Lord Byron - Manfred: a Dramatic Poem
Pita Andreea
Anul I, Grupa 6
English Romanticism in the Context of the Revolutions
Lord Byron
In Britain the Romantic ideology was triggered by a reaction to the previous paradigm – Enlightment, the change in the social context and the belief in democracy-brought by the French revolution. In the historical development of literature it is known as a new movement which comes with aesthetic ideals and critical principles and which denies Enlightment’s characteristics such as the obsession for order and knowledge through science. The romantics are under the influence of the Platonic and Neoplatonic strains in the philosophical thought but do not neglect the principles of neoclassicism which are embellished by their own conceptions. The romantic phenomena embraces the isolated genius, the misfits, it is in a close relationship with mythical elements and nature and escapes from the methodical, promoting spontaneity and intense feeling. The Encyclopedia of Literary Romanticism speaks about six important romantic poets who are categorized by “generation”. Thus, there is a first generation which includes: William Wordsworth, William Blake and Taylor Coleridge and a second for: Lord Byron, P.B Shelley and John Keats. Even though they are all labeled as romantics, their conceptions differ from one another, thereby Coleridge will think more systematically and will write more copiously, Byron is more penetrant and pertinent, while Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats are “deeply interested in the nature of their art, and their critical insight is prominent”. George Gordon Byron, known as Lord Byron is one of the most famous Romantic poets and creator of the Byronic hero. It is called that way because of the elements that define him which are characteristic to the author. The mataphisical drama “Manfred: A dramatic Poem” illustrates one of the Byronic heroes: Manfred. He is characterized as the “guilty outsider”
Anul I, Grupa 6
English Romanticism in the Context of the Revolutions
Lord Byron
In Britain the Romantic ideology was triggered by a reaction to the previous paradigm – Enlightment, the change in the social context and the belief in democracy-brought by the French revolution. In the historical development of literature it is known as a new movement which comes with aesthetic ideals and critical principles and which denies Enlightment’s characteristics such as the obsession for order and knowledge through science. The romantics are under the influence of the Platonic and Neoplatonic strains in the philosophical thought but do not neglect the principles of neoclassicism which are embellished by their own conceptions. The romantic phenomena embraces the isolated genius, the misfits, it is in a close relationship with mythical elements and nature and escapes from the methodical, promoting spontaneity and intense feeling. The Encyclopedia of Literary Romanticism speaks about six important romantic poets who are categorized by “generation”. Thus, there is a first generation which includes: William Wordsworth, William Blake and Taylor Coleridge and a second for: Lord Byron, P.B Shelley and John Keats. Even though they are all labeled as romantics, their conceptions differ from one another, thereby Coleridge will think more systematically and will write more copiously, Byron is more penetrant and pertinent, while Blake, Wordsworth, Shelley and Keats are “deeply interested in the nature of their art, and their critical insight is prominent”. George Gordon Byron, known as Lord Byron is one of the most famous Romantic poets and creator of the Byronic hero. It is called that way because of the elements that define him which are characteristic to the author. The mataphisical drama “Manfred: A dramatic Poem” illustrates one of the Byronic heroes: Manfred. He is characterized as the “guilty outsider”
Bibliography: Encyclopedia of Literary Romanticism, Facts on File, New York, 2010 Ioan Aurel Preda, English Romantic Poetics