Poetry of the
Romantic Period
Unlike the NOVELISTS of the
Romantic period, the poets of this
time wanted to prove to the world
that they were not unsophisticated
hicks. They attempted to do this by
mimicking the style of European
poetry. By doing this, they were not
contributing to a uniquely American
voice in poetry.
Fireside Poets
 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
 John Greenleaf Whittier
 Oliver Wendell Holmes
 James Russell Lowell
They were called Fireside Poets because
they were read in the evening by the
fireside, as family entertainment. They
were also called the Schoolroom Poets,
because most students memorized their
poems for school.
Even though the American poets
of the Romantic period imitated
their English colleagues, their
focus on American landscapes
and American social conditions
still represented a kind of literary
innovation. The American
Romantics established the
foundation for later poets such
as Walt Whitman and Emily
Dickinson.
Definitions
Traditional Poetry
  narrative
  regularly repeating rhyme
scheme (pattern)
  rhythm pattern
Narrative--the poem tells a story.
Rhyme scheme:
The pattern of rhyming words in
a poem. Rhyme scheme is
commonly indicated with letters
of the alphabet, each rhyming
sound represented by a different
letter of the alphabet.
Example:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers,
Life is but an empty dream!-For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
from “A Psalm of Life”
Example:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, A
Life is but an empty dream!-For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
from “A Psalm of Life”
Example:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, A
Life is but an empty dream!-For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
from “A Psalm of Life”
Example:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, A
Life is but an empty dream!-B
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
from “A Psalm of Life”
Example:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, A
Life is but an empty dream!-B
For the soul is dead that slumbers,
And things are not what they seem.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
from “A Psalm of Life”
Example:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, A
Life is but an empty dream!-B
For the soul is dead that slumbers, A
And things are not what they seem.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
from “A Psalm of Life”
Example:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, A
Life is but an empty dream!-B
For the soul is dead that slumbers, A
And things are not what they seem.
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
from “A Psalm of Life”
Example:
Tell me not, in mournful numbers, A
Life is but an empty dream!-B
For the soul is dead that slumbers, A
And things are not what they seem.B
--Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,
from “A Psalm of Life”
The rhyme scheme of Longfellow’s
poem “A Psalm of Life” is A, B, A, B.
Rhythm
The alternation of stressed and
unstressed syllables in language.
Meter--the regular pattern of
stressed and unstressed syllables
found in some poetry.
Example of Meter
Along the sea sands damp and brown
Example of Meter
˘
′
˘
′
˘
′
˘
′
Along the sea sands damp and brown
Example of Meter
(˘
′) ( ˘
′)
(˘
′)
(˘
′)
Along the sea sands damp and brown
( ˘ ′) = iamb
The number of iambs in a line of poetry
defines its meter. Above, there are
four iambs, so the meter of that line is
iambic “quadra”meter.
Blank Verse
Poetry written in unrhymed iambic
pentameter.
No regularly repeating rhyme scheme.
Can blank verse have rhyme?
Blank Verse
Poetry written in unrhymed iambic
pentameter.
No regularly repeating rhyme scheme.
Can blank verse have rhyme? YES-just not a pattern of rhyme
Free Verse
Poetry that does not conform to regular
meter or rhyme scheme.
No rhyme scheme; no rhythm pattern.
Poets who write in free verse try to
reproduce the natural rhythms of
spoken language.
Free Verse
The first practitioner of free verse was
Walt Whitman.
In more modern times, William Carlos
Williams, Carl Sandburg, and Allen
Ginsberg have been free verse poets.
William Cullen Bryant
•  Interested in deism--the belief that the
divine could be found in nature.
•  He was born in western
Massachusetts, which put him in the
middle of nature!
William Cullen Bryant
•  Not only a famous literary figure but
also an influential voice in religion and
politics.
•  An outspoken liberal, Bryant
supported social reform, free speech,
and the growing movement for the
abolition of slavery.
•  “Father of American poetry”
William Cullen Bryant
•  “Thanatopsis”--a meditation on death
•  Written in blank verse
•  Did not deal with the spiritual side of
death, but rather just the cold, hard
facts about what will happen when you
die.