The attitude Byron expresses towards nature in his poems differs from that of the other Romantic poets we are reading. Consider “Darkness.” What does his view of nature appear to be in this poem? How is it different from Wordsworth’s? From Coleridge’s?
Byron’s letters are a treasure trove. First, they are entertaining: clever, bawdy, filled with gossip and caustic wit. One gets a sense of how entertaining being Byron’s friend must have been, and how unpleasant it could be to have him as an enemy. But in the midst of all of the acid quips and practical queries, Byron also reveals — sometimes subtly, sometimes directly — his thoughts about his work, his life, and the relationhip between them. Explore this topic through his letter to Douglas Kinnaird.
Percy Bysshe Shelley and Horace Smith wrote their poems about the statue of Rameses the Great for consecutive issues of the same magazine (it was sort of a friendly competition), both under pseudonyms. Shelley is remembered as a great poet; Smith is barely remembered at all. “Ozymandias” is widely anthologized and read; “On a Stupendous Leg of Granite, Discovered Standing by Itself in the Deserts of Egypt, with the Inscription Inserted Below” is not. Can you see any reason history has been kinder to Shelley’s poem than Smith’s?
While Wordsworth was a powerful influence on Shelley, he goes further than the older poet. As Shelley once said, “I go until I am stopped, and I am never stopped.” Consider “Ode to the West Wind” in relation to the Wordsworth poems you read. In what way does it present a theme similar to Wordsworth’s? In what ways does it go further?