The literature of the Romantic Period (History of English lit- Andrew Sanders)

 Edward Gibbon (Late 18th century)

He was known as the first modern historian. 

Memoirs of my life and writings

The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire

The prose is ironic. It cites original sources and gives political explanations of the decline and fall of the Roman Empire in the East and the West. 

Gibbon had come to Rome to study the historical artifacts of Rome and what he had seen disturbed him very deeply. Gibbon was a product of European enlightenment and scorned enthusiasm. But, he felt precisely this enthusiasm when he saw the ruins of Rome. So, this is the first time we see the European Enlightenment giving way to the new Renaissance. This enthusiasm was a product of sensibility. 

Sensibility in literature

It developed in 18th-century Britain. It was seen as a condition in people with nerves that feel too much. These people weep, faint, or react easily. Having these nerves was both a boon and a bane. It was a boon because such people would have a greater ability to feel beauty and moral truth but these people would also be prone to hysteria (in women) and hypochondria (in men). These are medical conditions that are like clinical depression today. 

In English literature, sensibility was a literary movement that defined a new genre of novels. These novels were called sentimental novels and they featured characters who were prone to sensibility. 

The novel is a critique of sensibility. It shows how the English manners are superior than the French manners.

Leonara is a newly-wed who wants to bring home Olivia. Olivia is Leonara’s friend. Olivia has cultivated a kind of aristocratic French sensibility. This sensibility is unlike the conventional morality.

The epistolary style has its own significance. When someone writes in an epistolary style then the perspectives and thoughts of the people who wrote the letters becomes evident. It helps us to compare individual sensibilities.

Olivia’s emotions are too extravagant for Leonara’s liking. The readers get the feeling that Olivia is a hypocrite and narcissist when she expresses her sensibility. 

5 characteristics of American Romanticism:

Individualism

Nature

Emotion over reason

Freedom of form

Gothic and unknown

 

 

Romanticism aims at exploring the individual in the face of nature. American Romanticism was influenced by British Romanticism. But, it was the abolitionist phase of American history and witnessed westward expansion. 

Romanticism was a literary and artistic movement that began in Europe in the late 18^th century. It was mainly concentrated in Britain. The early part of the 18^th century was mostly about neoclassisim and formalism. Romanticism was a movement to oppose neoclassicism and formalism.

Neoclassicism sought refuge in the ancient Roman and Greek literature but Romanticism wanted to create something from the scratch.

Neoclassicism sees man in the context of the civilized society while Romanticism is all about rustic beauty. 

Neoclassicism gave utmost importance to reason while Romanticism gave importance to emotion more than reason. The individual human nature was more important in Romanticism. The human self compared to nature was seen as primitive. A great importance was given to the subconscious.

The shackles of reason broke free and Romanticism wanted to know about the unknown. Hence comes the Gothic literature.

 Romanticism shaped a later generation of writers like Bronte sisters and Henry James. They sought to understand the more individual and darker themes completely driven by emotion.

Romanticism which mainly started in Britain now gained popularity throughout the globe. This popularity meant that the Americans began to seek their own branch of Romanticism. 

1830s saw the decline of Romanticism in England and its steady rise in America. Almost fifty years back had America been freed from Britain. America still did not have a unique literary culture of their own. The political climate was focussed on the individual and this resonated with Romanticism. Abraham Lincoln and other Presidents of America spoke about individual rights and dignity regardless of their births.

The American Romantic writers were either white Abolitionists or African Americans. They strived to show the effect of horrors of slavery on the families and individuals.

The Westward expansion meant that Americans had to go to new lands and face the wrath of nature. Moby Dick is a novel by Melville which shows how one man has to fight with nature.

Edgar Allen Poe’s stories of revenge explore how the external world and the internal world are both unknown.

Moby Dick or The Whale was written in the mid-19th century by Herman Melville. It is the story of a bunch of sailors in the sea and a sperm whale.  

Gothic literature

These novels have a Gothic setting in the European Middle Ages. 

Gothic architecture:

This was prevalent in Europe from 12th to 16th century. It originated in Ile de France and Picardy regions of France. It was called Francigenum back them. The word Gothic came to imply a mockery of the architectural style when in the later decades they tried to reconstruct the classical Roman and Greek architectures again. 

Defining Design of Gothic Architecture

Pointed of ogival arch

The pointed or ogival arch is also known as the Gothic arch. The Gothic arch, the rib vault and the flying buttress allowed cathedrals with great heights and windows to be built which allowed a lot of light to come in. 

The dynamics of a rib vault. There is no need for cement. 

Rib vault

Flying buttresses

Tracery

Stained glass window