Notes+on+Romanticism

__**Basic Notes for British Romanticism and Gothicism:**__

__**Themes Of Romanticism:** **Themes of Gothicism (an off-shoot of British Romanticism):**__

- The Power of Nature/ Inspiration through Nature - Isolation - The power of the Individual - The power of Nature - The Supernatural - The dangerous pursuit of knowledge - The power of Imagination - Over-reaching ambition - Awareness of Change - The Supernatural - Questions power, tradition, and authority - Imagination



__**Key Literary Elements:**__ - Onomatopoeia- when words reflect a particular sound (ex.- the car went WHIZZING by) - Alliteration- multiple words containing the same beginning consonant sounds (ex. terrible tigers). - Consonance- multiple words containing the same ENDING consonant sounds (ex. the rank tank in the bank). - Assonance- multiple words containing the same inner vowel sounds (ex. boogie woogie) - Repetition- when a word or phrase is repeated to create emphasis (ex. down, down, down we went). - Some examples of archetypal characters are: - Mad Scientist - Earth Mother - Tragic Hero - Romantic Hero - Outsider - Noble Savage - Villain - True Friend - Trickster - Temptress
 * - __Pathetic Fallacy__**- This occurs when trouble in society/mankind is reflected in unusual events in the natural world.
 * - __Antithesis__-** This occurs when two opposing elements are included in a single statement, thought, or passage in order to create an equilibrium.
 * - __Juxtaposition__**- When two completely opposite objects or entities are close in proximity in a text (the comparison is inferred, but not specifically noted in the text).
 * - __Phonetic Poetic Devices__:**
 * - __Foil Characters-__** characters who are placed in similar situations, yet deal with the situation differently or exhibit opposing characteristics (ex. Henry Clerval and Victor Frankenstein in //Frankenstein//).
 * - __Archetypal Characters-__** stock characters in a literary cannon that exhibit the same characteristics no matter the text.

- The British Romantic movement, spearheaded by poets such as Samuel Taylor Coleridge and William Wordsworth, was a reaction to the Age of Reason and the Industrial Revolution; these authors believed that true enlightenment did not come from science and reason, but rather a deeper connection with nature and a personal relationship with a higher power. While the movement only spanned 4 decades (1800-1840), it contained two separate generations of poets:
 * __Historical Context:__**

The First Generation consisted of: Coleridge, Wordsworth, and William Blake

The Second Generation consisted of: John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and George Gordon (popularly know as Lord Byron).

- Both movements were highly interested in the ideas of sociologist and Political theorist Jean Jacques Rousseau, who coined the term "noble savage." This idea states that mankind is innately good and just, but that society is a corrupting agent that strips man of his good qualities. There is a catch 22 present in this theory: Mankind can either be civilized, or he can be good at heart, but he cannot be both.