ROMANTICISM

18th to 19th centauriesRich in style, theme, content ( natural world, idealism, physical and emotional passions)Individualism was emphasizedUsed nature as a source of inspiration

William Wordsworth

1770-1850

Belongs to the1st generation of romantic poets

Major themes: The power of human mind, childhood, nature

Main interest was the poet’s response to a natural object

Memory plays a fundamental role in the creative process of poetry

Percy Shelly

1792-1822

Highly imaginativeAtheistSought to liberate mankind from the shackles of political, religious, and intellectual slaveryFollower of WordsworthPreserver as well as a destroyer of nature

THESIS STATEMENT

“Both Wordsworth and Percy Shelly speak about the positive power of nature, mind’s power, imagination equally, but Shelly as a prophet and an idealist in contrast with Wordsworth, deals atheism and natureS destructiveness in his poems.”

“To a Skylark”

“Hail to thee, blithe spirit!

Bird thou never wert-”

Power of human mind

Imaginative power

Percy Bysshe Shelley William Wordsworth

“Daffodils”

“When all at once I saw a crowd,A host, of golden daffodils;”

“They flash upon that inward eyeWhich is the bliss of solitude;

“Mont Blanc”

“The works and ways of man, their death and birth,”

All things that move and breathe with toil and sound, Are born and die

“Ozymandias”

“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone

Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,

Half sunk, a shattered visage lies”

Mortality

Death and decay

Death

Percy Bysshe Shelley William Wordsworth

“She Dwelt Among The Untrodden Ways”

“When Lucy ceased to be;But she is in her grave, and, oh,”

Nature

Inspired by nature*In nature all the romantic poets found their initial inspiration.

(C.M.Bowra,1950)

Wordsworth:-

“The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul of my moral being.”

(Tintern Abbey)

Shelly:-

“As summer winds that creep from flower to flower Like moon beams that behind some tiny mountain shower.”

(Hymn to Intellectual beauty)

Shelly:-

Portrays positive and destructive powers of nature

“Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;destroyer and preserver;hear,O hear”

(ode to a west wind)

Wordsworth:-

Nature is a healer.

“while here I stand ,not only with the sense of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts

That in this moment there is life and food For future years.

(Tintern Abbey)

Advances the spiritual values of humans.“Little we see in nature, that is

ours; we have given our hearts away…”(The world is too much with us)

Critiques of social structure and the political power

Shelly:-

Criticizes the insensitive political leaders.“Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know,”

(England in 1819)

Attacks the authoritative powers of kings.“whose frown , And wrinkled lip, and sheer of cold command,……..”(Ozymandias)

Wordsworth:-

Portrays the flaws of the political system in England.“she is a fen of stagnant waters:altar,sword,and pen.”

(London 1802)

ShellyAtheistENGLAND 1819

Religion Christless, Godless, a book sealed,--A Senate—Time's worst statute unrepealed,--

Visionary idealismENGLAND 1819

…….Are graves from which a glorious Phantom mayBurst to illumine our tempestuous day

WordsworthTheistTHE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US

--Great God! I'd rather beA Pagan ……Have sight of Proteus rising from the sea;Or hear old Triton blow his wreathèd horn.Based on realismLONDON 1802

MILTON! thou shouldst be living at this hour: O raise us up, return to us again,And give us manners, virtue, freedom, power!

• Optimism and prophetic nature

ENGLAND 1819

…….Are graves from which a glorious Phantom mayBurst to illumine our tempestuous day

ODE TO WEST WIND

The trumpet of prophesy!O wind,

Tf winter comes can Spring be far behind?

Pessimistic

THE SOLITARY REAPER

Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain,That has been, and may be again?

Whate'er the theme, the maiden sang ,As if her song could have no ending;THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US

The world is too much with us; late or soon

Getting and spending,we lay waste our power

References

Hill ,Spencer,Joy,BowraBradly.(1963)owferd lectures on poetry.newyork.macmillan & co ltd.//ridenour,g.m.(1965).shelly.new jersey.prentice-hall,inc