REALITY & VISIONTHE TWO GENERATIONS Of ROMANTIC POETS

IDEALSTHE FRENCH REVOLUTION

ENGLISH ROMANTIC MOVEMENT

Jean Jacques Rosseau’s FIRST GENERATION SECOND

GENERATION

BYRON

SHELLEYKEATS

WORDSWORTH

COLERIDGE

IDEALS OF THE R OMANTIC MOVEMENT

• Ideals of the Romantic movement:

1. the exaltation of freedom;

2. the importance of the individual and the value of feelings;

3. the concept of nature as an expression of the divinity

4. the idea that the child is closer to God than the adult( Jean Jacques Rousseau)

5. the concept of the role of the poet

6. the emphasis of the cognitive power of imagination;

7. clash between the real and the ideal

JEAN JACQUES ROSSEAU

• Jean Jacques Rosseau’s ideas are based on the statement that man is naturally good but he is contaminated by an artificial civilisation which values reason above the impulse of the heart

THE FRENCH REVOLUTION

• The importance of the ideals of the FRENCH REVOLUTION : “liberty, equality and fraternity” which caused the spirit of reaction against an oppressive establishment

THE ENGLISH ROMANTIC MOVEMENT • In English literary history, the Romantic Period extends from 1798 , when

Wordsworth and Coleridge published the LYRICAL BALLADS, to 1837 , when Victoria became Queen of England

• THE LYRICAL BALLADS represent the manifesto of English Romanticism. They presented:

• the revival of creative originality;• poetry makes use of everyday speech;• the theme of NATURE , seen as a source of understanding and a means of

communication with God.• the idea of the cognitive power of imagination • the figure of the SOLITARY : the poet is seen alone of feels lonely • Linked to the theme of the SOLITARY is the theme of the WANDERER ;• nostalgic view into the past , especially the Middle Ages , in order to search for the

nation’s cultural roots and also in order to recreate a simpler, more natural way of life interest in old BALLADS

FIRST & SECOND GENERATIONS OF ROMANTIC POETS

FIRST GENERATION SECOND GENERATION

1. WORDSWORTH2. COLERIDGE

1. BYRON2. SHELLEY 3. KEATS

FIRST & SECOND GENERATIONS OF ROMANTIC POETS• THEMES IN COMMON BETWEEN the FIRST and the

SECOND GENERATION of Romantic Poets:• The concept of the role of the poet;• the idea of the cognitive power of imagination;• individualism ;• the aspiration to the Infinite

COMMON CHARACTERISTICS of THE SECOND GENERATION OF ROMANTIC POETS

• all left England , they separated themselves from their homeland , visited Italy ( “the paradise of exiles”) and died prematurely in tragic and violent circumstances;

• they want to escape from reality in order to find new values ( Byron rebel for personal reason extreme individualism); Shelley spirit of brotherhood (triumph of the aspiration to freedom & equality); Keats aesthetic values;

• their interest in NATURE is different from Wordsworth ( who gives Nature an educative moral force ) because for them Nature ( the wind ) becomes symbols of metaphysical concepts such as BEAUTY,LOVE and LIBERTY.. These ideals have an end in themselves since the poet has lost any hopes of re-establish a link with the present

WORDSWORTH

• 1) THEMES poetry was made from simple and rustic incidents of life W. thought that simple and rustic people are not are not corrupted by civilization. At the same time CHILDREN , who are innocent and imaginative, possess superior intuitive capacity because they closer to NATURE than adults

• 2) his vision of Nature which was not seen only as a beautiful scenery but as a spiritual influence on life .His vision is pantheistic because he identifies the natural universe with God. Since God is present in nature , communication with Nature is morally uplifting and the task of the poet is to convey and communicate his intuitions to the other man .

• 3) he makes use of a language similar to ordinary speech• 4) His vision of the POET as a PROPHET , a man of uncommon emotional vitality

who can perceive the meaning of life thanks to his sensibility.• 5) his idea of creative method in poetry is “ EMOTION RECOLLETED IN

TRANQUILLITY” • 6) His idea of poetry includes the importance and value of the IMAGINATION , the so-

called “ inward eye” • -which throws a “certain colouring “ over ordinary things ;• -which gives an intuition of the true nature of life

COLERIDGE

• COLERIDGE: interest in the supernatural and fantasy. • He is remembered for THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT

MARINER , one of the poem with which he contributed to the Lyrical Ballads.

• In this poem Coleridge handles supernatural with great realism so that the fantastic experience results to be credible.The other important work is KUBLA KHAN (1816) a poem with fantastic imagery based on a dream.

• According to Coleridge the POET must have the ability to make his narrative credible , so that the reader is ready to “suspend” his incredulity and is ready to be led into a world of strange and wonderful things ( THEORY of THE SUSPENSION OF DISBELIEF)

SHELLEY

• SHELLEY: He embodies the spirit of Romanticism for :• the revolt of Imagination against the limits of reality;• the revolt of the individual against the social conventions which limit individual

freedom. He was an idealist who voiced the revolutionary element of Romanticism.• He rebelled against all forms of authority , either political or religious, and he

advocated a moral and spiritual liberation of mankind from any types of chains such as social conventions and religious taboos.He was an aristocratic radical who had three absolutes in his life : LIBERTY-LOVE and BEAUTY.In spite of his atheism , he dreamt of a pervading LOVE that would bring universal friendship , brotherhood and peace to the world. He believed in “ the spirit of brotherhood)

• He adored LIBERTY and rebelled against any forms of tyranny , cruelty, authority and class privilege.

• His Pantheism is different from Wordsworth’s:

I. For Wordsworth NATURE was a moral force;

II. For Shelley , NATURE was the embodiment of the creative spirit , and there was nothing moral about this spirit. Nature was wild and terrible and the spirit of Man should be as free as the spirit of NATURE

• The role of the POET , with his imaginative powers, enters the world of the Platonic ideas , and so he comes in contact with the remote ideal or true reality . For him POETRY should be used as an instrument to advocate political, social and religious revolution.. He had a passion for reforming the world.