[Off-topic] allk:
Joe English

7th Period

Entry I: Defining Romanticism

Romanticism is a complex artistic, literary, and intellectual movement that originated in the second half of the 18th century in Western Europe, and gained strength during the Industrial Revolution. Inn general “romanticism” has been used to refer to artists, poets, writers, musicians, as well as political, philosophical and social thinkers of the late eighteenth and early to mid nineteenth centuries. Characteristics of the movement include it being seen as being a beginning of a tradition of resistance to the “Enlightenment,” some see in it the inaugural moment of modernity. Some of the major writers and poets that are associated with the romanticism are Edgar Allan Poe, Nathaniel Hawthorne, James Macpherson, Washington Irving, Johann Wolfgang Goethe, John Keats, George Gordon Noel Byron.The gothic component in romanticism played a large role in romanticism as a whole, the writers capitalized on the darkness and gloom of reality, exploiting it in order to acknowledge the evil in man in the deepest depths of his being regardless of who he might be. The distinguishing elements of the Gothic component in romanticism are terror, fright, darkness, pain, horror, and evil mystical forces beyond the control and understanding of man. Many writers incorporated a sense of Gothic in their artistry including Edgar Allen Poe and Washington Irving.

Joe English

7th Period

Joe English

7th Period

Entry II:

“No one can conceive the variety of feelings which bore me onwards, like a hurricane, in the first enthusiasm of success. Life and death appeared to me ideal bounds, which I should first break through, and pour a torrent of light into our dark world. A new species would bless me as its creator and source; many happy and excellent natures would owe their being to me.” (51)

In the above passage there many ideals of romanticism that are conveyed throughout the quote. The first elements of romanticism that is displayed in the passage is are ideas of “life and death” and the “dark world” in which we in habit, the author uses this dark and gloomy rhetoric seek to draw from the Gothic element of romanticism describing the terribly sinister and gloomy world we live in. the effect of this is a contrast between “life and death” and the “the dark world” and the “torrent of light” coming from the “happy and excellent natures which would owe their being” to the main character. Light and darkness plays a major role in this passage and the underlying forces which ultimately control and wield these mysterious powers. The rhetoric contributes to the passage by conveying the author feelings and thought process as he discovers the possibilities of having the power of God in his hands as he begins his new task of creating a “new species” which would bless him, their creator and source, by providing between a contrast between the opposing the forces at hand in the midst of his endeavor.

Joe English

7th Period

Entry III:

WHEN I HAVE FEARS THAT I MAY CEASE TO BE

By: John Keats (1795-1821)

WHEN I have fears that I may cease to be

Before my pen has gleaned my teeming brain,

Before high-pilèd books, in charact'ry,

Hold like rich garners the full-ripened grain;

When I behold, upon the night's starred face,

Huge cloudy symbols of a high romance,

And think that I may never live to trace,

Their shadows, with the magic hand of chance;

And when I feel, fair creature of an hour

That I shall never look upon thee more,

Never have relish in the faery power

Of unreflecting love;--then on the shore

Of the wide world I stand alone, and think,

Till Love and Fame to nothingness do sink.

It is easy to see the elements of Romanticism in the poem “When I Have Fears That I May Cease To Be.” In his poem John Keats speaks of “unreflecting love,” “shadows with the magic hand of chance”, and the “fair creature of an hour.” Each of the aforementioned quotes share a singular common ground in that they all are reflections of John Keats’s use of Romanticism in his poetry, his emotion, imaginative imagery, and use of symbolism, are displayed throughout the quotes. The romantic elements contribute to the poem by adding emotion and depth in the poem forcing the reader to explore the meaning in its entirety instead of taking it at face value. The meaning of the poem is heightened by the romantic elements because, again, it adds depth to the poem giving it multiple levels upon which it can be perceived and interpreted.

Joe English

7th Period

Entry IV:

ON DEATH

By: John Keats (1795-1821)

I.

Can death be sleep, when life is but a dream,

And scenes of bliss pass as a phantom by?

The transient pleasures as a vision seem,

And yet we think the greatest pain's to die.

II.

How strange it is that man on earth should roam,

And lead a life of woe, but not forsake

His rugged path; nor dare he view alone

His future doom which is but to awake.

Seen throughout the John Keats poem “On Death,” are the elments of Gothic Romanticism. Keats Speaks of a dreary “life of woe,” which we all lead, and the “rugged path” which we dare not view alone. He uses nature, an element of romanticism to help describe this and the dark and gloomy component of Gothic Romanticism to help him express himself through his artistry.