The English Romantic Period (1785-1832) was a complex movement that expressed dissatisfaction with current society, explored the human condition, celebrated nature, and strongly encouraged experimentation and creativity in the arts. This period emphasized emotions over thought and reason and valued individualism. Romantic writers of the era were “aware of a pervasive intellectual and imaginative climate, which some called 'the spirit of the age.' This spirit was linked to both the politics of the French Revolution and religious apocalypticism” (“The Romantic Period”). Since the era before Romanticism weakened the religious stronghold on society, Romantics were not very interested in piety, but rather were interested in experimentation. with religion in an aesthetic way. Many artists, writers, and visual artists alike, used religious imagery and themes in their works, but did not necessarily consider their works to have Christian or religious connotations. As in the previous era, people of the Romantic period expressed doubts about a higher deity. They questioned the teachings of the Church and sought more scientific answers to the workings of the world (Brians). The Romantics “crossed the dark side of existence. They were intrigued by the grotesque, the malignant, the horrible and the scary” of both nature and the human mind. They believed that life could not be beautiful without death because “all beauty is fleeting and eventually fades” (“Romanticism: Imagining Freedom”). It is from this approach that most of the artwork of the English Romantic poet William Blake derives. “The Tyger”, one of Blake's most famous and most debated poems, can be interpreted in various ways, but it relates very much to this doubt in…… middle of paper……du. Washington State University. March 11, 1998. Web.November 13, 2013. Evans, Robert C. “Literary Contexts in Poetry: “The Tyger” by William Blake. Literary Contexts in Poetry: “Tyger” by William Blake (2006): 1. Literary Reference Center . Network. 13 November 2013Potter, Polisseni. “A flea has smaller fleas that prey on it; And these have even smaller ones to bite them, and so on endlessly. EBSCOHOST. Network. 13 November 2013. "The Romantic Period 1785-1832." Norton of English Literature. 9th ed. Gen. ed. Stephen Greenblatt. Web. 13 November 2013. “William Blake”. literary reference. November 13. 2013.