Romantic poetry was a reaction against the Enlightenment
and Neoclassicism. Romanticism emphasized intuition and emotion over reason and rural
landscapes over urban. One of the most notable Romantic poets, William Wordsworth,
famously defined poetry as the “spontaneous overflow of emotion, reflected in
tranquility.” Romantic poetry also often involved introspection, nostalgia and a
skeptical optimism about the future. In Sonnet 35, the speaker is addressing her lover
but also herself, so it is introspective. This poem is kind of like a monologue but one
intended for a specific person. She is describing her emotions and anxiety about making
a change.
She first asks her lover if he will give her all
that she intends to give him. This includes the sacrifice of leaving her home. She is
asking for reassurance that she will not miss her home. She has a fear of leaving the
past and what is familiar. She then mentions that she is in serious grief and this will
make it harder to love her. Her grief and her anxiety about starting a new life have led
her to conclude that the move she is contemplating is so bold that she will need a deep
and meaningful love in order to be able to cope with it. When she says, “Open thy heart
wide,” she has decided to take this plunge. The argument of the poem builds up her
anxiety, grief and love to a tipping point and then it overflows with her decision. It
is an orchestrated and then spontaneous overflow of
emotion.
Other romantic poets have defined romantic poetry
in different and similar ways but this poem fits Wordsworth’s description very
well.
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