Negative Romanticism & Longfellow

During my research I came across some interesting material on different “brands” of Romanticism, - namely dealing with a “darker” side, but not to be confused with the purely Gothic tradition.

Negative Romanticism

G.R. Thompson argues, “The Negative Romantic is one who has rejected the apparently stable world order of the preceding era and who desires to embrace the world view of the optimistic Romantics, but cannot” (Thompson, 9).

There are traces of the Negative Romantic throughout many of Longfellow’s works, for example, in his poem titled “Nature”, which can be viewed here <http://rpo.library.utoronto.ca/poem/1336.html >

Nature is personified as a kind of benevolent caretaker leading her child to bed, but there are many elements in the poem that are a little unsettling. The lines, “Half willing, half reluctant to be led / And leave his broken playthings on the floor” suggests a feeling of uncomfortable disjunction in the domestic sphere. The broken playthings does not lend itself to a reassurance of safety and warmth that is suggested by the “fond mother” reference in the beginning.

A little over halfway through the poem, the perspective shifts, “So Nature deals with us, and takes away/ Our playthings one by one, and by the hand”. By shifting the perspective from “her child” to “us”, the idea that “we” are being dealt with lends itself to a slightly more sinister feeling. There is an undercurrent of darkness that runs through the poem, as though by explicitly placing our trust in Nature we also leave ourselves open to dangers we are unaware. The closing lines, “Being too full of sleep to understand/How far the unknown transcends the what we know” seems to suggest that in the end, we are unable to exert control over nature because whatever knowledge we may think we know is nothing in comparison to what we do not know.

More next time!

Works Cited

"Romanticism & The Gothic Tradition." The Gothic Imagination: Essays in Dark Romanticism. Ed. G.R. Thompson. Washington State Unviersity Press, 1974. 1-10.