As we wrap up the semester and I write my final blog post,
Clare’s “Pastoral Poesy” seems a fitting focus to conclude a Romantic course. I
will admit the first thing I did before reading this poem was Google the word
“poesy” and found it to be a body of poems or the or the art or composition of
poetry – thus pastoral poesy would appear to be the epitome of a typical
“romantic” poem.
“True poesy is not in words,
But images that thoughts express,
By which the simplest hearts are stirred
To elevated happiness”
To me, these lines immediately echoes what we have stated
all year, that poetry can change the world – that a poem is more than a
collection of words with a meter and rhyme scheme, it is an “image” that is
capable of changing the emotions of those consuming it. The rest of the poem is
then somewhat of a commentary on this idea or a commentary on nature poems. As
the poem progresses I find it difficult to understand Clare’s tone and attitude
towards these type of pastoral poems. Is he praising the poets who can find the
beauty in every form of nature? Or is Clare being somewhat ironic and
criticizing poets for turning every piece of nature into some sort of art? Of
course whichever stance Clare is taking it must be acknowledged that he is writing
a poem about nature.
“Will simple shepherds’ hearts imbue with nature’s poesy”
(73-74)
Retrospectively, “Nature’s poesy” seems to be applicable to
all the poets we have read for this course. Beyond the literal nature filled
content of so many of the romantic poems, aren’t the romantic poets completely
representing what it means to imbue hearts (at least they want to) to look at
one’s somewhat mundane surroundings and make them grandiose with meaning. And further to compose these poems in a way that appears effortless and emphasizes the "thoughtlessness of thought" (27). John
Clare appears to have a firm grasp and awareness of what the poets of the time
are trying to accomplish with their poetry and acknowledges it in a manner that
many other poets do not.
I really liked this post, and it actually inspired the topic for my own post. I thought it was very witty to circle back to "poetry changing the world" because that has been a crucial component to the course, but an aspect of the course that we have not addressed over the last few weeks.
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