Programme Summary - Nature
Eternity
After the revolutions of the late 18th century, people had to define who they were without regard to the sanctions of religion or the Church. Learn more about the search for meaning, in a world without God - eternity.
Liberty
In the 18th century, Europe was dominated by the twin authority of hte Church and King - but beneath the surface, new forces were gathering to challenge their absolute rule. Explore the birth of the individual in modern society in our programme - liberty.
This programme examines the birth of the modern notion of nature.
The Industrial Revolution sought to dominate Nature as a means to create profit. Romantic artists would seek to replace this relationship of domination with one of reverence and understanding.
The poet John Clare sought freedom in exploring the countryside around him. But the lands he loved were increasingly seen as units of production. When such lands were officially enclosed by Act of Parliament in 1809, the freedom to roam the countryside was curtailed.
This shift in attitudes drove John Clare insane. It drove William Blake to write works of protest, such as the raging, tempestuous 'Jerusalem'.
Both William Blake and Samuel Taylor Coleridge sought to understand man's true relation to nature by returning to the source - by observing and writing about the innocence of children. Others sought to reconnect themselves to Nature more directly - such as William Wordsworth, who wrote of his travels to the Alps, the Lake District and the Wye Valley.
The ideas of the child, nature and scientific progress would collide in Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. This book is a Romantic manifesto - a warning that nature is not to be trifled with, that children are sacred, and science can corrupt our world. It is also a work of prophecy, still relevant in the 21st century.
Content last updated: 29/11/2005
