English Literature: The Romantic Period (1957)

[Music] [Music] on August 7th 1828 I took the liberty of calling at the residence of Mr Ernest dos whom my newspaper editor had asked me to interview Mr dos was a literary critic and a friend of many writers I had been assigned to write a series of articles about English romantic writers for the London review and hope to get some firsthand information from Mr I began by asking him about Lord Byron the leading romantic writer Mr DWS remembered the poet very well he called Byron a true romantic devoted to Freedom the Brotherhood of Man and the creation of a better world but literature is more than men and works Mr dos told me it is history too our history Mr Sims the history of the late 18th and early 19th centuries is one of revolution in literature and politics Byron says it most eply in his poem Don Juan let there be light said God and there was light Let There Be Blood says man and there's a sea blood for freedom for human digity you might take those words down Mr Sims our age will be remembered as one when men fought for freedom think back Mr Sims to 1776 in the American colonies men achieved Independence through Revolution and remember Mr Sims that the American Revolution started with the publishing of ideas you'll find them in the writing of pain Jefferson and other Freedom loving men in France the writer rouso expressed similar ideas on Liberty man is Born Free and everywhere he is in Chains the chains were broken during the French Revolution a New France was born a France whose motto was Liberty equality Brotherhood and what of our brothers Mr Sims the Irish revolution has struck close to us too the Irish have fought for independence from England three revolutions American French Irish three revolutions for Freedom within our own lifetime yet here in England I read in our papers of Freedom being lost through another kind of Revolution the industri Revolution I fear our factory system leads to slavery not Freedom even children are oppressed for many English workers the Industrial Revolution offers little Freedom with these four Revolutions in mind Mr Sims we can talk about the literary Revolution this revolution takes as its motto individual self-expression what does this mean now sir what do you see when you look out upon the world trees flowers people perhaps but to those writers whom we call Romantics or revolutionaries the world becomes much more the Romantic sees the world and people personally he uses powerful emotional words to describe what he sees and feels the everyday things we see areen differently by the Romantic writer his world is one where every man is part of a vast Brotherhood of men pledged to freedom and liberty when I speak of Brotherhood I think at once of Robert Burns Burns was as simple humble and dignified as the country life he lived I never met him but have often imagined this Farm lad Robbie Burns observing all God's creatures and coming to love them he felt an ESP special fness for his native Scotland and his neighbors in fact Mr Sims he loved all men FS expressed his feelings in the lines it's coming yet for all that that manto man the world door shall brothers be for all that so Burns sounded The Plea of the romantics for Brotherhood today William Wordsworth expresses the same belief we have all of us he says one human heart last week I spent an afternoon with Wordsworth at his Cottage home we spoke of the Brotherhood of Man and of poetry as we crossed his favorite Brook woodsworth explained the subject matter of his poetry by saying he was interested in men feelings and thoughts the mind of man my haunt and the main region of my song he said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings it takes its origin from emotion recollected in Tranquility Wordsworth draws inspiration for his poetry from the real life of the region he knows and loves very different are the Visionary dream worlds of the Romantic writers we call Mystics remember Samuel Taylor CD's vision of the imaginary city of zanadu in zanadu did kublan a stately pleasure Dome decree where elf the sacred River ran through Caverns measureless to man down to a sunless sea men who dream and write of such Visions are called Mystics another of these writers a little older than CID was William Blake in his poem The Divine image Blake is telling us that the Divine image is any man who helps those less fortunate than himself by kind Deeds a better world could be made in his poem Blake tells of man's highest qualities Mercy pity peace and love is man these lines reflect Blake's hope for a sympathetic and enlightened Society but there were moments when the Mystic felt he could not face the real world Blake wrote oh Father what do we hear in this land of unbelief and fear the of Dreams is better far above the light of the Morning Star but we don't live in a world of Dreams a Mr Sims I've seen too many wars too much Bloodshed to believe that we can try however to make a better world but take that down Mr Sims for that is what some of our Romantics have attempted to do times using tones of rage and anger furiously The Poetry of Lord Byron points toward a better world he was once described as mad bad and dangerous to know Byron a true revolutionary had a keen sense of social justice to the oppressed Factory workers to the oppressed everywhere Byron cried hereditary bondsman ye not who would be free themselves must strike the blow Byron's been dead several years now I visited his home at newad ABY the other day a house filled with memories there in Byron's study I was reminded of the man I knew he was IND differenter to what people thought of him as he went about creating his better world proudly he declared I have not loved the world nor the world me I have not flattered its rank breath nor bowed to its idolatries a patient knee very similar in spirit and thought is the Poetry of Percy belli I remember reading the manuscript of Shell's Prometheus Unbound in which he expresses the philosophy of most Romantics what they think how they feel to suffer woes which hope thinks infinite to forgive wrongs darker than death or night to defy power to love and bear to Hope neither to change nor falter nor repent this is to be good great and joyous beautiful and free those lines I think Mr Sims are the life's blood of Romanticism doors now told me of those Romantics writing for the sake of romance alone what kind of Romance the romance of bygone days and things the romance of Beauty in nature take John Keats who in his poetry could distill the very essence of beauty the beauty which is pro the beauty of a human being or the beauty of a Grecian Earth my friend Sir Walter Scott is also inspired by the romance of another world and another time people of medieval England and Scotland lived in Scots poems and novels in works such as Ivan ho and Rob Roy Scott created a world of action a world in which evil was set down and good and Beauty triumphed in many ways people of Scots novels reflect some of the ideals of our romantic writers writers who are part of a vast Brotherhood of men pledged to Freedom Liberty and the welfare of their fellow men a great great period in the history of English literature this Romantic Period Mr Sims I only wish we had time to discuss the many other romantic writers as do finished speaking I realized the hour had grown late and after thanking do and telling him I'd sent him copies of my articles I took my leave my thoughts were filled with the ideals of the romantics they are men who Envision in their Works a better world a world in which Beauty Brotherhood and human dignity gain recognition sh once said poets are the legislators of the World perhaps our romantic writers have indeed legislated for a better world [Music]