Romanticism is a movement that opposed neoclassicism. It began in the last years of the 18th century. This move was against the ardent work of Alexander Pope and Dryden. This movement brought the revolution against the monopoly of rules and regulations for the good of the common people. It has a touch for the imagination and the heart. It was like going back to nature according to William Wordsworth. Active poets in this movement were William Words Worth, ST Coleridge, John Keats, Byron, PB Shelly TS Eliot, etc.
Let us review the main characteristics of romanticism with reference to the work of different poets related to this time:
01. The poets of this movement prioritized the themes of the lower class, common people or belonging to nature, unlike the neoclassical focused on difficult and abstract themes. For example: Lucy Gray, The Solitary Reaper, The World is Too Much with Us, The Daffodils, Sonnet Composed on the Westminster Bridge, Ode on the Grecian Urn, Ode to The Nightingale, Endymion, Kubla khan, Music when soft Voices Die and indolence. They all belong to the rustic life with beauty and freshness. All the topics have no importance in this materialistic society but they are getting a great reputation among the common people.
02. The central theme of all themes is love and joy. This movement follows nature as a great teacher for people. Eradicate the animal spirit and sense or create a class system. The poems of William Words Worth, The Daffodils, etc., even all of Keats’s poems make the lesson of love explicit. There nature is completely. So there, love blooms with magical ideas. They perceive love as a source of direct link with Allah Almighty. It is a fact that for this reason William Wordsworth is known as the panthiest. The poets who were followers of this movement remained very escapist of sorrows. The poems of John Keat, there, he is found running from the mundane to the dreamy or imaginative world in search of love and peace. His poem, Endymoin:
‘A beautiful thing is a pleasure forever’
Prayed
‘Beauty is truth, truth is beauty. ‘
In his poem, “On the Greek Urn”, he delights in the spectacle of the engraved urn. He never lets the sorrows overcome him as if he had the experience of the past. William Wordsworth’s poems or Shelley’s lyrical drama ‘Prometheus Unbound’ seem like a successful play by virtue of love. Where as the neoclassical poets persist in wit and solid wisdom.
03. The romantic movement revolves around nature. The poets accept it as a source of food and growth. Nature is an abode of satisfaction and driving force of imagination, where love is nurtured. Nature is the best teacher. As found in ‘The Prelude’. The poet accepts himself that nature persecutes him. As he stole boat, he tried to steal eggs and climbed the tree, there he felt fear and chills overcame him. His imagination accepted it as teaching. The poems of John Keat are a source of great instruction.
04 Romantic poets love pantheism. William Words Worth abundantly infuses pantheism. As he says ‘Beyond all objects there is something that takes care of them’. So God and nature are both something. That is why he never forgets to love all of nature. PB Shelley is very fast and the belief of him is very spicy. His work ‘Ode to the West Wind’ is the reflection of the preserver and destroyer. He believes there; he sees that he is not less than God.
05. The romantic poets follow equality, fraternity and brotherhood. There is no exalted class. All are equal. From the poems, readers found brotherhood and love.
06. Romanticism never accepts reason. The reason is the subject of quarrels or breakups. It means that it stirs up jealousy. PB Shelley, in his lyrical drama ‘Prometheus Unbound’, Ode to the West Wind and other poems, for example ‘Revolt of Islam’, does not find reason but unity with the desire for change. They love hope, imagination and prevail in that environment. Coleridge and Keats do that in their works.
07. In romantic poetry the supernatural element is welcomed. This element shows the future of the poet. In Kubla Khan, the intimidation of the ancestors stands as a prophecy of imminent evil, the west wind is the prophecy and the symbol of the preserver and destroyer. Even in the prelude the dreadful scene or the description of the mountain or the long tree has a great effect on the poet. Neoclassical poets call it useless, for this, Shakespeare’s work is self-evident. S. T Coleridge becomes addicted to opium and enters a dream world. The dream world is a favorite theme avoiding reality full of deep pain and unbearable corruption. It is evident that William Wordsworth opposed industrialization.
One thing to track is that the romantic spirit cradles the revolution. The poets bear the scene or the massacre of the revolution embracing it as their work more unique than their lives or their own family. As worth the words of William, P. B Shelley, etc. they are revolutionary poets. So nature can change the world by sweeping away cruelty and ugliness.
The romantic poets follow a very simple language or the language of the field. They use a simple and attractive diction that comes out spontaneously. Their languages seem to be natural. In this case, William Wordsworth is supreme. They use concepts, images, symbols, metaphors, similes, alliterations, etc. They all bring great beauty to the work and his style becomes very elevated as Longino has reflected in his work “On the Sublime.”
So it is clear that the romantic poets follow a simple and natural style, while the classical poets are very different. Therefore, the norms of the romantic poets are more interesting and add a noble spirit to their work.