the romantic period. refers to the years 1786-1832 in british literature stressed strong emotion,...
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The Romantic Period
The Romantic Period
• Refers to the years 1786-1832 in British Literature
• Stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from conservative beliefs and rebellion against social conventions
• The period was a rejection and response to the conventions of Classicism – with its focus on order, tradition, harmony and rational thinking
• The Romantics emphasized the power of the individual
Characteristics of Romantic Literature
• Adventurous, chivalrous, creative, dreamlike, eccentric, emotional, enthusiastic, free, humanitarian, idealistic, imaginative, individualistic, introspective, moody, nature-oriented, passionate, primitive, sensitive, sensual, solitary, unconventional, visionary
Romantic Poets
• John Keats:• Abandoned the
study of medicine to become a poet
• Wrote poems of great beauty and sensuous imagination
• Died of tuberculosis as a young man
Romantic Poets
• Walt Whitman:• American poet
known for his aggressive free verse of lack of inhibitions
• Wrote about man in harmony with the cosmos
• Died in poverty
Romantic Poets
• Percy Bysshe Shelley:• Expelled from university
for writing a pamphlet on The Necessity of Atheism
• Left England to avoid public censure on his radical views of politics and religion
• Wrote about the beauty and freedom of nature and the triumph of the human spirit over restraints
Romantic Poets
• George Gordon (Lord Byron):
• Wealthy, handsome and unconventional
• Left England to live in Europe due to gossip about his romantic affairs
• Dedicated to the concept of freedom, both personally and politically
• Died in the Greek struggle for independence from Turkey
Romantic Poets
• William Wordsworth:
• The prime figure of the English Romantic movement
• Wrote powerfully emotional poems about common life
O Captain My Captain - Walt Whitman
O Captain my Captain! our fearful trip is done,The ship has weathered every rack, the prize we sought is won,The port is near, the bells I hear, the people all exulting,While follow eyes the steady keel, the vessel grim and daring;But O heart! heart! heart!O the bleeding drops of red,Where on the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.
O Captain! my Captain! rise up and hear the bells;Rise up--for you the flag is flung for you the bugle trills,For you bouquets and ribboned wreaths for you the shores a-crowding,For you they call, the swaying mass, their eager faces turning;Here Captain! dear father!This arm beneath your head!It is some dream that on the deck,You've fallen cold and dead.
My Captain does not answer, his lips are pale and still;My father does not feel my arm, he has no pulse nor will;The ship is anchored safe and sound, its voyage closed and done;From fearful trip the victor ship comes in with object won;Exult O shores, and ring O bells!But I, with mournful tread,Walk the deck my Captain lies,Fallen cold and dead.