Mary Robinson’s poems both had an effect on the subject of the story. By bringing in the accounts of having something so wonderful, and then losing it in a traumatizing way brings in the ideas of Romanticism. Romanticism is a movement that was pronounce in the 18th century to counteract the idea of the Enlightenment. It’s effect on literature brought about an emphasis on emotions that we found when facing the sublimity of different experiences. These strong emotions were put forward into literature.
We can see these emotions put forth in Mary’s poem of Ode to Beauty. While she talks about a beautiful individual, and puts forward so many positive images, she quickly turns it around to bring forward emotion:
Soon as thy radiant form is seen,
Thy native blush, thy timid mien,
Thy hour is past ! thy charms are vain !
ILL-NATURE haunts thee with her sallow train,
Mean JEALOUSY deceives thy list’ning ear,
And SLANDER stains thy cheek with many a bitter tear.
Although Mary brings the negative natures of beauty and what the price of it is, there is another writer who emphasizes more on the idea of beauty in an individual compared to the effects it has. George Gordon Byron, also known as Lord Byron, was a British writer that was very much involved in the Romantic movement. He is well known for is poem She Walks in Beauty.
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes:
Thus mellow’d to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
One shade the more, one ray the less,
Had half impaired the nameless grace
Which waves in every raven tress,
Or softly lightens o’er her face;
Where thoughts serenely sweet express
How pure, how dear their dwelling-place.
And on that cheek, and o’er that brow,
So soft, so calm, yet eloquent,
The smiles that win, the tints that glow,
But tell of days in goodness spent,
A mind at peace with all below,
A heart whose love is innocent!
This poem is said to be written about a cousin of his that was in mourning when he saw her. By using words that evoke strong emotions, Byron was able to pursue this poem with the aspects of Romanticism that are most prominent: being able to stress strong emotion as a source of aesthetic experience.
Bibliography:
Byron, George Gordon. She Walks in Beauty. Poetry Foundation. 2011. Web. September 11 2012.
Mary Darby Robinson. Poems. London: J. Bell, 1791. pp. 41-43.
