Romanticism, a philosophical, literary, artistic and cultural era which began in the mid/late-18th
century as a reaction against the prevailing Enlightenment ideals of the day, also influenced
poetry. Inevitably, the characterization of a broad range of contemporaneous poets and
poetry under the single unifying name can be viewed more as an exercise in historical
compartmentalization than an attempt to capture the essence of the actual ‘movement’.
Poets such as William Wordsworth were actively engaged in trying to create a new kind of
poetry that emphasized intuition over reason and the pastoral over the urban, often eschewing
consciously poetic language in an effort to use more colloquial language. Wordsworth himself
in the Preface to his and Coleridge's Lyrical Ballads defined good poetry as “the spontaneous
overflow of powerful feelings,” though in the same sentence he goes on to clarify this
statement by asserting that nonetheless any poem of value must still be composed by a
man “possessed of more than usual organic sensibility [who has] also thought long and
deeply;” he also emphasizes the importance of the use of meter in poetry. Although many
people stress the notion of spontaneity in Romantic poetry, the movement was still greatly
concerned with the pain of composition, of translating these emotive responses into poetic
form. Indeed, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, another prominent Romantic poet and critic in his
On Poesy or Art sees art as “the mediatress between, and reconciler of nature and man”.
Such an attitude reflects what might be called the dominant theme of Romantic poetry: the
filtering of natural emotion through the human mind in order to create art, coupled with
an awareness of the duality created by such a process.
For some critics, the term establishes an artificial context for disparate work and
removing that work from its real historical context" at the expense of equally valid themes
The six most well-known English authors are, in order of birth and with an example of their
work: William Blake – The Marriage of Heaven and
Hell William Wordsworth – The Prelude
Samuel Taylor Coleridge – Rime of the Ancient Mariner
George Gordon, Lord Byron – Don Juan "Childe Harold's Pilgrimage"
Percy Bysshe Shelley – Prometheus Unbound "Adonais" "Ode to the West Wind" "Ozymandias"
John Keats – Great Odes "Hyperion" "Endymion" Although chronologically earliest among these
writers, William Blake was a relatively late addition to the list; prior to the 1970s,
romanticism was known for its "Big Five."
Notable female poets Notable female poets include Mary Shelley,
Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Charlotte Turner Smith, Mary Robinson, Hannah More, Alice Trickey,
and Joanna Baillie. Major Romantic poets
Albania: Naim Frashëri, Sami Frashëri, Brazil: Álvares de Azevedo, Castro Alves,
Casimiro de Abreu, Gonçalves Dias, Fagundes Varela, Junqueira Freire, Gonçalves de Magalhães
Bulgaria: Hristo Botev Croatia: Petar Preradović
Czech Republic: Karel Hynek Macha Denmark: N. F. S. Grundtvig, Adam Oehlenschläger,
Hans Christian Andersen France: Alphonse de Lamartine, Victor Hugo,
Théophile Gautier, Alfred de Musset, Charles Baudelaire
Georgia: Nikoloz Baratashvili Germany: Heinrich Heine, Johann Wolfgang von
Goethe, Novalis, Friedrich Hölderlin, E.T.A Hoffmann, Clemens Brentano, Joseph von Eichendorff,
Achim von Arnim Hungary: Sándor Petőfi
India: Mirza Ghalib, Michael Madhusudan Dutt, Huma Tanweer, Satyendranath Dutta, Rahul Mohan,
Vibhor Mathur Italy: Giacomo Leopardi, Ugo Foscolo, Alessandro
Manzoni Montenegro: Petar II Petrović Njegoš
Poland: Three Bards, Cyprian Kamil Norwid Portugal: Alexandre Herculano, Almeida Garrett,
António Feliciano de Castilho Romania: Ion Heliade Radulescu, Dimitrie Bolintineanu,
Vasile Alecsandri, Mihai Eminescu Russia: Golden Age of Russian Poetry – Aleksandr
Pushkin, Mikhail Lermontov, Fyodor Tyutchev, Evgeny Baratynsky, Vasily Zhukovsky, Konstantin
Batyushkov Serbia: Branko Radičević, Đura Jakšić,
Laza Kostić, Jovan Jovanović Zmaj Slovakia: Janko Kráľ
Slovenia: France Prešeren Spain: Gustavo Adolfo Becquer, José de Espronceda,
Rosalía de Castro, José Zorrilla, Jacint Verdaguer
Ukraine: Taras Shevchenko United Kingdom:
England: William Blake, George Gordon Byron, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Percy Bysshe Shelley,
Elizabeth Barrett Browning, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Mary Robinson, Hannah More
Ireland: Thomas Moore Scotland: Robert Burns, Joanna Baillie, Walter
Scott, James Macpherson
United States: Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allan Poe
Minor Romantic poets
Brazil: Laurindo Rabelo, Sousândrade, José Bonifácio the Young, Aureliano Lessa, João
Cardoso de Meneses e Sousa, Manuel de Araújo Porto-alegre
France: Alfred de Vigny, Gérard de Nerval, Leconte de Lisle, Aloysius Bertrand
Georgia: Alexander Chavchavadze, Grigol Orbeliani, Vakhtang Orbeliani
Germany: Gottfried August Bürger, Ludwig Tieck
Hungary: Mihály Vörösmarty Iceland: Jónas Hallgrímsson
Italy: Silvio Pellico Norway: Henrik Arnold Wergeland, Johan Sebastian
Cammermeyer Welhaven Pakistan: Jaun Elia, Parveen Shakir, Mohsin
Naqvi Poland: Kornel Ujejski, Antoni Malczewski,
Tomasz Zan, Wincenty Pol, Seweryn Goszczyński, Władysław Syrokomla, Kazimierz Brodziński
Portugal: Almeida Garrett, Alexandre Herculano Russia: Anton Delvig, Wilhelm Küchelbecker,
Nikolay Gnedich Serbia: Sima Milutinović Sarajlija
Slovakia: Andrej Sládkovič Spain: Mariano José de Larra, Ramón de Campoamor
Sweden: Erik Johan Stagnelius United Kingdom:
England: Robert Southey, Walter Savage Landor, Ebenezer Elliott, James Henry Leigh Hunt,
Thomas Chatterton, John Clare, Anna Laetitia Barbauld, Charlotte Turner Smith, Henry Kirke
White, George Crabbe, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Bryan Waller Procter, Thomas Hood
Ireland: James Clarence Mangan, Thomas Davis Scotland: William Knox, James Hogg, James
Montgomery, Anne Lindsay Wales: Iolo Morganwg
United States: William Cullen Bryant, Joseph Rodman Drake, John Greenleaf Whittier, Oliver
Wendell Holmes, Sr., George Sterling See also
Romanticism Romantic sonnets
Notes
References Article on Romantic Poetry