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Who were the major poets of the second phase of English Romanticism?
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Romantic literature
English Romantic poet and artist William Blake wrote and illustrated “The Tyger” and other poems in his book Songs of Innocence and of Experience (1794).
The second phase of English Romanticism, spanning from approximately 1805 to the 1830s, is defined by a generation of poets who built upon the experimental foundations of their predecessors.12
The movement reached its poetic zenith during this period through the works of three central figures:
- Lord Byron: Known for his dash, flair, and the development of the "Byronic hero," his major works include Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage and his masterpiece, Don Juan.23
- Percy Bysshe Shelley: A politically radical poet who viewed himself as a prophet, Shelley is celebrated for works such as Prometheus Unbound and the Ode to the West Wind.234
- John Keats: Renowned for his sensuous imagery and the "disciplining of sensation into symbolic meaning," his most significant contributions include his great odes, such as Ode to a Nightingale and Ode on a Grecian Urn.23
Other notable poets associated with this later era include John Clare, Thomas Lovell Beddoes, Thomas Hood, and Felicia Dorothea Hemans.12