Romantic Poetry

History of Romanticism

The essential ideas behind the Romantic era resulted from newly formed beliefs that humans were responsible for their own achievements and actions and that emotions should be focused on an expressed through various mediums of art. In particular, fear and horror were expressed often, for these emotions were considered fascinating and extremely powerful by people of the times. Various aspects of civilzation made up the whole of the Romantic belief, from folklore, nationalism, medievalism, and emotion, to exoticism, religion, individualism, and nature. It is also important to note that the poetry, music, and art of the Romantic era followed similar ideals and philosophies of said time period.
Several poets of the British Romantic Era had a severe impact on literature of the time and present day. Said poets are William Blake, George Byron, William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, Percy B. Shelly, John Keats, Matthew Arnold, and John Clare.

---

Folklore

Interest in Folklore during the Romantic movement can be traced back to the mid-18th century. It was during this period that people's views of tradition began to change, and the belief that a commoner could possess an exquisite storytelling ability formed. For the first time, people began to recognize the literary merit of stories told by the uneducated, rather than focusing solely on scholarly works. This belief followed in the folk tradition of passing stories down orally and focusing on the more simplistic and natural elements in life. Following this idea, Romantic poets often incorporated vivid descriptions of nature throughout their works, making this a key element to Romantic poetry.

Nationalism

In the wake of numerous civil wars and revolutions, people began to develop a strong sense of nationalism, and this was often depicted within their writing. Poems of the time often describe an epic battle or war, while others deal with less tangible concepts such as liberty, freedom, and death. This charcteristic was often used in conjunction with the folklore idea, as epic, historical battles were often alluded to so as to act as a comparison for the current political struggles the poets were facing.

Medievalism

The Romantic movement brought back aspects of history that, until that point, had been of little significance in society. Focusing on some of the more taboo beliefs and radical actions of the medieval era, Romantic poets were exposed to an entirely new world of which they could write about. As people from the Medieval times were quite superstitious and blamed everything they could not explain on the supernatural, a resurging interest in the mystic and unearthly realms took place. Writers began incorporating fairies, angels, demons, witches, and other sorts of mythological creatures into their poems, all for the sake of regenerating interest in a lost time.

Emotion

As the use of strong emotions was one of the main characteristics of the Romantic movement, it is only logical that poets would have employed these feelings throughout their poems. While the use of powerful, often irrational emotions was quite common, one of the most common emotions depicted was horror. Romantics had a fascination with anything frightening, as relates back to their attraction to all things supernatural. Since the emotion was so powerful, some of the best horror stories were written during this time period, including Mary Shelley's Frankenstein and Polidori's The Vampyre. It is, however, interesting to note that while authors and poets were obsessed with the idea of horror, they also valued emotions of the heart, including love, sorrow and longing.

Exoticism

At the same time that this movement was taking place, many explorers were discovering new lands and building new colonies all throughout the world. As industry was improving, people now had the capability and means to travel to distant and exotic lands. With these possibilities came the amazement with anything remotely exotic or new. Writers often set their stories in far-off lands, and poets would vividly describe a scene of a distance place so that those who were unable to visit the lands could get a sense of what it was like. Although these descriptions were intense, they in no way substituted for seeing the lands in person, and therefore they often inspired people to seek ways to visit the lands so that they may see the magnificent beauty that was described to them.

Religion

Although the Romantic era saw the reinstitution of religious piety and faith, after the Enlightenment it was taken in a different form. While previously poets either explicitly told religous stories through their work or related a story back to a religious text, now poets took many more liberties with the use of religion. Rather than being used purely to teach a lesson, religion was often simply alluded to in a poem to emphasize the overall theme. Feeling free to relate everyday occurrences to biblical stories gave writers a greater sense of freedom, another key characteristic of the period. While religion began to once again play a key role in the arts, this form allowed for artistic expression without the limitations of previous beliefs.

Individualism

As the focus on emotions and nationalism increased, so did one's value of his own self-worth. Rather than following Rousseau's belief that one must do what is best for the general will of the people, Romantics believed that each person was responsible for his own actions and self-improvement, and that by acting accordingly one could improve the whole of society. In accordance with this belief, many poets often wrote about self-discovery, or wrote autobiographical poems to influence anyone who might read them, believing that they were bettering society in this way.

Nature

Nature in the Romantic Age ultimately laid the groundwork for how Europeans view nature today. Previous to this period, writers wrote dramatic portrayals of unrealistic scenes; within this time period, they began to describe nature more realistically and using it to symbolically represent their emotions and thoughts. For the first time nature was not seen as a mere backdrop for society, but it was viewed as a world unto itself and was thus treated as such, described as intricately and accurately as previous poets had described an event or person. Nature, for many Romantics, represented the truest form of divinity. A key spiritual aspect of Romanticism was that God was no longer seen as a "man-like" being seperate from humanity, but was seen as a ubiquitous being that encompassed all life. Many Romantics saw the "light of God" within nature itself, frequently referencing in their works, as it represented a place of logical compared to the complex world of humans (whereas Science represented logic for Neo-Classicists). The Neo-Classicists associated more with urban values, as Europe's cities, in all their grandeur, represented man's great achievements in art and in the taming of nature. The Romantic era focused more on the natural surroundings as John Keats wrote "...For what has made the sage or poet write, but the fair paradise of Nature's light."