Second Day Discussion:
On Board:
Writers:
| WW | 1770 | 1850 | ||||||||
| STC | 1772 | 1834 | ||||||||
| Byron | 1788 | 1824 | ||||||||
| PBS | 1792 | 1822 | ||||||||
| Keats | 1795 | 1821 | ||||||||
| (Blake) | 1757 | 1827 | ||||||||
| MWS | 1797 | 1851 |
Events/Works:
| 1789 | July 14: Fall of Bastille | Blake's Songs of Innocence |
| 1790 | Burke's Reflections | |
| W's Vindication | ||
| 1791 | Louis XVI Arrested | Paine's Rights of Men |
| 1792 | September Massacres | |
| 1793 | Jan 21 Louis XVI guillotined | Blake's Songs of Experience |
| Feb 1: War declared on England | ||
| July 13 Marat assassinated | ||
| Oct 16 Marie Antoinette g'd | ||
| 1794 | July 28 Robespierre guillotined | |
| 1797 | Santo Domingo Revolt Begins | |
| 1798 | WW & STC, Lyrical Ballads | |
| 1799 | Nov: Napoleon becomes 1st Consul | |
| Revolution declared Over | ||
| 1802-1803 | Peace of Amiens | |
| 1804 | Napoleon crowns himself Emperor | |
| Haitian Independence | ||
| 1805 | Oct 21: Battle of Trafalgar | |
| 1807 | Abolition of Slave Trade | |
| 1814 | Oct 30: Congress of Vienna opens
(ends Jun 9, 1815) |
|
| 1815 | Jun 18: Battle of Waterloo |
Concepts:
Introduction is potentially overwhelming, provides a very broad base for the examination of some of the most important issues influencing and being addressed by the writers of the time.
The most important point, of course, is repeated in different ways throughout the introduction. The great majority (if not all) of the writers, regardless of their subject, or genre, or background, feel an irresistible sense of occupying a place in history.
For that reason, I thought we might spend a little time considering some of the more significant events mentioned in the introduction. I have placed links off the webpage for many of the allusions, though, perhaps with the exception of those for the French Revolution, most of the links do not discuss their subjects in very great detail, and I certainly encourage you to further investigate as you see fit.
You may also find it useful to refer back to the introduction at various points in the semester to consider again the more specific contexts that may have influenced a particular work.
Enlightenment sense of self: power of Reason and Intellect, Rationality==>Perfectability (Godwin).
Romantics incorporated more emotional, imaginative perspective on the mind, though still steeped in the central tenets of much of what was developed in the preceding century.
It is this sentiment that led to both the American and French Revolutions, and it is no coincidence that the writings of such figures as Thomas Paine, in particular (1776: Common Sense 1791: Rights of Men), were read by the leaders of both movements.
However, because it occurred much closer to home, both geographically (12 miles) and politically (direct deposition of a sitting king), the French Revolution had a much more significant impact on the British, whose leaders, like those of most if not all of the European governments of the time, had quite a bit to lose if the Revolution's republican ideals became as contagious as they feared they might.
"Fortunately" for them, the extremes to which the Revolution quickly turned made it easier for conservative forces (such as Burke, for example, as we will see this weekend) to condemn it.
It is interesting, therefore, to see the different forms, for example, that protests of slavery take, especially when comparing such diverse writers as WW and Equiano, or perhaps oddly, MWS and Mary Prince (mention essay, many possible interpretations of Frankenstein).
Moving away from politics (though perhaps not), it is also important to consider the importance of Nature, esp. in terms of the concepts of the Beautiful and the Sublime, solitude, imagination, all of which becomes decidedly Gendered.