Features of Romanticism in Blake’s Songs of Innocence And Songs of Experience

William Blake, the son of a London hosiery tradesman, was a strange, imaginative child. His soul was at home with books, flowers, and fairies than with the crowd of the city streets.  Romanticism seeds had been sewn into Blake’s nature much earlier than Romanticism was officially proclaimed by the publication of the Lyrical Ballads in 1798 … Read more

Coleridge’s Criticism of Wordsworth’s Theory of Poetry And Poetic Diction

The most remarkable part of Biographia Literaria lies in Coleridge’s criticism of Wordsworth’s theory of poetry and Poetic Diction. While critically analyzing Wordsworth’s theory, Coleridge has offered his views on the choice of rustic themes and characters as well as the language of poetry. Background In chapter XVII of Biographia Literaria, Coleridge refers to Wordsworth’s preface to the … Read more

Consider William Blake As A Revolutionary Poet

Blake has often been described to be the “Precursor of Romanticism.” The Romantic poets of the nineteenth century struck a note of protest against conventional literature and social injustices. Having written immediately preceding the Age of Romanticism, Blake paved the way for them, at least for Wordsworth, Shelley, and Byron. Although his voice against the … Read more

Consider William Blake As A Social Critic

William Blake was a pioneer of romantic revival in English literature who wrote lyrics and then prophetic poems. However, they were not to the taste of his time. He was the first to introduce the romantic note of mysticism in English poetry. Blake was a man from the age of transition. The French revolution had … Read more

Character Analysis of Belinda in The Rape of the Lock

Belinda portrays the time of aristocratic and fashionable ladies. She is equally beautiful and charming. Early in the poem, the author compares her with the sun (also at the beginning of Canto II). It is as though the sun’s brightness wanes at the sight of her radiant beauty.   The poet invests her almost with divine … Read more

Beowulf As A National Epic

Despite being a Swedish epic, Beowulf, a long-tailed and major Anglo-Saxon literary work, is oft-recognized as a national epic of England. The Independent, November 10, 2007. Beowulf is one of the earliest Old English epic poems in English literature and is repeatedly claimed as an English national epic despite belonging to a Swedish epic root.  Although regarded as … Read more