English Romantics

The Romanticism period in England was a response to the ultra-rationalism that the thinkers of the Enlightenment in Europe highlighted. It occurred along side the Industrial Revolution in the mid-1800s, a period of great change in almost all aspects of normal life. People were moving from the country to the cities, farmers' sons were turned into factory workers. In lieu of all the industrial progress that was said to be advancing society, inversely, the quality of life for most English people was diminishing. This might be why some people wanted to focus more of the beauty of nature, and the possibilities of the imagination.
Romanticism was said to be influenced greatly by the French Revolution of 1793 as well. The ideals of equal freedom for all men, for the defense of the working class, Utopian dreams, etc. Over all it was a reaction to the rationalization of art and nature that was becoming standard in the intellectual and aristocratic sects of Europe. The Romantics wanted to keep the mysticism of the middle ages concerning natural things; they also liked heroes and novels.

Romantic poets were stressing the importance of intuition, imagination, and feeling. They were counter-rationalist and some were accused of being downright Irrational. Romantics also were strong advocates for Nationalism, the belief that the nation is the most important aspect of culture, and culture should be focused on the national history, local folklore, etc.

In William Blake's Night he describes the world overcome by night, also overcome by angels who put the weary and sad to sleep, who appease the wild animals crying, who spread a blanket of peace over a tumultuous world. Blake gives reason to nature, even when he is trying to make nature seem like an imaginative and beautiful place; He understands people's curiosity of why concerning nature but gives them a beautiful reason instead of something they might not understand, or want to understand.
William Wordsworth's Ode 536, Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood, deeply attracted me. Perhaps it was the great beauty of the scenes that he portrayed or maybe it was the fact that underlying all of his romantic glory of verse, he had a profound sense of loss that went through the whole poem like a hard rain through the clothes.

"Whither is fled the visionary gleam?
Where is it now, the glory and the dream?"

These lines were lines I could have written. Frustration settled in this poem like it does in many a visionary life I think. He has in this ode a Romanticism felt very deeply, and a sense of importance towards feeling and memory that impacted greatly writing that came after him.
Lord Byron's poem On Chillon is also a good example of Romantic poetry, with all its round about exclamations and awe-inspired lyrics. "For there thy habitation is the heart -
The heart which love of thee alone can bind;" and also the good references to the heart and it being the center of all men's goodness. In truth, I have no idea what Byron is talking about here other than that he is praising the feeling of freedom and chainlessness that the heart often heeds for in the darkest of times. Alas, he strives to alleviate the pain of the imprisoned and heighten the glory of national martyrs.
Shelley's Asia: From Prometheus Unbound, a response I believe to a classic as often Romantics wrote, but is in fact a poem in a play -- a recreation of an old Greek drama that was lost. This poem is a very beautiful speech about passing from life to death, a hero's death though since the Elysian fields are mentioned:"Till through Elysian garden islets/By thee, most beautiful of pilots,/Where never mortal pinnace glided." It almost seems as though they are happy about dying, the character is, and the beauty of their death is overwhelming, and paradisaical. I am seeing a common thread of lightness and innocence concerning life and death and aging and youth in these Romantic poems while there is a deeper meaning seemingly behind every corner.
Keats' Robin Hood celebrates the national cultural history, as was supposed to be common with Romantic poets and tries to bring back the sense of camaraderie that the people of England used to have in the Middle Ages. "Gone, the merry morris din;Gone, the song of Gamelyn;Gone, the tough-belted outlaw" he sings, and he is very sad. Lamenting the lost times of Robin Hood and the absense of Robin Hood's presence though the many forests of England, he honors old Robin, saying that the heroes of his old time would cry at the state of today's world. Pretty sad poem. Pretty sad times.