English IV - Romanticism Period (1798-1832)

"Poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful emotions, recollected in tranquility". - W.W.

(1st part) Poetic moment "that's the stuff" (2nd part) after the emotional experience happens you need to put a form by it, "reflective mood", form on feeling

Notes for EWIACC

-"where heaves the turf in many a moldering heap" the burial -sleep = death -cell = coffin -lines 53-56: all potential wasted -poverty is why people don't reach potential example of protoromantic -"unlettered": uneducated -elegies are thoughtful meditations of the dead

Elegy Written in A Country Churchyard by Thomas Gray (pg. 692-697)

-Gray contemplates the deaths of those buried in the churchyard, then the deaths of all people, and then his own death The moods calm & the nights starting to come About death, doom, gloom & fear of being forgotten when you're gone

William Wordsworth

-Leader of English Romanticism who published works in the countryside, with Coleridge

Tintern Abbey - William Wordsworth (pg. 800)

-captures outdoor scene in the Wye River valley, near the ruins of a Gothic abbey -5 years have passed -talks about wildness, untainted nature/nature in the wrong, secluded(lonely, isolated) -recollected in tranquility -802, lines 24-26: as a function of memory he can resurrect that experience, not only vital in terms of creating the poem but can also approximate the emotion that he felt then -analogy: if you can think of some place that u can think of that you were at when you were younger can u remember those feelings of that place -enlightenment -revives, green, youth -line 75, dash breaks thought, language fails him -line 83, another break time has passed, those days are over -sagamore tree, bees & water, symbols of poetic inspiration -moonlight is romantic

John Keats (1795-1821) pg. 878

-confronted a series of physical & emotional crises

What you inferred about the following: -their values -the challenges they faced -the benefits of their lot

-establishes the humble, seemlingly unimportant people buried there had at least as much value in life as those who achieved glory and fame in the world. according to gray, a a poor farmer or laborer is a great human being, than a monarch or politician

How does Blake employ the "night/light" contrast in the following? -"The Tyger"

-it starts off with light "burning bright" then goes straight to "forest of the night". then just keeps switching from light to darkness.

Explain the meaning of each comparison -"She Walks in Beauty", lines 1-6 -"When We Two Parted", lines 17-18 -"from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage" lines 34-35

-the woman is compared to expansive beauty of night -compares woman's name to bell that announces death, woman's name is very bothersome to author -compares tools of war w snowflakes, suggests human man might has no power over the ocean; a metaphor compares the waves to yeast, suggesting that the waves have a frothy look

Infer his opinion on the following topics from the statements he makes: -the upper class (lines 29-36) -famous people(lines 67-72) -city life vs. country life(lines 73-76) -himself(lines 105-108;117-128)

-they are rich snobs -they will help them get the word out -it is more peaceful out there -that he is turning more into the city person

The Romantic Period, according to our textbooks, lasts from 1798-1832. Why those two dates?

1798 due to Lyrical Ballards & 1832 due to the Reform Bill

Apostrophe

A figure of speech in which an object, an abstract quality, or an absent or imaginary person is addressed directly, as if present and able to understand. Used to express powerful emotions, as in the apostrophe to the ocean in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

Select one of the four poems in the lesson. What overall effect do these conventions help create?

All 4 poems provide ex. of the listed romantic conventions except for "mysterious, exotic, or supernatural elements", probably best illustrated by the mentions of the hermit in "Tintern Abbey" (lines 14-22) and the sudden appearance of the daffodils in "I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud" (lines 3-12).

Is Byron's use of the apostrophe in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage an effective method for conveying strong emotion? Find 2 passages from the poem that you think serve as good illustrations, and explain why you chose them.

Byron does not employ innovative language but relies on chichéd diciton

Kubla Khan by Samuel Coleridge

Coleridge describes a "stately pleasure-dome" built in Xanadu, in the place where the Alph, the sacred river ran "through caverns measureless to man / Down on a sunless sea". Theme : interaction between man & nature

Examples of alliteration, consonance, assonance, and onomatopoeia in the poem. Which device does Coleridge use most often? Discuss instances in which sound supports mood or meaning.

Coleridge mainly uses alliteration. lines 3-5 & 25 support the description of a river's soft flow, while those in lines 17-20 suggest the explosive sound of water forced up

What message is there in the poem from European kings or self-proclaimed emperors like Napoleon?

Do not be arrogant Your empire does not last forever Everything will eventually die

What ideas does the poem suggest about dreams and the act of creation? -the circumstances of the poem's composition -Kubla Khan's construction of his pleasure dome -the speaker's vision of the Abyssinian maid

Dreams can inspire creativity but are elusive & fragile. Coleridge said he dreamt the images of the pleasure dome but lost them later, which also happens to the speaker with the maid's song. Kubla Khan too seems in danger of losing his dream creation of war.

Reread lines 37-45 in the excerpt from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage. What is the speaker saying about the relationship between civilization and the ocean? Provide examples to support your interpretation.

Even the world's greatest civilizations-ex. Assyria, Greece & Rome-have their rise & fall, but the ocean remains constant & dominant

Why does the speaker in the excerpt from Childe Harold's Pilgrimage enjoy spending time by the "deep Sea"?

He enjoys the way it connects him to the universe

Although "She Walks in Beauty" contains the image of a woman walking, there are no descriptions of her legs or arms, only her face. Why do you think the poet chose to describe only her face?

He focused on the woman's face as the most likely reflection of her examined mind & heart

What is William Blake doing when he juxtaposes "The Lamb" with "The Tyger"? What is he saying?

He juxtaposes the differences between "The Lamb" & "The Tyger" through darkness & light. Describing "The Lamb" as songs of innocence, while "The Tyger" is songs of experience, more dark & extreme.

What kind of man was Ozymandias?

He was a powerful & strict king He seemed to view himself above all

The last poem begins: "I wandered lonely as a cloud / That floats on high o'er vales or hills." What is the meaning of this statement?

He's lonely, compares himself to a cloud that roams high above the earth, signifying that he is just watching life pass by beneath him, never really getting into the hustle and bustle of things. He observes good times and bad times, but doesn't let them affect him too much.

Byronic Hero

Hero created by Lord Byron Hero is melancholy & a rebellious young man who is haunted by his past Distressed by a terrible wrong he has done in the past

What is ironic about the words on his pedestal?

His words exclaim his magificence & to look around the area to see how powerful he was (empire) The thing is there is nothing left in the surrounding area Everything decayed or died

What does the speaker imagine would happen if he could again hear the "symphony and song" and the Abyssinian maid?

If he could hear the maid's song, he could reconstruct the dome in song and awe his listeners

In line 21, what does the phrase "flash upon the inward eye" mean?

It means "come suddenly to my memory" or "form a sudden picture in my mind".

What does it mean to have fed on "honeydew" and "drunk the milk of Paradise"?

It means being in contact with and inspired by the gods

1789-1832

Romantic Period 1789 - Lyrical Ballads

How does Shelley describe the king of England?

Shelley describes the kind as an old, blind, despised, and dying man

Sonnet : England in 1819 by Percy Bysshe Shelley (pg. 871)

Shelley opposes authoritity, "fine night"

Wordsworth

Songs of Innocence & Experience - two contrasting states of the human soul (The Lamb & The Tyger) Talking about ordinary people doing ordinary things

What does the "Phantom" at the end of the poem signify?

The "Phantom" signifies hope for a better future

What similarities and differences are there in the structure of these two poems? How do the different stanzas forms support the meaning of each poem?

The 2 poems follow a rhyme scheme of ABAB 2 parted: deviates from rhyme scheme when talking about himself and questioning himself Childe Harold: deviates and rhymes at last 2 lines Lines 1-9 & 55-63 convey the speaker's intense feelings for the ocean

Describe, the images you visualized in lines 1-36. What qualities of nature are suggested through these images?

The dome, the chasm from the river erupts before meandering to the sea. The images suggest nature's fertility, variety, and beauty.

According to the poem, what are the effects of the king's rule on England's people?

The kings' rule starves the people & robs them of their freedom, religion, and laws

How do the stylistic elements help him achieve this state in "Tintern Abbey"?

The long, free-flowing sentences with their frequent interruptions reflect his idea of "spontaneous overflow", and the emotional statements signaled by exclamation points reflect the powerful feelings

What are some features of the site Kubla Khan chooses for his pleasure dome?

The pleasure dome has fertile ground with forests and streams, a chasm from which the river rises up like a fountain, and icy caves

Provide the poem, poet, context, and the significance of the following lines: "And because I am happy and dance and sing, They think they have done me no injury, And are gone to praise God and his Priest and King, Who make up a heaven of our misery."

The poet in these lines is Blake, expressing his feelings in "Chimney Sweeper". The context is towards happiness in the part where he is glad to be alive and not in heaven dealing with misery. The significance is

In your own words, restate the meaning of lines 46-50?

The sea is a mirror The sea reflects God's creations The sea can be calm or chaotic depending on God

What aspects of the ocean does the speaker seem to admire most? Briefly explain.

The speaker admires the ocean's strength, sublimity, and constancy

"The World Is Too Much with Us" is a Petrarchan sonnet. In the poem, identify the speakers' situation or problem in the octave and his comments in the sestet. Which sonnet provides a more satisfying resolution?

The speaker describes his upset feelings about human alienation from nature in the octave and suggests that pagan societies are closer to nature in the sestet

Reread lines 3-12 of the poem. In your own words, describe the scene the speaker encounters.

The speaker experiences sudden joy when he comes across a large number of daffodils beside a lake

In "Tintern Abbey," why do you think the speaker says so little about the ruined abbey named in the poem's title?

The speaker is describing the natural landscape a few miles from Tintern Abbey, not the abbey ruins. His focus is on nature.

How regular are the rhyme scheme and meter of the poem? At what specific points are the rhyme scheme and meter especially appropriate for the subject?

They are irregular. The rhymes grow less predictable as the description reflects nature's wildness. The singsong rhythm at the end reflects the chant.

What do you predict about Kubla Khan and his pleasure dome in line 30 - "Ancestral voices prophesying war"?

War will destroy the pleasure dome or Kubla Khan will have to leave it to fight

What elements does Wordsworth consider essential to poetry? Why?

Wordsworth considers essential to poetry the ability to describe ordinary events in an unusual, interesting way. He seeks to achieve this by identifying and celebrating the laws of nature in these common occurrences

The World Is Too Much with Us (pg. 807)

Wordsworth criticises the world of the first industrial revolution for being absorbed in materialism and distancing itself from nature.

I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud (pg. 808)

Wordsworth says that wandering like a cloud floating above hills & valleys he encounters a field of daffodils beside a lake. Happy & accompanied by the flowers. Stared and stared but could not see what wealth the scene would bring him. Now, whenever he feels "vacant" or "pensive", the memory flashes upon him

What connection does Wordsworth make between the speakers' memories of the past and their ability to experience peace in the present? Cite evidence from all 4 poems to support your response.

Wordsworth suggests that people's memories of the beauty and wonder of nature help them experience peace & harmony in the present and permit them to imagine the scene later.

Ozymandias (pg. 862) by Shelley

a broken statue of a legendary king of ancient times, lying forgotten in the desert, with these words carved on its base: "my name is Ozymandias, king of kings: look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!"

Explain the purpose of this elegy. Whom is the speaker praising, and why? What themes about death does he express? Cite lines to support your interpretation.

a musing over the existence of life and the reality of death, the major theme is the inevitability of death, memento mori.

Negative Capability (Keats)

being able to hold to simultaneously objects together

She Walks in Beauty (pg. 850)

byron compares the woman's beauty to the night; "cloudless climes and starry skies", emphasizes the clarity and the brightness of her beauty; light & dark imagery

From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage (pg. 854-856)

designating a young noble who is not yet knighted. Disillusioned with his aimless life devoted to pursuing pleasure, Childe Harold seeks distraction by going on a solitary pilgrimage to foreign lands. Childe Harold is a Byronic hero.

Coleridge is more interested in (the) ______________ and (the) ______________ than Wordsworth.

exotic, supernatural

Do you think that he regrets his loss of youth? -"The sounding cataract... dizzy raptures." (lines 76-85) -Nor perchance...Of thy wild eyes." (lines 111-119)

he does not regret his loss of youth. he praises nature & recalls what joyful experiences he had in the countryside when he was younger.

How does the speaker's imagined gravesite with its moving epitaph fit in with the other graves in the churchyard? How does it stand out? What comparison suggests about the speaker's relationship to the villagers.

he is the leader and the one they look up to

Compare the speaker's youthful experiences of the natural world with his present experiences. In what ways has his understanding of nature changed?

he revisits a place that was incredible important to him, but when he returned, he finds his feelings & awareness of what it represents to him changed, due to the years passing. he also lost the excitement it brought him when he was young.

What in Thomas Gray's personality and experience might have led him to write a formal elegy about a rural cemetery?

his motive is that the way their live head to change

6 Characteristics of Romantic poetry

irrational, individualism, imagination, intuition, emotion, nature

Literary Analysis: Figurative Language

language that communicates meaning beyond the literal meaning of the words metaphors, similes, apostrophe

Name 6 characteristics of the Romantic Period

nature emotion intuition illusion individualism imagination

The Tyger

songs of experience could to dare image of light and darkness how come things aren't fair?

The Lamb

songs of innocence

According to Wordsworth, "poetry is the ___________________ ________________ of powerful _______________, recollected in __________________.

spontaneous overflow, emotions, tranquility

Reading Skill: Understand Stanza Structure

stanza structure reflect or emphasize the poem's main ideas stanzas - groupings of lines, used to group ideas the quatrain contains 4 lines the sestet contains 6 lines the octave contains 8 lines Spenserian stanza - used in Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, consists of 9 iambic lines rhyming in the pattern ababbcbcc 1st 8 lines contains 5 feet and ninth, called an alexandrine, contains 6

In Blake's time, it was common practice in London to use small boys for cleaning chimneys, which was dangerous and often fatal work. What difference do you see in the word choice and tone of these poems and in the ideas they convey?

the first chimney sweeper is about innocence while the other experience. the innocence, there's symbolism and insinuating irony the experience, blake himself narrates and tells of the boys abandonment

What do all the dead desire, according to the speaker?

the living to feed them more death

In "The Tyger", Blake uses the animal to symbolize his very complex view of creation-both heavenly and artistic. What troubling aspects of creation does the tiger represent? Cite details.

the tyger represents the dangerous forces of nature. words and phrases that support are "fearful symmetry", "seize the fire", "dread hand" & "deadly terrors clasp".