Romanticism in Tintern Abbey and The Thorn Essay - 1964 Words

Tintern Abbey + The Thorn Romanticism is a core belief. It can be demonstrated in a complicated format, with themes and subjects that qualify a piece of writing as ‘Romantic’, however in the context of Romantic writing, Romanticism is indefinable by those who wrote it. A set of beliefs and literary practices nonetheless, however the main Ideas of tranquility, beauty in nature and humanity cannot be classified. As Wordsworth states ‘We Kill to Dissect’ the same can be said with his poetry. To be given a list of Neo-Classic tendencies, and then a subsequent one with its opposites, and then to call that ‘Romantic’ is, I don’t believe, the principal of Romantic writing in its context. I believe that both of these poems I have†¦show more content†¦Wordsworth quotes ‘no poem of mine was composed under circumstances more pleasant for me to remember than this’*, which is an important fact to bear whilst reading Tintern abbey, as it is often un intelligible if the mood is sad, confused or joyous. The poem is written in five sections, with a changing concern in each, however the theme and description of nature remains emphatic throughout. Arguably so does the theme of time and repose. In the first section it is abundantly clear this is not the first time Wordsworth has been to this picturesque scene, ‘Once again do I Behold’, ‘when I again repose here’, ‘Once again I see’. These recollections’, in-between heavy description, make the reader aware that this repetition shows the significance of this area to Wordsworth. We learn at once that ‘five years have passed’ since his last visit. And learn later on he is a much-changed man Due to his budding friendship with Coleridge, his accepted vocation of a poet and his memory of the French Revolution. Wordsworth’s key element of Romanticism in this poem is, I believe, his feeling of the imaginative capabilitie s of nature. He draws in his past anxiety and his present state of mind with a view of the future, thanks to natures (and in particular this setting) ability to spark the subconscious mind in tranquil thought: ‘With many recognitions dim and faint, And somewhat of a sad perplexity, The picture of the mind revives again:Show MoreRelatedTintern Abbey, Frost at Midnight and Ode to the West Wind Essay2056 Words   |  9 PagesRomanticism was a revolutionary movement which began in English Literature (mainly poetry) around the Eighteenth Century in Western Europe and gained height during the times of the Industrial Revolution. Wordsworth, Byron, Shelley, Keats, Coleridge and Blake were regarded as the ‘Big Six’ of Romanticism. In ‘Tintern Abbey’ by William Wordsworth, ‘Frost at Midnight’ by Samuel Coleridge and ‘ Ode to the West Wind’ by Percy Shelley, we see clearly that nature is the central trigger for the poet’s imagination