Romantic Poetry William Blake Songs of Innocence Holy

Romantic Poetry

William Blake • Songs of Innocence: “Holy Thursday, ” p. 69 • Songs of Experience: “Holy Thursday, ” p. 73 • Songs of Experience: “The Sick Rose, ” p. 73 • Songs of Experience: “The Tyger, ” p. 74 • Songs of Experience: “London, ” p. 75 William Wordsworth • “Lines Written in Early Spring, ” p. 108 • “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey, ” p. 109 • “Ode: Intimations of Immortality, ” p. 133 Samuel Taylor Coleridge • “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, ” p. 155 George Gordon, Lord Byron • “Lines Inscribed upon a Cup Formed from a Skull, ” p. 211 • “Fare Thee Well, ” p. 212 • “So We’ll Go no more A Roving, ” p. 213 • “On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year, ” p. 232 Percy Bysshe Shelley • “‘The cold earth slept below’”, p. 242 • “Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples, ” p. 243 • “Ode to the West Wind, ” p. 246 • “The Question, ” p. 249 John Keats • “Ode to a Nightingale, ” p. 276 • “Ode on a Grecian Urn, ” p. 279 • “To Autumn, ” p. 282 • “Ode on Melancholy, ” p. 283 • “Sonnet on the Sea, ” p. 287 Emily Bronte • “To a Wreath of Snow, ” p. 341 • “R. Alcona to J. Brenzaida, ” p. 342 • “Julian M. and A. G Rochelle, ” p. 343 • “Last Lines, ” p. 348

Introduction to Romanticism (1) • What do we mean by romantic (and romance)? • What are the differences between “romantic” (as we use the word today in everyday speech) and “Romantic” (as a specialist literary/cultural term)?

Brainstorm (1 per word): what do “romantic” & “romance” mean to you? Romantic /romance

William Blake’s Song of Innocence & Of Experience • Collection of illuminated pieces • Original produced (from 1789) as two separate books of poetry; Songs of Innocence came first • Eventually produced as a single volume, entitled Songs of Innocence and of Experience • Significance of the title?

• Full title is: Songs of Innocence and of Experience: Showing the Two Contrary States of the Human Soul • Significance of the subtitle? • In what ways is this romantic?

In what ways is this poem romantic?

Romance • Romance languages: Language derived from Latin – French, Italian, Spanish – but which develop into distinct vernaculars (commonly spoken, regional languages; close to idea of dialect) • Medieval literary genre; verse form; tells of legendary heroic deeds (chivalrous knights etc. ) • Roman: French for “novel” • C 17 onwards: a wild fantasy, falsehood; fantastical story; flight of imagination • C 19 onwards: warmth of feeling related to a love affair

Romantic High-flown, flowery language (eupuistic) Like a romance (in lit. sense) Giving free reign to the imagination Given to romance (in senses relating both to love and fantasy) • From mid C 17: of poetry and, later, other art forms • •

Now. . . • Go back to the title and the poems. • In what ways are they Romantic?

HW • What might be the significance of the key words in Blake’s title (innocence, experience, songs)? • In what ways is Blake’s “Introduction” to Songs of Innocence Romantic? • Consider: – Images/symbols of innocence/experience – Presentation of nature – Significance of and attitude towards music, song, and writing/poetry • 500 -750 words. Due Monday.

Introduction to Romanticism (2) Brainstorm/List: • In what ways is Blake’s “Introduction” to Songs of Innocence and Of Experience Romantic?

• Revise for a test on context covered so far. • Shabby responses will be re-written during lunch/after school!

Images/figures/symbols of innocence. . . Celebration of nature Innocence leads/guides experience Images/symbols of self-expression (music; song; poetry) • Tension between pure (innocent? ) expression, ephemerality, permanence of meaning (what is gained and lost in the passage from expression to meaning? ) • Ambivalence towards writing. . . • •

• In what ways might the following poem – the “Introduction” to Experience – be said to be Romantic? Challenge: - Make general links between this and “Introduction” to Innocence - Make specific links (comparisons/contrasts) between the two using quotations

Introduction Hear the voice of the Bard! Who Present, Past, & Future sees Whose ears have heard, The Holy Word, That walk'd among the ancient trees. Calling the lapsed Soul And weeping in the evening dew: That might controll, The starry pole; And fallen light renew! O Earth return! Arise from out the dewy grass; Night is worn, And the morn Rises from the slumberous mass. Turn away no more: Why wilt thou turn away The starry floor The watry shore Is giv'n thee till the break of day.

• Voice of poetry (poiesis) as prophetic – “poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world” (Percy Bysshe Shelley, “A Defence of Poetry” [1821]) – A future-oriented/utopian direction (looks forwards to a human world other/better than it is today) • Images of transcendence/limitation (poles; boundaries; shores. . . ) • Images of renewal and return to the essential self

• The following texts are two of Blake’s earliest illuminated works, from 1788. • There are in many ways aesthetic and philosophical manifestos. • We will read both texts together. • Then, two groups working on each text.

Presentations for next lesson

HW • 500 -750 words • Summarize Blake’s artistic/aesthetic vision (as outlined in All Religions Are One. Use your own words as far as possible, and quotes to support your summary. You DO NOT have to quote and analyze as you would in exams/coursework • How do Blake’s two “Introduction” poems reflect the views put forward in All Religions? • Due Monday.

Test: 300 -500 word essay. 15 minutes Write 3 paragraphs addressing the following issues. Each number is a paragraph: 1. Summarize Blake’s aesthetic and philosophical beliefs (as expressed in his essays) 2. Summarize his two introductory poems. Quote if you can, but this is not essential. More important is to say something about the following: a) The significance of innocence and experience, and their relationship to one another b) The importance of imagination, poetry, and prophecy 3. Summarize the ways in which Blake’s appears to be (typically? ) Romantic

In small groups: • Summarize in your own words the main arguments/ideas • Identify 2 -3 key quotes/words/concepts In larger groups: • Prepare a 3 minute presentation outlining the main points of the text • Write and read out a statement of 2 -4 sentences, summarizing the essay. Include brief quotations. • These statements will be written on the board, and we will revise them as a class.

All Religions Are One

Blake believes that true knowledge comes from experience and experiment. He claims that “Poetic Genius” – or a creative spark – is the essence of humankind. He believes that, just as we are basically physically alike, though infinitely various, so too is Poetic Genius universal and infinitely various. The same is true of art, religion, and philosophy. He claims that is in the nature of the PG to explore and experiment, and that religion is an expression of national PG. He also believes that PG interprets our sensory lives. He ends by claiming that humankind is the source of God, or religion, and not the other way around. - Poetic Genius: essential to all people - God is an expression of humankind/PG, not the other way around - Humanity: infinite diversity/variety within basic unity/sameness

Introduction Hear the voice of the Bard! Who Present, Past, & Future sees Whose ears have heard, The Holy Word, That walk'd among the ancient trees. Calling the lapsed Soul And weeping in the evening dew: That might controll, The starry pole; And fallen light renew! O Earth return! Arise from out the dewy grass; Night is worn, And the morn Rises from the slumberous mass. Turn away no more: Why wilt thou turn away The starry floor The watry shore Is giv'n thee till the break of day.

Blake’s “London” London I wander thro' each charter'd street, Near where the charter'd Thames does flow. And mark in every face I meet Marks of weakness, marks of woe. In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice: in every ban, The mind-forg'd manacles I hear How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackning Church appalls, And the hapless Soldiers sigh Runs in blood down Palace walls But most thro' midnight streets I hear How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse

HW • How does Blake present the city in his poem “London”? • In what ways is this poem Romantic? • In what ways does it reflect the views he expresses in All Religions Are One?

1. What do you notice about the image? a) Challenge: Can you relate this to any of the contextual work we’ve done? 2. What is historical backdrop against which Blake is writing? How might this affect his view of London and the image he paints of it? 3. Can you identify any language patterns? What might their significance be? a) Challenge: Can you organize the poem into opposing symbols/images? What is their significance? 4. Would you place this in Songs of Innocence or Experience? Explain your answer

Blake’s “The Sick Rose” The Sick Rose O Rose thou art sick. The invisible worm. That flies in the night In the howling storm: Has found out thy bed Of crimson joy: And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy.

“The Tyger” 1. Innocence or Experience? 2. What is the tyger? 3. What do you notice about the form of this poem? 4. Are there any inconsistencies or disjunctions (or just plain weird bits) in this poem? 5. With what is the tyger compared? 6. Who is speaking, and to whom is the poem addressed?

Tyger, burning bright, In the forests of the night; What immortal hand or eye, Could frame thy fearful symmetry? In what distant deeps or skies. Burnt the fire of thine eyes? On what wings dare he aspire? What the hand, dare seize the fire? And what shoulder, & what art, Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand? & what dread feet? What the hammer? what the chain, In what furnace was thy brain? What the anvil? what dread grasp, Dare its deadly terrors clasp! When the stars threw down their spears And water'd heaven with their tears: Did he smile his work to see? Did he who made the Lamb make thee? Tyger burning bright, In the forests of the night: What immortal hand or eye, Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

Blake essays 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. Detailed/extended analysis Use of technical terminology Context: Romanticism Context: Blake (All Religions) Focussed/specific examples/quotes to support comments/interpretations Link ideas of nature/natural world to Blake’s view of human nature as Poetic Genius Developed interpretations Clarity/precision of written expression Get to the analysis of the text quicker

HW • Practice question on Blake, Monday. • Revise poems. • Bring poems with you. If you don’t have anthologies yet, print copies off the website.

“Holy Thursday” Background and vocab: • “Holy Thursday”: an annual event, in which around 6, 000 of the poorest children from London’s various charity schools were paraded by their beadles into St. Paul’s Cathedral. Here the children were required to make an exhibition of their gratitude to their sponsors. • Beadles: a church officer; in this instance, the beadles are church officers attached to the school.

Twas on a Holy Thursday their innocent faces clean The children walking two & two in red & blue & green Grey-headed beadles walkd before with wands as white as snow, Till into the high dome of Pauls they like Thames waters flow O what a multitude they seemd these flowers of London town Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own The hum of multitudes was there but multitudes of lambs Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of Heaven among Beneath them sit the aged men wise guardians of the poor Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door

1. Innocence of Experience? 2. How would you describe the tone of the poem? 3. Are there any instances of ambiguity, dark humour, or irony? 4. Is there a moral to this poem? 5. How does this poem fit with your understanding of Blake so far?

“Holy Thursday” • Usury: the practice of lending money at extortionately high interest rates; the practice of lending money for a profitable return

Is this a holy thing to see, In a rich and fruitful land, Babes reducd to misery, Fed with cold and usurous hand? Is that trembling cry a song? Can it be a song of joy? And so many children poor? It is a land of poverty! And their sun does never shine. And their fields are bleak & bare. And their ways are fill'd with thorns. It is eternal winter there. For where-e'er the sun does shine, And where-e'er the rain does fall: Babe can never hunger there, Nor poverty the mind appall.

1. Innocence or Experience? 2. Links to other poems we’ve studied? 3. How does this poem affect our reading of “Holy Thursday” from Innocence? 4. Rhyme scheme; structure; punctuation? 5. The social/political message?

Pick one. For both questions: - use technical lang. /poetic terms - link poems to context (historical, biographical [Blake], literary [romanticism]) - link poem(s) to themes from elsewhere in Songs and/or the essay All Religions Are One - detailed analysis of language What is the significance of the tyger in Blake’s poem “The Tyger, ” and how does it reflect Blake’s broader concerns? Consider Blake’s social views as expressed in the two “Holy Thursday” poems, and link these to themes of Songs of Innocence and of Experience.

1. What do you notice about the image? a) Challenge: Can you relate this to any of the contextual work we’ve done? 2. In what ways do the language and images (of both text and illumination) pick up on those of the Introductions? 3. How many ways of interpreting this poem can you think of? 4. Would you place this in Songs of Innocence or Experience? Explain your answer

How significant do you think the idea of natural freedom is to Songs of Innocence and Experience? • Write one paragraph in response to this past question. • Make reference to at least one poem, as well as to All Religions are One and There is No Natural Religion. • Reference to “Poetic Genius” and “Prophecy” is enough for All Religions & No Natural Religion… • However, be sure to quote from the poem(s) – AND NO TEXTS!!

“Lines Written in Early Spring” BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH • From Lyrical Ballads (first published 1798), written with Samuel Taylor Coleridge • Lyrical Ballads: the product of their close friendship • Wordsworth one of the so-called “Lake Poets. ”

Lines Written in Early Spring BY WILLIAM WORDSWORTH I heard a thousand blended notes, The birds around me hopped and played, While in a grove I sate reclined, Their thoughts I cannot measure: — In that sweet mood when pleasant thoughts But the least motion which they made Bring sad thoughts to the mind. It seemed a thrill of pleasure. To her fair works did Nature link The human soul that through me ran; And much it grieved my heart to think What man has made of man. The budding twigs spread out their fan, To catch the breezy air; And I must think, do all I can, That there was pleasure there. Through primrose tufts, in that green bower, The periwinkle trailed its wreaths; And ’tis my faith that every flower Enjoys the air it breathes. If this belief from heaven be sent, If such be Nature’s holy plan, Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man?

• Grove: a wood or wooded • Initial responses to the area poem? • Symbolism of primrose and periwinkle? • Primrose: (early) youth • Periwinkle: pleasure of memory/pleasant recollections • How does this symbolism fit/reflect the concerns of the poem?

Wordsworth: “Tintern Abbey” (1) • What is Wordsworth most concerned about in his poetry? • In what ways is he Romantic? • What “school” of Romanticism is he associated with? • What are the beautiful and the sublime?

Tintern Abbey, Welsh bank of the Wye (Monmouthsire)

Structure • Why free verse? • Look at the openings of each section: how does the speaker’s focus shift (in temporal [time] terms)?

• Fill in as much of the grid as possible. • Each group will be feeding back on Wednesday. • PPts, grid, and other resources up on the website.

Then Kantian connection between thought & feeling; need to give expressive form to feelings/emotions • Kant’s philosophy had a profound impact on Romantic thinking. Part of Kant’s philosophy was concerned with the ways in which human understanding is made possible and is formed. According to Kant, two fundamental human capacities are spontaneity and judgement. Briefly and simply put, spontaneity allows us to deal with, and to interpret, whatever the world has throws at us; spontaneity allows us to make sense of new situations (e. g. walking through unfamiliar rooms for the first time). Judgement allows us to make sense of, to interpret, or attach meaning to our experiences. One way of thinking of judgement and spontaneity, then, is this: • spontaneity is our ability to receive experiences from the outside world; judgement is our ability to put our experiences into words.

Write about the significance of Nature in the poem, and the speaker's relationship with Nature.

Coleridge, “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” • Consider Wordsworth and Coleridge’s aims behind Lyrical Ballads, and then consider how well “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” fits those aims.

Lyrical Ballads: nature, primitivism, & Rousseau’s “noble savage” From the Advertisement of the first edition: • “It is the honourable characteristic of Poetry that its materials are to be found in every subject which can interest the human mind. ” • “The majority of the following poems are to be considered as experiments. They were written chiefly with a view to ascertain how far the language of conversation in the middle and lower classes of society is adapted to the purposes of poetic pleasure. ” From Wordsworth’s Preface to the second edition (1800) • “poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity. ” • “Low and rustic life was generally chosen, because in that condition, the essential passions of the heart find a better soil in which they can attain their maturity, are less under restraint, and speak a plainer and more emphatic language; because in that condition of life our elementary feelings co-exist in a state of greater simplicity, and, consequently, may be more accurately contemplated, and more forcibly communicated”

Wordsworth on Nature • Wordsworth sees humankind as a part of, not apart from, the natural world. • Therefore, we are an expression and reflection of Nature; and we also find, in the natural world, our deepest feelings and emotions, reflected, echoed, amplified: – Nature, and it’s combination of the beautiful and the sublime, “put[s] on an aspect capable of satisfying the most intense cravings for the tranquil, the lovely, and the perfect, to which man, the noblest of her [Nature’s] creatures, is subject. ” (From a guidebook Wordsworth wrote on the Lake District)

Wordsworth’s plebeian/democratic sensibility Francis Jaffrey (critic; contemporary of Wordsworth): “The love, or grief, or indignation of an enlightened and refined character, is not only expressed in a different language, but is in itself a different emotion from the love, or grief, or anger of a clown, a tradesman, or a market-wench. ” • Comparing this to Wordsworth and Coleridge’s aims in the LB, one can see how bold/radical a statement it was. • A poet of quotidian experience and emotional life? • Radical democratic sympathies (response to the French Revolution)

• Which aspects of Romanticism does Coleridge’s poem reflect? • What sort of a poem would you say this is, based on the opening stanzas? • What is its place in LB?

• What is a mariner? What might be the symbolic significance of this? • Ancient: significance of this word? – “When he saw the first illustrations of the poem, by David Scott (later published in 1837), Coleridge noted the ‘enormous blunder’ the artist had made in picturing the mariner as ‘ancient’ at the time of the voyage: on the contrary, he ‘had told this story ten thousand times since the voyage’, said Coleridge, implying that part of the poem’s force lies in its exploration of how minds use narrative to try and make sense of their experiences. ” (Seamus Perry)

• Let’s read and listen to Part I. • In what ways does this fit or fail to fit broad conceptions of Romanticism? • Similarities with/differences from Wordsworth?

Copy down tasks 1 -3 1. Consider the presentation of Nature in RAM. 2. Consider the significance of the supernatural in RAM. 3. Consider Coleridge’s use of imagery and symbolism in RAM.

• In the section of the poetry paper that tests you on the Romantics, you MUST make links to context (i. e. historical context but also cultural/intellectual/literary context of Romanticism).

• 2 groups of 6; 1 group of 5 • 5 mins: thesis statement for each task/q. that makes a link to context. Work in pairs for this activity. Thesis statement must be written down and read as written (no “I would say something like. . . ” statements!)

• How different are the questions really? • In what ways do they differ? • 1 of the qs as timed practice on Wed. The exam asks you to write in response to a named poem and one other you have studied.

• 3 -4 main points/ideas (750 -1000 words in 1 hr? ) • Plan essay for your assigned question. – Revise thesis as needed – Key ideas (including links to context) – Key quotes/references: • 3 -4 for each section, but remember that the marginal text counts and so do references to form/structure

1. Consider Coleridge’s presentation of Nature in Rime of the Ancient Mariner and one other poem. - You must discuss relevant contextual factors. 2. Read “Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed from a Skull” & “Fare Thee Well” (pp. 211 -213), by Byron.

Self-Assessment • Look at the mark scheme • Using three different colours, highlight for AOs 1 -3 (highlight points where you are meeting the AO); use a clear key for the AOs.

• Now look at the exemplar and the examiner’s grade and comment. • Revise your mark for your piece accordingly.

• Poetry exam is 2 hrs 15 mins total • 2 hrs writing time: – 1 hr on Yr. 12 poetry; – 1 hr on Romantics

Lord Byron (1788 -1824) • • Died age 36, awaiting to fight for Greek independence Politically active (House of Lords); concerned with workers’ rights/human liberty; represented by conservatives in England as a devil (club foot) Sexually voracious; slept with men and women Famous short-lived affair with Lady Caroline Lamb, who famously described him as “mad, bad, and dangerous to know” Byron: “The great object of life is Sensation - to feel that we exist” Critical of other writers and poets of the day; dismissive of Wordsworth; described Keats work as “a sort of mental masturbation” “Fare Thee Well” written to/about Annabella Milbanke, his wife with whom he had a daughter (Ada). They were married 1814 -16; and the mother of his daughter. After they separated, Byron never saw his wife or daughter again.

Byron: “Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed from a Skull” & “Fare Thee Well” (211 -213) 1. What stories do the poems tell? 2. What attitudes to life, death, creativity and love are expressed in the poems? 3. In what ways are the poems similar/different? 4. How are the concerns of the poems reflected in the form/structure? 5. Find four striking images from each poem, and explain what makes them interesting.

Use SMHW for the coursework checklist. I won’t mark your coursework if anything is missing.

Byron: “So We’ll Go no more A Roving, ” p. 213, & “On This Day I Complete My Thirty-Sixth Year, ” p. 232 “So We’ll Go no more A Roving, ” p. 213 Consider the significance of: 1. Love and loss 2. Mortality/finitude 3. Natural imagery/symbolism • How does this fit in with Romanticism? “On This Day”, p. 232 Consider the significance of: 1. Love and loss; passion 2. Mortality/finitude 3. Personal vs political struggle 4. Inner/outer life/experience • How does this fit in with Romanticism?

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792 -1822) • Nicknamed “Eton Atheist” (takes over from “Mad Shelley”) • Expelled from Oxford for co-authoring and refusing to renounce the pamphlet The Necessity of Atheism • His poetry represents a more materialist Romanticism which rejects monotheistic religion, but not the world of spirit or the idea of transcendence • Eloped with Harriet Westbrook when she was only 16 (1811); she committed suicide in 1816, by which time Shelley was already involved with Mary (author of Frankenstein) and Jane “Claire” Clairmont • Friends with Byron; acquainted with Keats • Politically engaged; saw no separation between art and politics: true poetry was all genuine art, and genuine art was prophetic • In his essay “A Defence of Poetry, ” Shelley declares that “Poets are the unacknowledged legislators of the world. ”

Shelley: “The cold earth slept below”, p. 242, & “Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples, ” p. 243 “The cold earth slept below”, p. 242 “Stanzas Written in Dejection, near Naples, ” p. 243 Consider the significance of: 1. Love and loss 2. Mortality/finitude 3. Natural imagery/symbolism 4. Pathetic fallacy • How does this fit in with Romanticism? Consider the significance of: 1. Existential anxiety 2. Mortality/finitude 3. Natural imagery/symbolism 4. Appreciation of the natural world • How does this fit in with Romanticism?

Test Week (Jan. ‘ 17) Answer one of the following questions. You can use your anthologies, but not your exercise books. 11 Explore the ways in which a sense of place is presented in Songs of Experience: London by William Blake and one other poem. You must discuss relevant contextual factors. OR 12 Explore the ways in which solitude is presented in The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge and one other poem. You must discuss relevant contextual factors.

Feedback (Jan. Mock) • Read as much of the exemplar response as you can, highlighting for AOs 1, 2, & 3 • Compare this exemplar with the last one we looked at (if you have it). Which is better? Why? • Do you agree with the marker’s comments (next slide)?

Any number of Keats’ poems might be considered in an exploration of his treatment of nature. Along with To Autumn, Keats’ displayed his interest in the natural world across a range of his poetry, particularly his odes, including Ode on Melancholy, Ode to Psyche and Ode to a Nightingale. As a poet writing within the Romantic movement, Keats’ detailed and vivid descriptions of nature are symbolic of his exploration of the human condition and the inevitability of change and ultimately death. In his ode, To Autumn, written in 1819 Keats focuses on an appeal to the senses. The first stanza of the three contains dense lines, packed with descriptive words that make the reader or listener work hard due to the repeated round vowel sounds “mellow” “load” “round” “flowers” and the use of sibilance “mists” “close blossom” “bless” “moss’d cottage-trees. ” The effort required to work through the thick sounds and the full lines of the first stanza might be representative of the efforts that nature has gone through in producing the full fruits which Keats is describing “to swell the gourds and plump the hazel shells. ” Nature, in To Autumn, is hardworking and cyclical. Autumn is positioned between summer “for summer has o’er brimmed their clammy cells” and spring “where are the songs of spring? ” and so is inevitably leading to an ending, or death, although this is only gently alluded to in To Autumn. In Ode to a Nightingale the reality of death is something to try and escape from, by being transported into a mythical natural world by the Nightingale’s song. The power of nature to transport you from the real world to a vivid mythological world is presented as being similar to the effects of drinking alcohol, or being poisoned “a drowsy numbness pains my sense, as though of hemlock I had drunk. ” Over the 8 stanzas of this Ode, Keats’ creates an escape to nature which is here presented as being immune from worries about death or decay “forget what thou among the leaves hast never known, The weariness, the fever, and the fret. ” As with To Autumn, the vivid descriptions stimulate the senses, with sensations within the “forest dim. ” For example, the variety of temperatures “cool’d” “sunburnt” “warm” as well as the smells and tastes of nature, such as “tasting of flora and the country green” and “soft incense”. Alliteration works to create the sensation of the sounds and feelings being described, for example “beaded bubbles winking at the brim” suggests the sensation of bubble popping in the mouth. As with To Autumn, Keats use of language stimulates the senses in the same ways as they would be stimulated by nature.

Marker’s Comments: • This fluent and confident answer makes excellent use of point of view, and is aware of how it is different in the two poems discussed as well as how it shifts within the poems themselves. The shift in One Flesh from “the actuality of the couple’s relationship to the way in which this is perceived by the child” is sharply observed and nicely linked to the poetic voice in Metamorphosis “perceiving himself as a reflection. ” The change in that poem from seeing a suit as a source of pride to a form of punishment is also noted. There is an appropriate use of contextual awareness with reference to the Movement poets and close analysis of form and structure, placing this answer at the top of Level 5 – 30 marks

• My marking: strict/conservative • Re-do if under level 3 • Highlight your pieces for the AOs same colours as before

HW (for Wed. ) • Pick one poem by Byron and one by Shelley; answer the following question: • Consider the presentation of sensory/sensual experience in the poems. You must write about context in your answer.

Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” • Ode: lyric poem on a particular subject/person; usually in praise of person/subject; typically addressed to person/subject • Maenad: Female followers of Dionysus (God of drunken revelry and fertility) • Azure: Bright blue (like that of a cloudless sky) • Lyre: Harp-like instrument used in ancient Greece • Baiae’s Bay: a bay near Naples; Roman ruins are visible beneath the water • Canto: Section of poetry (almost like a chapter)

First read-through… • Key themes & links with Romanticism (AO 1, 2, 3)

Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind” 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Use of the ode Form/structure Transcendence Mortality/Immortality Spiritual significance of natural imagery/symbolism 6. Links with other poets?

“The Question” 1. What story is being told? 2. What are the most important techniques being used, and what are their effects? 3. Which other poems might you link this to and why?

Quick Revision 1. Make a list of the major themes we have covered so far 2. Write themes out as subheadings, leaving space between them 3. Which poems can be grouped together under each theme? (Don’t worry about doubling up; DO worry about including every poem so far) 4. What possible questions can you imagine being asked on “Ode to the West Wind”?

John Keats (1795 -1821) • Associated with the so-called “Cockney School” of early C 19 poetry (this name intended as an insult from editors/reviewers of Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine • Love-hate relationship with the first generation Romantic verse of Wordsworth • Went to school in Edmonton; trained as an apothecary (very different background from, e. g. , Byron’s and Shelley’s; a little closer, perhaps, to Blake’s): keen on cricket & boxing, then literature • Interested in Greek mythology • “I think I shall be among the English poets after my death. ” (Letter to his brother, 1818, following despondency brought on by poor reviews, ill health, loss of one brother and inevitable death of another) • The odes are among the most widely read of his poems, some of the best known in Romantic poetry, and have been compared to the poetry of Shakespeare • His prediction was right: as he was dying of tuberculosis, his reviews did indeed improve, and his reputation was – all too late for him - secured

Negative capability • Keats’s term for our innate ability to deal positively with/respond creatively to uncertainty/a world of mystery. More than this: it is the ability to revel in the mysterious. • Poetry of the sort Keats most admires conjures up a world of intrigue, mystery, and – most importantly – sensation, over and above a world of cut-and-dried reason: • “at once it struck me, what quality went to form a Man of Achievement especially in Literature & which Shakespeare possessed so enormously – I mean Negative Capability, that is when a man is capable of being in uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact & reason”

“Ode to a Nightingale, ” p. 276 1. What story is being told/what are the dominant themes? 2. How can this be linked in broad terms to his formal & structural choice? 3. How does this poem fit in with: a) Romanticism? b) Negative capability? 4. What are the most significant techniques being used? What is their effect?

• • • • Nightingale: Songbird with long association with poetry Hemlock: poison; can also be used as a medicinal sedative Lethe: the river of forgetfulness in Greek myth Dryad: a tree/wood spirit (or “nymph”) Flora: Roman goddess of flowers and the spring Hippocrene: (literally “horse’s fountain”) in Greek mythology, the spring said to bring about poetic inspiration when drunk Bacchus: god of wine, fertility, drunken revelry Pards: leopard/panther (drew B’s chariot) Fays: fairies Hawthorne (plant): symbolizes hope Eglantine (plant): associated with poetry Ruth: a woman of modesty and loyalty, who, as a stranger in the land of Judah, chose to accept God as her God Forlorn: pitiful/sad/hopeless

Q. 1 • • • Based on an experience Keats had (supposedly he wrote the first version of this poem while sat under a tree listening to a nightingale’s song) Important to notice the “drowsy numbness” that “pains | My sense” is not misery or envy, but the result of “being too happy in thine happiness” The speaker compares the eternal/timeless/transcendent youthfulness, joy and beauty of the nightingale’s song to the brevity, finitude, and pain of the human condition; poetry (Poesy) becomes a linking or intermediate force between these two extremes The speaker reflects on how easy, even pleasant, it would be to die, having heard the nightingale’s song; and yet The speaker is aroused from his musings by the word “forlorn, ” which seems to encapsulate the human condition The poem ends with a series of unanswered, or unanswerable, questions, all inspired by the nightingale’s song; chief among them is, “Do I wake or sleep? ”

Q. 2 • The poem has rigid, regular structure: stanzas of 10 verses, [ABAB][CDECDE]; iambic pentameter (close to natural speech rhythms in English), except for 8 th verse (second C line), which is iambic trimeter. – – Poem is, on the one hand, firmly delineated/bounded, just as the speaker is (as are all humans in their mortality? ). On the other, the clever use of seamlessly shifting rhyme scheme, the disruption of the pentameter, and the use of 10 verses (which breaks familiarity of structures based around couplets/quatrains), creates a sense of freedom, a dreamlike quality.

Q. 3 • • • Poetry as a form/mode of transcendence: “I will fly to thee. . . on the viewless wings of Poesy, | Though the dull brain perplexes and retards” (link to Shelley, Blake) Poetry/beauty/nature’s harmony (birdsong) as a waking dream The dream-world as a higher plane of reality (“The Question”) Uncertainty as whether one is more “real”/”alive” waking or sleeping (links to Blake) Finding beauty and sensual experience in uncertainty – signalled by the references to mythology (Lethe; Hippocrene) – links to negative capability

Q. 4 • • • Mythological/theological references Symbolism of Nature Alliteration Repetition (esp. “forlorn”) Extended metaphors of wine/opiates; music/harmony

“Ode on a Grecian Urn, ” p. 279 • Loath: (in this context) unwilling • Timbrel: musical instrument (something like a tambourine) • Bough: branches/limbs of a tree • Tempe & Arcady: locations in Greece, with mythical associations to natural/pastoral perfection • Citadel: fortified area within a town • Brede: woven pattern (on the model of “braid”) • Attic: Greek (specifically Athenian)

• This poem reflects Keats’s interest in Greek culture, especially art and mythology. • Superficially, the poem is simple ekphrasis (detailed description) of a typical work of Greek pottery • Greek art – especially its sculpture – was and is famed for its structural/formal perfection: – What do you notice about the form and structure of this poem?

• 10 line stanzas, comprised of a quatrain (always ABAB) and a sestet. • The sestet always uses CDE rhymes, but Keats varies the order of the final tercet (3 lines): CDE/CED/DCE • Keats thus reflects the formal perfections (and possibly imperfections, or the play of repetition and variation) one expects of Greek pottery.

• Despite the apparent simplicity of the poem, there are parallels to be drawn between the urn and the nightingale. • What might they be, and what techniques are being used in this poem?

“To Autumn, ” p. 282 • Winnowing: separating the wheat from the chaff • Gleaner: someone who gathers ears of corn after the reapers have passed through • Sallows: low-hanging or low-growing willows • Garden-croft: small field (e. g. for growing vegetables) near a house

1. How is autumn depicted here? 2. How does this depiction differ from what we are used to? 1. Write a statement, making a link to context 3. Key techniques and quotations? 4. With which poem(s) would you compare this?

“Ode on Melancholy, ” p. 283 • Melancholy: deep and pensive (thoughtful) sadness • Lethe: River of forgetfulness, flowing to/through Hades • Proserpine: Queen of Hades • Psyche: “Soul”; in Greek mythology sometimes figured as a butterfly that leaves through the mouth upon death

1. What is the speaker’s attitude towards melancholy? 2. Why does the speaker wish to preserve the “wakeful anguish of the soul” (stanza 1)? 3. The poem is divided into 3 stanzas: what is the movement/shift in focus across the three? 4. What is the relationship between Melancholy, Beauty, and Joy (stanza 3)? Why does the poet not wish to live without Melancholy? 5. How does this poem fit with the general run of Romanticism? 6. With which poem(s) would you compare this?

“Sonnet on the Sea, ” p. 287 • Hecate: Greek goddess associated with witchcraft and the underworld • Vex: trouble, annoy, distress • “quired”: choired (i. e. singing as in a choir)

1. Why the sonnet form? 2. The speaker uses juxtaposition to present the sea as an entity of extreme contrasts. What are these extremes, and what is their significance?

Emily Bronte (1818 -1848) • One of the three literary Bronte sisters (there were other children, including a brother) • Their father was a priest, and their mother died when they were young. They grew up with one another for company, and with free access to their father’s library: they were thus exposed to Greek and Roman myth, Shakespeare, Milton, The Arabian Knights’ Entertainments, Byron, Keats; literary magazines of the day (inc. Blackwood’s) • Co-authored a poetry collection with Charlotte and Anne, published pseudonymously as Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846) (use corresponding initials to work out who’s who) • As children, the sisters wrote adventures and fantasies of the kingdoms of Gondal and Angria (these stories were written down in miniature notebooks – 1”x 2”) • The poems we are studying are all Gondal poems – except for “Last Lines” – which appeared in edited/revised form in the Poems by. . . collection. • Charlotte Brontё described Emily as “a solitude-loving raven, no gentle dove. ” • Between 1848 & 1849, Branwell (brother), Emily, and Anne all died of tuberculosis

“To a Wreath of Snow, ” p. 341 • A. G. Almeda: Bronte’s alter ego, used for poetry; A. G. A. is a brave yet formidable princess of Gondal (later Queen of Gondal) • Wreath: an arrangement of flowers, leaves, twigs etc. arranged into a ring. Symbolic of various things (seasonal holidays, festivals etc. ) including funerals • This poem is marked by images and symbols of death: written when Anne had fallen ill; therefore, a retreat into fantasy/fiction/imagination in order to defer or deal with death?

1. Consider the use of sibilance throughout – what are its effects? 2. Tension between life and death, hope and resignation, suggested by plays on words and sounds: dear/drear, morning/mourning 3. Symbolism of snow – typically and in this poem? 4. To what extent is this typically/atypically romantic? 5. Which poems might you link this to?

“R. Alcona to J. Brenzaida, ” p. 342 • Usually published as “Remembrance”; this title from the Gondal poems; Rosina Alcona and Julius Brenzaida are Gondal characters • Languish: to grow weak; to lose vitality • Anguish: severe pain/suffering (mental or physical)

1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. Some of the rhymed words emphasise loss/death/mourning; some juxtapose life/death, hope/despair: find some examples Which celestial/heavenly bodies is the beloved likened to? Effect of this? Find some examples of repetition: what is the significance? What are the significance of memory, time, and remembrance in this poem? Why does the speaker claim that it is no betrayal of the beloved’s memory to have tried to move on? What has the loss of the beloved taught the speaker, and why can the speaker not allow her thoughts to dwell with her dead love? The poem is primarily written in iambic pentameter – typical of the elegy (poems written following the death of someone, usually a loved one) – but there are disruptions of the meter: find some examples, and consider the significance of the disturbance of the rhythm and meter.

“Julian M. and A. G Rochelle, ” p. 343 • Named after yet more Gondal characters • This poem contains the verses and stanzas later printed as “The Prisoner. A Fragment” (1845): – Stanzas 4 -11, then 17 -24 make up “The Prisoner. A Fragment, ” with stanza 24 being substantially revised in “The Prisoner. ” • Stanzas 1 -3 were published as “The Visionary, ” with 2 further quatrains added by Charlotte Bronte

1. This is a narrative poem, and therefore close to “Rime of the Ancient Mariner. ” 2. What similarities and differences can you find between this and Coleridge’s poem? 3. What story is being told? 4. In what ways is this a gothic poem? In what ways in this a typical/atypical Romantic poem? 5. What are the dominant themes in this poem? a) What techniques does Bronte use to express these themes? 6. Which poems, other than “Mariner, ” would you link this with?

“Last Lines, ” p. 348 • Among the last poems Emily Bronte wrote, though her sister Charlotte claims that another – “No Coward Soul Is Mine” – is the last; written after her only novel, Wuthering Heights. • Natural imagery used to express a sense of despair at the state of humanity: links to Wordsworth (“Lines Written in Early Spring”) and Blake (especially “Holy Thursday, ” Experience)

• Changing rhyme scheme and stanza length: significance? • View of humanity: techniques used to express this? • Links with other poems? • Typically/atypically Romantic?

Wordsworth, “Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood” (p. 133) 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. What is the significance of the title? Can you relate this title to Romanticism, and/or to other concerns/themes raised by other poets in the collection? What are the central concerns/themes of this poem; or, what “story” does this poem tell? Like “Tintern Abbey, ” this poem – not part of Lyrical Ballads – is in free verse, yet Wordsworth makes use of frequent rhyme. The rhymes often sound simplistic and child-like. Find 2 -3 examples. What might the significance of this be? Can you use rhyme/rhyme scheme to make links between this and other poems? The poem is concerned, in part, with the relationship between childhood and adulthood experience. What is the nature of this concern? Can you find 6 quotations that exemplify this? In what ways is this poem typically/atypically Romantic? With which other poems would you link this poem?