Lord Byron

So, we’ll go no more a-roving

I chose this poem because I was intrigued by its mischievousness and also because it was very straightforward. Byron wrote So, we’ll go no more a-roving after attending the Carnival in Venice. Similar to Mardi Gras, Carnival was, and still is, a social gathering filled with celebration, excess, and conspicuous consumption. Masks were worn to conceal identities and also served to eliminate social divisions. Byron had earned a reputation for his promiscuous behavior. It was assumed that his writings were about his own life and adventures, and to that end, I interpreted this poem to be about his “roving” (philandering) at Carnival.

The poem (pg. 358) first appeared in a letter Byron wrote from Venice at age 29. In the first stanza, he says that there will be no more roving late into the night, even though the heart still loves and the moon is still bright. In the last stanza, he reaffirms the first stanza by saying that the night was made for loving, and the day comes too soon, but even so, there will be no more roving at night.

Why does he say this? Perhaps he is growing tired of his exploits, or perhaps he has simply overindulged. The second stanza provides more information. The first line reads “For the sword outwears its sheath” (draw your own conclusion here). The second line, “and the soul wears out the breast,” parallels the first line. “And the heart must pause to breathe, And love itself have rest” (he needs a breather or hiatus).

Byron uses symbolic language to covey his message and the reader is drawn in by the allure of his secrets. It is not clear whether he intends this to be a temporary respite or whether he will be giving up his lascivious lifestyle altogether. Likely, his intent in sharing this information was merely to boast because he was proud of his self-inflicted malaise.

Like the 1st generation Romantics, Byron embraced new ways of expressing his thoughts and feelings, however the topics he approached would have been too risqué for the 1st generation. Byron’s writings were amorous, enticing, and irreverent and that is what sets him apart from the 1st generation Romantics.

William Wordsworth

I wandered lonely as a cloud - While wandering along, the narrator came upon a field of daffodils dancing in the breeze beside a lake. The flowers stretched as far as the eye could see along the lake. The water in the lake was sparkling, but the beauty of the flowers overshadowed the water. The narrator could be nothing but happy in the midst of the cheerful flowers, and as he stared at them, he could not imagine the future rewards that the image would bring to him. Now when he is alone, in a bad mood or feeling empty, he remembers the flowers and again feels the same pleasure he felt that day and his heart “dances with the daffodils” (pg. 283).

I wandered lonely as a cloud reminds me of Lines Written a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey in which the narrator revisited a scene along a river, this time with his sister, and described how his memories of this place had comforted him and influenced him to be a better person. He felt joy when he realized that he would be brought more fond memories in the future, and memories would also provide comfort to his sister who was seeing the scene for the first time. The theme in both poems focuses on the power that exists in nature.

In The world is too much with us, the focus is again on the power of nature, but this time the narrator is annoyed at the way the world has grown out of touch with nature and has become too interested in material things. The narrator criticizes the world for taking the sea, the moon, and the winds for granted and being too focused on “getting and spending” (pg. 234).

In our first chat session, Dr. Glance mentioned that the sentiment felt during this period was comparable to the viewpoint and attitudes of the 1960s that centered on peace, love, and communing with nature. Wordsworth’s poems are reminiscent of the mindset of the hippies in the 1960s who found happiness by giving up the ways of the world and living together in the peace and comfort they drew from nature.

William Blake

William Blake was an artist and an apprentice to an engraver in his early years. Blake used his training as an engraver to illustrate his works. At first glance, William Blake’s writings appear simple, but it takes some effort to decipher the true meaning of his visionary perspective.

In All Religions Are One, Blake refers to man’s Poetic Genius, or the imagination, as the source of knowledge and truth. This Poetic Genius exists in the inner spirit of all of us and we can draw from it to look beyond consciousness (the senses) and open our mind to true understanding and wisdom.

In Songs of Innocence and or Experience, The Lamb symbolizes a pastoral world of peace, goodness, and innocence. In contrast, The Tyger represents the evil, darkness, and violence that is realized as innocence is lost. If both the lamb and the tiger are made by God, how can we explain the contradictions between the two? The complexity of creation leaves many unanswered questions.

The Little Black Boy tells us that even though our skin may be different, our souls are the same. The color of skin is apparent in the physical world, but is irrelevant to God and racial differences are transcended in heaven. Again, Blake’s message is that we must look beyond the senses to understand the truth.

In The Divine Image, the virtues of mercy, pity, peace, and love symbolize God. When Blake points out that mercy, pity, peace, and love are also human qualities, the distinction between God and man is blurred. Blake is saying that we must look beyond religion, because regardless of religion, all men pray in distress and send their thankfulness to the “human form divine.” Perhaps Blake is saying that God is inside all men, and by looking beyond our consciousness, to our Poetic Genius, we will find him.

The virtues of mercy, pity, peace, and love are seen again in The Human Abstract. Blake tells us that if poverty did not exist, we would not need pity. If we were all happy, we would not need mercy. Blake describes a tree that is rooted in humility, but grows with fear and bears fruit of deceit. At the end of the poem we find that this tree does not grow in nature, but in the human brain. In other words, we start out with peace and innocence, but through our experiences and growth, we find fear and evil.

Blake emphasizes two opposite worlds, good and evil, heaven and hell, black and white, and the complexity with which they come together in our lives. The recurring theme in Blake’s work is that only by looking deep into our inner beings, to our Poetic Genius, will we be able to find truth, wisdom, and understanding.

Mary Wollstonecraft - the French Revolution

In response to Edmund Burke’s conservative viewpoint, Mary Wollstonecraft defended the French Revolution. She thought those who yielded to the old traditions were just fooling themselves and being slaves to old habits. By not considering other alternatives, the privileged were denying themselves enlightenment, and by being interested only in themselves, they were blinded to the plight of the less fortunate. Wollstonecraft states that “the man has been changed into an artificial monster by the station in which he was born, and the consequent homage that benumbed his faculties like the torpedo’s touch – or a being, with a capacity of reasoning, would not have failed to discover, as his faculties unfolded, that true happiness arose from the friendship and intimacy which can only be enjoyed by equals; and that charity is not a condescending distribution of alms, but an intercourse of good offices and mutual benefits, founded on respect for justice and humanity” (pg. 58).

Burke supported the American Revolution, but criticized those who supported the French Revolution saying that people had no right to overthrow the government or challenge tradition. Wollstonecraft points out his inconsistencies noting that slavery was tradition that “sanctioned a traffic that outrages every suggestion of reason” (pg. 59). Wollstonecraft defends the poor women who Burke referred to as “the vilest of women” (pg. 61) and points out that these women were far more disadvantaged than the queen who Burke felt such compassion for. She found it ironic that Burke was so moved by the queen’s suffering but felt nothing for the predicament of the poor women. Wollstonecraft ridiculed Burke’s flowery prose and states she is “led very often to doubt your sincerity and to suppose that you have said many things merely for the sake of saying them well” (pg.61). Wollstonecraft reveals her sarcastic side as well when she refers to Burke’s “plausible arguments and witty illustrations” (pg. 62).

Wollstonecraft outlined what she saw was wrong with traditional forms of government and questioned why the rich had exclusive rights to pleasure and comfort. She argued that rights of all people should be based on justice and she condemned the rich for turning a blind eye to the oppressed. I am more sympathetic to Wollstonecraft’s side of the argument and agree with her that human rights should not be based on the ways of the past, but should be based on what is morally right and just.

Edmund Burke - the French Revolution

Edmund Burke was an advocate of reason, order, and peace. Although Burke supported the American Revolution, he was against the revolution in France. He felt that traditional ways of doing things should be preserved and anything to the contrary was going against nature. Just as families pass down their possessions to their children, the crown and its privileges should also be passed down.

Those fighting for freedom were creating chaos where order once stood. He emphasized that the long-established methods were natural and best when he said “we procure reverence to our civil institutions on the principle upon which nature teaches us to revere individual men; on account of their age, and on account of those from whom they are descended. All your sophisters cannot produce anything better adapted to preserve a rational and manly freedom than the course that we have pursued….” (pg. 50).

Burke stated that men have a right to the possessions of their parents and to benefit from what has been passed down to them. He did not believe in equal distribution of wealth, power, and authority because those things belonged solely to the men who had inherited them. Burke saw the arrest of the king and queen as shocking and disgraceful. He was appalled by what was happening calling it ridiculous and absurd, and sarcastically referred to “this new conquering empire of light and reason” (pg. 53).

Burke likened the revolution to a Machiavellian policy and contrasted it to ancient Rome by saying “no theatric audience in Athens would bear what has been borne” (pg 55). He felt the revolution was destroying society and stated that laws were made by those who were infinitely superior. The people had an obligation to abide by the laws, not to dissolve them through “unsocial, uncivil, unconnected chaos” (pg 56). The laws were not open to discussion, and by voicing discord, the people were disobeying nature.

I think we would all agree that Burke’s desire for order and peace is preferable to living in chaos and confusion. However, when order and peace come at the cost of liberty and equality, it is only “natural” that the oppressed people would revolt against it.

Helen Maria Williams

I’ve heard the term Romanticism, but was never sure of its meaning. The Podcast provided good background and understanding of what was transpiring during this period when it was out with the old norms of aristocratic social domination and in with a new awakening of individualized thought, freedom, and power.

In reading Helen Maria Williams’ letters, I was first surprised by the fact that she was living in France by herself during a time when it was not customary for women to be self-reliant. Williams’ enthusiastic depiction of the Festival of the Federation points out that the significance of the event was not due as much to the event itself, but to the effect it had on the people. She is so overwhelmed by “the most sublime spectacle which, perhaps, was ever represented on the theatre of this earth” that she portrays it as “not to be described!” Nonetheless, she describes it quite eloquently and with intense passion.

Williams’ stirring narrative of her visit to the Bastille described the unlit dungeons “too low to admit of our standing upright” and she chronicled the cells so vividly that I could almost smell what she was describing. Her disdain for the tyrannical government responsible for these shocking conditions is unequivocal when she writes “If the splendour of a despotic throne can only shine like the radiance of lightning, while all around is involved in gloom and horror, in the name of heaven let its baleful luster be extinguished for ever”.

Williams offered praise to French women who had given up their jewels and titles in the name patriotism and compared them to the women of ancient Rome. She applauded their contribution to the Revolution, and I particularly liked her analogy that women are “those secret springs in mechanism, by which, though invisible, great movements are regulated.”

In her letter about the execution of Lewis XVI, Williams goes into graphic detail and provides insight into the mind of the king in the moments before he was beheaded. I was not familiar with Helen Maria Williams before I read her letters, but I was very inspired by her masterful command of language and prose.

Introduction

Hi everyone. My name is Brenda Hawthorne. I have been attending Mercer's Atlanta Campus in the BBA program since 2005. I am working to complete my degree that I started many, many, many years ago. I originally attended Middle Tennessee State University, and later attended Nashville State Technical Institute. This time, I'm going to finish!!

I'm taking this course because it is a General Education requirement. I'm hoping to gain a better appreciation of literature, and I hope to find that my analytical skills of literature are better than I anticipate they are going to be. We'll see.

This is the first online class that I have taken, and my first blog, so I'm excited to see how this all works.

Cheers!