An Overview of the Romantic Age, Romantic Poets and Romantic Poetry in English Literature: A Critical Analysis

Abstract

This article aims at giving an overview on the whole romantic period. The start of the romantic period, the way it happened, the poets that helped to make this period shine, the background of the poets and the details of the romantic poetry that ruled this era – all of the aspects are described very elaborately in this article. The romantic age was established at the end of the eighteenth century and it lasted up to the 30’s of the nineteenth century. This romantic period replaced the neoclassical period where the classical poets like Alexander Pope made classical poetry famous among readers. Elements such as imagination, emotion, nature were used very passionately in the romantic poetry. There are more than four poets who wrote romantic poems in this period but only the life and poetry of the significant four poets are written in this article who was William Wordsworth, Samuel Coleridge, John Keats, P. B Shelley. Wordsworth and Coleridge were the very first influencers of the romantic period. Wordsworth portrayed nature very artistically with his imagination in his poems. He wrote poems to pleasure the feelings of the common people. His close friend, Coleridge was influenced by some early politic affairs, his master James bowers and poet William Bowles to write romantic poetry. His investigation of the human nature through his poems made his poems very relatable. John Keats came after Wordsworth and Coleridge in this era. He upheld beauty and imagination frequently in his writing and shared the importance of his created term ‘negative capability.’ P.B Shelley differed from the other romantic poets by giving some importance to logic. He cared about morality and good lessons in his poems. He also portrayed melancholy very beautifully with his pen. This article will guide people in knowing even the little things of the romantic era.