Learner Resource 2: the contexts of the ‘conversation’ poems
Complete the context table above using the links from the ‘Context’ section of the Delivery Guide.
Social/biographical context
‘The Eolian Harp’
Historical/political context

Poem written in August 1795


Religious dissent gaining in
popularity
Poem ostensibly celebrates his
recent marriage to Sara Fricker

Revolutions gaining in support
from young British radicals

First of the ‘Conversation’
poems

Poem followed a volatile time in
his philosophical and religious
affiliations
Other relevant information

Married Sara Fricker as part of
‘Pantisocracy’ plan with Robert
Southey

The inchoate poetic style of his
early work is shown in the
original title – Effusion XXXV
‘Reflections on Having
Left a Place of
Retirement’
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‘This Lime-Tree Bower
My Prison’
‘The Nightingale: A
Conversation Poem
April
1798’ (‘No cloud, no
relique of the sunken
day’)
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‘Fears in Solitude’
‘Frost at Midnight’
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‘To William
Wordsworth’
‘Dejection: an Ode’
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Copyright © OCR 2015