were less important Eagleton shows that this shift in meaning helped English grow Romanticism made English studies more focused on poetry and feeling Imagination over Fact Eagleton shows that imagination became central Romantic writers sought to escape the hardships of life They lived in a world of machines and rules The author says To write about what did not exist was somehow more soul-stirring Fiction became more powerful than facts Poets wrote about dreams and nature They wanted to feel free For them the real world was too harsh So they used imagination to create beauty and truth Eagleton links this to social problems of the time Symbol and Deep Meaning In Romanticism symbols were very important Eagleton writes followingly about the use of symbol in literature The symbol fused together motion and stillness turbulent content and organic form The poets used symbols to show big truths A flower could mean hope A river could mean time Symbols joined the heart and the world This made the poems deep and powerful Eagleton says that Romantic symbols were like secret keys They helped readers find meaning without much thinking He shows how this style shaped the idea of literature Protest Eagleton says Romanticism had two sides Some writers protested against injustice Others ran away from it The modern author of this text states The finely passionate idealism of the Romantics was also idealist in a more philosophical sense They dreamed of a better world But they could not change it So they went into their minds They wrote poems alone Eagleton shows that this made them distant from real life Their words were strong but their acts were weak This made Romanticism both bold and sad nbsp Romanticism and Lost Society Eagleton says the poets missed old England They dreamed of unity and peace But that society was gone The following quote successfully captures this The vision of a just society was often enough inverted into an impotent nostalgia Poets loved the past more than the present They looked back at simple village life But this dream could not solve modern problems Eagleton shows that this made Romanticism a kind of escape The poets had a deep love for life But they could not fight the real world In conclusion Eagleton gives a clear view of Romanticism He shows that it changed literature and society Romanticism gave more value to feelings and symbols It produced literature that explores beauty and deep meaning But it also moved away from real life Some poets fought with ideas not actions Eagleton links Romanticism with history and crisis He explains how it helped shape English as a subject