Comparison and contrast - wordsworth vs coleridge
Uploaded by lalaland on Nov 08, 2002
Lines Written in Early Spring – William Wordsworth
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Part 4) – Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Early 19th Century witnessed the dawning of a new era of poets known as the Romantics. With leaders such as Jean Jacques Rousseau, William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, the world of poetry was now bursting with what these poets considered as ‘real emotions’. Their idea of poetry, in contrast to the previous neo-classic poets’, allowed for the free flow of sentiment, encouraging a response from the soul, not the brain. In their poems, the poets were able to create vivid images using simple middle class language, with tasteful descriptions. Two very famous poems written during this time -period are Lines Written in Early Spring by William Wordsworth, and The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Both poems, arising from the same time-period are similar in the manner with which the poets have composed them, but highly contrast each other with respect to the subject matter, the form of poetic diction that is used, the mood built up and the images and symbols that are used.
The Romantics did not constrict themselves to themes that the elitists conferred, but explored the lives of the middle to lower class people, and opened their eyes to the nature that was living around them. The poem lines Written in Early Spring expresses one person’s experience as he sits in an orchard, in the midst of nature. He then begins to reflect on this sight, and ponders over a few of his thoughts. The Rime of the Ancient Mariner however, illustrates the voyage of a sailor out at sea. As he relates it to a wedding guest, he describes how his boat gets lost astray in a fog, with the crew’s only guidance being an albatross that leads them out of their perils. The seaman then goes on to explain how in spite of the bird’s service to the crew, he shoots the albatross, ending its life. This however does not improve their situation, for the wind has died out, and they are once again hopelessly lost. The fourth section of the poem portrays the mariner, on the verge of death, as he slowly begins to feel a small hope of light.
Poets of the Romantic period worked endlessly at creating a certain mood, or atmosphere that lingered through the poem. While lines...