British Romantics Flashcards
Wordsworth, Shelley, Coleridge, Keats
Romantic theorising
is a reflection of the poets’
poetic technique.
The poet (rather than nature or the rules of decorum)
is seen as the source and touchstone of art.
German theories were
pragmatic.
British theories were
expressive
Enlightenment emphasises
analysis
Romanticism focuses on
synthesis
Wordsworth’s work:
1802, Preface to Lyrical Ballads
What comprises Lyrical Ballads
Lyrical Ballads comprises poems by Wordsworth and
Coleridge that are distinct but complementary in
kind.
What kind of objects does Wordsworth select in Lyrical Ballads
Wordsworth selects objects from nature, from the
mundane, everyday world of the countryside and its inhabitants and renders them in the light of wonder.
What kind of objects does Coleridge select in Lyrical Ballads
Coleridge presents a supernatural world in such a way
as to render it almost natural.
Defamiliarisation
the distinctive effect achieved by
literary works in disrupting our habitual perception
of the world, enabling us to “see” things afresh.
Rime of the Ancient Mariner uncovers
(behind the
supernatural veil of his tale) dramatic and
emotional truths.
suspension of disbelief
refers to our ability to temporarily suspend the
claims of reason and logic and to enter, through
the power of imagination, into the life and heart
of a poem.
What is emphasized in reconsidering mimesis
In reconsidering mimesis emphasis is placed on
poetic transformation rather than imitation.
How is poetry to be regarded in British Romanticism?
Poetry is now to be regarded as self-expression,
as a ‘journal’ of the unique perceptions of an
individual.
For Wordsworth, poetry
is a personal reflection of
the poet’s interactions with himself and his
world.
what does Wordsworth’s nature poetry primarily reflect upon
Wordsworth’s nature poetry is less a reflection on
nature than on the feelings and ideas excited in
the poet as he contemplates nature (redefining
Aristotle, where the feeling gives importance to
the action).
How is taste viewed in neoclassical art
By contrast, in neoclassical art taste is a form of
social discrimination because great art engages
only a small fraction of society, one capable of
receptivity.
Romantic poetry looks for
transcendental meaning in
the human world.
Keats - The egotistical sublime
is a quality of
strong, dominant poetic personalities who
mediate their visions of the world through
themselves.
Negative capability
is the ability to
transcend the constraints of any epistemology
and remain in uncertainty.
For Keats, Milton and Shakespeare
possessed negative capability, i.e.
selfless receptivity; Wordsworth was overcome
by the egotistical sublime.
For Keats, Coleridge
seeks knowledge over beauty.
The egotistical sublime is a kind
of “poetic
narcissism”.
Romantic emphasis on imagination replaces
the
neoclassical bias for decorum.
Romantic paradox
a paradox where poetry functions both in the name of nature and in the name of art.
P. Shelley wrote
A Defence of Poetry
A Defence of Poetry
is
a Romantic response to
Plato’s challenge.
Shelley gives preference to
the imagination,
rather than reason.
Shelley’s rebuttal of Plato
- Language is inherently poetic and poetry has the
power to preserve language. - Imagination is “the great instrument of moral
good” (1962: 234) (cf. Plato’s critique, Sidney’s
apology) - Literature is a means towards self-knowledge.
- Poetry is the origin of all systems of thought. It is
never more necessary than at the time marked by an
“excess of the selfish and calculating
principle” - True poetry lives in social institutions because it
supplies them with wisdom. - Plato was a poet whereas “Shakespeare, Dante, and
Milton…are philosophers of the very loftiest
power.” (1962: 231) - Poetry conveys life’s “eternal truth” (1962: 231) by
way of defamiliarisation. - Poets are the greatest creators and innovators of
society.
What does Romantic theorizing about literature and art derive from
Romantic theorising about literature and art
derives from the Kantian notion of genius,
which they reinterpret with an emphasis on
creative subjectivity as a source of art.
British Romantics highlight the significance
of imagination in its capacity to evoke the
defamiliarisation of the mundane world
What role does Coleridge’s notion of “a willing suspension of disbelief” open up for the reader
Yet in claiming that art calls for “a willing
suspension of disbelief” Coleridge opens up
space for the agency of the reader, whose role
will rise into view in Reader Response theories.
What does Keats’s critique of the Wordsworthian sublime and his concept of negative capability demonstrate
Keats’s critique of the Wordsworthian sublime
and his idea of negative capability demonstrate
the internal contradictions in Romantic
epistemology.
