"NATURE , EMOTION AND REVOLUTION : THE ROMANTIC AGE

THE LAKE POETS AND BEYOND : 

A ROMANTIC AGE

The Romantic Period (c. 1789–1837): A Scholarly Summary

Historical and Cultural Context

The Romantic Age, spanning from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, was marked by profound political, social, and industrial upheavals. Major historical forces included:

• The American War of Independence (1776)

• The French Revolution (1789–99)

• Napoleonic Wars (1799–1815)

• The Reform Bill (1832)

• The Industrial Revolution

This period is often called the "Age of Revolution", as it witnessed the birth of modern democracy, industrial capitalism, and the restructuring of class society in Britain. Literature responded by breaking away from neoclassical constraints and embracing emotion, nature, individualism, and radicalism.

Key Characteristics of Romantic Literature

1. Predominance of poetry, often lyrical and introspective.

2. Return to nature as a source of wisdom and spiritual insight.

3. Emphasis on imagination, emotion, and personal experience.

4. Reaction against Enlightenment rationalism and classical restraint.

5. Interest in the past, especially the medieval and the exotic.

6. Democratic and revolutionary ideals, influenced by the French Revolution.

7. Development of the historical novel (Scott) and literary criticism (Coleridge, Lamb, De Quincey, Hazlitt).

8. Emergence of the woman novelist, including Jane Austen, Maria Edgeworth, and Anne Radcliffe.

Major Romantic Poets and Themes

 William Wordsworth

• Born: 7 April 1770, Cockermouth, Cumberland, England.

• Died: 23 April 1850.

• Education: St. John's College, Cambridge.

• Influences: Nature, French Revolution (early phase), Rousseau, Milton.

• Key Relationship: Lifelong bond with sister Dorothy Wordsworth and poetic collaboration with Samuel Taylor Coleridge.

• Key works: Lyrical Ballads (1798, with Coleridge), Tintern Abbey, The Prelude, Ode: Intimations of Immortality.

• Emphasized nature as moral teacher, the sublime, and the ordinary individual.

• Advocated for the language of common speech in poetry.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 

• Born: 21 October 1772, Ottery St Mary, Devon, England

• Education: Christ's Hospital School (with Charles Lamb); Jesus College, Cambridge (did not complete degree)

• Close associate of: William Wordsworth – their friendship profoundly shaped Lyrical Ballads.

• Suffered from poor health and opium addiction, which affected his productivity.

• Deeply influenced by German philosophy (esp. Kant and Schelling), Christian theology, and Neoplatonism.

Best known for The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan, Christabel.

• Employed supernatural themes, psychological depth, and philosophical inquiry (Biographia Literaria).

• Influenced by German idealism and literary theory.

Lord Byron

• Full name: George Gordon Byron, 6th Baron Byron

• Born: 22 January 1788, London, England

• Died: 19 April 1824, Missolonghi, Greece (of fever, during Greek War of Independence)

• Education: Trinity College, Cambridge

• Notable Traits: Flamboyant, aristocratic rebel, radical in politics and life, master of irony

• Scandals: Incestuous relationship with half-sister Augusta Leigh; numerous affairs; exile from England in 1816

• Famous for: The "Byronic Hero", rebellious individualism, satire, passion, and personal mythology.

• Works: Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Don Juan, The Giaour.

• Created the archetypal Byronic hero—a rebellious, alienated figure.

• Blended political radicalism with emotional excess.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

• Full Name: Percy Bysshe Shelley

• Born: 4 August 1792, Sussex, England

• Died: 8 July 1822 (drowned in a storm near Livorno, Italy)

• Education: Eton College; expelled from University College, Oxford for atheistic pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism

• Personal Life:

  • First marriage: Harriet Westbrook (died by suicide)

  • Second marriage: Mary Shelley (author of Frankenstein)

  • Friends: Lord Byron, Leigh Hunt, Thomas Love Peacock

• Political & Philosophical Influence: William Godwin (anarchism), Rousseau, Plato, Enlightenment thought

• Key works: Ode to the West Wind, To a Skylark, Adonais, Prometheus Unbound.

• Known for idealism, atheism, and a vision of political and spiritual transformation.

• Used nature as a symbol of revolutionary force.

John Keats

• Born: 31 October 1795, London, England

• Died: 23 February 1821, Rome, Italy (of tuberculosis at age 25)

• Background: Son of a stablekeeper; orphaned young; trained in medicine before fully committing to poetry.

• Love Life: Had a deep and tragic relationship with Fanny Brawne, which inspired some of his most personal poetry.

• Death: His epitaph reads: "Here lies one whose name was writ in water."

• Works: Ode on a Grecian Urn, Ode to a Nightingale, Hyperion, The Eve of St. Agnes.

• Embodied aestheticism, classical beauty, and sensuous imagery.

• Articulated the idea of “negative capability”—embracing uncertainty and ambiguity.

Romantic Age poets in brief:

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• Major Prose Writers and Developments

Walter Scott 

• Born: 15 August 1771, Edinburgh, Scotland

• Died: 21 September 1832, Abbotsford, Scotland

• Profession: Poet, novelist, historian, lawyer

• Known For: Blending romanticism with realism and reviving interest in Scottish history, folklore, and the medieval past.

•  His poetic romances were extremely popular but later overshadowed by Byron's fame, which led him to focus on fiction.

• Founder of the historical novel (Waverley, Ivanhoe).

• Blended romantic imagination with realistic historical detail.

 

Charles Lamb

• Born: 10 February 1775, London

• Died: 27 December 1834, Edmonton, England

• Education: Christ’s Hospital, alongside Samuel Taylor Coleridge (lifelong friend)

• Occupation: Clerk at the East India House (1792–1825)

• Notable Relationship: Deeply devoted to his sister Mary Lamb, with whom he co-authored works.

• In 1796, Mary suffered a mental breakdown and killed their mother during a fit of insanity.

• Lamb refused to institutionalize her permanently, choosing instead to care for her himself.

• This lifelong responsibility profoundly shaped his writings — blending humour, pathos, nostalgia, and emotional restraint.

• Essays of Elia reveal a nostalgic, deeply personal voice.

• Celebrated for his whimsical tone, Elizabethan affinities, and moral insight.

   Thomas De Quincey

• Born: 15 August 1785, Manchester, England

• Died: 8 December 1859, Edinburgh, Scotland

• Education: Briefly at Oxford (left without a degree)

• Notable Associations:

  • Friends with Wordsworth, Coleridge, and Charles Lamb

  • Admired German philosophy, especially Kant

• Addiction: Became addicted to opium (laudanum), which deeply influenced his writing.

• Began using opium as a pain reliever in 1804.

• His addiction shaped both his inner life and his literary legacy.

• Turned personal suffering into literary subject matter, anticipating modern confessional literature and psychological fiction.

• Known for Confessions of an English Opium-Eater.

• His prose is marked by psychological introspection and rhetorical flourish.

William Hazlitt

• Born: 10 April 1778, Maidstone, Kent, England

• Died: 18 September 1830, London

• Profession: Essayist, literary critic, journalist, philosopher, and painter

• Associations: Close with Wordsworth, Coleridge, Lamb, and Keats

• Personality: Outspoken, radical, often controversial in politics and criticism.

• A leading literary critic; emphasized impressionistic criticism and the importance of individual genius.

Jane Austen

• Born on 16 December 1775 in Steventon, Hampshire, England.

• Daughter of Rev. George Austen, grew up in a well-read, middle-class clerical family.

• Wrote stories from a young age; educated mostly at home.

• Remained unmarried throughout her life; very close to her sister Cassandra.

• Died on 18 July 1817 at the age of 41; buried in Winchester Cathedral.

• Novels such as Pride and Prejudice represent a counter-current to Romantic excess, focusing on domestic realism, social satire, and female agency.

• Her work is a bridge between 18th-century realism and Victorian novelistic development.

• French Revolution and Literary Impact

• The French Revolution inspired themes of liberty, equality, and anti-authoritarianism.

• Wordsworth and Coleridge initially celebrated it, while Shelley remained a lifelong political radical.

• The post-revolutionary disillusionment is reflected in Byron's cynicism and Wordsworth’s turn to conservatism and nature mysticism.

Key Texts for Study

• Poetry: Lyrical Ballads, Ancient Mariner, Childe Harold, Prometheus Unbound, Ode on a Grecian Urn.

• Novels: Ivanhoe (Scott), Pride and Prejudice (Austen).

• Essays: Essays of Elia (Lamb), The English Mail-Coach (De Quincey).

• Criticism: Biographia Literaria (Coleridge), The Spirit of the Age (Hazlitt).

Further Reading (Criticism & Reference)

• M.H. Abrams, The Mirror and the Lamp

• Harold Bloom, The Visionary Company

• Marilyn Butler, Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries

• Isaiah Berlin, The Roots of Romanticism

• Paul de Man, The Rhetoric of Romanticism