Back to: History of English Literature All Ages – Summary & Notes
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Back From Set Rules
The poetry of the Romantic Revival is in direct contrast to that of Neoclassical. In the 18th century, poetry was governed by set rules and regulations. There were well-prepared lines of poetic composition.
And any deviation from the rules was disliked by the teachers of poetic thought. The first thing that we notice in the poetry Romantic age is the break from the slavery of rules and regulations. The poets of the Romantic Age wrote poetry in freestyle without following any rules and regulations.
Interest in Rural Life
The poetry of the 18th century was concerned with clubs and coffee houses, drawing rooms and the social and political life of London. It was essentially the poetry of town life.
Nature had practically no place in Neo-classical Poetry. In the poetry of Romantic Revival, the interest of poets was transferred from town to rural life and from artificial decorations of drawing rooms to the natural beauty and loveliness of nature.
Nature began to have its own importance in the poetry of this age. Wordsworth was the greatest poet who revealed the physical and spiritual beauty of nature to those who could not see any charm in the wildflowers, green fields and the chirping birds.
Common Life
Romantic Poets started taking interest in the lives of the common people, the shepherds, and the cottages and left the gallant lords and gay butterflies of fashion to the care of novelists.
A renewed interest in the simple life marked the poetry of the poets of the Romantic Age. A feeling of humanitarianism colored the poetry of Wordsworth, Shelley, and Byron. Thus Romantic Poetry was marked by intense human sympathy and a consequent understanding of the human heart.
Love of Liberty and Freedom
In Romantic Poetry, the emphasis was laid on liberty and freedom of the individual. Romantic poets were rebels against tyranny and brutality exercised by tyrants and despots over humans crushed by poverty and smashed by inhuman laws.
Escape to the Middle Ages
Some Romantic poets felt irritated with the tyranny and ugliness of materialistic life of their age and to avoid the life of uneasy restlessness, they escaped from the problems of the world to a world of beauty and joy which their poetic definitions had pictured.
In many ways, Romantic Poetry proved to be the poetry of escape from the sorrows and sufferings of worldly life and their times to the Middle Ages, where they found the eternal bliss.
The enthusiasm for the Middle Ages satisfied the emotional sense of wonder on the one hand and the intellectual sense of curiosity on the other hand.
Predominance of Imaginations & Emotions
In Romantic Poetry, reason and intellect were subdued and their place was taken by imaginations, emotions, and passion. In the poetry of all the Romantic Poets, we find heightened emotional sensibilities and imaginative flights of genius bordering on heavenly heights uncrossed by the poets of the previous age.
Supernaturalism
Supernaturalism is another outstanding quality of Romantic Poetry. Poets like Coleridge and Scott gave a sense of wonder and mystery to poetry. It was this supernaturalism that gave the atmosphere of wonder and mystery to the Romantic Poetry.
Endless Variety
In Romantic Poetry, we come across an endless variety. The poetry of this age is as varied as the character and moods of different writers.
Subjectivity
Subjectivity began to have its full play in the poetry of this age. The poets of this period were in favor of giving a subjective interpretation of the objective realities of life. “The Romantic Movement”, says William J. Long “was the expression of individual genius rather than of the established rules.”
Lyricism
In Romantic Poetry, lyricism predominates and the poets of this school have, to their credit, a number of fine lyrics excelling the heroic couplet of the Neoclassical Age in melody and sweetness of tone.
Simplicity in Style
The style of the Romantic Poets is varied but the stress was laid on simplicity. Instead of an artificial model of the expression of classical poets, we have a natural diction and spontaneous way of expressing thoughts in Romantic Poetry.
Read about the Romantic Poets in English Literature
