Ecologies and Romance Presentation

Environmental Consciousness

*       The effects humans had on their environment became increasingly apparent during the Romantic era especially in England.

*       The Industrial period saw an increase in fuel usage to power factories as well as a manipulation of Britain’s natural water sources to power mills.

*       The Romantic authors focused on getting back to nature and human responsibility towards nature.

Humans and the Natural World

*       William Blake’s poem Milton creates a picture of the Romantic mindset in regards to nature and Industrialism.

*       Blake describes mills as “satanic” and then goes on to create an image of England’s “green and pleasant land”.

*       Although this idea cannot broadly be categorized as all Romantic poets’ way of thinking it does offer an idea of the separation between people and the land as seen by some Romanticists.

Political Aspect

*       Nature becomes a greater source of political agency in the Romantic attempt to harmonize with Nature and try to speak her language; that is to say, environmental concerns constitute a Romantic ideology along with being of an ongoing political dialogue.

*       The Romantic ideology endeavors to alter the social conscience into being more aware of the effect they have on their shared environment. The sources of political agency of the Romantics are their principals of which consist of taking moral responsibility with how we interact with Nature and to also subordinate oneself to Nature.

Keats & Nature

*       John Keats followed William Wordsworth in his philosophies on nature. He too regarded nature as pure, and a source of renewal.

*       In his poem La Belle Dame sans Merci Keats tells a story of a knight found by a woman who is a faery child.

*       The woman brings the knight into her cave in which he falls asleep and dreams of the men the woman has killed.

The knight is unable to understand the language the woman speaks just as humans can not understand the nature of language 

*       J.W. Waterhouse painting                Sir Frank Dicksee painting

*       The imagery in the poem suggests that the setting is near winter or autumn. The sedge has withered, the animals are not present. However, when the knight is with the woman there are images of spring and fertility. In the paintings inspired by “La Belle Dame sans Merci” this idea is portrayed.

Works Cited

*       http://web.utk.edu/~gerard/romanticpolitics/voiceoftheearth.html

*       http://www.eh-resources.org/timeline/timeline_romantic.html

*       Shmoop.com