Romanticism in English Literature

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.