Romantic Poetry Analysis

Amber Lee Anardi Gabriel Decio ENG251-001 16 April 2013 The Dominating Themes of Nature and Nostalgia The amatory Period began in the late 18th century and emphasized everything that the previous age had not. Romantic ideals that focused on the heart all over the head and the natural man over the civilized man influenced the literary works of the Romantic Era. Themes of nostalgia and constitution dominated the works of William Wordsworth, William Blake and Percy Bysshe Shelley.Read also Critical appreciation of the poem Old Ladies nursing home.These two ascendants go hand in hand when interpreting quixotic poetry, with the development of the hectic industrial cities many another(prenominal) poets longed for the simplicity that nature had to offer. Poems such as Wordsworths Resolution and Independence, Coleridges The Dungeon and Shelleys To nighttime embody the themes of nature and reminiscence. William Wordsworth is said to be one of the most prestigious poets of the Romanti c Era. Wordsworths religion of nature was influenced by his childhood, growing up in the Lake District of northwestern England and through his travels to foreign countries. Resolution and Independence was written in 1802, roughly four years into the Romantic Period. The poem is about a man walking through the countryside after a night of rain, he reflects on the livelihood of the creatures that surround him and initially share their joy until his mind wanders to the dejection he feels for what man has become. He comes across an nonagenarian man, who he envies because his job is to perk leeches for medical purposes. The traveller envies the old man because he gets to work in nature.The theme of nature is prevails in this poem as well as the theme of nostalgia. Wordsworth writes The birds are singing in the distant woods over his own sweet voice the Stock-dove broods the Jay makes answer as the Magpie chatters and all the air is alter with pleasant noise of waters. Wordsworth desc ribes the sounds of nature that the traveller hears, clearly showing his appreciation of nature when he describes the birds singing as pleasant noise.As the poem continues the traveler demeanor embodies the same joy that the creatures of nature are feeling, yet his jubilation diminishes when he reflects on what man has become. The pleasant season did my heart employ my old remembrances went from me wholly and all the ways of men, so vain and melancholy. The traveler is displeasured with what man has become, describing him as vain and melancholy, such displeasure can be taken as the theme of nostalgia. William Wordsworths Resolution and Independence embodies the dominating themes of nostalgia and nature in romanticism.Samuel Taylor Coleridge is better known for his influence on literary criticism instead than his poetry. Between 1797 and 1803 Coleridges best poetry is said to be produced. The Dungeon was written in 1797 and is about a dungeon in which criminals are obligate to r eside in. The first verse of The Dungeon is dreary and very critical of using dungeons to punish criminals. The tenseness on industrialized cities and the insignificance of rural areas and the upset it causes romantic poets can be seen in this poem. Is this the solely cure?Merciful God Each pore and natural outlet shrivelld up by Ignorance and parching Poverty, his energies accumulate back upon his heart, and stagnate and corrupt till changd to poison, they break out on him, like a loathsome plague-spot Coleridges text is trying to comport that when man is separated from his natural environment he might turn to crime. The theme of nostalgia can be seen in The Dungeon through Coleridges emphasis on nature over civilization, because industrialism is a new concept for romantics.Essentially Coleridge believes that nature betters a man and believes that sending a criminal to a dungeon only turns them into savages rather than letting them find harmony in the natural world. With other m inistrations thou, O Nature Healest thy wandering and distemperd child Thou pourest on him thy soft influences, the sunny hues, fair forms, and breathing sweets, thy melodies of woods, and winds, and waters, This quote can be interpreted as Coleridges way of expressing how nature can heal man.Samuel Taylor Coleridge exemplifies the themes of nostalgia and nature in his poem The Dungeon through his message of nature having the power to better man. Percy Bysshe Shelley is categorized as the perfect romantic poet due to his quest for justice and justice. Shelleys poetry peaked in 1816 until he died in 1822. The poem To Night is about Shelleys longing for the day to end and night to come. Shelley wants to pull out the day and find refuge in the night, although he never explains why in his poem.In the third stanza Shelley writes When I arose and saw the dawn, I sighed for thee when light rode high, and the dew was gone, and noon place down heavy on flower and tree, and the weary Day t urned to his rest, lingering like and unloved guest, I sighed for thee. When Shelley writes and the dew was gone it shows that he is fond of the nature that occurs at night such as the dew on the grass when the night ends. In the second stanza Shelley anticipates nights arrival Wrap thy form in cape gray, star-inwrought Shelley describes another aspect of nature at night the sky changing colors and the emerging stars.Themes of nostalgia can also be detected in To Night but are interpreted differently in comparison to other poems. Sleep will come when thou art fled of neither would I require the boon I ask of thee, beloved Night swift be thine approaching flight, come soon, soon Shelley longs for the night on a daily priming the difference of nostalgia in this poem is that his melancholy demeanor is relieved when night begins unlike other poems that reminisce on the old ways of life. To Night exemplifies a different interpretation of the romantic themes such as nature and nost algia.Themes of the Romantic Era dictated the literary works during the 18th and 19th centuries. The most influential theme was nature and poets developed this theme through their works. Nostalgia was also a common theme in romantic literature, as industrialization grew in popularity, many romantics opposed the new way of life and longed for the way things used to be. William Wordsworths Resolution and Independence, Samuel Taylor Coleridges The Dungeon, and Percy Bysshe Shelleys To Night all stage the themes of nature and nostalgia through their poetry.