The Romantic period grew out of the previous period, rejecting the collectivist attitudes that characterized the Early National period. Rather than prizing patriotism and overtly religious tones, the Romantic poets emphasized the individual over group, the subjective over the objective, emotion over reason, and nature over the order of civilization. Additionally, romantic poetry conforms less to traditional poetic forms, leading to poems created from free verse, longer lines deviating from meter, and stanzas of varying length. Whereas in the early national period, love often took the form of spiritual devotion or formal symmetry, the romantics represented love through the break from traditional forms of love and poetry, embracing the adaptability of free-verse poetry.
Poetry of this period embraces love for its own sake, rather than as a medium for religion or enlightenment. Love is often characterized as an all-consuming presence, for example, rather than the fulfilling of marriage. Whitman’s poetry embraces this idea of all-consuming love through his addressing of love to a stranger, idealizing the concept of a romantic relationship with this person. Similarly, Emerson plays into–or perhaps challenges– the idealization of love, elevating it to a god-like figure.
Give All To Love 