Romantic and Victorian Era
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Over the semester we have looked at many poems and stories. We have also learned about how all these have similar themes and tones that can be connected to each other over centuries of time. Even when we look at the Romantic and Victorian Era we can see similar themes and connections. We will be looking at ” The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” from the Romantic Era and “Goblin Market” from the Victorian Era to see these similar themes.
Before we compare and contrast poems, we first must understand what the Romantic and Victorian era contained. The Romantic era was a beautiful time is literature history. Many poems and love stories were brought out by this era. The Romantic Era was a movement in literacy that flooded through almost every country in Europe, Latin American, and the United States. This era lasted from about 1750 to 1870. This movement was about romance of course but also self-expression and self-uniqueness. People could show (through their writing) their feeling and emotions like in no other writing. Their writing was freedom and individualization. This was influenced in response to the French Revolution. This movement was known as a return to nature, belief in goodness in humanity, national pride, and creativity.
The Victorian Era started in 1837 to 1901 (which was when the Queen began her rule until she died). This time period entailed a lot of disease, hunger, and sorrow. However artist and author were still creating wonderful pieces of art and literature. This era’s literature was considerably less “free”, because there was a lot more techniques that are more educated and intellectually sound. Many people classify the writings as “proper”. The writings were very refine and serious and about people’s lives. The work from this era portrayed how society saw conservative values and gender roles in society.
The Romantic Era influenced the work and creations in Victorian era with its impulsive expression of emotion and dramatic use of color and visualization. Many themes of the Romantics were still used in the Victorian writing, but instead of focusing on happiness they focused on the progression of industry, education, and situations on the working class.
“The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” is definitely from the Romantic Era, because it discusses nature and emotions. The story begins with the narrator talking about his voyage to the South Pole to a guest at a wedding he was attending. In his story, the voyage began and everything was going well, until terrible weather hits and causes the boat to get stuck in ice. This is dangerous for the crew because the ice could cause their ship to sink. They begin to panic. After many days, an Albatross that visits the ship. The bird does nothing wrong and tries to give the sailors company. The crew feeds and watches the Albatross. Soon after the sailor met the bird, the ice cracked and the ship was freed. Many of the sailors believe the ice cracked, because the bird gave them good luck. For no reason at all, the Mariner shot the bird with a crossbow. All of the crew believed this was going to give them bad luck, but the Mariner ensured them that the Albatross was not good luck. The crew forgot about the Albatross for a couple of days and believed everything was okay, until they got stuck in the middle of the sea without any wind. They were stranded there without any wind to push their sails. The sailors blamed the Mariner for their bad luck and made him wear the dead bird around his neck as punishment. This was a symbol for the Christians wearing the cross around their neck, and so for his crime against an innocent animal he had to do the same with the dead carcass of the bird. The story continues in telling how there was a passing boat that had two passengers Life in Death and Death. They were playing a game to decide who would in the men on the ship. Death wins everyone on the ship except the Mariner. He is forced to watch as one by one his crew mates die before his eyes while he is stuck living on alone. The story goes into detail about how each sailor looked at the Mariner as if they were cursing him with their eyes. The Mariner looks into the sea after being tormented by the idea of living on alone. He no longer sees the hideous sea creatures the crew saw before they died, but now he sees a sea full of wonderful bright colors and beautiful creatures. He looks around a sees a different world like no other. The curse has been lifted and the Mariner has changed. He finished his story by telling the wedding guest about how God works in mysterious ways and how he creations should be cherished and loved.
The author of this poem is Samuel Taylor Coleridge. He is said to be the poet-critic of modern English tradition. He was very famous during the French Revolution period being a preacher and dissenting pamphleteer he influence many people to write. He had many accomplishments during his writing career. His work is said to be classical, refine, and some even say incomparable. He was known as the leader of the British Romantic movement.
The second poem I will be comparing is “Goblin Market”. It was written by Christina Rossetti. This is a poem is about a market place. There are goblins calling for people to buy their fruit. They have hundreds of different fruits including berries, melons, and fruits. The two sisters can hear this call from their home and try to ignore them. They have been told to pay no attention and not to look at them. One of the sisters (Laura) becomes curious and goes out to see what they are selling. Her sister (Lizzie) warns her not to go to them. She ignores and starts looking around their shop, and when they see her they approach her. The goblins offer Laura their fruit, but she does not have any money. The goblins take a piece of her hair for a fruit. Stuffing her face, she eats fruit one after another. Laura soon starts to waste away due to the fruit, and Lizzie goes out to find her. The goblins try to trick her like they did her sister but she does not go for it. They get and angry and start to get violent. The goblins then try to shove the fruit into her mouth but they can’t get her to open mouth and just get the juice all over her body. She then runs home where her sister begins to lick off the juice from her cheeks. The juice sends Laura into a deathlike state. Her sister doesn’t leave her side until she is well again. The story continues years later were the sisters are telling their kids about the experience. They explain that there is no better friend then a sister.
The author of this poem is Christina Rossetti. She is known as the greatest female poet of her era. Readers say that her work is less intelligent, political, and varied. However she demonstrate perfection of diction, form, and tones, and is best known for her ballads and mystic religious lyrics. Her poetry gives reader intense image