Neoclassicism:

The dominant literary movement in England during

the late seventeenth century and the eighteenth

century.
 It sought to revive the artistic ideals of classical

Greece and Rome.

 Characterized by emotional restraint, order, logic,,

sublimity of diction, an emphasis of form over

content, clarity, dignity.
 Its appeals to the intellect rather than to the

emotions.
 and it prized wit over imagination.

 As a result, satire and didactic literature flourished.

Writers: John Dryden, Jonathan Swift, and Samuel

Johnson.
 Romanticism:
 A movement in art and literature in the eighteenth
and nineteenth centuries in revolt against the
Neoclassicism of the previous centuries.
 "literature depicting emotional matter in an
imaginative form."
 Imagination, emotion, and freedom are certainly the
focal points of romanticism.
 subjectivity and an emphasis on individualism;
spontaneity; freedom from rules; solitary life rather
than life in society.
 the beliefs that imagination is superior to reason and
devotion to beauty; love of and worship of nature; and
fascination with the past, especially the myths and
mysticism of the middle ages.
 English poets: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and
John Keats
Factors of emergence
 Oriental mysticism

 French Revolution

 Pre-romantic period William Wordsworth

 Jane Jacques Rousseau
 Isaac Newton
 John Locke

Samuel Coleridge
Definition of Poetry
 “A spontaneous overflow of powerful
feelings recollected in tranquility.” William
Wordsworth

 Recollection of Ideas in Tranquility

 Major function of poetry is to quicken
and soften readers sensibilities and
sympathy.
 It aims at cultivating the effective
elements of human nature.
 Subtle Sense of Mystery

 A complex sense of awe in the presence

of the unknown and wonder at the
presence of the known.
 An exquisite response to the
manifestations of beauty.
 It can be termed as Rapture.
 They preferred mysticism in philosophy
and Medievalism.
Elemental simplicities of life
Elemental simplicities of life
 Going back to nature
 Idealizing childhood
 They found inspiration in simple
elements of life like:
- An ordinary sunset
- A walk over hills
- A cluster of spring flowers
- A rain-bearing west wend
- A song of a nightingale
 Subjectivity and individualism

Youth is full of pleasance,  When I was young?—Ah, woful When!

Age is full of care;  Ah! for the change ’twixt Now and Then!
Youth like summer morn,         This breathing house not built with hands,
Age like winter weather; Ere I was old? Ah woful Ere,
 Youth like summer brave, 
Which tells me, Youth’s no longer here.
Age like winter bare.

William Shakespeare Samuel Coleridge

• Unlike the neoclassical literature,
Romantic poetry is subjective
• subjectivity of nature
• Subjectivity of beauty
Glorification of common man and place

 They rejected the city life.

 Clean ideal people
 Symbol of innocence and simplicity
 Unlike the neoclassical, they became
the subject matter of poetry.
Supernatural strangeness
 Romantics accepted the supernatural
images as :
- products of imagination
- Because of their fascination with
mystery
- Because of their appreciation of beauty
even in strangeness.
- Samuel Coleridge
Romantic Poet
 A man talks to men but of
greater sensibility that makes
him feel more than others, sees
more than others and expresses
himself deeply.
Romantic Nature
 First source of inspiration. It is dynamic not
static
 It was not everything to them , but they
would be nothing without it.
 Nature was subjective ; romantics used
objects of nature to reflect their own moods
over them. They didn’t use it as a background
in their poetry but as a basic element of it
Romantic Imagination
 It’s fundamental and poetry is
impossible without it.
 It is part of their belief in individuality
 Unlike fancy, Romantics believed that
imagination conveys the truth.
 By imagination they can see what the
ordinary eye can see
Romantic Imagination
 Imagination works on the senses and
gives them visionary insights.
 Coleridge

“ It is the union of deep feeling and

profound thought”
- Primary imagination

- Secondary imagination
 The Solitary Reaper
William Wordsworth

BEHOLD her, single in the field,

Yon solitary Highland Lass! 
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass! 
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
 Is overflowing with the sound.

No Nightingale did ever chant

More welcome notes to weary bands
Of travelers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow 
For old, unhappy, far-off things, 
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?

 Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang

 As if her song could have no ending;
 I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;
I listen'd, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
 Long after it was heard no more.