In the mid to late 18th Century (1700's) a literary movement known as Romanticism came about. Romanticism favors more natural, emotional, and artistic themes. Indeed, good romantic poetry captures a spontaneous flow of powerful feelings. Romantic poets of the time, Wordsworth, Lord Byron, and Percy Bysshe Shelley captured the dominate romantic theme in much of their poetry: taking natural emotion and turning it into written art.
For me, no poet was as successful as Elizabeth Barrett Browning. She was born in England in 1806 to a wealthy family. At an early age she was reading and writing. Her father encouraged her poetry.
At 15, Elizabeth grew sick from an illness the doctors at the time weren't able to identify. To deal with the pain, she began taking opiates (laudanum and morphine). These medicines were commonly used at the time.
Elizabeth met talented contemporaries including William Wordsworth, Lord Tennyson and Thomas Carlye. In 1837, she grew sick again, this time possibly from tuberculosis. During these years, Elizabeth published her poetry and became very successful. Her published work up to this time, generally did not have a romantic theme, focusing more on social issues of the day.
In 1845 she met Robert Browning. Their courtship was heartbreakingly romantic. When Elizabeth married Robert, her father disinherited her, but by then she had saved up a little of her own money. Elizabeth and Robert went to live in Italy. Their romance inspired her most romantic work: Sonnets from the Portuguese.
My favorite Elizabeth Barrett Browning poem is "How Do I Love Thee?" It embodied the dominant theme of romantic poetry by capturing strong natural emotion and making it art. I thought I'd share it with you today.
How Do I Love Thee
By: Elizabeth Barrett Browning
How do I love thee?
Let me count the ways.
I love thee to the depth and breath and height
my soul can reach when feeling out of sight.
for the ends of the being and ideal grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's most quiet need,
by sun and candle light.
I love thee freely, as men strive for right.
I love thee purely, as they turn from praise.
I love thee with the passion put to use.
In my old griefs, and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints.
I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears, of all my life;
And if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.
I'd love to hear who some of your favorite romantic poets are.
References: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabeth_Barrett_Browning
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romantic_poetry
