European Romanticism - Assignment Example

Running Head: EUROPEAN ROMANTICISM European Romanticism Student Name Institution Date Question 2 Introduction Romanticism was a complex artistic, literary and intellectual movement that evolved with the beginning of the second half of the 18th century in Europe and gained its strength with the reaction of the industrial revolution. Partially it was a rebellion of the social and political norms and the reaction against scientific rationalisation and was attached much on the visual arts, literature and music. The movement had impacts on the historiography, natural history and education. It also confirmed strong emotion as a genuine source of valid experience placing emphasis on common emotions as horror, terror, intimacy and trepidation. The essay below discusses the French Revolution and English poetry of the Romantic period in reference to William Wordsworth’s poem `The Prelude’ (1805), VI, 352-4 which was found and printed by Ernest de Sélincourt in 1926. The French Revolution and English poetry of the Romantic period The French revolution was a period of radical social and political upheaval in the history of European and French. The monarchy which had ruled France for a long period of time had collapsed with three years hence the society was forced to undergo some classic transformation because the religious, noble and feudal privileges had disappeared under the assault of the liberal political groups and other street masses. The revolution began in 1789 with the convocation of the General Estate in May. The support of the revolution in England was initially idealist but when the French failed to reach to the expectations most of the English intellectuals decided to renounce it. As other aspects such as political and economic declined, the romantic vision had adapted other forms other than the initial attachments with the political, these new forms continued to develop quickly (Bloom, 2009). This captured the attention of some of the Gurus of literature like Wordsworth William and Coleridge Samuel Taylor presented and illustrated some related romantic poems in Lyrical Ballads (1798 and 1800). These poems were meant to express through use of genuine language some of the experiences of personal imagination and emotions and their truest experiences were to be found in the nature. The romanticism of Wordsworth was probably the most recognized because of his great poem “The Prelude” which was very popular between 1805 and 1850 although it was published after his death. The lines below are extracted from one verse of the poem and are found to be relevant to the situation through various ways. . . . ’twas a time when Europe was rejoiced, France standing on the top of golden hours, And human nature seeming born again — Wordsworth, The Prelude (1805), VI, 352-4 The energy of the revolution was the centre of Romanticism which was aimed to transform not only the theories of nature and the practice of arts like poetry but also the public perception of the world and some of its principles can be reflected in the life of the twentieth century. The poet believed that the whole process of revolution and its principles were a good cure to the social injustices which were being experienced in France and which were symbol regime being overthrown by the process of revolution (Mendilow, 2002). Wordsworth being in real support of revolution visited France twice in 1790s and his first visit was when he was composing his fourth book of The Prelude. To express his enthusiastic support of the whole process, the poet composed the above mentioned lines of the poem on page 352 to 354 of the book; `France standing on the top of golden hours, And human nature seeming born again’. He associates that the process of revolution with human nature being born again of making a new start of life which is completely different from the past. 19 years old Wordsworth proudly carries the flag of British on the Jacobin demonstration. The art of English poetry was considered to provide a public picture of the reality of revolution. French revolution was meant to give a new face of the European society by introducing the idea of a modern nation characterised by equality, liberty and fraternity which were reverberated in the minds of the prominent people who were believed to have power to change the nature of the concern republics. The line of the poem that `. . . ’twas a time when Europe was rejoiced’ was considered by the poet to express the joy that all the European nations would have after the revolution. Earlier on in the poem the poet tries to recall some of the childish experiences which are associated with nature thus he argues that it is the best man’s educator. The fact that he witnessed the most difficult times before the revolution hence was eager to have it changed (Adams, 2008). All the crews of the English poetry during the romantic times and other numerous intellectuals as well as artists being led by William Wordsworth were enthusiastically accepted embracing the newly preferred social order and felling of the newly born human nature. Although The Prelude is the most considered poem by Wordsworth to be relevant to the France revolution the other poems and artistic works also supported the process. The reason as to why this poem is chosen is because its message is optimistic to a positive change of the lifestyle of France hence its overall mood of the whole writing is love set by the choice of words and use of symbolic language which describes the good things about changing the lifestyles of France. To express his sympathy to the people of France he exclaimed that “my heart was all/ given to the people and my love was theirs” to show that all his efforts especially in his work is focused on ensuring that his people gets the best. There are many factors which support the love the senior poet had for France. His wife and daughter whom he had not seen for the last ten years due to the severe war between France and Britain resided there thus due to the love and influence his family, Wordsworth wanted the best for the nation. This also motivated his plan of visiting it during this period of revolution. At the explosion of the process of revolution the poet was only nineteen years old and a student of St John’s College at Cambridge. Although he knew and had experience of difficult times before the revolution, Wordsworth could not really explain the importance of the whole process but only supported it with the hopes of enjoying its positive impacts after applying its principles such as equality. When he got back to the University he got an atmosphere whereby the whole institution was arose by the whole process of France revolution as all had joined college during the pre-voluntary period when everything seemed unexcited and drowsy. Everybody including the vice-chancellor pronounced it an “a subject of triumph and congratulation” (Gill, 2008). In the lines of the poems, great excitement is expressed because he uses the France revolution as a dawn of mankind or the whole content of Europe. In the above mentioned lines of the poem, Wordsworth uses solemn vocabulary in order to point out the start of the optimistic epoch. The human nature is reborn by the enthusiasm and optimism that the poet experienced during his first visit to France which were the start of the revolution process. The same time a collective marriage ceremony was organized so as to mark the anniversary of the most important event. As a Romantic poet Wordsworth was so conservative of the equality between men that he saw the monarchy as an institution which was after taking his freedom and equality. This is why he was willing to embrace anything which would bring changes to the pre-revoluntary style of living even if he could not understand it well (Sarker, 2003). The aspects of Romanticism in the writings of Wordsworth were intertwined among three aspects: emotion, lyric poetry and self. The prominence on the activity of the imagination would go together with the importance of the perception, feelings, characters and romantics generally considered for their greater concentration on the emotions as an important complement to purely reasonable motives. Application of all these emphasis in poetry resulted to necessary shifts in the focus and according to Wordsworth; a good poetry has "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" and has the power to communicate the intended meaning as well holding the attention of the readers. In the Romantic theory, art was valuable not only as a reflection of the outside world but due to its foundation of enlightenment of the world within. This thus led to its importance of the first-person lyric poetry which was not realised in the previous circumstances. The persona in these poets was less persona and more the direct person in the theory. `The Prelude’ and `Song of Myself’ can be considered as paradigms of successful experiments in the development of self as a subject of the period (Woods, 2006). After his first visit to France, Wordsworth saw the nation France “standing on the top of golden hours” which was a representation of new epoch for the human beings. The aim of including some ideas concerning the revolution in his writing was to reveal the contract between the old system which was associated with inequality and oppression and the new era of equality and freedom of expression and doing things. In his description he perceives the reform in terms of its good principles such as equality, fraternity and freedom. He does not interpret the whole idea as a political movement as many of the prominent people did but he looks at it from a social dimension and in a more idealistic and abstract manner. Wordsworth’s concern is how people would socially relate with each other attached by the bound of equality and other principles of the revolution. Although he just mention these principles without mentioning their practical parts because he does not really understand their political application but he is optimistic on the future life after revolutionary. His concern is based on the unity of the whole nation after revolutionary and this he sees when he first visited France during the early stages of revolution thus in the poem he states that `France standing on the top of golden hours’. By this he refers to the whole nation not specifying on the government as expected because the agreement was based on the constitution but keenly concentrated on festivities of the revolution and the principles which would favour the social life of all the people (Dabundo, 2000). On his second visit to France, Wordsworth had a complicated attitude towards the whole process of revolution because he did not have a clear picture of some of its aspects. The main inspiration of his visit was to familiarize with the process after having some insights got from the first visit. He had more opportunities of examining the process than before, he also visited Annette Vallon young France girl he had a child with. The reason for the support of revolution is because he was concern about his wife and daughter thus he was fighting for peace so as to be able to live with them or regularly visit them. Conclusion France revolution was an epoch of fast social and political changes in the entire continent of Europe which is meant to change the appearance of European society. This happened when the artist Wordsworth had planned his first visit to France after assuming that their war with Britain had ended. The poet was interested with the reforms taking place because he was optimistic that the process would change the living styles of the residents. In his poem The Predule, Wordsworth wrote these lines to express his appreciation of the process. . . . ’twas a time when Europe was rejoiced, France standing on the top of golden hours, And human nature seeming born again These meant that he perceived the process as a down for the France people marking the end of the pre-revolutionary period characterised by oppression and inequality and beginning a new life characterised by revolution principles like equality, fraternity and freedom. References Bloom, H. (2009). William Wordsworth. InfoBase Publishing: New York. Mendilow, J. (2002). The romantic tradition in British political thought. Taylor & Francis: New York. Adams, A. (2008). Wordsworth. Blackie: Michigan Sarker, S. (2003). William Wordsworth: A Companion. Atlantic Publishers & Distributors: New York Gill, S. (2008). William Wordsworth: a life. University of Michigan: Michigan. Woods, G. (2006). English poetry and prose of the Romantic Movement. Scott, Foresman: Michigan Dabundo, L. (2000). Encyclopedia of romanticism: culture in Britain, 1780s-1830s. Taylor & Francis: New York. Read More

Wordsworth being in real support of revolution visited France twice in 1790s and his first visit was when he was composing his fourth book of The Prelude. To express his enthusiastic support of the whole process, the poet composed the above mentioned lines of the poem on page 352 to 354 of the book; `France standing on the top of golden hours, And human nature seeming born again’. He associates that the process of revolution with human nature being born again of making a new start of life which is completely different from the past.

19 years old Wordsworth proudly carries the flag of British on the Jacobin demonstration. The art of English poetry was considered to provide a public picture of the reality of revolution. French revolution was meant to give a new face of the European society by introducing the idea of a modern nation characterised by equality, liberty and fraternity which were reverberated in the minds of the prominent people who were believed to have power to change the nature of the concern republics. The line of the poem that `. . .

’twas a time when Europe was rejoiced’ was considered by the poet to express the joy that all the European nations would have after the revolution. Earlier on in the poem the poet tries to recall some of the childish experiences which are associated with nature thus he argues that it is the best man’s educator. The fact that he witnessed the most difficult times before the revolution hence was eager to have it changed (Adams, 2008). All the crews of the English poetry during the romantic times and other numerous intellectuals as well as artists being led by William Wordsworth were enthusiastically accepted embracing the newly preferred social order and felling of the newly born human nature.

Although The Prelude is the most considered poem by Wordsworth to be relevant to the France revolution the other poems and artistic works also supported the process. The reason as to why this poem is chosen is because its message is optimistic to a positive change of the lifestyle of France hence its overall mood of the whole writing is love set by the choice of words and use of symbolic language which describes the good things about changing the lifestyles of France. To express his sympathy to the people of France he exclaimed that “my heart was all/ given to the people and my love was theirs” to show that all his efforts especially in his work is focused on ensuring that his people gets the best.

There are many factors which support the love the senior poet had for France. His wife and daughter whom he had not seen for the last ten years due to the severe war between France and Britain resided there thus due to the love and influence his family, Wordsworth wanted the best for the nation. This also motivated his plan of visiting it during this period of revolution. At the explosion of the process of revolution the poet was only nineteen years old and a student of St John’s College at Cambridge.

Although he knew and had experience of difficult times before the revolution, Wordsworth could not really explain the importance of the whole process but only supported it with the hopes of enjoying its positive impacts after applying its principles such as equality. When he got back to the University he got an atmosphere whereby the whole institution was arose by the whole process of France revolution as all had joined college during the pre-voluntary period when everything seemed unexcited and drowsy.

Everybody including the vice-chancellor pronounced it an “a subject of triumph and congratulation” (Gill, 2008). In the lines of the poems, great excitement is expressed because he uses the France revolution as a dawn of mankind or the whole content of Europe. In the above mentioned lines of the poem, Wordsworth uses solemn vocabulary in order to point out the start of the optimistic epoch. The human nature is reborn by the enthusiasm and optimism that the poet experienced during his first visit to France which were the start of the revolution process.

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