Prose can be divided into two different genres: the essay and the novel

Romantic essay

Prose can be divided into two different genres: the essay and the novel. There are many example of the essay through all the century:

16^th century: Montaigne

17^th century: Milton and Dryden

early 18^th century: Pope, the periodicals (Steale and Addison), Swift, Defoe and Fielding

late 18^th century: Johnson and Burke

1780-1830: Romantic Essay

Romantic essay is a short piece of prose dealing with one single subject: everyday life; personal memory; travel impressions; artistic and literary topics; philosophical topics. Most important writers: Charles Lamb with his Intimate essay (more personal; there is new personal approach to literary criticism); William Hazlitt and Hunt, Keats' friends; Thomas De Quincey.

Romantic novel

Experimental stages: journalism and satire (Swift);

Defoe: detailed realism (autobiography);

Richardson: epistolary novel;

Fielding: epic novel (comic and picaresque adventures);

Sterne: anti-novel;

Walpole and Radcliffe: Gothic novel;

Jane Austen: novel of manners (following Richardson);

Mary Shelley: novel of purpose (propaganda of new scientific idea);

Scott: historical novel.

The debate on industrialization

All the most representative figures, including the Romantic poets, took part in the debate on the consequences of the industrialization and extreme economic liberalism. Many reacted violently and this caused the disappearance of the old rural England, with its time-honoured traditions: people were shocked at the consequences the new system was producing.