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THE ROMANTIC MOVEMENT (1785-1830): The Romantic Literature
A literature of emotions and feelings which talked about the individual and the self. It was different from the previous
type of literature so there was a profound change of sensibility which took place in Europe during those years.
There were some writers all through the XVIII who were writing pre-romantic works such as "The Gothic Novel". Take for
example "The Castle of Otranto". At the same time, we have the poems of writers like Thomson, Young or J.MacPherson. Thomson
was the writer of nature. This love for nature was an essential characteristic of the romantic poems later. Young wrote about
the night. One of his most important collection is "Night's thoughts" published in 1742, that's in the first half of the
XVIII.
J.MacPherson published in 1760 "Ossianic Poems". He said that he had found a collection of poems written around the III
century by a Scottish poet called Ossian, written in Gaelic. That was an incredible discovery because the Celts didn't write
down their literature. It was a big success and a way of remembering the past of Scotland and it was also important for the
nationalism movements that were beginning by then. Many romantic poets imitated it. He probably made it up!! He wrote the
poems himself.
In 1798, the first edition of Lyrical Ballads considered the first romantic collection of poems was published.
Characteristics
1-The dynamic antagonism or antithesis in the novel tends to subvert, if not to reject literary conventions; often a
novel verges on turning into something else, like poetry or drama.
2-The protagonists' wanderings are motivated by flight from previously-chosen goals, so that often there is a pattern
of escape and pursuit.
3-The protagonists are driven by irresistible passion?lust, curiosity, ambition, intellectual pride, envy. The
emphasis is on their desire for transcendence, to overcome the limitations of the body, of society, of time rather than their
moral transgressions. They yearn to escape the limitations inherent to life and may find that the only escape is death.
4-Death is not only a literal happening or plot device, but also and primarily a psychological concern. For the
protagonists, death originates in the imagination, becomes a "tendency of mind," and may develop into an obsession.
5-As in Gothic fiction, buildings are central to meaning; the supernatural, wild nature, dream and madness, physical
violence, and perverse sexuality are set off against social conventions and institutions.
6-Endings are disquieting and unsatisfactory because the writer resists a definitive conclusion, one which accounts
for all loose ends and explains away any ambiguities or uncertainties. The preference for open-endedness is, ultimately, an
effort to resist the limits of time and of place. That effort helps explain the importance of dreams and memories of other
times and location.
For more information: http://www.uh.edu/engines/romanticism and http://www.wsu.edu:8080/~brians/hum_303/romanticism.html
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