Most Romantics were considered outcast and at that period the only ways to escape many of their problems was through the mind. It says, "Rapid changes, new demands, and confusions of the age often pressed writers into imagining worlds elsewhere." Through their arts, they could write what they felt in which most of it was about self-reflection, and imagination. Through their imaginations all their creative powers and passion came out onto their writings. Imagination was a major focus of that time. It also gave out many forms of creativity. The Romantic era was an inspiring force, that took shape in many different ways. The poem, "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell", which was written by William Blake, is a poem that could best represent the time of age. It says, " his aim is to challenge, even outrage, convential ideologies...of Heaven and Hell." Through this poem he goes beyond boundaries to point out what he feels by trying to target good and evil, and not religion. He says this in, "Roses are planted where thorns grow, and on the barren heath, sing the honey bees."
Some major writers of this time were Thomas Paine, John Keats, and Jane Austen who wrote the popular novel Pride and Prejudice. The Romantic era was not only a time to think out of the box with your dreams and inspirations, but also a time for superstitions and delusions. For some of the people of that time, through their minds and imaginations it was a way out of the world. They could reflect with in themselves and still show the world how they felt.
Unlike the Romantic era, the Victorian was an era of social change, inventions, and major reforms. The people of this time did little reflection and were more into reasoning. Around this era people like Darwin and Marx existed. Darwin brought the idea of evolution in which people started to doubt religion. John Morley said it was, "the age of science, new knowledge, searching criticism, followed by...doubts and shaken beliefs." Victorians were now conflicted with their beliefs and intentions. Besides the doubt of religion, reform was also a factor of the Victorian era. Through out the Victorian age, voting rights were extended, working conditions were improved, and women started to gain more rights. It was a time of progress. Sir Henry Holland said, "We are living an age of transition." In that he was correct, but through the middle of that transition might have been were religion was lost. Other major impacts also known were the Ages of Reading, the Age of Empire, and the Age of Energy and Inventions. Some of the people of this time were Arthur Symons, Max Beerbohm, and Olive Custance. Olive Custance was noticeable because she contributed to the uncertainty about gender roles, and her nature of love. She wrote the poem, "The Masquerade" that talks about hidden love and towards the end of the poem, those who are afraid to feel love. She greatly expresses how she feels and the emotion pours out greatly.
The feeling of depression, and physical and moral exhaustion backed a lot of the Modern period. The Modern period was defined as, "...a persistent sense of having arrived on the stage of history after history has finished." That quote defines it exactly right because many people felt that that the Modern period lacked feeling and it was limited as well as lifeless. The Modern era came after a century that was not afraid to ask questions and get the answers, nor were they afraid to express themselves too much. This era failed the expectations that were held for them leaving a, "...suspicion that there was nothing new left to make or say..." some of the writers of this time were Thomas Hardy, David Jones, and Stevie Smith who wrote, "Not Waving, But Drowning."
Stevie begins to write about a dead man saying, "Nobody heard him..." but ends as if she was talking about herself all along with, "...I was much to far out all my life..."The poem is very lyrically expressed with a very touching emotion. Along with some of her poetry she drew drawings that can help a reader feel more of the poem then intended.
With every era there were different feelings and reasons for each of them. Things changed through those years, leaving every creative century with some kind of memorable art. Nothing was ever the same or has been since those centuries came to pass. All we have to show that it was real are the creative people in each period that wrote how they felt and were not afraid to let others see it.