Romantic age Prose l Famous Prose writers of Romantic Age l Prose in the Age of Poets l Development of Prose in Romantic Age

Although the Romantic period was dominated by poetry, many prose writers such as Hazlitt and De Quincey came to prominence. Writing authors, like poets, rebelled against the 18th century, but prose also changed.

While many 18th-century prose authors communicated their ideas about the appropriateness of various writing styles for various purposes with their limited but intelligent audience, Romantic writers were more concerned with objects and emotional expression than style. They wrote for a growing audience with varying interests and educational levels. There was also a growing distrust of the eighteenth-century distinction between things and manners, and a romantic preference for spontaneity over formality and contradiction. The 'great' style and most architectural writing for public or educational purposes have faded. While certain Romantic poets, like Coleridge, Shelley, Keats, and Byron, wrote great prose in their critical papers, letters, and journals, and some novelists, like Scott and Jane Austen, mastered the prose style, Lamb, Hazlitt, and De Quincey wrote essays that mastered the prose-style. 

Following are the Prose writers

Charles Lamb (1775-1834)

Charles Lamb is a beloved character in English literature. He was modest, honest, and selfless. He never married but dedicated himself to his ten-year-old sister Mary, who suffered mental breakdowns and had killed her mother in one. In his Essays of Elia (1823) and Last Essays (1833), he tells readers about himself, his quirky fancies and experiences, and his joyful and courageous fight against adversity. Unlike Wordsworth, who preferred nature and avoided society, Lamb was profoundly engaged in the city throng, its pleasures and occupations, its countless comedies and tragedies, which he portrayed in his essays with remarkable insight and human compassion.

Lamb is an intimate and self-revealing writer, like Montaigne and Cowley in England. Sir Thomas Browne's sombre confessional style adds to Cowley's informality. He always writes gently and humorously about daily emotions and trivia. The sympathetic, smiling ‘Elia' in Lamb's writings is just a cover. "We know that behind this blithe surface there is something of the home terror, of the lovely heroism, and devotedness of the ancient Greek tragedy," remarked Walter Pater.

Lamb's style is characterised as 'quaint' since it has old-fashioned oddness about it. His English is full of imitations of his favourite 16th and 17th-century writers—Milton, Sir Thomas Browne, Fuller, Burton, Issac Walton. He adapts the rhythms and vocabularies of these authors to the topic he is addressing. So Lamb's style varies from essay to essay. This is the key to his style's appeal and keeps him from being repetitive or boring. His style is unpredictable, as is his mood, which creates or suggests its own style while recalling writers from the past.

Lamb is the most beloved of English essayists, and he perfected the Essay. His writings are ‘a free sally of the intellect,' as Johnson put it. All of his writings are very personal, even whether they criticise or praise his age's life and literature. They, therefore, portray Lamb and humanity well. He gradually guides the reader to view reality as he saw it, without being conceited or self-assured. This magnificent mix of personal and global interest, together with his unique old style and quaint humour, has earned him the label of “The Prince among English Essayists”.

William Hazlitt (1778-1830) 

He was the polar opposite of Lamb. He had a fiery temper and strong dislikes. He was never concerned about the impact of his judgments on others. Hazlitt saw Napoleon as a hero throughout England's terrible war with him, causing him to clash with the government. Due to his violent attitude, his pals deserted him one by one until just Lamb remained.

Hazlitt authored numerous articles, the most successful of which is The Spirit of the Age (1825), in which he criticises many of his renowned contemporaries. Only Hazlitt could do this because he was vocal and courageous in expressing his views. While his biases sometimes lead him astray, his overall critique of art and literature is undeniably valuable. He can perceive his author's wholeness and position him precisely in connection to other writers. In his broad and correct perception of life, he displays a keen and accurate capacity of observation, frequently going to the very core of things. 

Hazlitt's style is bold, colourful, and distinct. There are moments of sombre and majestic music. It reflects Hazlitt's personality: blunt, direct, and honest. His works include quotations from other authors, as well as echoes of their style. Above all, it reflects his personality's energy and power, never becoming boring.

Thomas de Quincey (1785-1859)

De Quincey is known for his ‘passionate prose'. He favoured the elaborate manner of Jeremy Taylor, Sir Thomas Browne, and his contemporaries above the stricter classicism of the 18th century. His approach is characterised by expressing personal events in terms appropriate to their significance in the writer's perspective. His style, which blends the finest aspects of writing and poetry, captivates the reader. A lot more creative and melodic than many poets. They show the English language's beauty. His stylistic flaws are that he digresses too much and frequent pauses in the middle of a great paragraph to joke about something stupid. Despite these flaws, his writing is one of the few ultimate instances of English style.

De Quincey was a brilliant writer with a broad range of interests. He mostly wrote journal entries on himself, his friends, life in general, art, literature, philosophy, and religion. The best-known of his autobiographical pieces is Confessions of an English Opium-Eater, in which he gives us fascinating insights into his own life under the influence of opium. He authored excellent biographies of ancient, historical, and literary figures, the most ambitious being The Caerars. Joan of Arc is his finest historical essay. His writings on literary theory are unique and insightful. The finest of this kind is when he distinguishes between knowledge and power literature. The most outstanding is Macbeth's Knocking at the Gate. Shakespeare, Goethe, and Pope were among his academic writings. He also published articles on science and religion.

To be honest, De Quincey's works frequently overemphasise particular themes, which he does not want to do. To summarise: his judgement is unreliable. But his technique is usually unique and clever, grabbing the reader's interest right away. Moreover, his complex and resonant ‘poetic language' creates its own enchantment. As a consequence, De Quincey remains one of England's most intriguing prose authors.