LITERARY MOVEMENTS – ROMANTIC REVIVAL

 Preamble

 

    Romantic revival denotes a literary movement in which romanticism reasserted itself as the dominant trend in English literature again, after playing second fiddle to classicism during the neoclassical movement. The publication of the anthology Lyrical Ballads containing poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge is generally recognized as marking the formal inauguration of the movement in the literature of England, and 1850 the year of the former’s death is widely considered as indicating its conclusion. With the dominant trend shifting from classicism to romanticism, it is notable that the literatures produced during the romantic revival marked a distinct contrast from those of the neoclassical movement. It is also noteworthy that the influence of classical texts and the ideas manifested in them, which remained influential during both the renaissance and the neoclassical movement, lost their appeal in the romantic revival.

 

Causes

 

    Several factors could be cited as accounting for the ascendancy of romantic revival in English literature, of which three are particularly significant. The first which is a philosophical catalyst relates to the influence exerted throughout Europe by the theory of romanticism propounded by the French thinker Jean Jacques Rousseau. The fundamental premise of Rousseau’s theory is that human beings are born essentially good. This notion popularly identified by the phrase ‘innate goodness of mankind’, represents a direct contradiction to the Christian idea of the Original Sin. Rousseau’s basic argument is that humans are not born with inherent evil as Christianity professes, rather they are born good but subsequently become evil thanks to the corrupting influence of civilization. In other words, for Rousseau the innate goodness of human nature at birth is gradually spoiled by the many inequities and forms of exploitations that underlie the apparently sophisticated and organized civilized way of life. The so-called civilization created by humanity is thus the chief architect of all evils in this world, and Rousseau’s advocated method to protect one’s innate goodness is by consciously shunning it. This is to say, his clarion call to one and all is to retreat from civilization and go back to leading a primitive way of life in the wilderness, that is, return to nature. This protocol that eventually became the byword of the romantic revival movement was provided with impetus by two events that took place during the 18^th century. These are the industrial revolution and the French revolution, which respectively constitute the second and third factor of influence that shaped the revival of romanticism in England.

 

    From the turn of the 18^th century, the English economy began to slowly transform itself from being a primarily agrarian phenomenon into a predominantly industrial enterprise. In the course of the century, the industrial thrust steadily increased to the point where people started looking to salaried jobs in factories and industries as their chief means of livelihood, as opposed to the traditional choice of practicing agriculture. Consequently, many of them relocated from rustic backgrounds as villages and provincial locales, to industrial towns seeking job opportunities. The upshot was that the availability of labour to be employed in industries became surplus, which naturally meant that the income paid to the employees became considerably low. The industrial towns therefore became a place of exploitation, and the industrial workers emerged as a class of underpaid and dehumanized humanity. Concomitantly, a sense of the life they had once lived, a mood of retrospection for the rustic life of the past, gradually gained momentum reinforcing the philosophical emphasis on nature laid by Rousseau. This attitude was further intensified by the French revolution, or to put it more precisely, its failure. When the revolution in France broke out in 1789 with the three great ideals of liberty, equality and fraternity, the whole of Europe looked on with anticipated hope and wonder. However, as it eventually turned out, the revolution only succeeded in establishing dictatorship, a move that in fact threatened the overall peace of the entire continent. With the great ideals lost, many in Europe came to look upon the French revolution as a failure that affirmed the futility of human endeavours. As a solace they looked to nature and its soothing comfort as an alternative, a mood that offered consolidation to the clarion call made by Rousseau in his theory.

 

Literary Ramifications

 

    The features of the romantic revival movement in literature essentially represent a transposition of the ideas suggested by Rousseau in his philosophy of romanticism to the writing of literary works. In this respect, the first and most significant literary feature of the movement derives itself from the clarion call made by Rousseau to return to nature. To substantiate, all romantic authors basically acquired their fundamental inspiration for composing literature from nature. Nature in other words, became the main catalyst and concern of all romantic authors, who dealt with it in diverse ways. In poetry for instance, each of the great romantic poets characterized nature from different perspectives. Wordsworth nicknamed the nature poet conceptualized it as a divine spiritual entity, as an embodiment of God’s own image on earth. This is to say, he spiritualized nature. Keats on the contrary envisioned nature as an aesthetic entity par excellence, which offers joy forever. He therefore focused on describing it in terms of a profusion of sensory images, confining himself to its superficial splendour. This is to say, Keats sensualized nature. Then there is Shelley who presented nature in his poetry as a moving force, which symbolizes ideals of revolution and reform. This is to say, he intellectualized nature. Similarly in the novel form it is noteworthy that plots were primarily set in natural milieus, like in provincial towns as in Jane Austen’s domestic novels, or in mountainous wilderness as in the classic gothic novels popular at the time. Some of the other literary features of romantic revival also take their primary motivation from the philosophy of Rousseau. Rousseau for instance in advocating that we must retreat from the cities and take refuge in natural environments, was actually suggesting a way by which we could become emotionally liberated. His point is simply that as long as we are caught up in the sophisticated civilized way of living, our lives would be strictly conditioned by laws and norms. This might obviously require us to regularize our feelings and emotions, according to what the situation demands. Most often than not, such a compulsion would naturally require us to hold back or contain ourselves emotionally, and not express them freely as we might like to do so. However, once we retreat to nature, the norms that condition civilized life automatically become nullified, and individuals can express their emotions without any inhibitions. In short, Rousseau advocates emotionalism as an integral idea in his theory. We see that in keeping with this postulation of Rousseau, romantic poets operated under the imperative that a poem represents essentially an expressive medium, in which the poet records feelings and sentiments. Wordsworth for example basically defined poetry as a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings, while Keats argued that poetry must come like leaves to a tree. The final feature of the romantic revival movement in literature which is individualism, also derives itself from the philosophy of Rousseau. In urging people to retreat to nature, Rousseau was effectively asking everyone to shun the established status quo or hierarchy by which any institution in civilization functions. The prime means by which civilization perpetrates exploitation on people is by subjecting them to these hierarchies, which ultimately epitomize frameworks that facilitate the legitimization of inequality in society. So, Rousseau’s advocacy is that by returning to nature, humanity would be able to break free from the shackles that bind them in the name of civilization. In keeping with this suggestion of the French thinker, it is noteworthy that all romantic literature exhibits an obvious break with tradition and the fixed literary paradigms it promulgates. In poetry for example, writers like Wordsworth staunchly argued against following fixed metrical patterns or regular structures of composition. In the domain of prose similarly, authors like Charles Lamb manifested an explicit violation of the conventional structure by which an essay ought to be composed.