GATE 8

Welcome! In order to find out who the mystery poet is, first examine a variety of clues that we have left for you. As soon as you do this, you will then proceed to the next room where you can guess who the poet is! Depending on how much you learn from the clues will help you in the end! Good luck.

The Romantic Era Mementos Works by the Mystery Poet Letter from the Past Possible Poet’s Biography Poet Comparisons

To The Future Generations: My dear friends, admirers, I hope that when you find this capsule, it will not be too late. I intend to give you some information and possessions that were with me from my time in the “Romantic Era”. I was a friend of poetry. The great philosopher, William Godwin was my father-in-law and inspiration for my writing. I hope that my works including Adonais and Ode to the Wind will give the gift of imagining with creativity power that I feel everyone has. You all have “godlike” personalities in you no matter no matter who you are. Nature will also always be around. Let yourselves wonder and do not bind yourself to such limits even if you think something is wrong. Personally, I choose the path of revolution where I had the power of “free thought” and believed what I wanted to. I hope that nature will continue to be an important aspect in of life that will inspire you and the reflection you bestow on society. Sincerely, Your Mystery Poet

Map of Sussex, England Painting of Wife Quill Ashes of His Heart Book of Keats

As a writer in the romantic era, he did not have a variety of tools we have today, one being the pen or pencil. He used the quill which is a large feather of the wing or tail of a bird. It is used with a jar of ink in order to write. One would simply dip the quill in the ink and press lightly in order to produce writing.

At the age of seventeen (1814), she began a relationship with one of her father's political admirers. The mystery poet and Mary started meeting secretly at her mother's grave and their relationship flourished. However, Mary’s father discovered their growing love for each other and immediately tried to finish the relationship, without success. The couple travelled to France with her step sister Claire Clairmont and returned when they were broke. Upon their return, Mary was pregnant and her father refused supporting her. In 1816, the spent their summer with Lord Byron, Claire's affair at the time. The bad weather confined them to the house and they spent much of their time talking about galvanism and reading ghost stories.

In August 4, 1792, he was born at Field Place, a broad-fronted country house set on an estate/working farm in Sussex. As a child, he freely roamed its several farms and heavily wooded grounds. Field Place was "improved" by consecutive owners over the years, however the house has been restored to its eighteenth-century look by Kenneth Prichard Jones (past president of the Keats-Shelley Memorial Association). The house is composed of several architectural elements. The original thirteenth-century section held the kitchen in Shelley’s time.

After his death by drowning, his body was cremated in the presence of his friends Edward Trelawny and Leigh Hunt. Strangely, Shelley's heart did not burn and was retrieved from the fire by Trelawny, who gave the heart to Hunt, who ultimately gave it to the deceased's’ wife. The heart was finally buried in 1889 along with the body of his son Sir Percy Florence. In a 1955 article in The Journal of the History of Medicine, Arthur Norman suggested that he may have suffered from "a progressively calcifying heart... which indeed would have resisted cremation as readily as a skull, a jaw or fragments of bone." His ashes were stored for several months in the British Consul's wine cellar in Rome before eventually being buried in the Protestant Cemetery. When his wife died in 1851, her husband's heart was found amongst her belongings. It was actually wrapped in one of the pages of Adonais - his famous poem to Keats. Edward Trelawny and Leigh Hunt during the cremating of his body.

He and Keats were essential admirers and good friends. When he was exiled to Italy for his strongly held beliefs and the need to escape from the clutches of money lenders, Keats sailed over for the benefit of his health. Later on, when learning of Keats's illness, She kindly asked him to stay with his family in Italy. Keats politely refused. In the Spring of 1821, upon Keats's death, Shelley wrote the beautiful elegy Adonais (published July 1821). The next year, he drowned and when his body was found, a volume of Keats's poetry was discovered in his pocket. He was an obvious an admirer of Keats' poetry.

Ode To The West Wind “If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear; If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee; A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share…” Adonais “I weep for Adonais -he is dead! O, weep for Adonais! though our tears Thaw not the frost which binds so dear a head!” Masque of Anarchy “I met Murder on the way-- He had a mask like Castlereagh-- Very smooth he look'd yet grim; Seven bloodhounds followed him:...”

Ode To The West Wind (1819) InspirationSummary The narrator of this poem talks greatly about the power of the West Wind. He lists a series of things the wind has done that illustrates its power: driving away the autumn leaves, placing seeds in the earth, bringing thunderstorms and stirring up the seas and oceans. He wishes that the wind could use its power over him as it does to nature. Knowing the wind cannot do this, he asks it to play him like an instrument in order to bring out the sadness within him. The speaker also ponders if the wind can help him spread his ideas all over the world, possibly inspiring others. The West Wind of autumn brings in a cold period of winter, but isn’t winter always followed by a spring? The poet is directly speaking to the wind and its power to do as it wants. He explains how it takes charge of nature having the power to both preserve or destroy all in its path. The poet shares that the wind over the Mediterranean Sea was an inspiration for the poem. Recognizing its influential control, the wind becomes a metaphor for nature’s overwhelming spirit. He looks to nature’s power to assist him in his poetry and prays that the wind will deliver his words to others as it does with all other objects in nature.

Adonais (Spring 1821) Inspiration Summary In the poem, the author is mourning the death of his good friend, Keats. John Keats had entered a state of unhappiness after being pounded by horrible reviews on his poetry. After his death, the mystery poet came to mourn and announced that Keats should be remembered forever. In his story, Keats is given the name Adonis. Adonis is a Greek god who was loved by Venus and died at a very young age, being torn apart by wild boars. This reference to the myth symbolizes his belief that Keats dies because of his depression over his literary criticism. He also urges his readers not to weep for Keats because he is not dead; it is the living who are dead. He has gone where "envy and calumny and hate and pain" cannot reach him. The poet tells himself he should now depart from life, “ I am borne darkly, fearfully, afar; Whilst, burning through the inmost veil of Heaven, The soul of Adonais, like a star, Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are.” On February 1821, Keats dies in Rome. It was not until some weeks later that the author found out about his friend’s death. They weren’t very close because they had only met a minimum of times and there had been a few letters sent to one another. Shelley had shown and had invited Keats to be his guest. He also knew of the attacks on Keats' poetry. His own poetry had been reviewed the same way. When the report of Keats' death reached him, the poet was convinced that Keats had dies because of such bad reviews. He then decided to write Keats a defense against the Tory reviewers. The result was Adonais.

Masque of Anarchy (1817) Inspiration Summary The speaker is sleeping in Italy when he is awoken by a voice from England. He is summoned back to his home nation to witness a recent massacre. He personifies Murder, Fraud, Hypocrisy, various Destructions, and Anarchy in the story. Anarchy leads armed forces through England and the “seven bloodhounds” annihilate the innocent people. Anarchy claims to be God, King, and Law, and only few choose to follow him. As his forces proceed wreaking havoc, even Hope cries out in despair. After all the destruction, a mist of hope emerges and revives others and kills Anarchy. The land of England seems to speak and asks its people to rise and retake their freedom. “ “Rise like lions after slumber In unvanquishable NUMBER! Shake your chains to earth, like dew Which in sleep had fall'n on you: YE ARE MANY-THEY ARE FEW.” 'The Mask of Anarchy' was written as a response to the 'Peterloo Massacre’. On the 16th of August, 1819 the area around St. Peters Square, Manchester, played host to the growing outrage of over 60,000 peaceful protesters. The Massacre occurred during a time of massive political tension and protests. Fewer than 2% of the population had the right to vote, and hunger was widespread with the terrible corn laws making bread unaffordable. An estimated 18 people, including a woman and a child, died from deep cuts and trampling. Over 700 people received serious injuries which were all in the name of liberty and freedom from poverty. The people gathered to demand parliamentary improvement however were charged by the sabre-wielding cavalry. The result was a bloody massacre and Shelley’s response, The Masque of Anarchy.

Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumbria, England and was orphaned at the age of eight. He studied in Hawkshead Grammar School which began his passion for writing, and for poetry. Wordsworth continued on to go to Saint John’s College, and then left for a journey all over Europe. While touring the continent, he came across the French Revolution, and it influenced his early poems. In 1802, he married Mary Hutchinson, and had five children. His most famous work, The Prelude, was a piece he worked on throughout his career, to his death. He also met Samuel Taylor Coleridge, another poet.

Born on January 22, 1788, in Aberdeen, Scotland, he took his family’s English title of baron. He was abandoned by his father and he hated his mother. He studied poetry at the Aberdeen Grammar School and made his first pieces there, although they were deemed obscene. At 20, he was faced with heavy debt and bad reviews, so he started to travel around the Mediterranean. When he returned to England from his trip, he was suddenly famous, and had love affairs, one such example being with Percy Bysshe Shelley’s sister in law. Soon he was forced to leave again, and began to work on his most famous poem, Don Juan. It was never finished, but became one of the most famous long poems.

Percy Bysshe Shelley was born on August 4, 1792 at Field Place near Horsham, Sussex England. He was the son of Timothy and Elizabeth Shelley. In 1804, he went to Eton College where he studied for 6 years. There, he published his first novel, Zastrozzi. In this novel, Shelley expressed his opinions about atheism. In 1810, Shelley entered Oxford University and became good friends with Thomas Jefferson Hogg. In 1811, Shelley was expelled for publishing and distributing “The Necessity of Atheism”. In 1811, he ran away with Harriet Westbrook to Scotland. In 1812, Shelley met his hero, the author of Political Justice, William Godwin, political philosopher. Shelley eloped with Mary (daughter of Godwin) in With improved finance and health, in 1815, Percy Shelley had time to write poetry and so he published the verse allegory, Alastor, or The Spirit of Solitude. In December of 1816, it was discovered that Harriet committed suicide by drowning herself in the Serpentine River, in London. After Harriet’s death, Shelley and Mary officially get married. In July, 8, 1822, shortly before his thirteenth birthday, Shelley drowned in a storm in the Gulf of Spezia, in his ship, Don Juan.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on October 21, 1772 in Devenshire, England. He loved reading in his childhood and learned at his father’s school until his father died. He then started to learn at Christ’s Hospital School, where he made friends like Tom Evans and Charles Lamb. His father wanted Coleridge to be a clergyman, so he attended Jesus College, University of Cambridge. He was also in debt, and met a scholar named Robert Southey when he was on his way to Wales. They both began to work on a play after their marriages, and in its progress, he wanted to be in law, but with no other backup, he continued to write. His marriage was unhappy, and his partner, Sarah Fricker stayed apart. He was also addicted to opium.

Browning was born on May 7, 1812 in Camberwell, England. His mother was a skilled pianist and his father was a devoted Christian. Due to his family’s collection of books, he was already a skilled reader and writer by the age of five. He learned in three languages at fourteen, while being home schooled to 16 years old. In 1825, his cousin gave him a Percy Bysshe Shelley poem. He then became an atheist and vegetarian, and enrolled in the University of London briefly, quitting since he wanted to learn at his own pace. By 1833, he was publishing his first poems, and soon married Elizabeth Barrett, while they were working together on poems. He wrote a collection of poems titled Men and Women for her, and it was one of his best regarded works. In 1861, Elizabeth died, and began to write many poems, and then died himself, just publishing Asolando.

Now that you have been given the chance to examine some information about the mystery poet and other poets of the Romantic Era, you can now take a guess to who he is!!! If you guess wrong, you can go back and take a closer look at the information. If you guess right, HOORAY! We hope you enjoyed learning about poets of the Romantic Era. ;)

"William Wordsworth." Poets.org. N.p.. Web. 28 Nov "George Gordon Lord Byron." Poets.org. N.p.. Web. 28 Nov "Samuel Taylor Coleridge." Poets.org. N.p.. Web. 28 Nov "Robert Browning." Poets.org. N.p.. Web. 28 Nov "Free Poetry." Ode to the West Wind by Percy Shelley Poetry. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec "Alastor; Or, The Spirit of Solitude." By Percy Bysshe Shelley : The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Dec "Percy Shelley: Poems Summary and Analysis." Percy Shelley: Poems Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "Adonais" N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec guide/section11/ "Shelley's Poems By Percy Bysshe Shelley Summary and Analysis Adonais." Adonais. N.p., n.d. Web. 03 Dec "Percy Shelley: Poems Summary and Analysis." Percy Shelley: Poems Study Guide : Summary and Analysis of "The Mask of Anarchy" N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec "The Masque of Anarchy." The Masque of Anarchy. N.p., n.d. Web. 04 Dec "The Mask of Anarchy." The Mask of Anarchy. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec "History of The Peterloo Massacre." History of The Peterloo Massacre. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec "Percy Bysshe Shelley." Shelley. N.p., n.d. Web. 08 Dec "Shelley's Heart." The New York Times. The New York Times, 06 Aug Web. 08 Dec < Mary Shelley - Biography." Mary Shelley. N.p., n.d. Web. 07 Dec shelley/biography/