Worthworth - Romantic

1789 Words8 Pages
‘’In what way’s is ‘I wandered lonely as a Cloud’ a typical Romantic poem? ‘’ ‘’Romanticism is said to be an artistic and intellectual movement through which characterizing a heightened interest in nature can place emphasis on one’s expression of emotion and imagination. It shows an attitude towards some forms of classicism and can be seen as somewhat rebellious against social ruling and conventions.’’ (Eliot,G. 215) Romanticism was believed to be correctly defined by Rene Wellek’s approach to the subject, until more recent years where his definition has been challenged by numerous other critics, such as McGann and Day. Wellek described romanticism as ‘Imagination for the view of poetry, nature for the view of the world, and symbol and myth for poetic style’ (Wellek qtd. in McGann, 735). Both Wellek and George spoke of Romanticism predominantly revolving around nature and imagination, two of the elements that are clearly evident in Wordsworth’s poem, ‘‘I wandered lonely as a Cloud’’. The poem can be argued to be typically a Romantic poem; this provided that you agree with the points made by Wellek and George. If however, you agree more with McGann and Day, the poem can be argued as not a romantic poem but merely a literary piece from the ‘Romantic period’. In this so called ‘Romantic period, (seventeenth century), William Wordsworth was born; April seventh, 1770, this provides the educational background of the ‘romantic’ period to surround Wordsworth’s as he grew up and may have provided him with a great influence in the Romantic styles of writing. The highly debated meaning of the term ‘Romanticism’, can effect ones interpretations of the poem ‘I wandered lonely as a Cloud’, in proving the text to be ‘typically romantic’, one must firstly criticise the term romanticism.
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