Comparing the Romantic and Post-Romantic Poetry of Wordsworth and Yeats: A Critical Analysis of ‘Tintern Abbey’ and ‘To the Rose upon the Rood of Time

ASSIGNMENT INSTRUCTIONS:

Your final paper for this course will compare the poetry of any Romantic author or authors on the syllabus with the poetry of any Post-Romantic author or authors on the syllabus. Students are encouraged to focus on individual poems rather than entire careers: “Nature in Wordsworth and Bishop” is likely to prove unwieldy compared to “Nature and the Weather in Wordsworth and Bishop: ‘Tintern Abbey’ and ‘The Moose.’” Students who want to go off-syllabus for either author must consult with me first.
Assignment Requirements: 13-17 pages, or about 4000-5500 words (12-point Times Roman with one-inch margins). This will be a thesis-driven critical essay that includes a minimum of six secondary sources, at least two of which should have been published after 2010. MLA format.
For my paper, I am comparing William Wordsworth to William Yeats using the poems Tintern Abbey and To the Rose upon the Rood of Time. This paper needs to have an academic research comparing both poems.

HOW TO WORK ON THIS ASSIGNMENT (EXAMPLE ESSAY / DRAFT)

Introduction: The Romantic and Post-Romantic periods, which both produced prominent poets, are represented by William Wordsworth and William Butler Yeats. In this essay, Wordsworth’s “Tintern Abbey” and Yeats’ “To the Rose upon the Rood of Time”—two of their most well-known poems—will be compared and discussed. We will show how each poet embodies their literary trends by examining the themes, literary techniques, and historical context of the poems.

Historical Background: The Romantic period, which spanned the late 18th to the mid-19th century, placed a strong emphasis on the self, emotion, and nature. The Post-Romantic period, on the other hand, centered on introspection, symbolism, and aestheticism and lasted from the late 19th to the early 20th centuries. We will examine how each poem reflects the literary movement it symbolizes in light of the two poems we are comparing here, which are from these two different eras.

Wordsworth shows his passion for nature and how it has impacted his life in “Tintern Abbey,” which can be analyzed. The poem’s format allows Wordsworth to reflect on his sister and his past visits to the monastery and how those experiences have influenced him throughout his life. He tells about how he has grown up and developed a greater love for the environment since his previous visit. Wordsworth emphasizes the importance of nature in the spiritual and emotional growth of people, claiming that it has the power to calm the soul and heal the intellect.

In “To the Rose upon the Rood of Time,” Yeats explores the idea of time and the human condition via vivid imagery and symbolism. The poem’s dense layering of various meanings reflects the Post-Romantic era’s obsession with symbolism. Yeats humanizes the rose as a representation of beauty and vitality, but he also emphasizes that everything in life is ephemeral. The poem captures the longing and melancholy typical of the Post-Romantic period.

Comparison: Both poems are fascinated by the natural world, despite their distinctions. While Yeats acknowledges the passing of time and its effects on life, Wordsworth embraces the beauty and curative qualities of nature. Both poets use literary techniques to express their ideas, including imagery and symbolism. They take different approaches, with Wordsworth emphasizing the concrete features of nature and Yeats the impersonal ideas of time and beauty.

We can understand how Wordsworth and Yeats symbolize their respective literary movements by examining “Tintern Abbey” and “To the Rose upon the Rood of Time,” respectively. Yeats emphasizes the emphasis on reflection and symbolism of the Post-Romantic era, whereas Wordsworth reflects emphasis on nature and the individual of the Romantic age. Both poems show the ability of poetry to express and capture the human experience, despite their variances.