Romanticism in Poetry: Analysis Between John Keats' “Bright Star” And Wordsworth “Lines Written A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”
- cleocuizon
- Mar 5
- 7 min read
Written By: Cleo Cuizon
Date Published: 05 Mar, 2025.
The beauty of nature can be easily observed, such as sitting on the beach during sunset. The sky flares a vibrant orange hue, painting a wondrous canvas as you sit on soft sand to hear the crashing waves singing a peaceful hymn of joy. With this image, some may obtain tranquility, while others may gain wonder. However, one intention was derived from this example— to evoke emotions. A particular era dedicates its years to demonstrating the wonders of nature through literature, which is the Romantic Age. In a time when political, literary, and artistic reforms transpire, society’s mindset transitions into the form of individualism (Black et al., LXXXII). This idea centers on acknowledging the environment, where various artists provide an illustrative outlook of human experiences. Using Wordsworth's "Lines Written A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" and Keats’ "Bright Star" both pieces will represent nature’s essence and its relevance to romanticism through an emphasis on understanding emotions derived from nature, along with the usage of imagery and personification to illustrate this sentimental experience.
Wordsworth and Keats' Individual Representation:
Wordsworth and Keats produced many works renowned for their romantic aspects, specifically about the acknowledgment of nature. Each respective work demonstrates the environment’s impact through diverse epitomes of sentimentality. In Wordsworth’s poem, he describes a detailed observation of the Banks of Wye and gains an emotional resonance with its features. The speaker’s perspective on a simple town delivers a lasting impression through the speaker’s recall of memories and insights about sensibility(Wordsworth, 375-377). Keats demonstrates a similar idea in his work, where the appreciation of nature focuses on a specific object —a bright star— and correlates his central point to a woman described in the poem(Keats, 1099-1100). The prominent influence of the environment in both poems shares why Wordsworth and Keats contributed to the emergence of romanticism. The excitement nature provides causes a sense of realization of the individual mind and soul (Black et al., LVIII & LXXXII). Such representation thus explores this connection using literary devices that present an artistic form of nature, affecting the mind to immerse in the experience of sentimentalism.
Wordsworth demonstrates romanticism by using imagery to articulate the connection between human emotions and the living world. One example occurs in 11-14, where he depicts the Banks of the Wye through a view by a sycamore tree:
“These plots of cottage-ground, these orchard-tufts,
Which at this season, with their unripe fruits,
Are clad in one green hue, and lose themselves
'Mid groves and copses….” (Wordsworth, 11-14)
The speaker depicts the image of the village, where he notices the location filled with a large mass of orchard grass. Its relation to humanness derives from the tone of fascination he presents. For instance, the speaker describes the orchard tufts as being clothed in various green shades and wandering within the field of groves and copses (Wordsworth, 12-13). This detailed image shows a sense of wonder, allowing the reader to envision the speaker’s perspective of the landscape. The speaker’s gestures can be associated with Wordsworth's remarks in The Preface, where a man's embracement of sensibility provides him the readiness and power to express his thoughts and ideas —either by choice or based on a structured mindset inspired by those passions— “without immediate external excitement” (382). Wordsworth’s imagery proves that nature can encourage someone to reflect on their emotions through the gesture of observation. The details demonstrate how noticing even the trivial details of the environment provides a more calming method for self-expression, compared to fighting or venting. With this strategy, Wordsworth demonstrates how romanticism through nature delivers a tranquil influence on one's enlightenment and appreciation of all things they perceive as beauty.
Meanwhile, Keats presents this relevance by utilizing personification. The first lines of the poem offer the speaker’s impression of the bright star:
“Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art—
Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite” (Keats, 1-4)
The first line introduces a second-person point of view to the reader, demonstrating the speaker talking to the star as if it were another human. Keats then elaborates on this impression by personifying the object in the third line with verbs and adjectives to resemble an eye. Keats’ personification enhances the aesthetic image of the object, manifesting its watchful eye over the earth. Its emotional effect derives from the speaker intending to relate to nature's attributes. In the first line, he addresses the bright star how he could be as unwavering as it could be (Keats, 1). The speaker evokes such emotions in a non-living object—and referring to it as if it were a person— proves nature’s impact by having someone express their feelings similarly to Wordsworth’s poem observing the Banks of the Wye. In Keats’ poem, the speaker utilizes his observation to aspire to a trait that the bright star possesses: devotion. A sense of commitment and patience gave him a desire to follow its virtues due to a lover he later described in the poem, thus inclining to share such passion with that person. By understanding the speaker’s feelings towards nature, Keats proves romanticism by utilizing human features to relate to the natural environment from an emotional perspective.
Similarities and Differences in their Illustration:
With Wordsworth and Keats to prove nature’s relevance to romanticism, several similarities and differences occur within their techniques. One similarity includes nature’s ability to evoke emotions for a particular person. The structure of both poems begins by describing the natural environment using literary devices. Afterward, they used these features to reflect upon one's emotions. While reflecting, the speaker places a sentimental idea for another, indicating how these emotions derived from the environment lead to recalling a memory that enhances an emotional experience. Wordsworth presents this idea by having the speaker depict an imagery of the Banks of the Wye. He then describes how nature, in general, impacts him by perceiving it as “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse/ The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul/ Of all my moral being….” (Wordsworth, 110-112). After his reflection, he proceeds into deeper contemplation, where he recalls the memories of his sister (115-120). Keat also portrays a similar strategy, where the speaker personifies his descriptions and explains the admiration derived from those observations. While explaining his perspective of the object, he introduces the lover who subtly presents a desire to be as unwavering as the star’s light in the lover’s chest (Keats, 9-12). The technique from both poets shows how nature’s relevance to romanticism goes beyond understanding its wonder. Instead, the emotions obtained from observing the keenest details of the natural world can provide contemplation on a deeper aspect. Keats and Wordsworth utilized their imagery and personification of nature to enhance their emotional reflections on the thought of another human being. Such presentations show how romanticism can produce a more complex comprehension of humanness through gaining sentiment inspired by another person. By doing this, the association between the environment and romanticism becomes more significant due to the profound knowledge it provides on understanding sentimentality.
Their only difference in showing nature’s contribution to romanticism relates to what specific emotion the speakers express. Literary criticism by Mary De Reyes states how Keats shows romanticism “not by the acts of violence but by interpretation of the human heart through nature.” (282). In this analysis, both demonstrate Reyes's insight, where the emotions evoked from each poem did not present any hostile connotations. Rather the sensibility offered feelings relating to the fondness for others. Wordsworth demonstrates nostalgia, when he explains how the setting reminded him of “The language of my former heart, and read /My former pleasures in the shooting lights/Of thy wild eyes....” (118-120). These lines indicate the state of reminiscence based on the statement of his “former heart” or “former pleasures,” which implies the history relating to his sister. As for Keats, his poem focuses on the emotion of love. The speaker explains how the star’s light resting on her chest produces a state of admiration by the following:
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever—or else swoon to death. (Keats, 11-14)
It indicates the speaker’s admiration for the lover based on the poem’s tone. The words “sweet,” “tender,” and “swoon” provide a subtle detail of adoration, as well as using the star resting on their chest to resemble his romantic desires. With various representations of nature’s emotional impact, romanticism is proven through the focused perspective of sentimentality and how nature contributes to this vital feature of individualism.
Conclusion:
Nature can provide insightful knowledge regarding the world, and even oneself. Its contribution to romanticism proves how the living world interconnects with humanity's understanding of sentimentality, where they can reflect on their mind and determine what animates or pacifies the soul. Wordsmith and Keats prove this argument through literary devices that show the feelings conveyed by each speaker and the environment’s attribution, thus awakening their conscience to unite with nature. The similarities and differences between both poems offered a more profound analysis based on nature’s connection with the human experience. The overall ideas in both poems demonstrate the environment’s vital contribution to humanity’s essential feature— the ability to process feelings. The aesthetic perspective illustrated by both poets offers an outlook beyond the scientific logic of nature’s existence. Instead, it embodies a source that associates the discovery of one's individuality and utilizes this trait to initiate a new society acknowledging the natural environment. With this part of the world being a vital characteristic of an era, it concludes the essential relationship of nature and romanticism needed to help individuals understand what it means to have emotions and why it is a critical aspect of being human.
Works Cited:
Introduction. Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 4: The Age of Romanticism, edited by Joseph Black et al., Broadview Press, 2018, p. L-LXXXIV.
De Reyes, Mary. "Mary de Reyes, John Keats." Poetry Criticism, edited by Robyn V. Young, vol. 1, Gale, 1991. Literature Criticism Online, https://link-gale-com.ezproxy.snhu.edu/apps/doc/MDKPQO805767717/LCO?u=nhc_main&sid=LCO&xid=6925fe7c. Accessed 7 Dec. 2019. Originally published in Poetry Review, vol. 3, no. 2, Aug. 1913, pp. 72-82.
Keats, John. “Bright Star.”Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 4: The Age of Romanticism, edited by Joesph Black et al., Broadview Press, 2018, p. 1099-1100.
Wordsworth, William. “from Lyrical Ballads, 1800, 1802: from Preface”. Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 4: The Age of Romanticism, edited by Joseph Black et al., Broadview Press, 2018, p. 377-385.
Wordsworth, William. “Lines Written A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey.”Broadview Anthology of British Literature, Volume 4: The Age of Romanticism, edited by Joseph Black et al., Broadview Press, 2018, p. 375-377.
Comentários