PERIODS OF ENGLISH LITERATURE

I. Old English literature (500-1100)

A. Old English poetry B. Old English prose

II. Middle English literature (1100-1485)

A. The development of English romances B. The Age of Chaucer C. Early English drama

III. The beginning of Modern English (1485-1603)

A. Elizabethan poetry C. Elizabethan fiction B. Elizabethan drama

IV. The Stuarts and the Puritans (1603-1660)

A. Metaphysical and Cavalier poets B. Jacobean drama C. Prose writings D. John Milton

V. Restoration literature (1660-1700)

A. John Dryden B. Restoration drama C. Restoration prose

VI. The Augustan Age (1700-1750)

A. Swift and Pope B. Addison and Steele C. The rise of the novel

 

Key Words: the national English literature, English poetry, Prose writings, Restoration drama, English romances, Modern English.

English literature consists of the poetry, prose, and drama written in the English language by authors in England. Scotland, and Wales. These three lands occupy the island of Great Britain and are political divisions of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. They have produced many outstanding writers.

English literature is a rich literature. It includes masterpieces in many forms, particularly the novel, the short story, epic and lyric poetry, the essay, literary criticism and drama. English literature is also one of the oldest national literatures in the Western world. English authors wrote important works as early as the A.D. 700’s.

English authors have always been deeply interested in the political and social conditions of their times, in their works, they have described, criticized, and commented on the society in which they lived. During the 1800’s, for example, Charles Dickens and George Eliot used their novels to promote economic, political, and social reforms.

This lecture traces the history of English literature from its earliest period to the present. The dates given for each period in the development of the literature are approximate. The lecture deals only with works written in English by English, Scottish and Welsh authors.

Old English literature (500-11OO)

During the A.D. 400’s and 500’s three Germanic tribes — the Angles Jutes and Saxons —settled in England and established powerful kingdoms. Together, these tribes are called Anglo-Saxons. They used dialect that became known as Old English or Anglo-Saxon. Old English was the chief literary language of England until about 1100. In 597, Saint Augustine of Canterbury began converting the Anglo-Saxons to Christianity. English literature began through the combined influence of the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms and the Christian church.

Old English poetry. Many Old English poems glorified a real or imaginary hero and tried to teach the values of bravery and generosity. Poets used alliteration (words that begin with the same sound) and kennings (elaborate descriptive phrases). They also used internal rhyme, in which a word within a line rhymes with a word at the end of the line.

The first English poet known by name is Caedmon, who lived during the 600's. His only authentic surviving work is Hymn, a nine-line poem that praises God. About the same time, Saint Aldhelm, an English bishop, wrote poems in Latin and Old English. However, only his Latin verses have survived.

The first major work of English literature is the epic poem Beowulf. One or more unknown authors wrote it in the 700’s. The poem tells about the adventures of a brave hero named Beowulf.

After about 750, poetry flourished in Northumbria, an Anglo-Saxon kingdom in the north. There, poets wrote verses about the lives and hardships of saints. The leading Northumbrian poet was Cynewulf. Several works are attributed to him, including the religious poems The Fates of the Apostles, Elene, and Juliana.

Old English prose. Most prose writers wrote in Latin until the late 800's, when Alfred the Great became King of Wessex in southwestern England. Alfred translated or ordered the translation of several works from Latin into Old English. One of the most important of these works was the Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation (731) by a monk known as the Venerable Bede. This work is the first history of the English people and a valuable source of information about English life from the late 500’s to 731. A monk named Aelfric wrote a series of homilies (short moral essays) in Old English during the 990's. From about 892 to 1154, a number of authors contributed to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a record of current events in England.

Middle English literature (1100-1485)

In 1066, Norman invaders from France conquered England. For more than 200 years thereafter, members of the royal court and the upper class spoke French. Only the common people continued to speak English. By about 1300, however, English had again become the chief national language but in an altered form now called Middle English. Middle English included elements of French, Latin, Old English, and local dialects.

The development of English romances. Romances were adventure stories, usually in verse, about battles and heroes. Medieval romances originated in France during the 1100’s. By the end of the 1200’s, they had become the most popular literary form in England.

In 1155, a Norman poet named Wace completed the first work that mentioned the Knights of the Round Table, who were led by the legendary British ruler King Arthur. King Arthur and his knights became a favorite subject in English romances. During the 1400’s, Sir Thomas Malory wrote a prose work called Le Morte Darthur (The Death of Arthur). Malory's romance is the most complete English version of stories about Arthur.

The age of Chaucer. The greatest writer of the Middle English period was the poet Geoffrey Chaucer. His masterpiece is The Canterbury Tales (late 1300's), an unfinished collection of comic and moral stories. Pilgrims tell the stories during a journey from London to a religious shrine in the city of Canterbury. Chaucer introduced a rhythmic pattern called iambic pentameter into English poetry. This pattern, or meter, consists of 10 syllables alternately unaccented and accented in each line. The lines may or may not rhyme. Iambic pentameter became a widely used meter in English poetry.

Chaucer's friend John Gower wrote verse in Latin and English. His Confessio Amantis (about 1390) is a Middle English poem that uses Biblical, medieval, and mythological stories to discuss the problems of romantic love. A religious and symbolic poem called Piers Plowman has been attributed to William Langland, though several others may have contributed to it. Three versions of the poem appeared in the late 1300’s. Like the works of Chaucer and Gower, Piers Plowman provides a fascinating glimpse of English life during the 1300’s.

Early English drama developed from brief scenes that monks acted out in churches to illustrate Bible stories. The scenes grew into full-length works called mystery plays and miracle plays. Mystery plays dealt with events in the Bible, and miracle plays with the lives of saints. Eventually, craft and merchant guilds (associations) took over presentation of the plays and staged them in town squares.

During the 1400’s, morality plays first appeared in English drama. Morality plays featured characters whorepresented a certain quality, such as good or evil. These dramas were less realistic than the earlier plays and were intended to teach amoral lesson.

The beginning of Modern English (1485-1603)

During the late 1400’s Middle English began to develop into Modern English. By the late 1500’s, the English were speaking and writing English in a form much like that used today.

From 1485 to 1603, the royal House (family) of Tudor ruled England. Queer Elizabeth I, the last Tudor monarch, reigned from 1558 to 1603. Her name is usually applied to the period from the mid 1500's to the early 1600’s. During this period, called the Elizabethan Age, English writers produced some of the greatest poetry and drama in world literature.

A number of developments contributed to the brilliant literary output of the Elizabethan Age. One of the most important occurred in 1476 when William Caxton set up the first printing press in England. Before that time, books and all other literary works had to be slowly and laboriously copied by hand. Printing made it possible to produce far more books and at far lower cost. The greater availability of books and their lower cost stimulated a desire among many people to learn how to read. As literacy increased, so did the demand for books.

During the 1500's English scholars joined other European scholars in rediscovering the cultures of ancient Greece and Rome, which they had largely neglected for hundreds of years. Translations of Greek and particularly Roman literary works strongly influenced Elizabethan writers. In addition, new literary forms were introduced into English literature. For example, English authors adopted directly, or modified such literary forms as the essay from France and the sonnet from Italy.

In 1588, the English fleet defeated the mighty Spanish Armada. This great victory inspired aburst of patriotism that was reflected in the poetry and especially the drama of the period.

During the Elizabethan Age, the English explored and colonized distant lands. Wealth from the colonies poured into England. A newly rich merchant class made London a great commercial center. They and the nobility wanted entertainment and fine art and were willing to pay for them. Writers, painters, and musicians flocked to London, making it a European cultural center.

Elizabethan poetry. Three chief forms of poetry flourished during the Elizabethan Age. They were (1) the lyric, (2) the sonnet, and (3) narrative poetry.

The lyric. A lyric is a short poem that expresses a poet's personal emotions in a songlike style. Thomas Campion wrote many beautiful lyrics in his Books of Airs (1601 to about 1617).

The sonnet is a 14-line poem with a certain pattern of rhyme and rhythm. Elizabethan poets wrote two types of sonnets, the Italian sonnet and the English sonnet. The twotypes differed in the arrangement of the rhymes. Sir Thomas Wyatt introduced the sonnet from Italy into English literature in the early 1500’s. The Earl of Surrey modified the form into the English sonnet. Their verses were published in a collection commonly called Tottel's Miscellany (1557). William Shakespeare and Edmund Spenser wrote sonnet sequences. A sonnet sequence is a group of sonnets based on a single theme or about one person. Notable sequences include Shakespeare's sonnets to an unknown "dark lady” and Spenser's love sonnets titled Amoretti (1595).

Narrative poetry. A narrative poem tells a story. In addition to sonnets, Shakespeare and Spenser wrote narrative poems. Shakespeare based his Venus and Adonis (1593) on a Roman myth. Spenser borrowed heavily from medieval romances in his unfinished masterpiece, The Faerie Queene (1590, 1596, 1609).

Translations. English poets translated many works from other literatures. For example, the Earl of Surrey translated part of the Aeneid, an epic poem by the ancient Roman author Virgil. The translation introduced blank verse into English literature. Blank verse consists of unrhymed lines of 10 syllables, with every other syllable accented. Many poets adopted this form.

Elizabethan drama. In 1576, James Burbage built England's first playhouse, called The Theatre, in a suburb of London. Until this time, drama had been performed in the streets, in homes and palaces, and at English universities. After Burbage built The Theatre, other playhouses were constructed, which rapidly increased the popularity of drama.

Elizabethan drama was noted for its passion and vitality. Thomas Kyd's play The Spanish Tragedy (1580) was one of the earliest Elizabethan dramas. It is filled with scenes of violence and madness and set a pattern for themes of murder and revenge in later plays.

A group of leading Elizabethan playwrights were known as the "University Wits'' because they had attended the famous English universities at Oxford or Cambridge. These playwrights included Robert Greene, Christopher Marlowe, and George Peele. Marlowe was the most important dramatist among the Wits. He wrote tragedies that center on strong personalities. These works include Tamburlaine the Great (about1587) and The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus (about 1588).

The greatest Elizabethan playwright was William Shakespeare. No other English author has equaled his brilliant verse and characterizations.

Elizabethan fiction. The Elizabethan Age producedmost of the earliest works of prose fiction in English literature. Readers especially liked fanciful. Elaborately told stories of love and adventure.

John Lyly popularized a highly artificial and elegant style in Euphues: The Anatomy of Wit (1578). Sir Philip Sidney wrote in Lyly's style in Arcadia (1580). Both woks are pastorals (stories about the romantic adventures of shepherds). Thomas Nash wrote in a more realistic style. In The Unfortunate Traveller (1594), he described the adventures of one of King Henry VIII's pages.

The Stuarts and the Puritans (l603-I660)

Elizabeth I died in 1603 leaving no heir. Her cousin James VI of Scotland became King James I of England.James governed the two countries as separate kingdoms. He was a member of the House of Stuart, which ruled England for most of the period from 1603 to 1714.

James was an arrogant and superstitious man who quarreled often with Parliament. After James died in 1625, his son Charles I ascended to the throne. Conflicts between the monarchy and Parliament worsen. Civil war broke out in 1642 between the king's followers, who were called Cavaliers, and Parliament's chief supporters, a religious and political group called the Puritans. In 1648, the Puritans won the war. They beheaded Charles in 1649 and ruled England until 1660.

Metaphysical and Cavalier poets were two major groups of poets during the Stuart period. The metaphysical poets included John Donne, their leader; Abraham Cowley; George Herbert; Andrew Marvell; and Henry Vaughan. The Cavalier poets, who were associated with the court of Charles I, included Thomas Carew, Robert Herrick, Richard Lovelace, and Sir John Suckling.

The metaphysical poets used comparatively simple language, but they often created elaborate images called conceits. Donne wrote passionate love poetry until he converted from Roman Catholicism to the Anglican faith. He became an Anglican priest in 1615. After his conversion, Donne wrote equally passionate poems to God. Several other metaphysical poets also wrote religious verse. In contrast to the serious metaphysical poets, the Cavalier poets wrote dashing love poetry.

Jacobean drama is the name given to the plays written during the reign of James I. Jacobean tragedies reflected Elizabethan drama, especially in such characteristics as violent action, spectacle, and the revenge theme. John Webster’s drama The Duchess of Malfi ( about 1613) is a masterpiece of revenge tragedy. Satiric comedies, which poked fun at various subjects, were also popular. In The Knight of the Burning Pestle (1607),' for example, Francis Beaumont ridiculed earlier dramas and romances about elegant heroes and also satirizedthe newly rich merchant class.

Ben Jonson wrote plays that showed the influence of ancient Roman drama. His comedies Volpone (1606) and The Alchemist (1610) satirize universal human failings such as greed ignorance or superstition.

After James I died, the quality of English drama rapidly declined. In 1642 the Puritans ordered the closing of the theaters, claiming that plays were wicked. The order remained in effect for 18 years.

Prose writings. In 1604, King James I authorized a group of scholars to prepare a new English version of the Bible. It appeared in 1611 and became known as the King James Version or Authorized Version. The King James Version was a landmark in the development of English prose. Its elegant yet natural style had enormous influence on English-speaking writers.

Many authors wrote philosophical works during the early and mid-1600’s. Donne composed a series of meditations on sickness, sin, and death in Devotions upon Emergent Occasions (1624). Sir Thomas Browne, a doctor, and Jeremy Taylor, an Anglican bishop, wrote works noted for their beautiful prose style. In Religio Medici (1624), Browne gave his learned opinions on a variety of subjects, including miracles and witchcraft. Taylor is best known for two religious essays, Holy Living (1650) and Holy Dying (1651). In contrast to these serious works, Izaak Walton wrote The Compleat Angler (1653), a light-hearted but thoughtful book on fishing.

John Milton was the greatest English writer of the mid-1600’s. He wrote prose and verse on many subjects during the rule of Charles I, the Puritans, and Charles II. His greatest achievement is Paradise Lost (1667), an epic poem based on the story of Adam and Eve. The work is noted for its rich and musical blank verse and vivid descriptions of heaven, hell and the Garden of Eden.

Restoration literature (1660-1700)

The Puritan rule ended in 1660, when Parliament re stored the monarchy under Charles II. Charles reigned until his death in 1685. However, the entire period from 1660 to 1700 is known as the Restoration.

The Puritans had attempted to enforce a strict moral code during their years in power. The Restoration brought a strong reaction against this code. The nobility and upper class in particular became known for carefree and often morally loose living. Restoration writers, especially comic playwrights, reflected this relaxed morality in their works

John Dryden became the outstanding literary figure of the Restoration after Milton's death in 1674. He wrote poetry, popular dramas and literary criticism.

Dryden shifted his support from the Puritans to the restored monarchy. Late in life, he was converted from the Anglican faith to Roman Catholicism. Many of Dryden's poems reflect these political and religious shifts. For example, his political satire Absalom and Achitophel (1681) attacks the enemies of the future James II. In The Hind and the Panther (1687), Dryden justified his conversion to Catholicism.

Dryden's best plays include Marriage a la Mode (1672), a comedy and All for Love (1677), a tragedy. In addition, Dryden wrote some of the finest literary criticism in English literature. One example is An Essay of Dramatic Poesy (1668), which contains a brilliant analysis of Shakespeare's work

Restoration drama. After Charles II became king in 1660, the theaters were reopened and an important period in English drama began. Two types of plays rapidly dominated Restoration stages: (1) the comedy of manners and (2) the heroic tragedy.

The comedy of manners was witty, sometimes cynical, and occasionally indecent. It treated love and romantic intrigue in a light, often broadly humorous way. The best comedies of manners included The Country Wife (1675) by William Wycherley and The Way of the World (1700) by William Congreve.

The heroic tragedy had a complicated plot that dealt with the conflict between love and honor. Most of these plays were set in faraway lands. Little action took place on the stage, and the characters spoke in elegant, noble-sounding heroic couplets. A heroic couplet is a verse form consisting of two rhymed lines of 10 syllables each. Dryden wrote several heroic tragedies, such as The Conquest of Granada (1670, 1671) and Aureng-Zebe (1675).

Restoration prose. During the Restoration, prose became less elaborate than bad been fashionable earlier in the 1600’s. Writers tried to express themselves clearly, simply, and directly.

John Bunyan used especially simple, vivid language in The Pilgrims Progress (1678. 1684), a popular Christian allegory (story with a literal and a symbolic meaning). The diaries of Samuel Pepys and John Evelyn are also vividly written. They provide a delightful and highly detailed view of English life during the late 1600’s. Pepys's work includes a particularly fascinating account of the Great Fire that destroyed much in London in 1666.

The Augustan Age (1700-1750)

The period in English literature from 1700 to about 1750 is called the Augustan Age. The term comes from the name given to the reign of the Roman emperor Augustus. During his reign, which lasted from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14, Latin literature reached its height with such great writers as Virgil, Horace, and Ovid. English authors tried to imitate or recapture many of the philosophic and literary ideals of this period of Roman history. Like the ancient Romans, they believed that life and literature should be guided by reason and common sense. They strove for balance and harmony in their writings. The Augustan Age of English literature is also known as the neoclassical period.

Swift and Pope. Satire was one of the most common types of literature during the Augustan Age. In spite of the Augustan emphasis on reason, many of the satires were extremely bitter and personal, and thus hardly "reasonable." The leading satirists of the period were Jonathan Swift in prose and Alexander Pope in poetry.

Swift satirized differing interpretations of Christianity in A Ta/e of a Tub (1704). In The Battle of the Books (l704), he ridiculed a literary dispute of the day. The dispute was between scholars who preferred ancient authors and those who though; that modern authors were superior. Swift attacked the hypocrisy he saw in kings, courtiers, and teachers in Gulliver's Travels (1726), the most famous satire in the English language.

Pope ridiculed the behavior of fashionable society in The Rape of the Lock (1712, 1714). He wrote with cutting wit about the authors of his time and their dull books if The Duncial (1728-1743). Pope perfected the heroic couplet i n An Essay on Man (1733-1734) and in Moral Essays (1731-1735). In An Essay on Man, Pope advised readers to take the middle way-avoiding extremes—in all things. In Moral Essays, he discussed the nature of men and women and the uses of wealth.

Addison and Steele. J oseph Addison and Sir Richard Steele were the outstanding essayists of the Augustan Age. They published their essays in two periodicals, The Tatler (1709-1711) and The Spectator (1711-1712). Both writers described and criticized the social customs and attitudes of their day. Their essays helped form middle-class tastes in manners, morals, and literature. In addition, Addison's pure and elegant prose style served as a model for other English writers throughout the 1700’s.

The rise of the novel. The development of the novel is one of the great achievements of English literature. The roots of the novel can be found in the books of Daniel Defoe. Defoe wrote realistic stories consisting of loosely connected incidents that were presented as actual happenings. His Robinson Crusoe (1719) and Moll Flanders (1722) resemble novels, but they lack the unified plot typical of that literary form.

Many scholars consider Samuel Richardson's Pamela (1740) to be the first true novel in English. The book is highly moralistic and somewhat rambling. In contrast, the novels of Henry Fielding and Tobias Smollett emphasize vigorous humor and satire. Fielding ridiculed Pamela in Shame/a (1741). Fielding's Tom Jones (1749) is perhaps the greatest comic novel in the English language. Critics consider The Expedition of Humphry Clinker (1771)to be Smollett's best novel. Laurence Sterne was another leading novelist of the period. His Tristram Shandy (1760-1767) has almost no story but is full of delightful jokes and puns. The book inspired many experimental novelists of the 1900's.

The Age of Johnson (1750-1784)

Samuel Johnson dominated English literature from about 1750 until his death in 1784. He was as famous for his conversation — in which he sometimes voiced outrageous opinions — as he was for his writings.

Johnson's literary achievements are remarkable. His Dictionary of the English Language (1755) is noted for its scholarly definitions of words and the use of excellent quotations to illustrate the definitions. In The Lives of the English Poets (1779-1781), Johnson critically examined the work of 52 poets and did much to establish literary criticism as a form of literature. Johnson also wrote articles, reviews, essays, and such poems as London (1738) and The Vanity of Human Wishes (1749). His prose work Rasselas (1759) is a philosophical attack on people who seek an easy path to happiness.

The Johnson circle. Johnson’s friends were the most important writers of the late 1700’s. They included Oliver Goldsmith; Richard Brinsley Sheridan; Edmund Burke; and Johnson's biographer, James Boswell.

Goldsmith's novel The Vicar of Wakefield (1766) tells about the misfortunes of a kindly clergyman and his family. The Deserted Village (1770) is a poem that movingly describes the decline of an English village. Goldsmith's great play is the classic comedy She Stoops to Conquer (1773). Sheridan wrote two clever comedies of manners, The Rivals (1775) and The School for Scandal (1777). Burke composed essays on government, history and beauty. His Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful (1757) anticipates many ideas of romantic writers of the l800’s.

Boswell brilliantly recorded Johnson's eccentricities and witty conversations in The Life of Samuel Johnson (1791), one of the great biographies in world literature. Many of Boswell's journals and private papers have been discovered in the 1900’s. Like his biography, they provide a vivid picture of the times in which he and Johnson lived.

Romantic literature (1784-1832)

Johnson and his circle were the last great literary figures of the 1700’s to stress the classical rules of writing. English writers of the late 1700’s and early 1800’s substituted passion for Augustan harmony and moderation. They preferred the mysterious— the “long ago and far away.” They believed in the creative power of the imagination and adopted an intensely personal view of the world. These writers are called romantics.

The preromantics were a group of poets who represented a bridge between classicism and romanticism. In many of their works, these poets signaled the awareness of social problems and the love of nature that became typical of English romanticism. For example, Thomas Gray described the unfulfilled lives of common people in his famous “Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard” (1751). William Cowper wrote of the beauties of nature and hisdislike of cities in The Task (1785).

The Scottish poet Robert Burns wrote about rural characters. He often used Scots dialect. Burns's most popular verses include “Auld Lang Syne” (about 1788) and "Comin Thro' the Rye” (about 1796).

The leading preromantic poet was William Blake. His work was barely known when he was alive. Many of his most powerful poems are collected in Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794).

Romantic poetry. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge werethe first important English romantic poets. They produced a joint volume of poems titled Lyrical Ballads (1798). Wordsworth's preface to the second edition (1800) is almost a handbook for romantic poetry. In the preface, he explained why he wrote in everyday language rather than in the elevated poetic language of such earlier writers as Dryden and Pope. He also discussed why he wanted to write about everyday topics especially rural, unsophisticated subjects. Wordsworth and Coleridge lived in the scenic Lake District of northwestern England and wrote expressively about the beauties of nature. Many of their blank verse poems have a conversational tone.

Lord Byron created a semiautobiographical hero in such lengthy works as Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (1812-1818) and the unfinished Don Juan (1819-1824). Byron can be considered the originator of the antihero because he wrote sympathetically about rebels, outlaws, and other people traditionally scorned by society.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was an idealist and social reformer. In his long poem Prometheus Unbound (1820), Shelley praised the individual who takes a stand against unjust authority.

John Keats wrote intense and vivid poems, many of which deal with beauty and its inevitable passing. His major works include “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1819) and “Ode to a Nightingale" (1819).

Romantic prose included essays, literary criticism, journals, and novels. The leading essayists were Thomas De Quincey, William Hazlitt, and Charles Lamb. De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium Eater (1821) is typical of the highly personal, revealing essay that was popular during the early 1800’s. Hazlitt wrote outstanding critical studies of Elizabethan drama. These studies did much to revive interest in the plays of the Elizabethan Age. Lamb’s warm and humorous essays were collected in two volumes known as Essays of Elia (1823) and Last Essays of Elia (1833).

The personal tone of romantic prose appears in the letters and journals of various writers. The journals of Dorothy Wordsworth, the poet's sister, are especially interesting. She kept journals that recorded daily life in the Lake District during the time her brother and Coleridge worked on Lyrical Ballads. The journals provide a fascinating account of the creative process.

Horror stories called Gothic novels became popular during the late 1700’s and early 1800's. Most of these tales deal with ghosts and supernatural happenings. Horace Walpole wrote the first Gothic novel, The Castle of Otranto (1764).

The two greatest novelists of the romantic period were Jane Austen and Sir Waiter Scott. Austen wrote about middle-class life in small towns and in the famous resort city of Bath. The women in such Austen novels as Pride and Prejudice (1813) and Emma (1816) are known for their independence and wit. Scott wrote novels set in the Scottish Highlands or Edinburgh. His series of books called the Waverley novels are the first truly historical novels in English literature. Scott's death in 1832 marked the end of the romantic period