he Romantic period in English literature stands in stark contrast to the neo-classicist movement that preceded it. The birth of Romanticism coincided with the American and French revolutions, and it too was instrumental in a revolution of sorts. This movement was based on feeling and imagination — however irrational — and not on thought. While the neo-classicists believed that the world was rational and ordered, Romanticists believed in human expression, creativity and imagination. (Auerbach) Traditionalists viewed Romantics as dreamers and irrational thinkers, when all the while, England was engaged in a mini-renaissance of its own.

Many prominent Romantics furnished harsh criticisms of traditional institutions such as the church, the monarchies, and the educational systems. Romantics' poetry, it seemed, had an agenda that called for sweeping social change, or as William Blake calls it, a revolution "of the mind." (Auerbach)

Predictably, Romantic poetry was royally panned by critics; what wasn't panned was ignored completely. Keats' poetry, for example, was described as "drivelous…" while Blake's works (both in verse and in paint) where dismissed as rantings of a madman (Auerbach) or ignored altogether. Presently, however, Blake's works (and Romantic poetry in general) are held in high esteem.