English IV-Honors
Mrs. Pat Lowe
Notes on Metaphysical, Romantic, and
Victorian Poets
The Restoration
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Begins in 1660 when the deposed Stuart royal family returned to England from
exile in France.
This was a time when political leaders tried to establish society on a firm basis
and a time when change was disliked.
This was a very conservative time.
King Charles II of England
Charles II was king. After him came James II, his brother, and then James’ daughter
Mary and her husband, William of Orange.
Important events of the time:
The Plague of 1665
The Great Fire of 1666
Famous People:
Sir Isaac Newton- mathematician and astronomer
William Harvey- discovered circulation of blood
John Locke-wrote the “Essay on Human Understanding”
 Charles II reopened the theatres
 Women were allowed to play women’s roles
 Good manners were important
 Writers had to depend on patronage
 The new Middle Class could read and buy books
 Authors who wrote books just to make money were called “Hacks.”
The seven groups in English Society were:
1. Great
2. Rich
3. Middle sort
4. Working trades
5. Country people
6. Poor
7. Miserable
Romanticism
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1798-1832
Romanticism refers to freely imaginative idealizing fiction – not the love between men
and women.
Characteristics of the Age
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Imagination and emotion were emphasized
Writers were concerned with the value of the individual human being
Writers took an interest in Medieval subjects and settings
Writers shared a sense of liberated energy and a “time of promise and renewal of
the world.”
Most Romantic writers felt they were not understood or appreciated by their
readers.
Historical Background
Revolution and Reaction
The American Revolution was a blow to the English confidence, but it was less
threatening than the French Revolution which was a complete overthrow of a great power
from within.
The promise and expectation aroused in the early years of the revolution gave way to
bitter disappointment as events became violent and repressive.
Examples are:
 September Massacres
 Execution of King Louis XVI
 The Reign of Terror
 Napoleon became a tyrant who strove to establish a new dynasty
The Industrial revolution was marked by the shift from hand labor to new methods of
manufacturing made possible by power driven machines. James Watt – perfected the
steam engine in 1765. The revolution also marks the beginning of our modern era. It
produced profound economic and social changes with which the existing principles and
structures of government were totally unable to deal.
The results were:
 Cities became sprawling and dirty
 Living conditions were terrible
 Men, women, and children labored long hours, under intolerable conditions
 Workers had no vote and were prevented by law from forming labor unions
 England was divided between two classes – the wealthy and the poor.
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William Blake 1757-1827
I. Biography
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Life
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artist, poet, and visionary
received little formal education
his father provided books and prints of famous paintings
intense religious experiences
 saw a tree filled with angels
 saw the prophet Ezekiel under a tree
 frequently saw God at his window
Writing
o Songs of Innocence (1789) and Songs of Experience (1794)
 written to show the "two contrary states of the human soul"
 revolted against the intellectual pattern-making of the 18th century
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"The Lamb"
 from Songs of Innocence
 represents the state of the human soul that Blake calls "innocence"
 theme: innocence of childhood brings us closer to God
 Figurative Language
 allusion: reference in literature to a historical, mythological, or
biblical event or thing (Example: the "lamb" refers to John 1:29:
"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the
world.")
 personification: giving human characteristics to inanimate objects
(Example: vales (valleys) rejoice)
 symbol: person, place, thing, or event that stands for something
else (Example: lamb=Christ, child, innocence, and peace)
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"The Tyger"
 from Songs of Experience
 represents the contrary state of the soul that Blake calls
"experience"
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theme: wisdom, no matter how painful and disillusioning, is gained
through experience, but one should be fearful of the power worldly
experience brings
Figurative Language
symbol: tyger represents power of worldly experience
allusion: "stars threw down their spears & watered heaven with
their tears" is a biblical reference to the war in Heaven between
Satan and God in which Satan tried to take over Heaven
alliteration - repetition of sounds (Example: repetition of "d" in
dare, dread, and deadly to convey a sense of relentless power)
William Wordsworth
1770-1850
I. Biography
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Spent childhood in Lake District in northern England
Mother died when he was seven
Father died five years later
Raised by uncles and sent to the finest schools including Cambridge
University
Moved to Paris in 1791 and lived there until the outbreak of war between
Britain and France forced his return to England
Return reunited him with his sister and they moved to Dorset where they
lived near Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Together, William and Samuel published Lyrical Ballads in 1798 & 1800
Writing: saw nature as a source of spiritual comfort to human beings
1802: married Mary Hutchinson
1843: named Britain's poet laureate
Died on April 23, 1850 and is buried in Grasmere Chruchyard
II. "Composed upon Westminster Bridge"
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written on the roof of a coach on his way to France in the early morning hours
theme: beauty of nature is a source of spiritual comfort to human beings even in a
big city like London
imagery: "ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples…All bright and glittering
in the smokeless air"
personification: city is wearing the beauty of the morning; houses are asleep/city's
heart is lying still
assonance: …domes,…lie…Open…sky
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III. "The World Is Too Much with Us"
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speaker complains that the concern with making money has destroyed
peace of mind and happiness
reflects Wordsworth's disenchantment with the Industrial Revolution
theme: people's concern with materialism has diminished their
appreciation of nature
personification: the sea "bares her bosom"; the wind howls
allusion: reference to Proteus & Triton - two Greek mythological gods
Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1772-1834
His judgments and ideas are still enormously influential today.
His poetic output is small, but his work as a literary critic is massive.
He was a brilliant student, but fell into idleness and debt and joined the army.
He was a radical when young and tried to form a Utopian community, a “pantisocracy,” a
community of equal rule by all. It didn’t materialize.
He married Sara Fricker, but was not happy. When he met and worked with
Wordsworth, he fell in love with Sara Hutchinson, Wordsworth’s sister-in-law. She
didn’t love him and he felt rejected. He was already taking opium for rheumatism. He
increased his use of the drug.
The drug made him physically and emotionally distraught and unable to work. He was
on the verge of total collapse when he broke with Wordsworth and began is career as a
public lecturer. He also wrote for newspapers and magazines.
His “Kubla Khan” and “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” are Romantic classics.
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George Gordon Noel Byron, 6th Baron
Byron, was born January 22,1788, in
London and died April 19,1824, in
Missolonghi, Greece. He was among the
most famous of the English 'Romantic'
poets; his contemporaries included Percy
Shelley and John Keats. He was also a
satirist whose poetry and personality
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captured the imagination of Europe. His
major works include Childe Harold’s
Pilgrimage (1812-18) and Don Juan
(1819-24). He died of fever and
exposure while engaged in the Greek
struggle for independence. His birthday
is celebrated as a national holiday in
Greece.
The Life of John Keats 1796-1821
John Keats was one of the principal
poets of the English Romantic
movement. During his short life, his
work received constant critical attacks
from periodicals of the day, but his
posthumous influence on poets such as
Alfred Tennyson has been immense.
Elaborate word choice and sensual
imagery characterize Keats's poetry,
including a series of odes that were his
masterpieces and which remain among
the most popular poems in English
literature. Keats's letters, which expound
on his aesthetic theory of "negative
capability"are among the most
celebrated by any writer.
The Life of Percy Shelley 1792-1822
Percy Bysshe Shelley was one of the
major English Romantic poets and is
widely considered to be among the finest
lyric poets in the English language. He is
perhaps most famous for such anthology
pieces as Ozymandias, Ode to the West
Wind, To a Skylark, and The Masque of
Anarchy. Shelley's unconventional life
and uncompromising idealism,
combined with his strong skeptical
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voice, made him an authoritative and
much-denigrated figure during his life
and afterward. He became an idol of the
next two or three generations of poets,
including the major Victorian and PreRaphaelite poets Robert Browning,
Alfred Lord Tennyson, Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, Algernon Charles Swinburne,
as well as William Butler Yeats. He is
famous for his association with John
Keats and Lord Byron. The novelist
Mary Shelley was his second wife.
The Victorians-1832-1900
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This was the age of the Middle Class
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The literature reflects the manners, morals, doubts, faith, accomplishments,
failures, problems, and pleasures of the rapidly expanding middle class.
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Victorian literature gives expression to the desperate poor and the amoral
aristocracy.
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The Victorians were sentimental moralists
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The Victorian attitudes of sexual prudery, sentimentality, commercialism, and
cultural chauvinism were first attacked by the Victorian writers themselves.
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The period was named for Queen Victoria
The Life of Alfred Lord Tennyson
1809-1892
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Was recognized for more than 50 years as the greatest Victorian poet in
England
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English IV-Honors
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Followed Wordsworth as Poet Laureate in 1850
Was a personal friend of Queen Victoria and often read poetry to her.
Attended Cambridge, but money problems forced him to leave.
Admired Henry Hallam, a fellow member of the Apostles poetry group.
Hallam’s death caused him great grief.
He was beloved and became a living legend. The Queen gave him the title of
Lord and the rank of Baron.
His poetic output was vast. Wrote lyrics, monologues, plays, and long
narratives
Three things made him outstanding:
1. His total mastery of sounds and rhythms of the language
2. he had a genius for evoking moods and states of mind in his poetry
3. He was involved in the public issues of the day (Darwinian theory;
Industrialization; and colonial expansion)
Elizabeth Barrett Browning
1806-1861
Elizabeth Barrett was born at Coxhoe Hall, Durham, England. Elizabeth was educated at
home, learning Greek, Latin, and several modern languages at an early age. In 1819, her
father arranged for the printing of one of her poems (she was 13 at the time.)
In 1821, Elizabeth injured her spine as a result of a fall. When her brother died in 1838,
she seemingly became a permanent invalid. She spent the majority of her time in her
room writing poetry. In 1844, Robert Browning wrote to Elizabeth admiring her Poems.
He continued to write to her and they were engaged in 1845.
Elizabeth's father disapproved of the courtship and engagement. In 1846, Elizabeth and
Robert were secretly wed. Soon the couple ran off to Italy where Elizabeth's health
improved. She continued to live in the villa of Casa Guidi for the remainder of her life.
In 1850, Elizabeth's best known book of poems was published Sonnets from the
Portuguese. They are not translations, but a sequence of 44 sonnets recording the growth
of her love for Robert. He often called her "my little Portuguese" because of her dark
complexion.
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Elizabeth's poems have a diction and rhythm evoking an attractive, spontaneous quality
though some may seem sentimental. Many of her poems protest what she considered
unjust social conditions. She also wrote poems appealing for political freedom for Italy
and other countries controlled by foreign nations.
In 1861, Elizabeth Barrett Browning died at the age of 55. Her son, born 1849, and
husband returned to England after her death.
The Life of Robert Browning 1812-1889
Robert Browning was born in Camberwell, a suburb of London. Robert spent much of his
time in his father's private library of 6000 volumes in several languages. This was the
chief source of his education. Browning became an admirer of Elizabeth Barrett’s poetry
in 1844. He began corresponding with her by letter. This was the start of one of the
world's most famous romances. Their courtship lasted until 1846 when they were
married. The couple moved to Italy that same year and had a son, Pen, later in 1849.
Robert did not become recognized as a poet, until after Elizabeth's death in 1861. After
which, he was honored for the rest of his life as a literary figure.
Robert is perhaps best-known for his dramatic monologue technique. In his monologues,
he spoke in the voice of an imaginary or historical character. Robert had a fondness for
people who lived during the Renaissance. Most of his monologues portray persons at
dramatic moments in their lives.
Notes on other poets:
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English IV-Honors
Mrs. Pat Lowe
Spring 2007
Poetry