The World is too Much with Us Romanticism

An eminent feature distinguishing Romantic literature is its profound accentuation on sentiment and individualism. This thematic emphasis not only sets Romantic literature apart from the antecedent neoclassical epoch, which prioritized rationality and universal verities but also mirrors the Romantics’ fervent dedication to delving into the innermost recesses of individuals and the exalted intricacy of human sentiments.

The Romantic epoch, which burgeoned from the belated 18th century through the mid-19th century, burgeoned as a rebuttal against the rigid constructs and norms of the Enlightenment.

Romantics aspired to rupture traditional forms and concepts, extolling instead the worth of personal sentiment and encounter. This metamorphosis was not merely stylistic but was profoundly entwined with the historical and societal upheavals of the epoch, encompassing the Industrial Revolution and the ascendancy of individual liberties.

At the crux of Romantic literature lies the conviction that emotional genuineness constitutes the purest manifestation of expression and discernment. This conviction is vividly instantiated in the oeuvres of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, who collaborated on “Lyrical Ballads,” a compilation often hailed as the harbinger of the Romantic Era in English literature. Wordsworth’s preface to this compilation articulates the Romantic ethos of exalting ordinary discourse and the profundity of mundane existence, suffused with a poet’s emotional rejoinder. Wordsworth advocated for poetry that delineated “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings,” an assertion encapsulating the quintessence of Romanticism’s fundamental principles.

This stress on sentiment is also palpable in the motifs of transcendence and the sublime, which are pervasive in Romantic literature. For instance, the poetry of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron frequently delves into the intense emotional states attendant to encounters with the sublime in nature. Their compositions articulate a profound sense of awe and trepidation evoked by nature’s grandeur and potency, concurrently spotlighting human frailty and the potential for emotional and spiritual transcendence. In Shelley’s “Mont Blanc,” contemplation of the awe-inspiring vista begets profound meditations on human ingenuity and the divine.

The exaltation of individualism constitutes another pivotal facet of Romanticism closely tethered to its accentuation on sentiment. Romantics posited that an individual’s sentiments and experiences were not solely valid but also a fount of inherent verity and beauty. This is particularly discernible in the oeuvres of Mary Shelley and John Keats. Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” delves into the emotional turmoil of both creator and creature, each grappling with their identity and aspirations. Similarly, Keats’s odes, such as “Ode to a Nightingale” and “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” plumb the depths of personal sorrow and the fleeting nature of beauty and felicity, underscoring the individual’s emotional reaction as central to the human odyssey.

In summation, the accentuation on sentiment and individualism is not solely a salient component of Romantic literature; it is a revolutionary summons that shaped the very underpinnings of how literature could articulate the profundities of human existence. Through their explorations of the self, their musings on nature, and their groundbreaking poetic expressions, Romantic writers have bequeathed an indelible legacy on literature, extolling the potency and profundity of human sentiments as the crux of artistic and existential authenticity.

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