Historical Context
These two major political revolutions inspired the Romantic poets and reflected their ideals of egalitarianism and democracy
What are the American Revolution and French Revolution?
One of the first generation of Romantic poets and the most famous of the "Lake poets," a group that also included Samuel Taylor Coleridge.
Who is William Wordsworth?
Reacting against the ideals of the Enlightenment, Romantic poets often prioritized the value of this concept over the exercise of pure logic/reason
What is emotion?
This type of poem is meant to tell a story
What is a narrative poem?
"Titan! to whose immortal eyes
The sufferings of mortality,
Seen in their sad reality,
Were not as things that gods despise;
What was thy pity's recompense?"
What is from "Prometheus" by Lord Byron?
This famous essay, published in 1800 for the second edition of William Wordsworth's collaborative poetry collection with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, is now seen as a statement of principles for the Romantic movement.
What is the "Preface to Lyrical Ballads?"
This short-lived Romantic poet is arguably best known for five "1819 odes."
Who is John Keats?
A dark, brooding, morally ambiguous hero-- tortured, sensitive, charming and intelligent, but not necessarily a good person.
What is a Byronic hero?
This type of poem is meant to express the thoughts and feelings of the speaker
What is a lyric (or lyrical poem)?
"Weave a circle round him thrice,
And close your eyes with holy dread
For he on honey-dew hath fed,
And drunk the milk of Paradise."
What is from "Kubla Khan" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
This author isn't well-known as a poet, but her novels, including Pride and Prejudice, became foundational works of social realism in the Romantic period.
Who is Jane Austen?
Despite the fact that the debut collection of this writer's poetry sold just two copies, their 1847 novel is now cited among the greatest works of English literature.
Who is Emily Brontë ?
What is a classical allusion?
A lyrical poem praising or celebrating a particular person, idea, event, or object
What is an ode?
"Beauty is truth, truth beauty,—that is all
Ye know on earth, and all ye need to know."
What is from "Ode on a Grecian Urn" by John Keats?
Although not a poem, this novel, subtitled "The Modern Prometheus," is considered one of the most famous works of gothic literature from the Romantic period.
What is Frankenstein by Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley?
This first-generation Romantic poet coined the terms "suspension of disbelief" and "organic form," among other terms related to literary theory.
Who is Samuel Taylor Coleridge?
The unity derived from multiple independent parts within a work of literature or art, which grow together in the mind of the poet like parts of a living being
What is organic form?
Wordsworth was fond of writing this type of sonnet, which was usually structured as an octave followed by a sestet.
What is a Petrarchan sonnet?
"I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity..."
What is from "Preface to Lyrical Ballads" by William Wordsworth?
This violent massacre in Britain in 1819 inspired many of the Romantic poets to speak out in favor of revolution. Percy Bysshe Shelley addressed it most famously in his protest poem, "England in 1819."
What is the Peterloo Massacre?
This poet's sharp wit, hedonistic lifestyle and rakish good looks inspired countless admirers and imitators, including John William Polidori's The Vampyre.
Who is Lord Byron?
"When a man is capable of being uncertainties, Mysteries, doubts, without any irritable reaching after fact and reason..."
What is negative capability?
One of the most common types of stanza in English poetry, especially in ballads. Shakespearean sonnets start with three of them.
What is a quatrain?
"The everlasting universe of things
Flows through the mind, and rolls its rapid waves,
Now dark—now glittering—now reflecting gloom—
Now lending splendour, where from secret springs
The source of human thought its tribute brings
Of waters..."
What is from "Mont Blanc" by Percy Bysshe Shelley?