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Wordsworth’S Romanticism, Michele Gibney

Michele Gibney

In moving from the poetry of Thomas Gray to that of William Wordsworth, a shift in perception occurs and the age of Romantic poetry really begins. Gray emphasizes the ideas of loss and pessimism, while Wordsworth counters loss with recompense and an optimistic outlook instead of a pessimistic one. By looking at the poetic content of one of each of their works, the use that they both make of memory can be seen. However, the uses that they make contrast markedly against one another in the feelings they provoke. Gray’s utilization of memory in “An Ode on a Distant Prospect …