This article by Isabella Tarttelin was presented as a talk to the PGS Literary Society on Thursday, 11th May.
Before we can even dive into poetry, let's look at the French Revolution. Often overlooked by the American Revolution, probably due to the heavily commercialised July 4, this revolution was extremely prominent in history, even impacting French politics today, with the rights of the people still viewed just as highly. The cause of this revolution stemmed from the poverty the French people lived in, where the aristocracy of the monarch King Louis XVI, or rather, Louis the Last, quite foreshadowing to his eventual fall, lived in great wealth and splendour, but the less fortunate struggled to survive on scraps, and under the financial crisis.
The people were outraged, and rose together to fight against absolute monarchy. The French Revolution is most typically seen as bloody and violent, a correct description, especially when relating to the ‘Reign of Terror’, a period so seized by revolutionary fever that there were a series of massacres and numerous public executions by the infamous Guillotine. If anyone has read a Tale of Two Cities by Charles Darwin, the story mentions the storming of the Bastille and these horrific executions.
So, with the overview done, how on earth does this affect Britain, and our poets?
Cutting down to the roots of the Revolution, it has radicalism written all over it. It’s the overthrow of a monarchy, a physical overthrow, killing not just winning in battles, but executing their monarch, and although today we may not regard it to the same respect, especially with some people’s disregard to the recent coronation, in those days it was an extreme sin to merely even go against the King’s wishes.
To be a monarch was chosen by God, and following the Divine Right of Kings, the monarch was under Him. So to get rid of it with such passionate violence, was a clear display that these radicalists were going against the word of God, an incredible shock to many in Europe, especially due to the fact of how highly Christianity was valued in those days.
Furthermore, and something much more impactful than the overthrow of a monarchy, was that France was felled by people. Ordinary people, not ordained by God, but those who dwelled in poverty and suffering. Europe saw the strength of the unity of the mind in one single cause, and the power of the people. Such a longstanding, monarchy-lead country such as France, was overcome and overthrown. France had a strong influence in Europe, with their empirical status and success in colonialism, yet had fallen. Still has the same influence today. And suddenly the power was not to monarchy and wealth, but to the ordinary, as revolutionary ideas of freedom from societal injustice spread throughout the hearts and minds of Europe.
But what other country had a similar empirical reputation and monarchical influence? Britain, and as she watches France fall, she suddenly becomes very aware of this new concept infecting her country’s people.
And enter our poets! Although, one can argue that they were more affected by the Industrial Revolution sparking in Britain, birthing new thinking towards the protection of nature and life, themes of liberty, freedom and radical ideas in support of the French people’s uprising can be seen in their works. They themselves would argue against all of this, believing they were influenced by nothing but the choice of God to lead this new movement. You can get a sense of their egos after writing all this poetry.
I have slimmed it down to three most notable, William Wordsworth, William Blake , Percy Bysshe Shelley.
First up is William Blake. Alive in the middle of the commotion of the French, he was smartly aware of the politics of his time, with his poetry reflecting such alertness and intellectual vision. His interpretation of the social impacts of the French Revolution was to emphasise on the conditional, what humans COULD do under the grueling restraints of an unbalanced society and warfare spreading throughout the globe. Poems which present these themes are London and Holy Thursday.
In ‘London’ there is an rooted melancholy tone, and with the depressing implications, society is presented to draw the life out of its habitants which reinforces the need for change within its structure, relating to the striking transformation of the French Revolution.
Utilisation of visual imagery in this poem depicts a gruelling regime that many poor have to live under, with ‘manacles’ conveying a prison-like atmosphere, trapping people into struggle and poverty. There is no implication of freedom from these ‘manacles’, reinforcing the idea of a repeating system, inescapable and unrelenting. It creates pity towards the badly treated society, therefore pointing blame to those living in wealth and lavish, insensitively ignorant whilst so many suffer.
The Church, a symbol of Christianity and God in this poem, is described to be ‘appall[ed]’, a very emotive verb displaying a great amount of dismay. As Blake emphasises the message that even God is appalled, it contradicts the general opinion towards the French Revolution: that it was a sin to destroy something appointed by God. God, here, is supporting the need to uprise, and evil blame is appointed to monarchy, in ‘Runs in blood down palace walls’.
Due to the fact that Blake associated himself with many fellow political radicals, such as Mary Wollstonecraft, who wrote ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Woman’, it is unsurprising that his poetry implies such controversial views when considering his influences.
Likewise to ‘London’, Blake further argues against the objecting opinion of the French Revolution and the lack of need for social change in ‘Holy Thursday’.
Throughout he continually addresses the reader, urging them to rethink their personal opinions of societal alteration, with the repetition of rhetorical questions emphasising his own opinion, and anger at the disgraceful treatment. ‘Is this a holy thing’ directly questions morality in society, forcing guilt in what one lives upon. How can one be proud of society, when it is in such a state at this? The message is that it needs to change, and one should feel disgraced to feel that it doesn’t, therefore meaning that the minds of the French people were justified in acting against for a difference.
Yet humankind is not giving into such change, but only feeding the miserable poor with an unfeeling ‘cold and usurous hand’. No one is acting against it, or striving for the better. Blake implies the conditional, that if one could, a kind of utopia could be unlocked, where ‘the sun does shine’ and ‘the rain does fall’, directly contrasting to the stanza beforehand in the current situation. This presents a positive outlook towards the Revolution’s causes, since it is striving towards a better future and a better society to live in.
To conclude, Blake gives a superior tone to the situation in European society, showing continuously the theme of ‘righting wrongs’ by portraying his own view of current society in a depressive light and boosting the support for the French revolution, since they were the ones acting out against the routinely regime and towards a change for the better.
Next, is Percy Shelley. Despite being the later born of the three poets, and put into the ‘Second Generation Romantics’ pool, he had the most radical of views. My research on him was quite hilarious, as he was such a teenage rebel, due to him being the son of a Man in Parliament, yet his aim in poetry was to show his profound hatred towards war, tyranny and Christianity, something that would quake the walls of 18th century British parliament, especially after an American loss.
He believed strongly in the right to free speech, and greatly despised everything along the lines of a social construct. With Shelley being a radical, this can be reflected in his poetry, relating to a time of social revolution in France, such as in the Works of ‘Hymn to Intellectual Beauty’ and Prometheus Unbound Part 1’.
Although written a period of time after the initial beginnings of the French Revolution and the Fall of the Bastille, ‘Hymn to Intellectual Beauty’ continues to display Shelley’s own revolutionary ideals.
He presents there to be some kind of invisible power that ‘floats unseen amongst us’ to which he calls towards. The speaker dwells on its absence, asking why it leaves such a state that is ‘vacant and desolate’.
The idea presented here is that when this ‘Intellectual Beauty’ goes, it leaves humanity to its sufferings and horrors, implying that it somehow heals mankind and frees it from such. The form of the Intellectual Beauty is not mentioned specifically, though one can analyse that, since it floats ‘amongst us’, it is a feeling; one that liberates our souls from societal oppressions, not one of physical form.
Shelley idolises this feeling, implying with his language in the final stanza that ‘there is a harmony’: that it creates equality and peace within the land. He is encouraging the power of Intellectual Beauty to grace him and ‘let thy power’ to free him and give liberty from the ‘spells that did bind’ from oppression.
Instead of dwelling on the issues stemming from having liberty, he implores for it, personifying the feeling of such to be enlightening, and life-changing. His approach towards the concept reflects his own radical opinions of the prejudice placed on by society, and the values that the French Revolution fought for.
Furthermore in Percy Shelley’s work, he relates his poetry to post-revolutionary Europe and a wish for change.
‘Prometheus Unbound, Act 1’ depicts an act of resistance towards a different kind of tyranny, one within religion: to Jupiter. Prometheus dramatically declares his anger at being under the tyrannical reign of Jupiter, by calling to the beings of the Earth in desperation. ‘Have the mountains not felt?.. Has it not seen?’: the constant questioning, to no avail, relates to the helplessness of the French people, struggling in poverty but not recognised by the rich living in lavishness.
Yet continuing on, this anger diminishes, turning into desperateness and disappointment, relating to Shelley’s own horror and fears of what will happen to post-revolutionary Europe with its radicalism spreading.
Prometheus now ‘speaks in grief’ for he cannot ‘hate no more’, implying a desperate, exhaustive tone as he begs for liberty. The misery and bloodshed caused from his hatred of the tyranny of Jupiter has made him ‘wise’, a very solemn turning point to the poem, perhaps conveying Shelley’s own dismay at how the French Revolution tore wounds within the flaws of man.
As Shelley is the later of the four Romantics, one can see his own outlook on the revolution as he overviews the lasting impacts of it on Europe and the issue of societal prejudice norms and unrelenting tyrannical rule, themes occurring strongly in the French Revolution.
In overview, Shelley’s work presents many underlying themes which link to the Revolution. Despite both poems analysed not written within the time period crucial to radical change, Shelley’s opinions towards liberty and tyranny are still seen. With his description of the feeling of freedom having some kind of enlightenment over the soul and highlighting his own dread to the flaws of man, one can conclude that Shelley utilises the political and social context of the time as fundamental themes in his poetry.
And finally, but by no means least, is William Wordsworth. Probably the most memorable of the Romantics, he believed that the goal of writing poetry was to accurately express complex idea such as emotions in simple terms, using ‘language used by ordinary people when in states of strong feelings.
Whilst other poets focused on making political points appropriate to their time, Wordsworth valued emotional responses to such, with his poetry moulded around a much deeper connection to the suffering of man. His aim was less to make a political argument about the French Revolution, but to call out both sides in their inhumane motives, and how one should connect back to our roots: nature. The works which most convey these meanings are ‘Lines written in early Spring’ and ‘The world is too much with us’.
Composed in 1798 in the midst of the French Revolution, ‘Lines written in early Spring’ employs beautiful serenity, yet his pastoral emotion swiftly interlink into ones of sorrow and disappointment to man. With the auditory imagery of ‘thousand blended notes’, it makes one think of a symphony, which typically employs calming and idyllic undertones.
It lulls the reader’s senses, urging them to feel his emotional state whilst he enjoys the peaceful view of nature. These ‘pleasant thoughts’ are swiftly, and abruptly simultaneously, are interrupted by ‘sad thoughts’, as if the speaker is drawn into such serenity that he must turn back to the sorrow of reality. He cannot truly enjoy this movement, as it is not reality, for his reality is bloodshed and terror. He does not mention any side of the opinion towards the Revolution, whether either side is justified in their argument, but only to the fact that the conflict that diseases reality stutters our perfect tranquillity to a halt.
Moreover, in the next stanza, Wordsworth employs a very powerful, spiritual image, to further emphasise the human body’s connection to nature, and how war and fighting cannot allow humanity to dwell in this strength with nature. For Wordsworth to describe that his link ‘through me ran’ brings light to the idea of interconnectivity, with natural beauty connecting to the centre of our being: our soul.
Yet he cannot be content, since his heart is pained to think ‘what man has made of man’. He is brought back down to earth from this enlightenment, with the contrast between the spiritual and the physical reinforcing his interrupted serenity.
With beautiful imagery being compared to the fall of man, Wordsworth does not mock either side of the French Revolution, but simply dwells on humanity’s downfall from it. He is questioning the point of such materialistic, impermanent conflicts, when we are given such beauty in front of our eyes, as he grieves at the condition of the political situation in France.
The theme of liberty and freedom, typically seen in the French Revolution, is not depicted to be felt from winning a gruesome bloodshed, but from Wordsowrth’s utilisation of the impactful imagery of humanity connecting with nature. That is where true liberation is.
Similarly, Wordsworth shows discontent towards both sides of humanity in the Revolution, arguing that all these emotions and efforts put into fighting issues with no matter blinds us to the true matter which is nature, in ‘The world is too much with us’.
With the indications of Wordsworth’s own passion to the matter, he declaratively states ‘we lay waste our powers’, suggesting that all our intelligence, our conscientiousness, our morals, all things that makes us as humans superior to other beings are being wasted on materialistic matters such as wars. They are not being put to good use, therefore our potential is lost.
All spiritual power connecting with emotion is lost, which relates to the brutal executions and treatment of the aristocrats in France, with all signs of morality and emotional sympathy absent.
Wordsworth continues with the idea of a lost morality to say that ‘we have given our hearts away’, implying that those who involve themselves with the bloodshed and horror have sold their souls to the Devil, and that we have given away all emotion and kindness and love.
He compares the beauties of nature to be ‘sleeping flowers’, admired and uncared for. Due to this Revolution, and all it stands for and acts on, ‘we are out of tune’: out of sync with humanity’s meaning, which is to be one with nature.
As war and the themes of brutality and conflict, which stemmed from the French Revolution, turns a man's head, nature is unappreciated, which is described to be our flaw and damages our emotional and spiritual powers.
Conclusively, Wordsworth’s poetry differs from the others that have been analysed. He focuses more on the time and energy that is wasted towards conflict, when instead one can find such themes of liberty and freedom from prejudiced society from the means of nature, instead of ways that cause emotional damage.
On the whole, as one recalls in history, Britain did never experience the same radical change as France did. However, despite the actions of violence not being shared to our island, the values and messages stemming from such an outlandish revolution did spread to the British public, and in this case, its literature. The Revolution brought around awareness, very important in shaping the Romantic movement. Awareness of the need for radical change and the corrupt prejudice of society is reflected in its themes: liberty, freedom, social justice and oppression, influenced greatly by the Revolution.
How these are displayed is done in many different techniques, no two are similarly done in each poet. While Blake critiques society itself and the state that it is in, he boosts sympathy for those done wrong by society by utilising the theme of unjust social restraint.
Furthermore, Wordsworth gives a very different side to the common argument. Despite not taking a side, he takes the side of nature, with the theme of the futility of war implying that humanity is wasting its time on materialistic matters, and ignoring the freedom that nature gives itself.
And finally, Shelley, whilst being the later born of the poets, displays the theme of freeing from tyranny and his fears of post-revolutionary Europe, through the implementation of the power of Roman Gods.
In summary, it is clear that the Romantic were exceedingly influenced by the new themes of social freedom and justice that the French Revolution brought about. Even if they did not share an opinion towards politics, being surrounded by pressing matters such as radicalism and revolution allowed for their poetry to reflect in such, with their language and images creating themes and messages towards the social and political issues of the time.
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