Romancing the Heart The Romantic period was a time when not only the world was changing but also the way people were thinking the writers of the period started writing from a different approach than authors of the past. Romantic period writers took notice of the importance of the individual and the many forms of these experiences connection with nature, embrace of pride, and a rejection of social standards. This essay will focus on connections with nature and the authors of the times who emphasized glory, beauty, and power of the natural world.
In the poets of this era there is a development in the works, the celebration of nature for its own sake in doing so the authors have broken with their predecessors. Although writers, such as Dante or Chaucer would have viewed nature as part of God’s creation and a reflection of divine power in the world in regard to its beauty and a reflection of evil in the world in regard to its dangers. As man moves into the modern romantic age the natural world of Europe has changed dangerous border regions and highways have been put under control, making travel safer and easier than ever before leading to new recreational sports such as hiking. Urban cities have grown larger, and that leads many people to desire a return to nature in all its simplicity, it is nostalgia for an old Europe.
The perfect example of an author who mixed a desire for simplicity with nostalgia for the past is Williams Wordsworth in Tintern Abbey both these impulses can be seen when he writes, “Though changed, no doubt, from what I was when first I came among these hills; when like a roe I bounded o’er the mountains, by the sides of the deep rivers, and the lonely streams” (as cited in the Longman Anthology of World Literature). Wordsworth take on nature may be naive and his views on the simple life and the people who lead it may be condescending, but Wordsworth had struck a chord in the spirit of the times. John Keats tries his own hand at the themes of nature, but where Wordsworth gives us simplicity and naiveté Keats connects his poem to the ancient past filling them with both Christian and Pagan themes. Keats builds on and connects with the classical works of the ancients, when Keats writes, “the voice I hear in passing nights was heard in ancient days, by emperor and clown perhaps the self same song that found the path through the sad heart of Ruth, when, sick for home, she stood in tears amid the alien corn” (as cited in the Longman Anthology of World Literature). This biblical reference is matched by just as many references to pagan myths such as Bacchus. With William Blake we come full circle whereas the authors of the middle ages saw nature as a reflection of the divine. Blake returns to this theme more so than any of his fellow modern romantics. In the Tyger Blake contemplates the immortal hand that could create such fearful creature as the tiger as well as the lamb when he writes, “Tyger Tyger, burning bright, in the forest of the night; What immortal hand or I, could frame thy fearful symmetry” (as cited in the Longman Anthology of World Literature). William Blake meditates on creation; he is as much looking inward at his own efforts as a skilled and prolific visual artist. In this sense William Blake is one creator admiring and contemplating the work of another creator God himself. More so than any of the other writers of the period William Blake seems to be in his own realm following his own mysterious vision. Although in touch with the spirit of the times in focusing on the natural world, he strikes one more as the medieval mindset seeing nature as a reflection of heaven and God the creator.
Another unique visionary writer who like William Blake uses nature to drive his visions is Henry David Thoreau. Where Blake uses nature to achieve a religious sense of ecstasy Henry David Thoreau uses nature to fuel his thoughts on ethics, individualism, and conscience, breaking away from the encroaching American cities he comes to spend two years in a cabin outside Concord, Massachusetts. Here Thoreau mixes depictions on animals and plants around him with thoughts on man that eventually lead him to write works such as Civil Disobedience that will influence twentieth century figures, such as Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. This mix of the natural world, and the individual can be seen when Thoreau writes, “what was the meaning of that South Sea exploring expedition, with all its parade and expense but an indirect recognition of the fact, that there are continents and seas in the moral world, to which everyman is an isthmus or an inlet, yet unexplored by him” (as cited in the Longman Anthology of World Literature). If John Keats creates literary firework displays with references to all sorts of classical and biblical literature, and William Wordsworth strives for the simplicity and the serene, Thoreau uses his writing on nature as a way to clear his thoughts from the distractions of the modern world to get to the crux of the matter. The modern equivalent would be for a person today to swear off electronic devices for two years and learn to listen to the voice on the inside a sort of electronic version of Walden Pond.
The Romantic period brought out many new approaches to writing by authors stepping away from the writing styles of the past and focusing on a more individual way of writing. In the writings of such authors as Wordsworth, Keats, Blake, and Thoreau they used the glory, beauty, and the power of the natural world around them for inspiration in their works. Thoreau wrote using nature as an escape from the modern world, Wordsworth wrote using the serenity in nature, Keats keeps open connections to the past in his writings, and Blake’s writings show nature in reflection of the divine. Authors like Keats, Wordsworth, Thoreau, and Blake changed the approach to writing creating a centered look on the concept of nature.

References

Damrosch, D., Alliston, A., Brown, M., duBois, P., Hafez, S., Heise, U. K., et al. (2008). The Longman Anthology of World Literature: Compact edition. New York, NY: Pearson Longman.

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