英语本科自学考试毕业论文

河南省高等教育自学考试英语专业本科毕业生

毕业论文

（英文题目）"Lake Poets" in the history of English

literature

（中文题目）英国文学史上的“湖畔诗人”

专 业 名 称 ： 英语专业本科

论文作者姓名 ： 刘志辉

准 考 证 号 ： [1**********]8

论 文 类 型 ： 文学批评

论文完成日期 ： 2006/08/26

联 系 方 式 ： 河南省辉县市第二职业高中

（0373-6296515）

"Lake Poets" in the history of English

literature

摘要: 湖畔诗人就是一组英国诗人,Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert

Southey, and William Wordsworth.他们居住在英格兰东北的" 湖

区", 是18世纪至19世纪时期浪漫主义运动的一部分. 受到法国

大革命和英国工业革命的影响, 他们在诗歌创作方面做了大胆

的 改革, 无论是在诗体语言还是在主题。的选择上都有独到

的见解. William Wordsworth 被人喻为自然的膜拜者. Samuel

Taylor Coleridge 不但是著名的诗人也是一流的文学批评家. 然

而Robert Southey却更为将精力注意到人人平等的大同社会上

来.

Abstract: The Lake Poets or Lake School was a group of English poets:

Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, and William

Wordsworth. They lived in the "Lake District" in

northwestern England. This group was part of the Romantic

Movement of the late 1700's and early 1800's. They were

inspired by The French Revolution and The English Industrial

Revolution. They made bold experiments on poetry writing,

no matter on poetry language seeking or subjects. Wordsworth

was regarded as "worshipper of nature". Coleridge was not

only a poet but also a critic. While Southy pay more his

attention to his democratic community in America known as

"Pantisocracy".

关键字: 浪漫主义时期, 自然, 超自然, 想象, 改革, 简化语言, 内在世

界, 精神实质, 平常生活, 民主, 大同社会

Key words: The Romantic Period, nature, super nature, imagination,

innovation, simple language, inner world, spirit, common life,

democratic, Pantisocracy

Outline

Thesis: "Lake Poets", Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, and

William Wordsworth, marks the beginning of Romanticism.

They improve the poetry writing with an entire new

conception, especially they composed their poems about

nature and imagination, which is very different from

those in neoclassical period.

(1) The background of "Lake Poets":

1．The French Revolution and the English Industrial

Revolution

2．Influence of the economic exploitation

(2) Features of "Lake Poets":

1．They explored new theories and innovated new techniques in poetry writing.

2．They believed that poetry could purify both individuals and society.

A． Nature

B． Imagination and inspiration

(3)William Wordsworth

1．Career

2．Mayor features in poetry writing and classification of

his works

Samuel Taylor Coleridge his works.

1．career

2． mayor features in poetry writing and classification

of his works

Robert Southey

1．career

2．mayor features in poetry writing

"Lake Poets" in the history of English

literature

The English romanticism as a historical phase of literature, is generally said to have began in 1798 and ended in 1832. However, at this great period, there are three great poets who cannot be ignored, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, and William Wordsworth.

These three poets are known as the "Lake Poets", because they once settled at Dove Cottage in Crasmere, Westmoreland, the loveliest spot in the English Lake District.

The "Lake Poets" play a transitional role between old and new styles in the poetry development in literature history especially in the English history. In their works we see the influence from both the past and the modern.

(1)

During the Romantic period, there have been great changes in both European society and economy, which were actually provoked by two important revolutions, the French Revolution and the English Industrial Revolution. And as a result, some of the great imaginative writings in the Romantic period sprang from the confrontation of radicals and conservatives at the close of the 18th century. While "the lake poets" choose nature, imagination as their poetic subjects, other great poets, such as George Gordon

Byron, showed a lasting contempt for what he considered the

commonplace and vulgarity of the "lake poets". Because they think the "lake poets", to some extent, are too conservative in their period.

The other key element for the exiting of the "lake poets" is the cruel economic exploitation. As a consequence of the English Industrial revolution, the European Society emerged a new Labor Class. Though the social wealth had been increased by several

times, it was only the rich who owned this wealth. The majority of the people were still poor, or even poorer. The romantics with the "lake poets" as a leader saw both the corruption of the feudal

societies and the exploitation in modern capitalist society. Under such condition, the "lake poets" emphasized the special qualities of each individual's mind. Wordsworth "The Solitary Reaper",

Coleridge "frost at night", Southy "Winter" are all such poems.

So we can see they pay more attention to portray the

individual's experience. It's a typical character of the "lake poets" to place the individual at the center of art in order to express his or her unique feelings and particular attitudes.

(2)

With the coming of the French Revolution in 1798, and the

primarily agricultural society replaced by a modern industrialized one, these three poets inspired an entire new poetic revolution.

At first, they started a rebellion against the neoclassical literature. They explored new theories and innovated new techniques in poetry writing. As we all know, the neoclassicists had some fixed rules and laws for almost every genre of literature. Poetry should be lyrical, didactic satiric or dramatic and be strictly guided by principles. The neoclassicists also emphasized upon reason and intellect. However, the romantics started a poetic revolution. Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Robert Southey, and William Wordsworth, with the publication of "Lyrical Ballads", were the major representatives of this movement. We can get such ideas from the following examples: "The Ancient Mariner" written by Coleridge; "The prelude"__(1) written by Wordsworth. In these famous poems, we can see they have made bold experiments in poetic language, versification and design.

Second, they believe that poetry could purify both individual and the society. At one hand, they chose to live by the lakeside so as to escape from the rational and ugly society. At other hand, they also want to achieve their wishful society in the imagination.

1．Imagination and inspiration, defined by Coleridge, is

regarded as something crucial for true poetry.

“Kubla Khan”, as we all know, was composed in a dream

after Coleridge took opium.

“So twice five miles of fertile ground,

With walls and towers were girdled round;

And there were gardens bright with sinuous rills, Where

blossomed many an incense-bearing tree;

And here were forests ancient as the hills, enfolding

sunny spots of greenery. ”__(2)

When we read these great lines, we are deeply impressed by

the image of the river, the magnificent palace and other

marvelous. We can hardly believe they were worked out in

his unconsciousness. Similar examples can also be found

from works of Robert Souhey, which contained a lot of

vaguely Hindu tales.

2． The nature world is the first thing coming into „poets ‟

imagination.

“I wandered lonely as a cloud,

The floats on high over vales and hills,

When all at once I saw a crowd,

A host, of golden daffodils;

Besides the lake, beneath the trees,

Fluttering and dancing in the breeze."___(3)

Wordsworth wrote this beautiful poem of nature after he

came across a long belt of gold daffodils along the

waterside. In this poem, nature is not only his source of

imagination but also his poetic subject. But when we read

it a second time, maybe we can realize that the writer

want to recollect the beauty of nature in his mind while

he is in solitude.

(3)

Since the "lake Poets" refers to three great English poets, let's appreciate them respectively.

1．William Wordsworth

William Wordsworth is a leading figure of the English

romantic poetry. The most important contribution he has made is that he has not only started the modern poetry but also changed the course of English poetry by using ordinary speech of the language and by advocating a return to nature.

William Wordsworth was born in an attorney family. As a

young boy, he developed a keen love of nature, which

influenced all his rest life. After the French revolution, his heart was stirred and his imagination fired. However, William Wordsworth was conservative in politics, which Percy Bysshe Shelley and George Gordon Byron were strongly against.

William Wordsworth had a long poetic career. Though his

life, he finished many poem volumes. But maybe the most famous one is "Lyrical Ballads". That is because this volume is

different from his early poetry, with an uncompromising simple language and fusion of natural description. "The Prelude" is also among his best works and is regarded as one of William Wordsworth's greatest works by many critics. Because he

expressed his philosophy ideas in it .To him, life is a

cyclical journey, in which the beginning finally turns out to be its end.

According to the subjects, William Wordsworth's short poems

can be classified into two groups: poems about nature and poems about human life.

A. William Wordsworth emphasized the picturesque scenes and gave the reader the very life of nature. He is regarded as the worshipper of nature. But we can also find a deeper moral

awareness in his poems. To him, nature acts as a bridge between human and certain circumstance.

"We stood together; and that I, so long

A worshipper of nature, hither came

Unwearied in that service: rather say

With warmer love -- oh! with far deeper zeal

Of holier love. Nor wilt thou then forget,

That after many wanderings, many years

Of absence, these steep woods and lofty cliffs, And this green pastoral landscape, were to me

More dear, both for themselves and for thy sake "

"Tintern Abbey" is one of his masterpieces on nature. In this poem we can find the coordination between the wanderer's thoughts and the natural scenes.

B. The joys and sorrows of the common people are also his usual subject. His sympathy always goes to the suffering poor. The "Lucy poems" describes a young country girl living a simple

live in a remote village. In this poem, William Wordsworth used simple language to give the readers the scenes and events of

everyday life. In his opinion, the speech of ordinary people was the raw material of poetry writing. By using limited language, Wordsworth worked out an eternal theme, love and loss, time and death. "The solitary reaper" "To a highland girl' are all his masterpieces about human life.

2. Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Samuel Taylor Coleridge is a son of a clergyman. When he

was young, he was a lonely sad boy, full of dreams in his mind. However after having met Robert Southy, he was inspired by the radical thinkers with their idealism. He even joined the Robert Southy in plotting a democratic community in America, named 'pantisocracy'. But generally speaking, he was a conservative poet. He opposed the rationalistic trends of the 18th century thought. In his opinion, "A poet should realize the vague

intimation derived from his unconsciousness without sacrificing the vitality of the inspiration."__(4)

Samuel Taylor Coleridge is also a good critic in his period.

His lectures on Shakespeare proved to be very successful. As a poet, he maintained that „the true end of poetry is to give

pleasure through the medium of beauty‟. This conception is same with Wordsworth's. However the two great poets also have

something different with each other. For example, Samuel Taylor

Coleridge claimed that there was essential difference between the language of poetry and the language spoken by common people, while William Wordsworth thought the speech of ordinary people were the raw material of poetry writing.

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's achievement as poet can be

divided into two groups: the demonic and the conversational.

A. The demonic group includes his three masterpieces, "The

Rime of the Ancient Mariner", "Chritabel" and "Kubla Khan". Mysticism and demonism with strong imagination are the

distinctive features of this group. "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" told a story of a sailor, who met a strange bird during his adventure trip. The mariner shot it and then

disaster fell onto the ship. Finally only when the mariner blessed for the water snake the ship then can go back home. In this story, we can find out Coleridge a more spiritual and religious interpretation of life. While his predecessors

emphasized „reason ‟, Coleridge's demonic works is a great

improvement of poetry writing.

B: Among the conversational group, "Frost at Midnight" is the most important. This poem is a record of his personal thought about his infant son Harley in a midnight. Generally speaking, the conversational groups deal with the themes, such as, the desire to go home and wish someone he loves success or experience joy. But in order to get that he must fail or suffer.

3.Robert Southy

As a young student, Robert Southy was expelled from School

for criticizing the practice of flogging in the school magazine. This incident helped to fire his youthful revolutionary ideals, which found expression a few years later in his first long poem “Joan of Arc” (1796). His attention was taken up by a new friend, Samuel Taylor Coleridge and his ideas about

'pantisocracy', a scheme to set up a democratic community in America, came out. Southey and Coleridge married two sisters, Edith and Sara Fricker. Though there were some ill-feelings over the abandonment of pantisocracy, the two men remained friends.

Like Wordsworth and Coleridge, he became disillusioned by

the progress of the French Revolution. I would like to suggest that his volume of "Poems" 1799 is some ways an answer to

“Lyrical Ballads” and to describe the contents of that volume. And he was criticized as a political turncoat by the younger generation of Romantic writers, notably in Byron's “Don Juan”.

About his revolutionary ideals we can see clearly from his

poem "winter"

"Some merry jest, or tale of murder dire,

Or troubled spirit that disturbs the night,

Pausing at times to rouse the mouldering fire,

Or taste the old October brown and bright"__(5)

But also Southy write a lot of poems concerning the slave trade. Look at the following lines

"Hold your mad hands! for ever on your plain

Must the gorged vulture clog his beak with blood?

For ever must your Niger's tainted flood,

Roll to the ravenous shark his banquet slain?

Hold your mad hands! and learn at length to know,

And turn your vengeance on the common foe, ..."__(6)

In his famous works we can see Southy did a lot of metrical experiment in his poetry writing. Southey's modes of expression and poetical subjects are equally wide-ranging. He employs sensibility, horror, the picturesque or political debate; he writes about slavery, injustice, and historical events.

After all, Southey exploited story and event in many of his smaller poems, but often produced work of a high standard and full of imagines.

The "Lake Poets" marks the beginning of the romantic period. They improved the poetry writing with an entire new conception. While their predecessors wrote type characters by fixed laws and rules, they turned their attention to the inner world of the individual or the super nature in their imagination.

In a word, The "Lake Poets" were esteemed by some of their contemporaries and is generally recognized today as lyrical poets of the first rank.

End Notes:

(1)"The prelude" began in the 1790s,completed in the 1800s, in "Lyrical Ballad" 1800 edition

(2)摘自"Kubla Khan(1)"written by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

(3)摘自"I wandered lonely as a cloud(1)" written by William Wordsworth

(4)摘自"selected reading in English literature" P187, Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press

(5)摘自 “Winter ”, a poem written by Robert Southy

(6)摘自 “Hold your mad hands!，poem written by Robert Southy

Bibliography:

（1）“selected reading in English and American

literature ”1999.12 Edition II

（2）M ．H ．Abrams, “The Norton Anthology of English

literature ”2001