Romanticism Exam

Exam 1: Romanticism

Short Answer

 2. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner - Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This particular quotation from the text is significant because it shows the workings and existence of the supernatural at play in the particular text of the Rime. Which is one of the factors that make it also be part of the Gothic Genre as well. It also shows the connection of nature, supernatural, and man. The polar spirit is asking the bird, "is this who killed you?" And the Albatross' spirit replies yes, but still the Albatross doesn't love the man any less despite having been struck to his death because of him. Which I'd always believed with that one line, "The spirit who bideth by himself/ In the land of mist and snow,/ He loved the bird who loved the man/ Who shot him with his bow" made the Albatross a Christ Figure in the context it implied that to me. This is just one of the works that has always been fascinating to me because you catch so much more the more you read it, but my mind still always comes back to the idea of the Albatross being a Christ Figure, but I might be reading too much into it.

3. Ode to the West Wind - Percy Bysshe Shelley. This work is a good example of the poets rooted in nature idea. The idea of taking the reality and turning it emotional. It also shows a parallel to the idea of music being the equivalent to romantic poetry. Also in the sense of the quotation, "make me thy lyre, even as the forest is" a lyre is a stringed instrument which parallels the idea of music and poetry being interlinked.

4. France: An Ode - Samuel Taylor Coleridge. This passage shows of the ending to the struggle of the narrator's emotions involving fighting. In the beginning it showed the despair involved in Britain having been in a battle with France which was seen as liberty during this time period. Continuing to when France has decided to strip itself of the title of liberty. The selected passage shows the end of the internal struggle of love of country vs love of what is perceived freedom. France was no longer the shining star in the darkness and it is the narrator who is finally able to be okay with fighting "Liberty". It speaks of having felt liberty, but it having been in vain.

5. Tintern Abbey - William Wordsworth. This quotation is romantic poetry at its best. It shows really being one with nature and finding emotional truth with nature. He is seeing what is physically there, but is also reminiscing about his past. The previous time he had visited the ruins and about life in general. There's a sense of self-discovery and spirituality in nature which this poem really hits on. It makes me miss my own "Tintern Abbey" in the sense of my place of emotional tranquility within nature. You can feel the healing power he experiences being at the ruins. 

6. The Rights of Woman - Anna Letitia Barbauld. The point that Barbauld was trying to make in her response to Wollstonecraft was that the separate rights aren't necessarily needed when you are married to someone that you love - the husband will take care of your rights, he will do what he can to make sure you have rights in that you will be happy and secure. So you don't have to go to formal school to be educated and gain individual rights you'll have rights through your husband. Barbauld didn't have formal education yet she formed a very educated rebuttal to Wollstonecraft's vindication. However, that is not to say that either woman could have understood the other's point of view. Historically it is understood that Barbauld had a good and happy marriage, her husband provided for her and took care of her. We also know that Wollstonecraft's husband was not of the same caliber. It's easy to see both of their points and both women meant well. They were in two different places.

7. A Vindication of the Right's of Woman - Mary Wollstonecraft. This quotation is commenting on the rights of women stating that if women are inferior to men they must be inferior in all ways it can't be picking and choosing. She's toying with the readers in the sense that if women are inferior, they must be inferior in virtue and if that is so, how can they be held to the same standard? But if, however, they are held to the same standards in virtue they must have a capacity to choose things. They must be morally responsible for their actions, and if they can choose and have that kind of rational capacity they must be the same as men - even if not the same degree of intellect. This was her way of saying that women don't have to be equal to men, but they could be better because men are responsible for women's rational capacity and therefore responsible for their improvement and betterment.