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Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry Early 1800s Poetic Movements Classicism is a school of poetry known for its sense of formality and restrained emotion. Classical poets are noted to strive for perfection, their clarity of purpose, balance and use of elevated but not pompous language. The early 1800s saw a revival of Classicism although the term actually refers to poets of many eras who each built their work with respect and emulation of the first classical poets, the ancient Greeks and Romans, names such as Ovid, Homer, Horace, Catullus, Lucretius and Virgil. Classical poets are credited with the development of many thematic genres and forms. Great English poets who were considered among the best of Classical poets are Ben Jonson, Elegy; John Dryden Absalom and Architophel, Alexander Pope, Rape of the Lock; Samuel Johnson, The Vanity of Human Wishes and Matthew Arnold, The Scholar Gipsy. Elegy by Ben Jonson . Though beauty be the mark of praise, And yours of whom I sing be such As not the world can praise too much, Yet is 't your virtue now I raise. A virtue, like allay, so gone Throughout your form, as, though that move And draw and conquer all men's love, This sùbjects you to love of one. Wherein you triumph yet; because 'Tis of yourself, and that you use The noblest freedom, not to choose Against or faith or honor's laws. But who should less expect from you, In whom alone Love lives again? By whom he is restored to men, And kept, and bred, and brought up true. His falling temples you have reared, The withered garlands ta'en away; His altars kept from the decay That envy wished, and nature feared; And on them burn so chaste a flame, With so much loyalties' expense, As Love, t' acquit such excellence, Is gone himself into your name. And you are he; the deity To whom all lovers are designed That would their better objects find; Among which faithful troop am I. Who, as an offspring at your shrine, Have sung this hymn, and here entreat One spark of your diviner heat To light upon a love of mine. Which, if it kindle not, but scant Appear, and that to shortest view, Yet give me leave t' adore in you What I in her am grieved to want. Cockney Poetry was a term used by Blackwood Magazine 1817 England to describe poetry by poets from "humble" beginnings such as Leigh Hunt and John Keats. Abou Ben Adhem by James Leigh Hunt Abou Ben Adhem (may his tribe increase!) Awoke one night from a deep dream of peace, And saw, within the moonlight in his room, Making it rich, and like a lily in bloom, An angel writing in a book of gold: Exceeding peace had made Ben Adhem bold, And to the Presence in the room he said "What writest thou?" The vision raised its head, And with a look made of all sweet accord, Answered "The names of those who love the Lord." "And is mine one?" said Abou. "Nay, not so," Replied the angel. Abou spoke more low, But cheerly still, and said "I pray thee, then, Write me as one that loves his fellow men." The angel wrote, and vanished. The next night It came again with a great wakening light, And showed the names whom love of God had blessed, And lo! Ben Adhem's name led all the rest. Lake Poets is a term used to identify 19th century poets, William Wordsworth,Robert Southey andSamuel Taylor Coleridge who all lived in the Lake District and drew inspiration from the landscape. To A Goose by Robert Southey If thou didst feed on western plains of yore Or waddle wide with flat and flabby feet Over some Cambrian mountain's plashy moor. Or find in farmer's yard a safe retreat From gipsy thieves and foxes sly and fleet; If thy grey quills by lawyer guided, trace Deeds big with ruin to some wretched race, Or love-sick poet's sonnet, sad and sweet, Wailing the rigour of some lady fair; Or if, the drudge of housemaid's daily toil, Cobwebs and dust thy pinion white besoil, Departed goose! I neither know nor care. But this I know, that thou wert very fine, Seasoned with sage and onions and port wine. Peasant Poetry was work of 19th century poets from poor backgrounds often concerned with nature or rural setting. A couple of Peasant poets were John Clare andRobert Bloomfield. Braggart by John Clare With careful step to keep his balance up He reels on warily along the street. Slabbering at mouth and with a staggering stoop Mutters an angry look at all he meets. Bumptious and vain and proud he shoulders up And would be something if he knew but how; To any man on earth he will not stoop But cracks of work, of horses and of plough. Proud of the foolish talk, the ale he quaffs, He never heeds the insult loud that laughs: With rosy maid he tries to joke and play,-- Who shrugs and nettles deep his pomp and pride. And calls him 'drunken beast' and runs away-- King to himself and fool to all beside Victorian Poetry was written during the reign of Queen Victoria (1819-1901), the poets of this time created an escapist world inspired by Camelot and the Arthur legend Tennyson was a Victorian poet. Lady of Shallot by Alfred Lord Tennyson Part I On either side the river lie Long fields of barley and of rye, That clothe the wold and meet the sky; And through the field the road runs by ----------To many-towered Camelot; And up and down the people go, Gazing where the lilies blow Round an island there below, ----------The island of Shalott. Willows whiten, aspens quiver, Little breezes dusk and shiver Through the wave that runs for ever By the island in the river ----------Flowing down to Camelot. Four grey walls, and four grey towers, Overlook a space of flowers, And the silent isle imbowers ----------The Lady of Shalott. By the margin, willow-veiled Slide the heavy barges trailed By slow horses; and unhailed The shallop flitteth silken-sailed ----------Skimming down to Camelot: But who hath seen her wave her hand? Or at the casement seen her stand? Or is she known in all the land, ----------The Lady of Shalott? Only reapers, reaping early In among the bearded barley, Hear a song that echoes cheerly From the river winding clearly, ----------Down to towered Camelot: And by the moon the reaper weary, Piling sheaves in uplands airy, Listening, whispers "Tis the fairy ---------------Lady of Shalott."

Explore the Craft of Writing Poetry Late 1800s Poetic Movements Aesthetic Movement is predicated upon the school of thought that art is its own justification and purpose. Edgar Allen Poe, Algernon Swinburne, Oscar Wilde were 19th century proponents. The Cameo by Algernon Swinburne 1837-1909 There was a graven image of Desire Painted with red blood on a ground of gold Passing between the young men and the old, And by him Pain, whose body shone like fire, And Pleasure with gaunt hands that grasped their hire. Of his left wrist, with fingers clenched and cold, The insatiable Satiety kept hold, Walking with feet unshod that pashed the mire. The senses and the sorrows and the sins, And the strange loves the suck the breasts of Hate Till lips and teeth bite in their sharp indenture, Followed like beasts with flap of wings and fins. Death stood aloof behind a gaping grate, The Apostles, Alfred Lord Tennyson, EM Forster, Bertram Russell, Arthur Hallam were all members of this 19th century, society of intellectuals at Cambridge University in 1820. Crossing the Bar by Alfred Lord Tennyson Sunset and evening star, And one clear call for me! And may there be no moaning of the bar, When I put out to sea, But such a tide as moving seems asleep, Too full for sound and foam, When that which drew from out the boundless deep Turns again home. Twilight and evening bell, And after that the dark! And may there be no sadness of farewell, When I embark; For tho' from out our bourne of Time and Place The flood may bear me far, I hope to see my Pilot face to face When I have cross'd the bar. Della Cruscans were sentimentalist English poets from the late 1800s led by Robert Merry while in Italy. It was meant to be a collaboration between English and Italian poets and took its name from the Accademia della Crusca, a movement from the 16th century to "purify" the Italian language. The term became associated with affected, pretentious, often ornate poetry. Poets such Wordworth and Lord Byron, although not associated with the movement were influenced by the romanticism of the movement. Sonnet on Seeing Miss Helen Maria Williams Weep at a Tale of Distress She wept.--Life's purple tide began to flow In languid streams through every thrilling vein; Dim were my swimming eyes--my pulse beat slow, And my full heart was swell'd to dear delicious pain. Life left my loaded heart, and closing eye; A sigh recall'd the wanderer to my breast; Dear was the pause of life, and dear the sigh That call'd the wanderer home, and home to rest. That tear proclaims--in thee each virtue dwells, And bright will shine in misery's midnight hour; As the soft star of dewy evening tells What radiant fires were drown'd by day's malignant pow'r, That only wait the darkness of the night To cheer the wand'ring wretch with hospitable light. AXIOLOGUS William Wordsworth The European Magazine 40 (March 1787) 202 Fleshy School of Poetry was a term (uncomplimentary) attributed to what was concieved as the immoral and overly sensual poetry of 19th century poets, Daniel Gabriel Rossetti, William Morris and Swinburne. The term came from Robert Buchanan (writing as Thomas Maitland) Love Lily by Dante Gabriel Rossetti Between the hands, between the brows, Between the lips of Love-lily, A spirit is born whose birth endows My blood with fire to burn through me; Who breathes upon my gazing eyes, Who laughs and murmurs in mine ear, At whose least touch my color flies, And whom my life grows faint to hear. Within the voice, within the heart, Within the mind of Love-Lily, A spirit is born who lifts apart His tremulous wings and looks at me; Who on my mouth his finger lays And shows, while whispering lutes confer, That Eden of Love's watered ways Whose winds and spirits worship her Brows, hands, and lips, heart, mind, and voice, Kisses and words of Love-Lily,-- Oh! bid me with your joy rejoice Til riotous longing rest in me! Ah! let not hope be still distraught, But find in her its gracious goal, Whose speech Truth knows not from her thought Nor Love her body from her soul. Modernism is a movement between 1890 and 1940 that challenged and often rejected traditional form in poetry. The movement was led by TS Eliot who wrote one of the most significant Modernist poem The Waste Land and my favorite The Love Song of J Alfred Prufrock, William Butler Yeats and Ezra Pound who was a founder of Imagism. The popularity of Free Verse came about through this movement. Portrait d'une Femme by Ezra Pound Your mind and you are our Sargasso Sea, London has swept about you this score years And bright ships left you this or that in fee: Ideas, old gossip, oddments of all things, Strange spars of knowledge and dimmed wares of price. Great minds have sought you�lacking someone else. You have been second always. Tragical? No. You preferred it to the usual thing: One dull man, dulling and uxorious, One average mind�with one thought less, each year. Oh, you are patient, I have seen you sit Hours, where something might have floated up. And now you pay one. Yes, you richly pay. You are a person of some interest, one comes to you And takes strange gain away: Trophies fished up; some curious suggestion: Fact that leads nowhere; and a tale or two, Pregnant with mandrakes, or with something else That might prove useful and yet never proves, That never fits a corner or shows use, Or finds its hour upon the loom of days: The tarnished, gaudy, wonderful old work; Idols and ambergris and rare inlays, These are your riches, your great store; and yet For all this sea-hoard of deciduous things, Strange woods half sodden, and new brighter stuff: In the slow float of differing light and deep, No! there is nothing! In the whole and all, Nothing that's quite your own. Yet this is you. Parnassian Poets were a group of 19th century French poets who's rebellion to the excesses of Romantisism spurred them to write with objectivity and restraint. The Parnassians took their name from the Greek mountain sacred to Apollo and the Muses, the Parnassians. They espoused "art for art's sake", perfection of form, language and pictorial imagery. Theodore Banville and Leconte de Lisle were prominent in the movement and although I could find no examples of their work in English the movement played an important role in the development of French poetry. Un Poete Mort by Charles Leconte de Lisle Toi dont les yeux erraient, altérés de lumière, De la couleur divine au contour immortel Et de la chair vivante à la splendeur du ciel, Dors en paix dans la nuit qui scelle ta paupière . Voir, entendre, sentir ? Vent, fumée et poussière Aimer ? La coupe d'or ne contient que du fiel. Comme un Dieu plein d'ennui qui déserte l'autel, Rentre et disperse-toi dans l'immense matière. Sur ton muet sépulcre et tes os consumés Qu'un autre verse ou non les pleurs accoutumés, Que ton siècle banal t'oublie ou te renomme ; Moi, je t'envie, au fond du tombeau calme et noir, D'être affranchi de vivre et de ne plus savoir La honte de penser et l'horreur d'être un homme! A Dead Poet by Charles Leconte de Lisle You whose eyes wandered, altered light The divine immortal outline color And living flesh to the splendor of heaven, Sleep in peace at night that seals your eyelid. ee, hear, smell? Wind, smoke and dust. Love? The Golden Bowl contains only gall. As a God full of boredom deserted the altar Goes up and disperses in the vast area. n your silent tomb, and your bones consumed Another verse or not crying accustomed, Thy century banal or renames you forget you; envy you at the bottom of quiet and dark tomb To be free to live and not know The shame of thinking and the horror of being a man! Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood is a 19th century group of poets and artists who's work used medieval settings and subject matter and was a rebellion against the ugliness of Victorian life. They were particularly inspired by La Belle Dame Sans Merci by John Keats. Poets such as D.G. Rossetti, Walter Pater and William Morris were among the brotherhood. A Good Knight in Prison by William Morris Wearily, drearily, Half the day long, Flap the great banners High over the stone; Strangely and eerily Sounds the wind's song, Bending the banner-poles. While, all alone, Watching the loophole's spark, Lie I, with life all dark, Feet tether'd, hands fettered Fast to the stone, The grim walls, square-lettered With prison'd men's groan. Still strain the banner-poles Through the wind's song, Westward the banner rolls Over my wrong. The Rhymers' Club was a group of poets who began meeting as a dining club upstairs at the Cheshire Cheese pub on Fleet Street, London England in the late 1800s. W. B. Yeats, Ernest Rhys, Ernest Dowson, Lionel Johnson, Richard Le Gallienne, John Davidson, Edwin Ellis, Victor Plarr, Selwyn Image, A. S. Hillier, John Todhunter, Arthur Symons, Ernest Radford and Thomas William Rolleston were part of the group which produced anthologies in 1892 and 1894. Several of the group were "fated to failure or early death" which caused Yeats to call them the "tragic generation". A Last Word by Ernest Dowson Let us go hence: the night is now at hand; The day is overworn, the birds all flown; And we have reaped the crops the gods have sown; Despair and death; deep darkness o'er the land, Broods like an owl; we cannot understand Laughter or tears, for we have only known Surpassing vanity: vain things alone Have driven our perverse and aimless band. Let us go hence, somewhither strange and cold, To Hollow Lands where just men and unjust Find end of labour, where's rest for the old, Freedom to all from love and fear and lust. Twine our torn hands! O pray the earth enfold Our life-sick hearts and turn them into dust. Spasmodic School was a group of 19th century, Victorian poets whose poetry was marked by violent and obscure imagery. Some poets associated with this group were P. J. Bailey, J.W. Marston, S.T. Dobell and Alexander Smith. Home In War Time by S T Dobell SHE turn'd the fair page with her fairer hand- More fair and frail than it was wont to be- O'er each remember'd thing he lov'd to see She linger'd, and as with a fairy's wand Enchanted it to order. Oft she fanned New motes into the sun; and as a bee Sings thro' a brake of bells, so murmur'd she, And so her patient love did understand The reliquary room. Upon the sill She fed his favorite bird. "Ah, Robin, sing! He loves thee. Then she touches a sweet string Of soft recall, and towards the Eastern hill Smiles all her soul-for him who cannot hear The raven croaking at his carrion ear. The Uranian Poets were a small group of underground pederast English poets from 1858-1930. These clandestine classicalists preferred to use conservative verse forms, idealized the history of Ancient Greece and seemed to have an infatuation for adolescent boys. William Johnson, Lord Alfred Douglas, John Gambril Nicholson, Rev. E. E. Bradford, John Addington Symonds, Edmund John, and Fabian S. Woodley were among the noted. There were also others who used pseudonyms such as "Philebus" and "A. Newman". Much of their work was privately published and limited by Victorian taboos.