THE ROMANTIC AGE

(1776-1837)

(Rain,Steam and Speed The Great Western Railway - Turner)

Some days ago I wrote something about John Keats (1795-1821) and about the film "Bright Star", so now I think it's necessary to explain the period in which he lived.

Social and historical background:

It was the Romantic Age, also known as the "Age of Revolutions" and the "Age of Sensibility". It covered a period dating from the American Declaration of Independence (1776), that developed the belief in the principles of republicanism and in the people's rights to choose their systems of laws, to the first Reform Bill.

During that period Britain was ruled by George III, George IV and William IV.

It was the time of the American War of Independence (1775-1783) between American colonies and Britain. The colonies didn't accept Britain's policy of taxation and wanted to have their own representatives in the British Parliament. Then we must remember the French Revolution (1789-1794) which transformed France from an Absolute Monarchy to a Republic based on the principles of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity and whose effects were widespread all over Europe. It was the time of the Napoleonic Wars (1799-1815) and of the Industrial Revolution that changed Britain from an agrarian to an industrialized economy. There was also an Agricultural Revolution after which farming became modernised and areas of land were distributed to the owners thanks to the enclosures. Social Revolutions and reforms caused the formation of a new class: the working class.

Cultural and Literary background:

The three main branches of the Romantic Movement were German, French and English.

In Germany Romanticism was represented by Goethe, in France it was influenced by Rousseau.

British Romanticism mainly developed in poetry. We can remember William Wordsworth, Samuel T. Coleridge, George G. Byron, John Keats. In addition Romanticism was represented also in prose with Mary Shelley (Evolution of Gothic Novel), Walter Scott (Historical Novel), Jane Austen (Novel of Manners).

The main features of romantic poetry are:

• the exaltation of nature: Romantics feel the correspondences between man's feelings and natural landscapes. In their work they show a preference for the sublime aspects of nature: storms, eathquakes, rough seas, mountains, glaciers;
• the celebration of childhood as a phase in man's life close to the ideal state of nature;
• the creative power of imagination;
• the artist seen as a prophet, a sage or a philosopher who can see deeply into the real essence of things. The poet is a man speaking to other men and pointing out what is wrong in society and what ideals common people should pursue;
• the emphasis on individual emotions and experience as a form of reaction to the social and political pressures.

(The Cornfield - Constable)