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Romanticism in Context: Shelley's and Keats's Verse and Prose: Keats's

Letters and Ode to a Nightingale, Shelley's Defense of Poetry and Skylark

Article  in  International Journal of Comparative Literature and Translation Studies · September 2018

DOI: 10.7575/aiac.ijclts.v.6n.3p.34

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 International Journal of Comparative Literature & Translation Studies
ISSN: 2202-9451
www.ijclts.aiac.org.au

Romanticism in Context: Shelley’s and Keats’s Verse and Prose: Keats’s Letters and Ode to a
Nightingale, Shelley’s Defense of Poetry and Skylark

Walid A. Zaiter*
Department of Languages and Translation, Taibah University, Saudi Arabia
Corresponding Author: Walid A. Zaiter, E-mail: walid241960@yahoo.com

ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT

Article history This paper argues it is probably unavoidable perceiving the works of Shelley and Keats without
Received: April 28, 2018 putting these works in the context of the age and in the context of Romanticism. On the whole
Accepted: June 20, 2018 the selected pieces of prose and verse of the poets represent their postulations in an era which
Published: July 31, 2018 witnessed great revolutions, political and industrial bringing about new trends in literature and in
Volume: 6 Issue: 3 society. From the personal perspective of the two poets, the birds in the poems represent ideals
reflecting the treatment of imagination, nature and ideology of their time and their individual
experience, knowledge of the world and of prosody. Thus the treatment of this topic as such
Conflicts of interest: None opens an old and new interpretation of the poets’ work since the topics in their poetry can apply
Funding: None to their age and ours.

Keywords:
Romanticism in Context,
Imagination,
Nature,
Verse,
Prose,
Keats,
Shelley

INTRODUCTION same vein Rene Wellek in “The Concept of Romanticism in

Stephen Prickett in his introduction to The Context of En- Literary History” views Romanticism as “ a new designa-
glish Literature: The Romantics, defines Romanticism as tion for poetry, opposed to the poetry of neoclassicism, and
“characterizing a distinctive age, or even a movement... drawing its inspiration and models from the Middle Ages
The period between 1770 and 1830 had, or was believed and the Renaissance”(4).Then along his essay he explicates
to have, an internal consistency and rationale uniquely its the distinctive characteristics of romantic poets focusing on
own”(1). He as well traces down the “original usage of the imagination, nature symbol and myth in their poetry.. How-
word “romantic “which goes back to1656. He found that ever, each of the romantics treated these elements especially
the word romantic and its forms indicate “the suggestions imagination distinctively. He states that Blake, Wordsworth,
of fable, fairy tale and even dream were never very far from Coleridge and Keats did appear to share similar concepts
the word[romantic] throughout most of the eighteenth cen- in their lives, their art and in their attitude to their envi-
tury(1). Prickett asserts that the word [romantic] was first ronment... Wordsworth and Coleridge... commonly used
used by Goethe and Schiller at the beginning of the nine- imagination to describe psychological activity, whereas for
teenth century. Prickett suggests that Schiller, then, saw in Blake and Keats the word carried a transcendent or vision-
Romanticism “union of opposites or discordant qualities. ary connotation...” (5). other elements which most roman-
Like Schiller, Schlegel believed that Romanticism replaced tics drew on in their poetry were religion, philosophy and
classicism. Prickett suggests that the word romantic could politics.”Literature was not an activity separate from poli-
apply to any writer from any age as long he or she maintains tics, philosophy or religion”. On these grounds Wordsworth,
the qualities mentioned above. Therefore, it is not “difficult acquired poetry by means of politics and philosophy. So did
to see Aeschylus as romantic and Sophocles as classic.” In Coleridge who was a political journalist, preacher and lec-
England the Elizabethan was surely as much as a romantic turer, philosopher, theologian and literary critic (5). Shelley
age as was the end of the eighteenth century” (3). In the and Keats followed their heels but Shelley went too far in

Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD.

Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijclts.v.6n.3p.34
Romanticism in Context: Shelley’s and Keats’s verse and prose:
Keats’s Letters and Ode to a Nightingale, Shelley’s Defense of poetry and Skylark 35

his views regarding religion. In this context Jake Porter in ROMANTICISM, PHILOSOPHY, NATURE AND
his essay “ Coleridge, Shelly, Keats, and God: The Roman- VALUES
tic Poetics of Doubt” (2016) examines “a sampling of the One may equally wonder about philosophical influence of
writings of “ these poets and “relate them to two disparate John Lock on the Romantics since the movement was philo-
theological strands – natural religion and Deism”(1-2). Ray- sophical. T.J. Diffey in his essay “The Roots of Imagination:
mond Williams in Culture and Society (1958) sums up the the philosophical context” affirms that “essentially Lockean
subject matter of all the romantics versus other poets. “The empiricism and English Romanticism are at issue over two
Romantic Artist than the poets from Blake and Wordsworth main questions: the nature of perception, and the nature of
to Shelley and Keats there have been few generations of language and meaning. (166). Another component of Ro-
creative writers more deeply interested and more involved manticism is nature which is totally different from that of the
in study and criticism of the society of their day”(30). Sur- eighteenth century in that Prickett in an essay entitled “Ro-
prisingly, according to Seamus Perry in “Romanticism: The mantic Literature” cites A. O. Lovejoy who “claims to have
Brief History of a Concept” (1999) the “Romantics did not distinguished more than sixty separate meanings of the word
know that was what they were.” It was the business of the nature, but the complexity of the word and its connotations
critics of our age,who have categorized the romantics into are apparent” (211). Although Nature plays an important role
lake School’ (Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey), the as a source of inspiration to all the romantics, it has certain
‘Demonic School’ (most notoriously, Byron), the ‘Cockney contexts in the poetry of Wordsworth, Coleridge Keats, and
School’ (Leigh Hunt and Keats)”(2). These aspects above Shelley. It depends on the early and later poetry of each poet,
mentioned are the criteria upon which Romanticism and which defines its influences on the Romantics, internally
the romantics must be taken into consideration to study any or externally. Since the scope of this paper is not on all the
work of the romantics. They provide plausible interpreta- Romantics, but only on Shelley and Keats, then they will
tion for critics of the romantics in any age in accordance receive equal treatment or discussion, where they converge
with new literary that appears in every age: Classicism, Ro- and diverge on nature, imagination and values. Porter sums
manticism, Modernism, etc. these interpretation will add to up the beliefs of the two poets: “Shelley expressed the un-
the canonical poets of Romanticism. knownability of ultimate reality, but it was Keats who was
to take it further and express perhaps the highest flowering
of the belief/doubt dialectic in Romantic poetry”(13). These
ROMANTICISM IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE aspects are found in some pieces of their prose and verse:
Since we cannot divorce Romanticism as a literary move- Keats’s Letters and Ode to a Nightingale, Shelley’s Defense
ment from other variables which affect the milieu of the age, of poetry and Skylark. These works are formulations of
one may wonder about the historical and political contexts thought and poetry.
in England between 1782 and 1832. This period witnessed
the rise of Romanticism. Colin Brooks asserts that “Roman- SHELLEY AND KEATS: IMAGINATION AND
tic England was an England of wars and rumors of war... NATURE VERSUS ENLIGHTENMENT
Throughout the years 1782- 1832 the political system was un-
Peter J. Kitson in “Beyond the Enlightenment” argues: In
der stress... it had to organize the fighting of the wars against
The Defence of Poetry Shelley clearly distinguishes between
France. It had to maintain public order whilst insisting upon
the empirical reason from the higher imaginative powers of
individual responsibilities. (15-7). He concludes his main ob-
the mind.” On this distinction the Romantics adopted and
servations on the: The age was self-conscious, searching for
developed trends in Enlightenment philosophy” (40) with
its spirit. It was an age of transition... It was an age of paradox
the aid of Kant’s Philosophy. The same applies to “Keats’s
and contradiction... Class became an appropriate category for criticism of science’s tendency to demystify the world”(41).
such arguments... The Industrial and the French Revolutions Shelley’s Defense of Poetry and Keats’s Letters are canon-
were separate phenomena: but they soon became, and still ical works that set a difference between the two poets and
are, indissoluble in their consequences, threats and promis- their poetry. Despite the fact that Shelley wrote his Defense
es” (68- 9). Thus most of the Romantics found inspiration in of Poetry by reading the article entitled “The Four Ages of
the French Revolution for its universal tenets of democracy, Poetry,” Shelley remarkably voiced his postulations about
freedom and equality. “Romantic texts need to be understood the role and function of poets and poetry. Shelley defines
with some sense of the historical circumstances within which poetry in terms of imagination, man, music (Æolian lyre).
they were produced”(Bygrave 15). David Duff in his essay These elements are significant to read Shelley as a poet to
“From Revolution to Romanticism: The Historical Context see where his inspiration is triggered. According to Shel-
to 1800” argues that one should “begin with the Romantics’ ley poetry is created by imagination and man is theme of
own impressions about the historical forces that shaped their all poetry” the expression of the imagination: and poetry is
writings.” He adds: “For William Hazlitt, author of a collec- connate with the origin of man. Man is an instrument over
tion of essays actually entitled the Spirit of the Age (1825), which a series of external and internal impressions are driv-
there was no doubt that the central historical experience of en, like the alternations of an ever-changing wind over an
his generation was the French Revolution” (23). This was Æolian lyre, which move it by their motion to ever-chang-
evident in the writings of the romantics of both generations. ing melody”(The Oxford Anthology o English Literature:
36 IJCLTS 6(3):34-38

“Defense of Poetry” 747). This is an open invitation to all are necessary to trigger the imagination. Keats writes: What
poets that making poetry is as natural as music produced the imagination seizes as Beauty must be the truth whether
by the wind playing on the strings of Æolian lyre. By the it existed before or not, for I have the same idea of all our
same token anything in nature can trigger the imagination of passions as of love: they are all, in their sublime, creative of
a poet. Shelley’s Skylark flies higher and higher to the ex- essential Beauty (Colvin, Letter 41).
treme destination towards heaven. The bird stands for poetic This definition of imagination is a key element among
creation and inspiration and freedom of thought not found in the Romantics but each gives it a special clouring accord-
the previous age. No wonder that the French Revolution had ing to his individual experience, the influence of other poets,
impacted the second generation of the Romantics; its ideals knowledge of the world and prosody. For Keats, the prod-
of democracy and liberty of thought inspired them to create uct of poetic imagination is beauty and truth. Wellek in his
new expressions, which were unavailable to the preceding above mentioned essay makes profound assertions concern-
age. In the same vein poetry became religion and poets be- ing “ theories of imagination” and “ conception of nature”
came prophets. Poets also became the builders of society in among the romantics. Each and every one of the Roman-
all walks of life. Shelley postulates that poets are” the in- tics shares some common grounds of treating imagination
stitutors of laws, and the founders of civil society, and the and nature in their poetry. However, Wellek claims that “all
inventors of the arts of life, and the teachers, who draw into a of them share a common objection to the mechanistic uni-
certain propinquity with the beautiful and the true that partial verse of the eighteenth century” and that “all romantic poets
apprehension of the agencies of the invisible world which is conceived of nature as an organic whole, on the analogue
called religion”(“Defense of Poetry”748). This vision could of man rather than a concourse of atoms—a nature that is
not have formulated without the impact of the French Rev- not divorced from aesthetic values, which are just as real
olution which was a source of inspiration to the Romantics. than the abstractions of science”(qtd in Prickett195-6).This
David Simpson in “The French Revolution “places Shelley’s is a basic difference between eighteenth century perception
Defense in context of its impact on poetry: of nature and the Romantics’ attack of it. A final note about
Shelley’s ‘Defense’ makes the strongest of all Romantic the literary value of Keats’s letters: “are pre-eminent in the
cases for the social and historical powers of poetry (or genre, even unique. No other letters communicate so fully
literature), even if it is marked, as I have suggested, by their author’s temperament as his do, or display so bold an
critical qualifications and retractions. And indeed Shel- energy of mind in the confrontation of the problems of art
ley was the inheritor of a literary culture for which the and existence...,”(Bloom and Trilling 467).
disconnection of good literature from the ordinary con-
straints of time and place was already a sort of given (57).
IMAGERY IN KEATS’S ODE TO A
Like Shelley, Keats in his letters postulates his tenets of
NIGHTINGALE AND SHELLEY’S SKYLARK
poetry in prose and verse. These also were established over
personal beliefs of the role and function of poetry and in the John Creaser argues in “John Keats, Odes” (1999): Keats’s
society, and over the impact of the older Romantics and the odes are at their strongest – in to a Nightingale, To Autumn
French Revolution on the Romantics. and a Grecian Urn..., separating or merging the selves in re-
sponse to the flow of emotion and recollection.” This reminds
us of Wordsworth’s definition of poetry. No wonder here that
KEATS’S LETTERS AND HIS PRINCIPLES IN Keats is influenced by Wordsworth. Creaser suggests that
POETRY: BEAUTY AND IMAGINATION these odes should be read “sequentially, much in these poems
Like Shelley, Keats in his letters, especially the one ad- is the utterance of a speaker carried away by images of per-
dressed to his publisher John Taylor dated on February fection”(239). Richard Harter Fogle expounds these images.
27,1818 explicates his principles of poetry that it should sur- Poetic imagery can fall into the following types:
prise the reader of new thoughts and the making of poetry Imagery of sensation, synaesthetic imagery, empathic
should come naturally to the poet, not as those in the previ- imagery and concrete and abstract imagery... to establish
ous age, who would put too much effort of writing a poem the sensuous characteristics of the poetry of Shelley and of
according to the rules and conventions of the age. Keats Keats as accurately and reliably as the conditions of such
writes:” I think Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and a study permit, I have analyzed 1722 lines from Keats and
not by Singularity--- it should strike the reader as a wording 2318 lines from Shelley, classifying all effective sense-im-
of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a Remem- ages to be found in them under the headings visual, auditory,
brance.” This is the basic role of poetry. Secondly, poetry tactual, olfactory, gustatory, organic, kinesthetic and motor
should create a feeling of content on the reader and this is the images” (29).
beauty of poetry when “its touches of Beauty should never However, this paper shows that Keats’s imagery ranges
be halfway thereby making the reader breathless instead of between sensual and mythological in a world of fairylands or
content: the rise, the progress, the setting of imagery should old legends revisited by his imagination, but Shelley’s imag-
like the Sun come natural to him--- shine over him.” Finally, ery is philosophical and ideal. These qualities of their poetry
if Poetry comes not as naturally as the Leaves to a tree it had can be traced in Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale and Shelley’s
better not come at all “(Colvin 99). As for imagination, in a Skylark.
letter to Benjamin Bailey, Keats defines imagination in the My heart aches, and a drowsy numbness pains
context of beauty, passion in the sublime. These elements My sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk,
Romanticism in Context: Shelley’s and Keats’s verse and prose:
Keats’s Letters and Ode to a Nightingale, Shelley’s Defense of poetry and Skylark 37

Or emptied some dull opiate to the drains in trees, which does not venture far above the ground.
One minute past, and Lethe-wards had sunk: Shelley as he apostrophizes the lark (37-38, 45).
‘Tis not through envy of thy happy lot,
But being too happy in thine happiness,—
CONCLUSION
That thou, light-winged Dryad of the trees
In some melodious plot To Sum up, Romanticism in context has been a criterion to
Of beechen green, and shadows numberless, interpret the poetry of the Romantics as a whole and the vi-
Singest of summer in full-throated ease.(The Oxford sual images in Keats’s Ode to a Nightingale and Shelley’s
Anthology of English Literature: Ode To a Nightingale, Skylark in particular. The imagery employed in their poems
stanza I, lines 1-10) will not be perceived without Keats’s tents or poetic princi-
Keats here is pouring his heart to the bird he is address- ples discussed in his letters and odes and Shelley’s Defence
ing; the bird is making him happy just listening to it sing of Poetry and poems. Their poetic devices such as metaphors
happy melodies while sitting in nature; the picture of the bird and personification of the birds in their poems have been
is real; it evokes Keats’s imagination to write poetry after employed to represent their inspiration and their theories of
feeling tranquil; it is an inspirational moment for creative reflecting on the reality of their age at large and on their indi-
imagination. Keats “invokes figures-  pagan deity, night- vidual lives as poet in particular. Therefore, this comparative
ingale, which could never respond. Invoking such ideals study of the two poets in particular and Romanticism as a
only emphasizes how unattainable or incommunicable they whole has tackled some of their verse and prose in context to
are”(Creaser 241). On the other hand, Shelley’s Skylark is clarify their poetic tenets in theory and practice. Their poetry
observed on flight to Heaven. The bird is there but it stands and theories of imagination have impacted the poetry of their
for the highest point that the imagination of the poet can age and probably for many generations to come. Romanti-
reach cism has always been a major interest for many critics and
students of literature around the world.
Hail to thee, blithe Spirit!
Bird thou never wert,
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