Sibilance is used to add the soft tone of the poem: ‘houses seem asleep’. This adds to the slow rhythm and makes the reader fell drowsy, like the houses in the poem.
Wordsworth portrays his feeling as fact: ‘Earth has not anything to show more fair’. This metaphor shows another feature of Romanticism – choosing emotion over fact.
Another feature of Romanticism presented in this poem is the co-existence of nature and man. Wordsworth does this by putting them in the same situation: ‘temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky’. This links religion and nature, which explains the belief of the worship of nature, thus this is Pantheism. They can merge together successfully.
This poem is in sonnet from. It has fourteen lines, with ten syllables per line. The continuity of the poem flows because Wordsworth uses enjambment.
‘Lines Written in Early Spring’ by William Wordsworth, is a very positive poem, much like ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’.
In this poem, Wordsworth tells us how nature brings so much joy and harmony to mankind. As I explained in ‘Upon Westminster Bridge’, Wordsworth is a Pantheist. This is clearly shown in ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’: ‘The birds around me hopped and played’. Wordsworth feels that man and nature should be united, but they aren’t: ‘Have I not reason to lament What man has made of man?’ Man is causing pain and sorrow to fellow man.
The structure used has alternate lines rhyming. There are four lines per stanza. The first three lines have eight syllables, the last has six.
Wordsworth is pondering and lamenting about life. The tone is sensitive and caring about nature, but he is sad when he thinks about the state of mankind.
Nature is personified in this poem, to make it more real: ‘To her fair works did nature link The human soul that through me ran.’ This shows a very positive image of nature, a typical characteristic which the Romantics portrayed.
Another of Wordsworth’s poems is ‘Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey’. Nature and Pantheism are again the themes in this poem, but Wordsworth explains his beliefs more thoroughly: ‘Once again I see These hedge-rows, hardly hedge-rows, little lines Of sportive wood run wild.’ The explanation and description that Wordsworth presents shows his strong emotions and beliefs about nature – he finds nature a religion, and that it is a temple.
The poem uses enjambment and is written in blank verse – no rhyme is present.
The tone is calm, relaxed and content. It is a very positive outlook of nature.
The co-existence of nature and man is clearly presented in this poem: ‘Green to the very door; and wreathes of smoke Sent up, in silence, from among the trees!’ This shows that nature and man are entwined; the green (nature) is close right up to the door (manmade), and Wordsworth says that the two are so close that it looks like the smoke from the chimney is coming from the trees! This shows a strong relationship between them, unlike in ‘Lines Written in Early Spring’.
‘The Solitary Reaper’ is another of Wordsworth’s poems, but in contrast to the others I have studied, it is quite melancholy. In this poem, Wordsworth uses simple, natural language to convey his ideas: ‘Alone she cuts and binds the grain, And sings a melancholy strain’. This quote is very affective to the meaning that Wordsworth is portraying – it tells us that the girl is working and singing alone.
The poem has four stanzas, with eight lines in each. It has alternate and rhyming couplets.
The tone is wistful towards the reaper, and melancholy, because she is singing a beautiful, sad song.
The overall meaning of the poem is that Wordsworth is longing after the girl. The woman is pure because she leads a rural way of life, reaping the grain. She has not been ‘polluted’ by the Industrial Revolution. This is typical of the Era, and this is why Wordsworth admires her so much.
John Keats is another well known Romantic poet. ‘To Autumn’ is an ode to the season. The language is layered and detailed to add to the effect that the season has on him: ‘Drowsed with the fume of poppies’. The long vowels give a drugged, sleepy effect, much like the Opium from the poppies does.
Keats personifies autumn, to add to the effect that it is ‘alive’: ‘Sometimes whoever seeks abroad may find Thee sitting careless on a granary floor’. He also uses alliteration of ‘m’ to add to the calm tone: ‘Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.’
There are three stanzas, with ten lines in each, and they all refer to a different sense. There is textured description throughout this poem, to make you feel like you are there. In the first stanza, ‘Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness’ sums up autumn, in what you can see. The second stanza describes autumn so that you can ‘smell’ it: ‘Drowsed with the fume of poppies’. In the last stanza, we can ‘hear’ autumn: ‘Hedge-crickets sing; and now with treble soft The red-breast whistles’.
The overall message of this poem shows Keats conveying his love for autumn, and the wonderful view of nature he has. This is a common characteristic of the Romantic period. He presents what he is feeling, via the senses. The rich description make you feel as if you are there, and Keats wants you to enjoy the pleasures of autumn he has had.
‘Spring’ by Hopkins, is similar in theme as that of Keats, as they both write about seasons.
Gerald Manley Hopkins was a Jesuit, and because of his strong religious beliefs, he was inspired by ‘God’s grandeur in Wales’ to write ‘Spring’. Many references about religion are broadcast e.g. ‘Eden garden’ and ‘Christ Lord’.
Hopkins uses lots of alliteration in ‘Spring’: ‘When weeds, in wheels, shoot long and lovely and lush’. There is a continuing use of alliteration through ‘Spring’ and this adds to the excited tone Hopkins has when describing spring.
The simile ‘it strikes like lightnings to hear him sing’ really emphasises your image of the Thrush and the powerfulness of his voice. The rich description of nature throughout this poem, along with the theme of God in nature, shows Pantheism, and the worship of nature – a common characteristic shown in most of the poems I have studied.
‘Spring’ has two stanzas, and a total of 14 lines. There are rhyming and alternate rhyming couplets throughout.
The overall message of the poem is that Hopkins is portraying all the goods points about spring, it is all positive about God’s creations.
We have seen that Wordsworth, Keats and Hopkins all portray elements of the Romantic Period in their work. Clear features these poets present are: Pantheism, imagination, emotion and the belief that the city is impure and the countryside is pure.
In conclusion, all three poets whose work I have studied show distinct qualities of the Romantic genre.
By Lily Ayre 1okn
