Revisiting the Poetic Spirit of the Pre-Romantic Period through Naturalistic Concerns in the Poems of Thomas Gray and William Collins

Abstract

Pre-Romantic period is marked as the predecessor period of the Romantic period in English Literature. Romantic period started with the publication of Lyrical Ballads in 1798 but most of the traits which are highly considered related to Romantic period are found before the period. During the early 18^th century literature of England was shadowed by the foreign influences which brought materialism, artificiality, showiness, loftiness, highness and over all detachment from human sensibility, nature and rural life. There were some writers who started opposing the prevalent tendencies of the period and these writers are now known as pre-romantic poets. Most of the characteristics of the Romantic period are also traced in these poems. It was a kind of poetry that is characterised as a strong contrast with an artificial society and writing. These poets focused on nature’s beauty, adventures, simplicity of life, supernaturalism, human’s passions, rural background and overall human sensations. Naturalism is one of the part and parcel of pre-romantic poetry. It intends to show individual freedom as an ultimate reality.