Come Up from the Fields Father By Walt Whitman Come up from the fields father, here’s a letter from our Pete, And come to the front door mother, here’s a letter from thy dear son. Lo, ’tis autumn, Lo, where the trees, deeper green, yellower and redder, Cool and sweetenContinue Reading
Walt Whitman (1819–1892) was a pioneering American poet whose work marked a decisive break from traditional forms and themes of poetry. Born in Long Island, New York, Whitman had a diverse early career as a printer, teacher, and journalist, which brought him close to the everyday experiences of ordinary people—somethingContinue Reading
Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822) was one of the major English Romantic poets, renowned for his lyrical beauty, radical political ideas, and imaginative power. Born into an aristocratic family in Sussex, England, Shelley was educated at Eton and Oxford, from which he was expelled for publishing a pamphlet titled The NecessityContinue Reading
A lyric poetry is a short poem, usually divided into stanzas and directly expressing in melodious language the thoughts, emotions and feelings of the poet himself. Originally, the Lyric meant a song which was to be sung in accompaniment with a Lyre or Harp. The original sense of the lyricContinue Reading
In the poem ‘To a Skylark’ Shelley addresses a skylark that soars up at a great height and sings so sweetly that the world is enchanted and bewitched by its sweetness. The skylark symbolizes many things. The skylark is Shelley’s greatest natural metaphor for pure poetic expression, the “harmonious madness”Continue Reading
The central thematic concerns of Shelley’s poetry are largely the same themes that defined Romanticism, especially among the younger English poets of Shelley’s era: beauty, the passions, nature, political liberty, creativity, and the sanctity of the imagination. What makes Shelley’s treatment of these themes unique is his philosophical relationship toContinue Reading
Percy Bysshe Shelley was an English Romantic poet who rebelled against conservative politics and values. He drew no essential distinction between poetry and politics, and his work reflected the radical ideas and revolutionary optimism of the era. In spite of the failure of the French Revolution, unlike Wordsworth or Coleridge,Continue Reading
“Ode to the West Wind” is a fine example of Shelley’s mytho-poetic imagination at work. The west wind is a spirit, as is the skylark. It possesses great powers and for this very reason Shelley can pray to it for what he feels he is deeply in need of. ShelleyContinue Reading
Adrienne Rich (1929–2012) was an influential American poet, essayist, and feminist theorist whose work profoundly shaped 20th-century literature and social thought. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, she was a precocious student and published her first collection, A Change of World (1951), while still in college. Initially praised for her formal style,Continue Reading
Aunt Jennifer’s Tigers Aunt Jennifer’s tigers prance across a screen,Bright topaz denizens of a world of green. They do not fear the men beneath the tree;They pace in sleek chivalric certainty. Aunt Jennifer’s finger fluttering through her woolFind even the ivory needle hard to pull.The massive weight of Uncle’s wedding bandSits heavilyContinue Reading
