Melancholy occupies a significant position in English Romantic poetry and functions as one of the defining characteristics of the Romantic imagination. The Romantic poets transformed melancholy from a mere emotional state into an aesthetic and philosophical principle that enabled a deeper understanding of human existence. This article examines the representation of melancholy in the poetry of John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, William Wordsworth, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Through a comparative textual analysis of selected poems, including Ode to a Nightingale, Ode on Melancholy, To a Skylark, Ode to the West Wind, Tintern Abbey, Resolution and Independence, The Prelude, Dejection: An Ode, Kubla Khan, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, the study explores how melancholy intersects with imagination, mortality, nature, memory, and creativity. While Keats presents melancholy as inseparable from beauty and pleasure, Shelley associates it with idealism and unfulfilled aspiration. Wordsworth tempers melancholy through nature’s healing influence, whereas Coleridge portrays it as a manifestation of psychological and imaginative crisis. The article argues that melancholy serves not merely as a recurring theme but as a creative force that enriches Romantic poetry and transforms personal suffering into universal artistic expression. Ultimately, Romantic melancholy emerges as a profound mode of understanding the complexities of human existence and the enduring relationship between suffering and creativity.
Aniket Beuria (Mon,) studied this question.