Margaret Drabble defined romanticism as an extreme assertion of the self and the value of individual experience.

The stylistic keynote is intensity and its watchword is imagination. To what extent do you believe this is true of the poetry of Coleridge and one other related text you studied.

Margaret Drabble defines romanticism as an extreme assertion of the self and the value of individual experience. The stylistic keynote is intensity and its watchword is imagination. This is proven true to a great extent in the poetry of Coleridge, Frost at Midnight, and Percy Bysshe Shelley, Ozymandias. Coleridge uses individualism in the context of nature to explore assertion of self. Shelley utilises intensity and imagination to promote his ideals of the individual at the time as well.

I believe Drabbles definition of romanticism is strongly evident throughout Coleridges Frost at Midnight. His conversational poem conveys the authors sense of self-reflection, as if he is talking to himself. The opening stanza contains phrases such as Abstruser musings, numberless goings-on of life and the inmates of my cottage, all at rest, have left me to solitude, portraying a separation from very day life and patterns, and an almost prison-like solitude. Coleridge employs this undertone of individualism throughout the text, resulting in a myriad of conclusions on his life. This directly portrays that there is a value in individual experience.

Coleridge also outlines the value of individual experience within the context of nature. Soren Kierkegaard was a philosopher during the Romantic Period and his values strongly reflect Margaret Drabbles definition of romanticism. He consistently advocated for the value of individual experience and the importance of existentialism.

He also believed that Letting a child explore the world and develop its own powers gives the child an "inner sustainment," a self-confidence in the face of experience.1 This correlates with Coleridges desire in the poem, But thou, my babe! Shalt wander like a breeze, saying that he wants his babe to have a full experience. Coleridge has a pantheistic view and so believes that individualism and assertion of self come from a subjective, passionate connection with nature. Drabbles definition of romanticism mirror this.

Shelleys Ozymandias was atypical of his style and said to be inspired (partially by a competition with a friend) by the decayed statue of Ramesses II, also known as Ozymandias. Shelley responds to the constrictive natures of his society through idealising the importance of a human and their role in society. Idealism is also an assertion of self as Drabble defines it. Shelley suggests that Ozymandias is not only a symbol of political power toppled by the passage of time, but also a metaphor for the pride and hubris of humanity. The entire poem is dedicated to the ideal that assertion of self is not through vanity, pride or material wealth and power, however, it suggests a subtle alternative that an ideal individual would gain assertion of self through the value of experience, nature and education.

Shelleys keynote intensity is strongly indicative in his portrayal of Ozymandias known rather for its poetic technical strength rather than just content. This encompasses to a great extent Drabbles definition of romanticism.

http://www.sonoma.edu/users/d/daniels/kierkegaard_sum.html,

Soren Kierkegaard was a philosopher during the Romantic Period and his values strongly reflect Margaret Drabbles definition of romanticism. He consistently advocated for the value of individual experience and the importance of existentialism.