By The poets of Romanticism addressed a wide variety of topics that had been relegated by the rationalism of the time. If you want to know the most representative poems of this movement, keep reading!
Poems during Romanticism focused on sentimental expression. Authors distanced themselves from the literary conventions of the time and from rationalism to emphasize the self, subjectivity, and passions. With this inclination, they intended to represent what reason could not explain.
This literary and artistic movement emerged at the end of the 18th century and reached its peak during the 19th century. It was characterized by highlighting imagination, emotion and nature; it gave great importance to the mystical and the supernatural. It was a response against the Enlightenment and the Industrial Revolution.
Many poems of this time explored the mystery and the unknown of life and death; several of its authors delved into the depths of the human soul. And here, in this article, we will present a selection of representative poems of this era.
Collection of poems of Romanticism
The Romantic poems that we will share address very diverse themes such as love, death, the relationship between man and the world around him… We hope that you will include some in your poetry kit .
1. Remember Me , by Lord Byron
Byron illustrates a lonely soul marked by the absence of the loved one. In this context, the speaker begs not to be forgotten, even when he is about to die. As a last request, in the midst of his pain, he asks that they listen to him and cry at his grave.
My lonely soul cries in silence,except when my heart isunited to yours in a celestial allianceof mutual sighing and mutual love.
It is the flame of my soul like the dawn,shining in the sepulchral enclosure:almost extinct, invisible, but eternal…not even death can defile it.
Remember me!…Do not pass near my grave, no, without giving me your prayer;for my soul there will be no greater torturethan knowing that you have forgotten my pain.
Hear my last voice. It is not a crimeto pray for those who have passed away. I neverasked you for anything: when I die, I demandthat you shed your tears on my grave.
2. Why are you silent? by William Wordsworth
Motivated by his beloved’s silence, the poet turns to her, afraid that her affection for him has ended. So, he asks her for just a few words to end the unbearable doubt that torments him.
Why are you silent? Isyour love a plant, so small and feeble,that the air of absence withers it?Hear the voice moan in my throat:
I have served you as a royal princess.I am a beggar who asks for love…Oh, alms of love! Think and meditatethat without your love my life is broken.
Speak to me! There is no torment like doubt:If my loving breast has lost you,does its desolate image not move you?
Do not remain silent at my prayers!I am more desolate thana bird in its nest covered with white snow.
3. To Himself , by Giacomo Leopardi
A sí mismo is one of the Romantic poems that expresses very well the disillusionment and despair of someone who has seen their dreams die. There is no reason for the heartbeat to continue its course.
You will rest forever,weary heart! The deceptionI imagined eternally has died. It has died. And I noticethat in me, from flattering illusionswith hope, even longing has died.Rest forever;enough of your throbbing. Nothing existsworthy of your heartbeats; the earth does notdeserve a sigh:life is toil and tedium, nothing more, and the world is mud.Calm down, and despairfor the last time: to our race Fatehas granted only death. Therefore, proud one,disdain your existence and Natureand the hard powerthat with hidden moderules over universal ruin,and the infinite vanity of the whole.
4. It was a peaceful day , by Rosalía de Castro (fragment)
Although the poem is sad, the words are expressed with incredible sensitivity and beauty. In this text, we see the pain of losing a child. Death takes its place, but in the midst of it and the earth, life is reborn in the form of grass.
The day was peacefulAnd the air was warm,And it was raining, it was rainingQuietly and gently;And while silentlyHe was crying and I was moaning,My child, a tender rose, Was dying sleeping.As he fled from this world, what peace on his brow!As I watched him go away, what a storm on mine!
Earth over the unburied corpseBefore it begins to rot… earth!The hole has already been covered, calm down,Soon on the disturbed clodsthe grass will grow green and vigorous (…)
5. Poor flower , by Manuel Acuña
The poem is about pain and reflects the dialogue between the poet and a withered flower. The flower reveals to him that she is dying because of an unrequited love that gradually destroyed her.
—«Why do I look at you so dejectedly,poor flower?Where are the finery of your lifeand the color?
Tell me, why do you waste away so sadly,sweet good?—“Who? The devouring and mad deliriumof a love,which was slowly consuming mewith pain!Because loving with all the tendernessof faith,the creature that I loved did not want to love me.
And that is why without finery I withersadly here,always crying in my cursed pain,Always like this! -The flower spoke!…I moaned… it was the same as the memoryof my love.
6. Song of Death , by José de Espronceda (fragment)
Death offers man an eternal rest where he can forget his sorrows and be at peace. José de Espronceda presents it as an island of rest amidst the torments of life. In it, man finds pure water and a fresh breeze.
Weak mortal, do not be frightened bymy darkness or my name;in my bosom man findsan end to his sorrow.I, compassionate, offer youa refuge far from the world,where in my shadowhe may sleep peacefully forever (…)
I am an island of restin the middle of the sea of life,and the sailor there forgetsthe storm that passed; there pure watersinvite sleep without murmur, there one sleeps to the lullaby of a breeze without murmur (…)
7. Youth , by José Mármol
This poem is an invitation to enjoy the delights of the world and of fleeting youth. To enjoy the beauty of life, without stopping to think about the fleeting nature of existence.
Don’t you see? Don’t you see? It is likethe shining band of sparksthat is reflected in the lymph of a riverwhen the moon rises in the east.
And that next to the moon in the SphereThey all go trembling and beautifulWithout fear or even memoryOf the shadow that comes behind them.
Don’t you see? It’s the man who haslife locked up in his chest,And the shrewd earth entertains himWith its beautiful golden crust.
Ah, yes, yes, youth, maythe joys of the world captivate your chest:may your lips drink freelyfrom life’s fruitful delight.
And laughing, and singing, and drinking,And sick of luxury and pleasures:Dreaming and living with delightsYou pass to another intoxicated age.
But the swift wings that you flap, For God’s sake, Do not suspend for a momentPush everything that is aheadFrom the path of flowers that you inhabit.
Let laughter and mockery resoundIf a beggar asks you for his bread:Let laughter and mockery resoundThrough the room of the dying man.
For God’s sake, don’t meditate for a momentIf the earth, life and the idealDo not want to be violently changedInto the derisory sarcasm of evil.
8. Eternal Love , by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
Bécquer shows in poetic words the inextinguishable force of his beloved’s love. Even if death were to snatch him from the earth, the feelings, the burning flame of his love, will endure for eternity.
The sun may be forever clouded;The sea may dry up in an instant;The axis of the earth may breakLike a weak crystal.Everything will happen! Death mayCover me with its funereal crepe;But never in me will the flame of your love be extinguished.
9. Know Thyself , by Novalis
The search for oneself has been a constant in human beings. Many times this longing appears hidden and manifests itself as the desire to find something more that one does not know what it is.
One thing has always been sought by man,and he has sought it everywhere, at the peaks and the depthsof the world.Under different names – in vain – it has always been hidden,and always, even when he believed it was close, it has slipped through his fingers.There was once a man who, in pleasantchildren’s myths, revealed to his children the keys and the way to a hidden castle.Few were able to discover the simple key to the riddle,but those few then became mastersof destiny.A long time passed – error sharpened our wits –and the myth no longer concealed the truth from us.Happy is he who has become wise and has given up his obsessionwith the world, who yearns for the stone of eternalwisdom for himself . The reasonable man then becomes a true disciple, transforms everything into life and gold, no longer needs elixirs . The sacred alembic is boiling within him, the king is in him, and so is Delphi, and in the end he understands what it means to know thyself.
10. Don Juan in Hell , by Charles Baudelaire
This poem describes the descent of Don Juan. Different characters appear, each looking for something in particular. It is a way of expressing the punishment of someone so seductive after his death.
When Don Juan descended towards the subterranean waveAnd had given his obolus to Charon,A gloomy beggar, his gaze fierce as Antisthenes,With a vengeful and strong arm grasped each oar.
Showing their flaccid breasts and open clothes,The women writhed beneath the black firmament,And, like a great flock of sacrificed victims,Behind him they dragged a prolonged bellowing.
Sganarelle laughing demands his pay,While Don Luis, with a trembling fingerShowed to all the dead, wandering on the banks,The bold son who mocked his snowy brow.
Shuddering under her mourning clothes, the chaste and lean Elvira,Close to her perfidious husband who was her lover,Seemed to demand from him a supreme smileIn which the sweetness of her first oath would shine.
Standing in his armour, a giant of stonestood on the bar and cut the black wave;But the serene hero, leaning on his broadsword,gazed at the wake and did not deign to see anything.
11. When We Parted , by Lord Byron
From this collection of Romantic poems, this one evokes the suffering of the loss of a love that was marked by betrayal and secrecy. It is a melancholic text about the impact of a broken relationship.
When we partedin silence and tears,with hearts half brokento separate us for years,Pale grew thy cheeks and cold,And colder still thy kiss;Truly that hour foretoldwoe to this one.The morning dewsank cold upon my brow:I felt it as the warningof what I now feel.
All promises are broken,and your reputation is fickle:I hear your name spoken, and share its shame.Before me they name you,death-knell I hear;a tremor runs through me:why did I love you so?They do not know that I knew you,that I knew you well:long, long shall I mourn you,too deeply to express.
In secret we met.In silence I mourn,that your heart may forget,and deceive your spirit.If I were to meet you again,after many years,how should I welcome you?With silence and tears.
12. The Fairies , by William Blake
Through the interaction between a being and a fairy, the poet represents that love can be a magical charm capable of eliminating the sources of pain (“I have removed the poison…”).
Come, my sparrows,my arrows.If a tear or a smileseduces a man;if a dilatory lovecovers the sunny day;if the sound of a stepstirs the heart to its core,here is the wedding ring,it transforms any fairy into a king.
So sang a fairy.From the branches I jumpedand she eluded me,trying to escape.But, caught in my hat, shewill soon learnthat she can laugh, that she can cry,because she is my butterfly:I have removed the poisonfrom the wedding ring.
13. The Suicide Argument , by Samuel Taylor Coleridge
With this beautiful poetic expression, Taylor philosophically questions nature (life) about the meaning of existence and death. Nature reminds him of all the gifts it has given him and invites him to examine his life before he dies.
About the beginning of my life, whether I wanted it or not,no one ever asked me – otherwise it could not be -If life was the question, a thing sent to tryand if to live is to say YES, what can NO be but to die?
Nature’s response:
Does one return the same as when sent? Is not the wear and tear worse?Think first of what you ARE! Be conscious of what you WERE!I have given you innocence, I have given you hope,I have given you health, and genius, and a broad future,Will you return guilty, lethargic, despairing?Take stock, examine, compare.Then die—if you dare die.
14. Rhyme XI , by Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer
The poem portrays the acceptance and search for an unattainable love, rather than the desire for a tender or passionate love. The impossible is what sparks the poet’s interest, those forbidden loves that escape his reach.
—I am hot, I am dark,I am the symbol of passion;my soul is full of desire for pleasure.Are you looking for me?—Not you, no.
—My forehead is pale, my tresses are golden,I can give you endless joy.I hold a treasure of tenderness.Are you calling me?—No, it’s not you.
—I am a dream, an impossible,vain phantom of mist and light;I am incorporeal, I am intangible;I cannot love you.—Oh come, come you!
15. Fall, leaves, fall , by Emily Brontë
The poet exalts the ability to live at the rhythm of events and to enjoy them. Blooming when the flowers grow is the perfect representation of synchronicity with life.
Fall, leaves, fall; die, flowers, go away;let the night grow longer and the day shorten;each leaf is happiness to meas it flutters on its autumn tree.
I will smile when we are surrounded by snow;I will bloom where roses should grow;I will sing when the rot of nightsettles into a gloomy day.
16. Elegy No. 8 , by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
This poem questions the fragility of the beloved and compares her to the vine that remains colorless and shapeless until it bears fruit.
When you tell me, my love, thatmen never looked at you with favor, nor did your mother pay attentionto you, until you silently became a woman,I doubt it and I like to imagine you strange,just as the vine lacks color and form,when the raspberry already seduces gods and men.
17. Restless Love , by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Goethe exalts love and its passions, which allow us to face the adversities and storms of life through desire and the bonds between two hearts that love each other.
Through the rain, through the snow,Through the tempest I go!Among the glittering caves,Over the misty waves I go,Ever onward, ever onward!Peace, rest, have flown away.
Quickly among the sadnessI wish to be slaughtered,That all the simplicitySustained in lifeBe the addiction of a longing,Where the heart feels for the heart,Seeming that both burn,Seeming that both feel.
How shall I fly?All my struggles were in vain!Bright crown of life,Turbulent joy,Love, this is you!
18. Eternity , by William Blake
The true appreciation of joy lies in experiencing it without trying to possess it. The poem suggests that embracing the transience of happiness is the key to having a fulfilling existence.
He who chains joy to himselfwill ruin his winged life.But he who kisses joy in its flutteringlives in the dawn of eternity.
19. The Butterfly , by Alphonse de Lamartine
Through the metaphor of the butterfly, Lamartine explores the transience of existence and contemplates beauty in the light and ephemeral things of life.
To be born in springAnd die ephemeral like the rose;Like a light zephyrTo soak in delicious essenceAnd in the diaphanous blue that intoxicates itTo swim timidly and vaguely;To sway in a barely opened flower,To shake the fine gold from the wing,And then taking flightTo lose oneself in the sereneRegions of light; such is your destiny,Oh winged butterfly!Such is the restless longing of men;Flying here and there, it never rests,And soars to heaven.
20. Folly of War , by Victor Hugo
Victor Hugo attacks the destructive nature of war . The poem questions the meaning of war and highlights its futility.
Foolish Penelope, drinker of blood,who drags men with intoxicating rageto mad, terrifying, fatal slaughter,what good are you? Oh war! If after so much misfortuneyou destroy a tyrant and a new one rises,does the bestial, forever, replace the bestial?
21. Ode to Joy , by Friedrich Schiller
Joy is an emotion that unites men. It is in the midst of nature that it is actually found (“Everyone drinks joy from the bosom of Nature”).
Joy, fairest flash of the gods,daughter of Elysium!Drunk with enthusiasm we enter,heavenly goddess, into your sanctuary.Your spell unites againwhat bitter custom had separated;all men become brothers againwhere your gentle wing rests.
He to whom fortune has grantedtrue friendship,who has won a beautiful woman,let him join his joy with ours!Even he who can calleven one soul his own on earth.But he who has not achieved even this,let him depart weeping from this brotherhood!
All drink of joyfrom the bosom of Nature.The good, the bad,follow their rosy path.She gave us kisses and wine,and a faithful friend until death;lust for life was granted to the wormand the contemplation of God to the cherub.Before God!
Joyful as your suns flythrough the formidable celestial space,so run, brothers, along your path joyfullike the hero towards victory.
Embraceone another, millions of creatures! Let a kiss unite the whole world!Brothers, above the starry vaulta loving Father must dwell.Do you bow down, millions of creatures?Do you not sense, oh world, your Creator?Seek him above the celestial vault.He must dwell above the stars!
22. God , by Gabriel García Tassara
This poem is a reflection of the power and omnipotence of God. He is nature and universe. The poet confronts human incredulity that denies divine existence.
Look at him, Alban, and deny him. He is God, the God of the world.He is God, the God of man. From heaven to the depthsthrough the heavens he glides swiftly.
See Him in that chariot of the stormy clouds;see Him among those groups of splendid cherubs;hear in the sound of the thunder His omnipotent voice.
Where is he going? What does he say? As you see him now, he will comefrom the astonished creation in the supreme hour,throwing worlds beneath his feet.
To the last north wind that waits in the abyss, perhaps he is saying at this very moment:”Arise,” and tomorrow the earth will be no more.
Oh, wretched is the man who says that He does not exist!Woe to the soul that resists this visionand does not raise its eyes and voice to heaven!
Lord, Lord, I hear you. Lord, Lord, I see you.O God of the believer! O God of the atheist!Here is my soul… Take it!… You are God.
23. To my country , by Jorge Isaacs
Isaacs uses metaphor to represent the internal conflicts of his country. This poem is a message of sadness due to the war and division that has only left death and desolation.
Two desert lions in the sands,driven by powerful jealousy,fight, uttering bellows of painand red foam from their full jaws.
Their manes curl as they tighten,and behind a cloud of dust,they leave behind, as they roll, fleeces,tinged with blood from their broken veins.
The night will cover them there struggling…They still roar… The dawnwill only find corpses on the cold pampas.
Delirious, fruitless in battle,the divided people devour each other;And your bands are lions, my country!
24. They say that plants don’t talk… , by Rosalía de Castro
Rosalía de Castro leaves us one of the most beautiful poems of Romanticism. In it, the author reveals the connection between nature and human beings. The world of life responds to the emotions and hopes of the self.
They say that the plants do not speak, nor the fountains, nor the birds,nor the waves with their murmurs, nor the stars with their brightness;they say it, but it is not true, because always, when I pass by,they murmur and exclaim about me: “There goes the crazy woman, dreaming
with the eternal spring of life and of the fields,and very soon, very soon, her hair will be grey,and she sees, trembling, frozen, the frost covering the meadow.There are grey hairs on my head, there is frost in the meadows;
But I continue dreaming, poor, incurable sleepwalker,of the eternal spring of life that fades awayand the perennial freshness of fields and souls,
Although some wither and others burn.Stars and fountains and flowers, do not murmur at my dreams;without them, how can I admire you, or live without them?
25. To artistic Spain , by José Zorrilla
The poem is a harsh criticism of Spain in the time in which its author lived. It denounces moral and cultural decadence and exposes the petty interests of the country.
Clumsy, mean and miserable Spain,whose soil, carpeted with memories,is sucking from its own gloriesthe little that remains of each illustrious feat:
Traitor and shameless friend deceive you,your treasures are bought with dross,Your monuments, alas!, and your stories,sold, are taken to a foreign land.
Damn you, homeland of the brave,who rewards whoever can do the mostfor not moving their indolent arms!
Yes, come, I swear to God! For what remains,you rapacious foreigners, who insolenthave turned Spain into an auction house!
26. Fill me, Juana, the chiseled glass , by José Zorrilla
This sonnet highlights the search for solace in liquor. There is a desire to obtain pleasure in the face of adversity, a longing to find refuge in fleeting pleasures.
Fill me, Joan, with the chiseled glassUntil it overflows over the edges,And give me an immense and corpulent glassThat does not contain too much of the supreme liquor.
Let outside, by some sinister chance,In fearful sound the storm roars,the pilgrim knocks at our door,Giving way to his weary step.
Let him wait, or despair, or pass;Let the strong gale, without aim,With swift flood cut down or sweep away;
If the pilgrim travels with water,I, with your forgiveness, changing the phrase,am not comfortable walking without wine.
27. Have mercy, pity, love! Love, pity! by John Keats
The poem reflects an overflowing passion that borders on obsession and emotional dependence. The poet presents that line that sometimes fades and makes people confuse possessiveness with true love.
Have pity, pity, love! Love, pity!Pityful love, which does not make us suffer endlessly,love of one thought, which does not wander,which is pure, without masks, without a stain.Allow me to have you entirely… Be all, all mine!That form, that grace, that small pleasureof love that is your kiss… those hands, those divine eyes,that warm breast, white, shining, pleasant,even yourself, your soul, out of pity give me all,do not retain an atom of an atom or I die,or if I live on, only your contemptible slave.Forget, in the mist of useless affliction,the purposes of life, the taste of my mindlosing itself in insensibility, and my blind ambition!
28. Ozymandias , by Percy Bysshe Shelley
In this poem, Percy Bysshe Shelley illustrates that all power is ultimately destroyed, even if one tries to preserve it for eternity. The human being is fragile and fleeting, and all his glory ends in a sigh.
I saw a traveler from a distant land.He told me: There are two legs in the desert,Made of stone and without a trunk. Beside themlies a certain Face in the sand: its face broken,
His lips, his cold tyrannical gesture,Tell us that the sculptor has been able toSave the passion, that it has survivedHe who could carve it with his hand.
Something has been written on the pedestal:“I am Ozymandias, the great king. BeholdMy work, ye mighty! Despair!:
The ruin is from a colossal shipwreck.Next to it, infinite and legendary,only the solitary sand remains.
29. Loving in solitude and mystery , by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
Only pain can be reaped from the indifference of unrequited love. Love creates illusions with its sweet smile and makes lovers idolize the loved one, even if the loved one does not love them in the same proportion.
To love in solitude and mystery;To idolize one who will never want my love;Between myself and my chosen sanctuaryA dark abyss yawns with fear,And prodigal to one, I myself a slave,What will I reap from the seed I cultivated?
Love answers with a precious and subtle lie;For he embodies such a sweet aspect,That, using only the weapon of his smile,And contemplating me with eyes that kindle affection,I can no longer resist the intense power,Of venerating him with all my being.
30. Song of Laughter , by William Blake
This poem is a way of celebrating the joy and simplicity of life through contagious laughter. It represents a moment of happiness, where nature unites with joyful laughter.
When the green woods laugh with the voice of mirth,And the rippling brook rolls with laughter;When the air laughs at our merry witticisms,And the green hillside laughs at the noise we make;When the meadows laugh with vivid green,And the grasshopper laughs at the joyous scene;When Mary and Susan and Emilysing “Ha, ha, hee!” with their sweet round mouths.When the painted birds laugh in the shadeWhere our table overflows with cherries and nuts,Come and be merry, And join me,And sing in sweet chorus the “Ha, ha, hee!”
31. Public Consensus , by Friedrich Hölderlin
Hölderlin reflects on how people tend to value and appreciate only what is familiar or their own. They only knew him to be arrogant because others were arrogant; now that he loves, since no one loves, no one recognizes him.
Is not the life of my heart more beautifulsince I love? Why did you honor me morewhen I was more arrogant and surly,more talkative and more empty?
Ah! The crowd prefers what is in demand,servile souls only respect violence. Only those who are also servilebelieve in the divine .
32. When figures and numbers , by Novalis
With this poem, Novalis expresses an ideal future where unity, harmony and freedom will defeat discord. Everything will be in perfect balance.
When numbers and figures cease to bethe keys of every creature,when those who sing or kissknow more than the most profound sages,when freedom returns to the world again,the world becomes the world again,when at last light and shadow mergeand together become perfect clarity, when the true stories of the world arein verse and in stories , then a single secret word will banish discord from the entire earth.
33. Three Words of Strength , by Friedrich Schiller
There are three great lessons for life: hope, faith in God in the midst of adversity and love for all beings. With these three virtues, one can face any misfortune.
There are three lessons that I would tracewith a burning pen that would burn deeply,leaving a trail of blessed lightwherever a mortal chest beats.
Have Hope. If there are dark clouds,if there are disappointments and no illusions,remove your brow, its shadow is vain,for every night is followed by a tomorrow.
Have Faith. Wherever your boat is pushed byhowling breezes or roaring waves,God (do not forget) rules heaven,and earth, and breezes, and little boat.
Have love, and love not just one person,for we are brothers from pole to pole,and lavish your love for the good of all,as the sun sheds its friendly light.
Grow, love, wait! Engravethe three in your bosom, and wait with firm and serenestrength, where others may be shipwrecked,light, when many wander in darkness.
34. The Old Stoic , by Emily Brontë
The old stoic is not interested in fame, wealth or love. He only wants his freedom to live and die without slavery. He wants a free and unchained soul with plenty of courage to resist.
I hold riches in little esteem;and I laugh at love with contempt;and the desire for fame was but a dreamthat disappeared with the morning.
And if I pray, the only prayerthat moves my lips is:”Let go of the heart I now bearand give me freedom!”
Yes, when my swift days draw near to their goal,that is all I pray for:in life and in death, a soul unfettered,with courage to endure.
35. The Singer , by Aleksandr Pushkin
The poet describes a singer full of sorrow. He insistently asks if they have heard him or met him with his melancholic songs, his sad smile and his nostalgic look.
Have you heard the night voice near the groveof the singer of love, the singer of his sorrow?In the morning hour, when the fields are silentand the sad and simple sound of the panpipe sounds,have you not heard it?
Did you find in the barren darkness of the woodsthe singer of love, the singer of his sorrow?Did you notice his smile, the trace of his tears,his peaceful gaze, full of melancholy?Have you not found him?
Did you sigh, listening to the gentle voiceof the singer of love, the singer of his sorrow?When you saw the young man in the middle of the woods,when his dull gaze met yours,did you not sigh?
36. Sadness , by Alfred de Musset
With these poetic words, Alfred de Musset expresses his disillusionment and the loss of his vital forces, his friendships and his joys. He has nothing left but sadness.
I have lost my strength and my life,And my friends and my joy;I have lost even the prideThat made me believe in my genius.When I knew the Truth,I thought it was a friend;When I understood it and felt it,I was already disgusted with it.And yet it is eternal,And those who have ignored itIn this low world have ignored everything.God speaks, it is necessary to answer him.The only good that remains to me in the worldIs to have cried sometimes.
37. The Untimely Memory , by Gertrudis Gómez de Avellaneda
Even though good things and pleasures have passed, memories of them endure. The poet calls upon oblivion to erase his past and the pleasures that are yet to come.
Will you be the eternal companion of the soul,tenacious memory of swift fortune?…Why does the endless memory last,if the good passed like a light gust?
You, black oblivion, who with fierce hungeropen, alas, without ceasing your dark mouth,a thousand immense graves of gloriesand final consolation of pain!
If no one is astonished by your vast power,and you rule the world with your cold scepter,come! My heart names you as its god.
Come and devour this impious ghost, apale shadow of past pleasure,a sombre cloud of pleasure to come!
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38. To Science , by Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe criticizes the scrutinizing attitude of science, which, with its incessant rationalization, takes away the magic of things. The poet reproaches it for not being able to find beauty in the heavens or to soar with its imagination.
Science! You are the true daughter of time,who changes all things with your searching eyes.Why do you thus devour the heart of the poet,vulture, whose wings are dull realities?
How should he love you? Or how can he judge you wise,whom you do not let wander insearch of treasure in the jeweled heavens,though he soar on bold wing?
Have you not snatched Diana from her chariot?Or driven the Hamadryads from the woodsto seek shelter under some happy star?
Have you not torn the Naiads from the flood,the Elf from the green grass, and mefrom the summer dream under the tamarind tree?
39. Feeling the end of summer , by Rosalía de Castro
This poem is the words of a woman who thought she would die in the fall. However, death did not want to please her either and let her live through the winter so that she would die in the middle of the beautiful spring.
Feeling the summer coming to an end,the hopeless patient thought,”I shall die in the autumn!”, she thought, half melancholy, half content, “and I shall feelthe dead leaves rolling over my grave.”But… death did not even want to please her,cruel to her as well;it spared her life in the winterand, when everything was reborn on earth,it killed her slowly, amidst thejoyful hymns of the beautiful spring.
40. Nothing remains of you , by Carolina Coronado
A woman lost her lover, who drowned in the sea. She wants to understand how she could have lived without him and complains about the injustice of fate.
Nothing remains of you… The abyss sank you…The monsters of the seas swallowed you. Not even your own bonesremain in the funereal places .
It is easy to understand, loving Alberto,that you lost your life at sea;but the grieving soul does not understandhow I live when you are already dead.
To give me life and you death,to give you peace and me war,to leave you in the sea and me on the land…it is the greatest evil of fate!
41. Poem to a Young Italian Girl , by Théophile Gautier
This poem describes a rainy day in France. The poet illustrates the longing that the Italian woman must feel for her homeland and the possible regret of not being able to see the violet and the treasures that adorn the grass in Florence.
That month of February was shivering in its whitenessfrom frost and snow; the rain lashedthe corners of the black roofs with its gusts;you said: My God! When will I be able tofind in the woods the violets I want?Our sky is tearful, in the lands of Francethe season is cold as if it were still winter,and sits by the fire; Paris lives in mudwhen in such beautiful months Florence already shedsits treasures that adorn a glaze of grass.
Look, the blackish tree outlines its skeleton;your warm soul was deceived by its sweet heat;there are no violets except in your blue eyes,and there is no more spring than your glowing face.
42. The Absence , by Esteban Echevarría
Loneliness overwhelms the protagonist of this poem. Everything seems to have lost its wonder, its charm and its marvel. The character yearns for the presence of his beloved to dispel the dark night.
The spell was gonefrom my soul,and my joywas gone too:in an instantI have lost everything,where have you gone,my beloved good?
The beautiful sky that illuminated me was covered witha dark veil, and the beautiful star of my destiny darkened on its path .
The melody that my heartdesired has lost its spell . A funereal song alone calms the elusive pain of my passion.
Wherever I turnmy sad eyes,I find remainsof sweet love;everywhere vestigesof fleeting glory,the memory of whichgives me pain.
Come back to my arms, dear master,a flattering sunwill shine on me;come back; your sight,which brightens everything, will dispelmy dark night.
43. To a tyrant , by Juan Antonio Pérez Bonalde
This is a poem that criticizes the tyranny of a dictator who oppresses his country. For this reason, the people have revolted and spit on him with contempt.
They are right! My hand was wrongwhen, guided by noble patriotism,I called your infamy despotism,executioner of Venezuelan honor!
They are right! You are not Diocletian,nor Sulla, nor Nero, nor Rosas himself!You bring vileness to fanaticism…You are too low to be a tyrant!
“Oppressing my country” – that is your glory,“Egoism and greed” – that is your motto,“Shame and dishonor” – that is your history;
That is why, even in their severe misfortune,the people no longer hurl their anathema at you…They spit their contempt in your face!
44. The Soldier’s Grave , by Jorge Isaacs
Jorge Isaacs describes the fate of a dead soldier. His faithful dog mourns him on his grave. As time passes, the animal also dies and leaves its bones scattered over the warrior’s eternal solitude.
The victorious armyhas saved the summit of the mountain,and in the now solitary campbathed in the livid light of the evening, the howlsof the black Newfoundland,the jovial companion of the regiment,resoundthrough the echoes of the valley.He cries over the grave of the soldier,and under that cross of rough woodhe licks the still bloody grassand awaits the end of such a deep sleep.Months later, the vultures of the mountainstill circlethe valley, once a battlefield;the crosses of the graves are already on the ground…Not a memory, not a name…Oh! No: over the grave of the soldier, the howlsof the black Newfoundlandhave ceased, but the noble animal’s bonesare left scattered on the grass.
The poems of Romanticism and the complexity of life
Through these poems of Romanticism, we examine the enormous capacity of the authors to express and represent the complexities of the human being: emotions, desires, passions, thoughts, hopes, etc.
From love poems to reflections on death and the meaning of life, these texts take us into a world where reason seems to give way to feeling and nature. Without a doubt, Romanticism left an invaluable legacy in the history of literature and humanity.