Back to: History of English Literature All Ages – Summary & Notes
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William Blake
Born in London, he had no formal education and had a little earning. For Blake, the imagination was man’s sole redeeming feature and through it, he could see glories of nature. His important works are: Songs of Innocence, Songs of Experience, Holy Thursday
Here is a complete course on William Blake covering his important poems
William Wordsworth
After growing up in the Lake District, Wordsworth was educated at St. John’s College, Cambridge. He fell in love with Annette Vallon and fathered a child but the couple did not marry.
He returned to Lake in 1799 A.D. The deaths of his two children and the tragic drowning of his brother declined his poetic powers.
His important works are Preface to the Lyrical Ballads, A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal, To a Butterfly, To a Skylark, A Few Lines Composed Above Tintern Abbey, She Was a Phantom of Delight
S.T. Coleridge
His poetry contains supernatural elements. His poems depict the darker, hidden and unconscious regions of the human mind and soul. He has completely escaped from reality. His works are Kubla Khan, Rime of Ancient Mariner, Christabel
Lord Byron
He was a liberal revolutionary who staked his fortune, prestige and person for the freedom of people of Greece. His important works are Hours of Idleness, Darkness, The Age of Bronze, The Island
John Keats
He wrote seductive poetry. His poetry is full of imaginations and love. He died at the age of 28 due to Tuberculosis. His works are Ode to Autumn, Ode to Nightingale, Eve of St. Agnes, Happy Insensibility, On First Looking into Chapman’s Homer
P.B. Shelley
Shelley loved nature but presented it as a destructive and authoritative force. His poetry is free from norms of cultures. He doesn’t follow the bonds and boundaries of society.
One of his famous work is Ode to West Wind that contains all these features. His other works include When the Lamp is Shattered, The Indian Serenade
(Byron, Shelley and Keats died at young age. They lived only for 30, 35, 28 respectively)
