Consider the uses - symbolic or otherwise - of natural imagery in the poetry of Coleridge.
Consider the uses - symbolic or otherwise - of natural imagery in the poetry of Coleridge. In this essay I am attempting to show the way in which natural imagery is used by Samuel Taylor Coleridge in five of his poems; Kubla Khan, Christabel, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Frost at Midnight and This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison. Natural imagery is when a poet uses language to paint pictures in the readers mind of nature in certain ways, nature can seem so different in many different ways and the language a poet uses can change the way a reader may think of the objects his poetry is describing. Coleridge was a Unitarian; he desired a unity in nature and in all things. Coleridge's desire for ultimate unity, no more 'little things' is stated in is letter to John Thelwall written around the same time as Kubla Khan. ' I can at times feel strongly the beauties you describe, in themselves, & for themselves - but more frequently all things appear little - all the knowledge, that can be acquired, child's play - the universe itself - what but and immense heap of little things? - I can contemplate nothing but parts, & parts are all little -! - My mind feels as if it ached to behold & know something great - something one & indivisible and it is only in the faith of this that rocks or waterfalls, mountains or caverns give me the sense of sublimity or majesty!' Kubla Khan illustrates
The character of Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson VS that of Odysseus in Homers odyssey
The character of Ulysses by Alfred Lord Tennyson VS that of Odysseus in Homer's odyssey * Intro: Odysseus in Odysseyi: Odysseus is a combination of the self-made, self-assured man and the embodiment of the standards and mores of his culture. Though a strong and courageous warrior, he is most renowned for his cunning (sharp intellect). He is favored by the gods and respected and admired by the mortals. Even the wrath of Poseidon does not keep him from his homecoming. Victory motivates Odysseus. He wants to return home and live well in Ithaca; as a result, every step along the way is another test, sometimes, another battle. Now struggles to return to his kingdom in Ithaca: the most important thing for him. * Tennyson's source of inspiration for his Ulysses: Written in 1833 and first published in Poems (1842), the poem was written in the first few weeks after Tennyson learned of his friend Arthur Henry Hallam's death. ii Tennyson reworks the figure of Ulysses by drawing on the ancient hero of Homer's Odyssey ("Ulysses" is the Roman form of the Greek "Odysseus") and the medieval hero of Dante's Inferno. Homer's Ulysses, as described in Scroll XI of the Odyssey, learns from a prophecy that he will take a final sea voyage after killing the suitors of his wife Penelope. The details of this sea voyage are described by Dante in Canto XXVI of the Inferno: Ulysses finds himself
Christina Rosetti's 'The Triad' - A Woman's Role
Christina Rossetti - A Triad - A Woman's Role During the Victorian period, women did not have many choices in life. Christina Rossetti explores the choices available to women in her poem, 'A Triad'. This is a sonnet about the delimited existence of women in the 19th century: the unmarried whore, the young virginal spinster and the lonely, love-starved married woman. The octave presents us with the three choices of roles for women in the Victorian period. First, there is the role of whore: "... one with lips Crimson, with cheeks and bosom in a glow Flushed to the yellow hair and finger-tips" The image of redness in the words, "Crimson," "glow," and "Flushed" make this a very sensual image representing a sexually active woman in her prime. To be sexually active in the Victorian period, a woman must be married, if not married then she is seen as a whore since women were not allowed to have a sexuality. Any notion that a woman felt sexual desire was frowned upon. It was a taboo and women who failed to abide by the rules of Victorian society could find themselves labelled as insane. The role of the second woman in the sonnet is that of young virginal spinster: "And one there who soft and smooth as snow/ Bloomed like a tinted hyacinth at a show." The musical quality of the sibilance in these lines conveys an image of sweetness and purity. Indeed, this woman's
Compare Charlotte Smith: "To a Nightingale" and Coleridge: "The Nightingale, A Conversation Poem"
Compare Charlotte Smith: "To a Nightingale" and Coleridge: "The Nightingale, A Conversation Poem" Both Charlotte Smith's 'To a Nightingale' and Samuel Taylor Coleridge's 'The Nightingale: A Conversation Poem' are both written in iambic pentameter, using a set strict rhythm in order to convey their message. However, in their view of the nightingale itself, they differ. Smith presents it as a 'poor melancholy bird'1, whereas Coleridge claims that it is poets who 'echo this conceit,'2 and that 'in nature there is nothing melancholy'3 but man, who makes his own misery, and imagines that everything else echoes it. He 'filled all things with himself/ And made all gentle sounds tell back the tale/ Of his own sorrow.'4 Coleridge actually seems to reject the whole purpose of Smith's poem. Coleridge contrasts nature and society, pointing out the stark difference between the 'ball rooms and hot theatres'5 and the beauty and purity of nature. Charlotte Smith, on the other hand, stays largely with the natural world. Her only concession to the more cultural is the reference to the figure of poet, who she allows to give meaning to 'the little sounds that swell thy little breast.'6 She attributes to them 'musing fancy'7, suggesting that the poet is in fact nothing but a dreamer, lending nothing but nonsense to nature, placing her own position in a somewhat doubtful place. Indeed, Coleridge
Discuss the relationship between the city and the country as presented in Swift's `Description of a City Shower' and Pope's `Windsor Forest'
Discuss the relationship between the city and the country as presented in Swift's `Description of a City Shower' and Pope's `Windsor Forest' The Eighteenth Century was a transitional time for England, and this is reflected in the range and versatility in style that was characteristic of the Romantic movement. In a century when the novel remained a relatively recent genre, poetry was the most widely used and most comprehensively recognised form of literary expression. Perhaps one of the most prominent themes that that really began in the eighteenth century was the growing concern that the relationship between mankind and the natural world was under threat. Poetry offered a means of addressing the fear that industrialisation was encouraging people to grow away from the rural traditions, and towards a more commercially driven way of life, that left no time for spending time in the landscape. This theme remains poignant in literature today, and it is through discussion of its origins that we might better understand the impulse that led authors such as Alexander pope and Jonathan Swift to contemplate the relationship between mankind and the environment, and between city life and country life, over two hundred years ago. During the course of this essay I seek to establish points of similarity and difference between the work of these two authors, drawing from Pope's `Windsor
Lord Byrons Don Juan explores the possibility of societal liberation from conventional gender stereotypes. He does this primarily through subverting these stereotypes, with an effeminate male hero at the forefront
Don’t Fight The Patriarchy! Lord Byron’s Don Juan explores the possibility of societal liberation from conventional gender stereotypes. He does this primarily through subverting these stereotypes, with an effeminate male hero at the forefront, and the inclusion of fleshed-out female characters who have agency over their education and sexuality, an unconventional portrayal of women in the 19th century. By offering a more inclusive perspective of females, as well as an effeminate male hero with Don Juan, Byron challenges societal views on gender roles and the distinctions between them. However, his depiction of female complexity is undermined by his satirical tone, at times mocking and vilifying the women who cross over the same conventional boundaries that he challenges, that distinguish the realms of men and women. This paradoxical attitude towards women conveys an anxiety over the effect of female agency on a patriarchal society and male masculinity, the decline of which we witness in Don Juan’s encounters with women in Cantos I and II. Thus, despite presenting a multidimensional perspective of women and a possible alternative societal model, Byron ultimately prioritises the preservation of conventional gender stereotypes, that uphold the patriarchal society, over the individual. Before looking into how Byron undermines his own exploration of societal liberation from
Interpretation of "Twilight" by Byron
Interpretation of Byron's Twilight by E. Yanduganova, 1085 ) Structure According to its structure, the poem is a sonnet. It may be formally divided into three quatrains and a distich, so that it resembles a Shakespearean sonnet. However, Renaissance sonnets were traditionally written in 5 feet iamb, while the Twilight is written in tetrameter. If Byron did draw from that tradition, he must have taken into consideration the sonnet 145, which is the only one to have a 4 feet meter. Those lips that Love's own hand did make, Breathed forth the sound that said 'I hate', To me that languished for her sake: But when she saw my woeful state, Straight in her heart did mercy come, Chiding that tongue that ever sweet Was used in giving gentle doom; And taught it thus anew to greet; 'I hate' she altered with an end, That followed it as gentle day, Doth follow night, who like a fiend From heaven to hell is flown away. 'I hate', from hate away she threw, And saved my life, saying 'not you'. Not taking into account the debates about this sonnet, we state that it has to do with lovers' vows, which have an unstable nature. It also makes use of the images of day and night, where day is seen as bliss for the lover, and night as a time of misery, a popular Renaissance custom. However, the Twilight's structure is more complicated than that. Indeed, the first quatrain is easily
Describe three poems by John Donne the theme of love
Assignment 2 In this assignment I will be talking about the way John Donne uses the theme of love in three of his poem, The Good Morrow, Break of Day and The Canonization, and how the theme of love develops throughout the poems. The Good Morrow I wonder by my troth, what thou, and I Did, till we lov'd? Were we not wean'd till then? But suck'd on countrey pleasures, childishly? Or snorted we in the seaven sleepers den? T'was so; But this, all pleasures fancies bee. If ever any beauty I did see, Which I desir'd, and got, 'twas but a dreame of thee. And now good morrow to our waking soules, Which watch not one another out of feare; For love, all love of other sights controules, And makes one little roome, an every where. Let sea-discoverers to new worlds have gone, Let Maps to other, worlds on worlds have showne, Let us possesse one world; each hath one, and is one. My face in thine eye, thine in mine appeares, And true plaine hearts doe in the faces rest, Where can we finde two better hemispheares Without sharpe North, without declining West? What ever dyes, was not mixed equally; If our two loves be one, or, thou and I Love so alike, that none doe slacken, none can die. We can tell that the poet is writing about the past tense on the second line of the first paragraph, "Did, till we loved? were we not wean'd till then?" The reader gets the suggestion
Close Reading of Thomas Grey, "Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard"
A close reading of Thomas Gray's "Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard" Pastoral, taken from the Latin 'Pastor', meaning 'Shepherd', refers to literary work dealing with shepherds and the rustic, countryside lifestyle. The pastoral represents more of an idealized view rather than that of a realistic one. "If we would copy Nature, it may be useful to take this idea along with us, that pastoral is a version of what they call the Golden Age ... [The poet must] ... use some illusion to render a pastoral delightful; and this consists in exposing the best side only of a shepherd's life, and in concealing it's miseries." (Pope, 'A Discourse on Pastoral Poetry'. In Butt, John, ed. [1963] The Poems of Alexander Pope. London: Routledge) This extract taken from Pope's comments on the pastoral can be seen very vividly in his poem "Spring". In contrast to this, Stephen Duck's "The Thresher's Labour" attempts to show the actual working class lifestyle of the time. There are many topics associated with the pastoral poem, including love and seduction, shown in Christopher Marlowe's "The Passionate Shepherd To His Love" and death and mourning. The elegy is an important group of the pastoral theme, and conventional features include the expression of grief, the praise of the dead, and the effects of death upon nature. Thomas Gray's poem "Elegy Written In A Country Churchyard" portrays
Romantic Poetry Anthology
Nurses Song - Blake The Evening Star - Blake The Garden Of Love - Blake Frost At Midnight - Coleridge The Rime Of The Ancient Mariner - Coleridge This Lime Tree Bower My Prison - Coleridge Ode On A Grecian Urn - Keats Ode To A Nightingale - Keats To Autumn - Keats The World Is Too Much With Us - Wordsworth Tintern Abbey - Wordsworth She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways - Wordsworth Romanticism is not about love or romance, it is a system of attributes relating to poetic and artistic practice from the late 18th century to the 1830's. In fact the romantic era cannot be pin pointed to a particular century. Instead it is said that Romanticism started around 1789, when the French Revolution had begun, and ended when Queen Victoria took to the throne in 1836. Romanticism was a reaction against poetry of the previous period. 18th Century poetry was, amongst other things, harmonious, graceful and balanced. Romantic poetry was a revolution and an innovation. Wordsworth stated that it was the 'real language of men'. There are six key figures on Romanticism; the first generation consisted of William Blake, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. The second generation, Lord Byron, Percy Shelley and John Keats. As there would be in many different eras and periods, there are certain characteristics of Romantic Poetry, although not all of them would be found in a single