Friday 5 April 2019

Assignment Paper 5 Romantic Literature


  Name – Karan D. Pandya
  Batch – 2018-20
  Roll No – 18
  Paper No 5 – The Romantic Literature
  Topic – Characteristics of Romantic poetry and place of it      
                      in Wordsworth and Coleridge poetry
   Enrollment No -2069108420190029
  Email ID – pandyakaran32@gmail.com
  Submitted – Smt. S. B. Gardi 
  Department of English Bhavnagar  
  University



















Characteristics of Romantic poetry and place
of it in Wordsworth and Coleridge poetry



The poetry which was written in Romantic era is usually called Romantic poetry. The time of this poetry is from 1800 to 1850. A intellectual, literary and artistic that originated in Europe. Characteristics of English Romantic poetry.


      The Sublime
      Imagination
      nature poetry
      supernaturalism

The sublime

use of language that gives motion to the thoughts and emotions beyond simple experience. the sublime may also refer to the  grandeur, other extraordinary experiences that "takes us beyond ourselves.” literary concept of the sublime is important in the eighteenth century. It is associated with the 1757 treatise by Edmund Burke, though it has earlier roots. The idea of the sublime was taken up by Immanuel Kant and the Romantic poets including especially William Wordsworth.


Imagination.

For romantic poets such as John Keats, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and P.B shelley, unlike the neoclassical poets imagination is a distinctive feature. john Keats said, ‘I am certain of nothing but of the holiness of the Heart's affections and the truth of Imagination- What the imagination seizes as beauty must be truth'.

William Black said that,

To see a world in a grain of sand, And heaven in a wild flower, Hold infinity in the palm of your hand, And eternity in an hour.

Wordsworth and William Blake, as well as victor Hugo for them, the imagination is a spiritual force, is related to morality, and they believed that literature, especially poetry, could improve the world. The secret of great art, Blake claimed, is the capacity to imagine. To define imagination, in his poem 'Auguries of innocence".

Nature of poetry

Nature in poetry, as a source of inspiration and love for nature is important factor in romantic poetry. This poetry involves a relationship with external nature and places, and a belief in pantheism. the romantic poets differed in their views about nature. Wordsworth recognized nature as a living thing, teacher, god and everything. These feelings are fully developed and expressed in his epic poem The prelude. Wordsworth approaches nature philosophically, while Shelley emphasizes the intellect. John Keats is another a lover of nature, but Coleridge differs from other romantic poets of his age, in that he has a realistic perspective on nature. He believes that nature is not the source of joy and pleasure, but rather that people's reactions to it depends on their mood.

Supernaturalism

Most of the romantic poets used supernatural element in their poetry. Samuel Taylor Coleridge is the leading romantic poet. whom used so many supernatural events in his poetry.


Sublime in Wordsworth's poetry.

As Wordsworth describes ‘sublime’ he combines several definitions of the term. Sublimity refers to ‘excellence’ in language and to whatever is related or noble in the human spirit. In A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful - 1757. the influential critic and politician Edmund Burke argues that the sublime is ‘whatever is fitted in any sort to excite the ideas of pain and danger, that is to say, whatever is in any sort terrible, or is conversant about terrible objects, or operates in a manner analogous to terror’. For Burke, the sublime is associated with objects and events that, while threatening, are yet a source of ‘delight’. In nature, lofty mountains, raging seas and erupting volcanoes may all, when viewed under the right circumstances , be regarded as sublime. Burke also uses sublime in connection with abstract or obscure ideas, such as infinity, vastness and the divine. He points to a number of examples in literature, including the Bible and Milton's paradise lost to illustrate the point.


Wordsworth and imagination

For him imagination is a supreme gift, and he used imagination as synonym of “intuition”, it is the power to see into reality. All poetry takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility and through the power of memory the emotion is reproduced in poetic form. The process of composition of a poetry is the following: The poet through sensory experience proves emotion with an object and this emotion remain in poet’s memory. Poet ,when he was in tranquility, in a state of pensive mood, remember the emotion, contemplated it by a kindred one produced by the first. Only now he can write the emotion in a poem so that even the reader can feels the same emotion.
So Wordsworth believes that nature is the means through which man could arrive to the perfection of God: men can elevated themselves to the dive contemplating the nature. He has a Pantheistic view of world ( he says that “man and nature are inseparable and man exist not outside the natural world but an active participant in it”).




Coleridge and imagination


Secondary imagination doesn’t belong to everybody but only to poets who use it consciously, was voluntary. “it dissolves, diffuses, dissipates in order to re-create.” The poet with this imagination see the world around him can perceive the world and was able to change and create a new world. In fact “consciously will” and “re-create” are the two keywords for the artists who resolve the reality to create a new world and could create something personal and original (as “rime of ancient mariner” in which poet resolve the reality and create a new world, production of his secondary imagination)
He considers two kind of imagination: the primary imagination : connected with human perception and individual power to produce images, everybody have this imagination but use it unconsciously.


Wordsworth and nature

Wordsworth is a nature poet, a fact known to every reader of Wordsworth. He is a supreme worshipper of Nature. Nature has a pivotal position in his poetry. Wordsworth’s philosophy of nature can be understood within the following three parameters:
1) He conceived Nature as a living personality.
2) Nature as a source of consolation and joy.
3) Nature as a great teacher, guardian and nurse.
 Wordsworth believed that in the living personality of nature a divine spirit, termed as mystical pantheism, is prevailing in all objects of Nature. This belief finds a complete expression in tintern abbey where he says that the spirit rolls through all the objects of Nature


Coleridge and nature

Coleridge, like many other romantic writers of his time such as Wordsworth, demonstrated through his works a great interest in nature. Instead of following the philosophy of the eighteenth century which drew the line between man and nature, Coleridge developed a passionate view of the idea that there is just ''one''. He believed that nature was ""the eternal language which God utters"", therefore connecting men, nature and the spiritual together. In his poetry, Coleridge used his philosophy to explore wider issues through the close observation of images and themes relating to the natural world.



supernaturalism in Wordsworth

of the poet’s spiritual relationship with nature. “The holy time is quiet as Nun Breathless with adoration: the broad sun Is sinking down in its tranquility”.
in nature. In the the poem ‘It is a beauteous evening’, he makes reference to the existence to God as being the sublime power in the universe. He calls on his daughter to ‘listen’ and behold ‘the mighty Being’. The sunset described in the poem is full of religious references which can be taken as a
Wordsworth’s oneness with nature is also seen in ‘To my Sister’ which brings into view the connection he has with nature as he delights in the arrival of Spring. The poem suggests strong connection between people and their surroundings. Wordsworth calls on his sister to live according to the ‘living calendar’ of nature and enjoy herself and be in love with nature.

supernaturalism in Coleridge

There are many different supernatural elements in the poetry of Coleridge. Some reflect Christian beliefs, some reflect folk traditions, and some are fantastic elements grounded in his use of opium, which produced hallucinations.

One of his poems with many dreamlike and supernatural elements is "Kubla Khan," a poem that takes the actual Mongolian historical figure Kublai Khan, grandson of Genghis Khan, and uses that as a starting point for imagining a vast and supernaturally beautiful and luxurious "pleasure dome." Many of the elements of the poem, such as the phrases "demon lover", "holy dread," "sacred river," and, most importantly, "a miracle of rare device," create a supernatural atmosphere. The poem draws connections among artistic creation, the transcendent, and the supernatural as all distinct from and superior to mundane reality.


Bibliography :-


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