British Romantic Poets

AP HUMA 1950:
Rayanna Ricketts
Saimah Kermali
Zarin Rahman
WHAT IS ROMANTICISM?

late 18th to the mid 19th centuries

The era of romanticism that followed the enlightenment was an artistic and intellectual

movement in Europe. The Romantics opposed the values of the Enlightenment and focused more

on nature of love, emotion, innocence of children, Nature, dreams, storms, suffering, truth and

beauty. While the enlightenment establishes reason as the foundation of all knowledge

romanticism established that reason cannot explain everything. That there’s more to the truth like

emotion and imagination. Romantics searched for deeper meanings of life and the world which

led to changes in how things like literature, individuals and artists were viewed.

Romanticism is often referred to as the birth of a new set of ideas which was represented or seen

through the works of artists, poets and philosophers. Romantic literature was portrayed through

lyric poetry (short poem that impresses personal emotions or perceptions) This was considered

less highly civilized and therefore closer to nature.

British Romantic Poets

William Wordsworth

Born to John and Ann Cookson Wordsworth,

William Wordsworth was born on April 7, 1770 in Cockermouth, Cumberland, England

Wordsworth was appointed as a poet laureate in 1843. A poet laureate is an honorary position

appointed by the monarch of the United Kingdom, while there are no specific duties of this

position the poet is expected to write for significant national occasions. Wordsworth was a poet

laureate for 7 years before he died on 23 April 1850 of pleurisy.

Of all his works his masterpiece is considered to be The Prelude. He began the writing

Autobiographical Poem that at the age of 28 and continued to work on it throughout his life. The

final version was published months after Wordsworth's death in 1850. The title was given to it by

his widow Mary.

Wordsworth’s is considered to be one of the founders of English Romanticism His poetry

exhibits Romantic characteristics. He portrays the positive aspects of Romanticism emphasising

on imagination, feeling, emotion, human dignity and significance of Nature.

Samuel Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge was born on October 21, 1772 in the remote Devon village of Ottery

St. Mary. He was the tenth and youngest child of Ann Bowdon Coleridge and John Coleridge

A Romantic poet, literary critic and philosopher Coleridge was also considered to be founder of

the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets.

Coleridge wrote his first poems when his brother and sister died in 1790 and 1791 respectively.

Around this time, he was very sick and started to take laudanum (tincture of opium containing

approximately 10% powdered opium by weight) which began his lifelong addiction of opium
He got into a lot of debt because of his addiction and therefore joined the army. After his

discharged was arranged by his family, he went back to Cambridge and met Robert Southey

through whom he met Wordsworth and his wife. In 1798, a collaboration between Col and

William the famous Lyrical Ballads was published, this was considered to be the beginning of

the Romantic movement. On 25 July 1834,

Coleridge passed away peacefully leaving only books and manuscripts behind. The main themes

of his poems were supernatural, fancy, imagery, Nature, dramatic change, mystery, musical

touch and suspension of disbelief. These features of his work represent he was considered a

romantic poet

Lord Byron

George Gordon Byron was born on January 22, 1788, London, England. The Byron was the only

child of Captain John Byron (known as 'Jack') and wife Catherine Gordon who was an heiress.

At the age of 10 he inherited the title and estates of his great-uncle and he took seat in the

House of Lords in 1812. He was a politician who actively participated in the parliament to stand

up for disadvantaged groups. although he was a great poet and an active politician, he was more

famous for his many scandalous love affairs. Despite being insecure about his looks because of

his clubfoot lord Byron had multiple affairs with MEN and a woman and one of them even being

his stepsister. Lord baron had 3 children of whom one was illegitimate, and another was

apparently the result of his affair with his half sister.Byron died in Greece in 1824 from a cold

when he was about to enter battle on behalf of the Greeks

William Blake

William Blake 28 November 1757 at 28 Broad Street in Soho, London. He was the third of seven

children to James and Catherine Harmitage Blake. Blake's father, James, was a hosier. William

Blake was not only a poet, but he was also an artist, engraver and printmaker. He would refer to

himself as a craftsman. Blake was not that well known during his lifetime for his work but today

he is considered to be one of the most important figures in the history of not only poetry but also

art. It is said that Blake saw “mystical worlds” beyond the ordinary that he portrayed in his

poems and painting. For this he was often considered to be a little insane. Blake’s works such as

Europe (1794) and America (1793) were also inspired by the riots and chaos he witnessed in his

life.

“Poems of William Blake can offer a profound symbolism and also a delightful childlike

innocence.”

Blake died on august 12, 1827. He was buried in an unmarked grave at the public cemetery of

Bunhill Fields.

Percy Bysshe Shelley

Shelley was born on 4 August 1792 at Field Place, Broadbridge Heath, West Sussex,

England. He was the eldest of 6 children of Sir Timothy Shelley (1753–1844), Member of

Parliament and his wife, Elizabeth Pilfold.

He attended the university of oxford for a year only and then was expelled for being atheist
Shelley was married (for the second time after his first wife killed herself) to Mary, author of

Frankenstein and a Great friend of Byron’s.

Shelley’s work portrayed the two extremes of English Romanticism joyous ecstasy and brooding

despair. Shelley also had far-reaching social, political views which he expressed through his

work, sometimes because of this, publishers refused his work so as to not face blasphemy. For

this reason, he was not famous in his lifetime but gained popularity after his death. Shelley’s

poetry reflects passion, beauty, imagination, love, creativity, political liberty and nature.

 “Ozymandias” was one of his major contributions to the English Romantic poetry, published in

1818

“Shelley strongly believed in realization of human happiness.”

Shelley died on 8 July 1822, less than a month before his 30th birthday he drowned at sea

John Keats

Keats was born in Moorgate, London, on 31 October 1795 to Thomas Keats and his wife,

Frances Jennings. He was the eldest of four children, the youngest had died at infancy

He was orphaned at the of 14 when his mother died of tuberculosis, his father had passed when

Keats was 8 years old

During his lifetime Keats was not associated with other major Romantic poets. Keats had a

liberal education in the boy’s academy at Enfield and trained at Guy’s Hospital to become a

surgeon, but he had no formal literary education. Which is why liberal, conservative reviewers
always attacked his work. He wrote sonnets, odes, and epics and most of his great works were

written in a single year. His poetry is known for its vivid imagery and great sensuous appeal.

In the year 1821, John Keats died of tuberculosis at the age of 25

The poems

We are seven by William Wordsworth

The poem begins with the speaker contemplating what can a child know about death. He then

comes across a beautiful 8-year-old little girl, who he describes as rustic. The speaker asks the

young girl how many siblings she has. And she says that they are 7. when asked where they are

the girl says two are away in another, two are at sea and two lie in the churchyard while she lives

with her mother in the cottage. At first the speaker asks how they can be seven if four of them

are away, and the little girl once again says that they are seven. This time the speakers says that

they are five if two of them are dead. The girl then goes on to describe how she often sews there

or has her supper by their graves. She explains to the speaker how her sister Jane died of sickness

and that she and her brother john would play around her grave. But soon her brother john died

too. The rest of the poem the speaker goes on to try to show the girl that two of her siblings are

dead how can they be seven, but the little girl remains adamant

"Nay, we are seven!"

This poem has sixteen four-line stanzas, and one five-line stanza. The stanzas have a b a b

rhyming pattern. And apparently Samuel Coleridge wrote the first few stanzas of this poem.
The poem by Wordsworth represents two elements of Romanticism; Tragedy and innocence of

children. Tragedy in the untimely death of the young girls’ sibling and innocence in the girl’s

words when she says that they are still seven; even though two are laid beneath the tree

  Wandered Lonely as a Cloud by William Wordsworth

The poem begins when the speaker walking around comes across a beautiful field of daffodils. 

The sight of the daffodils seemingly waving, fluttering, and dancing along the side of the water

mesmerizes the speaker. In the last stanza of the poem the speaker talks about how when he is in

a tense mood or perplexed the beautiful scene of the daffodils flashes in his mind bringing him

unimaginable happiness 

This poem has four stanzas of six lines each and follows the pattern a b a b c c also known as

quatrain-couplet. The themes of romanticism that are found in the poem are of nature, memory,

and spirituality. The speaker here in the poem appreciates a scenery of nature that he sees when

he comes across the daffodils. Then he moves on to remembering the flowers to bring him peace

in a time of need

“The flowers are there to comfort him in real-time but also as a memory from the past.”

Music, When Soft Voices Die By Percy Bysshe Shelley

The poem M.W.S.V.D is a death poem. It is considered to be about the death of a loved one.

Shelley begins the poem talking about music, saying that music remains even when the singer
dies or is stopped being played. He talks about the how smell of violets linger even after the

flower has died because we know the smell by memory. He then says that when roses die, the

leaves are used to decorate a loved one’s bed. And when the loved one is gone, love for that

person still remains

The poem consists of two stanzas with four lines in each. It follows a a b b rhyming pattern.

This poem was written in 1821, but was published by his widow Mary, author of Frankenstein in

1824 two years after Shelley’s sudden death from drowning. She said that these (they were many

other works) were written in the spur of the moment and never improved.

“Many of the Miscellaneous Poems, written on the spur of the occasion, and never retouched, I

found among his manuscript books, and have carefully copied: I have subjoined, whenever I

have been able, the date of their composition.”

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"The Romantic Poets." Web. 12 Nov. 2020.