Romanticism and the celebration of the common man in Rousseau, Douglass, Whitman, Tennyson, and Wordsworth

Rousseau, Douglass, both prose writers; Whitman, Tennyson and Wordsworth, all three, poets. What bind them together, what is their common denominator? Nationalism, democracy, love for the common man, singing praises for the ordinary man on the street, fighting for the rights of the poor, seeking the liberation of the downtrodden from oppression, glorifying the human being - man! These are elements that are common to them.

Jean Jacques Rousseau

Consider Jean-Jacques Rousseau who according to Lillian Hornstein of New York University. (The Reader's Companion to World Literature. New York: Dryden Press, 1956), was not even a thinker nor a writer at the beginning but ending up writing words that inspired worlds. It is bandied around, that the totality of the theme of his writing is man and his role in society. Many ideas about modern democracy came from his writings. He powered the Romantic Movement. He could and did express certain hidden feelings about man and society which were a reflection of the feelings of his fellowmen, their well-kept secret longings and their desire to improve their lives.

In essence, Rousseau argued that the "natural man is good and happy but it is humankind that abuses and depraves him. He advocated the acceptance of man's true nature and he decried society's indifference to human suffering and misery.

Walt Whitman, Poet

The poet who "sees eternity in man and woman." He was extremely nationalistic; he was an advocate for democracy; he is popular for his identification with the common man. This close affinity for the ordinary man of the street has led to an appearance of conceit - "I celebrate myself and sing myself." But "I" here is everyone, for every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you.

Whitman has that remarkable power of empathy by which he looks upon: "I was man, I suffered, I was there" He did not allow himself to be pushed into unrealistic idealization of the people but he put his final trust in them because he saw that they had not only the "cruel, beastly, hoggish qualities but also the admirable and spiritual. As he told Horace Traubel, his disciple in his old age, "everything comes out of the people... not university people, not F.F.V people: people, people, just people.

Whitman's range of subject matter is remarkable yet intentional. He desires to be transcendent and new. The theme of the psalm of the Republic and that I think, is The Leaves of Grass, is creative and has a view. He is the arbiter of the diverse and he is the key. He is the equalizer of his age and land... If peace is the routine, and of him speaks the spirit of peace, large, rich... he encourages the study of man, the soul, immortality... his thoughts are the hymns of praise of the things - in the talk on the soul and eternity - God off of his equal place - he is silent - he sees eternity in men and women.

What makes Whitman different - his free choice of subject and his desire to follow his whims and his personal desires. He brings these into his writing - never mind if he violates the sensibilities of his readers.

William Wordsworth - Poet of Nature

Hornstein, Lillian

Wordsworth has produced some of the finest poetry on nature. He also assumed the leadership for the early part of the English Romantic Movement. He became involved in the French Revolution but as he grew older his ardor for the French Revolution and his liberalism cooled and he devoted the rest of his days to writing poetry.

Wordsworth is more famous for his nature poems for which he had a sensuous animal passion - there a moral influence and finally a mystical communion - Michael is a study in simple strength of character and which boasted of the healing power of nature. There are also his popular Lucy poems but perhaps his most famous poem is Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.

Wordsworth is one of England's greatest lyric poets. He has also greatly influenced modern attitudes and sensibilities. It is Wordsworth who has conditioned our belief in the natural goodness of childhood, the moral value of the simple life, and inspiring and healing powers of Nature.

Basically what would identify Wordsworth with the other four writers would be his belief in the natural goodness of childhood - his admonition is to take care of the children for they are the future citizens of our country.

The factor which distinguishes Wordsworth from the rest of the writers is this deep intense love for nature which in itself is admirable - it is in nature by which we live - it nurtures us, it provides for our needs - we cannot isolate ourselves from nature.

Alfred Lord Tennyson

Poems were exquisitely melodious, but they reveal the defects of much of Tennyson's Poetry, superficial thinking and excessive artificially of style. His later works - Morte D' Arthur expressed the sentimental optimism of the era. Another poem Ulysses symbolized the Victorian conception of the ideal heroic spirit. This volume symbolized just what the period wanted: a moral poet-teacher, no social rebel but a meticulous artist. When his friend Arthur Hallam died,

Tennyson wrote that in his poems, the voice of the human race was speaking through him. It was certainly the voice of Victorian England speaking through him.

His poem Locksley Hall - lessened his reputation among the modern critics who despise a moral message and demand a social one.

Tennyson's shorter poems, The Princess, Ulysses, A Dream of Fair Women, The Palace of Art, reflected the sensuous image molded with fastidious restraint and irony. Romantic passion is refined and disciplined with taste.

What makes Tennyson different is his subtlety when he presents deep emotions molded into his poems. There is none of the noisy poet insisting on acceptance of his ideas. That is why his poems have a calming effect on his readers.

That's what makes Tennyson different from the other writers in the romantic period.

Lillian Herlands Hornstein, The Reader's Companion to World Literature. New York.

The Dryden Press, 1956.

Van Nostrand, Albert D. "A Preface to Leaves of Grass." Literary Criticism in America.

NewYork: The Liberal Arts Press. 1957.