EN227 EJM / 2014 Romanticism: revision lecture Overview •
Romantic themes •
Poetic form •
The exam Themes The poet: Nature: Gender Sublime: Imagination: Memory: Emotion: the Romantic poet expresses a new model of selfhood, autonomous, subjective and grounded in feeling; s/he is self-­‐inventing, individual and ‘discovers’ his/her own identity rather than assuming the identity s/he is born into Romantic women poets cannot be lumped together as one unit; however, poets like Smith, Hemans, Landon and Barbauld did ‘experiment’ with traditional forms (the sonnet, the elegy); and some critics argue that they feminise or domesticate ‘male’ subjects (like the sublime, the imagination) and masculinize ‘feminine’ subjects (as Barbauld does in ‘Washing Day’ where she relates the ‘Muses’ to laundry) a feeling of awe and terror which temporarily paralyzes the mind; as the feeling recedes, the individual is left with a newly invigorated sense of self and being; it works differently for male and female poets a productive not reproductive faculty able to produce knowledge more profound than that available to reason; poetry acts as an index to the imagination as it best records the imagination’s workings the process of reflection nature allows leads to a valuing of memory, a creative (not nostalgic) faculty sensitive to a past that can modify and even reverse a present state of mind the Romantic poets engage with society and culture by imagining, and so feeling, the suffering of others; the pressure of this can sometimes lead to negative and pathological feelings, as well as joyful and redemptive feeling Religion: Childhood: nature is not so much a topic for the Romantics, but rather a way they experience the world; its tranquillity allows for reflection on the past, not to idealize it, but to enable understanding of the present Romanticism is sometimes referred to as a ‘secular religion,’ but is also described as ‘prophetic’ and ‘apocalyptic’; Romanticism also translates orthodox religious ideas, especially Christian ones, into ‘spirituality’ or feeling a site of memory, innocence, nature and individuality; and a state of emotional vulnerability; children are also closer to God for the Romantics and so and free from the burdens of adulthood EN227 Form Lyric: Lyrical ballad: Ode: Sonnet: Elegy: Revising What to revise: subjective, personal reflection (the opposite of ‘epic’) combination of the subjective lyric and communal song/story Romantics mainly use/revise the Horatian ode, not the Pindaric Shakespearean or Petrarchan, or a spin on one of these poem of mourning through a reflection on death Revise about 2-­‐3 Romantic themes in relation to 2-­‐3 Romantic poets and 2-­‐3 Victorian themes in relation to 2-­‐3 Victorian poets; some themes are applicable to both ‘Romantics’ and ‘Victorians’ but will signify differently according to the poets used to think about them How to revise: Quotations: The exam: EJM / 2014 Download past exam papers from the ‘Past Exam Papers Archive’ and write practice answers. You may need to do a bit more research for this. Remember that the exam changed in 2013 and is only 2 hours (not 3); it has two sections: section A asks you to write a close reading of ONE pair of poems from a choice of two pairs; section B asks you to answer ONE question from a list of eight (there are questions on Romantic themes, Victorian themes, and some and/or questions) Learn a few that will work in different essays Your answers for both section A and B should be full essays with an introduction and argument; do not write summaries of different ways to answer the question. Be focused and clear. Your answers should look like Dog A, not Dog B. DOG A DOG B