Well that is true too - I was surprised that the BBC didn't include Blake but, he was of a different generation and I wonder if the John Donne in him precluded being a full-blooded romantic; he's kind of on the fence cosmologically, if you will, while his successors all made the leap, especially in their youth as you mention. Then there came Wagner...
While I have not read the English Romanticists I am now a bit intrigued by Shelley. I have listened to a lot of really good music and very much enjoyed the Sjaella performance. Northern Lights is a nice title to that piece. I would love to be listening to that composition while viewing the Northern Lights for the first time!
I found that piece of music haunting - and would love to experience that combination for the first time, too! The English Romantics are certainly worth a dip into - they lived and loved and wrote uncompromisingly. You could start with any of the Big Six - Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Shelley, Byron and Keats - but I'm partial to Coleridge and Shelley. Those two guys were just OUT there.
Just forwarded the piece to a friend in Norway presently enjoying the northern lights at -20degreesC! Was at the English Cemetery, Rome at little while ago and could barely hold back the tears considering the farewell ages of K & S - so much spring beauty!
Absolutely agree with you re Ozymandias. One of my favourites, too - certainly the one that got me into Shelley all those years ago. I've had the pleasure of teaching it for the first time in years this September - it's one of those poems that just keeps giving and giving.
One of the 'famous five' English Romanticists but perhaps the most radical and thus for me, the most admired. And lyric poetry lives on at least in fantasy; I wrote the following doggerel this morning for my new book after watching a BBC doc on Shelley and his generational gang:
We are neither who nor what, we are never either or,
We are never in the fight, but we’d know what we’re fighting for.
It may seem strange to speak this way, as if in tongues, as if in play,
But when we sing it all comes out: unison in harmony tis what we’re about!
I cannot claim to be the twice-born soul which will set store,
By seeking mated sameness nor, by searching inner light.
But I have found my other half and she the core,
Of truth and good and beauty right.
So whatsoever I may yet find, is mere polish ‘pon a stone so bright!
What wit and tenderness I hear, and thence I am compelled to reckon
‘Pon the voice I hold so dear, as to hear mine own heart strictly beckon,
Me to heed and that the only one I would, obey him in all things fair
So that those who disbelieve the two-in-one will nonetheless abruptly stare – at something
as miraculous as they: two separate ones who’ve come to truly care.
Of the (arguably six - don't forget Blake) Romantics, my preference has always been torn between Coleridge ('Reflections on Leaving a Place of Retirement' is one of the most beautiful poems ever written) and Shelley - those guys lived their beliefs, and it's imbued in every aspect of their art. Interesting doggerel - thanks for sharing!
Very enjoyable article about Shelley. I didn't know there was a Norton just on Shelley. I have a Norton anthology that includes him. The Norton books are excellent in terms of scholarship I think
Very glad you liked the article. I'm a big Shelley fan - and have been for years. The Norton books are great - I had an undergraduate English professor with a wall full of them. I tend to default to them, and I've not been disappointed.
Well that is true too - I was surprised that the BBC didn't include Blake but, he was of a different generation and I wonder if the John Donne in him precluded being a full-blooded romantic; he's kind of on the fence cosmologically, if you will, while his successors all made the leap, especially in their youth as you mention. Then there came Wagner...
Thanks for steer on Northern Lights, Bryan. Exquisite.
Really glad you like it - one of the best things I've heard in a long time.
Thanks for this! I’m more of a fan of Mary, but this piece was wonderful.
So glad you liked it! Yes, Mary's quite a force to be reckoned with!
While I have not read the English Romanticists I am now a bit intrigued by Shelley. I have listened to a lot of really good music and very much enjoyed the Sjaella performance. Northern Lights is a nice title to that piece. I would love to be listening to that composition while viewing the Northern Lights for the first time!
I found that piece of music haunting - and would love to experience that combination for the first time, too! The English Romantics are certainly worth a dip into - they lived and loved and wrote uncompromisingly. You could start with any of the Big Six - Wordsworth, Coleridge, Blake, Shelley, Byron and Keats - but I'm partial to Coleridge and Shelley. Those two guys were just OUT there.
Thanks for the Coleridge reminder!
Just forwarded the piece to a friend in Norway presently enjoying the northern lights at -20degreesC! Was at the English Cemetery, Rome at little while ago and could barely hold back the tears considering the farewell ages of K & S - so much spring beauty!
Yes - far, far too young. And, yet so much accomplished. Just imagine what might have been.
I'm a big fan of Shelley, along with Byron and Keats. My favorite? Depends on the day and the mood, but Ozymandias is one of my favorite poems.
Absolutely agree with you re Ozymandias. One of my favourites, too - certainly the one that got me into Shelley all those years ago. I've had the pleasure of teaching it for the first time in years this September - it's one of those poems that just keeps giving and giving.
One of the 'famous five' English Romanticists but perhaps the most radical and thus for me, the most admired. And lyric poetry lives on at least in fantasy; I wrote the following doggerel this morning for my new book after watching a BBC doc on Shelley and his generational gang:
We are neither who nor what, we are never either or,
We are never in the fight, but we’d know what we’re fighting for.
It may seem strange to speak this way, as if in tongues, as if in play,
But when we sing it all comes out: unison in harmony tis what we’re about!
I cannot claim to be the twice-born soul which will set store,
By seeking mated sameness nor, by searching inner light.
But I have found my other half and she the core,
Of truth and good and beauty right.
So whatsoever I may yet find, is mere polish ‘pon a stone so bright!
What wit and tenderness I hear, and thence I am compelled to reckon
‘Pon the voice I hold so dear, as to hear mine own heart strictly beckon,
Me to heed and that the only one I would, obey him in all things fair
So that those who disbelieve the two-in-one will nonetheless abruptly stare – at something
as miraculous as they: two separate ones who’ve come to truly care.
Of the (arguably six - don't forget Blake) Romantics, my preference has always been torn between Coleridge ('Reflections on Leaving a Place of Retirement' is one of the most beautiful poems ever written) and Shelley - those guys lived their beliefs, and it's imbued in every aspect of their art. Interesting doggerel - thanks for sharing!
Very enjoyable article about Shelley. I didn't know there was a Norton just on Shelley. I have a Norton anthology that includes him. The Norton books are excellent in terms of scholarship I think
Very glad you liked the article. I'm a big Shelley fan - and have been for years. The Norton books are great - I had an undergraduate English professor with a wall full of them. I tend to default to them, and I've not been disappointed.