The-Romantic-Movement

Overview of the Romantic Movement

  • The concept of the Romantic Movement as distinct was not recognized during Wordsworth's time.

  • Writers were categorized into different schools:

    • The Lake School: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey

    • The Cockney School: Keats, Leigh Hunt, Hazlitt

    • The Satanic School: Byron, Shelley, and followers

  • The term "Romantic" was only applied retrospectively by historians.

Generations of Romantic Writers

  • First Generation: Lake poets witness the French Revolution, leading to disillusionment.

  • Second Generation: Keats, Shelley, Byron, focusing on moral reform and cultural conflict.

  • The first generation maintained moral harmony with society, while the second openly contested societal values.

Characteristics of the Romantic Movement

  • Considered a revolution against neoclassical ideals: decorum, hierarchy, reason, and order.

  • Emphasis on spontaneity, emotional depth, and irrationality.

  • Sometimes referred to as the Romantic Revival, reviving Elizabethan romanticism.

  • Despite varied views, writers sensed a distinct intellectual and imaginative climate, termed "the spirit of the age."

Chief Features of Romantic Poetry

  1. Change in Concept of Poetry and Poet

    • Poetry as an expression of the soul's inner urges.

    • Focus on the poet's mind, emotions, and imagination over the sensory world.

    • Lyric poems in the first person emerged as a prominent form.

  2. Depiction of Nature

    • Nature becomes a primary subject; major poets described it with accuracy.

    • Romantic nature poems serve as meditative reflections on emotional crises rather than mere descriptions.

  3. Glorification of the Ordinary

    • Democratic essence with a focus on rural and rustic life.

    • Poets like Clare, Wordsworth, and Burns emphasized the richness of ordinary existence.

  4. Celebration of the Unusual

    • Emphasis on the supernatural and macabre elements in poetry.

Limitations of Romantic Poetry

  • C. M. Bowra's critique of Romanticism highlights several limitations:

    1. Denial of Orthodox Religion

      • Romantic poets posited personal transcendental worlds, often vague and differing from each other.

      • Focused on the mystery of imagination rather than faith, leading to unique personal worlds.

    2. Limited Scope of Beauty

      • Beauty linked to exaltation and a narrow view, leading to eccentricity in poetic form.

    3. Importance of Wonder

      • Desire to awaken understanding through amazement, leading to an adoration for the strange and unusual.

    4. Prioritization of Imagination over Reason

      • Imagination favored as a perception medium, sometimes appearing to challenge rationality.

      • Nevertheless, they did not dismiss reason thoroughly; some Romantic depictions portrayed reason negatively.

Conclusion

  • Bowra suggests that the Romantic movement's rejection of philosophy and science alienated it from contemporary scholarly thought.

  • The exploration of the psyche and human experience remains a significant contribution of Romantic poets.