One of the Most Critical Definitions of Romanticism - Essay Example

? Romanticism Romanticism One of the most critical definitions of romanticism was done by Rene Wellek in 1940. He defined romanticism as an imagination of poetry, nature of the view of the world, and a symbol for myth and poetic style (Bainbridge 2008, p.28). Today this definition may not be satisfactory because romanticism has undergone extensive review and analyses by modern day scholars. The definition is not the same as other critical accounts and the scholars criticize the definition given by Rene on many bases; particularly periodization. The scholars argue that Rene definition is based on his poetic visualization and nature of the world during his days around the World War II and early 1980’s. Currently, the definition of romanticism ranges across different fields including politics, literature, history art, philosophy and technology. Some define romanticism as the romantic quality or spirit in expression, thought or action. This creates a range of definitions across different cultures, not just as envisioned by Rene Wellek (Reed 2009, p. 35). The table turned is a poem written by William Wordsworth. The speaker in the poem is addressing a young man who spends too much time on books, thus the speaker is scared that the friend might become fat and sedentary. In the poem the speaker does not understand why the friend chooses to be so serious yet there is a beautiful environment outside. The speaker continues to try and persuade the friend to go outdoors by commenting that books make him dull and tied. This can be quoted from the poem “Up, up my friend, and quit your books, or surely you will grow double, why all this toil and trouble. The sun above the mountains ahead.” The poem also talks about the many beautiful things offered by Mother Nature. The writer says that one can gain much wisdom from nature other than from an addictive reading about health, life, humanity, and happiness (Murray 2012, p. 21). The writer also expresses an opinion in the poem that an experience with nature gives humanity much wisdom and valuable intelligence. The writer recognizes that humanity destroys that knowledge by embracing art and traditional science, and proposes that humanity should reject them and learn from nature. This can be seen quoted from the following parts of the poem, “Sweet is the lore which Nature brings enough of Science and of Art, Come forth, and bring with you a heart, which watches and receives” (Seamus 2011, p.67). The poem “The tables turned” has a romantic nature message and supports the importance of being part of the nature or the environment around you. William Wordsworth emphasizes that much can be learned by listening, watching and interactively enjoying ones surrounding rather than toiling to learn everything from books. Romanticism involves the use of imagination, vision and use of myth and poetic style as defined by Rene Wellek. In the poem William tries to persuade his friend to quit spending too much time on books and be part of the natural environment around him by trying to create a mental picture in his head. To start with the writer tells the friend that all that toiling, trying to learn everything from books will cause him to grow double. In this line Williams paints a mental image of the friend growing fat due to spending too much time on books and food and no natural activity such as a walking. This supports Rene Welleks definition of romanticism as an imagination of poetry. William tries to interact with the imaginative characteristic of the friend in his poem (Gleckner & Pflau 1998, p. 122). The poem “The tables turned” also features view of the nature of the world around the writer as a characteristic of the romanticism notion. In the Poem William talks about several offerings freely presented by nature that no scientific analyses can ever fully understand. The writer in an attempt to dissuade the friend to embrace the natural environment, talks about the sun overhead the mountains, freshening lustre mellow and the long green field. The writer also persuades the friend to quit indulgence in art and science. William identifies that no scientific analyses can ever fully detail the richness and knowledge offered by nature. He insists on a romantic notion that the only way that the friend can gain the knowledge offered by nature is by experiencing it (Reed 2009, p. 43). This can be quoted from the last stanza of the poem, where William tells the friend to come forth with an open heart to watch, learn and receive from nature. Another notable aspect of the poem is the use of myths and poetic style to create richness on the nature’s romantic notion created by William (Heasney 1999, p. 144). In the poem the writer tells the friend to quit books or he will surely grow double. The writer is trying use imagery to insinuate that the friend’s indulgence in books will directly result to increase in weight or growing fat. This can be identified as a myth thus supporting part of the definition of romanticism as a symbol of myth. William try’s to create a romantic appeal towards nature and change the friend’s addictive reading habit. He does this creating a direct relationship between book indulgence and weight gain, this might not be necessary a fact as it depends on ones eating and exercising habit. Use of alliterations is also evident in the poem. This is the repetition of closely related letters in words in a series. This can be quoted in the first stanza “Why all this toil and trouble”?                  Other writing styles evident in the story include the use of metaphors, similes and parallelism. Use of metaphors refers to a literature style where a phase is applied to an object that is not literally applicable (Heasney 1999, p. 162). In the poem the writer refers to nature as she and says that “She has a world of ready wealth”. In this case nature is not human and does not literally possess the objects described. The use of parallelism or elements that are grammatically similar in sound, structure and meaning is also evident. This can be seen in the following lines in the poem “Why all this toil and trouble”, “Let Nature be your teacher” and “that watches and receives”. In each stanza the last words rhyme after each sentence, this is evident in second stanza: “The sun above the mountain's head,” “A freshening lustre mellow” “Through all the long green fields has spread,” “His first sweet evening yellow”. This adds to the romantic notion about nature being created by the writer. Poetic style present in the poem “The tables turned” appears to fit well the definition of romanticism by Rene Wellek. He defined romanticism as an imagination of poetry, nature of the view of the world and a symbol for myth and poetic style. The structure of the poem is crafted in a simple but detailed way (Bainbridge 2008, p. 36). Four lines in each stanza and language used is formal with use of many uncommon words such as blithe, come forth and hark. Imaginary as a poetic style can also be noticed, a leader is able to create images of mountains, green grass, sun, singing birds and other aspects of nature. Exploring “the tables turned” by William Wordsworth and its connection to the definition of romanticism given by Rene Wellek a few factors stand out. Based on the poem I have understood that romanticism is heavily dependent on what one can observe and appreciate. To fully understand romanticism one’s ability to watch, learn, enjoy and practically interact with nature is important. Romanticism also includes use of imagination to create the mental image required to pass across he romantic notion (Wordsworth 2012, p. 52). In several occasion in the poem the writer tries to get the get the friend to imagine the, sun above the mountains, a freshening luster or the green fields. This presents the use of imaginary as a major style in the poem “the tables turned” by William Wordsworth as best way to envision the richness of nature in romanticism. The text “the tables turned” is still widely read by people across the literature field. Although the Poem was written in the mid 1770-1850 it offers great richness in poetic quality and provides bases to compare poetic literature today and Romantic Movement in the eighteenth and early century. The poetic content of the text seems to be driven by the understanding of nature and science. The text has been analyzed several times by different authors a privilege not given to many modern poetic master pieces. The table turned tends to high light the status quo and human indulgence into science from the mid 17’s to date. The poem try’s to reverse the notion that science and books have the answer to everything and create a space for reasoning and intellect (Bainbridge 2008, p.43).This makes it one of the most interesting and thoroughly studied works to date. Romantic literary canon refers to a concept where early poetry and literature authors and works are considered the foundation of certain literature genres such s romanticism. However certain questions arise from this literary canon concept. The first question arises from the concept that early works provided the basis of today’s literature and poetry development. This question argues the richness of the work, style and craft skill used on earlier literature is pivotal to current literature trend. Another question arising from the concept romantic literary canon is if the styles from earlier romanticism styles are acceptable to today’s scholars. This creates a huge divide with scholars terming earlier works and definitions as legendary. An opposing group tends to differ and terms earlier romantic literature as outdated and not reflective enough (Wordsworth). In conclusion the definition of romanticism given by Rene Wellek, insists on embracing nature and covers across different topics such as politics, science and philosophy. Though not acceptable to a majority of today’s scholars, it creates a foundation to study modern definition of romanticism. The definition studied with reference to the poem “the tables turned” by William Wordsworth enables a reader understand eighteenth and nineteenth earlier century romanticism movement. Apart from this the poem “the tables turned” tends to change human dependence on science to solve all challenges facing humanity. The writer of the poem try’s to introduce a romantic notion, and presents experiencing nature as the best way to enjoy and understand humanity rather than scientific indulgence. References Bainbridge, S 2008, Romanticism: A Source Book. Palgrave Macmillan, Basingstoke. Gleckner, F & Pflau 1998, Lessons of Romanticism: A Critical Companion. New York, Duke University Press Books. Heasney, S 1999, Opened Ground: Selected Poems, 1966-1996. Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, NY. Murray, S 2011, The Table Are Turned. Saland Publishing, Miami. Reed, L 2009, Romanticism, 1st edn. Steidl, New York. William Wordsworth. The tables turned. The poetry foundation. http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/174826 Wordsworth, W 2012, The Table Turned. Chelsea House Publications, New York. Read More