What is the main difference between Neoclassicism and the Romantic period when it comes to poetry?

Neoclassical poetry tended to be written in a
much more elevated manner, using classical models such as epics, odes, and pastorals. The
aesthetic approach of neoclassicism was descriptive, seeking to represent the world with the
utmost fidelity and accuracy. Unlike the Romantics, there was no sense of fusing one's
imagination with the world to create new forms of expression. It is not surprising that
neoclassical poetry achieved prominence during the Enlightenment, with its strongly empirical
spirit. The workings of the imagination were felt to be dark, barbarous, and largely
unfathomable. They were not, then, thought to be a suitable instrument for poetic
composition.

The Romantics, by contrast, were keen to establish a poetic
voice based on simple language. This was the manifesto of Wordsworth and Coleridge that they
famously set out in the Advertisement to Lyrical Ballads. The very title of
this collection must have seemed quite shocking at the time, almost oxymoronic. Ballads were
songs or verses associated with the common people. As such, they were deemed unworthy of the
lyricism of high art. Wordsworth and Coleridge, however, were effectively saying poems that
dealt with the concerns of ordinary people, written in a language they could understand, could
indeed aspire to the condition of music just as much as the more refined work of the
neoclassicists.

There was more than just a hint of snobbery in all of this.
In the waning hours of neoclassicism's heyday the writing of poetry was widely thought a
suitable occupation solely for gentlemen and should deal with elevated themes culled from
antiquity, history, and mythology. When Keats published "Endymion," a scathing review
appeared in Blackwood's Magazine, contrived to be both condescending and
brutally snobbish. As well as patronizing Keats as "Johnny Keats," part of a
"Cockney" school of poetry, the reviewer lamented the fact that farm servants and
married ladies were increasingly starting to write poetry. Even footmen were composing
tragedies!

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