Concetti Chiave
- The Romantics viewed nature as a profound symbol of mankind's role in the universe, beyond mere physicality.
- The cult of nature in Romanticism was a response to the Industrial Revolution's impact on human relationships.
- Romantic poetry often contrasted the purity of the countryside with the corruption of urban life.
- Notable English Romantic works include Wordsworth's and Coleridge's poems, such as "Tintern Abbey" and "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner."
- In Italy, Giacomo Leopardi shared a deep appreciation of nature, using it as a backdrop for personal and philosophical themes.
Indice
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
- Qual è il significato della natura per i poeti romantici?
- Come si differenziano i poeti romantici inglesi e italiani nel loro approccio alla natura?
- Qual è l'importanza della ragione secondo Giacomo Leopardi?
- Qual è il tema centrale del poema "The Tyger" di W. Blake?
- Come viene rappresentata la struttura del poema "The Tyger"?
I poeti romantici vedevano la natura come qualcosa di più di un semplice paesaggio fisico; era un mezzo per riflettere sull'umanità e il suo ruolo nell'universo, opponendosi agli effetti della Rivoluzione Industriale.
I poeti romantici inglesi, come Wordsworth e Coleridge, si concentravano su temi naturali, mentre in Italia, scrittori come Leopardi usavano la natura come sfondo per temi personali o patriottici, mostrando una sensibilità simile ai loro colleghi europei.
Leopardi considerava la ragione nemica della grandezza e della natura, sostenendo che l'arte e la poesia richiedono illusioni piuttosto che razionalità, come espresso nel suo Zibaldone.
Il poema esplora la domanda su quale tipo di divinità potrebbe aver creato una creatura come la tigre, riflettendo sulla coesistenza di bellezza e violenza nella natura e sul significato della natura di Dio.
"The Tyger" è composto da sei quartine in coppie di rime, con un ritmo regolare che richiama il lavoro di un fabbro, simbolizzando l'idea centrale che la natura, come un'opera d'arte, rifletta il suo creatore.
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