Romantic Poets 17891832

1
Romantic Poets1789-1832

• William Blake
• William Wordsworth
• Samuel Taylor Cooleridge
• John Keats
• Lord Byron
• Percy Shelley

2
Basic Concepts of Romanticism

• The connection of poetry to the poet
• Poetic spontaneity and freedom
• Romantic / Nature poetry?
• The glorification of the commonplace
• The supernatural / strangeness in beauty

3
Poetry and the poet

• The poem is completely self-originating, flowing
  from the poets experience
• Poets feelings and emotions are of the utmost
  importance, not subject and audience
• The poem is an attempt to express the inner-self
  of the poet, not to critique the outside world

4
Poetic Freedom

• The poem is not something to be crafted over much
  time
• The spontaneous overflow of emotions-
  W.W.
• More structural freedom than in the past
  (however, many sonnets and standardized forms are
  still common)
• Inspiration and capture of a single moment

5
Nature Poetry?

• To see a heaven in a grain of sand / And the
  universe in a wild flower / Hold infinity in the
  palm of your hand / and eternity in an hour
  W. B.
• Nature is a way to unlock the inner-world
• Few romantic poems are actually about nature
• While they may begin with a natural depiction,
  any description can provide the necessary
  catalyst for inspiration (W. W. Composed Upon
  Westminster Bridge)

6
Glorification of the Common

• Many of the themes of the romantics are rural,
  rustic, everyday life
• The common man is lifted up, the simple life is
  revered
• This is a move that affirms the individual, who
  in all urban parts of England was being exploited
  and mistreated

7
Strangeness in Beauty

• There is an otherness to much of their poetry
• The supernatural or imaginative is often involved
  (Coleridge)
• The mind is a window to the infinite
• Different conception of beauty (van Gogh)

8
Overview of Romanticism

• While there are many similarities between the
  various poets, only Coleridge and Wordsworth and
  Byron and Shelley really collaborated with one
  another.
• Look for thematic and stylistic similarities more
  than common topics. (Ex. Tintern Abbey and Rime
  of the Ancient Mariner seem totally different
  how are they similar?)
• Remember the context in which they wrote early
  industrial revolution in order to understand
  their disdain for a fasted-paced world of
  modernity.