How much is Romantic poetry focused on nature and how much on the poet who writes about nature?
When Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote that he was a “transparent eyeball,” the importance of Nature as seen and felt by the individual began. Romanticism emphasized the dream, or inner world, of the individual. The use of visionary, or fantastic imagery was prevalent, with the individual’s reaction to Nature stressed. While some writers felt that man is in harmony with Nature others perceived Nature as an inscrutable force, sometimes malevolent, or even one that was, at times, indifferent. At any rate, the reaction of the individual to Nature is greatly stressed in the writings of the Romanticists. In addition, the individual’s dignity and freedom was emphasized as was the rebellion against restrictions, and the importance of emotion and intuition over intellect. With all of these very individualistic elements in Romanticism, the emphasis clearly appears to be upon the writer. Such novels as “The Scarlet Letter” which express a rebellion against the hypocritical and stultifying Puritanism as
