Romantic PeriodPoetry Notes

Robert Burns

1759-1796A Scottish FarmerDevoted to collecting and rewriting Scottish

folk songsWrote the lyrics to “Auld Lang Syne” which

people still sing today at New YearsHe wrote about the common, rustic lifeWrote in Scottish dialect- a choice, he could

write in the “King’s English”

Dialect – the speech characteristic of a particular region or group“Y’all have a real nice day now! I reckon the

rain’ll stop any minute”

“I told ya to pa’k the ca’ and get back hea’ quick.”

“Crikey mate! Ah didn’ see ya behin me there.”

“He’s as fit as the butcher’s dog! Too bad he is such a git!”

American Southern

Bostonian

Australian

British slang

SimileA figure of speech that makes a comparison

between two seemingly unlike things by using a connective word such as like, as, than, or resembles.

EX:He is like a cheetah on the football field.

“The holy time is quiet as a nun,” ~Wordsworth

The SPEED of the man is being compared to the SPEED of a Cheetah.

The QUIETNESS of the Time is being compared to the QUIETNESS of the Nun.

William Blake1757 – 1827Poet and ArtistHappily married to the same woman

(Catherine Boucher)Never travelled – lived in London most

of his life (all but three years)People thought his work and ideas were “mad”

and so thought Blake must be a little crazy tooThe bible had a great impact on his work

“I must create a system or be enslaved by another man’s.”

The Number of the Beast

Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience“The Songs of Innocence and Experience, a series of

illustrated lyrics, were first published as a combined volume in 1794, although the Songs of Innocence were first engraved in 1789, and the Songs of Experience in 1793 - 4.”

It is “a set of thematically related lyrics organized by a general principle of wishing to show the contrast between the state of Innocence (childhood, idealism, youthful joy, the lamb) and that of Experience (disillusionment, social criticism, world-weariness, and combination of energy and violence of the 'Tiger').”

http://www.newi.ac.uk/rdover/blake/songs_of.htm

Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772 -1834

Attended Cambridge University

Reputation for being curious

Left university w/out a degree-headed to autopian colony

Thought Wordsworth was the better poet

Philosopher – he laid the foundations for literary theory

A painful life: his marriage collapsed, addicted to laudanum (alcohol/opium mixture, prescribed as a painkiller- given to

infants!), and an inability to discipline his mind

“Kubla Khan”

Written in a reverie (dream) brought on by opiumWhen interrupted by a visitor at his door, he could not

complete the poem.He had been reading the history of Kubla Khan,

grandson of Ghengis Khan.

text analysis: sound devices“Kubla Khan” is a poem that begs to be read aloud. The soundsof the words evoke almost as much as their meaning. Coleridge

uses a variety of sound devices to unify his stanzas, create amood, and delight the ear. These sound devices include:

• alliteration—the repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words, as in Kubla Khan

• consonance—the repetition of consonant sounds in the middle and at the end of words, as in As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted

• assonance—the repetition of a vowel sound in two or more stressed syllables that do not end with the same consonant, as in ceaseless turmoil seething

• onomatopoeia—the use of words whose sounds echo their meanings, such as burst

Create a chart on the back of your Dream paper that looks like this one:

Keep track of the different kinds of sound devices used. Find one example of each (you must find one besides the one given)

Alliteration Assonance Consonance Onomatopoeia

Kubla Khan (line 1)

As e’er beneath a waning moon was haunted (line 15)

ceaseless turmoil seething (line 17)

Burst (line 20)

PersonificationGiving human traits (qualities, feelings, action, or

characteristics) to non-living objects (things, colors, qualities, or ideas).

Examples:The cars dance across the icy road.

The heartbeat of the city.

The sky cried buckets during the storm.

Describes the cars movement- cars cannot dance, but the movement looks like a human would.

The city has not true heart, yet we are using this description to say the city seems alive and to say that the place where the “heartbeat”

is must be the center of the city’s energy.

The sky cannot cry or be sad, but it helps make the storm seem sad and that there was a lot of rain.

Metaphora figure of speech in which a term or phrase is

applied to something to which it is not literally applicable in order to suggest a resemblance

Example:Juan was a hurricane on the basketball court.

The assignment was a breeze.

Life is a highway, I want to ride it. (Credit to Rascal Flatts)

Juan had a lot of speed and power when playing basketball.

The assignment was light – easy to complete.

Life passes by fast! Think of how the song meaning changes if life is a winding, back road.

William Wordsworth 1770-1850An orphan by age 13Unhappy with choices for life – educated man with no title, wealth, or business prowessA long walking tour led him to pursue poetryHe and his sister, Dorothy, moved close to poet

Samuel Taylor ColeridgeColeridge and Wordsworth greatly influenced one

another and their works.Poet Laureate 1843A minor government officialFamily secret: He fathered an illegitimate child in

France

Poetry is the “spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling.”

Nature’s PowerWordsworth loved nature in all forms.

He believed it made him a better person.

Loving nature:Quiets his mindLightens his moodguides him to kind actsBrings him closer to God.

I WANDER'D lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales 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 shineAnd twinkle on the Milky Way,They stretch'd in never-ending lineAlong 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 thoughtWhat wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lieIn vacant or in pensive mood,They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;And then my heart with pleasure fills,And dances with the daffodils.

George Gordon, Lord Byron George Gordon inherited his title, Lord Byron, when his

cousin died. George was only 10 at the time.He “awoke one morning,” as Byron later said, “and

found myself famous.” – after publishing poemsObsessive determination to prove himself:

Extraordinarily handsome; had a club foot; learned swimming, boxing, and horse riding; had a glandular problem that led to obesity, so he went on brutal binge diets

Shocking private life:Relations with half sister, AugustaSeparated from wifePro-FrenchIllegitimate child

“She Walks in Beauty”

Byron satirized Wordsworth and ColeridgeHe was pals with the Shelleys, Mary and

Percy – their friendship marks his most productive time of writing

He died of fevers at age 36

Supposedly inspired by Lady Wilmot Horton, whom he saw at a ball

Lady Horton was in mourning at the time and was dressed, as was the fashion, in a black dress with glittering spangles

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 -1822)Attended Oxford but was expelled when he published a

pamphlet on atheism (belief that there is no god) Believed human thought and expression had the power to

change life for the better Unconventional:

He eloped at age 19 with 16 yr old Harriet Westbrook 3 yrs later, he ditches her for MARY SHELLEY, a 17 yr old daughter

of two famous intellectuals (he also brought along Mary’s half sister, Claire, who became the mother of Byron’s bastard daughter, Allegra)

After Harriet’s suicide, Percy and Mary marry. (He also abandons his two kids with Harriet)

Percy’s death at age 29 was due to drowning while he was boating in a storm. The coast guard and Percy’s friend tried to get him to turn around, but he refused.

Percy’s wife, MARY SHELLEY, is the author of Frankenstein, which she wrote at age 19 while on vacation with Percy visiting their friend, Lord Byron.

OzymandiasWritten as part of a contest with

KeatsInspired by an Egyptian artifact

exhibit (Ozymandias is Greek for Ramses II)

The poem is a sonnet – fourteen linesThere are _________ speakers in the poem:

The “speaker”The “traveller”And Ozymandias

Themes – the test of time and to be careful of PRIDEIrony in 2 ways:

Ozymandias says to look at all he has accomplished, yet it is all dilapitidated

Shelley’s message is that our works will not last, yet his poem is still being read!

John Keatsorphan at 14started learning medicine at 15completed medical training and was a

doctor by age 20Became a poetnursed brother Tom, who was sick with T.B.contracted T.B. as well and, as a doctor, knew his diagnosis

was fatalfell in love with Fanny Brawne but, due to illness and

money, was never able to marryonly time he travelled was when he knew he was dying-Italydied at 25 - a great poet during a short lifetime - many

other famous poets, had they the same life length, would never have been known (Shakespeare, Milton, Chaucer, Wordsworth)

“When I Have Fears”A SonnetKeats died within three years of writing this

poemKeats establishes three fear:

that he will never be able to write all that he desires

That he will never have a true romance- fall in lovethat he will no longer see those he loves

The turn- located in line 12-13-14 Keats says the way he handles his fears is that he allows the

panic to sink away to nothing- realization he has no controlWhy might Keats not be quite as okay with death as it

seems? "I may cease"

Fanny Brawne, John’s love