Comparative study

Hey guys...welcome to my blog.. 

As we know that we live in a world where everything is comparable.  And we used to love compare one thing to another thing. But what is the reason behind it ? What we exactly want to prove? Obviously with comparison we want to find the best from the things. But don't you think is it a negative thing? We appreciate one thing or person and decrease another thing and person when we do comparison.  

But in the literature the condition is different.  When you do a comparison between two things or persons in literature, it doesn't mean you want to choose the one which is best. But with the comparison we find the difference between them in a positive way. Here I'm going to compare or find differences between the two greatest poets of Victorian Era. As a task regarded by Prof. Vaidehi Hariyani (Dept. Of English). And the reason is that the two are different from each other and coming from the same era. Though both are quite different. So let's see…

Romantic Era

The period between 1800 to 1850 is considered as the age of Romanticism. It is also known as…

'The second creative period of English Literature'

If we characterize it we can say it is the.. 

Age of Revolution

If one wants to know about the history of this age one should read the literature written in this period. For the French Revolution and American commonwealth, as well as the establishment of a true democracy in England by the reform bill. 

Victorian Era

As we know that the period from 1832 to 1901 is known as the Victorian era. And it was the era of revolution, the rise of technology and innovation, art and science, social unrest, and many things and that's why Charles Dickens remarks about the era that..

It was the best of times,

It was the worst of times.

There were good things as well as bad things in this era...

Difference between both ages

As we mentioned above, the first half of the nineteenth century is known as the Romantic age and the second half of the nineteenth century is known as the Victorian age.  Both ages are different from each other. Let's have a look… 

Romantic Poetry	Victorian Poetry
In Romantic poetry we can find the use of elements like nature, rural life, medievalism, hellenism, and supernatural	In Victorian poetry we can find medieval myths and legends, realistic issues, struggle between science and religion.
Praise to nature	More realistic and less idealized
One can find emotions, imagination and spontaneity in the themes of romantic poetry.	One can find intellectualism and idealism in the themes of Victorian poetry.

Historical Summary 

Romantic era :

In the romantic era there was a revolution which had made a big change in this era. It was the French revolution.  The establishment of a true democracy in England by the Reform Bill, were the inevitable results of ideas which literature had spread rapidly through the civilized world. 

Victorian era :

The Victorian era was the modern period of progress and unrest. In its historical summary we can find…

Democracy

Social Unrest

The ideal of peace

Arts and sciences 

Each and every field has its own development. It is an age of comparative peace. It was an age of democracy, it is an age of popular education, of religion tolerance, of growing brotherhood, and of profound social unrest.


n literature we can also find rapid changes.  And from that we have two major poets - Alfred Tennyson and Robert Browning.  So let's see what is the difference between them. 

Alfred Tennyson

        

As he says in the above quotes he wanted to live his life to the lees. And we can find this in his lifetime. His early romantic impressions,  his struggles, doubts, triumphs and his thrilling messages to his race as we can find in his poem "Merlin and the Gleam"

O YOUNG Mariner,

   You from the haven

   Under the sea-cliff,

   You that are watching

   The gray Magician

   With eyes of wonder,

   I am Merlin,

   And I am dying,

   I am Merlin

   Who follow The Gleam.

For the people Tennyson was not only a man or poet, but hi was a voice o

Robert Browning 

"I see my way as birds their trackless way.

I shall arrive, what time, what circuit first,

I ask not ; but unless God his hail.."

The above line is from his poem 'Paracelsus' and through this he expressed the spirit of his whole life. He was not an entertaining poet as William J Long remarks 'one can not read him after dinner, or when settled in a comfortable easy chair. One must sit up and think, and be alert when he or she reads him'. He was a tough type of poets and he was the most stimulating poet in English language. 

Difference between both of them :

Tennyson is essentially the artist. Because in his time no one read the art of poetry constantly and with singleness of purpose. 

Browning largely focuses on the psyche of his frantic characters and tries to look into deep inside of such characters in his writings…

Tennyson draws material from external specific realities, ideas and objects and tries to Express it through ornate language...

Brwowning's writings are always energetic…

Tennyson's tone of expression is generally melancholy