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Unit 13: The Eighteenth Century-Approach/Transition Towards Romanticism (Progress of Education, Philosophical ...........

13.1 A Reaction Notes

The Romantic Movement was a European, not only an English, phenomenon. Its repercussions
were felt towards the end of the eighteenth century, but its efflorescence came at different times in
different countries and in different ways. Germany was perhaps the first country to manifest a
marked change in its sensibility which affected its philosophical thought more than literature.
England turned romantic about the beginning of the nineteenth century, and France, the witness to
the famous French Revolution (1789), manifested the influence of romanticism around 1830, when
the Romantic Movement was already starting to decline in England. Romanticism meant different
things in different countries, and even in the same country it implied different things with different
writers. Thus in England it is customary to herd Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, Keats, and
Byron all as romantics. But how different, say, Byron and Wordsworth are! A critic recommends
the use of the term “romanticisms. “rather than “romanticism” in consideration of the variety of
its fundamental features. Whatever be the interpretation of the term “romanticism,” it is clear that
it was essentially of the nature of a reaction. In England the Romantic Movement implies a
reaction against the school of Dryden, Pope, and Dr. Johnson. However greatly may Wordsworth
and Byron differ in their conception and practice of poetry, it is indisputable that both of them
reacted against the set conventions and rules of poetry formulated and traditionalised over the
decades by the poets of the neoclassic school. The Romantic Movement was thus a revolt against
literary tradition. But it was more; it was also a revolt against social authority. It was perhaps
Schlegel who first defined romanticism as “liberalism in literature.” Most of the romantic poets
were for the liberation of the individual spirit from the shackles of social authority as well as
literary tradition. This emphasis on individual predilection, which in philosophical terms approaches
subjectivism, renders the romantic output somewhat chaotic. When there is no tradition or uniting
authority, it is not surprising that the romantic poets take widely divergent paths.

Did u know? Thus, even if we may accept that there was a classical or neoclassical school of
poetry, it is difficult to conceive of the existence of a romantic “school”.

13.2 The Nature of the Revolt
“The romantic movement” says William J. Long, “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 literature, generally tend to fetter the free human spirit.” It is of interest to note that just as the
romantics revolted against the literary traditions of the eighteenth century, Dryden and Pope
themselves had revolted in their turn against the tradition of the previous age. The romantics
looked for inspiration and guidance to Spenser and Milton, whereas Dryden and Pope had looked
to the roman poets of antiquity. Thus both the neoclassicists and romantics, while breaking away
from the traditions existing immediately before them, respected a more ancient tradition. Let us
consider in what respects the romantics parted with the neoclassic tradition.

Task Write a short note on the nature of the Revolt.

13.3 Reaction Against Reason
Cazamian observes: “The literary transition from the Renascence to the Restoration is nothing
more or less than the progress of a spirit of liberty, at once fanciful, brilliant, and adventurous,
towards a rule and discipline both in inspiration and in form.”The transition from neoclassicism to
romanticism is just the reverse of this. The neoclassicists were champions of common sense and
reason, and were in favour of normal generalities against the whims and eccentricities of individual
genius. “Nature” and reason were glorified. Much of the satire of the eighteenth century was
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