Sandip Jethava: The Characteristics of Romantic Poetry: With Special Reference to Wordsworth and Coleridge

The Characteristics of Romantic Poetry: With Special Reference to Wordsworth and Coleridge

By : Sandipkumar Jethava

Introduction

The Romantic Movement, which flourished in England from the late 18th century to the early 19th century, marked one of the most significant shifts in the history of English literature. Emerging as a reaction against the rationalism of the Enlightenment and the rigid formalism of Neoclassical poetry, Romanticism celebrated imagination, emotion, nature, individuality, and the transcendental aspects of human experience. The publication of Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge is often considered the founding manifesto of the Romantic era in poetry.

This blog examines the key characteristics of Romantic poetry with special reference to Wordsworth and Coleridge, who together established the core ideals of the movement but expressed them in distinct ways. Wordsworth, with his emphasis on nature and common life, and Coleridge, with his exploration of the supernatural and the imaginative, exemplify the breadth of Romantic poetry’s scope.

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1. The Major Characteristics of Romantic Poetry

1.1 Emphasis on Emotion and Imagination

Romantic poetry is distinguished by its prioritization of emotion over reason. Unlike the Augustan poets (such as Alexander Pope and John Dryden), who valued wit, order, and rationality, the Romantics celebrated the intensity of feeling. Poetry was seen as a spontaneous overflow of emotions, shaped by imagination.

Wordsworth defined poetry as “the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings; it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity” (Preface to Lyrical Ballads, 1802).

Coleridge, while agreeing with the centrality of imagination, emphasized its shaping power. In Biographia Literaria (1817), he distinguished between the primary imagination (the basic human capacity to perceive the world) and the secondary imagination (the poet’s creative faculty, transforming and unifying experience).

Thus, while Wordsworth emphasized emotional authenticity, Coleridge stressed imaginative transformation.

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1.2 Love of Nature

One of the most distinctive features of Romantic poetry is its reverence for nature. However, nature is not treated merely as a backdrop for human action; it is a living, spiritual presence.

Wordsworth’s Nature Poetry: He saw nature as a moral and spiritual teacher. In Tintern Abbey, he describes how nature provides him with “tranquil restoration” and elevates his mind to spiritual heights:

> “A presence that disturbs me with the joy

Of elevated thoughts; a sense sublime

Of something far more deeply interfused…”

Coleridge’s Nature Poetry: Unlike Wordsworth, Coleridge often presented nature in its mysterious, awe-inspiring, or supernatural dimensions. In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the sea, the sun, the moon, and the albatross all become symbols of mystical forces governing human fate.

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1.3 The Supernatural and the Mysterious

While Wordsworth focused on ordinary life and natural simplicity, Coleridge introduced the supernatural and mysterious as a legitimate subject of poetry. Romanticism opened up to worlds beyond the empirical, giving space to dreams, myths, folklore, and the uncanny.

In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Coleridge combines Christian symbolism with Gothic elements: the cursed mariner, ghostly ship, and spectral figures like Death and Life-in-Death transform the poem into a profound exploration of guilt, punishment, and redemption.

In Kubla Khan, Coleridge dramatizes the very act of poetic imagination, presenting a vision of an exotic and dreamlike landscape that hovers between reality and hallucination.

This supernatural tendency contrasts sharply with Wordsworth’s focus on the “real language of men” and the beauty of the commonplace.

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1.4 Focus on the Common Man and Everyday Life

Another defining feature of Romantic poetry is its democratic spirit. Wordsworth rejected the elevated diction and heroic subjects of Neoclassical poetry, insisting instead on the value of ordinary people and their experiences.

In poems like Michael, The Solitary Reaper, and The Idiot Boy, Wordsworth elevates humble figures—farmers, peasants, and women—showing the dignity of their lives.

His language, too, departs from the artificiality of earlier poets. Wordsworth argued for using “the real language of men,” believing that simplicity and natural expression could better capture genuine human emotions.

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1.5 Subjectivity and Individualism

Romantic poetry is deeply personal, reflecting the poet’s inner world, emotions, and experiences. The “self” becomes a central subject.

Wordsworth often turned inward, blending his own memories, reflections, and feelings with descriptions of nature. The Prelude is a monumental autobiographical poem charting the growth of his mind in relation to nature.

Coleridge, in contrast, reveals his psychological and imaginative struggles. His poems often portray states of isolation, doubt, or visionary intensity, as in Dejection: An Ode.

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1.6 The Sublime and the Infinite

Romantic poets sought to capture experiences that went beyond the ordinary—to evoke awe, terror, or wonder. This sense of the sublime—vast, overwhelming, and sometimes terrifying—was central to their vision.

Wordsworth found the sublime in the grandeur of mountains, rivers, and the vastness of the natural world. His “spots of time” in The Prelude (such as his childhood experience of stealing a boat and encountering the towering cliff) embody this idea.

Coleridge approached the sublime through imagination and the supernatural, as in the terrifying polar landscapes of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner.

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1.7 Symbolism and Allegory

Romantic poetry frequently employs rich symbolism, connecting natural images to deeper philosophical or spiritual meanings.

The albatross in Coleridge’s The Rime of the Ancient Mariner symbolizes innocence and the bond between man and nature. Its killing brings a curse, dramatizing the moral consequences of disrupting natural harmony.

In Wordsworth’s Lucy Poems, the figure of Lucy represents mortality, loss, and the transience of life, conveyed through delicate imagery of nature.

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1.8 Experimentation in Form and Style

Although often written in traditional verse forms, Romantic poetry experimented with language and expression. Wordsworth championed plain, conversational diction, while Coleridge experimented with ballad forms and musical rhythms to heighten the atmosphere of mystery.

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2. Wordsworth as a Romantic Poet

Wordsworth’s poetry embodies the Romantic ideals of simplicity, naturalism, and moral reflection. Some of his key contributions include:

Nature as Moral Guide: In Tintern Abbey, nature is not merely aesthetic but deeply spiritual and ethical.

Focus on the Common Man: Michael and The Solitary Reaper highlight the nobility of ordinary rural lives.

Childhood and Memory: Ode: Intimations of Immortality presents childhood as a sacred state of vision, linking it with the soul’s immortality.

Democratic Language: His insistence on “real language” democratized English poetry.

Wordsworth’s role was to “naturalize the supernatural” by grounding poetry in everyday experience and making it emotionally resonant.

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3. Coleridge as a Romantic Poet

Coleridge, though aligned with Wordsworth, pursued a different dimension of Romanticism.

The Supernatural: In The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, he introduces Gothic horror, supernatural figures, and dreamlike intensity.

Imagination: Coleridge theorized about the imagination as a creative power that shapes perception. Kubla Khan exemplifies this as a poem about visionary inspiration.

Psychological Depth: Poems like Dejection: An Ode and Frost at Midnight reveal Coleridge’s introspection and meditations on joy, despair, and the relationship between inner and outer worlds.

Coleridge’s role was to “supernaturalize the natural”—to heighten and transform ordinary reality into a realm of wonder.

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4. Wordsworth and Coleridge: Complementary Voices in Romanticism

While Wordsworth and Coleridge diverged in emphasis, their collaboration in Lyrical Ballads was revolutionary. Together, they redefined poetry:

Wordsworth wrote poems about everyday subjects in simple language.

Coleridge wrote poems about supernatural or extraordinary subjects in elevated, imaginative style.

This complementary vision laid the foundation of Romantic poetry as both democratic and visionary.

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Conclusion

Romantic poetry represents a profound shift in the literary imagination of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Its characteristics—emphasis on emotion, imagination, nature, the supernatural, individuality, and symbolism—were powerfully embodied in the works of Wordsworth and Coleridge. While Wordsworth grounded Romanticism in the natural and the ordinary, Coleridge expanded its horizons to the supernatural and the visionary. Together, they established a poetic revolution that continues to shape literature, reminding us of the inexhaustible power of human imagination and emotional depth.

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References

Abrams, M.H. The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition. Oxford University Press, 1953.