Romanticism can be termed as a literary movement which is a protest against the Neo-classic poetic ideals. This movement starts with the publication of Wordsworth and Coleridge's lyrical Ballads. It prefers emotions and imagination to reason or intellect. C.H. Herford says, "Romanticism is the extra-ordinary development of imaginative sensibility." Another eminent critic says, " One poet is romantic because he falls in love; another romantic because he sees a ghost; another romantic because he hears a cuckoo." It is an unconventional and revolutionary theme. It has a high regard for nature and subjectivity. The subjectivity is at the root of sensuousness, Hellenism, escapism, allegory, pantheism, mysticism, and many other figures of speech. According to Wordsworth, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful imagination recollected in tranquility." This definition highlights the main traits of romanticism- the flow of imagination, high tone of subjectivity, robust individualism, and less care for the rules.
Showing posts with label Wordsworth. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Wordsworth. Show all posts
Friday, September 17, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Metaphor in English Literature
Let us take two dialogues between two lovers’:
Male: You are my Juliet, my sweet darling!
Female: And you are my Romeo, my sweet heart!
Here, the comparisons with Romeo and Juliet are the example of metaphor. So we can say that metaphor is a figure of speech in which a comparison between two different things is implied but not explicitly stated.
The word “Metaphor” comes from the Greek “meta” meaning “over” and “phera” meaning “carry”. Indeed it means “literary carrying over”. By this figure of speech, a word is transferred or carried over from the object to which it belongs another in such a manner that a comparison is implied. Though, in a metaphor one thing is compared with another thing, the other thing may be present, masked or totally absent. For example, in his sonnet “London 1802”, Wordsworth writes:
“Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour!
England hath need of thee: She is a fen
Of stagnant water!”
In these above lines a comparison between two different things- England and fen- is made an implicit way. The point of their comparison is their stagnancy or lack of progress. At last I would like to mention Dr. Johnson’s remark: “It is a great excellence in a style when used with propriety”.
Male: You are my Juliet, my sweet darling!
Female: And you are my Romeo, my sweet heart!
Here, the comparisons with Romeo and Juliet are the example of metaphor. So we can say that metaphor is a figure of speech in which a comparison between two different things is implied but not explicitly stated.
The word “Metaphor” comes from the Greek “meta” meaning “over” and “phera” meaning “carry”. Indeed it means “literary carrying over”. By this figure of speech, a word is transferred or carried over from the object to which it belongs another in such a manner that a comparison is implied. Though, in a metaphor one thing is compared with another thing, the other thing may be present, masked or totally absent. For example, in his sonnet “London 1802”, Wordsworth writes:
“Milton! Thou shouldst be living at this hour!
England hath need of thee: She is a fen
Of stagnant water!”
In these above lines a comparison between two different things- England and fen- is made an implicit way. The point of their comparison is their stagnancy or lack of progress. At last I would like to mention Dr. Johnson’s remark: “It is a great excellence in a style when used with propriety”.
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