Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
Research Journal of English Language and Literature (RJELAL), cilt.10, sa.3, 2022 (Hakemli Dergi)
The romantic period in English
literature can be reckoned as the most successful era in the formation of
specific type of poem genre. This success is indebted to several factors,
however, among all the features which contributed to the architectonics of this
genre of literature, the role of opium and drugs in general always remained
passive, if not hidden. As one of the focal points of romanticism has been on
the concept of tranquility, the present study attempts to elucidate the
centrality of drugs in bringing up the so-called tranquility so that the poets
could overflow their spontaneous feelings. Taking into consideration the main
work of De Quincey, this paper overviews the works of Romantic poets from
Coleridge to Browning showing the hidden signification of drugs throughout
their works. Later in the discussion of mainly European poets, the productive
effect of drugs is also made clear in Edgar Allan Poe’s works, and finally, the
remarkable role of drugs is related to what M. H. Abrams considers as the sacred
milk in shaping romantic poets’ minds. Finally, it is also made clear that
without the existence of such a “Milk of Paradise,” there would have never been
such a brilliant period in the grip of literature at all.