The Romantic Age
The Romantic Period (1789-1850)The romanticism period was inspired by the beauty and power of nature. And was shaped by valuing feelings and the imagination. This era believed in creativity and imagination. Early romantics such as the poet and artist William Blake, valued imagination and feeling over intellect and reason. He believed that imagination not science held the secrets of the universe. Other contributed romanticists in this period were: William Wordsworth, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and poet John Keats. William Wordsworth sympathized with the French's early idealistic phase. John Keats poetry used vivid imagery, sensuous appeal. This era valued new cultural outlook in society. And had sympathy for the French Revolution. Some new romantics opposed the new industrialized Britain. Also the romantics idolized the essence of childhood and were intrigued by the supernatural. An example of one of these romantics is Frankenstein author Mary Shelly. Many romantics had a love for inspiration for the countryside. All in all, the romanticism period contributed numerous ideas, that sparked creativity and uniqueness during the period.
Video Source: Literature Launchers. ¨The Triumph of Romanticism.¨ DVD. Glencoe 2012.
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The Victorian Period (1850-1900)The Victorian Age brought revolutionary shifts, social thought as well as ushered in the Industrial Revolution. The British believed that they had a God given duty to civilize the world. Steamships revolutionized Victorian life. The use of steam power made it affordable for millions of people to travel. The Victorian novelist Charles Dickens wrote about describing train travels in Dombey and Son. Queen Victoria was considered the beloved mother of her people. Children were considered as social important's. A true desire to do good was centralized in the Victorian outlook. Alfred, Lord Tennyson was Queen Victoria's favorite contemporary writer and her poet lyric. He wrote In Memoriam A.H.H. The Victorian Age had to do with several ideals such as: British power, wealth, and self-confidence as well as moral goods. There was also hardships during this era, as described in Charles Dickens Hard Times. Children were often most vulnerable in the working class, Victorians had conflicted feelings towards children. There were realists writers who created fictionalize illustrations to portray society's life. Thomas Huxley felt that people were pawns in society. A new movement called Naturalism tried to present contemporary people and their problems. As accurately as possible. Charles Darwin's theory of evolution strongly influenced naturalism. British novelist and poet Thomas Hardy did not associate himself with naturalism. But still believed in it's pessimistic randomness. Overall, the Victorian Period had brought: engineering ideas, intellectual thinking, and how we as individuals perceive life, in terms of society.
Video Source: http://www.pathoslearning.com/videos/victorianintro.m4v
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Information Source: www.biography.com/people/john-keats
I. Analyzing a Poem through annotation
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II. Analytical Essay
An Analysis of Lord Byron’s “When We Two Parted”
Poems in English literature, particularly those from the Romantic Age, contain a variety of heavily-used rhetorical devices in order to convey the meaning intended by the author. In Lord Byron’s “When We Two Parted,” for instance, the reader finds a number of devices that aid in conveying the tone and, ultimately, the theme of this poem. Concepts such as despair, heartbreak, regret, loss, and loneliness pervade the poem in the poet’s attempt to convey the theme that having an illicit forbidden love affair with someone else, causes implications to a marriage. To begin to understand a poem, one must deal with the basics. These involve knowing general information about the speaker, occasion, audience, purpose, and subject. The speaker of “When We Two Parted” reveals himself (or herself) to be reminiscing about his love affair with a woman . The occasion is dew and the time is morning . The speaker’s audience is his lover. The purpose involves depicting emotion in a love affair. The mysterious woman (Lady Frances Wedderburn Webster) acts as the subject of the poem. To paraphrase the events of the poem, one might say that a man griefs over his lost love, because she had betrayed him. With another man. Amid being with him at the time. In terms of tone, the poem begins with a sad or neglect mood or atmosphere but ends up feelings and blame . Some diction that suggests this involves the speaker first using the words “sever,” “tears,” “shame, ”grief ” and “deceive,” but then later in the poem by employing words like “betrayed,” “silence,” “forget,” “warning,” and secret , the speaker reveals a more contempt tone by the end. This suggests that the man has contemplative issues that forces him to feel regret or loss of words, for the affair he had with the married woman. The speaker’s attitude also becomes apparent in the poem. The speaker’s tone first reveals a despondent attitude with the use of the word “broken-hearted,” but his/her attitude becomes betrayal with the use of diction like “broken” and “deceived.” The three most significant rhetorical devices that the poet uses to convey the theme in the poem involve the use of imagery, metaphor, and personification . The poet uses imagery to help the reader get a sense of the man’s sadness and feelings with words and phrases like “silence” and “a shudder comes o’er me .” S/he also uses metaphor as a way of insinuating that several people are talking about the woman behind his back , specifically with phrases like “they know not I knew thee ,” “who knew thee too well” and “and light is thy fame,” referring to .”I hear thy name spoken. Finally, the poet uses personification to give deeper meaning to the poem by describing his lover as sick yet cold in her state . Thus, the devices used by the author give the reader the idea that having an illicit love affair with a married woman, can bring despair, loss, as well as deceiving in your life. Essentially, this poem is about a man that has a love affair with a married woman that has moral consequences in itself. To create this meaning, the author uses numerous devices of rhetoric and the effects of tone to create an atmosphere that shifts from despondent to betrayal. As a result, we can see how the use of rhetorical devices and tone give meaning to poetry and other forms of literature. |
When We Two Parted by George Gordon Lord Byron When we two parted
In silence and tears, Half broken-hearted To sever for years, Pale grew thy cheek and cold, Colder thy kiss; Truly that hour foretold Sorrow to this. The dew of the morning Sunk chill on my brow– It felt like the warning Of what I feel now. Thy vows are all broken, And light is thy fame: I hear thy name spoken, And share in its shame. They name thee before me, A knell to mine ear; A shudder comes o’er me– Why wert thou so dear? They know not I knew thee, Who knew thee too well: – Long, long shall I rue thee, Too deeply to tell. In secret we met– In silence I grieve, That thy heart could forget, Thy spirit deceive. If I should meet thee After long years, How should I greet thee? With silence and tears. |
III. Final Project: The Original Poem tMy Poem ComposedMy Original Poem - My BelovedMy Beloved My beloved Was radiant like the sun, Her beauty pulsing out with pure grace Whenever she's around, Her feminine like qualities were of the utmost important to her We strolled in the eve, Hearing the sounds of nature in its wake, I heard my beloved sigh as if she were distress I tried to console her but she shunned me as if I were a hideous creature, O how my heart ceased to exist in that moment Grey clouds began to darken, Amid the misty morn His ominous presence surrounding me that morn, I sat there with my beloved Beatrice by her side Dreading the foretold hour Her pale cold face Worsened every day, I could hear her heartbeat thump thump thump While I sat there in the hospital Waiting for her to wake up, My whole insides were crumbling like a pile of rocks As I weeped that night Hoping and praying that my beloved survives another day with me, O'er the next few days my beloved Beatrice failed to overcome her disease The early morn sun illuminating through the room Radiating a bright golden hue As if a sign from God Telling me that everything will be alright J Cleary (2014)
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My Poem Analyzed |