The Romantic Sonnet

The Romantic Sonnet

The Romantic sonnet holds in its topics the ideals of the time period,

concentrating on emotion, nature, and the expression of "nothing." The Romantic

era was one that focused on the commonality of humankind and, while using

emotion and nature, the poets and their works shed light on people's universal

natures. In Charlotte Smith's "Sonnet XII - Written on the Sea Shore," the

speaker of the poem embodies two important aspects of Romantic work in relating

his or her personal feelings and emotions and also in having a focused and

detailed natural setting. The speaker takes his or her "solitary seat" near the

shore of a stormy sea and reflects upon life and the "wild gloomy scene" that

suits the "mournful temper" of his or her soul (ll.4, 7,8). While much Romantic

writing dealt with love and the struggles endured due to love, there was also

emphasis placed on isolation, as seen in the emotions of Smith's speaker and

also in the setting on the work. Nature, in many Romantic sonnets, is in direct

parallel with the emotions being conveyed. Smith, for example, uses the water

to aid the reader's comprehension of the speaker's state of mind. Included in

this traditional natural setting is the use of the sea as stormy, deep,

extensive, and dark which ties the speaker in with the setting as the scene

applies to the tone of the poem as well. Also characteristic of the Romantic

sonnet is the retreat from the neo-classical age and its significant historical

references into a new age where it becomes common to speak of "nothing." In

William Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge," there is no deeper

meaning to be grasped other than the beauty of the day's dawning. The speaker's

view of the morning and its "majesty" and the "calm" that comes over the speaker

are central ideas in the poem (ll. 3, 11). In this sonnet, it is again apparent

how influential and prevalent nature is.

The reflection upon simplicity runs through many works and is seen quite

evidently in William Blake's Songs of Innocence. In these poems, there is much

mention of children, whose lives, ideally, should be the most simple. Also

included in this simplicity are the innocence of the children and the simplicity

of the tone, metaphors, and images in the works. In Blake's "The School Boy,"

the character of the poem is a young boy whose joy in life should be rising on a

summer morning when the birds are singing and when he, in his happiness, can

sing with them.