Romantic Period :
A term loosely applied to a movement in European literature during the
last quarter of the 18th century and the first twenty or thirty
years of the 19the century. It was
marked by a rejection of the ideals and rules of classicism and
neoclassicism and by an affirmation of
the need for a freer, more subjective expression of passion, pathos and
personal feelings. As its narrowest, the
Romantic period in Britain is usually taken to run between 1798, the year in
which Coleridge and Wordsworth published the first edition of Lyrical Ballads,
and 1832, when Sir Walter Scott and
Goethe died and the Reform Bill was passed.
The major British writers in this period, apart from Coleridge,
Wordsworth and Scott, were Byron, Shelley, Keats, Jane Austen, Hazlitt and De
Quincey. Abroad, the movement was widely
embracing: Goethe, Schlegel, Wackenroder, Tieck, Schelling, Novalis and
Holderlin in Germany; Chateaubriand and Madam de Stael in France; Leopardi,
Manzoni and Foscolo in Italy; Espronceda in Spain; Slowacki in Poland; Pushkin
and Lermontov in Russia; Petofi in Hungary; and Oehenschlager in Denmark.
Characteristics of the Romantic Poetry
Break from set rules à
The poetry of the Romantic Revival is in
direct contrast to the characteristics cultivated by 18th century
neo-classical poets. In the eighteenth
century, poetry was governed by set rules and regulations. There were
well chalked out lines of poetic composition, and any deviation from the
beaten track was frowned by mentors of
poetic thought. The first thing that we
have in the poetry of the new age is the break from the thrall-marked, “ says
W.J. Long, “by a strong reaction and protest against the bondage of rule and custom. Which, in science and theology, as well as in
literature, generally tend to fetter the
free human spirit.”
Interest in
country life - Poetry in the
eighteenth century was concerned with clubs and coffee houses, drawing rooms
and the social and political life of London.
It was essentially the poetry of town life. Nature had practically no place in classical
poetry. In the poetry of the Romantic
Revival the interest of poets was transferred from town to country life and from
the artificial decorations of drawing rooms to the natural beauty and loveliness
of nature. Nature began to have its own
importance in the poetry of this age, and Wordsworth was the great poet who
revealed the physical and spiritual beauty of nature to those who could not see
any charm in the wild flowers, the green fields and the chirping birds. Thus, in the poetry of the Romantic Revival,
we have an added zest among poets to discard the glamour of an artificial life
and turn to the elemental simplicities of a life lived in closer touch with the
beauties and charm of nature.
Presentation of common life
– Romantic poets started taking interest in the lives of the common people, the
shepherds and the cottagers, and left the gallant lords and gay butterflies of
fashion to the care of novelists. A
renewed interest in simple life marked the poetry of the poets of the age. A feeling of humanitarianism colored the
poetry Wordsworth, Shelley and Byron. Thus
intense human sympathy and a consequent understanding of the human heart marked
Romantic poetry.
Love of liberty and freedom
– In Romantic poetry emphasis was laid on liberty and freedom of the
individual. Romantic poets were rebels
against tyranny and brutality exercised by tyrants and despots over human
beings crushed by poverty and smashed by inhuman laws. In the poetry of this age we have a note of
rebellion and a crusade against effete conventions and worn out
traditions. Freedom is the breath in
which the Romantic poets breathed freely.
Escape to the Middle Ages
– In many ways Romantic poetry proved to be the poetry of escape from the
sorrows and sufferings of mundane life of their times to the Middle age, where they found enough beauty and joy to
feed the fading flame of their souls.
The essential elements of the romantic spirit are curiosity and the
lover of beauty. The enthusiasm for the
Middle Ages satisfied the emotional sense of wonder on the one hand, and the
intellectual sense of curiosity on the other.
Predominance of imagination
and emotion - In romantic poetry
reason and intellect were subdued and their place was taken by imagination,
emotion and passion. In the poetry of
all the Romantic poets of this age we have the exhibition of heightened
emotional sensibilities and imaginative flights of genius bordering on empyrean
heights un-scaled by the poets of the previous age.
Supernaturalism –
Supernaturalism is another outstanding quality of romantic poetry. A sense of wonder and mystery was imparted to
poetry by poets like Coleridge and Scott.
It was this supernatural note that gave to romantic poetry its atmosphere
of wonder and mystery, unmanliness, uncanny
and eerie feeling, and justify the title ‘ The Renaissance of wonder’
given to this poetic age by a critic of repute.
Note of subjectivity
- Subjectivity began to have its full play in the poetry of this
age. The poets of this period were in
favour of giving subjective interpretation to the objective realities of
life. Romantic poetry became
individualistic in outlook. “ The
romantic movement.” Says Long, “ was the expression of individual genius rather
than of established rules,” or, as Lucas says, that it was an expression of
‘id’.
Endless variety in romantic
poetry - In Romantic poetry we come
across endless variety. Poetry of this
age is varied as the character and moods of different writers. “ When we read Pope, for instance, we have a general impression of
sameness,” says Long,” but in the work of the best romanticists there is
endless variety. To read them is like
passing through a new village, meeting a score of different human types, and
finding in each one something to love or to remember.”
Lyricism - In romantic poetry lyricism predominates and
the poets of this school have to their credit a number of fine lyrics excelling
the heroic couplet of the classical age in melody and sweetness of tone.
Simplicity in style - The style of the romantic poets is
varied. Greater stress is laid on
simplicity. Instead of the inflated and
artificial mode of expression adopted by the classical poets, in romantic
poetry we have a more natural diction and spontaneous way of expressing
thoughts.
Summing up the salient characteristics of the poetry of the Romantic
Revival we may say in the words of W.J. Long that the poetry of romanticism is
characterized by “ the protest against the bondage of rules, the return to
nature and the human heart, the interest
in old sagas and medieval romances as suggestive of a heroic age, the sympathy
with the toilers of the world, the emphasis upon individual genius, and the return
to Milton and the Elizabethans, instead of to Pope and Dryden for literary
models.”
Romantic poets
Ans : Romantic poets were
fascinate by Nature - Nature has been a
perennial source of inspiration to poets.
Romantic poets were particularly interested in nature and to them the
beauties and charms of nature were an unending fountain of joy from which they
drank to their heart’s content. Like all
Romantic poets, Wordsworth, Coleridge,
Keats. Byron, Shelley loved nature and
established a deep kinship with her.
Wordsworth :
In the Prelude or Growth of a
Poet’s Mind we have a complete picture of the evolution of the various stages
of his appreciation of nature beginning with the physical plane and ending with
the mystical and spiritualistic interpretation of nature. The poet’s conception of nature advanced and
developed as he grew in years. His
attitude towards nature may be classified under three heads :
1
The period of the blood,
2
The period of the senses,
3
The period of the imagination and the soul.
We shall now
deal with these phases of
Wordsworth’s appreciation and interpretation of Nature.
First stage -
the period of the blood -
Wordsworth’s youth and formative years of life were spent in the midst
of nature’s beautiful surroundings. In
this first stage his love for nature was without any mystical and spiritual
touch. In this first stage, his love for
nature, in the words of W.H. Hudson, “ was a healthy boy’s love of the open air
and freedom of the fields.” In his youth
he was attracted by the physical beauty of nature, and he haunted the hills and
the vales for the sake of angling, snaring birds, hunting and enjoying the
lovely spectacles of nature’s varied life.
Second stage - the period of the senses – It was the age of
sweet sensations. He was thrilled and enchanted by the sights
and sounds of Nature. He viewed nature
with a physical passion.
Third stage – the period
of the imagination - The first rumblings
of the change from the physical to the spiritual interpretation of nature are
heard in the poem Nutting, where the poet describes the circumstances under
which a change came in his approach to nature.
The poet began to consider
himself as a ‘dedicated spirit and the great mission of his life now became to
preach the gospel and secret message of nature to humanity torn as under by
ravages and carnage of the Free Revolution.’
Joy of Nature - Wordsworth finds joy in Nature. The feeling of pessimism does not oppress the
heart of the poet when he is in the presence of the beautiful and joyful
aspects of nature. The personal dealing
with nature in all her moods produces a joy.
In the words of Hudson, “ Wordsworth finds a never failing principle of
joy.”
Presentation of peaceful
aspects of Nature - It is one of the
peculiar features of Wordsworth’s nature poetry that all the attention of the
poet is directed to the representation of calm and tranquil sights and scenes
of nature. He never presents nature
‘red in tooth and claw’
Wordsworth’s healing balm to
festered sores of humanity rises out of this tranquil and peaceful
representation of nature’s objects. We are deeply impressed and influenced by his
calm and tranquil representations bring before us :
The
silence that is in the starry sky
The
sleep that is among the lonely hill.
Graphic description - Wordsworth’s representations of nature’s
mystical and spiritual aspects are quite graphic, vivid and colorful. He can give delicate and subtle expression to
the “sheer sensuous delight of the world of Nature.”
Wordsworth – the poet of
the ear – In the presentation of nature Wordsworth is fascinated by the sound
in the objects of nature, just as Shelley was fascinated by the color in the
spectacles of nature.
A great worshipper of Nature
- Throughout his life Wordsworth
remained a true interpreter of nature to humanity. He became the worshipper of nature, her true priest and a revealer of her
harmonies to humanity. His essential
attitude towards nature remained that of a devout worshipper.
Treatment of Nature - Coleridge is a great poet of Nature. Like Wordsworth, Coleridge was a pantheist
and in his early poems we notice the presence of a Divine Spirit colorings the
objects of Nature, Like Wordsworth, Coleridge also believed that a Divine
spirit pervades through the objects of Nature :
At this state he also believes in a spiritual
contact between man and Nature and in the moral and educative influence of
Nature on man. In ‘Frost at Midnight’
the same pantheistic faith finds an almost Wordsworthian expression :
Later on, a change comes in
Coleridge’s attitude towards Nature when instead of feeling the presence of an
independent life in Nature, he thinks that life to Nature is given by the
individual’s own personal feelings. In the ‘Ode to Dejection,’ the poet expressed
his belief that it is the subjective experience of a person that colors the
objects of Nature.
Lady! We
receive but what we give
And in our life
alone does Nature live :
Ours is her
wedding garment, ours her shroud.
Coleridge had a keen feeling for
the super-sensual in Nature and his descriptions of landscapes are delicately
beautiful. His pictures of Nature are
colored by human associations.
Coleridge remained throughout his
life a subtle and minute observer of Nature; he gets joy in presenting pictures
of Nature; their broad and general effects remained a permanent possession of
his life. His pictures of Nature are
pleasing to the readers as they had been to the poet. And the landscape in ‘Kubla Khan’ is so
levelly that we again and again turn to it for imaginative delight.
Byron’s Nature poetry is free
from theory or ulterior intention
- The first point to be noticed
in Byron’s attitude towards nature is that it is free from theory or ulterior
motive. In this connection, Bowra points
out in ‘ The Romantic Imagination’ : “ While Wordsworth sought vision or moral
interpretation, Byron took nature as he found it, and appreciated much that
Wordsworth missed. His poetry of Nature
is instructive and immediate, free from theory or ulterior intention.”
Byron loved solitude
- Byron went to nature to seek refuge
from human society. Byron loved solitude
and this he could find only in Nature. ( Moorman says, : Byron seeks communion
with Nature in order to escape from man; high mountains become ‘a feeling’ to him when the hum of human cities is a
torture,” )
Wordsworth hears in Nature the
music of sad humanity;
Byron hears no music of humanity
in Nature. For him Nature is a refuge, a
place of shelter, where he can hid himself from the weariness, the fever and
fret of the world.
Byron’s subject approach to
Nature à It means that nature is intimately related to
Byron’s feelings, and he colours nature according to his mental and physical
state. There is the subjective approach
of the poet to nature. He did not find
the ‘ healing balm’ that Wordsworth
found in nature, but still his feelings well formed the basis of
communion with the objects of nature.
Fine descriptions of Nature
- Byron,
being no philospher and moralist, takes delight in giving fine descriptions of nature. His descriptions are far superior to
Wordsworth, though inferior to Tennyson in the point of accuracy and
precision. Byron describes Nature in
broad outlines and fuses his feelings with objects of nature. He does not analyse the objects
minutely. The fact is that, “ the object
which he sees and his own feelings are fused together and take shape in
imaginative and metaphorical language.” (Tozer)
Byron presents both calm and stormy aspects of Nature à
Byron sees Nature both in its
calm and story aspects. Wordsworth was
drawn only by the silence that is in the starry sky but Byron presented nature
both in its tranquil and stormy aspects.
Byron’s treatment of the sinister
side of Nature à Byron was able to face the cruel and inhuman
aspects of nature as most of the Romantics
could not. With Byron there is no
shuddering about the presentation of the sinister side of nature. He does so without contempt and without
complaint. The helplessness of man
before nature was a subject from which the Romantics shrank, but Byron saw it
and spoke sincerely about it.
Q : Write an essay on the Nature
poetry of Keats.
Ans : Keats as a great lover of
Nature - Keats was one of the greatest
lovers and admirers of Nature and in his
poetry we come across beautiful descriptions of the wonderful sights and scenes
of Nature just for its own sake and for the ‘ glory and loveliness’ that is
everywhere found in it.
Scenes and sights of nature à
In the early poems of Keats we come across fine descriptions and charming
pictures of nature. In ‘Sleep and
Poetry’ and ‘Endymion’ the poet paints nature with the skill of a consummate
artist. His first poem ‘ I stood tiptoe
upon a little hill’ opens with a beautiful and lovely description of an early
summer’s day. The poet finds in nature
the perennial source of poetry.
This mood of rapture in the
presence of the beauties of nature is reflected in several descriptions and is
best seen in the ‘Ode to Autumn’ where a complete picture of the autumn season
is presented with a minuteness of details that does credit to the poet’s imagination and vivid
observation of nature. He showed with
the Greeks the instinct for personifying the power of nature in this ode and the
picture of the season is presented through a series of vivid personifications.
Sensitiveness in Keats’
treatment of Nature - Keats
exhibited a wonderful sensitiveness in the treatment of nature. All the sense organs, such as eyes, ears,
nose and touch were always alive to
carry the impressions to his mind and through it to the soul. He felt a feeling of joy in his sensitivity
to nature. He identified the highest
works of Art with nature and to him art and nature gave the same joy.
No Scientific analysis of the
aspects of Nature à Keats like
Wordsworth had no place for ‘meddling intellect’ in the appreciation and
understanding of nature Analysis of the
objects of nature could give no joy. He
complained in Lamia that analysis spoilt the beauty and charm of nature.
Sorrow and despair in Keats’ treatment of Nature à
Sometimes Keats’ note of happiness towards nature was colored by sorrow and
despair. When he had finished
Endymion, when the troubles of the world
had come upon him, when he had seen his brother die, and felt himself that life
was ill-made for him, his note towards nature changed.
Nature as a source of joy à Keats wished to die into Nature to ‘cease
upon the midnight with no pains’, but this was not his ordinary mood. It was rather the characteristic mood of
Shelley. Keats sought, in spite of such
moments of pain, to live in nature and to be incorporated with one beautiful
thing after another.
His love of the earth and
Nature à
Scott’s passionate attachment for the past of this country was blended with his
equally passionate attachment to its soil.
He had a great love for the Nature of Scotland in its tranquil as well
as stormy aspects. He did not have the
transcendental affection felt by Wordsworth and Shelley for Nature. The scenery and the sounds of nature moved
him; and it was with him ‘Earth worship, not Nature worship and the earth is
particular of localities, endeared to him by a hundred associations.’ Scott did not idealize Nature but simply
caught the beauty of landscapes, hills, dales and the borderlands in the haunting
loveliness. He loved his country’s soil
and he told Washington Irving that if he did not see the heather once a year he
thought he would die. Yet a landscape to
him meant little without the human touch in it.
He combined man and Nature and often made a Landscape as the background
of his human feelings. In short, Scott
humanized and romanticized Nature without ever caring for its mystical message
that Nature had suggested to Wordsworth.
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