The Romantic Era brought about a change in writing, poetry included. Expand your knowledge of this time period, for poetry, by learning more about an author and reading their poems. Introduce your author and then provide a poem by your author, or the title of the poem and a brief summary. Annotate this poem, but keep in mind the time period it was written in. Below are the links to three helpful websites.
Romantic Era Poets and Their Poems
Posted by Lauren Plaine, Kelsey Smith, and Cassie Meakin
January 4, 2011 9:20 P.M.
William Blake, although not quite as prominent as Coleridge or Wordsworth, played an integral role in the High Romantic Era. Commonly described as “understood by few and misunderstood by many”, his prophetic writings distinguish themselves in their child-like sensitivity and renowned beauty (Watkins and Pettinger). Blake was born on the 28th of November, 1757 in London, England to Catherine and James Blake, he showed talent at an early age for drawing. His parents enrolled him in an arts school where he practiced engraving, painting, and drawing, all crafts which would later influence his poetic body of work. Blake, considered mentally insane by many of his contemporaries, claimed to see visions of angels throughout his life and was a devoted Christian, although he attacked the Anglican Church for its excesses. He remained an eminent artist for his entire life, commissioned for many works, but began his career in poetry with the publication of Poetical Sketches in 1782, the year in which he also married his wife Catherine. A profound supporter of the French Revolution, he joined the cast of other Romantic poets in support of the French proletariat. Interestingly enough, Blake died attempting to finish an engraving set of Dante’s Divine Comedy. Several of Blake’s influences include his complex relationship of rejection and acceptance of Enlightenment views, his religious views, Classicism, and the mind of children.
ReplyDeleteIn his poem “Auguries of Innocence” (http://www.poetseers.org/the_poetseers/blake/the_works_of_william_blake/auguries/), Blake expounds on a number of deeds he sees as evil. Blake begins the work with the quartet
To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.
The poet exemplifies Nature as the source of all good, as told by the various references to animals. Doubtlessly, this poem found inspiration in the childlike image of the world as innocent, and the power of man to destroy it. “Auguries of Innocence” calls to mind Aesop’s fables with its personification of creatures, and its warnings against evil doings. Blake also equates Nature with God, relating them in the final lines. The rhyme scheme suggests the happy gait of a child with its aabbccddeeff… prosody and long form. Ending with an optimistic admonition, “Auguries of Innocence” leaves the image of a bright, unspoiled world in the reader’s mind.
Born on 7th April 1770 is a very famous English Romantic Poet, Williams Wordsworth. Along with Samuel Coleridge, Wordsworth launched the Romantic Age in English literature. He was the second of five children, and his father furthered his interest in poetry by introducing writers such as Milton, Shakespeare, and Spenser to his life. In 1787, Wordsworth made his debut as a writer via The European Magazine by publishing his sonnet, and in 1791, he earned his B.A. degree from St. Johns College in Cambridge. In 1793, Wordsworth published his poetry with the collections An Evening Walk and Descriptive Sketches. He gained popularity from this and met Samuel Coleridge. The two produced one of the most important works in the English Romantic movement, Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworth passed away in 1850 on the 23rd April at age 80. His legacy is the Preface of Lyrical Ballads because it is considered a fundamental work of the Romantic literary theory.
ReplyDeleteOne of the many sonnets written by Wordsworth is
"The world is too much with us..."
The world is too much with us; late and soon,
Getting and spending , we lay waste our powers:
Little we see in Nature that is ours;
We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon!
The Sea that bares her bosom to the moon;
The winds that will be howling at all hours,
And are up-gathered now like sleeping flowers;
For this, for everything, we are out of tune;
It moves us not.--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan suckled in a creed outworn;
So might I, standing on this pleasant lea,
Have glimpses that would make me less forlorn;
Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.
In this poem, Wordsworth comments on the nature of humans. He explains how we are “getting and spending”, and we “waste our powers” because we do not realize that there is something much more beyond money and other material. Because we are running behind materialistic desires, we are not able to form a connection with the “Nature that is ours”. Many natural elements such as the sea, the moon, and the wind, to remind us to bond with nature, yet we still remain “out of tune”. By saying “Great God”, the narrator believes how God may be the only one who can stop us from running behind materialistic wants so that we can finally realize the aesthetics of nature. The narrator explains how he would rather be a Pagan so that he could “have sight of Proteus…[and] hear old Triton”.
An important theme of the Romantic era was to get in touch with nature, and clearly, the rudiment of Wordsworth’s poem is based on this premise. The rhyme scheme used is ABBAABBACDCDCD. This helps to provide organization to the poem so that there is a greater impact. Wordsworth’s sonnet expounds upon how “the world is too much for us” because we are running behind irrelevant things, which is why we cannot focus on our spiritual side and nature. Through the poem, Wordsworth leaves an alarming message of how it is important to move forward from material objects and get in contact with more of the naturalistic parts of life.
Living only 25 years, John Keats is widely noted for his vivid, concrete imagery within his poems during the Romantic Era. Born in Finsbury Pavement near London on October 31st, 1795, Keats attended a good school where he became well acquainted with ancient and contemporary literature. After his parents died when he was young, Keats was taken from school to be an apprentice for a surgeon; however, his true passion was literature. In 1814 Keats finally sacrificed his medical ambitions to a literary life. He began to work on one of his most well- known poems “Endymion,” but was forced to delay his work after he discovered the first signs of the disease that would later kill him. When it was published a few months later, it was heavily criticized. Keats fell in love with a beautiful, young girl through a mutual acquaintance. Even though he did not marry her, Keats began to gain inspiration from their relationship. He wrote more about “love and poetry,” but “exhausted himself mentally” and, in 1819, attempted to gain some “distance from literature” (Brown 2). Because of his health, Keats moved to Rome to avoid the cold, harsh winters, where he later died on February 23rd, 1821. Believing that his work would be forgotten, he desired the phrase “Here lies one whose name was writ in water” to be engraved on his tombstone; however, nineteenth century critics and readers did come to appreciate him. They saw Keats as a “sensual poet” and focused on his “portrayal of the physical” and the “passionate” (John Keats-Overview 1).
ReplyDeleteOne of his lesser known poems, “On the Grasshopper and Cricket” portrays the importance of nature and is filled with contrasts that add towards the interpretation of this imagery-filled poem.
The poetry of earth is never dead:
When all the birds are faint with the hot sun,
And hide in cooling trees, a voice will run
From hedge to hedge about the new-mown mead;
That is the Grasshopper's--he takes the lead
In summer luxury,--he has never done
With his delights; for when tired out with fun
He rests at ease beneath some pleasant weed.
The poetry of earth is ceasing never:
On a lone winter evening, when the frost
Has wrought a silence, from the stove there shrills
The Cricket's song, in warmth increasing ever,
And seems to one in drowsiness half lost,
The Grasshopper's among some grassy hills.
Keats personifies both the Grasshopper’s “voice” and the Cricket’s “song” in this poem to express their harmonious purpose in nature. The title itself forces the reader to acknowledge the roles that the Grasshopper and the Cricket play in poem. Without the title, the reader could consider the poetry itself as the star of the poem without considering the Grasshopper or the Cricket as real contributors. Keats further confirms the authority of the Grasshopper and the Cricket by capitalizing the first letter of their names, giving them more power within the poem. Also Keats includes the distinction between summer and winter. The Grasshopper is characterized with the “summer luxury” that has no worries, but rather “delights” as he “run[s] from hedge to hedge.” The Grasshopper is able to have “fun” with no effort and able to rest when needed, coinciding with the line: “the poetry of earth is never dead,” which shows the liveliness of poetry. In addition, the Cricket represents the warmth in winter. His appreciation is “never ceasing” and “wrought [the] silence” the Cricket creates a cozy, inviting “song” that radiates warmth to the “lone winter evening.” However, the rhyme scheme of this poem is uniquely different: ABBAABBACDECDE. It seems to follow a typically pattern until the second half of the poem.
Poets who lived during the Romantic Era used their works to revolt against the scientific plaque of the Age of Enlightenment. While trying to counteract the boring nature of the previous time, Romantic poets laid a foundation of lyrical and artistic expression to the works created during this up and coming complex era. The Romantic Era originated in Europe and incorporated a contemporary type of expression that spread through the Industrial Revolution. Another trend of the Romantic Era was the young age at which people passed away. Many averaged around 35 years to live. A famous poet, Percy Shelley was not unique to the trends of Romantic ideas while perishing before the mere age of 30. Even in his short term lived on Earth, Shelley was able to make a huge impact to the educational world today with his imaginative themes.
ReplyDeleteThe lyrical poet, Percy Shelley was born in England on August 4th, 1792. His father was a Whig in the English Parliament and his mother was a Sussex landowner. Shelley not only came from a wealthy and highly respectable family, but also from a very large family being one of seven children. He received his early education from his home. During his youthful years, Shelley attended the private school, Syon House Academy of Brentford. While moving on to Eton College, he battled constant cruelty from the others who attended. He was tormented for many things but specifically because he had a relatively high-pitched voice. Shelley then moved his studies to Oxford where it was said that he only attended one lecture session in his entire career there. Even though he did not choose to go to class, he was known to read for up to 16 hours a day which obviously exhibited his passion for reading and writing. While at Oxford Shelley joined forces with his sister Elizabeth to write a pamphlet called the “Necessity of Atheism” for the college. He refused to take responsibility for his work on the pamphlet and was expelled for his behavioral issues. His expulsion lead him to a marriage with a 16 year-old Scottish schoolgirl, Harriet at the youthful age of 19. This marriage only lasted three years before Shelley decided to leave his wife, child, and unborn baby. After he left, Shelley soon found out that his wife had recently passed away. He ran back to fight for the custody of his two children he left behind. He tried to help his case by marrying a writer, Mary Wollstonecraft. Shelley’s efforts were unsuccessful in winning custody because he was denied this due to his atheistic beliefs. Throughout his short life, Shelley lived in both England and Italy while traveling periodically to Scotland, Switzerland, and France. Through these travels he was able to meet many other poets while also working on many of his works. Some famous poets Shelley became associated with were John Keats and Lord Bryon. Shelley’s Life came to a sudden halt after drowning on July 8th, 1822 while sailing. Even though his works were not famous during his lifetime, they spread rapidly after and strengthened his legacy of one of the greatest English Romantic poets. Shelley wrote plays like “Queen Mab”, Gothic novels such as Zastrozzi, and classic verse works like Ozymandias.
“Ozymandias”
ReplyDeleteBy
Percy Shelley
I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things,
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed;
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
Ozymandias is clearly a sonnet, which somewhat counteracts the whole idea of the Romantic Era in that it is a very structured type of poem. The structure has a small flaw because it does not follow the Petrarchan pattern and has the ABABACDCEDEFEF rhyme scheme. Shelley’s poem tells a story while using an interesting point of view. The poem is written with the narrator talking about a statue that he was told about from someone who saw the sculpture. Many of the discriptions written were explicit and clear. Shelley develops the importance of the sculpture and its “half sunken” head in the sand and the “frowning” “passions” “stamped on [the] lifeless [rock] designed to glorify the living king, Ozymandias, of the desert by simply explaining the image. This sculpture was partially falling apart while decreasing in authority. Ultimately the theme of Shelley’s poem was to portray a once arrogant and powerful king being destroyed metaphorically through the image of the sculpture fading in the sands of a desert far away. This artistic story line and lyrical flow of the poem further exemplifies why Percy Shelley is a well-known Romantic poet.
While William Lisle Bowles may have been more praised as a critic than a poet, he was a poet nontheless. His poems were mostly known for their vivid imagery and real-life feel Bowles created them with. He was of the belief that real life posed more interesting subjects to convey through poetry than writing from the inanimate objects of life. While he was criticized by fellow poets for his unorthodox writing style, Bowles continued to explore the beautiful realms and hidden secrets of the world and tried his best to convey them to his readers. Bowles believed the youth to be the most beautiful subjects on Earth. He studied children and teenagers often, examining their care-free attitudes and endless bliss. What struck Bowles the most was their neverending love for life, something he believed was lost as people grew older.
ReplyDeleteIn Youth
Milton, our noblest poet, in the grace
Of youth, in those fair eyes and clustering hair,
That brow untouched by one faint line of care,
To mar its openness, we seem to trace
The front of the first lord of the human race,
Mid thine own Paradise portrayed so fair,
Ere Sin or Sorrow scathed it: such the air
That characters thy youth. Shall time efface
These lineaments as crowding cares assail!
It is the lot of fallen humanity.
What boots it! armed in adamantine mail,
The unconquerable mind, and genius high,
Right onward hold their way through weal and woe,
Or whether life's brief lot be high or low!
Within this poem, Bowles pleads to the human face to never lose that childish curiosity and love for life. He begs them to never lose interest in who they are and what they are to become. Bowles was a firm believer that the mind was indeed a terrible thing to waste and he wanted humans to follow this trend as well. The constant want for more out of lifeis something us humans lose as we grow in life. We tend to become lethargic and ho-hum about our positions, becoming too content for our own good. Bowles is by no means condemning this content, but rather pushing humans to discover just how happy they truly can be.
Samuel Coleridge was born in 1772 and died in 1834. Regarded as a prominent poet during the early Romantic period, Coleridge was credited as influencing another highly regarded poet, Wordsworth, who often sought advice from Coleridge. Coleridge is also known for inventing “conversational poetry”, which is using everyday language to express themes and messages within poems. Unfortunately, he also encountered adverse effects that crippled him as a person. Suffering from depression and anxiety along with unhappy marriage(which he later ended), Coleridge turned to the addictive substance of opium in hopes of curing his pains. His hopes to cure his mental illnesses were dashed when he became addicted to opium, which later caused his family to alienate him and ultimately, his death. One poem which exemplifies Coleridge’s Romantic poetry is “Work without Hope”.
ReplyDelete“Work Without Hope”
All Nature seems at work. Slugs leave their lair –
The bees are stirring – birds are on the wing –
And Winter slumbering in the open air,
Wears on his smiling face a dream of Spring!
And I the while, the sole unbusy thing,
Nor honey make, nor pair, nor build, nor sing.
Yet well I ken the banks where amaranths blow,
Have traced the fount whence streams of nectar flow.
Bloom, O ye amaranths! bloom for whom ye may,
For me ye bloom not! Glide, rich streams, away!
With lips unbrightened, wreathless brow, I stroll:
And would you learn the spells that drowse my soul?
Work without Hope draws nectar in a sieve,
And Hope without an object cannot live.
With 14 lines, this poem is clearly a sonnet with a rhyme scheme of ABABBBCCDDEEFF, thus it is neither a Elizabethan or Italian sonnet. Coleridge begins the sonnet talking about different aspects of nature that work to prepare themselves for the Spring season ahead after a long, cold winter in hiding. His aim in writing about the “bees” and “birds” is to show how their work exemplifies what he states in the last two lines of the poem; work, whether for animals or humans, is done to seek hope. He then links this statement back into a circle by saying that work brings people hope in order to live. Coleridge also inserts himself into the poem by onlooking onto the busyness the spring months conjure up in nature. This gives a deeper meaning to the poem by contrasting the busyness of nature and his peaceful onlooking perspective to show the isolation and disconnection he felt in the world around him, which extends to how Coleridge felt in his actual life. Coleridge’s message and derivation of the title, “Work without Hope” is clearly stated within the ending couplet, which is that work without hope equivocates to a life not meant for living.
William Wordsworth (1770-1850), an Englishman, is often cited as the father of Romantic poetry. He was among the first generation of what became know as the era of Romantic poets. His poems are often about nature. Wordsworth studied at Cambridge. Later, he met Coleridge who stimulated him to write Lyrical Ballads which contained an opening by Coleridge. A largely autobiographical, as well well known, poem of his is The Prelude. It is very long and philosophical. In 1807 he published Poems, In Two Volumes. He died in April of 1850.
ReplyDeleteDaffodils:
I wander’d lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vale and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host of golden daffodils:
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.
Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the Milky Way,
They stretch'd in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed -- and gazed -- but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.
The title is simplistic, yet stimulating. It reflects upon spring time, and evokes interest in the deeper meaning of the poem. Daffodils represent a new beginning for life and the flowering of joy. The rhyme scheme is ABABCC. The poem flows very well. Never a pause, he narrates continuous phrases creating a stream of imagery. Wordsworth uses devices such as personification: “I wandr’d lonely as a cloud” and similies “continous as the stars that shine”. He also employs hyberbole with “ten thousand saw I at a glance” and inverted sentence structure: “Then my heart with pleasure fills” and “When on my couch I lie.” His diction is elaborate and flowery as was expected from Romantic poets. He also compares the daffodils to stars. Stars are a segway to dreams. Dreams provide freedom and a fresh start. So the poet is searching for an escape. This aligns with the Romantic era and its desire to break free and provide contrast for the norm.
Great annotations everyone! You are all picking up on the title's effect on the impression of a work and analyzing the author's messages within the poetry. It is great that you all are learning more about Romantic authors.
ReplyDeleteNow future bloggers may answer the original question or follow this redirection.
Now when annotating focus on one theme that you see in the Romantic poem you choose. Themes often include libertarianism, nature, the exotic, and the supernatural, rather than focusing on mainly the desire for freedom, which has been answered thoroughly. Still briefly note the background on your author to help make a connection.
@Bracey: Well spoken, very eloquent. Biography was accurate, and great interpretation of the poem.
ReplyDelete@Prutha: Good job focusing on the materialistic view of the audience, also including the rhyming scheme was helpful.
@Caroline: Focusing on Keats was a good change to read about. I liked how you mentioned a poem not widely known.
@Kelsie: The background you provided was very detailed. The focus the impact Atheism had on his writing was a good touch.
@ McCleod: The poem you chose was very interesting to read. I liked your view on society.
@Tasha: The annotations you did were very thorough. It really interpreted to poem beautifully.
@ Anna Cait: Your focus on the title was an interesting change. You impressed well the impact of spring on the poem.
Capel Lofft (1751-1824) didn't just purse the writing of poetry as he wrote on a multitude of topics, but he did hang with some of the literary men of his time. He was left a handsome estate when his father and uncle died granting him some comforts unknown to other writers. Although ridiculed for his immature poetry, I believe he had a certain air about that which he wrote.
ReplyDeleteAbsence:
I love: and day by day, as absent, pine
Barr'd from her sight and converse whom I love:
And yet the fair by plighted vows is mine;
Mine by affection far those vows above
Mine by possession;--O the bliss divine;--
Nor can my heart her constancy reprove.
Why does she then society decline
With me, me whose desires never from her remove?
O night, return and give her to my arms!
Full of constraint and tedious is the day.
Though the same roof enshrine her wedded charms
Though on my board beam her benignant ray.--
O, haste the hour when private and alone
Joys only she can give shall be my own!
It is obvious that he is writing about a girl, the one he loves, and it shows through his intense diciton that he misses her and cannot wait until the day they can be united. He brings in snips of nature to elaborate his feelings, such as calling nightfall to hasten so that he may once again hold his beloved in his arms. It almost seems ironic that he is desiring freedom with his beloved as he repeatedly states in the beginning that she is his, "mine by affection...mine by possession..." It is clear that although he is not up to the standards by which other romantic poets were writing, he doesn't completely focus on the supernatural, or freedom, or nature, he does focus on releasing his inner emotions, this emotion turning out to be love.
John Keats (1795-1821)
ReplyDeleteJohn Keats was born on October 31, 1795 in central London. Not only his father, but also his mother died before he reached the age of fifteen. After schooling, he started a medical apprenticeship. He wrote poems for most of his life, but it was not until four years before he died that any of his works were published. Many of his poems were influenced by his medical career because of all the different things that he encountered and the emotions that they brought about in him. Sensual imagery is used in his writing because of his skill and desire to have the reader make a connection to the liberation and natural appreciation of the simple emotions and features of emotion.
Bright Star
"Bright star, would I were stedfast as thou art--Not in lone splendour hung aloft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart,
Like nature's patient, sleepless Eremite,
The moving waters at their priestlike task
Of pure ablution round earth's human shores,
Or gazing on the new soft-fallen mask
Of snow upon the mountains and the moors
No--yet still stedfast, still unchangeable,
Pillow'd upon my fair love's ripening breast,
To feel for ever its soft fall and swell,
Awake for ever in a sweet unrest,
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath,
And so live ever-or else swoon to death."
In his poem, Bright Star, John Keats is making a connection between nature and love. In life the natural beauty of the things that surround us are common and familiar to many. He highlights these things and makes a comparison to the emotion of love that he is also feeling. This gives a sense of freedom that is associated with his new found feeling. The title of the poem is a symbol. The bright star could symbolize his heart and how it lead the way to find his true love. He wants to “feel for ever its soft fall and swell,” and be engourged in its overwhelming sense of joy that it brings into his life. He uses the comparison of nature because during his time period it was not right to so deeply express ones passion and emotions. Keats breaks from the norm, but does so in a clever way. He is able to express himself through his writing ability and say all the points that he wanted to make.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge, born in 1772, was an integral figure in helping kick-start the Romantic Movement in the early 19th century. Coleridge and his fellow colleague, Wordsworth, began this movement. It signified a departure from the “Enlightened” movement that stressed inductive and deductive reasoning (Advocated by John Locke and Thomas Hobbes.) Romanticism stressed a strong tie to emotions, often times without justifiable evidence of these inner feelings. Coleridge’s poem On a Discovery Made Too Late serves as a perfect example of the emotion attached to romantic poetry during this era,
ReplyDelete“Thou bleedest, my poor Heart! and thy distress
Reasoning I ponder with a scornful smile
And probe thy sore wound sternly, though the while
Swoln be mine eye and dim with heaviness.
Why didst thou listen to Hope's whisper bland?
Or, listening, why forget the healing tale,
When Jealousy with feverous fancies pale
Jarr'd thy fine fibres with a maniac's hand?
Faint was that Hope, and rayless!--Yet 'twas fair
And sooth'd with many a dream the hour of rest:
Thou should'st have lov'd it most, when most opprest,
And nurs'd it with an agony of care,
Even as a mother her sweet infant heir
That wan and sickly droops upon her breast!”
The poem speaks volumes about the raw emotion involved in this writing style. He utilizes a hyperbole in line one to exaggerate his heart as “bleeding” to signify his pain. Also, Coleridge tied in a lack of hope to “rayless,” which means that there isn’t a chance hope will shine through on his situation. Coleridge also describes the hardships of raising a child indirectly by using metaphors to signify the difficulty and distress. This sonnet features a common rhyme scheme for the romantic era. The rhyme serves to add flair and create a more fluid poem in which readers can not only understand and relate to, but also to enjoy.
One of the most famous poets of the Romantic Era was George Gordon, or as he was commonly known, Lord Byron. Lord Byron’s fame comes not only from his writings but also from his decadent life style, described as Lady Caroline Lamb as “mad, bad and dangerous to know”. Born on January 22, 1788 in Scotland, he inherited the title and estate of Baron Byron at the age of 10. He wrote poems since he was 14. He was involved in several high profile love affairs and eventually exiled himself from England, spending time fighting the Turks and attemoting to liberate Greece. He died of an illness contracted while in Greece.
ReplyDeleteSonnet on Chillon
Eternal Spirit of the chainless Mind!
Brightest in dungeons, Liberty, thou art;--
For there thy habitation is the heart,--
The heart which love of thee alone can bind;
And when thy sons to fetters are consigned,
To fetters, and the damp vault's dayless gloom,
Their country conquers with their martyrdom,
And Freedom's fame finds wings on every wind.
Chillon! thy prison is a holy place,
And thy sad floor an altar, for 'twas trod,
Until his very steps have left a trace,
Worn, as if thy cold pavement were a sod,
By Bonnivard! May none those marks efface!
For they appeal from tyranny to God.
This poem is very representative of the Romantic spirit. The Romantics placed great faith in the coming of a great human transformation, which they felt would come after the French Revolution. In this poem Byron expresses the importance of the human mind and liberty, this importance is shown through the capitalization of these words. This poem also reflects the violence of the French Revolution, with “damp vault’s dayless gloom” it also features echoes of hope and reverence for nature in the last two lines of the first stanza. This poem by Lord Byron, one of the most recognizable of the Romantic Era, writes a poem that highlights many of the traits and ideals of the era.
Although a devout supporter of English monarchy, Wordsworth's philosophical ideologies flowed with the revolutionist sailors in a sea of Romanticism. During the abhorrent bloodshed throughout the Reign of Terror in Paris, Wordsworth delved into other’s theories in an attempt to find some solace. However he was gravely disappointed by conformist rationalism by authors like William Godwin. His original emotionally empathetic literary style struck home in the hearts of many, thus revolutionizing the literary movement.
ReplyDelete"The Solitary Reaper"
BEHOLD her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain, 5
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
No Nightingale did ever chaunt
More welcome notes to weary bands 10
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands:
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard
In spring-time from the Cuckoo-bird,
Breaking the silence of the seas 15
Among the farthest Hebrides.
Will no one tell me what she sings?—
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow
For old, unhappy, far-off things,
And battles long ago: 20
Or is it some more humble lay,
Familiar matter of to-day?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,
That has been, and may be again?
Whate'er the theme, the Maiden sang 25
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;—
I listen'd, motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill, 30
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more.
Although a devout supporter of English monarchy, Wordsworth's philosophical ideologies flowed with the revolutionist sailors in a sea of Romanticism. During the abhorrent bloodshed throughout the Reign of Terror in Paris, Wordsworth delved into other’s theories in an attempt to find some solace. However he was gravely disappointed by conformist rationalism by authors like William Godwin. His original emotionally empathetic literary style struck home in the hearts of many, thus revolutionizing the literary movement. Wordsworth ends with the them of memory by saying “The music in my heart I bore, Long after it was heard no more,” or in other words he conveys the powerful impression the woman’s song leaves on him that will last within his memory forever.
@Sydney: The parallel you drew between the girl he is writing about and nature was well written. The quote you used portrayed this effectively.
ReplyDelete@Taylor: Also another great blog on nature of the earth and human nature of love.
@ Tyler: Very thorough biography! Great job pulling out the hyperbole.
@ Ryan: Good textual evidence in the biography. Also, focusing on the Romantic era was a good touch.
@Alexander: Great diction and syntax, as expected ☺