Imagine a candle-lit dinner on a starry night in Paris, the Eiffel Tower just in view with dazzling lights shining into the night. This image is probably what you think of when you hear the word “romantic,” correct. However, this image is a stumbling block when people think of the “Romanticism Period” in literature. Where “romantic” means having a lovely time with the person you love the most, “Romanticism” is a piece of literature written with key themes in mind. Those themes tend to be a strong emotion, imagery or worship of nature, and individuality and subjectivity. The peak of inspiration for these pieces was in the years 1800-1850, and there are famous poems that are well loved today from this period. Many of the poets that you enjoy reading and know are, in actuality, Romanticism writers, and instill the themes above in our minds.
Imagination and creativity is part of the many influences that attribute to the writings in the Romantic Era. It influenced writers and poets to expand their art to a new horizons and veer away from the Enlightenment Era of tradition and logic. The use and significance of memory and dreams in the Romantic Era helped strengthen the inner emotions within writings, present ideas outside of traditional expectancies, and display the authors creativity and individuality throughout their writings. These works have resonated throughout history and British Literature inspiring new and old writers to explore within themselves and inside their imagination to create art that portrays their personalities in their work.
Romanticism was a philosophical, artistic and literary movement that originated in the 18th century. This was characterized chiefly by a reaction against neoclassicism and the period of Enlightenment, which was more scientific and rational in nature. However, romanticism stressed an emphasis on the imagination and emotions. For example, the Enlightenment thinkers condemned the Middle Ages as “Dark Ages”, a period of ignorance and irrationality. The romantics, conversely, idealized
Romantic writing can be simply measured by the presence of one simultaneous conjunction; the mastered use of the written word and the ability to illustrate intense emotion. Edgar Allan Poe, born in 1809, was an American writer, editor, and literary critic. Poe is best known for his short stories and poetry, especially those consisting of tales of mystery and horror. Widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in American literature, he was one of the country’s first practitioners of the short story. Romanticism was a literary, artistic, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe at the end of the 18th century. In part, it was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution, the scientific rationalization of nature, and the Age of Enlightenment. Literature, visual arts and music embodied the movement by emphasizing intense emotions experienced in nature such as awe, horror and terror, and apprehension. Throughout his Romantic works, Edgar Allen Poe explores the complexity and depth of negative emotion to reveal its innate presence in humans by creating emotionally disturbed characters. The erratic behavior of Poe’s narrators in “The Tell-Tale Heart” and “The Cask of Amontillado” demonstrate this phenomenon of predominantly vicious emotion.
Romanticism was a period time 1750 to 1870 in Europe, Latin America and The United States. Romantic Movement didn’t reach to France until the 1820’s. Romanticism main spirit was against of rule, law and formulas that classicism the different characterized of general in 18th century. Imagination, Subjectivity of approach, freedom, Expression and the idealization of nature will be focused in movement of Romantic Literature. In this period industrial revolution with the social and political norms form as age of enlightenment and against of scientific rationalization of nature. Some Literature element of that period will be emotional, imagination and suspense. Romanticism movement brings some of different writes such as John Keats, Blake William, Wordsworth William and other. They came with the different illustrated, poetry that expresses the language, emotion and imagination. Romanticism is a phenomenon characterized by subjectivity of approach and reliance on the imagination, An Idealization of nature and freedom of though and expression.
Romanticism is an intellectual, spiritual, and literary movement that begins at the start of the nineteenth century and concludes at the beginning of the twentieth century. Of the many characteristics that are associated with Romanticism, the characteristics that are most evident in literature from this period are the characteristics of individuality and imagination. The author Edgar Allen Poe exhibits these characteristics in his works “The Black Cat”, and the “The Raven”.
What radicalized the world as they knew it during Romanticism—and everyday since— was the use of blank verse for topics as mundane and commonplace as nature and a widow. These seemingly normal topics are being discussed through blank verse, or iambic pentameter. The most elated form of writing, and speech, of that day was used for the commoners, thus balancing everyone in society. There was no longer a set higher class or lower class speech dialect—everyone was the same. This poetry demolished the upper class and elevated the common folks’ dignity by allowing them to speak and read in their stories through the words of the powerful. This dramatic reimagining of the ordinary is what connected society during the Romantic era—and is the fundamental basis of the spirit of
In order to fully understand how supernatural themes played such a large role in Romanticism, we must further explore what Romanticism really is. This spiritual and artistic movement rejected rationalism, and emerged as a reaction against ‘the age of enlightenment’, which put strong emphasis on reason and logic. Thus, for the Romantics, literary creation was what the artist produced after reconstructing or developing a new interpretation of the world around him. It was the offspring of imagination applied to the writer’s impressions of real life. Authors such as Coleridge, Blake, and Shelley, believed that literary creation was the product of transforming reality into something beyond reason, but not beyond the
The Romantic period of literature started in the late eighteenth century and is one of the shorter eras in our history. During this era, authors mainly wrote about what they were feeling in that moment. They did not write with rules and purely wrote spontaneously with imagination. Another characteristic that is found within Romanticism is individualism. Many of the poets created a sense of indictability and self-reliance within their stories by giving astronomical potentials for their characters. Finally, nature and supernatural are large themes within the Romantic era. These elements can be seen within all the works that we have covered during the semester. Three pieces that I have read that have helped me comprehend these elements and how they work cohesively together are “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” by Wordsworth, “The Rime of Ancient Mariner,” by Coleridge and “Ode to a Nightingale” by Keats. These stories have a common theme of nature and how it brings happiness.
The Romantic Era was a period of that examined emotions and put them into words. Romantics abandoned the logical traditional Western World thought which believed that intelligence was the method used to understand the world. However, the Romantics opted to espouse imagination and feelings as a veritable approach to empathize the world. (James ,488)
Internalization and self-consciousness seem to be at the root of Romantic poetry. The first generation of Romantic poets struggled to comprehend the complexity of mortality, the natural world and the imagination, thus challenging and inspiring them to express their personal understandings through poetry. Common solutions among the poets came through internalizing their beliefs or to try to escape the burden of self-consciousness. William Blake, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge are similar in this way, yet they each have different poetic styles.
Through the late 1700s and early 1800s, the period of Romanticism blossomed. “Romanticism” very loosely describes the era in which modern culture began to take shape. During the Romantic era, many advancements were made in all aspects of people’s lives and cultures. One aspect in particular has held great value even to this day. That aspect being the expansive amount of literature created during the era. The era of Romanticism had its name for a reason. It can be greatly attributed to the romantic style or genre of literature that defined the period. Romantic writers wove many tales of admiration, longing, and aspirations. They were fantastical, in a sense, and almost the antithesis of realism, even. Amidst the great breadth of literature
Romanticism came to be in the 18th and 19th centuries which emphasized the imagination and emotions of romanticism. Many people viewed this type of literature as the quality or state of being impractical or unrealistic meaning romantic feelings or ideas. During this time many poets were encouraged to express their true colors and individual uniqueness. The Romantic Era expanded all throughout the world, and reached poets such as Keats, Byron, Shelley, and Wordsworth.
Shelley in his poem ‘Ode to the West Wind’ has used similes in his poem. He states that, “the leaves dead are driven like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing.” He also states that, “the winged seeds where they lie cold and low each like a corpse within its grave.” As observed from these examples, the poets will use these techniques to assist in easier interpretation of the poem.
In Percy Shelley’s “Ode to the West Wind” considers the subject of cyclic regeneration through the depiction of nature. Shelley watches the destructive changes in nature created by the autumnal wind with a desire for the following spring and revival. In the seasonal process he sees a typical model for conceivable revolutionary changes both in his own life and in the current social and political structure of his nation. The usage of nature demonstrates Shelley’s gratefulness towards beauty and the natural world. His “Ode to the West Wind” fundamentally engages the dynamic brilliant power of the west wind to issue him that vitality which has the capacity to change the world. He describes how powerful the wind is and communicates his poem in a shrewd method that paints readers a picture of how great and amazing the wind can be. Through the utilization of