Editing Romanticism (section)

===Great Britain===
{{Main|Romantic literature in English}}
[[File:Wordsworth on Helvellyn by Benjamin Robert Haydon.jpg|thumb|upright|[[William Wordsworth]] ''(pictured)'' and [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]] helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature in 1798 with their joint publication ''[[Lyrical Ballads]].'']]
In [[English literature]], the key figures of the Romantic movement are considered to be the group of poets including [[William Wordsworth]], [[Samuel Taylor Coleridge]], [[John Keats]], [[Lord Byron]], [[Percy Bysshe Shelley]] and the much older [[William Blake]], followed later by the isolated figure of [[John Clare]]; also such novelists as [[Walter Scott]] from Scotland and [[Mary Shelley]], and the essayists [[William Hazlitt]] and [[Charles Lamb]]. The publication in 1798 of ''[[Lyrical Ballads]]'', with many of the finest poems by Wordsworth and Coleridge, is often held to mark the start of the movement. The majority of the poems were by Wordsworth, and many dealt with the lives of the poor in his native [[Lake District]], or his feelings about nature—which he more fully developed in his long poem ''[[The Prelude]]'', never published in his lifetime. The longest poem in the volume was Coleridge's ''[[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]]'', which showed the Gothic side of English Romanticism, and the exotic settings that many works featured. In the period when they were writing, the [[Lake Poets]] were widely regarded as a marginal group of radicals, though they were supported by the critic and writer [[William Hazlitt]] and others.

[[File:Byron 1813 by Phillips.jpg|thumb|upright|left|''[[Portrait of Lord Byron]]'' by [[Thomas Phillips]], {{c.|1813}}. The [[Byronic hero]] first reached the wider public in [[Lord Byron|Byron]]'s semi-autobiographical epic narrative poem ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]'' (1812–1818).]]
In contrast, [[Lord Byron]] and [[Walter Scott]] achieved enormous fame and influence throughout Europe with works exploiting the violence and drama of their exotic and historical settings;<ref>Oliver, Susan. ''[https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230555006 Scott, Byron and the Poetics of Cultural Encounter] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220523180434/https://link.springer.com/book/10.1057/9780230555006 |date=2022-05-23 }}'' (Palgrave Macmillan, 2005)241pp.{{ISBN|978-0-230-55500-6}}</ref> Goethe called Byron "undoubtedly the greatest genius of our century".<ref>Christiansen, 215.</ref> Scott achieved immediate success with his long narrative poem ''[[The Lay of the Last Minstrel]]'' in 1805, followed by the full [[epic poem]] ''[[Marmion (poem)|Marmion]]'' in 1808. Both were set in the distant Scottish past, already evoked in ''Ossian''; [[Romanticism in Scotland|Romanticism and Scotland]] were to have a long and fruitful partnership. Byron had equal success with the first part of ''[[Childe Harold's Pilgrimage]]'' in 1812, followed by four "Turkish tales", all in the form of long poems, starting with ''[[The Giaour]]'' in 1813, drawing from his [[Grand Tour]], which had reached Ottoman Europe, and [[Orientalism|orientalizing]] the themes of the Gothic novel in verse. These featured different variations of the "[[Byronic hero]]", and his own life contributed a further version. Scott meanwhile was effectively inventing the [[historical novel]], beginning in 1814 with ''[[Waverley (novel)|Waverley]]'', set in the [[1745 Jacobite rising]], which was a highly profitable success, followed by over 20 further [[Waverley Novels]] over the next 17 years, with settings going back to the [[Crusades]] that he had researched to a degree that was new in literature.<ref>Christiansen, 192–96.</ref>

In contrast to Germany, Romanticism in English literature had little connection with nationalism, and the Romantics were often regarded with suspicion for the sympathy many felt for the ideals of the [[French Revolution]], whose collapse and replacement with the dictatorship of Napoleon was, as elsewhere in Europe, a shock to the movement. Though his novels celebrated Scottish identity and history, Scott was politically a firm Unionist, but admitted to Jacobite sympathies. Several Romantics spent much time abroad, and a famous stay on [[Lake Geneva]] with Byron and Shelley in 1816 produced the hugely influential novel ''[[Frankenstein]]'' by Shelley's wife-to-be [[Mary Shelley]] and the [[novella]] ''[[The Vampyre]]'' by Byron's doctor [[John William Polidori]]. The lyrics of [[Robert Burns]] in Scotland, and [[Thomas Moore]] from Ireland, reflected in different ways their countries and the Romantic interest in folk literature, but neither had a fully Romantic approach to life or their work.

Though they have modern critical champions such as [[György Lukács]], Scott's novels are today more likely to be experienced in the form of the many operas that composers continued to base on them over the following decades, such as [[Gaetano Donizetti|Donizetti]]'s ''[[Lucia di Lammermoor]]'' and [[Vincenzo Bellini]]'s ''[[I puritani]]'' (both 1835). Byron is now most highly regarded for his short lyrics and his generally unromantic prose writings, especially his letters, and his unfinished [[satire]] ''[[Don Juan (poem)|Don Juan]]''.<ref>Christiansen, 197–200.</ref> Unlike many Romantics, Byron's widely publicised personal life appeared to match his work, and his death at 36 in 1824 from disease when helping the [[Greek War of Independence]] appeared from a distance to be a suitably Romantic end, entrenching his legend.<ref>Christiansen, 213–20.</ref> Keats in 1821 and Shelley in 1822 both died in Italy, Blake (at almost 70) in 1827, and Coleridge largely ceased to write in the 1820s. Wordsworth was by 1820 respectable and highly regarded, holding a government [[sinecure]], but wrote relatively little. In the discussion of English literature, the Romantic period is often regarded as finishing around the 1820s, or sometimes even earlier, although many authors of the succeeding decades were no less committed to Romantic values.

The most significant novelist in English during the peak Romantic period, other than Walter Scott, was [[Jane Austen]], whose essentially conservative world-view had little in common with her Romantic contemporaries, retaining a strong belief in decorum and social rules, though critics such as [[Claudia L. Johnson]] have detected tremors under the surface of many works, such as ''[[Northanger Abbey]]'' (1817), ''[[Mansfield Park]]'' (1814) and ''[[Persuasion (novel)|Persuasion]]'' (1817).<ref>Christiansen, 188–89.</ref> But around the mid-century the undoubtedly Romantic novels of the [[Yorkshire]]-based [[Brontë family]] appeared, most notably [[Charlotte Brontë|Charlotte]]'s ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' and [[Emily Brontë|Emily]]'s ''[[Wuthering Heights]]'', both published in 1847, which also introduced more Gothic themes. While these two novels were written and published after the Romantic period is said to have ended, their novels were heavily influenced by Romantic literature they had read as children.

Byron, Keats, and Shelley all wrote for the stage, but with little success in England, with Shelley's ''[[The Cenci]]'' perhaps the best work produced, though that was not played in a public theatre in England until a century after his death. Byron's plays, along with dramatizations of his poems and Scott's novels, were much more popular on the Continent, and especially in France, and through these versions several were turned into operas, many still performed today. If contemporary poets had little success on the stage, the period was a legendary one for performances of [[William Shakespeare|Shakespeare]], and went some way to restoring his original texts and removing the Augustan "improvements" to them. The greatest actor of the period, [[Edmund Kean]], restored the tragic ending to ''[[King Lear]]'';<ref>Or at least he tried to; Kean played the tragic Lear for a few performances. They were not well received, and with regret, he reverted to [[Nahum Tate]]'s version with a comic ending, which had been standard since 1689. See [[Stanley Wells]], "Introduction" from ''King Lear'', Oxford University Press (2000), p. 69.</ref> Coleridge said that "Seeing him act was like reading Shakespeare by flashes of lightning."<ref>[[Samuel Taylor Coleridge|Coleridge, Samuel Taylor]], ''Table Talk'', 27 April 1823 in {{cite book|last1=Coleridge|first1=Samuel Taylor|last2=Morley|first2=Henry|title=Table Talk of Samuel Taylor Coleridge and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Christobel, &c |publisher=Routledge|location=New York|year=1884|page=[https://archive.org/details/tabletalksamuel01morlgoog/page/n44 38]|url=https://archive.org/details/tabletalksamuel01morlgoog}}</ref>

====Scotland====
{{Main|Romanticism in Scotland}}
[[File:PG 1063Burns Naysmith.jpg|thumb|upright|right|[[Robert Burns]] in [[Alexander Nasmyth]]'s portrait of 1787]]
Although after [[Acts of Union 1707|union with England]] in 1707 Scotland increasingly adopted English language and wider cultural norms, its literature developed a distinct national identity and began to enjoy an international reputation. [[Allan Ramsay (poet)|Allan Ramsay]] (1686–1758) laid the foundations of a reawakening of interest in older Scottish literature, as well as leading the trend for pastoral poetry, helping to develop the [[Habbie stanza]] as a [[poetic form]].<ref>J. Buchan, ''Crowded with Genius'' (London: Harper Collins, 2003), {{ISBN|0-06-055888-1}}, p. 311.</ref> [[James Macpherson]] (1736–1796) was the first Scottish poet to gain an international reputation. Claiming to have found poetry written by the ancient bard [[Ossian]], he published translations that acquired international popularity, being proclaimed as a Celtic equivalent of the [[Classical antiquity|Classical]] [[Epic poetry|epics]]. ''Fingal'', written in 1762, was speedily translated into many European languages, and its appreciation of natural beauty and treatment of the ancient legend has been credited more than any single work with bringing about the Romantic movement in European, and especially in German literature, through its influence on [[Johann Gottfried von Herder]] and [[Johann Wolfgang von Goethe]].<ref>J. Buchan, ''Crowded with Genius'' (London: Harper Collins, 2003), {{ISBN|0-06-055888-1}}, p. 163.</ref> It was also popularised in France by figures that included [[Napoleon]].<ref>H. Gaskill, ''The Reception of Ossian in Europe'' (Continuum, 2004), {{ISBN|0-8264-6135-2}}, p. 140.</ref> Eventually it became clear that the poems were not direct translations from [[Scottish Gaelic]], but flowery adaptations made to suit the aesthetic expectations of his audience.<ref>D. Thomson, ''The Gaelic Sources of Macpherson's "Ossian"'' (Aberdeen: Oliver & Boyd, 1952).</ref>

[[Robert Burns]] (1759–96) and [[Walter Scott]] (1771–1832) were highly influenced by the Ossian cycle. Burns, an Ayrshire poet and lyricist, is widely regarded as the [[national poet]] of Scotland and a major influence on the Romantic movement. His poem (and song) "[[Auld Lang Syne]]" is often sung at [[Hogmanay]] (the last day of the year), and "[[Scots Wha Hae]]" served for a long time as an unofficial [[national anthem]] of the country.<ref>L. McIlvanney, "Hugh Blair, Robert Burns, and the Invention of Scottish Literature", ''Eighteenth-Century Life'', vol. 29 (2), Spring 2005, pp. 25–46.</ref> Scott began as a poet and also collected and published Scottish ballads. His first prose work, ''[[Waverley (novel)|Waverley]]'' in 1814, is often called the first historical novel.<ref>K. S. Whetter, ''Understanding Genre and Medieval Romance'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2008), {{ISBN|0-7546-6142-3}}, p. 28.</ref> It launched a highly successful career, with other historical novels such as ''[[Rob Roy (novel)|Rob Roy]]'' (1817), ''[[The Heart of Midlothian]]'' (1818) and ''[[Ivanhoe]]'' (1820). Scott probably did more than any other figure to define and popularise Scottish cultural identity in the nineteenth century.<ref>N. Davidson, ''The Origins of Scottish Nationhood'' (Pluto Press, 2008), {{ISBN|0-7453-1608-5}}, p. 136.</ref> Other major literary figures connected with Romanticism include the poets and novelists [[James Hogg]] (1770–1835), [[Allan Cunningham (author)|Allan Cunningham]] (1784–1842) and [[John Galt (novelist)|John Galt]] (1779–1839).<ref>A. Maunder, ''FOF Companion to the British Short Story'' (Infobase Publishing, 2007), {{ISBN|0-8160-7496-8}}, p. 374.</ref> 
[[File:Sir Henry Raeburn - Portrait of Sir Walter Scott.jpg|thumb|upright|[[Henry Raeburn|Raeburn]]'s portrait of [[Walter Scott]] in 1822]]  Scotland was also the location of two of the most important literary magazines of the era, ''[[The Edinburgh Review]]'' (founded in 1802) and ''[[Blackwood's Magazine]]'' (founded in 1817), which had a major impact on the development of British literature and drama in the era of Romanticism.<ref>A. Jarrels, "'Associations respect[ing] the past': Enlightenment and Romantic historicism", in J. P. Klancher, ''A Concise Companion to the Romantic Age'' (Oxford: John Wiley & Sons, 2009), {{ISBN|0-631-23355-5}}, p. 60.</ref><ref>A. Benchimol, ed., ''Intellectual Politics and Cultural Conflict in the Romantic Period: Scottish Whigs, English Radicals and the Making of the British Public Sphere'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010), {{ISBN|0-7546-6446-5}}, p. 210.</ref> Ian Duncan and Alex Benchimol suggest that publications like the novels of Scott and these magazines were part of a highly dynamic Scottish Romanticism that by the early nineteenth century, caused Edinburgh to emerge as the cultural capital of Britain and become central to a wider formation of a "British Isles nationalism".<ref>A. Benchimol, ed., ''Intellectual Politics and Cultural Conflict in the Romantic Period: Scottish Whigs, English Radicals and the Making of the British Public Sphere'' (Aldershot: Ashgate, 2010), {{ISBN|0-7546-6446-5}}, p. 209.</ref>

Scottish "national drama" emerged in the early 1800s, as plays with specifically Scottish themes began to dominate the Scottish stage. Theatres had been discouraged by the [[Church of Scotland]] and fears of Jacobite assemblies. In the later eighteenth century, many plays were written for and performed by small amateur companies and were not published and so most have been lost. Towards the end of the century there were "[[closet drama]]s", primarily designed to be read, rather than performed, including work by Scott, Hogg, Galt and [[Joanna Baillie]] (1762–1851), often influenced by the ballad tradition and [[Gothic fiction|Gothic]] Romanticism.<ref name=Brown2007pp229-30>I. Brown, ''The Edinburgh History of Scottish Literature: Enlightenment, Britain and Empire (1707–1918)'' (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2007), {{ISBN|0-7486-2481-3}}, pp. 229–30.</ref>