Romantic Period and Victorian Era Poets

Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861)

-Best known for poetry collection entitled Sonnets from the Portuguese, of which the verse "How Do I Love Thee?" is best known -For the first half of life, was a semi-invalid who lived with father -Studied Greek, Latin, French, Italian, history, and philosophy, frequently writing on intellectual, religious, and political matters -Later, secretly and happily eloped to Italy in 1846 -Gave birth to their only child, a son, when 43 years old -Wrote all 44 of her sonnets in Petrarchan (Italian) sonnet form, with the following observances: >Iambic pentameter rhythm >Octave, with abba/abba rhyme scheme >Sestet, with cdcdcd rhyme scheme -Wrote these verses to spouse, but did not show them until three years after their marriage

Robert Burns (1759-1796)

-Considered to be a Scottish treasure -Created many verses, some in Scottish dialect, some in literary (elitist) English -Worked on many verses, including "Auld Lang Syne," (famous at New Year's Eve celebrations worldwide), "To a Mouse," "A Red, Red Rose" -Lived in both Ayrshire and Edinburgh, cities in Scotland -Endured many long-term physical hardships of farming, leading to his early death

John Keats (1795-1821)

-Created "When I Have Fears," "Ode to a Nightingale," "La Belle Dame Sans Merci," and "Ode on a Grecian Urn" -Apprenticed at the age of 15 to learn medicine -Completed his medical training at age 20 at Guy's Hospital in London -Fell in love with a woman named Fanny Brawne but could not marry her because of poor health and financial problems -Crafted poems rich in sensuous detail and exciting representations of intense emotional experiences, full of courage and hope -Traveled to foreign land only once, to Italy, when he was dying of tuberculosis -Died at the young age of only 25 of this illness, after both his mother and brother Tom had succumbed to the same illness years before

William Butler Yeats (1865-1939)

-Generally regarded in Twentieth Century's greatest poet, born in Dublin, Ireland, not Britain -Wrote first subjects centered on Irish mythology and folklore -Later in life, entered a new phase of writing poetry, which he termed as "cold and passionate as the dawn," poetry that is stark, eloquent, and chiseled with "heightened speech" -Also wrote dramas and helped to establish the Abbey Theater, in Dublin -Wrote famous verses, including titles such as "The Lake Isle of Innisfree," "The Wild Swans at Coole," "Sailing to Byzantium," "Easter 1916," "Leda and the Swan," and "The Second Coming," among many others

Alfred, Lord Tennyson

-Joined, at Cambridge University, a group of young intellectuals called the Apostles, who believed that Tennyson was destined to be the greatest poet of their generation -Suffered both physical and mental health problems because of the deaths of his father, his friend Arthur Henry Hallam, and financial straits -Wrote "Ulysses" shortly after Hallam's death, giving him the feeling of needing to go forward and brave the struggle of life -Gradually began to make way with the favorably reviewed works he produced over the next decades: >The two-volume Poems >In Memoriam, an elegy to Hallam, a series of lyrics that tell the story of Tennyson's own recovery of faith in the immortality of the soul and of the harmony of creation >A volume of poetry called The Idylls of the King, a work that chronicles the rise, fall, and possible return of King Arthur of Camelot -Distinctions also include being named England's Poet Laureate after Wordsworth's death, and Peer of the Realm, making him a lord in 1884

William Blake (1757-1827)

-Lived outside of London for only three years of his life -Married a lady named Catherine, whom he taught to write and create artwork with him -Never had children of his own, but frequently wrote about the harsh realities of Victorian Era children in his verses -Published two different collections of works, including Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience -Created many poems, including "To an Evening Star," "The Lamb," "The Tyger," "The Chimney Sweeper," and "The Marriage of Heaven and Hell" -Not only wrote the lyrics to his verses but also designed, printed, and engraved the pages and covers of his books of poetry

Robert Browning (1812-1889)

-Mainly educated at his London home, by tutors, in his banker father's extensive library -Spent one term at the University of London, then published both poems and dramas -Did not become successful until the publication of his dramatic monologues of the 1840's, those including "My Last Duchess" and "Porphyria's Lover" -Secretly married in 1846, eloped to Italy, and lived there until spouse's death -Then moved back to London, where he created, in 1868-69, The Ring and the Book, a long narrative poem spoken by characters involved in a Seventeenth-Century murder in Rome -By the time of his death in 1889, won the esteem of earning a place next to Tennyson as the other great Victorian poet

T.S. Eliot (1888-1965)

-Was born in St. Louis, Missouri (not Britain), and later entered Harvard, where he was influenced by Jacobean literature, the Italian Renaissance, and Indian mystical philosophy (not Romanticism) -Later relocated in London, in 1915, where he taught school and married a neurotic woman -Spent two months in a Swiss sanitorium (mental home); after his first wife died, he remarried happily -Published first collection of poems called Prufrock and Other Observations -Wrote famous novel The Waste Land in 1922 -Became a dramatist, creating his first place Murder in the Cathedral, regarding the Archbishop Thomas a Becket, in 1935; wrote other dramas as well -Became a British subject in 1927, eventually being awarded the rare honor of the Order of Merit, by King George VI, and also was given the Nobel Prize for Literature

Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772-1834)

-Wrote "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," "Kubla Khan," and "Christabel" -Left Cambridge in 1794, without taking a degree -Formed a lasting friendship with William Wordsworth, and, with him, created Lyrical Ballads, one of the most famous collections of writing in the Romantic Period -Produced, from 1800-1819, lectures of Shakespeare and the Biographia Literaria, a great work on both philosophy and literary criticism -Addicted to laudanum (a mixture of alcohol and opium), an addiction which he began before he was 30. Eventually controlled the addiction yet had a lonely life and frequently battled isolation and depression

William Wordsworth (1770-1850)

-Wrote Lyrical Ballads, "Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey," "Ode: Intimations of Immortality..." and "The World is Too Much with Us" -Obtained a degree from Cambridge and also studied languages in France and Germany -Established friendship with Romantic writer Samuel Taylor Coleridge, a relationship which enabled them to create Lyrical Ballads in 1789, one whose preface explains that good poetry is the "spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings" -Lived most of his life in a place in England called the Lake District, with his sister Dorothy and his family -Named England's Poet Laureate in 1843, a few years prior to his death -Considered by his friend Coleridge to be the "best poet of the age"