Revolutionary Nature of Romanticism - Essay Example

Augustan literary ideals were opposed by Romanticism ideals. Emotions and imaginations were the most important for Romanticism. A power of mind gradually decreased and there was a need for sublime and something innovative in poetry. Wordsworth, Coleridge and Rousseau Wordsworth underlined a revolutionary manner of Romanticism. On the example of Coleridge’s “Lime-tree bower” and “Frost at Midnight” we can see a perfect example of a revolutionary spirit of a new poetry. Wordsworth also claims that representation of different things in an unusual manner allows a poet to represent his feelings to others and identify them with the feelings and emotions of others.

For example, in the poem “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” Coleridge continues to show him Nature in a unique manner. His friends are walking but he is enchanted by the beauty of Nature around him. In the first lines the poet is depressed: “lost / Beauties and feelings, such as would have been / Most sweet to [his] remembrance” (Coleridge, This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison) and is afraid of losing his friend forever. The friends around the poet have the ability to experience a beauty of feelings about Nature and when he feels a friend’s empathy, he confesses that his low mood has become better.

The following lines of the poem are filled with joy and he appreciates beauty of Nature around him even better. The main concern of the poet about Nature underlines another major tendency of Romanticism, when poets should reflect their feelings with regards to Nature and be closer to it. The poem is written in the blank verse in order to reflect a conversational nature of the poem more exactly. Moreover, Coleridge describes a kind of journey along the Nature and intimacy of relations with his friends is much important for him than a severe following the rhyme.

The When a lime-tree is reflected as a kind of a prison, the author loses a felling of love to Nature. The poem is full of beautiful feelings and it is very pleasant to read. He is in despair and feels lonely. Nevertheless, only when the poet is alone he is able to feel the beauty of Nature to the fullest extent. A way from pity to joy depends on the poet’s ability to experience the deepest feelings. The poet refers to sublime and Nature worshipping thus creating a religious theme the central one for his poem.

God is everywhere and Coleridge appraises God: “As veil the Almighty Spirit, when he makes Spirits perceive his presence” (Coleridge, This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison). He draws parallels between the Nature and Divine. In the lines by Wordsworth’s poem “It is a beauteous evening” we can see the poet’s worshipping of Divine and God: Thou liest in Abraham's bosom all the year; And worship'st at the Temple's inner shrine, God being with thee when we know it not (Wordsworth, It is a beauteous evening).

Thus, we can see that Nature is divine for Wordsworth as well. He is inspired by the innocence of his daughter, by her childhood. His ideas and emotions are sublime. Therefore, a nature of a child is also divine and religious for Wordsworth. Being inspired by Rousseau’s Emile, romantic poets believed in an immense power of education through nature and an ability of a child to stay above daily turmoil. In the poem by Coleridge “Frost at Midnight” we can see this tendency. This is a kind of a conversational poem as well.

He speaks about the necessity of education of a