What are Eagleton's views on romanticism?

Introduction

The Romantic period (1798-1832) marks the great transition in the trend of English literature from the Neoclassic age of the eighteenth century. The key concepts of reason, order, sanity and propriety in art were replaced by emotion, imagination, aesthetic beauty, wonder and subjectivity, etc. Literature in the modern sense, according to Terry Eagleton, really emerged around the nineteenth century during the Romantic period. He focuses on the development of the trend of literature somewhat chronologically.

What are Eagleton's views on romanticism?

Literature during the Romantic period

During the Romantic period, types of literature like poetry no longer were simply a technical way of writing. They had significant social, political and philosophical implications. Many major romantic poets were political activists themselves. The stress upon the sovereignty and autonomy of the imagination was another emphasis finding its way into the concept of literature. There was a narrowing of the category of literature to the so-called 'creative' or 'imaginative' work which was radically at odds with the utilitarianism and early industrial capitalism dominant in England. Of course, there was distinction between 'factual' and 'imaginative' writing. The word 'poetry' or 'poesy' had traditionally singled out fiction, and Sir Philip Sidney made an eloquent plea for it in Apology for Poetry and later Shelley in his Defence of Poetry (1821) explained the concept of human creativity.

The role of imagination

In the Romantic period, literature became synonymous with the 'imaginative'. That is, to write on something which does not exist is more soul-stirring than giving an account of Birmingham Palace or the circulation of blood. The word imaginative, according to Eagleton, is ambiguous because it may suggest feeling which is literally untrue or it may also refer to 'visionary' or 'inventive'. The rise of the 'symbol' also came towards the end of the eighteenth century; with it, various contradictory concepts could finally be captured together. The literary work was seen as spontaneous and creative, unlike society, and 'poetry' as an idea had political force. But the creative artist and his ideals were isolated from society, and it was only at the time of William Morris that the gap between poetic vision and political practice was significantly narrowed.

Literature became a substitute for religion

 Eagleton suggests that the growth of English studies in the later nineteenth century was caused by the failure of religion, something he believes was a very simple yet powerful form of ideology that was above all else a pacifying influence. Apparently, English literature worked as a suitable substitute. English became a subject used to cultivate the middle class and infuse them with some values of the leftover aristocracy. Thus, English literature became the new way to pacify the working and middle class.

Conclusion

 To sum up, at the end of the nineteenth century and in the beginning of the twentieth century it was assumed that literature would convey timeless truths and distract the masses from their present commitments and conditions. It was also a way to experience things or events that were not possible to experience in a person's life. English as an academic subject was nothing more than the poor man's classics. In addition, English became the new vehicle for transferring the moral law, which was no longer taken from religion.