Modern Romantic in Music - Essay Sample

Introduction

Romanticism is a 20th-century representation name for a literary movement designed symbolically by historians and critics. Romanticism authors do not classify themselves as parts of united action. Instead, they developed writings under the influence of and in alliance with other writers who were not considered 'romantic' at all. Accordingly, this composition recognizes these authors as part of a lively and contested culture of literature and digs deeper into giving reasons why they are considered romantic poets.

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Jay Z and Beyonce

The hip-hop/R&B power couple has been dropping albums without warning. These artists are not pioneers of romanticism but have practices the aspects in a manner to glorify imagination. Just like Wordsworth and Coleridge, the power couple stress on elements of creativity, symbolism, and nature. In their latest song, Everything is Love the artists recorded pure emotions of love in humanity using simple language with creates a sense of imagination of how love is (Coscarelli 1). In their music video, the couple uses black bodies from a museum that predominantly shows white artworks and artists. It is from the use of black bodies that the audience manages to flashback or imagines the times of colonialism.

Their choice of black bodies is an interesting choice in terms of location, and one can argue that the song and the video serve to empower the public to imagine beyond what they think exists. From their works, we can see that mental things are real and it is in the mind where the existences of things that are out of this world are thought. From this assumption, one can tell that the couple's intention it to remain imaginative and visionary while maintaining the 'Golden Age' of artistic works. Just like Wordsworth and Coleridge who had no interest in spiritual ways of referring to God, Beyonce and Jay Z can be termed romantic artists because they border the requirements of literary movements outlined by Coleridge and Wordsworth.

John Green

John Greene is the author or 'The fault in our stars' and one year, he sold more than 10 million copies making him a hit filmmaker (Talbot 1). The first feature that makes him a romantic artist is by incorporating the names of romanticism pioneers which shows that he believes in the use of visions and imaginations when writing. While other authors thought of teenagers as lovers and individuals who are out to look for love, Green used imagination to explore the fact that teenagers are grappling with grief. He says 'we do not acknowledge daily how much it matters.' Saturated with creativity, wild passions, emotions, and wild imaginations, Greene can be considered a true representative of romanticism.

Unlike Coleridge and Wordsworth, Greene rejected balance which is a motion in the new era. To him, grief is stronger than love, and therefore people should not ask teenagers to balance between finding love and dealing with pain (Talbot 1). Instead, the order should be; having teenagers taught how to deal with pain then be taught how to find love. Upon reading his book, Green could be considered an antihero because he does not advocate for love but the fact that he imagines the existence of struggling with grief makes him qualify as a romantic author.

Wordsworth & Coleridge

According to Wordsworth & Coleridge, poetry is 'a natural overflow of powerful feelings,' and 'emotion recollected in tranquility' (p 212). It is from these two statements that Coleridge and Wordsworth are considered romantic poets. These two statements could be viewed to be the opposite of each other; that means that for one to be true, the other must be fake. So why do these poets make two statements sound as if they were true? It is at this point that an argument is made that probably the poets had uncovered a deeper truth in poetry with the intention of setting the art on a new path and designing current guidelines to poetry. Earlier in Wordsworth and Coleridge's Preface to Lyrical Ballads, they state that 'good poetry is an unplanned overflow of powerful feelings' (207).

Consequently, these poets can be considered romantic because they use a quantifying term 'good' to reveal that all poetry could have a natural flow but if it does not incorporate powerful emotions it cannot and will not be considered good poetry. In the same sentence, they go on and say 'by a man who also thought deeply and long' (207). This becomes their requirement of describing a poet. It is from their description of a poet that they can be considered to be romantic poets because they imagine even the qualities of a poet. Throughout their Preface to Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth and Coleridge explain the significance of creating poetry with all of its requirements. To begin with, they reveal a language which is to be used, explains who a poet is as well as the capabilities a poet should possess. In this manner, these poets cause their world to be saturated with order, creativity, rationality, and imagination which becomes a true representative of romanticism.

Conclusion

Many works regarding modern Romantic have been done by various individuals like Jay Z and Beyonce, John Green, and Wordsworth and Coleridge. And their artworks have been found relevant and have been used in multiple platforms such as music and movies. The individual's work seems to contain different approaches and styles of writing with unique styles and themes. The themes and each one's style of work depend on one's perception and understanding of Modern Romantic.

Works Cited

Wordsworth, William & Caleridge, Taylor. From lyrical Ballads (1800-1802) from Preface. The Longman. Anthology British Literature. Volume B. 2nd ed. ED. David Damrosch. Pearson Education, Inc, 2004. 206-212. Print.

Coscarelli, Joe. Beyonce and Jay=Z deliver a surprice Album: 'Everything is Love', 2018 Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/06/16/arts/music/beyonce-jay-z-surprise-album-everything-is-love.html

Talbot, Margaret. The Teen Whisperer, 2014 Retrieved from https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2014/06/09/the-teen-whisperer