So, we'll go no more a roving, 
 So late into the night,
Though the heart be still as loving,
   And the moon be still as bright.

For the sword outwears its sheath,
   And the soul wears out the breast,
And the heart must pause to breathe,
   And love itself have rest.

Though the night was made for loving,
   And the day returns too soon,
Yet we'll go no more a roving
   By the light of the moon 
- Lord Byron

I couldn’t help connecting the above poem – one of Byron’s most famous – with the universal wishes for times gone by. But while he yearned for loving and roving, I yearn for a different kind of indulgence. Once in a while, I harken back to the days when poetry was not just an expression, but an art-form.

Please don’t get me wrong, I have nothing against modern poetry. People have used language in amazing ways today, but in general, the grand vocabulary and art that once was, is steadily lacking.

Byron’s sad yearnings inspired me, so here’s something I came up with… Please bear in mind, I can’t match his eloquence…

Long lost are the days of our expressions,
once so sweet and engrossing,
We forsake words conjuring emotions,
though hearts be unchanging.

For time wears out sweet nothings,
and words march out of range,
We forget the history of utterings,
and for simplicity exchange,

Words that are said, but to speak, not feel,
to cast afloat a hopeful notion,
Forgetting ink's power to envelope and congeal,
sinking one to the depths of a heart's ocean. 
Tempest & Jay

No, I am no Byron, but it explains often the gaping hole I feel when I sometimes indulge in poetry. Some can expertly convey emotion, but not inspire it. I want to feel it in the depths of my chest, and be lost to all else.

I think this best describes why I love Romantic Poetry.

But first, let me clear the air. Some people think the term, “Romantic Poets” refers to what they wrote, but that’s not exactly true. Romantic poetry could often involve tragedy, descriptions of tales and legends in both dark and macabre detail, and morally gray heroes. No, not all Romantic Poetry is actually romantic, but it is emotional and vivid.

Up until the Georgian and Regency eras, Neo-classic poetry had reigned. This poetry was based on logic and reason. While amazing poems and stories came from this time, (think Robinson Crusoe) few held much emotion, rather than lessons to be taught. Emotion was the downfall; reason and logic played the heroes.

Lord Byron, Thomas Moore, and Percy Shelley, among many others, began what became known as the Romanticism Movement, where poets dwelt upon their emotions, the glories of creation, and acts of heroism and political satire. These often reflected their own ideals. To succeed in this, they did not often just write down how they felt; they meditated on it, looking for inspiration in nature, making up tales and using current events, so these emotions could transpire to their readers.

For example, gentlemen, what is the most effective pick-up line you’ve ever come up with? I’m curious, would you ever use reason and philosophy to ask for a kiss…

Think what you might of the late Mary Shelley’s husband, but this poem holds a great deal of meditation and forethought – but to ask for a kiss.

Is there not something to be said for expression? Before Percy even asks for that kiss, he has his audience already thinking romantically, casting their imaginations to a beauty they could well envision, using the wistful ways of nature in his defense.

While Byron and Shelley perfectly capture the beauty of a moment, and ask for nothing more, one of my favorite poems is actually a melody. A friend of both Shelley and Byron, Thomas Moore, had much the same scandals and reputation during his youth. That is until he found love…true love.

His famous song describes not love in it’s fleeting moments, but the truest devotion and endurance.

This is my favorite.

The unproven story goes that he wrote this for his wife, Elizabeth Dyke, whose face was scarred by smallpox. After she felt her renowned beauty tarnished, she would not let him into the room, for fear he should no longer love her. A few hours later, he came to her door and read her this poem, after which she allowed him in. They stayed together throughout their lives, even through the losses of all their children.

I cannot say if it’s the lore, or this songs timeless expression that thrills me.

Today, how many people feel like “ruins”, or that their charms have flown away with time or sadness? Wouldn’t it be wonderful to be told that there was a heart willing to wrap all it’s wishes around you, like lush vines, and never let go?

Wouldn’t it be beautiful, the assurance that love is so powerful and enduring, neither beauty, nor hardship can have any bearing on it?

In more modern love poems, I often read how they wish to entwine each other in a moment of passion, rather than binding hearts for all time. Perhaps such may sound restrictive to others, as I’m sure Byron and Shelley might agree. But when Thomas Moore says it: it sounds beautiful.

No, the Romantics weren’t always romantic, and they had differing views of love and it’s endurance. But they had a gift for using expressions; to describe the yearnings of their heart, they wrote so as take their readers with them on their emotional rides. They did not use all CAPS, nor profanity to get their point across. While they wrote from within, the messages were often universal, and allowed people’s imaginations to make up the rest.

When current events and the worlds anger get heavy on my chest, I like to escape, whether that’s in a book, or poetry. But if the latter, I often prefer to go through the Romantic classics, to be inspired by a time when speaking was an art, and the audience was a canvas.

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Are you a fan of the romantics? Is there a favorite poem by them you wish to quote? Indulge me, and write it in the comments below. I’d love to see it. (Please give all credit, where credit is due.) Or, if you feel up to the challenge, write your own poem, and bestow upon us some sweet eloquence in their honor…