Romanticism:
A doctrine which holds that art and literature should be
free from classical and neoclassical rules and constraints. This literary
doctrine had its origin in the Elizabethan Age. However, it revived with full
force towards the end of the eighteenth century during the time of Wordsworth
and Coleridge. The main features of romanticism are:
a) High imagination: The followers of this
doctrine rejected the fact that writers should be earth-bound, realistic and
factual. They sought an ideal condition for human beings in their high soaring,
unlimited imagination.
b) Love of nature: Those who followed
romanticism had a strong liking for Nature both for the beauty .0f external
objects of it and for the meanings underlying them. They loved to seek the truth
through sensuous perception of the objects of Nature.
c) Primitivism or spontaneity: These poets
advocated those qualities of human beings which are inherent in them. They
valued natural qualities and opposed those which are artificial.
d) Interest in the remote: These poets had
deep interest in the past, especially in
the ancient myths and medieval legends.
e) Simplicity in expression: These poets
preferred simple and lucid language to all sorts of artificial, sonorous and
bombastic language.
f) Revolutionary teat : This doctrine
opposed those beliefs were traditional
and worn out. These poets rebelled against the
existing social order with a hope to establish a new, ideal society
which would be more free and liberal.
g) Individualism: These poets, influenced
by the French Revolution, regarded an individual more important than his
society or his country. Innovation was given more importance than the
traditionally accepted values.
h) Supernaturalism: These poets had an
interest in the unseen and mysterious power.
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