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In the stichic passage from William Wordsworth’s autobiographical poem The Prelude, the speaker, who represents Wordsworth himself, encounters unfamiliar aspects of the natural world. The passage is a bildungsroman in verse, a coming-of-age poem that chronicles the psychological growth of the speaker. In the passage, Wordsworth deals with two separate streams of consciousness—one former and … Read more
In their article entitled “Me,” Andrew Bennett and Nicholas Royale assert that “Literature, like art more generally, has always been concerned with aspects of what can be called the… ‘not me’ or other,” (Bennett 129-130). Jean-Jacques Rousseau in his Confessions and William Wordsworth in his The Two-Part Prelude expound upon this issue of isolation from … Read more
The era of Romantic music is defined as the period of European classical music that runs roughly from 1820 to 1900, as well as music written according to the norms and styles of that period. It was the start of a new set of ideas. It started as a reaction against the Enlightenment, Industrial Revolution, … Read more
The turn of the 19th century was a morbid, dark time period: death was a common visitor, as plagues and diseases diminished the children, and the French Revolution and Napoleonic wars diminished the overall population. In response to such loss, humans became relegated to a number in a new, practical system of population management, as … Read more
William Wordsworth himself once said, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.” Wordsworth, like most romantic poets, had a strong attitude towards the rebellion against the industrial revolution and strove to revert back to the “bliss” of nature. He believed that by returning to nature, mankind would become unrestricted by the constraints imposed upon … Read more
William Wordsworth’s poem “A slumber did my spirit seal” compels different interpretations with different readers. In this case, two critics, Cleanth Brooks and F.W. Bateson, analyze the poem and produce two contrasting interpretations. For the most part both critics focus on examining the same facts in the poem, especially, the final two lines of the … Read more
While oftentimes viewed as contributing to the development of Freudian psychoanalysis, the psychological discourse, and specifically that which deals with the unconscious (the part of the psyche which subjects are actively unaware), of Romantic poetry can also be seen as possessing various methods of its own for examining the psyche. Romanticism is frequently seen as … Read more
Wordsworth said that ‘poetry is passion, it is the history or science of feeling’. In conjunction with Shelley’s quote, this is a bold statement to make. Not only does Wordsworth name poetry as the ‘science’ of emotion –creating an authorial sense of logic –but also as the ‘history’ of feeling. This suggests that poetry has … Read more
Tony Harrison’s “A Cold Coming,” William Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” Emily Bronte’s Wuthering Heights and George Orwell’s 1984 each display distinct sensibilities that reflect the time from which they emerged. Modernist manifestos differentiate the Modernist movement from previous ones through its self-conscious examination of literature’s purpose in the cultural landscape, … Read more
In modern parlance, the word ‘romantic’ is often and understandably used with a positive connotation. A romantic individual is most often recalled with fondness, if also with pity. The faults of such a person might be limited to mere naivete: “He was a hopeless romantic; he just wasn’t meant for this cruel world.” However, it … Read more
‘Mariana’ is a poem by Alfred Lord Tennyson which was published in 1830. This was an early stage of the Victorian era, a time when there was a plethora of social upheavals in England and Europe. As a composition, ‘Mariana’ is a beautiful yet ominous lyrical narrative, featuring themes of loneliness, isolation and rejection. It … Read more
Wordsworth’s pastoral poem “Lines composed a few miles above Tintern Abbey” eloquently expresses the poet’s feelings of ambivalence regarding maturation, nature, and modern society. The poem is formatted in a distinct approach that serves to highlight the poet’s own conflicting emotions. Wordsworth initiates the composition by presenting himself as revisiting a beautiful and sprawling landscape … Read more
William Wordsworth’s “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud” is a lyric poem, which deals with the speaker’s state of mind. The description of the process, which the speaker goes through, is represented by a natural scene where the speaker, plants and the surroundings become united. The poem is written in a figurative language, combining images, … Read more
A theme that is immediately apparent in Pushkin’s The Shot is “the noble man with a romanticized view of life”. This theme was common during the Romantic Era, the period in which Pushkin wrote, but is important for more than historical reasons; in many ways, such “romanticization” guides the entire experience of reading Pushkin’s storyline. … Read more
Despite being published in 1798, William Wordsworth’s “The Thorn” gracefully tackles many topics still controversial today in the 21st century. Themes such as pregnancy out of wedlock, murder, abortion, and ghosts are presented and addressed. Wordsworth uses detailed scenery as well as character ambiguity to cause the reader to believe that Martha Ray is merely … Read more
The Romantic Era was a time when people embraced imagination, emotion, and freedom – quite a contrast to the preceding Neoclassic Era, which emphasized the values of reason, judgment, and authority. The values of the so-called Romantics are embodied in the poetry which developed during the period. Romantic poets, such as William Wordsworth and Samuel … Read more
It was a reaction against the Enlightenment and yet akin in that they both assumed life was designed for human happiness. However the Enlightenment placed reason at the center of human acheivement. Romanticismm distrusted the human intellect and placed its value on the emotions and intutive qualities. The natural and spontaneous was deemed good. The … Read more
Romanticism, in a way, was a reaction against rigid Classicism, Rationalism, and Deism of the eighteenth century. Strongest in application between 1800 and 1850, the Romantic Movement differed from country to country and from romanticist to romanticist. Because it emphasized change it was an atmosphere in which events occurred and came to affect not only … Read more
Romanticism represents a rebellion against Enlightenment thinking. It replaces a faith in reason with feeling as the stronger expression of what we are. It is restless with practical reality and prefers visionary longing and excitement to the complacency of everyday reality. In its more radical phases– Blake, for example — Romanticism sees reason itself as … Read more
It was a reaction against the Enlightenment and yet akin in that they both assumed life was designed for human happiness. However the Enlightenment placed reason at the center of human acheivement. Romanticism distrusted the human intellect and placed its value on the emotions and intutive qualities. The natural and spontaneous was deemed good. The … Read more
When you hear the term “Romanticism”, wouldnt you think of something that has to do with romance? That is what I thought when I first heard the word, but I was foolishly mistaken. Romanticism dealt with placing central importance upon the emotions and upon the individual. This time period only lasted about thirty years but … Read more
Romanticism began in the early 19th century and radically changed the way people perceived themselves and the state of nature around them. Unlike Classicism, which stood for order and established the foundation for architecture, literature, painting and music, Romanticism allowed people to get away from the constricted, rational views of life and concentrate on an … Read more
Moby Dick is biographic of Melville in the sense that it discloses every nook and cranny of his imagination. (Humford 41) This paper is a psychological study of Moby Dick. Moby Dick was written out of Melvilles person experiences. Moby Dick is a story of the adventures a person named Ishmael. Ishmael is a lonely, … Read more
This book is definitely a novel. It has all the elements of a true love story. It has a lovesick woman, who has her head filled with notions of a life that will live on happily-ever-after. It is made complete by the death of the heroin. The outside world is a major influence on this … Read more
In order to grasp the full meaning of Lord Byrons Don Juan, the style, the speaker, the listener, and the literal and underlying meaning of the poem must be analyzed. Don Juan is a mock epic that vividly narrates the exploits of the infamous character of the title. This poem is considered Lord Byrons (a.k.a … Read more
Of the bells, bells, bells, bells, Bells, bells, bells — To the rhyming and the chiming of the bells ! This quote from Edgar Allen Poes The Bells, is one poem that had great influence on early 19th century literature. During the early 1800s , writers Poe, Irving, and Cooper display characteristics of Romantic writers. … Read more
Romanticism, in a way, was a reaction against rigid Classicism, Rationalism, and Deism of the eighteenth century. Strongest in application between 1800 and 1850, the Romantic Movement differed from country to country and from romanticist to romanticist. Because it emphasized change it was an atmosphere in which events occurred and came to affect not only … Read more
Literature has changed many times over history, thus giving a vast variety of writing styles. One such style that took hold in the 18th and 19th centuries was romanticism. The use of imagination, freedom of thought, and expression often characterized this style of writing. Romanticism immerged first in France and Germany as people began to … Read more
Books related to 19th Century Romanticism in Europe- 19th Century Romanticism in Europe- Romanticism began in the early 19th century and radically changed the way people perceived themselves and the state of nature around them. Unlike Classicism, which stood for order and established the foundation for architecture, literature, painting and music, Romanticism allowed people to … Read more
For many years, this period and these writers were known as the American Renaissance. This book set the parameters of how to read and connect these writers until relatively recently, when its limitations, especially in terms of defining the “canon” of literary giants and what made them (all male) “giants” have been recognized and challenged. … Read more
Dr. George Boeree best describes the Romantic Movement in the following, Reason and the evidence of our senses were important no doubt but they mean nothing to us unless they touch our needs, our feelings, our emotions. Only then do they acquire meaning. This meaning is what the Romantic Movement is all about. There were … Read more
Romanticism began in the early 19th century and radically changed the way people perceived themselves and the state of nature around them. Unlike Classicism, which stood for order and established the foundation for architecture, literature, painting and music, Romanticism allowed people to get away from the constricted, rational views of life and concentrate on an … Read more