Pre-Romantic Age :

Historical Context
The Age of Revolutions:

1776 American Declaration of Independence

2. Industrial Revolution
3. French Revolution
1.

INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION

England passes from being an agricultural

country to an industrian one.
2. New sources of power (i.e. carbon steam)
3. New technological inventions (i.e. steam
engine)
1.

FRENCH REVOLUTION

Led by Robespierre, it introduces the idea of

Democracy.
2. Spread of new ideas of liberty, equality and
fraternity
1.

Pre-Romantic Age: a
definition
Isnt it romantic?

The word romantic had been used in

England in the 17 century to describe the

fantastic style of chivalric romances.

In the 18 century, Rousseau used it to

express the vague, that is to say an
inexpressible feeling one had when
looking at certain landscapes.

The Germans first used this word in a

positive sense

It was the poet Novalis (1777-1801) who

used the word romantic to transform a

common object into something meaningful
or mysterious.

In Germany this period has been called

Sturm und Drang (storm and stress), which

inspired great authors such as Goethe.

Main features
English Romanticism can be

divided into three periods:

1. Pre-romantics: William Blake and Thomas

Gray
2. I Generation: William Wordsworth and
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
3. II Generation: George Gordon Byron (or
Lord Byron), Percy Bysshe Shelley, John
Keats

Edmund Burkes conception of

sublime
The sublime is a concept associated with

vastness, strong emotion, ideas which

fascinated artists and critics of this period.
A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our
Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757-1759)
In this essay Burke argued that an experience

goes beyond rational understanding, inspiring

strong passions, which can neither be explained
nor controlled.
Overall landscapes were full of rushing torrents,

dark forests and hostile weather conditions.

Romanticism VS.
Enlightment
Enlightment emphasized objectivity and reason
Romanticism emphasized subjectivity and the

irrational sphere of the human nature (emotions,

creativity, imagination, nature)
This difference can be seen also in philosophy:
1. The Enlightment was characterized by the

rational tendency spread by Cartesio

2. The Romanticism was characterized by the
irrational tendency and idealisism spread
both by William Hegel

Lyrical Ballads:structure and preface

Lyrical Ballads is a collection of poems, first

published in 1798 by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

and William Wordsworth.
The Preface to the second edition (1800)

is considered a poetic manifesto of the English

Romanticism.
The work included Coleridges Rime of the

Ancient Mariner and Wordsworths

Tintern Abbey

 I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow

of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion

recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is
contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the
tranquillity gradually disappears, and an emotion,
kindred to that which was before the subject of
contemplation, is gradually produced, and does
itself actually exist in the mind. In this mood
successful composition generally begins, and in a
mood similar to this it is carried on; but the emotion,
of whatever kind, and in whatever degree, from
various causes, is qualified by various pleasures, so
that in describing any passions whatsoever, which
are voluntarily described, the mind will, upon the
whole, be in a state of enjoyment.
(William Wordsworth & Samuel Taylor Coleridge,

it takes its origin from emotion

recollected in tranquillity

object poet sensory

experience
emotion
memory=recollection in
tranquillity kindred
emotion poem reader
emotion

William Wordsworth (17701850)

Relationship between nature and man:
According to Wordsworths Pantheistic vision

of poetry, Nature and Man are inseparable.

Man is not an external subject of nature but
hes an internal part of it. Nature is a source
of pleasure and it acts as a cosolation.
Nature has three functions:
1. Aesthetic
2. Moral
3. Educational

Biographia Literaria
(1817)
In this b0ok Coleridge described the origins of the

Lyrical Ballads.
He outlined what role each author would have in

this work:
Wordsworths task was to give the charm of novelty

to things of everyday life

Coleridge s task was address to supernatural

characters in order to provoke a suspension of

disbelief

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (17721834)

According to Coleridges vision of poetry there

were two phases of the imagination:

1. Primary Imagination: is act of self-

consciousness and makes the perception

possible, by tidying up the chaos.
2. Secondary Imagination (or Fancy): it

pertains to the poets, who is able not only to

tidy up the chaos but also to build new worlds.

Coleridges vision of nature is totally

opposite to the Wordsworths one.

His christian faith did not allow him to

identify nature with divine but he saw nature

as a projection of the world of ideas on the
flux of the time (according to Platos vision).

He put first abstract meaning and he used

them in visionary poems.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

(1798)
It tells the story of a mariner, who killed an

albatross when he was shipwrecked during a

voyage
Features:
1. Misterious atmosphere

(supernatural+reality).
2. Nature acts as a character .
3. By killing the Albatross, symbol of peace, he
offended the Spirit of the Rime. In fact
Albatross is linked to spiritual world.

1. Supernatural Elements:
a) Spirit of the death
b) Sea-Monsters
c)

Ghosts

. The supernatural sphere was also the source of

language.It was archaic and full of metaphors,

ballads-inspired and personification.
Furthermore, based on sounds effects.
. Coleridge marked the human side of his

character, the mariner, by stating his fears as a

universal aspects. The mariner is both
spectator and narrator of the story. Although he
has to carry on the bound of guilty, he is forced
to tell the story with calm and lucidity.

Thanks for your attention!

Trainee Teachers:
Consiglia Del Peschio,
Fabrizio Consiglio
Professor: Eva de Vico