PERTANIKA JOURNAL OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

English romantic poetry has been traditionally conceived as a principal part of the idealism orthodoxy, an imitation of unrealistic ideal realms. This research aims to deconstruct this prevalent convention through isolating particular realistic aspects in English romantic poetry for examination. It argues that the real world has never been absent from the works of the English romantics. It tackles for this sake selected poems by William Blake, William Wordsworth, Percy Bysshe Shelley and John Keats, aiming to highlight their passionate concern with realistic aspects of man and the city and to examine their poetic interaction with significant real incidents and situations. The study investigates their presentation of England by comparing it with several non-poetic records produced by certain contemporary historians. It also tackles their treatment of human suffering which their writings give a voice to be objectively expressed. The concept of the romantic escape is treated as well where the romantics’ imagination often carries them to ideal realms; the study argues however that they never eternally reside there or enjoy escaping reality due to their existential needs that tie them to reality. The research concludes with the postulate that reality exerts a significant impact on the composition of English romantic poetry.