E-text prepared by Jeanette Hayward and Al Haines. Dedicated to the memory
of James Hayward.
by
Author of A Suburban Pastoral, The Ways of Vale, etc.
"Was unsterblich im Gesang soll leben Muss im Leben untergehen."
—Schiller
Historians of French and German literature are accustomed to set off aperiod, or a division of their subject, and entitle it "Romanticism" or"the Romantic School." Writers of English literary history, whilerecognizing the importance of England's share in this great movement inEuropean letters, have not generally accorded it a place by itself in thearrangement of their subject-matter, but have treated it cursively, as atendency present in the work of individual authors; and have maintained asimple chronological division of eras into the "Georgian,", the"Victorian," etc. The reason of this is perhaps to be found in the factthat, although Romanticism began earlier in England than on the Continentand lent quite as much as it borrowed in the international exchange ofliterary commodities, the native movement was more gradual and scattered.It never reached so compact a shape, or came so definitely to a head, asin Germany or France. There never was precisely a "romantic school" oran all-pervading romantic fashion in England.
There is, therefore, nothing in English corresponding to Heine'sfascinating sketch "Die Romantische Schule," or to Théophile Gautier'salmost equally fascinating and far more sympathetic "Histoire duRomantisme." If we can imagine a composite personality of Byron and DeQuincey, putting on record his half affectionate and half satiricalreminiscences of the contemporary literary movement, we might havesomething nearly equivalent. For Byron, like Heine, was a repentantromanticist, with "radical notions under his cap," and a critical theoryat odds with his practice; while De Quincey was an early disciple ofWordsworth and Coleridge,—as Gautier was of Victor Hugo,—and at thesame time a clever and slightly mischievous sketcher of personal traits.
The present volume consists, in substance, of a series of lectures givenin elective courses in Yale College. In revising it for publication Ihave striven to rid it of the air of the lecture room, but a fewrepetitions and didacticisms of manner may have inadvertently been leftin. Some of the methods and results of these studies have already beengiven to the public in "The Beginnings of the English Romantic Movement,"by my present associate and former scholar, Professor William LyonPhelps. Professor Phelps' little book (originally a doctorate thesis)follows, in the main, the selection and arrangement of topics in mylectures. En revanche I have had the advantage of availing myself ofhis 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 ofEnglish Romanticism, etc."; for, though fairly complete in treatment, itmakes no claim to being exhaustive. By no means every eighteenth-centurywriter 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 ofpublication—were without effect upon their generation and do not for