Name : Nova Natalia Heryadi

Student Number : 204214105

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND INFLUENCE THE ROMANTIC LITERARY

WORKS

Literary concerns with the quality or value of the writing works. It is a term given by the
literary critics which merged in the eighteenth century which used to denote a value of
fiction, poems, and plays (Galens, 2009, p. xi). The words and expressions of literary works
are more unusual than any other literature. The words which are usually used to express a
story with the historical and cultural surroundings of the authors’ life period influence literary
movements. The progress of dynamic movement is from the competing interest and historical
developments (Galens, 2009, p. xi). Therefore, this adjective form of literature used to
exempt the other types of writing as well as philosophy and history even though the literary
context frequently contains a historical surrounding of the period of the authors’ life.
The understanding in literary movement includes the historical, cultural, ideology, or
other features which influence the context of the story is important to be discussed because
the literary works will obtain more appreciation and the reader will obtain more capability to
analyze the works. According to Carter & McRae (2002), the literary movement is divided by
its era such as the Old and Middle English era, the Renaissance, restoration to romanticism,
the Romantic period, the nineteenth century, the twentieth century, and the twentieth century
to the present. The obvious shifting portrays in the literary works between age of reason and
the Romantic period. The transformation of literary characteristics from the rational work to
the individual feeling in the Romantic period was caused by the historical movement in that
era. In the Romantic period in 1789-1832, English went through the transformation from an
agricultural to an industrial country. The shifting made people from the rural farm laborers
become the working class which exist in cities with the new power emerged (Carter &
McRae, 2002).
Industry development brought both good and bad effects to society and the environment.
The efficient work produced from this development made a number of people seeking
employment because of the emergence of technology which needed only a few workers in the
company. Immediately, industrial development led to poverty and the societies were divided
into two castes such as rich people who owned the property and poor people who had no land
or property. It is also coincident with the political order revolution which shed a lot of blood
due to the demand for social and political reform. The first bloodiest event was when England
rejected the French Revolution for social equality. This bloodiest incident caused the feeling
of anxiety in English society. The second one was the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 when
England won against France. However, this victory was followed by social unrest which
affected the decline in manufacturing output and unemployment.
The battle was followed by the Peterloo Massacre in 1819 where the French government
attacked a group of working people in Manchester in order to prosecute social and political
reform. In the period after Peterloo, the unrest continued until the government could not
directly intervene on economics matters. As a result, the free market has caused individual
economic decisions. Therefore, the middle class was showing their power in economics by
urging the government to political reform. The situation which befell English society at that
time influenced the characteristics of the literary works. The Romantic literature features
emphasized on the value of the individual experiences which includes the emotional
experience such as feeling and emotion, also personal relationship with nature. Another
feature often depicted the war, the middle class manner, the industrial development, and any
other events in the Romanticism period. The features which are caused by the historical
background written down to the Romantics works.
Some of the Romantic works are Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, Frankenstein, and Pride
and Prejudice. Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage is a poem written by Lord Byron. The poem is
presenting the viewpoint of Childe Harold which depicts the European people, military
events, political events. This story describes the political events of the Spanish against French
invaders and their resistance in the battle of Waterloo which shows the futility of war and
drives humans to reach freedom from oppression. The main character in this work is Harold
who has a guilty feeling due to his unnamed sin, he has melancholy, bitter, and cynical
characteristics. His characteristics make him alienated from the other as well as he is
searching for some release, but never discovered it.
Another literary work is a novel by Mary Shelley, it reflects the feeling of loneliness,
frightening, loneliness, and sadness which will inherent in the human capacity to destroy
what should be authentically good. The main character is Victor Frankenstein as a scientist
who animated the dead bodies. One of the animated bodies is a childlike monster who wants
to be loved, however his embodiment horrifies anyone who sees it. Due to the act of
Frankenstein who is taking the power from gods and creating the life of man for himself, he
loses contact with other people and all human feelings. In the end, he is more set apart from
the society than the monster which he created.
The distinct literary work which highlighted the life of the middle class in the Romantic
period is written by Jane Austen. The novel titled Pride and Prejudice is a best-known work
which portrays more of the manner of the characters and the searching of spouses. The
highlight of the middle class people and dramatized the intricate web of mores and manners
that restrict anyone in their social places. It is characterized by a young woman who learns
the operation of human nature and society. There are also some characters who learn from
their fault but others do not. In search for spouses, every character receives the spouse who
they deserve.
The literary works characteristics are caused by the authors’ life surroundings. From the
discussed literary works above, the works written in the Romantic period contain the value of
feelings, manners, and relationship with nature and other people. It was caused by the
economics and political events that happened in the period of Romantics. Industrial
development and horrible wars affected the feelings of people, free market which was done
by the middle class, as well as the formation of rich and poor people. Therefore, it can be
concluded that the historical events exert influence on the characteristics or the value of
literary works in the authors’ life period.
REFERENCES

Galens, D. (2009). Literary movements for students : presenting analysis, context, and
criticism on literary movements (2nd ed.). Gale.

McRae, J, & Carter, R. (2002). History of literature in English (2nd ed.). Taylor & Francis e-
library.

Sanders, A. (1994). The short Oxford history of English literature (1st ed.). Oxford
University Press.

Literary. (n.d.). In Collins’s online dictionary.

https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/literary

Maunder, A. (2010). Encyclopedia of literary romanticism (1st ed.). Sheridan Books.