Romanticism In Romantic Poetry

A dictum from Heraclitus may illustrate the origin of romantic poetry, “when we are awake we have a world in common, but when we are asleep each has his own world” (qtd by O'Connell 35). As conceived from the innermost being, romantic poems have a close relationship with dreams. However, as the definitions and characteristics are controversial, some critics oppose to use the term “Romanticism”. For instance, Arthur Lovejoy criticizes that “Romanticism” is an obscure norm. When defined by the association with nature and emotion, even Plato can be regarded as a pioneer in romantic poetry according to this definition (Lovejoy 230). However, romantic poetry cannot be defined with a linguistic category without considering the historical process

The purpose to demonstrate the deep thoughts of human and the willing to escape from reality are shown in an abundance of romantic poems. For instance, after taking anodyne at a noon in 1798, Samuel Coleridge slept in his chair when reading a book delineating the scene of the palace in China (Schneider 784). In the dream lasting for three hours, he imagined the prosperous scene in Beijing, composing poems over two hundred lines without consciousness. When he awoke, he tried to recollect the words while a businessman interrupted him, leaving fragment can never be accomplished. Despite being incomplete, the poem, “Kubla Khan” attains a level transcending the reality (Lowes 327), implying the desire of human and the admiration towards nature, even sharing the similar content with Freudian Symbolism (Logan 657), with strange but coordinate poetic lines. The description of “Pleasure-dome decree” (Coleridge Stanza.1) shows the scene of hedonism and the word “fountain” builds a psychedelic atmosphere. However, in the second stanza, behind the prosperity, the poet describes the image where “savage” hills (Stanza.2) and “sacred” rivers lie, which means the fear of death, conveying that all the emotions including desire and addiction are only illusory. “Kubla Khan” is a typical negative romantic poem, utilizing the objective figure to explore the deep meaning of existence, and

Some early folk romantic poems describe the nature before expressing the emotion and thesis, or expand the description of the nature after demonstration to establish an atmosphere, sharing a similar function with the Chinese literary norm Qi (Cao 1), which means composing words without close relationship to the main point but conveys the sense at the initiation. For example, in the poem of Robert Burns, “My Heart’s in the Highland” states the poet prefers the life in the highland than in urban at the first line (Burns Stanza.1). However, other three lines of the first stanza show the scene in the highland including the “wild deer” and the “roe”, instead of explaining his love towards his hometown. This style is a vital characteristic in Burns’ poems, which origins from rural expression and William Wordsworth appreciates it as he believed the diction from rustic people is permanent as it has a direct association with the innermost (Bahar 9). Furthermore, the “natural” language of the poems shows the native culture in Scotland, delivering his love for his hometown. Another poet from Scotland, Byron, also recalls his life in the mountains of Scotland in his poem, wishing to return to his “highland caves” (Byron Stanza.1) in his