Romantic Poetry
Characteristics of Romanticism
Romanticism saw a shift from a faith in logic and reason to a faith in the senses, feelings, and imagination. Thinkers of Romanticism sought out rural landscapes and examined their relationship with the natural world. There was also a significant interest in the mysterious and exotic. In this topic, you will explore the work of many great poets of British Romanticism, but first take a moment to familiarize yourself with the characteristics of the movement. In this interactivity, explore five characteristics of Romanticism. Click the player button to begin.
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Early Romanticism
The Romantic movement is generally recognized as beginning in 1798 with the landmark publication of Lyrical Ballads. However, Romanticism had its roots in the literature of writers who were active in the last decades of the 18th century. In this interactivity, you will learn more about writers of emerging Romanticism as well as the Lake poets. Click the player button to begin.
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William Blake
In 1757, William Blake was born in London to a middle class family. In his childhood, Blake took drawing classes and was an avid reader. At the age of fourteen, he was apprenticed to a master engraver named Basire, who later sent Blake to Westminster Abbey to make drawings of monuments that Basire was commissioned to engrave. Blake's time at Westminster established his Romantic sensibilities and inspired his later poetry. In 1782, Blake married Catherine Boucher, who would remain his devoted companion for the rest of his life. He taught Catherine to read and enlisted her as an assistant in his artwork. Blake made a modest living as an engraver and illustrator while spending much of his spare time writing poetry. A fiercely independent thinker, his viewpoints were often ahead of his time. For example, he believed in equality for women, opposed organized religion, and rejected the institution of slavery. Even though he is generally considered part of the Romantic movement, favoring mystical and spiritual elements over understanding derived from reason, he often embraced artistic styles reminiscent of earlier movements, such as the Renaissance and Neoclassicism. Blake never attained celebrity or significant recognition before his death in 1827. His ideas about art and life were so counterculture to those of his contemporaries that he was dismissed as radical or eccentric. His idiosyncratic behavior and opinions eclipsed his artistic achievement until the 20th century when scholars finally began to recognize his contributions to art, literature, and philosophy.
Access and read the poems "The Lamb" and "The Tyger" by William Blake. "The Lamb" was published in a volume called Songs of Innocence. Its counterpart is the poem "The Tyger," which was later published in Songs of Experience. Blake intended for "The Tyger" to be read as a direct contrast to "The Lamb." Each of the poems makes use of a regular rhyme scheme and frequent repetition. As you read the poems, note the similarities and differences within each piece and pay careful attention to the meaning of the two creatures.
"The Lamb" and "The Tyger"
Now that you have read both "The Lamb" and "The Tyger," take a moment to compare and contrast the structure and themes of the poems. A Venn diagram can help you to organize information about the poems by identifying in what ways the poems differ and in what ways they are the same. In this interactivity, drag and drop the descriptions of the poems in the correct places on the Venn diagram. After you have finished, you may want to take a screenshot or print a copy of it for your notes. Click the player button to begin.
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William Wordsworth
William Wordsworth was born in 1770 in a scenic region of England known as the Lake District. He was very close to his sister Dorothy and would remain so his entire life. After his mother died, Wordsworth was educated in Hawkshead Grammar School and later attended Cambridge where he earned a Bachelor of Arts. In 1790, Wordsworth decided to go on a walking tour of Europe. During his time in France, Wordsworth became a supporter of the French Revolution because he believed that it would help the oppressed. It was during this time that he fell in love with a woman named Annette Vallon, who became pregnant with his first daughter, Caroline. Before Caroline was born, Wordsworth had to return alone to England for financial and political reasons. He reconnected with his sister Dorothy and met another radical poet named Samuel Taylor Coleridge. in 1798, Coleridge and Wordsworth published Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poems that is now regarded as the beginning of the Romantic movement. Wordsworth married his childhood friend, Mary Hutchinson, and had five children with her, three of whom survived to adulthood. In 1843, Wordsworth accepted the position of Poet Laureate of England and served in this capacity until his death in 1850. By this time, he generally venerated as a master poet whose early ideas of poetry and politics were radical and new. It was because of Wordsworth that people began to develop a broader view of nature, seeing it as a source of beauty that inspires emotions.
Access and read "The World Is Too Much With Us" by William Wordsworth, who often used his poetry to highlight the ills of society. Although Wordsworth spent the majority of his life living in the scenic Lake District, he was also familiar with the hustle and bustle of London city life. As you read the poem, think about what problems the speaker addresses and consider whether those same issues are relevant today.
"The World Is Too Much With Us"
After reading "The World Is Too Much With Us," do you agree with the concerns of the poem's speaker? Did you find the poem difficult or easy to understand? How did you interpret the phrase "sleeping flowers"? Some people consider the sleeping flowers as a symbol of people's numbness to to the beauty of nature. Yet others focus on the potential for waking up in the future and appreciating nature again. Even though most people agree on the theme of the poem, there are numerous ways to interpret each line. All reasonable interpetations are valid, including your own. So take a moment to review one possible interpretation of "The World Is Too Much With Us" and compare it to your own interpretation of the poem's meaning. Click the player button to begin.
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Samuel Taylor Coleridge
In 1772, Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born the last of ten children in rural Devonshire, England. By the time he was eight years old, both of his parents had died, and he was sent away to a charity school in London. Coleridge was an avid reader and studied the works of the ancient Greeks and Romans along with Shakespeare and Milton. He was an intelligent, successful student, but his childhood was overshadowed with feelings of loneliness and isolation as he was not able to visit often with his family. His would struggle with episodes of depression for most of his adult life. In 1795, Coleridge married Sarah Fricker, but the marriage proved to be an unhappy one. Also in 1795, Coleridge met William Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy. In 1798, Coleridge and Wordsworth published Lyrical Ballads, a collection of poetry that marked the beginning of the Romantic era. Among Coleridge's most famous contributions to the volume is his poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner." Later, Coleridge studied German literature and philosophy and made a living composing essays, poetry, and literary criticism. He also gave a series of lectures on literary works, sparking renewed interest in such works as Shakespeare's Hamlet. Coleridge was prescribed opium to treat severe pain and eventually became addicted, leading to the estrangement of his wife and a terrible argument with his friend, Wordsworth. Eventually, a caring physician helped him with his addiction and provided him with housing. He died in 1834 with many of his works unfinished, but his ideas continued to inspire many generations of writers.
Access and read "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Kubla Khan, also spelled Kublai Khan, was a Mongol ruler during the 1200s (khan is the Mongol word for "chief" or "ruler"). According to Coleridge, one evening he fell asleep while reading about Xanadu [zan-uh-doo], the summer palace of Kublai Khan. In his dream, he saw amazing visions of an exotic paradise, and after awakening, he hurriedly jotted down what he saw in his vivid dream. However, he was interrupted when a visitor stopped by, and by the time Coleridge returned to his poem, he could not recall most of the remaining details from his dream. As you read "Kubla Khan," focus on how word choice conveys a sense of the exotic and faraway. In the final lines of the poem, who do you think has the "flashing eyes"? And how do you interpret the drinking of "the milk of Paradise"?
"Kubla Khan"
In the context of Coleridge's dream, "Kubla Khan" is a poem that remains incomplete, just a "fragment of a vision," as Coleridge referred to it. Yet the final stanza serves as the synthesis of the prior two, tying together the themes of a lush and majestic nature and daring human supremacy over beauty and art. Hover your cursor over each of sections below to learn more about Coleridge's poem "Kubla Khan."
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"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner"
Although Coleridge's poem "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is today one of the most famous poems from Lyrical Ballads, the work was not embraced with great enthusiasm in Coleridge's time. A supernatural story about the adventures of a cursed mariner, most of its initial fans were sailors. Critics frowned upon Coleridge's use of archaic spellings, such as verb forms ending in "th" and ancient mariner spelled as "ancyent marinere." He also used obsolete words such as eftsoons. Coleridge later added marginal notes that elaborated on the story, but even his friend and fellow poet Charles Lamb found the notes obstructive and distancing. Although Wordsworth found many weaknesses in the poem, he elected to include it in further editions of Lyrical Ballads, even to Coleridge's protest.
Yet, the tale of the ancient mariner is so intriguing that it continues to hold a place in art and pop culture today. For example, the expression "an albatross around one's neck" alludes to an event in the story and today refers to a heavy burden that one must carry due to negative behavior. In the sport of baseball, a catcher who experiences a subpar performance might be called an "ancient mariner" in reference to the opening of the poem, "It was an ancient Mariner, / and he stoppeth one of three."
Access and read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The poem opens with a young man who is about to attend a wedding feast, but he is stopped by a mysterious old mariner. The wedding guest is compelled to hear the mariner's tale of sin, punishment, isolation, and redemption, all set against a backdrop of adventure and supernatural elements. As you read the poem, ask yourself the following question: Did the mariner's punishment fit the crime?
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a frame story, or a story within a story. The main narrative revolves around a young man who is stopped on his way to a wedding feast and hears the tale of an old mariner. The adventures of the ancient mariner make up the secondary narrative. In this interactivity, check your understanding of the poem by retelling the main plot events of the story. Click the player button to begin.
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The Late Romantics
The early Romantics, such as Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge, did much to usher in the Romantic movement and imbue literary art with themes of nature, emotion, and the supernatural. However, it was not long before a new wave of Romantic writers took the "literary stage." Although they were greatly influenced by the first wave of Romantic writers, new poets such as John Keats, Percy Bysshe Shelley, and Lord Byron began discarding some of the ideas and styles of earlier Romantics. Sometimes they drew from influences that predated Romanticism. Often they developed themes and poetic structures that were refreshingly new and inspired by the social, political, and natural world around them. The most famous three poets of the late Romantics all suffered tragic, early deaths; but all three managed to leave an indelible mark on English poetry within their short lifetimes. Now you will explore some of the works by these three poets.
John Keats
John Keats lived a very brief yet influential life. He was born in 1795 in London. Orphaned by the age of fourteen, he began an apprenticeship in London with Thomas Hammond, a respected surgeon and apothecary. Keats excelled in his medical training but eventually decided to dedicate his life to poetry. With the encouragement and enthusiastic support of fellow poet Leigh Hunt, Keats spent the last four years of his life writing and publishing his poetry, which received mixed reviews. Keats helped care for his ill brother, Tom, who died in late 1818 of tuberculosis. After Tom's death, Keats lodged with his friend Charles Brown in the newly built Wentworth Place, where he composed many of his famous odes. It was there that he also met Fanny Brawne, his greatest love interest and the subject of some of his poems. In early 1820, Keats suffered two serious lung hemorrhages from tuberculosis. On the recommendation of his doctors, he set out for Italy with his friend Joseph Severn in hopes that the warmer climate would improve his condition. Despite Severn's devoted attention and care, Keats's condition worsened, and he died in early 1821 at the young age of twenty-five. In the last year of his life, he wrote in a letter to Fanny: "I have left no immortal work behind me—nothing to make my friends proud of my memory—but I have lov'd the principle of beauty in all things, and if I had had time I would have made myself remember'd." Little did Keats know that his brief yet prolific writing career would be celebrated as one of the greatest contributions to British literature.
Think about your greatest goals and aspirations in life. Now consider how you might feel if your dreams for the future may not come true. This fear of unfulfillment is the primary concern of one John Keat's most popular poems. Access and read "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be" by John Keats. As you read the poem, identify the two main fears of the speaker. Also, pay close attention to the last two lines of the poem. How do you interpret the resolution?
"When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be"
While you were reading "When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be" by John Keat's, did you identify the speaker's fears? Do you think that the poem ended on a negative note or a positive note? How do you interpret the resolution? In this interactivity, you will take a look at an analysis of each of the quatrains and the final couplet. Click the player button to begin.
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"Ode on a Grecian Urn"
An ode is a formal poem about a serious theme, usually in praise of a person, event, or other subject. Long ago, odes were composed by ancient Greek poets, who also performed the odes in song. These traditional odes had a very specific structure, but later odes found in poetry, such as those by John Keats, embraced more varied structures.
Artwork of the Sosibios Vase traced by John Keats
In 1819, Keats composed a series of odes that is today considered among the greatest in the English language. One of these poems is "Ode on a Grecian Urn," an account of the speaker's reaction to viewing a beautiful work of art known as an urn. Although they sometimes serve as a type of container to store items, urns are also used as purely decorative pieces. In addition to odes, the ancient Greeks also created elegant, decorative urns that were meant to be admired. Keats had access to the artwork of these Grecian, or ancient Greek, urns. He read about them in articles, viewed some of their artwork in British museums, and even traced a sketch of an authentic Grecian urn known as the Sosibios Vase. Keats was among many who considered ancient Greek art as the pinnacle of artistic expression and worthy of an ode.
"Ode on a Grecian Urn" is not about any one particular urn but an imaginary urn inspired by Greek art. In the first stanza, the speaker is admiring and addressing the urn directly, describing it as a "Sylvan historian." The following three stanzas each describe a scene that adorns part of the urn:
- a man attempting to court his lover
- musicians playing music in the spring
- a religious rite involving animal sacrifice
The final stanza finishes developing the theme of the poem and revolves around the relationship between truth and beauty. The stanza's famous line "Beauty is truth, truth beauty" has been hailed as representative of the Romantic ethos. What do you think Keats meant by "beauty" and "truth"?
Access and read "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats. As you read the poem, think about the role that the speaker's imagination plays in the portrayal of the urn's art. What themes about life and art do you identify in the poem?
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Percy Bysshe Shelley was born to an aristocratic English family in 1792. In 1810, he began attending Oxford, but he was expelled less than a year later after publishing a radical pamphlet called The Necessity of Atheism. Then in August of 1811, Shelley eloped with a young woman named Harriet Westbrook. Shelley's father disapproved of his son's life decisions, eventually disowning him and leaving him in financial hardship. Shelley continued to write and develop his thoughts on such topics as religious freedom, the Irish cause, rebellion against any form of authority, free love, and the plight of poor people. In October of 1812, Shelley finally met in person one of his literary heroes William Godwin. Shelley would eventually meet Godwin's three daughters, including Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin and Claire Clairmont. As his marriage with Harriet disintegrated, Shelley spent more and more time with Mary, a companion who was his intellectual equal. The two fell in love and later married after Harriet's death. In the spring of 1816, the Shelleys journeyed to Switzerland with Claire to meet with the poet Lord Byron. The scenery of Lake Geneva and the intellectual stimulation of discussions with Byron proved very inspiring to Shelley. He spent the last four years of his life in Italy, producing some of his most famous works, including his verse drama Prometheus Unbound. While sailing in a boat off the shore of Italy in July of 1822, Shelley's boat sank in rough weather. His body washed ashore several days later, just shy of his thirtieth birthday. In his coat was a copy of Keats's poetry and a volume of Sophocles.
Access and read "Ode to the West Wind" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. The speaker of this famous ode describes the majestic and natural power of the West Wind, described as both "destroyer and preserver." The speaker uses "the incantation of this verse" to make an important request to the West Wind. As you read the poem, pay attention to what the speaker asks of the West Wind. After reading the poem, consider whether the tone of the poem is one of hope or one of despair. How do you interpret the last line of the poem?
"Ode to the West Wind"
Romanticism often highlights the splendor and awe of nature, whether a humble skylark, the autumn season, or the powerful wind. Shelley's "Ode to the West Wind" features much imagery of nature, especially in the first three sections, or cantos. One way to analyze this poem is to set it in the framework of the four "elements" of nature: earth, sky, water, and fire. In this interactivity, you will take a closer look at how the speaker connects the West Wind to all of these elements in a cycle of life, death, and rebirth. It is through the speaker's prayer to the West Wind that he hopes to take part in this rebirth, thus attaining spiritual enlightenment, reclaiming artistic inspiration, and freeing himself from "the thorns of life." Click the player button to begin.
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"Ozymandias"
Ozymandias is the Greek name for an ancient Egyptian pharaoh known as Ramses II. During his reign, Ramses II ordered grand and magnificent building projects, including colossal statues of himself. According to the ancient Greek writer
Diodorus Siculus, one such statue had the following inscription:
"I am Ozymandias, king of kings. If any would know how great I am and where I lie, let him excel me in any of my works."
In 1817, the British Museum announced its acquisition of a fragment from a large statue of Ramses II. Anticipating its arrival from Egypt, Shelley engaged in a friendly competition with his friend and fellow poet Horace Smith to write a poem about the statue. Shelley's poem was published in January of 1818, and Smith's was published a month later. Unfortunately, Shelley never got to see the famous bust, which came to be known in Britain as "The Younger Memnon." Weighing over seven tons, the statue fragment took longer than expected to make its long, precarious journey, and Shelley had already set off for Italy by the time the statue arrived. However, Shelley's "Ozymandias" never disappoints even to this day, alluded to in a wide range of contemporary movies, TV shows, novels, songs, and plays.
Access and read "Ozymandias" by Percy Bysshe Shelley. This famous poem is about the statue of a great pharaoh who challenges anyone to surpass him, according to "a traveler from an antique land." The arrogance and pride of the ruler is juxtaposed with the truth of his mortality; the only thing that remains of this fallen titan is the ruined remains of his statue among the boundless desert sands. After you read "Ozymandias," reflect on possible themes from the poem, such as mortality and the passing of time, the longevity of art, and human pride. How is the sculptor compared to the pharaoh?
Lord Byron
George Gordon Byron was born in an aristocratic family in 1788. When he was ten years old, he inherited the Barony of Byron of Rochdale and eventually came to be known as Lord Byron. Although he was considered extremely handsome, his lameness due to a deformed foot affected his self-confidence. While attending Trinity College at Cambridge, Byron indulged in gambling and love affairs while accruing much debt. In 1809, he toured Europe and journeyed as far as Turkey, using the experiences of his travels as the inspiration for his narrative poem called Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Published in 1812, the poem received critical acclaim and instantly made Byron a celebrity. Most of his following publications were eagerly anticipated by readers and quickly sold out. Byron eventually settled down with a wife and had a daughter named Ada. However, his wife left him soon after Ada was born, accusing him of bisexuality and incest with his half-sister Augusta. With his reputation declining, Byron fled to the continent in 1816, never again to return to England. Byron continued to write poetry, drama, and satire, producing such works as Don Juan and The Prisoner of Chillon. In 1823, Byron traveled to Greece and donated much of his own money to help the Greeks fight for independence from the Turks. In February of 1824, he fell ill before he had a chance to see battle. In April, his condition worsened and he passed away at the age of thirty-six. Today Byron is still revered as a national hero in Greece and one of the greatest writers of the British Romantic movement.
Access and read "She Walks in Beauty" by Lord Byron. The poem's speaker admires a beautiful woman from afar and describes her laudable qualities. As you read the poem, think about how the ways that Byron chooses to describe the beauty of the woman compare to the ways that other poets describe a figure who is lovely. If you were to write a poem about a beautiful person, what features or characteristics would you highlight in your poem?
"She Walks in Beauty"
Like other great Romantic poets, Byron challenged conventional views of truth and beauty. His tender poem "She Walks in Beauty" is an exemplary testament to Romanticism's rejection of traditional ideals. Byron effectively uses contrast to demonstrate how seemingly opposing concepts actually work together to create a beautiful harmony. In this interactivity, take a closer look at examples of contrast in "She Walks in Beauty." Click the player button to begin.
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The Byronic Hero
"Mad, bad and dangerous to know." This is how one of Lord Byron's lovers famously described him. Byron lived a largely unconventional life, scoffing at traditional social norms and always seeking to "live on the edge." Naturally, the protagonists of his works often shared Byron's restless spirit, especially his character Childe Harold from his epic narrative poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. Based largely on this character and deriving its name from Byron himself, the Byronic hero is a character archetype described as a dark, brooding, and handsome person who eschews social conventions yet is also sensitive and passionate. English historian and critic Lord Macaulay perhaps best described the Byronic hero as "a man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection." Today the Byronic hero is considered a precursor to the popular antihero archetype.
Romantic Poetry Review
Now that you have explored the characteristics of Romantic literatuer and explored the works of six famous Romantic poets, it is time to review your knowledge and practice what you have learned. In this non-graded activity, read the questions and select the appropriate answers. Click the player button to get started.