Romanticism

Romanticism can best be defined as the movement that holds in its’ premise the ideal of time, and the double edged sword that it is. As such, Romantics believed that because of the limited life from time, expression was the only concept that could create a lasting impression on someone’s life. In John Keats’ “Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast as Thou Art,” the speaker describes his struggle to create his own identity and everlasting impression on society. Similarly, “Clocks and Lovers” by W.H. Auden entails the speaker’s conversation with a clock, who tries to dissuade him out of being significant. Both poems lament at the essence of time; this can be supported with several examples throughout both texts.

            As Keats opens “Bright Star, Would I Were Steadfast as Thou Art,” the speaker immediately reveals his lack of conviction in his actions. The title serves to illustrate the revering nature of the speaker; he anguishes at not being as omnipotent as the star. The conjecture can also be made that he feels jealousy and distrust towards it. As the poem progresses, the reader notes the star’s great power and everlasting impact on its surroundings, watching “the moving waters at their priestlike task,” clearly exemplifying the star as a sort of all-knowing religious figure. Subtly, the speaker insinuates that he will be awake forever in a “sweet unrest,” emanating the feeling that he despises the star for being so powerful, and he not. Auden creates an illusioned world that completely clashes with Romanticism as “Clocks and Lovers” opens. A man is with a lover and all is well, creating the clever situation that love’s ignorance is bliss. However, a clock soon preaches to the speaker, ““0 let not Time deceive you,” (23) indicating that he is wasting the one limited gift he has that is time, neither creating any significant work nor an everlasting impact on society on something as frivolous as love. Resistant to leave his lover, the clock urges the speaker to not be a fool, telling him to wake up and “plunge your hands in water.” The speaker is ignorant to change, and because time passes, the clock leaves, with “the lovers they were gone,” indicating that he wasted time on a mortal concept.

            It is incontrovertible to assert that both poems display Romantic elements. Keats and Auden both include the elements of time in their poems as well as the indirect suggestion that humans do not use time wisely. In both poems, neither speaker uses time as their counterparts the star and the clock, respectively, have. Thus, it is suggested that humans can never create an everlasting impact on others. Empathy leads to humans’ demise in the eyes of the omnipotent forces.