Beginning of Essay
The holds in its topics the ideals of the time period, concentrating on emotion, nature, and the expression of "nothing." The Romantic era was one that focused on the commonality of humankind and, while using emotion and nature, the poets and their works shed li ....

Middle of Essay
.... Smith, for example, uses the water to aid the reader's comprehension of the speaker's state of mind. Included in this traditional natural setting is the use of the sea as stormy, deep, extensive, and dark which ties the speaker in with the setting as the scene applies to the tone of the poem as well. Also characteristic of the Romantic sonnet is the retreat from the neo-classical age and its significant historical references into a new age where it becomes common to speak of "nothing." In William Wordsworth's "Composed Upon Westminster Bridge," there is no deeper meaning to be grasped other than the beauty of the day's dawning. The speaker' ....