William Wordsworth and Nima Youshij: Life, poetry and Thought's Affinities in Two Romantic Poets

The time, life, poetry, literary and critical theories of William Wordsworth, the pioneer of Romanticism in English literature, and Nima Youshij, who is often regarded as a Romantic in some part of his literary career, share many similarities. Both poets lived at a time of revolution and turmoil and both revolted against the dominant literary conventions of their time with their efforts accordingly leading to revolutions in the poetry and literary theory of their land. After delineating the accepted tenets of the Romantic Movement, this article highlights the analogous biographical, socio-economical and philosophical contexts of the two poets’ career and studies the affinities of their attempts at modernizing the poetic theory and practice of their countries. To this aim, the two poets’ attitude towards concepts such as poetry and the poet, content, language, feelings and emotions, and society are examined in detail. It is explained that by being influenced by their time and the historical evolutions in the age of social, cultural and economic revolutions, the two poets were able to bring the revolution into the poetry and critical theory and practice of their time. This revolution consists of realizing the novel concepts of the age and expressing them in a new form, which is considered as the commencement of “Modern” English poetry in England and “New” Persian poetry in Iran.