The Main Characteristics of Romantic Poetry

Romanticism has been variously defined by various writers. For example, Watts-Dunton defined it as, The Renaissance of Wonder and Walter Pater, as addition of strangeness to Beauty. A brief concern of the noticeable characteristics of English romantic poetry will show that both these definitions are justified.

The salient features of romantic poetry

1. Subjectivity

All romantic literature is subjective. It is an expression of the inner urges of the soul of the artist. The poet does not care for rules and regulations but gives free expression to his emotions. Emphasis is laid on inspiration and institution rather than on the observance of set rules. The poet writes according to his own fancy and is often guilty of wild excesses. Romantic poetry is fanciful, introspective and is often marked by extravagance. Hence it has been criticized as irregular and wild. As the poet is free to write on any theme and in any form he likes, we have the immense variety of romantic poetry.

2. Spontaneity

Romantic poetry is spontaneous over-flow of powerful passions. The romantic poet is gifted with a strong "organic sensibility", he feels more than there is to feel and sees more than there is to see. Even ordinary objects and incidents excite his imagination and set up in him powerful passions. When the mood is on him, he sings in strains of unpremeditated art. Poetry for him is not craft but inspiration. Carried away by his powerful passions and excited imagination, the poet does not care for the perfection of form or clarity of expression. The result is much vagueness and obscurity. Substance is more important for him than the form.

3. Love of the Supernatural

The romantic is extraordinarily alive to the wonder, mystery and beauty of the universe. He feels the presence of unseen powers in nature. The unseen transcendental world is more real for him than the world of the senses. The supernatural has a special charm for him, he is attracted by the stories of fairies, ghost and witchcraft. His poetry is an expression of his wonder as the magic and mystery of the universe. Supernaturalism is an important element in romantic inspiration. This often makes romantic poetry mystical and removed from the everyday experiences of life. That is why it has been referred as "the Renaissance of wonder". 

4. Melancholy

A romantic is a dissatisfied individual. He may be dissatisfied with the circumstances of his own life, with his age with literary conventions and traditions of the day, or with the general fate of humanity. Romantic poetry is, therefore, often pessimistic in tone. A romantic may revolt against the existing conditions and may seek to reform them, or he may try to escape into an imaginative world of his own creation. Often he escapes into the past. The Middle Ages have a special fascination for him, for they not only provide him with an escape from the sordid realities of the present but also delight his heart by their colour pageantry and magic. The remote the distant and the unknown delight him for this very reason. While some may escape into the past the world of classical (antiquity of the Middle Ages) others may dream of a better and happier world to some and build "utopias" of the future. They may see visions of a golden age and sing of it in their poetry. Revolutionary idealism characterizes much of the romantic poetry much of it is visionary in tone. In short, the romantics look before and after and pine for what is not.

5. Love of Nature

Zest for the beauties of the extra world characterized all romantic poetry. Romantic poetry carries us faraway from the suffocating atmosphere of cities into the fresh and invigorating company of the out-of-door world. It not only sings of the sensuous great thing about nature but also sees into the guts of things, and divulges the soul that lies behind. The romantics loved not only the beauty of nature, but also the beauty of woman, of works of art, of literature and mythology. All that is unfamiliar and unknown attracts the romantics and it has a strange fascination for them. The elements of "strangeness added to beauty" is the essence of romanticism. The beauty loved by the classicists is based on order and symmetry in everyday life, whereas the haunt of the romantic beauty generally comprises old ravines, the relics of the past, the Gothic palaces or castles, everything is strange and unknown.

6. The Democratic Note

Emphasis on the inherent dignity and nobility of man. Love of Nature leads by an easy transition, to the love of those who live in her lap. The romantics have an instinct for the elemental simplicities of life. Their hearts overflow with sympathy for the poor and the down-trodden. They glorify the innocence and ease of the common man. They struggle to ascertain into the center of man and understand human nature. They find the divine in Man, plead for his emancipation from all bondage, and claim equal rights and liberties for the humblest. The romantic poetry is democratic.

7. Romanticism

Romanticism is a revolt in opposition to all artificiality, it remains form simplicity in theme and treatment. Not only do the Romantics treat of the common man, they also use his language for their purpose. Thus, Wordsworth raised his voice against the insane and artificial diction of the 18th century classic and advocated the use of the language of the common man for purposes of poetry. Indeed, he went to the extent of remarking that there is no essential difference between the language of poetry and that of prose.

Their interest within the past leads the romantics to experiment with old metres and poetic forms. The 18th century had confined itself to the utilization only of 1 metre i.e., the heroic couplet, with the approaching of the romantics there's revival of variety of ancient metres. The Spenserian stanza , the ballad metre, the poem , the lyric, the ode and therefore the sonnet are all revived and shortly attain wide popularity. The revival of ancient metres is accompanied with a renewed interest in ancient English masters, Chaucer, Spenser, Milton, etc., who had suffered an eclipse during the 18th century now again come to their own. They and not Pope and or Dryden now become the chosen literary models of the poets.