 Hello and welcome back to the national program on Technology Enhanced Learning, a joint venture of Indian Institute, Institutes of Technology and Indian Institute of Science. As you are aware, these lectures are for students in the IITs and other engineering colleges. The role of humanities and social sciences is quite significant in the curriculum of engineering students. I am Krishna Barua, I teach literature in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at IIT Guwahati. We are presently in the lecture series Language and Literature and this module 3 of the series is titled History of English Literature. We are in lecture 5 of this module titled the Romantics. Let us recap of what we had done in the previous lectures. Why is it necessary to know the background of history of English literature in understanding literature? There is an awareness of the canon or the delights of the history of English literature edition. It is necessary to know what is about the study of English literature. It helps in the understanding of text, of the literary output, of the role of creativity and of the social conditions which prevailed during that time. We want you to be introduced to the spirit of the age and the ideals of the nation's history. We enjoy, let us enjoy the literary journey of poems, stories and plays, the socio-political milieu which could be from the Victorian era or even as far back as sources times. In lecture 1 we have seen how Anglo-Saxon literature revealed 5 striking characteristics, the love of freedom, reverence for womanhood, responsiveness to nature, especially in her sternum moods. While we are doing this lectures, let us see how there is this evolutionary of ideas from one age to the other. It is not that one age suddenly opens up new ideas but it is something which is already there dormant probably and which has already struck roots in the previous era and it comes out into a new form in the next age. So while we were doing the Anglo-Saxon period and sources time we have seen how nature was a predominant factor and all poetry was earnest and somber and it was pervaded by fatalism and religious feelings. In lecture 2 we went to the age of Shakespeare and the greatness of Shakespeare's achievement was largely made possible by the work of his immediate predecessors. Spencer and Sidney in the mastery of us will be doing romantics today and we will see how Spencer had a great contribution in the poetical creativity of the time. Marlow and the university which who had a great contribution in drama and how the power of human reason to interpret man and nature in the dignity of modern English as a literary medium. In module 3 we did Milton and his times and Shakespeare and Milton were the two figures that towered conspicuously in both separate ages each was representative of his age that produced him two ages have been named after them one the age of Shakespeare and the age of Milton and together they formed a suggestive commentary upon the two forces that rule literature the force of impulse and the force of fixed purpose. While we were in lecture 4 we did the Augustan age and there we found how from 1700 to 1745 the neoclassical age there is a reason or enlightenment where there was pertaining to rules to decorum prevailed and in every preceding age we have noticed specially the poetical works which constitute the glory of English literature more so in the previous ages of Shakespeare we found poetry as well as drama. Now for the first time in lecture 4 we have seen how we must chronicle the time of English prose and this was the history of the book in order to bring about reforms votes were now necessary and to get votes the people of England must be approach with ideas facts arguments information there was change of government there was need for a public opinion. So the newspaper was born and literature in its wider sense including the book the newspaper and the magazine became the safe instrument of a nation's progress. This was in lecture 4 of the Augustan age. So some characteristics of Augustan poetry where the concept of individualism versus society society takes in a very very important role here the imitation of the classics that is why it was called the classical age politics social issues satire irony empiricism and comedy. Now while we look into this transition between the Augustan period and the romantic period there was a drastic shift in literary ideas. Let us look into the literary spectacle or the literary climate the Augustans followed the works of former classical writers such as Horace, Virgil and Puma the middle of the 18th century was a period of transition therefore and experiment in poetic styles and subjects. Now the stability with English thought and society regained in the end of the 17th century could not be in the nature of things belong maintain and the unstable equilibrium of Queen Anne's period gave way to a more complex and more obviously contradictory attitudes. Melancholy interest in the civilized and the odd essence of change mine you will find all this in the romantic age too some of all the states of mine are seen quite early in the century and by the time we arrive at the industrial revolution somewhere around 1760 to 1840 produced a very different view of the value of life in urban society. This is town life urban from the found from that found in Queen and in writers. Now the shifts in view let us examine the shifts of view of the nature and function of poetry now. From the view the poetry as essentially imitation of human nature which was laid out by Aristotle as that poetry is mimesis and that the test of a work of literature is the degree to which it communicates its imitation with pleasure and identification to its audience we now come to a shift where it has led to perception not to imitation to the view that poetry has for its major function the expression of the poet's emotion and that the relation of the poem to the poet is more significant than its relation to the audience. Please try to notice this shift which was there from mimesis to what you find the perception such a movement proceeds in a variety of ways throughout the century. So now while we are going into the most beautiful period of English literature the Romantic the Romantics and this is lecture 5 let us see how we arrive at this age. No level can accurately describe a period which was so rich and varied in achievement as the 50 years following the death of Johnson which we did in the previous lecture. Romanticism if you want to explain it is a movement that arose so gradually in the late 18th and early 19th centuries it was a gradual development marking the reaction in literature, philosophy, art, religion and politics from the neoclassicism and formal orthodoxy of the preceding period. Romanticism surely is a widening of the imaginative horizon. So when we look into it we find that it is a widening of the imaginative horizon yes definitely yes a sharpening of emotional sensibility, a complete involvement of emotion or a passion for whatever one was doing at its onset it drives those who fill its spell into strange by parts because it dealt with imaginative horizon. So therefore, there was no boundaries to what you can imagine and filling away from the broad highway of ordinary human experience. It was thus with Marlowe in his world moving visions, thus with Scott in his fervent medialism. So you might ask the question was not Shakespeare a romantic, was not Marlowe a romantic yes definitely yes they had their core of imagination going into different ways and Scott in his own way also went into the past to show his different avenues of creativity. So generally if you want to see romanticism you want to define romanticism we will have to see that it is as the Oxford companion to English literature describes that it is a literary movement and profound safety and sensibility there is a profound change in sensibility which took place in Britain and throughout Europe roughly between 1770 and 1848 right intellectually it marked a violent reaction to the Enlightenment politically it was inspired by the revolutions in America and France emotionally it expressed an extreme assertion of the self almost you might ask the question why assertion of the self was also in the Renasa it was also in the time of Shakespeare, but here you will find it is almost a revival of what those tenets were there I had told you in the beginning that every age or its preceding age always carries tenets of something which goes into the other it is not that it is a drastic change it is somewhere an evolutionary way of ideas which goes into the making of the other space. Ultimately it championed progressive causes stylistic keynote of romanticism romanticism is intensity it was profound involvement in whatever sphere and its watchword is imagination. So the romantic revival if we see ultimately it brings us back to the highway only at a greater elevation which was already there, but if we go into a heightened consciousness we seek it first in the thunder and the earthquake of the fantastic and the bizarre this I was from comrade Rickett exageration and aloofness and find it after all in the still small voice of everyday life it is not that it is the fantastic and the bizarre is not present or only in something exotic it is also in the everyday life in other words romanticism is not opposed to reality. So let us keep in mind that whatever is reality is not something dull and prosaic, but you can find avenues of romanticism in everyday life. It is reality which is transfigured by new powers of vision and feeling when you come to the modern times you will find there is something called magic realism and you will find that realism is something which is given a magic proportions here too in romanticism you will find that reality is being transfigured by new powers of seeing and by new perceptions of feeling as well as of vision. In the deep sense of the word Marlowe and Scott are realist because of their romanticism when you look into the Elizabethan age we find Marlowe was equally a realist because he was representing what was in actual life because of their romanticism Scott realized it perfectly in his faithful pictures of Scott's life and character well. So stated simply and generally the features most insistent at this period are first the spiritualizing of nature and the humanizing of social life two things we have to keep in mind that first was that nature becomes a sort of a spiritual trope it is something where you find Godhead in every form and the humanizing of social life the supreme romantic movement in English letters was the renasa as we have already noted it had transformed not only English but European life. But like every great impulse in our life it had been followed by a period of reaction everything has a reaction the romantic revival was the result of no one cause was not one cause broadly speaking it was the inevitable corollary of the renasa and the renasa reformation the dignity and importance of man as man where it is man centric and the glorious of the world of nature these ideas of which we hear so much at a close of the 18th century we have seen it in Shakespeare where man was a subject of introspection and speculation were born centuries before and this as students you must note that when we divide the ages into different history of English which are into different ages we do it only for the sake of the developments which go into it. But there are continuing tropes and there are continuing characteristics which go into the making of each age and it had been gradually working in man's mind throughout all the political unrest of the 17th and 18th century well while we are doing literature students you must please keep in mind then when we read a poem or we read a text or a work of fiction it is always good to know the background of the times it is always good to know the social conditions of the times it is always good to know the history of the times because this has different impact upon the consciousness of the writers and the literary output which comes out has markings of representations which go into the making of a text well and therefore our soul aim in this lecture series is that you should be sensitive to the way a literary text opens up and you should be sensitive in how you appreciate a poem or a or a text well. So, coming back to the first flowering of romanticism in England the bloody horrors of the French revolutions which had happened the dwindling of a new idealistic philosophy in Germany under Kant and Hegel all the German influence was so strong during this period even though the French revolution had inspired ideals of liberty fraternity and equality yet we find the German philosophers with their in depth understanding of aesthetics of a romanticism where a great influence upon English literature the political upheaval in America all these things were but varying symptoms of a general fermentation that lasted on from the 15th century and while we are doing this let us keep in mind what T. S. Eliot had said that every age every critic every poet has to have a historical sense the meaning of the historical sense is not that you have to know history, but it is something of being aware of what is going on all around you not only political but geographical as well as cultural as well as literary and doing so we will be able to contribute something to what is going on. Rousseau and the French revolution let us go into one of the main thinkers who had influenced English romanticism too he played an important and inspirational role in guiding the course of romanticism in England. The ideas which gave birth to the French revolution were propagated by Rousseau and other French philosophers like Diderot and Voltaire and Rousseau gave a call for the return to nature because nature now becomes the predominant motive he revived the cult of the noble savage and condemned social institutions as many chains flattering the free movement of humanity the essential self the natural self which is unfettered by any artificiality or by any urban conditions in his social contract he said man is born free, but everywhere he is in chains the virtual identity between high romanticism and revolution marks the French visionary Rousseau as the central man of romantic tradition just now we had also mentioned the German philosophers like Kant and Hegel they were also great inspirations to the romantic movement. Although the battle cry of the revolutionaries liberty equality and fraternity impress itself on the youthful imagination of Wordsworth and Coleridge the general characteristics of the revival arose inverse and fiction during the lifetime of Pope it was not only during this time, but it was in the preceding age itself and impressed many an imagination long before the overthrow of the Bastille. So, the intention of this lecture is that whatever was romantic was not that it came sprung up all of a sudden, but it was something which had its roots in the preceding ages even if you go back into the Anglo-Saxon period you find the romantic wonder at something which is all inspiring nature on the dignity of man were very much prevalent at that time and those characteristics have also gone into the romantic periods. So, you might ask sometimes then do not you think that those periods were also the romantics yes definitely yes, but this is the romantic revival as an age that we are looking into we can look at Shakespeare's plays as romantic plays sense Spencer as romantics yes definitely yes. It was embodied most strongly in the visual arts music and literature, but had a major impact on historiography education and the natural sciences. It is a fact that politics was considerable and complex the dignity of man about equality liberty fraternity while for much of the peak romantic period it was associated with liberalism and radicalism we find in the poems of Shelley in the long term its effect on the growth of nationalism was probably the most significant well. So, when we look into this historical background 1790 to 1830 well. So, let us see the close of the 18th century saw England and France and guess the open warfare hostility is dragged on till 1815 in the end bringing about extinction of the French Republic the birth of which was greeted so joyfully by the English liberals it is necessary for you to study history to when you study literature it is always nice to know the history of the times because the history helps a lot in showing what was the impact upon the social conditions as well as on the political conditions and the restoration of the bourbon dynasty this events had the effects on every corner of Europe it was a big backlash and in none more strongly than in England the elder writers of the period with Wordsworth and Coloury just conspicuous examples hailed the new era with joy. Social condition the conclusion of the long war brought inevitable misery naturally there were low wages unemployment heavy taxation which gave you know more social conditions you know works which were of more social content and awareness the interest in social conditions became intensified to at the end of the 19th century until it has grown to be one of the three features of modern literature supposed to be the most vertebrate of literature the romantic romantic age abundant output even the lavishness of the Elizabethans cannot excel that of this age the development of new ideas brings fresh inspiration for poetry how do we go back to the essence how do we go back to the primal inspirations and the political sky is bright with luminaries of the first magnitude in prose we note especially the fruitful yield of the novel we have the essay and the unprecedented activity of critical and miscellaneous writers theory comes in for the almost for the first time here and we have different theoretical pieces on how to write poem how to look at a drama etcetera. Therefore romanticism as a term the most aspect most trends in France is reflected in Victor Hugo's phrase liberalism in literature meaning specially the freeing of the artist is absolutely free and the writer from restraints and rules. So, there is no not the condition of knowing grammar as such which was in the previous age suggesting that phase of individualism marked by the encouragement of revolutionary political ideas. So, it was a two way traffic political ideas reflected on the literary output and literary output reflected on the political ideas. The poet Heinz German noted the shift aspect of German romanticism in calling it the revival of medievalism in art letters and life. So, you have to understand this he said that it was the revival of medievalism when we look at medievalism what do you understand by medievalism it has something primitive it has something exotic it has something strange it has the beauty which is unknown untremeled absolutely undiscovered and he said that this was something which romantics also tried to explore. While the painter thought the addition of strangeness to beauty the neoclassicists have insisted on ordering beauty, but here it is strangeness to beauty constituted the romantic temper. So, you can see the contrast the neoclassicists in the previous lecture they said that there had to be order there has to be discipline there has to be decorum if one has to be really creative and here it is the strangeness to beauty just as Walter Peter had said. Romanticism the predominance of imagination over reason and formal rules which is the age of classicism and over the sense of fact or the actual realism, but we had already noted that the romantics were also realized when they because they had transfigured realism by their perception by their vision, but by their sight. A formula that recalls Heslitz statement in 1816 is that the classic beauty of a Greek temple this is a very beautiful example recited safely in his actual form and his obvious connotations is it not. Whereas, what is the romantic beauty the romantic beauty of a Gothic building or ruin it is absolutely in ruins, but there are implications of something which is there in the past of not everything transparent arose from associated ideas that the imagination was stimulated to conjure up this is the role of imagination and a beautiful example which Heslitz had given. So, therefore, if we look into this look at the key figures who were there in this romantic revival Wordsworth from 1770 to 1850 Coleridge, then Byron, then Shelly, Keith, Scott, Austin, Lamb, Dequancy. Austin Lamb Dequancy they are the essayist Austin Scott Scott is a poet was a poet as well as a fiction writer Jane Austin well known for her novels, then we have the first generation of romantic poets Wordsworth and Coleridge the second generation Byron, Shelly and Keith. We have many other minor poets who which I have not included here, because I thought that it would be better that if we look into the key figures. Well, so let us look into the role of nature the spiritualizing of nature Wordsworth found brooding and tranquilizing thought at the heart of nature Shelly was in ardent and persuasive love in other words the spiritualized nature only gradually did they realize that to find this element of wonder this element of wonder which is there in nature they do not have to go back to the medieval age or strangeness they need not delve in the remote past as many of the romantic poets have also done Scott has done that even Coleridge, but it was at the hand it arose from the natural simplicity which they lauded the mysticism of everyday life. So everyday life took on a magic of its own everyday life took on a mystic of its own and the magic of the earth the witchery of the seasons and ordinary sunset or the guerrility of an old seaman the rain bearing wind the song of a nightingale these are the things that inspired to grave the treatment of Wordsworth Coleridge Shelly and Keith. Therefore, when we look as an overview of the romantic sensibility what do we see is it that it is only the play at imagination it is the complete involved sensibility. Therefore, consciousness studies makes a big impact upon here if you want to see how the mind works how perceptions is how you look at the thing. So, there is a difference between imitation and perception M H Abraham's in his book The Mirror and the lamp had brought in this divide he said that the mirror reflects and the lamp ultimately it gives a light of its own. So, therefore, we find how we can combine these two. So, there was sensibility primitivism love of nature sympathetic interest in the past mysticism individualism romantic criticism and a reaction at whatever characterized neoclassicism or roles. Now, this humanizing of social life because there was at the throes of the French Revolution you have to remember that the dignity of man was so very important other feature of the time is closely connected with the heightened appreciation of natural beauty for it appealed in attraction towards simple and elemental qualities everywhere and this made for the humanizing of life where human interface became very important not something where there was a go between. So, you went and accosted nature face to face or human life with all its simplities man in his essential self was of great focus and imaginative sensibility to both the poetry and prose of that time. Literary and philosophical theory if we look into this that tends to see the individual at the center of all life right and in places the individual therefore, at the center of art. This is very much like in Renasa too the individual was at the center of life making literature valuable as an expression of unique feelings and particular attitudes the expressive theory of criticism which I had just mentioned the mirror and the lamp in portraying experience more than it values adherence to completeness unity or the demands of nature. So, each one has his own way of expressing his reaction to nature. Romanticism saw in nature a revelation of truth the liberal government of God as it was said and a more suitable subject for art that those aspects of the world solid by artifice. So, there was nothing to do with which was man made or something which was a bane. Romanticism seeks to find the absolute the ideal by transcending the actual whereas, realism find its values in the actual and naturalism in the scientific laws the undergird the actual. If you want to bring in this divisions you can very well make the definitions like that. So, coming back to this change the romantic poetry was in direct contrast to the characteristics cultivated by the neoclassical English poets. We have already seen that is not it poetry of the school of Dryden Pope and Johnson were mainly what they were the product of intelligence there was a lot of cultivation of the arts of the grammar of the rules and the decorum. It was exclusively poetry of down life here now when we come here romantic movement was a reaction against the above characteristics of the classical poetry. The romantic movement was marked and is always marked by a strong reaction and protest against the bondage of rule and custom which in science and theology as well as in literature generally tend to fatter the free human spirit. The romantic poetry is marked by endless variety and individuality. So, if you say individuality is one and uniform we will be wrong to say that is not it? Each one of you are different in your own way is not it? And therefore, we find that romantic poetry therefore, has its own sense of variety and its own diverse individuality however, it enjoyed no unchartered freedom. Romantic poets sought inspiration and guidance from Spencer yes remember Shakespeare and Milton in this way romantic poetry was in the nature of a revival of many say Elizabethan romanticism. So, going back to the literary characteristics of the age we see at first it reflected in the the moral of the age political turmoil then when the turmoil was over literature suddenly developed a new creative spirit and new creativity and new awareness and new perception and new understanding of what was the meaning of life which shows itself in the poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Shelley, Keats and prose of Scott, Jane Austen, Lamb and Dequancy a wonderful group of writers even Wordsworth fired with political enthusiasm could write he could write this bliss was it in the dawn to be alive, but to be young was very heaven the sense of romanticism was that literature must reflect all that is spontaneous. So, this youth this youthful inspiration or imagination which was there was ultimately unaffected in nature and in man and be free to follow its own fancy in its own way. In Coleridge we see this independence expressed in Kubla Khan where he goes into the populace orient then in the ancient Mariner where he goes into the lonely sea. When Wordsworth this literary independence led him inward to the heart of common things as he said find tongues in trees books in the running brooks sermons in stones and good in everything. So, Wordsworth, Scott and Shelley in dealing with poetry of the time who are the key figures we have already seen them Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Byron, Shelley so abundant in quantity as well as rich in quality each one different from the next. The earliest for owners of the romantic revival of course, we have to remember was Blake William Blake who expressed in his songs of innocence both the mysticism and the homely delight of common things. And thus Blake and William Blake can be called the Godfather both to the ancient Mariner as well as Wordsworth pastoral domesticities. I think most of you have already read Blake's The Lamb and the Tiger you have to see the contrast of beauty which he finds in the gentle name and the strength of the tiger. The same love of simple joys and makes the work of copper the free romantics we can call them. These two poets foreshadowed the work of Wordsworthian group and hint at the kinship with all sentient things which is the link. So, these are the romantics Wordsworth, we have Byron, we have Shelley, we have Keats and the romantics again Sati, Scott and Coleridge as well as McCauley. In Iron Osby observes that the English romantic poets belong to two distinct generations came from disparate backgrounds which had said the first generation second generation the first sharply in theory and practice may be so held conflicting political views some of them were for the revolution some were against the revolution the aims of liberty fraternity and equality somewhere got diluted and later there was disillusionment and again there was this hope dislike each other. The poetry of romantic revival if we look into it transform from town to country life this was what we said from the urban to the rural and from the artificial decorations of drawing rooms to the beauty and loveliness of nature there to the joys of nature and elemental simplicity of life. If you look at the root poems of Wordsworth you find goes into the highlands the lives of common people shepherd and cottages in a language as close as possible to ordinary speech. So, it was the language will come to the lyrical ballads where the language that you write and the theme that you present and the motive that you present has to be conversant with one another they took delight in depicting natural objects birds flowers hills forest streams glades wind and bower. So, each one of you can experiment with this you have to also fashion out your own vocabulary you have to find out your own language which has to be conversant with the simplicity of the theme that you are presenting. Such common subjects as the solitary reaper a cuckoo a skylark and daffodils breed a sense of wonder in Wordsworth poetry many say that romanticism in especially the romantic revival of the 19th century in English literature was full of wonder this sense of wonder and agement at everything all around us the phenomena even at man as a intrinsic human being these were things which were explored and particularly however even though the novel also took on different forms in this age it was the romantic age was an age of poetry. The glory of the age is in the poetry of Scott Wordsworth Coleridge Byron Shelley Keats Moore and Sutting. Office prose work naturally those of Scott alone have attained a very wide reading of course, as well as we have Jane Austen Charles Slam as an essays novels of Jane Austen have worn their authors a secure place in the history of English literature. So, specific characteristics they abundant if we look into the syntax of the rules which are the if there are rules in the romantic revival. Abundantment of the heroic couplet in favor of blank verse we find the blank verse coming in again from the time of Shakespeare we have the sonnet coming in we have the spencerian standard we have the lyric coming in and many experimental verse forms the dropping of the conventional poetic diction in favor of fresher language and bolder figures the idealization of rural life enthusiasm for the wild grotesque irregular in nature and art and restrained imagination enthusiasm for the natural sentimental melodically as in great Thomas Gray emotional psychology in fiction as a research in collection and imitation of popular ballads renewed interest in spencer Shakespeare and Milton. Typical little forms where the lyric which I had just mentioned the love lyric reflective lyric the natural lyric and the lyric of morbid melancholy we have the sentimental novel the metrical romance the sentimental comedy the ballet the problem novel the historical novel the Gothic romance the sonnet and the critical essay I had told you in the beginning it is variety in its diversification in its individuality the romantic age in its creative output was abundant than most fascinating. The supreme romantic movement in English Richard's was the renaissance as we have noted which had brought about a transformation not only in English but also in European French Revolution in 1789 publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's lyrical ballads in 1798. So, if we want to date this romantic age let us take it in 1798 with a publication of the lyrical ballads by Wordsworth and Coleridge. So, what does the lyrical ballad say the lyrical ballad was a landmark in the history of the revival of the romantic movement in English it was a sort of a critical theory treatise and Coleridge not only revived romantic tendencies but also raised the banner of revolt against 18th century classicism. So, it was in the nature of a strong protest against 18th century and sharpened sensibilities and heightened imaginative fillings the prevailing attitude favoured innovation as against traditionalism in the materials forms and styles of literature. So, we have to really take into note the way that poetry was written the forms in which it was written the language in which it was written and in the themes in which it was written. Wordsworth's preface in lyrical ballads is important to note it was written as a poetic manifesto we will have to see it as a poetic manifesto or statement of revolutionary aims in which he denounced the poetic diction of the preceding century that was a great thing to do and proposed to deal with materials from common life in a selection of language really used by men. Notice really used by men Wordsworth's serious treatment of lowly subjects in common language violated the basic neoclassic role of decarum because this was decarum was something which was cultivated and here it is language which is actually used by men colloquial language which asserted that the serious genres should deal with only high subjects in a appropriately elevated time. The volume contained a few pieces by his friend Coleridge the lyrical ballads among them the ancient Marina and his appearance may fairly be said to mark an epoch in the history of English poetry. So, note that the lyrical ballads became a manifesto where how poetry was to be written how a poem is to be written was really laid out Wordsworth regarded himself as a reformer of poetry his innovations were twofold number one in subject matter and in diction he said that the subject matter has to be changed as well as the diction the principal object which I proposed to myself in this poems he said was to choose incidents and situations from common life low and rustic life was generally chosen because in that condition the essential passions of the art find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity and are incorporated with a beautiful and permanent forms of nature because it was close to nature people were sincere people had connections with elemental forces of life. Therefore, language as well as man becomes different in his prefaced lyrical ballads Wordsworth repeatedly declared that what is good poetry good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful fillings. So, this was just the opposite of what we had done in the previous age in the classical age it is the spontaneous overflow of powerful fillings and he carefully qualified this radical doctrine by describing his poetry as emotion recollected in tranquility you just remember when mind is at peace when mind is complete tranquil state only then consciousness leaves that state of emotion which you can recollect and only then poetry comes out and by specifying that a poet's spontaneity is the result of a prior process of deep reflection and may be followed by second thoughts and revisions. So, it may be followed by second thoughts and revisions. So, spontaneity is being cultivated by another process of reflection, but the immediate act of composition if a poem is to be genuine must be spontaneous. So, here is the poet of man just as Browning was the poet of man plural. So, we will come to Browning in the Victorian age the meta of the universe was forewarned merely the picture of a great spiritual power a rock a flower a sunset whatever and this is the underlying thought of the intern abbey it is the burden of the autobiographical and philosophical fragment the prelude. When we come to Coleridge we find another giant his peer best poetry are from 1790 to 1800 in no other poet of the time is the sense of mystery more finely developed is completely different from words. So, here we find the sense of mystery magic mastery of rhythm and meter gave him a complete different niche in English poetry especially the old ballet measure in the ancient Marina and in you producing the ghostly atmosphere of medieval romance. When we come to Walter Scott the lay of the last minstrel Maumian and the lady of the lake we find he may have liked the lyric passion of Burns another Scottish poet, but or of Keats or witchery of colors and kitsch, but his unexcelled in narrative force and clearness then not contain with exploiting the folklore of his country he pushed eastward and attained his greatest folk in dealing with oriental subjects this is Robert Sutley. We come to the next generation the most beautiful group of poets most romantic most tragic at the same time of the romantic poets shall he is empathically the poet of eager sensitive youth the spiritual youth of the visionary and the former in his earlier years Godwin was the figure he was a great follower of Godwin who most readily impressed his mobile imagination and in many of the poems dealing with social subjects completely restless completely one who was looking out for a new millennium and his little more than Godwin made musical, but the most important inspiration came to Shelley from Greek literature as we will see in Keats Shelley like his admirer Browning needed the sunshine of the south to rouse his finest powers Alistair is the splendid product of his first acquaintance with the elves and his loveless lyrics and his old's were written under Italian skies two notes dominate Shelley's work epic narrative alike his devotion to liberty. So, this was one of the most important tenets of the French Revolution liberty and his whole hearted belief in love as the prime factor of all human progress the revolution to Shelley was much more than a political upheaval the French Revolution it was a spiritual awakening and the beginning of a new life liberty in Shelley's eyes was freedom from external restraint we associate Shelley with love and liberty as we associate Keats with beauty worship with nature and cholera with something which is of the medieval past love is with Shelley a transcendental force kindling all things into beauty, but both the strength and weakness of Shelley's verse is in fact that is fine idealism the idealism that he had and warm human sympathies are clad in shadowy fat disease and lyrics delicate as Gossamer sometimes it becomes very opaque and sometimes it becomes too mystic and therefore it becomes like Gossamer soft and not transparent thought and feeling are etherealized till the presence is discerned only as one discerns the things of dreamland he has been called the Oberon of poets because he is mystical he is one who is hard to reach he is one who is elusive yet there is somewhere shadowy quality about him we come to the most beautiful aspect of romantic poetry John Keats formative influences in his work are the medieval Italian verse of Lehan the pastoral sweetness of Spencer and the inspiration of Greek art first gained throughout the medium of Seppman's Homer when he had read Seppman's Homer he had never gone to Greece but he had known almost all of Greek literature here but his individual genius though shaped by this inferences soon placed him among the foremost names of his age while in certain direction he is preeminent the naturalism of Wordsworth's school is blended here with an extraordinary delicacy of observation which gives his scenic pictures a unique charm no poet has excelled Keith's at his best first splendor of workmanship it was said that every word of his is loaded with or endymian Isabella the eve of Saint Agnes if we want to look for the aesthetics of presentation of creativity we have to go to Keith's but the oaths are I think the most imperishable things of English verse by virtue of their Hellenic clarity and sizzle beauty Hellenic here means Greek and the poetry comes naturally as Keith's was wanted to clay poetry shoot as leaves to a tree should come as leaves to a tree and this famous line from the ode on aggression on beauty is true truth beauty that's all we know on earth and all we need to know if we go to Lord Byron who gives another dimension to romantic poetry that is of heroism and bolder and freer aspects of romanticism you see the ski figures of romantic poets they are unique in themselves all the poems all the works that they did has an individuality has an involvement has a freshness which no poet would ever be able to excel in style and temperament he is a curious blend of the age of satire and the age of romanticism and therefore many call him insincere not a sincerous word sort but even then he says actor has the right to pose a poet has the right to pose and to create in that strange mixture of only wisdom and poetic beauty don Johan we see Byron at his best this is a line from don Johan she walks in beauty like the night of cloudless climb and starry nights wonderful best lyrics of our literature therefore it is a mistake however to describe the romantic poets as simply nature poems because they were also dealing with central human experiences and problems which we have reiterated what sort of set it that it is the mind of men which is my haunt and the main region of my song and the use of poetic symbolism I always seek in what I see as Sally had said well now from poetry let us go to fiction very quickly we have seen Horace Walpole's castle of Otranto proclaim its entrance into fiction we have Mrs. Redcliffe we have given then historical novel and Sir Walter Scott and in Frankenstein of Mary Shelley we find supernaturalism then Godwin Celeb Williams St. Leon and amplitude their distinct races of the school of mystery and terror and we come to the epitome of all the novelists of the romantic era Sir Walter Scott supposed to be the greatest novelist of the romantic revival especially in the heart of Midlothian and Waverly we know the very soul of scotch oven hood and manhood well we cannot do justice to the romantic revival if we don't mention Jane Austen skillfully Jane Austen wielded the difficult task of portraying characters in which no single feature is extravagantly oversized in our committee her characters were highly amusing very commonplace within the sphere of domestic drama very provincial individually confirming with relationship like pride and prejudice Mansfield Park Emma to name a few Horace treatment was of a different kinds he revealed the beauty and interest that underlie ordinary affairs so her romanticism when you look into her fiction you can almost ally it with that of words or something which was very very simple something which was very very variety of common life we come to the asses a new school of literary appreciation we have already seen the lyrical ballads and we will see that the revival was a new awareness on how to write poetry and therefore we have the new criticism which brings in aestheticism as well as different forms of theoretical aspects of how a poem has to be written or read what sort preface to the lyrical ballads scholar it's biography a literary literature and lectures on Shakespeare and other poets shall is the difference of poetry in reply to the provocative the four ages of poetry of peacock lam specimens of English dramatic poets who lived about the time of Shakespeare so the art of the assay if we come into it's heart slam dominates that for he gave fresh sound to the art of the assay especially his assays of earlier we have hastilyed we have decency no one could gossip in print more delightfully than he and we see that romanticism crossed the Atlantic in 1830 to 1865 in literature it was America's first great great period a full flowering of the romantic impulse on American soil surviving from the federalistic age where is three major literary figures we have Bryant Irving and Cooper emerging as new writers of strength and creative power where the novel is hot turn seems Malvin Harriet Beecher's dough poets for with a home's long fellow Lowell Dickinson and Whitman the assays tarot immersion homes the critics for Lowell and seems it was an exuberant and abundant output in American literature at the end of the civil war in America a new nation had been born it was to demand and receive a new literature less idealistic and more practical less exalted more arty less consciously artistic and more honest and when the American dream had glowed with greatest intensity. So, coming to the end of it let us discuss therefore, in understanding the romantic age what do we have to go into it we have to understand the major philosophies of romanticism we have to understand the influence of of of German influence as well as the French influence how it across the borders to America and how it had flowered into a different form of output creative output the most creative the most abundant the most fantastic supposed to be and the most beautiful at the same time the sincerest the most simple and the most essential what would effects of romanticism on the literary works of the time what we use mark the beginning and the end of romantic period which romantic could be considered would you consider as responsible for sending the distinctive elements of romantic poetry if you consider it one single poet I do not think it would be doing justice to it all I hope you enjoyed this and I hope you would understand romantic poetry when you study kids Shelly Wordsworth and Coleridge going back into the background you will be able to understand them better thank you these are the reference text thank you