Romantic Period

British Literature

Exam #1- The Romantic Period

What is imagination, the act or power of forming mental images of what is not present. The use of imagination in Romantic poetry was vital to the success of poets. Imagination allows the poet to transform different ideas into one great thought. Using this attracts an audience and pulls them into the poets’ thoughts. During the Romantic Era, many poets were able to capture their audience through their use of imagination throughout their poems. This essay will cover three poets, (Blake, Keats and Shelley) and their own personal uses of imagination. Also, it will cover the comparisons in the use of imagination.

Blake, a poet from the 1700-1800’s, used his imagination to draw his audience in, but leave them thinking afterwards. In the poems The Tyger and The Lamb, Blake connected the poems through questions. How could HE make something so innocent as well as the tiger? Why would HE create such a powerful animal? Blake used his imagination to connect the innocence of the lamb into the power of the tiger. After reading “The Tyger”, any reader would think it was about a powerful animal with anger instilled in it. However, when you see the illustration, the tiger appears to be a soft creature. Again, Blake brings up that the Tiger and the Lamb were created by the same God, but why would a God of peace and love create such a rude animal. Unfortunately, Blake leaves the audience in total awe about both The Tyger and The Lamb.

Another poem written by Blake is The Chimney Sweeper. The Chimney Sweeper focuses on the after life and what we have to look forward to. All you can do is dream and imagine of one day getting to “heaven” and what it would be like. For Tom, the chimney sweeper, he dreaded his life. He was an orphan and a homeless child looking forward to nothing. As he lay his head to go to sleep, an angel appeared in his dream, and after seeing several thousands of black coffins, the angel assured him that if he continued to be a good boy that he would live in eternity and would not have to worry about anything. Why this? Why this dream? It was inspiration to Tom, but imagination to Blake.

Ode to a Nightingale was written by John Keats during the Romantic Era. In the poem, Keats spoke of alcohol and its affect. Instead of being drunk off alcohol, he chose to be “drunk” off poetry. He was dazed into his own world, his imagination. While imagining, he dreams of a forest with flowers and green pastures. His eyes are closed and cannot literally see the flowers, but he imagines them. Keats used a wide imagination in this poem to describe the look of the forest and his “relationship” with the Nightingale. Keats also said that he was only half in love with death. What does that mean? He dreams of feeling no pain, he wants to die but still wants to live. Only those of immortality are not born for death. Was this Keats dream or his reality?

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