Romanticism

On First Looking into Chapman's Homer
John Keats

Much have I travell'd in the realms of gold,
And many goodly states and kingdoms seen;
Round many western islands have I been
Which bards in fealty to Apollo hold.
Oft of one wide expanse had I been told
That deep-browed Homer ruled as his demesne;
Yet did I never breathe its pure serene
Till I heard Chapman speak out loud and bold:
Then felt I like some watcher of the skies
When a new planet swims into his ken;
Or like stout Cortez when with eagle eyes
He star'd at the Pacific — and all his men
Look'd at each other with a wild surmise —
Silent, upon a peak in Darien.

This poem by John Keats is from the Romantics era and reflects Romanticism. The Romantics could be called "sappy" writers. They are described as being overcome by an emotion by an experience such as what is happening in the poem. Keats is describing the first time he read Chapman's homer. Each line is a way Keats describes how he feels as he reads it. In general each line is describing something happening for the first time. Or something small on the brink of experiencing something extraordinary. The colorful ways the words are used is also a way the poem reflects Romanticism. Romantics are also notorious for using a much more colorful language and not being so literal as most other genres are. Their figurative language is often the main appeal for many to read Romantic works.

John Locke

What makes Locke different from a few previous authors is because Locke believes literature through enjoyment is the pursuit of knowledge. But he does not believe in figurative speech or speaking in rhetoric. Rather he thinks everything should be literal and have a direct connection between the symbol and the word. Locke also addresses the essence of an object explaining the essence is made by the mind and not by nature.

Edmund Burke

Edmund Burke believed in the progression of change. He also believed in making the majority influence what direction the change will go into. He stresses the importance of having an imagination to have successful creative art. Burke also talks about things being the same within people. A good example is taste. Taste in all men is the same. Every single man tastes the same way however the difference is there are different preferences as to what is a good taste and what is bad.

Mary Wollstonecraft

Wollstonecraft lived a turbulent life. She began her writings with a memoir of the French Revolution but later became an advocate for the education of women. She discusses the possibility that women are inferior to men only because they are not as educated as them. She also proposes that there should be more equality in the schools. There should be no difference between public or private, class, or gender. So that everyone will learn to live with everyone.