Letteratura inglese - Early Romantic Poetry

Augustan vs. early romantic poetry

Augustan age vs. early romantic poetry

• Impersonal material vs. Subjective material
• Loud noble eloquence vs. Lyrical experience of life
• Intellectual (Reason) vs. Emotional (Subjective)

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 reflections (= 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, beetles, 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 sceneries and led to reflections on the character of primitive man who was contrasted with civilized man;

Ossianic poem