Enlightenment and Romanticism

Question 1 

Romanticism was a reaction to the enlightenment period, referred to as the liberalism in literature in English philosophy. The enlightenment era gave way to the age of reasoning where writers were regarded as philosophers, coming up with theories and different points of view. It was all about science, reason, logic and the rationalistic doctrine of natural rights while romanticism is about feeling and against reasoning ( Siskin & Warner, 2011) . In Romanticism, writers and poets swayed away from thinking to individualism, emotions, and nature, which provided new ideas and the different mean of interpreting and understanding the world. The reasoning was no longer regarded as the essential concept to guide how societies look at the world.

Enlightenment literature is indebted to the contemporary trends in philosophical and scientific thinking, emphasizing logical and rational discourse as a way of understanding the world. Philosophers such as Emmanuel Kant opposed faith-based governance and morality in favor of reason, which led to an emphasis on epistolary literature . (Siskin & Warner, 2011). Kant stated that enlightenment entail’s man’s release from his self-incurrent tutelage, referred to as the inability to use his understanding without direction from another. He claimed enlightenment required freedom to make public use of one’s reason in all matters without any constrictions.

On the other hand, the Romanticism period contrasted the use of logic and Kantian ethics, emphasizing on morality as mutable and individualistic. The period disavowed enlightenment in favor of naturalism of prelude and autumn, focusing on finding the role of the individual in a chaotic world as opposed to awareness which looks for the empirical and justifiable structures of the world. The nature of romanticism was intentional emotional where every movement in literature was characterized by intense emotion, which is different from the enlightenment age. Romantic science was, therefore, a product of the new movement that emphasized the importance of intuition, instincts, and feelings rather than logical reason ( Siskin & Warner, 2011) . It was marked by intense human sympathy and an understanding of the human heart shown towards the poor and those under oppression.

Willian Wordsworth was an influential romanticism poet who revolutionized the writing of poetry by making it accessible to the common man. He used language that was part of everyday speech while incorporating romantic themes such as nature and emotion to appeal to audiences. As such, this period entailed a realization of the emotional and imaginative aspects of life, escaping from actuality and becoming a dreamer and individualist.

Question 3 

John Keats and Percy Shelley were famous poets from the late Romantic period who contributed significantly to the English literature. Their works involve use the romantic element of nature in describing human feelings by using seasons to portray their life views. Their work is thus similar in creation, thoughts, and imagination as well as their attitudes towards nature. They all invoked nature as a sort of supreme metaphor for beauty and creativity, which is different from the older romantic poets who looked at the landscape as a ream of communion.

Keats used autumn to portray the mind of a man, viewing life as the process of aging, decay, and death. His poetry stemmed from use of imagination in the sense that it was a vision of what he would like human life to be, stimulated by his experiences of pain and misery. Contemplation of beauty is also a central theme in the poetry of Keats. At the same time, autumn gave Keats a deep impression, represented as the realm of art and poetry where he thought of the character as the perfect prototype for artifacts.

Shelley like many other romantic age poets also used elements of imagination and nature to address issues of the perfection of life, promoting the cause of freedom. His poem ‘ Ozymandias ,’ imagines a meeting between a narrator and a traveler who describes a ruined statue he saw in the middle of a desert somewhere. This description of the statue is an imagination or meditation on the fragility of human power and the effect of time ( Shelley, 2012) , In his poetry work, Shelley had a desire to change the world for progressive ideas while focusing on the importance of common life as opposed to royalty. His main themes were freedom and love, refusing any form of tyranny and political oppression while believing in a better future ( Shelley, 2012) . He regarded love and liberty as remedies for the evil society allowing society to overcome any political, moral and social convention. While Shelley had great reverence for nature, he believed it is neither a passion, stimulator or retreat from the evils of society but a source of an underlying strength capable of recreation. In his poem Ozymandias , he showed an emotion of disgust towards the ruler and his oppression of the common man, while showing the destructive ability of nature to tame the power of man ( Shelley, 2012). 

Question 4 

While Emily Dickson may not be a typical romantic poet, a lot of her work exhibited some characteristics of romanticism. This is seen with aspects of emotion and individualism in her poetry with revolution bringing to light the importance of the individual since it is hard to trust the majority ( Dickinson & Howe, 2004) . Dickson suggested that going against the majority and focusing on individualism can be considered socially acceptable since the individual is the pinnacle of sanity. Romanticism in Dickson’s poetry is seen when she believes in the sacred nature of the individualism while not adhering to socially accepted norms. At the same time, her romanticism characteristics are portrayed in how she emphasized the importance of nature to the romantics, where she could often mention something found in nature, rebelling against ideals of the strict upbringing. In her poem “Because I could not stop for death,” there are references to nature when she said ‘The dews drew quivering and chill’ bringing in mind the speaker’s sense of cold because of the dews as well as her death ( Dickinson & Howe, 2004). 

On the other hand, Elizabeth Barret Browning is an immensely accomplished poet who was not afraid of expressing her views on contemporary social and political issues. While other conservative women wrote about nature, Elizabeth focused on issues of political leadership, slavery, and industrialization. She also inherited her ideas about poetry from the poets of the romantic period including Shelley and William Wordsworth who influenced her to believe in the power of poetry in shaping social and political thinking. Browning embarked on talking about the position of women in the society while taking up roles of tackling social and political issues injustices in the community. She was able to arouse emotions by talking about important issues in the society such as oppression and the marginalized, offering to defend women into having proper education and psychological freedom.

Question 6 

There are several characteristics of romanticism found in the essay “The rime of the ancient mariner” by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Romanticism is a philosophical and artistic movement that defined how people perceived the world. There elements of romanticism present in the Rime of Ancient Mariner include dreams and visions, view of nature as pure for God’s manifestation as well as a focus on emotion and feeling ( Coleridge, 1992) . Nature in the poem focused on the sublimity and its relevance to humanity, encouraging people to focus on individuality and originality. Romanticism viewed nature as a pure and healing element where God can be found, and his presence manifested. In the poem, when the albatross first appears, the sailors greet it as if it had a Christian soul and hailed it in the name of God due to being part of nature. At the same time, Mariner placed himself at odds with nature when he kills the albatros, where he was punished with a life of suffering and losing his crew to death. He only learnt his lesson by getting in harmony with nature and praying for the slimy things after being isolation ( Coleridge, 1992) . During the darkest hours of Mariner’s punishment, he saw a lurid picture of the sun shining through the skeleton ship as well as envisioning two ghostly figures playing with dice. He committed a crime against nature which caused his demise as he needed to be reborn into nature and see the beauty in the environment that he had been ignoring.

In this poem, the wedding guest is a sadder and wiser man because he has learned something from the experiences of the Mariner. He realizes the need to love nature and animals as an important part of the journey before gaining admittance to the wedding. Initially the wedding guest was in a hurry and he became angry after the Mariner slowed him down. Therefore, he was sad for losing dome of his self-confidence that was built on pride and arrogance, but wiser because he realized the need to change and learn to love. This part was important in the work of romanticism as it illustrated the importance of revering nature and being in harmony with other people.

References

Coleridge, S. T. (1992). The Rime of the Ancient Mariner. 1798.  The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Other Poems (Dover, New York) pp , 5-22. 

Dickinson, E., & Howe, S. (2004).  Because I could not stop for Death . ProQuest LLC. 

Shelley, P. B. (2012). Ozymandias.  Journal of Singing ,  69 (1), 91. 

Siskin, C., & Warner, W. (2011). If This Is Enlightenment Then What Is Romanticism?.  European Romantic Review ,  22 (3), 281-291.