Romantics and the Symbolists

William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth, & Percy Shelley

For William Blake, religion is but a medium used by self-interested groups and individuals who want to gain power and influence over society. His criticism of religion, particularly inappropriate use of religion by people, is expressed in the poem "Jerusalem." In this poem, Blake expresses his skepticism about religion's purpose for the society, particularly his countrymen: "And did those feet in ancient time / Walk upon England's mountain green?... And was Jerusalem builded here / Among these dark Satanic mills?" Disillusioned by the constant conflicts and disorder in society caused and premeditated by religious leaders, Blake questions whether religion has become constructive, or destructive, in English society.

William Wordsworth offers in his poems veneration for Nature, as expressed in his Romanticist style of writing poetry. An example of Wordsworth's poem that evokes and expresses his affinity with nature is evident in "The World is too much with us." In this poem, Wordsworth criticizes human society for abusing Nature's resources, and replacing it with nothing but abuse and neglect. However, he provides ample warning to his readers, where Nature will exact its 'revenge' on humanity: "Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers... A sordid boon!... Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea / Or hear old Triton blow his wreathed horn."

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, like Wordsworth, is a Romanticist. Apart from evoking his love for Nature as the topic of his poems, he also centers his poems on the theme of the imagination. When speaking of the "imagination," Coleridge talks about the senses that humans use to experience Nature, and use these 'natural experiences' to create from one's imagination works of literature that can be felt and sensed by the senses of the reader/audience as well. This theme of the imagination is illustrated in "Frost at Midnight," wherein Coleridge animates and personifies elements of Nature, where a "secret ministry" is formed at midnight, Nature waking up just as human society is sleeping. Coleridge uses imagination in making these natural elements as lively as possible, as evoked in the following lines in the poem: "... its motion in the hush of nature / Gives it dim sympathies with me who live, / Making it a companionable form..."

Percy Shelley, in his essay entitled, "The Necessity of Atheism," discusses how "[t]ruth has always been found to promote the best interests of mankind." In stating this, Shelley meant to illustrate how human actions and behavior, such as the concept of 'goodness' or good acts and deeds, is determined not by faith or any ideology, but by an individual's inherent subsistence to reason -- that is, what is deemed right is good for the individual. He attributes our experiences with the world (Nature) that we live in as 'support' or helpful to helping humans create their own constructs of what is good and bad, right or wrong: "... no testimony can be admitted which is contrary to reason, reason is founded on the evidence of our senses." Thus, reason determines an individual's judgment on the goodness of an act, and ultimately shapes the concept of what is good within him/her.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge offers a different view of the concept of melancholy compared to John Keats, despite their being both Romanticist poets of the 19th century. Coleridge offers a positive outlook at melancholic contemplation in "The Nightingale," where he centers his attention on how people get relief and brief happiness over a moment's listening to the voice of the Nightingale. Nature and humanity is evidently working in harmony in this poem, where happiness overpowers sorrow with the sweet song of the Nightingale. Keats, on the other hand, offers a sad note to the theme of melancholy in the poem, "Ode on a Grecian Urn," where he shows his sadness over humanity's frivolous preference for beauty over happiness. He tells his readers, "When old age shall this generation waste / Thou shalt remain, in midst of other woe..." As his way of illustrating how, beauty is fleeting, while happiness should be humanity's main concern, because it is lasting and unpretentious (the truth).