PAG.

D9
A new sensibility influenced the Early Romantic Age literature,even in the most
classical approaches such as that of Thomas Gray.The ideas of the Enlightment had
led to a repression of feelings and were proved unsatisfactory and the individual
response won against the communal.The interest in humble life and in melancholy
stimulated a New taste for the desolate as a contrast with present reality even
thanks to the rediscovery of art and architecture.A new 'Gothic',as a facet of
exoticism,was arising and the concept of nature changed from a set of laws
established by God to a living being to be described in his reality.David Hume denied
the objectivity of the experience theorized by John Locke and established the
subjectivity of the beauty which exists only in the mind.Burke gave instead
supremacy to the sublime.Sublime is NOT linked to the beauty and causes strong
sensations of fear and anxiety.

PAG.D14
In the second half of the 18th century,a new generation of poets established new
trends which prepared the way to Romanticism.These poets,differently from their
predecessors,used autobiographical material expressing a personal experience of
life.In the early Romantic poetry there was a re-evaluation of the origins expressed
by the Pastoral poetry("The Task" by Cowper)as a celebration of simplicity and
domesticity.Nature began to be seen as a source of delight,anticipating
Wordsworth,and it caused the success of Ossianic poetry about a legendary Irish
hero.James Macpherson's poem,which included many of these works,was very
successful all over Europe even thanks to his melancholic mood.
An important expression of the new sensibility was represented by the Graveyard
School.Thomas Gray,above all,choosed cemeteries,ruins ecc. as the setting of his
poems.Moreover,Thomas Percy and Robert Burns were inspired by the folk tradition.

PAG.D58
Romanticism was a period of willingness in exploring new outlooks and interests and
it was characterized by the increasing use of imagination as the expression of the
emotional experiences.Subconscious levels were penetrated trough the exploration
of madness,hypnosis ecc.Childhood was first seen as a temporary and essential
condition and its feelings were considered purer than any other because they were
unspoilt by civilisation;a child was closer to God so he needed to be cultivate.The
Romantics celebrated the qualities of the individual and considered man essentially
in the solitary state exalting,as it happened in Coleridge and Shelley,the figures of
rebel heroes.According to Rousseau,the conventions of civilisation were an
intolerable restriction on the individual personality and this established that an
impulsive behaviour is good in contrast to the behaviour governed by reason:the
concept of "noble savage" was born as a typical Romantic feature.Rousseau's
theories had promoted the cult of the exotic as a search for what is far in space and
time.So the picturesque,the formidable and the unfamiliar,specially in
custom,became new themes to be treated.