Man's Relationship Status Change from Romantic to Early 20th Century

Over a span of roughly 120 years that the Romantic era to the early 20^th century covered, I noticed that a common focus of the literary movements of Romanticism and that of the Early Twentieth Century gradually shifted from man’s relationships with nature to that man’s relationships in society. Romantic authors typically wrote pieces that centered around the common man’s relationship to nature, particularly of the individual’s experience. Early Twentieth Century authors on the other hand, wrote works that generally spoke to man’s relationships in society and nature was left by the wayside as merely description of setting if mentioned at all. Obviously, not all literary works followed this mold as per the period’s rules, but on the whole the authors of each respected period conformed to these different focuses of relationships with nature and society.

Romanticism is widely known for being primarily about nature and the individual’s emotions or sensibility that is experienced while in nature. In our class we read countless pieces that support the nature relationship concentration. William Wordsworth’s “Preface to Lyrical Ballads,” “Tintern Abbey,” and “Nutting” all reference man’s relationship to nature as important elements. In his “Preface to Lyrical Ballads” where he described what poetry should involve, Wordsworth stated that men who lead rural lives “are incorporated with the beautiful and permanent forms of nature,” (Broadview 148). Wordsworth believed true poetry should involve the common, rural man because these types of lives are closer to nature—to him these rural people have a stronger, better relationship to nature and this should be admired in poetry. His other poems clearly meet the expectations he set in his “Preface” well.

In “Nutting” a scene of a picturesque hazelnut grove is described by the speaker who saw both at the time and looking back on as a peaceful and beautiful place in nature before he ruined it by tearing down branches to get hazelnuts (Broadview 156-157). As readers, we can clearly see the meaningfulness this hazelnut grove has on the speaker of the poem in line 2 “I speak of one from many singled out” and lines 51-52 “I felt a sense of pain when I beheld/ The silent trees and the intruding sky,” (Broadview 156-157). The speaker has remembered this particular scene from his past and felt bad for ruining the bower and hurting the trees. We can infer that this emotional impact shows that this speaker valued his relationship with nature, particularly these specific woods. “Tintern Abbey” shows much of the same relationship the speaker of the poem has with nature. When he needs a break from the urban city he simply remembers the calming, stunning landscape he hasn’t scene in years. Wordsworth went beyond nature being a beautiful escape to this speaker by incorporating the speaker feeling as he has gotten older that nature is his spiritual center in lines 110-112, “The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse/ The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul/ Of all my moral being” (Broadview 146). This particular speaker’s relationship with nature is more of religious one than just being that respite from urban life. Though not quite the same as Wordsworth’s poetry, Romanticist Samuel Coleridge’s poetry also focused on man’s relationship with nature.

Coleridge’s “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” and “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” both have the focus of an individual man’s connection with nature. The unique work, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” clearly shows that a man whose relationship with nature was not one of respect and appreciation was punished horribly at sea until he appreciated the beauty of sea wildlife. “A spring of love gushed from my heart… And from my neck so free/ The Albatross fell of…” is the moment when the Mariner’s punishment ends as his feelings for nature turn positive (Broadview 288). Since this disrespect turned to respect theme is the whole point of the Mariner’s story, we can see that Coleridge’s piece also valued the man to nature relationship. “This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison” is much more like Wordsworth’s and other Romanticist poets’ works. In this poem, the speaker is jealous of his friends going on a beautiful hike while he is stuck in a little garden. He obviously appreciates and is jealous of the wild nature scenes his friends will be witnessing, “…They, meanwhile, Friends… On springy heath, along hill-top edge, Wander in gladness” (Broadview 294). And at first he disregards the garden’s beauty by calling it his prison before finding beauty even within the smaller setting. He comes to the sweeping declaration, “That Nature ne’er deserts the wise and pure” (Broadview 295). The speaker seems to be saying that nature is always there for those that have come to respect it.

The speaker also claims that nature is for the human soul, “…keep the heart/ Awake to Love and Beauty,” which further supports the importance of the relationship humans should have with nature in order to be open to beauty (Broadview 295).  Romantic poets like Wordsworth and Coleridge focused mostly on the serene and loving sort of relationship men could have with nature, but even the different genres of writers at the time mentioned this theme. Even the Gothic literature of the time commented on nature and how it affects humankind through the sense of sublimity—feeling small and insignificant yet awed in the face of something magnificent in nature.  

Let’s fast-forward about 120 years and enter the early 20^th century. The focus of man’s relationship of nature has gradually shifted in the course of the Victorian age and came to focus on man’s relationship with that of his society. In this class we also read a lot of war related poetry, but there were many examples of Early Twentieth Century works that distinctly explore individuals figuring out their relationship and place in social society.

Bernard Shaw’s play Mrs. Warren’s Profession, has numerous characters of different societal positions all attempting to figure out how to interact with each other and within the society. Mrs. Warren runs several brothels and has not told her daughter about it, Sir George Crofts is higher up on the social ladder but still a bit crooked, Praed an artist, moneyless and profession-less Frank, his father the Reverend and finally freshly graduated and daughter of a prostitute Vivie are thrown together by Shaw. As readers we can see that the differences among the social standings create humorous but telling situations. For example, the Reverend asks whose garden he is entering before doing so as his position keeps him held accountable (Broadview 1079). The Reverend also makes the point that social standing is important to keep up by telling Frank to think about it before marrying Vivie. He states, “I was speaking of higher things. Social position, for instance,” (Broadview 1079). Mrs. Warren also knows where she likes to be in society. She didn’t want to stay in the poor working class as a girl, but she also does not want to quit working and retire as a rich woman among “good society” like her sister did (Broadview 1105). Even though Vivie’s mother like’s her seedier standing, she wants a better social position for her daughter: “Havnt I told you that I want you to be respectable? Havnt I brought you up to be respectable?” (Broadview 1105).  These are just a few instances where a characters connection to society is discussed in Shaw’s play about the daughter of a prostitute trying to create her own place in society. Vivie’s struggle to figure out societal positions and norms is comparable to Laura’s of Katherine Mansfield’s “The Garden Party.”

Laura from “The Garden Party” fails to understand why her upper class family will not postpone their party out of respect for the family of the lower class whose husband and father had died. Her mother outright tells her that “People like that don’t expect sacrifices from us,” however, Laura still does not comprehend the implications of position. The rest of the short story goes on to describe the difficulty Laura faces in understanding her’s and other’s relationship/place in society. If this upper class girl is having difficulty in her own country, imagine the struggle of navigating class structure in a colonialized India.

E.M. Forster’s Passage to India illustrates a very real depiction of the Anglo-Indians’ and locals’ relationships in society. In this novel, Forster gave the reader insight to Aziz’s (and other natives’) justified distaste of the British superiority in addition to the complex class relationships between the Indian people. However, it is clear by the end that Aziz feels the society of colonial Indian does not create healthy, friendly relations when he tells Fielding, “Down with the English anyhow…We may hate each other, but we hate you most,” (Forster 361). The locals may not like each other, but they can stand united hating the British. The importance of man’s relationship to society is apparent by how Forster made Aziz believe that once the society in place failed and the British no longer colonized Britain would an Englishman and an Indian be able to be friends (Forster 362). Fielding himself is another character that wrestles with his relationship with society. As an Englishman, he is expected to behave as the others with a superiority complex and refusal to mingle with local people and he is most definitely expected to side with the English in the case against Aziz. He knows as soon as he picks the Indian’s side that  “he would be called ‘anti-British,’” (Forster 193). Fielding’s decision greatly impacts his relationship to the surrounding society—the British condemn and ban him from the club while the Indians celebrate him as one of their own.

Through many of our readings we’ve had the opportunity to read and discuss, to me it is apparent that multiple Early Twentieth Century writers preferred to write pieces that prodded readers to contemplate an individual’s relationship and position in society. It is also widely acknowledge that many Romantic writers wrote about the individual’s relationship to nature. There are clearly many pieces from each time period where these relationships were not prominent themes, but I started noticing and paying attention to these focuses while reading pieces from the Victorian age. I feel the Victorian era was the middle ground where many writers played with both man’s relationship to nature and society. I found the exploration of both themes in the readings to be extremely thought provoking, but I’ve decided that the exploration of man’s relationship to society of the Early Twentieth Century to pique my interest a bit more.