Concetti Chiave
- Romantic poets viewed nature as more than just a physical entity; it was a medium to explore humanity's role in the universe.
- The Romantic's fascination with nature was partly a response to the Industrial Revolution's impact on human relations.
- In England, Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge focused on nature, while in Italy, writers often used it as a backdrop for personal or patriotic themes.
- Giacomo Leopardi, an Italian Romantic, emphasized nature's significance while critiquing reason, favoring sentiment and sensation over rationality.
- W. Blake's "The Tyger" uses rhythmic structure to explore the duality of beauty and violence in nature, questioning the nature of its creator.
What is the worship of nature of the Romantic’s poets?
The Romantics chose nature as their favourite subject because they saw a natural scenery as much more than simply physical: it could thought about mankind and its role in the universe.The Romantics’ cult of nature was also a reaction against the consequences of the Industrial Revolution during which the new economy and technology were changing also the psychological relation of man to man.
The contrast between the town and the country is relatable with the contrast between the evil and the goodness and spiritual health.
Romantic poets in England and in Italy
The most important English Romantic poems were I Wondered Lonely as a Cloud and She Dwelt Among the Untrodden Ways by Wordsworth, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan by Coleridge and, especially the In Italy, Romantic writers sang of nature though they usually made it the background to personal or patriotic themes.Giacomo Leopardi had a sensibility for nature closer to that of his European fellow poets. His predilection for natural features is typical although he doesn’t indulge in the Gothic or the supernatural. Many of his poems begin with the description of a landscape and then move on to pessimistic reflections on man’s destiny.
In the Zibaldone he also stated: “La ragione è nemica d’ogni grandezza; la ragione è nemica della natura; la natura è grande, la ragione è piccola. Voglio dire che un uomo tanto meno o tanto piú difficilmente sarà grande, quanto piú sarà dominato dalla ragione; ché pochi possono esser grandi; e nelle arti e nella poesia forse nessuno, se non sono dominati dalle illusioni.”
In this way, it can be understood how Leopardi, in the first phase of his poetry, shows an important aspect in the Romantic poetry: sentiment and sensation over rationality.
An example of Romantic poetry: The tyger by W. Blake
The poem begins with a question of the narrator to a fearsome tiger: what kind of divine being could have created it. This act is the beginning of something bigger: each subsequent stanza contains further questions, all of which are connected to this first one.
The poem is composed of six quatrains in rhymed couplets. The meter is regular and rhythmic. This creates an hammering and suggestive beat that recalls the work of the smith who is shaping metals. That's significant because it is the poem’s central image.
The simplicity of the proportions of the poem’s form creates a perfect harmony with the regularity of the structure that revolve around a single, central idea, the one asked in the first stanza.
So, it can be observed that Blake is building a conventional idea that nature, like a work of art, must in some way contain a reflection of its creator.
For this reason, the tiger is both beautiful and horrific for its potential violence because it has to survive in its natural environment. What kind of a God, then, could or would design a beast as the tiger? What does the undeniable coexistence of evil and violence and good and beauty in the world mean and suggest the nature of God?
Domande da interrogazione
- Why did Romantic poets focus on nature in their works?
- How did English and Italian Romantic poets differ in their portrayal of nature?
- What is a key theme in Giacomo Leopardi's approach to Romantic poetry?
- How does William Blake's poem "The Tyger" explore the relationship between nature and its creator?
- What structural elements in "The Tyger" enhance its central theme?
Romantic poets chose nature as a central theme because they viewed it as more than just physical scenery; it was a means to reflect on humanity and its place in the universe, serving as a reaction against the Industrial Revolution's impact on human relationships.
English Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge often centered their works around nature itself, while Italian poets, such as Giacomo Leopardi, used nature as a backdrop for personal or patriotic themes, often leading to reflections on human destiny.
Leopardi emphasized sentiment and sensation over rationality, reflecting a core aspect of Romantic poetry, as seen in his works that begin with natural landscapes and transition to pessimistic reflections on human fate.
"The Tyger" uses a series of questions to ponder the divine being capable of creating such a fearsome creature, suggesting that nature, like art, reflects its creator, and questioning the coexistence of beauty and violence in the world.
The poem's six quatrains in rhymed couplets and regular, rhythmic meter create a hammering beat that mirrors the smith's work, reinforcing the central idea of nature as a reflection of its creator, and exploring the duality of beauty and horror.
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