World University of Bangladesh

ROMANTIC LITERATURE
(ENG 402)

Term Paper
Submitted by:
Tashfeen Ahmed
Roll # 1425
Batch: 46/A
(Department of English)

Submitted to:
Miss. Sarah Tabassum
 Section – A
Critical Analysis and themes of the poem
“To A Skylark”

“The ode o a skylark” by Shelley is one of the most famous poems in the English
language. Shelley in this ode captures the carefree nature of a bird the skylark. The
speaker depicts the distinguishing characteristic of a skylark as beautiful and
happy.
The poet here is the poem tries to make contrast the sorrow of human life with the
joy of the skylark. The speaker’s attitude and relationship toward the bird is one of
the praise or worship. Rhetorical or literary terms and mechanics such as
metaphors, diction, imagery and tone which are all used to create these effects.
To A Skylark is Shelley's romantic ode to a small songbird he believed embodied
joy and happiness. The skylark's song surpasses all music; it is a divine expression,
an ideal beyond the reach of humans, who know happiness only through sadness.
The poem is sparked by inspiration, fueled by aspiration and carries a
philosophical insight.

 For Shelley the skylark is a divine entity, something more than flesh, blood
and feather. It is a symbol of spiritual upliftment and represents all that humans
strive for but can never attain freedom from the stresses and pain of mortal life.
 Throughout the 21 stanzas the poet explores this realm of spirituality,
comparing the bird with numerous things: a cloud of fire, a star of Heaven, a rose
and so on.
 The idea that the bird and its song transcend the limits of earthly existence
and that the bird has an inner knowledge potentially available to humanity is
fundamental to the poem and creates a subtle tension.

To A Skylark explores the tension that exists between the perfected

'unpremeditated art' and the attempts by the poet to understand and capture.
From the initial observation and perception, through the various comparisons and
questions, the speaker finally concludes that humans are lacking and inadequate. If
only the bird would share its knowledge, if only humans could express this
spiritual ideal.
Blithe Spirit in Skylark
The poet begins the poem with an address or apostrophe. He has addressed the bird
as the “Blithe Spirit”. It is the endless source of pleasure. The skylark flies higher
and higher. It never comes back to this world. Like a cloud of fire it rises up. When
the sun is going to set, the whole western sky becomes purple and the skylark flies
in the reddish region of the sky without any weariness. The poet has compared the
bird with a poet who remains hidden in the light of thought.
Marvel of Music and Melody
This poem is a marvel of music and melody. The sweetness of the poem combined
with its other qualities makes it a lyrical masterpiece. The music of the poem is
simply irresistible. The following stanza may be quoted not only because of its
musical quality but because the truth that it contains.

Solidity of Feeling
There is a solidity of feeling throughout this poem. It is a passionate utterance. The
poet’s heart is overflowing with the flood of emotion.
All Shelly’s lyrics possess a spontaneous quality. This poem is no exception. It is a
pure effusion. It is a authentic example of lyrical gift of Shelly. If the west wind
was Shelley’s first aesthetic philosophy through metaphors of nature, the bird
skylark is his greatest natural metaphor for natural poetics, the “harmonious
madness” of pure inspiration.

Divinity of Nature
The poem’s speaker addresses a skylark—a small, brown bird known for its
impressive song, which the bird can sustain continuously even when in flight. The
speaker praises the beauty and power of the skylark's calls, repeatedly highlighting
the bird's connection to the glory of the natural world. In doing so, the speaker
champions the skylark as an example of nature's divinity and majesty—something,
the poem implies, that human beings will never fully understand.
The speaker lovingly describes the intensity and beauty of the skylark's song,
playing up the calls' musical quality to drive home just how captivating they are.
For example, the speaker describes the birdsong as cascading down onto its
listeners in "a rain of melody." Likewise, the speaker wonders how the bird’s
"notes flow in such a crystal stream."
 Section – B
The various portrayals of characters of the season Autumn in
“Ode To Autumn”

The Romantic poets reflected the time period in which they lived which were a
time of open minded thinking, and an appreciation for the world surrounding. John
Keats most noticeably represents this in an Ode to Autumn through his admiration
of the natural world. It is one of his simplest poems.
The poem is divided into three stanzas. When the third stanza begins, it represents
the familiar sentiments of yearning for warmer days, wondering where the days of
spring have gone. However, the speaker immediately dismisses this, recognizing
the beauty within the end of autumn. Unusual characteristics are attributed to
colder weather, such as “stubble-plains” and a “rosy hue” in order to provide a
warmer side to Autumn, while still communicating that it is fading.
Keats then describes the “full grown-lambs” and in the last line “And gathering
swallows twitter in the skies,” he refers to the birds gathering for migration. This
alludes to the inevitable end of Autumn and beginning of Winter. Though the
poem is about a coming loss, Keats is in the process of coming to accept something
even greater; that even though death comes to everyone, accepting mortality is not
weak and it is wise to accept the passing of time and recognize the beauty of nature
and life itself. True to romantic writers, Keats learns to accept death by living in
beauty. Keats uses true imagination to describe the setting of nature so eloquently.
There is so much feeling that comes out of the words that reflects the whimsical
structure of romantic times.
The speaker in "Ode to Autumn" is unspecified; the poem never directly uses "I."
Because we don't have any information about the speaker as a character, we can
assume that the speaker is simply an unspecified, omniscient poetic narrator.
We do know, however, that this speaker is somehow able to follow autumn around
from place to place as it rests in granaries, beside brooks, and so forth. The speaker
employs a kind of zooming-in feature, examining several of the small, rich details
and images of autumn. The speaker zooms in on these details in order to help us
readers truly notice these often overlooked moments in autumn.
The speaker addresses the season of autumn in this poem, which we immediately
know from the poem's title, "Ode to Autumn." Autumn, however, takes on a few
possible forms here. We see it sitting "careless on a granary floor," with its hair
"soft-lifted by the winnowing wind" in a slightly melancholy yet drowsy and
peaceful image. Autumn could be either a man or a woman. "Sitting on a granary
floor" suggests a male farmer, but later on "laden head" suggests a woman carrying
a basket of fruit on her head. Keats leaves autumn's gender ambiguous and instead
allows it to be an androgynous character. Autumn thus resembles a kind of god or
goddess of harvest, fruition, and plenty perhaps Demeter, Greek goddess of the
harvest, or Dionysus, Greek god of winemaking and ritual.
Ode to Autumn is an unconventional appreciation of the autumn season. It
surprises the reader with the unusual idea that autumn is a season to rejoice. We
are familiar with Thomas Hardy's like treatment of autumn as a season of gloom,
chill and loneliness and the tragic sense of old age and approaching death. Keats
sees the other side of the coin. He describes autumn as: "Season of mists and
mellow fruitfulness! / Close bosom friend of the maturing sun". He understands
maturity and ripeness as one with old age and decay. Obviously thin, old age is a
complement to youth, as death is to life. Keats here appears as a melodist; he
seems to have accepted the fundamental paradoxes of life as giving meaning to it.
The very beginning of the poem is suggestive of acceptance and insight after a
conflict.
Among the six wonderful Odes of Keats To Autumn occupies a distinct place of its
own, for it is, in execution, the most perfect of his Odes. Many critics agree in
ranking To Autumn first among Keats’ Odes. Its three eleven-line stanza
ostensibly do nothing more than a season; no philosophical reflections intrude. His
simple love of Nature without any tinge of reflectiveness and ethical meaning finds
expression in To Autumn. The scented landscape in the first stanza, and the music
of natural sounds in the last stanza would have been enough for most poets, but the
effect would have been incomplete without the figures of the winnower, the reaper,
the gleaner and the cider-presser which give a human touch to Autumn. Although
the poem contains only three stanzas, Keats has been successful in expressing the
beauty, the charm, the symphony of Autumn, and the ageless human activities in
the lap of Nature.
To Autumn is, in a sense, a return to the mood of the Ode on Indolence-«making
the moment sufficient to itself. It is, apparently, the most objective and descriptive
poem, yet the emotion has become so completely through it. There is no looking
before and after in this poem as Keats surrenders himself fully to the rich beauty of
the season. He is not troubled by the thought of the approaching winter or by that
of the vanished spring. To Keats, Autumn was the season of mellow fruitfulness
and happy content. He is content with the autumn music, however pensive it may
be. The characteristic tension of the other Odes makes them more passionate,
perhaps, but leaves them with a sense of strain. Here all is relaxed and calm, life-
accepting.
 Section – C
Jane Austen and her depiction of 19th century female world

Jane Austen (1775-1817) is the most brilliant star among the British novelists. She
was brought up in an intelligent but restricted environment. As we all know, it is
not until the second half of the 18th century that women novelists began to appear
in England. She is an English writer, who first gave the novel its modern character
through the treatment of everyday life. She was just such a great woman writer in
this period. She brought the English novel to its maturity and her satirical fictions
marked the transition from the 18th-century neoclassicism to the 19th-century
romanticism in the English literature.
Although Austen was widely read in her lifetime, she published her works
anonymously. The most urgent preoccupation of her bright, young heroines is
courtship and finally marriage. Austen herself never married. Jane Austen wrote
six complete novels during her lifetime: Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice,
Mansfield Park, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion. In these six novels, she
well described most of the unmarried girls’ pursuits and ideas about marriage in
her own time. She considered it her duty to express in her works a discriminated
and serious criticism of life, and to expose the follies and illusions of mankind. Of
course, these descriptions have brought her a great fame as well as some criticisms.
In my opinion, Jane Austen was a feminist writer. It seemed that Jane Austen was
not as radical as the early feminists who took part in the violent movement to
struggle for their rights. Jane Austen maintained that women should have the same
rights and opportunities as men. In her novels, many women characters were not
inferior to men. Women deserved to share the equal rights with men. At this point,
Jane Austen could stand with some contemporary feminists.
In Jane Austen’s novels, she shows her unique point of view on woman different
from the common ideas. At her time, the dominant idea on woman was very low:
second class, and lower sex. Jane Austen disagrees with them. Jane Austen wrote
the novels on the assumption that women were inherently as intelligent and
rational as men were. In the marriage market into which her heroines usually enter,
the woman is as likely to be the instructor as the man is.
Women Independence Consciousness
Jane Austen’s literature creation days were during the deep paternity society
system time. Jane observed the importance of the economic factor to the women
social status by her sharp eyes. She told people that the nature of capitalist
marriage was the combination of exchange of money and benefits. In a word, in
marriage, no money will do. It was economy and figures that decided people’s life,
fate and their marriage. It is very common that a woman cannot marry because of
her family responsibilities. But She would never seek marriage for the physical
wealth as a kind of extrication.
Jane Austen believes that intellectual abilities areas desirable in the woman as in
the man. This kind of female worth informs the treatment of some of the main
female characters. she added something more substantial, in the improvement of
the mind by extensive reading'. (Pride and Prejudice) Girls should not be accused
of such kind of fault, because it is the society that educates them like that. Bad
education only gives girls such kind of accomplishment.
The Importance of Girls Education
"Improvement of mind" is in fact so important to Jane Austen that in considering
how girls should be educated she also shows her ideas. In spite of the physical
attraction, almost all of her heroines are deficient in the superficial virtues.
Elizabeth Ben net and Emma Woodhouse both neglect their piano practice and
hence are no more than moderate performers. Yet none of them is called upon to
improve in these areas. Their education is complete so far as Jane Austen is
concerned once they have corrected certain failings in judgment and/or feeling.
The education in personality is more than the education of appearance. The
improvement of mind should be the final purpose of education.
The Fault of Over-meekness
Jane Austen is hostile to the view that meekness is the major feminine so far as she
is concerned, Elizabeth Bennet behaves far more admirable when she ignores
trample showing across muddy fields to visit the sick .lane. Jane almost misses her
true love by not her love to Bingley, and it is Elizabeth's courageous action that
makes Darcy realize his mistakes. Elizabeth refused the marriage proposal by Mr.
Collins anger. At that time a girl in her position without dowry, rarely can in spite
of her mother's do such kind of thing, because nobody is sure whether she has
another marriage proposal or not, otherwise she may stay at home forever. But,
Elizabeth does refuse the proposal and Jane Austen gives her a good destiny in the
end of the novel in order to show her great appraisal of Elizabeth. By this way,
Jane Austen tries to argue that meekness is a fault rather than a virtue. Meekness
can destroy a woman's whole life.
To deal with this paradox between lower sex and house hold management, for Jane
Austen the restrictions imposed on the woman's social role do not diminish its
importance. That’s how she played a vital role for the 19th century female world.
 Section – D
Comparing and Contrasting Elinor and Marianne from the
Sense and Sensibility

Elinor and Marianne offer a sharp and striking contrast in the novel Sense and
Sensibility. There is a contrast between their physical appearances; and there is an
even bigger comparison between their temperaments, their natures, and their
mental and moral make-ups.
Elinor has a delicate complexion, regular features, and a remarkably pretty figure.
Marianne is even more beautiful. Her figure, though not as correct as Elinor's and
though not having the advantage of height, is more impressive; and her face is
much lovelier. Marianne's complexion is uncommonly brilliant; her features are all
good; her smile is sweet and attractive and in her eyes there is a life, a spirit, and
an eagerness which fills an onlooker with delight. Thus Marianne may physically
be described as an alluring and enchanting girl, while Elinor is physically just
presentable or just attractive, and full of grace and charm.
The two sisters represent two entirely different kinds of human temperaments; and
this contrast between the two has been sketched for us by the novelist at the very
outset. Elinor possesses strength of understanding and a coolness of judgment by
virtue of which she, though only nineteen years, is capable of being her mother's
counselor. She is able, by means of these qualities, to keep in check her mother's
eagerness of mind which would otherwise have led that lady to acts of imprudence.
Elinor's disposition is certainly affectionate, and her feelings are certainly strong.
But she knows how to govern her affections and her feelings. This capacity to
govern the feelings and the emotions is something alien to her mother as well as to
her sister Marianne. Marianne's abilities are, in many respects, quite equal to
Elinor's. She is sensible and clever, but she is too eager in everything, so that her
sorrow and her joys know no moderation. She is everything but prudent, and in this
respect she resembles her mother closely. Elinor feels somewhat worried because
of her sister's excessive sensibility; but their mother values and cherishes this trait
of Marianne's. Mrs. Dashwood and Marianne tend to encourage each other in the
intensity of their misery and sorrow.
 Marianne Elinor

The entire contrast between the characters of Elinor and Marianne may be summed
up by saying that, while Elinor embodies sense, Marianne embodies sensibility.
Elinor can exercise restraint upon her feelings; she possesses the strength to
command her feelings and emotions; she has the virtue of prudence; and she tends
to be stoical in the face of disappointment or failure. Marianne is susceptible to
feeling to an excessive degree. She is lacking in self-command, in self-restraint,
and in the capacity to keep her emotions under control. The contrast between the
two sisters, as stated by the novelist herself at the outset, is the most conspicuous
feature of this novel.
The story of the novel gives us incident after incident to demonstrate this contrast
so that it is indelibly impressed upon our minds, no matter what the scholarly
critics might say in this context. In fact the novel is, on the whole, a story of "the
loving tension" between the two sisters. The "tension" arises from their different
views about things and persons, and from their disagreements; but it is a "loving,"
tension because they feel a genuine mutual affection, and are deeply attached to
each other.
They have different criteria of judging Edward's worth. One of the earliest
incidents to bring out this contrast is Edward Ferrar's visit to Norland Park when
the mother with her three daughters is yet living there. Elinor and Marianne react
to this young man in absolutely different ways. Elinor begins to admire and love
him, while Marianne cannot understand why Elinor not only admires him, but has
also fallen in love with him. Marianne finds Edward's manner of reading out a
poem to be spiritless, tame, and devoid of sensibility. She also feels disappointed
by Edward's having no taste in music and having no capacity even to admire
Elinor's drawings or the beauties of nature in the right perspective. Elinor, on the
contrary, feels attracted by Edward because of what she regards as his sense and
his goodness. She is attracted by Edward's views about literature, by his enjoyment
of books, by his lively imagination, and by his accurate observation. Thus the two
sisters have altogether different criteria of judging the worth of a man.
Elinor has the capacity to subdue her unhappiness and Marianne does not have.
Elinor, though feeling very unhappy about Edward's despondency of mood at the
time of his departure from Barton Cottage after a week's stay there, is able to
subdue her unhappiness by her sheer firmness and her determination to do so. She
does not adopt the procedure followed by Marianne on a similar occasion. When
Willoughby had suddenly departed from Barton Cottage after a very short visit,
Marianne had felt very unhappy and had augmented her sorrow by seeking silence,
solitude, and idleness.
However, the contrast between the two sisters has more pointedly been brought to
our attention than their comparisons.

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