Romantic Poets and the Natural World

Wow, this is some serious poetry reading! I've enjoyed reading Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge this week, but I must admit it's been just slightly taxing on the brain! It’s safe to say that reading poetry is an art in itself. There is reading, then re-reading, then trying to find similarities and differences, and most importantly, trying to make sense of what you've read, and only hoping you come CLOSE to what the poet intended. I'm not sure I've succeeded but it has been an interesting challenge.

The class blog background on these poets and their collaborations and "rebellions" helped bring the readings into better focus (not 20/20, but better than my initial readings!). I can see many of the major themes we've discussed, including childhood, and the ever-present Nature. I can understand that Nature has multiple meanings, including God and his design of the universe, as well as the natural world.

So on to the discussion for this week's blog. What importance does the natural world hold for these three Romantic poets? I would have to say it is of extreme importance. The poems are filled with images, memories, and observations of the beauty found in the natural world. Wordsworth's "Ode" starts straight off with his lamenting about a time when "meadow, grove, and stream//The earth, and every common sight//To me did seem//Appareled in celestial light." He goes on to describe visions of rainbows, roses, the moon, sunshine, birds, lambs, the wind, land and sea. Of course he is lamenting that these things no longer seem as glorious as they did in childhood, but the poem would not be the same without the vivid descriptions of the beauty that is found in nature. One of his poems that wasn’t assigned this week but is one of my favorites is “I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud.” Once read, you will always remember the beauty of the dancing daffodils. But I digress….

The natural world figures prominently for Blake as well. This is obvious just by looking at some of the titles of his poems in our text. The poems from Songs of Innocence are pleasant enough, but I tried harder to appreciate the natural world Blake describes in his Songs of Experience. “A Divine Image” made a huge impression on me. Humans don’t come out looking very pretty in this one. For better or worse, this is reality. Every line describes the most evil, primitive, “unGod-like” aspect of what it means, as a human, to live in the natural world. Juxtaposed against the title, the lines of the poem carry an infinite weight. We were made in God’s image, but the reality of having free-will in the natural world brings horrifying consequences.

Coleridge also uses natural world imagery, as we discovered by comparing his “Dejection: An Ode” to Wordsworth’s Ode. Again, there are images of the moon, sky, clouds, stars, the earth, and wind. The “Correspondent Breeze” wind-metaphor explains the winds at the outset of the poem, and gives the poem a sense of direction I hadn’t realized until reading this background. I have to say that his “Frost at Midnight” gave me a little chill (pardon the pun!). It is a beautiful, sweet poem that I consider to have been written for his infant son, as gentle and protective as any mother could write. The natural world abounds, beginning with the title. The frost, “unhelped by any wind” (the intentional non-use of the breeze metaphor?) is the backdrop and impetus for the poet’s dream-like reminiscences of his childhood. This leads him to address his infant son, sleeping by his side, and to wish for him a life filled with greater heights than the poet has achieved. He hopes the child will “wander like the breeze" (there’s the metaphor), by lakes and shores, mountains, and that “all seasons shall be sweet to thee.” That last paragraph is teeming with natural world images (summer, greenness, redbreast, snow, bare branch, apple tree, sun-thaw, and the quiet Moon).

I hope I’ve done some justice to the understanding of these poems. Again, it is a challenge to read these poems and imagine you’re somewhere on target. I wouldn’t dream I’ve hit the bullseye, but I certainly enjoy the aim!

A little about me...

Welcome to my blog, as they say! This is my first venture into creating what seems to be an essential outlet for so many people nowdays. So here goes!

This is my first semester at UH. I'm a junior transfer student, having just completed my associates at Montgomery College. I was a PTK member and graduated magna cum laude, if I may toot my own horn here on my own blog! :-) I live in the Woodlands and am married with 2 kids, ages 3 & 6. I'm originally from Ohio but have lived off and on in the north Houston area for nearly 30 years. I worked in marketing for 14 years and then decided to jump off the track for awhile to take care of the kids and go back to school to study my two biggest passions...

I'm a Psych major/English minor, and I'll just state right up front: I love poetry. I've been reading a small circle of poets and their biographies for the past 20 years and am enamored with the genre and its place in literature as a pure intellectual and emotional outlet of expression. I must admit, however, that I've done far more reading of poetry than writing. I want to change that and give myself the confidence not only to write poetry, but dare to send some off for publication. I hope this course gives me that extra "push" I need to dedicate more time to writing. I want to learn the mechanics of how poems are built, technically and musically. I want to take my "life stories" and thoughts and turn them into sound poems that aren't gushy and sentimental, but passionate and intelligent. I want to learn the secrets and tricks involved in the language of poetry. How to be an artist of words. Not a small goal!

A few months ago I took a "Pleasures of Poetry" class and re-acquainted myself with the basics of poetry. I enjoyed the class and am bringing what I learned into this one, with a slightly more knowledgeable ear and eye. The writing wasn't easy. I have the emotional stories and ideas for poems, especially a line or two I love and maybe a title, but putting it together takes effort. I can't expect it to come naturally, but I want to feel that I can write a GOOD poem, that isn't overly sentimental. What do you need to know about me in order to teach me well? I tend to wear my heart on my words. I need to improve in that area. I want to write poems, not hallmark cards! I have stories to tell in my poems; about my life, my past, my perspectives. Perhaps I've read too many of the "confessional" poets and have determined that that's where my heart is. Poetry as therapy!

Besides being a mom I'm into other things, including a book club (one MUST be in a book club now!). It's a great diversion from the labor of love that is taking care of kids. Also have a great group of friends. One of our monthly outings is to go to Houston Roller Derby bouts & cheer for 2 of the ladies in our group. Go Burlesque Brawlers! I love to skate but didn't have the time to dedicate to the team...but at least I can skate vicariously through my friends, Mata Scari and Ms. Treatment! :-) Moms can be cool, too!!

You will see from my links that I'm into Plath and Sexton, among other poets. In 2000 I went to visit a friend working on her masters in Leicester, outside London. We spent a good bit of time on a "Plath pilgrimage," visiting her grave in Heptonstall, as well as her last flat. Moving moments for me since I've spent a lot of time reading her poems.

So there's a brief introduction! I'm thrilled to be in this class and will put my heart into absorbing all I can. What is my muse? The art of poetry itself. I'm making a deal with myself that this is the year I'll begin my own journey as a poet.

Also, just for fun, here's a shot of me on a trip I made last month to Costa Rica. I went with my church on my first mission trip, and had a wonderful time. We helped build a children's school and library for a Methodist church in Puerto Viejo Sarapiqui, an area known as the northern lowlands. After a week with the church I then ventured alone to meet up with an uncle who lives in Esterillos Oeste on Costa Rica's pacific coast. What a beautiful country. Such a lush life, despite the obvious poverty throughout the region. Amazing land and people. I can only hope to make another trip there someday. Pura Vida!