1. The Romanticism and the Romantic Poets Study Guide/Notes
William Wordsworth
John Keats
Lord Byron
Percy Shelley
Samuel Coleridge

2. About the Romantic Period 1785-1830
About the word “Romanticism:
Derives from Roman and the 'Romances' written during the Middle Ages (King Arthur…)
'Romantick' was often used in the 18th century to mean magical, dramatic, surprising.

3. Defining the Romantic Period 1785-1830
Artistic and intellectual movement that originated in the late 18th century
Impacted literature, art, music
Stressed strong emotion, imagination, freedom from classical correctness in art forms, and rebellion against social conventions
Rejected order, harmony, balance, idealization, and rationality.

4. Characteristics of Romantic Poetry
Subjective (internal, not external realities)
Irrational (crazy, psychotic)
Imaginative (dreamlike)
Personal (experiences related to)
Spontaneous
Visionary
Transcendental (going outside of reality to experience feelings, emotions…)

5. About the Romantic Period 1785-1830
Central theme: Nature and its interaction with humanity
The American and French Revolutions were being fought during this timer period.

6. Literary Terms – 4 minutes
Allusion
a brief reference to a person, event, or place, or to a work of art that is drawn from history, geography, literature, or religion.
Dian’s visage (from Othello, referring to the goddess Diana)
Alliteration
Repetition of the initial sounds of several words in a group.
EXAMPLE: I have stood still and stopped the sound of feet.“

7. Literary Terms 5 minutes
Apostrophe
when the speaker of a poem speaks to something non-human
EXAMPLE: Busy old fool, unruly sun, Why dost thou thus, Through windows, and through curtains call on us?
Assonance
The repetition of vowel sounds.
Hear the mellow wedding bells-
Consonance
The repetition of consonant sounds with differing vowel sounds in words near each other in a line or lines of poetry.
We rush into a rain That rattles double glass.

8. Literary Terms - 5 minutes
Figurative Language - a type of language that varies from the norms of literal language, in which words mean exactly what they say.
Examples of figurative language include a simile and metaphor.
Imagery is language that evokes one or all of the five senses: seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, touching.
Internal Rhyme
rhyming within a line.
Example: I awoke to black flak.

9. Literary Terms - 5 minutes
Metaphor – A comparison of two unlike things using the verb "to be" and not using like or as as in a simile.
Example: He is a pig. Thou art sunshine.
Personification- is giving human qualities to animals or objects.
Example: a smiling moon, a jovial sun
Simile - Comparison of two unlike things using like or as
Example: He eats like a pig. Vines like golden prisons.

10. William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
Born in the Lake District
Wrote “Lines Composed A Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”
Wrote “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud”
Wrote “She was a Phantom of Delight”
Worked closely with Samuel Coleridge
Published “Lyrical Ballads” – ( a collection of poems)
Uses simple diction in his poetry

11. Lord Byron (1788-1824) Wrote “She Walks in Beauty”
Wrote “We’ll Go No More a-Roving”

12. John Keats (1795-1821) Wrote “Ode to A Grecian Urn” Wrote “O Solitude”
Was friends with William Wordsworth and Percy Samuel Coleridge.
Died when he was 25 years old.
During his short life, his work was the subject of constant politically motivated critical attack, and it was not until much later that his work was fully appreciated.

13. Percy Shelly (1792-1822) Wrote “Ozymandias”
Wrote “Ode to the West Wind”
Married to Mary Shelley (his second wife) , who wrote Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus
died drowning in a storm.

14. Samuel Coleridge ( )
Coleridge is probably best known for his hypnotic long poem - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Also wrote “Kublah Kahn”

15. Samuel Coleridge ( )
In roughly 1796, at 24 years of age, Coleridge started using opium for medical purposes to cure his rheumatism.
Opium has been a major item of trade for centuries, and widely used as a painkiller and sedative. Many patent medicines of the 19th century were based around laudanum (a solution of opium in alcohol). Opium can also be smoked, sometimes in combination with tobacco.