Cheema 1

Maha Cheema

Faiza Zaheer

ENGL315

10-11-2018

Classical, Neo-classical and Romantic Poetry: Themes, Content and Settings of Epic

Classical Poetry:

Graeco-Roman writing in general or the imitation of it marks classical era. Classical ideas

were re-inculcated in literature and art from 14th to 17th century. In classical literature, most of

the work was written for royalty and upper class. Classicists believe that the style and content of

Greeks and Romans possess such perfection and poise that no modern writer can achieve. That is

why the term “classical” is also taken under the meaning of “excellence” and “achievement”.

Dante Alighieri, Geoffrey Chaucer, John Donne and Ben Jonson are some of the significant

names of classical era. Classical epics talk highly of passion and thought. These are the

standpoint themes which are balanced out with reasoning and intellect. Classical and Christian

beliefs have a lot in common. Classicism is also called Golden age because Christian culture

believed that man as a whole “is living in harmony with nature, free from time, change and

death.” (Rivers) Classical era is also re-installation of Pagan Gods in society. Greek and Roman

languages were taught throughout England as curriculum to educate people so influence of

Greek gods was also increased in literary works. In epics, calling upon a muse, Greek god or

heavenly spirit was one of the initial trends. Also, there were no writings in particular narrating

the heroic deeds of gods. Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey and Hesiod’s Theogony are the earliest

sources of Greek gods narratives. (Rivers) these works are the myths with the men as main

characters in the plot but with instances related to gods. Then there are demigods like Hercules
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and heroes like Achilles. The Greek gods also possess bits and pieces of immorality. They have

human desires and passions. Pagan gods were again reinstalled in Renaissance poetry. William

Shakespeare’s Venus and Adonis describes a young, handsome and beautiful Adonis who is a

hunter with whom falls in love the goddess of love herself; Venus. The epic is the narrative of

Adonis’s death by a boar or by Mars in the shape of a boar and the wailing of Venus over

Adonis’s death. Spenser also metaphorized Adonis and Venus’s tragedy in The Faerie Queen.

Milton in Paradise Regained IV and his friend Andrew Marvell in his poem The Loyal Scot

reinvented Hercules who was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena. He was half human, half divine.

Hercules was the epitome of physical and mental strength. He burned himself alive on a funeral

pyre in Oeta and passed to the other realm becoming a god. The chief Egyptian god Osiris is also

narrated by Milton in his poem On the Morning of Christ’s Nativity. Osiris was killed by his

brother and his body was thrown into Nile in many pieces. His wife Isis collected his pieces

together and Osiris came alive again.

Classical poetry also consists of concentration i-e. point of argument. Poets like Virgil,

Alexander Pope, Homer and Geoffrey Chaucer wrote poems in which the central idea was point

of argument. The arguments were mainly on the human strength, for the characters were often

knights and warriors. Wit and conceit were also one of the main themes running in classical

poetry.

Classical epics contained variety of titles for the protagonist. The idea of conceit i-e.

comparing the hero with other heroes narrating out the plot of stories was also common.

Classical epics open up in the middle of the narrative rather than the beginning. The protagonists

of classical epics were extra-ordinary having towering personalities. Their actions were
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Godspeed and they possessed almost every great quality. They were great war-heroes and saved

the humanity from the disasters and other villains.

Neo-classical Poetry:

“Death, in itself, is nothing;

but we fear,

To be we know not what,

We know not where. (John Dryden)

Neo-classical literature was written between 1660 and 1798. Like classical poets, neo-

classicists tried to imitate Greeks and Romans. Alexander pope, Thomas Gray, William Blake

and John Dryden are one of the imminent poets of classical era. Neo-classicism was basically the

rebirth of classicism. Neoclassical era is divided into three parts: The Restoration period, the

Augustan period and the Age of Johnson. Restoration period is named after the restoration of

King Charles. Dryden and Milton are the significant names of this era. They used the concept of

sublime, their style leaving long lasting impressions, use of myth and grandiose style of writing.

The Augustan age is also often called the Age of the Pope. He contributed imminently during

that era. The Augustan age lasted from 1700 to 1750. Later came the Age of Johnson which

lasted until the beginning to Romanticism in 1798. Rationalism is the most significant theme of

neo-classical poetry. The neo-classical poets used the tool of reason to educate. Neo-classical

poetry was an answer to Renaissance poetry. During Renaissance, the poetry written was very

fancy and imaginative. Whereas, neo-classicists believed in intellect. Unlike romantic poetry,

which was based on the mere idea of imagination and sentiments. Neo-classical poetry was

imitative, forgery and stereotypical. One of the important parts of neo-classical poetry is

scholarly allusions. The poets of this era were highly educated. They had great knowledge
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regarding their ancestral poets. So, they used allusions without hesitation in their poems. They

used references in their epics from early classical poems. For example,

Safe past the Gnome thro' this fantastic band,

A branch of healing Spleenwort in his hand. (Rape of the Lock, Canto IV)

Here Pope is referring to Virgil’s Aeneid where Aeneid reached gangland without any

discomfort because he possessed a magical branch of a tree.

The Goddess with a discontented air

Seems to reject him, tho' she grants his pray'r.

A wond'rous Bag with both her hands she binds,

Like that where once Ulysses held the winds. (Rape of the Lock, Canto IV)

Here, Pope is referring to Homer’s Odyssey.

Didacticism was also the salient feature of neo-classical poetry. Renaissance poetry has

romantic aspects to it, they used poetry as a vent to their feelings, whereas neoclassical poets

used didacticism. They were of the view that didacticism can work through the troubles of

humanity and can actually save the world. That is why neo-classical poetry is a big, massive ball

of didacticism. For example,

Vice is a monster of so frightful mien,

As to be hated needs but to be seen;

Yet seen too oft, familiar with her face,

We first endure, then pity, then embrace. (An Essay on Man by Alexander Pope)

Realism is also at large in neo-classical poetry. The poets didn’t take a plight in the

world of imagination rather they sat among people and wrote about them. That is the reason they

were highly observant of the society and addressed moral and social issues. They talked about
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different strata of society unlike romantic poets whose poetry based on anything opposite to

reality. Alexander Pope and Dryden’s poetry is filled with excellent examples of realism,

When I consider Life, 'tis all a cheat;

Yet, fooled with hope, men favour the deceit;

Trust on, and think to-morrow will repay:

To-morrow's falser than the former day;

Lies worse; and while it says, we shall be blest

With some new joys, cuts off what we possesst. (Aurang Zeb by John Dryden)

Neo-classical poets excelled in heroic couplets. They lacked passionate lyrics due to their

antagonism to passion, feelings and emotions. Objectivity and poetic diction are also elementary

features of neo-classical poetry.

Romanticism:

Romanticism covers late eighteenth to mid nineteenth century. It was the rejection of

rationality, balance, order, realism, classicism as well as neo-classicism. It was also a reaction

against enlightenment and physical materialism. Romanticism puts focus on emotional,

irrational, imaginative, visionary, spontaneous and transcendental. The main attributes of

romanticism are: appreciation of nature; exaggeration of emotion and its authority over intellect;

the study of human mind, moods and personality; the though-provoking mind of a genius; the

hero, the larger than life persona of exceptional figure and his passion and the fight he is fighting

in his mind. William Wordsworth, S. T. Coleridge, John Keats, P.B. Shelley, Lord Byron and

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe are the most significant names in romantic poetry. Romantic poets

are mostly related to nature; however, they are significant in being the mind-poets too. They

sought to understand the bond between humans and the worlds of senses. The previous ages were
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strict about expressing emotions and there was a factor of rigidity that grew the poets weary

which led them to break the bounds and start expressing themselves. Romanticism gave way to

subjectivity and aestheticism emerged. Romanticism is also remembered as naturalism. The

simplicity and flow of spontaneity was abundant. The simple rural life was depicted more than

the hard and fast urban life. Coleridge and Wordsworth’s Preface to the Lyrical Ballads is the

most significant text of romantic era. Wordsworth said that “Poetry is the spontaneous overflow

of powerful feelings.” His quote explains the bigger parts of the movement of romanticism. This

era has shown imminent interest in Shakespeare and other medieval art. Romantics criticized

Shakespeare as well as and called him ‘Rustic Genius’ on the basis of lack of college education.

It is because of Romantics that Shakespeare is considered most celebrated poet and writer of all

times. The factor of Western Europe’s creativity inspired the idea of Gothicism in romantic

poetry. The ghosts, fairies, witches, demons and monsters were reincarnated in romantic poetry

from medieval era. Emotionalism covering the vast areas of tilted sexuality, horror, amazement

and awe as well as the soft emotions of sorrow and grief were the great subjects of romanticism.

Romantics gave way to exoticism, creating apathy among individuals, imagining parallel

universes and emotions of solitude and loneliness. Individualism was also the salient theme. As a

result of industrial revolution, the lower class felt isolated in all aspects of life. Their existential

crisis is addressed in romantic poetry. Besides alienating the heroes of romantic poetry from all

other people, romantics described the meagre facts of the individuality of a human being.

Revolution, democracy and republicanism are one of the key themes in romantic era. Unlike

classic epics the romantic epics focused on magic, adventure, flight and disguise.
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Works Cited

Rivers, Isabel. Classical And Christian Ideas In English Renaissance Poetry. 2nd ed., George

Allen And Unwin, 1994, pp. 9, 21.

"What Is Classical Poetry?". Bachelorandmaster.Com, 2018,

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Accessed 11 Oct 2018.

Sutton, Dawn. "Characteristics Of Classical Poetry". Pen And The Pad, 2016,

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Oct 2018.

"Epic". Karolus.Net, 2018, http://karolus.net/epic.html. Accessed 11 Oct 2018.

Rafiq, Muhammad. "Definition And Characteristics Of Neoclassical Poetry". Owlcation, 2016,

https://owlcation.com/humanities/Neoclassical-Poetry-Definition-and-Characteristics-of-

Neoclassical-Poetry. Accessed 11 Oct 2018.

"Romanticism". Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2018.

"Romanticism: Definition & Key Themes". Saleonard.People.Ysu.Edu, 2018,

http://saleonard.people.ysu.edu/Romantic%20notes.html. Accessed 12 Oct 2018.