Unit 1

ROMANTICISM

STUDENT´S NAME: _____________________________________

TEACHER´S NAME: _____________________________________

ROMANTICISM
Romanticism was an attitude or intellectual orientation that characterized many works of
literature, painting, music, architecture, criticism, and historiography in Western civilization
over a period from the late 18th to the mid-19th century (1800-1850). Romanticism can be seen
as a rejection of the precepts of order, calm, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality. It
was also to some extent a reaction against the Enlightenment and against 18th-
century rationalism and physical materialism in general. Romanticism emphasized the
individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the
emotional, the visionary, and the transcendental.

Among the characteristic attitudes of Romanticism were the following: a deepened

appreciation of the beauties of nature; a general exaltation of emotion over reason and of the
senses over intellect; a turning in upon the self and a heightened examination of human
personality and its moods and mental potentialities; a preoccupation with the genius, the hero,
and the exceptional figure in general and a focus on his or her passions and inner struggles; a
new view of the artist as a supremely individual creator, whose creative spirit is more important
than strict adherence to formal rules and traditional procedures; an emphasis upon imagination
as a gateway to transcendent experience and spiritual truth; an obsessive interest in folk culture,
national and ethnic cultural origins, and the medieval era; and a predilection for the exotic, the
remote, the mysterious, the weird, the occult, the monstrous, the diseased, and even the satanic.

Romanticism in English literature began in the 1790s with the publication of the Lyrical

Ballads of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Wordsworth’s “Preface” to the
second edition (1800) of Lyrical Ballads, in which he described poetry as “the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings,” became the manifesto of the English Romantic movement in
poetry. William Blake was another principal poet of the movement’s early phase in England.
The first phase of the Romantic movement in Germany was marked by innovations in both
content and literary style and by a preoccupation with the mystical, the subconscious, and the
supernatural. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (Play: Faust (1808-1832) belongs to this first phase.

The second phase of Romanticism, comprising the period from about 1805 to the 1830s,
was marked by a quickening of cultural nationalism and a new attention to national origins, as
attested by the collection and imitation of native folklore, folk ballads and poetry, folk
dance and music, and even previously ignored medieval and Renaissance works. The revived
historical appreciation was translated into imaginative writing by Sir Walter Scott, who is often
considered to have invented the historical novel. At about this same time English
Romantic poetry had reached its zenith in the works of John Keats, Lord Byron, and Percy
Bysshe Shelley.

A notable by-product of the Romantic interest in the emotional were works dealing
with the supernatural, the weird, and the horrible, as in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein 

SOME KEY CONCEPTS CONNECTED TO ROMANTICISM

- A reaction to: The Industrial Revolution, the rationalization of nature

- Associated with liberalism (liberty and equality), radicalism, the growth of
nationalism
- Romantic Poetry: individual thoughts and personal feelings. The poet was seen as an
individual distinguished from his/her fellows by the intensity of his perceptions,
taking as his/her basic subject matter the workings of his own mind. For Wordsworth
poetry was “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling”
- Stress on imagination. Samuel Taylor Coleridge saw imagination as the supreme
poetic quality, a quasi-divine creative force that made the poet a godlike being.
- Form: if poetry must be spontaneous, sincere, intense, it should be fashioned primarily
according to the dictates of the creative imagination. Romantic poetry is one of the
heart and the emotions, exploring the 'truth of the imagination' rather than scientific
 truth. Worthword advised a young poet, “You feel strongly; trust to those feelings,
and your poem will take its shape and proportions as a tree does
from the vital principle that actuates it”

ACTIVITY 1 Read the information about Romanticism

 Underline main concepts and complete the chart.

ORIGIN:

TYPE OF MOVEMENT

REACTION TO

MAIN ROMANTIC WRITER IN GERMANY

MAIN ROMANTIC WRITER IN BRITAIN

MAIN ROMANTIC WRITER IN ENGLAND

ROMANTIC WORK IN ENGLAND

ROMANTICS WERE INTERESTED IN

 In this PPT you will read about Romanticism and its influence in other areas
https://es.slideshare.net/ctawes/romanticism-40378333. TAKE NOTES IN YOUR
FOLDER.
 POETRY: WILLIAM WORDWORTH AND SAMUEL TAYLOR
COLERIDGE - Lyrical Ballads
Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems is a collection of poems by William
Wordsworth (7 April 1770 – 23 April 1850) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge (21 October 1772 –
25 July 1834), first published in 1798 and generally considered to have marked the beginning of
the English Romantic movement in literature. The immediate effect on critics was modest, but it
became and remains a landmark, changing the course of English literature and poetry.

Most of the poems in the 1798 edition were written by Wordsworth, with Coleridge
contributing only four poems to the collection (although these made about a third of the book in
length), including one of his most famous works, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

This poem recounts the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage.
The mariner stops a man who is on his way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a
story. The wedding-guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience to fear to fascination
as the mariner's story progresses, as can be seen in the language style: Coleridge uses narrative
techniques such as personification and repetition to create a sense of danger, the supernatural, or
serenity, depending on the mood in different parts of the poem.
PART I
It is an ancient Mariner,
And he stoppeth one of three.
'By thy long grey beard and glittering eye,
Now wherefore stopp'st thou me?
……

And now there came both mist and snow,

And it grew wondrous cold:
And ice, mast-high, came floating by,
As green as emerald.

And through the drifts the snowy clifts

Did send a dismal sheen:
Nor shapes of men nor beasts we ken—
The ice was all between.

The ice was here, the ice was there,

The ice was all around:
It cracked and growled, and roared and howled,
Like noises in a swound!
At length did cross an Albatross,
Thorough the fog it came;
As if it had been a Christian soul,
We hailed it in God's name.
…..

And a good south wind sprung up behind;

The Albatross did follow,
And every day, for food or play,
Came to the mariner's hollo!
In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white Moon-shine.'

'God save thee, ancient Mariner!

From the fiends, that plague thee thus!—
Why look'st thou so?'—With my cross-bow
I shot the ALBATROSS.
…..

Part II
…..

Down dropt the breeze, the sails dropt down,

'Twas sad as sad could be;
And we did speak only to break
The silence of the sea!

All in a hot and copper sky,

The bloody Sun, at noon,
Right up above the mast did stand,
No bigger than the Moon.

Day after day, day after day,

We stuck, nor breath nor motion;
As idle as a painted ship
Upon a painted ocean.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
…..
Analysis
The poem begins with a description of the Mariner, and immediately attention is drawn to
his eyes, and his power to hold the Wedding Guest and force the young man to hear his tale.
Here, storytelling needs no introduction, as the Mariner simply starts speaking and begins the
story. The false urgency of the wedding is a rather mundane celebration that will pale in
comparison to the Mariner’s tale, and to a proper Romantic appreciation of the sublime.
The powerful storm and the dangerous beauty of the South Pole exhibit the essence of the
Romantic ideal of the sublime. The storm overpowers the ship and forces it to the Pole, where it
meets potential peril from the ice. But the mist and snow are also terrifyingly beautiful and
majestic.
Since the Albatross materializes out of the fog in a land where it seems nothing should be
able to live, it is seen as both natural and supernatural, and an embodiment of the sublime. For
the Sailors, it is a token of good luck and a means of connection with God and the natural
world.
This unexplained killing sets in motion the cycle of sin and penance the Mariner must
undergo. It is first and foremost a crime against the natural world, and thus against God, for
which the Mariner will never be fully absolved. Nature and the supernatural world will then
punish the Mariner for his sin 
HERE YOU HAVE SOME IDEAS….
What Is A Literary Device?

A literary device is essentially a technique used by a writer which adds substance or an

effect to the text they are writing. It is used to help the reader create a more detailed image of
what is happening within the writing and is employed often in various types of written work.

Alliteration

One of the literary devices that you will see very frequently in writing is alliteration. This
literary device is used to add rhythm by the use of repeated sounds at the beginning of adjacent
words or words which are very close to one another in a sentence.

Simile

A simile is a form of literary device which is used for comparison. They use the words
like or as in order to make the comparison and are a very popular form of literary device, most
famously used by William Shakespeare.

Metaphor

Similar to the simile, a metaphor is used to make a comparison but rather than making a
direct comparison, it does so indirectly. The metaphor makes a non-literal comparison between
two things which are not directly related.

Euphemism

This type of literary device is used to talk about something that may be construed as
offensive and so the writer will use a variant on the wording in order to make what is being
referred to, more palatable. Euphemism is another one of the literary devices which is closely
associated with Shakespeare but is also used by many other writers.

Anaphora

Anaphora is a form of literary device in which the writer uses a repeated phrase at the
beginning of consecutive sentences. The reason for doing this is to make a stronger point by
using the repetition to almost drill the point into the readers´ mind. This form of literary device
is often used in the writing of speeches, especially those designed to motivate or convince the
audience.
 Hyperbole

This is a very commonly used literary device which you are likely to come across in
many texts when reading. Hyperbole is the use of a statement which is not meant to be seen as
literal by the reader. It is used to emphasize something and to exaggerate something in order to
stress the importance.

Irony

Irony comes in various forms and is often used in literature to express a meaning opposite
to the one which is being construed. The three types of irony are verbal irony in which someone
says something but in reality, means the opposite, situational irony in which an event occurs
which was the complete opposite of what was expected to happen and dramatic irony where the
reader is aware of a situation that the character is not and therefore see the characters behaviour
in a different light.

Onomatopoeia

Out of all the literary devices, this is one which you will see a lot more than you first
realize. Onomatopoeia is a literary device which uses words to describe a sound, and these
words actually sound like what they are describing.

Oxymoron

An oxymoron is a literary device which uses two words to make a phrase which comes
across as contradictory. This type of literary device is usually used for a humorous effect but
also in order to put an emphasis on what is being said, by grabbing the readers´ attention with
the contradiction.

Synecdoche

Synecdoche is a literary device which uses a part of something to refer to the whole. It is
used to give a more descriptive picture of what is going on.
 ACTIVITY 2 – PARAGRAPH WRITING: Write a well-developed paragraph (topic
sentence, supporting ideas and concluding sentence) about:

a- Romanticism and its main characteristics

b- Why is The Rime of the Ancient Mariner a romantic poem?

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ACTIVITY 3 – Identify the literary devices.
Poems by Currer,
Ellis, and Acton Bell
Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell was a volume of poetry published jointly by the
three Brontë sisters, Charlotte, Emily and Anne in 1846 (see 1846 in poetry), and their first
work to ever go in print. To evade contemporary prejudice against female writers, the Brontë
sisters adopted masculine first names. All three retained the first letter of their first names:
Charlotte became Currer Bell, Anne became Acton Bell, and Emily became Ellis Bell. The
book was printed by Aylott and Jones, from London. The first edition failed to attract interest,
with only two copies being sold. However, the sisters decided to continue writing for
publication and began work on their first novels, which became commercial successes.
Following the success of Charlotte's Jane Eyre in 1848, and after the deaths of Emily and Anne,
the second edition of this book (printed in 1850 by Smith & Elder) fared much better, with
Charlotte's additions of previously unpublished poetry by her two late sisters. It is believed that
there are fewer than ten copies in existence with the Aylott and Jones' title-page.

Let´s read some of their poems!!

Come, Walk with me by Emily Bronte

Come, walk with me,
There’s only thee
To bless my spirit now –
We used to love on winter nights
To wander through the snow;
Can we not woo back old delights?
The clouds rush dark and wild
They fleck with shade our mountain heights
The same as long ago
And on the horizon rest at last
In looming masses piled;
While moonbeams flash and fly so fast
We scarce can say they smiled –
Come walk with me, come walk with me;
We were not once so few
But Death has stolen our company
As sunshine steals the dew –
He took them one by one and we
Are left the only two;
So closer would my feelings twine
Because they have no stay but thine 
‘Nay call me not – it may not be Will never flow again
Is human love so true? And surer than that dwelling dread,
Can Friendship’s flower droop on for years The narrow dungeon of the dead
And then revive anew? Time parts the hearts of men -‘
No, though the soil be wet with tears,
How fair soe’er it grew
The vital sap once perished
ANALYSIS: Come, Walk With Me is a romantic poem by the English writer Emily Brontë
(1818-1848), published posthumously in 1902. It is perhaps one of Emily Brontë's
strangest poems, tells in verse a cryptic, almost indecipherable story, which focuses
particularly on feelings and passion. In this context, Emily Brontë uses an unusual way of
telling a story but it is certainly effective, with the narrator alternately asking and
answering some profound questions about the nature of friendship.

IN MEMORY OF A HAPPY DAY IN FEBRUARY by Anne Bronte

  My soul has felt today!
O let its memory stay with me
  And never pass away!
I was alone, for those I loved
  Were far away from me,
The sun shone on the withered grass,
  The wind blew fresh and free.
Was it the smile of early spring
  That made my bosom glow?
'Twas sweet, but neither sun nor wind
  Could raise my spirit so.
Was it some feeling of delight,
  All vague and undefined?
No, 'twas a rapture deep and strong,
  Expanding in the mind!
Was it a sanguine view of life
  And all its transient bliss–
A hope of bright prosperity?
  O no, it was not this!
It was a glimpse of truth divine
  Unto my spirit given
Illumined by a ray of light
  That shone direct from heaven!
I felt there was a God on high
  By whom all things were made.
I saw His wisdom and his power
  In all his works displayed.
But most throughout the moral world
  I saw his glory shine;
I saw His wisdom infinite,
  His mercy all divine.
Deep secrets of his providence
  In darkness long concealed
Unto the vision of my soul
  Were graciously revealed.
But while I wondered and adored
  His wisdom so divine,
I did not tremble at his power,
  I felt that God was mine.
I knew that my Redeemer lived,
  I did not fear to die;
Full sure that I should rise again
  To immortality.
I longed to view that bliss divine
  Which eye hath never seen,
Like Moses, I would see His face
  Without the veil betwee
 they are a picture'. Anne completed the
ANALYSIS: By the end of 1841, Anne had poem some nine months later, and under
experienced much depression while working much more sombre circumstances. At this
as a governess at Thorp Green over the time, she was at home having just attended
previous eighteen months. She would the funeral of Aunt Branwell - the lady who
obviously not be looking forward to returning had spent the previous 20 years acting as a
there after the Christmas holidays. Early on mother to Anne. Also, William Weightman
in 1842, Charlotte and Emily set off for himself had died of cholera just a few
Brussels to study at the Pensionnat Heger months earlier. She gave the poem a much
school there, leaving Anne feeling lonelier more religious-appearing tone. (This later
than ever. However, in February, she started section of the poem is presented here in
this uncharacteristically cheerful poem and black.)
gave it the title 'In Memory of a Happy Day in
February'. The early part of this poem -
which was actually written in February (and
presented here in red) is very intriguing, and
one cannot help but wonder what occurred
on this 'day in February' to raise her spirits
so much. Edward Chitham raises the
interesting question of whether it could have
been another Valentine card from William
Weightman.  Indeed, a few months earlier, in
a letter to Ellen Nussey, Charlotte remarked
about Weightman: 'He sits opposite to Anne
at Church sighing softly - and looking out of
the corners of his eyes to win her attention -
and Anne is so quiet, her look so downcast -

Life by Charlotte Bronte

LIFE, believe, is not a dream
So dark as sages say;
Oft a little morning rain
Foretells a pleasant day.
Sometimes there are clouds of gloom,
But these are transient all;
If the shower will make the roses bloom,
O why lament its fall?
Rapidly, merrily,
Life's sunny hours flit by,
Gratefully, cheerily,
Enjoy them as they fly!
What though Death at times steps in
And calls our Best away?
What though sorrow seems to win,
O'er hope, a heavy sway?
Yet hope again elastic springs,
Unconquered, though she fell;
Still buoyant are her golden wings,
Still strong to bear us well.
Manfully, fearlessly,
The day of trial bear,
For gloriously, victoriously,
Can courage quell despair
 ANALYSIS: The poem focuses on the realities of life and reminds us that we
have to face moments of joy as well as sorrow, hope as well as despair in life.
However, the poet urges us to have a positive attitude and not be
disheartened by temporary setbacks. She encourages us to look beyond the
immediate disappointments and appreciate the pleasures life has to offer. She
asserts that in the battle between hope and despair may seem more powerful
initially, it is hoe that will win eventually.

ACTIVITY 4: Read the poems again and mark all the literary devices you can find.
Explain.

Edgar Allan Poe- His life

Edgar Allan Poe was born on January 19, 1809, and died on October 7,
1849. In his stormy forty years, which included a marriage to his cousin, fights
with other writers, and legendary drinking binges, Poe lived in some of the
important literary centers of the northeastern United States: Baltimore,
Philadelphia, New York City, and Boston. He was a magazine editor, a poet, a
short story writer, a critic, and a lecturer. Poe became a key figure in the nineteenth-
century flourishing of American letters and literature.

The often-tragic circumstances of Poe’s life haunt his writings. His father disappeared not
long after the Poe’s birth, and, at the age of three, Poe watched his mother die of tuberculosis.
Poe then went to live with John and Frances Allan, wealthy theatergoers who knew his parents,
both actors, from the Richmond, Virginia stage. Like Poe’s mother, Frances Allan was
chronically ill, and Poe experienced her sickness much as he did his mother’s. His relationship
with John Allan, who was loving but moody, generous but demanding, was emotionally
turbulent. With Allan’s financial help, Poe attended school in England and then enrolled at the
University of Virginia in 1826, but he was forced to leave after two semesters. Although Poe
blamed Allan’s stinginess, his own gambling debts played a large role in his fiscal woes. A
tendency to cast blame on others, without admitting his own faults, characterized Poe’s
relationship with many people, most significantly Allan. Poe struggled with a view of Allan as a
false father, generous enough to take him in at age three, but never dedicated enough to adopt
him as a true son. There are echoes of Poe’s upbringing in his works, as sick mothers and guilty
fathers appear in many of his tales.

After leaving the University of Virginia, Poe spent some time in the military before he
used his contacts in Richmond and Baltimore to enter the magazine industry. With little
experience, Poe relied on his characteristic bravado to convince Thomas Willis White, then
head of the fledgling Southern Literary Messenger, to take him on as an editor in 1835. This
position gave him a forum for his early tales, including “Berenice” and “Morella.”
The Messenger also established Poe as a leading and controversial literary critic, who often
attacked his New England counterparts—especially poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow—in the
pages of the magazine. Poe ultimately fell out of favor with White, but his literary criticism
made him a popular speaker on the lecture circuit. Poe never realized his most ambitious dream
—the launch of his own magazine, the Stylus. Until his death, he believed that the New
England literary establishment had stolen his glory and had prevented the Stylus from being
published.

His name has since become synonymous with macabre tales like “The Tell-Tale Heart,”
but Poe assumed a variety of literary personas during his career. The Messenger—as well
as Burton’s Gentleman’s Magazine and Graham’s—established Poe as one of America’s first
popular literary critics. He advanced his theories in popular essays, including “The Philosophy
of Composition” (1846), “The Rationale of Verse” (1848), and “The Poetic Principle.” In “The
Philosophy of Composition” Poe explained how he had crafted “The Raven,” the 1845 poem
that made him nationally famous. In the pages of these magazines, Poe also introduced of a new
form of short fiction—the detective story—in tales featuring the Parisian crime solver C.
Auguste Dupin. The detective story follows naturally from Poe’s interest in puzzles, word
games, and secret codes, which he loved to present and decode in the pages of the Messenger to
dazzle his readers. The word “detective” did not exist in English at the time that Poe was
writing, but the genre has become a fundamental mode of twentieth-century literature and film.
Dupin and his techniques of psychological inquiry have informed countless sleuths, including
Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes and Raymond Chandler’s Philip Marlowe.

In 1849, Poe died in Baltimore at age forty. His cause of death is the subject of much
debate and speculation, with causes including rabies, cholera, and epilepsy having been
suggested.
 ACTIVITY 5

 Read the short story by Edgar Allan Poe “The Tell- Tale Heart”

https://americanenglish.state.gov/resources/Edgar-Allan-poe-storyteller

 Find the answers for these questions:

1. Why does the narrator kill the old man?

___________________________________________________
2. How many nights in a row does the narrator go into the old man´s room?
____________________________________________________
3. Where does the narrator hide the body parts?
____________________________________________________
4. What makes the narrator confess his crime?
____________________________________________________

 This story is romantic with Gothic elements but… WHAT IS GOTHIC

LITERATURE?

Gothic literature focused on ruin, decay, death, terror, chaos and privileged irrationality
and passion over rationality and reason (late 18th and early 19th century) It provides for
contemporary readers some insight into the social and intellectual climate of the time in
which the literature was produced.

Gothic Architecture

Now, find gothic elements in the two stories we have read. Make a list of words or phrases as
examples. DO IT IN YOUR FOLDER OR HERE IN THE DOCUMENT.
ACTIVITY 6 (OPTIONAL) To sum up, watch this short video about the story “The Tell-Tale
Heart”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wDLLHTdVSgU
 References

- https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/features/what-is-romanticism

- https://www.britannica.com/art/Romanticism

- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Rime_of_the_Ancient_Mariner

- https://www.sparknotes.com/author/edgar-allan-poe/

- https://emilyspoetryblog.com/emily-bronte/poems/come-walk-with-me/