Michael Williamson

Mr. Norris

7/29/2017

English 12

Romantic Ideals

Romanticism was one of the greatest literary and artistic movements the world has ever
seen. It was a reaction to the Industrial Revolution that was occurring in Great Britain as well as
the United States. It lasted for a great many years and emphasized the Natural over the man
made, the human experience and Individualism. The Industrial Revolution represented the exact
opposite of these things. Industry in Great Britain brought about a shift in society, many people
went from being rural farmers who worked with nature, to urban factory workers who had to live
in poverty and dangerous and unhealthy working conditions. Many of the Romantic authors and
artists around the world wanted to place a strong emphasis on nature and vivid emotion in their
works. Often these works placed a great amount of focus on liberalism and heroics, for example,
the works of American Author Henry David Thoreau expressed ideas that one should liberate
themselves from society and be one with nature.

English author Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a quintessential example of a Romantic poet

and philosophy. He along with William Wordsworth started the Romantic movement in Great
Britain. Coleridge was born in 1772 and went to grammar school at an early age and was
introduced to earlier British literary works subsequently. His works have a strong element of the
natural in them. This natural element is most transparent in his notable work titled, Kubla Khan.
In this great work, Coleridge attempts to remember and capture the memories of a dream he had
that morning he wrote the poem, sadly, we will never know the full extent of the dream because
he was interrupted before he could finish writing it. The Poem is full of natural imagery and
language. It recounts when Kubla Khan was having a temple built in a beautiful scene.

Romanticism was not limited to Great Britain, many American Authors were inspired by
this movement and penned many fantastic works. One of the more well-known of the American
Romantics was Henry David Thoreau. His works revolved around the Natural and of liberalism.
Thoreau expressed the ideal that individuals should be surrounded by nature and should resist
oppressive government peacefully. He was born and lived his entire life in Concord,
Massachusetts. This was the location of a small literary movement called Transcendentalism,
which placed humanity in the shoes of god and suggested that humans should be self-reliant.

Romanticism can trace some of its roots back to the French Revolution, so it should be no
surprise that there are many great French Romantic Authors. Perhaps the most famous of them is
Alexandre Dumas. His greatest work was The Three Musketeers. A novel about the Musketeers
of the Guard. It is not only an adventure novel but also includes subtle political aspects in its
story. It does not very talk very much about nature and the natural, but does include various
aspects of the human condition and the Individual.
 Works Cited

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_David_Thoreau

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Taylor_Coleridge

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transcendentalism

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandre_Dumas