Romantic Periods

The Romantic era was a period of great change and Independence.   There are 5 main elements in the Romantic Period and they are: Sublime, Common Man, Nature, Supernatural/ Gothic, Religion vs. Science.   The romantic elements are found through out all Romantic literature.

One of the elements in the Romantic Period is the rise up of the common man.   Robert Burns is a great example of the common man rising up and his poem Scots Wha Hae. He was a farmer and wrote poems, although he never become famous for his work till after he died. In line 15 “freeman stand or free man fa’ “ is showing us that he wants the common man to stand up for him self and fight for there beloved country.   Following that quote on line 16 “Let them follow me!” , he is telling everyone that is going to be with him to follow him and behind him in the journey to end “oppression”.   The Scottish feel this is a national anthem, they feel this has the voice of the common man and has so much importance to independence.

Another element from the romantic period is the supernatural and gothic theme to the poetry.   A poem that has some gothic writing in it is Ode to the West Wind.   On line 3 ”like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing”(Greenblatt 2006, p.1743), lustrates a supernatural theme to the romantic period.   Another great poem that shows great meaning of supernatural being is Prometheus Unbound.   Line 1 “spirits”(Geenblatt 2006, p.1749), is a perfect word to describe the super natural presence in the poem Prometheus Unbound.   As a Gothic Attendance in man of the poems is also used but a good one that stands out to the eye is Prometheus Unbound.   Line 49 “As some dark Priest hales the reluctant victim--” (Greenblatt 2006, p.1750), shows a good Dark theme for this poem.   The writer Percy Shelly uses a Priest   that is supposed to be a “good” guy, and using him as a evil person in this poem.

Nature is a big factor in the romantic period because people are more in touch with their own self and some...