The development and evolution of English and French romantic poetry.

摘要

The Romantic Movement in the arts is often described as a "revolution." However, artistic movements are inevitable progressions out of the periods preceding them, at first rising slowly, then accelerating, peaking, and eventually declining. Art also moves through space, following paths across national borders. When we trace the path through the times and places of Romanticism, the idea of evolution rather than revolution becomes more apparent.;This thesis investigates the development and evolution of French and English Romantic poetry. France and England have a special bond of history, political interference, conflict, adventure, and luck that deserve as much credit as artistic genius for the literary developments in both countries. Their artists continually form fast friendships and end up teaching and assisting each other in spite of the relations of their governments. I have tracked the evolution of Romantic poetry in these two countries beginning with Shakespeare. I follow literature through the political and sociological changes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries to the beginning and peak of English Romantic poetry. French Romantic poetry developed after English Romantic poetry was already in decline, and I explore how the English poets influenced the French who were a generation and a country removed.;The Romantic Movement coincided with the rapid and far-reaching sociological changes swayed and, as the pace of industrialization and democratization increased, eventually overtook this style of art. As the world changed, so did the styles, themes, and tones of Romantic poetry, although within each country, Romantic poetry encompassed a broad range of poems. I have attempted to highlight and explain these similarities and differences in English and French Romantic poetry by examining prominent themes, ideas about inspiration and imagination, and poetic form.