Introducing the Romantic Era: A Multimedia Presentation by Dr. Christopher Swann Liberty Leading the People, Eugène Delacroix (1830) La Belle Dame Sans Merci, John William Waterhouse (1893)

The Romantic Era William Blake ( ) Painter, Poet, Visionary “The Garden of Love” and “The Tyger” William Wordsworth ( ) “Father” of Romantic Poetry The Prelude and “Tintern Abbey” Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ) Poet of the Imagination “Kubla Khan” and Rime of the Ancient Mariner George Gordon, Lord Byron ( ) Scoundrel, Womanizer, Poet “She Walks in Beauty” and Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage Percy Bysshe Shelley ( ) Romantic Revolutionary “Ode to the West Wind” and “Ozymandias” John Keats ( ) “Greatest” Romantic Poet? “La Belle Dame sans Merci” and “Ode on a Grecian Urn” “First Generation” “Second Generation”

Major Early Romantic Poets William Blake ( ): Blake's poetry dwelled upon his divine vision and rebelled against traditional poetic forms and techniques. He created his own mythological world with man as the central figure. His more famous poems include The Lamb,The Tyger, The Chimney Sweeper, and The Clod and the Pebble.

The Illuminated Books Little lamb, who made thee? Does thou know who made thee, Gave thee life, and bid thee feed By the stream and o'er the mead; Gave thee clothing of delight, Softest clothing, woolly, bright; Gave thee such a tender voice, Making all the vales rejoice? Little lamb, who made thee? Does thou know who made thee? Little lamb, I'll tell thee; Little lamb, I'll tell thee: He is called by thy name, For He calls Himself a Lamb. He is meek, and He is mild, He became a little child. I a child, and thou a lamb, We are called by His name. Little lamb, God bless thee! The Lamb Write 3 sentences responding to this poem. What is the subject? The tone? Mood? Why might Blake have written this poem?

The Illuminated Books Tyger, 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 and what art Could twist the sinews of thy heart? And, when thy heart began to beat, What dread hand and 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 watered heaven with their tears, Did He smile His work to see? Did He who made the lamb make thee? Tyger, tyger, burning bright In the forests of the night, What immortal hand or eye Dare frame thy fearful symmetry? The Tyger Write 3 sentences responding to this poem. What is the subject? The tone? Mood? Why might Blake have written this poem?

Now, write 5 sentences comparing and contrasting “The Lamb” and “The Tyger.” How are they different in tone, mood, and subject? Why might Blake have chosen these particular animals for these particular poems?

The Illuminated Books- Songs of Innocence and of Experience, Showing Two Contrary States of the Human Soul Songs of Innocence deals with the innocence and joy of the natural world, advocating free love and a closer relationship with God Songs of Experience instead deals with the loss of innocence after exposure to the material world and all of its mortal sin during adult life Art Brochure

Major Early Romantic Poets William Wordsworth ( ): The most famous of the British Romantics, Wordsworth is considered the nature poet. He revolutionized poetic subjects, focusing on ordinary people in rustic settings. He, in addition, wrote about and considered the poet as superior to all other writers. His most famous poems include I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, We are Seven,and I Travelled Among Unknown Men.

Major Early Romantic Poets Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ): Coleridge and Wordsworth are often grouped together as The Lake Poets, and for good reason. Together they are credited as the founders of the Romantic movement. Coleridge's most famous poems, RIme of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Kahn, and Christabel have a distinct supernatural element and strongly influenced American Romantics such as Poe and Hawthorne.

Romanticism ROMANTICISM examination of inner feelings, emotions; imagination literature of the Middle Ages idealistic interested in the mysterious & supernatural concerned with the particular sought to develop new forms of expressions romanticized the past tended towards excess and spontaneity appreciated folk traditions desired radical change favored democracy concerned with common people concerned with the individual felt that nature should be untamed SOURCES OF INSPIRATION ATTITUDES AND INTERESTS SOCIAL CONCERNS Adapted from chart in Prentice Hall Literature: The English Tradition (Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey: Prentice Hall, 1991): 631. In groups of 3, pick a Blake poem from the book. You must create a poster on which you: (1) rewrite the poem neatly, (2) “ILLUMINATE” or illustrate the poem, (3) Write a paragraph analyzing the poem, and (4) pick out which Romantic characteristics it shows.