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Seniors ~ Romantic Period Review

Your test is on Monday and will cover English Romanticism, beginning with the introduction to the period (622-638).  The period includes two revolutions -- French (for freedom and equality, but which lead to disillusionment) and Industrial (for scientific and economic progress, but which lead to skepticism and degradation).  Note the chart that outlines the developments and concerns of the period, including the reverence for youth and role of the imagination.  We also talked a bit about some of the paintings of the period.

The major writers of the period can be divided into three groups: early, late and women.
  • First, the poets who defined the period -- William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  Their collection Lyrical Ballads includes two of the period's most famous poems, Rime of the Ancient Mariner & "Tintern Abbey."  We also studied "Kubla Kahn".  Note the form for these poems as well as the content.  
  • William Blake is also of the earlier generation of writers, composing Songs of Innocence & Songs of Experience before and after the French Revolution.  Together, they demonstrate "the two contrary states of the human soul."  We studied "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" first, and then the two versions of "Chimney Sweeper."  Note the differences between the "before" and "after" perspectives of these poems.
  • The second generation includes Lord Byron whose "byronic hero" is at the center of "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage".  His pilgrimage to the ocean echoes Wordsworth's trek to Tintern Abbey.  Next, Percy Shelley and John Keats both wrote about "truth" and "beauty" as timeless contributions of the artist.  Again, note the form of these poems and their connection in theme.
  • We also studied two very different female authors, Mary Wollestonecraft Shelley (and her famous,  if radical, parents) and Jane Austen, whose very measured novels of love and manners are very different from Shelley's wildly adventurous Frankenstein.  They are connected through their struggles as women (lack of formal education and opportunities), but also through their romantic sensibilities (idealism, in particular).
  • I know I mentioned Charles Dickens, albeit briefly, but he won't be on the test.
Study, and you should do fine.  I know you're almost done, and that you have a paper due, and that you'd like to be doing anything rather than re-reading Romantic poets this weekend.  Don't slack.  You're too close to the end to give up.  We'll discuss the "memory book" assignment next week, and you can all rest your brains.

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