Romantic Poetry Test Review
PART I: THE RIME OF THE ANCIENT MARINER
Part I: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Notes:
• Author: Samuel Taylor Coleridge
o Never acted on his desires/plans
o Man of intellectual brilliance, but much more of a “dreamer”
o Lacked the discipline to carry out projects
o Altered his stance philosophically as he got older, became politically conservative &
committed to Christianity after he wrote his best-selling works
• Geographic Background
Calm waters,
o England à South America à Coast of Africa à Brazil à
paralyzed the ships
o DETOUR à Swept to Antarctica à Cape Horn à Chilean “Duldrums”
(psychologically: not
making any progress)
• Poem represents a circular journey: Unity » Painful Alienation » Reconciliation
• Mariner gains moral wisdom, but never gets rid of the guilt he feels
• Purposeful Suffering– painful experience that yields positive results
• Major premise: insistence on respect for the “common bond” of all living things (“the unity of life”)
• “The Willing Suspension of Disbelief”– the reader must enter into the mind & mood of the author
and “suspend” his notions of reality (must have a desire to understand & enjoy it)
Detailed Outline:
1. Journey begins in fellowship: God – Man – Nature
a. “Good Omen” (albatross) signifies all is in harmony
2. Fellowship/Unity is broken by a selfish act
a. Albatross is destroyed
3. Nature no longer cooperates: Harmony destroyed
a. Sailors experience parching heat, no wind
4. Consequences of destruction
a. Mariner receives the condemnation of his fellow shipmen
b. The other sailors are punished for justifying the Mariner’s act and becoming his
“accomplices”
c. The fate of the Mariner is decided as he is “won” by Life-in-Death (condemned to a life of
penance)
5. Loneliness and alienation from society
a. The destruction of the natural world has had an effect on the unity of spirit all life forms share
b. The Mariner shows a lack of appreciation/reverence for other life forms
c. The Mariner loses his ability to pray
d. The Mariner is lonely for fellowship & haunted by the realization that the other sailors have
died as a result of his actions
6. Renewed appreciation for all life forms
a. The Mariner realizes the negative consequences of his sin as a result of “purposeful suffering”
& begins to see the worth and beauty of the entire world
7. Unity restored
a. The Mariner prays and his immediate burden is removed
b. Help arrives (sleep, rain, favorable wind)
8. Penance assigned
a. Penance is given to satisfy nature and to teach reverence for all life forms
9. Mariner returns home
10. Mariner begins a life of penance as a lesson to others
a. Gains wisdom, but no sense of peace or absolution from guilt
Basic Outline & Study Questions:
1. “The willing suspension of disbelief” means to put aside your concept of reality to get into a fictional
storyline. You have to believe anything is possible.
2. The overall theme of the poem is respect for the unity of all life forms—everything is interconnected
with one spirit. #Avatar.
3. “Purposeful suffering” means that you must suffer for your wrongdoings long enough so you can
come to appoint of understanding and remorse for your stupidity.
4. The modern use of the term “albatross” is a self-imposed burden. Not a freaking fish.
5. Why does one small act cause such serious consequences? Well for one, it’s a freaking fictional
poem. But two, all things are interconnected in said poem—if you harm one part of nature, the whole
thing (the world) suffers. It’s the circle of life. (Cue the Lion King theme song)
6. The other sailors are punished because they “become the Mariner’s accomplices” when they don’t
punish him. Basically, it’s guilty by association.
7. Unity is restored in a two-fold manner:
a. Mariner takes ownership of his situation
b. Mariner begins to re-appreciate the natural world
8. Penance is a necessary part of pantheism because there is no such thing as “atonement”—you must
work it off yourself. Slave.
9. What affects our ability to relate to God? We cut ourselves off from God when we cut ourselves off
from the natural world.
10. Overall events of the poem (here we go again…):
a. Trade route
b. Beginning of trip / Evidence of harmony
c. Act that breaks unity / Reaction of other sailors
d. Consequences (Physical; No harmony with nature, man, or God)
e. Restoration
f. Rescue
g. Life of Penance
Notes
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& Annotations (directly from the poem):
Mariner: old sailor
Story starts out with this old guy talking to a guest at a wedding
The journey starts in complete harmony with: God, Man, Nature
Albatross: a huge seagull, usually a sign of good luck/safety
The Mariner is like the dumbest person on earth and freaking shoots their only good sign of luck
And of course, the other sailors are equally stupid and don’t punish him, so great job guys
The breeze stops, their ship doesn’t move, & at that point they’re basically screwed
They’re surrounded by water yet have nothing to drink… LOL @ THEM
They hang the bird around his neck as a punishment & reminder of his errors
The Mariner is parched, and thinks he sees a ship, so he bites his arm and drinks the blood so he can
tell everyone else
• What he really sees is a boat of skeletons with 2 weird people playing dice: 1 man & 1 woman
• The sailors (good men) die, while the slimy evil sea creatures (and the Mariner) get to live. UNFAIR.
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Mariner realizes there’s nothing wrong with the natural world, he’s the one that’s messed up
Once he admits he’s wrong, things improve (See above in Outline)
The DEAD sailors rise up, become possessed by spirits, and start to do their old jobs… WTF??
The Mariner has to pay a penance: He will travel the world and tell of his errors so others can avoid
trouble (basically, just don’t be an idiot and don’t disrespect nature.)
The dead yet alive sailors collapse dead once again, and a rescue boat comes to save the Mariner
The Mariner’s ship sinks after he’s rescued
The Mariner cries out for the spirits of the natural world to absolve him of his wrongs
Last but not least, you can’t relate to God unless you love all things in nature
The wedding guest leaves wiser and a little stunned
Romantic Poetry Test Review
PART II: ROMANTIC POETRY (4 DIFFERENT AUTHORS)
Part II A: Wordsworth Poems
Lines Written in Early Spring:
• Wordsworth: founder of the Romanticism movement
• Best case: man is connected with nature
• Worst case: Man is being pulled away from nature
• God’s design is for man to be closely connected with nature
Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey:
SECTION ONE
• Tintern Abbey: a convent
• Themes:
o Manufacturing focused
o Trying to figure out the spiritual world
• The first section is just a physical description of what he sees over the course of 5 years
SECTION TWO
• When he is in nature, he reflects closely (reflection on nature calms him down)
• Message to the reader: Observe nature closely b/c you’ll need those calming memories later
• He finds solace in nature’s beauty
• Two purposes for man’s experience with nature:
o Immediate pleasure
o Future comfort
SECTION THREE
• The third section explains the Role of Nature and the 3 Stages
• Three Stages of Life
o Childhood (sensory, fall in love with nature)
o Young Adulthood (intellectualize the world)
o Maturity/Old Age (gained wisdom & source of comfort)
• Deep reflection & analysis of the natural world
• “Pseudochristianity”:
o Childhood
§ Response only
§ No reflection
§ Learn to love it (nature)
Trying to not only make a God
§ “Experience gathering”
out of something, but make it
o Young Adulthood
the God.
§ Analyze/intellect
§ To understand life lessons
o Maturity/Old Age
§ Wisdom
§ Source of comfort
• Most important lessons com from nature; They nourish us
SECTION FOUR
• Exhortation: others should see nature the way he does
• Your healing will come from memories of nature
The World is Too Much with Us
• We’ve wasted nature
• More money pulls man away from nature
• We sold out to prosperity
Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
• Most difficult poem of Wordsworth’s poems
• Plays off of the Allegory of the Cave
• “The child is the father of the man”: The older we get, the harder it is to connect with the natural
world (children teach us with their innocence) … We get further away from our “origin”
• Nature is like a dream
• He (the author) does not appreciate nature anymore as he once did as a child
• The earth is just as glorious as it’s ever been, but he can’t see it that way anymore
• You only think you can connect to the natural world, but there is a more specific way
• Advice from the author: Don’t give up—connect with nature on whatever level you can
• The tiniest, most insignificant thing can move you to tears
Part II B: Byron Poems
When We Two Parted
• OVERALL NOTES:
o Not nature focused
o Writes about failed human relationships
o Wrote this at age 20
o About one of his breakups
o Pain gets worse over time, not better
• “Byronic Hero”:
o Self-absorbed/self-indulgent
o Moody & brooding
Personal
o Air of superiority
o Bitter & cynical
o Out of sync
o Passion without accomplishment
Socially
o Narcissistic
• Normally when you’re hurt, it gets better… For him, it only gets worse
• Atypical: First step in the wrong direction
• Foreshadowing of how much worse it’s going to get
• When someone mentions his lover’s name, a part of him dies inside
• He (the author) despises he ever knew her
• If you don’t handle the present well, it cripples your future too. Their pain and anger cripples what
they could have done in the future.
On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year
• Byron fails to realize he is the problem
• First four stanzas talk about his relationships that have failed
• “I haven’t gotten anything back from anyone… They owe me.”
• Only gets pain from love
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Never inspired anyone to love him back
There is a need in all people to belong & be connected. He doesn’t fit in, so he switches to a social
issue & tries to connect with that.
“Dying for a cause is better than living alone with no purpose.”
Part II C: Shelley Poems
Mutability II
• Mutability: able to change
• OVERALL NOTES:
o Shelley (author):
§ Husband of “Frankenstein” author
§ Atheist
§ Believes truth is only a sensory experience (only what can be seen)
• The good things in life don’t last—they’re like a lightning strike: here one second, gone the next.
• We live in a fallen world; To an atheist there is no explanation, only frustration.
• When things are going well, enjoy them because they don’t last
• Vision disillusioned by reality
Part II D: Keats Poems
When I have Fears that I may cease to be
• OVERALL NOTES:
o Poet most closely associated with physical beauty
• He may die early
• Knows he will never reach his full author potential
• Knows he will never meet his future spouse
• Frustrated personally & professionally