Romanticism in English Poetry
ROMANTIC AGE:
The Romantic period lasts about forty years, from the French Revolution of 1789 to the Reform Act of 1832. Sometimes called the Age of Revolutions; the American Revolution took place in 1776 and its spirit of freedom affects the whole world.
It was also the Reign of Terror, which began in 1793, the period of Napoleon, most Europe was in war against France. We can consider the romantics poets of war; Society was changing rapidly, the industrial revolution change the way of life known until this epoch, free trade was growing stronger, new middle class become powerful and a numerous quantity of movement promoting a greater freedom. But the change was slow, even worst for the poor, who has moved from the country to the cities, the Napoleon final battle of Waterloo in 1815 left many soldiers unemployed, and many social problems took over these years (Peterloo massacre, 1819).
In literature, poets wanted a revolution too, Wordsworth and Coleridge changed the way poetry was conceived in contrast with the period that came before, the Augustan Age. A change in the vocabulary used in the poems, much simpler than in the Augustans. Now, emotions were important, the feelings and the imagination, in despite of reason and intellect. The indivual rather than the society. Some of the most important Romantic poets are:
William Blake (1757 -1827) had a very individual view of the world, a style that contrasts with the Augustan order and control . His best-known work, Songs of Innocence and Experience was published in 1794. An important characteristic of this set of poems if their simplicity, but symbolic;
The lamb as a symbol of innocence, the tiger as the symbol of mistery:
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost Thou know who made thee?
(The Lamb)
Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What inmortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
(The Tyger)
Later, his poems became more symbollicaly complex, showing a
The Romantic period lasts about forty years, from the French Revolution of 1789 to the Reform Act of 1832. Sometimes called the Age of Revolutions; the American Revolution took place in 1776 and its spirit of freedom affects the whole world.
It was also the Reign of Terror, which began in 1793, the period of Napoleon, most Europe was in war against France. We can consider the romantics poets of war; Society was changing rapidly, the industrial revolution change the way of life known until this epoch, free trade was growing stronger, new middle class become powerful and a numerous quantity of movement promoting a greater freedom. But the change was slow, even worst for the poor, who has moved from the country to the cities, the Napoleon final battle of Waterloo in 1815 left many soldiers unemployed, and many social problems took over these years (Peterloo massacre, 1819).
In literature, poets wanted a revolution too, Wordsworth and Coleridge changed the way poetry was conceived in contrast with the period that came before, the Augustan Age. A change in the vocabulary used in the poems, much simpler than in the Augustans. Now, emotions were important, the feelings and the imagination, in despite of reason and intellect. The indivual rather than the society. Some of the most important Romantic poets are:
William Blake (1757 -1827) had a very individual view of the world, a style that contrasts with the Augustan order and control . His best-known work, Songs of Innocence and Experience was published in 1794. An important characteristic of this set of poems if their simplicity, but symbolic;
The lamb as a symbol of innocence, the tiger as the symbol of mistery:
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost Thou know who made thee?
(The Lamb)
Tyger! Tyger! Burning bright,
In the forests of the night,
What inmortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
(The Tyger)
Later, his poems became more symbollicaly complex, showing a