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 ˘

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˘

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˘

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˘

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Along the sea sands damp and brown

Example of Meter (˘

′) ( ˘

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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.