Nature in Romantic Literature: Why the Romantics Turned to the Wild

Nature in Romantic Literature

Nature is a prominent topic in the Romantic literary genre, which ran roughly from the late 18th century to the mid-19th century. This new epoch developed from a societal detachment from the Enlightenment — an era built on the premise of pure rationalism and progress — like the Industrial Revolution, when factories began to take over natural landscapes, and people began to move progressively from the countryside to the exciting, bustling life offered by cities.

Romanticism wanted to go back to the simplicity of a quieter, slower life, where soul-searching meant more than technological innovation, and literature sought a reconnection with one’s emotions and inner soul rather than the use of logic and scientific scepticism.

The works of that time exalted nature as a healer and a teacher, a companion that brings you closer to the divine, whom Romantic poets believed existed not inside man-made structures, but in the wilderness of the untouched natural world.

Romanticism: Nature vs Society

Romanticism is one of the most glaring critiques of society recorded in English literature.

Romantics opposed factories, mass production, and polluted cities, which disconnected people from their origins and created a sense of spiritual emptiness. Society required conformity, obedience, and rigid rationalism, stifling human passion, intuition, and imagination. Furthermore, they viewed social institutions and class structures as restrictive and hypocritical, corrupting human innocence.

Romanticism’s return to nature was thus an attempt on the part of those poets and authors to shield themselves from the cold, unemotional ugliness of the growing urban life. They sought refuge in the green hills, the fresh rivers, the sturdy trees, but also in something small and easily overlooked, like a daffodil:

How the Romantic Poets Celebrated Nature

In our contemporary world, built on a global digital overload of TikTok trends and various hypnotising algorithms, Romanticism reminds us to put our phones down, raise our heads, and gaze up at the sky. Look at the trees around us, observe the slow rhythms of a bird patiently building its nest, or a cat taking in the sun’s rays while recharging before its evening hunt.

Whether you are approaching Romantic literature for the first time or are rediscovering it, we have curated a list of some of the most prominent Romantic poets together with excerpts of their most memorable works.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH

In his “Lines Written in Early Spring”, Wordsworth contemplates the magnificence of nature in a bittersweet way; he sees the birds hopping and playing and the flowers enjoying the sweet spring air. Yet, this beauty saddens him as it juxtaposes with the ugly ways humans often treat one another.

JOHN KEATS

“Ode to a Nightingale” is a poem that links humanity’s inevitable fate to nature. Keats opens his work by telling the nightingale that he is not jealous of its singing, because listening to that song is a blissful experience. Yet, Keats is quickly reminded of the fleetingness of life. The nightingale here becomes a symbol of how in life, nothing lasts forever.

Keats is not entirely saddened by this realisation, though; perhaps our ability to make peace with the fact that everything eventually fades is what makes us capable of enjoying life’s moments to the fullest.

PERCY BYSSHE SHELLEY

In “The Cloud”, Shelley imagines himself personifying a cloud that constantly transforms, bringing shade, snow, rain, and storms, and who interacts playfully with the sun and the moon. The cycles of nature described in this poem bring a strong message: the cloud cannot die, because through its destruction, it always finds its rebirth. Once reduced to rain, it will eventually arise and transform once more.

CHARLOTTE SMITH

In her sonnet “The Night-Flood Rakes”, Smith presents an external chaos that mirrors her internal pain as she grieves. The ocean’s rage is not beautiful but intense, and it echoes her mourning. Nature here works as a mirror to human emotion.

LORD BYRON

In this poem entitled “Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage [There is a pleasure in the pathless woods]”, Byron exalts humans’ inherent need for solitude. Although we are social creatures, Byron believed that at some point, we could all benefit from a lonely, silent walk in nature to reconnect with ourselves and dwell in contemplation.