A History of Literature

1789 saw the publication of William Blake's Songs of

The Romantic Era
His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his
Innocence; Blake added Songs of Experience to this features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His
collection in 1793. The poems reflect Blake’s views that
yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and
experience brings the individual into conflict with rules,
arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black,
moralism, and repression. As a result, the songs of
and flowing; but these luxuriances only formed a
experience are bitter, ironic replies to those of the earlier
more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that
volume. The Lamb is the key symbol of Innocence; in
seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white
Experience its rival image is the Tyger, the embodiment of
sockets in which they were set.
energy, strength, and aggression.
With Frankenstein,
Mary Shelley (at the
The period between Blake's birth in 1757 and his death
age of 18) wrote the
seventy years later was a time of great social, political,
first novel to
philosophical and economic upheaval. One of the major
foreground science as
alterations to traditional life was the emergence of large,
industrial, overpopulated cities that accommodated for the
a means to create life,
and as such, she
large influx of people to metropolitan areas following the
agricultural and industrial revolutions. The resulting society
was one of oppression and poverty; a darker period of human
wrote the first major
work in the science
fiction genre.
1739 - 1832
Prometheus Unbound, a lyrical
John Keats found existing forms in
drama in four acts by Percy
poetry unsatisfactory for his Bysshe Shelley, was published in
purpose, and so in 1819 he 1820. The work, considered
presented a new development of Shelley’s masterpiece, was a
the ode form with his Great Odes. reply to Aeschylus’s Prometheus
The most famous of these is his Bound, in which the Titan
Ode on a Grecian Urn. Through his
Prometheus stole fire from
awareness of other writings in this
heaven to give to mortals and
field and his first-hand was punished by the Roman god
acquaintance with the Elgin
Jupiter. Shelley’s heroic
Marbles, Keats perceived the
Prometheus strikes against
idealism and representation of
oppression as represented by a
Greek virtues in classical Greek
power-mad Jupiter. This
art, and his poem draws upon
these insights. The poem was not
well received by contemporary
“Beauty is truth, brilliant but uneven work
represented the culmination of
the poet’s lyrical gifts and
critics. It was only by the mid-19th
century that it began to be
praised, and it is now considered
1819 truth beauty” political thought.

history with which Blake was utterly disgusted. Consequently

to be one of the greatest odes in

1789 these social grievances became the basis of a large number of

Blake's poems.
1818 the English language.
1820

Frequently hailed as a signal

of the beginning of English
Romanticism, Lyrical Ballads,
Flourishing as a form of entertainment during the Romantic period, the
novel underwent several important developments in this era. These include
1819 But words are things, and a small drop of ink,
Falling, like dew, upon a thought produces
1798 is a collection of poems, first
published in 1798 by Samuel
Taylor Coleridge and William
the invention of the Gothic novel, the appearance of more politically
engaged fiction, and the rise of women writers to prominence in prose
fiction.
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions think.

Wordsworth. The two poets Northanger Abbey was the first

conceived this work as an completed novel by Jane Inspired by former poets and by his fellow Romantics, Lord
experiment in poetry, in Austen, one of the most famous Byron developed a poetry of dash and flair, in many cases
which Wordsworth’s British novelists. Austen is with a striking hero. His two longest poems, Childe Harold’s
contribution was to make known for her social Pilgrimage (1812–18) and Don Juan (1819–24), his
verse out of the incidents of commentary, as well as masterpiece, provided alternative personae for himself, the
O happy things! no tongue
simple rustic life, in a romance, for which some of her former a bitter and melancholy exile among the historic
Their beauty might declare:
language that was a selection works like Pride and Prejudice sites of Europe, the latter a picaresque traveller enjoying a
A spring of love gushed from my heart,
from the phrases of ordinary

1817
And I blessed them unaware or Sense and Sensibility are still series of amorous adventures.
speech. popular today.

#WEL03: To develop compassion and mutual respect through St Christopher's 6 Cs:

understanding the perspectives, beliefs, and circumstances of others. Commitment
Percy Bysshe Shelley wrote that "Poetry lifts the veil from the hidden beauty of the world, and makes familiar objects be as if they Poet, painter, engraver, and visionary William Blake worked to bring about a change both in the social order and in the minds of
were not familiar." This is at the heart of poetry: through exploring new ideas and perspectives, we develop our feelings of empathy men. Though in his lifetime his work was largely neglected or dismissed, he is now considered one of the leading lights of English
and understanding towards others. poetry, and his work has only grown in popularity. Despite the lack of recognition in his own lifetime, Blake's commitment to his
vision ensured that he persevered.