Romantic Period

Debate amongst the beginning of the period of Romanticism has been occuring throughout history. Romanticism takes the language of poetry and changes it to that of the common man. No longer is poetry to be for only fellow intellectuals. With this era poetry is shifted into the coloring of imagination and doesn't have to be pure visual truth. This took the place of the Age of Reason because their poetry was that of a painting - static, reflective, and tangible. Whereas Romantic poetry takes the form of music - dynamic, fluid, ever-changing, and deeply emotional. The focus isn't so much on the real, permanent, or visual but what feels emotionally real. What individuals feels and what touches them on emotional levels brings the truth through the raw emotions of people and their personal experiences. It's what the artist brings to the table in Romanticism, not just what is reflected back into reality that counts.

The Romantic Period begins in either the 1700s or later around 1798. The first option in 1700 was due to the writers of the time. Within the realm of the 1700s, Robert Burns' poems, William Blakes' "Songs of Innocence", and Wollstonecraft's "A Vindication of the Rights of Women" were published. These works have been said to demonstrate the shift of prose and poetry away from the Enlightenment towards that of the Romantic Era. These were the works that show the first shifts of political thought and new literary expressions. The shift of the soley realism theme of poetry had already died out and the changes were already beginning to turn in writer's minds. Especially considering the works mentioned above were written by those considered to be the 'first generation' Romantics and the works to come later (Those of Lord Byron, Shelley, Keats, Mary Shelley, etc.) were considered to be the 'second generation' Romantics.

However, some still state that that's not enough to give credit to the shifting of the ages - and that in fact, it began in 1798. 1798 is the date that The Lyrical Ballads was published by Wordsworth and Coleridge. This is significant because this publication defined a significant change in poetry, that while it existed before this publication, it was argued that it was not yet accepted until this publication was made. Wordsworth and Coleridge took poetry and really made it into their own by adapting free-verse and paving the way for future poets. The templates that had to be followed before this publication no longer applied - common people could write poetry. Yet, even better it was adapted to allow all kinds of readers. Poetry became a more accepted activity - the reading and writing of it because of Coleridge and Wordsworth's desire to change the genre of poetry - to be pioners of their genre and make a difference.

Regardless of which was the truth beginning of Romanticism, it reminds true that this was a very influential era of literary exploration. Romanticism paved the way for all kinds of changes and beginnings of ideas. Romanticism allows people to be able to express themselves both using realism and emotional truth, it brought literature and poetry to the common man, and gave people a chance to write that might not have written otherwise. Or at the very least, might not have published work otherwise. People are going to choose which beginning they like better, which beginning means more to them, and what does that truly matter in the long run? The Romantic Period was all about paving your own way and breaking down the chains of restriction. The beginning is of less importance to the era than the substantial workings that went on during the time period.