Imagery in Romantic Poetry

Analytical Essay # 146952

Literature > English
Literature > Poetry

An analysis of four poems from the Romantic era in terms of their use of imagery.

812 words () | 2 sources | MLA | 2010 | Bangladesh

Published on: Jan 30, 2011

Paper Summary:

The paper examines four Romantic poems, Byron's "She Walks in Beauty", Keats' "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer", Shelley's "Ozymandias" and Wordsworth's "I wandered lonely as a cloud". Following a short introduction in which the definition and purpose of imagery is presented, each poem is closely analyzed to extract its most striking and meaningful use of imagery. In each case, the paper explains how the imagery contributes to the overall theme, effect or meaning.

From the Paper:

"Byron's poem "She Walks in Beauty" is written in the vein of Romanticism, and therefore it relies mostly on imagery. Romanticism was an effort to idealize nature, and to express feelings in the most natural way. The poet depicts a young woman walking, and the beauty in every aspect of her is expressed as ideal, and in gushing terms. For this purpose, a series of exquisite images are evoked. For example, in the first two lines we have the description of "the night / Of cloudless climes and starry skies" (Kinsella et al 718). It is the glittering beauty of the night sky, without clouds to obstruct the view, that the poet wants to compare the beauty of the woman with. This imagery is important, because in the next two lines we are drawn to the eyes of the girl, which are said to be "dark and bright" like the clear night sky: "And all that's best of dark and bright / Meet in her aspect and her eyes" (Ibid)."

Sample of Sources Used:

Kinsella, Kim; Feldman, Kevin; Stump, Colleen Shea; Carroll, Joyce Armstrong; Wilson, Edward E. (Eds.) Prentice Hall Literature: The British Tradition Timeless Voices Timeless Themes. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall School Group, 2004.
Smith, Phillip. 100 best-loved poems. New York: Courier Dover Publications, 1995.