Lamartine

Lamartine lived through a France repeatedly transformed by revolution, empire, and monarchy. The old social order remained influential, while expanding newspapers, political debate, and a growing reading public gave writers a larger role in public life. Romanticism answered the period’s upheavals by emphasizing individual feeling and the power of nature and memory. The revolution of 1848 brought demands for a republic, wider political participation, and social reform; Lamartine moved from literary and parliamentary life into the provisional government during this crisis.