preview

Romanticism In British Literature

Decent Essays

After tumultuous, yet victorious revolution in the U.S and France, Europe, but more especially, Britain was left in a state of shock. Democracy thrived in a world that had previously been ruled by luck of the draw monarchies, whose reign was guided by the philosophy that man cannot rule himself without a divine power. While the Enlightenment contributed and inspired some of the defining moments towards the end of the 18th century, its philosophers’ rather rigid and uniformly powered advice were perceived as ways of the past. The new century was one of progress and uncertainty. Freedom of expression and individuality were new to society, but examples were frequently becoming more readily available to the public eye. The emergence of Romanticism in Nineteenth Century British Literature evoked in its authors a sense of duty to depict the exploitation of the subjugated through their works. They thought that the rationalist mentalities of the Enlightenment were no longer supported within a new revolutionized society, thus, they hoped to guide this new, evolving world, with sense and sensibility.

Romanticism is an international movement that swept across Europe at the end of the 18th century into the 19th century. It drew inspiration from many sources and causes in society. Such sources consisted mainly of a need for individuality, creativity, and subjectivity, which was in rebellion towards the Enlightenment’s rigid conceptualization of art and philosophy. The Enlightenment was

Get Access