Chapter 7, 9 &10 English poets, 1660-1789 & 19th-Century Poets

1. Chapter 7, 9 &10 English poets, 1660-1789 & 19th-Century Poets From An Outline of English Literature by Thornley and Roberts

2. The Age of Reason • Order was important in men’s thoughts (p.73) • Heroic couplet is well suited to verse based on reasoning Alexander Pope • The Rape of the Lock (= The Stealing of the Hair, 1712-4) • Taking a light subject and treats it as important (p.72) • Lord Petre had cut off some hair from Miss Arabella Fermor’s head and the two families had quarreled violently. Pope tried to end the quarrel by writing this “heroic” poem, describing the event in detail but only made the quarrel worse. Belinda discovers her lock of hair has been cut.

3. William Blake A return to thoughts about nature and more lyrical subjects began in the early eighteenth century. • A poet and an artist (p.77) • His poetry revealed that he did not believe in the reality of matter, or in the power of earthly rulers, or in punishment after death • Songs of Innocence (1787) • Songs of Experience (1794) • “The Tiger” (p. 79)

4. Robert Burns • A Scottish farmer • A deep understanding of animals and love for them • “My Love’s like a red, red rose” (p.79) O MY Luve 's like a red, red rose    That 's newly sprung in June:O my Luve 's like the melodie    That's sweetly play'd in tune! As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,    So deep in luve am I:And I will luve thee still, my dear,    Till a' the seas gang dry:

5. A Red, Red Rose • Till a' the seas gang dry, my dear,    And the rocks melt wi' the sun;I will luve thee still, my dear,    While the sands o' life shall run. • And fare thee weel, my only Luve,    And fare thee weel a while!And I will come again, my Luve,    Tho' it were ten thousand mile.

6. Early 19th-Century Poets • A return to thoughts about nature and more lyrical subjects (p.91) • A simpler, more natural expression which we shall see in Wordsworth and Coleridge – the Lake Poets • Neither of them used the old language of poetry much • The publication of the Lyrical Ballads (1798) signaled the beginning of the Romantic Age

7. William Wordsworth • A poet of nature • Had the ability to throw a charm over ordinary things • In later editions of the Lyrical Ballads (1800-2), he said that the language of poetry ought to be the same as the language of a simple farm worker • His imagination led him far beyond the life and thoughts of a countryman

8. Wordsworth • “Lines Written above Tintern Abbey” – the poet returns to a scene of his boyhood (p.93) • “Westminster Bridge,” an emotional view of London asleep • “London,” a cry for help in the troubles of the world • “The Daffodils, The Solitary Reaper,” • “Lucy” poems • “The Ode on Intimations of Immortality” (1807) • found faith in memories of childhood, the business world has shut off the view of heaven (p.93-94) • expressed his belief that we come from another life and go to a life without end

9. Wordsworth • The Prelude – a record in 14 books of verse of the poet’s progress in poetry and thought • Written during 1799-1805 • Schooldays, time at Cambridge, visits to London and France, life in France during the Revolution

10. Samuel Taylor Coleridge • Makes mysterious events acceptable to a reader’s mind • “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,” appeared in the first edition of the Lyrical Ballads – an old sailor describes some strange misfortunes that happened to his ship. At last, the mariner, seeing God’s creatures in the moonlight, blesses them. This breaks the curse and he is able to return home. (p.91, 92) • “Christable” (1816), “Kubla Khan” (1816) – p.93

11. Kubla Khan So twice five miles of fertile groundWith walls and towers were girdled round;And here were gardens bright with sinuous rills,Where blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;And here were forests ancient as the hills,Enfolding sunny spots of greenery.-Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834),Kubla Khan

12. George Gordon, Lord Byron • Influenced by the classical form of Pope (p.94) • Satirized many sides of English life, but his satires lack Pope’s polished perfection and command of words • Lacked Wordsworth’s poetic imagination nor Coleridge’s mystery, words mean what they say and have no further magic

13. Lord Byron • “Childe Harold” (1809-17) • Tells the story of a man (Lord Byran) who goes off to travel far because he is disgusted with life’s foolish pleasures • Describes different places he visits and what once happened • Excerpts – p.95 • “Don Juan” (1818-24) • Astonishing adventure • A satire which attacks some of Byron’s enemies • Contains the poet’s ideas on various subjects

14. Percy Bysshe Shelley • Struggled against the causes of human misery and accepted religions (p.97) • Saw goodness in nature • “Alastar, or The Spirit of Solitude” (1816) • Written in blank verse and shows Wordsworth’s influence • Expresses joy in the universe and sorrow for the violent feelings of men

15. Percy Shelley’s Famous Poems • “Prometheus Unbound” (1820) – deals with the human struggle against the power of false gods • “Adonais” (1821), an elegy on the death of Keats • “Ozymandias,” expresses the uselessness and the shortness of all earthly power • “The Cloud” • “To a Skylark” • “Ode to the West Wind” (p.97)

16. Ozymandias • I met a traveler from an antique land who said: • Two vast and trunkless legs of stone Stand in the desert... near them, on the sand, half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, and wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, tell that its sculptor well those passions read which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, the hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed. • And on the pedestal these words appear: • "My name is Ozymandias, kimg of kings: Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!" • Nothing beside remains. Round the decay of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare, the lone and level sands stretch far away

17. John Keats and His Great Odes • Influenced by Spenser’s Fairie Queene (p.97) • Studied the nature and could write lines in Wordsworth’s manner, but with more music • “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1819) – p. 99 • “To a Nightingale” • “To Autumn” • “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” -- a knight dreams of his lady, but wakes alone on a cold hillside. La Belle Dame is supposed to be tuberculosis, a disease which killed Keats at the early age of 26.

18. John Keats and His Great Odes

19. Alfred, Lord Tennyson • Rhythm and thought were needed in great work (p.101) • “The Idylls of the King” (1859)-- Put Malory’s Morte D’Arthur into blank verse • “In Memoriam” (1833-50), an elegy for his friend Hallam, expressed the sorrow for the loss of a friend and changes into an expression of a wider love of God and man (p.103) • Shorter Poems, “Ulysses” (1842), “The Princess” (1847 and 1853) • Immense influence in his own time, reflected the changing ideas of his age

20. Robert and Elizabeth Browning • Robert Browning (p.104) • Intellect is more important than the music • Browning’s difficult style is the result of his unusual knowledge of words and his bold ways of building sentences (p.106) • Lived in Italy at Florence, a place which influenced the poet • “Pauline” (1833), “Sordello” (1840), “My Last Duchess” (1842) • Dramatic Lyrics (1842) and Dramatic Romances (1845), Dramatic Personae (1864) • Sonnets from the Portuguese (1850) by Elizabeth Browning

21. Matthew Arnold • Much of his work is sad because of the problems of his time(p.107) • Greatly admired Wordsworth’s calmness • “Dover Beach” (1867) Ah, love, let us be trueTo one another! for the world, which seemsTo lie before us like a land of dreams,So various, so beautiful, so new,Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain;And we are here as on a darkling plainSwept with confused alarms of struggle and flight,Where ignorant armies clash by night.

22. Dante Gabriel Rossetti • A painter and a poet, “Fleshly School” of poetry • Poetry ought to be based on the senses (p.109) • Sonnets, the most musical in English • Lines clear written by a man with a painter’s eye • Fond of alliteration

23. Georgina Rossetti • Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s sister • Wrote sad and religious poems and unhappy love, poems for the young • The collections Goblin Market (1862) and The Prince's Progress (1866) contain most of her finest work. • Her best poetry is strong, personal, and unforced; her success arises from her ability to unite the devotional and the passionate sides of her nature. • Her Sing-Song (1872; enlarged 1893), a collection of nursery rhymes, is among the most outstanding children's books of the 19th century. • After the onset of a thyroid disorder in 1871, she wrote mainly devotional verse.