Difference Between Romantic and Victorian Poetry

The romantic period and the Victorian period are two notable periods in literature. The Romantic period was an artistic, musical, intellectual, and literary movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. The victorian period was the period of Queen Victoria's reign from 1837 to 1903. This age is also known as the age of compromise.

The Romantic age and Victorian era had many similarities i.e. both the ages produced great poets. In the Romantic age, we find Wordsworth, S.T. Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, and Byron. In the Victorian age, we find Mathew Arnold, Tennyson, Browning, and Bronte sisters. Poets of both eras were questioning the rules of the church and their territory and they were both entrusted in myths and mysteries and they both were promoting doubtfulness. Both ages were worried about human conditions and they tried to solve human problems. Romantic age poets were worried about human feelings and the human relationship with Nature. In the same way, the Victorian poets were worried about the basic needs of humans. In both ages, writers shouted for freedom. Both the ages could not produce any great dramatist like Marlowe and Shakespeare. Both ages witnessed the development of science and technology. Both ages witnessed the social and religious change. The number of people doubled in England during both the ages. Like the Romantic Age, the population shifted from rural areas to the newly industrialized cities.

Read also, 

John Keats Use of Langauge Appeal to the All Senses

The Romantic and Victorian eras although similar in creating a massive impact within the literature are full of numerous differences. The main difference between Romantic and Victorian poetry is that Romantic poets revered and adored Nature whereas Victorian poets regarded nature as in a more realistic and less idealistic angle.

Romantic poetry was a reaction against conventions, rules, and traditional laws of poetry. It is considered to be the exact opposite of neoclassical poetry; neoclassical poetry is the poetry of reason and intellect whereas romantic poetry is the poetry of emotion, passion, and sentiments. The romantic poets were against the influence of intellect in their poetry. According to Wordsworth, one of the foremost Romantic poets, “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquility.” Emotion and imagination are hallmarks of romantic poems.

Nature is one of the most used themes in romantic poetry; Nature was something to be revered and admired. It was a source of inspiration, happiness, and satisfaction. Pastoral life, medievalism, Hellenism, supernaturalism are also important features of romantic poetry. William Blake, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, and John Keats are considered to be the leading figures in romantic poetry.

Although romantic poetry played a dominant role in the romantic period, it was the Victorian novel that played an important role in the Victorian period. The reclaiming of the past was a major element of Victorian literature; Victorian poets displayed an interest in the medieval literature of England. The heroic and chivalry knights were a particular favorite of Victorian poets. Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King, which blended Arthurian legends with contemporary ideas, is a fine example of this theme.

The use of sensory elements was another important characteristic of Victorian poetry. Many Victorian Poets used imagery and sensory elements to express the struggles between Religion and Science and ideas about Nature and Romance. Robert Browning, Thomas Hardy, Gerard Manley Hopkins, and Alfred Tennyson are some notable poets in the Victorian period. 

Romantic poets painted the beauty of Nature and beautiful human feelings. Romantic poets believed that Nature was the principal source of inspiration, spiritual truth, and enlightenment such as John Keats wrote intense and vivid poems many deal with beauty and its inevitable passing. While Victorian poets painted the horror of poverty and the dark sides of the Industrial Revolution. Victorian poets dealt with the contrast between the prosperity of the middle and upper classes and the miserable conditions of the poor(Merritt,320). In the later years of the period, there were modern kinds of realistic writing. Some authors showed a new, deeper understanding of the character. Lord Tennyson has been called the voice of Victorian England. Lord Tennyson reflects the Victorian concern with moral codes in the retelling of King Author's legends, “ The Idylls of the King”. Peter Browning was another good writer but she was more admired than understood(Merritt,284). The Industrial Revolution took place in England.

The romantic age had no famous king and queen but the Victorian Age had famous Queen Victoria.

In the Romantic Age, the individual was more important. The Romantics brought a more brave, individual, and imaginative approach to both literature and life. During the Romantic Age, the individual became more important than society. They wanted liberty and equality for all individuals. Individualism became the center of the Romantic vision. While in the Victorian age society was more important.

Moreover, the Romantic movement affected all the countries of Western Europe. Romanticism represents an attempt to rediscover the mystery and wonders of the world while the Victorian age could not affect much Western Europe.

Victorian age was comparatively longer than the Romantic age. Queen Victoria reigned for 63 years, the longest in English History. Victorian England was mighty and its empire circled the globe (Fuller,284).

Another important difference is that the Victorian age was scientifically more advanced than the Romantic age because radicalism and rationality were more important to them In the Romantic age human psychology was not an important factor but the in Victorian age human psychology was an important factor.

William Blake, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Lord Byron, and John Keats are considered to be the leading figures in romantic poetry.

During the Romantic age, towns became cities and more and more villagers were forced by economic necessity to seek work in the growing factories. Men, women, and children work from sunrise to sunset. For children of the poor, religious training, medical care and education were practically nonexistent. While the Victorian era marked the climax of England’s rise to economic and military dominance. “ The Victorian years did bring increasing efforts to achieve political, social, economic reforms to meet the changes created by industrialization," said Pfordresher. In the Romantic Age, the dramatic monologue was not popular but in the Victorian age, it began to flourish.

Romantic age was optimistic in tone but the Victorian age was pessimistic in some areas. Romantic writers were optimists they believed in the possibility of progress. In the Victorian age, people were rational and realistic while the Romantic writers believed in imagination and emotion.

Conclusion

In conclusion, the Romantic age and the Victorian era had many similarities and differences based on their forms of expression.

Contributor

Written By Itrat Batool, a student of Master English at the National University of Modern Languages, Islamabad.