The Poets
Robert Burns (1759-1796)
*Scottish farmer - life on farm reflected in his poetry
*dialect poems (Scottish)
*wrote over 30 Scottish Folk songs (established his
reputation)
*died at 37 of Rheumatic heart disease
*heavy drinker
*wrote "Auld Lang Syne" at New Year's Eve
*The presence of human live in his work came from his
immersion in the lives of so many ordinary human
beings.
To a Mouse
*dialect - language, and particularly the speech
habits, or a specific social class, region, or group
*conversation between the speaker (farmer) and a
mouse
*relates destruction of mouse's home to the failing
plans of humans
*Romantics viewed nature as a source of truth, and
therefore believed they should try to harmonize
with it; hence the apology for the destruction of
nature.
William Blake (1757-1827)
*uneventful life
*happily married to same woman for entire life
*born and raised outside of London
*began artistic training at age 10
*worked as an engraver
*during his lifetime, his work got very little attention;
great deal of his poetry never published
*when his work was read, people thought he was
weird, confused, or mad
*near end of life young artists began to
appreciate his work and became his disciples
*purpose- to change the way people "see" and
open up new worlds
*in his 50's and 60's he lived in poverty
*visual artist - he usually had pictures with each
of his works
*poetic vision - comprehensive view of life, the
world, and our ordinary perceptions
The Lamb and The Tyger

The Lamb
*speaker gentle and teacher
*fulfilling the poet's task of singing the
happy songs of innocence

The Tyger
*he is poet filled with fear and wonder when
he thinks of that other strenuous artist who
created the "fearful symmetry" of the animal
The Chimney Sweeper
*conventional religious beliefs about the
miseries of child labor
*Tom and speaker are young children forced
to work
*very religious content - God will provide
William Wordsworth (1770-1850)
*good friends with Samuel Taylor Coleridge (during his twenties
and then again later in his life)
*wrote his best works in his late twenties to mid-thirties
*after 1805, his "poetic powers" began to decline
*his brother John died at sea in 1805 and there was a note of
resignation in his work
*felt a "strange duality" like he was composed of "two
consciousnesses" - one remembers and the other is remembered
-his work and life have a similar doubleness
*mother died in 1778 and he and his brother were sent to school in
Hawkshead
*sister sent to live with relatives
*father died in 1783 and all the boys' "financial resources" were
under the care of two uncles
*he and sister, Dorothy, were reunited in 1787 before he left to
study at Cambridge
*1791, got a college degree with little to no chance of a job (except
in a church)
*time of birth and rebirth - also known as French Revolution
*was beginning of 10 painful years of growth which ended with him
becoming a poet
*in his 40's he centered his life on his family, settled in Lake District
in 1800
*became a literary monument after his poetry lost power and politics
became more conservative
*largest work published in his lifetime was The Excursion
*1843 became Poet Laureate
*(duality) early years (up to 30's) were erratic and difficult, later
years uneventful
*disillusioned about his hopes for change because he was sickened
by way between England and France (drove him back to poetry)
*1795, fortunes began to change, inherited some money from a
friend and Coleridge comes into his life
*wrote together; influences and inspired one another, but
eventually weren't friends anymore because of their
differences
*Wordsworth found delight in the simply nuances of
perception and experiences, and in the way the mind and
nature are adapted to one another
*wrote in vivid, direct, and seemingly immediate images and
descriptions (yet wrote mostly in past tense)
*Coleridge called him "poet of the age"
Lines Composed A Few Miles
Above Tintern Abbey
*lyric - single speaker expresses personal emotions and
observations
*has tone of a passionate conversation, some lines meant to be
exclamations while others whispered
*illustrates author's belief in nature as a healer and teacher
*speaks to his sister, Dorothy
*contrasts children's lack of reason with adults' possession of
it
*poet's willingness to focus on self was a dramatic departure
from the social poetry of before
*focuses on relationship between nature and the soul
*personifies Nature as having a personal bond with humans
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
(1772-1834)
*Wordsworth called him, "The most wonderful man that I have
known".
*said to have a "seminal mind" and be a "genius"
*"When scholars finish collecting Coleridge's works, including
letters, journals, and comments made in the margins or
books, there will be over thirty volumes, more than most
encyclopedias."
*youngest child
*after father died, went to school in London and later
attended Cambridge University
*wrote an ode in Greek on the abolition of slavery
*left the university in 1794 without a degree
*by 1797 had persuaded Wordsworth to live close by. They
helped on another out
*called a philosopher
*lectured on Shakespeare
*marriage collapsed
*became addicted to opium, but could discipline his mind to
concentrate
*became known as "Sage of Highgate"
*when Coleridge and Keats met, Coleridge had already
accomplished more than enough to fill two careers (poet,
critic, journalist, essayist, and philosopher)
*spent the next fifteen years pushing his philosophic powers to
higher insights
*became an influential theologian and political theorist
*compare Coleridge to Samuel Johnson - both had wideranging interests and an ability to see the heart and
connections of every problem
-both deeply and naturally religious and self-critical
*said to have great talents he couldn't live up to
Rime of the Ancient Mariner
*wrote as collaboration with Wordsworth
*made a poetic division of labor based on their interests in the
two powers of poetry: (1) to represent ordinary events and
objects in an unfamiliar way so as to make them fresh and
interesting (2) to make believable the unfamiliar and strange
*employs alliteration, consonance, assonance, and internal
rhyme
*based on a dream of a friend
*illustrates how guilt can isolate one from society
*captures interdependence of humans and nature
George Gordon, Lord Byron
(1788-1824)
*inherited flamboyance and unconventional behavior form his
father and grandfather
*"original" name was George Gordon Byron - received
current name when his cousin was killed in battle and he
learned that he was first in line to be the sixth Baron Byron
(assumed title at age 10).
*1812, first publication (instant celebrity)
*grandfather was an admiral ("Foulweather Jack") and his
father was a sea captain, a psychopath, and a spender of
women's fortunes
*Byron was handsome although he was born with a deformity
(clubfoot)
*lifestyle aggravated a glandular problem and a tendency
toward grotesque obesity, so he would go on binge diets
*was said to be a genius (was schooled at Cambridge
University)
*had notorious, unconventional behavior
*was unhappily married, and had many affairs with other women
- most of who were married
*Byron's marriage to Annabella Milbanke, a well-educated
young heiress, was stormy from the start. After their
daughter Augusta was born, Lady Byron believed her
husband's violent and eccentric behavior indicated madness.
When Byron ejected his wife from their home, Lady Byron
demanded a separation, a scandalous decision at the time.
Later documents seem to show that his wife accused Byron
of incest with his half-sister.
*famous for lyrics, satires, dramas, and narratives
*came into contact with Shelley and Shelley's wife's
stepsister, who threw herself at Byron
*because of association with Shelley, Byron's writing
career began in ernest
*was not a "Romantic" in style; more Neoclassical
*became regarded as a "incarnation" of "Romantic"
*Byronic heroes - brooding characters with ironic
attitudes, rebellious
*was a very public person, could attract an audience
*on a personal level, drew people to him naturally and
excelled in conversation
*died at the age of 36
She Walks in Beauty
*employs simile, metaphor, and personification
*sublime - a sense of the power in nature that
escapes human understanding
*sonnet
*links beauty to universal images
Don Juan
*considered Byron's finest work even though
he didn't finish it
*mock epic poem
*satirizes political and social problems
*dispenses advice based on speaker's 30 years
experience
Speech to Parliament: In Defense of
the Lower Classes
*political commentary - offers opinions on political
issues, building arguments on evidence and
assumptions
*rhetorical questions - asked for dramatic effect, not
expecting an answer
*balanced clauses - two or more clauses in the same
sentence with similar structure
*argument
*assumption
*addresses "deathbill" by Parliament to punish
workers for wrecking factory equipment
Percy Bysshe Shelley
(1792-1822)
*was expelled from Oxford for not responding to an atheist
pamphlet
*was better known for his shocking domestic life and opinions
than for his writing
*was a political activist - said, "Poets are the unacknowledged
legislators of the world"
*was convinced that human thought and expression had the
power to change human life for the better - optimism was
never subverted
*19, was estranged from his family and he dated girls who were
considered "unconventional"
*to rescue 16 year-old Harriet Westbrook from an abusive
father, Shelley eloped with her
*ran away three years later with Mary Godwin another 16
year-old - she became Mary Wollenstonecraft Shelley
(author of Frankenstein)
*after Harriet committed suicide at 21, he was free to marry
Mary
*denied custody of he and Harriet's children
*Shelley's were shaken by death of four children, including
Percy's first two with Mary
*Percy drowned on his sailboat when he was not even thirty.
Twelve days later, Shelley's body washed ashore with a
copy of Sophocles in one pocket and Keats in the other
*literary productivity was unceasing - unlike other Romantic
poets
*wrote all kinds of literature
*went into self-exile because the government feared radical
opinions of any sort, and it was his mature poetic period
Ozymandias and
Ode to the West Wind

Ozymandias
*employs imagery
*ironic take on human pride and ambition
*based on actual Egyptian pharaoh, Ramses II

Ode to the West Wind
*speaker awed by nature, specifically the West
Wind
*affirms that decay leads to renewal
To a Skylark and
A Song: Men of England

To a Skylark

A Song: Men of England
*contrasts nature's unending beauty to human
limitations
*contradictions between joy and suffering
*nature can be so pure it is beyond human
understanding
*intended to incite revolution
*uses rhetorical questions to instruct workers to
stop giving away their power to the already
powerful upper classes
John Keats (1795-1821)
*already incredibly influential before his death at 25
*born to working-class family, not an aristocrat like
contemporaries
*developed a reputation for fighting for worthy causes
*1815, began study of medicine in London
*1818, published first major work - received very negative
reviews
*1818, lost brother to tuberculosis and met Fanny Brawne
(became engaged)
*1819, wrote poems for which he is most famous (following a
year of grief, new love, and his own health issues)
*moved to Italy because the warmer climate was believed to
help with Tuberculosis, his diagnosis
*wrote his own epitaph, "Here lies one whose name was writ in
water." (stresses brevity of life)
*did not believe in using poetry for politics - he worked as an
artist
Ode on A Grecian Urn
*ode - lyric poem characterized by heightened
emotion and paying respect to a person or
thing
*Keats created his own form of ode using 10line stanzas
*realizes the eternal nature of truth through
depictions on an urn
*contains his best-remembered line, "Beauty is
truth, truth beauty"
Jane Austen (1775-1817)
*lived a quiet life devoted to family
*wrote six novels about love, marriage, and
beauty - though she never married
*one of eight children of a minister
*employs satirical wit against the common social
ills of the day (gossip, scheming, etc.)
*published anonymously, but later honored
once discovered
On Making an Agreeable Marriage
*social commentary - writing or speech that offers
insight into society
*persuasive techniques - logical appeal, moral/ethical
appeal, emotion appeal
*response to her niece's letter about concerns with
her suitor
*concerned with monetary considerations in marriage
*concerned with marriage based on social conventions
Mary Wollstonecraft (1759-1797)
*recognized as one of first major feminists
*movement for women's rights influenced by her
writings on women's education and freedoms
*grew up in poverty but defied tradition and sought
education
*became a governess and a lady's companion
*established a girl's school in London
*married a radical philosopher in 1797, but died in
childbirth shortly thereafter
A Vindication of the Rights of
Women
*reflects on the poor educational opportunities
for women
*reflects on the society's drive to make women
meek and models of feminine beauty
*begins almost sadly, but becomes more
adamant as she writes
Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley
(1797-1851)
*created Gothic literature from a contest of telling ghost
stories with her husband and friends
*1818, published Frankenstein (was praised by authors such
as Sir Walter Scott)
*raised by her father after her mother died giving birth to her
*surrounded by famous writers of the day
*strongly resented stepmother and therefore went to live with a
family friend
*left penniless and a single mother at 24 when her husband
drowned
*returned to England and continued to write to support her
she and her son
*became an invalid at 48
*died of a brain tumor at 54