Romanticism: key themes and historical significance

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "To a Beautiful Spring in a Village" represents the Romantic Movement in that the poet expresses appreciation for the "sweet stream." Coleridge is also expounding on his experience of the stream, which is an example of how the Romantic Writers wrote. The poem celebrates the stream with its "friendly banks" and "pebbled falls," focusing on every detail and finding joy in all of them. (Perkins 397)

William Wordsworth's poem, "Lines Written in Early Spring" is an excellent example of Romantic verse as it, too, places a great deal of respect and awe upon nature. In this poem, Wordsworth laments what "man has made of man" while rejoicing in the beauty of nature. The poet is emphasizing the workings of nature when he thinks that "every flower enjoys the air it breathes" and the birds around him "hopped and played" with their every movement seeming to be a "thrill of pleasure." Wordsworth's contemplation places the beauty and simplicity against the nature of man. (197)

In addition, William Blake also admired nature in its entire splendor. For example, in the short poem, "The Lilly," simply announces that nothing can "stain" the beauty of the lily. This poem also illustrates the stylistic use of rhyming poetry to create a rhythm within the poem. (62)

Percy Shelley was another Romantic writer who enjoyed the beauty of nature and was able to capture it in poetry like no other. His poem, "Love's Philosophy" is an elegant blend of the beauty of love with the beauty of nature. By acknowledging that "nothing in the world is single" Shelley wishes that his spirit could mingle with the spirit of the one he loved. Shelley also exercised great care when crafting his poems and paid special attention to rhythm. Which is another characteristic of Romantic Poetry. (1028)

In a similar way, Lord Byron compares his love to that beauty of the night in his famous poem, "She Walks in Beauty Like the Night."

Byron was also a master of rhythm and rhyme and that can be seen in "She Walks in Beauty Like the Night." This poem celebrates love and leads us to believe that there is nothing more beautiful than love except, perhaps, the starlit night. (791)

Another famous Romantic poet is John Keats who also wrote many poems admiring the beautiful elements of nature. He also wrote Poem of love. In his poem, "Bright Star," we see Keats speaking to a star as he imagines that star shining upon "his fair love's ripening breast" and listening to her "tender-taken" breath. Keats is experimenting with something beautiful gazing upon something beautiful. (1205)

An example of a modern-day Romantic could be James Wright's poem entitled "Lying in a Hammock at William Duffy's Farm in Pine Island, Minnesota." In this poem Wright is employing the traditional Romantic technique of examining the nature around him while he lies in the hammock. He notices the "bronze butterfly" asleep on the "black trunk" of the tree "blowing like a leaf in the green shadow." (210 Hall). In another way that Wright's poem could be perceived as Romantic is the fact that at the end of the poem, the poet comes to the conclusion that he has "waster" his life because he has missed the simple beauty of nature.