ROMANTICISM The Second Generation Poets: Byron Shelley Keats

This second generation of romantics rebelled even more strongly against British conservatism, and as cultural figures, Byron, Shelley, & Keats became like punk rock stars in England.

Live fast, die young. This would be an apt motto for Byron, Shelley, & Keats since all three died tragically in their youth.

George Gordon, Lord Byron (1788-1824) Member of the House of Lords, Byron was handsome, egotistical, and aloof, the darling of elegant society.

Byron was considered highly attractive and affable Shelley said of him “scarcely have I seen such a beautiful countenance.” Yet, Byron was hindered by being born with a clubbed foot, something for which he would be highly self-conscious & determined to overcome…

Byron lived a flamboyant life; he was fashionable, prone to debauchery, and given to affairs of the heart. He ran around with married women, married and divorced a cousin, had a romance (and child) with his half sister, and engaged in homosexual experiences. Although, Byron never considered himself to be defined by a sexuality.

“Mad, bad, and dangerous to know.” —Lady Caroline Lamb Shocked by his radical politics and scandalous love affairs, Byron was shunned by London society, so he left Britain in 1816, never to return.

The Irresistible Bad Boy: The Byronic Hero Devastatingly Attractive yet Fatally Flawed

A man proud, moody, cynical, with defiance on his brow, and misery in his heart, a scorner of his kind, implacable in revenge, yet capable of deep and strong affection. In short, a Byronic Hero is the “bad boy” that women’s mothers warn them about.

Action not Words Byron’s friendship with Shelley led him to come to find words (i.e. poetry) were insufficient in bringing change about… Hence, Byron started to become involved in causes. Specifically, he addressed the struggle in Greece against the Ottomans.

Lord Byron died of a fever at age 36 while fighting for Greek independence.

To this day, Byron is revered in Greece as a national hero.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Byron’s friend, also an aristocrat and political radical, more radical than Byron. Shelley urged England’s lower classes to rebel. Shelley was expelled from Oxford for writing an essay called “The Necessity of Atheism” He was said to have a calm demeanor but his motives were always questioned…

Shelley remarked that despite his “good intentions”, his world seemed to continually fall into chaos and trouble…which likely led his first marriage collapsing. Shelley had numerous affairs on Harriet, including running away with Mary. In the end, am ashamed and broken Harriet committed suicide. Shelley’s second marriage to Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin(author of Frankenstein) would last until the poet’s death in 1822.

Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822) Byron was so fond of Shelley, he said “he was the best and least selfish man…I never knew one who wasn’t a beast in comparison. Shunned for his radical ideas, Shelley left England for good in 1818

Shelley died in a boating accident just before his 30th birthday Shelley died in a boating accident just before his 30th birthday. Foul play has always been suspected. In his coat pockets were two books: the Bible and book of Keats’ poems.

John Keats (1795-1821) A master of lyrical poetry Born outside of upper-class society Contracted tuberculosis and, hoping to recuperate in a warmer climate, moved to Italy where he died shortly after.

Keats never married and of the Big 3 Second Gen Romantics, he died the youngest. He knew he was ill and knew, too, that he would succumb and die from the consumption. Therefore, Keats’ verse has an intensity and drive that perhaps had not been seen in poetry prior to him. In fact, his entire body of work was composed in about one year.

John Keats wrote “Here lies one whose name was writ in water.”

“She Walks in Beauty” by Lord Byron This sonnet vividly describes a woman’s beauty, capturing its essential power and linking it to universal images.

“Ozymandias” by Percy Bysshe Shelley This poem provides an ironic comment on human pride and ambition. A traveler describes the ruins of an ancient statue of a ruler. On its base is an arrogant inscription; however, what is left of the statue stands in an empty desert, for the works of Ozymandias have crumbled under the onslaught of time and nature.

“Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”

Poetry became also specifically political and socially critical. Political Commentary Poetry became also specifically political and socially critical. Offered opinions on political issues, built arguments on evidence and assumptions

The Reaction to Society’s Ills (Byron and Shelley) Lord Byron’s speech to the House of Lords (1817) was in defense of workers who had sabotaged factory equipment that had put them out of work. Shelley’s “A Song: ‘Men of England’” (1820) is an angry response to news of the growing economic suffering and political oppression of the working classes in England.

“Beauty is truth, truth beauty” John Keats Keats found in beauty the highest value our imperfect world could offer, and he put its pursuit at the center of his poetry. He explored the beauty he found in the most ordinary circumstances.

While other poets described objects, Keats PRESENTED them… Ode A lyric poem characterized by heightened emotion, that pays respect to a person or thing, usually directly addressed by the speaker While other poets described objects, Keats PRESENTED them…

Keats’s Use of the Ode Keats created his own form of the ode, using 10-line stanzas of iambic pentameter, beginning with a heroic quatrain (4 lines rhymed abab) followed by a sestet.

“When I Have Fears That I May Cease to Be” by John Keats The speaker expresses fears that he will not live to fulfill his potential. Keats died less than three years after he wrote it.

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats Keats comes to an understanding about the nature of truth and beauty as he gazes at an ancient Greek urn. The scenes, frozen in time, eternally beautiful and unchanging, symbolize that the urn’s beauty embodies the eternity of truth.

“Ode on a Grecian Urn” by John Keats Who addressed What it can’t do/be What it can do/be Stanza II Stanza III Stanza IV

“Thou still unravished bride of quietness Thou foster child of silence and slow time...”

“Ode to a Nightingale” by John Keats Keats’s poem is not about or on the nightingale, but to the bird. The speaker passes beyond the limit of ordinary experience and becomes too happy in the experience conveyed in the bird’s song.

The poem consists of a series of propositions, each containing its own rejection as to how the speaker might imitate the “ease” of the song. Each time, the speaker is drawn back to his “sole self,” to a preference for poetry as a celebration of human life as a process of soul making.

http://www.freesound.org/samplesViewSingle.php?id=14854

“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by John Keats An unidentified passerby asks the knight what is wrong. The knight answers that he has been in love with and abandoned by a beautiful lady. But what does it mean? What is the meaning of the knight’s experience? Was the knight deluded by his beloved, or did he delude himself?

What is the most important word in the descriptions of the woman, and why? Who are the two speakers? How do the poem’s images help you visualize the knight and the time of year? Interpret the dream in stanza 10. What does the knight realize has happened when he awakes?