Romantic Poets

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner First poem in the collection Lyrical Ballads (1798) Imitates earlier ballads in style But uses supernatural and gothic imagery to introduce the element of romance Tale of crime and punishment

Opening lines: an old sailor stops 3 men who are on the way to a wedding. He chooses one of the men to whom he tells his story. The man is the bridegroom’s closest relative but he is not able to break away from the mariner

Poetic elements: Repetition Important element in ballad Used by Coleridge to reinforce power of the sailor’s gaze –Line 37 repeats line 31 –Lines repeat lines 18-20

Themes Sin, punishment and redemption –Killing the albatross is a violation of the sacred natural order –He sees human beings as the measure of all things not just a part of the natural order of things –He cannot be redeemed until he recognizes that man is not master of the world but a part of it

Percy Bysshe Shelley Shelley’s A Defense of Poetry –In this Shelley explains the role of poetry in a society Poets explain the inspiration of nature Poetry is the mirror of the society Poets present the true emotion of the people and influence the way society develops. The poet is the voice of new ideas that can change the world

His poetry reflects his attitude towards English society: against what he saw as hypocrisy and injustice. “Ozymandias” describes the ruins of an ancient statue –Theme : all is vanity –Irony : the inconsistency of what is said with the reality (appearance vs. reality)

–3 kinds of irony: dramatic, verbal, situational Find examples in the poem of each. “Ode to the West wind” –an ode is a long lyric poem. Characteristics are: Serious subject Formal style Elaborate stanza structure

How does this poem fit the definition of Ode? –The subjects are life, death, and spiritual rebirth. The style is formal with use of apostrophe, and complicated grammatical structure, and formal rather than conversational vocabulary.

–Time of year? –A kind of invocation or prayer Each part of the poem ends with a request “Oh hear” –An apostrophe that addresses the wind as a natural deity or spirit

–Paradox presented in lines –Part 2: the west wind is driving storm clouds across the sky; sound of wind is like a funeral song; winter darkness covers earth like the vault of a tomb –Part 3: the changes that winter brings to the ocean –Part 4: What is he saying about death, specifically his death? –Part 5: Shelly’s poem is a private rather than public ode—giving his personal feelings.

The ideal poetic attitude is to be able to forget oneself in concentrating on the subject of the poem Keats is a poet of ideas He focuses attention on the subject of his poetry not on himself as poet. John Keats

“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” –A ballad Setting: a cold hillside as winter approaches The first 3 stanzas provide background for the story In the last 9 stanzas, the Knight answers the question asked at the beginning

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” –Celebrates the urn as a perfect work of art –The timeless beauty achieved by the artist –Art remains as a symbol of truth and beauty even when the artist himself is gone –A moment of time trapped in the vase

Victorians And a little later

Alfred Lord Tennyson “Ulysses” –A dramatic monologue –Theme: tells of the need to go forward in life even though it is a struggle –Tells the story of Ulysses after he has returned home from the Trojan War –The story of an aging hero who wants one last adventure.

Robert Browning “Porphyria’s Lover” –The two characters of the poem The woman (Porphyria) who is in love but perhaps considers her lover beneath her socially The man who decides to make it so she can never leave him –The setting: a meeting place for the lovers

A. E. Houseman “To an Athlete Dying Young” –Is it preferable to die at the height of one’s glory rather than settle into mediocrity? “When I Was One and Twenty” –The young live without thinking of the future and the consequences of the choices that we make.