15. Estimate the influence of French learning and literature upon English literature during the eighteenth century.
CHAPTER X
THE RETURN TO NATURE
TIME-CHART OF THE CHIEF AUTHORS
The thick line shows the period of important literary work.
1790 1800 1810 1820 1830 1840 1850 | ║[191] ] | ║ | | | |║ Wordsworth |...║==================║...|........|........|........|║ (1770–1850) | | | | | | | | ║[191] | | ║ | | ║ | | Coleridge |...║================║.....|........|...║ | | (1772–1834) | | | | | | | | | | ║[192] | ║ | | | Byron |........|........|.║==========║ | | | (1788–1824) | | | | | | | | ║ | | ║ | ║ | | | Shelley | ║......|........|.║=========║ | | | (1792–1822) | | | | | | | | ║ | | ║[193] ║ | | | Keats | ║.....|........|...║======║ | | | (1795–1821) | | | | | | | | | ║[194] | ║[195] | | ║ | | Scott |........|..║========║=================║ | | (1771–1832) | | | ║ | | | | | ║[196] | ║ | | | | Austen |...║==================║ | | | | (1775–1817) | | | | | | | | | ║ | | | ║ | | Lamb |........|....║=========================║ | | (1775–1834) | | | | | | | | | | | ║[197] | | | De Quincey |........|........|........|.║========================+ (1785–1859) | | | | | | | | | ║ | | | ║ | | Hazlitt |........|...║========================║ | | (1778–1830) | | | | | | |
THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND (1790–1830)
To an overwhelming extent the history of the time is the record of the effects of the French Revolution.
1. The European War. The close of the eighteenth century saw England and France engaged in open warfare (1793). Many causes contributed to set the war in motion, and many more kept it intractably in operation. Hostilities dragged on till 1815, in the end bringing about the extinction of the French Republic, the birth of which was greeted so joyfully by the English Liberals, the rise and destruction of the power of Napoleon, and the restoration of the Bourbon dynasty. These events had their effects in every corner of Europe, and in none more strongly than in England.
2. The Reaction. It has been well said: “At the beginning of every revolution men hope, for they think of all that mankind may gain in a new world; in its next phase they fear, for they think of what mankind may lose.” This was the case with the French Revolution. The elder writers of the period, with Wordsworth and Coleridge as conspicuous examples, hailed the new era with joy. Then, as the Revolution proceeded to unexpected developments, there came in turn disappointment, disillusion, dejection, and despair, and, notably in the case of Wordsworth, the rejection of youthful ideas and the soured adoption of the older reactionary faith. The younger writers, such as Leigh Hunt, Shelley, and Keats, still adhered to the Revolutionary doctrines, but the warmth of the early days had already passed away.