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Gowher Ahmad Naik, Lovely Professional University Unit 18: The Triumph of Romanticism (Melancholy in Poetry of the Age)

Unit 18: The Triumph of Romanticism Notes

(Melancholy in Poetry of the Age)

CONTENTS
Objectives
Introduction
18.1 Wordsworth
18.2 Coleridge
18.3 Shelley
18.4 Keats
18.5 Byron
18.6 Summary
18.7 Keywords
18.8 Review Questions
18.9 Further Readings

Objectives

After studying this unit, you will be able to:
Define wordsworth.
Describe coleridge and shelley.
Explain keats and byron.

Introduction

Ay, in the very temple of delight
Veil’d melancholy has her sovran shrine,
Though seen of none save him-whose strenuous tongue
Can burst Joy’s grape against his palate fine;
His soul shall taste the sadness of her might.
And be among her cloudy trophies hung. — Keats
Melancholy is one of the inevitable products of the typical romantic temper. Apart from such
personal factors as ill-health, an unhappy marriage or social ostracisation, most romantic poets
were led to ‘occasional fits of melancholia by the inherent quality of their creed. Their romantic
approach to life shuttlecocke them between hope and despair. All of them, fundamentally
considered, were optimists; and like all optimists they fell into moments of despair. Romantic
melancholy is essentially different from other kinds of melancholy we associate with Hardy or the
melancholy of Sir Thomas Browne. Hardy’s melancholy is the natural product of his profound
pessimism which hinges mainly on his deterministic conception of the universe. Browne’s
melancholy has an essentially subjective origin; it arises from his persistent interest in the themes
of decay and fatality and their appurtenances. His is a macabre imagination exulting m the
contemplation of these themes which always inspire him to give his best.

Notes The eighteenth-century poetry of the “graveyard school” is instinct with the same
kind of melancholy.

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