The Mythical and Spiritual

Throughout this course we have focused on the Romantic era writers such as Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, and Southey to name a few. Each of these writers composed poems that involve heavy spiritual and/or mythical subjects. Through the use of spirituality the writers are able to convey the deeper meaning behind ordinary experiences and subjects. In this way poems become a commentary on the lives of the individual. While some of the poems focus on religious beliefs, others on mythical stories, most of them involve a little bit of both.

William Wordsworth uses the spirituality within oneself to describe his experience in his poem “Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey”. In the poem Wordsworth refers to our bodies as a “corporeal frame” (Wordsworth 44) and that underneath that frame is a soul which is alive and finds joy in the natural world. In lines thirty eight through forty one Wordsworth refers to the sublime nature that is underneath the world that we can see and physically touch around us. This connects the feelings in the poem of being one with nature, to the innermost soul and sublime aspect living within each person. Michelle states in her post about Wordsworth “he speaks to it as if it is his friend or deity”, referring to the Abbey. For Wordsworth, Tintern Abbey is a connection to the spiritual not only because it is a religious house but also because it represents something more than physical. The image above is of Tintern Abbey. For me the way the light is coming through the columns gives the abbey a sublime feel. The grass looks green and soft and it just seems like a place someone would choose to sit and contemplate the way Wordsworth did. According to Brian Barbour, the time period during which “Tintern Abbey” was composed was a period of “declining Christianity and ascendant Enlightenment” (Barbour 151) leading to the religious tones within the poem. Although, also according to Barbour, Wordsworth was not exactly a Christian in the true sense. (Barbour 150) However, whether or not Wordsworth was taking a stand for a specific form of Christianity, the subject is easily tied in with Protestantism as Jon states in his post that “it sounds a lot like the Protestant emphasis on a personal relationship with Christ.” Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” is full of spiritual elements, but his poem “The Thorn” has less to do with spirituality and more to do with myth.

“The Thorn” by Wordsworth is about a woman named Martha Ray who had a tragic life once she was jilted by her lover. There is a grassy hill with a very old thorn tree nearby, which Martha Ray sits by and wails out “Oh Misery! oh misery!”(Wordsworth). Martha Ray was once with child but no one knows what happened to the baby who was never seen. Wordsworth specifically states that the mossy hill is the perfect size for a baby’s grave. It is then made clear that some mythical element is at play. In my blog post on the poem I felt that Martha Ray must have killed her child and buried it under the moss. It seems as though she was then cursed to return to the grave everyday to repent for her evil doing. Desdemona Cranshaw also posted that there could be some evil element drawing Martha Ray back to the spot of the baby’s grave. The idea of Martha Ray being cursed to return to the thorn ties the poem into spirituality since it is clear that her act has condemned her. Similarly to “Tintern Abbey” sin is something that will be punished. Whatever the case may be, there is the myth of Martha Ray known to the narrator and other people of the town.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge composed “The Rime of the Ancient Mariner” in the 19^th century, also during the period of the Romantic Movement. In the “Rime of the Ancient Mariner” an old mariner comes upon a young man during a wedding and decides to relate his tale of woe. The tale that the mariner tells is full of spirits, the dead, a curse, and redemption for the soul. As Dr. Porter discussed in class, Coleridge was making a social commentary on slavery, but what was also brought up in the same class were the religious tones to the poem. The albatross represents what is good about mankind. In canto fifteen, Coleridge relates the albatross to “a Christian soul” which the crew “hailed it in God’s name” (Coleridge) since it delivered their redemption from the ice. However, the mariner feeling that the bird is to blame for the bad weather shoots the albatross out of the sky. The death of the albatross is what curses the crew and the mariner to a fate of death and decay. In the poem there are calls of “oh Christ” as in canto twenty nine and mentions of the soul and specifically references to God. The curse upon the mariner is done in penance to the Lord for slaying one of his creatures. The image above shows the mariner after he has slain the albatross. This picture is a great illustration of the mariner having to carry his heavy burden as penance for his crime. Similar to Wordsworth, Coleridge uses the connection of nature to express the spiritual and religious relationship between the soul and the physical universe. Unlike Wordsworth, Coleridge uses the mythical elements of evil spirits, curses, and slimy dead bodies, to illustrate the dangers of going against the spiritual element of life. Homer Brown states in his article that the mariner’s unmotivated killing of the albatross is used by Coleridge as a “representation of original sin” ( Brown 241) therefore explaining why he is cursed for eternity. The mariner must pay for his original sin by doing penance (which is mentioned in the poem in Part III) the same way all of mankind is punished for sin and must have redemption before entering Heaven.

Thalaba the Destroyer by Robert Southey also incorporates both spirituality and myth. During a class discussion on Southey it was related that he was a bit of a zealot about different religions and their belief systems. For this reason Southey wrote poems about the many religions of his day under the guise of epics. Thalaba is a story about a young boy on a quest who is struggling with his spirituality. Religion comes into the poem at the very beginning with the exclamation of Zeinab, “The Lord our God is good!” (Southey 4) which is then repelled by the boy who feels bitter towards God for not protecting his family. This is a reoccurring discussion between characters since you have the one who believes without a doubt, and Thalaba who is not sure. Jon commented in his post that Southey “very much thought religion played a unique role in the human experience” and that Southey was able to use supernatural elements to highlight the religious tones. DLacey said in her post that she liked there being a moral lesson in the poem. For many of the critics especially Francis Jeffrey, the poem was considered to have “no one character of excellence” (Jeffrey) because of its style and message.

John Keats was the ideal Romantic poet. He wrote poems about love, whether the subject was a woman or an urn. In his poem “Ode to a Grecian Urn” Keats uses spirituality as a beautiful way to realize ones mortality. M. states in her blog that Keats describes “the better qualities of immortality” by highlighting the lovers and how they will never be parted. The deep emotion behind the appreciation for something that will never change is what connects the physical form of the urn to the spirit of the viewer. The Urn is able to lift up the soul of Keats through its promise of unchanging beauty.

This class proved to be a difficult one mostly for the deeper meanings hidden behind each poem. As a class and with the use of the blog, we were able to dissect what we believed to be the true intent behind the author. There were many themes explored including that of nature, the hero, and historical culture, but spirituality and myth seemed to show up in every poem. This is probably because our spirits are affected by everything around us and therefore play a large role in what is important. Keats, Southey, Wordsworth, and Coleridge all understood the importance of spirituality whether religion based or simply through connection to the natural world. Coleridge and Wordsworth also emphasize myth in their poems and how a myth is tied into the spirit through beliefs. Each poem is filled with much more than just pretty rhymes and words.

Works Cited

"The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173253

"Ode On a Grecian Urn" by John Keats

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/173742

"Thalaba the Destroyer" by Robert Southey

http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/world/readfile?fk_files=2592472&pageno=9

"Lines Written a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey" by William Wordsworth

http://www.rc.umd.edu/rchs/reader/tabbey.html

"The Thorn" by William Wordsworth

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poem/237810

Barbour, Brian, ""Between Two Worlds" The Structure of the Argument in "Tintern Abbey""

Nineteenth-Century Literature, Vol. 48, No. 2, 1993, pp. 147-168

Brown, Homer Obed, "The Art of Theology and the Theology of Art: Robert Penn Warren's Reading of Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner", boundary 2, Vol. 8, No. 1, 1979, pp. 237-260

Jeffrey, Francis

http://spenserians.cath.vt.edu/CommentRecord.php?action=GET&cmmtid=12022

Images

Tintern Abbey

http://marasuic.blogs.uv.es/files/2010/11/tintern-abbey.jpg

The Mariner and Albatross

http://www.abac.peachnet.edu/robinson/engl%202122/Mariner%20with%20albatross.jpg

Byron Loves History

The Bride of Abydos is a very interesting read because I love the way in which Byron uses history to tell a tale. Abydos was an important ancient city in Egypt and is the setting of the poem sometime during the period of Turkish rule (7th century to the 19th century). Throughout the poem Byron uses many small jabs at Christians and Arabs to establish the relationships between the Turks and their contemporaries. I thought that the story was interesting and seemed similar to the fairy tales told in the West considering it involved a beautiful young women who is being forced to marry a stranger by her strict father. However, a young stranger who had been impersonating her brother makes a plan to save her. The ending was not what I was expecting since it ended on a rather depressing note with the death of Selim. I did enjoy the numerous footnotes because most of them gave some historical background on certain events and people that Byron interjected into the poem. Also, here is a picture of the location of Abydos.

Wordy Wordsworth

In my opinion Wordsworth spent far too much time trying to explain his poetry. A paragraph or two would have sufficed quite nicely. However, with that being said, I do feel as though I have a better grasp of what Wordsworth was trying to accomplish by writing his poems. I found it very interesting that he said his poems do indeed have a specific purpose and that the subject is "indeed important!", exclamation mark included. The Preface helps the reader to understand what Wordsworth considered the most important aspects of poetry. He mentions several times that the language of his poems differs from the language of most other poems. By pointing this out, Wordsworth is trying to push the reader to view his poetry differently than the way they read many other works.

A Little Bit Gothic

I read "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" when I was a senior in high school. I loved it then and I still love it now. Although it is very long and some of the vocabulary is difficult, the overall tale is intriguing and fun. I love the element of horror involving the dead crew, a cursed sea, a female spirit and mythical creatures. I also think Coleridge made the tale more interesting by splitting it into the present of the mariner relating his story, and the actual event. I have never tried to analyze the poem for political, religious, or cultural undertones mainly because unless I am writing a paper on my subject, I prefer to simply enjoy it. Therefore I really do not see any political statement throughout the poem and I am interested in Dr. Porter's statement from Tuesdays class.

Wordsworth's poetry was enjoyable, especially "The Thorn". Once the mound of grassy moss was compared to the size of a baby's grave I knew that the poem would have some type of supernatural element. Sure enough a woman is described as having lost her baby and most people believe it to be buried under the mound. I felt sorry for the woman but I did not know if I should considering she may have killed her own child. Nature played a large part in the poem with the many descriptions of the thorn, the mound, and the lake. Each element of nature tied back into the possible death of the baby and the misery of the woman. I thought the connection between nature and the personal was well done by Wordsworth.

Scott and Minstrelsy Presentation by Nicole and Laura

-->Here's the presentation: http://prezi.com/qpnyuhj1jjao/sir-walter-scott-the-minstrelsy-of-the-scottish-border/

Sir Walter Scott

• Sir Walter Scott was born on August 15^th, 1771 in Edinburgh, Scotland.
• Father was Walter Scott a solicitor. Mother was Anne Rutherford. Both parents could trace lineage back to border clans. On Anne’s mother’s side the family line can be traced back to the Earls of Douglas who are mentioned in The Minstrelsy.
• Ninth child. Six died.
• Scott was lame in his right leg after contracting polio but grew over six feet tall and was said to have wonderful endurance.
• Grandmother and Aunt fostered Scott’s love for ballads in Sandyknowe.
• Attended Edinburgh high school and Edinburgh University where he studied the arts and law.
• After being called to the bar, in 1799 he became Sheriff Depute of Selkirk County.
• Married Charlotte Carpenter on Christmas Eve, 1797. They had five children.
• He started a printing/publishing company with his friend James Ballantyne. When the company crashed Scott accepted all of the debts.
• Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border was his first major work and was published in 1802. It is a collection of ballads and folklore which he edited and according to some people changed a little. He argued that poetry is meant to be fluid.
• Scott gained much fame from The Lay of the Last Minstrel in 1805. Other works include Marmion, a historical romance in tetrameter in 1808. The Lady in the Lake in 1810.
• He began writing novels which include Ivanhoe(1819) Waverly(1814) and Guy Mannering(1815)
• Wrote The Life of Napoleon 1827 and it was nine volumes.
• He died in England on September 21^st, 1832 and is buried at Dryburgh Abbey.

Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border
-->

• The Minstrelsy of the Scottish Border was very popular and had five editions in just nine years. Translated into German, Danish, Swedish, and published in North America.
• There were forty-three new ballads added to the last edition.
• Twenty-nine historical pieces and twenty-four romantic ballads included in Minstrelsy by the second edition.
• Critics were favorable to Minstrelsy. The Monthly Review did not react favorably but still complimented Scott on his style.
• Quote by friend and publisher Ballantyne “I shall ever think the printing the Scottish Minstrelsy one of the most fortunate circumstances of my life.”

Tales of Woe

I enjoyed Lewis a lot. Gothic literature is probably my favorite and I am a huge fan of Poe. Lewis' poems are definitely different than Poe's poems but they both have that gothic element. "Bathwell's Bonny Jane" was my favorite because I enjoyed the sadness at the end of the poem. I find it interesting that the castle mentioned as the setting belonged to the Douglas family, as they seem to pop up everywhere lately. I agree that the poems do have that damsel in distress element but I think that was a large part of the "knights and their ladies" type of stories.

Love for the Last Minstrel

I love The Lay of the Last Minstrel! Epic poems are much more enjoyable for me mainly because I can see the overall story that is being told. The poem reminds me of The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Coleridge because both are epic poems that use folklore as a main theme. It also reminded me of the many tales of King Arthur and his knights because of the chivalry and the problems dealing with love and war. There are many Middle English words used throughout the narrative which require a dictionary but I did not find this to mess up the overall flow of the poem. One thing I found particularly interesting is the use of St. Michael and St. Michael's Night. There was an Order of St. Michael in the 15th Century that was a French chivalric order. However, I am not sure if these two concepts are related.

Keats' Love of the Urn

Keats' poems seem different from the ones read thus far. I really liked how the second sonnet, "On Seeing the Elgin Marbles", was full of emotion. This was mainly because of the use of words such as "mortality", "god-like", "weep" and "die".

Keats' "Ode on a Grecian Urn" is one my favorite poems I have read while in this class. I love how Keats gives life to the scene on the urn by creating characters and settings from the 2D images. Keats seems to really envy the beauty in a moment that will never change whether in regard to lovers, a beautiful day, or the process of aging. This urn may be old but the scene depicted upon it will always remain the same. The sunny day will never become rainy, the lovers will never grow old or fall out of love. The very last line of the poem impacted me the most because of the emotional feeling it conveyed. Keats seems to have a firm grasp on what beauty truly means.

What is Smith talking about?

I really enjoyed Smith's sonnets. However, the poem "To the Fire-fly of Jamaica, seen in a collection" has me quite baffled because I honestly have no idea what Smith is talking about. Upon further research about this poem I discovered that Smith is talking about an insect preserved in a glass frame. After rereading the poem with this in mind I still do not fully grasp what Smith is saying. Only a few lines of the poem seem to pertain to an insect and the rest sound more descriptive of nature in a general sense. Admittedly, poetry is not something I favor in the sense that trying to understand the meaning behind the verse is occasionally hard for me. Overall, this poem was not very enjoyable.

In contrast, Smith's poem "Beachy Head" was not only pretty, but also created a deeper feeling. I could feel the emotion behind the descriptions of the shore, the waves, and the ocean. The feel of this poem seemed more melancholy, similar to Smith's sonnets.

Badgers and Birds and Clare, oh my!

First off, I agree with Marinna concerning the style of the poem being easier to understand. Clare's language and rhyme scheme are much simpler than those of Bowles and Wordsworth. I was able to breeze right through each poem and did not feel as though there was a lot of emotional depth intended. The poem The Badger is probably the most emotional in my opinion considering I felt horrible for the way in which the badger was killed. Clare seems to be quite fond of nature, similar to Gilpin, except on a more superficial level. Clare's poetry also resembles the other poets because in the first poem Reccolections after a Ramble, the narrator speaks fondly of years past. Stanzas twenty-eight and twenty-nine are perfect examples of "reccolections" on the past with the lines "Some wi many an anxious pain Childish wishes did pursue" and "Then I stood to pause again Retrospection sighd and smild". This looking back on emotions of the past stuck out in my mind as the deepest aspect of Clare's poem. As for the bird poems, I think that all three seemed too similar to enjoy reading more than one in a sitting.

The Beauty in Nature

Wordsworth has a way of describing nature that makes me feel as though I should immediatley walk outside and find something beautiful. Unlike Gilpin's Observations on the River Wye, Wordsworth describes beauty and the way the scenery stirs his emotions. For me, Wordsworth is much more enjoyable to read, and I feel like the second stanza is very relatable to anyone who enjoys nature and being able to walk away from the hustle and bustle of city/town life. Wordsworth also understands how powerful memories are with helping people cope.  

The Loves of the Plants

Despite the lengthy footnotes, I really like this poem. The way Darwin personifies each individual plant is beautiful and I found myself picturing each plant as though it were a person with deep emotions. Ironically, this is one of the best love poems I have read, not only based on the love between the plants but also Darwin's love for them. I can only imagine how inspired Darwin felt each time he looked at his plant collection in order to give them such depth.

I admit that I never gave much thought to the differences between the poet Darwin and the scientist Darwin until I read Hanna's post. I read back through the preface (I may have skimmed originally) and became even more impressed with Darwin's ability to have a scientific viewpoint and an artistic one.

Now, about the footnotes, they were very helpful and I appreciated being able to use the artistic descriptions given in order to match the plant with it's scientific qualities.