  Poetry
This week: Romantics At Heart! Edited by: eyestar~*  
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 Hi everyone! I am excited to be back as a GUEST editor for this edition! February for some of us means time to celebrate St. Valentine, love, kindness and romance! It is always time to celebrate love in its many apsects and many poets have dreamed of Romance! So, my chosen theme is the Romanticism Trend and those beloved Romantic poets! May they inspire you with your notes to loved ones, or write to share your "truth" in the matters of Love.
 "Love in anterior to life, posterior to death, initial of creation and the exponent of breath." by Emily Dickinson.
Poetry is " the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings arising from emotions recollected in tranquility" William Wordsworth.
"A poet is a nightingale who sits in darkness and sings to cheer his solitude with sweet sounds." Percy Shelley
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A Bit of Background:
Romanticism refers to a movement or trend that began in the late 18th c. and its influence was felt across the world in creative realms: literary, art, music and intellectual arenas. It's peak was from 1800-1850 and many of its elements, values, beliefs may be seen today, and some say absorbed in much of poetry today.
It's beginnings might be traced back to interest in folklore and then as a definitive reaction to the order and logic of classical and neoclassic and Augustan poetry of the day. You know the poems styled after the ancients like the Roman Virgil. It embraced an individualism and favoured the more natural inspiration, physical and emotional passion and subjectivity in its expression. Elements like emotion, freedom, mysticism, imagination, nature worship, spontaneity and speaking in personal terms as opposed to the restraint of earlier styles. The new vibe wanted more freedom to speak and express from within and in a more accessible way.
Observe the the difference in language and style between Alexander Pope, a popular poet prior to the romantics and William Wordsworth who came after him.
Pope in his "Essay on Criticism"
"It's hard to say if greater want of Skill
Appear in Writing of in judging ill
But of the two, less dang'rous is th'Offence
To tire our Patience, than mis-lead our Sense."
and William Wordsworth in his "Anecdotes for Fathers":
"I have a boy of five years old.
His face ins fair and fresh to see.
His limbs are cast in beauty's mold
And dearly he loves me. "
I studied ancient texts like Virgil and ... so glad I have choice now of an easier way to express myself.  Choice is the key word. 
The Romantic Poets:
There were many "romantic writers" in both fiction and poetry. Romanticism was not all about hearts and flowers, yet today I would like to feature for your enjoyment and inspiration some snippets of their works which speak of....yep...love, romance in which they express passion and the ups and downs of love.
 See if you know or have heard or their works as we go! I had a lovely trip down memory lane.
 First, I so enjoy the deeply serious William Wordsworth (1770-1850), who, by his death was world reknowned and beloved with his 70,000 lines of verse.  His is known for simplicity in passionate and sensual style. He and Coleridge launched the Romantic movement in English literature with "Lyrical Ballads" in 1789, and in 1843 was awarded the Poet lauriette.
"She was a phantom of delight
When first she gleamed upon my sight;
A lovely apparition, sent
To be a moment's ornament,
Her eye as stars of twilight fair;
Like Twilight's too, her dusKy hair
But all things else about her drawn
From May-time and the cheery dawn,
A dancing step, an image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay."
I studied the rather mystical William Blake(1757-1827} in high school, the first such poet I recall with "Tyger tyger burning bright"! Ah, but I focus here on the love theme!
"Love seeketh not itself to please
Nor for itself hath any care,
But for another gives its ease
Abd builds a heaven in hell's despair."
from "The Clod and the Pebble"
I always remember a few lines from this popular verse by Lord Byron (1788-1824} a leader of the next phase of the movement. He was iconic!
"She walks in beauty like the night
of cloudless climbs and starry skies;
And all that's best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day demise."
from "She walks In Beauty"
His friend,Percy Shelley(1792-1822), the revolutionary, was not well received by the rich and monied of his day, achieved immortality in his poetry. "Ozymandias" was his most famous work, and here is one of my favourite of his love poems.
"Music, soft when voices die
vibrates in the memory
Odours when sweet violets sicken,
live within the sense they quicken.
Rose leaves when the rose is dead,
Are heap'd for the beloved's bed
and so thy thoughts when thou are gone
Love itself shall slumber on."
John Keats(1795-1821} a great friend of Shelley, was famous for many poems like "Ode to a Grecian Urn". Here is an excerpt for my theme, from a sonnet he wrote to his young fiancee Fanny!
"Bright star, would I were steadfast as thou art
Not in lone splendour hung a loft the night
And watching, with eternal lids apart
Like Nature's patient sleepless Eremite...
........
Still, still to hear her tender-taken breath
And so love ever..or else swoon to death."
The lovely Elizabeth Barrett Browning (1806-1861) wrote Sonnets of the Portuguese, written to her husband Robert Browning, with whom she had to elope! They are known as a most romantic couple. I was gifted her book by a poet I once loved! We had a great romance and wrote to each other in poetry!
"How do I love thee? Let me count the ways'
I love thee to the depth and breadth and height
My soul can reach when feeling out of sight
For the ends of Being and ideal Grace.
I love thee to the level of every day's
Most quiet need by sun and candlelight.
I love thee freely as men strive for Right
I love thee purely as they turn from praise.
I love thee with passion put to use
In my own griefs and with my childhood's faith.
I love thee with a love I seemed to lose
With my lost saints, I love thee with the breath,
smiles, tears of all my life, and, if God chose
I shall but love thee better after death." ~Sonnet 44
I enjoy Emily Dickinson (1830-1886) a later poet In America, and she often wrote on the discouragement of love, separation and loss.  Indeed, a real part of love's cycles.
"Not with a club the heart is broken, nor with a stone
a whip so small you could not see it, I've known.
To lash the magic creature till it fell
Yet that whip's name too noble, then to tell.
Magnanimous of bird, by boy desried
To sing unto the stone, of which it died."
Edgar Allen Poe {1809-1849} wrote the famous "Annabelle Lee" and is one that comes to mind. Yet I just found this Valentine and it suits the occasion as well. It has a code in it so have fun finding the name within. Keep reading for the clue is below.
"For her this rhyme is penned, whose luminous eyes
Brightly expressive as the twins of Leda
Shall find her own sweet name, that nesting lies
Upon the page, enwrapped from every reader
Search narrowly the lines, they hold a treasure
Divine-a talisman-an amulet
Than must be worn at heart. Search well the measure.
The words, the syllables! Do not forget
The trivialist point, or you may lose your labour
And yet there is in this no Gordion knot
Which one might not undo without a sabre,
If one could merely comprehend teh plot,
Enwritten upon the leaf where now are peering
Eyes scintillating soul, there lies perdus
Three eloquent words oft uttered in the hearing
Of poets, by poets-as the name is a poet's too
It's letters, although naturally lying
Like the Knight Pinto Mendez Fernando-
Still form a synonym for Truth-Cease trying
You will not read a riddle, though you do the best you can do."
 CLUE: Take the first letter of the first line, the second letter of the second line and continue the pattern.
Did you know that Romantic Fiction Authors like Victor Hugo, Herman Mellville, the Bronte Sisters also wrote love poetry, though perhaps not as well known? In my travels through time, I found these gems. You can check them out yourself.
Emily and Charlotte Bronte
"Some have won a wild delight
By daring wilder sorrow.
Could I gain thy love tonight
I'd hazard death tomorrow." ~ Charlotte Bronte "Passion"
"Love is like a the wild rose briar
Friendship like the holly tree.
The holly is dark when the rose briar blooms
But which will bloom more constantly?" ~ Emily Bronte "Love and Friendship".
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/passion/
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/50537
Poet and Author,Victor Hugo(1802-1885} known for one of my favourite books "Les Miserables" was born Feb 28 so here is a bit of his love poem "More Strong Than Time". He was born in the midst of the romantic trend, and became one of the best known French writers.
"Since I have set my lips to your full cup, my sweet,
Since I my pallid face between your hands have laid,
Since I have known your soul and the bloom of it
And all perfume rare, now buried in the shade;"...
https://marciokenobi.wordpress.com/tag/victor-hugo/
And I had no idea that Herman Mellville, author of "Moby Dick" wrote poetry:
"After the Pleasure Party: Amor Threatening"
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems-and-poets/poems/detail/50460
ON my tour I found so many other "romantic" poets and I hope I have given you a glimpse of the energy vibe of this time in the art history! My thought is where would poetry be without these trend setters stepping up and standing out? I would love to know your favourite Romantic Poet or poem, from now or then!
Meantime, take a chance on becoming a heartthrob and write a love poem!
Other cool references I used in my discovery:
http://www.love-poetry-of-the-world.com
http://www.poetseers.org
study.com/academy/lesson/introduction-to-romantic-poetry-overview-of-authors-and-works.html
Happy February! May Love and Kindness be where You are! |
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Hi all! so.... who is your favourite Romantic Poet ....or favourite poem?
And...Who would you like to hear from?
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Poetry: February 08, 2017 Issue [#8114]
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