25 October 21 Romantic Poets - Not What You Thought!

As I’ve said occasionally before: “And now for something completely different!” 

Subject: The Romantic Poets

And no, “romantic” does not mean shmuzzling, rub-a-rubba in the bath-a-tubba. Not to discount the natural (and even the unnatural) forms of love, lust, devotion and other forms of the romantic. Plenty has been written on those themes. The Romantic era (about 1800 to 1850) and its poetry are an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe It involved a reaction against prevailing Enlightenment ideas of the 18th century.

The Romantic poets used specific poetic forms: odes, lyrical ballads, and sonnets were popular among the Romantics. When reference is made to Romantic verse, the poets who generally spring to mind are William Blake (1757-1827), William Wordsworth (1770-1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834), George Gordon, 6th Lord Byron (1788-1824), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) and John Keats (1795-1821).

Importantly for our exploration is that Romantic poets sought to eradicate the relationship between poetry and intellectual snobbery by writing poems that relied on everyday vocabulary. The goal was to reach as many readers as possible in the hopes of transcending reason and bolstering individualism.

Another mistaken view is that Romantic poets have to be from England. Although these poets are well known, some of the additional countries with Romantic Era poets include the USA, Poland, Russia, Germany, and France. Today, we will dip into one of the English greats – a name that is widely known in the Western Hemisphere: English greats of the Romantic Era: William Wordsworth.

If the experiment with vernacular language was not enough of a departure from the norm, the focus on simple, uneducated country people as the subject of poetry was a signal shift to modern literature. One of the main themes of "Lyrical Ballads" is the return to the original state of nature, in which people led a purer and more innocent existence. Wordsworth subscribed to Rousseau's belief that humanity was essentially good but was corrupted by the influence of society. 

Love for nature is an important feature of Romantic poetry, as a source of inspiration. This poetry involves a relationship with external nature and places, and a belief in pantheism. However, the Romantic poets differed in their views about nature. Wordsworth recognized nature as a living thing, teacher, god, and everything. These feelings are fully developed and expressed in his epic poem The Prelude. In his poem "The Tables Turn" he writes:

One impulse from the vernal wood

Can teach you more of man,

Of moral evil and good,

Than all sages can.

The Old Man Travelling; Animal Tranquility and Decay - A Sketch (1798)

The little hedge-row birds,

That peck along the road, regard him not.

He travels on, and in his face, his step,

His gait, is one expression; every limb,

His look and bending figure, all bespeak

A man who does not move with pain, but moves

With thought—He is insensibly subdued

To settled quiet: he is one by whom

All effort seems forgotten, one to whom

Long patience has such mild composure given,

That patience now doth seem a thing, of which

He hath no need. He is by nature led

To peace so perfect, that the young behold

With envy, what the old man hardly feels.

—I asked him whither he was bound, and what

The object of his journey; he replied

"Sir! I am going many miles to take

A last leave of my son, a mariner,

Who from a sea-fight has been brought to Falmouth,

And there is dying in an hospital."

It is a Beauteous Evening, Calm and Free

It is a beauteous evening, calm and free,

The holy time is quiet as a Nun

Breathless with adoration; the broad sun

Is sinking down in its tranquility;

The gentleness of heaven broods o'er the Sea;

Listen! the mighty Being is awake,

And doth with his eternal motion make

A sound like thunder—everlastingly.

Dear child! dear Girl! that walkest with me here,

If thou appear untouched by solemn thought,

Thy nature is not therefore less divine:

Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year;

And worshipp'st at the Temple's inner shrine,

God being with thee when we know it not.

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud 

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,

They stretched in never-ending line

Along the margin of a bay:

Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they

Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

In such a jocund company:

I gazed—and gazed—but little thought

What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie

In vacant or in pensive mood,

They flash upon that inward eye

Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,

And dances with the daffodils.

Lines Written in Early Spring

I heard a thousand blended notes,

While in a grove I sate reclined,

In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts

Bring sad thoughts to the mind.

To her fair works did Nature link

The human soul that through me ran;

And much it grieved my heart to think

What man has made of man.

Through primrose tufts, in that green bower,

The periwinkle trailed its wreaths;

And ’tis my faith that every flower

Enjoys the air it breathes.

The birds around me hopped and played,

Their thoughts I cannot measure:—

But the least motion which they made

It seemed a thrill of pleasure.

The budding twigs spread out their fan,

To catch the breezy air;

And I must think, do all I can,

That there was pleasure there.

If this belief from heaven be sent,

If such be Nature’s holy plan,

Have I not reason to lament

What man has made of man?

Background

Wordsworth's father was a legal representative, and, through his connections, lived in a large mansion in the small town. He was frequently away from home on business, so the young William and his siblings had little involvement with him and remained distant from him until his death in 1783. However, he did encourage William in his reading, and in particular set him to commit large portions of verse to memory, including works by Milton, Shakespeare, and Spenser. William was also allowed to use his father's library. William also spent time at his mother's parents' house in Cumberland, where he was exposed to the moors, but did not get along with his grandparents or his uncle, who also lived there. His hostile interactions with them distressed him to the point of contemplating suicide. 

Wordsworth was taught to read by his mother and attended, first, a tiny school of low quality in Cockermouth, then a school in Cumberland for the children of upper-class families, where he was taught by Ann Birkett, who insisted on instilling in her students traditions that included pursuing both scholarly and local activities, especially the festivals around Easter and May Day. Wordsworth was taught both the Bible and The Spectator, a daily publication, but little else. It was at the school in Penrith, Cumberland that he met the Hutchinsons, including Mary, who later became his wife.

Wordsworth made his debut as a writer in 1787 when he published a sonnet. That same year he began attending St John's College, Cambridge. He received his BA degree in 1791 from St. John’s College, Cambridge.  

Exploration 1:  Are you able to put aside any bias about “romanticicsm” as only about syrupy, hearts and roses, and expand it to the definition and characteristics cited in this post?

Exploration 2: What do you think of the concept of Romantic poets, like Wordsworth, that the separation of nature and man is a major source of human misery?