The document discusses the key Romantic poets William Wordsworth and Percy Bysshe Shelley. Both poets found inspiration in nature, though Shelley portrayed nature's both positive and destructive powers. Wordsworth saw nature as healing and advancing human spirituality. Shelley was an atheist and idealist who criticized political and religious institutions, while Wordsworth was more theistic and focused on nature. They differed in their views of religion, optimism/pessimism, and attitudes toward social structures, but both emphasized imagination and the power of the human mind.

1. ROMANTICISM
18th to 19th centauries
Rich in style, theme, content ( natural
world, idealism, physical and emotional
passions)
Individualism was emphasized
Used nature as a source of inspiration

2. William Wordsworth
1770-1850
Belongs to the1st generation of romantic poets
Major themes: The power of human
mind, childhood, nature
Main interest was the poet’s response to a natural
object
Memory plays a fundamental role in the creative
process of poetry

3. Percy Shelly
1792-1822
Highly imaginative
Atheist
Sought to liberate mankind from the shackles of
political, religious, and intellectual slavery
Follower of Wordsworth
Preserver as well as a destroyer of nature

4. THESIS STATEMENT
“Both Wordsworth and Percy Shelly speak
about the positive power of nature, mind’s
power, imagination equally, but Shelly as a
prophet and an idealist in contrast with
Wordsworth, deals atheism and nature
S destructiveness in his poems.”

5. Imaginative power
Percy Bysshe Shelley
“To a Skylark”
“Hail to thee, blithe
spirit!
Bird thou never wert-”
William Wordsworth
“Daffodils”
“When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;”
“They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;

6. Death and
decay
Percy Bysshe Shelley
“Mont Blanc”
“The works and ways of man, their
death and birth,”
All things that move and breathe with
toil and sound, Are born and die
“Ozymandias”
“Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the
sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies”
Death
William Wordsworth
“She Dwelt Among The
Untrodden Ways”
“When Lucy ceased to be;
But she is in her grave, and, oh,”

7.  Nature
 Inspired by nature
*In
nature all the romantic poets found their initial inspiration.
(C.M.Bowra,1950)
Wordsworth:“The anchor of my purest thoughts, the nurse
The guide, the guardian of my heart, and soul of
my moral being.”
(Tintern Abbey)
Shelly:“As summer winds that creep from flower to flower
Like moon beams that behind some tiny mountain
shower.”
(Hymn to Intellectual beauty)

8. Shelly: Portrays positive and destructive powers of nature
“Wild spirit, which art moving everywhere;
destroyer and preserver;hear,O hear”
(ode to a west wind)
Wordsworth: Nature is a healer.
“while here I stand ,not only with the sense
of present pleasure, but with pleasing thoughts
That in this moment there is life and food
For future years.
(Tintern Abbey)
 Advances the spiritual values of humans.
“Little we see in nature, that is
ours; we have given our hearts away…”
(The world is too much with us)

9.  Critiques of social structure and the political power
Shelly: Criticizes the insensitive political leaders.
“Rulers who neither see nor feel nor know,”
(England in 1819)
 Attacks the authoritative powers of kings.
“whose frown ,
And wrinkled lip, and sheer of cold command,……..”
(Ozymandias)
Wordsworth: Portrays the flaws of the political system in England.
“she
is a fen of
stagnant waters:altar,sword,and pen.”
(London 1802)

10. Shelly
 Atheist
 Wordsworth
Theist
ENGLAND 1819
THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US
Religion
Christless, Godless, a book
sealed,-A Senate—Time's worst
statute unrepealed,--
--Great God! I'd rather be
A Pagan ……
Have sight of Proteus rising from
the sea;
Or hear old Triton blow his
wreathèd horn.
Based on realism
Visionary idealism
ENGLAND 1819
LONDON 1802
…….Are graves from which
a glorious Phantom may
Burst to illumine our
tempestuous day
MILTON! thou shouldst be
living at this hour: O raise us
up, return to us again,
And give us
manners, virtue, freedom, power!

11. • Optimism and prophetic
 Pessimistic
nature
ENGLAND 1819
THE SOLITARY REAPER
…….Are graves from which a
glorious Phantom may
Burst to illumine our
tempestuous day
Some natural sorrow, loss, or
pain,That has been, and may be
again?
Whate'er the theme, the maiden
sang ,As if her song could
have no ending;
ODE TO WEST WIND
THE WORLD IS TOO MUCH WITH US
The trumpet of prophesy!O
wind,
Tf winter comes can Spring be
far behind?
The world is too much with us;
late or soon
Getting and spending,we lay
waste our power

12. References
Hill ,Spencer,Joy,Bowra
Bradly.(
owferd lectures on poetry.newyork.macmillan & co
ltd.//ridenour,g.m.(
shelly.new jersey.prentice-hall,inc