1. The Romantics
Most of the Romantic writers thought that imagination was more important than reason and this attitude was reflected in their poetry.
The Romantic period is a time which began in the mid/late 18th century. During this time, writing, paintings and poetry were heavily influenced by natural, emotional and personal themes.

3. William Blake
© William Blake Yale Center for British Art, Yale Art Gallery Collection, Gift of Charles J. Rosenbloom, B.A. 1920
He published his most popular collections of poems, Songs of Innocence, in 1789 and these poems were accompanied with illustrations that Blake had drawn. Five years later he published a collection called Songs of Experience which directly contrasted with those from the Innocence collection.
William Blake was a painter and a poet and a key Romantic figure. Although he wasn’t really recognised during his lifetime, his work has since become very famous and he has been referred to as ‘far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced’.

4. © John Keats, 1816, Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
John Keats
One of his most famous poems is called ‘To Autumn’ and has been described as a love letter to autumn. He wrote it after going for a walk in Winchester, and it was one of the last poems he wrote before his death.
Keats was another poet whose work didn’t do particularly well when he was alive, but he has since become one of the most celebrated Romantic poets.
Tragically, he died of tuberculosis when he was just 25.

5. John Clare
John Clare, the son of a farm labourer, grew up in humble surroundings and he only stayed in school until he was eleven. As an adult, his poetry didn’t sell very well and he never made very much money. His mental health suffered and he was admitted to a mental asylum where he lived on and off until his death.
Many of his poems were centred around nature and the rural year. One of his most famous poems is ‘Autumn’ in which he describes his love of the autumnal weather.