By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Little Boy Lost’ appeared in William Blake’s 1789 volume Songs of Innocence, where it’s followed by ‘The Little Boy Found’, its companion-poem. Before we proceed to some words of analysis, here’s a reminder of ‘The Little Boy Lost’, one of Blake’s most popular lyric poems.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘The Fly’ is not one of William Blake’s most celebrated poems, but it provides an opportunity for us to pinpoint some of the characteristic features of his work. Here is ‘The Fly’, before we proceed to an analysis of this curious poem.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ (‘the beautiful lady without mercy’) is one of John Keats’s best-loved and most widely anthologised poems; after his odes, it may well be his most famous. But is this poem with its French title a mere piece of pseudo-medieval escapism, summoning the world of chivalrous knights and beautiful but bewitching women, or does it have a deeper meaning?
You can read ‘La Belle Dame sans Merci’ here before proceeding to our summary below (it might be helpful to have the poem open in a separate tab so you can follow the poem and summary together).
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Ode to a Nightingale’ is one of a series of odes the Romantic poet John Keats (1795-1821) wrote, and one of the most famous. Before we offer a brief summary of Keats’s poem, it might be helpful to read ‘Ode to a Nightingale’ here in a separate tab, and follow the poem and our analysis alongside each other.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Infant Sorrow’ is the counterpart to ‘Infant Joy’: whereas ‘Infant Joy’ appeared in William Blake’s 1789 volume Songs of Innocence, ‘Infant Sorrow’ was published in his 1794 volume Songs of Experience. Before we proceed to an analysis of Blake’s poem, here’s a reminder of ‘Infant Sorrow’.