Lets Talk Poetry: The Romantic Period 1790-1834

The Romantic Period 1790-1834

Romanticism definition: A movement in literature and the fine arts, beginning in the early nineteenth century, that stressed personal emotion, free play of the imagination, and freedom from rules of form.

What do you think the romantic period is?

Despite contrary belief, the romantic period is not simply about love and romance. It is, in fact, a time of imagination, nature, and individuality in Europe, Latin America, and the United States. The hope people had during this period was the rebel against the order and class established by rules typically seen prior to the time period. Also known as Romanticism, started in Western Europe in the late 18th Century and lasted until the 19th. It was a change in thought process that went from reason and science to imagination and respect for nature. This was expressed through arts, literature, poetry, music, and painting. The Romantic Movement was rooted in politics and allowed people to consider the world in a different way and change their ways of thinking.

Romantic poetry tends to use fairly simple language because it endeavors to have the flavor of spontaneous speech. One of the most famous Romantic poets, William Wordsworth, said that poetry was the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.”

Other poets in the Romantic tradition include John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Blake, Friedrich Schiller, and Emily Dickinson. This movement evolved as a response to the Augustan movement, emphasizing symmetry, erudite references, and complex vocabulary and syntax. The Romantic poets were also generally pessimistic about the Industrial Revolution, which had destroyed nature, and optimistic about political revolutions, like the ones in America and France, which gave freedom to individuals.

Music
Musicians started to put intense feelings in their music. This expression of emotion was the focus of all the arts during the Romantic movement.

Art
Artists tried to capture all the ideals of the Romantic Period through their work. Romantic artists hoped to inspire people so they would have an emotional response when they saw their work. Art of this era also depicted the romantic ideal of nationalism.

Literature
The French Revolution had a strong impact on the literature of the Romantic period. This era was rich in literary criticism and other non-fictional literature.

People during this era were no longer willing to be repressed and “held under the boot”

Today the word ‘romantic’ evokes images of love and sentimentality, but the term ‘Romanticism’ has a much wider meaning. It covers a range of developments in art, literature, music, and philosophy, spanning the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The ‘Romantics’ would not have used the term themselves: the label was applied retrospectively, from around the middle of the 19th century.

Romantic Movement. 
1794

“Songs of Experience”, a book of poems, was published by William Blake. William Blake was a famous poet from the Romantic Movement whose work greatly reflected the feelings and mood of Romanticism.

• Wrote about national importance
• Born on November 28th, 1757
• Born into a moderate family
• A poet who speaks from both personal experience and inherited traditions

Blake is now considered a seminal figure in history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic age

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). These writers had an intuitive feeling that they were ‘chosen’ to guide others through the tempestuous period of change. –

Lord Byron, one of the most well-known poets from this time era, published his famous poem “She Walks”.

She Walks in Beauty

by LORD BYRON (GEORGE GORDON)

   She walks in beauty, like the night

   Of cloudless climes and starry skies;

   And all that’s best of dark and bright

   Meet in her aspect and her eyes;

   Thus mellowed to that tender light

   Which heaven to gaudy day denies.

   One shade the more, one ray the less,

   Had half impaired the nameless grace

   Which waves in every raven tress,

   Or softly lightens o’er her face;

   Where thoughts serenely sweet express,

   How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.

   And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,

   So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,

   The smiles that win, the tints that glow,

   But tell of days in goodness spent,

   A mind at peace with all below,

   A heart whose love is innocent!