british literature romantic period

I 6 I T H E R O M A N T I C P E R I O D

one u'riter who praised and emurated that rhapsodic spontaneity, percyShelley, thought it "ur, "..o.

to assert tnut tt-r", finest passages of poetry areproduced by labour and study." He suggested insteacl that these were theproducts of an unconscious cre,ativitv' "-[]."ut statue or picture grows underthe power of the artist As a child in ine m?tner,s vvomb.,, The emphasis in this period .rr-, .,.rlubor"d n.t o',J n,-, the ipontaneousactivity. of the imagination.producing ir, and the p.";i";-;#ed on theimmediacv of- the rerati,,nship betwein aurhor

";i p;;;';l"t,rr"a ,o ubelief in the essential role of passi,rr-r. A""ordr.rg ,. lrir'rii".-1-hi.h

"or.,-nects the literary productions ,lf th" Ro*untic period to tt-,"-po"try ancl fic_tion of sensibiritv u'ritten earlier in the eighteenth .e.,turyi ,h*" ,,.rr,ri,ir,"feelings of "rhe heart' rrad ,o ."ppt"-""i ,i";"ag-"";; ,f ,ri;';erv rogicarfacultv, "the head." "De.ep thinkirg,;;-"i".iage wrote, ,,is ,ttainabre only bya man of deep feering"; hence, "a mltaphysicar soruri.n ,t "i

i."rl-',r, telr yousomething in the heart is grievously t,, b" ,.,.p".r"a u, opu"rfft ri.,, ()Lorification of the Orclinary

In the lecture he gave "On the Living poets" in lglg l{azlitt cleclared the'oerrv of the Larier scho.l, rn,itrr worisro,.rrh_at ir, h"J, ;rl;" ii" tit".u.yeqtri'alenr of the Frencr.r Revolrrri.n, a rra^slari." .r,f.riii."iiange int.p'ctic,l experinrent' "l(ings o,-t.l q.,".:,-r. were clethr.r-recl f-ro'r tl-reir rzr'k a'clstatirn in legiti'ratc,trzrgldy or epic'.etry, as they'n"." a"""iriiatecl else-where' ' . . Tlre paradox 1th",.,., p.,itr] 'r"a,,J,,

rvirh was that a[ i't irrra, nr., lrynature, erqually fit su,rrjects f.r poetry; or th:rt if there is any 'reference [ogivc, th.se th:rt are t[.,c n.,eon"ri [i.".,','.,rrt n.,,"fri"j,rrJ';;irt;;r.,rmising :rrc the best." Furthc'rmore',.irs Fr:rzritt poir.rtccr out, the Lake Scrroor h:rclcl.nc more tha'terrie_tr-rc subjccts,rf ,"ri,'r.,. lr,rems I'r.nr trrer livcs.r.hrrmbrccountrv frlk; it.vertrvcricited:r gcntecr u.,.ri.,,.,.",,.,y,"o,,ir.,l"r'i'r. the cris_g r a t ' t ' < l ' ( ) r r ( ; r s l . r r n r r r r t ' r i r r < 1 r r t ' n r l " . . , , r r r i r . r s , l i , r r r r r < , \ i r g r i r r r r s , g y l ) s r e s . . .icli.t boys:rnd r'r:rcr n.r'thers,'i in Hazrittls risr. r.r r.,-., extenr lJazriit,s anarn_g i z i n g , b e t w e . n p o e t i c . n c r p o l i t i c a r e x P e r i m e n t s s u g g e s t s m o r e a r r . u t h i n rthan tl.re li'ir-rg pocts he.triscr,rsses, an avicr youthfur reacrer of-Jer'.-Jac<1uesRousseau' hc souncls as th',gh he trorr to (cart the Swiss-Fr",-,"t ptrit,rru- Pher's aclvocacy of a simpriciiy ,rrr -o,-r,-r"..,r'against arist.cr.tic corrupti.n.Still, l{azlitt w.r-rrcr rravc.i.'ncr supP.rt fbr his crraracterization .f thc LakcScfrool from worclsr,r,,rth's statcrnent in the-prcfa.^e that r-,i., ,i,, i" LyricaLBalla.ls w:rs "to ch..sc i'cicre'ts :rncr situarti.ns from common rire.,, ForWorclsworth's p.le'ricerI plrrposes, it ruu. in ],hun-rble and r'stic life,,that.natural language-"a,lar-rg,,age, reaily spokcn by mcn"

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with the bcautiful ,..trd p"rr,-rri,-r"nt fo'ns'.rf n,-,1.-,.",,-r,1,:rs to bc rbund, ancrthe specch.f rustics u,as in the prefirce f.,--,ut"a ils zl cure f.r tlre airmentsof the ove.rcivilized. Ilazlitt wo,ld have linou,n as r^,elr that rater-eigl,rteenth-ce.tury rvritershad .lreacly experimentecr x ith tr-," tr-'t"-treatment of sin-rple subjects.Burns had rvith great succcss representeci "the rural scenes urr.l .u.or pr"u_s u r e s o f I h i s l n a t a l S o i l , " a n d i n , I u r , g u o g " , r i - i , r g t o b e t r u e t u t h " . t , y t h - .of thc. Scots Iangu;rge..\\bn-rer-r pn"?r, ?.r,r_Barbauld, Robinson, J.annaBaillie-assimilatc'cr to their p,r"1,'., th"_r.,bi".t matter of- everyday Iife. NIanvlater-cighteenth-centLrr'rvriters had taken their cue from the ,rua. ,i-pti._ity of the popular ballair: the bailad's opp"ol io, an

_'p-market, metropolita'readership, capitaiizecl on b1, eightee,-,ri-,]"",-rr.,.y collections like percv,s Bel_

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