Beruflich Dokumente
Kultur Dokumente
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
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
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
Neo-classical Poetry:
but we fear,
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,
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
Like that where once Ulysses held the winds. (Rape of the Lock, Canto IV)
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
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,
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
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
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
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
https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/literaryterms/classical-poetry.html#.W7-IqnszbIV.
Sutton, Dawn. "Characteristics Of Classical Poetry". Pen And The Pad, 2016,
https://penandthepad.com/characteristics-classical-poetry-8660982.html. Accessed 11
Oct 2018.
https://owlcation.com/humanities/Neoclassical-Poetry-Definition-and-Characteristics-of-