romanticism (idea)

Primary earmarks of the Romantic movement in England can be listed: sensibility, primitivism, a love of nature, a sympathetic interest in the past, mysticism, and individualism (William Blake and Robert Burns' poetry). Among the specific characteristics embraced by these general attitudes are: the abandonment of the heroic couplet in favour of free and blank verse, the reemergence of the sonnet, the use of Spenserian stanza, and many experimental verse forms, the dropping of the conventional poetic diction in favour of fresher language, the idealization of rural life, enthusiasm for the wild (Kubla Khan), irregular (Rime of the Ancient Mariner) or grotesque (Lord Byron's poetry) in nature and art, unrestrained imagination (Frankenstein by Mary Shelley), sympathy for animal life, sentimental melancholy, interest in ancient and Celtic mythology, and renewed interest in Shakespeare, Spenser, Sidney and Milton, among others.

Although the Romantic movement in English Literature had its beginnings in the early 18th century it was not until the middle of the century that its characteristics become prominent and self-conscious (Gray and Blake). The complete triumph of Romanticism was reserved for the early years of the 19th century (Wordsworth, Shelley, Byron and Coleridge).

Viewed in philosophical terms Romanticism has definite meaning. The term designates a literary and philosophical theory that tends to see the individual at the very center of all life and all experience, and it places the individual at the center of art making literature most valuable as an expression of the poet's feelings and attitudes. It places a high premium on the creative function of the imagination and sees art as speaking of the nobler truth than does fact, logic or the here and now. It sees in nature a revelation of Truth and as a portion of the deity and as a more suitable subject for art than any aspect of the world "sullied by the hand of man".