The Sun Has Long Been Set

The sun has long been set

      After the Industrial Revolution, the English literature began to change its way from the period that people was concerned about the reason and materials to the time that people look more in to passion and see the beauty of nature again in the end of the 18th century.   It is called “The Romantic Movement” of the English literature. At this time, they were concerned about the individualism which is the right to be different from others and the right to express their views. They believe that society and civilization corrupt humanity’s natural innocence and instinct for good of the human.[i]   The Romantic does not agree with socialization and they thought that manner was such a fake behavior that makes people careless about nature and their individual thoughts. Their opinion about the world at that time was that it had become excessively rational as well as excessively materialistic. The Romantic Movement has a strong sense of beauty of the world so they like to live in solitude to communicate with the nature and exercise their imagination. [ii]

William’s Wordsworth’s poetry “The sun has long been set” has reflected the concept of the Romantic Movement that they concerned about the beauty of nature more than being materialistic. In the poetry, he described the beauty of a night in June which is said to be the best month to travel in England.[iii] After the sun has set, a small numbers of stars came out. He could see little birds piping among the bushes and trees. He could feel the rush of the wind and he could hear the sound of the gushing water. And then there was a cuckoo who sovereign cries. All these things filled all the hollow of the quiet night in June. We can see from the poetry that the Wordsworth is very concern about the nature. He cares about every little details of the environment even the feel of the rushing wind or the sound of the gushing water. As we already know that poet in the Romantic Movement has a strong...