Jane Austen and the Semantics of being a Romantic
...he showed himself so intimately acquainted with all the tenderest songs of the one poet, and all the impassioned descriptions of hopeless agony of the other; he repeated, with such tremulous feeling, the various lines which imaged a broken heart, or a mind destroyed by wretchedness, and looked so entirely as if he meant to be understood, that she ventured to hope he did not always read only poetry, and to say, that she thought it was the misfortune of poetry to be seldom safely enjoyed by those who enjoyed it completely…
-From Ch. 11 of Persuasion by Jane Austen
In this article, I would like to explore Jane Austen’s novels through the lens of Romanticism. The term is most often used to describe poets of the period, like Wordsworth, Byron, and Keats. It is also commonly used to describe artists like John Constable and J.M.W. Turner. However, it is somewhat less commonly applied when speaking of novelists of the time, and whether or not Jane Austen was a Romantic has been debated. As an author whose novels have had such an impact in the centuries that followed, and who happens to be one of my favorite authors, I was curious about how she fit into the context of the Romantic Movement.
Her novels have often been viewed as examples of social realism, and even described as holding on to an older, more conservative version of England. In contrast, the poets and artists of the Romantic movement were known for an emphasis on individuality, for rebelling against the rationalism and order of Enlightenment, and instead, focusing on emotional experiences and lofty forays into the sublime. Jane Austen may not have had a love affair with a half-sibling or sold her English estate to help finance the Greek cause for independence like Lord Byron, or eloped with a mentor’s sixteen year old daughter and passionately advocated political radicalism like Percy Bysshe Shelley, nor did she achieve great honor in her time like Poets Laureate Robert Southey or William Wordsworth. For Austen, who lived and worked amidst such literary company, there is a question that begs consideration: What does it mean to be a Romantic?
One problem we encounter is comparing one medium to another. What works in poetry does not necessarily translate well to prose. However, Romanticism was a term coined in Germany and the German romantisch was derived from the French word for ‘novel’ – roman. Romantisch or ‘romantic’ had been used in the sense of romanhaft – ‘like a novel’. It was a literary and philosophical term meant to encapsulate music, poetry, novels, and paintings alike. To further complicate understanding, the movement is somewhat difficult to define because it is not associated with a particular founder or fully outlined in a treatise, and it was a rather short lived artistic and intellectual movement covering about half a century. By contrast, the Age of Enlightenment spanned well over a century.
What is apparent is that Romanticism developed out of a particular social context that existed from approximately the 1780’s to the 1830’s. Revolutions in America and France jolted the establishment and excited the downtrodden. The Industrial Revolution was changing society more quickly than ever before. Cities grew, ideas traveled faster, and social mobility threatened to defy long-held ideas about rank and highlighted individualism. Britain was embroiled in war on the continent, the empire was expanding, while at home there was an increasing call for reform.
Above: a satirical print by Charles Williams (1823). Byron sits at a table writing on a sheet headed Il Liberale; he looks up for inspiration, scratching his head as does a green-winged devil called 'Old-scratch'. His dog lies looking up at him, one paw on a volume of Don Juan.
As society wrestled with the counteractive forces of progress and entrenched classism and the hope and fear born out of revolutions, the ethos of the Romantics was one of rising above the volatility of the time to the plane of the sublime through the power of imagination. In an ever-industrialized world, they emphasized the power of nature for inspiring the imagination. And from there, the imagination of the author could take the reader to places previously unimagined yet be enveloped in emotions entirely authentic and familiar.
In this context, poets engaged in stylistic diversity unseen in eras past, wrote on a wider range of subjects, and found a significantly larger audience. William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge were among the earliest Romantics. They published a collection of works called Lyrical Ballads (1800) to which Wordsworth affixed a preface summarizing their vision for a less formal poetry in “language really used by men” with a “coloring of imagination.” Although it did not officially define Romanticism, It is the broad framework from which British Romanticism grew and flourished. Later poets of the era, like Byron and Shelley, lived fabled lives of restless travellers, libertines, and rebels. Where in this motley of redoubtable bards should we place Jane Austen, woman and novelist?
Well, if I were to succinctly describe the literary world that she found herself in, I would say that it was one of possibility. Jane Austen was born in 1775 when the old world was being quickly left behind. Between 1780 and 1830, it is estimated that the population of England doubled, and the number of adult readers quintupled. The audience not only became larger, but also more diverse. Readers were more likely to be women and to come from the newly emerging middle class. Like poetry of the Romantic era, novels expanded in subject and accessibility, which not only acted to reach different types of readers, but also suited the tastes of a changing world. But, unlike poetry, the British novel did not have deep roots. It was a newer form of literary endeavor, only dating back to the early 18th century, but in this era it would mature in form and become more respected as an art. It was Fanny Burney’s Camilla: Or a Picture on Youth that signaled the beginning of a new era for novels and their female writers. Even though it would be an era dominated by female novelists, Sir Walter Scott would be the most well-known and well-regarded writer of novels during this age.
Poetry remained mostly the realm of men and was biased towards their interests and concerns. In some cases, the reader may have been taken far away to experience the travails of a long voyage in Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner or on the satirized adventures of Don Juan. Tales of wanderlust and adventure were common at this time. Often at the core of these tales, was a yearning for a home or a place to belong. That sentiment rings true in Austen’s works as well.
Furthermore, although exotic settings and adventure tales were favored by some, they were by no means the rule. A ballad inspired by something as simple as a countryside walk not far from home, as in William Wordsworth’s I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, could convey a sublime connection between nature and humanity. In his preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth states that it is acceptable to use subjects of common life, but not when “it is neither interesting in itself nor can lead to anything interesting; the images neither originate in that sane state of feeling which arises out of thought, nor can excite thought or feeling in the Reader.”
Following Wordsworth's own guidelines, domestic settings would not be out of the realm of the Romantic. What was a woman to write about? To be authentic, one must write about what they knew. When we think of the daring lives or outrightly radical themes of some of the poets of Romanticism, let us remember that women were held to a stricter moral code, and the daughter of a clergyman, financially dependent on her family, needed to tread carefully. It did not mean that she was not a part of the spirit of the age. However, it is altogether expected that it would manifest itself differently in a female novelist.
Though many male poets would launch their emotions into soaring heights, in rebellion of Enlightenment’s stringent reliance on that which is orderly and rational, reason was never altogether abandoned or unappreciated. There are a few ways to look at this in regards to Jane Austen. One is to see that it was more radical to portray women as rational creatures rather than driven by fancy and feeling, which was the stereotype of the time. In that way, Austen is just as progressive as her male counterparts. What is more, although her heroines were or would learn to be prudent and thoughtful, she does not abandon the importance of feeling. She seems to advocate for a balance of sense and sensibility. Surprising, right? Not only is this balance highlighted in Sense and Sensibility, in Pride and Prejudice Elizabeth Bennet criticizes Charlotte Lucas for agreeing to marry Mr. Collins out of entirely mercenary motives, and she, herself, declares to never marry without love. For a woman of limited means to refuse marriage without love was a radical demonstration of protecting herself as an individual and a belief in an experience of the world more lofty than obtaining economic comfort.
However, the reality of wealth is not lost on Austen or her heroines, and she is cognizant of the flux in British society in her details of rank and money. Social mobility is seen in many of Austen’s characters who have made their fortune in trade. In Pride and Prejudice alone, we have the Bingleys who acquired a fortune in this manner and Sir William Lucas who rose from trade to be knighted. Furthermore, we have Aunt and Uncle Gardiner who are greatly loved by Elizabeth for their kindness and sense, but who are in trade and live within view of their warehouses (Oh, the horror!). Austen also reflects the spirit of the age in her use of Navy men like Captain Wentworth in Persuasion and William Price in Manchester Park as exemplars of men of merit. Wentworth is a man of action and principle well-regarded for what he has accomplished as an individual rather than for what he was born into. He made his own fortune and is shown in sharp contrast to the vain and spendthrift Sir Walter Elliot.
For Jane Austen, the Navy men are among the few characters that venture out into the wilds of the world. While Austen’s novels are domestic in nature, with the majority of scenes occurring in or around a home, I would still say that when nature is featured, she uses it in a similar way to the Romantic poets. And, although Austen rarely rhapsodizes the beauty or charms of nature, there are instances where an adventure out into nature is symbolic or becomes a turning point for her heroine. With Emma’s trip to Box Hill she allows herself to join in the indulgence and careless manner of Frank Churchill resulting in her feeling “agitated, mortified, grieved” as never before and finally becoming more aware of her failings, as well as putting her on her way to understand her own feelings. During Anne’s trip to Lyme, she regains her youthful beauty “restored by the fine wind which had been blowing on her complexion” and acquires a newfound confidence in herself. Lastly, I would also include Elizabeth’s gradual change in attitude as she admires the forests, the river, and grounds of Pemberley which are almost symbolic of understanding Darcy’s true character:
Elizabeth was delighted. She had never seen a place for which nature had done more, or where natural beauty had been so little counteracted by an awkward taste. They were all of them warm in their admiration; and at that moment she felt that to be mistress of Pemberley might be something!
Finally, I want to place more focus on Austen’s last completed novel, Persuasion (1817). There can be no argument that this story was not a product of and example of British Romanticism. In this work, Austen demonstrates her growth as a writer with a masterful combination of narrative discourse and internal struggle of her central character, which peaks with an intensity of feeling echoing her Romantic contemporaries. In Anne’s conversation with Harville on constancy, Wentworth’s letter, and her reading of his letter, an emotional intensity is reached that could rival any contemporary poet. Throughout the novel, Austen hits on the themes of solitude and loss and on the opposing emotions of fear and hope and pleasure and pain. There is even a discussion between Anne and Benwick about Byron with the author seeming to caution overindulgence in Romantic poets through the voice of Anne, however, she is in no way dismissive of them.
This was just a cursory look at Jane Austen's works in the context of Romanticism, and I am certain that I could go on forever with no absolute answer. However, I am convinced that to regard Jane Austen’s works as outside the realm of Romanticism is to misunderstand her writing, the moment in history in which she created, and what that movement was. Her demonstration of individualism and feminism in her heroines, her keen awareness of the changing perceptions of rank and merit, her reason paired with sensibility, and the authenticity she exhibits in the emotion and experience of her characters all place her securely in the ethos of her time. And, if you like your Romantics to be more in the vein of the rebellious risk-taker who would transcend what came before, what more could you ask for than a woman of little means who chose not to marry and who wrote and published novels at a time when both the novel and the woman writing it were still considered morally questionable? When it comes down to it, the importance of Romanticism was that it ushered the modern era. It aimed to look toward the future. More than two hundred years later, Jane Austen’s novels are just as relevant as ever.
Sources:
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A noble poet- scratching up his ideas by Charles Williams (1823). (2025). The British Museum; British Museum.
https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1868-0808-8572
