Lovely eras: The Romantic age - London
So, perhaps if I had a third wish for another trip back
in time, I believe that I would choose
the era of the romantics. This would take me back to early 19th century London,
the age of the romantic poets; Lord Byron and his chums, Percy Shelley, John
Keats and such like.
I wonder if the rallying cries of opium fuelled radicalism that were a direct response to the political, industrial and religious oppression of the time would have had an effect on me, particularly if I was a writer or an artist of some form. I imagine it would, I imagine that my perspectives would rapidly come into question. After reading William Wordsworth’s “And did those feet in ancient time,"Coleridge’s “Fears in solitude," or Percy Shelley’s “The masque of anarchy," how would I react creatively? Would I find myself absconding to a villa overlooking Lake Geneva, enjoying nights of copious merriment and writing metaphorical ghost stories? I have to ask myself as some form of radical writer is one of the many things that I aspire to be, and this was simply the way it was done back then.
These were times when artists, poets, writers and free thinkers were the extremists of the day; going around inciting all kinds of modern ideas and revolutions with their liberalism and immoral pamphlets, as for freedom of speech, it was considered witchcraft in those days so I suppose it took a lot of gall to stand up against the authorities for what they believed in, and in some cases die for their causes.
Nevertheless, I like to think that I would get involved in all of the romanticism on some level and hopefully write some good inspiring stuff along the way.
David, TCC
I wonder if the rallying cries of opium fuelled radicalism that were a direct response to the political, industrial and religious oppression of the time would have had an effect on me, particularly if I was a writer or an artist of some form. I imagine it would, I imagine that my perspectives would rapidly come into question. After reading William Wordsworth’s “And did those feet in ancient time,"Coleridge’s “Fears in solitude," or Percy Shelley’s “The masque of anarchy," how would I react creatively? Would I find myself absconding to a villa overlooking Lake Geneva, enjoying nights of copious merriment and writing metaphorical ghost stories? I have to ask myself as some form of radical writer is one of the many things that I aspire to be, and this was simply the way it was done back then.
These were times when artists, poets, writers and free thinkers were the extremists of the day; going around inciting all kinds of modern ideas and revolutions with their liberalism and immoral pamphlets, as for freedom of speech, it was considered witchcraft in those days so I suppose it took a lot of gall to stand up against the authorities for what they believed in, and in some cases die for their causes.
Nevertheless, I like to think that I would get involved in all of the romanticism on some level and hopefully write some good inspiring stuff along the way.
David, TCC
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