Romantic poetry

The Funeral of Shelley by Louis Edouard Fournier (1889); the group members, from left to right, are Trelawny, Hunt and Byron

Romantic poetry is the poetry of the Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century. It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the eighteenth century, and lasted from 1800 to 1850, approximately,

English Romantic poetry

Main articles: Romantic literature in English, English poetry, and Romantic sonnets

In England the poet William Wordsworth was actively engaged in trying to create a new kind of poetry that emphasized intuition over reason and the pastoral over the urban, often eschewing consciously poetic language in an effort to use more colloquial language. Wordsworth himself in the Preface to his and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads defined good poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,” though in the same sentence he goes on to clarify this statement by asserting that nonetheless any poem of value must still be composed by a man “possessed of more than usual organic sensibility [who has] also thought long and deeply;” he also emphasizes the importance of the use of meter in poetry (which he views as one of the key features that differentiates poetry from prose). Although many stress the notion of spontaneity in Romantic poetry, the movement was still greatly concerned with the difficulty of composition, and of translating these emotions into poetic form. Indeed, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, another prominent English Romantic poet and critic in his On Poesy or Art sees art as “the mediatress between, and reconciler of nature and man”. Such an attitude reflects what might be called the dominant theme of English Romantic poetry: the filtering of natural emotion through the human mind in order to create art, coupled with an awareness of the duality created by such a process.

In the Western cultural context, romanticism substantially contributed to the idea of what a real poet should look like. An idealized statue of a Czech poet Karel Hynek Mácha (in Petřín Park, Prague) represents him as a slim, tender and perhaps unhealthy boy. However, anthropological examination proved that he was a man of a strong, robust and muscular bodily constitution.

Characteristics of English Romantic poetry

Reaction against Neoclassicism

Romantic poetry carries unique features, which definitely distinguish it from other kinds of poetry. It is absolutely in contrast to neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poetry is poetry of intellect and reason, while romantic poetry is the product of emotions, sentiments and the voice of the heart of the poet. Romantic poetry is what the heart of the poet says. It is a catharsis of the poet’s emotions, thoughts, feelings and ideas bound in his heart. Romantic poetry is a reaction against the set standards, conventions, rules and traditional laws of poetry. That is the reason; romantic poetry is acknowledged as poetry of progressivism in contrast to neoclassical poetry. According to William J. Long, “The Romantic Movement was marked, and is always marked, by a strong reaction and protest against the bondage of rule and custom which in science and theology as well as literature, generally tend to fetter the free human spirit.”

Imagination

Imagination is the hallmark of romantic poetry. It is a part and parcel of romantic poets like John Keats, Samuel Coleridge and P.B Shelley. Unlike neoclassical poets, who shunned imagination and didn’t give any preference to imagination in their poetry, romantic poets laid extraordinary stress on imagination. John Keats was a great supporter of imagination in poetry. He says, “I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of Imagination- What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth.” It is Keats’s plight of imagination that helps him leave the real world and transport him into the world of nightingale. Spirituality in both Wordthworth and Blake, and also in Hugo and Manzoni, is related to morality, believing that literature, especially poetry, could improve the world. The secret of great art, said Blake, is the capacity to imagine. To define imagination, in his poem "Auguries of Innocence", William Blake said-

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And heaven in a wild flower,

Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,

And eternity in an hour.

Nature Poetry

Love for nature is another important feature of romantic poetry. Nature had a pivotal position in their poetry. Nature for them is a wellspring of inspiration, satisfaction and happiness. In their poetry reflects an association with external nature and places, a belief on pantheistic order of nature. It is pertinent to mention here that all the romantic poets differed in their views about nature. Wordsworth is considered the great lover of nature. Wordsworth recognized nature as a living thing, teacher, god and everything. He was the true adorer of nature. His feelings about nature was fully developed and expressed in his long poem The Prelude. In his poem The Tables Turn (1888) he writes-

One impulse from the vernal wood

Can teach you more of man

Of moral, evil and good

Than all the sages can.

Shelley was similarly an extraordinary lover of nature, he believed that nature is a living thing and there is a union between nature and man. Wordsworth gives a philosophical touch to nature, while Shelly stays upon the intellectual aspect of nature. John Keats is also an eminent lover of nature. But Coleridge was completely different from other romantic poets of his age. He considered nature as it is. He has a realistic perspective of nature. He believes that nature is not the source of joy and pleasure. It all depends upon our mood and disposition. He is of the opinion that joy doesn’t come from any external nature, rather, it emanates from the heart of our hearts.

Escapism

Escapism is another striking characteristic of romantic poetry. Escapism is a term, which implies a writer's failure to face the agonies of real life and take shelter somewhere else instead of fighting against the odds. As most of the romantic poets were in the grip of miseries, they tried to take asylum in the bower of their poetry. It was their most loved pastime to escape from reality and take asylum in the realm of their imagination. For example, Keats desires to fly away with the nightingale to forget the miseries of the world-

Away! away! for I will fly to thee,

Not charioted by Bacchus and his pards,

But on the viewless wings of Poesy.

Melancholic

Melancholy likewise occupies a prominent place in romantic poetry. Melancholy is a major source of inspiration for the romantic poets. Due to extreme melancholy, all the romantic poets have a tendency to compose subjective poetry. They write poetry, which is the voice of the heart of their heart. In Ode To a Nightingale Keats wrote-

..........for many a time

I have been half in love with easeful Death,

Call’d him soft names in many a mused rhyme,

To take into the air my quiet breath;

Now more than ever seems it rich to die,

To cease upon the midnight with no pain.

Medievalism in Romantic Poetry

Medievalism is likewise an important characteristic of romantic poetry. Medievalism means one’s love for the Middle Ages. Romantic poetry is replete with elements of medievalism a great deal. John Keats and Coleridge are the leading romantic poets, whose poetry exhibited an ample amount of medievalism. Romantic poets were against intellectualism, urbanism, industrialization and humdrum life. They wanted to get rid of these things by taking asylum in far off lands of their imagination. That is why; Middle Ages appealed to their taste to a great extent. They adored weird, remote and recondite places. Resultantly, they were more attracted to Middle Ages than to their own age. Romantic poetry also presents a sense of nostalgia.

Hellenism

Hellenism implies love, commitment and unmistakable fascination in the antiquated society, values and individuals of Greek. Romantic poets loved Hellenism a great deal in their poetry. They loved to explore the ancient culture of Greek in their poetry. John Keats' poetry is loaded with various allusions to the art, literature and culture of Greek. Ode on a Grecian Urn is a perfect example in this regard. The pictures engraved on the Grecian Urn show Keats's love the Greek ideals, culture and art.

Supernaturalism

Supernaturalism is another important feature of romantic poetry. Most of the romantic poets used supernatural elements in their poetry. Supernaturalism is a unique trait of romantic poets. They used supernaturalism not just for the creation of horror and awe; rather, they used it for the pleasure of the reader. Samuel Coleridge is the leading romantic poet in this regard. His poem Kubla Khan is completely the product of his imagination. The whole poem is a collection of supernatural elements.

Subjectivity

Romantic poetry is the poetry of sentiments, emotions and imagination of the poets. Romantic poetry is against the objectivity of neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poets avoided to describe their personal emotions in their poetry. They wanted to present a true picture of the society, while the romantic poets avoided description of their contemporary age.

Germany

German Romanticism was the dominant intellectual movement in the philosophy, the arts, and the culture of German-speaking countries in the late-18th and early 19th centuries. Compared to English Romanticism, German Romanticism developed relatively late, and, in the early years, coincided with Weimar Classicism (1772–1805); in contrast to the seriousness of English Romanticism, the German variety of Romanticism notably valued wit, humour, and beauty.

Sturm und Drang, literally "Storm and Drive", "Storm and Urge", though conventionally translated as "Storm and Stress") is a proto-Romantic movement in German literature and music that took place from the late 1760s to the early 1780s, in which individual subjectivity and, in particular, extremes of emotion were given free expression in reaction to the perceived constraints of rationalism imposed by the Enlightenment and associated aesthetic movements. The period is named for Friedrich Maximilian Klinger's play Sturm und Drang, which was first performed in 1777.

The philosopher Johann Georg Hamann is considered to be the ideologue of Sturm und Drang, with Jakob Michael Reinhold Lenz, H. L. Wagner and Friedrich Maximilian Klinger also significant figures. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was also a notable proponent of the movement, though he and Friedrich Schiller ended their period of association with it by initiating what would become Weimar Classicism.

Jena Romanticism

Jena Romanticism – also the Jena Romantics or Early Romanticism (Frühromantik)) – is the first phase of Romanticism in German literature represented by the work of a group centred in Jena from about 1798 to 1804.

Heidelberg Romanticism

Heidelberg was the centre of the epoch of Romantik ((Romanticism)) in Germany. The phase after Jena Romanticism is often called Heidelberg Romanticism (see also Berlin Romanticism). There was a famous circle of poets, the Heidelberg Romantics, such as Joseph von Eichendorff, Johann Joseph von Görres, Ludwig Achim von Arnim, and Clemens Brentano. A relic of Romanticism is the Philosophers' Walk (German: Philosophenweg), a scenic walking path on the nearby Heiligenberg, overlooking Heidelberg.

The Romantik epoch of German philosophy and literature, was described as a movement against classical and realistic theories of literature, a contrast to the rationality of the Age of Enlightenment. It elevated medievalism and elements of art and narrative perceived to be from the medieval period. It also emphasized folk art, nature and an epistemology based on nature, which included human activity conditioned by nature in the form of language, custom and usage.

France

French literature from the first half of the century was dominated by Romanticism, which is associated with such authors as Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, père, François-René de Chateaubriand, Alphonse de Lamartine, Gérard de Nerval, Charles Nodier, Alfred de Musset, Théophile Gautier and Alfred de Vigny. Their influence was felt in theatre, poetry, prose fiction. The effect of the romantic movement would continue to be felt in the latter half of the century in diverse literary developments, such as "realism", "symbolism", and the so-called fin de siècle "decadent" movement.

Poland

'Romanticism in Poland was a literary, artistic and intellectual period in the evolution of Polish culture, which began around 1820, coinciding with the publication of Adam Mickiewicz's first poems in 1822. It ended with the suppression of the Polish-Lithuanian January 1863 Uprising against the Russian Empire in 1864. The latter event ushered in a new era in Polish culture known as Positivism.

Russia

The 19th century is traditionally referred to as the "Golden Era" of Russian literature. Romanticism permitted a flowering of especially poetic talent: the names of Vasily Zhukovsky and later that of his protégé Alexander Pushkin came to the fore. Pushkin is credited with both crystallizing the literary Russian language and introducing a new level of artistry to Russian literature. His best-known work is a novel in verse, Eugene Onegin. An entire new generation of poets including Mikhail Lermontov, Yevgeny Baratynsky, Konstantin Batyushkov, Nikolay Nekrasov, Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Fyodor Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet followed in Pushkin's steps.

Pushkin is considered by many to be the central representative of Romanticism in Russian literature; however, he can't be labelled unequivocally as a Romantic. Russian critics have traditionally argued that his works represent a path from neo-Classicism through Romanticism to Realism. An alternative assessment suggests that "he had an ability to entertain contrarities [sic] which may seem Romantic in origin, but are ultimately subversive of all fixed points of view, all single outlooks, including the Romantic" and that "he is simultaneously Romantic and not Romantic".

Influence of British Romantic poetry

Scottish poet Robert Burns became a ‘people’s poet’ in Russia. In Imperial times the Russian aristocracy were so out of touch with the peasantry that Burns, translated into Russian, became a symbol for the ordinary Russian people. In Soviet Russia Burns was elevated as the archetypical poet of the people – not least since the Soviet regime slaughtered and silenced its own poets. A new translation of Burns, begun in 1924 by Samuil Marshak, proved enormously popular selling over 600,000 copies. In 1956, the Soviet Union became the first country in the world to honour Burns with a commemorative stamp. The poetry of Burns is taught in Russian schools alongside their own national poets. Burns was a great admirer of the egalitarian ethos behind the French Revolution. Whether Burns would have recognised the same principles at work in the Soviet State at its most repressive is moot. This didn’t stop the Communists from claiming Burns as one of their own and incorporating his work into their state propaganda. The post communist years of rampant capitalism in Russia have not tarnished Burns' reputation.

Lord Byron was a major influence on almost all Russian poets of the Golden Era, including Pushkin, Vyazemsky, Zhukovsky, Batyushkov, Baratynsky, Delvig and, especially, Lermontov.

United States

Transcendentalism was a philosophical movement that developed in the late 1820s and 1830s in the eastern region of the United States, rooted in English and German Romanticism, the Biblical criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher, the skepticism of Hume, and the transcendental philosophy of Immanuel Kant and of German Idealism. It was also influenced by Indian religions, especially the Upanishads.

The movement was a reaction to or protest against the general state of intellectualism and spirituality. The doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught at Harvard Divinity School was of particular interest.

Poet Walt Whitman (1819 – 1892) major work, Leaves of Grass, was first published in 1855, was influenced by transcendentalism. Influenced by Ralph Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalist movement, itself an offshoot of Romanticism, Whitman's poetry praises nature and the individual human's role in it. However, much like Emerson, Whitman does not diminish the role of the mind or the spirit; rather, he elevates the human form and the human mind, deeming both worthy of poetic praise.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809 – 1849) is best known for his poetry and short stories, and is widely regarded as a central figure of Romanticism in the United States and American literature as a whole. Poe, however, strongly disliked transcendentalism.

Another American Romantic poet, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (1807 – 1882) was the most popular poet of his day. He one of the first American celebrities and was also popular in Europe, and it was reported that 10,000 copies of The Courtship of Miles Standish sold in London in a single day. However, Longfellow's popularity rapidly declined, beginning shortly after his death and into the twentieth century as academics began to appreciate poets like Walt Whitman, Edwin Arlington Robinson, and Robert Frost. In the twentieth century, literary scholar Kermit Vanderbilt noted, "Increasingly rare is the scholar who braves ridicule to justify the art of Longfellow's popular rhymings." 20th-century poet Lewis Putnam Turco concluded "Longfellow was minor and derivative in every way throughout his career [...] nothing more than a hack imitator of the English Romantics."

Sweden

Swedish Romantic literature denotes Swedish literature between 1809 and 1830. In Europe, the period from circa 1805–1840 is known as Romanticism. It was also strongly featured in Sweden, based on German influences. During this relatively short period, there were so many great Swedish poets, that the era is referred to as the Golden Age of Swedish poetry. The period started around 1810 when several periodicals were published that contested the literature of the 18th century. An important society was the Gothic Society (1811), and their periodical Iduna, a romanticised retrospect to Gothicismus.

Spain

Main article: Romanticism in Spanish literature

With regard to Romantic Spanish poetry Germany and England were the large forces in this movement. Over the course of the late 18th century to the late 19th century, Romanticism spread philosophy and art through Western societies of the world. The earlier part of this movement overlapped with the Age of Revolutions. The idea of the creative imagination was rising above the idea of reason. Minute elements of nature, such as bugs and pebbles, were considered divine. There were many variations of the perception of nature in these works. Instead of allegory, this era moved towards myths and symbols. The power of human emotion emerged during this period. Leading Romantic poets include, Manuel José Quintana, José Zorrilla, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Rosalía de Castro (in Galician and Spanish), José de Espronceda, and Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra.

See also

• Croatian literature (section Romanticism and the Croatian National Revival)
• Serbian literature (section Pre-Romanticism)
• Rhine romanticism

References

• Article on Romantic Poetry