English summary literature
Romantic age (1798 – 1832)
Period before the start of the Romantic age - The Enlightenment or The Age of Reason
(1660 – 1798)
The Enlightenment was a coming together of ideas and activities that took place throughout de eighteenth century
in Western Europe, England and the American colonies. It saw the rise of science, philosophy, sociology and political
theory. Most of the Enlightenment’s great minds were based in France. Many concepts that are familiar today,
including the scientific method and the basic principles of elected representative governments were develop during
this time. Enlightenment philosophers’ ideas circulated through a robust culture of salons, coffeehouses and
scientific academies, as well as thanks to a rise in printing and publication. Intellectuals began to consider the
possibility that freedom and democracy were the fundamental rights of all people. People began to see themselves
on the same level as their leaders. Discussion, debate, argumentation and empiricism were considered important.
Woman, minorities and the lower classes were not exactly welcomed into this new civil discourse. The western
world was still owned by middle class men.
Romanticism in society and culture
Some people consider the French and American revolutions to be the end of the Enlightenment. The turn of the 19 th
century is considered to be the beginning of the height of the Romantic era. The Romantic era was in part a rejection
of the rational, reason-based ideas of the Enlightenment. Romanticism proposed that intense emotion is the best
way to react to something. People thought more about the ideas of democracy, individual rights and had a belief in
the limitless possibilities inherent in change and progress. Some Romantic Period facts are:
The term ‘Romanticism’ extends from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century;
A new emphasis on the individual led to an increased attention to the inner psychological life and one
becoming critical of social institutions;
There was a rise of national identity, particularly in America;
Spontaneity, imagination and originality emerged as valued forces;
There was an appreciation of nature and the natural world;
The beginnings of the Industrial Revolution produced a rising middle class, urban migration and increasingly
poor living conditions for those who left their homes to work in cities.
Romanticism in literature:
Alternative literary genes, such as the novel of sensibility, the Gothic novel (supernatural & mysterious) and
lyric poetry rose in importance;
Romantic writers turned away from classical themes to those concerned with primitive cultures and
medieval legends, from urban societal settings to images of rural life and common people, from the
experience of adulthood to the innocence of childhood;
The new emphasis on the emotion of the individual brought with it the possibility of new subject matter
concerned with issues such as psychology and Romantic love;
Woman writers established themselves in poetry and fiction;
The Romantic writers reflected the negative as well as the positive effects of the nineteenth-century
accomplishments by protesting the oppressive consequences of capitalism, the moral decline of the middle
class or the melancholy and alienation of the individual at odds with society.
Romantic poetry: William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850)
Biography of William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth grew up in Lake District. Here he lived in close contact with nature and with the country people
living in the area. This environment had a crucial influence on his poetry. Another factor that shaped him was the
French Revolution. He visited France, when he lived there he became deeply affected by the revolutionary spirit and
fell passionately in love. He returned to England. He met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1795 and they became close
friends. Both wanted to get rid of the conventional forms of the 18 th century poetry and to go to the core of human
experience by using everyday speech and by writing about man’s innermost feelings. They publicized their ideas
, anonymously in the joint collection of poetry called ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1798), which was unfavorably received when it
was first published. The natural landscape of his youth played an important role in his poetry. His brother and two
children of William died and his fear of his own mortality increased due to that. The greatest blow to his poetic
inspiration was the fight with Coleridge, which ended their friendship. He became an unhappy and somber person.
My hart leaps up when I behold
This is a poem about him being happy by seeing a rainbow. The speaker is kind, emotional and wants everybody to
be happy. The poet is saying that people should maintain their sense of childlike wonder well into adulthood and old
age. Nature will always be divine for him; he thinks it should be for everyone. Typical for Romantic age because he
references everything with nature. At the end, it is clear that the answer to the question is that nature is ruined by
society.
Romantic prose: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Biography of Mary Shelly
Mary Shelley was the daughter of the philosopher William Godwin and the writer Mary Wollstonecraft. Her mother
died in childbirth and she was raised by her father. At age 18 she ran off with Percy Bysshe Shelley, a leading British
Romantic poet. The couple had a son, but after her husband died in 1822, Mary Shelley fell into poverty. She
continued to write fiction to support herself. ‘Frankenstein’ (1818) was her first and by far most successful work of
fiction.
Historical context of Frankenstein
Gothic novelists portrayed human beings as woefully imperfect and at the mercy of far more powerful forces, such
as nature and dead. Frankenstein is a Gothic Novel. The story is an frame story and has 3 narrators: Robert Walton,
an explorer, who writes to his sister abou this meeting with Victor Frankenstein. Second is Frankenstein, who tells his
story to Robert Walton and the third narrator is the monster, who tells his story to Frankenstein.
Frankenstein and his self-created monster have outlived the fame of Mary. In the summer of 1816 Shelley and Mary
were living near Lake Geneva. They often met Lord Byron there. In order to pass the time, they read a collection of
German Gothic stories. Byron suggested that each of them write a ghost story of their own. Mary found inspiration
in a conversation between Shelley and Byron. They were talking about the principle of life and the possibility that a
corpse might be animated by electricity. The following night the story of Frankenstein came to Mary in a dream. First
Shelley published it anonymously (probably because she was a woman), but later published it under her real name.
The subtitle of the story is the Modern Prometheus. Prometheus was a Titan from Greek Mythology who stole fire
from the gods and was punished for it by Zeus. Mary’s husband Percy Shelly and Lord Byron both featured
Prometheus In their poetry and saw him as a hero because he did not confirm to the rules.
Plot summary Frankenstein
The story begins with Captain Walton, who has a strange meeting with Dr Frankenstein in the sea. Frankenstein
urges the explorer to listen to his horrible story. Frankenstein wished to know what God only knows ‘the secret of
life’. Frankenstein had collected human remains to create a man of huge proportions, and finally he succeeded in
infusing life into his monster. Frankenstein’s creation appears to be the personification of his foul ambition; it
destroys all his human relationships. The monster kills all Frankenstein loves. It pursues Frankenstein to the Artic
region. In the last part, Frankenstein becomes the pursuer. He wants to destroy his creation.
Victor Frankenstein has an adoptive sister whom he falls in love with. He reads the work of alchemists (gold makers)
and this forms his view of the world and of science. His mother dies of fever only a few weeks before he is to go
away to college. On her deathbed, she says how much she wants Victor to marry Elizabeth. He is a great student and
he decides to create the spark of life in an inanimate thing. After creating his mother, Victor runs away and falls ill.
He is restored in health and in the meantime the monster had educated himself in speaking, reading and human
character while observing a family. Victor runs home because his brother has been murdered. Victor sees the
monster in the woods on the way home from a walk; he realized the monster killed his brother. He is too afraid to
tell anyone his secret. An innocent Frankenstein family servant is executed for this murder. Victor feels remorse and
goes off into the mountains. He runs into the monster there. The monster asks him to listen to his story, and Victor
consents. He asks Victor to make him a companion. He created the monster but he realizes that he must go back on
his promise in order to protect humanity. He realizes he must give up his own safety and desires in order to protect
Romantic age (1798 – 1832)
Period before the start of the Romantic age - The Enlightenment or The Age of Reason
(1660 – 1798)
The Enlightenment was a coming together of ideas and activities that took place throughout de eighteenth century
in Western Europe, England and the American colonies. It saw the rise of science, philosophy, sociology and political
theory. Most of the Enlightenment’s great minds were based in France. Many concepts that are familiar today,
including the scientific method and the basic principles of elected representative governments were develop during
this time. Enlightenment philosophers’ ideas circulated through a robust culture of salons, coffeehouses and
scientific academies, as well as thanks to a rise in printing and publication. Intellectuals began to consider the
possibility that freedom and democracy were the fundamental rights of all people. People began to see themselves
on the same level as their leaders. Discussion, debate, argumentation and empiricism were considered important.
Woman, minorities and the lower classes were not exactly welcomed into this new civil discourse. The western
world was still owned by middle class men.
Romanticism in society and culture
Some people consider the French and American revolutions to be the end of the Enlightenment. The turn of the 19 th
century is considered to be the beginning of the height of the Romantic era. The Romantic era was in part a rejection
of the rational, reason-based ideas of the Enlightenment. Romanticism proposed that intense emotion is the best
way to react to something. People thought more about the ideas of democracy, individual rights and had a belief in
the limitless possibilities inherent in change and progress. Some Romantic Period facts are:
The term ‘Romanticism’ extends from the late eighteenth to the late nineteenth century;
A new emphasis on the individual led to an increased attention to the inner psychological life and one
becoming critical of social institutions;
There was a rise of national identity, particularly in America;
Spontaneity, imagination and originality emerged as valued forces;
There was an appreciation of nature and the natural world;
The beginnings of the Industrial Revolution produced a rising middle class, urban migration and increasingly
poor living conditions for those who left their homes to work in cities.
Romanticism in literature:
Alternative literary genes, such as the novel of sensibility, the Gothic novel (supernatural & mysterious) and
lyric poetry rose in importance;
Romantic writers turned away from classical themes to those concerned with primitive cultures and
medieval legends, from urban societal settings to images of rural life and common people, from the
experience of adulthood to the innocence of childhood;
The new emphasis on the emotion of the individual brought with it the possibility of new subject matter
concerned with issues such as psychology and Romantic love;
Woman writers established themselves in poetry and fiction;
The Romantic writers reflected the negative as well as the positive effects of the nineteenth-century
accomplishments by protesting the oppressive consequences of capitalism, the moral decline of the middle
class or the melancholy and alienation of the individual at odds with society.
Romantic poetry: William Wordsworth (1770 – 1850)
Biography of William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth grew up in Lake District. Here he lived in close contact with nature and with the country people
living in the area. This environment had a crucial influence on his poetry. Another factor that shaped him was the
French Revolution. He visited France, when he lived there he became deeply affected by the revolutionary spirit and
fell passionately in love. He returned to England. He met Samuel Taylor Coleridge in 1795 and they became close
friends. Both wanted to get rid of the conventional forms of the 18 th century poetry and to go to the core of human
experience by using everyday speech and by writing about man’s innermost feelings. They publicized their ideas
, anonymously in the joint collection of poetry called ‘Lyrical Ballads’ (1798), which was unfavorably received when it
was first published. The natural landscape of his youth played an important role in his poetry. His brother and two
children of William died and his fear of his own mortality increased due to that. The greatest blow to his poetic
inspiration was the fight with Coleridge, which ended their friendship. He became an unhappy and somber person.
My hart leaps up when I behold
This is a poem about him being happy by seeing a rainbow. The speaker is kind, emotional and wants everybody to
be happy. The poet is saying that people should maintain their sense of childlike wonder well into adulthood and old
age. Nature will always be divine for him; he thinks it should be for everyone. Typical for Romantic age because he
references everything with nature. At the end, it is clear that the answer to the question is that nature is ruined by
society.
Romantic prose: Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Biography of Mary Shelly
Mary Shelley was the daughter of the philosopher William Godwin and the writer Mary Wollstonecraft. Her mother
died in childbirth and she was raised by her father. At age 18 she ran off with Percy Bysshe Shelley, a leading British
Romantic poet. The couple had a son, but after her husband died in 1822, Mary Shelley fell into poverty. She
continued to write fiction to support herself. ‘Frankenstein’ (1818) was her first and by far most successful work of
fiction.
Historical context of Frankenstein
Gothic novelists portrayed human beings as woefully imperfect and at the mercy of far more powerful forces, such
as nature and dead. Frankenstein is a Gothic Novel. The story is an frame story and has 3 narrators: Robert Walton,
an explorer, who writes to his sister abou this meeting with Victor Frankenstein. Second is Frankenstein, who tells his
story to Robert Walton and the third narrator is the monster, who tells his story to Frankenstein.
Frankenstein and his self-created monster have outlived the fame of Mary. In the summer of 1816 Shelley and Mary
were living near Lake Geneva. They often met Lord Byron there. In order to pass the time, they read a collection of
German Gothic stories. Byron suggested that each of them write a ghost story of their own. Mary found inspiration
in a conversation between Shelley and Byron. They were talking about the principle of life and the possibility that a
corpse might be animated by electricity. The following night the story of Frankenstein came to Mary in a dream. First
Shelley published it anonymously (probably because she was a woman), but later published it under her real name.
The subtitle of the story is the Modern Prometheus. Prometheus was a Titan from Greek Mythology who stole fire
from the gods and was punished for it by Zeus. Mary’s husband Percy Shelly and Lord Byron both featured
Prometheus In their poetry and saw him as a hero because he did not confirm to the rules.
Plot summary Frankenstein
The story begins with Captain Walton, who has a strange meeting with Dr Frankenstein in the sea. Frankenstein
urges the explorer to listen to his horrible story. Frankenstein wished to know what God only knows ‘the secret of
life’. Frankenstein had collected human remains to create a man of huge proportions, and finally he succeeded in
infusing life into his monster. Frankenstein’s creation appears to be the personification of his foul ambition; it
destroys all his human relationships. The monster kills all Frankenstein loves. It pursues Frankenstein to the Artic
region. In the last part, Frankenstein becomes the pursuer. He wants to destroy his creation.
Victor Frankenstein has an adoptive sister whom he falls in love with. He reads the work of alchemists (gold makers)
and this forms his view of the world and of science. His mother dies of fever only a few weeks before he is to go
away to college. On her deathbed, she says how much she wants Victor to marry Elizabeth. He is a great student and
he decides to create the spark of life in an inanimate thing. After creating his mother, Victor runs away and falls ill.
He is restored in health and in the meantime the monster had educated himself in speaking, reading and human
character while observing a family. Victor runs home because his brother has been murdered. Victor sees the
monster in the woods on the way home from a walk; he realized the monster killed his brother. He is too afraid to
tell anyone his secret. An innocent Frankenstein family servant is executed for this murder. Victor feels remorse and
goes off into the mountains. He runs into the monster there. The monster asks him to listen to his story, and Victor
consents. He asks Victor to make him a companion. He created the monster but he realizes that he must go back on
his promise in order to protect humanity. He realizes he must give up his own safety and desires in order to protect
