CHAPTER
I
CONCEPT OF ROMANTICISM AND ITS CHARACTERISTICS
AS IN ENGLISH POETRY
No
literary
trend
confines
itself
period or to a particular place alone.
to
a
If casts
definite
its shadow
long before its actual appearance and lingers to a time well
beyond
its
replacement'
by
trends
or
tendencies
thus
definition.
Yet
critics
another
major
tend
have
fo
tried
trend.
elude
to
Literary
any
define
exact
different
literary trends or tendencies by analysing their nature and
characteristics and also stated aims and objectives, if any.
Of all fhe epochs in English literature,
Romant ic epoch that
if
is the
resists such definition most . Different
crifics have approached fhe term "Romanticism" and analysed
and defined
success
in
"vague".
it' in their own ways;
their
efforts,
they
have
even after apparent
fo
declare
If has, for all the time, proved elusive,
has allured fhe inquisitive minds
if.
but
Friedrich
"progressive"'*'
affached
elasticity
to
Schlegel's
have
come
Romanticism
characferisfic
to
and
of
for frequent
terms
be
they
this
the
the
term
and thus
quest
after
"infinite"
and
familiar
seem
trend
to
epithets
indicate
and
also
the
its
plural ify.
1.
Lilian R. Fursf : The Contours of European Romanticism,
Macmillan Press Ltd., London, 1979, p. XI.
2
In spile of the elusiveness of the artistic tempera­
ments, history of literature has been divided into different
periods with different names. This has been done because at
a
particular
period
a
particular
tendency
is
found
dominating the popular imagination which ultimately creates
a particular
features
pervade
kind
become
the
of
literature.
salient
atmosphere
for
the
and
come
name that: represents it till
Some
definitely
literature
to
notable
of the time
be called
and
by a common
the sensibility of the people
changes in preference of other tendencies. But this does not
signify
that,
intellectual
other
trait s
are
milieu of the time.
totally
expelled
from the
A period of literature or
art may, indeed, have two courses — one historical
other
perennial.
latter
2
course as the "for ever recurring emotional condition."
Its
independence
of
demonstrations.
Furst
has
sensibility.
Plato
as
time
H.H.
Remak
and
place
"Archetypal"
used
3
the
Romanticism
Henry
to
is
connote
has
explains
the
word
such
"first
in
great
William
romantic"^
Collins
the historical
span of
the
many
confusing
that
Lilian
R.
of
any
existence
In this light H.J. C. Grierson's
seems
reference to
only
(1721-59),
(1716-71), William Blake (1757-1827)
was outside
defined
and the
natural.
Thomas
and Goethe
the Romantic
Gray
(1749-1832)
Age.
W.B.
2. Ibid., p. 2.
3. Ibid., p. 2.
4.
H.J.C. Grierson : The Background of English Literature,
Chatto and Windus, London, 1962 , p p . 172-173 .
3
Yeats (1865-1939), with his Celtic ideology, is another such
example.
The Romantic Age in English literature also did not
emerge by showing any precise temporal demarcation from its
preceding
age.
full-fledged
On
the other hand,
artistic
trend
it
only
showed
after
itself
coming
as
a
through
a
sufficient course of evolution in the realm of thought.
Romanticism
is
said
to have
emerged
as
a protest
against; the dry rationality of the eighteenth century. The
gestation
of
reactionary
feelings
against;
the
eighteenth
century rationality was to be felt in this century itself
and it is this century that had produced the poets of the
Graveyard
Young
genre
like
(1683-1765),
Thomas
Robert
Parnell
Blair
(1679-1718),
(1699-1746),
and
Edward
Thomas
Gray. Young heralded the faith in the reverence of the self.
Symptoms of the change showed themselves most clearly during
the last
thirty years of that century.
provided
the
psychological
setting
for
They seem to have
the
upheaval
of
thought in the form of Romanticism in the beginning of the
nineteenth
years
stage
century.
In
the
history
of
literature,
these
reveal themselves separately by forming an important;
in
the
course
of
transition
from
Classicism
to
Romanticism. Louis Cazamian has marked the duration of this
stage from 1770 to 1798 and also grouped these years under
5
the title "The pre-Romantic Period".
M.H. Abrams has termed
5. Louis Cazamian : A History of English Literature (1930)
J.M. Dent and Sons Ltd., London, 1965, p^ 910.
4
£1
this
period
the
"Age
of
Sensibility".
Still
showing
themselves as a cont.inuation of the preceding years, these
years developed some traits which foreshadowed the coming of
a new era with a moral
and
literary change.
their somewhat mixed character,
In spite
the psychological
of
elements
which were going to shape another age in literature, were
more
conspicuous
sensibility can be
period.Joseph
than
ever.
traced
Warton's
Yet
farther
poem
’The
a
strong
romantic
back to this
specified
Enthusiast'
composed
in
1740 "is the earliest: expression of complete revolt against:
the
classical
attitude
which
had
been
European literature for nearly a century."
Romanticism in general
sovereign
7
in
all
is not: a body of the ideas
and opinions of any group or organization of literary men of a
particular
period.
It
is
rather
the
expression
of
a
g
particular mood or temperament: through art. and literature.
Literary history testifies the never-ending conflict, between
the two mental
trends. One is susceptible to the existing
conditions and is ready to accept: the existing values and
9
work upon them; the other may be called reactionary.
With
6. M.H. Abrams : A Glossary of Literary Terms (1978), Mac­
Millan Indi a Li mi ted , Madras", 1987 , pT 3.
7.
Arthur
0.
Lovejoy
:
'On
the
Discrimination
of
Romanticisms' in English Romantic Poets, ed. M.H.
Abrams, Oxford University Press, New York,1975, p.10
8. Mahendra Bora : Ramanyasbad (1967), Student's Emporium,
Dibrugarh, 1987, p. 3.
9. Ibid., p . 5.
5
its love of uniformity and balance,the former represent s the
Classical trend while the latter, with its yearning for ever
exploring
the
unknown,
unseen,
and
even
at
times
the
seemingly non-existent, defying the existing values, its love
of
the
wonderful,
indulgence
in
exuberance
and
emotion,
represents the Romantic trend.
Love of the wonderfuL , of beaut y,
and
appreciation
of
the
mystery
and yearning
of creation
for
characterized
the works of Shakespeare,Marl owe and Spenser.
Taking their
time as the first: Romantic period, the awakening of similar
sensibilities
that
of
pervade
the
revival
of the earlier Romantic
period.
An
obvious
the
to
towards
that: the
end
began
eighteenth
difference
Elizabethan
the
literary
century,
is
minds
called
the
period or the neo-Romantic
between
Romanticism
had
the
two
flourished
periods
is
mainly
in
the form of drama whereas neo-Romanticism flourished mainly
in the form of poet ry.
The
difference
between
Classicism
and
Romanticism
does not: lie basically in the choice of subject-matter;
the
same
The
object:
or
experience
may
difference is in the treatment
emphasized
generalization
Romanticists
are
known
for
be
the
theme
both.
of the theme. The Classicists
and
their
abstraction
love
of
details. For Blake, "To particularize is the
10.
of
whereas
particulars
the
and
only merit".
10
The
New
Encyclopaedia
Britannica, Vol.18
(1768),
Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc., Chicago, 1985, p.
788.
6
The Romanticists emphasized i ntrospection. Arthur O.Lovejoy
has ref erred to the preoccupation of Romanticism "with 'The
heart:'
as dist inguished from the outward act , i t s
Po inProspecPion" denoting " f o r
tendency
iPs peculiar province,
inexhaustible realm of the inner l i f e
also said in his 'DejecPion : an Ode'
Phe
of man."^ Coleridge
:
I may noP hope from outward forms Po win
The passion and Phe l i f e , whose fount ains are withinTheir concentration was engaged in the inner experience at
Pimes with
Classical
the
i ndi f f erence
liPeraPure
to
was
the
external
restrained,
experiences.
sophisticated
and
impersonal while dependence on excessive imagination i s one
of Phe unfai l i ng charact eri st i cs of all
Phe RomanPic poets.
The eighPeenPh century l i Perature was the l i t e r at ur e of the
head.
The heart: had l i t t l e
Po do with it:.
It: explains Phe
fl ouri shi ng of prose l i t e r at ur e during that period.
The
Sensibility"
"pre-Romantic
Pe r i od"
or
the
seems Po have served as a bridge
12
"Age
of
l inking the
two opposing ages. During Phis period, the world of art: and
lit:erat:ure
began
to
imagination
more
than
be
ever.
sPrengthened desire Po f e e l ,
sPirred
by
The
menPal
learnt
an
awakening
f acul t y,
of
with
a
Po receive sPimuli from
which it: could evoke images according Po i t s capacity.
11. Arf.hur 0. Lovejoy : op. ci t.. , p. 18.
12. Mahendra Bora : op. ci t.. , p. 9.
The
7
enlivened sensibility, with an unwonted pleasure, began to
look for its objects beyond its own surroundings
The
distant
places,
coloured with
enlivened with emotion,
and
imagination,
all that
is exotic
as well.
the
past,
in nature
start.ed drawing people's sympathy by their attractiveness.
Imagination
always
is
never
conceives
present
reality.
remoteness,
as
satisfied
ideal
Thus
conjured
with
whatever
the
past,
up
all
the
accessible.
colours
with
or
its
possible
It
transcends
vagueness
and
colours and thus
retrospection came to be one of the essential
features of
pre-Romantic evocation. Arthur O.Lovejoy, in his analysis of
Romanticism, has referred to Professor Ker's interpretation
of
"romantic"
as "reminiscence"
and
interpretation of "its most: typical
the extinct." .13 Rational
had
lost
its
charm
Mr. Geoffry
Scott's
form" as "the cult of
lucidity of the eight eenth century
long
before
and
the
renaissance
of
feeling craved for nothing less than an antithesis between
the
time
it
had
experienced
and
the
time
it
wanted
to
experience.
Though discredited with the unattractiveness of dry
rationality, the eighteenth century was the most, prolific of
all
ages
in English
literature,
from
the
literature.
early
England
period
of
had
enriched
its
development,
through the exchanges of ideas with Italy and France.
13. Arthur 0 Lovejoy : op. cit. , p. 4.
her
But:
8
England's necessity of borrowing from
the Renaissance
rather late.
Italy had ended wit:h
and Germany had begun to impart, her
ideas
It: was with France t:hat: England had continued
any exchange of
ideas
since
the Restoration of
1660.
Upt.o
the beginning of t:he eighteenth cent.ury, England was mostly
borrowing
ideas
from
France
neo-Cl assicism. But: during
including
the
the
doctrine
eighteenth century,
of
England
began f:o flourish with ideas of her own and started showing
marvellous
improvement:
on
whatever
she
borrowed.
Night:
Thought:s of Young, Seasons of Thomson, Ossian of Macpherson,
t:he melancholy poems of Gray
Collins
aroused
Towards
the d o s e
thinkers
The
a
of
rich with
culmination
craze
for
ideas
sentimental
England
f:he century,
the
was
and the
all
France
poems
over
began
of
Europe.
to produce
of t:he English philosophers.
reached
in
the
master
brain
of
Jean-Jacques Rousseau whose ideas agitated people's thought:
so much that: if; burst, forth in no less a movement, than the
French
Revolution
of
1789.
The
eighteenth
cent.ury English
thought., already on the verge of dissolution, was extremely
agitated
and
for
a
balance,
had,
of
necessity,
to
resort, to a new and liberal outlook which came to be known
as Romanticism.
as
the
A new doctrine needs
antithesis
of
the
established
much daring to emerge
one.
Neo-Romanticism
felt an ally in f.he French Revolution and made its way.
Thus
movement,
Romanticism, though
was inspired by factors
basically
quite outside
a
literary
literature
9
and art.. The Revolution cast, a three-fold influence upon the
English Romantic poets- its emotional aspect; inspired Words­
worth
and
intellectual
Coleridge;
Shelley
aspect; behind
was
inspired
by
the
it; whereas on Byron the appeal
was of the political aspect. Shelley's lines—
The nations thronged around, and cried aloud,
As with one voice, truth, liberty, love!
Prometheus Unbound
seem to echo the voice of the great Revolution. Wordsworth
expressed his reaction to the Revolution at. its commencement
as —
Bliss was it; in that dawn to be alive.
'French Revolution'
After the Revolution, France began to exert: influence
on England,
feelings
of
exercising
with
attraction
and
equal
strength,
repulsion
the
and
a
contrary
continuous
struggle between the two aroused a keen consciousness of the
self. Conflicting attitudes towards the Revolution sharpened
the
sense
of
energy,
of
instinct.
and
of
individual
temperament and from about 1 8 0 0 assimilated themselves with
Romanticism, thus lending if: a mixed character.
To
make
the
story of
nineteenth-century
culture
start in the year of the French Revolution is at
once convenient, and accurate, even though nothing
in
history
"starts"
at
a
precise
moment . For
although the revolution itself had its beginnings
10
in ideas and conditions preceding the dale,
it
is
clear t:hat: the event.s of 1789 brought: together and
crystal ized
a
multi t:ude
despairs
int:o
14
irreversi ble.
If
is
frue
fhaf
of
somef.hing
before
hopes,
visible,
emerging
in
ifs
fears,
and
potent:
and
concrete
form
in
1789, the Revolution itself had t:o pass through the tests of
ideas and conditions.
could
give
shape
But: once if was able to prove that: it:
t;o t:he long
anticipated
feelings
of
the
people, it: fhrew all ofher event.s into insignificance.
However much fhe English fhinkers might: be swayed by
fhe ideals of fhe French Revolution, fhey could not: approve
of
fhe
way
of
fhe
French
Republic
fhaf
followed
if;
and
seemingly fhey furned their faces from France.
France by 1789 had been for more than a century
fhe cul rural
dicfafor of Europe,
and it: is clear
fhaf in England and Germany fhe search for native
sources
break
of
t:he
art: was
fyranny
sfimulafed
of
fhe
by
French
fhe
desire
language
to
and
1iferafure.
This
and
led fo a sense of pafriotism and also a renewed
reverence
for
Shakespeare.
But:
French
influence
love
on
English flunking was foo deep and too exfended fo effect; an
abrupf
break.
Hence
a peculiar
atf achment:
still
continued
befween fhem.
14. The New Encyclopaedia Brifannica
15. Ibid., p. 785.
: op.ci t:. , p . 785.
11
From about
the time the English thinkers
began to
express their disliking of the French Revolution, they also
began f:o show their hatred for Napoleon and his autocratic
activities.
Still,
significant'
traits
for all
their
in Napoleon's
hatred,some
character
of
the
attracted
them
and derived their appraisal no less.
Conflicts and contradictions of opinions in each age
prove that: unity of an age does not- necessarily depend on
common
opinions
and
so-called combats
James
and
Byron,
with
Nitzsche
Carlyle
common
Goethe;
the
same
philosophy
the
individuals
psychological and spiritual
been
said
liberal
William
to
Byron
their
inherit:
and
the
could not have been credited
romanticinspiration.
of
with
philosophers,
not. have
conservative Sir Walter Scott
with
Otherwise,
the Romantic
could
and
traits.
Thus
but
it
the
setting that
is
not
political,
the
social,
is responsible for
the unity among men of an age with diverse opinions;
these
are
another.
turn,
the
elements
that
differentiate one
and
age from
Society is the need of mass psychology which,
is
controlled
by
political
events.
In
this
in
sense
social elements include psychological and spiritual elements
as well. Though critics generally treat
Romanticism
aesthetic trend and
one, itspolitical
background
demands
not: as a political
no
less
attention
than
the
other
as
an
one.
Influenced by all these conditions, the publication in 1798,
12
of
Lyrical Ballads,
Coleridge,
the
completed
joint:
work
of
t:he
transition
of
Romanticism,
Wordsworth
from
and
Classicism
to
political
and
Romanticism.
Individualism
In
social
of
:
the
elements
growth
the
made greatness of the self and exaggeration
individualism
most
prominent.
"Liberty,
Equality
and
Fraternity" was the slogan of the Revolution which demanded
the recognition of individual
the
people.
Individual
revolutionary thought"
sphere
in
the
form
rights
1 fi
of
What
individual
and
is his
develop
theology
is
free
might
is,
had never
to
strip
off
more,
"political
of interest
the
truely
which
"asserting
axiom
the
received his
human
proper
abstraction
that:
in himself,
valuable
is
of
soul,
man
much
with
of
to
each
Christian
as he
He was
the
in
thrive
himself,
recognition.
only
every
an end
part
entitled
oppression."^'7 However
idolize
from
the
individualism
uniqueness,
of
is
and the sovereignty of
which was extended to the cultural
human being is an object
himself.
rights
help
able
of
liberty that the Romantic awakening had conferred upon him.
The
Romanticists'
glorification
of
individualism
explains the paradox of their attract ion for andappreci ation of
Napoleon.
"Napoleon was regarded as the model
16. Ibid., p. 786 .
17. I bid., p. 786.
of a new man,
1 3
even during his life, because his career was manifestly the
product, of his own
thought
and
greatest imaginable resistance.
will
working
against
the
He typified the individual
challenging the world and subduing it by his genius."
1 8
In
Napoleon’s miraculous power of translating his visions into
reality
they
discovered
imagination. Napoleon,
of the
self's
Revolution
affinity
for them,
ability.
caused
the
their
battles
a political
and
overturn
the
new.
As
such
the
French
that
realm of art and literature, it: became necessary
something
creative
represented the greatness
Napoleonic
such
of
t
Romanticists' break
in
the
create
o
with
the
earlier century was not. willing but forced.
Again, confusion arises if we assume Romanticism as
only
a
political
issue.
Because
we
come
across
interpretation of Romanticism in politics as exaggeration of
individualism which often results in supreme power entrusted
to individuals resulting in dictatorship and tyranny.
It is
often accused of even being the origin of German and Italian
Fascism, and at: times of Russian communism. Thus danger to
itself was thought to loom in the actions of Mussolini. And
it
is
hard
political
to
deny
outcomes
this
charge
of Romanticism
when
as
we
isolated
often ended in populism instead of democracy,
times,
its
own
existence.
But
consider
Romantic
the
issues.
It
risking,
at
ideals,
in
18. Ibid., p. 787.
2 ^ ,1 8 1
the
14
spheres of culture and literature, are found to enable the
individual to acquire the capacity of exploring the unknown
and encourage the sovereignty of the people
resulted
from
the love of liberty.
When we consider historical Romanticism, we see that
it
reached
its
similar-minded,
culmination
if
not:
through
the
single-minded,
effort:
group.
So
of
in
a
the
exaggeration of individualism, we do not see the rejection
of the collectivized sentiment:. Things seem to be unwisely
generalized
passionate
sources
when one goes
inspiring of
of
energy
so far
the wild
was
akin
to
as
to
say
that: Byron's
forces of nature
lawless
as the
despotism.
The
glorification of the worth and power of the individual
man
does not: imply any approval of his disintegrating force.
In
their pursuit of mysteries,
the Romanticists did not. only
appeal
but: took
to
the
logical
mind
intellectual
faculties,
consideration.
This
senses
the
and
required individual
whole
range
emotions
experience;
of
into
and in
this sense, they were individualists.
Humanism :
As has already been said, the Classical
of
the
eighteenth
century
was
the
literature
literature
of
the
Intellect and Reason with its abstract, love of humanity. The
Romantic
period
began
to
attach
value
to
sensation
and
15
emotion and study
"man as
mysterious,
and irregular,
particular
men
and
he
is actually
found — diverse,
which is to say,
peoples."
Man,
in the form of
with
all
his
contradictions, came to be treated with equal consideration
of
"the
contrast.
between
man's
greatness
wretchedness; man's power and man's misery."
and
man's
20
It was Pascal, the seventeenth century thinker, who
first
perceived
Thoughts
showed
intuition.
first
this
half
He
contradiction
the
distinction
received his proper
of
the
in
nineteenth
human
between
recognition
century.
"vision is always
focused on man — on the
man's
those
nature,
on
problems and
A
nature.
His
reason
and
only
in
the
Romanticist's
fundamentals
those
aspects
character which apply to any age and any country."
21
of
of
his
Imagination :
i
An attempt at analysing the
tics
brings
sanctioned
to
our
by
most;
immediate
of
view
the
the
prominent; characteris­
studies
on
earliest
Romanticism,
and
the
most;
important; of them — the awakening of imagination. "It; was by
means of the imagination that
the
Romantic
poets
explored
19. Jacques Barzun
: Classic, Romantic and Modern (1943),
Martin Seeker & Warburg Ltd., London, 1962, p. XXI.
20. Ibid ., p. 16.
21. Ayn Rand : The Romantic Manifesto, New American Library,
New York, 1971, p. 121.
16
the
mysterious
creative
labyrinths
faculty,
of
the universe.
imagination
was
"corporeal,
or
the
the primary
invested
extraordinary range and depth of power."
The
As
with
an
to
use
22
vegetative
eye",
Blake's term, was rejuvenated with such vitality that it was
not a strain for them to perceive the immanent spirit behind
all
physical
called
imagination
"repetition,
creation."
is
existence.
the
23
in
the
the
Coleridge,
"shaping
finite
mind
in
his
spirit".
of
the
Dejecti on
It
is
ode,
also
eternal
act
the
of
For Shelley "the great instrument of moral good
imagination."
imaginative passion."
2A
For
the
Romanticists "poetry
is
25
However much imagination was regarded as great,
its
object was not to reject, the validity of the external world.
It: was only to assert that: the individual
mind can and does
act: in a perfect way quite independently.
The Romanti ci sts'
doctrine
of
duality
validity
of
both
the
is
the
product: of
external
world
this
and
belief
the
human
in the
mind,
22.
Lilian R. Furst ; op.cit:, p. 144.
23.
S.T. Coleridge
: Biographia Literaria
(1977),
ed.
Raghukul Tilak, Rama Brothers, New Delhi, 1993, p.
91.
24.
Shelley : 'A Defence of Poetry' in English Critical
Essays,
ed.
Edmund
D.
Jones
(1916) ,
Oxford
University Press, London, 1965, p. 112.
25. James Henry Leigh Hunt : 'An Answer to the Question What:
is Poetry' in English Critical Essays, e d . Edmund
D.Jones (1916), Oxford Universit y Press, London,
1965, p. 256.
17
endowed as it. is, wit;h miraculous power. External phenomena
are
not:
obliterated
but:
just:
shadowed
by
imagination.
Anything shadowy like the past, the far-off countries, the
mythological
realm, demands exercise of imagination and as
such appealed to the Romanticists.
Blake believed that: God operates in the human soul,
and imagination, being a faculty of the soul , can be nothing
less
than
God.
His
faith
in
the
creative
power
of
imagination is expressed in his lines —
I must, create a system or be enslaved by another Man's,
I will not Reason and Compare : my business is to Create.
Such
beliefs
Wordsworth,
were
shared,
Shelley
and
to
a
Keats
very
great
also.
extent,
Innovation
by
and
imagination being interdependent, the Romanticists advocated
innovation
as
against
the
Classicists'
love
of
the
tradition.
The
imagination
attitude
of
While
imagination
be
life
English
Romanticists
towards
was quite different: from that of their German
contemporaries.
from
the
to
and
the
means
thereby
of
German
Romanticists
keeping
relished
themselves
a nihil istic
believed
detached
delight:,
the
English Romanticists believed that imagination should have
its base on truth and reality. Being endowed with a special
insight: or intuition, imagination can penetrate into regions
18
which
are
fact:,
beyond
the
intuition
the
reach
Romanticists
inspire
of
ordinary
believed
each
other;
intelligence.
that
and
it
imagination
is
through
In
and
their
collaboration that they could explore the mysterious regions
of the spirit. The exquisite imaginative power also enabled
the Romantic
poets
to overcome
any barrier of
time.
"The
in Coleridge's poetry
are extremes
of
past. and present:. Hi s most: charact:eristic
contri buti on
to
extremes
that, meet
our knowledge of literature lies directly here, in his grasp
) r
of
the
paradox
of
a
present:
past."
In
relation
to
Coleridge's theory of imagination, M.H. Abrams has referred
to the "superlative evaluation of the function and status of
this faculty."
27
"Vision or imagination is a presentation of
what: Eternally Exists."
?R
To draw a distinction between imagination and fancy
is
a
common
practice.
aggregating Faculty of
modifying,
and
the
For
Coleridge
mind"
1coadunating'
and
Imagination
Faculty." 29
Coleridge and Leigh Hunt's attempt
Fancy
is
is
Referring
"the
"the
to
at distinguishing these
26. George Watson : Coleridge the Poet:, Routledge and Kegan
Paul, London, 1966, p. 37.
27. M.H. Abrams : The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory
and the Critical Tradition (1953), Oxford University
Press, New York, 1971, p. 178.
28. William Blake : The Poetry and Prose of William Blake,
ed. Geoffrey Keynes, London, 1939, pp. 637-638.
29. John Spencer Hill : Imagination in Coleridge, The Mac­
millan Press Ltd., London, 1978, pT 45.
19
two faculties, M.H. Abrams has said,
"Not
infrequently,
we
also hear echoes of Coleridges antithesis between fancy and
imagination,
but
the distinction
is usually
desultory
and
tends to collapse entirely, because unsupported by the firm
30
understructure of
Coleridge's philosophical principles!'
And
also
"In
Hunt's
introductory
between these faculties
resolves
essay,
the
difference
into a difference
between
levity and gravity in the poets attitude." 31 Thus fancy
may
be said to command attention more than often as a mode of
imagination.
Because
Romanticism
antithesis of Classicism,
supremacy to reason,
But
the
supremacy
is
supposed
works
order
of
Abstract
reason
form
of
imagination
refute
and
does
repression,
by
to
the charge
supreme
individual
that
the
nature,
repression is felt
not
of
The
show a rare maintenance
concentration
repression
generates
tackle
the
irrationalism.
of
a
of
the force.
30. M.H. Abrams : op. clt ., p. 179.
of
thought:.
Too much exercise of
impulses
force.
and
Because
it
is
the
this
the
Ultimately abstract
reason fails to prove against its futility,
31. Ibid., p. 182.
exclude
by people only individually,
must
an
Nietzsche, William James,
reason does not always work.
leads
as
it: is often accused of irrationalism.
these great thinkers
and
emerge
the doctrine that attached utmost
presence of reason. The works of
Bergson and Freud
to
and this force,
20
no less t-han the life force
itself,
is termed irrational.
Ayn Rand has refut ed the charge of i rrational ify by saying
32
fhaf. Romanticism is necessarily based on Volifion premise.
The faculfy of reason is the faculty of volition and if is
the want
of this
knowledge
volifion is anfirafional
with
mysticism.
fhaf
to the belief that
and fhereby necessarily associated
Despite
feeling and emotion,
leads
the
indulgence
and
excess
of
a rare sense of harmony pervades
the
atmosphere of Romantic poetry.
Faith and Hope :
The
Romantic
restlessness.
tell
poets
But: the tranquility
a quite different
Shelley
and
are
tale.
Swinburne
leads
often
in poets
Sporadic
to
the
accused
of
like Wordsworth
study of poets
belief
that
like
Romantic
poets are convention-breakers. Nevertheless, the never-ending
course
of
fraction
least
a
tradition
of
has
been
each generation
few
of
the
possible
approves
characteristics
only
and
of
because
carries
the
over
a
at
preceding
generation. Coming through much trial, the Romanticists came
to
know
necessary
that
to
some
hold
common
the
understanding
society
together
among
and
men
was
forms
and
conventions were the names of this understanding. They only
32. Ayn Rand : op. cii:., p. 64.
33. Ibid., p. 70.
21
rearranged
the order
of
the
that would not: suit. them.
did
not:
talk
each
Herculean
task of
upon
them
may account
but
faith
and
in
conventions
"They praised
his
f:ackling
own
the
for the
hope,
the
and discarded
originality
private
force
time
restlessness
other
but
language."
that
two
had
those
they
34
The
imposed
in some of them;
romantic
traits,
contradict restlessness.
Synthesis
Romanticism.
poets
is
the
themselves
with
in
The
basis
their
exploring
novelty
and contradiction form the very texture of
faith
yearning
universe,
to the
and
of
for
or
universe.
novelty
is
nature,
changes,
success
can
help
it.
in
hope
knowing
in
a
The
always
its unchanging nature,
understanding
and
subject
Imagination,
perceiving
Romanticists
the
had
main drawback
to make
up
of
with
for
the universe
to
change.
even
its
Reason,
to be of use
in
creating those
But uncertainty of
Hope,
and
f hi s the
bei ng one
the component's of faith, is inevitably associ ated wi th it.
34.Jacques Bargun
: op.c i t ., p. 38.
is
ever-expanding
i magi nati on;
faith.
for
reconciling
of
with
and
Romantic
unknown,
be expected
those novelties of the universe.
is
the
the
sense,
essence
cannot
in
of
22
Love o f Force :
force.
The
Romantic
poets
But
force
itself
desire.
There
In
was
the
pleaded
was
example
for
not
the
the
greatness
object
of Napoleon
of
before
of
their
them
to
teach them enough about the futility of force as if is. But
they also
learnt
from the example of Napoleon that: force,
united with heroism and proper leadership, could
accomplish
marvels.
The
critical
century
philosophers
had destroyed
of
their
the
eighteenth
own dwelling
place.
The new generation must, build or perish. Whence we
conclude that Romanticism is first of all construc­
tive
and creative;
solving
epoch,
eighteenth century.
it. is
as
35
what, may
against.
the
The
necessity of reconstruction was felt
most
of
the
thinkers
ofthe
Romantic
be
called
a
dissolving
more or less by
period
though
they
offered and followed their own and different ways according
to
their
own
Schopenhaur,
temperaments.
Burke
and
Thus
Hegel
Wordsworth,
worked
in
Victor
quite
Hugo,
different
spheres while seeking for innovation. But still they showed
a
common
admiration
for energy,
moral
enthusiasm
and
original genius. Goethe's Faust stands as the ideal example
of the Romanticists' yearning for the dynamic energies. His
endless
strivings
Romantic mood.
35. Ibid., p . 14.
as
well
as
his
failure
reflect
the
23
It: is only natural that each
problem
of
reconstruction
more
period should face the
or
less.
The
cultural
differences that mark each period is due to the difference
of
the
ways
of
looking
into
their
problems;
and
these
differences are settled by the parallel differences in their
political conditions.
Return to the Middle Ages :
As to the eager return of the Romanticists
Middle Ages, this much can be said that
their
this so far neglected age was the result
to the
recourse to
of the unlimited
upsurge of imagination. Rejuvenated imagination rendered the
romantic
minds capable of creating
and transforming
their
objects; and when the collective memory of the people began
to conceive the Middle Ages as an age of strong appeal with
its picturesque quality, its faith and its simplicity,
Romanticists accepted it as the object
century-long
the
of their desire. The
. suppression of emotion found an outlet in its
new interest in sentimental
stories,in natural
scenery,
in
popular ballads and in the tales of horror and mystery. The
exuberance
of
routine-bound
these
appealed
regularity of
to
them
the Classical
against
literature.
the
The
far away and the incomprehensible had an unfailing appeal to
the romantic sensibility. The sense of inaccessibility that
the
old
romances,
with
their
thrilling
tales
incited,
inspired their imagination. Remoteness lent an exotic charm
24
of its own. The naming of the nineteenth century Romanticism
owed t.o the keen interest in the medieval romance shown by
writers
like
childhood
Walter
Scott
and
Keats.
in many Romantic poets has
Reminiscence
its source
of
in their
love of the past.
The Romanticists cannot be said to have shown
much
respect for historical precision in their love of the Middle
Ages.
Abundance
obliterate
of
emotion
more often
the
coloured
everything
sign of difference
as
to
between
the
real and the unreal. In fact, they began to comprehend the
Middle Ages as they desired them to be, not as they really
were. They conferred all the
Renaissance upon the
favourable
traits of English
Middle Ages and thus creating their
most desired antithesis between the Classical
age and the
age they liked to resort to, they began to treat
both the
ages with equal respect. The popular mind began to feel
peculiar
kind
of
familiarity
with
the
Middle
Ages
a
and
conjured up a sense of possibility of its asserting itself
once again. This feeling evoked and extended the range of
their
sympathy.
The
national
itself a mysterious
revival
such a kinship with
it. as
resurrected after centuries
spirit,
experienced
within
of the past; and began to feel
if
it
were
its
former
self
of oblivion.
The Romanticists were nationalists; but r.heirs was a
cultural
nationalism.
It was their cultural
past, that had
25
drawn
their curiosity.
Love
for
and exploration of their
past became thus the two vital tendencies of them.
Diversity :
Diversity
Romanticism
when
seems
we
to
consider
be
the
very
essence
the
Romanticists'
of
reaction
against the sense of repose and serenity of the Classicists.
Lilian
R.
Furst
has,
in
this
context,
referred
to Morse
Peckham's definition of Romanticism :
Whether philosophic, theologic or aesthetic, it. is
the
revolution
thinking
in
in
terms
the
of
European
static
mind
against:
mechanism
and
the
redirection of the mind to thinking in terms of
dynamic
organism.
values
are
change,
diversity,
36
imagination, the unconscious.
the
creative
imperfection,
Its
growth,
Arthur O-Lovejoy, also has referred to the "amazing diversity"
attained by the word "romantic".
37
The Romanticists risked the basic values of life in
their
glorification
fallible
judgements.
of
the
individual's
With
a
changing
and
sense
of
revived
self-consciousness, they discovered injustice and oppression
in the existing order; and to fight them, they had to evoke
and
exercise
energy
and
effort.
In
doing
Romanticists proved themselves to be potential
36. Lilian R. Furst : op.cit.., p. 8.
37. Arthur 0. Lovejoy : op.cit., p. 8.
so,
the
anarchists;
26
and their refusal of the established order characterized the
creations
with
diversity.
The
sense
of
social
oppression
turned some of them into pessimists — while in others
it
aroused a keen sense of strife and strong optimism.
Religious Revival :
Among
sanctioned,
ail
the
they
diversities
had
to
find
that
the
unity
Romanticists
for
their
own
reconciliation to the universe. In doing so they resorted to
a power
vast
solution.
and
This
potent;
accounts
enough
for
to
the
provide
them
religious
with
aspect
a
of
Romanticism and also shows that religion was a psychological
necessity for them.
The earlier religious revival
in the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries in the form of Puritanism manifested
itself as a creed antagonistic to art and literature.
period of transition,
through John Wesley,
the
The
founder of
Methodism, brought about a radical change in the sphere of
religion by attaching great import.ance and effectiveness to
the
faculty of
intuition.
Intuition operates
itself
in a
mysterious way; and thus mystical imagination came to be the
instrument
of
religion.
The
newly
awakened
nature was equally responsible for this
Seeing
life throbbing all
the power that
religious
through nature,
worked behind
interest
in
revival.
they looked for
its animation.
Thus
religion
27
for
them
rather
became
than
cause
the
and
reverence
an
intellectual
logical
effect
toward
outcome
relation.
the
and
of
emotional
the deduction
Religion
unfailing
necessity
was
energy
a
of
the
feeling
that
works
in
of
a
mysterious way. They felt; this energy everywhere in action
and thus their religion manifested itself mostly in the form
of pantheism.
The Romanticists
could
not
forget
the
individual,
and even if they had many allies in the external world, each
of
them
was
alone
to
solve
his
curiosities
and
their
religion remained personal.
Love of Nature :
The
Romanticists
significance
interpreted
the
meaning
and
of "Nature" in a completely different: manner
from the Classicists. Rousseau's call for back to Nature had
whetted
the
already
rebellious
tendencies
against,
the
eighteenth century artificiality; and Romanticism in France,
during the early years of the nineteenth century had shaped
itself according to this call. The Romanticists loved nature
in both the senses - in the sense of innate and spontaneous
ideas
and
assistance
in the
and
sense of
contrivance
those
to
that, do
grow
and
not
need
develop.
human
Through
nature "they found those exalting moments when they passed
from sight; to vision and pierced,
as they thought,
to the
28
secrets of the universe."
38
Love of nature is a common characteristic of almost
all the Romantic poets; yet it reached its culmination in
Wordsworth. For him self-consciousness is incomplete without
nature-consciousness.
He
was
occupied
cheifly
with
rural
nature and believed that nature with "the abiding presence
of
mountain,
lake
and
field
under
the
influence
of
the
changing seasons — is a haunted house through which we must
pass before our spirit can be independent." 39
It was Romantic
poetry that had made man familiar
with different facet,s of nature.
of
nature
led
to
the
mystic
The sublime manifestation
experiences
of
the
Romantic
poets. Their love of beauty is only another aspect: of their
love of nature. Even with Shelley,
contemplation
of
beauty
is...
the revolutionary,
the
first,
stage
in
"the
the
progress toward reasoned virtue."^
Reality :
The Romanticists are often termed feeble spirits and
are accused of trying to escape from realities.
Imagination
38. Maurice Bowra : The Romantic Imagination (1950), Oxford
University Press, Oxford, 1976, p~I 13.
39. Geoffrey H. Hartman : 'Nature and the Humanization of
the Self in Wordsworth' in English Romantic Poets,
ed. M.H. Abrams, Oxford University Press! Hew York,
1975, p. 123.
40.
H.N.
Brailsford
(1913), Oxford
pp. 167-168.
: Shelley, Godwin and Their Circle
Univers Tty Press,~ London,’ 1954,
29
is generally believed to have no relation with real life and
its exercise is believed to lead into escapism. But: the fact:
was
that
their
sense
of
necessity
of
innovation
demanded
that, they should rearrange the order of reality or lay aside
a portion of it,Jacques Barzun has offered a very effective
analogy
of
primitive
the
man
Romanticists'
who
has,
heading toward a cave
rage
of
reality
a
for
than
the
first
to protect
hailstorm
rather
position
his
with
time,
himself
This
shows
urge
to
that
the
from
his
escape,
as
idea
the
sense
of
of
furious
of
is
a
facing
generally
explained.
Classicism was eaten up by excessive abstraction and
generalization.
Quite
self-destroying
untiring
in
elements,
effort's
on
the
the
contradiction
to
these
Romanticists
based
their
exploration
of
reality.
They
believed that to have significance everything must: appear in
a
particular
form.
It
has
already
been
said
that
the
Romanticists created out of necessity. Hence, the world they
created, though invested with imagination, had to be real to
be able to shelter them. Repetition and refinement: had left
nothing
for
themselves
the Romanticists
in a void,
whole world for
to serve
as a model.
they had no choice
but: to
Feeling
take
the
their substance. Only they viewed the world
as a varied one and admitted reality to be both external
41. Jacques Barzun : op.cit:. , p. 15.
ard
30
internal . They granted a vast range to reality admitt ing not
only the substantial , but
the
unknown
also the world of dream; not
possibilities
of
nature
but
only
also
the
supernatural; and they craved for exactitude in all of them.
They
also
could
description.
Though
transcendental
enliven
mostly
everything
occupied
with
with
their
vivid
supernatural
and
subjects,
"reading the poems of Coleridge is
^2
like watching poetry happen."
It. was their sense of reality that, had urged them to
discard the forms with their contents rotten and lost. Thus
whatever is meant, by "romantic revolt." has its root
longing
for
reality;
and
/
when Jacques
Barzun
in the
says
that
'i
Romanticism is Realisrn
we only confront
a fact: reinforced.
This straying from the established order accounts for their
being
called
Coleridge
was
"exotic".
"Of
all
his
the most, concerned with
contemporaries,
the problem
of how
the poetic mind acts to modify or transform the materials of
sense
without
violating
truth
to
nature.'^
So
Coleridge, who was more concerned with the supernatural
with
the
"love
natural,
and
emphasized
imagination
and
reality.
reason
In Wordsworth
all
coalesce
in
even
than
also,
the
appreciation of reality.
42. George Watson : op.cit., p. 6.
43. Jacques Barzun : op.cit.. , p. 58.
44. M.H. Abrams : op.cit: ■ , p. 55.
45.
Melvin Rader : Wordsworth, a Philosophical Approach,
Oxford University Press, London, 1967, p~I 148.
31
Imagination,. .. in t rut h,
Is but: another name for absolute power
And clearest, insight, amplitude of mind,
And Reason in her most: exalted mood.
The Prelude .XIV
Most: of the Romant:icisf:s cherished passionate regard
for
realit:y
—
physical
t:hemselves to be most
in
their
and
mental.
They
minute
creations
persuit
and
of
records
of
comprehensive
truth
was
only
they
scientists;
science
as
proceeds
proved
persistent, followers of facts leaving
detailed
Wordswort-.h, Hazlitt:, Goet:he, Victor Hugo
as
have
by
of
the
worked
as
same
and Stendhal
any
scientist:.
nature
as
in a diffrent
specialization
observation.
and
were
Their
that
of
the
process.
While
exclusion,
they
proceeded with inclusion allowing a vast: range to everything
they worked upon. They were adverse not
to science,
but
to
mat.eri al ism .
Contradistinction of Poetry and Science :
Yet there is a popular charge against Romanticism of
opposition
Turned)
t:o science.
and
"peep
and
"We murder
botanize
to dissect"
upon
his
(The
mother's
Tables
grave"
(The Poet's Epitaph)— these t:wo lines of Wordsworth seem to
confirm
the
generalization
the
different
charge.
But:
resulting
branches
this
from
of
seems
the
science.
later
The
to
be
an
unwise
specialization
accusing
lines
in
of
32
Keats in Lamia seem no less responsible for this charge :
Philosophy will clip an Angel's wings,
Conquer all mysteries by rule and line,
Empty the haunted air, and gnomed mine —
Unweave a rainbow...
"Keats was one among the lovers of poetry to whom it: seemed
that matter of fact: or science is not only the opposite but
the enemy of
poetry,
the survival,
, . ,,46 But then
of poetry is far from certain.
"Keats's
utterances
unphilosophical
in a war in which the victory,
on
poetry
informality
are
and
the
written
wi th
volatility
of
even
the
mood
proper to the personal letter; it is difficult to interpret
many of them, and perilous to take any one as his ultimate
judgement." 47 But in Shelley this sense of contradistinction
between imagination and matter of fact: or poetry and science
seems
to dissolve.
In h i s ’Ode to the West Wind,' there
are
most exquisitely impassioned expression of facts established
by
science.
Wordsworth,
whose
poetry
combined
truth of subject: with profound truth of execution",
"profound
48
cannot
possibly be accused of aversion to science.
Expanse
of range accounts equally for their taking
supernatural, religious and psychological matters as truths.
46. M.H. Abrams : op.ci t:., p. 303.
47. Ibid., p. 303.
48.
Matthew
Arnold
:
Essays in Criticism
Series),(1938), Macmillan & Company Ltd.,
1964 s p. 94.
(Second
London,
33
The demonology of Goethe and Scoff:, t:he opium dreams of De
Quincey and Coleridge,
the
divine
revelations
the visions of Blake and Hoffmann,
of
Shelley
and
Victor
Hugo
were
realities in this light. They had, in fact, experienced them
individually. While introducing the supernatural, Coleridge
pleaded" willing suspension of disbelief" which is equally
essential
to
both
scientific
and
artistic
work.
As
the
reality that: the Romanticists craved for, was inclusive in
nature, Romanticism did not end in types.
Intuition :
Romantic
perception
worked
Classicists'
geometrical
limitations.
their
bound
to
them
an
open
based
Romanticists
scope
in
is
on
universe
intuition.
as
agianst.
The
the
The very vastness of
imperfections.
The
nature
of
intuition is subject: to change from man to man. Reason and
geometry can ask for exactitude whereas intuition can ask
only for possibilities. Thus
the Romanticists
had
to and
could work in a vast expansion of possibilities, certain and
uncertain.
Art:
is
the
product
of
a
man's
subconscious
integrations, of his sense of life, to a large extent than
of his conscious philosophical convictions.
Subjectivism :
Romanticism is subjective in nature. Fichte's creed
of subjectivism was responsible for the supreme power that:
34
imagination had acquired. For the Romanticists, the external
world was
the
projection of the
imaginative
perception-
subjective in nature and transformed.
Subjectivism in Romanticism is often misinterpreted.
At. times it stands for a lack of realism while on others, it
signifies
adoration
of
the
ego.
Both
the
interpretations
seem to imply irresponsiblity. On the other hand, the term
"objectivism" is credited with the quality of being real or
true.
But here again,
the meaning is felt: to be confused.
Sameness of experience in different: subjects is often taken
to
be
objective.
The
exact
word
for
such
experience,
according to Jacques Barzun, is "inter-subjective".
Subjectivism was
not: a condition,
49
but: a necessity
for the Romanticists. Finding that the old inter-subjective
formulas did not: work, they had to base their creations on
individual experiences.
Love of Freedom :
Another
established
fact: about
Romantic
poetry
is
love of freedom. Rousseau believed that, love of freedom is
intrinsic in man and it endows him with a new vision of life
and liberty. He also showed that stagnation of the society
is
against
the
life
force.
He
is called
a revolutionary
because of his protestations against: such a condition. Love
49. Jacques Barzun : op.cit:. , p. 68.
35
of freedom is inherent: in Romanticism.
Romantic
until
literature
not
come
the nineteenth century,
politically
history
freer
and
reflecting
the
did
than
when
in
conviction
when
any
Western
a predominantly
that
man's
into
existence
men's
other
period
culture
was
Aristotlian
mind
is
life was
of
still
influence—
competent
to
deal with reality.^®
As usual,
sive
range
material,
the Romanticists
of connotation
emotional
influence
to
minutest
the
object
spontaneity
of
and
form
was
to the term
spiritual
and
with
was
it
matter
greatest,
setting,
Classical
and Germanic
they
chose
to
"local
the
poetry.
The
importance
and
overcoming
range of
poetic
Graeco-Roman
colour"
Including
its
and substituted all words for only "noble" words.
the Celtic
instead
the
For
uniform
tragedy. History was their prime avocation in redis­
to confine their cultural
they hunted the
fields of folk-1iterature and folk-music and made
50. Ayn Rand
and
condition
: o p .cit:. , p. 119.
of
they
like America and the
Orient. Against the sophisticated limitations,
class
Refusing
arena within London and Paris,
explored the cultures of distant places
every
diction
mythology.
of
the
They added
covering the Middle Ages and the sixteenth century.
for
expan­
extended
of
preferred
They expanded the
a very
"freedom".
freedom,
subject
treated
expression
barrier of metre.
attributed
people
to
allowance
provide
them
36
subject: matters.Wordsworth, in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads
has
referred
men ."’1
ho
Use
of
his
inclusion
the
folk
of
style
the
emotion
and
of
interest
supernatural are represented in Coleridge's Ancient
common
in
the
Mariner.
Contradictions :
Simultaneous
existence
of
contradictory
and
conflicting ideas and feelings is common in Romantic poetry;
and
one
of
celebrated
"...
for
the
line
the
best
examples
from Faust
romantic
of
: "Oh!
is
there
this
What
is
delight!
always
much
Goethe's
the
What: w o e !"
element
of
conflict,., and since he is asking questions to which there
is
no
answer
conclusion
he
One
is
of
little
the
likely
paradoxical
Romanticism arises from its being
nature at
the same time.
to
lyrical
reach
a
serene
questions
about
and dramatic
in
But: here again the Romanticists'
great ability and vast, expanse of interest: may be brought
into account: for help. With their rare imaginative power and
equally rare creative impusle, "they shaped fleeting visions
into concrete
forms
and
pursued
wild
thoughts
until
captured and mastered them'.'53 The conflicting essences
51.
they
and
William Wordsworth : 'Poetry and Poetic Diction' in
English Critical Essays (Nineteenth Century), ed.
Edmund D. Jones(1916),Oxford University Press, London,
1965, pp.3-4.
,
52. Graham Hough : The Romantic poets (1953), Arrow Books,
London, 1958, p. 172.
53. Maurice Bowra : op.cit ., p. 2.
37
contrasting figures of their works involved drama. In fact:,
strife,
antithesis,
contrasts,
oppositions
and colour
are
the essence of Romanticism. Their use of lyric moderated the
conflicts showing marvels as its result.
Faithfulness in receiving impressions often led to
contradictions. The Romanticists succeeded in their peculiar
arrangements of the grotesque
and the
trivial
by the
by the side of the sublime
mystic.
It: was
possible
for
them
because of their liberality in inclusion of different: ideas
into their dominant ones; and this is the reason behind the
fact, that Goethe's Romanticism is naturalistic, Noval's and
Carlyle's
Romanticism
is
Burke's
and
Hazlitt:
liberal istic. The
Gogol
Scott's, conservative
manifest:
Romanticism
and
harmonization of
this.
Their
with
many
rejection
works
equal
Realism.
and
of
fact
and
that,
the
force
The
moods
of
Blake's
idealistic,
the
two
rather than a universe.
bias.
5A
54.Jacques Barzun : op.cit., p.69.
mystic,
Byron
tendencies,
enabled
Theirs was
and
novelist:
trends
that: Romanticism
abstraction
without conventional
of
Russian
their senses freely and conceive ideas about
things
is
accounts
them
of
is
a
for
to use
the nature of
a multiverse
38
Sentimentalism,Indolence, Escapism,and Indulgence of Emotion
An estimate of Romanticism as pure sentimentality is
very common. The word "sent:iment;a 1i t y" cannot; be int erpret ed
as
just;
moderate
t;he
display
or
excessive.
demarcation
mental
does
which
into
seem
Revolution.
executing
in
them
not
Because
to
The
work
French
feelings
blink
his
Richardson
one
is
of its
no
of
the
"Unlike
best
the
is
exerts
one
of
his
the
It
but
of
is
a
cannot
the
French
instance
of
sentimentalist,
existence, the romantic
but
line
sentimentality
remembers
is
either
amount.
feelings
charge
one
action.
weakness,
(1689-1761)
This
when
feeling,
there
Revolution
into
of
cultivates
action.
who has a compartmental
not
possession
as to the righteousness
state
transform
or
realist; does
power."
Samuel
pioneers
of
this
so-called sentimentalism of Romanticism.
The Romanticists are often accused as escapists. Yet;
they showed tremendous power of activity during
of
life
and
Rousseau's
unprecedented
belief
that
love
the goal
for
of
life.
life
is
short
Byron
not
spans
shared
happiness
but; action.
Blake and Coleridge were opposed to the Tabula
Rasa
propounded
theory
perception
"as
a
by
passive
Locke
which
receiver
defined
for
the
images
mind
in
presented
ready-formed from without.
W.B. Yeats also held a strong view against, the idea of
escapism in art.
"So certain was he that; art: was not; 'escape
55. Ibid., p . 77.
56. M.H. Abrams
: op.cit., p. 57.
3
T h a t
w a s
h e
t h o u g h t
w h a t :
y o u
d i e d
o f
F o r
a s
t h e
i n i . o
a n d
T h e
b u t :
a n d
t h e
a s
b e
a n
a r t :
a r e
w a s
t h e
t h e
i n
t h e
o f
c o l o u r ,
t h e y
a r t :
T h e i r
i n
e n t
t h e
s o - c a l l e d
t o
o f
i n
t r a n s l a t e
a n d
a n d
a c c u s e d
i n t
y o u n g e r
p r o d u c t i o n
d e f i a n t :
w e r e
a l s o
n o t :
a s
r e a c t i o n
a s s e r t i v e .
o c c a s i o n a l l y
i o n s
t
r a n s c e n d e d
p o l i t i c a l ,
s o c i a l
t h a t
o f
o f
i n
t h e i r
i m a g i n a t i o n ,
K e r m o d e
:
o f
p .
i n d u l g e n c e
o f
e m o t i o n
t h e
a n y
a
t h e
( a n d
h a d
d e a l
t h e
a u d i e n c e s ,
a s
w e l l
m
a
g
e
,
t e m p e r a m e n t
e x e r c i s e
b r o u g h t
v a l u e
o f
I
a l s o
o f
t r e n d .
g r e a t
o r i g i n a l i t y ,
e m o t i o n a l
R o m a n t i c i s m
u n e q u a l
w o r k s
2 6 .
o f
I n d i v i d u a l
" V a l u e s
R o m a n t i c
1 9 5 7 ,
b e
R o m a n t i c i s t s
e m o t i o n s ;
p r o j e c t e d
t o
f o r
t h e
v a l u e s .
o f
s a i d
t r a i t : .
r e s p o n s i b l e
e l e m e n t
L o n d o n ,
o f t e n
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c
c h a r a c t e r i s t i c s
r e a c t i o n s
F r a n k
t h e m
t h e
t h e s e
r e p u l s i o n
s e n t i m e n t a l i t y ,
a l s o
p r i m a c y
w a s
a r e
i n d i v i d u a l
s o u r c e
i n t e n s i t y
5 7 .
n e w
m a d e
y e t :
e a g e r n e s s
t h e m s e l v e s
c o n s i d e r e d
a r e
A
:
f i e l d s .
l i k e
p r o m i n e n t ,
r o u n d
o f
t a l e n t e d
t h e i r
m i s a n t h r o p i s t s .
i s o l a t e d
m o o d
w a s
R o m a n t i c i s t s
B u i ,
a n d
t h e i r
t h e i r s ,
a c t i n g
w a y
R o m a n t i c i s e s
s u c h
T h a t
o t h e r
f o r t y ;
f o r
It:
t : h i n g s
b y
a e s t h e t i c
o f
l e f t :
s p e a k
r e a c t i o n s o f
s e l v e s
s h o u l d
a g e
t h e
f r o m . " ~ ^
p r o m i n e n t :
a c t i o n .
o f
e g o t i s t s
b e i n g s .
e s c a p e
t h e
t o
s t a t e
t h e i r
a n d
a s
s u c h
s i t : u a H o n
e g o t i s t s "
p r o f u s i o n
t:o
f:o
t h e
b e f o r e
" l o v e - l o r n
f e e l i n g s
t h e
t r i e d
M o s t -
g r o u p
o f
9
j u d g e m e n t
o f
a
e x c i t e m e n t
R o u t . l e d g e
a n d
s )
e m o t i o n a l
R o m a n t
a s
i n t o
i c i s t s
g r e a t
a n d
a l l
K e g a n
a n d
d e a l
t h e
P a u l ,
40
other consequences of a value oriented view of life."
58
Idealism :
Hegel
Kant's
and
disciples,
Schopenhaur,
believed
in
the
the
German
idealists
distinction
and
between
the
thinking subject: and the perceived object.. "Idea"and "thing"
are distinct;
but: idea or the mind shapes the realit ies of
things. Ficht:e modified Kant
into the belief that: the ego is
the creator of the world. This seems a generalization or an
extension of individualism into the extreme possibility.
their conviction that: reality is essentially spiritual,
Romanticists only illustrated Hegel's doctrine that
In
the
nothing
is real but spirit.
Emphasis
art:,
all
art
and
selection
must:
have
Approximating a common
being
some
inevitable
sort:
of
norm was the Classical
for
every
idealization.
idealization.
Romantic idealization acted in quite an opposite direction.
It. craved for the exact expressiveness of each particular.
Wordsworth's poetry abound in such yearning for exact ifude.
In
contradiction
to
Naturalism,
Romanticism
recognizes the existence of man's volition. Science explains
what: the
must
sensible
exert:
anything,
we
mental
must
world
is;
but: to
judgements.
grant
To
validity
58. Ayn Rand : op.cit:. , p. 70.
measure
its worth,
we
validity
of
assert:
to
mental
processes.
41
Aristotle recognized the validity of the power of the human
mind and had
influenced the Romantic
thinkers.
But
nineteenth century, his influence could not be felt
by the
so much
in theory as it could be in practice. Since the Renaissance,
the craze was for Plato's mysticism.
Pessimism :
Romantic literature is often accused as pessimistic.
Wordsworth has defined
than
other
men
in
a poet
the
as a man "who rejoices more
spirit,
of
life
that:
is
in
him;
delighting to contemplate similar volitions and passions as
manifested in the goings-on of the universe,
and habitually
impelled to create them where he does not find them."
59
This
does not certainly conjure up any pessimistic image. Passion
and imagination are associated with the mental vitality and
love of life and the world. Desire to see a happier world is
at:
the
root
reflected
stories
of
in 0.
in
a
Romantic
Henry's
imagination.
projection
benevolent
and
is
effected
Romanticism
righteous
evils.
A
started
by
the
as
a
violent ,
naive
innocence
and
in
in
desire
is
his
short:
spirit:.
Keen
in most: of the Romant ic
delight
self-assertiveness
life
childlike
observation of the minutest objects
poets
of
This
they
take
passionate
defiance
optimistic
through the Romantic works.
59. William Wordsworth : o p .cit ., p. 12.
of
in
them.
torrent
of
primordial
benevolence
run
42
Jacques Barzun,
in his Classic, Romani.ic and Modern,
has summed up most, of the characteristics that: are believed
t;o be the components of Romanticism, in a seemingly negative
sentence :
Romanticism is nob a reburn ho the Middle Ages,
love
of
the
exotic,
exaggeration
the
of
a
a
a
revival
Catholicism,
revolt,
from
individualism,
unconscious,
method,
a
reaction
of
a
a
reason,
an
liberation
of
against
pantheism,
scientific
idealism
and
a reject.ion of artistic conventions,
preference
for
emotion,
a
movement:
back
ho
nature, or a glorification of force. ^
The
negative
form
does
not
signify
here
any
intention
refutation concerning the presence of the traits;
points
these
out: the
traits
lack of
in
the
the uniformity
literary
it: simply
of distribution
creations
of
of
the
of
prominent.
Romanticists.
Considering
trends,
historical
Romanticism,
one of which is occupied
other with the transcendental.
naturalness
swayed
so
naturalness
formed
far
was
as
the
to
former
with
trend.
misinterpreted
imagination. Wordsworth, Crabbe,
in
expressed their feelings in this strain.
60.Jacques Barzun : op.cit ., p. 13.
a wild
twisted
Clare,
two
and the
primitivism
Simplicity
itself
being
see
the natural
Simplicity,
manifest,
we
by
was
and
often
form
and
excessive
and at: times, Keats
43
A n o th e r
d i v e r s i t y
and
p e r m i t t i n g
b e y o n d
m in d
fo u n d
o f
r o m a n tic
whom
in
th e
p h y s ic a l
R o m a n f~ icism
o f
c o m p le x it y
th e
th e
w r i t e r s
g r o u p
fo rm
c a p a b i l i t y
r a n g e .
it's
th e
th e
w r i t e r s
T h is
o u t le t
m ost
o f
o f
p r e f e r r e d
c o n s c io u s
c o n c e iv in g
t r a n s c e n d e n t a l
th r o u g h
p ro m in e n t
th e
a r e
t h in g s
s t r a i n
w o rk s
B la k e ,
a rt
o f
o f
th e
C o l e r i d g e
and
S h e !1e y .
N ow ,
E lio t ',
as
th e
H art'
C r a n e ,
r o m a n tic
o f
g r o w in g
A l l e n
seem s
p e r e n n ia l
i s
c o m p lic a t e d
d i r e c t i o n
t r e a t e d
i t s
e x p l a i n a b l e
be
t r e n d s
W irh
t o
t h e
l i t e r a t u r e
o f
th e
and
a e s th e t
r i s k
h a s
t o
o f
o f
t r e n d
d i v e r s i t y
t o
som e
c h a n g e s
t h e s e
c h a n g e s
ic
R o m a n tic is m .
R o m a n tic is m
m ore
n e a t l y
t r a n s c e n d e n t a l.
R o m a n tic is m
th e
p l a s t i c i t y
R o m a n iic is m
a f f o r d e d ,
u l t i m a t e l y
r e a l i s t i c
in
m a n ife s t e d
cam e
i m i t a t i o n .
im a g in a t io n
t h e
a n o th e r
a e s t h e t i c .
o f
w h ic h
s u b j e c t i v e
i t s
a e s t h e t i c
it
l i ght
h i s t o r i c a l
f o r
tw o
T . S .
S t e v e n s
th e
te rm e d
th e
o f
s c o p e ,
o p p o s in g
lo o k
t h o s e
e x p a n s io n
in
o f
c o u r s e
and
l i k e
W a lla c e
e i t h e r
b een
a d e q u a c y ,
i t s
and
t o
t h i s
n a tu r a l
p o e t s
th a t
h a v e
fro m
t h e
t r a i t
a t t a c h e d
abou t
th e
as
t h e
im p o r ta n c e
fo rm
any
v a s t n e s s
r e p r e s e n t
b ro u g h t
- -
in
we
w h ic h
i n s p i r a t i o n
t r e a t e d
a t t a c h e d
th at
la b e l
e x p l a i n
o r
s e p a r a t e l y ,
W ith o u t
ca n
h e r e
t o
W h itm an
l o
R o m a n tic is m
It
d e r i v e d
T a t e ,
d i f f i c u l t
R o m a n tic is m .
T h ou gh
t e n d e n c y
f i e l d
t o
Th e
n a t u r a l l y
o f
t h e m s e lv e s
art
in
and
th e
44
The
wave
of
the p i n n a c l e o f i t s
the
nineteenth
spread o f
t he
glory
century
English.
rule,
Due t o t h e l a t e
it
was
only
c e n t u r y — almost'
in i t s
in
spirit
t hat
had
at t a i n e d
i n Engl and i n t h e e a r l y p e r i o d o f
was
Bengal,
of English education,
trend.
Romant i c
ushered
being
heralded the
into
one o f
India
with
the e a r l i e s t
introduction
of
the
seats
this
new
a n n e x a t i o n o f Assam i n t o t h e B r i t i s h
t he
a century
last
later,
decade
t hat
of
the
nineteenth
t h e Romanti c
ideal,
t r u e s p i r i t , became c o n s p i c u o u s i n Assamese p o e t r y .