The Romantic Era is Not Dead
February 23by Monica Islam
Introduction
The Romantic Era is the period between 1785 and 1830. This was the time when Samuel Johnson, who conceived the dictionary, died, and Blake and Burns published their first poems. Many of the major writers of the preceding era were either dead or unproductive. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Byron, Percy Shelley, Keats and Blake were the canonical poets of this time. During this time, England turned from an agricultural society to a modern industrial nation. Disraeli called it the Two Nations to indicate the divide between the rich and the poor, capital and labour.
The theory of market capitalism resulted in poor wages, long working hours, sordid working conditions and large-scale employment of women and children in tasks that defeated both the body and the soul. The poor suffered and the merchants prospered. Women were deprived because of no education, lowly work, rigid sexual behaviour, no legal rights especially after marriage, perceived intellectual inferiority to men, and only domestic talents.
Despite such a grim backdrop, women writers progressed. Some of the best poets were women, such as Anna L. Barbauld, Charlotte Smith, and Mary Robinson. Wordsworth and Coleridge learnt their craft from them. Mary Wollstonecraft wrote about women’s movement. It was not until 1928 that England acquired universal adult suffrage.
The Spirit of Nature
Keats said, “Great spirits now on earth are sojourning.” Shelley added that the literature of this age “has arisen as it were from a new birth.” This was a revolutionary era. 18th century theorists thought of poetry as an imitation of human life, “a mirror held up to nature.” Wordsworth described poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Blake and Shelley described poetry as an embodiment of the poet’s imaginative vision. Coleridge described poetry as a plant: first, there is a seed-like idea in the poet’s imagination; then it grows by the poet’s feelings and sense experiences; and lastly, it evolves into a whole where the parts are linked to each other and to the whole.
Lyric poem written in the first person form (the use of “I”) became prominent. Keats noted that “if poetry comes not as naturally as the leaves to a tree, it had better not come at all.” Shelley said that it is “an error to assert that the finest passages of poetry are produced by labour and study.” He suggested that they are the products of unconscious creativity. He is believed to have said, “A great statue or picture grows under the power of the artists as a child in the mother’s womb.” Coleridge said that poetry involves “spontaneous impulse and voluntary purpose.”
Therefore, Romantic poetry became synonymous with nature poetry. Romantic poems were scattered with references to human life, passion, and expressiveness.
Glorification of the Outcast and the Ordinary
Romanticism is the literary equivalent of the French Revolution that espoused the principles of liberty, equality, and fraternity. Hazlitt said, “All things are by nature equally fit subjects for poetry.” Wordsworth poems contained words, such as common, ordinary, everyday, and humble. Coleridge dealt with everyday things of this world. Keats depicted supernatural events in his poems. Blake depicted the occult and the esoteric, whereas Coleridge referred to mesmerism and hypnotism. De Quincey depicted dreams and nightmares. These poets sensed wonder in the familiar (defamiliarization) and attacked pride.
The Romantic period was characterized by free enterprise in the wake of the Industrial Revolution. As mentioned earlier, this was a revolutionary time. The writers upheld radical individualism and cherished human potential and power. They believed in reason or imagination. Coleridge noted that the “Mind is not passive but made in God’s image and that too in the sublimest sense, the Image of the Creator.”
Solitude
18th century writers regarded themselves as integral parts of an urbane society but some Romantic authors isolated themselves. Wordsworth described himself as “musing in solitude.” Words, such as single, solitary, alone, and by oneself, were frequently found in his poems. Coleridge, Byron, and Shelley represented the lonely protagonist who rejected the society or was rejected by it. There was a theme of exile and the Romantic nonconformist was always a sinner. Wordsworth and Coleridge interpreted the Industrial Revolution as the violent preliminary to the new earth and heaven of apocalyptic prophecy.
Literature: A Booming Business
Literature became big business due to Enlightened-inspired education, population growth, increased readership especially for pleasure, more leisure time, more disposable income, technological improvements in printing, and more establishments of libraries. Writers were treated as serious practitioners.
Familiar essay, a commentary on a non-technical subject written in a relaxed and intimate manner, flourished. The essays dealt with the downtrodden ones and villains. The Romantic era was favourable to such essays, but not to writing for the stage. The Licensing Act was repealed in 1843 and till that time, Drury Lane and Covent Garden were the monopoly theaters in spoken drama. They were vast, ill-lighted, frequented by noisy, unruly audiences and the actors played in a grandiose style. Still, writers tried a hand at poetic plays. While Byron wrote satire and did not succeed, Shelley became a famous dramatist. The Cenci was staged after his death.
Gothic novels emerged. Since women were disadvantaged, they wrote this genre better. Novel of purpose also emerged. Mary Shelley, the wife of Percy Shelley and the daughter of Mary Wollstonecraft, wrote Frankenstein. Others were Jane Austen, who was admired by only a few readers but who enjoyed greater staying power, and Sir Walter Scott, who had international vogue.
Conclusion
The Romantic era holds relevance to this day. With the advent of artificial intelligence and a heavy emphasis on profit maximization, we need poets and writers who will overturn this unsustainable movement and draw us back to Nature, who will reign supreme as the ultimate Mentor. The downtrodden ones, such as women, will need to be uplifted. We need to be more conscious of the Self and not feel shy or embarrassed by loneliness. Literature has to become a big business once again.
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