poetry

Examples of Romantic era poetry include William Blake's //[|The Marriage of Heaven and Hell]//, William Wordsworth's [|"To the Daisy"], and John Keats's [|"Ode on Melancholy"]. Consider the following notes and questions for each of the poems.

As the focus for this Wiki is poetry, consider the following questions for each poem.

William Blake's "Proverbs of Hell" from //The Marriage of Heaven and Hell//, 1790
 * 1) This is a satirical piece, in which human or individual vices, follies, abuses, or shortcomings are held up to censure by means of ridicule, derision, burlesque, irony, or other methods, ideally with the intent to bring about improvement.
 * 2) An aphorism is a short saying embodying a general truth or astute observation, such as the many examples in Benjamin Franklin's [|Poor Richard's Almanac]. The aphorisms here are satirical.
 * 3) By clicking on the "Plate" links in poem, one can view many of the beautiful examples of engravings William Blake created for his productions.
 * 4) While they're meant to be satirical, there is still some inherent truth to these aphorisms. What could be the meaning of the following aphorisms?
 * "The road of excess leads to the palace of wisdom."
 * "The busy bee has no time for sorrow."
 * "A dead body, revenges not injuries."
 * "What is now proved was once, only imagined."
 * "Expect poison from the standing water."
 * "You never know what is more than enough until you know what is more than enough."

William Wordsworth's "To the Daisy," 1807


 * 1) The argument of form vs. function: form is **//very//** important to Romantics because a set structure that requires a certain number of lines per stanza and syllables per line with a rhyme scheme is ideal.
 * 2) There are eight lines in each stanza and the number of syllables in each stanza's lines goes something like this: 8, 8, 8, 7, 8, 8, 8, 7.
 * 3) One way to record the format for this poem can be done as such: 8A, 8A, 8A, 7B, 8C, 8C, 8C, 5B; 8D, 8D, 8D, 7B, 8E, 8E, 8E, 6B (B changes in many of the octaves).
 * 4) This piece is a good example of Romanticism because it upholds the idea of nature as being the most sublime ideal. He writes 80 lines about a flower!

John Keats's "Ode on Melancholy", 1817


 * 1) Recording the format for this poem would look something like this for the first two stanzas: 10A, 10B, 10A, 10B, 10C, 10C, 9/10D, 10C, 10C, 10D; 10E, 10F, 10E, 10F, 10G, 10H, 10/11I, 10H, 10G, 10I (notice the swapping of the G and the H in the last two triplets).
 * 2) This is a good example of Romanticism in that it upholds the ideal of something's nature, in this case depression, or "melancholy," in a sublime fashion. Romanticism doesn't have to be just about nature; it can be about the nature of anything.