An Analysis of Alfred De Vigny's 'Chatterton' and Victor Hugo's 'Ruy Blas': Techniques of the Romantic Period

A characteristic tone of Romanticism is to evoke empathy within the reader to gain a

The Penguin Books of Romantic Poetry includes a collections of romantic poetry from later eighteen centuries to the early nineteenth century. At the peak of Romanticism, there were many social and political changes occurred including the French Revolution, Napoleon’s expansion in Europe, the Congress of Vienna, the conflict between conservatism and liberalism, Industrial revolution and so on. Romantic poets used poems to express their emotions of their love for nature, longing for the ancient legends, and they tried to use their emotions and feelings to understand the world around them including the French Revolution, slavery, industrial revolution and the Napoleonic war. However, after the Revolution of 1848, the wave of romanticism died out and realism emerged.

French author Alfred de Vigny wrote the play Chatterton in 1835. The drama is about Thomas Chatterton who was a British poet who also made a substantial living forging poems and claiming that they were from the medieval period of history. Instead of an earnest biography or an attempt to relate history in a realistic manner, de Vigny's Chatterton tells the tale of Chatterton through the style of French Romanticism. Specifically, the play functions as a thesis for all French Romantics who believed themselves as artistic martyrs who were willing to sacrifice themselves for the sake of their art. To serve this end, much of the negative components of Chatterton's life are not included in the play. Even his forging of documents is made to seem understandable, as an activity committed by an intelligent man who was mocking the larger establishment of the unintelligent larger population. Those who were smart enough to see the forgeries as they were, would not be aggravated at Chatterton, but would instead join in his bemusement of the larger group. The reason for this is that the audience is meant to identify with Thomas Chatterton and to see in him something greater than average human beings could aspire to.

During early American Literature, four new philosophies arrived with the arrival of a new nation. As more people from Europe came to the new world, culture sprang into writing and writing turned into philosophy. The religiously-oriented Puritan writers of the 17th Century were classified as Neo-Classic writers. Writers such as Anne Bradstreet and John Winthrop were early American writers who stressed the beauty, truth, and perfection under one god. In the 17th and 18th century, the Romantics opened the door for the founding fathers and artists to write about the world from a new perspective. Romantics acknowledge human beings as the failures that they are, but they also celebrate human potential for greatness. Writers such as Thomas Paine, author of “common sense”, write about strong beliefs based on the mind ,and not the words of another man. With many great artists and authors, both Romantics and Neo-classics give many great examples that aid in proving the periods existed. Through their syntax and structure they prove their loyalty to either Romanticism or Neo-classicism.

Imagine a candle-lit dinner on a starry night in Paris, the Eiffel Tower just in view with dazzling lights shining into the night. This image is probably what you think of when you hear the word “romantic,” correct. However, this image is a stumbling block when people think of the “Romanticism Period” in literature. Where “romantic” means having a lovely time with the person you love the most, “Romanticism” is a piece of literature written with key themes in mind. Those themes tend to be a strong emotion, imagery or worship of nature, and individuality and subjectivity. The peak of inspiration for these pieces was in the years 1800-1850, and there are famous poems that are well loved today from this period. Many of the poets that you enjoy reading and know are, in actuality, Romanticism writers, and instill the themes above in our minds.

The time period of the romantics witnessed this first hand by means of the French and American revolutions. Fortunately, literature of this time period and set in this time period reflects this loss. By showing the effect of war and death through literature, modern society understands what their predecessors endured and what they will face. One of the most valuable lessons that the romantic period provided the current culture with is the romantic hero. Before this time period, a hero was someone perfect, brave, and strong. This description does not paint the picture of the community during the romantic period or of modern day. The romantic period provided the world with something much more powerful than bravery or courage, hope. The common man with faults, a different moral code than society, introverted, and knowledge rather than physical strength were given hope that they could impact history as much as a “hero” such as Beowulf. The society was given historical men like Edward Jenner, and literary men such as Frankenstein’s creature in Frankenstein and Lucifer in Paradise Lost. The romantic period is responsible for technological advances, understanding of the loss of innocence that war and death cause, and giving hope the broken

The Romantics were the kids in highschool who listened to underground music, who didn’t hang out with anyone, who wore strange clothing and looked shy from everything others thought was “cool” and “hip” at the time. They wanted to be their own, different from the mainstream. For example, Irving wrote an entire story about making a deal with the Devil. Any normal person wouldn’t make deals with the Devil, showing that Romantic Literature had a lot of rebellious features. Irving also wrote in his other short story, “The dominant spirit that haunts this enchanted region is the apparition of a figure on horseback without a head.” This story is very strange and tells the story of a headless horseman and his targets. Again, this shows how rebellious Romantic Literature really was, telling of strange stories and very unique in structure and

The Romantic era writers, Washington Irving and Edgar Allan Poe, had many similarities but even more differences, in both writing theme and style. This is very evident in their works, “Rip Van Winkle”, by Irving, and “The Fall of the House of Usher”, by Poe.

M. H. Abrams defines romantic themes in prominent writers of this school in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries as being five in number: (1) innovations in the materials, forms and style; (2) that the work involve a “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings”; (3) that external nature be a persistent subject with a “sensuous nuance” and accuracy in its description; (4) that the reader be invited to identify the protagonist with the author himself; and (5) that this be an age of “new beginnings and high possibilities” for the person (177-79).

Romanticism is a term which is difficult to define. According to Lovejoy the multiplicity of its definitions makes it possible to speak of the concept of "multiple romanticisms". Romantic paradigm is deeply rooted in tradition and culture, so one may confidently say that the romantic qualities are well known and are often parodied by the creators of many eras. This thesis is an attempt to analyse parody of the romantic hero on the basis of two twentieth-century British novels: 'Crome Yellow' by Aldous Huxley and 'Brideshead Revisited' by Evelyn Waugh.

The Romantic Era brings to the mind of an uneducated person of a time of idyllic pleasure, carefree and light. If asked to picture it some may say a damsel in distress rescued by her knight riding in on a white stallion. However, the Romantic Era was more of an era of rebellion as the world moved away from the “correctness” in literary art and religion. It was an era of artistic movement, in literature, music, and the visual arts, that emphasizes pleasure in the natural world, fascination with the legends of the past and supernatural beings, creativity, imagination, exploration of human emotions, human activities struggling

For my paper, I will be discussing the transition from Romanticism to Realism in literature in the 1800’s. Both styles of literature we’re revolutionary in their time and are still two of the most popular styles of writing today. While Romanticism seems to focus on metaphors and emotions Realism mostly focuses on the character and the aspects of everyday life. Although these two styles are very different it is easy to see how Romanticism lead to the Realism style of writing. Usually in Romanticism the characters tend to be un realistic while in Realism the characters are just regular people. The same theory can be applied to the plot of these styles of writing. In Romanticism, the plot is usually unexpected and adventurous and in Realism

Romanticism in the literary family is the “moody teenager”. The themes of this literary period include: “Revolution, democracy, and republicanism, The Sublime and Transcendence, The power of the imagination, genius, and the source of inspiration, Proto-psychology and extreme mental states, and Nature and the Natural.” (Romantic Notes) The authors of these literary tales believed logic, reason, and religion did not matter; that you should follow your heart no matter what consequences may follow. “I grew, day by day, more moody, more irritable, more regardless of the feelings of others.” (The Black Cat) Like most stories, an element of Romanticism is taking the readers on a

ABC - In 1798, two poets, William Wordsworth and Samuel Coleridge, compiled a collection of poems entitled “Lyrical Ballads”, which emphasized individuality, imagination, and childhood and its respective innocence and purity. These poems were inspired by the social upheaval of the Industrial Revolution in England, which led to a heightened sense of humanitarianism, and a desire to counter the ugliness of England’s developing cities. This assemblage was the starting point for the entirety of the Romantic Movement, which lasted up until the mid-19th century and encouraged a rejection of the classical techniques and views on art. Along with Wordsworth and Coleridge, other Romantic poets began to emphasize many new tenants, primarily focusing on the importance of imagination in everyday life; the value of the individual; and an appreciation for the beauty of childhood and its innocence. While the Romantic movement began over 200 years ago, its tenants have not been abandoned. In today’s society, man still predominately adheres to the values of the Romantics and continues to place importance on the value of the individual, the assets of imagination, and the beauty of childhood innocence and naiveté.

1783-1830 was the period of the literary movement of Romanticism which was originated in Europe and aroused as a reaction from the Industrial Revolution (“Romanticism”, 2010). Romanticism appeared as a movement which aimed to reject many subjects such as spirits, souls, and instincts from the previous Enlightenment movement and discuss subjects associated with liberalism, radicalism, and nationalism (Nichols, A., 2005). This movement emphasizes on the sources of aesthetic experience, emotions, beauty and sublimity of nature. One of the most obvious principles in this literary movement is the freedom of the poets to express themselves and their feelings. It was considered that in order for poets to express their true feelings, they have