In some cases, it would be more appropriate to say
Neoclassical shifted to Romanticism, but there certainly were antithetical moves
there.
Neoclassical poetry is characterized by objectivity,
restraint, order, reason and at times, with the intent to reinvent past classical forms;
not to copy, but to use their example to create new forms of poetry based on those
concepts and even content. Language should be beautiful, restrained passion and it
should reflect the ideal of society.
“Two principles in human nature
reign;
Self-love, to urge; to reason, and to restrain; (A.
Pope, Essay on Man: Epistle
II).
Romantic
poetry is characterized by subjectivity, emotion, melancholy and nature and as
Wordsworth called it, "the spontaneous overflow of emotion reflected in tranquility."
Language should be real, emotionally free and reflect the ordinary person and his/her
engagement with nature.
“There was a time when meadow, grove and
stream;
The Earth and every common
sight,
To me did
seem,
Appareled in celestial light.” (Wordsworth,
Ode on Intimations of Immortality from Reflections from Early Childhood.
This makes it
sound like Neoclassical is all stuffy and Romanticism is a free spirit. To a large
extent, this is true. But Romanticism was not just a reaction to the restraint of the
individual in neoclassical literature. Romanticism was a reaction to the Historical
moment of industrialization and the disappearance of the individual in capitalist
society. Hence, the Romantics focus on nature. So, the antithesis is more between
Romanticism and historical movement because there are examples of neoclassical poetry
concerning nature and freedom and the focus on mankind (humanism) and the individual;
neoclassical may treat these themes but it is just more characteristically about reason
than emotion.
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