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Difference between romanticism and victorian age
Analysis of Romanticism
Essay on romanticism in literature
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Writing is a prime way to get one’s point or opinion across to the masses. Whether it is through poetry or stories, both ways have stood the test of time. Two very well known eras of writing are the Romantic Period and the Victorian Period. The writers and poets of both of these periods were alike and yet different in so many ways. Each one no matter how similar they were, each writer was still as different and unique as snowflake. The Romantics often wrote of the beauty of nature, they emphasized individuality as opposed to convention, and imagination is chosen over reason. A good portion of their works were full of pastoral life and symbolism. When it comes to the aspect of nature in Romantic writing take a look at “She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron. “She walks in beauty, like the …show more content…
Such as here “Of five long winters! And again I hear” (2) and then in these lines “Of tender joy wilt thou remember me/And these my exhortations! Nor perchance-“.(145-146) The Victorian writers were not as “me” oriented, but more about writing on human misery and “creates a feeling of “pathos”(Touche).” “Dover Beach” by Matthew Arnold is a prime example of a poem on misery and sadness. He evoked these feelings of sadness onto unhuman, inanimate objects. These feelings of pity and sadness can be felt and understood by just about anyone who reads his words. At first in the poem it seems like it may be a happy poem, a honeymoon poem if you will: The sea is calm tonight The tide is full, the moon lies fair Upon the straights-on the French coast the light Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand. Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay. Come to the window, sweet is the night air!”
Romanticism is a revolt against rationalism. The poets and authors of this time wrote about God, religion, and Beauty in nature. The romantics held a conviction that imagination and emotion are superior to reason. One such author is William Cullen Bryant, he wrote the poem Inscription for the Entrance to a Wood. This poem uses many literary devices, and has a strong message to portray to the reader.
When one reads Walden carefully, one can find many of the characteristics of Romanticism in it. In from Where I Lived and What I Lived For the idea that Thoreau shuns the artificiality of civilization and seeks unspoiled nature is evident in that he seeks to live alone in the woods. As he puts it,
The beauty of the English countryside--cultivated or wild, pastoral or primeval, it was an endless source of inspiration for eighteenth-century Romantic poets. Such notables as Wordsworth, Keats, and Shelley envisioned ancient and exotic Hellenic gods in familiar, typically British settings. Douglas Bush says of Keats, "For him the common sights of Hampstead Heath could suggest how poets had first conceived of fauns and dryads, of Psyche and Pan and Narcissus and Endymion" ( Pagan Myth 46). Later writers, clearly influenced by the Romantic world view, would describe idealized pastoral scenes in terms of "the rich meadow-grass . . . of a freshness and a greenness unsurpassable . . . . the roses so vivid, the willow-herb so riotous . . ." (Grahame, Wind 911). This was the haunt of Nature personified:
Besides the emotional aspect, this poem also shows what this time period entailed in literary terms. Artists and authors would often base some of their work on surrounding nature since their bond with the natural world and nature was stronger than a connection they formed with a person. This poem helps us understand the components to Romantic writing in this poem.
The hurrying hoof-beats of that steed, And the midnight message of Paul Revere.” When he uses the words darkness and in peril and Paul Revere saves the day, it makes his message come across. That saving the union is the right thing to of been done. Lastly nature is often used in romanticism, using nature in description to connect to the readers. We have all experienced our outer world at some point in our lives, and using description of it can be related by majority.
Many Romantic poets expressed a fascination with nature in their works. Even more specific than just nature, many poets, such as William Blake, Robert Burns, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge all seemed fascinated with animals. Animals are used as symbols throughout poetry, and are also used to give the reader something to which they can relate. No matter what the purpose, however, animals played a major part in Romantic Poetry.
Many artists and philosophers of the romantic period emphasized the glory and beauty of nature. Reasons for the development of this strong connection between nature and romanticism include the Industrial Revolution, many people went to rural areas and started living in cities, separated from the natural world. Many romanticist artists, writers, and philosophers believe natural world as a source of healthy emotions and ideas by basing their works, ideas, pieces on this idea. Many even believed that humans were meant to live in the world of nature, rather than the urban world. Romanticism art showed aspects of sensibility, love of nature; interest in the past, individualism and romanticism criticism. Focused on emotions and personals, individual perception and freedom, the idea that people must choose their own life, break established rules and boundaries. Many people during the time stared to realize that acts of disobedience are one of the necessary steps for the human evolution and growth because of the artists, writers, and
The use of nature is another example of how she expanded on notions of romantic poetry. She delves into the relationship between the poet and nature. This binary relationship reflects other relevant binary relationships, namely, the masculine/feminine and subject/object relationships. This is interesting because the poet is female and still her writing reflects the ideals of the men around her. Her poem does make the woman the object to be gazed at and admired reinforcing patriarchal ideas surrounding writers of this time.
First, let’s give a little bit of overview about the British and American romance definitions. The British defined Romanticism as “a fascination with youth and innocence as well as a questioning of authority.” Also, “changing tradition for idealistic purposes and an adaptation to change.” p. The American poets defined Romanticism as “a school of thought that valued feelings and intuition over reason.” p. 143. “A Journey away from the corruption of civilization and the limits of rational thought and toward the integrity of nature and the freedom of imagination.” p. 142. American romance also showed a great respect to youth and innocence, just like that of the British. One of the very active British poets of this time, William Blake, wrote a very good poem called “The Chimney Sweeper from Songs of Innocence”, and the following is a quote from the poem, “Though the morning was cold, Tom was happy and warm,
William Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” is an ideal example of romantic poetry. As the web page “Wordsworth Tintern Abbey” notes, this recollection was added to the end of his book Lyrical Ballads, as a spontaneous poem that formed upon revisiting Wye Valley with his sister (Wordsworth Tintern Abbey). His writing style incorporated all of the romantic perceptions, such as nature, the ordinary, the individual, the imagination, and distance, which he used to his most creative extent to create distinctive recollections of nature and emotion, centered on striking descriptions of his individual reactions to these every day, ordinary things.
The emphasis on nature is another significant notion to Romantic literature because literary scholars view nature as an integral concept when researching Romanticism as a discipline.
Through the poems of Blake and Wordsworth, the meaning of nature expands far beyond the earlier century's definition of nature. "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom." The passion and imagination portrayal manifest this period unquestionably, as the Romantic Era. Nature is a place of solace where the imagination is free to roam. Wordsworth contrasts the material world to the innocent beauty of nature that is easily forgotten, or overlooked due to our insensitivities by our complete devotion to the trivial world. “But yet I know, where’er I go, that there hath passed away a glory from the earth.
In reading the poems and literary works from both The Enlightenment and Romanticism periods, I’ve noticed that even though they stand for different values they go about it by rebelling against former world views. For example, in The Enlightenment era, people and writers especially, rebelled by valuing scientific facts over religious beliefs. Whereas in the Romanticism era, writers rebelled against reasoning and science. Writers during The Enlightenment period wrote satires, neo-classical dramas, comedies, and philosophies to express their feelings, while during the Romanticism era writers wrote autobiographies, first-person narratives, and lyric poetry. The Enlightenment era was characterized around moderation and rationality believing that people should privilege intellect over behavior, while the Romanticism era was mostly characterized around nature and emotion believing that people should privilege emotion over reason.
The Romantic Period was a time in which music and poetry talked about love, nature, and the good of being human. Different poets like Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge made poetry that will live on in literature forever. The Romantic period didn’t only affect Britain. It affected the entire world
The Victorian age and the Modern Literature era are two very different times for the literature world. Each era had a big impact through literature, politics, and economics. The Victorian era was a time of change during the reign of Queen Victoria between 1837 to 1901. The Modern Literature era also known as the Twentieth Century and After increased popularity in literature due to the rise of industrialization and globalization from roughly about the 1910 's to the 1990 's. Even though, both of these eras made an impact towards the way people see literature, their literature work is very different in terms of themes, subjects, purposes, and techniques.