AGE OF ROMANTICISM

The Age Of Romanticism

During the first half of the nineteenth century, known as "Age of Romanticism", the literature in England was largely political in form, and mainly romantic in spirit. In the early works of Wordsworth, Byron and Shelley the political turmoil in England and the triumph of democracy are reflected. The age is marked by the first appearance of some women novelists, like Anne Radcliffe, Jane Porter, Maria Edgeworth, and Jane Austen, in addition to many prominent poets, like William Wordsworth (170-1850) who is famous for his "Lyrical Ballads" (in the partnership with Coleridge), "The Prelude", "The Excursion", "The Recluse", "The Home at Grasmere", especially for poems, "Lucy", "Intimations of Immortality", etc. 

Samuel Coleridge (1772-1834), a powerful poet and a contemporary of Wordsworth, was a great man of grief who made the world glad. His chief contribution is "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" to the "Lyrical Ballads". His other famous poems are "A Day Dream", "The Devil's Thoughts", "The Suicide's Argument", "The Day Wandering of Cain", "Kubla Khan", "Christabal" etc.; and his prose works include "Biographia Literaria", or "Sketches of My Literary Life and Opinions", "Lectures on Shakespeare", "Aids to Reflection" etc. 

Robert Southey (1774-1843) is famous for his "Thalaba", "The Curse of Kehama", "Madoc", "Roderick", "Life of Nelson", "Lives of British Admirals" etc. Walter Scott (1771-1883) is poet of "Marmion", "Lady of the Lake", "Ministrelsy of the Scottish Border", "The Lady of the Last Ministrel" etc. His novels, "Waverley", "Guy Mannering", "The Antiquary", "Black Dwarf", "Old Mortality", "Rob Roy", "The Heart of Midlothian" etc. are successful. But is most popular work is "Ivanhoe" which was followed by "Kenilworth", "Nigel", "Peveril", "Woodstock", "Count Robert", "The Talisman" etc. 

George Gordon, Lord Byron's (1788-1824) famous works are "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage", "Manfred", "Cain", "Mazeppa", "The prisoner of Chillon", "The Corsair", "The Giaour", "Don Juan" etc. Percy Bysshe Shelley's (1792-1822) noteworthy works are "Alastor", or "the Spirit of Solitude", "Prometheus Unbound", "Queen Mab", "The Revolt of Islam", "Hellas", "The Witch of Atlas", "Adonais", etc. Shelley's popular poems are "The Cloud", "To a Skylark", "Ode to the West Wind", "To Night" etc. 

John Keats (1795-1821), a poet devoted to his ideal, who lived for poetry, has produced wonderful poetry: Poems, "Endymion", "Lamia, Isabella", "The Eve of St. Agnes", and "Other Poems" etc. Charles Lamb (1775-1835) is renowned chiefly for his "Tales from Shakespeare", in addition to "Rosamund Gray", "John Woodvil", "Specimens of English Dramatic Poets Contemporary with Shakespeare", "Last Essays of Elia" etc. 

Thomas De Quincey (1785-1859) is recognized as an established author for his prose works, like "Confessions of an English Opium Eater", "Literary Reminiscences", "On the Knocking at the Gate in Macbeth", "Murder Considered as One of the Fine Arts", "Letters to a Young Man", "Joan of Arc", "The Revolt of The Tartars", "The English Mail-coach", "Autobiographical Sketches" etc. He wrote on wide range subjects: "Klosterheim", a novel, "Logic of Political Economy", "The Essays on Style and Rhetoric", "Philosophy of Herodotus" etc. 

Jane Austen (1775-1817), who is a powerful author, was famous for her novels, like "Pride and Prejudice", "Sense and Sensibility", "Emma", "Mansfield Park", "Northanger Abbey" etc.