DESCRIPTION
This short film introduces students to the concept of two generations in the Romantic period. It considers why this might be the case for this period of literature when it is not for others, proposing three reasons: the relative brevity of the period, the effect of a period of war followed by peace, the division of major male writers into these two groups. The second half of the film then focusses on the First Generation and the contemporary concept of “the Lake School”. This relates primarily to William Wordsworth and his decision to write in withdrawal from the world in the North of England. Core principles of British Romanticism are articulated by him – that poetry is of the people and in the language of the people and that it is fundamentally expressive. Wordsworth was joined in the lakes by Coleridge and Southey, allowing these poets to be called “The Lake School”. However, these principles were not universally accepted and Francis Jeffrey (editor of The Edinburgh Review) took every opportunity to attack them.
