| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Period | 1798 (Lyrical Ballads) to 1832 (death of Scott, Reform Act) Peak: 1789-1824 |
| Reaction Against | Neoclassicism: Rules, reason, restraint, imitation, polish Industrial Revolution: Mechanization, urbanization, materialism |
| Core Values | • Imagination over Reason • Emotion/Feeling over Intellect • Nature as source of inspiration • Individualism over Universal truths • Spontaneity over Artifice • Originality over Imitation • Freedom over Rules |
| Revolution Context | French Revolution (1789) - hope, then disillusionment Political & social upheaval Emphasis on individual liberty |
| MCQ Alert | Romanticism = Imagination + Emotion + Nature + Freedom (NOT rules, reason, imitation) |
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Publication | 1798: Lyrical Ballads (Wordsworth & Coleridge) published anonymously 1800: Second edition with Preface by Wordsworth 1802: Revised Preface (expanded, added discussion of "What is a Poet?") Significance: Manifesto of English Romanticism |
| Purpose | Explain and defend new poetic experiment Break from 18th-century poetic diction and subjects |
| MCQ Key | Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800/1802) = Manifesto of English Romanticism |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Famous Definition | "Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity" Two stages: 1. Spontaneous overflow (immediate emotion) 2. Recollection in tranquillity (reflection, artistic shaping) |
| Process | 1. Poet experiences emotion 2. Emotion subsides 3. Poet recalls emotion in calm state 4. Similar emotion arises in recollection 5. This becomes poetry Balance: Spontaneity (emotion) + Contemplation (thought) |
| Subject Matter | "Common incidents of life" - ordinary people, situations NOT: Classical mythology, aristocratic life YES: Rural life, peasants, children, nature, simple folk "Low and rustic life" chosen because: • Men speak plainer language • Elementary feelings exist in purer form • Passions incorporated with beautiful forms of nature |
| Language | "Real language of men" - NOT artificial poetic diction Rejection: 18th-century "gaudy and inane phraseology" Selection: Language really used by men (especially rural men) Purified: Remove defects, retain naturalness NO difference in language of prose and poetry (controversial claim) |
| Famous Quote | "Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" + "emotion recollected in tranquillity" |
| Question | Wordsworth's Answer |
|---|---|
| Nature of Poet | "A man speaking to men" - NOT superior being, but representative human More sensitive, enthusiastic, tender Greater knowledge of human nature More comprehensive soul |
| Poet's Qualities | • Greater sensibility (feels more deeply) • Greater power of expression • More enthusiasm and tenderness • Thinks and feels in "spirit of human passions" • Delights in own passions and volitions • Rejoices in spirit of life everywhere |
| Poet's Function | Give immediate pleasure Convey passion through metrical language Interpreter of nature and humanity Bind together "vast empire of human society" |
| Distinction | Poet differs in degree, not kind from other men More alive to sensation, more passionate |
| Key Phrase | "A man speaking to men" - poet as representative human, NOT superior being |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Primary Purpose | Give PLEASURE - immediate, not didactic "We have no sympathy but what is propagated by pleasure" |
| Truth Through Pleasure | Poetry conveys truth, but through pleasure Pleasure = means AND end NOT like medicine (disguised instruction) |
| Moral Effect | Implicit, not explicit Refines feelings, enlarges sympathies Makes readers more humane |
| Issue | Wordsworth's Position |
|---|---|
| Why Use Meter? | Meter adds pleasure Creates "musical" quality Regulates emotion (prevents too much pain in painful subjects) Tempering effect on realistic subjects |
| Prose vs. Poetry | Controversial claim: NO essential difference in language Main difference = meter/rhythm Critics objected: poetry requires heightened language |
| Achievement | Impact |
|---|---|
| Democratization | Made common people and nature fit subjects for poetry |
| Language Reform | Broke "poetic diction" convention; natural language |
| Emotion-Centered | Shifted focus from form/rules to feeling/emotion |
| Nature Emphasis | Nature as moral teacher and source of inspiration |
| Remember | WORDSWORTH = Spontaneous Overflow + Emotion Recollected + Real Language of Men + Man Speaking to Men |
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Full Title | Biographia Literaria; or Biographical Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions |
| Structure | 24 chapters; mixture of autobiography, philosophy, literary criticism Chapters XIII-XIV most important for theory Chapters XVII-XXII on Wordsworth |
| Significance | Most philosophical Romantic critical work Reconciles German philosophy (Kant, Schelling) with English criticism |
| MCQ Alert | Biographia Literaria (1817) = Coleridge's major critical work, 24 chapters |
| Concept | Definition |
|---|---|
| Primary Imagination | "The living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception" • Universal human faculty • Creates perception itself • Repetition in finite mind of eternal act of creation • How we perceive reality • Involuntary, unconscious |
| Secondary Imagination | "Echo" of Primary Imagination • Poetic/creative faculty • Co-exists with conscious will • Dissolves, diffuses, dissipates to recreate • Struggles to idealize and unify • SYNTHETIC: Fuses disparate elements into organic unity • Creates new wholes from parts • Voluntary, artistic |
| Fancy | NOT creative, merely ASSOCIATIVE • Mode of Memory • "No other counters to play with but fixities and definites" • Aggregative, NOT fusional • Brings together images without real unity • Mechanical combination • Like beads on string (juxtaposed, not fused) Examples: Simile, allegory (A + B remain separate) |
| Critical Distinction | IMAGINATION = synthetic, creative, unifying (highest) FANCY = associative, mechanical, aggregative (lower) |
| Term | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Esemplastic | Coleridge coined term from Greek: "to shape into one" "The power of reducing multitude into unity of effect" Imagination FUSES elements into organic whole Example: Metaphor (A becomes B; true fusion) |
| Organic Unity | True poetry creates living, organic whole Parts interdependent (like organism) NOT mechanical assembly |
| Praise | Criticism |
|---|---|
| Merits | • Purity of language • Perfect truth to nature • Meditative pathos • Imaginative power • Original gift of spreading atmosphere • Depth of feeling |
| Defects | • Inconstancy of style: Mingles profound with trivial • Matter-of-factness: Sometimes too prosaic • Theory of poetic diction WRONG: Language of poetry MUST differ from prose • Undue predilection for dramatic form in lyric • Occasional prolixity (wordiness) |
| Poetic Diction Debate | Wordsworth says: No difference between language of prose and poetry Coleridge says: Poetry REQUIRES different language - selection, order, arrangement matter Poetry = "best words in best order" Meter implies heightened language |
| Famous Quote | Coleridge: "Prose = words in their best order; Poetry = the best words in the best order" |
| Concept | Coleridge's View |
|---|---|
| Organic Form | Shakespeare's plays have organic form (NOT mechanical) Form grows from within, inseparable from content Challenges neoclassical criticism (rules, unities) |
| Judgment = Genius | Contra earlier critics who said Shakespeare = natural genius without art "No work of genius dares want its appropriate form" Shakespeare possessed judgment EQUAL to genius Perfect balance: Imagination + Judgment |
| Method | Psychological criticism - analyzes characters' inner states Character analysis as key to plays |
| Hamlet | Excessive thought, deficient action "Great, enormous intellectual activity, and a consequent proportionate aversion to real action" Balance of reflection and deed destroyed |
| Distinction | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Poem | Metrical composition with parts mutually supporting each other Whole designed to afford pleasure Technical criterion |
| Poetry | Imaginative quality; can exist in prose Qualitative criterion "Poetry of the highest kind may exist without meter" |
| Perfect Poem | Combines both: Metrical composition + Imaginative quality "Proposes to itself such delight from the whole as is compatible with a distinct gratification from each component part" |
| Concept | Explanation |
|---|---|
| Famous Phrase | "Willing suspension of disbelief for the moment, which constitutes poetic faith" |
| Context | Explaining his role vs. Wordsworth's in Lyrical Ballads: • Coleridge: Supernatural subjects made believable (Ancient Mariner) • Wordsworth: Everyday subjects made interesting |
| Meaning | Reader temporarily accepts fictional world's premises NOT belief, but suspension of skepticism Active cooperation between poet and reader |
| MCQ Hotspot | "Willing suspension of disbelief" = Coleridge's phrase for poetic faith |
| Achievement | Impact |
|---|---|
| Philosophical Depth | Most philosophically rigorous Romantic critic |
| Imagination Theory | Sophisticated analysis of creative process |
| Organic Unity | Influential concept in formalist criticism |
| Shakespeare Defense | Championed Shakespeare's artistic judgment |
| Remember | COLERIDGE = Primary/Secondary Imagination vs. Fancy + Esemplastic Power + Willing Suspension of Disbelief + Organic Form |
| Aspect | Details |
|---|---|
| Occasion | Response to Thomas Love Peacock's The Four Ages of Poetry (1820) Peacock argued: Poetry in decline, inferior to science/reason in modern age |
| Publication | Written 1821; published posthumously 1840 by Mary Shelley |
| Form | Essay; passionate, eloquent defense of poetry's value |
| Tone | Most idealistic, exalted Romantic vision of poetry |
| MCQ Alert | Shelley's Defence (1821/1840) responds to Peacock's Four Ages of Poetry |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Imagination vs. Reason | Reason: Analytical, divides, enumerates (to logizein - "to reason") Imagination: Synthetic, perceives relations, unifies (to poiein - "to make") Poetry = product of Imagination Reason = instrument; Imagination = agent |
| Poetry's Essence | "Poetry is the expression of the Imagination" NOT meter (though often uses it) NOT rhyme or specific form Essence = imaginative expression of eternal truths |
| Broad Definition | Poetry includes: • Plato's dialogues • Herodotus's history • Certain philosophical/scientific works ANY work expressing imaginative vision |
| Famous Claim | Explanation |
|---|---|
| "Unacknowledged Legislators" | "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" (closing line) Meaning: • Poets shape values, morality, culture • Create vision that society gradually adopts • Influence deeper than explicit laws • "Unacknowledged" = work indirectly, not recognized as lawmakers |
| Prophetic Role | "Poets are the hierophants of an unapprehended inspiration" "Mirrors of the gigantic shadows which futurity casts upon the present" Poets intuit future, reveal hidden truths |
| Most Famous Line | "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" |
| Argument | Details |
|---|---|
| Enlarges Sympathy | "The great secret of morals is love" Poetry cultivates sympathetic imagination Going out of our own nature, identifying with others Moral imagination: Ability to see from others' perspectives |
| Against Didacticism | Poetry teaches NOT through direct precepts Teaches by awakening moral sensibility "Ethical science arranges... poetry acts" Experiential, not prescriptive |
| Pleasure & Morality | Pleasure from poetry refines feelings NOT opposed to morality - foundation of it Pleasure = expansion of being, sympathetic joy |
| Defense | Argument |
|---|---|
| Against Peacock | Peacock: Science/reason more useful than poetry in modern age Shelley: Poetry MORE necessary as civilization advances "We have more moral, political and historical wisdom than we know how to reduce into practice" Need poetry to cultivate sympathetic imagination |
| Poetry's Utility | Creates values that make civilization possible Without poetry: "Man... would be selfish and narrow" Material progress without poetry = dangerous imbalance "Poetry ever communicates all the pleasure which men are capable of receiving" |
| Golden Age | Poetry creates "beautiful idealisms of moral excellence" Inspires improvement of society Prophetic vision of better world |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Divine Inspiration | "A man cannot say, 'I will compose poetry'" Poetic inspiration comes unbidden "Mind in creation is as a fading coal" Moment of inspiration = spontaneous, involuntary |
| Fading Coal Metaphor | "Mind in creation is as a fading coal, which some invisible influence, like an inconstant wind, awakens to transitory brightness" Inspiration fleeting, beyond conscious control Poet catches inspiration while it lasts |
| Composition | Original conception best Revision often weakens initial inspiration Most glorious poetry = product of inspired moments |
| Achievement | Impact |
|---|---|
| Highest Claims | Most exalted view of poet's role in Romantic period |
| Moral Imagination | Poetry as cultivating sympathy and ethical sensibility |
| Against Utilitarianism | Defense of poetry against scientific materialism |
| Prophetic Vision | Poet as seer, cultural leader |
| Remember | SHELLEY = Unacknowledged Legislators + Fading Coal + Moral Imagination + Imagination > Reason |
| Concept | Details (from Letters) |
|---|---|
| Negative Capability | "When a man is capable of being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason" Letter to George and Tom Keats (Dec 21, 1817) Ability to remain in uncertainty Accept mystery without forcing rational explanation Shakespeare exemplified this (vs. Coleridge who couldn't resist philosophy) |
| Camelion Poet | "Camelion [Chameleon] Poet" - NO fixed identity "Has no self... continually... filling some other body" Empathetic identification with subjects Self-effacing, impersonal creation |
| Beauty & Truth | "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" - Ode on a Grecian Urn Aesthetic and philosophical unity Poetry reveals truth through beauty |
| Famous Phrase | "Negative Capability" - Keats's term for accepting uncertainty |
| Work | Contribution |
|---|---|
| Lectures on English Poets (1818) | Criticism of major English poets Defense of poetry's imaginative power |
| Characters of Shakespeare's Plays (1817) | Character analysis approach Psychological insights into dramatic figures |
| The Spirit of the Age (1825) | Essays on contemporary writers Cultural criticism |
| Style | Impressionistic, personal response Quotable, aphoristic prose Sympathetic imagination in criticism |
| Concept | Details |
|---|---|
| Literature of Power vs. Knowledge | Literature of Knowledge: Teaches, informs (science, philosophy) • Function = instruct • Appeals to understanding • Transitory value (superseded by new knowledge) Literature of Power: Moves, affects (poetry, great imaginative prose) • Function = move, elevate feelings • Appeals to emotions • Permanent value (not superseded) Poetry = Literature of Power |
| Distinction | Knowledge = teaches; Power = moves (De Quincey) |
| Theme | Romantic Position | Contrast with Neoclassical |
|---|---|---|
| Imagination | Supreme creative faculty Unifying, synthesizing power | Neoclassical: Reason, judgment primary |
| Emotion | Source and subject of poetry "Spontaneous overflow" | Neoclassical: Restraint, decorum |
| Nature | Source of inspiration, moral teacher Healing, spiritual force | Neoclassical: Art/civilization over nature |
| Originality | Create from within, unique vision Individual expression valued | Neoclassical: Imitation of models Universal truths |
| Language | Natural, "real language of men" Against artificial poetic diction | Neoclassical: Elevated, polished style Generic poetic language |
| Rules | Freedom, organic form Rules secondary to vision | Neoclassical: Follow classical rules Unities, decorum |
| Poet | Inspired seer, prophet "Man speaking to men" OR "legislator" | Neoclassical: Skilled craftsman Teacher through delight |
| Childhood | Pure, intuitive, innocent Close to nature | Neoclassical: Immature stage Adulthood superior |
| Question Type | Answer |
|---|---|
| Manifesto of English Romanticism | Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads (1800/1802) |
| Wordsworth's famous definition | "Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" + "emotion recollected in tranquillity" |
| Wordsworth on poet | "A man speaking to men" |
| Wordsworth's language theory | "Real language of men" - reject poetic diction |
| Coleridge's major work | Biographia Literaria (1817), 24 chapters |
| Primary Imagination | "Living Power and prime Agent of all human Perception" - universal faculty |
| Secondary Imagination | Poetic/creative faculty; "dissolves, diffuses, dissipates to recreate" |
| Fancy | Associative, mechanical; "no other counters... but fixities and definites" |
| Esemplastic | Coleridge's term: "to shape into one" - imagination's unifying power |
| "Willing suspension of disbelief" | Coleridge - reader's acceptance of fiction (poetic faith) |
| Organic form | Coleridge - form grows from within (vs. mechanical form) |
| "Best words in best order" | Coleridge - definition of poetry (vs. prose = "words in best order") |
| Shelley's Defence responds to | Peacock's The Four Ages of Poetry (1820) |
| "Unacknowledged legislators" | Shelley - "Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world" |
| "Fading coal" | Shelley - "Mind in creation is as a fading coal" (inspiration fleeting) |
| Shelley on moral effect | Poetry enlarges sympathy, cultivates moral imagination |
| Keats's "Negative Capability" | "Being in uncertainties, mysteries, doubts" without forcing reason |
| Keats's Camelion Poet | Poet has no fixed self; empathetically identifies with subjects |
| De Quincey's distinction | Literature of Knowledge (teaches) vs. Literature of Power (moves) |
| Romantic core values | Imagination + Emotion + Nature + Originality + Freedom |