Letteratura inglese - Early Romantic Poetry

AUGUSTAN Vs. EARLY ROMANTIC POETRY

 Augustan Age Early Romantic Poetry

1. Impersonal material 1. Subjective material

2. Loud noble eloquence 2. Lyrical experience of life

3. Intellectual 3. Emotional (Subjective)

(Reason)

MAIN CHARACTERISTICS

 - Poetry was essentially REFLECTIVE (= when the poet writes he’s alone and reflects about life, death,…);

- The experiences it dealt with were not presented for the sake of their immediate impact, but for the sake of

GENERALIZED REFLACTIONS (= for example in the “Elegy written in a Country Churchyard --> reflections

about country life, death,…);

- Early Romantic poets reacted to the social changes taking place in the country with a RE- EVALUATION OF

RURAL ORIGINS and a sense of MELANCHOLY and SADNESS (social changes = at that time England was

becoming an industrial country --> only a few people lived in the country --> artists preferred country life and

made a sort of celebration of it);

PASTORAL POETRY

 - “God made the country, man made the town” (William Cowper): if the country is a creation of God it means

that it’s a wonderful creation that we must admire and take into great consideration. God can’t do mistakes, so

in the country everything is perfect. On the other hand, the town, is a man’s creation and so it can’t be

completely good, here we can also find vices;

- Celebrated and praised COUNTRY LIFE for its simplicity and domesticity, free from the corruption of urban

life (family life is not corrupt, it is based on simple feelings);

- Described LANDSCAPES DETAILS and reflected upon them (sunset, owl, beatles, tower covered with ivy);

- Nature is seen as a SOURCE OF FEELINGS and DELIGHT (God created nature --> pure, good, unspoilt,..);

NATURE POETRY

 - A break with neoclassical view of nature (wild and extreme view of nature --> Rousseau: celebration of the

“Good savage”);

- Nature was seen in its PHYSICAL, rather than abstract details, no longer as static but in MOTION;

- The observation of nature included WILD SCENARIES and led to reflections on the character of PRIMITIVE

MAN who was contrasted with civilized man;

OSSIANIC POEM

