Romanticism in English literature: important figures and books

Romanticism a term to cover the most distinctive writers who successfully develop in the last years of the 18th century and the first years of the 19th. During this period much of Europe including England and America experienced a great rise in political, economic and philosophical systems. Revolutionary attitude crashed across the Old World and a new literature appeared. During the early 1800s the situation in France dominates England’s foreign policy. The French revolution that had begun in 1798 was a protest against Royal despotism. At the beginning the French revolution was a great hope for common people. Romanticism can be seen as a reaction to the huge changes in society that occurred during this period, including the revolutions that burned through countries like France and the United States. Romantic literature is marked by six primary characteristics: celebration of nature, focus on the individual and spirituality, celebration of isolation and melancholy, interest in the common man, idealization of women, and personification mistakes.

If we talk about important figures and books in Romanticism, the first person I would name would be an English writer George Gordon Byron and his work “Don Juan”. Byron studied at the University of Cambridge, was interested in history, read the works of educators, wanted to become a political figure. The first collections of his poems were published anonymously. "Don Juan" is a poem by Byron, which literary critics refer to the realistic direction or consider a transition from romanticism to realism. As is often the case with writers who start writing romantic works and then create realistic ones. "Don Juan" is a satire on modern society, although the time of action is attributed to the period of the French revolution. In this story author underlines idealization of women and interest in the common man. For example, Don Jose and Donna Inez, the parents of Don Juan are mismatched. It was generally known that in her younger days she had an affair with Don Alfonso, the husband of Donna Julia, her friend and neighbor. Donna Julia and Don Alfonso are mismatched by age as Donna Inez and Don Jose are mismatched by incompatibility of character and personality.

At the end, you can repeat that romanticism can be seen as a reaction to the huge changes in society that occurred during this period, including the revolutions that burned through countries like France and the United States. And most of writers stated write their works in this style to showed us how they saw society and revolution in this period of time.