English Help!

[paloma]

I wouldn't be posting if I wasn't so thoroughly confused with a simple term that I am actually embarrassed to ask my tutor about this, and cannot seem to find a satisfactory answer in the books I have. I am hoping to find someone who is an English major (or just otherwise in the know) and has their head around the topic better than I do.

The offending term is 'romantic.' (I know - shouldn't be a problem, right?) The way I understand it is that the romances were a genre of French literature (before the Middle Ages?) and is also a term applied to certain medieval writings in English. It comes up again (but is altered?) and is mainly used in connection with the Romantic poets in the late 18th and early 19th century (Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron, to name a few).

Now my problem with it is this. Is the term used because the Romantic poets are supposed to be somehow emulating the style of the older romances? Because the poetry of Wordsworth, for example, seems to bear very little resemblence to the romances. (Is this what is meant by the term Romantic Revival? Or is it Romantic Revival only when they make specific references to the romances of the past, like the King Arthur myths, for example?) If this is true, what about authors who are not typically classed as romantic poets, but who also make references to those works typically known as romances (Tennyson, for example). Are they also romantic revivalists? Or does that period end with the Romantic poets?

And in fact, why are they called Romantic at all if most of them have nothing to do with the romances?

I actually read somewhere that the term romantic actually comes from the word 'Roman', but this seems to add absolutely nothing of value to the understanding of the term, and only serves to confuse me.

Aarrgh! I know this is a lot of questions and I have probably just gotten some very simple terms muddled, but I would hugely appreciate responses from anyone who has any insight at all into this time period or these terms to help me sort my head out!

Thanks ever so much!

[teal]

you need to look the term up in the 'dictionary of literary terms' there will be one in the library. in fact, i just looked on saulcat and there are 3 different ones to choose from, look under PN41.G82

[Sarahbails]

Hmm, I have a sneaking suspicion you might be in one of my english classes, I am dealing with the same period right now for an upcoming essay. I can't claim to be an expert on this topic but I have a great book that I have gotten out of the library which has a few pages at the beginning devoted to dealing with questions very similar to the ones you are asking here. It's called 'Gender, Genre, and the Romantic Poets' by Phillip Cox. You might want to check to see if there are any other copies, and if not, I would be happy to photocopy those pages for you, or let you have a look, or whatever if it would be a help

good luck with your english questions.