ROMANTICISM
AND VICTORIANISM: ARE THEY SIMILAR?
Romanticism
& Victorianism: two different concepts
According to the free encyclopaedia Wikipedia, Romanticism is an
artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated around the middle
of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during
the Industrial Revolution. It was partly a revolt
against aristocratic, social, and political norms of the Enlightenment period and a reaction against the
scientific rationalization of nature in art and literature. The movement
stressed strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience, placing new emphasis on such
emotions as trepidation, horror, and the awe experienced in confronting the sublimity of untamed nature. It
elevated folk art, nature and custom, as well as arguing for an epistemology based on nature, which included human activity
conditioned by nature in the form of language, custom and usage. It was
influenced by ideas of the Enlightenment and elevated medievalism and elements of art and narrative perceived to
be from the medieval period. The ideologies and events of the French Revolution and Industrial Revolution are thought to have
influenced the movement. Romanticism elevated the achievements of what it
perceived as misunderstood heroic individuals and artists that altered society.
It also legitimized the individual imagination as a critical authority which
permitted freedom from classical notions of form in art. There was a strong
recourse to historical and natural inevitability in the representation of its
ideas.
On the contrary, as Wikipedia says, Victorianism is the name given to
the attitudes, art, and culture of the latter two-thirds of the 19th century, especially with reference to English-speaking peoples and the British Empire. According to the Victorian
web (see bibliography)
Victorian people don’t concentrate as well as today. People of this Era
were more disciplinary than today. Poetry covered everything. Due to the
industrialization, we can see the appearance of Marxism, social conflicts, the
development of the society in which
aristocracy is represented by Victorian.
This is the time in which human find the science. Science and technology
are very important. Changes in religion too. In the Victorian age developed
science and technology as we have said and they forget the idea of God (a very
present idea in the Romanticism). They only believe in things that they can prove.
Catholic church became one of the worst things in our society. Communism,
Socialism and Anarquism influenced in the Victorian Era too. The role of the
women changed too. Women became more and more important. Romantics contributed
to this change. They had to recognize that women were as important as men.
William Blake: a Romantic poet
According to the Wikipedia, William Blake (November 28, 1757 – August 12, 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker.
Blake's affection for the Bible was accompanied by hostility for the established Church, his beliefs modified by a
fascination with Mysticism and the unfolding of the Romantic movement around him.[1]
Blake abhorred slavery and believed in racial and sexual equality.
Several of his poems and paintings express a notion of universal humanity. He
retained an active interest in social and political events for all his life, but
was often forced to resort to cloaking social idealism and political statements
in Protestant mystical allegory.
He rejected all forms of imposed authority; indeed, he was charged with
assault and uttering seditious and treasonable expressions against the King in
1803.
[1] Kazin, Alfred (1997). An Introduction to William Blake. Retrieved on 2006-09-23.
Although Blake's attacks on conventional religion were shocking in his
own day, his rejection of religiosity was not a rejection of religion per se.
Jesus, for Blake, symbolises the vital relationship and unity between
divinity and humanity: all had originally one language and one religion:
this was the religion of Jesus, the everlasting Gospel. Antiquity preaches the
Gospel of Jesus. Blake designed his own mythology, which appears largely in
his prophetic books. It was based mainly upon the Bible and on Greek mythology,
to accompany his ideas about the everlasting Gospel.
One of Blake's strongest objections to orthodox Christianity is that he
felt it encouraged the suppression of natural desires and discouraged earthly
joy. Blake believed that the joy of man glorified God and that the religion of this world is actually the
worship of Satan. He thought of Satan as Error and the 'State
of Death’. Blake believes that orthodox Christians, partly because of their denial of
earthly joy, are actually worshipping Satan.
He did not hold with the doctrine of God as Lord, an entity separate
from and superior to mankind. This is very much in line with his belief in
liberty and equality in society and between the sexes.
Blake claimed to experience visions throughout his life. They were often
associated with beautiful religious themes and imagery, and therefore may have
inspired him further with spiritual works and pursuits. Certainly, religious
concepts and imagery figure centrally in Blake's works. God and Christianity constituted the intellectual
centre of his writings, from which he drew inspiration. In addition, Blake
believed that he was personally instructed and encouraged by Archangels to create his artistic works, which he claimed
were actively read and enjoyed by those same Archangels.
Gerard
Manley Hopkins: a Victorian poet
According to the Wikipedia, Gerard Manley Hopkins (July 28, 1844 – June 8, 1889), a Jesuit priest, was an English poet whose posthumous, 20th-century fame
established him among the finest Victorian poets. His experimental explorations
in prosody (especially in regard to sprung rhythm) and his vibrant use of imagery established him as both an original and daring
innovator in a period of largely traditional verse.
In 1866 he converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. Hopkins's attempts at poetry
began at an early age, influenced by his father's own attempts at the art. His
decision to become a Jesuit led him to burn much of his early poetry as he felt
it incompatible with his vocation. Writing would remain something of a concern
for him as he felt that his interest in poetry prevented him from wholly
devoting himself to his religion.
Much of Hopkins' historical importance has to do with the changes he
brought to the form of poetry; which ran contrary to conventional ideas of meter. Prior to Hopkins, most Middle English and Modern English poetry was based on a
rhythmic structure inherited from the Norman side of English literary heritage.
This structure is based on repeating groups of two or three syllables, with the
stressed syllable falling in the same place on each repetition. Hopkins called
this structure running rhythm, and though he wrote some of
his early verse in running rhythm he became fascinated with the older rhythmic
structure of the Anglo-Saxon tradition.
Differences between Blake and Hopkins are several; Blake believe in God
as a good romantic, he thinks that Jesus is very important in our lives. He is
associated with religion, God and Christianity are the topics in his works. However,
Hopkins is different. He is a Victorian person, for this reason he don’t
believe in God as strong as Blake. He changes the form of poetry, it is more
important than speak about God for example.
Analysis of two different poems:
THE TIGER
by:
William Blake (1757-1827)
In the forests of the night, A
What immortal hand or eye A
Could frame thy fearful
symmetry? B
In what distant deeps or skies
C
Burnt the fire of thin eyes? A
On what wings dare he aspire?
A
What the hand dare seize the
fire? A
And what shoulder and what art
D
Could twist the sinews of thy
heart? D
And, when thy heart began to
beat, E
What dread hand and what dread
feet? E
What the hammer? What the
chain? F
In what furnace was thy brain?
F
What the anvil? What dread
grasp G
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
G
When the stars threw down
their spears, H
And water'd heaven with their
tears, H
Did He smile His work to see?
I
Did He who made the lamb make
thee? I
Tiger, tiger, burning bright A
In the forests of the night, A
What immortal hand or eye A
Dare frame thy fearful
symmetry? B
The rhyme of this poem is AAAB in the first stanza, CAAA in the second,
DDEE in the third, FFGG in the fourth, HHII in the stanza number five and AAAB
again in the last stanza. The poem is talking about the tiger, I think that it
is a romantic poem because the tiger can represent in my opinion God. God is
always present in the romantic authors, and Blake uses the term tiger to refers
him. Moreover he is talking about romantic things, he names the night, the
forests, the immortality, the heaven…these terms are very romantic. The poem is
full of adjectives such as immortal, thy, burning…The tiger can be a metaphor,
because its referring to God as I said. He is telling us that God is always
present. God represents everything and he is in the nature as someone else. As
a very good romantic, Blake talks in his poetry about nature, freedom,
Puritanism, God…and it is reflected in his poems. He uses strong words in this
poem such as fearful, the fire of thine eyes, terrors…I think that he wants to
express the dangers of the nature, the problems of the society like the slavery
which was very popular in his time. He says that God is the hand, and he has
the responsibility, he must work to avoid all this problems that affect our
society.
Peace
Gerard Manley Hopkins
When will you ever, Peace,
wild wooddove, shy wings shut, A
Your round me roaming end, and
under be my boughs? B
When, when, Peace, will you,
Peace? I’ll not play hypocrite C
To own my heart: I yield you
do come sometimes; but A
That piecemeal peace is poor
peace. What pure peace allows B
Alarms of wars, the daunting
wars, the death of it? C
O surely, reaving Peace, my
Lord should leave in lieu D
Some good! And so he does
leave Patience exquisite, C
That plumes to Peace
thereafter. And when Peace here does house B
He comes with work to do, he
does not come to coo, E
He comes to brood and sit. C
The rhyme is ABCAB in the
first stanza, CDC in the second and BEC in the third. The poem is talking about
the peace. It is a Victorian poem but I think that it has something about
romanticism. The author wants the peace in the world and I think that he claims
to someone for the peace and this person can be God.
Using words like peace, poor, wild…he is referring to romantic terms. He
seems angry because he wants the peace and he only see war and death. He shows
himself very furious, it can be a characteristic of the Victorian Era, he shows
his feelings every moment. As Fores said in his classes The Victorian Era is an
Era full of problems too, working class don’t have access to many things and
there are many problems in religion like reforms and changes. In the Victorian
Era forget the idea of God for this reason this poem can be a bit romantic, it
refers a little to God in my opinion.
He wants a perfect society a society in which all the people can live
without problems. This is a romantic thought in my opinion. This poem can be
similar to the poem of Blake (the tiger). Both are talking about problems in
the society, and although this is a Victorian poem, it has something of
romantic.
This poem is similar to the poem of Blake because of the adjectives too.
Both poems are very descriptive. In the Tiger we can see strong adjectives like
fearful, immortal…and in Peace we see adjectives like poor, pure, or strong
names like death, war…
Conclusion:
With this paper we have seen that this two periods (Romanticism, and
Victorianism) are different. However with the analysis of the poems we have
seen that both are similar. They belong to different periods but they have in
common some aspects. We have learnt that Romanticism and Victorianism are
different but they can have similar things. I think that the two poems
represent the aspects of the society and of the time in which they were
written.
Bibliography
- http://www.victorianweb.org/html 27.12.2007
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_blake
William blake-Wikipedia, the
free enciclopedya 27 dic 2007
- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gerard_Manley_Hopkins 28.12.2007
Gerard Manley Hopkins-Wikipedia,
the free encyclopedia
-
www.poetry-archive.com/b/the_tiger.html
The tiger, by William blake
see 28.12.2007
-
http://www.sanjeev.net/poetry/Hopkins-Gerard-manley/peace-170665.html 27.12.07
Peace: Gerard Manley
Hopkins:poetry archive:sanjeev.net