RomanticismLiteraturepd3

=__**Literature of Romanticism**__=


 * __Romanticism:__**

The way Romanticism affected literature was that many writers and poets rejected the ideas of enlightment, particulary reason and instead focused on emotions, nature, and individualism. These ideals, would define the aspects and focus of Romanticism writing. Another key aspect of Romanticism was the great increase in nationalism and as well as individual liberties. For example, the Brothers Grimm recreated countless amount of German folklore instead of ancient mythologies and Lord Byron was an avid supporter of the Greek revolution and sent large sums of money to Greece. Finally we see an increased focus in the supernatural and weird and writers such as Mary Shelley who wrote //Frankenstein//, as well as C.R. Maturin, the Marquis de Sade, and E.T.A. Hoffmann.

"Man was born free, but everywhere he is in chains"
 * __Jean Jacques Rousseau and the reaction to the enlightment:__**

Although Jean Jacques Rousseau, was a dominant writer during the Enlightment, his ideals clashed with the writers of reason and also started the ideals of the Romanticism. Before Rousseau's writing was heard though, Rousseau was born in Geneva in 1712, and at age 16 he ran away. before his writing career took off at age 40, he did many odd jobs. In his personal life, he had very unstable relationships and was extremely paranoid trusting nobody else. This probably led him to saying in most of his writings that the source of evil was civilization and that the true good of man could be found in nature. This clashed with the ideals of the Enlightment which was especially inspired by society and reason and he wrote about the evil of civilization in two discourses called //Arts and Science// and //The Origin of Inequality Among Man//. Rousseau also broke the molds of the christianity religions at the time because he believed in a god of great love and beauty which allowed the people of Europe to slip out of the confines of religion. However Rousseau's greatest work nearly contradicted his fear of civilization and love of nature and that work was //Social Contract//. In this work he said that all the monarchs and government institutions were all for the general will or the complete say of all the people. He also claimed that the general will that should be pursued is the one not of the majority but the one that would unite the sovreign nations and also give everyone a duty to the state. Through Social Contract Rousseau became a prophet for democracy and nationalism, changing the political landscape of Europe immensely and paving the way for Romanticism to follow the enlightment.

"How does the meadow flower its bloom unfold: Because the lovely little flower is free"
 * __William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge:__**

Following the Works of Rosseau, we have lyric poets William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who continued and explored the thoughts Rouseau introduced and would make poems that would help inspire many Romantic poets such as John Keats. Wordsworth was born in 1770 and Coleridge in 1772 and in there childhoods, both of them were inspired to read the many great writers of the past. It is also in his childhood that Wordsworth developed his love of nature. After there childhood both of them went to cambridge university but both of them had plenty of interuptions during there education. Coleridge fell into debt and enlisted in the British army, however his brother paid for his release and Coleridge became part of an anti-war protest. Wordsworth meanwhile had many visits to France, and when the French Revolution broke out, he supported the common people but was repeled out by the bloodshed and violence. In 1795 the two poets met and together they started their Romanticism poetry and published there most famous work, //Lyrical Ballads.// However as time passed the two of them started to seperate and also become more conservative. both of them embrace the anglican church aswell the institutions of England with many works to show this such as //Sibylline Leaves, Ecclesiatical Sonnet// and //One the constitution of the church and state.// Soon towards the end of their lives, both would recieve high government jobs for there literature with Wordsworth becoming Poet Laureate. however their end was near, Wordsworth would live until the end of the Romanticism Era and die in 1850 while Coleridge would die in 1830 because of poor health and opium addiction.

"He who ascends to mountaintops, shall find the loftiest peaks most wrapt in clouds and snow; He who surpasses or subdues mankind must look down and hate on those below"
 * __George Gordon Byron/ Lord Byron:__**

Lord Byron, lived perhaps one of the most eccentric lifestyles of the Romantic writers which although was either positive or negitive, made him famous. His work meanwhile would increased the popularity of Romanticism throught the themes of imagination and feelings as well as increase England's curiousity in the Mediteranean. Byron was born in January 22, 1788 and at age 10 unexpectedly got the title of the sixth Byron Baron. Byron would soon enter Trinity College but showed little interest in academics and instead wrote poetry. in 1808, Byron went on a tour around the mediteranean and it was through this that Byron grew to love greece and wrote his poem //Childe Harold's Pilgrimage// which made him famous in England. Byron soon got a place in the House of Lords and continued to write works such as //The Waltz, The Giaour,// and //The Bride of Abydos// in 1813 and //The Corsair// and //Lara// in 1814. //Hebrew Melodies// followed in 1815, as did //The Siege of Corinth// and //Parisina// in 1816. Byron also had many affairs during his life and the affair with his half-sister Augusta Leigh caused Byron's social standing plummeted. He still continued to work on poems such as a satire called //Don Juan// and a radical journal with Percy Shelley called //the liberal.// However, Byron was ready to move on from poetry and when the Greek war for independence errupted, Byron traveled to Greece and was ready to led some troops but died of a serious illness.

"A thing of beauty is a joy for ever,"
 * __John Keats:__**

John Keats was a very well know lyric poet during the Romanticism era, and would help express the views of the era as well, especially the tension between absolute ideals and reasons and the transcient characteristic of life. Keats was born in London in 1795 and in school met his liflelong friend Charles Cowden Clarke who introduced him to literature. However in 1810, his mother died and Keat's guardianship went to businessman Richard Abbey, who hoped to give him a useful trade and apprenticed him to a suregeon. Although, Keats showed potential and continued down his career he still kept in touch with Clarke and started to focus more on literature. He published his first work //Poems// which recieved mixed reviews but helped him gain the friendship of journalist Leigh Hunt, who would help him in his career. Soon Keats would make his first long poem the //Endymion.// However the reputation of the poem was batted down by the Whigs. He then paid attention to Milton's Paradise Lost and the poems of William Wordsworth in order to improve his writing. This paid off in 1819, he wrote his greatest works such as the "Ode on a Grecian Urn," "Ode to a Nightingale," "Ode on Melancholy," "Lamia," and "The Eve of St. Agnes." These poems expressed his theme of a tension between an absolute universe and that of the mortal one we live in. however at the height of his career, John showed signs of sickness and in 1820 his tubercolosis showed terrible signs. Keats would soon die in 1821.


 * __Jane Austen:__**

Although the works of Jane Austen have a very lasting impression on English Literature, they were often rejected by publishers or delayed greatly. For Example, Pride and Prejudice was rejected by a London publishing company and her first novel was published when she was thrity five and well after she completed //Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Sense and Sensibility//, and etc. Because of this she had little affect on the world outside of literature compared to other Romanticist writers. However, even though her works were published relatively late, some of them even published after her death, Jane Austen still affected the romanticism period greatly. For example, Austen grew up in Stevson Rectory which exposed her to the setting and characters of most of her novel, the landed gentry. It is through this that Austen can be critical and show the follies of upper-class England during the reagency period. Another effect Austen has caused is he technique and genius in the use of the story being told through the eyes of central character, particullarly in her novel, //Emma// where there are flaws in the persception of the novel//.// Overall, even though Jane Austen was almost unheard of during her lifetime, her works contribute to and reflect the ideals of romanticism as she explores the ideals of Pride, Love, Marriage, and other emotions that characterize her Era.



During the Romanticism Era, there was an great increase in the retelling of Fairy Tales, Folklore, and history thus developing the genre of historical fiction. Two of the most famous writers of this time took great interest in this field as well and gained immense popularity from it. Using the folklore as there inspiration and basis of there works, the Brothers Grimm and Sir Walter Scott helped define Romanticist literature aswell as create great nationalism that transversed through all classes in their countries.
 * __The Brothers Grimm and Sir Walter Scott:__**

The Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm, were born in Hanau, Germany (Jacob in 1785 and Wilhelm in 1786) and although they did have other siblings the two of them remained very close and they both went to the university of Marburg to study History and Philology. In 1804, their professor introduced the two to Clemens Brentano and Achim von Arnim, who exposed the pair to peasant folklore around Germany. Inspired by this, the Brothers Grimm ended up becoming librarians at Kassel and together the two created the //Kinder und Hausmärchen,// or //Children's and Household Tales.// this immediately became a hit and were translated into many languages. the pair also did many works of their own such as Jacob's idea of the Grimm Law which spotted the pattern and Wilhelm's collection of German epics //Die Deutsche Heldensage.// Other works that the two attempted was the //Deutsche Worterbuch// which attempted to complete the task of collecting every word in german dialect in one dictionary and also the //Deutsche Mythologie// which attempted to explain culture of ancient germany in the romantic style. The Brothers Grimm would remain very close until death seperated them in 1859, however among there legacy are the classic tales they brought back to the world such as "Hansel and Gretel" and "Little Red Riding Hood."



Sir Walter Scott followed a very similar path of the Brothers Grimm he instead did so through the inspiration of the folklore of England and Scotland. It is because of this that he is considered by many historians and scholars as the inventor of the historical novel. Walter Scott was born in Edinburgh in 1771 but at age two he was stricken by polio rendering him crippled. As he grew up though, he was fascinated by history and went to the university of Edinburgh. Along with writing he was also interested in the lore of the Scottish highlanders and recreated many of there ballads and wrote them in his first work the //Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border.// Although it was a best-seller, it was critically aclaimed and persuaded him to go into writing. He would continue to write poetry and produced his best known long poem //Lady of the Lake// however, Scott realized he was unable to compete with younger poets like Lord Byron and so went into writing novels. The result was the //Waverly// which was greatly acclaimed and increased the appreciation of novels yet he chose to be anominous and soon would be known as "The Author of Waverly" or "the Great Unknown." Walter Scott would continue to write many novels including his in this title even though many readers were aware of his indentity and published other great books such as //Ivanhoe// and//The Heart of Mid-Lothian.//


 * __Mary Shelley:__**

During the this era as well, many writers have streched their imaginations to tell stories of the weird, freaky, and supernatural. Many authors have tried and out of all their works, the most famous and influential of all stories told would be Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. Mary Shelley was born in 1779 and she never met her mother because she would soon die later. Due to her Mother's death, Shelley went to the books of her fathers library where she became self-taught and curios. However, she was rejected from formal schooling by her stepmom, who mirrored the step mother from Cinderella, making Shelley miserable and favoring her own children above Mary. However this changed when Mary met Percy Shelley who dined with them and was married at the time. two years later, the pair met again and Mary confessed her love to him. Under the wishes of Father, mary agreed not to see him until Percy threatend suicide and so she ran off with him to france in 1814. however, depression was soon to follow as Mary's half sister, Percy's old wife, her son and daughter, as well as Percy would all die in a short period of time starting in 1816 causing he depression. However during this, Mary created the infamous //Frankenstein// which helped popularize the supernatural genre which was followed by many writers. This would also help Romanticism because through the story of strange events, she tells the emotional struggle of her character doctor Frankenstein and herself in her book.

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