1. The Romantic Period 1785-1830 Lakeland Fells, The Lake District of England

2. The Romantic Period Began with publication of Lyrical Ballads (1798) by William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge Ended with The Reform Act (1832) Rejected logic and reason Glorified individualism and imagination Inspired by personal experience Appreciated heroes but valued the common man

3. Poetry “The spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings” (Wordsworth) Source not in external things, but in the individual poet Lyric poem: major Romantic form Blend of traditional form (ie. sonnets, stanzas, rhyme schemes, etc.) with personal subjects

4. Themes Spiritual connection to nature Isolation from crowded cities Exile – especially of a disinherited mind that cannot find a spiritual home in its native land Fascination with the outlaws (heroes) of myth, legend, or history Mysticism (both Asian-inspired and the kind associated with seances)

5. References “British Romanticism.” (n.d.) Retrieved from http://www.faculty.unlv.edu/kirschen /handouts

6. Authors from the Romantic Period William Blake Songs of Innocence and Experience “The Lamb” “The Tyger”

7. Robert Burns “To a Mouse” William Wordsworth Lyrical Ballads, with a Few Other Poems Sonnets

8. “To a Mouse” Wee, sleekit, cowran, tim'rous beastie, O, what a panic's in thy breastie! Thou need na start awa sae hasty, Wi' bickering brattle! I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee, Wi' murd'ring pattle! I'm truly sorry Man's dominion Has broken Nature's social union, An' justifies that ill opinion, Which makes thee startle, At me, thy poor, earth-born companion, An' fellow-mortal! I doubt na, whyles, but thou may thieve; What then? poor beastie, thou maun live! A daimen-icker in a thrave 'S a sma' request: I'll get a blessin wi' the lave, An' never miss't!

9. Thy wee-bit housie, too, in ruin! It's silly wa's the win's are strewin! An' naething, now, to big a new ane, O' foggage green! An' bleak December's winds ensuin, Baith snell an' keen! Thou saw the fields laid bare an' wast, An' weary Winter comin fast, An' cozie here, beneath the blast, Thou thought to dwell, Till crash! the cruel coulter past Out thro' thy cell. That wee-bit heap o' leaves an' stibble, Has cost thee monie a weary nibble! Now thou's turn'd out, for a' thy trouble, But house or hald. To thole the Winter's sleety dribble, An' cranreuch cauld!

10. But Mousie, thou are no thy-lane, In proving foresight may be vain: The best laid schemes o' Mice an' Men, Gang aft agley, An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain, For promis'd joy! Still, thou art blest, compar'd wi' me! The present only toucheth thee: But Och! I backward cast my e'e, On prospects drear! An' forward, tho' I canna see, I guess an' fear!

11. Samuel Taylor Coleridge The Rime of the Ancient Mariner “The Eolian Harp” George Gordon, Lord Byron Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage

12. Percy Bysshe Shelley Prometheus Unbound Adonais Various poems John Keats The Eve of St. Agnes Various poems