The Theme of Imagination in Emily Bronte's 'To a Wreath of Snow' and Percy Shelley's 'Ode to the West Wind' Nadja Lovadinov 12th Grade

Poets of the Romantic movement sought to counteract the prevailing political and social viewpoints of the 18th-19th century. Romanticism was a philosophical movement and reaction against the logical enlightenment and the imagination was used as an escape and route to Romantics’ quest for freedom from Establishments ideals which allowed poets to see a new vision for the world. The Romantics were inspired by the environment and their emphasis on the power of imagination encouraged people to venture into new territories- both literally and metaphorically. Romantics like Shelley genuinely thought that they were prophetic figures who could interpret reality through the power of their imagination. Shelley uses the power of imagination in his poem ‘Ode to the West Wind’ as a reflection of Shelley’s defense of poetry in which he elevated the status of poets: ‘they measure the circumference and sound the depths of human nature with a comprehensive and all-penetrating spirit he declared that ‘poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world.’ Female poets tended to be more subtle and less controversial in comparison to their male counterparts. Women were generally limited in their prospectus and many found themselves confined to the...