New Subjects in Romantisism

A detailed Summary of New Subjects in Romantisism

During the Romantic Period there seemed to be revolution in the air. The American Revolution and the French Revolution of 1789 had a great impact on literature of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. This impact can be seen throughout Romantic literature but especially in the area of new subjects. Before the 19th century authors tended to write about the aristocratic class. There was nothing written for or about the common people. There are three areas in which the discussion will focus upon in the area of new subjects. The first area will focus on the children, the second will be women, and the third will be the new attitude towards God.

The Romantic period strongly emphasized the lives of children. Authors writing at that time did not just look at children playing outside but within real life situations. Writing started to be explored in the language of the common man. The topics presented by most of these writers appealed to the general public. Today, the area of children within literary works does not seem revolutionary. At this time, however, there were no writings that reflected the everyday lives of children.

The first important poem in the Romantic period with regards to childr

"We are Seven" by William Wordsworth refers frequently to children. This poem is told from the perspective of a seven-year-old girl. A young girl as the center of the poem would have been unheard of in earlier periods. The little girl has a brother and a sister who have died. The girl shows the reader the presence of another reality. The audience could not have understood this new reality we before the entrance of a child's perspective. The child has seven people in the family but two are dead. The little girl's reality is different than the readers. She believes her family members are with her even though they are really dead. These two poems impacted the populace to be aware of the exploitation of children and their understandings of the world.

en is by William Blake, "The Chimney Sweep." This poem focuses upon the tremendous abuse of children during this time. This poem portrays visions of death throughout "were all of them lock'd up in coffins of black"(Norton 31). This quote catches the reader's attention with a vision of death. These children talked of death very candidly because they died young. The sweeper almost inevitably would have died before he even knew how to live life. They worked in horrible labor conditions with no sign of relief because there were no labor laws. These children mainly died from consumption of the fumes within the shaft or by an accident.

The next story that comes to expresses God in the area of new subjects is Frankenstein by Mary Shelly. This novel shows God in a very different light. Victor is shown as a God because he has created a creature outside of his own blood. Victor is faced with a choice whether or not to destroy or create a new creature. The Frankenstein book looked at the idea of God in a new fashion. Shelly tries to show us that our obsessions draw great light upon us. Mary Shelley shows how our obsessions draw light upon us in two ways. If we are obsessed with doing something when it happens we are let down. The second way that obsession affects us is that if we do not do something it may kill us.

Norton Anthology of English Literature, The. New York: Norton, 1993.

In the general confusion of ideas, religious, moral, and political, we are not surprised to find claims set up for the female sex, unsupported we must say by prescription, but we are justified in saying by reason. Mrs. R. avows herself of the school of Wollstonecroft; and that is enough for all who have any regard to decency, order, or prudence, t

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Approximate Word count = 1674
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English