ENGLISH HISTORY

Que.1 The Romantic Age or The Romantic Revival.

Introduction
The Romantic period was an era in which a literary revolution took place alongside
social and economic revolutions. Some historians call the Romantic period the
‘Age of Revolutions.’ Imagination and emotions rule this age. Literature is
liberated from the clutches of classical rules and restrictions of the heroic couplet.
The world of the Romantics has in it “Strangeness and beauty”.

The Romantic Age

Conventionally, the period begins in 1798, which saw the publication by
Wordsworth and Coleridge of their “Lyrical Ballads”, and ends in 1832. It is a year
which saw the death of Sir Walter Scott. The period is one of rapid change as the
nation is transformed from an agricultural country to an Industrial one. The
Industrial Revolution creates social change, unrest, and eventually turbulence. In
terms of literary history, the publication of “Lyrical Ballads” in 1798 is seen as a
landmark. The volume contains many of the best known Romantic poems. The
second edition in 1800 contains a Preface in which Wordsworth discusses the
theories of poetry. The Preface represents a poetic manifesto which is very much in
the Spirit of the age. The Romantic age in literature is often contrasted with the
Classical or Augustan age which preceded it. The comparison is valuable; Ronald
Carter describes this comparison-

“The Classical temperament trusts reason, intellect and the head.

The Romantic temperament prefers feelings and the heart”.

Chief Characteristics of Romantic Age/Poetry

There are some chief features of the Romantic Age or poetry. They follows:

Back to Nature:
Literature in the Neo-Classical age was full of accounts of sophisticated life of the
townsmen. Pope and his followers portrayed the social and the political life of
London. This gave place to the portrayal of the country-life in the Romantic
Revival. The ordinary man who lived in Nature’s lap became the subject of many
poems. Nature for Wordsworth had a mortal life of its own and man could get the
knowledge of good and evil from this great teacher and guide. He writes in the
poem “The Tables Turned”-

“One impulse from a vernal wood,

May teach you more of man,

Of moral evil and of good,

Than all the sages can”.

That’s why Romantic thought to go back to Nature for inspiration of their poetry.

Imagination and Emotions:

The Romantic Literature is also characterized by strong emphasis on Imagination
and Emotions. Reason, logic and intellect are replaced by passion. Heart and
Imagination. The emotion, love in its various forms can be found in Romantic
poetry. For Shelly, true love was platonic or intellectual in Nature. He believed that
the true love is a complete union of the souls of lovers. However, love for Keats,
like all other emotions were physical. He deals mainly with the physical aspect of
love and exploits its sensual appeal. Coleridge in his poem “Dejection- an Ode”
describes the word Imagination and also gives its types with practical examples of
it.

Crave for Medieval Ages and Supernaturalism:

The Romantics were impressed by medieval life and legend. Among the
Romantics; Coleridge, Scott and Keats dealt with medieval life. For example,
Coleridge recreates the old medieval days in “Christabal”. The poem has
references to an old castle with a moat around it and a massive gate. There is also a
reference to the feudal accompaniments of heralds and pages. Keats shows his
crave for medieval ages in his poem “Ode on a Grecian Urn”, where those of
quoted lines occur:

“Heard melodies are sweet, those unheard are sweeter…”

Subjectivity:
Individuality or Subjectivity is one of the chief features of the romantic poetry. The
Romantic Movement is an expression of individual genius and the poet expresses
his own self in his poems. He himself is the subject of discussion and treatment.
Shelley’s Lament in “Stanzas Written in Dejection Near Naples”, is very
subjective. He writes:

“Alas, I have nor hope nor health,

Nor peace within nor clam around”.

The following lines from Wordsworth’s pen also show his subjectivity:

“I cannot paint,

What then I was, the sounding contract,

Haunted me like a passion”.

Diction and Expression:

The language of the romantic poetry is simple and having natural diction. It is the
language of common men and women. The romantic poets are possessing variety
in expression. While in the Neo-Classical poetry there is a sameness of style or
monotony, in the Romantics one finds variety.

The romantic Prose Writers:

The writings of the prose writers of the romantic Age too reflected all the
characteristics of the age. The essays of Charles Lambs were subjective like the
poems of Shelley, Keats and Wordsworth. William Hazlitt, like the Romantic
poets, made use of imagination and his novels were set in medieval ages and far
off locations. The prose style of Jane Austen was simple and straight forward and
her language was the language of common men women.

Conclusion:
Thus, the Romantic Age is the age of freedom, the age of individuality and the age
of revolutions. Unlike the classical writers the Romantics were subjective. Prof.
John McRae extols the greatness of the Romantic Age and says:

“ The Romantic period is seen today as a crucial time in history. It embodies

many of the conflicts and ideological debates which are still ay the heart of
the modern world; political freedom/repression, individual and collective
responsibility, masculine and feminine roles, past, present and future”.

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