Step one: The Romantic Period

The first historical event leading up to romanticism I want to talk about is the enlightenment. Even though Romantics hated and opposed the enlightenment they were very similar and also heavily influenced by it. The enlightenment was a time of reason. People were starting to think more logically and relying less on the church for reasoning. The romantics, the next generation, were almost the same but with a twist. The romantics strived more on individuality and expressing themselves. They too disagreed with the church, but hated the aristocrat. I believe that the romantics were to force that eventually led to the rise of the middle-class of the industrial revolution.

The second historical event I want to look at is the french revolution and the napoleonic era. The french revolution occurred right at the beginning of the romantic period and I believe was started from the romantic mood at that time. People were starting to gain national pride, or nationalism, in their country and culture. People were also starting to hate the aristocratic government and feeling the need to do something about it. I think that the romantics feelings of expression is what caused the french revolution. The napoleonic era also help fuel the romantic period because countries were so frustrated with France's nationalism that they also began to have pride in their countries and feel need to express themselves and culture.

I feel like normal people in this time were becoming more aware of themselves and the things around them. People didn't want to be held down by the church or some straight edged logic. They wanted to express themselves and become more individual. This shows through the romantics wanting to have pride and expression of their cultures. I also believe that the romantics might have been a little on the ass-hole side. After reading about them they seem like smart people who think way too highly about themselves (or in this case culture).

I believe that the romantics were mainly expressing rebellion and individuality in their poems. You can see the rebellion when you look at Wordsworth poem To My Sister When he's saying that things don't have to be regulated and the best way for two people to get to know each other is through pure improvisation of time. The individuality is expressed in poems like The Shepherd by William Blake. In this poem Blake is so jealous of the individuality of the shepherd and how he lives such a nice peaceful lives caring for his sheep and his sheep caring for him. I really like Romantic poetry in comparisons to other poetries. I think this is because I like rebellion and individuality.