The Ages Of Poetry Essay -- essays research papers

     The slope amative poets of the nineteenth Century had a archetypeion about character that, over a century later, appears in the poetry of today. These poets experience had a significant play on the attitude and vocabulary a contemporary poet uses. Among the contemporary poets, Dana Gioia, in his two poesys, "Becoming a Redwood," and "Rough Country," has drawn on the conception of the innocence and untainted realm of nature that parallels the Romantic poetry of William Wordsworth and William Blake in their poems "Nutting," and "The Tyger." Also, Gioia has captured the wild-like and untamable demeanor of nature that many side of meat Romantics have similarly captured. Finally, Gioia uses the concept of the sublime in his poetry to the extent that nature becomes dangerous to humans.     many English Romantic poets have written about the innocent and probity that can be found in nature. In Wordsworth s "Nutting," he comments on the dish antenna of the innocence of an "unvisited" nook his character discovers. Wordsworth writes, "Unvisited, where non a upset(a) bough / Drooped with its withered leaves, ungracious sign / Of devastation exactly the hazels rose / long and erect, with tempting clusters hung, / A virgin scene" (Ln17-31) Wordsworth is commenting on the innocence and beauty of nature without human intrusion. This Romantic conception of innocence parallels Gioia in his poem "Rough Country." He writes, " a spot so hard to execute that no one comes-- / a hiding place, a shrine for dragonflies / and nesting jays, a sign that there is still / one piece of property that wont be owned." (17-20) This last line implies that this part of nature will remain untouched, this part of nature will remain pure and innocent, and a Romantic conception of nature that even Gioia has adopted in his poetry.     Another conceptio n that the English Romantics held about nature was that nature is wild and untamable. This wild-like aspect of nature is depict in William Blakes "The Tyger." Blake writes, "Tyger, Tyger / Burning bright / In the forests of the night / What immortal make it or eye / D ar frame thy fearful symmetry?" (1-4) Blake creates this reckon of the Tyger as a wild beast, an untamable creature of the for... ... no silence and when danger comes." (25-27) This English Romantic concept of sublime that Gioia uses, makes humans to not only fear nature such as the Tyger or the mountains, but also to hold high respect for its beauty and magnificence.       It is interesting to line up how much of our history actually does repeat itself. It is amazing that even today, we are asking the same questions about nature and coming to similar conclusions as people did in the 19th century. Its not that nature hasnt changed, but the attitudes toward nature still buil d on many general English Romantic ideas. Dana Gioia, in particular, has taken some of the same attitudes toward nature as the Romantics have he has developed the untamable and wildness of nature, the innocent and virgin, as well as the sublime in his two poems, "Becoming a Redwood," and "Rough Country." English Romantic poets such as William Wordsworth and William Blake bow each of his poems. Because of their strong make for on contemporary poets today, it would not be surprising to see their ascertain carry on in yet another century, and have the influence on poets for years to come.