Romantic Poetry 1798-1832 Truth and Imagination

Influences on Romantic Poetry Spread of democratic ideals through the American and French Revolutions and the disillusionment created by the failure of the French Revolution. Reaction against the harsh living and working conditions created for poor people in urban areas by the Industrial Revolution Fascination with nature and country life, which seemed a blissful retreat in comparison to the squalor of city slums

3 Main Characteristics of Romantic Poetry Instead of placing emphasis on reason, Romantic poets embraced imagination and naturalness. Romantic poets wrote poetry that spoke of personal experiences and emotions, often in simple, unadorned language. Romantics viewed nature as transformative; they were fascinated by the ways nature and the human mind mirrored each other’s creative properties.

NATURE Romantics believes that imagination was the poet’s guide to truth, and Nature the teacher who can deliver the lesson. Nature was a balm to soothe the relentless hounding of an industrialized world. This inclination toward natural images/themes is one reason that Gothic Literature also thrived during this period (Think: Frankenstein). Gothic Literature drew attention to the mysterious side of nature and human ability to manipulate it. The American Romanticism movement (Transcendentalists and Dark Romantics) was strongly influenced by this period in English history.

More facts… Romantic poets favored idealized rural settings over city settings, which they found to be overcrowded and oppressive. Industrial factories drew workers away from small farms. As a result, workers, including young children, labored for long hours under dangerous conditions with no government regulations to protect them. Romantic poets dreamed that poetry could improve these horrific conditions by offering an example of model behavior. “What we have loved, Others will love, and we will teach them how; Instruct them how the mind of man becomes A thousand times more beautiful than the earth On which he dwells.” -William Wordsworth