Glorification of the Common the Ordinary and the Outcast in English Romantic Poetry
The poets of English Romantic period, bearing within their character an allegiance to the founding principles of the French Revolution, sought to craft a democratizing of language, expression, and subject within their works. ... all things are by nature equally fit subjects for poetry; or, that is there is any preference to be given, those that are the meanest and most unpromising are the best” (“The Romantic Period” 10). In the structure of their works, the voices given to their lyrics, and the themes they chose to characterize, William Blake and Robert Burns often turned to common and native frameworks, to a language simple and of the vernacular, and to subjects drawn from everyday – often base – levels of society. Both William Blake, a lifelong sympathizer of revolution and reform, and Robert Burns, an ardent supporter of the French Revolution, made the use of simple and ordinary structures within their works.