The Age of Romanticism with reference to William Words worth’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads

Abstract

It is mainly approved that the Romantic school of poetry begins with the revolutionary manifesto of William Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical Balladsin 1800. It is a discussion of the collection of poems. The paper is an attempt to showcase the contradictions in the literary characteristics of the eighteenth century writers and the early nineteenth century writers and how romanticism is being adopted by the new generation of writers in reaction to the so-called literary movement, classicism or the Age of Enlightenment. It is mainly characterized by an emphasis of nature and the common man, a focus on individual experience and emotions. These are the basic elements of the Romantic literary theory which serve as a revolt against scientific Rationalism. A belief in the primacy of reason is rejected by the writers who belonged to the early nineteenth century. Their perspectives are mainly based on the relationship between human feelings and nature.