10 Interesting Facts about Romanticism in English Literature
When did the Romantic Period start?
Ans: The Romantic Period in English Literature is dated as beginning in 1785 or alternatively in 1789 (the outbreak of French Revolution), or in 1789 (the publication of Wordsworth's and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads) -- and as the ending either in 1830 or else in 1832, the year in which Sir Walter Scott died and the passage of the Reform Bill signalled the political preoccupations of the Victorian Era.
Who is the father of Romantic Period?
Ans: It is said that Robert Burns is considered as the pioneer of Romantic Period. William Blake was also considered as one of the earliest Romantic Period writers. But the scholars think the significant part of Romantic Period started with the publication of Wordsworth's and Coleridge's "Lyrical Ballads".
- What is called Romanticism?
Ans: The term 'Romanticism' is applied to the literary trend in English literature of the last quarter of the 18th century and early 19th century that was informal and almost wholly unattached to any doctrinaire programme. The romantics are "amorous of the far", they try to escape from the familiar or real world of sufferings, pain and mutability to an imaginary ideal world.
2. What are the social factors that contributed to the development of Romanticism?
The social factors that led to the development of the literary trend of Romanticism are firstly, the French Revolution and secondly, the skepticism about the existing society engendered by the revolutionary ferment that impelled the more imaginative minds into a new communion with nature.
3. How did the Romantics conceive the idea of Imagination?
The range of imaginative flight captured by the romantic poets is very expansive. To poet like Coleridge, "willing suspension of disbelief" constitutes the poetic faith. To Wordsworth, experience is "that blessed serene mood" in which 'the burden of mystery' is lightened and he is able to see into the life of things. Blake lived in an 'visionary ecstasy' and felt that the 'vegetable universe' is really 'a shadow of that real world which is the Imagination'. Keats, in his effort to create a world of Beauty, moved from the most trivial literary fantasy to the most exalted mysticism.
4. What was the concept of Nature in Wordsworth's poetry in English Literature?
Wordsworth considers Nature and man as essentially adapted to each other. Wordsworth believed that contact with Nature would restore the individual to calm serenity. For him, Nature was "the nurse/the guide, the guardian of my heart and soul/ of all moral being." (Tintern Abbey)
5. What type of poetic creed does Wordsworth attemp in his poetry in romantic period in English Literature?
Wordsworth professes that imagination gives a colouring novelty to the natural emotions and poetry is a "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings." Wordsworth rejects the poetic diction used by the eighteenth century classicists and argues that a poet is 'a man speaking to men.' Justifying the use of common man's language, he asserts that they convey their feelings and notions in simple and unelaborated expressions.
6. What was Coleridge's idea of romanticism in his poetry?
Coleridge selected his subjects not only from real life experiences but also from various sources and he presented the supernatural, mystical or mysterious in such way that nothing seemed 'unreal' or 'fantasy'. He attemped to make the unbelievable believable, the unreal real. He made effort to win the confidence of the reader so that he is compelled to accept without any doubt the veracity of the poetic presentation. Coleridge believed in "willing suspension of disbelief."
7. What was John Keats' idea of romanticism in his poetry?
John Keats in his letters and poems, speculates Romantic poetry as 'a set of developing ideas' not 'a closed philosophical system.' Keats believed that whatever is beautiful is as real as truth. Keats rejects mimetic theory of art. For him, imagination's creation of truth is beauty. For example, Keats' "Grecian Urn" is not a particular urn but a truthful and beautiful creation of his imagination.
8. What is 'Negative Capability' ?
How did Keats conceive the idea of 'Negative Capability' in romanticism?
John Keats asserts that 'Negative Capability' must be an intrinsic characteristic of imagination. He defines this capability in a letter to his brothers George and Thomas as of being in uncertainties, mysterious, doubts, without any "irritable reaching out after fact or reasons." The imaginative mind achieves Negative Capability when it accepts uncertainties and doubts. It accepts the fine isolated verisimilitude without bothering about 'proven facts'. The great poet comes close to Negative Capability as his only criterion of truth is beauty.
9. The concept of supernaturalism in Romantic Period
The Romantics feel the presence of unseen power in Nature. They are attracted by the stories of fairies, ghosts and witchcraft. Coleridge makes the supernatural appear natural making possible a willing suspension of disbelief. He creates horror not by description but by suggestions.
10. How did the Romantics establish the superiority of Nature in Romantic period?
The Romantic Period has been often described as a 'Return to Nature'. Nature to the Romantics did not only mean sights and sounds of Nature, but also mean the elemental simplicities of life. The Romantics returned both to the beauties of external nature and to the simple life of peasants and hill-dwellers who lived in close association with Nature. In most of the Romantic lyrics - Wordsworth's Tintern Abbey, Coleridge's Ftost at Midnight, Dejection: An Ode, Shelley's Ode to the West Wind, Keats' Ode to Autumn - a return to Nature is to be seen.
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