In the Romantic Period in England there was a shift taking place in literature. Poets of the time period believed that a personal relationship with God or the Universe was more important than a larger collective religious or political one. The introduction of the Romantic Period in the Norton Anthology of British Literature states, “And the pervasiveness of nature poetry in the period can be attributed to a determination to idealize the natural scene as a site where the individual could find freedom from social laws (Greenblatt, 1377).” The poets of that day also believed that one could receive that personal relationship through the natural world. Literature focused on the individual great or small and was much more personal than it had been in the past. In accordance with the importance of the individual, Romantic poets expressed an importance and love of nature in their poetry. The poets William Wordsworth and Percy Bysshe Shelley use their interpretations of nature, although different, to express the romantic idea of individualism. These poets used nature to express their feelings toward the individual and the importance they placed on a personal relationship with one’s inner self as well as God. William Wordsworth loved nature and lived in remote natural regions of England for much of his life. He had a relationship with the natural world that he lived in and around and this is evident in his writing. His poetry describes how he learns more about himself, and his relationship with God through learning and becoming more acquainted with nature. This principle is portrayed in this passage of Wordsworth’s Tintern Abbey. He says, “For I have learned/ To look on nature, not as in the hour/ Of thoughtless youth; but hearing ofte... ... middle of paper ... ...she Shelley. Wordsworth suggested that the individual mind gains power and understanding from and because of the influence of nature. Shelley believed that the individual’s mind and imagination gives nature the power that it has over the individual. Although the method they used to establish individualism through nature was different, both of their works embodied that principle and epitomized the Romantic view of Individualism. Works Cited Greenblatt, Stephen. The Romantic Period. The Norton Anthology English Literature. Greenblatt et al Ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. Shelley, Percy Bysshe. “Mont Blanc.” The Norton Anthology English Literature. Greenblatt et al Ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006. Wordsworth, William. “Tintern Abbey.” The Norton Anthology English Literature. Greenblatt et al Ed. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 2006.
Wolfson, Susan & Peter Manning. The Longman Anthology of British Literature: The Romantics and Their Contemporaries. V. 2A. New York: Longman, 1999.
The Romantic period at its height extended over just a bit more than a century, from the latter half of the eighteenth century through to nearly the end of the nineteenth century. During this period, a new school of poetry was forged, and with it, a new moral philosophy. But, as the nineteenth century wound down, the Romantic movement seemed to be proving itself far more dependent on the specific cultural events it spanned than many believed; that is, the movement was beginning to wind down in time with the ebbing of the industrial and urban boom in much the same way that the movement grew out of the initial period of industrial and urban growth. Thus, it would be easy to classify the Romantic movement as inherently tied to its cultural context. The difficulty, then, comes when poets and authors outside of this time period-and indeed in contexts quite different then those of the original Romantic poets-begin to label themselves as Romantics.
At the end of the eighteenth century and moving into the nineteenth, the Romantic era emerges in Europe. The Romantic imagination is captured by the revolutionary change of this period, namely the French Revolution. However, political and social reform extends to England as well inspiring Romantics including Wordsworth and Coleridge. In addition to the revolutionary spirit of the Romantic era, the Romantics also concern themselves with the natural world. Wordsworth and Coleridge both write on the natural world in “Tintern Abbey” and “Frost at Midnight”, respectively. Specifically, they redefine the relationship
He has simply gained something in return: looking at nature, not in thoughtless ways but seeing its true meaning and beauty; hearing the sad music of humanity. The “Frost at Midnight” and “Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey” contain different understandings of these two speakers; Wordsworth and Coleridge. Wordsworth is raised in a simple countryside and he views his childhood as a time when his relationship with nature was at its greatest; he revisits his childhood memories to relieve his feelings and encourage his imagination.
Abrams, M.H., The Norton Anthology of English Literature. Sixth Edition, Vol. 1. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Inc., 1993
“Come forth into the light of things, let nature be your teacher” is what William Wordsworth has preached to us. We all have places that we can feel at home with. For some, it is a trip to the east coast or the Spice Islands. A place where we can be ourselves and not have to worry about anything else that is going on in our lives. My special place is in the Big Horn Mountains where tons of different species of animals roam the cliffs, plains, and forests that are scattered for miles across. In “Tintern Abbey,” William Wordsworth has returned there after five long years away. He brings his younger sister whom he wants to appreciate the beauty just as he does. Wordsworth notices how certain things have changed, but it is still the same place that he came to love. Wordsworth is a Romantic poet. He helped start the Romantic Movement around the end of the eighteenth century. In William Wordsworth poem, “Tintern Abbey,” there are three noticeable romantic elements which are, simplicity of language, expression of intensified feelings, and responses to nature that lead to awareness of self.
The Norton Anthology: English Literature. Ninth Edition. Stephen Greenblatt, eds. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2012. 2308. Print.
Romanticism was a revolutionary movement which began in English Literature (mainly poetry) around the Eighteenth Century in Western Europe and gained height during the times of the Industrial Revolution. Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge and Blake were regarded as the ‘Big Six’ of Romanticism. In ‘Tintern Abbey’ by William Wordsworth, ‘Frost at Midnight’ by Samuel Coleridge and ‘ Ode to the West Wind’ by Percy Shelley, we see clearly that nature is the central trigger for the poet’s imagination to take wings and to help each poet to seriously explore his inner world in a meditative manner; the treatment and responses to nature are also similar, despite some individual differences. This is not surprising considering the fact that they were all contemporaries and also showed the same Romantic beliefs about the Nature of Imagination and the Creation of Poetry.
In his poem, “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” Wordsworth recaptures his admiration for Tintern Abbey, a place on the banks of the River Wye in Southeast Wakes. He discusses how he hasn’t visited Tintern Abbey in five years, yet he remembers every detail of the landscape and every feeling he experienced when he was younger. Wordsworth writes, “These beauteous forms, / Through a long absence, have not been to me /As is a landscape to a blind man’s eye:” (23-25). Wordsworth is telling the audience that this is not a new unfamiliar scene to him, as it would be for a blind man, but instead a beautiful familiar picture and though it has been a long time he remembers it vividly. As he describes the landscape, he uses words such as “tranquil” and “pleasures” to emphasize the beauty and joy he receives from the land. With such description, Wordsworth conveys to the audience a tone of appreciation and fondness. The reader knows that Wordsworth has a great love for this place.
Romanticism is a core belief. It can be demonstrated in a complicated format, with themes and subjects that qualify a piece of writing as ‘Romantic’, however in the context of Romantic writing, Romanticism is indefinable by those who wrote it. A set of beliefs and literary practices nonetheless, however the main Ideas of tranquility, beauty in nature and humanity cannot be classified. As Wordsworth states ‘We Kill to Dissect’ the same can be said with his poetry. To be given a list of Neo-Classic tendencies, and then a subsequent one with its opposites, and then to call that ‘Romantic’ is, I don’t believe, the principal of Romantic writing in its context. I believe that both of these poems I have chosen (Tintern Abbey and The Thorn) show, in stages, the core beliefs of the Romantic Movement. Firstly, list of thematic aside, the poems show the beating heart of Wordsworth’s ideals in nature and in humanity, however it also does show the thematic, The importance of the individual, of subjectivity, that imagination has no boundaries. Both express the view that nature is the ‘music of humanity’ and particularly in Tintern Abbey, that tranquil contemplation is important to a man of any creed.
On analysis of the different works of the Romantic Poets one realizes that, while Nature is a common element found in all the writers' works, it is symbolized in fairly different ways. Nature plays an essential role, but in diverse ways indeed. While William Blake uses Nature more to exemplify God and His glory, Robert Burns makes use of Nature to show the conspicuous differences be...
In his sonnets, “The World Is Too Much with Us” and “London, 1802,” there is always a flaw in something. Usually, that flaw is revealed through people or nature, and that is what Wordsworth is concerned with. He also will have a way to fix that problem, which generally is people changing to help nature. It is always written as though humans are at fault, but nature is always perfect and Godlike. In the Romantic period, nature is very important and the society always has a flaw, but nature is always perfect. The theme of that period shows through his sonnets.
He is writing the poem as if he were an object of the earth, and what it is like to once live and then die only to be reborn. On the other hand, Wordsworth takes images of meadows, fields, and birds and uses them to show what gives him life. Life being whatever a person needs to move on, and without those objects, they can't have life. Wordsworth does not compare himself to these things like Shelley, but instead uses them as an example of how he feels about the stages of living. Starting from an infant to a young boy into a man, a man who knows death is coming and can do nothing about it because it's part of life.
As a result of Wordsworth's many memories of Tintern Abbey, his life appears to be happy. The recollection of Tintern Abbey influences Wordsworth to acts of kindness and love. Likewise, Wordsworth is influenced from the natural surroundings of Tintern Abbey. Bloom said, "The poet loves nature for its own sake alone, and the presence of nature gives beauty to the poets mind…" (Bloom Poetry 409). Nature inspires Wordsworth poetically. Nature gives a landscape of seclusion that implies a deepening of the mood of seclusion in Wordsworth's mind. This helps Wordsworth become inspired in his writings while at the same time he is inspired in his heart (B...
But Keats is not only the poet of nature. Infact, all the romantics love and appreciate nature with an equal ardour. The differnce is that Keats's love for nature is purely sensous and he loves the beautiful sights and scenes of nature for their own sake, while other romantics see in nature a deep meaning-ethical, moral or spiritual. For example, Wordsworth claims that nature is a moral guide and universal mentor. Coleridge adds stangeness to the beauty by giving it supernatural touch. Shelley, on the other hand, intellectualizes nature. Byron is interested in the vigorous aspects of nature and he uses nature for the purpose of satire.