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Atif Hayat

BENF18BM003

Romantic Poetry

Dr. Barirah Nazir

4 June 2021

Concept of Nature in Romantic Poetry

Abstract

In Romantic poetry major idea to write on was Nature. All the Romantic poets had treated the

concept of Nature in their poems. They had discussed nature according to their own perspectives.

Some believe in that Nature is guide, some say that Nature has healing power and some believe

that Nature is the source of a man’s happiness. In this paper I gave description of nature in

different poems of Wordsworth, Coleridge, William Blake, Lord Byron, John Keats and P.B

Shelley. This paper aims at defining the concepts of Romantic poets about the Nature.

Key Words: romanticism, pantheism, healing power, beauty, solitude, destroyer and

preserver.

Introduction

Romanticism

It was an artistic and intellectual movement which started with publication of Lyrical

Ballads in 1798 and ended with death of Sir Walter Scott in 1832.Term ‘romantic’ was first used

in 17th century to describe paintings with certain bizarre qualities. Romantic means away from

already set norms, to be unique. A romantic is a person who asserts his uniqueness

Representatives

Jean-Jacques Rousseau is considered as father of Romanticism. He had a slogan ‘Back to

Nature’. He believed that the civilization has corrupted men. It made him impure. So we should

go make men what he was before the civilization. He wrote a book named Emile in 1762 in this

book he gave a new system of education which focused on natural abilities of children rather

than the previous one in which children were forced into a single mold. Besides Rousseau there

were other many great names as well like William Wordsworth, Coleridge, William Blake,
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Robert Southey, Thomas Moore, Percy Bysshe Shelly, Walter Scott, John Keats etc. They all

contributed a lot to Romanticism.

Influences

As it is said that ‘nothing comes out of nothing something comes out something’. This

movement was influenced from the ideals of American Revolution (1776) and French

Revolution (1789). The representatives of Romanticism were impressed by slogans of French

Revolution “liberty, equality and fraternity’. These movements were carried out to get rid of the

old rules and to free human beings. So the romantics followed the ideals of these revolutions.

Major Features of Romanticism

Romantic Movement was characterized by freedom from already set norms. Celebration

of heart and child. Romantics saw the child as child and stopped treating him like an adult.We

see Joys of day-to-day life in Romantic Poetry. We see love for unspoiled nature in romantic

literature. This movement focused on personal freedom and individualism. There were no rules

for writing poetry. Mostly writings were focused on the description of nature and common men.

Diction of poetry was common language. Detailed description of nature is present in Romantic

Poetry. The Reform Bill was passed in by Parliament in 1832 which gave right of vote to

laborers and the middle class. Individual was regarded as centre of all life. For the first time it

was realized that politics, religion, social norms etc are for the men and men are not for them.

Lyrical Ballads of Wordsworth and Coleridge challenged already existing norms for writing

poetry. They wrote poems and took themes from common life and also used common language

to convey their ideas. They did so because they believed in Pantheism. They said that common

men and their language were close to the nature. Society changed from agricultural to industrial.

The romantics focused on feelings, emotions and imagination.

Romantic Poetry

In literature, Romantic writing is mostly poetry. This movement started with Lyrical

Ballads which was collection of twenty three poems. Wordsworth and S.T Coleridge wrote these

poems in common language and they also took themes from common life. Some people

criticized them and said these poems challenged the already set norms of writing poetry which

were set by the Classics. The philosophy of those poems was given by William Wordsworth in

his preface. He gave reason that why he choose common language and common themes for his

poetry. He said that I did so that all people could understand my poems. I wanted these poems to
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be pleasurable for all not for selected readers and I took common themes because common

people are close to the nature.

In romantic poetry we find writings on individualism and personal freedom. The poets of

this age stood for themselves. All the poets of this era had intense faith in imagination. The

Romantics thought that without imagination poetry was impossible. In their poetry they created

imaginative worlds. Wordsworth stresses more on imagination as he says

Is but another name for absolute power

And clearest insight, amplitude of mind

And Reason in her most exalted mood

The Romantic poets were divided into first romantic generation and the second romantic

generation. Wordsworth, Coleridge, Southey and Scott belong to the first generation. They were

inspired from French revolution. They sang about the feelings and emotions. These poets got

astray. Wordsworth became a tax collector and Coleridge became an editor in a paper.Byron,

Shelly, Keats, Leigh Hunt and Hazlit belonged to the second generation poets. The idea of

progress matters a lot for them.

Pantheism

The word pantheism came from Greek Pan which means ‘all’ and ‘Theos’ means ‘God’.

Pantheism is a religious doctrine that each and every thing in the world is God. The pantheists

believe that either the world is identical to the God or expression of His nature. According to this

concept God is combined form of all the forces existing in this universe.

In mid of 1800s a group of people called Transcendentalists were large followers of this

belief. They manifested this belief in their writings. They also started to promote this belief.

They focused on individualism. They did not follow any specific religion. They believed that

there is no need for one to follow a specific religion to find God. They believed that nature is

everything and this nature was created by God so all the things in this world are God.

Transcendentalists focused on self-awareness that a person must have knowledge of his inward.

According to them people needed self-reliance to truly find that who they really are.
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This concept has largely been manifested in Romanticism. It would not be wrong to say

that his concept is part and parcel of Romanticism. They Romantic poets believed in pantheism

and that is why the mostly wrote about the nature. All poets have manifested this belief in their

writings. When Wordsworth gave philosophy of his poems in A Preface to the Lyrical Ballads he

clearly stated there that he wrote in common language and about the common people because

they are close to the nature and they are pure.

It is the language of common people which is close to the nature. They are not

manipulated by the civilization. The true passions and emotions of human beings can only be

conveyed by the nature of language which is actually the language of commoners. Similarly

themes of his poems had been taking from common people only because of their being close to

the nature.

Discussion

Mostly the subject matter of Romantic poetry is nature, emotions, personal feelings and

emotions. The poets wrote about their personal feelings. This poetry is of subjective kind. What

the poets themselves felt or observed they wrote on that. This poetry challenges the already set

norms of writing poetry like the Classics mostly focused on reason, they took themes of superior

kind and language of their poetry was also flowery and bombastic. But in Romantic poetry there

is focus on the emotions and other things which are close to the nature.

Every Romantic poet has love for nature. They wrote poems on nature. We find

wonderful description of nature in Romantic poetry. Romantics dealt with different aspects of

nature like lives of commoners, natural scenery, poems on birds and animals etc. They believed

that mysteries of life could be revealed by imagination and intuition. They were interested in

social problems also.

The Romantic poetry reflected great ideas, experiences of poets and the great human

emotions. Now I will discuss treatment of nature by the Romantics in their poetry individually.

Treatment of nature by William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth (1770-1850) is regarded as poet of nature. He did not only write

about the nature but also about the feelings and joys of common life. He elevated the poetry of
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man as poetry of nature. Wordsworth has some limits for his love for nature as we mostly see

that he loved to describe the spring-time beauty of nature.

His concept of nature deals with the inner joys of life. This concept we can easily observe

in his poems like Tintern Abbey, I Wandered Lonely as a cloud, To the Daisy and In Three

Years She Grew in Sun and Shower.

Tinturn Abbey

In Tinturn Abbey, Wordsworth has given description of a wrecked place which he visited

five years before. In this poem he actually shows his personal development. He had two different

concepts of nature in his life. When he was a child he spent his whole childhood at the places

where he was close to the nature like he was surrounded by the beautiful scenery. As a child he

looked at the nature as a source of pleasure like skating, walking, riding etc. He took nature like

the animals who only knew to enjoy and not to feel like he gives his concept of nature when he

was a child as following,

But secondary to my own pursuits

And animal activities, and all

Their trivial pleasures

In this poem he shows that five years ago he came at that place but did not observed

things in the way he is doing now. His concept about nature has changed. Firstly he was

captivated by the outer beauty and enjoyed nature as any other child do. But now he has got

sense. He came to know that how nature provides relief. He says that those childhood days are

nostalgic but not painful because nature has bestowed him with tremendous things. He has got

eye to see the nature in its real sense. As a mature poet he developed a passion for sensuous

beauty of nature. Description of nature in his poems shows that he was very sensitive with his

eyes and ears for observation of nature. He minutely observed the nature and then described it. In

the poem we find beautiful description of flowing water of river, meadows, mountains and other

natural aspects. In Tintern Abbey he describes different phenomena in nature as,

These waters, rolling from their mountain-springs

With a soft inland murmur.- Once again

Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs

That on a wild secluded scene impress

Thoughts of more deep seclusion, and connect

Theses plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,

Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,

Wordsworth treats nature as his friend, guardian and a guide. He says

“The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse

The guide, the guardian of my heart, soul. (109-111)

He calls himself the worshipper of nature. He asks his sister Dorothy that she should also

make her link with nature so that when he died she could find him in mountains, rocks and in the

others aspects of nature. He takes nature as treatment of all ailments. He says that it will not only

cure Dorothy but also all the people who are living ill and dull life in this so called civilization.

As he says’

Knowing that nature never did betray

The heart that loved her; this is her privilege,

Through all the years of this our life,

lead from joy to joy. (122-125)

In this poem Wordsworth’s style is noticeable as we see repetition and

exclamation. He repeats phrases such as “lofty cliffs” and “blessed mood”. By doing so he is

conveying his close relation with nature.

Treatment of nature by S.T Coleridge

S.T Coleridge (1772-1834) was a romantic poet and contemporary of Wordsworth. He

played an important role in Romantic Movement. In Lyrical Ballads his four poems were

included. He had to write the preface but because of some reasons he did not. He mainly dealt

with supernatural things in his poems but as he was a Romantic so it was impossible for him that

not to be influenced from nature. We find description of nature in his some poems. He had a

close relationship with nature at the start of his career as a poet. Wordsworth said about

Coleridge,

The most intense of the Nature’s worshippers,

In many things my brother, chiefly here

In this my deep devotion. (2:513-15)

Lawrence says about Coleridge’s love for nature that, “Nature holds a special key to

comprehending the meaning of life and the human happiness.Coleridge defines poetry as “an art

of presenting, in words, external nature and human thoughts and affections”. Coleridge describes

relationship between the poet and nature as,

‘Nature has the proper interest; and he will know what it is, who believes and feel, that

everything has a life of its own, and that we are all one life. A poet’s Heart and Intellect should

be combined, intimately combined and unified with the great appearances in Nature and not

merely held in solution and loose mixture with them, in the shape of formal Similies’.

The ideas of Coleridge show that the role of nature in poetic creativity is very important

because nature provides the poets with symbols and in the form of those symbols the poets

express their personal feelings and emotions. So far a poet nature provides a tool for the

expression of his feelings and emotions. Like other Romantic poets Coleridge feels easy and

calm in company of nature as he says,

And there I felt thee! On that sea cliff’s verge,

Lived on; and so did I.

I looked upon the rotting sea. (P, 197)

“To Nature” is a famous poem of Coleridge in which he has shown that how much he

loves nature. He says that it is because of nature that Coleridge learnt love and piety. In this

poem he compares nature with God and then compares it with church. He says that loves nature

so much that wants to live in fields and compares himself to a priest. As priest in the church

worships God similarly Coleridge will worship nature in the fields. As the lines of the poem

shows,

So I will build my altar in the fields,

And the blue sky my fretted dome shall be,

And the sweet fragnance that the wildflower yields

Shall be the incense I will yield to Thee,

Thee only God! And thou shalt not despise

Even me, the priest of this poor sacrifice. (9-14)

,
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S.T Coleridge visited Germany in 1798 and after that his mood toward nature changed.

He started emphasizing on the subjectivity. He altered his mood towards nature and saw it as a

dealer not a friend or a guide as he says,

O Lady! We receive but what we give,

And in our life alone does Nature live:

Ours her wedding garment, Ours her shroud. (P, 365, 47-49)

Coleridge started to believe that nature is useless, it plays no any role in poetic creativity.

A poet feels no relaxation in nature. Nature has nothing to do with poetry. It is deprived of

sublime ideas. He says,

I may not hope from outward forms to win

The passion and the life, whose functions are within. (p365, 45-46)

Treatment of Nature by William Blake

William Blake (1757-1827) is regarded as pre romantic. He was a poet, and engraver and

a reformer. His writing style was unique. He used to write in reverse order. His writing method is

known as illuminated writing which means he used to draw sketches and drawing with the text.

He used a language being influenced from Bible and he always preferred imagination over

reason.

As far as his treatment of nature is concerned, he was not a worshipper of nature like

Wordsworth and other romantic poets. He did not treat nature as something special. In his poems

we find description of nature but for him main focus was not on nature. In his poem ‘The

Nurse’s Song’ he had shown that how child love nature and enjoy playing in nature. In this poem

we see that Blake has presented nature as a guide for the children as the children are playing for

a long time and now the sun is near to set and Nurse called them back to house.

Then come home, my children, the sun is gone now

And the dews of night arise. (5-6)

But the children are not ready to go back home. They wanted to spend some more time

with the nature. As we know that the children are innocent. They are pure. Blake is showing that

nature is itself pure and loveable and that is why the innocent children are not ready to leave the
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peace and love given to them by nature. We again see the description of natural elements as

following,

Besides, in the sky the little birds fly

And the hills are all covered with sheep. (5)

In short in his many works we don’t find that his focus was on nature but he gave

description of nature in his many works. He used nature as a theme in his works like “The

Lamb”, “To Spring” and “To the Evening Star”.

Treatment of Nature by Lord Byron

His name was George Gordon Byron. He was an English poet and a politician. He is one

of the most influential figures of Romanticism. Byron used Nature as a metaphor to convey and

interpret his ideas and feelings. Like other Romantics he was also indulged in Natured which

helped him in strengthening his emotions.

Byron’s concept of Nature is different from other Romantic poets. He had deep

imaginative powers. He had a lively sense of wonder and delight in glories of Nature. Byron took

Nature as it is. He did not contemplate on it and did not apply any theory like Wordsworth who

took Nature as something moral.

Byron felt mental and physical piece in solitude. He loved to live away from the boring

city life. He sought help from Nature to take refuge. A critic Moor says that, “Byron seeks

communion with Nature in order to escape from man; high mountains become ‘a feeling’ to him

when the hum of cities is a torture.”

If we study about biography of Byron we come to know that he had some tensions, he

wanted an escape. He had become allergic with the city life. He badly needed shelter which

could save him from the hustle and bustle of cities. He was annoyed of his boring life. These

were the reasons that he made Nature his companion in whose company he felt easiness and

calm. Wordsworth took Nature as something which conveys the sadness of humanity but

Byron’s concept of Nature was totally opposite. He took it something refreshing and peace giver.

He appreciated beauties of Nature. In canto three of his poem ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’,

Byron says
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“I live not in myself, but I become / Portion of that around me; and to me, /

High mountains are a feeling” “Are not the mountains, waves, and skies a part /Of me and of my

soul, as I of them? / Is not the love of these deep in my heart / With a pure passion?

Lord Byron confessed his conception of Nature in his journal which he wrote during the

September following Frankenstein summer. He writes that,

I am a lover of Nature – and an Admirer of Beauty – I can bear fatigue – &

welcome privation – and have seen some of the noblest views in the world. – But

in all this – the recollections of bitterness – & more especially of recent & more

home desolation – which must accompany me through life – have preyed upon

me here – and neither the music of the Shepherd – the crashing of the Avalanche

– nor the torrent – the mountain – the Glacier – the Forest – nor the Cloud – have

for one moment – lightened the weight upon my heart – nor enabled me to lose

my own wretched identity in the majesty & the power and the Glory – around –

above – & beneath me. (Journals 5: 104-05)

Treatment of Nature by John Keats

He was an English Romantic poet. He was prominent figure in second generation of

Romantic poets. He had a short career. He died at the age of 25 years. He died of tuberculosis.

He wrote very famous poems like some of his famous books are ‘Ode to Nightingale, Endymion,

The poems of John Keats, Ode on a Grecian Urn’ etc.

These books are regarded as best poems in English poetry. Like other Romantic poets,

Keats was also a believer of Pantheism. He is lover and admirer of nature. As Keats is regarded

as poet of beauty so he expressed the beauty of different phenomena of nature like rising sun,

clouds, plants and the aquatic life as well. He loves the beautiful scenes of nature. As a child

finds pleasure in nature, Keats also had same concept about nature. In his poem ‘Ode to

Nightingale’, he writes:

My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains

My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains.

The above lines show that how much Keats was astonished when he listened the beautiful

song on Nightingale. As he himself says the before when he had not listened the song he was in
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worries and tensions. He was seeking help from drugs to get rid of the problems. But then he

listened the song of Nightingale and forgot his worries. It shows that when the human beings are

united with nature it gives them eternal happiness and peace.

In his poem ’Ode on a Grecian Urn’, Keats praised the artistic beauty of nature. In this

poem Keats conveys an idea that imagined music is much sweeter than the actual music which is

heard. He tried to convey his idea that nature in any form like art will be a cause of happiness of

the humanity. He writes:

Ah happy, happy boughs! That cannot shed

Leaves, nor ever bid the spring adieu;

And, happy melodist, unwearied,

For piping songs forever new;

More happy love! more happy, happy love!

Forever warm and still to be enjoyed,

Forever painting, and forever young;

(21-27)

Treatment of Nature by P.B Shelley:

He is a great name in English Romantic Poetry. He was not only a poet but also a

visionary revolutionist and a prophet of hope. His motive impulse was love. He was under the

influence of William Godwin’s Political Justice. He came to know that all institutions have

become corrupt and evils are prevailing everywhere in the society. So, he imagined a unique

world lacking such evils.

Shelley is regarded as the greatest lyric poet of England who had a different view of

beauty which was expressed in his poems ‘Ode to the West Wind’ and ‘To a Skylark’. In this

poem he uses wonderful metaphors from nature. As far as his treatment of nature is concerned,

he describes things as they are. He does not color them but personification plays an important

part in his poems. In ‘Ode to the West Wind, he personifies Nature as Destroyer and the

Preserver. He believed in the healing aspect of Nature which he expressed in his poem

‘Euganean Hills’ and ‘The Recollection’. In these poems he says that he is healed by the natural

scene around him. In his poem’Ode to the West Wind’, he writes

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is;

What if my leaves are falling like its own!

The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,

Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, spirit fierce,

My spirit! Be thou me, impeyuous one.

In his poem ‘To a Skylark’, Shelley expresses that Nature can bring happiness in the lives

of the people. He gives beautiful description of the bird Skylark. He does not call him a bird, he

calls it a ‘blithe Spirit’. He asks from his that, what is cause of your happiness because of which

you are singing so beautifully? He asks from bird:

What objects are the fountains

Of thy happy strain?

What fields, or wavers, or mountains?

What shapes of sky or plain? (71-74)

Conclusion

Romantic poets like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Lord Byron and William

Blake believed in Pantheism. They all are priest of nature. Their poems show that they are lover

and admirer of nature. Mostly all of them believe and have expressed that nature causes the

happiness of the human beings. They also had shown that nature has healing power. They also

had shown nature as the best guide to live a happy life. Wordsworth and Shelly both spiritualized

and intellectualized nature. Lord Byron saw nature as a refuge. William Blake was focused on

finding harmony between nature and man. For Keats, Nature is a thing of beauty. Coleridge

showed that role of nature in poetic creativity is very important. All the Romantic poets celebrate

the beauty of nature according to their own perspective. To sum up, they had shown the nature is

only the good teacher which can lead us to live a tension free life.
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