Characteristics of Romantic Poetry
Romantic Poetry
Romantic poetry isn’t just a writing style; it’s a heartfelt rebellion that broke away from the strict logic of the Enlightenment, embracing feelings, imagination, and nature.
W. J. Long defines Romanticism in the following words:
the protest against the bondage of rules, the return to nature and the human heart, the interest in old sagas and mediaeval romances as suggestive of a heroic age, the sympathy with the toilers of the world, the emphasis upon individual genius, and the return to Milton and the Elizabethans, instead of to Pope and Dryden for literary models.”
Romantic poetry is not just a trend or style of writing; it is a rebellion of the heart. It emerged in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, rejecting the rigid logic and reason of the Enlightenment period and instead embracing the power of emotion, imagination, and the natural world. William Wordsworth, a central figure in Romantic poetry, famously defined poetry as
the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.”
Poets of the romantic period often saw themselves as prophets in a time of crisis, as they believed their art could inspire change in the world, seeing it as their responsibility. The political, intellectual, and emotional circumstances of a period of revolutionary upheaval affected the scope, subject-matter, themes, values, and even language of Romantic poetry.
In terms of poetry, the romantic movement is often divided into early and late periods. Early Romantics included Coleridge, Wordsworth, and William Blake, while later Romantics included Percy Bysshe Shelley, Lord Byron, and John Keats.
Key Characteristics of Romantic Poetry
1. Imagination
A major characteristic of Romantic writing was its movement away from the neoclassical focus on imitation to a greater emphasis on imagination. The Romantics valued imagination for its ability to combine reason and emotion. This imagination enables humans to reconcile with differences and opposites. Imagination is, therefore, pivotal to Romantic works. Furthermore, imagination enables humans to understand nature as a system of symbols. For the Romantics, a poet is someone who possesses imagination in the highest degree and is, therefore, able to see clearly and deeply into the real essence of things.
Highlighting the importance of imagination in Romantic poetry, Coleridge asserts: Imagination is everything. It is the source of all creation.” Similarly, Blake writes:
One Power alone makes a Poet: Imagination, the Divine Vision.”
2. Love for Nature
In contrast to Neo-Classicism, which focused on urban life and society, Romanticism turned to the natural world and ordinary people. It is characterized by a deep appreciation and love for nature. Romantic writers and artists often depicted nature as a source of inspiration, beauty, and spiritual renewal. They believed that nature had the power to evoke strong emotions and provoke deep thoughts. In their works, Romantic writers emphasized the beauty and majesty of wild landscapes, from rugged mountains to peaceful forests. They saw nature as a place for reflection and meditation that offer solace and insight in times of personal crisis.
William Wordsworth, one of the leading figures of Romanticism, expressed this sentiment clearly in his poem Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey:
Nature never did betray
The heart that loved her.”
Similarly, in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the natural world plays a crucial role in the mariner’s spiritual journey:
He prayeth best, who loveth best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loveth us,
He made and loveth all.”
3. Individualism
Romantic artists, writers, and thinkers often focused on the individual’s emotions, imagination, and experiences. They celebrated the inner world and personal vision over the norms and conventions of the society. Romanticism valued the individual’s connection with nature and creativity, rejecting established rules and opposing the characteristics typical of neoclassical drama. However, this movement also created its own literary types. Romantic writings addressed individual readers and contained personal voices. Many writers deliberately isolated themselves from society to focus on their unique visions.
William Blake, a poet, captured this idea of individual perspective or individualism in his lines:
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.”
Here Blake expresses his individual perspective of looking at the world and claims that even tiny things, like a single grain of sand, can hold incredible beauty and wonder.
4. Emotion and Feelings
Romanticism is a reaction against the cold science and rationality. It focuses on emotions and feelings over logic and practicality. Romantics believed that emotions were as important as logical reason. When this idea was applied to poetry, it led to a significant change in focus. In 1833, John Stuart Mill described poetry as “feeling itself, using thought only as a way to express it.” This meant that the best poetry was the one that expressed the strongest feelings, giving new importance to the lyric form. Although Wordsworth noted that a poet reflects on their emotions “in tranquility” (when the poet is at peace), the emphasis on spontaneity and feeling marked a clear shift from the earlier focus on reason and control.
5. Inclined towards Exotic & Supernatural
The poets’ inclination towards the exotic and the supernatural in Romantic poetry was a way for them to explore the mysterious and the unknown for pleasure. Using elements like distant lands, ghostly apparitions, or altered states of mind, Romantic poets like Coleridge stressed on the idea of “willing suspension of disbelief” (i.e. willingly assuming something unreal to be real to appreciate a work of art or literature) for the sake of pleasure.
The “exotic” in Romantic poetry refers to places, cultures, and experiences that were distant or unfamiliar to the poet. These could be faraway lands, ancient civilizations, or even different historical periods. Romantic poets were drawn to these exotic elements because they represented a world of mystery and wonder that was different from the everyday mundane (boring) life they knew. For example, in Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s poem Kubla Khan, we see a vision of a grand palace in a far-off land called Xanadu. The poem describes a landscape filled with strange and magical features, like “caverns measureless to man” and a “sunless sea.” This use of exotic imagery helped to create a sense of awe and wonder, transporting readers to a place that was both beautiful and mysterious.
Alongside the exotic, Romantic poets were also deeply interested in the supernatural—the world of ghosts, spirits, and other unexplainable phenomena. This interest in the supernatural was often linked to the Romantic desire to explore the unknown and the limits of human experience. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, another poem by Coleridge, the supernatural plays a central role. The story involves a sailor who experiences a series of eerie and terrifying events after killing a sacred bird, the albatross. The poem includes ghostly figures, spirits, and other strange occurrences that create a sense of fear and wonder.
6. Spontaneity, Music and Harmony
Romantic poetry is known for its lyrical, song-like quality, which focuses on expressing deep personal feelings and emotions in the most melodious verses. Poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, and Byron often used repetition, rhythm, and rhyme to create a musical quality in their poems. They preferred to write as per the spontaneous (natural) flow of ideas.
7. Use of Common, Everyday Language
Romantic poets emphasized the importance of using “the real language of men” in their poetry. They believed poetry should speak directly to ordinary people, using language that was “for the people, by the people, and of the people.” As a result, simple, direct language was common, along with figurative language like imagery and metaphors. For example, Wordsworth’s poems often celebrated the beauty of nature and country life, using straightforward yet evocative language to convey his admiration. Although the Romantic style was criticised by some for its simplicity, it became widely popular and influential.
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