Misplaced Pages

#870129

128-411: Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and its Influence on Morals and Happiness is a 1793 book by the philosopher William Godwin , in which the author outlines his political philosophy . It is the first modern work to elucidate anarchism . Godwin began thinking about Political Justice in 1791, after the publication of Thomas Paine's Rights of Man in response to Edmund Burke's Reflections on

256-670: A Nonconformist minister , moved the family to Debenham in Suffolk and later to Guestwick in Norfolk, which had a radical history as a Roundhead stronghold during the English Civil War . At the local meeting house , John Godwin often found himself sitting in " Cromwell 's Chair", which had been a gift to the town by the Lord Protector . William Godwin came from a long line of English Dissenters , who faced religious discrimination by

384-554: A pamphlet war , beginning with Edmund Burke 's publication of his Reflections on the Revolution in France , which defended traditionalist conservatism and opposed revolution. In response to Burke, Thomas Paine published his Rights of Man with the help of Godwin, who declared that "the seeds of revolution it contains are so vigorous in their stamina, that nothing can overpower them." But Godwin's voice remained largely absent from

512-725: A political journalist for the New Annual Register after being introduced to Georgie Robinson by Andrew Kippis . Godwin's work was then picked up by the Political Herald , where he wrote under the pseudonym of " Mucius " in order to attack the Tories . He subsequently reported on the Pitt ministry 's colonial rule in Ireland and India ; penned a history of the Dutch Revolt and predicted

640-511: A treason trial of some of his fellow British Jacobins , among them Thomas Holcroft , Godwin wrote Cursory Strictures on the Charge Delivered by Lord Chief Justice Eyre to the Grand Jury, 2 October 1794 in which he forcefully argued that the prosecution's concept of "constructive treason" allowed a judge to construe any behaviour as treasonous. It paved the way for a major victory for

768-452: A Nightingale ", Keats wrote: ...................................................for many a time I have been half in love with easeful Death, Call'd him soft names in many a mused rhyme, To take into the air my quiet breath; Now more than ever seems it rich to die, To cease upon the midnight with no pain. Romantic poetry was attracted to nostalgia, and medievalism is another important characteristic of romantic poetry, especially in

896-421: A celebrated north country apostle, who, after Calvin damned ninety-nine in a hundred of mankind, has contrived a scheme for damning ninety-nine in a hundred of the followers of Calvin." In 1771, Godwin was finally dismissed by Newton and returned home, but his father died the following year, which prompted his mother to urge him to continue his education. At seventeen years old, Godwin began higher education at

1024-474: A critique of the state . Godwin acknowledged the influence of Burke for this portion. The rest of the book is Godwin's positive vision of how an anarchist (or minarchist ) society might work. Political Justice was extremely influential in its time: after the writings of Burke and Paine , Godwin's was the most popular written response to the French Revolution. Godwin's work was seen by many as illuminating

1152-404: A defining anarchist and libertarian text. By the words "political justice" the author meant "the adoption of any principle of morality and truth into the practice of a community," and the work was therefore an inquiry into the principles of society, government, and morals . For many years Godwin had been "satisfied that monarchy was a species of government unavoidably corrupt," and from desiring

1280-435: A government of the simplest construction, he gradually came to consider that "government by its very nature counteracts the improvement of original mind," demonstrating anti-statist beliefs that would later be considered anarchist . Believing in the perfectibility of the human race, that there are no innate principles, and therefore no original propensity to evil, he considered that "our virtues and our vices may be traced to

1408-639: A hack imitator of the English Romantics." More recently, an essay by Dana Gioia has spearheaded a revival of readership and scholarly interest in the life and poetry of Longfellow. There are elements of Romanticism in many later works of American poetry. The influence of Whitman is evident in the work of Langston Hughes and E. E. Cummings ; there are echoes of Transcendentalism in poems about nature by Robert Frost , Carl Sandburg , and Gary Snyder ; there are strains of Romantic individualism in writing by Frank O'Hara , Sylvia Plath , Adrienne Rich , and

SECTION 10

#1733094103871

1536-428: A man in love with its author, this appears to me to be the book." When Godwin and Wollstonecraft were reintroduced in 1796, their respect for each other soon grew into friendship, sexual attraction, and love. Once Wollstonecraft became pregnant, they decided to marry so that their child would be considered legitimate by society. Their marriage revealed the fact that Wollstonecraft had never been married to Imlay, and as

1664-477: A marriage, then, and not till then, can I have any just reason to admit his doctrine of the geometrical ratio. In his first edition of Political Justice Godwin included arguments favouring the possibility of "earthly immortality" (what would now be called physical immortality ), but later editions of the book omitted this topic. Although the belief in such a possibility is consistent with his philosophy regarding perfectibility and human progress, he probably dropped

1792-472: A middle way between the fiery extremes of Burke and Paine. Prime Minister William Pitt famously said that there was no need to censor it, because at over £1 it was too costly for the average Briton to buy. However, as was the practice at the time, numerous " corresponding societies " took up Political Justice , either sharing it or having it read to the illiterate members. Eventually, it sold over 4000 copies and brought literary fame to Godwin. Godwin augmented

1920-505: A minister to become a writer . Throughout 1783, Godwin published a series of written works, beginning with an anonymously-published biography of William Pitt the Elder , followed by a couple of pro-Whig political pamphlets. He also briefly attempted to return to ministerial work in Beaconsfield , where he preached that " faith should be subordinated to reason ". A few months later, during

2048-399: A more rigorous intellectual experience than most women of her period, and describing her as "very intelligent". He wished to give his daughter a more "masculine education" and prepared her to be a writer. However, Godwin withdrew his support as Mary became a woman and pursued her relationship with Percy Bysshe Shelley . Mary's first two novels, Frankenstein and Mathilda , may be seen as

2176-477: A night what took him over a year to write. Not the least of its merits is a portrait of the justice system of England and Wales at the time and a prescient picture of domestic espionage. His literary method, as he described it in the introduction to the novel, also proved influential: Godwin began with the conclusion of Caleb being chased through Britain, and developed the plot backwards. Dickens and Poe both commented on Godwin's ingenuity in doing this. In response to

2304-418: A novel, which Godwin saw into print. All of Godwin's children who lived into adulthood worked as writers or educators, carrying on his legacy and that of his wives. Only two of them had children who in turn survived: Percy Florence Shelley , and the son and daughter of Charles. Godwin did not welcome the birth of Allegra Byron , but Claire's only child died aged five. Godwin had high hopes for Mary, giving her

2432-405: A reaction to her childhood. Both explore the role of the father in the child's socialisation and the control the father has on the child's future. Shelley's last two novels, Lodore and Falkner , re-evaluate the father-daughter relationship. They were written at a time when Shelley was raising her only surviving child alone and supporting her ageing father. In both novels, the daughter eludes

2560-473: A realistic perspective on nature. He believes that nature is not the source of joy and pleasure, but rather that people's reactions to it depend on their mood and disposition. Coleridge believed that joy does not come from external nature, but that it emanates from the human heart. Melancholy occupies a prominent place in romantic poetry, and is an important source of inspiration for the Romantic poets. In '" Ode to

2688-518: A result she and Godwin lost many friends. Godwin received further criticism because he had advocated the abolition of marriage in Political Justice . After their marriage at St. Pancras on 29 March 1797, they moved into two adjoining houses in Somers Town so that they could both still retain their independence; they often communicated by notes delivered by servants. Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin

SECTION 20

#1733094103871

2816-533: A revolutionary in the vein of John Thelwall and the London Corresponding Society . A philosophical anarchist , he believed that change would come gradually and that there was no need for violent revolution. He argues that "the task which, for the present, should occupy the first rank in the thoughts of the friend of man is enquiry, communication, discussion." Godwin thus believed in individuals' desire to reason sincerely and truthfully with each other. In

2944-421: A vernal wood May teach you more of man, Of moral evil and of good, Than all the sages can. Shelley was another nature poet, who believed that nature is a living thing and there is a union between nature and man. Wordsworth approaches nature philosophically, while Shelley emphasizes the intellect. John Keats was another lover of nature, but Coleridge differs from other Romantic poets of his age, in that he has

3072-555: A whole. Poe, however, strongly disliked transcendentalism. Another American Romantic poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), was the most popular poet of his day. He was one of the first American celebrities and was also popular in Europe, and it was reported that 10,000 copies of The Courtship of Miles Standish sold in London in a single day. However, Longfellow's popularity rapidly declined, beginning shortly after his death and into

3200-466: A year younger than her was Claire Clairmont , Mary Jane's only daughter, to whom she showed favouritism. The youngest, and the only child of the second marriage, was William Godwin the Younger (1803–1832). Godwin sent him first to Charterhouse School and then to various other establishments of a practical bent. Nonetheless, he eventually earned his living by the pen. He died at 29, leaving the manuscript of

3328-465: Is another important feature of Romantic poetry, as a source of inspiration. This poetry involves a relationship with external nature and places, and a belief in pantheism . However, the Romantic poets differed in their views about nature. Wordsworth recognized nature as a living thing, teacher, god, and everything. These feelings are fully developed and expressed in his epic poem The Prelude . In his poem "The Tables Turned" he writes: One impulse from

3456-497: Is clean, airy, sufficiently roomy, and in a healthy situation.... And the necessary labours of agriculture are shared amicably among all. The number of persons, and the produce of the island, we suppose to be the same as at present. The spirit of benevolence, guided by impartial justice, will divide this produce among all the members of the society according to their wants....With these extraordinary encouragements to population, and every cause of depopulation, as we have supposed, removed,

3584-613: Is considered by many to be the central representative of Romanticism in Russian literature; however, he can't be labelled unequivocally as a Romantic. Russian critics have traditionally argued that,during the 36 years of his life, Pushkin's works took a path from neo-Classicism through Romanticism and ultimately to Realism . An alternative assessment suggests that "he had an ability to entertain contrarities [ sic ] which may seem Romantic in origin, but are ultimately subversive of all fixed points of view, all single outlooks, including

3712-405: Is considered to be the ideologue of Sturm und Drang , with Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz , H. L. Wagner and Friedrich Maximilian Klinger also significant figures. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was also a notable proponent of the movement, though he and Friedrich Schiller ended their period of association with it by initiating what would become Weimar Classicism . Jena Romanticism  – also

3840-646: Is emphasised during this period. Leading Romantic poets include Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (considered the most important), Manuel José Quintana , José Zorrilla , Rosalía de Castro (in Galician and Spanish), and José de Espronceda . In Catalonia , the Romantic movement was a major trigger for the Catalan Renaissance or ' Renaixença ', which would gradually bring back prestige to the Catalan language and literature (in decadence since its 15th-century Golden Age), with

3968-560: Is felt, at least by the poorer segment of the society. Consequently, poverty was felt to be an inevitable phenomenon of society. Let us imagine for a moment Mr. Godwin's beautiful system of equality realized in its utmost purity, and see how soon this difficulty might be expected to press under so perfect a form of society.... Let us suppose all the causes of misery and vice in this island removed. War and contention cease. Unwholesome trades and manufactories do not exist. Crowds no longer collect together in great and pestilent cities.... Every house

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice - Misplaced Pages Continue

4096-404: Is full of allusions to the art, literature and culture of Greece, as for example in " Ode on a Grecian Urn ". Most of the romantic poets used supernatural elements in their poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is the leading romantic poet in this regard, and " Kubla Khan " is full of supernatural elements. Romantic poetry is the poetry of sentiments, emotions and imagination. Romantic poetry opposed

4224-585: Is in the radicalism of Percy Shelley 's work that Godwin's thinking exerted its greatest influence on the Romantic movement, and ... Shelley's work was most central to the resurgence of radical sentiment after the end of the Napoleonic Wars." In 1798, the Reverend Thomas Malthus published An Essay on the Principle of Population , which was largely written as a refutation of the ideas of Godwin and

4352-407: Is now vibrating." Godwin was buried next to Mary Wollstonecraft in the graveyard of St Pancras, the church where they had married in 1797. His second wife outlived him, and eventually was buried there too. The three share a gravestone. In the 1850s, Mary Shelley's only surviving child, Percy Florence Shelley , had the remains of Godwin and Wollstonecraft moved from what had become a run-down area of

4480-632: Is often called Heidelberg Romanticism (see also Berlin Romanticism ). There was a famous circle of poets, the Heidelberg Romantics, such as Joseph von Eichendorff , Johann Joseph von Görres , Ludwig Achim von Arnim , and Clemens Brentano . A relic of Romanticism is the Philosophers' Walk (German: Philosophenweg ), a scenic walking path on the nearby Heiligenberg, overlooking Heidelberg. The Romantik epoch of German philosophy and literature,

4608-792: Is traditionally referred to as the "Golden Era" of Russian literature . Romanticism permitted a flowering of especially poetic talent: the names of Vasily Zhukovsky and later that of his protégé Alexander Pushkin came to the fore. Pushkin is credited with both crystallizing the literary Russian language and introducing a new level of artistry to Russian literature. His best-known work is a novel as sonnet sequence , Eugene Onegin . An entire new generation of poets including Mikhail Lermontov , Yevgeny Baratynsky , Konstantin Batyushkov , Nikolay Nekrasov , Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy , Fyodor Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet followed in Pushkin's steps. Pushkin

4736-707: The Critique of Judgment and what was seen as the failure of the Analytic of the Sublime to accomplish the task set before it: bridging the gap between pure and practical reason. In a different vein, Friedrich Hölderlin and Heinrich von Kleist also grappled with similar philosophical issues in a manner different from the Jena circle. Heidelberg was the centre of the epoch of Romantik ( Romanticism ) in Germany. The phase after Jena Romanticism

4864-519: The Age of Revolutions . The idea of the creative imagination was stressed above the idea of reason, and minute elements of nature, including as insects and pebbles, were now considered divine. Nature was perceived in many different ways by the Spanish Romantics, and Instead of employing allegory , as earlier poets had done, these poets tended to use myth and symbol . The power of human emotion furthermore

4992-735: The Dissenting Academy in Hoxton , where he studied under Andrew Kippis , the biographer, and Abraham Rees , who was responsible for the Cyclopaedia, or an Universal Dictionary of Arts and Sciences . A hotspot for classical liberalism , at the Academy, Godwin familiarized himself with John Locke 's approach to psychology , Isaac Newton 's scientific method and Francis Hutcheson 's ethical system , which all informed Godwin's philosophies of determinism and immaterialism . Although Godwin had joined

5120-698: The French Revolution , the French Revolutionary Wars , and the lead up to the 1794 Treason Trials in Britain, Political Justice argues that humanity will inevitably progress: it argues for human perfectibility and enlightenment. McCann explains that " Political Justice is ... first and foremost a critique of political institutions . Its vision of human perfectibility is anarchist in so far as it sees government and related social practices such as property monopoly, marriage and monarchy as restraining

5248-460: The Herald secured him further work as a critic for John Murray 's English Review and a commission to translate Simon Fraser 's memoirs. In 1784, he published the romantic novels Damon and Delia and Imogen , the latter of which was framed as a translation of a found manuscript from ancient Wales . That same year, he also published Sketches of History , which compiled six of his sermons about

Enquiry Concerning Political Justice - Misplaced Pages Continue

5376-449: The Marquis de Condorcet . Malthus argued that since population increases geometrically (i.e. doubling in size each generation), while production can only increase in a linear manner, then disease, famine, poverty and vice are inevitable. Consequently, Malthus criticised Political Justice for expounding unachieveable utopianism. In 1820 Godwin answered with Of Population: An Enquiry Concerning

5504-551: The Revolution Controversy , as he had started writing a work of political philosophy that developed on his radical principles . With George Robinson's financial support, Godwin quit his work at the New Annual Register and committed himself wholly to his magnum opus , which he hoped would condense the "best and most liberal in the science of politics into a coherent system". After sixteen months' work, while

5632-568: The egalitarian ethos behind the French Revolution . Whether Burns would have recognised the same principles at work in the Soviet State at its most repressive is moot. This didn't stop the Communists from claiming Burns as one of their own and incorporating his work into their state propaganda. The post-communist years of rampant capitalism in Russia have not tarnished Burns' reputation. Lord Byron

5760-413: The 19th-century in diverse literary developments, such as "realism", " symbolism ", and the so-called fin de siècle "decadent" movement . German Romanticism was the dominant intellectual movement in the philosophy , the arts , and the culture of German-speaking countries in the late-18th and early 19th centuries. Compared to English Romanticism, German Romanticism developed relatively late, and, in

5888-506: The 20th Century as academics began to appreciate poets like Walt Whitman, Edwin Arlington Robinson , and Robert Frost . In the twentieth century, literary scholar Kermit Vanderbilt noted, "Increasingly rare is the scholar who braves ridicule to justify the art of Longfellow's popular rhymings." 20th-century poet Lewis Putnam Turco concluded "Longfellow was minor and derivative in every way throughout his career [...] nothing more than

6016-418: The 20th century, Jürgen Habermas developed this idea further. However, paradoxes and contradictions surface throughout Political Justice . As McCann explains, "a faith in the ability of public opinion to progress towards enlightenment, based on its own exercise of reason, is constantly undone by actual forms of public action and political life, which for Godwin end up dangerously subsuming the individual into

6144-677: The Academy as a committed Tory , the outbreak of the American Revolution led him to support the Whig opposition and, after reading the works of Jonathan Swift , he became a staunch republican . He soon familiarised himself with the French philosophes , learning of Jean-Jacques Rousseau 's belief in the inherent goodness of human nature and opposition to private property , as well as Claude Adrien Helvétius 's utilitarianism and Paul-Henri Thiry 's materialism . In 1778, Godwin graduated from

6272-475: The American adventurer Gilbert Imlay , which resulted in the birth of Fanny Imlay . Godwin, stubborn in his practice, practically lived in secret for 30 years because of his reputation. However, in its influence on writers such as Shelley, who read the work on multiple occasions between 1810 and 1820, and Kropotkin , Political Justice takes its place with Milton 's Areopagitica and Rousseau 's Émile as

6400-831: The British government, and was inspired by his grandfather and father to take up the dissenting tradition and become a minister himself. At eleven years old, he became the sole pupil of Samuel Newton , a hard-line Calvinist and a disciple of Robert Sandeman . Although Newton's strict method of discipline left Godwin with a lasting anti-authoritarianism , Godwin internalized the Sandemanian creed , which emphasised rationalism , egalitarianism and consensus decision-making . Despite Godwin's later renunciation of Christianity, he maintained his Sandemanian roots, which he held responsible for his commitment to rationalism, as well as his stoic personality . Godwin later characterised Newton as, "...

6528-632: The Godwin manuscripts to the Museum straight away. The V&A's manuscripts for Political Justice and Caleb Williams were both digitised in 2017 and are now included in the Shelley-Godwin Archive. William Godwin William Godwin (3 March 1756 – 7 April 1836) was an English journalist, political philosopher and novelist. He is considered one of the first exponents of utilitarianism and

SECTION 50

#1733094103871

6656-560: The Jacobins, as they were acquitted. However, Godwin's own reputation was eventually besmirched after 1798 by the conservative press, in part because he chose to write a candid biography of his late wife, Mary Wollstonecraft , entitled Memoirs of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman , including accounts of her two suicide attempts and her affair (before her relationship with Godwin) with

6784-511: The Jena Romantics or Early Romanticism (Frühromantik) – is the first phase of Romanticism in German literature represented by the work of a group centered in Jena from about 1798 to 1804, notably Friedrich Schlegel , August Wilhelm Schlegel , Novalis , Ludwig Tieck , and Friedrich Wilhelm Joseph Schelling . These thinkers were primarily concerned with the problems posed by Immanuel Kant in

6912-581: The Juvenile Library, significant in the history of children's literature . Through this, Godwin wrote children's primers on Biblical and classical history, and using the pseudonym Edward Baldwin , he wrote a variety of books for children, including a version of Jack and the Beanstalk , and a biography of the Irish artist William Mulready , who illustrated works for them. They kept alive family ties, publishing

7040-600: The Power of Increase in the Numbers of Mankind which disputed Malthus' population growth predictions. The work merited a place in Peter Kropotkin's overview of the history of anarchism that he wrote for The Encyclopedia Britannica. It was Godwin, in his Enquiry concerning Political Justice (2 vols., 1793), who was the first to formulate the political and economical conceptions of anarchism, even though he did not give that name to

7168-448: The Revolution in France (1790). However, unlike most of the works that Burke's work spawned in the ensuing Revolution Controversy , Godwin's did not address the specific political events of the day; it addressed the underlying philosophical principles. Its length and expense (it cost over £1) made it inaccessible to the popular audience of the Rights of Man and probably protected Godwin from

7296-417: The Romantic" and that "he is simultaneously Romantic and not Romantic". Scottish poet Robert Burns became a "people's poet" in Russia. In Imperial times the Russian aristocracy were so out of touch with the peasantry that Burns, translated into Russian , became a symbol for the ordinary Russian people. In Soviet Russia, Burns was elevated as the archetypical poet of the people – not least since

7424-503: The Soviet regime slaughtered and silenced its own poets. A new translation of Burns, begun in 1924 by Samuil Marshak , proved enormously popular selling over 600,000 copies. In 1956, the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to honour Burns with a commemorative stamp. The poetry of Burns is taught in Russian schools alongside their own national poets. Burns was a great admirer of

7552-460: The United States, due to the expanse of resources available there), every married couple would have to have at least eight children, given the rate of childhood deaths. Godwin himself was one of thirteen children, but he did not observe the majority of couples in his day having eight children. He therefore concluded: In reality, if I had not taken up the pen with the express purpose of confuting all

7680-585: The academy and was quickly appointed as a minister in Ware , where he met Joseph Fawcett , one of his main direct influences. By 1780, he had been reassigned to Stowmarket , where he first read Paul-Henri Thiry 's System of Nature , adopting his philosophies of determinism and materialism . But after a conflict with other dissenting ministers of Suffolk over the administration of the eucharist , he stepped down and left for London in April 1782, resigning his career as

7808-577: The capital to the more salubrious surroundings of Bournemouth, to his family tomb at St Peter's Church . The surviving manuscripts for many of Godwin's best-known works are held in the Forster Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum . The V&A's manuscripts for Political Justice and Caleb Williams were both digitised in 2017 and are now included in the Shelley-Godwin Archive. His birthplace, Wisbech, has two memorials to him. A cul-de-sac

SECTION 60

#1733094103871

7936-546: The characters of Aaron , Hazael and Jesus . Drawing from John Milton 's Paradise Lost , which depicted Satan as a rebel against his creator , Godwin denounced the Christian God as a theocrat and a tyrant that had no right to rule. As his early works were financially unsuccessful, in 1784, William Godwin hoped John Collins, a wealthy owner of a sugar plantation in St. Vincent would fund his writing. He did not succeed but

8064-541: The close connection between Godwin and members of the Collins family continued for fifty years. John Collin's eldest daughter Harriet de Boinville and William met seventy-two times between 1809 and 1827, and she championed Godwin's An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice and Its Influence on Morals and Happiness (1793) at her salons during that time period. In further attempts to earn money, Godwin started writing for well-paying Whig journals on Grub Street , starting work as

8192-484: The collective." For example, Godwin criticizes public speeches because they rely on sentiment and the printing press because it can perpetuate dogma as well as enlighten. The work begins with a list of eight principles which are expounded throughout the work. Generally, the principles can each be summarized as follows: Godwin's Enquiry Concerning Political Justice has various editions. The editions were published in Godwin's lifetime. Due to Godwin's continuous revision of

8320-534: The courage to maintain his opinions. He entirely rewrote later on his chapter on property and mitigated his communist views in the second edition of Political Justice (8vo, 1796). Godwin's Enquiry Concerning Political Justice presents the first modern defense and articulation of anarchism. The book was revered by the first generation of Romantic poets , such as William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge , although they would later turn away from radicalism. However, as Romantic scholar Andrew McCann explains, "it

8448-440: The dictates of reason. Godwin argued that the link between politics and morality had been severed and he wanted to restore it. McCann explains that in Godwin's vision, "as public opinion develops in accordance with the dictates of reason, so too should political institutions change until, finally, they will wither away altogether, leaving the people to organize themselves into what would be a direct democracy ." Godwin believed that

8576-453: The early years, coincided with Weimar Classicism (1772–1805); in contrast to the seriousness of English Romanticism, the German variety of Romanticism notably valued wit, humour, and beauty . Sturm und Drang , literally "Storm and Drive", "Storm and Urge", though conventionally translated as "Storm and Stress") is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music that took place from

8704-505: The errors of Mr Malthus's book, and of endeavouring to introduce other principles, more cheering, more favourable to the best interests of mankind, and better prepared to resist the inroads of vice and misery, I might close my argument here, and lay down the pen with this brief remark, that, when this author shall have produced from any country, the United States of North America not excepted, a register of marriages and births, from which it shall appear that there are on an average eight births to

8832-511: The events as the spiritual successor to Britain's own Glorious Revolution of 1688. As a member of the Revolution Society , Godwin met the political activist Richard Price , whose Discourse on the Love of Our Country espoused a radical form of patriotism that controversially upheld freedom of religion , representative democracy and the right of revolution . Price's Discourse ignited

8960-681: The father's control by giving him the traditional maternal figure he asks for. This relationship gives the daughter control of the father. Godwin was awarded a sinecure position as Office Keeper and Yeoman Usher of the Receipt of the Exchequer, which came with grace and favour accommodation in New Palace Yard , part of the complex of the Palace of Westminster , i.e. the Houses of Parliament. One of his duties

9088-470: The first book by Margaret King (then Lady Mount Cashell), who had been a favoured pupil of Mary Wollstonecraft. They published works never since out of print, such as Charles and Mary Lamb 's Tales from Shakespeare . The Juvenile Library also translated European authors. The first English edition of Swiss Family Robinson was translated (from the French, not the German) and edited by them. The business

9216-399: The first modern proponent of anarchism . Godwin is most famous for two books that he published within the space of a year: An Enquiry Concerning Political Justice , an attack on political institutions , and Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams , an early mystery novel which attacks aristocratic privilege. Based on the success of both, Godwin featured prominently in

9344-406: The five children he had raised had pre-deceased him, and two more lived abroad. Mary responded to his expectations and she cared for him until he died in 1836. In 1836, Harriet de Boinville described Godwin's death, in a letter to his daughter Mary, as "the extinction of a mastermind. ... Everything is interesting which relates to such a man, one of the gifted few under whose moral influences society

9472-513: The free human spirit." Belief in the importance of the imagination is a distinctive feature of romantic poets such as John Keats , Samuel Taylor Coleridge and P. B. Shelley , unlike the neoclassical poets. Keats said, "I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of Imagination- What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth." For Wordsworth and William Blake , as well as Victor Hugo and Alessandro Manzoni ,

9600-509: The growth of population. Godwin pictured a social utopia where society would reach a level of sustainability and engage in "voluntary communism". In July 1820, Godwin published Of Population: An Enquiry Concerning the Power of Increase in the Numbers of Mankind as a rebuttal to Malthus' essays. Godwin's main argument was against Malthus' notion that population tends to grow exponentially. Godwin believed that for population to double every twenty-five years (as Malthus had asserted had occurred in

9728-437: The human mind in order to create meaning. The Sublime is considered one of the most important concepts in Romantic poetry. In literature, it refers to use of language and description that excites thoughts and emotions beyond ordinary experience. Although it is often associated with grandeur , the sublime may also refer to the grotesque or other extraordinary experiences that "take us beyond ourselves." The literary concept of

9856-485: The ideas developed in his remarkable work. Laws, he wrote, are not a product of the wisdom of our ancestors: they are the product of their passions, their timidity, their jealousies and their ambition. The remedy they offer is worse than the evils they pretend to cure. The surviving holograph manuscript for Political Justice is held in the Forster Collection at the Victoria and Albert Museum , along with several other works by Godwin. Following Godwin's death in 1836, many of

9984-437: The imagination is a spiritual force, is related to morality, and they believed that literature, especially poetry, could improve the world. The secret of great art, Blake claimed, is the capacity to imagine. To define imagination, in his poem " Auguries of Innocence ", Blake said: To see a world in a grain of sand, And heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour. Love for nature

10112-428: The incidents which make the history of our lives, and if these incidents could be divested of every improper tendency, vice would be extirpated from the world." All control of man by man was more or less intolerable, and the day would come when each man, doing what seems right in his own eyes, would also be doing what is in fact best for the community, because all will be guided by principles of pure reason. Such optimism

10240-403: The individual human's role in it. However, much like Emerson, Whitman does not diminish the role of the mind or the spirit; rather, he elevates the human form and the human mind, deeming both worthy of poetic praise. Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is best known for his poetry and short stories, and is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as

10368-421: The influence of Political Justice with the publication of a novel that proved equally popular, Things as They Are; or, The Adventures of Caleb Williams . This tells the story of a servant who finds out a dark secret about Falkland, his aristocratic master, and is forced to flee because of his knowledge. Caleb Williams is essentially the first thriller: Godwin wryly remarked that some readers were consuming in

10496-403: The interim, Wollstonecraft went to live in France to witness the Revolution for herself, and had a child, Fanny Imlay , with an American adventurer named Gilbert Imlay. In pursuit of Gilbert Imlay 's business affairs, Wollstonecraft travelled to Scandinavia, and soon afterwards published a book based on the voyage . Godwin read it, and later wrote that "If ever there was a book calculated to make

10624-473: The late 1760s to the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements. The period is named for Friedrich Maximilian Klinger 's play Sturm und Drang , which was first performed in 1777. The philosopher Johann Georg Hamann

10752-577: The leading figure in poetry of Jacint Verdaguer . In Swedish literature the Romantic period is between 1809 and 1830, while in Europe, the period is usually seen as running between 1800 and 1850. The Swedish version was very much influenced by German literature . During this relatively short period, there were so many great Swedish poets, that the era is called the Golden Age . The period started around when several periodicals were published that criticised

10880-618: The literature of the 18th century. The important periodical Iduna , published by the Gothic Society (1811), presented a romanticised version of Gothicismus , a 17th-century cultural movement in Sweden that had centered on the belief in the glory of the Swedish Geats or Goths. The early 19th-century Romantic nationalist version emphasised the Vikings as heroic figures. Transcendentalism

11008-548: The love of his life. Simultaneously, he became responsible for the care of these two young girls, the new-born Mary and toddler Fanny. When Mary was three years old, Godwin left his daughters in the care of James Marshall while he travelled to Ireland. Godwin's tone in his letters demonstrates how much he cared about them. His letters show the stress he placed on giving his two daughters a sense of security. "And now what shall I say for my poor little girls? I hope they have not forgot me. I think of them every day, and should be glad, if

11136-458: The mind. The poems of Lyrical Ballads intentionally re-imagined the way poetry should sound: "By fitting to metrical arrangement a selection of the real language of men," Wordsworth and his English contemporaries, such as Coleridge, John Keats , Percy Shelley , Lord Byron and William Blake , wrote poetry that was meant to boil up from serious, contemplative reflection over the interaction of humans with their environment. Although many stress

11264-432: The notion of spontaneity in Romantic poetry, the movement was still greatly concerned with the difficulty of composition and of translating these emotions into poetic form. Indeed, Coleridge, in his essay On Poesy or Art , sees art as "the mediatress between, and reconciler of nature and man". Such an attitude reflects what might be called the dominant theme of English Romantic poetry: the filtering of natural emotion through

11392-430: The numbers would necessarily increase faster than in any society that has ever yet been known.... Malthus went on to argue that under such ideal conditions, the population could conceivably double every 25 years. However, the food supply could not continue doubling at this rate for even 50 years. The food supply would become inadequate for the growing population, and then: ...the mighty law of self-preservation expels all

11520-538: The objectivity of neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poets avoided describing their personal emotions in their poetry, unlike the Romantics. . French literature from the first half of the century was dominated by Romanticism, which is associated with such authors as Victor Hugo , Alexandre Dumas, père , François-René de Chateaubriand , Alphonse de Lamartine , Gérard de Nerval , Charles Nodier , Alfred de Musset , Théophile Gautier and Alfred de Vigny . Their influence

11648-531: The opening of a seminary in Epsom , Godwin gave a politically-charged speech in which he denounced state power as "artificial" and exalted the libertarian potential of education , which he believed could bring an end to authoritarian governments . Godwin then worked for a spell as a satirical literary critic, publishing The Herald of Literature , in which he reviewed non-existent works by real authors, imitating their writing styles in lengthy quotations. His work on

11776-480: The original sin of the worst men. No opposition had been produced by them between public and private good. No monopoly had been created of those advantages which reason directs to be left in common. No man had been goaded to the breach of order by unjust laws. Benevolence had established her reign in all hearts: and yet in so short a period as within fifty years, violence, oppression, falsehood, misery, every hateful vice, and every form of distress, which degrade and sadden

11904-564: The outbreak of a revolutionary wave in Europe. After the death of the Political Herald's editor, Godwin turned down Richard Brinsley Sheridan 's offer of succeeding to the editorship, out of concern that his editorial independence would be compromised by a direct financial connection to the Whig Party . But it was through Sheridan that Godwin became acquainted with a life-long friend Thomas Holcroft , whose arguments convinced Godwin to finally reject Christianity and embrace atheism . At

12032-399: The persecution that other writers such as Paine experienced. Nevertheless, Godwin became a revered figure among radicals and was seen as an intellectual leader among their groups. One way in which this happened is through the many unauthorized copies of the text, the extracts printed by radical journals, and the lectures John Thelwall gave based on its ideas. Despite being published during

12160-510: The poet Percy Bysshe Shelley . With his second wife, Mary Jane Clairmont , Godwin set up The Juvenile Library, allowing the family to write their own works for children (sometimes using noms de plume ) and translate and publish many other books, some of enduring significance. Godwin has had considerable influence on British literature and literary culture. Godwin was born in Wisbech , Isle of Ely , Cambridgeshire , to John and Anne Godwin, becoming

12288-402: The present state of society, seem to have been generated by the most imperious circumstances, by laws inherent in the nature of man, and absolutely independent of it human regulations. In Political Justice Godwin had acknowledged that an increase in the standard of living as he envisioned could cause population pressures, but he saw an obvious solution to avoiding distress: "project a change in

12416-407: The product of emotion. Romantic poetry at the beginning of the nineteenth century was a reaction against the set standards, conventions of eighteenth-century poetry. According to William J. Long , "[T]he Romantic movement was marked, and is always marked, by a strong reaction and protest against the bondage of rule and custom which in science and theology as well as literature, generally tend to fetter

12544-427: The progress of mankind." Godwin believed that government "insinuates itself into our personal dispositions, and insensibly communicates its own spirit to our private transactions". Instead, Godwin proposes a society in which human beings use their reason to decide the best course of action. The very existence of governments, even those founded through consensus, demonstrates that people cannot yet regulate their conduct by

12672-402: The public could be rational; he wrote: "Opinion is the most potent engine that can be brought within the sphere of political society. False opinion, superstition and prejudice, have hitherto been the true supporters of usurpation and despotism . Enquiry, and the improvement of the human mind, are now shaking to the center those bulwarks that have so long held mankind in thraldom." Godwin was not

12800-460: The radical circles of London in the 1790s. He wrote prolifically in the genres of novels, history and demography throughout his life. In the conservative reaction to British radicalism , Godwin was attacked, in part because of his marriage to the feminist writer Mary Wollstonecraft in 1797 and his candid biography of her after her death from childbirth. Their daughter, later known as Mary Shelley , would go on to write Frankenstein and marry

12928-423: The revisions from a far-left perspective, criticizing how new versions seemed to retract earlier, more radical, positions concerning property: Speaking of property, he stated that the rights of every one ‘to every substance capable of contributing to the benefit of a human being’ must be regulated by justice alone: the substance must go ‘to him who most wants it’. His conclusion was communism. Godwin, however, had not

13056-552: The revolution in France had culminated with the execution of Louis XVI and the outbreak of war , Godwin published his Enquiry Concerning Political Justice in February 1793. Godwin first met Mary Wollstonecraft at the home of their mutual publisher. Joseph Johnson was hosting a dinner for another of his authors, Thomas Paine , and Godwin remarked years later that on that evening he heard too little of Paine and too much of Wollstonecraft; he did not see her again for some years. In

13184-634: The rights of every one 'to every substance capable of contributing to the benefit of a human being' must be regulated by justice alone: the substance must go ' to him who most wants it '. His conclusion was communism." In 1798, Thomas Robert Malthus wrote An Essay on the Principle of Population in response to Godwin's views on the "perfectibility of society". Malthus wrote that populations are inclined to increase in times of plenty, and that only distress, from causes such as food shortages, disease, or war, serves to stem population growth. Populations in his view are therefore always doomed to grow until distress

13312-486: The same time, Godwin took up a side job as a tutor for the young Thomas Abthorpe Cooper . After a fractious relationship between the two, Godwin eventually became the orphaned boy's adoptive father , which altered his style of pedagogy to one that emphasised "an open and honest relationship between tutor and pupil." With the outbreak of the French Revolution , Godwin was among the Radicals that enthusiastically welcomed

13440-425: The second edition (1800) of Lyrical Ballads : I have said before that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin in emotion recollected in tranquility: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquility gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in

13568-470: The seventh of his parents' thirteen children. Godwin's family on both sides were middle-class and his parents adhered to a strict form of Calvinism . Godwin's mother came from a wealthy family but due to her uncle's frivolities the family wealth was squandered. Fortunately for the family, her father was a successful merchant involved in the Baltic Sea trade . Shortly following William's birth, his father John,

13696-429: The softer and more exalted emotions of the soul.... The corn is plucked before it is ripe, or secreted in unfair proportions; and the whole black train of vices that belong to falsehood are immediately generated. Provisions no longer flow in for the support of the mother with a large family. The children are sickly from insufficient food.... No human institutions here existed, to the perverseness of which Mr. Godwin ascribes

13824-437: The structure of human action, if not of human nature, specifically the eclipsing of the desire for sex by the development of intellectual pleasures". In the 1798 version of his essay, Malthus specifically rejected this possible change in human nature. In the second and subsequent editions, however, he wrote that widespread moral restraint, i.e., postponement of marriage and pre-nuptial celibacy ( sexual abstinence ), could reduce

13952-399: The subject because of political expedience when he realised that it might discredit his other views. Source: Tomalin, Claire (1992) [1980]. Shelley and His World . Penguin. p. 115. ISBN   0140171525 . Romantic poetry In early-19th-century England, the poet William Wordsworth defined his and Samuel Taylor Coleridge 's innovative poetry in his new Preface to

14080-400: The sublime became important in the eighteenth century. It is associated with the 1757 treatise by Edmund Burke , though it has earlier roots. The idea of the sublime was taken up by Immanuel Kant and the Romantic poets including especially William Wordsworth . Romantic poetry contrasts with Neoclassical poetry , which was the product of intellect and reason, while Romantic poetry is more

14208-535: The tendency of a population to grow until distress was felt. Godwin also saw new technology as being partly responsible for the future change in human nature into more intellectually developed beings. He reasoned that increasing technological advances would lead to a decrease in the amount of time individuals spent on production and labour, and thereby, to more time spent on developing "their intellectual and moral faculties". Instead of population growing exponentially, Godwin believed that this moral improvement would outrun

14336-497: The text, three editions were released. The first edition was published in 1793, the second edition in 1796 and the third edition in 1798. Each of these editions was published by G.G and J. Robinson. Political Justice has a complex textual development due to these changes. The overall tones of these changes portray a move away from pure reason, yielding more towards the emotive feelings of mankind. Peter Kropotkin, in his article on "Anarchism" for The Encyclopedia Britannica discusses

14464-637: The wind was more favourable, to blow them a kiss a-piece from Dublin to the Polygon.. but I have seen none that I love so well or think half so good as my own." In December 1800 his play Antonio, or the Soldier's Return was put on at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane without success. In 1801, Godwin married his neighbour Mary Jane Clairmont . She brought two of her own children into the household, Charles and Claire . Journalist H.N. Brailsford wrote in 1913, "She

14592-501: The work of the Beat Generation . However, all of these poets are generally identified with more recent movements -- as feminists, Harlem Renaissance writers, modernists, et cetera -- and only indirectly linked with Romanticism by their critics. Some writers consider romantic poetry a way for a better life. Moreover, as Heidi Thomson mentioned in her article, Why Romantic Poetry Still Matters , "The more literate and articulate we are,

14720-416: The works of John Keats, for example, La Belle Dame Sans Merci , and Coleridge. They were attracted to exotic, remote and obscure places, and so they were more attracted to Middle Ages than to their own age. Medieval Englishman Richard Rolle has been viewed as an early romantic writer with poems such as The Fire of Love . The world of classical Greece was important to the Romantics. John Keats' poetry

14848-554: The writer's manuscripts were bought at auction by the collector Dawson Turner . In 1859 the texts for Political Justice , Caleb Williams , Life of Chaucer , and History of the Commonwealth of England were all acquired by John Forster , who died in 1876. Forster's will stipulated that his extensive collection should be given to the South Kensington Museum after his wife's death. In the event, Eliza Ann Forster transferred

14976-787: Was a literary, artistic and intellectual period in the evolution of Polish culture , which began around 1820, coinciding with the publication of Adam Mickiewicz 's first poems, Ballads and Romances , in 1822. It ended with the suppression of the Polish-Lithuanian January 1863 Uprising against the Russian Empire in 1864. The latter event ushered in a new era in Polish culture known as Positivism . Some other notable Polish romantic poets include Juliusz Słowacki , Cyprian Kamil Norwid , Zygmunt Krasiński , Tymon Zaborowski , Antoni Malczewski and Józef Bohdan Zaleski . The 19th century

15104-502: Was a major influence on almost all Russian poets of the Golden Era, including Pushkin, Vyazemsky, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Baratynsky, Delvig and, especially, Lermontov. Germany and England were major influences on Romantic Spanish poetry . During the late 18th century to the late 19th century, Romanticism spread in the form of philosophy and art throughout Western societies , and the earlier period of this movement overlapped with

15232-566: Was a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern region of the United States, rooted in English and German Romanticism , the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher , the skepticism of Hume , and the transcendental philosophy of Immanuel Kant and of German Idealism . It was also influenced by Indian religions , especially the Upanishads . The movement

15360-595: Was a reaction to or protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality . The doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School was of particular interest. Poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892), whose major work Leaves of Grass was first published in 1855, was influenced by transcendentalism. Influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement, itself an offshoot of Romanticism, Whitman's poetry praises nature and

15488-478: Was a vulgar and worldly woman, thoroughly feminine, and rather inclined to boast of her total ignorance of philosophy." While Fanny eventually learned to live with Clairmont, Mary's relationship with her stepmother was tense. Mary writes, "As to Mrs Godwin, something very analogous to disgust arises whenever I mention her", "A woman I shudder to think of". In 1805, the Godwins set up a shop and publishing house called

15616-455: Was born in Somers Town on 30 August 1797, the couple's only child. Godwin had hoped for a son and had been planning on naming the child "William". On 10 September 1797 Wollstonecraft died of complications following the birth. By all accounts, it had been a happy and stable, though brief, relationship. Now Godwin, who had been a bachelor until a few months before, was distraught at the loss of

15744-470: Was combined with a strong empiricism to support Godwin's belief that the evil actions of men are solely reliant on the corrupting influence of social conditions, and that changing these conditions could remove the evil in man. This is similar to the ideas of his wife, Mary Wollstonecraft , concerning the shortcomings of women as due to discouragement during their upbringing. Peter Kropotkin remarked of Godwin that when " speaking of property , he stated that

15872-486: Was described as a movement against classical and realistic theories of literature, a contrast to the rationality of the Age of Enlightenment . It elevated medievalism and elements of art and narrative perceived to be from the medieval period. It also emphasized folk art, nature and an epistemology based on nature, which included human activity conditioned by nature in the form of language, custom and usage. Romanticism in Poland

16000-508: Was felt in theatre, poetry, prose fiction. In a 1983 book about the 16th century Catholic poet Jean de La Ceppède , English poet Keith Bosley wrote that Agrippa d'Aubigné , "the epic poet of the Protestant cause", during the French Wars of Religion , "was forgotten until the Romantics rediscovered him." The effect of the romantic movement would continue to be felt in the latter half of

16128-604: Was named in his honour Godwin Close, and a wall plaque adorns a building adjacent to the Angles Theatre in Alexandra Road. In 1793, while the French Revolution was in full swing, Godwin published his great work on political science , Enquiry concerning Political Justice, and its Influence on General Virtue and Happiness . The first part of this book was largely a recap of Edmund Burke 's A Vindication of Natural Society –

16256-612: Was the family's mainstay for decades. In 1807 his tragedy Faulkener was performed at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane without more success than his earlier play. The eldest of Godwin's children was Fanny Imlay (1794–1816), who committed suicide as a young woman. Charles Gaulis Clairmont ended up as Chair of English literature at Vienna University and taught sons of the royal family; news of his sudden death in 1849 distressed Maximilian . Mary Godwin (1797–1851) gained fame as Mary Shelley , author of Frankenstein . Half

16384-484: Was to oversee the sweeping of the chimneys of these extensive buildings. On 16 October 1832, a fire broke out and most of the Palace burned down . Literary critic Marilyn Butler concluded her review of a 1980 biography of Godwin by comparing him favourably to Guy Fawkes : Godwin was more successful in his opposition to the status quo. In later years, Godwin came to expect support and consolation from his daughter. Two of

#870129