Treatment of Nature in Romantic Poetry OR Contribution of Romantic Poets in Nature Poetry.

        The growth of love of Nature is the most remarkable and interesting general feature of the Romantic Age. No doubt there was a movement in favor of poetry dealing with the nature. In the later period with the eighteenth century, the Pre-Raphaelite poets begun this movement with the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 the new era in English poetry will begin. In the collection of Wordsworth and Coleridge decided to write poetry in simple language and about the natural and supernatural element. Really, it was William Wordsworth who gave to nature a separate life and soul. He is mostly known as a ‘high priest of nature.’ Wordsworth spiritualized nature and made her a moral teacher.

      Let’s discuss the contribution of Romantic Poets who have written nature poetry.

Wordsworth:

         As we know that Wordsworth was a true lover of nature. Each and every poems of Wordsworth one or other way connected connecte with nature. Nature was the true source of his poetry. His conception of nature is developed as he grows in year. His attitude for nature may be classified in to three parts:

i. The period of blood

ii. The period of scenes

iii. The period if Imagination and Soul

       In the first stage poets love for nature is simple like a boy. His love for nature was without any mystical and spiritual touch. W. H. Hudson remarks that – “His love for nature was highly boy’s open love of open airs and freedom of field.” He was attracted by physical beauties of nature.  His poems ‘The Rainbow’, ‘To the Cuckoo’, and so on expresses the love of child toward the nature.

         In the second stage his love for nature is with the passion which was all physical without any tinge or intellectual or philosophical association. It was the age of sweet sentences. He enchanted by the sound and sight of nature. We find this in his ‘Tintern  Abby’.

      In the third stage his attitude toward nature change from physical to spiritual. He feels mystical touched him. Now a great mission starts. Now he begins to find in object of nature a soul, a living spirit. In the later years of his life. He interested in inner spirit of nature.

         Wordsworth made nature a teacher of man. According to him – “Men is able to communicate with the nature easily.” The reason is keenship between two. In the poem ‘Table Turn’. He tells to the scholar that books are dull, he should leave them and let nature to be teacher. Wordsworth advocated that the nature is the mother of men. He say that, when you are unhappy and lonely go to Mother Nature’s lap. You will be full of company and happiness. The poem ‘Daffodils’ is good example Wordsworth as poet of nature believe that each and every object is connected with nature and it can be subject of his poetry, includes the birds, the rainbow, the flowers, the woods, the solitary reaper and so on.

P. B. Shelly:

           Like Wordsworth, Shelly finds joy in nature. His hearts dance with the joy and hear music of skylark. Like Keats was also sensuous to beauty of nature. His picture of nature is colorful. Shelly could love all object of nature. It was with the passion of lover. Infect his love is wider and waster. He loved rocks and caves, furry of storms, thunders, dancing waves and so on

          Shelly as a poet of nature, is a different from Wordsworth. Wordsworth loved static, the quiet and the fixed nature. On the other hand Shelly’s attitude was changing and dynamic. He was more  interested in her doing then in her form. Words word wrote nature poetry to convey his feeling and ideas. Shelly’s ‘Ode to West Wind’, ‘To the Skylark’, ‘Adonis’ are highly symbolic poems Shelly was also a kin observer of nature. He expresses some philosophical ideas through the nature.

Joan Keats:

        Keats treatment of nature is much simpler, more direct and personal than that of Shelly or Wordsworth. He does not spiritualize nature. He also does not go to her to learn the lessons of morality. Infect he goes to nature for his physical and sensuous aspects. He takes childlike delight in her external beauties. He loves her as she is. His ‘Ode To Automan’ expresses the universal sensuousness. Unlike Shelly, Keats love is calm and quite nature. He loves a sleep of nature, silent of nature and so on. To Keats nature was like God and Goddess. 

S T Coleridge

        Like Wordsworth, Coleridge was Pantheist and in his early poems, we notice the presence of divine spirit with the colour of object of nature. He believed in a spiritual contact between the men and nature and in moral and educative influences of nature in mind. He has kin feeling for the Super-sensual in nature. His picture of nature are coloured by human association. He gets joy in presenting the picture of nature.

Lord Byron:

        Byron’s love of nature was intense. His attitude toward nature was little different form Wordsworth, Shelly and Keats. He attitude toward nature was not a country man but of town men. Byron presents both the calm and stormy aspect of nature. He was attracted mostly toward water in nature. His description of Rhone, Rhine and the Ocean are the fine pieces of nature.

Others:

      Poets earlier to Wordsworth, like Burns, Cowper, Crabbe and Goldsmith exhibited a fine appreciation for the beauties of nature in external aspect. In the works of Cowper, Crabbe and Gray the treatment of nature is simple chronic and sympathic observation.

Conclusion:

         In this way, Wordsworth make nature the teacher of men, Shelly creates the picture of nature, colourful and furious. Keats presents the calm and quite nature. Coleridge find divine in nature. Byron presents both the calm and storm aspect of nature. In short, we can say that nature poetry in Romantic Age is the new era in English poetry.

Importance of Literature OR Importance to Study the literature

       literature acts as a window or mirror (or both.) Literature as a window allows us to peer out from our lives to learn about what is going on in the lives of people in other times and places.  As mirror literature is that we use to hold up and learn something about ourselves. Sometimes literature allows us to do both, learn about another world and learn about ourselves, too.

      When we study literature, our horizons are broadened, because we can learn about and come to understand people who are different from us. Conversely, we might discover characters or poems that we really identify with—it can be really exciting and validating to discover that your exact thoughts and feelings have also been experienced by someone else. Because of these effects, literature encourages us to be sensitive to the whole spectrum of human experience and to consider this when making decisions in our day-to-day lives. Academically, studying literature also helps us to refine our own writing skills and expand our vocabularies.

      Literature is also a form of time travel that helps put today in context. All those apocalyptic lamentations about how "things used to be so much better" are controverted in literature of the last generation, the last century, all the way back to Shakespeare and beyond. Conversely, reading about how people lived in the past can really make you appreciate what humanity is able to accomplish and endure. In the classics, you may read about political battles, domestic abuse, prejudice and civil rights, unwanted pregnancy, binge drinking on college campuses, gangs and juvenile crime, homelessness, nationwide economic crises caused by speculation--as Solomon wrote thousands of years ago, there is nothing new under the sun. History tells us what people did; literature tells us what they were thinking.

     Literature in general is very important to a readers although you may not take literature in English as an examinable subject at school. Reading is infact very much part of language learning. This will among other thing, improve your command of the English language if you read widely.

• In short we can say that -

1. Literature improves your command of language.

2. It teaches you about the  life, cultures and experiences of the people in other parts of world. literature also teaches us many lessons that have universal themes, such as love, war, desire, justice and many more. When we read these topics, we become much more sophisticated in our thinking and our view of the world expands. This makes us better citizens

3. It gives you information about other parts of the world which may never be able to visit lifetime.

4.It entertains you and provides useful occupation in your free time. It makes you wiser and more experienced person by forcing you to judge, sympathize with, or criticize the characters you read about. So  literature also makes us think, as we might not necessarily agree. We will have to form opinions and convictions of our own and the reading of English literature can aid us in the process.

5. It gives information which may be useful in other subjects, for example in Geography, Science, History, Social Studies and so on. And the English literature tells us about the history of the English speaking world. In other words, through this literature, you are able to learn about ourselves and our history.

The Romantic Movement as – “the Renaissance of Wonder” or “the addition of strangeness of Beauty”

Introduction

         The publication of ‘Lyrical Ballads’ in 1798, proved to be landmark in the history of revival of Romantic Movement in England. It was also revolt against the Neo-Classical tendencies dominant in English literature. They were correctness, following rules and regulations, didacticism and intellectualism. Though the pope was dominating, there was a reaction against the classicism. The Pre Romantic poets paved for a full and complete revival of romantic tendencies in the early nineteenth century. Infect, the Wordsworth and Coleridge hoisted the flag of Romantic Revival.  The movement lasted for the first three decades of nineteenth century.

Definition of Romanticism:

       Certain critics have given good definition of Romanticism. They were really popular and clear.

According to Walter Pater – “Romanticism is the addition of strangeness and beauty.” And the Dunton calls it – “the Renaissance of wonder.” These simple phrases means that the element of wonder is revived in the English literature – poetry. During the Romantic Movement, it’s also means the revival of child’s vision.

Expressions of Child like Innocence:

        The romantic revival is also the revival of Child's vision. It had already dean noticed in the every poems of Blake. His Songs of innocence expresses the innocence of child like. It contains some most charming lyrics ever written in English. There is a little realistic observation of the world around us.

        Blake’s treatment of childhood found an echo of Wordsworth’s treatment of childhood. Coleridge one remarked that – “…. To carry the feeling of childhood in to the years of the manhood is the mark of genius.”

        We don’t find such a quality in the poetry of the age of the pope. The poets of the age of the pope believed that the world was “the film and familiarity”. They never tried to know the wonder and mystery which was hidden in the common object of the life. The Romantic poet found out the world through the imagination. They were struck of the newness of things and presented them in delightful colours. They opened new fields and cameras.

The Role of Imagination:

       Romanticism is also known as – “An extra ordinary development of imaginative sensibility.” [C. H. Harford]. 

        It’s this imaginative sensibility opened the new fields and sights which were the source of wonder for both the poets and the readers. There was a kind of escape. Coleridge escaped in the world of supernatural. Scott derived inspiration from The Middle Ages. Keats took shelter from the Middle Ages. Even Byron and Shelly also revolted against the realistic world and labored hard to usher in ‘the Golden ape’. When priest’s, King’s, and Tyrone’s world yield to wishes of the underdogs of the society, the poor and the down trodden.

Coleridge and his Supernatural:

        Coleridge was the greatest among the Romantic poets. He was lives in the world of dream and imagination. He was to write about the hidden imaginative and romantic subject with supernatural and superhuman power. His popular poems are – Christabel, Kubla khan, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

     They are all the wonder of delight, feast of imagination and a height of romanticism. They contain element of supernatural among three poems. In all his poems we find the world of awe and wonder. We see the sunny domes, caves of ice, remote places like Xanadu, Depth of valleys, food of honey, dew girl   sitting on the ice place and looking for his demon lover etc. In the Ancient Mariner, we find human thought gallop, spurt of emotions, fancy flies and imagination rushed riot. We also find the circle of awe and wonder. Kubla khan is also most enchanting poems.

Supremacy of Coleridge:

Even before Coleridge, Shakespeare, Spencer and Marlowe also dealt with the supernatural elements like witches, spirit, ghosts. But the Coleridge was different and superior in treatment. His treatment of Supernatural was neither shocking nor appealing. It is highly suggestive, psychological, refined and elegant. He naturalized supernatural and made it convincing. He has deftly created atmosphere of mystery and indefiniteness by subtle suggestion like –

 Water, Water everywhere,

And all the boards did sink;

Water, Water everywhere,

Not any drop to drink.

[The Rime of the Ancient Mariner]

Wordsworth and his nature:

Wordsworth was the high priest of nature. He wrote about the simple subject and in simple diction. The subject of his poem is mostly nature. In his treatment of natural object, humble life and common object of ordinary world. We find ‘touch of wonder and curiosity.’  He does not present the photographic picture of the nature, but he creates it by imagination. Even such a common subject as – A solitary reaper, a cuckoo, the skylark, the daffodils breathe as a sense of wonder.

Medievalism and Hellenism

Among the Romantic poets Coleridge, Scott and Keats went to the Middle Ages to create an effect of wonder. According to Keats ancient Greece was full of art and beauty. Keats has great adoration of beauty both in its physical and spiritual aspects. His adoration of Hellenic way of life is glorified in his immortal odes. He went to the Romantic past to discovered beauty and mystery in unfamiliar to the gratification of scenes.

Conclusion

The beauty is worshiped by the Romantics. It has a touch of the unfamiliar, even the unconventional, remote, exotic and abnormal. There is always search of strange beauty in far off and regions. This element of strangeness added to beauty and it is the essence of Romanticism as understood Pater.

In short every romantic poet writes to make the period “The Renaissance of wonder” and the “addition of strangeness to beauty.”

Definition and Characteristics of Literature

Defination of Literature - 

  “the body of written works produced in a particular language, country, or age, or the body of writings on a particular subject (scientific, art, etc.)” (Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus).

        Usually we believe that whatever is written is literature. On the other hand, different writing such as Railway Time Table, History, Economics or News items is not considered as a literature.

      Literature can be defined as ‘pieces of writing that are valued as works of art, especially novels, plays and poems’.  (Oxford Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary).

        Literature is a special kind of writing which different from the other writing. Literature is that kind of writing which is charged with human interest. It is characterize by permanence colour of imagination and artistic embellishment. It’s still with the life of man and his destinies on the earth. It expresses thought, feeling, emotion and attitude toward the life which are permanent and universal, in the other word they do not change with the change of the time. And it’s this permanence and universality makes literature different from the other writing, such as Journalism or advertisement. The views and thoughts are expressed in the news paper makes to be forgotten after some time, while those of literature go on appealing through the corridors of time. The report of earthquake in Gujarat before few years was appealing and emotional but people of certainly have forgotten it’s very soon. The dramas of William Shakespeare more than hundred years are still interesting and appealing even the Ramayana and the Mahabharata written before the five thousand year ago are still later of interesting and appealing.

So the literature is the production of a unique mind as well as it superior to other writing. It contains certain characteristic. The other writing gives us only information or knowledge while literature gives knowledge as well as pleasure. There are four remarkable features of literature such as –

(1) Sincerity  (2)  Life Likeness (3) Suggestiveness (4) Originality

• Sincerity

      Literature is a unique art. It needs almost sincerity and seriousness. It is believed that writer is inspired by the news than the write. The activity of literature writing is kind of mediation. The writer makes sincere effort and thus creates unique work of art because of this sincerity. Literature has quality like permanence and universality. Shakespeare’s plays, Wordsworth’s poems are with the sincerity. Such literature creates good impact upon others.

• Life Likeness

      Literature is a genuine record of human life. Though it is more imaginative, it has the ground reality of life. At a centre the writers write about what they see, what their experience and what they know about the life.  Thus there is life likeness. In the literature Shakespeare’s tragedies were written before many years ago, though they are about English society, they are accepted by the whole world. We find the similar experience in life, as they are found in those tragedies.

• Suggestiveness:

     Since the literature aims at to please to move and to teach, it must be capable to having certain qualities. Literature is directly connected with the human life, and so it is highly suggestive. Many works of literature have hidden meanings. The writers use different symbols to convey the meaning because of suggestiveness. Literature is complex and difficult to write or to understand. T. S. Eliot’s ‘The west Land’ W. B. Yeast’s Poetry and novels of Dickens’s are full of suggestiveness. 

• Originality:

      The critic like Plato believes that literature is merrily to copy of copy it has no reality or originality. But we don’t agree with the Plato. Actually literature is a unique creation. It connected with the human and emotions and life. Every writer has a unique personality. He may be inspired but his ideas are original. We like to read Shakespeare’s tragedies, Dickens’s novel or poems of Wordsworth. The originality of literature appeals to every human being, the incidents may be probable but they are universally accepted.