The Pre-Romantic Period Writings T-7

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• Characteristics of Pre-romantic Poetry
• Characteristics of Pre-romantic Prose
• Characteristics of Romantic Prose

Characteristics of Pre-romantic Poetry

Between about 1740 and 1798 (the year of Lyrical Ballads) poets slowly moved away from Neo-classical rules towards Romanticism. They are called Pre-romantics or "poets of transition": James Thomson, Thomas Gray, William Collins, Oliver Goldsmith, William Cowper, George Crabbe, Robert Burns and William Blake.

• Love of nature – real, wild nature, not just decoration (Thomson's The Seasons).
• Melancholy and the "Graveyard School" – death and night (Gray's Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, 1751; Young's Night Thoughts).
• Interest in common man and rural poor (Gray, Goldsmith, Crabbe, Burns).
• Revival of the past – medieval, Gothic, Celtic, ballads (Percy's Reliques, 1765; Macpherson's Ossian; Chatterton).
• Imagination and emotion over reason.
• Revolt against the heroic couplet – use of blank verse, the ode, the Spenserian stanza, simple song forms.
• Humanitarianism – sympathy for the poor, slaves, animals (Cowper).

Characteristics of Pre-romantic Prose

• Gothic novel – mystery, horror, castles, the supernatural: Horace Walpole (The Castle of Otranto, 1764), Ann Radcliffe (The Mysteries of Udolpho, 1794), M. G. Lewis (The Monk).
• Sentimental novel – feeling and tears: Sterne's A Sentimental Journey, Henry Mackenzie's The Man of Feeling (1771).
• Dr Samuel Johnson – the giant of the age, but still Neo-classical (Dictionary, 1755; Lives of the Poets); Boswell's Life of Johnson (1791).
• Edmund Burke's ideas on the sublime (1757) encouraged a taste for the vast and terrifying.
• Growth of letter-writing, travel writing and political prose.

Characteristics of Romantic Prose

The Romantic age (1798–1832) produced a new kind of personal, imaginative prose, mostly through magazines like the London Magazine and Edinburgh Review.

• The personal (familiar) essay – Charles Lamb (Essays of Elia, 1823), William Hazlitt, Thomas De Quincey, Leigh Hunt.
• Subjectivity – the writer's own memories, moods and personality.
• Humour mixed with pathos; whimsical, rambling style.
• Rich, poetic, sometimes old-fashioned language (Lamb loved 17th-century writers).
• Literary criticism – Coleridge (Biographia Literaria), Hazlitt, Lamb on Shakespeare.
• Novel – Jane Austen (realistic) and Walter Scott (historical).

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, Long answer (about 16 marks)) Discuss the chief characteristics of Pre-romantic poetry.
2. (Long, Long answer (about 16 marks)) Write an essay on the characteristics of Romantic prose with special reference to the essay.
3. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) What is the Graveyard School of poetry?
4. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) What is a Gothic novel?
5. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) Why are the Pre-romantics called poets of transition?

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• The Castle of Otranto by Horace Walpole

The Castle of Otranto – Horace Walpole

Horace Walpole (1717–1797) – son of Prime Minister Robert Walpole; he built a Gothic-style house, Strawberry Hill. The Castle of Otranto (1764) is the first Gothic novel. The first edition pretended to be a translation of an old Italian manuscript; the second edition carried the subtitle "A Gothic Story".

Story in brief (our own words)

1. Manfred, Prince of Otranto, arranges the marriage of his sickly son Conrad to Isabella. An old prophecy says the castle will pass from Manfred's family "whenever the real owner should be grown too large to inhabit it".
2. On the wedding day a gigantic helmet falls from the sky and crushes Conrad to death.
3. Desperate for an heir, Manfred decides to divorce his good wife Hippolita and marry Isabella himself. Isabella escapes through underground passages, helped by a young peasant, Theodore.
4. Supernatural events follow: a portrait sighs and walks, a giant armoured leg and hand appear, a statue bleeds.
5. Manfred's daughter Matilda loves Theodore. Friar Jerome discovers Theodore is his own son. A knight arrives – Isabella's father Frederic.
6. In the dark, Manfred stabs Matilda by mistake, thinking she is Isabella. A giant ghost of Alfonso the Good rises and reveals that Theodore is the true heir of Otranto. Manfred confesses his grandfather's crime, gives up the throne and becomes a monk; Theodore marries Isabella.

Gothic features

• Medieval castle, secret passages, vaults, darkness.
• Supernatural events and ancient prophecy.
• Tyrannical villain (Manfred), persecuted heroine (Isabella), hidden heir (Theodore).
• Terror, suspense, wonder; mystery of identity.
• Mixture of ancient romance (imagination) and modern novel (real human feelings) – Walpole's own aim.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, Long answer (about 16 marks)) Discuss The Castle of Otranto as the first Gothic novel.
2. (Long, Long answer (about 16 marks)) Write a character sketch of Manfred.
3. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) Write a note on the supernatural elements in the novel.
4. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) What is the old prophecy about Otranto?
5. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) Write a note on Theodore.

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• George Crabbe – Sir Eustace Grey & The Hall of Justice
• Thomas Gray – Hymn to Adversity
• William Collins – Ode to Evening
• William Blake – A Bard's Epitaph (as listed in the syllabus)
• Robert Burns – A Red, Red Rose

George Crabbe – "Sir Eustace Grey" and "The Hall of Justice"

George Crabbe (1754–1832) – a clergyman-poet famous for realistic pictures of village life and poverty (The Village, 1783), unlike idealised pastoral poetry. Both poems appeared in his Poems of 1807.

• Sir Eustace Grey – set in a madhouse. A visitor and a doctor meet Sir Eustace, once a rich, happy gentleman. He lost his wife, children and friend through betrayal and death, went mad, and now tells of terrible visions in which two fiends drove him through strange, frightening worlds. At last he found peace through religious faith (conversion). Themes: madness, guilt, suffering, faith; shows Crabbe's psychological insight.
• The Hall of Justice – a poor vagrant woman is brought before a magistrate. She tells her tragic life story: seduction, crime, misery and the loss of her child, leading her to theft and despair. The poem makes the reader feel pity for the poor and criminal. Themes: poverty, sin, justice and mercy; realism.

Thomas Gray – "Hymn to Adversity" (1742)

Thomas Gray (1716–1771), author of the Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard. The poet addresses Adversity (misfortune) as a stern goddess, daughter of Jove. She tames the proud and teaches the good; virtue is her child, trained by her harsh discipline. Her followers are Wisdom, Melancholy, Charity, Justice and Pity. The poet prays that she will come to him not in her terrible form but gently, to teach him to love, forgive and feel for others' pain, and to know himself as a man. Theme: suffering makes us humble and kind. Features: personification, classical diction, ode form, moral tone.

William Collins – "Ode to Evening" (1746)

William Collins (1721–1759). The poet addresses Evening as a chaste, calm goddess ("Eve"). He describes the quiet signs of evening: the bat flying, the beetle's droning, the setting sun, the dewy star, the hut on the hill, the church spire. He hopes to follow her in all seasons – spring, summer, autumn and winter. Features: unrhymed stanzas (rare in the age), delicate nature imagery, personification, soft melancholy – a clear pre-romantic poem.

"A Bard's Epitaph"

The syllabus lists this under William Blake. (The well-known poem "A Bard's Epitaph" is by Robert Burns, from his Kilmarnock poems of 1786; check your prescribed textbook.) In it the poet writes his own epitaph: he describes a poet who was quick and warm-hearted, wise in thought but foolish in conduct, ruined by his own weaknesses. He asks the reader to learn: "self-control is wisdom's root". Themes: self-knowledge, honesty, the poet's weakness and humanity.

Robert Burns – "A Red, Red Rose" (1794)

Robert Burns (1759–1796), the national poet of Scotland, based this song on old folk songs. The lover says his love is like a red rose newly blooming in June and like a sweetly played melody. He will love her till all the seas go dry and the rocks melt with the sun. He says farewell for a while and promises to come back even if it is ten thousand miles. Features: simple language, Scots words, similes and hyperbole, ballad metre, musical quality. Theme: eternal love.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, Long answer (about 16 marks)) Discuss the pre-romantic elements in the poems prescribed for you.
2. (Long, Long answer (about 16 marks)) Critically appreciate Collins's "Ode to Evening" OR Gray's "Hymn to Adversity".
3. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) Write a note on the realism of George Crabbe.
4. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) Explain the similes used in "A Red, Red Rose".
5. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) What lesson does the poet give in "A Bard's Epitaph"?

Syllabus topics (RTMNU)

• Essays by Charles Lamb: 1. A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People
• 2. The Superannuated Man
• Essays by William Hazlitt: 1. Common Sense
• 2. On the Fear of Death

Charles Lamb (1775–1834) – the essayist

Lamb worked as a clerk in the East India House for 33 years and looked after his sister Mary, who suffered from mental illness. He wrote Tales from Shakespeare (with Mary, 1807) and the Essays of Elia (1823) and Last Essays of Elia (1833). His essays are personal, humorous and full of pathos, with old-fashioned words and quotations.

A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People

Lamb, a bachelor, humorously complains about married couples. They show off their happiness and openly prefer each other, making single people feel left out. Wives treat their husbands' old friends coolly; they make fun of them or turn them into "the husband's friend" only. Couples praise their children too much and expect visitors to love them ("Love me, love my dog"). He lists his grievances with mock-seriousness. Tone: playful irony; under the joke there is a little loneliness.

The Superannuated Man

Lamb describes his feelings on retirement (1825) after 33 years as a clerk. At first, office work was like slavery – only Sundays were free, and even they felt dull. One day the firm's partners called him, and he feared dismissal; instead they gave him a pension of two-thirds of his salary. He felt like a prisoner suddenly freed, confused by too much free time. Slowly he enjoyed the freedom – walking, reading, doing nothing – and calls himself "Retired Leisure". Themes: office drudgery, freedom, the value of time; autobiographical, humorous and touching.

William Hazlitt (1778–1830) – the essayist

Critic and essayist (Table-Talk, The Spirit of the Age, The Plain Speaker, Characters of Shakespeare's Plays). His style is vigorous, direct and full of energy – "gusto". His essays mix personal experience with clear thinking.

Common Sense

Hazlitt discusses common sense: the practical judgement that comes from experience and feeling, not from theory or book-learning. Ordinary people often judge rightly about life and character by instinct and long observation, even if they cannot give reasons. Too much reasoning and system-building may lead learned men astray. Common sense is "tact" – a quick, sure feeling for what is right in practical matters.

On the Fear of Death

(From Table-Talk, 1822.) Hazlitt argues that we should not fear death too much: before we were born we did not exist and did not suffer, so after death we shall be the same. Young people feel immortal; as we grow older and our hopes die, we fear death less, though we still cling to life. What we fear is losing life's pleasures and the pain of dying. He wishes for a quiet death after a life well spent. Tone: calm, reflective, honest.

Likely exam questions

1. (Long, Long answer (about 16 marks)) Discuss Charles Lamb as a personal essayist with reference to the essays prescribed.
2. (Long, Long answer (about 16 marks)) Summarise and comment on Hazlitt's "On the Fear of Death".
3. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) What does Lamb complain about in "A Bachelor's Complaint of the Behaviour of Married People"?
4. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) How did Lamb feel after retirement in "The Superannuated Man"?
5. (Short, Short note (about 4 marks)) What does Hazlitt mean by common sense?