Romanticism

Caty Zick

Discussion 1H

Romanticism

The term “Romanticism” is often used as if it referred to a single, unified idea. The concept of Romanticism, however, is not a single idea, but a larger set of ideas that came to light between 1785 and 1835/1840, largely in response to the end of the French Revolution (in 1789) and the hastening of the Industrial Revolution. Romanticism represents a moment of revolution in every aspect of life—political, economic, industrial, and social.

During the Romantic period, people began to view the self as the focal point of society, a major shift from the previous idea of the individual. This sudden revelation of the self marked the beginning of a larger shift in politics, commerce, and society. Political rights had only been given to land-holding men in England, but the French Revolution brought universal rights to men and women who had previously been ignored by the political process. Upon seeing this, the English renewed their objections to the few ruling the many, and wanted their politics to reflect their newfound sense of individualism. The English population felt the people should have a right to representation, not only politically, but verbally. This meant that the elite should not be the only voices heard in both politics and in literature, leading poets such as William Blake to spearhead this movement as a working class poet who asserted his right to be heard.

A person’s sense of self and how they related to other people in the world became an important question during the Romantic period. It is this quest to find meaning in the self that drove poets such as Wordsworth (the quintessential Romantic poet) to try to relate the self to nature. This aspect of Romanticism is often all that is seen of the movement, though there was much, much more to Romanticism than simply a poetic return to nature. Romanticism constituted a revolution in ideas about the importance of the self, which lead to new ideas about politics, economics, and society.

Some oft-cited Romantic Poets:
-Wordsworth
-Coleridge
-Byron
-Percy Shelley
-Keats
-Blake

Dr. Makdisi discussed the meaning of Romanticism in his lecture on January 24th and 31st.