The Romantic Syndrome: Poetry

Abstract

In this and the next two chapters we are to give an idea of how a style may be defined with relative precision by means of our seven axes of bias. We have chosen “romanticism” for study because this seems to be both an important concept and also a singularly vague one as it is currently employed.¹ It is therefore a good test case for our purposes. I propose to try to show (1) that the seven biases leave distinguishable traces in the culture of the period, marking different types of theoretical behavior in characteristically different ways, and (2) that it is possible to reach substantial agreement among observers regarding the presence or the absence of these marks in specific poems, philosophical writings, and other cultural products. Thus (it is my contention) an analysis in terms of our several axes has the following advantage: a very vague and loose notion of romanticism is replaced by a relatively precise and relatively operational definition — a definition that first specifies each of a number of “romantic characteristics,” or “marks,” by designating a certain range of positions on a given axis, and then formulates instructions for ascertaining whether a particular poem or other work of art has, or lacks, the marks in question.