Overview
Encompassing a broad range of subjects, styles, and moods, English poetry of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries is generally classified under the term "Romantic," suggesting an emphasis on imagination and individual experience, as well as a preoccupation with such theme as nature, death, and the supernatural.
This volume contains a rich selection of poems by England's six greatest poets: William Blake (24 poems, including "The Tyger" and "Auguries of Innocence"), William Wordsworth (27 poems, including "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" and "I wandered lonely as a cloud"), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (10 poems, including "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" and "Kubla Khan"), Lord Byron (16 poems, including "The Prisoner of Chillon" and selections from Don Juan and Childe Harold's Pilgrimage), Percy Bysshe Shelley (24 poems, including "Ode to the West Wind" and "Adonis"), John Keats (22 poems, including all the great odes, "Isabella," and "The Eve of St. Agnes").
For this edition, Stanley Appelbaum has provided a concise Introduction to the Romantic period and brief commentaries on the poets represented. The result is a carefully selected anthology that will be welcomed by lovers of poetry, students, and teachers alike.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780486112602 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Dover Publications |
| Publication date: | 02/03/2012 |
| Series: | Dover Thrift Editions: Poetry |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 256 |
| Sales rank: | 631,944 |
| File size: | 2 MB |
| Age Range: | 14 - 18 Years |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
English Romantic Poetry
An Anthology
By STANLEY APPELBAUM
Dover Publications, Inc.
Copyright © 1996 Dover Publications, Inc.All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-486-11260-2
CHAPTER 1
WILLIAM BLAKE (1757—1827)
"Songs of Innocence": Introduction
Piping down the valleys wild,
Piping songs of pleasant glee,
On a cloud I saw a child,
And he laughing said to me:
"Pipe a song about a Lamb!"
So I piped with merry chear.
"Piper, pipe that song again;"
So I piped, he wept to hear.
"Drop thy pipe, thy happy pipe;
Sing thy songs of happy chear:"
So I sung the same again,
While he wept with joy to hear.
"Piper, sit thee down and write
In a book, that all may read."
So he vanish'd from my sight,
And I pluck'd a hollow reed,
And I made a rural pen,
And I stain'd the water clear,
And I wrote my happy songs
Every child may joy to hear.
Holy Thursday
'Twas on a Holy Thursday, their innocent faces clean,
The children walking two & two, in red & blue & green,
Grey-headed beadles walk'd before, with wands as white as snow,
Till into the high dome of Paul's they like Thames'waters flow.
O what a multitude they seem'd, these flowers of London town!
Seated in companies they sit with radiance all their own.
The hum of multitudes was there, but multitudes of lambs,
Thousands of little boys & girls raising their innocent hands.
Now like a mighty wind they raise to heaven the voice of song,
Or like harmonious thunderings the seats of heaven among.
Beneath them sit the aged men, wise guardians of the poor;
Then cherish pity, lest you drive an angel from your door.
Nurse's Song
When the voices of children are heard on the green,
And laughing is heard on the hill,
My heart is at rest within my breast,
And everything else is still.
"Then come home, my children, the sun is gone down,
And the dews of night arise;
Come, come, leave off play, and let us away
Till the morning appears in the skies."
"No, no, let us play, for it is yet day,
And we cannot go to sleep;
Besides, in the sky the little birds fly, And the hills are all cover'd with sheep."
"Well, well, go & play till the light fades away,
And then go home to bed."
The little ones leaped & shouted & laugh'd
And all the hills ecchoed.
The Little Black Boy
My mother bore me in the southern wild,
And I am black, but O! my soul is white;
White as an angel is the English child,
But I am black as if bereav'd of light.
My mother taught me underneath a tree,
And, sitting down before the heat of day,
She took me on her lap and kissed me,
And pointing to the east began to say:
"Look on the rising sun: there God does live,
And gives his light, and gives his heat away;
And flowers and trees and beasts and men recieve
Comfort in morning, joy in the noonday.
"And we are put on earth a little space,
That we may learn to bear the beams of love;
And these black bodies and this sunburnt face
Is but a cloud, and like a shady grove.
"For when our souls have learn'd the heat to bear,
The cloud will vanish; we shall hear his voice,
Saying: 'Come out from the grove, my love & care,
And round my golden tent like lambs rejoice.'"
Thus did my mother say, and kissed me;
And thus I say to little English boy.
When I from black and he from white cloud free,
And round the tent of God like lambs we joy,
I'll shade him from the heat, till he can bear
To lean in joy upon our father's knee;
And then I'll stand and stroke his silver hair,
And be like him, and he will then love me.
The Lamb
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee? Gave thee life & bid thee feed,
By the stream & o'er the mead;
Gave thee clothing of delight,
Softest clothing, wooly, bright;
Gave thee such a tender voice,
Making all the vales rejoice?
Little Lamb, who made thee?
Dost thou know who made thee?
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee,
Little Lamb, I'll tell thee:
He is called by thy name,
For he calls himself a Lamb.
He is meek & he is mild;
He became a little child.
I a child & thou a lamb.
We are called by his name.
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
Little Lamb, God bless thee!
"Songs of Experience": Introduction
Hear the voice of the Bard!
Who Present, Past, & Future, sees;
Whose ears have heard
The Holy Word
That walk'd among the ancient trees,
Calling the lapsed Soul,
And weeping in the evening dew;
That might controll
The starry pole,
And fallen, fallen light renew!
"O Earth, O Earth, return!
"Arise from out the dewy grass;
"Night is worn,
"And the morn
"Rises from the slumberous mass.
"Turn away no more;
"Why wilt thou turn away?
"The starry floor,
"The wat'ry shore,
"Is giv'n thee till the break of day."
Earth's Answer
Earth rais'd up her head
From the darkness dread & drear.
Her light fled,
Stony dread!
And her locks cover'd with grey despair.
"Prison'd on wat'ry shore,
"Starry Jealousy does keep my den:
"Cold and hoar,
"Weeping o'er,
"I hear the Father of the ancient men.
"Selfish father of men!
"Cruel, jealous, selfish fear!
"Can delight,
"Chain'd in night,
"The virgins of youth and morning bear?
"Does spring hide its joy
"When buds and blossoms grow?
"Does the sower
"Sow by night,
"Or the plowman in darkness plow?
"Break this heavy chain
"That does freeze my bones around.
"Selfish! vain!
"Eternal bane!
"That free Love with bondage bound."
The Clod and the Pebble
"Love seeketh not Itself to please,
"Nor for itself hath any care,
"But for another gives its ease,
"And builds a Heaven in Hell's despair."
So sang a little Clod of Clay
Trodden with the cattle's feet,
But a Pebble of the brook
Warbled out these metres meet:
"Love seeketh only Self to please,
"To bind another to Its delight,
"Joys in another's loss of ease,
"And builds a Hell in Heaven's despite."
The Chimney Sweeper
A little black thing among the snow,
Crying 'weep! 'weep!' in notes of woe!
"Where are thy father & mother? say?"
"They are both gone up to the church to pray.
"Because I was happy upon the heath,
"And smil'd among the winter's snow,
"They clothed me in the clothes of death,
"And taught me to sing the notes of woe.
"And because I am happy & dance & sing,
"They think they have done me no injury,
"And are gone to praise God & his Priest & King,
"Who make up a heaven of our misery."
The Sick Rose
O Rose, thou art sick!
The invisible worm
That flies in the night,
In the howling storm,
Has found out thy bed
Of crimson joy:
And his dark secret love
Does thy life destroy.
The Tyger
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
In what distant deeps or skies
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand dare sieze the fire?
And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat,
What dread hand? & what dread feet?
What the hammer? what the chain?
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?
When the stars threw down their spears,
And water'd heaven with their tears,
Did he smile his work to see?
Did he who made the Lamb make thee?
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?
Ah! Sun-Flower
Ah, Sun-flower, weary of time,
Who countest the steps of the Sun,
Seeking after that sweet golden clime
Where the traveller's journey is done:
Where the Youth pined away with desire,
And the pale Virgin shrouded in snow
Arise from their graves, and aspire
Where my Sun-flower wishes to go.
The Garden of Love
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A Chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.
And the gates of this Chapel were shut,
And "Thou shalt not" writ over the door;
So I turn'd to the Garden of Love
That so many sweet flowers bore;
And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tomb-stones where flowers should be;
And Priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briars my joys & desires.
London
I wander thro' each charter'd street,
Near where the charter'd Thames does flow,
And mark in every face I meet
Marks of weakness, marks of woe.
In every cry of every Man,
In every Infant's cry of fear,
In every voice, in every ban,
The mind-forg'd manacles I hear.
How the Chimney-sweeper's cry
Every black'ning Church appalls;
And the hapless Soldier's sigh
Runs in blood down Palace walls.
But most thro' midnight streets I hear
How the youthful Harlot's curse
Blasts the new born Infant's tear,
And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse.
A Poison Tree
I was angry with my friend:
I told my wrath, my wrath did end.
I was angry with my foe:
I told it not, my wrath did grow.
And I water'd it in fears,
Night & morning with my tears;
And I sunned it with smiles,
And with soft deceitful wiles.
And it grew both day and night,
Till it bore an apple bright;
And my foe beheld it shine,
And he knew that it was mine,
And into my garden stole
When the night had veil'd the pole:
In the morning glad I see
My foe outstretch'd beneath the tree.
Song
How sweet I roam'd from field to field,
And tasted all the summer's pride,
'Till I the prince of love beheld,
Who in the sunny beams did glide!
He shew'd me lilies for my hair,
And blushing roses for my brow;
He led me through his gardens fair,
Where all his golden pleasures grow.
With sweet May dews my wings were wet,
And Phoebus fir'd my vocal rage;
He caught me in his silken net,
And shut me in his golden cage.
He loves to sit and hear me sing,
Then, laughing, sports and plays with me;
Then stretches out my golden wing,
And mocks my loss of liberty.
"I saw a chapel all of gold"
I saw a chapel all of gold
That none did dare to enter in
And many weeping stood without
Weeping mourning worshipping
I saw a serpent rise between
The white pillars of the door
And he forcd & forcd & forcd
Down the golden hinges tore
And along the pavement sweet
Set with pearls & rubies bright
All his slimy length he drew
Till upon the altar white
Vomiting his poison out
On the bread & on the wine
So I turnd into a sty
And laid me down among the swine
"Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau"
Mock on Mock on Voltaire Rousseau
Mock on Mock on! tis all in vain!
You throw the sand against the wind
And the wind blows it back again
And every sand becomes a Gem
Reflected in the beams divine
Blown back they blind the mocking Eye
But still in Israels paths they shine
The Atoms of Democritus
And Newtons Particles of light
Are sands upon the Red sea shore
Where Israels tents do shine so bright
The Smile
There is a Smile of Love
And there is a Smile of Deceit
And there is a Smile of Smiles
In which these two Smiles meet
And there is a Frown of Hate
And there is a Frown of Disdain
And there is a Frown of Frowns
Which you strive to forget in vain
For it sticks in the Hearts deep Core
And it sticks in the deep Back bone
And no Smile that ever was smild
But only one Smile alone
That betwixt the Cradle & Grave
It only once Smild can be
But when it once is Smild
Theres an end to all Misery
(Continues...)
Excerpted from English Romantic Poetry by STANLEY APPELBAUM. Copyright © 1996 Dover Publications, Inc.. Excerpted by permission of Dover Publications, Inc..
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.
Table of Contents
William BlakeFrom Songs of Innocence
Introduction
Holy Thursday
Nurse's Song
The Little Black Boy
The Lamb
From Songs of Experience
Introduction
Earth's Answer
The Clod and the Pebble
The Chimney Sweeper
The Sick Rose
The Tyger
Ah! Sun-Flower
The Garden of Love
London
A Poison Tree
From Poetical Sketches
"Song: "How sweet I roam'd from field to field"
From Songs and Ballads
"I saw a chapel all of gold"
"Mock on, mock on, Voltaire, Rousseau"
The Smile
Auguries of Innocence
The Book of Thel
From The Marriage of Heaven and Hell
Proverbs of Hell
From America a Prophecy
Preludium
From Milton
"And did those feet in ancient time"
William Wordsworth
We Are Seven
Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey
Nutting
"Strange fits of passion have I known"
"She dwelt among the untrodden ways"
"I travelled among unknown men"
"A slumber did my spirit seal"
Lucy Gray
"My heart leaps up when I behold"
Resolution and Independence
"Composed upon Westminister Bridge, Sept. 3 1802"
On the Extinction of the Venetian Republic
To Toussaint L'Ouverture
"In London, September 1802"
"London, 1802"
The Solitary Reaper
"She was a Phantom of delight" "
"I wandered lonely as a cloud"
Ode to Duty
From The Prelude (1799-1805)
"From Book I: "Dust as we are, the immortal spirit grows"
"From Book XI: " O pleasant exercise of hope and joy!"
Character of the Happy Warrior
"The world is too much with us; late and soon"
Ode: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood
Mutability
"Scorn not the sonnet"
Extempore Effusion upon the Death of James Hogg
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison
The Dungeon
"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (1797-98, revised later; marginal glosses added 1815-16)"
On a Ruined House in a Romantic Country
Christabel
Part I
Part II
"The Conclusion to Part II"
Frost at Midnight
France: An Ode
Kubla Khan
Dejection: An Ode
The Pains of Sleep
"George Gordon, Lord Byron"
"When we two parted"
The Girls of Cadiz
From Hebrew Melodies
"She walks in beauty"
The Destruction of Sennacherib
"Stanzas for Music: "There be none of Beauty's daughters"
The Prisoner of Chillon
Darkness
Stanzas to Augusta
"So we'll go no more a roving"
From Childe Harold's Pilgrimage
"Adieu, adieu! my native shore" (I, between xiii and xiv)"
"III, xxi-xxviii [Waterloo]"
"IV, clxxvii-clxxiv [Ocean]"
From don Juan
"I, cc-ccii"
"The isles of Greece" (III, between lxxxvi and lxxxvii)"
"Xl, lvii-lx"
On This Day I Complete My Thirty-sixth Year
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Hymn to Intellectual Beauty
Ozymandias
"Stanzas Written in Dejection, Near Naples"
"Sonnet: "Lift not the painted veil . . ."
Song to the Men of England
Sonnet: England in 1819
Ode to the West Wind
The Indian Serenade
Love's Philosophy
The Cloud
To a Skylark
Arethusa
The Waning Moon
To the Moon
To Night
"To --: "Music, when soft voices die"
"Song: "Rarely, rarely, comest thou"
Adonais: An Elegy on the Death of John Keats
Hellas: A Lyrical Drama [Excerpt: Final Chorus]
"Lines: "When the lamp is shattered"
To Jane: The Invitation
To Jane: The Recollection
"With a Guitar, to Jane"
A Dirge
John Keats
From Poems
"Sonnet: "To one who has been long in city pent"
Sonnet: On first looking into Chapman's Homer
"Sonnet: "Happy is England! . . ."
"From Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems"
"Isabella; or, the Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio"
The Eve of St. Agnes
Ode to a Nightingale
Ode on a Grecian Urn
Ode to Psyche
Lines on the Mermaid Tavern
To Autumn
Ode on Melancholy
"From Life, Letters and Literary Remains of John Keats"
La Belle Dame sans Merci: A Ballad
Ode on Indolence
Sonnet: On the Sea
"Sonnet: "When I have fears ..."
Sonnet: To Homer
Sonnet: To Sleep
"Sonnet: "Why did I laugh to-night? ..."
"Sonnet: "Bright star, ..."
Sonnet: On Seeing the Elgin Marbles
To J. H. Reynolds Esq.
From Other Posthumous and Fugitive Pieces
Sonnet: To Mrs. Reynold's Cat
Alphabetical List of Titles and First Lines