Historians of English
Literature have designated the period from 1798 to 1832 as the Romantic Period.
William Wordsworth and S.T.Coleridge published Lyrical Ballads in
1798 and Sir William Scott died in 1832. The term ‘Romantic’ implies a literary
and philosophical theory which tends to see individual at the very center of
life and all experience. The individual is placed at the center of art.
Literature is therefore an expression of his unique feelings and particular
attitudes.
Romanticism is opposed
to the artificial conventions, the reigning literary tradition and the poetic
establishment. It is concerned with the individual, the informal, the emotional
and the dynamic. It attempts to catch the transient moments. For the poets of
this period,
Art is a mirror
in which we find a reflection of life.
According to
Wordsworth, ‘poetry is a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings’. It is an
inborn gift and not something acquired. The poet’s imagination creates poetry.
It is the expression of emotion. The traditional view that poetry is
painstaking endeavor is discarded by the Romantics. Blake thought that poetry
comes from inspiration, vision and prophecy. Keats said that poetry should come
‘as naturally as the leaves of a tree’.
Definition:
Romanticism means the
return to nature. - Rousseau
Romanticism is the
opposite not of classical but of realism in literature. -Victor
Hugo
Romanticism emphasizes
on emotion rather than reason, the heart opposed to head.
Features:
- Emphasis on emotional and
imaginative spontaneity. Romantic poets validated strong
emotions as an authentic source of aesthetic experience.
- Emphasis on the imagination as a
positive and creative faculty. Romanticism permitted
a person’s imagination and freedom in art and legitimized it as a critical
authority.
- Importance of self-expression and
individual feeling. The Romantic poets explored truth of
imagination rather than scientific truth.
- Return to Nature.
Romantic poets believed that close association with nature was healthy in terms
of both mental and moral health. They were concerned that Nature should not
just be seen scientifically but as a divine living force. It is thus amplified
and glorified. They displaced humanity by external nature as poetic subject
matter. Thus, the description of landscape and its aspects became prominent.
- Great range of subject.
Lowly and eccentric characters like an idiot boy or a leech gatherer are
material for poetic treatment by Wordsworth. Supernatural themes are used by
Coleridge. Rural life is idealized in Romantic poetry. The Romantic poets also
had fascination for solitary figures, social non-conformists, outcasts and
rebels such as Prometheus, Cain, Don Juan and Satan. They often dealt with
forgotten events and figures. It draws inspiration from folk literature and the
literature of Middle Ages and of Classical antiquity. The Classical writers are
explored anew and are drawn upon by Keats and Shelley; the Middle Ages inspire
the novels of Scott and the poems of Coleridge, Southey and many more.
- Use of everyday speech of ordinary
people instead of lofty poetic diction. The Romantic poets
looked for new metres and stanzas to replace traditional forms. The heroic
couplet gave place to the ballad, the sonnet, the Spenserian stanza and other
experimental verse forms.
- Another innovation is the use of
symbolist techniques notably by Blake and Shelley.
- Originality
was an absolute essentiality of Romanticism. The ability of a poet to produce
an original work through the process ‘creation from nothingness’ was considered
very important
- The influence of Germany.
The increasing bitterness of the long war with France led to replace French
with the study of German literature. The first poetical works of Scott is based
on the German and the effects of the new influence can be further observed in
the works of Coleridge, Shelley, Byron and many more. In the course of time
German increased its hold upon English, until by the middle of 19th
cen. it was perhaps the dominating foreign language.
- Abundant output. This is the most
fertile period of our literature which excelled even the lavishness of the
Elizabethans. The development of new ideas brings fresh inspiration for poetry.
In prose we may note especially the fruitful yield of the novel, the
rejuvenation of the essay and the unprecedented activity of critical and
miscellaneous writers
Poets:-
William Wordsworth
(1770-1850)
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(1772-1834)
Lord Byron (1788-1824)
Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1792-1822)
John Keats (1795- 1821)
Ro9bert Southey
(1774-1843)
Thomas Moore (1779-
1852)
Thomas Camphel
(1777-1844)
Leigh Hunt (1784- 1859)
Great work. Highly appreciative
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