Romanticism
What is Romanticism?
.Romanticism is a period, in the English poetry appeared in the eighteenth century. It is mainly interested in Man related to nature for the romantic poets poetry is a natural overflow of powerful, emotions recollected in tranquility" 
What are the elements of Romanticism?
1- Use of simple language of common people as the language of poetry 
2 – The liberation of imagination. 
3 - Te great love of countryside. 
4 – Speaking of man related to natural phenomenon.
5 - Personification of abstract.
6 - Giving the supremacy to children than grown up man
7 - Recollection. Of past events 
8 - Loneliness or aloneness.
9 - .Melancholy or Sadness 
10 - Fascination with strange things or things that are far away either in time or place 
Solitary Reaper
First stanza: 
Behold her, single in the field
Yon solitary Highland Lass !
Reaping and singing by herself ;
Stop here , or gently pass !
Alone she cuts and bends the grain , 
Ands sings a melancholy strain ;
O listen ! for the vale profound 
Is overflowing with the sound 

In. the first stanza the poet  shows a vast landscape of a girl, standing by herself n a field cutting and, reaping the wheat and bends the sheaves while  singing a sad song. 'The whole valley is filled with the girl's song. The poet asks us to stop to listen or pass gently so as not to disturb her.

Second Stanza 
No nightingale did ever chant 
More welcome notes to weary bands 
Of travellers in some shady haunt,
Among Arabian sands :
A voice so thrilling ne'er was heard 
In spring time from the cuckoo bird 
Breaking the silence of the seas 
Among the farthest Hebrides.
  
The poet talks about the girl's sound. When he compared her voice to the voice of the nightingale and, the cuckoo it was found  to be much more beautiful.  It is the solitude of the tried and, weary travellers under the heat to the Arabian land. It tells them that they finally found, a shade to relieve them .Her voice is also more beautiful than cuckoo which break s the silence of the Hebrides Island in spring 

Third Stanza:
Will no one tell me what she sings?
Perhaps the plaintive numbers flow 
For old, unhappy, far - off things,
And battles long ago:
Or is it some more humble lay, 
Familiar matters of today?
Some natural sorrow, loss, or pain 
That has been and may be again?

The gir1 is Scottish. so she is singing in a Scottish dialect .That is why the poet cou1d not understand her. He is wondering what the song might be about. She may be singing about 
1 - A number of sad events from the Past. 
2- Battles and£ wars from the past. 
                  3- Sad events which became part of our lives now and which might happen again. 
                   4 – A sad ballad about ancient tragedies 

Fourth Stanza:
What 'er the theme, the maiden sang 
As if her song could have no ending;
I saw her singing at her work,
And o'er the sickle bending;
I listen'd motionless and still;
And, as I mounted up the hill,
The music in my heart I bore,
Long after it was heard no more. 

The poet now becomes interested in the melody more than in its theme. The song seems endless. The poet stood motionless looking at her singing and working . When he looked up the mountain, the voice kept echoing in his ears. He still hears the tune repeating in his heart even after his ears ceased to hear it

Elements of Romanticism in Solitary Reaper

1 – The great love of countryside. 
The poet is describing a young girl cutting and reaping the wheat The girl presents man in the world and in time  
2 -Giving the supremacy to children
The girl is the main subject and the hero of the poem 
3 - Recollection. Of  past events 
The music in my heart I bore
Long after it was heard no more
The poet remembers the scene after he left it with his detail and the sound of the girl is still echoing in ears.
4- Loneliness or aloneness.
Using words like solitary, alone, by herself single 
5 - Melancholy or Sadness 
Using words like melancholy strain, natural sorrow, sadness or pain, far away, unhappy  
6 - Fascination with strange things or things that are far away either in time or space 
Comparing the girl's signing to that of nightingale or the cuckoo, no one can tell what she sings 
Comment
1 - The poet is a painting that shows a vast landscape with a human figure as a central focal point. It starts with a visual image of a girl single in a field 
2 – The poet's choice of imagery shows his fascination of far away things in place as the Arabia and Hebrides were very far to the Englishmen in the 18th & 19th century 
Figures of speech:
Alliteration:
Sing strain / No nightingale /welcome weary /some shady /silence seas /will what /for far /and ago/ is it /some sorrow/ been be/ the theme/her have saw singing /  

Blow, Bow 
By William Shakespeare 
The Occasion of the Poem 
The poem is a song, taken from Shakespeare's play" As You like it". In the play, a duke was sent out of his dukedom by his brother. He left the life of the city and went to live in the forest of Arden with some of his followers. There he met another man who had the same circumstances one day they were having a meal when one of the followers started to sing this song. 

	, 	. 
Paraphrase 
_First Stanza 
Blow, blow, thou winter wind,
Thou art not so unkind 
As man's ingratitude;
Thy tooth is not so keen, 
Because thou are not seen,
Although thy breath be rude.
Heigh – ho! Sing heigh ho! Unto the green holly 
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly 
Then high – ho! The jolly!
This life is most jolly 

Here Shakespeare asks the wind to blow hard. He states that although the winter wind is so severe and hard it is much kinder than Man's ingratitude and cruelty. It is unseen so their bites are much lighter. Shakespeare states his idea about love and friendship. He says that love is 
a foolish thing and friendship is false . That is why he invites all people to leave life in the city and come to live in the forest where life is peaceful and quiet and where there is no treason and dishonesty. 
_The Second Stanza: 
Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky,
That does not bite so nigh
As benefits forget:
Though thou the waters wrap,
Thy sting is not so sharp 
As friend remember'd not 
Heigh – ho! Sing heigh ho! Unto the green holly 
Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly 
Then high – ho! The jolly!
This life is most jolly 

In the second stanza Shakespeare asks the winter cold to freeze the water. Again he states that although the winter rain is very cold and hurts a lot it is much kinder than Man's ingratitude as friends always forget friendship. again , he states that love is a foolish thing and friendship is false , That is why he again invites all people to leave life in the city and come to live in the forest where life is peaceful and quiet and where there is no treason and dishonesty, 
Figures of speech: 
1 - Personification: 
He personified both the wind and the sky as people and talks to them and                         asks them to blow and freeze. 
2 - Alliteration:
 Winter wind \ although thy \high ho \ friendship feigning/ Though thou \water wrap 
3 - There is a comparison between the wind and the man. Man's ingratitude and unfaithfulness are more bitter and more cruel tan the wind.