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William Shakespeare 's ' Three Sets ' Nature And The Romantics Are Two Sides Of The Same Coin

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The Sublime in Three Sets Nature and the Romantics are two sides of the same coin. In almost every single poem we have read over the course of this semester we have been able to find hints of the natural world. These instances were moments of hunger. While industrialization was tearing landscapes up by their roots, Romantic poets were desperate to experience the euphoric sense of sublimity they had come to associate with the highest level of consciousness. However, this sense of sublimity is not a constant achievable state. For each poet the definition is different, and time was altering the facets of this theory. This paper will look critically at two poets and one essayist in an attempt to study the changing “face” of sublimity. For …show more content…

“These pastoral farms, / Green to the very door; and wreaths of smoke / Sent up, in silence, from among the trees! (17-19). The landscape is lush, green, and welcoming with mention to ‘wreaths’. Smoke symbolizes warmth within these homes, as well. The reference to the word ‘pastoral’ is connotative with rural countryside based imagery. There is also a sense of innocence about this landscape. Something the speaker is looking in on with feelings of elation. Wordsworth definition of the word ‘sublime’ is one of positivity, which is shown in the following quotation. “…felt along the heart; / And passing even into my purer mind / With tranquil restoration:—feelings too / Of unremembered pleasure: (29-32). Wordsworth is giving us what is happening internally to our speaker. He is lulled by this picturesque countryside into complete tranquility and peace. He is even allowed the wonderful feeling of pleasure. For Wordsworth, the sublime is synonymous with pleasure of the purest form. Other language that supports this claim are words such as “beauteous” “joy” and “dizzy rapture” to describe the experience of looking down upon Tintern Abbey’s splendor. Further within the reading we find that the sublime is often tantamount to ‘mystery’ and a deep sense of the unknown. However, this mystery to Wordsworth is not a haunting one. The following quotation expands on this characteristic of the sublime. “Of aspect more sublime; that blessed

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