A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century

A History of English
Romanticism in the Eighteenth
Century

The Project Gutenberg eBook, A History of English Romanticism in
the
Eighteenth Century, by Henry A. Beers
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: A History of English Romanticism in the Eighteenth Century
Author: Henry A. Beers
Release Date: March 24, 2005 [eBook #15447]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK A HISTORY
OF ENGLISH ROMANTICISM IN THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY***
E-text prepared by Jeanette Hayward and Al Haines. Dedicated to the
memory of James Hayward.

A HISTORY OF ENGLISH ROMANTICISM IN THE EIGHTEENTH
CENTURY
by
HENRY A. BEERS
Author of A Suburban Pastoral, The Ways of Vale, etc.

"Was unsterblich im Gesang soll leben Muss im Leben untergehen."
--Schiller

PREFACE
Historians of French and German literature are accustomed to set off a
period, or a division of their subject, and entitle it "Romanticism" or
"the Romantic School." Writers of English literary history, while
recognizing the importance of England's share in this great movement
in European letters, have not generally accorded it a place by itself in
the arrangement of their subject-matter, but have treated it cursively, as
a tendency present in the work of individual authors; and have
maintained a simple chronological division of eras into the "Georgian,",
the "Victorian," etc. The reason of this is perhaps to be found in the fact
that, although Romanticism began earlier in England than on the
Continent and lent quite as much as it borrowed in the international
exchange of literary commodities, the native movement was more
gradual and scattered. It never reached so compact a shape, or came so
definitely to a head, as in Germany or France. There never was
precisely a "romantic school" or an all-pervading romantic fashion in
England.
There is, therefore, nothing in English corresponding to Heine's
fascinating sketch "Die Romantische Schule," or to Théophile Gautier's
almost equally fascinating and far more sympathetic "Histoire du
Romantisme." If we can imagine a composite personality of Byron and
De Quincey, putting on record his half affectionate and half satirical
reminiscences of the contemporary literary movement, we might have
something nearly equivalent. For Byron, like Heine, was a repentant
romanticist, with "radical notions under his cap," and a critical theory at
odds with his practice; while De Quincey was an early disciple of
Wordsworth and Coleridge,--as Gautier was of Victor Hugo,--and at
the same time a clever and slightly mischievous sketcher of personal
traits.
The present volume consists, in substance, of a series of lectures given
in elective courses in Yale College. In revising it for publication I have
striven to rid it of the air of the lecture room, but a few repetitions and
didacticisms of manner may have inadvertently been left in. Some of
the methods and results of these studies have already been given to the

public in "The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement," by my
present associate and former scholar, Professor William Lyon Phelps.
Professor Phelps' little book (originally a doctorate thesis) follows, in
the main, the selection and arrangement of topics in my lectures. En
revanche I have had the advantage of availing myself of his
independent researches on points which I have touched but slightly;
and particularly of his very full treatment of the Spenserian imitations.
I had at first intended to entitle the book "
Chapters
toward a History of English Romanticism, etc."; for, though fairly
complete in treatment, it makes no claim to being exhaustive. By no
means every eighteenth-century writer whose work exhibits romantic
motives is here passed in review. That very singular genius William
Blake, _e.g._, in whom the influence of "Ossian," among other things,
is so strongly apparent, I leave untouched; because his writings--partly
by reason of their strange manner of publication--were without effect
upon their generation and do not form a link in the chain of literary
tendency.
If this volume should be favorably received, I hope before very long to
publish a companion study of English romanticism in the nineteenth
century.
H.A.B.
_October, 1898._

CONTENTS

Chapter
I. The Subject Defined
II. The Augustans
III. The Spenserians
IV. The Landscape Poets

V. The Miltonic Group
VI. The School of Warton
VII. The Gothic Revival
VIII. Percy and the Ballads
IX. Ossian
X. Thomas Chatterton
XI. The German Tributary

A HISTORY OF ENGLISH ROMANTICISM

CHAPTER I.
The Subject Defined
To attempt at the outset a rigid definition of the word romanticism
would be to anticipate the substance of this volume. To furnish an
answer to the question--What is, or was, romanticism? or,