Visit to Victoria Park in context of the Romanticism

THINKING ACTIVITY

        By this picture you can surely guess about what I am going to write. If you observed the image carefully what it says then you will find relation of man to Nature, which is an ultimate source of inspiration.

     So, This blog is in response to the task given by Yesha Ma'am about Romanticism. In this blog I am going to share my experience of the visit to Victoria Park, which was organised to emerge Romantic influence of the time during the age of Romanticism.

I found there is a Kind of Contrast while looking at the name of Victoria Park. After the Romantic age, there is the Victorian age, which is very different from the Romantic age. Though the name of the Park is Victoria, It has helped us to understand the Romantic era. We have reflected Romanticism in Victoria Park

The purpose of the visit to the Victoria Park

The age of Romanticism is the blooming age of English literature. As a part of study of the Romantic era, on 20 July, 2022, The department of English organised a visit to the Victoria Park, Bhavnagar. It is a dense forest in the midst of Bhavnagar. It was organised by Yesha ma'am to make us acquainted with how the Romantic poets used to write in the lap of Nature. Before going further to the Connection between Victoria Park trip and Romantic Literature, we have to first understand "What is Romanticism?"

Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical, and intellectual movement that originated in Europe towards the end of the 18th century. Romanticism emphasised the individual, the subjective, the irrational, the imaginative, the personal, the spontaneous, the emotional, the visionary and the transcendental. Romanticism is the movement, where realism and Sublimity of Nature, inspiration, subjectivity, and the primacy of the individual were at the centre.

Romanticism in English Literature began in the 1790s with the publication of the Lyrical Ballads of William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. In Preface to the second edition of Lyrical Ballads (1800), Wordsworth described poetry as "The spontaneous overflow of Powerful feelings", which became the manifesto of the English Romantic Movement in Poetry.

The poets of the Romantic era were highly influenced by Nature and presentation of  Rustic life in literature was at the centre. So by the explanation of What is romanticism?, you can get an idea why the visit is connected to The Romantic Age. So as a part of Study the visit was organised. And the purpose of the visit became very much successful as we all were inspired to compose something out of it, it can be in the form of Prose, poetry and deep understanding of Romanticism. 

                

"How nature can influence the soul" (has it inspired you to write and reflect on something or not)

Nature is an ultimate source of inspiration and we all humans are incomplete without Nature as it is the first and foremost condition to sustain life on the earth. 

Exposure to nature not only makes you feel better emotionally, it contributes to your physical well being, reducing blood pressure, heart rate, muscle tension, and the production of stress hormones. It may even reduce mortality according to scientists such as public health researchers Stamatakis and Mitchell. It is said that Nature leads us towards creative thinking.

The Lap of Nature is always peaceful where one can forget all sorts of sorrow and feel happiness. When I have to tell whether the trip helped me to recollect the Romance to the Nature of Romanticism, I would say, Yes, it inspired me a lot. I have written poetry, based on my observations and feelings. While writing a poem I found and reflected how Romantic poets used to write and in a corner of my heart I felt the same what is described as a Romanticism.  I also tried to reflect Lake Poets while walking through the Lakeside and their way of looking towards Nature. Here I put the poem written by me during the visit.

One day I visited a park.

In cement Jungle that was like a beautiful arch.

I was not aware where I was going,

And suddenly I sunk in the beauty of it,

I loss all kinds of my wit.

I met a butterfly

very beautiful and innocent.

I was trying to capture it in my camera,

But she says "Don't do it. I will not meet you again. let's have a sweet talk."

I was not able to hear what it was trying to say,

But only voice coming to me was of the surroundings.

So she left me angrily but very sweetly, 

Before I could do anything with it.

It taught me to read in between the lines.

I was going through the park. 

And suddenly I saw a lake

 With plenty of water and beautiful reflections of trees.

It asks me, "Do you want your reflection in me?".

I say "No" as I was scared by it's depth.

But it was still willing to give me my reflection.

By it's insistence I reached near to it and very politely it explains, "In this world whatever you will give it will be back to you."

It taught me to be honest.

After having lesson by lake.

I came across a huge tree,

Old and faded,

But too mature and witty, with lots of experiences.

He calls me, "come here, my dear friend, here is shelter under my shadow, and fruits, come here, have rest and fruits."

Tired and hungry I found a hope ,

I go near to him.

Very politely he says," I always teaches my fellow and youngsters not to be arrogant, give your grace to other. Always stay evergreen, share everything whatever you have. You'll find a beautiful music of bird and company of animals".

He taught me to be selfless.

Victoria park - poem from Trushali Dodiya

      So, the visit has helped me a lot to understand The term Romanticism.

MY EXPERIENCE:-

        The day 20th July 2022 was a very wonderful day for me for two reasons. First, it was the first time i visited the Victoria Park and Second, it gave accurate understanding of Romanticism. Yesha Ma'am was with us for whole and guide a lot to understand and justify the purpose of visit.

       We stayed there for the whole day from 11 to 4 O'clock. We visited both observation points. It was Monsoon, so we were not able to see Wild animals due to rain, but Peacocks were there. And that was the point of attraction for all of us and all of our cameras were staring towards it.

I am always attracted to the reflection of surroundings on Lake. So I have Clicked so many photos of that.

The third thing I liked the most was the infrastructure of the park. Because it looks like Wood and we can't find it built by men. At the very first sight I also found it made out of wood but when we moved close to it, I was amazed by this. Chair, Water tank, all were built in Natural theme.

So from these pictures you can find what I have said.

I took so many pictures of Nature. Here are some of them...

To click This particular image of a butterfly was a challenging task for me as we all know that butterflies never stay in one place. It is very Uncertain. So after clicking this picture I felt as if I had won the battle.

This picture is not Clicked by me but I likes this a lot so I put it here.

    To conclude my observation and experience in relation to the age of Romanticism, I would say that we can't go back to the 18th century to get a live demonstration of the era and its effect on literature, but this visit was not less than that. During the visit and writing poem I reflect how the literature might be produced with the company of Nature.

At last, I want to thank Yesha Ma'am for organizing such a wonderful visit.

Keep visiting...