The Romantic Period

French Revolution (1789) – 1832Pages 620-638

Historical Transition

Period

Charles Dickens / from A Tale of Two Cities

Turbulent Times Caused by the Haves and Have Nots

• American Revolution / French Revolution• Overthrow of the Haves• Conservatives in England became more rigid– Repressive measures:• Outlawed collective bargaining• Imprisoned suspected agitators

Industrial Revolution

• Goods made by hand verses mass production• Communal land owned by many farmers was

taken over by wealthy individuals– Turned into private parks for hunting/recreation

• Large numbers of landless people, go to the cities to find work

Laissez Faire Economic Policy• “Let the people do as they pleased” / Hands

off Policy

• Economic forces should be allowed to operate freely without government interference

Laissez Faire Economic Policy• Result? – rich grew richer and the poor

suffered even more

• Adam Smith, Wealth of Nations – basis for capitalism / justification to ignore the suffering of millions

Attitude of the Day• Most members of the upper class believed

that they deserved their worldly success• And, the poor must be innately evil,

deserving of the hunger and appalling conditions that they endured

Romantic Poets

• Frustrated by England’s resistance to political and social change

• Responded through public poetry emphasizing emotion and imagination rather than bottom line reason

• Wrote poems about ordinary people– Truths about the heart– NATURE

William Blake

• He cried out against the social problems he saw

• He warned against the growing divisions between the classes, working conditions, and child labor

• “No one should go hungry in a land as green and wealthy as England.”

• Most thought he was crazy.

Romanticism1798-1832

• Pages 620-621, 622• What can you infer about the Romantic

artists?

• The divine arts of imagination: imagination, the real and eternal world of which this vegetable universe is but a faint shadow.– ~William Blake