The Romantic Poets

[Sniffles]

I'm willing to consider François-René de Chateaubriand, the father of French Romanticism, a possible INFP or at the least XNFP. This is based upon what I know about him, and especially upon reading excerpts of his famous work The Genius of Christianity.

Chateubriand wrote the work in wake of Napoleon's restoration of the Catholic faith, and sought to defend its tenets against the notions upheld during the Enlightenment. It's form of argumentation is largely emotional based, and it's commonly joked that despite its beautiful prose - it never actually proves anything.

I think that's rather unfair, but I can see how one can come to that conclusion.

A perfect example is this:

"There is a God. The plants of the valley and the cedars of the mountain bless his name; the insect hums his praise; the elephant salutes him with the rising day; the bird glorifies him among the foliage; the lightening bespeaks his power, and the ocean declares his immensity. Man alone has said, 'There is no God'."

Beautifully written, but I reluctantly must admit it doesn't prove God's existence at all.

His basic argument was that Christianity is true because it's beautiful. In its wake it produced wonderful Catherdals, inspiring chants, and masterpieces of art, etc. Again, I agree as to the argument here as far as culture goes, but it doesn't prove that Christianity is actually the true religion.


I also wish to present two other statements of his that to me seem to point to INFP:

"Long experience has proved to me that religion is the one true thing on earth."

"As it grew, my religious conviction has devoured my other convictions, (but) in this world there is no more believing Christian and no more doubting man than I."

The second statement seems to point to Ne.

These are just my preliminary thoughts. If somebody has a different opinion, I'm more than willing to hear it.

 

[the state i am in]

any revisions? new ideas?

 

[ragashree]

I'd agree with the other posters that Blake is most likely INFJ; his systemic approach (as mentioned) his heavy reliance on metaphor combined with his mysticism and idiosyncratic religious ideals, his detachment from the real world and yet assertiveness in dealing with it all seem very characteristic. INFP is also possible, but comes a distant second for me.

Keats I used to think was INFP, but having recently read some more comprehensive biographical detail and some of his rather weak lesser-known poems I'm getting the impression that he was a much more outgoing personality than his later reputation has tended to characterise him, and his poetic output as a whole tends to be much more diffuse and lacking in focus than the few he's best known for. Some seeem to have been written for no better reason than to try to impress the people he wanted to be socially accepted by. All things considered he could well actually be an extravert, in which case ENFP seems most likely.

Coleridge seems most likely ENFP too. I'm a bit surprised to see INTP mooted. He seems to have been quite an emotional, outgoing, impulsive and rather unstable personality with a strong dependent tendency (as characterised by his substance abuse, but also on people). His knowledge base tended to be broad and extensive rather than deep and specific, and his later writings on philosophy and metaphysics (a fairly characteristic ENFP interest in itself) drew their fair share of criticism for his tendency to bring his subjective emotions into the analytical process.

ISFJ seems plausible for Wordsworth, but I would regard ISFP as equally likely. He was certainly an introvert, a feeler, and a sensor; I'm less sure of how those functions lined up. His work was all about expressing emotion, hence his concept of the poetic process being "Emotion reflected in tranquility", and he always linked it in a fairly concrete manner to his subjective personal experiences.

Byron is a definite ENTP to me; everything about his life, his writing style, and personal beliefs scream it from the rooftops. I wouldn't even consder another type, except maybe a very distant possibility of ENTJ.

Shelley, I'm really not sure, but let's think this through. He's far more focussed on imaginative possibilites and forming unusual metaphorical connections than Wordsworth - indeed his tendency to do so almost defines his work - and I think is that much less likely to be a sensor. He seems from an early age to have had visionary, highly individualistic, and intellectually precocious tendencies. He disliked sports and physical activity (points away somewhat from ISFP in itself) and was inclined to daydream and have a vivid imagination and a tendency to experiment. He was always rebelling in some way against the established norms of society and attacking conventional thought processes, with seeming disregard for the consequences. Despite his dislike of authority and rebelliousness while at school and university he was a highly able student who seems to have found his work almost too easy. To me he seems to have been embarked on a constant quest to express his personal authenticity and assert his beliefs in defiance of the world (Fi), and to have had a very strong Ne function. INFP seems pretty certain to me. The fact that his writing contains plenty of vivid sensory details seems to be distracting some into wanting to classify him as an S type; I think all things considered it points more to strong tertiary Si.

 

[jcc]

Am I the only one that thinks Lord Byron was an introvert? He was the archetype for the Byronic hero, a character that possesses many introverted characteristics like being a loner, mysterious, brooding, and introspective. He might have spent a lot of time at parties and with women, but he spent even more writing poetry, which reeks of introversion to me. To be honest, I just don't visualize very well an extrovert being one of the most brilliant poets in history.

 

[Betty Blue]

Elizabeth Barrett Browning.. INxP?

 

[RedAmazoneFriendZone]

Baudelaire...INFP ??

 

[Doctor Cringelord]

I love Blake.