The romantic is given the date of 1798 as its official beginning. The romantic era was known for its connection to nature in the author’s writing. They always bring up emotion of some kind. They are sometimes also epic type that depict a hero and a struggle of some kind. They are usually somewhat lengthy and have a beginning, middle and an end. There has been evidence that some writers could be called romantics even before the period is said to have begun. Two writers that fit this mold are William Collins and Thomas Gray, who wrote just before the romantic era started. Thomas Gray was said to have written to the common people in his works. He didn’t use the english language of that time, but instead used an archaic and distorted type of meaning. Thomas Gray wrote a piece called “Elegy in a Country Churchyard” and this does have some romantic writer characteristics. This starts off very dark and is talking about death. In line 15 he says “Each in his narrow cell forever laid” which refers to the coffin and being buried in a grave. Death is a part of nature and romantics would try to make a connection to humanity. Death also brings up sadness over the person who has died, which is another romantic characteristic. Stanzas 10-15 go on to talk about those who have died, but received no notice in their life or death. The speaker says that many people go on unnoticed in life like a desert flower that has “waste its sweetness on the desert air” This is connecting to nature once again. These type of stanzas are also trying to make the reader feel sorry for the speaker. He goes on to further describe the situation for the dead and still takes pity on them and wants the reader to do the same. At the end he ends the poem with what can be seen as the end of someone’s time on earth, the epitaph of a gravestone. William Collins wrote a lot of odes in his t...
