Romantic Period

STEP ONE: THE ROMANTIC PERIOD
1. The Romantic Period started with the French Revolution in 1789. The French Revolution was a major political and social change in the political history of Europe and France. This Revolution started with the storming of the prison called Bastille on July 14,1789. The Revolution also led to the overthrow of a king, by a democratic agitator. So this was the period in which everyone wanted to revolt from their kings and live life better, the way they wanted to, but this led to the beheading of them by king Louis XVI with a guillotine.
* Another historical event that occurred during this period was the Industrial Revolution. This period brought change to the English life, for instance people use to make everything by hand, during that time, they looked for machines in factories to do it for them. Now that seems the easy route to go, but some people felt differently about this new way of life. those people were small farmers and those that were kind of the smallest class. Small farmers were being forced to give their lands up, meaning some had no whee else to go, so they were left to homeless, while others just joined the factory jobs. Then there was a policy that was passed known as the Laissez Faire. This stated that economic laws should be allowed to operate freely without government interference. This means they were able to do anything they wanted without the government getting involve.
2. In my opinion I think people were probably happy and at the same time sad about their new ways of life. During the French Revolution many people wanted to revolt from their king, but many thought monarchy rule was okay. I'd have to say that actually having a good leader to represent you would fit the profile of a society that wants to increase. Then in the Industrial Revolution the small class people were treated like snobs while others considered the best. I thought that was wrong, and now I see that judging people will never end even if you hope it will.
Also with the Industrial Revolution many people were able to try new things and live their life easier. I wonder why they didn't want that kind of change, but then again the small farmers needed their land and stock just to make a living.
3. Many poets wanted to express their fascination with youth and innocence, they wanted to express their idealistic views ,and some wanted to develop the awareness of adapting to change. Those are the three things that poets wanted to express in their work.
Fascinated with youth and innocence-This means their showing growth, by exploring and learning to trust their emotions and our sense of will and identity.They also want the readers to feel in tune with them also, by setting a tone. Many poets express this by changing up the many rhyme schemes in their poems.
Questioning authority and tradition for idealistic purposes-People begin to question tradition and authority in order to imagine better. This refers to happiness, equal, and healthier ways to live. Also people tend to embrace their works and put life in their works by engaging their situation with their personal situations out of life, hoping to feel better about their problems.
Developing an awareness of adapting to change-People acquired a stronger and even stronger awareness of change and that they try to find ways to adapt to it. The poets can feel and see what they've improved on and it just makes them want to find better ways to live with it. Then there are some that tend to never find themselves, and those are the ones that need inspiration from other poets amongst them.
STEP TWO: ROMANTIC POETRY:
William Blake
He wrote ,a poem that was called " The Clod and The Pebble." This poem is talking about the many desires and the many choices of love. William Blake shows his capacity for love by letting every one of his readers know that love is blind. He shows the youth of innocence in this poem by saying, " Love seekth out only to please." I thought this was something that showed how and what love can do to make its point understanding.
Also in this poem William is expressing the idealistic view of poetry in his poem. For example he says, "Nor for itself hath any care; But for another gives its ease." This means he's keeping the readers in suspense, he wants them to think about what his next line is going to mean. Also he kind of figures that people know where he's coming from and that his words tend delight everyone in many ways. William Blake is a good writer who expresses the view of the Romantic period very well and he's a person who feels relief in his work. For example in this poem he states its delighted to be bind of another.
William Wordsworth
This poet wrote many poems that were very romantic, the one that stood out to me was, " My Heart Leaps Up." I thought this poem showed great gratitude for this period. The reason why I say this is because in the beginning of the poem he talks about his life and he compares it to a rainbow, he says " A rainbow in the sky:So was it when my life began." This is showing that William Wordsworth is expressing his poem through his emotions. William shows that his life and manhood is apart of everything that he does and he's not afraid to let anyone know it.
This leads me up to say that he has no need to question his works, because he knows and is aware of his capabilities. For example in the poem he say, " So is it now I am a man; So be it when I shall grow old." Basically William is adapting to his life and the fact that he'll always live it to the fullest without doubt but with awareness. he fits the Romantic period because he is in tune with his work and doesn't care if anyone knows. He knows that one day it'll happen and when it does, it want matter because he already did what he had to do.
George Gordon, Lord Byron
He wrote a poem called " To Romance, I thought this poem for sure would show his point of view on romance and whether or not he use the same expressions as most poets about the romance. In this poem Gordon is not fascinated with his youth anymore. For instance in the poem he says, "I break the fetters of my youth," This is speaking for itself, Gordon no longer wants to trust his work anymore or his life and even the people within his life. Then again he confesses that its hard to quit something that's been apart of you for a while. For example he says, "And yet 'tis hard to quit the dreams, Which haunt the inauspicious soul."
Gordon also undergoes the expression of developing an awareness for adapting to change. He does seem like he is aware of everything that has happened and wants a change to occur one way or the other. For example he says, " With shame, I own, I've felt thy sway; Repentant, now thy reign is o'er; No more thy precepts I obey,No more on fancied pinions soar." This means he is aware of the change and knew it was bound to come eventually. When comes to questioning the authorities and the idealistic purposes, Gordon tends to do this by saying what friends and women can do that will make you wonder why and how life could be this way then? For example in the poem he says, " Confess that woman's false as fair,and friends have feeling for---themselves?" He also says, " And must we own thee, but a name, And from thy hall of clouds descend? This shows that he question why people only thinks of themselves and why women are all false/ fake. So yeah I'll say this poet shows the views of romantic poetry, but in a hateful way.
Percy Bysshe Shelley
He wrote a poem called "A widow bird sate mourning for her Love." This poem talks about a person looking from their window and seeing the trees, stream, forest and everything frozen. Shelley expresses this poem very well by showing his youth of innocence in it. For example int he poem he says," There was no leaf upon the forest bare. No flower upon the ground." There he shows that he is exploring the outside and has seen what the forest has bee through. He shows his emotions by showing that he sees what is going on and what kind of change has occurred.
Shelley expresses the expression questioning by putting true life within his work. Meaning the trees and the snow made all so alive. For example he says, " The frozen wind crept on above,
The freezing stream below." Then he shows the adaptation to change by showing he understands why its a widow bird state mourning for her love? He sees and knows that every things going to be exactly what its suppose to be. So overall I think this author was a good author of the Romantic Period.
John Keats
He wrote a poem called " Bright Star! Would I were stead fest as thou art." This poem is talking about the Nature of life and how everyone just lives, but not for that one supposedly star. Keats shows innocence in the poem by showing that he has growth and explored his works, before he put it on paper. For example he says, " Like Nature’s patient sleepless Eremite, The moving waters at their priestlike task ." This is saying that he has grown to enjoy and be respectful with nature all at once.
When it comes to questioning the authority an the tradition, Keats seems to put his own feelings in to works. For example he says, " Pillow’d upon my fair love’s ripening breast, To feel for ever its soft fall and swell." This means he's able to see that his own life undergoes some of the same things. Then he portrays the awareness of change by saying that he's awake forever and he want miss anything that come his way. Then he says, "Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath," here he's saying that everything seems the same, Keats was aware of his writing throughout and did not show any remorse within the poem, and he does kind of show a Romantic Period poet.