BRITISH POETRY

DECEMBER 2016

3. Analyse the use of time and temporality in Spenser’s Epithalamion and Prothalamion
Edmund Spenser, (born 1552/53, London, England—died January 13, 1599, London),
English poet whose long allegorical poem The Faerie Queene is one of the greatest in the
English language. It was written in what came to be called the Spenserian stanza.
Epithalamion
Epithalamion, marriage ode by Edmund Spenser, originally published with his sonnet
sequence Amoretti in 1595. The poem celebrates Spenser’s marriage in 1594 to his second wife,
Elizabeth Boyle, and it may have been intended as a culmination of the sonnets of Amoretti.
Taken as a whole, the group of poems is unique among Renaissance sonnet sequences in
recording a successful love affair culminating in marriage. Epithalamion is considered by many
to be the best of Spenser’s minor poems.
The 24-stanza poem begins with the predawn invocation of the Muses and follows the
events of the wedding day. The speaker, reflecting on the private moments of the bride and
groom, concludes with a prayer for the fruitfulness of the marriage. The mood of the poem is
hopeful, thankful, and very sunny. Epithalamion is a poem celebrating a marriage. An
epithalamium is a song or poem written specifically for a bride on her way to the marital
chamber. In Spenser's work, he is spending the day anxiously awaiting to marry Elizabeth
Boyle. The poem describes the day in detail. The couple wakes up and Spenser begs the muses
to help him on his artistic endeavor for the day. Spenser spends a majority of the poem praising
his bride to be, which is depicted as both innocent and lustful.
A literary renaissance of extraordinary scale was happening in England during the last
two decades of Queen Elizabeth’s rule. Although Italy, France, and even Scotland had
respective noble poets that were held in high esteem, England lacked any poet earlier other than
Chaucer of similar skills to Petrarch, Dante, and Boccaccio. So, England didn’t have the kind of
thriving literary culture that was evident in other nations. Mainly, two poets, Sir Philip Sidney
and Edmund Spenser, were the ones to change things for the English people.
The poem “Epithalamion,” originally published in 1595 with Spenser’s sonnet sequence,
is a poem commemorating Spenser’s marriage the year prior to his second wife. The sonnet
sequence is special amongst poems of the time of the Renaissance since it records a triumphant
love story that culminates in marriage. It is considered to be one of Spenser’s best minor poems.
The 24-stanza poem, one of the best and most glorious marriage odes in English, starts in
the early hours of the day of the festive ceremony and continues through the day to the moment
of marriage consummation of the newly wed couple. Overlooking on the intimate moments of
the couple, the speaker ends the poem with a prayer for the married couple’s success in this new
chapter. This gives the poem an overall hopeful mood.
 Spenser’s ultimate goal was the development and enrichment of the culture of his native
land. So, he created poetry that was vividly English – in setting and language, in history,
customs, in religious beliefs and politics.
Frequently, references to Ireland appear in Spenser’s poetry and some of them reveal his
gentle affection for the nation and its people. Spenser makes his love for the Irish countryside
evident through the beautiful descriptions of the nature around the couple, and his political
opinions on the English supremacy is also alluded to through the relationship between the
speaker and his spouse.
When she finally wakes, the two head to the church. Hymen Hymenaeus is sung by the
minstrels at the festivities. As the ceremony begins, Spenser shifts from praising Greek Gods
and beings to Christian language to praise Elizabeth. After the ceremony, Spenser becomes
even more anxious at the thought of consummating the marriage. Spenser then rebukes any idea
of evil that could ruin their new found happiness. Spenser asks for blessings for childbearing,
fidelity, and all things good at the end.

Prothalamion
Prothalamion is Spenser's second wedding song; the poem is modelled on his own
marriage song called Epithalamion. In this poem he celebrates the occasion of the marriage of
the daughters of Earl of Worcester. In this poem the poet attempts to win a patronage and the
favour of the Queen.
Prothalamion (1596) was written at a time in his life of disappointment and trouble when
Spenser was only a rare visitor to London. Here he is a passive observer than the bridegroom
turned poet and hence though as beautiful metrically as his own marriage ode Epithalamion, it
naturally does not voice the same ecstasy of passion. We find reference in the poem to the poet's
own discontent to the history of Temple as to the achievements of Essex.
According to C. S. Lewis, "interesting as they are in themselves, they do not seem to
contribute much to total effect." The poem has two themes—the obvious one of celebrating the
ladies going to their betrothal and the personal theme which serves for introduction and passing
reference once again towards the end. The tone of the two is in great contrast. The first one is
gay, full of colour, beauty and hope of fulfillment; the second sad and tragic. The poet is
conscious of the contrast and makes an attempt to suppress the sad not in a gay poem. At one
point the poem verges on the elegiac but the poet deliberately steers himself to the opposite
shore on consideration of decorum.
It Is a cleverly contrived poem. So far as the poet is concerned the more important theme
is the personal one, the statement of neglected merit, the loss of the great patron and the
acquiring of a new one in Essex. But this is hidden and artfully introduced. The most powerful
lines are those devoted to Essex to whom Spenser devotes about 23 lines. These lines are direct
address. The poem is skillfully directed to take in this matter. The train of thought and the plan
of poem are so conducted that the passage on Essex is integral and not superimposed. The
bridegroom’s play a minor role and are colorless and have only a reflected glory which they
take from Essex.
The verse is an adaptation of the Italian canzone of 18 lines with varying rhyme scheme.
The last two lines serve as a burden/refrain to the whole poem. The last line is repeated with
variation. And the penultimate line slightly varied to suit the meaning. Poem is lyrical
throughout and the repetition adds to the lyrical effect. The organization of stanza makes for
great variety in the cadence with the mixing of 10 syllabic and 6 syllabic lines. There are
fourteen of the former and four of the latter in each stanza. The successful handling of the very
complicated arrangement shows the poet's mastery over a new metre.
Prothalamion, a spousal verse by Edmund Spenser is one of the loveliest wedding odes.
The verse is essentially the wedlock of twin sisters; Lady Catherine and Lady Elizabeth with
Henry Gilford and William Peter.
Conversely, on comparison with Epithalamion, the verse is considered less realistic and
unappealing. Spenser incorporates classical imagery strongly with a beautiful atmosphere in the
poem. The emphasis of renaissance on Prothalamion brings a tinge of mythological figures like
Venus, Cynthia and Titan.
Written as a song honoring the marriage of Elizabeth and Katherine Somerset, Edmund
Spenser's poem "Prothalamion" centers its theme of celebration around the River Thames,
which is a key symbol and setting. Images and ideas of beauty surround the Thames, such as
nymphs gathering flower crowns for the two sisters. The speaker also invokes other classical
deities as a way of elevating the poem.

Prothalamion, the best spousal verses of all time, though less sensible than its sister
poetry, Epithalamion; is a lyrical benchmark running softly as musical rhyme. The entire verse
is a pure magic with the refrain “Sweet Thames run softly till I end my song” which symbolizes
life on earth to be steady in order to be able to listen to the eternal song. The artistic imagery,
sweet music and lyrical power make Prothalamion an unparalleled product of non dramatic
renaissance. The refrain brings a mode of five stresses which embraces the tonal quality of
rivers and water bodies.
Through the verse, Spenser reflects transparency and fine classical imagery. Beyond
doubt, Spenser charges the atmosphere with references to two great rivers; namely Thames and
Lee. The confluence is described in such a beautiful way that the rivers are symbolized as
elements of love. Wholly, the atmosphere of the poem brings in serene bliss, earnestness and
joy.
The penning of the verse essentially must have begun from the Latin poems
namelyW.Vallan’s “A tale of two swanes” & Leland’s “cygment cantio” as models. However,
Spenser brought in conventional imagery such as flowers, birds, rivers and woods. Two swans,
represented as the daughters of Somerset, the brides. The swans embody purity, eternal bliss
and contentment. With more classical imagery, Spenser adds the fights at the Spanish Armada
by the Earl of Essex, Spenser’s birth and livelihood in London. The moon (Cynthia),
Venus,Nymphs, Cupid and Twins of Jove, Jupiter and Leda are other classical images which
Spenser uses are metaphors. He also talks about the Muse (Goddess of Poetry) here meaning
Spenser himself, to author a verse of merit to the Earl of Essex.
Dr. Johnson says that Prothalamion holds autobiographical lines of Spenser which is a
conventionality. As a Renaissance poet, Spenser shouldn’t have done that and historical
references do not always prove fruitful and enjoyable when it comes to poetry. Moreover,
Spenser fails to bring the actual scene of marriage and instead concentrates more on the
descriptive verse. Eventually, the content becomes less factual and dreamier with absence of the
real brides. Contrarily, Epithalamion revolves around the lovely wedlock of Spenser himself,
thus making it more realistic and appealing.
Prothalamion, an epitome of soothing musical verses and a portrayal of elegance is
embroidered with bliss and purity. The artistic imagery, sweet music and lyrical power make
Prothalamion an unparalleled product of non dramatic renaissance
Spencer's Epithalamion and Prothalamion both highlight the theme of marriage.
However, the Epithalamion celebrates Spencer's own marriage to Elizabeth Boyle, while the
Prothalamion is a nuptial song celebrating the respective marriages of Elizabeth and Katherine
Somerset (the daughters of the Earl of Worcester) to Henry Gilford and William Peter.
The Epithalamion celebrates the groom and bride's preparations on the day of their marriage.
Both the Epithalamion and Prothalamion highlight the importance of nymphs to the wedding
preparations. In the Epithalamion, the nymphs cover the bride's path to the bridal bower with
flowers. They protect the sanctity of the woods and the lakes so that the bride will have a
perfect wedding day. Likewise, in the Prothalamion, the nymphs gather a profusion of flowers
in order to braid Katherine and Elizabeth's bridal crowns. Spencer makes full use of pagan
images of fertility in both poems.
However, Spencer also celebrates the marriage act in very Christian terms in both works. In the
Prothalamion, he wishes Katherine and Elizabeth pleasure in the marriage act and "fruitfull
issue" from the consummation of their marriages. The Epithalamion goes still further by
describing the bride's physical attractions, and the 10th stanza's paean to the bride's beauty is
evocative of the sensual passages from the Song of Solomon.
Reference
 https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/compare-epithalamion-prothalamion-95887
 https://www.britannica.com/biography/Edmund-Spenser
 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/edmund-spenser
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/Epithalamion
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Epithalamion_(poem)
 https://www.gradesaver.com/spensers-amoretti/study-guide/summary-epithalamion-
stanzas-1-through-12
  https://study.com/academy/lesson/edmund-spensers-epithalamion-definition-summary-
analysis.html
 https://myguidebutnotateacher.wordpress.com/2017/04/21/prothalamionsummary/
 https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-major-themes-porthalamion-imagery-
beauty-long-466996
 http://trbforenglish.blogspot.com/2014/08/essay-on-prothalamion-by-edmund-
spenser.html
 https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/edmund-spenser/prothalamion
 http://theisticserendipity.blogspot.com/2011/11/critical-appreciation-of-
prothalamion.html

4. Assess Alexander Pope's An Epistle to Dr. Arbuthnot as a piece of satire.

Pope was born in the year 1688, a century where there was so much confusion in the
society. People were torn between the extremes of religion, society and politics. Pope, as a
poet, wrote many satires. Pope and his friends were fondly named as scriblerians. Dr.
Arbuthnot, Pope’s friend, was hopelessly ill. He wrote to Pope that he should be careful while
attacking others. Pope wrote this poem as a reply in 1734. This poem attacks Pope’s detractors
and defends Pope’s character and career. This poem could be divided into 7 parts.
First Part (lines 1 - 68)
The poem opens with Pope ordering John, a servant, to shut the door. Pope is afraid of
letting in the budding poets, who are like dogs. He asks John to ties the knocker of the door.
He thinks that the mental institutions like Bedlam and Parnassus are let loose in the road. He
finds the poets with papers in their hands and fire in their eyes. Pope is not left alone; wherever
he goes he is followed by the budding poets. They come into his house by climbing the wall
and shrubs. They get into his chariot and into his boat. They do not even leave him pray.
Everyone blames Pope in some way or the other. All people come to Twitnam, Pope’s house,
to scold him. Pope finally addresses Dr. Arbuthnot as “friend of my life”. Pope finds his
friend’s illness and the troublesome poets as a plague. Pope is confused on what to do and what
not to do. If he appreciated their poetry they overflow with more poems, if he says something
negative about their poetry, they feel hurt. Pope gives the advice of Horace to the new poets.
He asks them to wait for nine years before publishing a poem. The writers are unable to accept
this advice. They ask Pope to make some corrections in their poem. They also try to bribe him.
Some poets blackmail him.
Second Part (lines 69 - 124)
The second part of the poem talks about the dangers of being popular. Pope elaborates on the
comparison of Midas. He ridicules the poetasters by using Midas image, which ultimately
represents unreliability. Pope scolds a few poets like Colley, Harley, Bavius, Bishop Philips
and Sappho. At this point Arbuthnot warns Pope not to use names in his poem. He advises
Pope to be prudent. Arbuthnot ridicules Pope that he is twice as tall as Pope but he never uses
any names. Pope is angry again. He is willing to be honest. He claims that he would not be
called as cruel when he calls a fool as a fool. He then talks about how a few dramatists
approach him to recommend scripts, which are rejected by the theatres and production
companies. They all try to flatter Pope. Some say that Pope’s nose is like Ovid’s and they
compare Pope with Hercules and Alexander the Great. Pope does not listen to such flattery. He
calls himself as an ordinary man.
Third Part (lines 125 - 146)
This part talks about Pope’s life as a writer. He starts explaining why he writes. He
says that he wrote not out of any compulsion. He found it hard to learn numbers but it is not
hard for him to write poetry. Nobody asked him to write poetry but he did it by himself. He
writes because his friends like Swift, Granville, Congreve and others enjoyed reading his
poetry. He did not write poem for his personal reasons like loving his wife. Arbuthnot asks
why Pope publishes his works. Pope says that because his friends enjoyed reading his poetry.
They praised his works. Even Dryden encourages Pope to write and publish poems so Pope
published them.
Fourth Part (lines 147 - 260)
Part IV of this poem discusses about why Pope attacks other poets through his satire.
Pope says that he does not care a little for those who find fault with him. He calls them as
donkeys and fools. He sometimes tried to be friendly with them. He tried to take them out for a
dinner. In spite of all these some cheap critics criticizes him. Pope says that if their criticism is
correct he would readily accept it. Pope satirizes Ambrose Philips. Ambrose is a plagiarist. He
copies works from Greek literature and earns money. If he attempts to be original, he will not
cross eight lines a year. Pope then criticizes Addison. Addison, according to Pope, is a genius.
He is a good writer. His defect is that he wants to dominate the literary world. He thinks that
he is the greatest of all writers. Pope calls Addison a coward, because Addison attacks many
writers but he fears being attacked by them. Lord Halifax is attacked next. Lord Halifax loves
being flattered. He helps the poetasters who flatter him.
Fifth Part (lines 261 - 304)
This part describes Pope’s current attitude towards life and career. Pope asks the
poetasters to let him leave live in a peaceful manner. He says that he lives in debt. He is
someone normal who prays to god regularly. He says that only liars will fear his satire and
attacks. A man of good intention and honest behavior need not fear him.
Sixth Part (lines 305 - 333)
In this part, Pope attacks Lord Hervey in the name Sporus. When Arbuthnot hears the
name Sporus, he starts scolding him. Sporus is a man who drinks the milk of a donkey. He is
capable only of killing a butterfly with his wheels. He is such a senseless person that he is not
able to distinguish satire and other kinds of poem. If Pope is a paragon of independent
judgment, Hervey is a man who will say anything to please the people at court and in
government. He values glamour, sensual pleasure, and social climbing. Hervey was also
homosexual. Hervey is not only a man-woman but an animal-demon, a shape-changer, like
Satan
Seventh Part (lines 334 - 419)
Part 7 is Pope’s final draft of his self-portrait, summing up the virtues he wants
Arbuthnot to believe he has. Pope says that he has never been a worshipper of fortune. He is
bold and courageous. He has never flattered anyone for selfish reasons. He attacks his enemies
and critics. He claims that he was brought up well by his parents. His parents are peace loving.
They are good citizens of England. They led a happy domestic life. Pope also wants to live a
similar life. He concludes the poem by praying that Arbuthnot should lead a happy, peaceful
and prosperous life.
Reference
 https://www.poetryfoundation.org/articles/68902/alexander-pope-epistle-to-dr-arbuthnot
 https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/comment-popes-an-epistle-dr-arbuthnot-typical-
270900
 http://madhavessays.blogspot.com/2016/04/summary-of-alexander-popes-epistle-to.html
 https://www.bartleby.com/203/149.html
 https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/43757/8/08_chapter%203.pdf
 https://archive.org/stream/in.ernet.dli.2015.93171/2015.93171.Alexander-Pope-Epistle-
To-Dr-Arbuthnot_djvu.txt
 http://politics-lit-history.blogspot.com/2011/07/fdfghgfh.html
 https://www.britannica.com/topic/An-Epistle-to-Dr-Arbuthnot

5. "The peculiar quality of Romanticism lies in this that in apparently detaching us from
the real world, it restores us to reality at a higher point." Discuss with reference to the
poetry of the Romantic Revival in England.
Romanticism was launched by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge with
their collaboration on The Lyrical Ballads as a reaction to the poetry of the Enlightenment.
While the poetry of the Enlightenment featured structured heroic couplets that relied on reason
and wit, Romantic poetry featured lyrics that relied on common language and feeling. In his
introduction to The Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth defined the tenets of this new movement. He
described his intention that poetry express people's common feelings and experiences in a
simple language that all could understand. He also emphasized human beings' connection to
nature as a spiritual one.
In "Tintern Abbey" from The Lyrical Ballads, Wordsworth describes a visit to ruins the
speaker has visited in his past. The speaker explains that he enjoyed the scenery in the past in a
physical way, while now, older and more experienced, he senses a "presence that disturbs him
with the joy of elevated thought." It is this spiritual connection to nature, and his ability to share
it with his sister, that lifts the spirit of the speaker.
Coleridge's "Rime of the Ancient Mariner," also in The Lyrical Ballads, is a narrative
poem that tells the story of a mysterious mariner who has broken his connection to nature by
killing an innocent albatross. While this poem appeals to a wilder and darker side of humanity,
like "Tintern Abbey" it emphasizes the importance of that connection to nature to our very
souls.
The eighteenth century is usually known as the century of "prose and reason," the age in
which neoclassicism reigned supreme and in which all romantic tendencies lay dormant, if not
extinct. But that is a verdict too sweeping to be true.
In this century-especially the later part of it-we can see numerous cracks in the classical
edifice through which seems to be peeping the multi-colored light of romanticism. In the later
years of this century a large number of new influences were at work on English sensibility and
temper. The change signalized a change in the ethos of poetry and, in fact, literature as a whole.
The younger poets started breaking away from the "school" of Dryden and Pope, even though
some poets, like Churchill and Dr. Johnson, still elected to remain in the old groove. There were
very few poets, indeed, who set themselves completely free from the old traditional influences.
Most of them are, as it were, like Mr. Facing both ways, looking simultaneously at the
neoclassical past and the romantic future. They seem to be
Place 'd on this isthmus of a middle state.
In the selection of subjects for poetic treatment, in the choice of verse patterns, and in the
manner of treatment we meet with perceptible changes from the conventions of the Popean
school. Those eighteenth century poets who show some elements associated with romanticism,
while not altogether ignoring the old conventions, are called transitional poets or the precursors
of the Romantic Revival.
Let us sum up the romantic qualities of the poetry of these transitional poets.
(i) These poets believe in what Victor Hugo describes as "liberalism in literature". Not
much worried about rules and conventions, they believe in individual poetic inspiration.
(ii) Their poetry is not altogether intellectual in content and treatment. Passion, emotion,
and the imagination are valued by them above the cold light of intellectuality. They naturally
return to the lyric.
(iii) They have, to quote Hudson, "a love of the wild, fantastic, abnormal, and supernatural."
(iv) They show a new appreciation of the world of Nature which the neoclassical poetry had
mostly neglected. Their poetry is no longer "drawing-room poetry." They do not limit their
attention to urban life and manners only, as Pope almost always did.
(v) They place more importance on the individual than on society. In them, therefore, is to
be seen at work a stronger democratic spirit, a greater concern for the oppressed and the poor,
and a greater emphasis on individualism in poetry, in society, everywhere. Their poetry
becomes much more subjective.
(vi) They show a much greater interest in the Middle Ages which Dryden and Pope had
neglected on account on their alleged barbarousness. Dryden and Pope admired the Renaissance
much more and had many a spiritual link with it.
(vii) Lastly, there is a strong reaction against the heroic couplet as the only eligible verse
unit. They make experiments with new measures and stanza forms. It is said that every hero
ends as a bore. The same was the case with the heroic couplet.
While exhibiting all these above-listed tendencies in their poetic works, the transitional poets
are not, however, altogether free from Pope an influences. That is exactly why they are not full-
fledged romantics but only "transitional" poets. Nevertheless, their work proves: "The
eighteenth century was an age of reason but the channels of Romanticism were never dry."
Let us now consider the work of the most important of the transitional poets of the eighteenth
century.
James Thomson (1700-48):
He is a typical transitional poet, though he chronologically belongs to the first half of the
eighteenth century. Though he was contemporaneous with Pope yet he broke away from the
traditions of his school to explore "fresh woods and pastures new." He bade goodbye to the
heroic couplet and expressed himself in other verse-Tieasures—blank verse and the Spenserian
stanza. He would have acknowledged Spenser and Milton as his guides rather than Dryden and
Pope. His Seasons (1726-30) is important for accurate and sympathetic descriptions of natural
scenes. It is entirely different from such poems as Pope's Windsor Forest on account of the
poet's firsthand knowledge of what he is describing and his intimate rapport with it. The poem
is in blank verse written obviously after the manner of Milton', but sometimes it seems to be
over-strained, "always labouring uphill," in the words of Hazlitt. Thomson's Liberty is a very
long poem. In it Liberty herself is made to narrate her chequered career through the ages in
Greece, Rome, and England. The theme is dull and abstract, the narration uninteresting, and the
blank verse ponderous. His Castle of Indolence (1748) is in Spenserian stanzas, and it captures
much of the luxuriant, imaginative colour of the Elizabethan poet. As a critic puts it, for languid
suggestiveness, in dulcet and harmonious versification, and "for subtly woven vowel music it
need not shirk comparison with the best of Spenser himself." Thomson looks forward to the
romantics in his interest in nature, in treating of new subjects, his strong imagination, and his
giving up of the heroic couplet. But he is capable of some very egregious examples of poetic
diction. Even Dr. Johnson was constrained to observe: "His diction is in the highest degree
florid and luxuriant. It is too exuberant and sometimes may be charged with filling the ear more
than the mind."
Oliver Goldsmith (1728-74):
Goldsmith was as friendly with Dr. Johnson had been with Pope, but that did not curb the
individual genius of either. Goldsmith was as essentially a conservative in literary theory as Dr.
Johnson of whose "Club" he was an eminent member. Both of his important poems, The
Traveller (1764) and The Deserted Village (1770) are in heroic couplets. The first poem is,
didactic (after Johnson's visual practice) and is concerned with the description and criticism of
the places and people in Europe which Goldsmith had visited as a tramp. The second poem is
rich in natural descriptions and is vibrant with a peculiar note of sentiment and melancholy
which foreshadows nineteenth-century romantics. As in the first poem, Goldsmith exhibits the
tenderness of his feelings for poor villagers.
Thomas Percy (1728-1811):
Percy is known in the history of English literature not for original poetry but for his compilation
of ballads, sonnets, historical songs, and metrical romances which he published in 1765 under
the title Reliques of Ancient English Poetry. The work .did a lot to revive public interest in that
kind of poetry which had gone out of vogue in the age of Dryden and Pope. The book contained
poetry from different ages-from the Middle Ages to the reign of Charles. The work had a
tremendous and lasting popularity. About its influence on the poets who were to come, we may
quote Wordsworth: "I do not think that there is an able writer in verse of the present day who
would not be proud to acknowledge his obligation to the Reliques." Even Dr. Johnson favoured
Percy's venture and earned his thanks by lending him a hand in the compilation.
Thomas Chatterton (1752-70):
Chatterton is referred to by Wordsworth in his poem Resolution and Independence as
The marvellous boy
The sleepless soul that perished in his pride.
Chatterton, indeed, was a "marvellous boy" who shot into fame, and then, before he was
eighteen, poisoned himself with arsenic getting sick of his poverty. Some of his poems are quite
Augustan in their matter and from but the most characteristic poems are the ones he published
as the work of Thomas Rowley, a fifteenth-century monk who lived in Bristol, Chattertdn's
native place. Chatterton gave out that he had discovered them in a box lying in a Bristol church.
His hoax was soon seen through, but that does not detract from the merit of the Rowley poems.
The poems like Aella and the Ballad of Charity are, according to Hudson, quite remarkable for
two reasons-'because they are probably the most wonderful things ever written by a boy of
Chatterton's age, and because they are another clear indication of the fast growing curiosity of
critics and the public regarding everything belonging to the middle ages." Chatterton's work
considerably influenced the romantic poets-who were intensely interested in everything
medieval.
James Macpherson (1736-96):
He was another forgerer like Chatterton, though his work was not altogether baseless. He first
achieved fame with Fragments of Ancient Poetry Collected in the Highlands of Scotland and
translated from the Gaelic or Erse Language which were given out to be "genuine remains of
ancient Scottish poetry." Later he produced Fingal, an Epic Poem in six books (1762), and then
Temora, an Epic Poem in eight books (1763). Macpherson asserted ttyat these two poems were
the genuine work of a Gaelic bard of the third century, names Ossian and that he had given their
literal translation in prose. His claims.provoked an acrimonious controversy as to their
genuineness. "Fortunately," says Hudson, "we need not enter ihto the discussion in order to
appreciate the epoch-making character of Macpherson's work. In the loosely rhythmical prose
which he adopted for his so-called translations he carried to an extreme the formal reaction of
the time against the classic couplet. In matter and spirit he is wildly romantic." His poems
transport the reader to a new world of heroism and super-naturalism tinged with melancholy, a
world which is altogether different from the spruce and reasonable world of Pope.
Thomas Gray (1716-71):
Gray was one of the most learned men of the Europe of his day. He was also a genuine poet but
his poetic production is lamentably small-just a few odes, some miscellaneous poems, and the
Elegy. He started his career as a strait-jacketted classicist and ended as a genuine romantic. His
work, according to Hudson, is "a kind of epitome of the changes which were coming over the
literature of his time." His first attempts, The Alliance of Education and Government and the
ode On a Distant Prospect of Eton College were classical in spirit, and the first mentioned, even
in its use of the heroic couplet. ElegyWritten in a Country Churchyard is Gray's finest poem
which earned him the praise of even Johnson who condemned most of Gray's poetry. Hudson
observes about this poem: "There is, first, the use of nature, which though employed only as a
background, is still handled with fidelity and sympathy i There is, next, the churchyard scene,
the twilight atmosphere, and the brooding melancholy of the poem, which at once connect
it...with one side of the romantic movement-the development of the distinctive romantic mood.
The contrast drawn between the country and the town the peasant's simple life and 'the madding
crowd's ignoble strife'-is a third particular which will be noted. Finally, in the tender feeling
shown for 'the rude forefathers of the hamlet' and the sense of the human value of the little
things that are written 'in the short and simple annals of the poor', we see poetry, under the
influence of the spreading democratic spirit reaching out to include humble aspects of life
hitherto ignored." Gray's next poems, The Progress of Poesy and The Bard, present a new
conception of the poet not as a clever versifier but a genuinely inspired and prophetic genius.
His last poems like The Fatal Sisters and The Descent of Odin are romantic fragments with
which we step out of the eighteenth century and find ourselves in the full stream of
romanticism.
William Collins (1721-59):
Collin's work is as thin in bulk as Gray's-it does not extend to much more than 1500 lines. He
combines in himself the neoclassic and romantic elements, though he is not without a specific
manner which is all his own. On the one hand, he provides numerous examples of poetic diction
at its worst, and, on the other, he delights in the highly romantic world of shadows and the
supernatural. His Ode on the Popular Superstions of the Highlands foreshadows the world in
which Coleridge delighted. He is chiefly known for his odes. To Liberty and the one mentioned
above are the lengthiest of Collins' odes, but he is at his best in shorter flights. He is exquisite
when he eschews poetic diction without losing his delightful singing quality. Referring to
Collins, Swinburne maintains that in "purity of music" and "clarity of style" there is "no parallel
in English verse from the death of Marvell to the birth of William Blake." n
William Cowper (1731-1800):
"He", says Compton-Rickett, "is a blend of the old and the new, with much of the form of the
old and something of the spirit of the new. In his satires he imitated the manner of Pope, but his
greatest poem The Task is all his own. It is written in blank verse and contains the famous line:
God made the country and man made the town
which indicates his love of Nature and simplicity. However, the classical element in him is
more predominant than the romantic. Compton-Rickett maintains: "We shall find in his work
neither the passion nor the strangeness of the Romantic school. Much in his nature disposed to
shape him as a poet of Classicism, and with occasional reserves he is far more of a classical
poet than a romantic. Yet throughout Cowper's work we feel from time to time a note of
something that is certainly not the note of Pope or Dryden, something deeper in feeling that
meets us even in Thomson, Collins, or Gray. There is a tenderness in poems like My Mother's
Picture, that not even Goldsmith in his verse can quite equal; while his fresh and intimate nature
pictures point to a stage in the development of poetic naturalism, more considerable than we
find in Thomson and his immediate succesors."
George Crabbe (1754-1832):
He mostly continued the neoclassic tradition and was derisively dubbed as "a Pope in worsted
stockings." In his poetry, which is mostly descriptive of the miseries of poor villagers, he was
an uncompromising unromantic realist. He asserted
I paint the Cot
As Truth will paint it, and as Bards will not.
He showed much concern for villagers, but he left for Wordsworth to glorify their simplicity
and, even, penury. Crabbe's excessive, boldness as a realist alienates him from the polish.of the
neoclassic school. However, he tenaciously adhered to the heroic couplet, even when he was a
contemporary of Blake and the romantic poets.
Robert Burns (1759-95):
He was a Scottish peasant who took to poetry and became the truly national poet of Scotland.
His work Poems Chiefly in the Scottish Dialect (1786) sky-rocketed him to fame. All these
poems are imbued with the spirit of romantic lyricism in its untutored spontaneity, humour,
pathos and sympathy wjth nature and her lowly creatures including the sons of the soil.
Sometimes indeed Bums tries to write in the "correct" manner of the Popean school but then he
becomes unimpressive and insipid. A critic observes : "Burns was a real peasant who drove the
plough as he hummed his songs, and who knew all the wretchedness and joys and sorrows of
the countryman's life. Sincerity and passion are the chief keys of his verse. Burns can utter a
piercing lyric cry as in A Fond Kiss and then we Sever, can be gracefully sentimental as in My
love is like a Red, Red Rose, can be coarsely witty as in The Jolly Beggars, but he is always
sincere and passionate, and that is why his words go straight into the heart." Bums was
influenced a great deal by the spirit of the French Revolution. His fellow-feeling extended even
to the lower animals whom he studied minutely and treated sympathetically.
William Blake (1757-1827):
Blake was an out and out rebel against all the social, political, and literary conventions of the
eighteenth century. It is with considerable inaccuracy that he can be included among the
transitional poets or the precursors of the Romantic Revival, as in many ways he is even more
romantic than the romantic poets! The most undisciplined and the most lonely of all poets, he
lived in his own world peopled by phantoms and spectres whom he treated as more real than the
humdrum realities of the physical world. His glorification of childhood and feeling for nature
make him akin to the romantic poets. He is best known for his three thin volumes-Poetical
Sketches (1783), Songs of Innocence (1789), and Songs of Experience (1794), which contain
some of the most orient gems of English lyricism. A critic observes: "His passion for freedom
was, also, akin to that which moved Wordsworth, Coleridge and Southey in their earlier years,
though in its later form, it came nearer to Shelley's revolt against convention. There is, indeed,
an unusual degree of fellowship between these two : the imagery and symbolism, as well as the
underlying spirit, of The Revolt of Islam, Alastor and Prometheus Unbound find their nearest
parallel in Blake's prophetic books. Both had visions of a world regenerated by a gospel of
universal brotherhood, transcending law."
Reference

 https://books.google.co.in/books?
id=bK1a3hvJosYC&pg=PA28&lpg=PA28&dq=The+peculiar+quality+of+Romanticism
+lies+in+this+that+in+apparently+detaching+us+from+the+real+world,
+it+restores+us+to+reality+at+a+higher+point&source=bl&ots=6PiaLEcOtT&sig=ACfU
3U27aqnMZpX_fAfMfqQhzxEB76Gijg&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjoyeHMiZPoAh
UuxjgGHdp4CqMQ6AEwBHoECAgQAQ#v=onepage&q=The%20peculiar%20quality
%20of%20Romanticism%20lies%20in%20this%20that%20in%20apparently
%20detaching%20us%20from%20the%20real%20world%2C%20it%20restores%20us
%20to%20reality%20at%20a%20higher%20point&f=false
 https://shodhganga.inflibnet.ac.in/bitstream/10603/67920/11/11_conclusion.pdf
 http://neoenglishsystem.blogspot.com/2010/12/precursors-of-romantic-revival-or.html
  https://englishliterature99.wordpress.com/tag/romantic-revival/
 https://sites.google.com/site/nmeictproject/collections/3-1-1-the-romantic-revival
 https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/what-main-features-poetry-romantic-revival-
98879
 http://egyankosh.ac.in/bitstream/123456789/22203/1/Unit-35.pdf

6. Critically comment either on `Porphyria's Lover' or `Childe Roland to the Dark Tower
Came'.
Porphyria's Lover
"Porphyria's Lover" was quite subversive for its time (and to an extent, still is) but prose
writers of Browning's Victorian England were also dabbling in Gothic literature and horror.
This is one of many examples where Browning shared more with his contemporary prose
writers than with his contemporary poets.
The poem is a dramatic monologue which means the speaker addresses someone (perhaps
himself, God, the reader, or some other) and his words and thoughts indicate to the reader his
character and/or state of mind. The ababb rhyme scheme and occasional enjambment (lines
which grammatically carry over from one line to the next) establish a subtly odd phrasing which
parallels the subtle ways Browning establishes the state of mind of the speaker (we get subtle
clues but are taken by surprise with the murder).
The poem is about the speaker murdering his lover, Porphyria, by strangling her with her
own hair. This poem is an exercise in considering madness, the potential link between violence
and sex, and the psychological impact love can have (in this case, on an insane speaker;
however, the reader is also left to wonder if the speaker is not insane, perhaps merely a liar).
The calm, casual way the speaker describes the murder is strange, reflecting the warped
mind of the speaker. And the event of the murder seems to come out of nowhere unless we
consider that the murder is a shift of dominance. When Porphyria comes in, she is active and
the speaker is passive.
She put my arm about her waist,
And made her smooth white shoulder bare,
And all her yellow hair displaced,
And, stooping, made my cheek lie there, (16-19).
Notice that she physically controls his movements and "makes" his cheek lie. The
speaker, mad with love and insecurity, sees a moment where he can become the dominant
figure in their love and takes it, and this takes the reader by surprise. He waits until the
"moment she was mine, mine, fair,/Perfectly pure and good." Therefore, he can be with her in
this so called "perfect" state forever.
 "Porphyria's Lover" is similar to Poe in its treatment of Gothic subjects. And some critics
claim that a full analysis of this poem along the lines of Gothic horror has been overlooked.
Check the third link below for an analysis which posits that the speaker is not really insane; he
kills Porphyria believing she is a vampire. This interpretation is a bit of a stretch, but horror was
a contemporary subject in Browning's time. For example,Frankensteinwas published in 1818,
Poe lived from 1809-1849, and "Porphyria's Lover" first appeared in 1836.
Reference
 https://www.gradesaver.com/robert-browning-poems/study-guide/summary-porphyrias-
lover
 https://www.litcharts.com/poetry/robert-browning/porphyria-s-lover
 https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/poetry/porphyrias-lover/summary
 https://www.bachelorandmaster.com/britishandamericanpoetry/porphyrias-
lover.html#.XmkbgygzbIU
 https://poemanalysis.com/robert-browning/porphyrias-lover
 https://www.enotes.com/homework-help/write-critical-appreciation-poem-porphyias-
lover-350343
 https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/poetry/porphyrias-lover/summary
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came
Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came is one of the most famous poems from the 1855
poetry collection Men and Women by Robert Browning. Like many of the other masterpieces
by Browning, this poem is also a long dramatic monologue that has been narrated by Childe
Roland, a character in Shakespeare’s King Lear. The title of the poem is derived from a song
that the character Roland sings in the play. Roland, a mad alter ego of a sane man speaks of the
horrors of the journey to the Dark Tower in the poem.
Robert Browning’s “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came” is a powerful poem that
illustrates the importance of understanding and interpreting literature from various perspectives.
By analyzing the formal, historic, religious, and Shakespearean elements of the poem, the
reader can see Browning’s unifying message of perseverance.
From a formalist approach, the work is written in narrative form with a standard rhyme
scheme and stanza structure. It tells a story that moves the reader alongside the character
through the literary technique of enjambed lines, the process in which the author shifts the
poetic line from one to the next without formal punctuation, giving more emphasis to the lines
and subconsciously making the reader continue the story. When asked why he wrote the poem,
Browning stated that it came to him in a dream and is nothing more than a fantasy with no
allegorical characteristics. Through merely a literal aspect, the poem reveals a character’s
daunting journey towards the Dark Tower. “Malicious eye,” “he must be wicked to deserve
such pain. / I shut my eyes and turned them on my heart,” and “to set my foot upon a dead
man’s cheek,” are all examples Browning incorporates to place a nightmare-ish aura on
Roland’s journey. While Browning would have his readers take the poem literally, that is rarely
the case with literature, and certainly not his.
Does the poem display the juxtaposition between two differing eras by contrasting a
better past with a disappointing present? Most importantly, why the Middle Ages? These
questions surface when interpreting the historical approach of the poem. Truth be known,
Victorians greatly longed for the Middle Ages; they believed it to be a better time socially,
economically, and culturally. Setting the poem in the past could be interpreted as Browning’s
form of escape from reality, perhaps searching for an adventure.
A socioeconomic approach also gives a deeper look into Browning’s desire for exploring
the past. The bleak and wasteland atmosphere of the poem represents England’s environmental
state during the Victorian era. Browning describes the setting throughout the poem as a place
that was once beautiful but turned desolate, which is the same transformation England
underwent during the industrial period of the nineteenth century. Halfway through the poem,
Roland takes notice of his surroundings and realizes that at some point the road he stands on
once thrived with nature. He looks for flowers, but they have long disappeared; he looks for
grass, but it scantly grows from under the mud. He paints a dingy picture of the location with
words such as “dusty,” “ominous,” “penury,” “darkening,” and “gray.” This imagery potentially
describes both Browning’s poem and his homeland of England.
The Medieval reading of the poem also plays a significant role in identifying its religious
approach. During the Medieval Ages, a “childe” was a man who was prepared to overcome any
obstacle to be deemed worthy of becoming a knight; thus Roland’s quest can be interpreted as
an initiation into knighthood. His desire for nobility evokes the legends of the search for the
Holy Grail, the chalice Jesus drank from his last night on earth. Knights dedicated their lives to
locating the chalice to no avail. The poem’s archetype of an ordeal, or a test, where the hero
must successfully confront various challenges, corresponds to the knights’ endurance in
attempting to discover the grail. Both “I might go on; nought else remained to do. / So, on I
went-,” (54-55) and “After a life spent training for the sight” (180) displays Roland’s own
determination to endure the challenges ahead in order to receive his reward. Chapter ten verse
twenty-two in the Book of Matthew of the Bible after all states that “He who endureth to the
end shall be saved;” those who endure until the end shall spend eternity in heaven after death.
While Roland struggles with his perseverance into knighthood, Browning struggles with
the writers of the past, especially Shakespeare, looming over him. According to Yale Professor
Harold Bloom the most daunting challenge facing modern writers is the temptation to compete
with literature’s historic giants. “There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met / To view the
last of me, a living frame” (199-200) depicts Browning imagining his predecessors observing
and mocking his writing abilities. Just as Roland endures his challenges, Browning persists
through the judgmental gazes of the past writers and creates his poem. Professor Bloom also
believes that poets set out on a quest in search for a muse of inspiration; in Browning’s case, his
muse was Shakespeare. In using the last line from Shakespeare’s play King Lear “Childe
Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” as the title of the poem, Browning alludes to one of the
greatest playwrights. He believes recycling Shakespeare’s work into his own poem is the only
way for him to compete with the past.
Modern readers should read and understand “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower” not only
for the message but also because it shows that things aren’t always as they may seem. Its
formal, historical, religious, and Shakespearean elements demonstrate to its readers the
importance of perseverance, to fight through any challenge presented and to never give up on
their goals.
Reference
 https://www.jstor.org/stable/40001219?seq=1
 http://www.victorianweb.org/authors/rb/roland/perquin.html
 https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2008/aug/25/poemoftheweekchildroland
 https://www.owleyes.org/text/childe-roland-to-the-dark-tower-came
 https://jaclynbaglos.wordpress.com/2017/03/05/childe-roland-to-the-dark-tower-came-
analysis/
 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Childe_Roland_to_the_Dark_Tower_Came
 https://www.enotes.com/topics/childe-roland-dark-tower-came/in-depth