BEAUTY IS TRUTH,
TRUTH BEAUTY
The Romantic Period
1798-1832
Rulers of the Era (1798-1832)
• George III – 1760 – 1820
• Lost the American Revolution
• Declared insane – 1811
• Son named Prince Regent – Regency Period
• George IV – 1820 – 1830
• Scandalous reputation
• William – 1830-1837
• Brother of George IV
• 10 illegitimate children – no legitimate heir
Ruler of the Next Era
• Victoria – 1837 - 1901
• Daughter of youngest brother
• Came to throne at age 18
• Determined to restore morality and decency
• Period called The Victorian Era
Major Happenings
• The American Revolution (1776):
• Loss of British prestige, confidence and economy
• The French Revolution (1789):
• Ruling class fears an overthrow of the King and the rise of the
lower classes
• Napoleonic War (1793-1804):
• Results in war between France and England (again); great
suspicion of French spies; agitators held in prison without trial.
• Industrial Revolution Continues
• Urban population lives in appalling conditions; good produced
by machine and not by hand
• Laissez Faire Business/ Government Principles
• The rich get richer and the poor get poorer
Society – the haves and have nots
• Inhuman working conditions
• Slave wages
• Moral collapse
• Disease
• Squalid living conditions
Why Romanticism
• A rebellion against the age of reason – too scientific
• A reaction to society’s ills brought on by industrialization
• Belief in trusting one’s emotions
• Questioning tradition and authority
• Remember – Romanticism doesn’t imply love stories but only
an optimistic, idealistic outlook on life
What Romantics Wrote About
• Faraway places
• Inspiration through nature
• Forbidden ancient knowledge
• Fantasy and escape
• Praise of the common man
• Glorification of the social outcast – the rebel
• Exploration of the dark side of life
Writers of the Era – The Poets
• William Wordsworth
• The World is Too Much with Us
• John Keats
• On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
• Robert Burns
• To a Mouse
• William Blake
• The Tyger / The Lamb
• Lord Byron (George Gordon)
• She Walks in Beauty
Writers of the Era – The Poets
• Percy Shelly
• To a Skylark
• Samuel Taylor Coleridge
• The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
• Kubla Khan
Writers of the Era – the Novelists
• Jane Austin
• Pride and Prejudice
• Henry Fielding
• The History of Tom Jones – a Foundling
• Mary Shelly
• Frankenstein
• Sir Walter Scott
• Ivanhoe