hi, can anybody help me with my research on imagery in English romantic poetry, thank u in anticipation?

Answer 1

If you look at shakespeare, you've got a lot of references to the moon. I swear by the moon, she is like the moon, her blemish matcheth perfectly with the 9th phase of the moon. Also, a lot of other astrological stuff. Tis the sun and juliet is the east. arise fair sun and etc etc.
You have a lot of references to birds and purity. Angelic. like a dove. Were love a river, it's meanders would simply etc etc etc.
Also... you have so many references to changing time periods representing the changes in a relationship.
for example someone saying something like: The breakup dealt to us an internecine blow and as the time is unclear at twilight, so was our friendship teetering the line between indifference and hatred. To save the relationship was to make time reverse. Impossible. (that's just something i made up so sorry if i don't have some formal ... research) but check out marlowe also. Check out the great love stories of our time as well (lol, Devil Wears Prada jk, certain chapters of The Kite Runner represent love put under stress)

Answer 2

Hit up the myth of Prometheus. Prometheus was a big deal with the Romantics, from Percy Shelley's Prometheus Unbound to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein to further-buried references elsewhere--Byron's Manfred, one of my all-time favorite pieces, chronicles the death of the Promethean spark.

That "spark" is knowledge, and is found all over in Romantic poetry. Form Shelley's Ode To The West Wind (which is a poem so full of imagery a single essay could be written on it alone easily):

"Drive my dead thoughts over the universe,
Like wither'd leaves, to quicken a new birth;
And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguish'd hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawaken'd earth"

That's a big one in Romantic poetry: Fire = knowledge. Right back to Prometheus.

Another good thing to consider is the overlapping of Gothic literature into the Romantic period--this was a HUGE influence. Look into the Gothic idea of the sublime, which was a big influence on Romanticism overall.

That's a couple basics to get you started. If you need any more help, feel free to message me--the concentration of my English BA was the Romantic poets, and I can yak about them all day...

Answer 3

Get a John Donne, William Blake, or Shakespeare