Romanticism, page 2
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Canterbury Tales.mp3 Emily Dickinson Robert Frost

 
 

George Gordon, Lord Byron

The most romantic of the poets personally, Byron was the least romantic stylistically.  His father died when Byron was only three, leaving him to be raised by an extremely strict mother.  He received his title from an uncle.  Unfortunately, Byron was born with a club foot, a defect that caused him difficulty walking--and led his mother to refer to him as a "lame brat."  To overcome this, he worked to become a champion swimmer, horseback rider, and cricket player.  At college, Byron "distinguished" himself by being eccentric--he kept a pet bear and drank from a cup made out of a human skull.  His wild ways continued in his adult life.  Once he married, he refused to give up his many mistresses and even fathered a child by his half-sister.  (sources disagree as to whether this is true, but it makes a great story).  After his wife divorced him, he moved to Europe, being effectively removed from "polite" society.  He never returned to England.  At the age of 36, he died of a fever, but despite the fact that his poetry was extremely popular, British society refused to let him be buried in the Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.

                                                

 
 

Percy Bysshe Shelley

August 4, 1792-July 8, 1822
  Shelley, like his fellow romantics, had difficulty in college.  He was expelled from Cambridge for publishing a pamphlet entitled "The Necessity of Atheism." After leaving school, he began to work for various causes, where he met a lady named Harriet, whom he judged was being oppressed by her father.  They married and continued their social work, eventually having two children.  After a period of time, they moved to London where they began to work with the well-known reformer, William Godwin.  Godwin's daughter, Mary, attracted Percy, who, because of his "liberal" ways, felt that the strictures of conventional marriage should not matter.  He and Mary went off to Europe, leaving Harriet with the two children, and according to some sources, pregnant with a third.  She drowned herself shortly after, and when Percy failed in his attempt to gain custody of his children, he left England for good.  He died in Italy at the age of 30 when he drowned in a boating accident, his body found washed up on shore with a volume of Keats' poetry in his pocket.

                                                       

 

John Keats

October 31, 1795-February 23, 1821
     The only one of the great romantics to come from poverty, Keats was the son of a stable keeper who was killed in a riding accident when Keats was only 6.  When he was 16, his mother died of tuberculosis.  As a way to make money, Keats apprenticed himself to a surgeon, but found that writing poetry appealed to him more.  In 1818, he became engaged to a young lady, but shortly after that, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis himself.  Knowing that this was effectively a "death sentence," he broke his engagement and threw himself into his work.  Most of his poetry was written during one year--between 1819-1820.  In 1820, he moved to Italy hoping that the drier, warmer air would help his breathing.  He died there in 1821 at the age of 25.

 Manuscript of "Grecian Urn" in handwriting of Keats' brother