Romanticism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Romanticism - Essay Example He becomes more of a life force than a person and can see and experience almost anything. These are some of the most powerful lines: Here Whitman shows that even the smallest things around us—a grain of sand, a pismire, a cow—contain an enormous history and an enormous power. A leaf of grass can stand in for all of creation. A tree-toad is a masterpiece. A mouse is capable of inspiring the awe of an entire religion. Most significantly, he writes that â€Å"the narrowest hinge in my hand puts to scorn all machinery.† This is a celebration of all that has gone into creating the world and how deeply it can inspire us—like the best romantic poetry. Once again nature is an enormous canvas which is all interlinked and inspires great beauty. The bee is â€Å"kinsman† to the grass, and all the things of the world are â€Å"sweet litigants for life.† And on top of these sentiments, the bee is â€Å"sovereign,† not unlike the other small creatures of great inspirational power in Whitman’s poem. Two important elements of romanticism are the individual versus society and a reliance on human emotion over cold rationality. Both of these principles can be seen in effect in Rousseau’s Confessions and in Wordsworth’s poem â€Å"Tintern Abbey.† Rousseau’s long autobiography Confessions constantly points out how different and apart he is from other people. "I am not made like any of those I have seen; I venture to believe that I am not made like any of those who are in existence. If I am not better, at least I am different." This is a central theme of romanticism. The person who lives truly, understanding himself and nature, in tune with his emotions, is a person apart. The romantic is often portrayed as alone and sensitive—either ostracized by others because of his uniqueness or choosing like a hermit to be free of the conformist and corrupting world