Paper no -5 The Romantic Literature

Alpa Ponda

Sem 2

Batch 2016-2018

Paper No. 5

The Romantic Literature

Submitted to  :smt. S B Gardi department of English

Enrolment no: 2069108420170025

Mail ID: alpaponda.7@gamil.com

Topic : The history of the Romantic age and background

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Introduction :

         The English Romantic movement began in 1798, as the publication of The Lyrical Ballads occurred. It is not a start up but the result of a long and gradual growth and development. We can not say that there was only the Romantic Age includes the romantic literature. Because before that time, the Elizabethan age witnessed the overflow of romantic literature. The Romantic poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats and others found interest in romantic writing.

Definition of the term ‘Romanticism’

Rousseau says,

        “ Romanticism means the return to nature.”

Victor Hugo,

“Romanticism is the opposite, not of classicism but of realism in literature.”

The Romantic Revival

        The name the romantic revival is given to a movement in European Literature which spread in the last quarter of the 18^th century. It was a revolt against classicism.

The Birth and Development of Romanticiskm :

        The Romantic Movement was a reactionary process towards the pseudo classics. As Rousseau says, ‘Return to Nature’ was an eminent part of the romantic literature. The people of the romantic age, wants freedom which flourished in their literature. They fed up with rules and regulations of that classicism. They want to return to the free and refreshing life of the world of leaves and flowers. After Renaissance, for the first time, Nature comes in ‘The Seasons’ of James Thomson. First time the nature is in centre. There are some pieces of literature, e.g. Young’s Night Thoughts, Harvey’s Meditations among the Tombs, Percy’s Reliques.

        All are the examples of romantic literature which showcases on the emotions of life.

        The history of the romantic age is probably recognized with the publication of The Lyrical Ballads in 1798.  In this book, first time the method of writing poetry published by Wordsworth and Coleridge. They stressed the aims and objectives of the new poetry.

Coleridge clarified to write on the supernatural elements in the inciodents of his poetry. And Wordsworth gave the imaginative touch to the subjects of day to day life in his poetry. They put ordinary subjects in his poetry.

The Salient features of the romantic age

1.  Subjectivity

Being a subjective, the poet does not follow any general rules and regulations regarding the writing. There was a emphasis on inspiration and intuition. The poetry of the romantic age was with different subjects. There is no confined form of writing poetry. The poets can write what he feels. So it is called

2.  Spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings

It is to believe, tha poet feels more than there is to feel and sees more than there is to see. The literature is focused on imagination than the knowledge. So they didn’t want a perfection of writing but to make free their emotions.

Wordsworth’s ‘The Prelude’ is an autobiographical poem on the development of his mind. The first part is of his childhood in ‘The Prelude’.

3.  Unique language

The romantics use the own individual languagefor their purposes of writing. They raised their voice against the artificiality of the 18^th century classics. So their language was unique not on rule based.

The Spenserian stanza, the blank verse, ballad metre, the ode and the sonnet are all revived in this age. The main personalities associated with romanticism are S.T. Coleridge, Wordsworth, P.B. Shelley, John Keats, Lord Byron, they all have their unique way of writing.

4.  Pessimism in tone

The romantic poets were not interested in realities so the imagination flourished as their Utopia towards the imaginative life. Utopia is reflected in the poet’s happiest emotions through poetry. The romantic revolted against the existing conditions and tried to escape into imaginative world of his own. So they wrote in pessimistic tone.

5.  Zest for the beauties

Love of nature leads to the love of those who live in the lap. The poet makes the poor, the hero of their poetry. Common man’s misery becomes the central theme. they understand the ordinary man’s nature and heart. The romantic poetry is democratic.

6.  Mysticism and Beauty of Universe

The romantic poets distract towards the beauty of being and supernatural things. Writers like Coleridge makes a significant use of mysticism in his poetry. So the audience is engaged in unsolved question.

Writers of the romantic age

Keats is the tragic figure of the Romantic movement. Before he died he greatly contributed in the romantic literature.  Keats was born in London and made his career in medical but he gave up his practice.

His friendship with editor Leigh Hunt and his literary circle of friends encouraged Keats to write poetry. He suffered much criticism after his first major effort, Endymion, which was published in 1818, but Keats continued to write and examined his work more closely. Lamia, Isabella, The Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, published in 1820, is widely regarded as some of the best poetry to have been written during the period.

But in 1820 the first signs of consumption occurred. Despite moving to Italy to try and improve his condition Keats knew from his own medical training that his cause was lost. He died in Rome in 1821 at the  age of 25. Keats wrote his own epitaph, which describes his belief that he would not be remembered: "Here lies one whose name was writ in water".

His death was to influence Shelley in particular, who wrote the poem Adonais in his honour and attacked critics for their harsh treatment of Keats' early work.

Conclusion:

        The literature is full in bloom with its originality and imaginative power. The age is against the classicism. And also contain the supernaturalism, mystism, love, misery, nature in its writing.