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The Romantic period lasts about forty years, from the French Revolution in 1789 to the Reform Act
of 18321. It is sometimes called the Age of Revolutions: the American Revolution of 1776, and the
spirit of “liberty, equality and fraternity” of the French Revolution made it a time of hope and
change. [Cf. Carter & Rae, p. 103]
The forty-three years from the Fall of the Bastille (1789) to the passage of the first reform Bill
(1832) precisely cover the period in English literary history from the appearance of Blake’s Songs
of Innocence to the death of Sir Walter Scott. Commonly called the Romantic Period, it might be
called the pre-Victorian Age, in a double sense, both chronologically as preceding the queen’s long
reign and also because it saw England moving through the ordeal 2 of the Industrial Revolution and
the Napoleonic wars to her period of dominance during the middle decades of the 19 th century. [Cf.
Chew & Altick, p. 1113]
The half-century from approximately 1775 to 1830 saw the American Revolution and the
emergence of the United States, the French Revolution and Napoleon, the spread 3 throughout
Europe and America of democratic egalitarian ideals, the origin or intensification in every European
country of a sentiment of national identity, and, especially in England, the first important
development of the industrial system. At the same time, virtually every realm of thought and art
underwent a profound modification of which we still feel the impact. [Cf. Perkins, p. 1]
In discussing the historical background of the brilliant achievement of this period, one must begin
with the French revolution. (…) it is impossible to imagine the shock and awakening that swept 4
over Europe when in 1789 the Bastille, a prison that symbolized royal power, was stormed by a
Paris mob and a great popular uprising 5 broke out in France. (…) Two of the myriad effects may be
noticed at once. With the dissolution of the social and class barriers – or even the hope of it –
individual energies were released 6 and it seemed that no limit needed to be set to personal ambition.
[Cf. Perkins, p. 3]
1
Introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales, for the Common House of
Parliament. The Act granted seats in the House of Commons to large cities that had sprung up during the Industrial
Revolution, and took away seats from the "rotten boroughs"—those with very small populations. The Act also increased
the number of individuals entitled to vote, increasing the size of the electorate from about 400,000 to 650,000, and
allowing a total of one out of six adult males to vote, in a population of some 14 million.
2
ordeal = difficult, painful experience.
3
spread = cover, reach a wider area.
4
sweep = to clean a floor with a brush.
5
uprising = an act of opposition, sometimes using violence, by many people in an area of a country against those who are
in power.
6
release = to give freedom or free movement to someone or something.
ENGLISH LITERATURE II
Professor Jeová Mendonça
In the second place, to sympathizers everywhere it appeared that society was about to be established
on a rational and democratic basis, or even on a basis of fraternal love. “Bliss was it in that dawn to
be alive”, remembered Wordsworth. [Cf. Perking, p. 3]
Throughout Europe the example of France intensified the already widespread 7 questioning of social
and political institutions, and, with the possibility of transformation before their eyes, men set
themselves with a new excitement and determination to seek ultimate principles – what is justice?
Human nature? The rights of man? Whence 8 derived? – and the quickening challenge of
fundamental rethinking touched intellectual life at all points. [Cf. Perking, p. 3]
The cause of the revolution in France may be bound, first, in institutions and conditions that made
social conflict inevitable and its peaceful solution difficult and, second, in the writings of
intellectuals throughout the 18th century. (…) It was Rousseau – whose Social Contract (1762)
begins with the famous inflammatory sentence “Man is born free, and is everywhere in chains”.
(…) The democratic ideal, partly expressed in the slogan “liberty, equality, fraternity”, had an
immense appeal throughout Europe, and when war later broke out, France at first conquered by
ideology as well as by arms. [Cf. Perkins, p. 4]
(…) the ideal of the revolution did not have the same impact in England as in the rest of Europe,
partly because … Englishmen viewed foreign ideology with suspicion and partly because of the
widespread revival that began with the Methodist movement in the later part of the 18 th century.
This revival both distracted and consoled the suffering poor and made the “atheist” Jacobin 9 an
object of horror. [Cf. Perkins, p. 4]
The early period of the French Revolution, marked by the Declaration of the Rights of Man and
the storming of the Bastille to release imprisoned political offenders, evoked enthusiastic support
from English liberals and radicals alike. [Cf. Norton, p. 1]
Meanwhile [i.e., disappointment at the outcome of Revolution and opposing viewpoints of English
intellectuals concerning it], profound social and economic changes were taking place. The Industrial
Revolution … meant that people were moving from the country villages to the new factory towns
that sprang up10. Local government made little provision for the needs of this population for law,
health, education, religion, or diversion. (…) Because of the Industrial and Agricultural Revolutions
England’s wealth and productivity increased enormously during the Romantic period, and it is
7
widespread = existing or happening in many places
8
whence = where
9
Jacobin: political club of the French Revolution. The club derived its popular name from the monastery of the Jacobins
(Parisian name of Dominicans), where the members met. (…)The Jacobins exercised through their journals considerable
pressure on the Legislative Assembly. A small minority of Jacobins grew more radical, adopted republican ideas, and
advocated universal manhood suffrage, popular education, and separation of church and state.
10
spring up = come to exist
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Professor Jeová Mendonça
probable that even the poor enjoyed, on the whole, a higher standard of living than previously. [Cf.
Perkins, p. 5]
This was a turbulent period, during which England experienced the ordeal of change from a
primarily agricultural society, where wealth and power had been concentrated in the landholding
aristocracy, to a modern industrial nation … .[ Cf. Norton, p.1]
Society was changing, becoming industrial rather than agricultural as towns and cities developed;
the government encouraged free trade; the new middle class became powerful, and there were
moves towards voting reform and greater democracy. But change was slow, and there was a lot of
suffering, especially among the poor. [Cf. Carter & McRae, p. 103]
For the great majority of the laboring class the results of this policy were inadequate wages, long
hours of work under harsh11 discipline in sordid conditions, and the large-scale employment of
women and children for tasks that destroyed both the body and the spirit. [Cf. Norton, p. 3]
As in earlier English history, women constituted a deprived class which cut across social classes,
for they were widely regarded as inferior to men in intellect and in all but domestic talents, were
provided limited schooling and no facilities for higher education, had only lowly vocations opened
to them, were subjected to a special, rigid code of sexual behaviour, and possessed (especially after
marriage) almost no legal rights. (…) In the revolutionary period, women finally acquired a strong
and eloquent champion: Mary Wollstonecraft. (…) The cause of women’s rights, however, was not
taken up by effective proponents until the Victorian era, and even partial achievement of its aims
was delayed until well along the 20th century.
In fact, the name romantic was only given to the period later, when its spirits of freedom and hope
could be recognized as different, as an important moment of change. [Cf. Carter & McRae, p. 104]
Meanings of the word “Romantic”:
1. showing strong feelings of love: Tom always sends me red flowers on my birthday.
How romantic!.
2. highly imaginative or impractical: She has romantic notions about becoming a
famous actress.
3. of art and literature: Students of English Literature II should study romantic poetry
and prose. Romanticism: in art and literature: the quality of admiring feeling rather
than thought, and wild natural beauty rather than things made by people.
(…) as a critical term it tends to equivocate 12 between the Romantic considered as a recurring type
of personality and as a particular historical era. Moreover, even as the name of a cultural epoch the
11
harsh = cruel, severe
12
equivocate: to speak in a way that is intentionally not clear and confusing to other people, especially to hide the truth.
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Professor Jeová Mendonça
terms constantly shifts meaning. Romanticism was not the same phenomenon in literature, fine arts,
music, philosophy, historiography, and science; nor did it fall within the same span of time in the
separate lines of endeavor13 and in the several nations. [Cf. Perkins, p.2]
The term “Romantic”, which is conventionally applied to the last thirty years of this period (1800 –
1830) is far from adequate. (…) as a qualitative or descriptive term, the word “Romantic” – in its
traditional and popular sense – is strictly applicable to only some aspects of the intellectual and
cultural character of these thirty years. (…) in contrast to the rational order, regularity, and the
generalization associated with neoclassical art, “Romanticism” – largely because it was associated
with the art and literature of the Middle Ages – suggested the “irregular”, “picturesque”, “wild”,
and distant. But if the literature of the “Romantic” era was concerned with the remote or the distant,
it was also concerned with, in a new and vital way, with the concrete and the directly familiar; and
in it we find the beginnings of modern naturalism and realism. (…) If it was attracted to the Middle
Ages, it was equally drawn to classical antiquity; and its critical values both encouraged and
profited from a resurgent and more informed study of the classical. [Cf. Perkins, p. 1, 2]
In literature, Romantic writing is mostly poetry: Wordsworth and Coleridge wanted a revolution
too, in poetic language and in themes which contrasted with the earlier Augustan Age. (…) The
individual spirit rather than an ordered society became important. [Cf. Carter & McRae, p. 104]
The “Romantic” refuses to recognize restraints 14 in subject matter or form and so is free to represent
the abnormal, grotesque, and monstrous and to mingle 15 standpoints, genres, modes of expression
(such as philosophy and poetry), and even the separate arts in a single work. [Cf. Perkins, p. 2]
NOTES:
Romantismo na Literatura Brasileira (1830 – 1870/80) teve como objetivo expressar as
peculiaridades do país e valorização dos aspectos mais individuais da vida afetiva. Também
procurou consolidar uma literatura tipicamente brasileira tanto em termos temáticos quanto
13
endeavor = to try to do something.
Augustan Age: refers back to the heyday of classical writing during the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus (27bC –
14AD) and the stylistics achievements of the Latin poets of the golden age, Virgil, Horace, Ovid whose writings were
much admired and imitated by the authors of this later neo-classical period. Some of its common literary concerns were:
the development of an elegant, well-tuned style, the pursuit of fluency, precision of expression and a dislike of cant or
slang, etc
14
restraint = control, limitation
15
mingle = mix
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NOTA DE RODA PÉ
11áspero = cruel, severo
12 equívoco: falar de uma forma intencionalmente não clara e confusa
para outras pessoas, especialmente para esconder a verdade.
13 esforço = tentar fazer algo.
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Professor Jeová Mendonça
NOTAS:
• Romantismo na Literatura Brasileira (1830 - 1870/80) teve como objetivo
expressar como peculiaridades do país e valorização dos aspectos mais
individuais da vida afetiva. Também dedicado a consolidar uma literatura brasileira
tanto em termos temáticos quanto estilísticos. Alguns representantes: Gonçalves
Dias (ex. “Canção do exílio”, José de Alencar (ex: “Iracema), Bernardo Guimarães
(ex.“ A escrava Isaura ”).
Nota de Rodapé
Idade de Augusto: remete ao apogeu da escrita clássica durante o
reinado do imperador romano Augusto (27bC - 14AD) e às realizações
estilísticas dos poetas latinos da idade de ouro, Virgílio, Horácio, Ovídio,
cujos escritos foram muito admirados e imitados pelos autores deste
período neoclássico posterior. Algumas de suas preocupações literárias
comuns eram: o desenvolvimento de um estilo elegante e bem ajustado, a
busca pela fluência, a precisão de expressão e a aversão à cantilena ou gíria,
etc.
14 restrição = controle, limitação
15 misturar = misturar
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