England Romantic Poets Essay Research Paper The

England Romantic Poets Essay, Research Paper

The poetry of the English Romantic period (1800-1832), often contain many

descriptions, and ideas of nature, not found in most writing. The Romantic poets

share several charecteristics in common, certainly one of the most significant

of these is their respective views on nature.Which seems to range from a more

spiritual, if not pantheistic view, as seen in the works of William Wordsworth,

to the much more realistic outlook of John Keats. All of these authors discuss,

in varrying degreess, the role of nature in acquiring meaningful insight into

the human condition. These writers all make appeals to nature as if it were some

kind of living entity calls are made for nature to rescue the struggling writer,

and carry his ideas to the world. One writer stated in his introduction to a

Romantic anthology: The variety of this catalogue implies completedness; surely

not phase or feature of the outer natural world is without its appropriate

counterpart in the inner world of human personality. Nature, then, can be all

things to all men. To the revolutionary Shelley, the rough wind wails, like the

poet himself, for the world’s wrong; or it lifts his own thoughts to scatter

them like leaves, like glowing ashes, over the world in an apocalyptic prophecy

of the coming Utopian spring. To Keats, beset by longing and heart-ache, the

happiness of the nightingale’s song intensified an unbearable consciousness of

unattainable pleasures. (6) Nature took a different role in each of the Romantic

poets, and even the PreRomantics, and Victorians writings, but each of these

writers has that one major thing in common: They all write extensively on the

role of nature in the lives of people. The English Romantic poets, hailing

mostly from the Lakeside district of England, would have grown up in a region

that is known for its natural beauty. These writers did not know the ugliness of

the city, nor do they have any experience of the crowded streets, and polluted

air of London. To these writers, the world is a very beautiful place. There are

wonderful virgin forests, pristine lakes and rivers, and beautiful wildlife,

making this region a wealthy little virtual paradise. Certainly this would (at

least partly) account for the facination with the natural world that can be

found in these poets. They mostly grew up seeing nature in its highest form of

beauty, and they were definately influenced by their environments. Throughout

the course of this paper, four poems, written by three poets, will be discussed

in some detail. Additional poems and poets will also be mentioned briefly as

this discussion progresses. They are Wordsworth’s Ode on Intimations of

Immortality, stanzas: One, two, four, and eleven, as well as parts of five and

eight. The second Wordsworth poem is: My Heart Leaps Up. The second poem will be

Percy-Byshe Shelley’s Ode to the West Wind. And the final poem will be: Bright

Star by John Keats. Each of these poems contain strong references to nature, and

its role in the developement of human identity, and additionaly, of the

sacredness, almost divinity that is to be found in nature. Throughout these

poems, the reader will find, as has been mentioned, a varrying (yet still

somewhat common) idea of the importance of nature. This should help the reader

to catch a little insight into how the English Romantics viewed man and his role

within nature, as well as nature’s role within human society and specificaly,

how nature can effect and individuals development over his lifetime. Let us now

turn to the first poet that we will discuss, William Wordsworth. Wordsworth,

along with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, released a book of poems titled: Lyrical

Ballads. With this book came the beggining of the Romantic period. Wordsworth

declared that: " Poetry, should be written in the language of the common

man and should be about incidents and situations from common life"

(Francis, 36). Clearly this is a rejection of the Neo- Classical tradition, and

an embracing of ordinary things and people. Wordsworth can really be classified

by his very romanticized view held toward nature: A love of nature is one of

Wordsworth’s predominate themes. For him, birds, trees, and flowers represent

and invisible spirit that is present everywhere in the universe. (ibid) Clearly

Wordsworth fits very nicely into this paper’s claim toward the Romantic view of

nature. In the first poem of his that we will discuss, Ode on Intimations of

Immortality, we can see many great examples of his use and view of the natural

world. Additionaly it is interesting to note his discussion on children, whom he

believes to be "closer to God than adults" (ibid). We will now pause

to quote from the afforementioned stanza’s: Ode on Intimations of Immortality 1

There was a time when meadow, grove, and stream, The eart

Внимание, отключите Adblock

Вы посетили наш сайт со включенным блокировщиком рекламы!
Ссылка для скачивания станет доступной сразу после отключения Adblock!

Скачать