● NEW SENSIBILITY (1750-)

first half of the 18th century= material with loud and noble eloquence.
second half of the 18th century = subjective, autobiographical material moving towards the
expression of a lyrical and personal experience of life.
poetry= reflective (experiences presented for generalised reflection).
1) SIMPLE SERENITY OF THE COUNTRYSIDE
2) GROWING INTEREST IN HUMBLE
3) INTEREST IN MELANCHOLY AND MEDITATION ON THE SUFFERING OF THE POOR AND ON
DEATH
★ CONCEPT OF NATURE
The abstract perception is replaced by the view of nature as a real and living being.
Need to elaborate a new aesthetic theory built on individual consciousness rather than the imitation
of the nature in the classics
★ THE SUBLIME
For Burke the terror and the pain are the strongest emotions and there’s an inherent pleasure in
such feelings. Whatever caused these emotions could be defined as sublime

● EARLY ROMANTIC POETRY

★ PASTORAL POETRY
Expressed the idyllic pleasure and happiness of rural life → COWPER with the task celebrated country
life for its simplicity. He analysed landscape details and reflected on them; nature for him was a
source of innocence and delight
★ NATURE POETRY
THOMSON → saw nature in its physical details. It included wild scenery and put the contrast between
primitive man and civilised man
★ OSSIANIC POETRY (CYCLE OF POEMS BY A LEGENDARY GAELIC WARRIOR)
Celebrated the cult of simple and primitive life and growing interest in folk’s traditions.
MACPHERSON → fragments of ancient poetry famous in all Europe. Appeal lay in melancholy and
suffering produced by war or by contrasted love.
★ GRAVEYARD POETRY
Melancholy tone and choice of cemeteries, ruins and stormy landscapes.
THOMAS GRAY → elegy Written in a country churchyard
EDWARD YOUNG → night thoughts on life, death and immortality

● GOTHIC NOVEL
★ NEW INTEREST IN FICTION
In the second half of the 18th century the interest in individual consciousness revealed itself in
fiction. Taste of weird and mysterious, impulse for freedom and escape from the ugly world and the
fear of triumph of evil and chaos over good and order.
Today’s horror novels and films are direct descendents of the 18th century Gothic novel.
‘Gothic’ was first applied to architecture and then in literature → thanks to Walpole and his
inspiration from the miniature castle of Strawberry Hill for the Castle of Otranto
★ FEATURES OF THE GOTHIC NOVEL
Arouse fear in the reader with the threat of realising all the potentialities of the mind beyond reason.
The nature reflects the specific historical moment → Enlightenment and bloody revolutions in France
and America.
Settings: isolated castles, mysterious abbeys and convents.
Time: the night → darkness used to create an atmosphere of gloom and mystery.
Hero= isolated; heroine = afflicted with unreal terrors and persecuted by a villain.
Plots: complicated by embedded narratives and supernatural beings.

● ROMANTIC POETRY
★ THE ROMANTIC IMAGINATION
Expression of emotional experience and individual feelings.
Imagination gained a primary role → thanks to imagination romantic poets could see beyond reality
and discover the truth beyond the power of reason. Imagination could recreate and modify the
external world of experience.
The poet is a visionary prophet whose task is to mediate between man and nature, to give voice to
ideals of freedom, beauty and truth.
★ FIGURE OF THE CHILD
To a romantic a child was purer than the adult because he was unspoilt by civilisation. His
sensitiveness meant he was even closer to God and the source of creation
★ IMPORTANCE OF THE INDIVIDUAL
Man is seen in a solitary state and stressed by the special qualities of each individual’s mind.
They exalted the atypical, the rebel.
Jean-Jacques Rousseau → the civilisation represented the intolerable restrictions on the individual
and produced every kind of corruption and evil. The natural behaviour (unrestrained and impulsive)
is good.
The ‘noble savage’ may appear primitive, but actually he has an instinctive knowledge of himself and
is superior to the knowledge which has been acquired by civilised man.
★ THE CULT OF EXOTIC
Veneration of what is far away both in space and time. Poets welcome the remote and unfamiliar in
custom and social outlook.
★ POETIC TECHNIQUE
Romantic poets searched for a new, individual style through the choice of language and subjects
suitable to poetry.
More vivid and familiar words began to replace the artificial circumlocutions of the 18th century
direction.
symbols and images lost their decorative function to assume a vital role as the vehicles of the inner
visionary perceptions.
★ TWO GENERATIONS OF POETS
First generation: Wordsworth (beauty of nature and ordinary things with the aim of making them
interesting for the reader) , Coleridge (visionary topic, the supernatural and mystery) → theorise
about poetry
Second generation: Byron, Shelley and Keats → experienced political disillusionment which is
reflected in the clash between the ideal and the real.
Individualism and escapism → expression of the different attitudes of the three poets:
anti-conformist, rebellious and cynical attitude,
BYRONIC-HERO: the revolutionary spirit and stubborn hope of Shelley’s Prometheus and Keats’
escape into the world of classical beauty.

● ROMANTIC FICTION
★ DEVELOPMENT OF THE NOVEL
In the end of the 18th century it was the most popular form of fiction. It reflected the new interest of
the individual especially as regards the conflict between personal desires and and requirements of
society → deeper psychological insight, description of the relationship between classes character’s
self realisation, development of dialogues to bring the characters to life.
★ NOVEL OF METTERS
Changes in social hierarchy in the 19th century→ wealth from the aristocracy to the middle classes, so
the standard markers for the single in the society became increasingly unreliable: the comedy of
manners dealt with how these classes behaved in everyday situations.
Novels are usually set in upper and middle levels of society. They dealt with personal relationships,
class distinctions and the influence of money and property. Their main themes are marriage and the
complications of love and friendships.
The third person narrator is employed and the dialogue plays a central role, especially as a vehicle of
irony.
 ★ HISTORICAL NOVEL
At the beginning of the 19th century thanks to the Napoleonic wars. It is a literary genre that reflects
the romantic interest in the past (Middle Ages).
Founder: Sir Walter Scott → his novels created a passion for the historical novel among readers and
writers. His biggest achievement was to get people to realise was a product of human decisions. He
took the past of Scotland and mixed it with imagination . He presented upper classes (upper
language) but also humble classes (poorer language and dialects). He created a new perception of
history based on the life of ordinary people and how important historical events affected their lives.
Scott influenced Manzoni for the Promessi Sposi → Manzoni didn’t use any of the dialect form to
make his masterpiece a national consciousness.
★ AMERICAN PROSE
The American revolution marked an important step in the creation of a national spirit and
identification → literature that reflects the american identity.
Especially in prose the american characteristics emerged → the short story became distinctive (for the
circulation in cheap magazines).
The novel was only used as the ideal frame for the fantastic stories linked to the life of pioneers and
description of wild nature.

● WILLIAM BLAKE + complementary opposites

Born in London in 1757 from a poor family. He trained as an engraver and he also attended the
Academy of Arts. As a painter and engraver he broke all the rules of perspective and proportion,
creating a new type of art based on the imagination.
He made some illustrations for the Bible and the Divine Comedy.
He was a freethinker and supported the French Revolution → due to the industrial revolution he
started to think that the artist should be a guardian of the spirit and imagination.
He had a strong sense of religion → it presented a complete vision of the world’s history.
His poetry is regarded as early romantic, because he refused neoclassicism and its themes.
The ideal forms of nature shouldn’t be created from the observation of nature but from inner visions.
‘ILLUMINATED PAINTING’= picture + poetry
★ SONGS OF INNOCENCE AND SONGS OF EXPERIENCE
1) INNOCENCE = before the French Revolution → his liberal ideas were really high.
The narrator is a shepherd who receives inspiration from a child on a cloud to pipe his songs
celebrating the divine in all creation.
Symbols: lambs, flowers, children playing
Theme: childhood= innocence, where the soul is connected with freedom, happiness and imagination
Language: simple and musical.
2) EXPERIENCE = during the period of Terror in France → he didn’t reject the songs of the little
shepherd but he created their counterpart in the form of the bard.
The visual of the world is more complex; a more pessimistic view emerges with these songs → the
INNOCENCE and the EXPERIENCE are supposed to comment each other (the experience of the
adulthood completes innocence with another point of view on reality)
★ IMAGINATION = THE DIVINE VISION
The only way throughout which man could know the world.
God, the child and the poet share this power of vision.
Blake becomes a sort of prophet who can see really deeply into reality
★ INTEREST IN SOCIAL PROBLEMS
He supported the abolition of slavery and the egalitarian principles of the French Revolution.
Revolution = purifying violence to redeem the man.
Industrial Revolution = materialistic attitude and the commercial exploitation of human beings
★ STYLE
Simple structure and an original use of symbols → the child, the father and Christ representing
innocence, experience and higher innocence.
Verse: linear and rhythmical and characterised by the repetition
 ● WILLIAM WORDSWORTH + recollection in tranquillity
Born in Cumberland (English Lake District) in 1770.
His contact with the French Revolution filled him with democratic ideals.
In 1971 he fell in love with Annette Vallon and had a daughter, Caroline.
Due to the French Revolution and the war between France and England, in1793 he was on the edge of
having a nervous breakdown.
In 1795 he moved to Dorset with his sister Dorothy, who was his main supporter → she copied down
his poems and wrote the journals, in which we can see the experiences that generated Wordsworth
poems.
The friendship with Coleridge was a turning point in English literature → they produced the Lyrical
ballads in 1798. In 1800 another edition was published which also contained the famous preface of W.
which was to become the MAnifesto of English Romanticism
★ THE MANIFESTO OF ENGLISH ROMANTICISM
For Wordsworth poetry was a solitary act originating from the ordinary.
While planning the Lyrical Ballads with Coleridge → decided Wordsworth to deal with man, nature and
everyday things trying to make them interesting to the reader and Coleridge should deal with the
supernatural and mystery making them seem real.
In his preface Wordsworth explained that the subject should deal with everyday situations or incidents
with ordinary people. The language should be simple and the objects should be called by their
ordinary names. The reason for his choices lie in the fact that our purer passions can be found just in
the humble rural life.
★ THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN MAN AND NATURE
Faith in the goodness of nature as well as the excellence of the child. Man could achieve that good
through the cultivation of his senses and feelings.
Rather than a precise and objective observation of nature, his poetry offers a detailed account of the
complex interaction between man and nature → when the natural object is described, the main
interest is the poet’s response to that object.
Man and nature are inseparable → in his pantheistic view nature is something that comprehended
both inanimate things and human beings ( source of pleasure and joy).
★ IMPORTANCE OF SENSES AND MEMORY
Nature was a world of sense perceptions and he used especially the sensibility of the eye and the ear.
Hartley → the moral character develops during childhood as a result of the pain caused by our physical
experiences. Sensations lead to simple thoughts which later combine in organised ideas.
Interested in the development of nature in the ways it influenced him at different points of his life.
Memory is a major force in the process of growth in the poet’s mind and moral character.
★ TASK AND STYLE
Great sensibility and ability to see the heart of things.
Imagination → communicate his knowledge, so he could teach the others to understand their feelings
and improve their moral being.
Task: draw attention to the ordinary things of life (humblest people)
Style: blank verse, he proved skilful at several verse forms such as sonnets, odes, ballads and lyrics.

● SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE

Was born in Devonshire in 1772.
During the years of University he was heavily influenced by the French revolutionary ideals. After his
disillusionment with the french revolution he planned to travel to America with Southey and establish
a utopian community in Pennsylvania called ‘Pantisocracy’ → it wouldn’t exist any form of private
property (came to nothing).
Between the 1795 and 1800: the rime of the ancient mariner, christabel, kubla khan and Biographia
Literaria → text of criticism and autobiography and write about extraordinary events in a credible way.
★ THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER
Divided into seven parts and set in the wide sea with days of hot sun and nights lit by the moon.
Introduced by an Argument which contains the whole poem and consists in two narratives: one made
up of the captions (framework of the whole poem) and the other part is the poem itself.
TRAMA SUL LIBRO
★ ATMOSPHERE AND CHARACTERS
Atmosphere: full of mystery ( supernatural + real) → dream-like elements and visual realism; natural
elements are turned into supernatural pictures
Characters: hardly characters in any dramatic sense → they are stereotypes.
The mariner is passive in guilt and remorse (when he acts, he does it under impulses); he gains
authority through the paralysis of his conscience; he is spectator as well as actor in the drama → he
can tell the worst terrors with lucid retrospection.
★ THE IMPORTANCE OF NATURE
NOT a moral guide or a source of consolation and happiness → always present the awareness of the
ideal in the real. He’s christian → the nature is not divine
It has an essential role in poetic creativity because it stimulated the poet to find natural symbols that
could reflect his emotions and feelings.
★ THE RIME AND TRADITIONAL BALLADS
The rime has many features associated with the traditional ballads → dialogues + narration; four line
stanza; archaic language; repetition and onomatopoeia.
THE PRESENCE OF A MORAL MAKES THE ANCIENT MARINER A ROMANTIC BALLAD.
★ INTERPRETATIONS
It may be the description of a dream → the less conscious part of his psyche as a familiar experience,
in fact it moves by stages.
It may be an allegory of the life of the soul → from sin through punishment to redemption.
Most accreditate interpretation: a description of the poetic journey of romanticism → the mariner is
the poet by a song that derives from guilt (origin of poetry because the loss of innocence caused by
the industrial revolution; poetry coincides with the sense of loss and at the same time tries to fill it).

● JOHN KEATS
The greatest member of the members of the second generation of romantic poets.
Important elements: enjoyment of sensation, passion for the Middle Ages and Greek civilisation, his
concept of the writer.
He was born in London in 1795 in a well-known family. After the death of both his parents, he decided
to study and become a surgeon. In 1817 he gave up medicine for poetry → helped by Hunt he soon
became friends with Shelley. In 1818 his brother died from tuberculosis and he fell in love with Fanny
Brawne, but because of his health and economic conditions they couldn’t get married.
The eve of St Agnes
Ode on a Grecian Urn, To Autumn, Ode on Melancholy, To Psyche
La belle dame sans Merci
Hyperion
Because of his tuberculosis he travelled to Italy but died in February 1821.
★ KEATS’ REPUTATION
During the years of his life, he was known just by his own literary circle → Arnold in the 19th century
defined him on the same level as Shakespeare
★ KEATS’ POETRY
His lyrical poems are not fragments of a spiritual autobiography (even if in the odes there are some
personal experiences).
He used an universal I → his poetry rarely identifies scenes and landscapes with subjective moods and
emotions.
★ KEATS’ THEORY OF IMAGINATION
It had a supreme value and this made him a romantic poet → his idea of imagination was twofold: 1)
the world of his poetry is artificial 2) he uses imagination: most of his works are just visions of what
the human life should be like.
‘NEGATIVE CAPABILITY’ the poet’s capability to deny his certainties and personality in order to
identify with the object which he sees as the source of his inspiration. He can find sensations as the
basis of knowledge leading to beauty and truth.

● JANE AUSTEN
BIOGRAPHY PAGE 314

★ AUSTEN AND THE NOVEL OF MANNERS

She owes a lot to the 18th century novelist from whom she learned the insight of psychology of the
characters and the subtleties of the ordinary events of life.
Fielding → omniscient narrator and bringing the character into existence through dialogue.
Her style was characterised by the use of verbal and situational irony.
She restricted her view to the world of the country gentry
★ ANALYSIS OF THE CHARACTER
No place for great passions → common sense and moral principles of the previous generation.
She deals with serious matters of love, marriage and parenthood → the happy ending is a common
element to her novels; what makes them interesting is the concentration on the steps with which the
protagonists successfully reach this stage in their lives.
Her treatment of love and sexual attraction is in line with her general view that strong impulses
should be regulated, controlled and brought to order by private reflection, not in favour of some
abstract standard of reason but to fulfil a social obligation.
★ PRIDE AND PREJUDICE
From the book page 316