How does William Wordsworth's poetry fit into the literary tradition

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How does William Wordsworth's poetry fit into the literary tradition

of Romanticism?

Q. How does William Wordsworth's poetry fit into the literary

tradition of Romanticism?

A. Romantic poetry was an artistic movement of the late 18th and early

19th century. It dealt with nature, human imagination, childhood and

the ability to recall emotional memories of both happiness and

sadness. Before Wordsworth began writing his revolutionary new style

of poetry, all preceding poetry had a very different style.

The reason these poems were classed as revolutionary was because he

believed that romantic poetry should describe "incidents of common

life" and ordinary people and were written in deliberately plain

words. It was what Wordsworth called "The real language of men".

Before this style of writing, all poems were about important things

and people. They were written about Kings, Queens and Gods. All poems

were of a formal nature and of epic proportions. Before Wordsworth,

poets didn't believe that "common people" were good enough to have a

poem written about them.

We see Wordsworth's Romantic style and the inclusion of memories,

imagination, human feelings and ordinary people. One such poem is "The

Reverie of Poor Susan".

In this poem, we are told of Susan who is a woman from the country who

is living and working in the city. As she passes by a bird singing in

a cage, she seems to be saddened. Wordsworth wonders why this is, as

he says the bird's song is very beautiful

" Tis a note of enchantment. What ails her?"

We then see that the reason for this is that Susan is very homesick

and longs to be back in the country. She imagines the streets of

London turning into hills and green pastures. She also...

... middle of paper ...

...p between me

and the stars"

"with trembling oars I turned"

This shows human emotion and how easily the power of your imagination

can work against you. It shows how scared you can actually make

yourself.

Wordsworth then goes on to say how he didn't return to normal for days

after and if he still remembered it by the time he wrote this, it must

have been very emotional and traumatic for him.

"There hung a darkness remained no pleasant image and were a trouble

to my dreams"

In conclusion, the reason Wordsworth's poetry fits into the literary

tradition of Romantic Poetry is that he complies with and uses all

aspects of Romanticism in his poetry. He believed what he wrote was

important and he had a great love for nature, which is why I think his

poetry was so powerful. He was a revolutionary and new poet who could

reach out to the ordinary people.

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