One of the biggest most influential and important eras to American literature had been the Romanticism movement. This movement taking place at the end of the 18th century was a focus on literary, artistic and intellectual ideas in Europe. The idea was freedom from rules and free play of emotion and ideas during a time of Enlightenment which had a strong focus on the primacy of reason and logic. The individual was highlighted along with appreciation of beauty and nature, ideas that had not been completely accepted throughout society during the time.
Romanticism wasn’t didn’t just have an impact on just arts but on societies as a whole. Two prominent Romanticism writers emerged during the time such as William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Sir Walter Scott. The two writers with work that really stood out to me by allowing me to relate to their literature were William Wordsworth and Joanne Baillie. William Wordsworth’s “The Ruined Cottage”, and Joanne Baillie’s “A Winter’s Day” both tell two different stories with a focus on nature and the country side.
Nature is usually depicted with terms such as beautiful and fascinating. Always being described with vivid imagery. As often as people reminisce the country side, there are always two sides to everything. Nature can carry along treachery leading to misfortunes. “The Ruined Cottage” starts off with beauty nature carries but leads to hardships toward the end.
Nature and imagination are too huge roles in each author’s story. Baillie’s poem uses descriptive details for a reader to read and imagine the scene she is depicting.
Throughout the poem the idea of hard work is clearly evident. She focuses on a day taking place around a farm with the family getting ready for the day. The use of a rooster in the beginning sets the mood off right away for the family letting them know their day has begun, “Gives three hoarse crows, and glad his talk is done;”. Even though the rooster doesn’t seem like much initially and to anyone who doesn’t live on the farm the rooster is just another bird. Instead the description of the bird gives someone an idea the importance the hen had on the farm during this time. Even the bird had a role in on the farm and is appreciated for his helpful hand. This poem offers a light upon nature. It reveals the joy and benefits the countryside provides the family. From a hen to wake them up, chickens to lay eggs and hours of work to give the man a job. It is through nature who gives the family a purpose. Preparing for the coming of winter. The poem works really well for Romanticism because the poem focuses on the individual, a highlight of the era. The laboring hard work of the family is a key theme during the poem and seems to carry the story.
“The Ruined Cottage” played a much different story then a family on a farm. The poem sets the mood with descriptions of clear air, pale streams and a huge oak tree. Baillie used her descriptive words to follow with a day on a farm and the work that goes on. Wordsworth instead incorporates decline to the once beautiful cottage Margret (the lady the poems about) had lived in. Margret struggled with years of being in the cottage. Through years producing half harvests, and her husband becoming ill, Margret was in sorrow and distress. Even with recovering her husband living in the country, “Became a weight in which no pleasure was”. This country side living had a much different theme then Baillie’s. Hard work isn’t implied but instead a hopeless
situation is brought upon Margaret. From the bad harvests, her husband becoming ill and losing her eldest son, Margaret couldn’t catch a break. Even in her situation she still carried on in the manner she always had but didn’t seem to take care of her house, “She seemed the same in person appearance, but her house bespoke a sleepy hand of negligence”. I think the harshness of life had finally gotten to Margret and she tried to act like humans do and keep a happy smile face on the outside. This couldn’t last long and eventually the hopeless situations she was in had taken a toll on her and she let her cottage ruin. A very similar notion had taken place in Baillie’s poem. As the famers had been passing out food for his chickens and roosters because of the role they play on the farm a lonely black bird had been watching from a distance. Instead he was picking in his feathers and keeping from being cold. Eventually a ‘wandering fowler’ had appeared and shot down the bird in a senseless act of violence. The black bird offered nothing to the hunter and subsequently shot down for pleasure. In my opinion the black bird and Margret were in similar situations. They were both in the middle of nature at its weak moments. As much as nature can be beautiful it can also ugly. Nature has a way of taking away life which Margret’s husband and the black bird had been victim too.
As a huge part of Romanticism imagery and depictions can have a huge impact on the perception of nature. Both these stories start off well with imagery and allow us as the reader to follow and see what the author wants us to see. We are aware how beautiful the countryside is but if we have never lived there, we cannot fully understand the isolated landscape. Beauty and misfortune can both be found in these poems and I believe the authors did this for a reason. It gives the reader a different view on nature and the countryside rather than the typical photograph. An explanation of how it feels to spend years away living in an environment many people don’t get the chance to see.
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