Romantic poetry

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The Funeral of Shelley by Louis Edouard Fournier

(1889); the group members, from left to right, are
Trelawny, Hunt and Byron
Romantic poetry is the poetry of the
Romantic era, an artistic, literary, musical
and intellectual movement that originated
in Europe toward the end of the 18th
century. It involved a reaction against
prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18th
century,[1] and lasted from 1800 to 1850,
approximately.[2][3]

English Romantic poetry

In early-19th-century England, the poet
William Wordsworth defined his and
Samuel Taylor Coleridge's innovative
poetry in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads
(1798):
I have said before that poetry is
the spontaneous overflow of
powerful feelings: it takes its
origin in emotion recollected in
tranquility: the emotion is
contemplated till, by a species of
reaction, the tranquility
gradually disappears, and an
emotion, kindred to that which
was before the subject of
contemplation, is gradually
produced, and does itself
actually exist in the mind.[4]
The poems of Lyrical Ballads intentionally
re-imagined the way poetry should sound:
"By fitting to metrical arrangement a
selection of the real language of men,"
Wordsworth and his English
contemporaries, such as Coleridge, John
Keats, Percy Shelley, and William Blake,
wrote poetry that was meant to boil up
from serious, contemplative reflection over
the interaction of humans with their
environment. Although many stress the
notion of spontaneity in Romantic poetry,
the movement was still greatly concerned
with the difficulty of composition and of
translating these emotions into poetic
form. Indeed, Coleridge, in On Poesy or Art,
sees art as “the mediatress between, and
reconciler of nature and man”.[5] Such an
attitude reflects what might be called the
dominant theme of English Romantic
poetry: the filtering of natural emotion
through the human mind in order to create
meaning.

In the Western cultural context, romanticism

substantially contributed to the idea of what a real poet
should look like. An idealized statue of a Czech man
Karel Hynek Mácha (in Petřín Park, Prague) represents
him as a slim tender and perhaps unhealthy boy
him as a slim, tender and perhaps unhealthy boy.
However, he had in reality a strong, robust and
muscular body.

Characteristics of English
Romantic poetry

The Sublime

One of the most important concepts in

Romantic poetry. The sublime in literature
refers to use of language and description
that excites thoughts and emotions
beyond ordinary experience. Though often
associated with grandeur, the sublime may
also refer to the grotesque or other
extraordinary experiences that "take us
beyond ourselves.”[6]

The literary concept of the sublime

became important in the eighteenth
century. It is associated with the 1757
treatise by Edmund Burke, though it has
earlier roots. The idea of the sublime was
taken up by Immanuel Kant and the
Romantic poets including especially
William Wordsworth.

Reaction against Neoclassicism

Romantic poetry contrasts with

neoclassical poetry, which was the
product of intellect and reason, while
romantic poetry is more the product of
emotion. Romantic poetry at the beginning
of the nineteenth century was a reaction
against the set standards, conventions of
eighteenth century poetry. According to
William J. Long, “The Romantic Movement
was marked, and is always marked, by a
strong reaction and protest against the
bondage of rule and custom which in
science and theology as well as literature,
generally tend to fetter the free human
spirit.”

Imagination
Belief in the importance of the imagination
is a distinctive feature of romantic poets
such as John Keats, Samuel Taylor
Coleridge and P. B. Shelley, unlike the
neoclassical poets. Keats said, “I am
certain of nothing but of the holiness of
the Heart's affections and the truth of
Imagination- What the imagination seizes
as beauty must be truth.” For Wordsworth
and William Blake, as well as Victor Hugo
and Alessandro Manzoni, the imagination
is a spiritual force, is related to morality,
and they believed that literature, especially
poetry, could improve the world. The
secret of great art, Blake claimed, is the
capacity to imagine. To define imagination,
in his poem "Auguries of Innocence", Blake
said:

To see a world in a grain of sand,

And heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.

Nature poetry

Love for nature is another important

feature of romantic poetry, as a source of
inspiration. This poetry involves a
relationship with external nature and
places, and a belief in pantheism.
However, the romantic poets differed in
their views about nature. Wordsworth
recognized nature as a living thing,
teacher, god and everything. These
feelings are fully developed and expressed
in his epic poem The Prelude. In his poem
"The Tables Turn" he writes:

One impulse from the vernal wood

Can teach you more of man,
Of moral evil and good,
Than all sages can.

Shelley was another nature poet, who

believed that nature is a living thing and
there is a union between nature and man.
Wordsworth approaches nature
philosophically, while Shelley emphasises
the intellect. John Keats is another a lover
of nature, but Coleridge differs from other
romantic poets of his age, in that he has a
realistic perspective on nature. He believes
that nature is not the source of joy and
pleasure, but rather that people's reactions
to it depends on their mood and
disposition. Coleridge believed that joy
does not come from external nature, but
that it emanates from the human heart.

Melancholy

Melancholy occupies a prominent place in

romantic poetry, and is an important
source of inspiration for the Romantic
poets. In '"Ode to a Nightingale", Keats
wrote:

...................................................for
many a time
I have been half in love with easeful
Death,
Call’d him soft names in many a
mused rhyme,
To take into the air my quiet breath;
Now more than ever seems it rich to
die,
To cease upon the midnight with no
pain.

Medievalism
Romantic poetry was attracted to
nostalgia, and medievalism is another
important characteristic of romantic
poetry, especially in the works of John
Keats and Coleridge. They were attracted
to exotic, remote and obscure places, and
so they were more attracted to Middle
Ages than to their own age.

Hellenism

The world of classical Greece was

important to the Romantics. John Keats'
poetry is full of allusions to the art,
literature and culture of Greek, as for
example in "Ode on a Grecian Urn".
Supernaturalism

Most of the romantic poets used

supernatural elements in their poetry.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge is the leading
romantic poet in this regard, and "Kubla
Khan" is full of supernatural elements.

Subjectivity

Romantic poetry is the poetry of

sentiments, emotions and imagination.
Romantic poetry opposed the objectivity
of neoclassical poetry. Neoclassical poets
avoided describing their personal
emotions in their poetry, unlike the
Romantics.
France
French literature from the first half of the
century was dominated by Romanticism,
which is associated with such authors as
Victor Hugo, Alexandre Dumas, père,
François-René de Chateaubriand,
Alphonse de Lamartine, Gérard de Nerval,
Charles Nodier, Alfred de Musset,
Théophile Gautier and Alfred de Vigny.
Their influence was felt in theatre, poetry,
prose fiction. The effect of the romantic
movement would continue to be felt in the
latter half of the century in diverse literary
developments, such as "realism",
"symbolism", and the so-called fin de siècle
"decadent" movement.

Germany
German Romanticism was the dominant
intellectual movement in the philosophy,
the arts, and the culture of German-
speaking countries in the late-18th and
early 19th centuries. Compared to English
Romanticism, German Romanticism
developed relatively late, and, in the early
years, coincided with Weimar Classicism
(1772–1805); in contrast to the
seriousness of English Romanticism, the
German variety of Romanticism notably
valued wit, humour, and beauty.

Sturm und Drang, literally "Storm and

Drive", "Storm and Urge", though
conventionally translated as "Storm and
Stress")[7] is a proto-Romantic movement
in German literature and music that took
place from the late 1760s to the early
1780s, in which individual subjectivity and,
in particular, extremes of emotion were
given free expression in reaction to the
perceived constraints of rationalism
imposed by the Enlightenment and
associated aesthetic movements. The
period is named for Friedrich Maximilian
Klinger's play Sturm und Drang, which was
first performed in 1777.

The philosopher Johann Georg Hamann is

considered to be the ideologue of Sturm
und Drang, with Jakob Michael Reinhold
Lenz, H. L. Wagner and Friedrich
Maximilian Klinger also significant figures.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was also a
notable proponent of the movement,
though he and Friedrich Schiller ended
their period of association with it by
initiating what would become Weimar
Classicism.

Jena Romanticism
Jena Romanticism – also the Jena
Romantics or Early Romanticism
(Frühromantik)) – is the first phase of
Romanticism in German literature
represented by the work of a group
centred in Jena from about 1798 to 1804.

Heidelberg Romanticism

Heidelberg was the centre of the epoch of

Romantik (Romanticism) in Germany. The
phase after Jena Romanticism is often
called Heidelberg Romanticism (see also
Berlin Romanticism). There was a famous
circle of poets, the Heidelberg Romantics,
such as Joseph von Eichendorff, Johann
Joseph von Görres, Ludwig Achim von
Arnim, and Clemens Brentano. A relic of
Romanticism is the Philosophers' Walk
(German: Philosophenweg), a scenic
walking path on the nearby Heiligenberg,
overlooking Heidelberg.

The Romantik epoch of German

philosophy and literature, was described
as a movement against classical and
realistic theories of literature, a contrast to
the rationality of the Age of Enlightenment.
It elevated medievalism and elements of
art and narrative perceived to be from the
medieval period. It also emphasized folk
art, nature and an epistemology based on
nature, which included human activity
conditioned by nature in the form of
language, custom and usage.

Poland
Romanticism in Poland was a literary,
artistic and intellectual period in the
evolution of Polish culture, which began
around 1820, coinciding with the
publication of Adam Mickiewicz's first
poems in 1822. It ended with the
suppression of the Polish-Lithuanian
January 1863 Uprising against the Russian
Empire in 1864. The latter event ushered in
a new era in Polish culture known as
Positivism.[8]

Russia
The 19th century is traditionally referred to
as the "Golden Era" of Russian literature.
Romanticism permitted a flowering of
especially poetic talent: the names of
Vasily Zhukovsky and later that of his
protégé Alexander Pushkin came to the
fore. Pushkin is credited with both
crystallizing the literary Russian language
and introducing a new level of artistry to
Russian literature. His best-known work is
a novel in verse, Eugene Onegin. An entire
new generation of poets including Mikhail
Lermontov, Yevgeny Baratynsky,
Konstantin Batyushkov, Nikolay Nekrasov,
Aleksey Konstantinovich Tolstoy, Fyodor
Tyutchev and Afanasy Fet followed in
Pushkin's steps.

Pushkin is considered by many to be the

central representative of Romanticism in
Russian literature; however, he can't be
labelled unequivocally as a Romantic.
Russian critics have traditionally argued
that his works represent a path from neo-
Classicism through Romanticism to
Realism. An alternative assessment
suggests that "he had an ability to
entertain contrarities [sic] which may
seem Romantic in origin, but are ultimately
subversive of all fixed points of view, all
single outlooks, including the Romantic"
and that "he is simultaneously Romantic
and not Romantic".[9]

Influence of British Romantic

poetry

Scottish poet Robert Burns became a

"people’s poet" in Russia. In Imperial times
the Russian aristocracy were so out of
touch with the peasantry that Burns,
translated into Russian, became a symbol
for the ordinary Russian people. In Soviet
Russia,Burns was elevated as the
archetypical poet of the people – not least
since the Soviet regime slaughtered and
silenced its own poets. A new translation
of Burns, begun in 1924 by Samuil
Marshak, proved enormously popular
selling over 600,000 copies.[10][11] In 1956,
the Soviet Union became the first country
in the world to honour Burns with a
commemorative stamp. The poetry of
Burns is taught in Russian schools
alongside their own national poets. Burns
was a great admirer of the egalitarian
ethos behind the French Revolution.
Whether Burns would have recognised the
same principles at work in the Soviet State
at its most repressive is moot. This didn’t
stop the Communists from claiming Burns
as one of their own and incorporating his
work into their state propaganda. The
post-communist years of rampant
capitalism in Russia have not tarnished
Burns' reputation.[12]

Lord Byron was a major influence on

almost all Russian poets of the Golden Era,
including Pushkin, Vyazemsky, Zhukovsky,
Batyushkov, Baratynsky, Delvig and,
especially, Lermontov.[13]

Spain
Germany and England were major
influences on Romantic Spanish poetry.
During the late 18th century to the late
19th century, Romanticism spread in the
form of philosophy and art throughout
Western societies, and the earlier period of
this movement overlapped with the Age of
Revolutions. The idea of the creative
imagination was stressed above the idea
of reason, and minute elements of nature,
including as insects and pebbles, were
now considered divine. Nature was
perceived in many different ways by the
Spanish Romantics, and Instead of
employing allegory, as earlier poets had
done, these poets tended to use myth and
symbol. The power of human emotion
furthermore is emphasised during this
period.[2] Leading Romantic poets include
Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer (considered the
most important), Manuel José Quintana,
José Zorrilla, Rosalía de Castro (in Galician
and Spanish), and José de Espronceda. In
Catalonia, the Romantic movement was a
major trigger for the Catalan Renaissance
or 'Renaixença', which would gradually
bring back prestige to the Catalan
language and literature (in decadence
since its 15th-century Golden Age), with
the leading figure in poetry of Jacint
Verdaguer.[14]
Sweden
In Swedish literature the Romantic period
is between 1809 and 1830,[15] while in
Europe, the period is usually seen as
running between 1800–1850. The Swedish
version was very much influenced by
German literature. During this relatively
short period, there were so many great
Swedish poets, that the era is called the
Golden Age.[16] The period started around
when several periodicals were published
that criticised the literature of the 18th
century. The important periodical Iduna,
published by the Gothic Society (1811),
presented a romanticised version of
Gothicismus,[17] a 17th-century cultural
movement in Sweden that had centered on
the belief in the glory of the Swedish Geats
or Goths. The early 19th-century Romantic
nationalist version emphasised the Vikings
as heroic figures.[18]

United States
Transcendentalism was a philosophical
movement that developed in the late
1820s and 1830s in the eastern region of
the United States, rooted in English and
German Romanticism, the Biblical
criticism of Herder and Schleiermacher,
the skepticism of Hume,[19] and the
transcendental philosophy of Immanuel
Kant and of German Idealism. It was also
influenced by Indian religions, especially
the Upanishads.

The movement was a reaction to or

protest against the general state of
intellectualism and spirituality.[20] The
doctrine of the Unitarian church as taught
at Harvard Divinity School was of
particular interest.

Poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892), whose

major work Leaves of Grass was first
published in 1855, was influenced by
transcendentalism.[21] Influenced by Ralph
Waldo Emerson and the Transcendentalist
movement, itself an offshoot of
Romanticism, Whitman's poetry praises
nature and the individual human's role in it.
However, much like Emerson, Whitman
does not diminish the role of the mind or
the spirit; rather, he elevates the human
form and the human mind, deeming both
worthy of poetic praise.

Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) is best

known for his poetry and short stories, and
is widely regarded as a central figure of
Romanticism in the United States and
American literature as a whole. Poe,
however, strongly disliked
transcendentalism.[22]

Another American Romantic poet, Henry

Wadsworth Longfellow (1807–1882), was
the most popular poet of his day.[23] He
was one of the first American celebrities
and was also popular in Europe, and it was
reported that 10,000 copies of The
Courtship of Miles Standish sold in London
in a single day.[24] However, Longfellow's
popularity rapidly declined, beginning
shortly after his death and into the
twentieth century as academics began to
appreciate poets like Walt Whitman, Edwin
Arlington Robinson, and Robert Frost.[25] In
the twentieth century, literary scholar
Kermit Vanderbilt noted, "Increasingly rare
is the scholar who braves ridicule to justify
the art of Longfellow's popular
rhymings."[26] 20th-century poet Lewis
Putnam Turco concluded "Longfellow was
minor and derivative in every way
throughout his career [...] nothing more
than a hack imitator of the English
Romantics."[27]

See also

Wikisource has original text related to

this article:
Category:Romantic poetry
 Croatian literature (section Romanticism
and the Croatian National Revival)
Serbian literature (section Pre-
Romanticism)
Rhine romanticism

References
1. Introduction to Romanticism . Uh.edu.
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2. Romanticism .
Academic.brooklyn.cuny.edu.
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3. Romanticism : Introduction –
Britannica Online Encyclopedia .
Britannica.com. Retrieved 2012-05-17.
4. "Preface to Lyrical Ballads. William
Wordsworth (1800). 1909-14. Famous
Prefaces. The Harvard Classics" .
www.bartleby.com. Retrieved
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5. Coleridge, Samuel Taylor. On Poesy or
Art. Harvard Classics, 1914.
6. mphillips (2014-10-29). "The Sublime:
From A Poet's Glossary" . The
Sublime: From A Poet's Glossary.
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7. E.g. H. B. Garland, Storm and Stress
(London, 1952).
8. Czesław Miłosz, "Romanticism" , The
History of Polish Literature, IV, pp.
 195–280. University of California
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Romanticism. Oxford: Blackwell, 2005.
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12. "From Rabbie with love" .
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литературных терминов. Т. 1. —
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15. These years are given by Tigerstedt,
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(Tryckindustri AB, Solna, 1971.
16. Algulin, Ingemar, A History of Swedish
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 Institute, 1989. ISBN 91-520-0239-X,
pp. 67-68; Gustafson, Alrik, Svenska
literature's history, 2 volums
(Stockholm, 1963). First published as
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17. Algulin, pp. 67-68.
18. Benson, Adolph Burnett (1914), The
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Romanticism (Columbia University
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20. Finseth, Ian. "American
Transcendentalism" . Excerpted from
"Liquid Fire Within Me": Language, Self
and Society in Transcendentalism and
Early Evangelicalism, 1820-1860, -
M.A. Thesis, 1995. Archived from the
original on 16 April 2013. Retrieved
18 April 2013.
21. Gura, Philip F. American
Transcendentalism: A History. New
York: Hill and Wang, 2007: 7–8.
ISBN 0-8090-3477-8.
22. Koster, Donald N. (2002), "Influences
of Transcendentalism on American
Life and Literature". In Galens, David.
 Literary Movements for Students, Vol.
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23. Bayless, 40
24. Brooks, 523.
25. Williams, 23
26. Gioia, 68
27. Turco, Lewis Putnam. Visions and
Revisions of American Poetry.
Fayetteville, AK: University of Arkansas
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Bibliography
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