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3.7 AVERAGE
3.7 AVERAGE
challenging
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
challenging
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
did some compulsory reading in prep for #napowrimo this year because, why not? some favourites from the collection are:
- the rime of the ancient mariner
- we are seven
- the nightingale, a conversational poem
- lines left upon a seat in a yew tree
- anecdote from fathers
also, fun fact, though coleridge and wordsworth both collaborated on the collection, coleridge contributed significantly lesser than the other, leading a fight between the two!
- the rime of the ancient mariner
- we are seven
- the nightingale, a conversational poem
- lines left upon a seat in a yew tree
- anecdote from fathers
also, fun fact, though coleridge and wordsworth both collaborated on the collection, coleridge contributed significantly lesser than the other, leading a fight between the two!
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
fast-paced
It is the first mild day of March;
Each minute sweeter than before,
The red-breast sings from the tall larch
That stands beside our door.
There is a blessing in the air,
Which seems a sense of joy to yield
To the bare trees, and mountains bare.
And grass in the green field.
...
One moment now may give us more
Than fifty years of reason;
Our minds shall drink at every pore
The spirit of the season.
Some silent laws our hearts may make.
Which they shall long obey;
We for the year to come may take
Our temper from to-day.
The title of the collection is certainly a bit of a misdirect since I would actually describe the poems here as some of the least lyrical ballads I've ever read but I don't mean that in a bad way. The rhyme structure, both internal and external, is more reminiscent of everyday conversation and since Wordsworth's goal as stated in the preface was to balance both the reader and the poet on the same plane, I'd say the lack of "lyricism" wasn't a negative even if it isn't my favorite. The poems that stood out -and seemed to be written specifically for the romantic pisces in me- was,
The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere
Lines written at a small distance from my house
Lines written near Richmond upon the Thames at Evening
Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey
Each minute sweeter than before,
The red-breast sings from the tall larch
That stands beside our door.
There is a blessing in the air,
Which seems a sense of joy to yield
To the bare trees, and mountains bare.
And grass in the green field.
...
One moment now may give us more
Than fifty years of reason;
Our minds shall drink at every pore
The spirit of the season.
Some silent laws our hearts may make.
Which they shall long obey;
We for the year to come may take
Our temper from to-day.
The title of the collection is certainly a bit of a misdirect since I would actually describe the poems here as some of the least lyrical ballads I've ever read but I don't mean that in a bad way. The rhyme structure, both internal and external, is more reminiscent of everyday conversation and since Wordsworth's goal as stated in the preface was to balance both the reader and the poet on the same plane, I'd say the lack of "lyricism" wasn't a negative even if it isn't my favorite. The poems that stood out -and seemed to be written specifically for the romantic pisces in me- was,
The Rime of the Ancyent Marinere
Lines written at a small distance from my house
Lines written near Richmond upon the Thames at Evening
Lines written a few miles above Tintern Abbey
I actually really enjoyed this poems more than I thought I would. Especially Tintern Abbey (a beautiful poem).
Romanticism isn't really my favourite area of poetry, but this definitely makes me want to explore more of Wordsworth's work!
Romanticism isn't really my favourite area of poetry, but this definitely makes me want to explore more of Wordsworth's work!
I had to read this for uni, else I wouldn't have. If you knew nothing of Wordsworth and were to be presented with his works I defy anyone to imagine him as anything other than a dreary entitled middle aged man.
A hard one to rate, because on one level I completely get what a revolutionary text this is in the development of poetic form and I admire it for that. However, I just can't get that excited about much of the poetry here, which (especially Wordsworth's) does tend to feel rather clunky to the modern reader. This is particularly evident in some of his pretty terrible rhymes. For instance; of the pond in 'The Thorn' Wordsworth tells us...
"I’ve measured it from side to side:
’Tis three feet long, and two feet wide."
I mean - come on! I understand that the narrator here is supposed to be an uptight rationalist, but even so.
For all that, it's hard to knock Wordsworth's central philosophical standpoint - that we need to recognise the distorted technological world we have created and reconnect to nature, imagination and emotion. Given the problems our planet and society currently face you can't help feeling he knew what he was talking about.
So, as an academically interesting and culturally earth-shattering text that attempted to democratise literary poetry after the cultural elitism of the Augustans, this gets a five star rating. As poetry that can be read without a stifled smirk it gets one star for me. Also watch out for some values that are pretty offensive if you don't keep a VERY sharp focus on the text's cultural context - one poem here is titled 'The Idiot Boy'!
"I’ve measured it from side to side:
’Tis three feet long, and two feet wide."
I mean - come on! I understand that the narrator here is supposed to be an uptight rationalist, but even so.
For all that, it's hard to knock Wordsworth's central philosophical standpoint - that we need to recognise the distorted technological world we have created and reconnect to nature, imagination and emotion. Given the problems our planet and society currently face you can't help feeling he knew what he was talking about.
So, as an academically interesting and culturally earth-shattering text that attempted to democratise literary poetry after the cultural elitism of the Augustans, this gets a five star rating. As poetry that can be read without a stifled smirk it gets one star for me. Also watch out for some values that are pretty offensive if you don't keep a VERY sharp focus on the text's cultural context - one poem here is titled 'The Idiot Boy'!
challenging
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
N/A
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
the poems are beautifully descriptive, albeit hard to read sometimes given that they were written in 1700’s english. some of them need to be read more than once to be understood.
This is a pure pleasure read. How could anyone not love Wordsworth or Coleridge, especially together? This work will never go out of style.
challenging
emotional
hopeful
reflective
slow-paced
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated