Le Romantisme
Still preparing for my exam in Romantic and Victorian Poetry, I find myself wondering what the appeal of the natural, the gothic, the earthy, the wild truly was for the Romantics. Of course, I know what it was in theory, and it has a similar appeal to me. Some credence that I might lend to the reincarnation idea is drawn from the fact that I heavily enjoy reading anything from the 19th century but particularly that which is of a Romantic bent. But in any case, all the theory that can get applied to those writings is theory I can only imagine creating in retrospect. Was there some spoken or unspoken requirement for terror, awe, and the sublime found in the natural world, or did the poets develop such a trend unconsciously? Did Mary Shelley intentionally infuse her Frankenstein with the feminist themes I’ve learned about in all my studies? Did Pushkin realize how profoundly he was influencing his own language with every poem he wrote?
It’s a question that might well be asked of any writers of any literary time period, and it isn’t especially relevant that I know an answer for finals. Especially not concerning Pushkin; this course only concerns English writers. I’m still allowed to be curious. And confused. I am confused about plenty of things at the moment...
I’ve read plenty of interpretive material, but not biographical. I suspect doing some research in that vein would be helpful. But voilà, here I am at a school where I know a William Blake and an Emily Brontë, and I hear tell there was or still is a Byron, a Keats, and not one but both Shelleys. Surely they could answer this riddle. Then again, I should be able to answer it for myself, at least concerning French Romanticism, and yet I can’t.
It’s a question that might well be asked of any writers of any literary time period, and it isn’t especially relevant that I know an answer for finals. Especially not concerning Pushkin; this course only concerns English writers. I’m still allowed to be curious. And confused. I am confused about plenty of things at the moment...
I’ve read plenty of interpretive material, but not biographical. I suspect doing some research in that vein would be helpful. But voilà, here I am at a school where I know a William Blake and an Emily Brontë, and I hear tell there was or still is a Byron, a Keats, and not one but both Shelleys. Surely they could answer this riddle. Then again, I should be able to answer it for myself, at least concerning French Romanticism, and yet I can’t.