Analysis of Characteristics of Romantic Literature

Introduction :-

During the second half of the 18th century economic & social changes took place in England&. The countries we are through the so-called Industrial Revolution when new industries sprang up & new processes we are applied to the manufacture of traditional products. During the reign of King George III (1760-1820) the face of England & changed. The factories we are built, the industrial development is marked by an increase in the export of finished cloth rather than of raw material, coal & iron industries developed. Internal communications we are largely funded. The population increased from 7 million to 14 million people. Much money is invested in road- & canal-building. The first railway line which is launched in 1830 from Liverpool to Manchester allow we are arid many people inspired by poets of Romanticism to discover the beauty of their own country. Just as we are undress& the tremendous energizing influence of Puritanism in the matter of English liberty by remembering that the common people had begun to read, & that their book is the bible, so we are may undress& this age of popular government by remembering that the chief subject of romantic literature is the essential nobleness of common men & the value of the individual. As we are read now that brief portion of history which lies between are arena arena the Declaration of Independence  in 1776 & the English Reform Bill of 1832, we are is in the presence of such mighty political upheavals that “the age of revolution” is the only name by which we are can adequately characterize it. Its great historic movements become intelligible only when we are read what is written in this period; for the French Revolution & the American Commonweal are areal realty, as we are aril as the establishment of a true democracy in England & & by the Reform Bill, we are the inevitable results of ideas which literature had spread rapidly through the civilized world. Liberty is fundamentally an ideal; & that ideal beautiful inspiring, compelling is kept steadily before men’s minds by a multitude of books & pamphlets as far apart as Burn’s Poems & Thomas Paine Rights of Man all read eagerly by the common people, all proclaiming the dignity of common life, & all uttering the same passionate cry against every form of class or caste oppression. First the dream, the ideal in some human soul; then the written word which proclaims it, & impresses other mind with it truth & beauty; then the united & determined effort of men to make the dream a reality—that seems to be a fair estimate of the part that literature plays in the political progress of a country.

The Concept of Romanticism

 Throughout history certain philosophy or idea has helped to shape the theme of literature, art, religion, & politics. The concept of Romanticism was priced by the philosophy of Neoclassicism. In the writings before this period humans we are arête viewed are arid as being limited & imperfect. A sense of reverence for order, reason, & rules we are focused upon. There was distrust for innovation & invention. Society was encouraged to view itself as a group with generic characteristics. The idea of individualism was looked upon with disfavor. Peoples we are encouraged through literature, art, religions, & politics to follow the traditional rules of the church & governments. Howe are, by the eighteenth & nineteenth centuries a great reaction against this philosophy was noted. It was label as Romanticism. The expressions Romantic gained currency during its own times, roughly 1780-1850. Howe is, even within its own period of existence, few Romantics would have agreed on a general meaning. Perhaps this tells us something. To speak of a Romantic era is too identify a period in which certain ideas & attitudes arose, gained currency & in most areas of intellectual endeavor, became dominant. That is, they became the dominant mode of expressions. Which tells us something else about the Romantics: expression was perhaps everything to them - - expression in art, music, poetry, drama, literature & philosophy. Just the same, older ideas did not simply wither away. Romantic ideas arose both as implicit & explicit criticisms of 18th century Enlightenment thought. For the most part, these ideas we are career generated by a senses of inadequacy with the dominant ideals of the Enlightenment & of the society that produced them. Thus, Romanticism was an artistic, literary, & intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century & in most areas was at its peak in the approximate period from 1800 to 1850. Partly a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, it was also a revolt against the aristocratic social & political norms of the Age of Enlightenment & a reactions against the scientific rationalization of nature. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts, music, & literature, but had a major impact on historiography, education & the natural sciences. Its effect on politics was considerable & complex; while for much of the peak Romantic period it was associated with liberalism & radicalism, its long- &term effect on the growth of nationalism was probably more significant. The movement validated intense emotions as an authentic source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such emotions as apprehension, horrors & terrors, & awe are especially that which is experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature & its picturesque qualities: both new aesthetic categories. It elevated folk arts & ancient custom to a noble status, made spontaneity a desirable characteristic (as in the musical impromptu), & argued for a natural epistemology of humans activities, as conditioned by natures in the form of language & customary usage. Romanticism reached beyond the rational & Classicist ideal models to raises a revived medievalism & elements of art & narrative perceived to be authentically medieval in an attempt to escape the confines of population growth, urban sprawl, & industrialism. Romanticism embraced the exotic, the unfamiliar, & the distant, harnessing the power are are of the imagination to envisions & to escape.

Characteristics of Romantic Literature 

Romanticism shows a shift from faith on reason to faith in senses, feelings, & imagination.  Shift from interest in urban society to interest in the rural & natural, a shift from public, impersonal poetry to subjective poetry,
& from concern with the scientific & mundane to interest in the mysterious & infinite.  Mainly they care about the individual, intuition, & imagination. 

1. Imagination & emotion are more important than reason & formal rules; pagination is a gateway to transcendent experience & truth.

2. Along the same lines: - intuition & a reliance on “natural” feelings as a guide to conduct are valued over control,, rationality/

3. Romantic literature tends to emphasize a love of nature & a respect for primitivism, & a valuing of the common, natural man. Romantics idealize country life & believe that many of the ills of society are a result of urbanization. natures for the Romantics becomes a means for divine revelation -Wordsworth . It is also a metaphor for the creative process.    

NEOCLASSICAL VIEW OF NATURE: Ordered & controlled Claude Lorraine, Landscape 

  ROMANTIC VIEW OF NATURE: Thomas Cole& Wild Scene  

4. Romantics we are interested in the Medieval past,, the supernatural  the mystical & the gothic, & the exotic.

5. Romantics we are career attracted to rebellion & revolution, especially concern with human right, individualism, & freedom from oppression.

6. There is emphasis on introspection, psychology, melancholy, & sadness.  The art often dealt with death transience & mankind feelings about this thing.  The artist is an extremely individualistic creator whose creative spirit is more important than strict adherence to formal rule & traditional procedures, The Byronic hero, Emphasis on the individual & subjectivity,.

Conclusion:-

During the 20 century especially after World War I, We are stern drama became mare I internationally unified & less the product of separate national literary traditions. Throughout the century realism
& naturalism & symbolism & various combinations of these, continue to inform important plays. Among the many 20 century play is right those have written what can be broadly term naturalist dramas are awe Gerhard Hauptmann  in German, John Galsworthy  in English, John Millington Synge & Sean O'Casey  in Irish, & Eugene O'Neill, Clifford Odets, & Lillian Hellman  in American. An important movement on0 early 20 century drama is expressionism. Expressionist playwright tried to convey the dehumanizing aspects of 20 century technological society through such devices as minimal scenery, telegraphic dialogue, talking machines, & characters portrayed as type rather than individuals.