Author(s): Dr. Raghavendra Nayak

Abstract: Drawing on ecocriticism, deep ecology, biocentrism, and the critique of anthropocentrism, this paper investigates the conceptual position and critical divergence between Romanticism and Ecocriticism. While Romantic poetry foregrounds imagination, sublimity, and spiritual renewal, ecocriticism emphasizes ethical responsibility, environmental damage, and nonhuman agency. Through comparative close readings, the study demonstrates a shift from Romantic imaginative transcendence to ecocritical material attentiveness. Rather than rejecting Romantic views of nature, ecocriticism extends them—moving from aesthetic appreciation to ecological accountability. In the end, the paper highlights a key transition from inspiration to realization, asserting that ecocriticism re-situates human existence within a shared, more-than-human world governed by biocentric justice and ecological humility.

Keywords: Biocentrism, Deep Ecology, Ecocriticism, Ecological Responsibility, and Romanticism.

Article Info: Received: 03 Oct 2026; Received in revised form: 30 Oct 2026; Accepted: 02 Nov 2026; Available online: 08 Nov 2026

DOI: 10.22161/ijels.116.8