WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ROMANTICISM SERIES

According to Coleridge, his poem Kubla Khan came to him in an opium-induced dream after reading a work about Chinese emperor Kublai Khan. His two other long form poems are Kubla Khan (1816) and Christabel (1816). He is forced to wander the Earth sharing his story due to his earlier mistakes. The sailor is cursed by supernatural powers and is only able to return home when he appreciates the animals and nature around him. This poem tells the story of a sailor’s journey and his experiences on the ship. Of his three major poems only one is complete: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1798). While Wordsworth was much more meditative and calm, Coleridge was the opposite and lived a more uncontrolled life. This poetry is written in blank verse and is extremely personal and intimate in nature, with much of the content based on the author’s life.Ĭoleridge and Wordsworth were very good friends and the two often influenced each other.

WILLIAM WORDSWORTH ROMANTICISM SERIES

Conversational poetry was the literary genre most commonly used by Wordsworth and Coleridge, with the latter writing a series of eight poems following the genre structure of conversational verse and examining higher ideas of nature, man, and morality. His greatest piece is The Prelude (1850), a semi-autobiographical, conversation poem that chronicles Wordsworth’s entire life. This poem praises the beauty of music and shows the outpouring of expression and emotion that Wordsworth felt was necessary in poetry. One of Wordsworth’s well-known works is “The Solitary Reaper” (1807). He felt it could provide a source of mental cleanliness and spiritual understanding. This also aided in expressing human emotion. Poets of the period instead used everyday words that the average person could understand.

This was one of the first collections of poems that strayed from the more formal poetic diction of the Neoclassical Period.

Scholars say that the Romantic Period began with the publishing of Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He was also known for his beautiful drawings, which accompanied each of these poems. These collections of poetry are some of the first to romanticize children, and in these works Blake pits the innocence and imagination of childhood against the harsh corruption of adulthood, especially within the city of London. His works, Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794), are two of his most significant. Although some of his poetry was published before the official start to the era, Blake can be seen as one of the founders of this movement. Blake believed in spiritual and political freedom and often wrote about these themes in his works. William Blake was one of the earliest Romantic Period writers. Burns inspired many of the writers during the Romantic Period. His most notable works are “Auld Lang Syne” (1788) and “Tam o’ Shanter” (1791). Although his death in 1796 precedes what many consider the start of Romanticism, his lyricism and sincerity mark him as an early Romantic writer. Robert Burns is considered the pioneer of the Romantic Movement. Although writers of this time did not think of themselves as Romantics, Victorian writers later classified them in this way because of their ability to capture the emotion and tenderness of man. Romanticism was a reaction against this spread of industrialism, as well as a criticism of the aristocratic social and political norms and a call for more attention to nature. After the Agricultural Revolution people moved away from the countryside and farmland and into the cities, where the Industrial Revolution provided jobs and technological innovations, something that would spread to the United States in the 19 th century. Calls for the abolition of slavery became louder during this time, with more writing openly about their objections. There was a lot of social change during this period. The political and economic atmosphere at the time heavily influenced this period, with many writers finding inspiration from the French Revolution. The Romantic Period began roughly around 1798 and lasted until 1837. Special thanks to Eastern's own Catherine Allegretti for writing this introduction!

William wordsworth romanticism