The second generation of Romantic poets were marked by a shift towards exploration and a larger emphasis in imagination. The most notable second generation poets are John Keats (1795-1821), Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792-1822), and Lord Byron (1788-1824). These men are famous for their poetry, and just as famous for all dying before the age of forty: Keats at 25, Shelley at 30, and Lord Byron at 36. Although Byron was typically left out, the second generation writers were generally characterized as the “Cockney School” for being associated with Leigh Hunt, having much more liberal ideas, and reforming the poetic style even further. They produced immense numbers of intellectual works before their early deaths. The works of the second generation often took interest in Gothic and Medieval art, and nature. During this time, the ballad was reintroduced and popularized.
Shelley
Shelley is known for his considerable and thoughtful content pertaining to philosophy, science, mythology, religion, and politics. His works attempt to describe the places and things that are beyond description or do not have the works to satisfactory describe them: space, time, heigh, and depth. Like Wordsworth and Keats, Shelley’s work engages the poet, the reader, and the subjection in an interaction they require each other to make the scene and meaning come out. A lot of his work was inspired by Plato. Some of his notable works include “Queen Mab” (1813) and the plays The Cenci (1819) and Prometheus Unbound (1820). Shelley wrote alongside his wife, Mary Shelley, who wrote the infamous Frankenstein (1818). Mary edited and promoted Shelley’s work.
jfjfjf
hjfj
fhfh
gjgjkgkjb
nnn
off
Byron
Lord Byron was known for using satire in his work and inserting his individuality. Aside from his poetry, Byron is renowned for living a promiscuous life, having had many affairs, many illegitimate children, and large debts. During his life, Byron embarked on the Grand Tour, where he traveled around Europe, mostly around the Mediterranean area to avoid the areas impacted by the French Revolution. He still saw the effects of the war and many hardships when he personally fought in the Greek War of Independence. After seeing difficult things, Byron began questioning the values of safety and prudence. Byron’s greatest contribution to Romanticism, and poetry is his culmination of the “Byronic Hero”. This is an extreme variation of the Romantic hero. The hero is characterized by cynicism, arrogance, disrespect for authority, emotional moodiness, past trauma, intelligence, self-destructive impulses, and sexual attractiveness. The Byronic Hero is thought to be derived directly from Byron’s own experiences, and Childe Harold, the protagonist of the epic Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage, is an archetype of Byron. Scholars say Byron was the first Byronic hero. The Byronic Hero had a significant influence on later literature, even today. Some examples include Captain Jack Sparrow (Pirates of the Caribbean), Severus Snape (Harry Potter series), Mr. Rochester (Jane Eyre), and Heathcliff (Wuthering Heights). Despite Byron’s contribution to literature and being classified in the same generation as John Keats, the two poets did not get along.
fjfjf
Byron vs. Keats
There was certainly an unspoken rivalry between Keats and Byron. First, Byron grew up noble and with privileges, whereas Keats grew up poor and had limited opportunities. Byron’s background gave him access to the elite circle of English society, widening his audience. Keats faced great criticism instead, and his audience was narrower as a result. Byron viewed himself more superior because he had done more traveling to inspire his work in comparison to Keats. Even more, their styles were opposite of one another, and they valued different works that preceded their own. Despite being labeled as a Romantic poet and contributing to Romanticism with his Byronic Hero, Byron was enthralled with Augustan poets, particularly Alexander Pope. Keats attacked Pope in his poem “Sleep and Poetry” (1816), for his aristocratic ideals. Between this poem and Keats’s associated with the Cockney school, who also detested Pope, Byron had little respect for Keats. There was some sort of mutual respect for each other’s works, but Byron generally despised Keats’s aesthetic and style. Byron once accused Keats of “mental masturbation – he is always f-gg-g his Imagination.” He attacked Keats for a “lack” of vulgarity or restraint, particularly with imagination. In comparison, Keats thought his peer’s work was overrated and unoriginal. Despite these differences in style, each poet made their literary contributions and are celebrated as Romantics today.
ffj
Keats
Keats gave up a promising medical career to write poetry. He is deemed the poet of the senses, and his verses captures the “feel” of places and things. His work was affected by other poetry and paintings, and today his work is associated with many visual references and connections. Keats studied other poets and classical legends to write his poems, elevating his work. Likewise, his poems are noted for celebrating the pleasures of freedom and delight and are not concerned with dark things like death and poverty like many of the other Romantic poets. During his time, he varied the style and aesthetic of writing, affecting poetry and literature, and we still see these effects today. To learn more about him, visit the “About Keats” page in this collection.
hfhfh
vhf
Resources
Cheatham, George. “Byron’s Dislike of Keats’s Poetry.” Keats-Shelley Journal, vol. 32, 1983, pp. 20–25. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/30210191. Accessed 30 Apr. 2021.
Hanson, Marilee. “Lord Byron & John Keats Rivalry & Dislike Summary” <a href=”https://englishhistory.net/keats/lord-byron-john-keats-rivalry/”>https://englishhistory.net/keats/lord-byron-john-keats-rivalry/</a>, February 6, 2015.
Kelvin Everest, Shelley’s Adonais and John Keats, Essays in Criticism, Volume 57, Issue 3, JULY 2007, Pages 237–264, https://doi-org.colorado.idm.oclc.org/10.1093/escrit/cgm013.
Watson, J.R. (1992). English Poetry of the Romantic Period 1789-1830 (2nd ed.). Routledge. https://doi-org.colorado.idm.oclc.org/10.4324/9781315844831.
Stafford, Fiona. Reading Romantic Poetry, John Wiley & Sons, Incorporated, 2012. ProQuest Ebook Central, https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ucb/detail.action?docID=871504.