Write
a note on Grey, Cowper, Blake and Burn’s as the precursor of the romantic
revival in the early 19th century.
Ans:-
The age of
Chaucer was the first transitional period in English literature, as it was the
meeting ground of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance spirit. Similarly, the
age of Johnson is a period of transition which witnessed a struggle between the
old older of classicism and the new order of romanticism and of the gradual
triumph of the new Dr. Johnson, Goldsmith and Crabbe followed the general
practice of the school of Pope but on the other hand a number of poets like
Gray, Cowper, Collins, Blake and Burns tried to abandon the practice of the
school of Pope. They are known as transitional poets because they had their
leanings towards the new spirit of Romanticism. Thus some transitional poets
herald the revival of Romanticism which reached in the hands of Wordsworth and
Coleridge.
Gray(1716-1771)
Gray was one of the remarkable poets in the history of 18th
century literature. Gray began as a classicist and ended as a romanticist. He
began in the tradition of Dryden and Pope, and ended in the style and manner of
Wordsworth. The early poems of Gray are- “The
Ode on spring”, “Ode on a Distant Prospect of Eton College”, “Hymn to Adversity”,
composed before 1742 have nothing of the spirit of Romanticism. They are
characterised by all those qualities which are associated with the poetry of
Pope. Gray’s “The Elegy” (1751)
marks the transition from the period of classicism to that of Romanticism
certain characteristics of Romanticism are present in “The Elegy”. It expresses
sympathy of common people, tone of melancholy, love of nature, landscape,
society atmosphere which shows that the poet as caught the spirit of
Romanticism. Though some characteristics of Romanticism are present in Elegy
but it was also associated with certain characteristics of classicism. Though
the Elegy is not strictly romantic, but it is different from Gary’s earlier
works.
Gray’s next work shows him well on the way towards
Romanticism. In 1754, he wrote, “The Progress of Poesy” and in the
same year began “The Bard” which he finished in 1757. These two odes make
a romantic. They are the most imaginative poems of Gray. In these two odes the
qualities of Romanticism were presented by Gary in a remarkable manner.
During the last of this poetic career Gray became
more and more romantic in character. In 1755 Mallet’s “Introduction à l'Histoire de Dannemarc” appeared. He produced
three poems in 1761, namely, “The Fatal Sisters,”, “The Descent of Odin”,
“From the Norse Tongue”. These three poems are distinctly romantic. In
all poems of the later period certain characteristics of Romanticism, such as
love for nature, a feeling of melancholy and a sense of the historical past are
present in Gray. These qualities make him truly romantic in character.
Cowper(1731-1800):
Cowper was
one of the significant poets of the 18th century literature. There
is perhaps no more pathetic life story in the history of English literature
than of William Cowper. The chief elements of Cowper’s poetry are a love a
nature, a strong sympathy with animals and with the week and oppressed among
mankind playful humour and tender pathos. There is a not of sensibility in his
poetry. His first published work was a number of humans contributed to “Olney Hymns”
(1799). His “poems” contains
little that is noteworthy. One of Cowper’s best known poems are—“I am
monarch of all I survey finds place in Poem”. His next work is “The
Task”(1785), a long poem in blank verse. Another significant poem of
his later period is “The Castaway”.
Cowper represents love for nature but his poetry of
nature has not ordour of passion. His
descriptions of nature are perfectly natural and without effectator. He is one of the best descriptive poets in
English literature. In this technique of his work, Cowper belongs to the old
rather than to the new. We shall find in his work neither passion nor the
strangers of Romantic school.
Cowper’s work has a considerable significance in the
pre-romantic movement from the classical to the roman tic tradition. The simple
sincerity with which he expresses his love of the details f homely life is an
essential factor f the features of romantic poetry. His lyric gift was another
quality that linked him with the age that was in the horizon.
William
Blake (1757-1827):
William
Blake was the most mystical and metaphysical poet of the Romantic revival
during the 18th century. He was the last great poet of 18th
century. Blake’s first publication was “Poetical Sketches “ (1783),
a series of imitative poems. After this work, appeared his “Songs
of Innocence” in 1789, a short lyrics embodying. Blake’s views of
the original state of human society symbolized the joy and happiness of
children. His “Songs of innocence” presents an imaginative vision of the state
of innocence. The important works of his middle life are—“Urizen, Gates of Paradise”,
“The
Marriage of Heaven and Hell”, “America: A Prophecy”, “The
French Revolution or Vision of the Daughters of Albion” (1793). In the
year 1794, Blake composed his “Songs of Experience”, which reflects
the experiences of real life. In this lyric, Blake chose how life changes corrupt
and destroys.
Blake is one of the greatest of child poets. His
songs of Innocence expresses the innocence of child life and the songs express
the sorrows that assail the growing years of life. Blake was an ardent lover of
freedom and liberty. Blake’s sympathy is always with the common ad the poor people.
Both the naturalism and mysticism of the Romantic revival are found in Blake’s
poems. On the naturals lies side Blake deals with the simples phases of life.
Blake was a mystic and a visionary idealist and he
lived in a world entirely his own. The world that was created by Blake was
spiritualistic, infinite, illimitable and everlasting rather than temporal
finer and imitable. His created world was the world of thoughts, ideas and
vision.
Robert
Burns (1759-96):
Robert
Burn’s was one of the most significant figures of the 18th century.
Burns was probably the greatest of Wordsworth’s political forebears with the
appearance of Burns. We can say that the day of romanticism had come. Burns
first published volume the “Poem” chiefly in the Scottish
Dialect, of which 612 copies were published in the provincial town of
Kilmarnock in 1786. The poetical
works of Burns are of a mixed nature. Such poems of Burns, “The Cotter’s Saturday
Night”, “To a Mouse”, “To a Mountain Daisy”, “Man was Made to Mourn”, “The Twa
Dogs”, “Address to the Devil”, and “Halloween” are suggested the whole spirit
of the romantic revival is embodied in this obscure plowman. Burns produces man
y songs like, “Bonnie Doon”, “My Luve is Like a Red, Red Rose”, “Auld Lang Syne”, “Highland
Mary”, and “Scots Wha Hae”. Though, the works of Burns’s love however
pathos of the response human heart, Burns is a poet of love. “My Luve is like a
Red, Red Rose” is a beautiful love lyric. Another important aspect of Burns’s
poetry is subjectively. Burns’s poetry is suggestive as well as subjective.
Burns presents in his songs the passions, joys and sorrows of his heart.
From the
above discussion, we can say that though this transitional pot presents one or
other of the characteristics of romanticism, yet they were not through
romantics, because they had also association with the Augustan School.
God bless you all
& Best of Luck, by your dearest & nearest Podmeswar