the polluted coal mines or sweep a floor in a factory, was considered too young to work. The poor had
practically no access to education.

The Romantic spirit affected practically every aspect of English life reflected the effects of revolutions abroad, the
demand for more democratic government and a growing awareness of social injustices. Artificiality was superseded by
simplicity and naturalness as characterization of this new era. There was a resurgence of interest in wild and lonely
portions of forest or mountains instead of manicured gardens. Architecture tried to recapture the mysterious
atmosphere of the Middle Ages and rejected the rigid Classical style. Dress, too, became more simple and natural.

The Romantic sense that had in the past been so strongly felt during the Elizabethan Age, and had been repressed
during the Augustan Age, was back again. The British cast off the Augustan restraint in a more daring and imaginative
approach to both literature and life. The Augustan idea of order and reason were not supported by the realities of life
and thus were rejected. Romanticism represents a revolt against Reason as the only supreme guide in all areas of living
and rejects the idea that life can be reduced to a few scientific formulas. The prevailing point of view was a personal and
subjective one.

The Development of the Language

Because 18th century English had often proved limited and artificial, poets and novelists of the Romantic Period looked
for inspiration to the folk ballads and the speech of everyday life. The 18th century idea of creating majestic literary
English which was different in style from spoken English was rejected. Since the beginning of the 19th century, written
English has become progressively less formal and closer to the spoken language.

At this time Greek began to have a direct effect upon the language. Many new philosophical and scientific words were
being added to English. Combining two or more words or roots from Latin or Greek was a popular way of forming
scientific words. This process created words such as Barometer and thermometer. Another way of creating new names
was the addition of Greek prefixes and suffixes such as micro- (small), macro- (large), tele- (far), per- (maximum), -oid
(like), -ic (smaller), -ous (larger), to names already in use. Therefore such modern words as microskirt, macroeconomics,
telephone, peroxide, paranoid, sulphuric and sulphurous were added to the English Language.

Clear across the Atlantic, in North America, English was also changing; before 1750 American speech was probably very
similar to that of England. However, by the year 1800, differences in pronunciation began to take place. For example,
during the late 18th century, speakers in England had turned to using an 'ah' sound in words like 'path', 'ask', 'glass'.
Most speakers in America, which had recently become independent, were not affected by the British trend and
continued to pronounce these words with the flat 'a' sound heard in 'cat' and 'man'. This difference, one of the most
noticeable, can still be observed today.

British and American differences in spelling also originated in this period. Most of them are the due to the work of an
American named Webster, who was interested in spelling reform. He concluded that it would be more convenient as
well as more practical to use a simplified form of spelling certain words, for example, honor instead of honour, color
instead of colour, wagon instead of waggon. He registered these spellings in his dictionary which was widely read and
came to be regarded as the authoritative opinion on spelling in America.

What the Romantic Period most importantly contributed to the development of the English language was its movement
away from the rigidity of the Augustan Age to a much more colorful and flexible language, similar to that which had
existed during the Elizabethan Age.

The Romantic revival refers to a period from the late eighteenth century through 1832 in which poets, writers, and artists
across Europe, but particularly in Germany and England, reacted against the Neoclassicism that preceded them.
Neoclassical poetry was rooted in Greek and Roman models and used strict forms, such as carefully metered rhyming
couplets in poetry. It valued balance and emotional restraint and tended to concentrate on the deeds of great men. The
Romantics rebelled against all this, seeking a greater emphasis on emotions, experimenting with freer verse (or artistic)
forms, and focusing attention on common people and nature. In poetry, the movement is most strongly associated with
Goethe in Germany and Wordsworth and Coleridge in England. While the preface to Lyrical Ballads is most often, and
rightfully so, used as a guide to the tenets of Romanticism, especially the emphasis on "the spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings ... emotion recollected in tranquility," Wordsworth gives other insights into his motivations for writing
in "The Prelude," a long poem published after his death but first drafted in 1805. In it, he speaks of his insight and
conviction that as poet-prophet he could describe the common person in a sympathetic light, a task important to him after
he witnessed the French Revolution turn into a bloodbath. He was one of many artists of his period who felt a surge of
interest in and sympathy for the common person and for nature as solace in a corrupt civilization. Of course, nothing
occurs in a vacuum, and the seeds of the Romantic revival were sown throughout the eighteenth century.

Notable Romantic Poets

William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shelly
Atheist, anti-religion
Poems about permanence of things that are true and beautiful
Common themes- hatred of kings, faith of natural goodness of man, belief in corruption of present society, power of
reason, rights of natural impulse, desire for a revolution, liberty equality, and fraternity- all shaped by the French
revolution.

Byron
No faith stood for destruction.
Admitted he resisted authority but offered no solution.
Poetry- deep feeling than deep thinking to make characters strong. Characters in complete harmony with nature and
therefore lose themselves in the immensity of the world. French Revolution shaped his beliefs and opposition to
monarchy.
Wordsworth
Supported the aristocrats but later supported the Revolution. Most profoundly felt and expressed the connection of the
soul to nature. Saw great value in immediate contact with nature.
French Revolution humanized Wordsworth-transitioned from extremely natural experiences to facing the realities and
ills of life- including society and the Revolution.
His focus became the interests of man rather than the power and innocence of nature.

Coleridge
Supported the
Was more open and receptive to the social and political world around him, was a versatile man, led a life that covered
many fields and his work displayed this. Was a poet of nature, romance and the Revolution. Was a philosopher,
historian, political figure-shaped through French Revolution.
Poem-“Destruction of Bastille”- contains the proud tone of a victor. The speaker declares his victory “Go, Tyranny!
Beneath some barbarous sky thy terrors lost, and ruin’d power deplore!" This is an exhilarated cry taunting “Tyranny”
and its loss of power over the French people. This victorious and proud tone continues into the later stanzas. “Yes!
Liberty the soul of Life shall reign, shall throb in every pulse, shall flow thro’ every vein!” Now, the speaker isn’t just
talking about a victory over “Tyranny,” he is talking about hope for the future though “Liberty.” A final aspect of this
poem to consider are the questions in stanza six “Shall France alone a Despot spurn? Shall she alone, O Freedom boast
thy care?” The lines after these expand upon this idea of universal revolution and political upheaval. This poem ends
considering the chance that Europe is presented right now, the chance for a loss of “Tyranny,” a gain of “Liberty” and a
new political order.