Literary Skills

Evaluate the
philosophical,
political,
Harley Henry religious,
ethical, and
social influences
The following essay provides highlights of the historical period. of a historical
period.
For a more detailed version of this essay,
see Elements of Literature, pages 706–717.

During the spring of 1798, two young English poets sold some
of their poems to raise money for a trip to Germany. Each had
published books of poetry, but their new joint work was to be Re-read Coleridge’s remark in
anonymous. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the younger of the line 5. What did he mean by it?

pair, told the printer: “Wordsworth’s name is nothing . . . mine

stinks.”
Soon after they left England, their book, Lyrical Ballads, with
a Few Other Poems, appeared. Among the “few other poems” was
Coleridge’s long narrative The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and
a last-minute addition, Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few
10 Miles Above Tintern Abbey.” Both of these works are now
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

ed.
v among the most important poems in English literature.
eser
r
So began what is now called the “Romantic period” in
England. Literary historians have found other important
rights
All
events to mark its beginning and end, but we should
remember the
casual, modest appearance of Lyrical Ballads as we consider the
Wi
ns Romantic period and the writers associated with it. Which “few other poems”
to ended up becoming among
n.
the most famous in the
and
t English language? Underline
Turbulent Times, Bitter Realities their titles (lines 6–11).
Ri Another way to date the Romantic period is to say that it
ne
ha started with the French Revolution in 1789 and ended with
r
the
H Re-read lines 18–23. What
20 Parliamentary reforms of 1832 that laid the political foundations
other event and what year
for modern Britain. It was a turbulent, revolutionary age, marked are sometimes considered
by important historical developments—an age in which England the beginning of the
Romantic era? Circle the
changed from an agricultural society to an industrial nation. event and year.

The Romantic Period 161

HRWv021306
 We think about this era in terms of some important historic
developments. Beginning in America in 1776, an age of revolu-
tion swept across western Europe. During the next century, new
political,
revolution that swept across western Europe (lines 24–28)? economic,
Underline and social forces produced some of the
that information.
most radical changes ever experienced in human life.

The French Revolution

30 A radical revolution started in France with the storming of the
prison called the Bastille on July 14, 1789. Unlike the American
Revolution, the more radical French Revolution had threatening
repercussions
d or strike back.” It refers to the sweeping and sometimes unforeseenfor England.
effects For thetoEnglish
or reactions an eventruling classes, the
or action.
French Revolution came to represent their worst fears: the over-
throw of an anointed king by a democratic mob. To English
conservatives, the French Revolution meant the triumph of
radical principles, and they feared that the revolutionary fever
would spread across from France to England.

The “New Regime”

id the ruling classes of England view the French Revolution as threatening?
40 Democratic idealists and liberals felt exhilarated by the events
in France. During the revolution’s early years, they even made
trips to France to view the “new regime” firsthand, as if it were
a tourist attraction like the Acropolis in Greece.
Many became disillusioned, however, when in 1792 the

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

“September massacre” took place in France. Hundreds of French
aristocrats and some members of the clergy—with only the
slightest ties to the regime of King Louis XVI—had their heads
severed from their bodies by a grisly new invention, the guillotine
(gil√¥·t≤n or g≤√¥·t≤n).
50 In 1793, France and England declared war on each other.
Many English liberals, including Wordsworth and Coleridge,
turned against France. In the midst of the turmoil, control of the
French government changed hands again. Napoleon Bonaparte,
an officer in the French army, emerged first as dictator and then,
in 1804, as emperor of France. In the end, Napoleon became as
ruthless as the executed king himself had been.
any people and helped lead to war between England and France? Underline that information.

162 Part Collection 5: The Romantic

1 Period
 The Conservatives Clamp Down
The bewildering changes in western Europe prompted conserva-
tives in England to institute severe repressive measures. Thebargaining
Collective
60 English outlawed collective bargaining and kept suspectedis a term meaning “negotiation between workers and
(line 60)
for reaching agreement on wages, hours, working conditions, a
spies or agitators in prison without a trial. After a brief peace in
1802–1803, England began a long war against Napoleon. The
English first defeated Napoleon’s navy at the Battle of Trafalgar
and, finally—in 1815 with the help of allies—conquered
Napoleon’s army at Waterloo, Belgium.
The conservatives in England felt they had saved their
country Re-read
from a lines 58–72.
tyrant Circle chaos;
and from what the
theEnglish
earlyachieved at Waterloo
supporters of in 1815. After Napoleon’s defeat, what hop
the revolution felt betrayed. For them, Waterloo was simply
the defeat of one tyrant by another. Still, the Romantics clung
70 to their hopes for the “dawn of a new era” through peaceful
change—hopes provoked and shaped by upheavals in English
life brought about by the Industrial Revolution.

The Industrial Revolution Finds a Foothold

Pause
England was the first nation in the at line
world 80. Why do you
to experience the think that rapid population growth in cities resulted
effects of the Industrial Revolution. Previously, goods had been
made by hand, at home. Now, production switched to factories,
where machines worked many times faster than human beings
could work by hand. Since factories were in cities, the city
populations increased, resulting in desperate living conditions
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

that would
80 horrify even the most hardened social worker today.
In addition, the land once shared by small farmers was
taken over by individual owners and converted into private
parks or privately held fields. This resulted in large numbers
of landless people. Just as some unemployed and homeless
people do today, these landless people moved to cities in
search of work, or relied on the forms of charity of the time,
the poorhouse
and begging.
Re-read lines 81–87. What did small farmers who suddenly found themselves without l
 The Tyranny of Laissez Faire
The economic philosophy that kept all this misery going was a
90 policy called laissez faire (les≈†·fer√), a French term meaning “let
(people)
economic policy of laissez faire (lines 89–99). Circle three effectsdo
of(as
thisthey please).” According to this policy, the new
policy.
economic forces should be allowed to operate freely without
government interference. The result of laissez faire was that the
rich grew richer, and the poor suffered even more. The system,
of course, had its most tragic effects on the helpless, especially
children. Small children of the poor were often used as beasts of
the names of the six poets most often identified with burden. In theera.
the Romantic coal pits, for example, very small children were
even harnessed to carts for dragging coal, just as if they had
been small donkeys.

100 The Rebellion of the Romantic Poets

The Romantic era has been most often identified with six
e Romantics dedicated to? How did their poetry differ from poetry that had come before?
poets. Three of them (William Blake, William Wordsworth,
and Samuel Taylor Coleridge) were born before the period
began and lived through most or all of it. The other three (the
“second generation” of Percy Bysshe Shelley, John Keats, and
George Gordon, Lord Byron) began their short careers in the
second decade of the new century but died before 1825. All
six poets were, in their own ways, deeply aware of their
revolutionary times and dedicated to bringing about change.
110
They had no illusions about their very limited political

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

power, but they believed in the force of literature. Frustrated
by England’s resistance to political and social change that
would improve conditions, the Romantic poets turned from
the formal, public verse of the eighteenth-century Augustans
to a more private, spontaneous, lyric poetry. These lyrics
expressed the Romantics’ belief that imagination, rather than
mere reason, was the best response to the forces of change.
 What Does “Romantic” Mean?
The word romantic comes from the term romance, one of the
120 most popular genres of medieval literature. Later, Romantic
How is the word romantic often used today (lines 126–12
writers self-consciously used the elements of romance in an
attempt to go back to older types of writing that they saw as
more “genuine” than neoclassical literature. The romance genre
also allowed writers to explore new, more psychological and
mysterious aspects of human experience.
Today, the word romantic is often a negative label used to
describe sentimental writing. The word is particularly applied
to bestselling paperback “romances” about love—a subject that
many people mistakenly think the Romantic poets popularized.
130 As a historical term, however, romantic has at least three
useful meanings, all of them relevant to the Romantic poets.

■ A Child’s Sense of Wonder

First, the term romantic signifies a fascination with youth and
innocence, particularly the freshness and wonder of a child’s
perception of the world. This perception seemed to resemble the
age’s sense of a “new dawn” and what Wordsworth saw in his
first experience in France as “human nature being born again.”

■ Social Idealism
Second, the term romantic refers to a view of the cyclical
140 develop- ment of human societies. This is the stage when people
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

need to question tradition and authority in order to imagine

better— that is, happier, fairer, and healthier—ways to live.
Romantic in this sense is associated with idealism. (The 1966–
1975 period in the United States might be called a romantic era.)

■ Adaptation to Change
Finally, the term romantic suggests an ability to adapt to
change— an acceptance of change rather than a rigid
rejection of it. In the so-called Romantic period of the first
half of the nineteenth century (up to the Civil War in
150 America), Western societies met the conditions necessary for
industrialization. This demanded
Re-read lines 132–150. In each of the three sections, underline the main words and phrases that define th
 that people acquire a stronger and stronger awareness of
change, and that they try to find ways to adapt to it. In this
Notes
sense, we still live with the legacy of the Romantic period.

A New Kind of Poetry

Lyrical Ballads did not remain unnoticed or anonymous for
long. In 1800, with Coleridge looking over his shoulder,
Wordsworth composed the Preface for the expanded
collection. In it he declared that he was writing a new kind of
poetry. The subject matter would be different from that of
160 earlier poets like Alexander Pope, who used poetry to satirize,
or to persuade the reader with argumentative techniques. For
Wordsworth, good poetry was “the spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings.” Such poetry should use simple, unadorned
language to deal with commonplace subjects. Furthermore,
Wordsworth focused on rural life instead of city life; he
believed that there is a permanent and interactive bond
between the human mind and nature.
Wordsworth reveals and celebrates this bond in “Tintern Abbey”
(page 169).

170 The Mystery of Imagination

It is a mistake to think of the Romantics as “nature poets.”
They were “mind poets” who sought a deeper understanding of

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

the bond between human beings and the world of the senses.
Their search led them to a third, more mysterious element
oets (lines 155–168)? Underline words and phrases that describe Wordsworth’s poetry; circle words and phrases that describe
present in both the mind and nature. The Romantics
identified this power as the imagination, which was superior
to human reasoning.
Each of the Romantics had his or her own special view
of the imagination. But all of them seem to have believed
180
that the imagination could be stimulated by both nature and
the mind itself. They had a strong sense of nature’s mysterious
forces.
Romantic poems usually present imaginative experiences as
t important things did the Romantics believe about thevery
human powerful or moving. This suggests that the human
imagination?
imagination
 is also a kind of desire—a motive that drives the mind to
discover things that it cannot learn by rational or logical
thinking.
Circle words and phrases that describe the Romantic view of the poet’s role (lines 185–200). Do you agree
Why?
The Romantic Poet
In the Preface, Wordsworth makes it clear that the poet is a
special person, “endowed with more lively sensibility, more
enthusiasm and tenderness ...a greater knowledge of human
nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be
common among mankind.” Though the word supposed
190 (meaning “thought”) may suggest that Wordsworth thought his
fellow citizens had too low an estimate of much of humankind,
all of the Romantic poets described the poet in such lofty terms.
For William Blake, for example, the poet was the
bard, an inspired revealer and teacher. The poet, wrote
Coleridge, “brings the whole soul of man into activity” by
employing
“that synthetic and magical power . . . the imagination.”
Shelley called poets “the unacknowledged legislators of the
world.” Keats wrote that a poet is a “physician” to all humanity
200 and “pours out a balm upon the world.” The poet, in other
words, is about
Think someone human beings
the Romantic beliefs and
and society cannotindothis essay. What question about the Romantics would you
ideas discussed
without.
Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

The Sleeping Princess

(19th century) by Sir Edward Burne-Jones.
 Literary Skills Evaluate the philosophical, political, religious,
ethical, and social influences of a historical period.
(1798–1832)
Harley Henry
The Quest for Truth and Beauty The following essay provides highlights of the historical period.
For a more detailed version of this essay, see Elements of Literature, pages 706–717.

During the spring of 1798, two young English poets sold some of
their poems to raise money for a trip to Germany. Each had published books of poetry, but their new joint work was to be anonymous. As Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the younger of the pair, told the printer: “Wordsworth’s name is nothing . . . mine stinks.”
Soon after they left England, their book, Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems, appeared. Among the “few other poems” was Coleridge’s long narrative The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and a last-minuteRe-read
addition, Wordsworth’s
Coleridge’s remark in line“Lines Composed
5. What did he mean byait?Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.” Both of these w
So began what is now called the “Romantic period” in England. Literary historians have found other important events to mark its beginning and end, but we should remember the casual, modest appearanceHe of Lyrical
meant Ballads
that Wordsworth
as we consider was thean unknown poet
Romantic period and the writers associated with it. and that he, himself, was known, but as
a bad poet.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

ed.
v
10

eser
r
Hamburg Kunsthalle, Germany/The Bridgeman Art Library.

rights
All

Wi
ns Which “few other poems” ended up becoming among the most famous in the English language? Underline their titles (lines 6–11).
to
St n.
and
ud
t

Turbulent Times, Bitter Realities

en Another way to date the Romantic period is to saynethat it started with the French Revolution in 1789 and ended with the
Ri
Colle
t ha
Parliamentary reforms of 1832 that laid the political foundations for modern Britain. It was a turbulent, revolutionary age, marked by important historical developments—an age in which England
Pa
r
changed from an agricultural society to an industrial nation. ction
Re-read lines 18–23. What other event and what year are sometimes considered the beginning of the Romantic era? Circle the event and year.

5
20
ge
s
wi Stude
th The Romantic Period 161 nt
An
sw Pages
er
The Wanderer Above the Sea of Clouds
(1818) by Caspar David Friedrich. Oil on canvas. 160–
s
161

H
R
W
v0
21
 82

Th
e
Ho
lt
soutClamp
this era Down
Re
in terms of some important historic
nts. Beginning
in western in America
Europe promptedin 1776, an agetives
conserva- of revolu- tion swept
in England acrosssevere
to institute western Europe.measures.
repressive During theThenextEnglish
century, new political,
outlawed economic,
collective andand
bargaining social
keptforces produced
suspected spiessome of the most
or agitators radical
in prison changes
without everAfter
a trial. experienced in human
a brief peace life.
in 1802–1803, England began a long war against Napoleon. The English first defeated Napoleon’s navy
and felt theyad had saved their country from a tyrant and from chaos; the early supporters of the revolution felt betrayed. For them, Waterloo was simply the defeat of one tyrant by another. Still, the Romantics clung to their hopes for the “dawn of a new era” through peaceful change—hopes provoked and shaped by uphea
Collective bargaining
hat were some er
Industrial Revolution.
effects of the age of revolution that swept across western Europe (lines 24–28)? Underline that information. (line 60) is a term meaning “negotiation between workers and employers
for reaching agreement on wages, hours, working conditions, and so on.”
: 60

Te
ac
evolution had he threatening repercussions for England. For the English ruling classes, the French Revolution came to represent their worst fears: the over- throw of an anointed king by a democratic mob. To English conservatives, the French Revolution meant the triumph of radical principles, and they feared that the revolutio
30
r’s
Re-read lines 58–72. Circle what the English achieved at Waterloo in 1815. After Napoleon’s defeat, what hopes did the Romantics cling to? Underline that inform
Mmeaning “to rebound or strike back.” It refers to the sweeping and sometimes unforeseen effects or reactions to an event or action.
erb repercutere,

an
ua

30–38. Why did the ruling classes of England view the French Revolution as threatening? Pause at line 80. Why do you think that rapid population growth in cities resulted in such horrible living conditions?
response:40 Suggested response: Overcrowding may have led to inadequate
ndustrial
ed that French Revolution
radical ideasFinds
would a Foothold
spread to England, causing a mob to overthrow the English monarchy. housing or poor
gwas
thethe first nation
revolution’s in the
early world
years, toeven
they experience the effects
made trips of the
to France Industrial
to view Revolution.
the “new regime”Previously, goods
firsthand, as had been
if it were made
a tourist by hand,like
attraction at home. Now, production
the Acropolis in Greece.switched to factories, where machines worked many times faster than human beings could work by hand. Since factories were in cities, the city populations increased
”on, theplace
took landin once shared
France. by smalloffarmers
Hundreds French was taken over
aristocrats by individual
and some membersowners
of theand convertedonly
clergy—with into the
private parksties
slightest or privately held of
to the regime fields.
KingThis resulted
Louis XVI—hadin large
their numbers of landless
heads severed from people. Just as
their bodies bysome unemployed
a grisly sanitation.
and homeless
new invention, people
the guillotine do today,
(gil√¥·t≤n these landless people moved to cities in search of work, or relied on the forms
or g≤√¥·t≤n).
ging.
, including Wordsworth and Coleridge, turned against France. In the midst of the turmoil, control of the French government changed hands again. Napoleon Bonaparte, an officer in the French army, emerged first as dictator and then, in 1804, as emperor of France. In the end, Napoleon became as

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

70

80

50
Colle
Re-read lines 81–87. What did small farmers who suddenly found themselves without land do? Underline that information.
es 44–56. What event disillusioned many people and helped lead to war between England and France? Underline that information.
ction
5
Stude
162 Part 1 Collection 5: The Romantic Period The Romantic Period 163 nt
Pages
162–
163
 What Does “Romantic” Mean?
allowed
The word romantic
to operate freely
comeswithout the term romance,
fromgovernment interference.
one ofThe the result of laissez
most popular faire was
genres that the literature.
of medieval rich grew richer, and the poor
Later, Romantic suffered
writers even more.used
self-consciously The system, of course,
the elements had its most
of romance tragic effects
in an attempt to goon thetohelpless,
back especially
older types children.
of writing Smallsaw
that they children
as moreof the poor were
“genuine” thanoften used as literature.
neoclassical beasts of burden. In the genre
The romance coal pits,
alsofor exa
allowe
Today, the word romantic is often a negative label used to describe sentimental writing. The word is particularly applied to bestselling paperback “romances” about love—a subject that many people mistakenly think the Romantic poets popularized. As a historical term, however, romantic has at least three useful
How is the word romantic often used today (lines 126–129)?
meanings, all of them relevant to the Romantic poets. 90 120
Underline the idea behind the economic policy of laissez faire (lines 89–99). Circle three effects of this policy. Today, the term often refers to a sentimental type of writing about
love.

Pause at line 107. Circle the names of the six poets most often identified with the Romantic era.

he Romantics dedicated to? How did their poetry differ from poetry that had come before?
d to change. They began writing more private, personal forms 100of poetry, rather than the formal, public verse of the
t died before 1825. All six poets were, in their own ways, deeply aware of their revolutionary times and dedicated to bringing about change. They had no illusions about their very limited political power, but they believed in the force of literature. Frustrated by England’s resistance to political and social change that would im
A Child’s Sense of Wonder
First, the term romantic signifies a fascination with youth and innocence, particularly the freshness and wonder of a child’s perception of the world. This perception seemed to resemble the age’s sense of a “new dawn” and what Wordsworth saw in his first experience in

130

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Social Idealism
Second, the term romantic refers to a view of the cyclical develop- ment of human societies. This is the stage when people need to question tradition and authority in order to imagine better— that is, happier, fairer, and healthier—ways to live. Romantic in this sense is associated with idealism. (Th

140
110

St
ud
en
Adaptation to Change
Finally, the term romantic suggests an ability to adapt to change— an acceptance of change rather than a rigid rejection of it. In the so-called Romantic period of the first half of the nineteenth century (up to the Civil War in America), Western societies met the conditions n Colle
t
ction
Re-read lines 132–150. In each of the three sections, underline the main words and phrases that define the word romantic, as it applies to the Romantic per

Pa
ge 5
s 150

wi Stude
th 164 Part 1 Collection 5: The Romantic Period The Romantic Period 165 nt
An
sw
Pages
er 164–
s 165
 84

Th
e
Ho
lt
Re that people acquire a stronger and stronger awareness of change,
Notes and that they try to find ways to adapt to it. In this sense, we still live with the legacy of the Romantic period.
is also a kind of desire—a motive that drives the mind to discover
things that it cannot learn by rational or logical thinking.
ad
Circle words and phrases that describe the Romantic view of the poet’s role (lines 185–200). Do you agree that “human beings and society cannot do without”
er Why?
Responses will vary.
:
lear that the poet is a special person, “endowed with more lively sensibility, more enthusiasm and tenderness . . . a greater knowledge of human nature, and a more comprehensive soul, than are supposed to be common among mankind.” Though the word supposed (meaning “thought”) may suggest that Wordsworth thou
eetfor
was the
the Te an collection.
bard,
expanded inspired revealer
In it heand teacher.
declared thatThe
he poet, wrote aColeridge,
was writing new kind“brings theThe
of poetry. whole soul matter
subject of man would
into activity” by employing
be different from that of earlier poets like
ontaneous ac Shelley
the imagination.”
overflow
cannot do without.
called poets
of powerful “theSuch
feelings.” unacknowledged
poetry shouldlegislators of unadorned
use simple, the world.”language
Keats wrote thatwith
to deal a poet is a “physician”
commonplace to all Furthermore,
subjects. humanity and Wordsworth
“pours out a focused
balm upon
on the
ruralworld.” The poet,
life instead inlife;
of city otherhewords,
believed that there is a permanent and interactive bond between the human mind and nature. Wordsworth reveals and
he
r’s
M 190
an
ua

Think about the Romantic beliefs and ideas discussed in this essay. What question about the Romantics would you like answered? How would you go about finding an
200 Responses will vary.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

Copyright © by Holt, Rinehart and Winston. All rights reserved.

who sought a deeper understanding of the bond between human beings and the world of the senses. Their search led them to a third, more mysterious element present in both the mind and nature. The Romantics identified this power as the imagination, which was superior to human reasoning.
them seem to have believed that the imagination could be stimulated170
by both nature and the mind itself. They had a strong sense of nature’s mysterious forces.
etry” different from that of earlier poets (lines 155–168)? Underline words and phrases that describe Wordsworth’s poetry; circle words and phrases that describe
180 Romantic poems usually present imaginative experiences as very
powerful or moving. This suggests that the human imagination

Colle
Re-read lines 170–183. What important things did the Romantics believe about the human imagination?
Underline that information. ction
5
The Sleeping Princess
(19th century) by Sir Edward Burne-Jones. Stude
166 Part 1 Collection 5: The Romantic Period The Romantic Period 167 nt
Pages
166–
167