England Romantic Poets
The poetry of the English Romantic period
(1800-1832), often contain many
descriptions, and ideas of nature, not found
in most writing. The Romantic poets
share several charecteristics in common,
certainly one of the most significant
of these is their respective views on
nature.Which seems to range from a more
spiritual, if not pantheistic view,
as seen in the works of William Wordsworth,
to the much more realistic
outlook of John Keats. All of these authors discuss,
in varrying degreess,
the role of nature in acquiring meaningful insight into
the human condition.
These writers all make appeals to nature as if it were some
kind of living
entity calls are made for nature to rescue the struggling writer,
and carry
his ideas to the world. One writer stated in his introduction to
a
Romantic anthology: The variety of this catalogue implies
completedness; surely
not phase or feature of the outer natural world is
without its appropriate
counterpart in the inner world of human personality.
Nature, then, can be all
things to all men. To the revolutionary Shelley, the
rough wind wails, like the
poet himself, for the world's wrong; or it lifts
his own thoughts to scatter
them like leaves, like glowing ashes, over the
world in an apocalyptic prophecy
of the coming Utopian spring. To Keats,
beset by longing and heart-ache, the
happiness of the nightingale's song
intensified an unbearable consciousness of
unattainable pleasures. (6) Nature
took a different role in each of the Romantic
poets, and even the
PreRomantics, and Victorians writings, but each of these
writers has that one
major thing in common: They all write extensively on the
role of nature in
the lives of people. The English Romantic poets, hailing
mostly from the
Lakeside district of England, would have grown up in a region
that is known
for its natural beauty. These writers did not know the ugliness of
the city,
nor do they have any experience of the crowded streets, and polluted
air of
London. To these writers, the world is a very beautiful place. There
are
wonderful virgin forests, pristine lakes and rivers, and beautiful
wildlife,
making this region a wealthy little virtual paradise. Certainly
this would (at
least partly) account for the facination with the natural
world that can be
found in these poets. They mostly grew up seeing nature in
its highest form of
beauty, and they were definately influenced by their
environments. Throughout
the course of this paper, four poems, written by
three poets, will be discussed
in some detail. Additional poems and poets
will also be mentioned briefly as
this discussion progresses. They are
Wordsworth's Ode on Intimations of
Immortality, stanzas: One, two, four,
and eleven, as well as parts of five and
eight. The second Wordsworth poem
is: My Heart Leaps Up. The second poem will be
Percy-Byshe Shelley's Ode
to the West Wind. And the final poem will be: Bright
Star by John Keats.
Each of these poems contain strong references to nature, and
its role in the
developement of human identity, and additionaly, of the
sacredness, almost
divinity that is to be found in nature. Throughout these
poems, the reader
will find, as has been mentioned, a varrying (yet still
somewhat common) idea
of the importance of nature. This should help the reader
to catch a little
insight into how the English Romantics viewed man and his role
within nature,
as well as nature's role within human society and specificaly,
how nature can
effect and individuals development over his lifetime. Let us now
turn to the
first poet that we will discuss, William Wordsworth. Wordsworth,
along with
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, released a book of poems titled:
Lyrical
Ballads. With this book came the beggining of the Romantic
period. Wordsworth
declared that: " Poetry, should be written in the language
of the common
man and should be about incidents and situations from common
life"
(Francis, 36). Clearly this is a rejection of the Neo- Classical
tradition, and
an embracing of ordinary things and people. Wordsworth can
really be classified
by his very romanticized view held toward nature: A love
of nature is one of
Wordsworth's predominate themes. For him, birds,
trees, and flowers represent
and invisible spirit that is present everywhere
in the universe. (ibid) Clearly
Wordsworth fits very nicely into this
paper's claim toward the Romantic view of
nature. In the first poem of his
that we will discuss, Ode on Intimations of
Immortality, we can see many
great examples of his use and view of the natural
world. Additionaly it is
interesting to note his discussion on children, whom he
believes to be
"closer to God than adults" (ibid). We will now pause
to quote from the
afforementioned stanza's: Ode on Intimations of Immortality 1
There was a
time when meadow, grove, and stream, The earth, and every common
sight, To me
did seem Apperelled in celestial light, The glory and the freshness
of a
dream. It is not now as it hath been of your;-- Turn wheresoeve'er I
may,
By night or day, The things which I have seen I now can see no more.
2 The
rainbow comes and goes, And lovely is the rose; The moon doth with
delight Look
round her when the heavens are bare; Waters on a starry night
Are beautiful and
fair; The sunshine is a glorious birth; But yet I know,
where'er I go, That
there hath passed a glory from the earth. 4 Ye blessed
creatures, I have heard
the call Ye to each other make; I see The heavens
laugh with you in your
jubilee; My heart is at your festival, My head hath
its coronal, The fullness of
your bliss, I feel-- I feel it all. Oh evil day!
if I were sullen While Earth
herself is adorning, This sweet May morning, And
the children are culling on
every side, In a thousand valleys far and wide,
Fresh flowers; while the sun
shines warm, And the babe leaps up on his
mother's arm:-- I hear, I hear, with
joy I hear! -- But there's a tree, of
many, one, A single field which I have
looked upon, Both of them speak of
something that is gone: The pansy at my feet
Doth the same tale repeat:
Whither is fled the visionary gleam? Where is it now,
the glory and the
dream? 11 And O ye fountains, meadows, hills, and groves,
Forebode not
any severing of our loves! Yet in my heart of hearts I feel your
might; I
only relinquished one delight: To live beneath your more habited sway.
I
love the brooks which down the channels fret, Even more than when I
tripped
lightly as they; The innocent brightness of a new-born day Is lovely
yet; The
clouds that gather round the setting sun Do take a sober coloring
from an eye
That hath kept watch o'er man's mortality; Another race hath
been, and other
palms are won. Thanks to its tenderness, its joys, and fears,
To me the meanest
flower that blows can give Thoughts that do often lie too
deep for
tears.(46-52). Notice divine imagery throughout. The writer uses the
phrase:
"Apperelled in celestial light", reffering to the earth as if it
can
put on the light from the heavenlies, like clothing. He compares its
glory to
that of a dream, or from something in a far of land. Stanza two has
images of
raibows, the moon, waters, and sunshine. Very celestial and
important images,
beyond what we normaly discuss when we are discussing
nature. Stanza four,
discusses children, as was mentioned earlier, before
going on to discribing the
tree and the field that: " speak of something that
is gone", and of
the pansy that does the same. He personifies these images of
nature, as if they
have a specific tale of another age, to tell. At one
point, in stanza five, he
refers to: "Nature's priest", as if nature is
really his deity, and
there exists a clergy surrounding it (48). Simalarly in
stanza eight, he writes
of a "Mighty prophet!" (49). He is talking of a human
as the prophet,
but as prophet of what? Of nature. So it is thus far very
clear that Wordsworth
is regarding nature as somehow being divine. To him,
the natural world is almost
a God. He goes on in stanza eleven, to discuss
nature as people sometimes
discuss a religious experience. He cries to the
"fountains, meadow, hills,
and groves", that he feels their might in his
heart, and his "one
delight to live beneath (their) more habitual sway"
(51-52). He even seems
to suggest that nature has a personality that cares
for mankind "That hath
kept watch o'er man's mortality" (52). Nature is given
such a great
significane that even "the meanest flower that blows can give
thoughts that
do often lie to deep for tears" (ibid). Wordsworth's ideas
about nature
seem to change a little as he ages, which is undoubetdly due to
his move towards
Christianity. Here, however, he definately expresses the
typical Romantic view
of the natural world. Some critics have assumed that: "
The Ode is
‘Wordsworth's conscious farewell to his art, a dirge sung over his
departing
powers'" (Trilling, 123). Other writers dissagree, but none the
less, the
significance still remains. If Wordsworth has decided to describe
his growing
feebility, and loss of " the glory and the dream...", than nature
has
certainly been given a very important role to play (53). He chooses
creatures
from the physical world to relay his suffering and his intense
hope. The
flowers, fields and trees all ask him what has happened, where has
his poetry
gone too. Why can he no longer see the celestial light on the
world? He has
really given nature the highest role in his writing. As we turn
now to the
second poem by Wordsworth, we will find many of the same themes
througout. The
second peom, My Heart Leaps Up, follows many of the same
conventions: My Heart
Leaps Up My heart leaps up when I behold A rainbow
in the sky: So was it when my
life began; So it shall be when I am a man; So
be it when I shall grow old, Or
let me die! The child is father of the man;
And I could wish my days to be Bound
each to each by natural piety. (53).
Here we have Wordsworth declaring his
appreciation for beauty in the natural
world, perhaps partly for the same
reasons that he does so in the previous
poem: "Wordsworth not only confirms
his senses but also confirms his ability
to percieve beauty" (Trilling,
126). Additionaly, it is clear that
Wordsworth had a great admiration for
natural beauty as a youth, and claims
that he still has it and if he ever looses
it, he wishes to die. He, once
again, places a great deal of weight on his
perception of nature and the
physical world's importance on human life. Another
item that we can draw from
the text is his statement that "The child is
father of the man" (53). This is
typical of Wordsworth, who often regarde
the child to posses greater wisdom
than the adult. Children are closer to God,
and they have an innate
appreciation for the world's beauty, that their aged
counterparts often do
not possess. Many of the same kinds of ideas can be
witnessed in the next
writer that will be discussed. Percy Bysshe Shelley, was
the other major
early romantic writer, besides Wordsworth and Coleridge. Shelley
was " an
idealist who believed in the essential goodness of human
nature" (Francis,
82). Shelley was more preocupied with visions of the
"absract, misty and
ethereal" (ibid). Certainly not the everyday,
physical world that Wordsworth
largely concerned himself with. The poem we will
look at by this writer is
Ode To The West Wind. Stanza's one and five. Ode to
the West Wind 1 O wild
West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being, Thou, from
whose unseen presence
the leaves dead Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter
fleeing, Yellow,
and black, and pale, and hectic red, Pestilence strickin
multitudes: O thou
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed The winged seeds,
where they lie cold
and low, Each like a corpse within its grave, until Thine
azure sister of the
Spring shall blow Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and
fill (Driving
sweet buds like flocks to feed in air) With living hues and odors
plain and
hill: Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere; Destroyer and
Preserver;
hear, oh hear! 5 Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is: What if my
leaves
are falling like its own! The tumult of thy mighty harmonies Will take
from
both a deep, autumnal tone, Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit
fierce,
My spirit! Be thou Me impeuous one! Drive my dead thoughts over the
universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth! And, by the incantation of
this
verse, Scatter, as from an unextinguesed hearth Ashes and sparks, my
words
among mankind! Be through my lips to unawakened earth The trumpet of a
prophecy!
O Wind, If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind? (83, 85).
Like Wordsworth,
Shelley appeals to nature, as a higher power, to rescue
him from the
"thorns of life" (84). In the first stanza, Shelley writes of
autumn,
vivid images of the dead leaves, and winged seeds that cover the
earth. Anyone
who has ever seen fall, can clearly picture all the beautiful
colours of
"hectic red", covering the trees (83). All soon to be replace by
only
the death that comes with winter, until the Spring "shall blow Her
clarion
o'er the dreaming earth" (ibid). He personifies the Spring, as if it
has
some kind of power to wake up the sleeping world, and usher in an era of
new
life. Spring can fill the world with "living hues" and preserve
and
destroy all things (ibid). The fourth stanza (not hitherto quoted),
contains
images again of the wind lifting the dead leaves up, and seemingly
giving them
life. He compares the freedom of the leaves, to the freedom he
has experienced
as a boy, and his longing to return to such a carefree state.
Then comes his
most concise pleading for nature's help "Oh! lift me as a
wave, a leaf, a
cloud! I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed! (84). The
final stanza, quoted
in its entirety above, finally completes the metaphor of
his "dead
thoughts", as leaves (85). He is imploring the wind to spread his
thoughts
over the earth so that they might somehow become part of a new
awakening. He
also uses the metaphor of "Ashes and sparks" being driven
across the
land, ignighting the world on fire (ibid). Finally he states that
the wind is
like a trumpet of prophecy declaring the arrival of the Spring.
Now we come to
the last poet, and consequently, the last poem that we will be
discussing. It is
Bright Star by John Keats: Bright Star John Keats.
Bright star, would I were
steadfast as thou are-- Not in lone splendor hung
aloft the night, And Watching,
with eternal lids apart, Like Nature's patient
sleepless eremite, The moving
waters at their preistlike task Of pure
ablution round earth's human shores Or
gazing on the new soft-fallen mask Of
snow upon the mountains and the moon: No--
yet still steadfast, still
unchangaeble, Pillowed upon my fair love's ripening
breast, Awake forever in
a sweet unrest, Still, still to hear her tender- taken
breath, And so live
ever-- or else swoon to death. (110). Keats compares himself
to the stars and
measurese his own stability by its. He wants to be like
nature's "patient
sleepless eremite" (110). Unchangeable, inmutable
and steadfast, not being
subject to the whims of a moment or the fleeting
emotions that he was subject
to. He also brings in images of a "soft-fallen
mask Of snow upon the
mountains and the moon"(ibid). He also imagines the
snow being on his lover's
breast, it seems almost that he is refering to the
mountains or the moon. It
is also interesting how he refers to the "The
moving waters at their
preistlike task Of pure ablution round earth's human
shores" (ibid). In
keeping with common Romantic style, Keats has
incorporated an image of the
spritual into his work, similarly to what
Wordsworth accomplishes in his
Ode. Like Wordsworth, Coleridge and Shelley John
Keats is definately
under the impression of nature being a great and benign
force: Almost divine.
However: Interestingly, this godlike nature beyond nature
is becoming, as it
now emerges, increasingly humanized. It loves, suffers loss,
and mourns; and
its essence thereby defines itself as something other than mere
being or
thoughtless life-- something like a type of mind (Hodgson, 81). This
becomes
apperent in the later Romantic works, but even in these, the poets
are
calling for compassion from nature. They want nature to look down upon
them and
to suffer with them and trully, to rejoice with them. To restore
them to their
health and defend them against their critics and naysayers. The
Romantic poets
were rather preocupied with the natural world, as is probably
pretty obvious by
now. So much of their ideas came from the very fact that
most of them lived in
the Lakeside district, a very beautiful place. They
grew up with a great
admiration for the physical world, and came to almost
adopt a pantheistic
outlook on life, especially Wordsworth. Shelley and Keats
were less focussed on
the spiritual realm, but as both of their writings
clearly show, nature was
still highly regarded if not deitized. St. Stephen's
University Literature 350
Prof: M. A Smith April 2000 The Romantic Poets:
and the role of Nature
Craig
Williamson
Bibliography
Camilla, Sister Francis S.L,
The Romantics and Victorians., The MacMillan
company, New York: 1961. Frost,
William, Romantic And Victorian Poetry.,
Prentive- Hall. Inc, Englewood
Cliffs: 1961. Trilling, Lionel. The Liberal
Imagination., Viking Press,
New York: 1942. Consulted: Hodgson, A. John.
Wordsworth's Philosophical
Poetry 1797- 1814. UNP press.,
1976.