Romantic and Victorian Poetry

To complete this project you will research both the Romantic and Victorian periods of British poetry, and then provide a collection of representative poetry.STEP ONE: THE ROMANTIC PERIOD – You can find answers to these questions in a textbook or on the Internet. You will use this research to support what you find in the poetry, so doing a thorough job here will help you in the long run. I would recommend using the purple anthology, though you can find this information on the Internet as well.

Post the following on your weblog:

1. List and describe at least two historical events that occurred during or right before the Romantic Period (2 paragraphs).

One historical event that occurred right before the Romantic Period was the French Revolution. It began with the storming of Bastille in 1789 and ended in 1799. During the revolution the people of France rebelled and got rid of the absolute monarchy. This was a crucial event in the context of Western history. It was also important to British people because it showed them that an absolute monarchy could be overthrown. For the ruling classes in England this was their worst fear because it was an overthrow of a king by a democratic rabble.

Another historical event that occurred right before The Romantic Period was The American Revolution. The American Revolution was a political movement in 1776, which resulted in the United States of America being created thus ending the British control there. Britain lost its thirteen colonies in America. This was a huge economic loss for Britain. Not only that but there was a loss of prestige and confidence.

2. After reading about these events, what do you think life was like for normal people during this time? (1 paragraph)

After reading about these events I think that life was radically changing for the people of England. Political upheaval in France and in the United States touched England. People started questioning governmental policies that ignored the problems of normal people. Four years after the French Revolution France declared war on England. Conservative economic and political measures along with the war with France radically affected English life.

3. What did the Romantic poets want to express in their work? You should be able to list three or four qualities of Romantic poetry. These will be the things you will need to find examples of later. The purple anthology can help you here. (3-4 sentences for each quality you find)

Some things that Romantic poets wanted to express in their work were their thoughts on social and economic changes caused by rapid industrialization as well as governmental policies that ignored the problems of the poor. Three qualities of Romantic poetry are its fascination with youth and innocence, its questioning authority and tradition for idealistic purposes, and its awareness of adapting to change. Another important quality of Romantic Poetry is imagination. Romantic poets turned to past or an inner dream world that they felt was prettier than the industrial age they lived in. They also were fascinated with nature and the ways that the human mind and nature mirrored each other’s creative properties.

Show me your responses to these questions before moving on.

STEP TWO: ROMANTIC POETRY:

Read a poem from each of the following poets, and then write a short review of each poem that: 1) Summarizes its content; 2) Analyzes how it is a good example of Romantic poetry; and 3) Uses direct evidence from the poem to support the claims you make in #3. Each of these reviews should be two paragraphs. Check to be sure each response includes the information for which I am asking. This will save you time. You can find many examples on the Internet by searching these poets' names. It would be helpful to create links to the poems you are describing. You can do with the link button above. I can show you how.

William Blake – The Lamb

In the beginning of the poem the speaker talks about a little lamb and asks the lamb if he knows who made him. He then says that the person who made him gave him life, food, clothing and a tender voice. At the end of the first stanza he asks again "Little Lamb, who made thee? Dost thou know who made thee?"(Line 9-10). In the second stanza the speaker tells the lamb Jesus is the one who made him and that he too has your name. He then says that Jesus is meek and mild and that the lamb and the speaker himself can be called by that name too. At the end the speaker says god bless thee.

This is a good example of Romantic Poetry because the poem explores the significance of commonplace subjects and in this case the subject is religion. The lamb in the poem is supposed to represent Jesus. The speaker who asks and answers the question is a child. The child can also be seen as a representation of Jesus. This can be shown when the child says "I a child, and thou a lamb, we are called by his name." (Line 17-18). It can also be said that this poem represents childhood innocence.

William Wordsworth – A Poison Tree

In this poem the speaker starts off by saying, "I was angry with my friend" (line 1). He told his friend about his wrath and it was resolved. Then he says he was angry at a foe and by not telling him his "wrath only grew" (line 4). In the next two stanzas the speaker uses a tree to represent his anger. He explains how the tree grew because he was holding in his anger. The tree grows t to the point where an apple comes out. In the last stanza he says that his foe stole the apple and ate it. In the morning the speaker sees his foe dead on the ground.

This is a good example of Romantic Poetry because the speaker uses imagination. To represent his anger he uses a tree. The apple is also used to represent what can happen if someone holds in their anger. In this case the apple kills his foe and the anger is destructive.

George Gordon, Lord Byron – She walks in Beauty

In this poem Lord Byron compares a lady’s beauty to night. He tells how the "best of dark and bright" (Line 2) can be seen in her face and her eyes. This means that the beauty of night is like the woman’s beauty. At first I thought how could a beautiful woman be compared to night, but then I remembered that nighttime could be very beautiful. He goes on to say how the woman is eloquent and innocent and explains how her outer beauty represents her inner beauty.

This is a good example of romantic poetry because the poem claims that the woman’s outer appearance is a sign of her inner beauty and purity. This was a popular theme during that time so you could say that this poem is exploring the significance of commonplace subjects. In this case the subject is beauty.

Percy Bysshe Shelley – Ozymandias

"Ozymandias" is one of the few sonnets written by Percy Bysshe Shelley. In this sonnet the speaker says that he met a traveler from an antique land. He then writes what the traveler told him. The traveler tells of a broken monument in Egypt and describes the face of it that’s shattered on the ground. The face still had the "sneer of cold command" (Line 5) that the sculptor created. Then it says that the sculptor who created it and the ruler who ordered it to be made left their mark on the sculptor. On line ten it quotes what was written on the monument. It says "My name is Ozymandias, king of kings: Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!" (Line 10-11) After this quote the speaker says that nothing beside remains except the far stretch of sands surrounding it.

How is this a good example of Romantic Poetry? This is a good example of Romantic Poetry because it explores the power of human imagination. In the sonnet the speaker talks about how the sculptor was able to capture Ozymandias passion in monument and how this passion can still be seen up to now. This relates to the power of human imagination because it shows how someone can create something that will leave their mark and survive beyond them.

John Keats – On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer

John Keats wrote this poem in 1816. The poem is about his experience with reading a translation of Homers Iliad by George Chapman. In the first lines he tells the reader that he has been to many beautiful places. Then he says he was often told about one place but he never "breathe its pure serene" (line 7). That is until he read Chapmans poetry. In the last lines he describes how great the experience was. He says it was like an astronomer seeing a new planet or an explorer finding a new land.

It’s easy to see that this is an example of romantic poetry because it shows how imagination can be very powerful. After reading Homer, Keats uses two famous similes (lines 9-14) to describe how it made him felt. In the first one he says it made him feel like "some watcher of the skies" (line 9) when a new planet comes into view. In the second one he says it made him feel like Cortez when he first saw the Pacific. Both of these similes show the authors use of imagination in the poem.

STEP THREE: THE VICTORIAN PERIOD – You can find answers to these questions in a textbook or on the Internet. You will use this research to support what you find in the poetry, so doing a thorough job here will help you in the long-run. I would reccomend using the purple anthology, though you can find this information on the Internet as well.

List and describe at least two historical events that occurred during or right before the Victorian Period. (2 paragraphs)

One event that occurred during the Victorian Period was the reign of Queen Victoria. She ruled between 1837 and 1901. Her reign over Britain was the longest in British history. During her reign some of the most remarkable changes occurred, but these changes didn’t come easy. In the beginning of her rule there were a series of epidemics, crop failures and economic collapses. Though, by the time Queen Victoria died, the country was highly industrialized.

Another event that occurred during the Victorian Period was the Industrial Revolution. The Industrial Revolution started in Britain and eventually spread throughout the world. During this time there were a lot of technological changes and advancements that caused manual labor to be replaced by factory and machinery labor. The Victorian Period also marked the height of the British Industrial Revolution.

After reading about these events, what do you think life was like for normal people during this time? (1 paragraph)

After reading about these events I think that life was very hard for normal people during this time. Because of industrialization there was an increase in factory jobs and pretty much all of the factory workers were normal people. Factory workers did long shifts and working conditions were sometimes unsafe. The factories also brought widespread disease from contaminated air and water. All of these factors made life very hard for people but at the same time these problems led to change and improvements.

What is the biggest difference between the Victorian Period and the Romantic Period? What caused this change? This is one of the things you will need to prove with examples from the poetry you will read. It is important to create a good response here. The purple anthology can help you. (1-2 paragraphs).

The biggest difference between the Victorian Period and the Romantic Period was that during the Romantic Period ideas were more wild and radical. Victorians didn’t want this so they softened it up a little bit. This change was brought about because Victorians believed that life would be improved if it became more refined, more rationally organized, better policed, and therefore safer.

4. What did Victorian poets want to express with their work? You should be able to identify three or four qualities of Victorian poetry. Once again, you will be searching for these qualities in the poems you read, so a thorough job here will help you in the long-run. (3-4 sentences for each quality you find)

Victorian poets wanted to express in their work ideas that would alter, reinforce, challenge, enlarge, or temper the ideas and feelings with which their contemporaries managed their lives. They did this by making readers hope or wonder if reality was really like that and by demonstrating that, however bleak and chaotic reality seemed to be the writer and reader could make a pleasing order in it. These Victorian poets also reflected the dangers and benefits of rapid industrialization, while encouraging readers to examine closely their own understanding of their period’s progress.

Show me your answers to this section before moving on.

STEP FOUR: VICTORIAN POETRYRead a poem from each of the following poets, and then write a short review of each poem that: 1) Summarizes its content; 2) Analyzes how it is a good example of Victorian poetry; and 3) Uses direct evidence from the poem to support the claims you make in #3 and 4. Each of these reviews should be two paragraphs. Check to be sure each response includes the information for which I am asking. This will save you time. You can find many examples on the Internet by searching these poets' names. It would be helpful to create links to the poems you are describing. You can do with the link button above. I can show you how.

Alfred, Lord Tennyson - The Eagle: A Fragment

"The Eagle" a fragment is a poem written by Alfred Lord Tennyson. There are two stanzas and each stanza is a tercet that has three lines with one rhyme. In the first stanza the speaker describes an eagle. The eagle is holding onto a crag with his claws. He stands "close to the sun in lonely lands, ringed with the azure world" (line 2-3). In the second stanza the speaker describes the sea below and the mountains surrounding the eagle. The eagle is scoping out the scene "and like a thunderbolt he falls (line 6).

I think this poem is a good example of Victorian poetry because believe that Lord Tennyson is talking about how nature can be overcome by human forces. The author doesn’t really say this but there are clues that the reader can use to make their own inferences. In the first stanza the eagle is "close to the sun" (line 2). This line makes me think that the eagle is very majestic but at the end my thoughts change. In the last line it says, "like a thunderbolt he falls" (line 6). When they say the eagle falls it makes me think he dies. Maybe it’s a human force that makes him fall. I think the quality of nature that this poem evokes is that nature is susceptible to human forces.

Robert Browning – Porphyria’s Lover

In this poem the speaker tells the story of what happened to him and his lover Porphyria. The speaker strangles the woman he loves, Porphyria, to death. The reason he did this is because he was afraid she would lose the love she had for him. After he made sure that she loved him purely he strangles her with her hair. Now that she is dead her feelings can’t be changed. Its weird that the speakers love caused him to do this. After she dies we continue to hear the man out. In the end the reader wonders if the speaker is lovesick or genuinely disturbed.

I think that this poem is a good example of Victorian Poetry because the author provokes some moral or emotional reaction in his audience. After the reader finds out that Porphyria’s lover "strangled her" (line 41) we are left to question whether the speaker was lovesick or genuinely disturbed. It is left to the reader to find the answer.

Matthew Arnold – Dover Beach

The poem begins with the description of a nightly scene at the seaside. Then the speaker draws attention to the "grating roar of pebbles" (line 9-11) where the waves draw back. He describes how it brings an "eternal note of sadness" (line 14). In the next stanza the speaker introduces the Greek author Sophocles idea of "the turbid ebb and flow of human misery" (line 17). Sophocles also heard the roar from the pebbles. The third stanza describes the "Sea of Faith" (line 21). The speaker compares the religions past and present state. In The fourth and final the speaker asks his lover to be "true" (line 29), meaning faithful, to him. He tells her that the world does not contain any basic human values because they have disappeared.

I think that this is a good example of Victorian Poetry because the poem expresses the crisis of conscience brought about by the dwindling of religion and the rise of science. Science has changed human life through industrialization and through the mass warfare that scientific inventions made possible. Overall I think that this poem reflects the dangers of science and rapid industrialization.

Thomas Hardy – Channel Firing

The poem starts off with the speaker saying "that night your great guns, unawares, shook all our coffins as we lay" (line 1-2). This tells us that the speaker is dead. The speaker goes on to say that they thought it was judgement day. The second stanza has the speaker saying that they sat upright when they heard this. In the third stanza god tells them that it is not judgement day but only a gunnery practice out at sea just like before they died. He then tells how nations are having war and that he thinks its doing nothing for Christ’s sake. In the seventh stanza the speaker says that they laid down again because it wasn’t judgement day. The speaker also wonders if the world would ever be saner than when they died. The skeletons shook their heads. The guns go off again and it is heard from three different towers.

I think that this is a good example of Victorian poetry because the speaker gives another speakers perspective on war in order to make the reader examine closely their own understanding of it. He uses the dead to imagine what they would say about the violence in the land of the living. I think he does this in order to get a perspective from someone who’s been in war and who can speak freely about it.