The Romantics described poetry both as the “spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion” and that poetry is “emotion recollected in tranquility.” Before the Romantics, other ways of viewing literature dominated society. Some of these views included viewing literature in terms of a pragmatic focus and a mimetic focus. But the Romantics created a new way of viewing literature—literature was seen as an aesthetic experience.
The poet now had a relationship with the work of art itself—emotion was poured into the work of art and reflected the poet’s worldview. William Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads reflects the idea that poetry is the “spontaneous overflow of powerful emotion” and connects this idea with today’s Postmodernist view of poetry as a blend of the audience, the artist, and the world itself. Poetry as a subjective experience is carried over into the reading of literature to this very day.
William Wordsworth has stated that “[A]ll good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: but though this be true, Poems to which any value can be attached, were never produced on any variety of subjects but by a man…[who has] thought long and deeply” (Wordsworth 562). The emphasis here is placed upon the poet. This indeed has impacted how literature is read today in American Postmodernism. In today’s time, literature, including poetry, can be viewed in terms of the poet’s biography and authorial intention. This interpretation is just one of the many that are available in Postmodernism.
It is important to understand that poetry and its subjectivity has influenced Postmodernist readings of texts. The current literary period of Postmodernism includes interpretations by the author as a means for coming closer to the literary work. In previous time periods, the focus was either on the audience or the world—but with the Romantics, the artist came into play and this fact can be seen in Postmodernist readings. In Postmodernism, there is a strategy for analyzing poetry which includes looking at how the poet has crafted the work as well as examining the poet’s biographical background. This brings the reader a sense of a deeper understanding of the text.
Wordsworth believed that “[a]mong the qualities which [he has] enumerated as principally conducing to form a Poet, is implied nothing differing in kind from other men, but only in degree” (Wordsworth 570). In other words, the Poet is like every other man except that he is able to take his powerful emotions and produce a work of art in a state of tranquility. Some critics have argued that this view of examining poetry in terms of the poet is pretentious—however, this is not so because poetry is being analyzed in terms of biography.
In today’s time, Postmodernism has taken the Romantic’s idea of poetry and has welded it into its own view of literature. The new subjective theory of a poet’s relation to the artwork affects the reading of literature today by expanding the poetic experience. By including the artist into a realm of criticism that previous only included the audience and the world, the reader’s relationship to the literary work has become more complex and more rewarding. Today, a poem is read in terms of the author’s relationship with the work. This expands the multitude of ways in which the poem can be analyzed. By including the poet along with the audience and the world, the ways for analyzing a text increases.
Postmodernists have taken the role of the poet from the Romantics and have included the role into its own way of analyzing poetry. The reading of literature today has become a more complex, intense process as a result. Postmodernism does continue to view poetry in terms of the emotions it contains—and it has received this view from the Romantics. The Romantics have influenced the reading of literature to this very day by expanding the ways in which literature can be interpreted.
Works Cited
E., William, Laurie A., and Barbara E. The Norton Anthology of Theory and Criticism. 2nd ed. W. W. Norton & Company, 2009. Print.
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