Mountain Peak with Drifting Clouds (c. 1835) by Caspar David FriedrichKimbell Art Museum
A thing of beauty is a joy forever! And The Romantic Poets like Keats, Byron, Shelley, Wordsworth, and more were committed to beauty, and an overwhelming sense of nature's irrational power which they called The Sublime.
Byron sought The Sublime by living an intensely passionate life. Wordsworth preferred to find it by wandering lonely as a cloud through the mountains. Which of the Romantics best suits you? Scroll on to find out...
Do you like to walk alone through the countryside and imagine the flowers are your companions? Are you a trailblazer with a keen eye for the next big thing?
Then you’re William Wordsworth, father of the Romantic Poets
Born in 1770, Wordsworth was the oldest of the Romantic Poets and had a huge influence on the others. Wordsworth worked closely with fellow Romantic grandee Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In fact it was their 1798 joint work, Lyrical Ballads that really kick-started the movement.
Are you a naturally critical person with extreme confidence in your own opinion? A philosopher with an unfettered mind and a way with words?
Then you’re Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
A renowned critic, as well as a founder of the Romantic movement, Coleridge is famous for poems like The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan.
Even if you’ve never heard of Coleridge, you’ve probably been influenced by him. The idea of an albatross hanging around your neck comes from The Rime. He also coined the term ‘Suspension of disbelief’ as well as the words ‘intensify’ and ‘psychosomatic’.
Are you a precocious youth with a love of Classical culture? Do you feel you could achieve greatness by the time you’re 25?
Then you’re John Keats, spring chicken of the Romantics.
Famous for his works 'Ode to a Grecian Urn', 'Ode to a Nightingale', and 'To Autumn', Keats had a deep love of beauty and an appreciation of the natural world. He died of tuberculosis in Rome aged just 25, having failed to marry Fanny Brawne, the love of of his life.
Are you a good looking, big-spending attention seeker with an unquenchable lust for life?
Then you’re Byron, the bad-boy superstar of the Romantics
Incredibly famous – and infamous - during his lifetime, Byron had relationships with numerous women, kept a bear as a pet, swam the Hellespont and helped the Greeks win their independence from Ottoman Empire.
When he wasn’t gallivanting around Europe, Bryon was writing his great works. These include Don Juan, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, and 'She Walks in Beauty'.
Are you a radical rebel who’s ahead of their time? Do you follow your heart wherever it leads?
If so, you’re Percy Shelley, the idealist of the Romantics
A vegetarian, atheist and serial monogamist, Shelley is known for writing 'Ozymandias' and 'To a Skylark'. Shelley’s second wife, Mary Shelley, was the author of Frankenstein and his mother-in-law was Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the UK’s most famous feminists.
Do you feel unappreciated during your lifetime? Do your friends think you’re a little...unorthodox?
Then you’re William Blake, an iconic Romantic
Blake claimed to have visions throughout his life and these heavily influenced his works. His most famous poem, 'The Tyger,' was published in 1794 and is one of the best known pieces from the period.
Landscape with a Sun (c. 1915) by Jacoba van Heemskerck van BeestNational Gallery of Art, Washington DC
In the mood for more poetry? Discover 5 Lines of Poetry to Live By, written by radical German-Jewish poet, Else Lasker-Schüler
