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Unit 17: The Triumph of Romanticism (Elements of Medievalism, Escapism and Supernaturalism)

Scott Notes

In his medievalism and supernaturalism Scott followed in the footsteps of Coleridge and found
tumultuous response from the reading public. Scott was a very copious and versatile writer, better
known as a novelist than a poet. As a historical novelist he covered in his novels the history of
England and Scotland from the Dark Ages to the then recent eighteenth century.

Did u know? Scott was at home in the past, particularly the Middle Ages in which he created
an unprecedented interest and even enthusiasm.
The Lay of the Last Minstrel (1805), Scott’s first important original work, has for its setting the
England-Scotland border of the mid-sixteenth century with all its feuds and suggestions of magic
and mystery. A Tale of Flodden Field Marmion (1808) is, likewise, set in the year 1513 and is based
on some historical incidents generously peppered with many others of the poet’s own creation.
The Lady of the Lake (1810), which like the two above-mentioned works is a poem in six cantos,
also like them transports the reader to England and Scotland of the Middle Ages and has for
characters chivalrous knights who participate in numerous feuds for the hand of a beautiful
maiden. Scott’s treatment of the middle ages is somewhat less artistic and delicate than Coleridge’s.
He is much more interested in action and vigorous narration than in subtle and psychological
suggestions.

Keats
Keats, like most romantic poets, revelled in the past. He was most pleased with the middle ages
and the ancient Greece with all its glory, splendour, and beauty. His most important poems
conceived in the medieval setting are the incomparable The Eve of St. Agnes and the ballad La
Belle Dame Sans Merci. The former is based on the medieval legend of St. Agnes. “The Eve of St.
Agnes “says a critic “is a glorious record of the fondness of Keats for all that is understood by the
phrase ‘medieval accessories.” There are very obvious “medieval accessories” such as an old
castle, an adventurous, love-struck knight, a young lady who looks like the typical heroine of a
medieval romance, the beadsman, and family feuds and enmity. All this is certainly medieval.
“But, observes a critic, “it is medievalism seen through the magical mist of the imagination of
Keats.” Keats’s approach to the middle ages is conditioned by his sensuous temper. He loves this
period for its romance and mystery, no doubt, but also for its picturesqueness and its appeal to the
senses. His treatment lacks the subtlety and psychological veracity of Coleridge’s.

Notes “The reliance,” says Samuel C. Chew, “upon elaborate and vivid presentation rather
than upon suggestion differentiates the quality of Keats’s romanticism from
Coleridge’s.”
The setting of La Belle Dame Sans Merci is also medieval and is equally charged with the spirit of
chivalry and the supernatural. The love-lorn knight-at-arms who is smitten by the sight of the
femme fatale-”a fairy’s child”-the “elfin grot”, and the mysterious incidents are all abundantly
suggestive of the Middle Ages. The whole poem has, unlike The Eve of St. Agnes, the naivete of a
medieval lay.

17.2 Escapism

Escapism is mental diversion by means of entertainment or recreation, as an "escape" from the
perceived unpleasant or banal aspects of daily life. It can also be used as a term to define the actions
people take to help relieve persisting feelings of depression or general sadness.
Many activities that are normal parts of a healthy existence (e.g., eating, sleeping, exercise, sexual
activity) can also become avenues of escapism when taken to extremes.
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