British Literature from 1800, "The Mythmakers"

Paper #1: Romantic Collaborations Nor perchance,/If I were not thus taught, should I the more/Suffer my genial spirits to decay” (Wordsworth, “Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey”) My genial spirit fail,/And what can these avail/To lift the smothering weight from off my breast?” (Coleridge, “Dejection: An Ode” The Romantic Period of British Poetry (roughly 1799-1830) is a period of intense collaboration between poets, some of whom were close friends, others who were fans and admirers of other poets (Shelley adored Wordsworth and Coleridge, as did Keats). When reading through the poems of this period, we often feel as if we’re reading one vast poem parceled out to several different poets. These poets often use the same ideas, metaphors, imagery, and even exact phrases (see quotes above) as they transform their lived experience into poetic expression. (click below to see the rest...) 

“Ode, Intimations of Immortality”: Stanzas 8-11 For Monday’s class, choose TWO of the metaphorical lines below (taken from the poem) below, and explain how Wordsworth uses it to translate his philosophical musings into a comparison we can see, feel, and understand.  Also, how does this metaphor build on some aspect of the poem from previous stanzas (as we discussed in class on Friday)? Stanza 8: a. “thou Eye among the blind,/That, deaf and silent, read’st the eternal deep” b. “Thou, over whom thy Immortality/Broods like the Day, a Master o’er a Slave” Stanza 9: c. “Those shadowy recollections,/Which, be they what they may,/Are yet the fountain light of all our day,/Are yet a master light of all our seeing” Stanza 10: d. “Though nothing can bring back the hour/Of splendor in the grass, of glory in the flower” Stanza 11: e. “To me the meanest flower that blows can give/Thoughts that do often lie too deep for tears” 

“Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections in Early Childhood” (pp.51-57): read the entire poem, but the questions will only focus on Stanzas 1-7 NOTE: This is a longer poem, though it’s broken up into short stanza chapters.  Read it slowly, and focus on each stanza as an individual poem.  Then consider how each one develops a general ‘story’ or narrative about Wordsworth’s life.  Consider this, too, as a kind of mid-life crisis poem: Wordsworth feels himself pulling away from the innocent joys he used to experience in life, and the poem is an attempt to find himself—and to convince other readers to find themselves in the thickets of adulthood.  Answer TWO of the following... Q1: According to Stanzas 1-4, what causes the poet to feel distanced from the natural world?   What has come between him and his imagination/emotions?   In Stanza 2 he writes that “But yet I know, where’er I go,/That there hath past away a glory from the earth...

No questions for Wednesday: instead, I'll give you an in-class writing response based on some passage toward the end of the work. So make sure you finish reading (or ideally, re-reading!) the poem for Wednesday's class.  ALSO--here's an article that just came out in the BBC News: a mass grave from the 1820's was found with the bodies of thousands of children. These were children who died of various infections due to poor sanitation and disastrous living conditions during the early stages of the Industrial Revolution. This is the world Blake was writing about in "London," and that Wordsworth and Coleridge (among others) were railing against in their poetry. We'll see more of this condemnation on Friday for Wordsworth's "Ode: Intimations of Immortality." You can read the article here:  http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-lancashire-35408967?ocid=socialflow_facebook&ns_mchannel=social&ns_campaign=bbcnews&ns_source=facebook

NOTE: I encourage you to read the entire poem, but feel free to read slowly, even if you don’t quite finish it.  In this poem, the details are more important than the overall story, so look at it less as an actual narrative than a series of short poems that cohere into a larger theme.  But most of all, read carefully and look for the metaphors, since poetry is all about how metaphors transform our perception/experience of the world. Answer TWO of the following: Q1: . The Rime of the Ancient Mariner   opens with a frame narrative, that of the Mariner stopping a Wedding Guest and putting him under a spell so he can tell his story: “He holds him with his glittering eye.”  Why do stories typically employ a frame narrative (think of ones you know from previous classes) and why might it be especially important in a work of fantasy?  Why not simply tell the Mariner’s tale without the artifice of telling it to someone else?  Q2: Read the glosses on...

An image from the "Elgin Marbles" [Note: both poems are about looking at art in a museum. The “Grecian Urn” is an old Greek vase with images going around it, as he describes in the poem; the Elgin Marbles are a series of sculptures taken from the Parthenon in Greece (stolen, actually) and displayed in the British museum. The poem is a reflection of contemplating this ancient wonder.] Answer TWO of the following… Q1: Why is the poet’s spirit “weak” when he contemplates the Elgin marbles? How does this relate to his metaphor that he “must die/Like a sick Eagle looking at the sky”? Why would art affect him in this way? Q2: In the first stanza of “Ode on a Grecian Urn,” he personifies the urn, calling it a “bride,” a “foster-child,” and a “historian”. How do these metaphors add up and describe his relationship to the work of art? Also note that he addresses it as “thou” rather than “you” (the intimate form of address). What is the urn to him? Q3: One of the m...

For Wednesday:   Shelley, “Ode to the West Wind,” “Love’s Philosophy,” “The Waning Moon,” “Song,” “Lines: When the Lamp is Shattered” Q1: In many of these poems, Shelley personifies natural forces: the moon, the West Wind, various “Spirits,” etc. Choose a specific example and explore how this personification changes how we see/experience this object or place. What personality or ideas does he invest it with? How does this make a natural object think and feel in a ‘Romantic’ sense? Q2: In “Ode to the West Wind,” re-read Stanza V carefully (even if you don’t understand the rest of the poem completely): Shelley is using the metaphor of a lyre (harp) and falling leaves to relate to his poetry. How does this work? What does he want the West Wind to do this his verse, and what might the “west wind” stand for in this sense? You might also consider how this ties into the autumn/spring imagery in the poem as well. Q3: Remember that the philosopher Kant defined the ...

For Friday: Coleridge, Kubla Khan (pp.105) Step One: Read the poem aloud. Really. Read it aloud, even more than once. You  need to hear your own voice. You might even want to record   yourself, and then  play it back and hear yourself reading the poem. You can listen to someone else  read it online (You tube, etc.) but you should read it as well. Step Two: Answer Two of the following questions and bring them to class on Friday. Answer in a short paragraph--a few sentences each. Be specific!   Q1: Discuss the sounds of this poem—not just the rhymes, but also the sounds inside the lines. What kinds of sounds and repetitions does Coleridge create in this poem? What is the rhyme scheme, and where does he use assonance (repetition of vowel sounds), consonance (repetition of consonant sounds), alliteration (repetition of a single letter at the beginning of words), or other devices? Focus on one or two that you notice. Q2: Discuss the metaphors he...

For Wednesday we'll be reading a few short Blake poems in class: “The Tyger,” “The Garden of Love ,” “ London ,” and “A Poison Tree”.  You don't need to read these before class, since the goal of tomorrow's class will focus on approaches to reading poetry, esp. Romantic poetry. For those interested in the poems, here is a link that shows you the artwork Blake produced for each poem: he was as visionary an artist/illustrator as a poet, and some people know him even better as an artist: http://www.blakearchive.org/exist/blake/archive/copy.xq?copyid=songsie.b   

“Literature is the sum of its discoveries.  What is derivative can be impressive and intelligent.  It can give pleasure and it will have its season, short or long.  But we will always want to go back to the originators…what is good is always what is new, in both form and content.  What is good forgets whatever models it might have had, and is unexpected; we have to catch it on the wing ” (V.S. Naipaul) Welcome to the blog for British Literature to 1800: As the second part of the British Literature survey at ECU, this class picks up at a crucial point in literary/world history—the rise of the artistic/philosophical movement known as Romanticism. The entire 19th century lived in Romanticism’s shadow, even as the Victorians were trying to distance themselves from its more alarming excesses. This class will focus solely on the rise and repercussions of Romanticism throughout the 19th century, beginning with the “ Lake Poets ” and ending with first flicke...