Download Romanticism and Gothic Literature: A Comparative Analysis and more Lecture notes Literature in PDF only on Docsity! Romanticism (c. 1798-1832) A literary and artistic movement that reacted against the restraint and universalism of the Enlightenment. The Romantics celebrated spontaneity, imagination, subjectivity, and the purity of nature. Notable English Romantic writers include Jane Austen, William Blake, Lord Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley and William Wordsworth. Prominent figures in the American romantic movement include Nathaniel Hawthorne, Herman Melville, Edgar Allen Poe, Williams Cullen Bryant, and John Greenleaf Whittier. The Byronic Hero This idea is based on the personality of George Gordon, Lord Byron who was a stormy, sensitive, fiercely proud man. The Byronic Hero is a mysterious, somewhat exotic creature whose passionate intensity cuts him off from others. They suffer from profound yearnings that are beyond the comprehension of lesser persons. Aware of their superiority, these Byronic Heroes are frequently aloof, sometimes sullen. They show disdain for the petty regulations of society. They are sometimes imprisoned or become voluntary exiles, living examples of the restless spirit of the Romantics. Gothic Literature It was an offshoot of Romantic Literature. Gothic Literature was the predecessor of modern horror movies in both theme and style. Gothic Literature put a spin on the Romantic idea of nature worship and nature imagery. Along with nature having the power of healing, Gothic writers gave nature the power of destruction. Frankenstein is full of the harsh reality of nature. Many storms arise in the novel, including storms the night the Creature comes to life. The most common feature of Gothic Literature is the indication of mood through the weather. Gothic vs. Romanticism Romantic writers celebrated the beauties of nature. Gothic writers were peering into the darkness at the supernatural. Romanticism developed as a reaction against the rationalism of the Age of Reason. The romantics freed the imagination from the hold of reason, so they could follow their imagination wherever it might lead. For some Romantics, when they looked at the individual, they saw hope (think “A Psalm of Life”). For some Romantic writers, the imagination led to the threshold of the unknown— the shadowy region where the fantastic, the demonic and the insane reside. When the Gothic's saw the individual, they saw the potential of evil. A classic • Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein (1818) • Single most important product of this tradition • Themes relate to science, poetry, psychology, alienation, politics, education, family relationships, etc. • Tradition: 8-foot tall monster made of separate body pieces librarycommission.lib.wv.us/ WVLC%20BOOK/Frank... Influence felt elsewhere • Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge-- skeleton ship and the crew’s reaction • Christabel by Coleridge-- atmosphere, setting, and fragmentary plot of seduction and witchery • Manfred by Byron -- initial scene • The Even of St. Agnes by Keats -- setting http://www.wilsonsalmanac.com/images2/ancient_m ariner4.jpg Characteristics • Set in Medieval times • Dark, mysterious, evil tone • Dark castles, palaces, chambers, haunted mansions • Isolated setting • All come together to emphasize the sense of evil http://www.encounterspri.com/Articles.ht m More characteristics • Blood, pain, death • Cruelty • Eroticism • Characters with “aberrant psychological states” • Events are “uncanny, macabre, or melodramatically violent bordering between reality and unreality http://www.pantip.com/cafe/chalermthai/newmovi e/hauntedcastle/hc.html Purpose • To evoke “terror” versus “horror” in the reader because of situations bordering reality/unreality •Often used to teach a message • May lack a Medieval setting but will develop an atmosphere of gloom and terror Differentiating between the two • Horror •“An awful apprehension” •Described distinctly •Something grotesque •So appalling, unrealistic •Depends on physical characteristics • Terror •“A sickening realization” •Suggestive of what will happen •Depends on reader’s imagination •Sense of uncertainty •Creates an “intangible atmosphere of spiritual psychic dread”
