trish204's review
4.0
Romanticism was an artistic, literary, musical and intellectual movement that originated in Europe toward the end of the 18th century (with a peak in the period from 1800 to 1850). It was rooted in the German "Sturm und Drang" movement, but the events and ideologies of the French Revolution also factored in.
Romanticism followed the Age of Enlightenment and was an answer to the aristocratic social and political norms as well as the scientific rationalisation of nature of that period and the Industrial Revolution - in short: modernity. The pendulum always swings back after all. Interestingly, it had a significant and complex effect on politics, with romantic thinkers influencing liberalism, radicalism, conservatism and nationalism.
Themes of Romanticism were not only love itself but also intuition, emotion, individualism, a glorification of the past as well as nature.
There are a number of noteworthy romantic poets, some of them men, some women, but in the English language, there were six key figures: Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, John Keats, William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
The one (female) name worth mentioning from the English-speaking realm, but who is usually left out, is that of Mary Shelley - who (in my opinion) was much better than her "husband" who got a place in this book. Anyway, there were others, too, of course, but the names already mentioned are the big ones that most people nowadays have at least heard of before.
This book, then, collects many of these gentlemen's poems of that era, some well known, some not. Thus, we get great pieces of art such as The Tyger and Auguries of Innocence by Blake, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud or To a Butterfly by Wordsworth, Kubla Khan and The Knight's Tomb by Coleridge, She Walks in Beauty and Prometheus by Lord Byron, Prometheus Unbound (which is actually a lyrical drama in 4 acts) or Song of Apollo (sometimes also called Hymn of Apollo) by Shelley as well as On Seeing the Elgin Marbles and In Drear Nighted December/Stanzas by Keats.
The Word Cloud Classics or Canterbury Classics are a collection of the most famous classic literature from around the world (novels and poetry alike) and offer a great format with these colorful soft-top editions (it’s the one shelf where I have my books arranged according to color). The cover of this book, by the way, is of lavender color and the roses are in fact blood-red-to-dark-pink shiny/reflective foil. Usually not my thing at all but it seems fitting here (which is always the case for the Word Cloud Classics).
The way the poems are presented, one also gets an insight into the overall body of work of these poets (there is a reason some poems are world-famous while others have never been heard of). However, even taking the „bad“ ones into account, I’m once again reminded that any of these gentlemen (with the exception of Mr. Shelley, maybe) was indeed a master on his worst day even and the range of their work is staggering even though they are all set within the period’s theme.
So while I skimmed a lot of the poems I didn't connect with after a few lines, there was some great craftmanship in this.
While I’m still sad that whoever put this together only included English poets (other countries had great contributions to the Romantic period) and that they left out the one noteworthy female here, this is a nice way to offer readers a comprehensive overview of the period and what it stood for - and who stood for it.
Romanticism followed the Age of Enlightenment and was an answer to the aristocratic social and political norms as well as the scientific rationalisation of nature of that period and the Industrial Revolution - in short: modernity. The pendulum always swings back after all. Interestingly, it had a significant and complex effect on politics, with romantic thinkers influencing liberalism, radicalism, conservatism and nationalism.
Themes of Romanticism were not only love itself but also intuition, emotion, individualism, a glorification of the past as well as nature.
There are a number of noteworthy romantic poets, some of them men, some women, but in the English language, there were six key figures: Lord Byron, William Wordsworth, John Keats, William Blake, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and Percy Bysshe Shelley.
The one (female) name worth mentioning from the English-speaking realm, but who is usually left out, is that of Mary Shelley - who (in my opinion) was much better than her "husband" who got a place in this book. Anyway, there were others, too, of course, but the names already mentioned are the big ones that most people nowadays have at least heard of before.
This book, then, collects many of these gentlemen's poems of that era, some well known, some not. Thus, we get great pieces of art such as The Tyger and Auguries of Innocence by Blake, I Wandered Lonely As A Cloud or To a Butterfly by Wordsworth, Kubla Khan and The Knight's Tomb by Coleridge, She Walks in Beauty and Prometheus by Lord Byron, Prometheus Unbound (which is actually a lyrical drama in 4 acts) or Song of Apollo (sometimes also called Hymn of Apollo) by Shelley as well as On Seeing the Elgin Marbles and In Drear Nighted December/Stanzas by Keats.
The Word Cloud Classics or Canterbury Classics are a collection of the most famous classic literature from around the world (novels and poetry alike) and offer a great format with these colorful soft-top editions (it’s the one shelf where I have my books arranged according to color). The cover of this book, by the way, is of lavender color and the roses are in fact blood-red-to-dark-pink shiny/reflective foil. Usually not my thing at all but it seems fitting here (which is always the case for the Word Cloud Classics).
The way the poems are presented, one also gets an insight into the overall body of work of these poets (there is a reason some poems are world-famous while others have never been heard of). However, even taking the „bad“ ones into account, I’m once again reminded that any of these gentlemen (with the exception of Mr. Shelley, maybe) was indeed a master on his worst day even and the range of their work is staggering even though they are all set within the period’s theme.
So while I skimmed a lot of the poems I didn't connect with after a few lines, there was some great craftmanship in this.
While I’m still sad that whoever put this together only included English poets (other countries had great contributions to the Romantic period) and that they left out the one noteworthy female here, this is a nice way to offer readers a comprehensive overview of the period and what it stood for - and who stood for it.
jasmineholly's review against another edition
challenging
emotional
reflective
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? N/A
- Loveable characters? N/A
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
heeltje's review
slow-paced
2.5
De romanticus in mij werd met deze bundeling helaas niet erg geprikkeld.
hawthornm's review against another edition
3.0
Okay, I can't say I've read the entire book, but significant chunks of it.
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