Year 13 Romantic Poetry Overview and Key Concepts

Reign of Terror

Violent period during French Revolution shocking early Romantic poets.

Romanticism

Literary, art, and music movement challenging establishment, emphasizing liberty, individualism, and authentic feelings.

Neo-Classicism

18th-century focus on logic and reason, contrasted by Romantics for its conservatism.

Age of Enlightenment

17th-18th-century intellectual movement celebrating reason, rationalism, and human improvement.

Radicalism

Advocacy for complete political or social reform, as seen in Blake's critique of societal issues.

Revolution

Violent rebellion in Romantic era, influencing poets' views on political change.

Imagination

Romantic belief in prophetic imagination's power to transcend troubles and regenerate mankind.

Carpe Diem

Romantic celebration of seizing the day, acting on desires despite societal norms.

Innocence

Romantic belief in children's uncorrupted nature, essential for world regeneration.

William Blake

Poet criticizing exploitation of poor and corruption of church, embodying Romantic ideals.

Wordsworth

Poet criticizing man's neglect of nature, exploring sublime power of nature.

Shelley

Poet advocating political change through extended metaphors, exploring imagination's role.

Byron

Poet exploring 'carpe diem' concept in poems, urging seizing the day.

Edmund Burke

Philosopher defining sublime as awe-inspiring, humbling, and evoking fear.

Isaac Newton

Scientist symbolizing reductive scientific approach in Blake's critique.

French Revolution

Influential event impacting Romantic poets' views on revolution and political change.

The Sublime

Romantic awe-inspiring nature, humbling humans by its vastness and power.

First Generation Romantics

Poets supporting French Revolution for political change.

Second Generation Romantics

Poets disillusioned by French Revolution's violent outcomes.

Tintern Abbey

Wordsworth's poem exploring nature's sublimity and restorative power.

Ode to the West Wind

Shelley's poem advocating political change through extended metaphor.

Ode to a Nightingale

Keats' poem celebrating imagination's restorative power.

Holy Thursday

Blake's poems contrasting innocence and experience, highlighting societal issues.

Enjambment

when a line of poetry continues onto the next line without a punctuation mark

Caesura

a pause within a line of poetry

End-stopping

a line of poetry which ends with a punctuation mark

Apostrophe

a poem which directly addresses a person, animal or object

Lyric

a formal type of poetry expressing personal emotions or feelings, typically in the first person

Ode

a lyric poem, typically addressed to a person, object, or animal

Dramatic monologue

a poem in the form of a speech or narrative from the perspective of one person

Ballad

a type of poem that tells a story and is typically set to music

Sonnet

a fourteen line poem, usually written in iambic pentameter

Villanelle

a pastoral or lyric poem of nineteen lines

Feet

repeated metrical feet over the course of a line of poetry to create poetic meter

Dimeter

a line with two feet

Trimeter

a line with three feet

Tetrameter

a line with four feet

Pentameter

a line with five feet

Trochee

a foot made up of two syllables pronounced DUH-duh

Iamb

a foot made up of two syllables pronounced duh-DUH

Spondee

a foot made up of two syllables pronounced DUH-DUH

Dactyl

a foot made up of three syllables pronounced DUH-duh-duh

Anapest

a foot made up of three syllables pronounced duh-duh-DUH

Regular

a consistent meter

Irregular

an inconsistent meter

Rhyming couplets

two consecutive lines that rhyme (AA, BB, CC)

Alternating rhyme scheme

the first and third, and the second and fourth lines rhyme (ABAB, CDCD)

Free verse

no rhyme scheme

Blank verse

unrhymed iambic pentameter

Terza rima

a chain rhyme in which the second line of each stanza rhymes with the first and last line of the subsequent stanza, ending with a rhyming couplet (ABA BCB CDC DED EE)

Couplets

two line stanzas

Tercets

three line stanzas

Quatrains

four line stanzas

Quintrains

five line stanzas

Sestets

six line stanzas

Septets

seven line stanzas

Octaves

eight line stanzas