Romantic Poets

Romantic poetry holds an important place in the history of literature. Romanticism seems to be what Modernism is to Victorianism. Contrary to the deconstructive mood Modernism has opted for, Romanticism seems to attempt to do the same though at less daring degree. Toward the end of the 18th century, the Romantic era was at its peak celebrating emotion and individualism preferring the natural to the materialistic approach of the industrial revolution. It is not without saying that Romanticism valued the medieval to the classical in the aim of putting the individual in the forefront. The Romantic poets formed part of the many artists who have contributed in questioning the age of enlightenment and science leaving scholars in a pool of thought striving for a common liberty which thus led to nationalism.

Beginning in the late 1800, Romanticism grouped six major poets, William Blake, William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats. These writers denied restraints and instead valued liberty in their writing. Their poems inspire the individual to confess and confide to nature .the language valued the aesthetic representation of the poem but in a simpler more accessible form. The poems being more symbolic and in a free-form style; it seems to invite all ages to embrace with this new form of freedom. Even though each writer had distinct qualities, there are a few things they had in common. The mind is a place where these poets believe there is the unification of nature and emotion for attaining spiritual fulfillment. In other words, when someone looks for the truth, this is bequeathed in the truth provided by the openness that nature had to the feelings of the human soul. In their poetry, the emotions in the human mind are transformed into the beauty of the poem.

Moreover the Romantic poets are humanists who embraced the idea of revolution in a hope for change especially against class stratification of the high class society believed as a reason for the simplicity of the language used in their poetry; more accessible to the average people. Also, they have all opted for a sociocultural change, generating political upheaval for freedom through their writing. They have given a positive thrust to the world of poetry in that the new forms invented has brought a new definition to what is acceptable or not. Their writings invited more than many to immerse in their ideologies - wave of freshness reaching the whole world and all times.

William Blake is known for poems like The Tiger and especially for his collected works in Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience. William Wordsworth’s Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood is a fundamental work, but many of his other poems are quite frequently quoted. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is especially known for The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner. Lord Byron’s narrative poems are greatly celebrated, including Childe Harold and Don Juan.John Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn and Ode to a Nightingale are among his most well known works. Percy Bysshe Shelley‘s most celebrated works include Ozymandias, Ode to the West Wind and To a Skylark.

William Blake is often refered to as a prophetic poetry as his poems emphasized the fact that the sublime resides in the human imagination. In that case, imagination is said to be the body of God thus justifying the existence of human beings. The poet aimed at expressiveness. The originality and creativity which transcend his work is remarkable .William Blake had thus reached a highly philosophical and mystical approach of life within his work. The famous poet has also been veneered for his paintings. Against all forms of order in religion, he would often quote the bible but never adore the Church of Englanad ; very oppressive then. A firm reverent of the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolution, William Blake has been able to capture the soul of the readers especially through his set of poems, ‘ Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience’.

In this collection of poems, William Blake uses simple meters, hymns or ballads but with a highly complex use of imagery. Questioning human assumptions of established norms and etiquettes he drives the readers to ponder on the very essence of existence of how pure human beings were created the into how low they have fallen in the beliefs that have been set in order to create disparity among themselves for benefiting from ultimate power. The innocence of children is celebrated in the songs of innocence in sharp contrast with the satire leveled against the world of Experience.’ The lamb’ and the ‘Tyger’ are exemplary of how through romanticism the human being is allowed to celebrate individualism. Thus, William Blake showcases the world of innocence in the symbolism of the lamb under the menacing threat of the Tyger ready to engulf the purity of things in nature for the victory of a dominant powerful doctrine.

"The Lamb"

from Songs of Innocence "The Tyger"

from Songs of Experience

Little Lamb who made thee

Dost thou know who made thee

Gave thee life & bid thee feed.

By the stream & o'er the mead;

Gave thee clothing of delight,

Softest clothing wooly bright;

Gave thee such a tender voice,

Making all the vales rejoice:

Little Lamb who made thee

Dost thou know who made thee

Little Lamb I'll tell thee,

Little Lamb I'll tell thee:

He is called by thy name,

For he calls himself a Lamb:

He is meek & he is mild,

He became a little child:

I a child & thou a lamb,

We are called by his name.

Little Lamb God bless thee.

Little Lamb God bless thee.

Tyger Tyger. burning bright,

In the forests of the night:

What