Romantic Period (1789-1832)

Here are some aspects in which ROMANTIC aims and achievements, as manifested by many
prominent and innovative writers during the late 18th (1789) and early 19th centuries, differ most
conspicuously from their neoclassic precursors:
1. The romantic attitude favoured innovation over traditionalism in the materials, forms, and
style of literature. Wordsworth wrote poetic manifesto, or statement of revolutionary aims, in
which he denounced the upper-class subjects and the poetic diction of the preceding century and
proposed to deal with materials from common life in a selection of language really used by
men. Wordsworths serious or tragic treatment of lowly subjects in common language violated the
neoclassic rule of decorum, which asserted that the serious genres should deal only with actions of
royal or aristocratic characters in an appropriately elevated style. Other innovations in the period
were the exploitation of the realm of the supernatural; the assumption of the persona of a poetprophet who writes a visionary mode of poetry; and the use of poetic symbolism (especially by
Blake and Shelley) deriving from a worldview in which objects are charged with a significance
beyond their physical qualities.
2. Wordsworth declared that good poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.
According to this view, poetry is not a mirror of men in action; on the contrary, its essential
component is the poets own feelings.
3. External naturethe landscape, together with its flora and faunabecame a persistent
subject of poetry. It is a mistake, however, to describe the romantic poets as simply nature poets.
Representative Romantic works are in fact poems of meditation which, although often stimulated
by a natural phenomenon, are concerned with central human experiences and problems.
4. Neoclassic poetry was about other people, but many Romantic poems, long and short, invited the
reader to identify the protagonists with the poets themselves, either directly or in altered but
recognizable form. And whether romantic subjects were the poets themselves or other people, they
were no longer represented as part of an organized society but, typically, as solitary figures. Many
important romantic works had as protagonist the isolated rebel, whether for good or ill: Prometheus,
Cain, the Wandering Jew...
5. What seemed to a number of political liberals the infinite social promise of the French
Revolution in the early 1790s fostered the sense in Romantic writers that theirs was a great age of
new beginnings and high possibilities. Many writers viewed a human being as blessed with
limitless aspiration toward an infinite good envisioned by the faculty of imagination. In a parallel
way, the typical neoclassic judgement that the highest art is the perfect achievement of limited aims
gave way to dissatisfaction with rules and inherited restrictions.
MAIN AUTHORS (In chronological order)
1st Generation
-William Blake
-William Wordsworth
-S.T Coleridge

2nd Generation:
-Lord Byron
-P.B Shelley
-John Keats

William Blake: 1. Children / Childhood (Voice of children, poems about children or for children), 2.
Ballade stanza, 3. Symbolic nature (not describing it, but it is always a symbol)

William Wordsworth: 1. Children/Childhood / beggars / sick people / soldiers 2. Real nature

(Describing what he sees) 3. Memory (Emotion, tranquillity and recollecting poetry) (Also ballade
stanza)
S.T Coleridge: Ballade stanza, Mediaevalism (revival of medieval poems, imitating medieval
ballades)
Lord Byron: Mock heroic, comic poetry (Don Juan)
P.B Shelley: Social criticism in poetry
John Keats: Lyric poetry (presenting feelings) and Mediaevalism
WILLIAM BLAKE
He was born in London in a working-class background (His father was a haberdasher, sell small
articles for sewing). He lived in London throughout his life (Except a brief period in 1800-1803 on
the coast of Sussex).
-He had no formal education at university, except in art; at 14 he became an apprentice with an
important engraver, James Basire.
Way of thinking
He came to oppose British empiricism (Learning things from experience). He came to align
himself with European rationalism (What is in your mind has the ability to shape reality).

He was not just a poet but also an engraver (Grabador, hacia grabados) and a painter. This
profession of engraver was profitable at the time: Illustrator for books (Diagrams for anatomy
books, illustrations for other poets), reproductions of portraits, ornaments or costumes for
contemporary magazines etc.
He started in 1789 a new method of publication with Songs of Innocence and in 1794 the poems of
this collection appeared combined with another set of poems Songs of Innocence and Experience.
-Two major traditions are combines and transformed in Songs of Innocence:
a) The pastoral tradition of classical literature (Theocritus in Greek; Virgil in Latin).
b) Moral books for children, a commercial success in the 18th century, such as Charles Wesley's
Hymn for children
In Blake's poems, children are always innocent and suffer because of adults. Almost all the poems
in Songs of Innocence and Experience come in pairs.
Innocence is a stage of the soul in which everything is wonderful and there is no pain, in contrast
with its pair (Introduction [Songs of Experience]) Experience, which suggests that life is not easy,
another state of human soul in which we notice there is pain and evil in the world in a more realistic
way.

Introduction (Songs of Innocence)

Playing the flute down the wild valleys HYPERBATON
Playing happy songs
I saw a child in a cloud HYPERBATON
And he said to me laughing

Piping down the valleys wild

Piping songs of pleasant glee
On a cloud I saw a child
And he laughing said to me,

4
=
So I piped with happiness

Pipe a song about a Lamb!

So I piped with merry chear,
Piper pipe that song again
So I piped: he wept to hear.

8
Drop your pipe and sing

Drop thy pipe thy happy pipe

Sing thy songs of happy chear;

Write them in a book that all may read

And he vanished and I took a junco

So I sung the same again

While he wept with joy to hear.

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Piper sit thee down and write

In a book that all may read
So he vanish'd from my sight.
And I pluck'd a hollow reed,

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And I made a rural pen,

And I stain'd the water clear,

HAPPY WORDS : Happy, joy, pleasant glee, merry chear

And I wrote my happy songs

Every child may joy to hear.

Repetition: And I
Made a rural pen
Manch el agua clara (May resemble the idea of watercolors,
due to the fact he painted)
And wrote the happy songs

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Four lines in each stanza of four stresses (tetrameter) and its rhyme is abab (Ballade stanza). 4
stresses abab, ballade stanza, no poetic diction and few devices.
L1 HYPERBATON Valley wild / Wild valley
The speaker is happy and we can see it in the diction (vocabulary) (Pleasant glee, happy pipe, joy
etc.) words related to happiness in the middle of nature. The speaker sees a child in a cloud, he says
pipe a song about a Lamb which in fact is the first poem in the book, a poem about a Lamb.
The little child represents the muse and inspiration, a child that inspires to write about children. He
says pipe (music), sing and write (the poem), this may resemble childrens songs. This poem

contain the reasons of why did he write the collection, showing the inspiration and the mood of
the collection (happy mood).
The poem presents a sequence of music, the second sequence is music plus lyrics and the third the
request of writing the poems, so the speaker sits and writes it. The collection is the result of this
inspiration presenting happy poems/songs.
-The speaker in the poem identifies himself as a poet who writes for children. And he initially
appears as a Pan figure (Greek god of wild and rustic music).
-The child in the cloud: Could be described as a cherub and it represents ispiration, fitting for a
collection of childrens poems.
INFANT JOY & INFANT SORROW
-Voice of a new born
-Not following Ballade stanza
-Birth from the perspective of Innocence (Happy moment) and from the perspective of Experience
(reality can be rough even in events that are supposed to be happy, like a birth).
Infant Joy (Songs of Innocence)
Voice of the baby

I have no name
I am but two days old.

Mommy/Angel What name should I give him/her?

What shall I call thee?

Babys voice: I am happy, Joy is my name

I happy am,
Joy is my name.
Sweet joy befall thee!

6
I will call him happiness

Pretty joy!
Sweet joy but two days old,
Sweet joy I call thee;
Thou dost smile.
I sing the while
Sweet joy befall thee.

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That is the perception of the innocence and how beautiful is the birth of a new person. This poem
presents a newly-born child who is only two days old in a dialogue poet/mom/angel and this baby.
The sections in quotation marks are the words said by the baby and the rest is the other voice
angel/mother/ poet.
The presence of this newly baby in the world is seen as an extremely happy occasion, there are no
grey areas in the fact of this birth and the child identifies himself as Joy.
Its pair is Infant sorrow, a variation of ballade stanza (aabbccdd, in couplets). With words that
represent sorrow, the contrary of joy and also words that are not directly related to sadness but
contribute to the idea of sorrow.
Infant Sorrow (Songs of Experience)
Mi madre gema (bc birth is painful) mi padre
lloriqueaba.
Jumped / appeared into a dangerous world
Without help, naked, vulnerable, screaming
Like a fiend

My mother groaned! my father wept.

Into the dangerous world I leapt,
Helpless, naked, piping loud;
Like a fiend hid in a cloud.

Struggling in my fathers hands:

Tired and tied (atrapado) I thought best stay in a

sullen mood (de mala gana) in my mothers breast

Striving against my swadling bands,

Bound and weary I thought best
To sulk upon my mothers breast.

Struggling in my fathers arms, fighting against my

blanket

Words that contribute to the idea of sorrow but maybe not directly: groan, wept, dangerous,
struggling, striving, bound, weary, sulk etc.
Also we find the word fiend (Satan angel) which can be contrasted, turning around the idea of the
good angel of previous poems. As we have said before, there are words with negative meaning like
sulk, an action to do something in a bad mood.
This poem shows a darker contrast with the happy almost idyllic Infant joy. In this poem the same
event is presented: a birth, and while in Infant joy the baby is an embodiment of joy and
happiness, in the corresponding pair in Songs of Experience the baby is the result and source of pain
ans suffering.

With these poems Blake may want to show the two different extremes of life, we can find one or
another but it is very rare, we usually find a mixture of both moods but more often closer to the
realist / pessimistic point of view. And that even a wonderful event like birth can be seen as bad or
cause of suffering because of many reasons and depending on the circumstances (money, a single
teen mother who does not want a baby, a birth which kills the mother...).

The Sick Rose (Songs of Experience)

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.

-two stresses
-The speaker is speaking to a rose, a dying rose, sick because of a worm that came in a storm and
now is eating its leaves. But it has a symbolic meaning that could be interpreted in different ways:
-Botanical problem (surface level)
-Beauty/Youth (Rose) and the passing of time (Worm)
-Toxic relationship: The rose is a person loved by the worm, toxic person and the love instead of
contributing to your health it eats you up, destroying the love object, because the rose is the object
and the worm is who uses the object. It could be any kind of toxic relationship, couple, parents that
do not let their children grow up and see the world to learn
And his dark secret love Does thy life destroy Destroying the other member in the name of
love.
William Wordsworth
Main themes: Children and nature / Style: Ballade stanza and simple language

He was born and raised in the Lake District, a region whose sights and sounds were absorbed and
recorded in his poetry, a huge influence. Nature, and wrote a lot of poems about the lake.
He had as a child free use of his fathers good library and read extensively. He always kept in touch
with nature and had plenty of time to do it. Nature awakened the poetic spirit in him. He grew up
very close to his sister Dorothy, who in his twenties became an encouraging companion, though he
made many reference to loneliness, I walk alone she was with him in many of his walks. In her
diaries we find details of her life with her brother and clues for his poems (For instance her journal
entry when they both saw beautiful daffodils).
-Poet of nature, perceived by the human mind
-In his poems we find scenes from the English countryside and aspects of the natural environment.
-The elements of nature are always related to the human mind.
-Memory is central in his poetic work (Poetic mind): For him poetry is emotion recollected in
tranquillity (Remember the poem of

The daffodils). He accounts for the power of some

memories through the concept of spot of time, moments of intense experience that when recalled
can feed and repair the mind, bring joy and stimulate creativity.
-He was not diagnosed but seemed to have some bipolar features because he had a lot of ups and
downs
Like Blake he is interested in children and what adults can learn from them.
We are Seven
A simple Child,
That lightly draws its breath,
And feels its life in every limb,
What should it know of death?
I met a little cottage Girl:
She was eight years old, she said;
Her hair was thick with many a curl
That clustered round her head.
She had a rustic, woodland air,
And she was wildly clad:
Her eyes were fair, and very fair;

Why should children understand death?

Her beauty made me glad.

Sisters and brothers, little Maid,
How many may you be?
How many? Seven in all, she said,
And wondering looked at me.
And where are they? I pray you tell.
She answered, Seven are we;
And two of us at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea.
Two of us in the church-yard lie,
My sister and my brother;
And, in the church-yard cottage, I
Dwell near them with my mother.
You say that two at Conway dwell,
And two are gone to sea,
Yet ye are seven! I pray you tell,
Sweet Maid, how this may be.
Then did the little Maid reply,
Seven boys and girls are we;
Two of us in the church-yard lie,
Beneath the church-yard tree.
You run about, my little Maid,
Your limbs they are alive;
If two are in the church-yard laid,
Then ye are only five.
Their graves are green, they may be seen,
The little Maid replied,
Twelve steps or more from my mothers door,
And they are side by side.
My stockings there I often knit,
My kerchief there I hem;
And there upon the ground I sit,

And sing a song to them.

And often after sun-set, Sir,
When it is light and fair,
I take my little porringer,
And eat my supper there.
The first that died was sister Jane;
In bed she moaning lay,
Till God released her of her pain;
And then she went away.
So in the church-yard she was laid;
And, when the grass was dry,
Together round her grave we played,
My brother John and I.
And when the ground was white with snow,
And I could run and slide,
My brother John was forced to go,
And he lies by her side.
How many are you, then, said I,
If they two are in heaven?
Quick was the little Maids reply,
O Master! we are seven.
But they are dead; those two are dead!
Their spirits are in heaven!
Twas throwing words away; for still
The little Maid would have her will,
And said, Nay, we are seven!
There is a dialogue between a countryside girl (8 years old) and the speaker/poet (an adult). Here we
can find some interpretations.
-Supernatural interpretation (possible because of Romantics innovations, but not so possible)
-Self-defence (But shes aware of their sibling's deaths)
-Death was very natural on those times
-Simple/Innocent girl who does not understand the concept of death

The adult voice is trying to teach / convince the girl that shes wrong, in fact shes showing the ability
to perceive things. Maybe shes right and the speaker is wrong, maybe the power of love, no matter
how long has passed, is more powerful than death for her. They are 7.
-Ballade stanza, abab Mediaeval element
-Dialogue Mediaeval element
-Eerie atmosphere

I wondered lonely as a cloud

Is written in a four six-line stanza (sextet) of iambic tetrameter. With no poetic diction.
I Wandered Lonely As a Cloud

I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats high over

valleys and hills. And I saw a crowd, a host of golden
daffodils PERSONIFICATION
Beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and
dancing.

I wandered lonely as a cloud

That floats on high o'er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Infinite as the stars. I saw ten thousands at a gaze

Continuous as the stars that shine

And twinkle on the milky way,
The stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:

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Ten thousand saw I at a glance,

Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.
The waves beside them danced; but they

I saw and saw and little I could comprehend that that

daffodils could bring me such wealth:

Outdid the sparkling waves in glee:

A poet could not but be gay,

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In such a jocund company;

Because often when I lie on the sofa and I have

nothing on my mind then I will be happy by thinking
on the daffodils

I gazedand gazedbut little thought

What wealth to me the show had brought:
For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye

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Which is the bliss of solitude;

And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

Another solitary walk of the poet in the countryside of the Lake District produces a poem about the
power of nature to nurture the soul. In the contemplation
Daffodils Are the first flowers in spring and they grow even when there is still snow.
The first stanza has no name (Is a free form).
Crowd, host, dancing, their heads all these words suggest that there is a PERSONIFICATION of
the flowers in the whole poem. It also suggests a huge number of flowers.
Lonely as a cloud simile, assumes the persona of the solitary thinker in nature, floating free, in a
relaxed way but implying movement. (Solitary thinker in nature, typical of Romantic).
Fluttering aletear
The image of the daffodils appear to be big and supernatural particularly after we read the second
stanza, in which the flowers are presented extremely joined together and infinite (Never-ending
line) as the stars, a supernatural touch but also an exaggeration (Hyperbole) Ten thousands saw I
at a glance) (ALSO HYPERBATON). The daffodils also resemble happiness as they appear
together with many words related to happiness (Dance, glee, jocund, gay, pleasure) This is a
projection of the mind and feelings into nature, using personification throughout the poem.
I gazedand gazedbut little thought
What wealth to me the show had brought: I could not notice the riches they brought me (And we
know it in the following and final stanza). They bring me wealth because when I am lying on the
couch thinking of nothing they will flash and appear in my mind and would make me happy And
then my heart with pleasure fills and dance in happiness with the daffodils.
The daffodils have been imprinted in his mind and created a precious memory (Spot of time).

The rainbow
-Real natural elements, no symbolic
-Simple diction and syntax

-Expressed feelings by the speaker

-Nature
-Childhood in a way
The Rainbow
My heart leaps up when I behold
A rainbow in the sky:
So was it when my life began;
So is it now I am a man;
So be it when I shall grow old,
Or let me die!

Past: When my life began

Present: NOW
Future: When I shall grow old
I prefer to die if the things I appreciated and made
my heart jump does not excite me anymore.

The Child is father of the Man;

And I could wish my day to be
Bound each to each by natural piety.1
-Child is father of the man: 1. seed of man 2. Teacher of man
Lines written in early spring

Natural piety: as distinguished from piety based on the Scripture, in which God makes the rainbow the token of
his covenant with Noah and all his descendants (Genesis, 9.12-17). The religious sentiment that binds Wordsworth
mature self to his childhood is a continuous responsiveness to the miracle of ordinary things.