Romanticism was a movement of thought and writing which began in Germany and England at the same time towards the and of the 18th century in reaction against neo-classicism. During that time there were a lot of political and industrial movements and changes. Romantic writers did not like the changes, which were occurring around them, which perhaps explain why they did not often speak of the new industrial society in their works preferring to concentrate on nature or their own feelings. In this paper I will first talk about the things romantics were interested in and then the two different generations of romantics.
Basic concerns of the Romantics in this period were;
Simple language
Incidents and situations from common life
Coloring of the imagination
Ordinary things presented to the mind in an unusual aspect
Making these incidents and situations interesting by tracing them
Associating ideas in a state of excitement
Humble and rustic life
Because of the spiritual possibilities which the Romantics believed human feelings offered, sentiment had an almost religious significance. They loved all extreme natural phenomena; high mountains, violent storms, torrential rivers, anything that had terrible beauty.
There were two generation of romanticism the first generation are William Blake, William Wordsworth, P. Coleridge, Robert Burns. And the second generation is Shelley, Keats, and Byron.
Wordsworth is the most famous of the romantic poets and his most productive years took only ten years although he had lived 80 years. He was a great supporter of French Revolution. The main differences between Coleringe and Wordsworth is that Coleridge believes in education and was fond of reading whereas Wordsworth believes in the education of nature and did not believe in books. Together they wrote Lyrical Ballads most of the ballads are anonymous, they were songs and transmitted orally. Events usually take place through actional dialogue. Lyrical Ballads is a collection of poems written by Wordsworth and Coleridge. The aim of this is to form a new way of poetry. They write about supernatural but form a realistic effect. Wordsworth undertook to write about simple rustic people but as to make them quite colorful. Most favorite one is Ancient Mariner. Preface of Lyrical Ballads is important because it’s just like a manifesto of Romantic Movement.
The Essay on Wordsworth Tintern Abbey And Lyrical Ballads
Born in 1770 at Cockermouth in the heart of the Lakes District in England. William Wordsworth grew up in a rustic society and his beautiful and ageless poetry often reflect this. Wordsworths mother died in 1778 and in 1779 he was sent to grammar school in Hawkshead. Wordsworths father died in 1783, leaving his uncles as guardians. They tried to guide him towards a career in law or in the church ...
Robert Burns is also another Romantic poet of the first generation but actually we can say that he did not belong to any other group. He was Scottish and his poems are full of joy. He was also a revolutionary character both in religion and politics and this is reflected in his poems. Unlike the others he used dialogues in his poems and his humor can be observed in his poems, which are full of joy.
One of the second-generation Romantic poets is Shelley who was a rich family’s son. He lived in extremes and had radical ideas, which were reflected, in his poems. Because of his radical ideas he was kicked out from Oxford University after publishing “Necessity of Atheism”. He was strongly against didactic poetry. Some of his works are “Prometheus Unbound” and Queen Mob”.
Another poet of the same generation is Keats who died at the age of twenty-five. He was interested in the Greek language and culture and was inspired by anything beautiful, just like other Romantic poets. His works include “Ode to Grecian” and “Edymion”.
The most famous but arguably not the best poet of the period was Byron. He was also the most individual and created a character called “Byronic Hero” which was a very colorful character. Some critics say that the hero shows Byron is limited.
When we compare the two generations we can see that the main difference between them is that the second generation spent the majority of their time in foreign countries or by traveling, whereas the first spent most of their time in their home countries. As a result of this the second generation’s poetry touches a wider variety of topics whereas the first one is more limited to the observations of the poets within smaller boundaries. The first generation poets had less experience; therefore reflected less in their poetry. Another difference was in the religious sense. The first generation was pan-atheist while the second were atheist. Atheism can best be seen in Shelley and Keats’ poetry.
The Term Paper on Romantic Poet Coleridge Man Poetry
The period of Romanticism in English literature was in many senses a reaction to the Enlightenment which preceded it. The objectivity and sheer rationality of the Enlightenment was held in disdain by the Romantics, who saw it as a period "which did not allow feeling and imagination to outweigh reason." The essence of Romantic thought springs from a soul which "protests against whatever exists, ...
Whether the first or the second generation I think it is great to read the poems of the Romantics. It is an escape from the industrial world into nature where we can take a rest and forget about the daily problems.
