Writing Prompt 1 – “The Romantics and Their Contemporaries”

Normally the writing prompts will be posted to Blackboard only, but since Blackboard has been a bit dodgy this week, I am posting the first set of prompts to the blog as well.

Please write a one-page response based on one of the following prompts. When you respond to a prompt, you don’t have to answer it exactly. It is meant to spur your thought process, not dictate your response. You certainly don’t need to quote the prompt or use its exact language. I also want to reemphasize that although I expect your responses to be thoughtful and well-written, I obviously don’t expect you to be an expert on the material. We have hardly read a word of the literature, after all.

1. “Imagination” is one of the most important concepts in all of literature, but it was the Romantics that zealously stressed its importance and made it fundamental to the creative act. However, the word “imagination” was used a little differently in the early 1800s from how it is used today. Based on what you read in the introductory material, how does a Romantic notion of “imagination” differ from a 2009 conception of that word? In answering this, you may want to mention one or two contemporary examples of how the word is used and contrast those with what you read about.

2. A common saying about literature is that it must either say something new, or it must say something old in a new way. Based on what you read, how might this saying be applied to the Romantic period?

3. The Industrial Revolution of the late 18th and early 19th centuries profoundly affected British society on many levels. For one thing, the nature of the landscape was rapidly changing as the population increased dramatically and the socio-economic structure of Britain was turned on its ear. What had once been a largely-agricultural country was now a center of industry and manufacturing. You will recall our discussion in class today about the importance of the natural world, specifically a line from Wordsworth’s “The Tables Turned”: “Let Nature be your teacher.” It probably comes as no surprise, then, that many writers of the period, perhaps acting in the prophetic role of “the bard,” pointed out the dangers of industry and its destructive potential. Can you draw any contemporary parallels? In other words, is this exclusively a Romantic concern, or does it translate to 2009?

4. The Industrial Revolution, as you read, also made it possible to print a lot of books in a relatively short amount of time. Writers who had previously depended on patronage (financial support from wealthy individuals) could now brave the newly-created literary marketplace. One could argue that this was liberating and that as independent writers, free from patronage, writers were then more “free” to express themselves as they wished. But might there also be negative consequences to literature as a result of a free market? If so, what might they be?

I am looking forward to your responses. See you on Thursday.
-D