So it sings harmless o’er its pebbly bed … ’Tis scarcely deep enough a bee to drown, John Clare, ‘ The Yellowhammer’s Nest’.Īnd seek its nest-the brook we need not dread, This needn’t surprise when we bear in mind that the sonnet’s author, Charlotte Turner Smith (1749-1806) was associated with English Romanticism and was also a key figure in the revival of the English sonnet.Ħ. This poem by Charlotte Turner Smith, a pioneer of Romanticism in England who was born before Wordsworth or Coleridge, is that rarest of things: a Gothic sonnet. But as Dorothy Wordsworth’s role in inspiring ‘I wandered lonely as a cloud’ demonstrates, Romanticism wasn’t quite an all-male affair. Its distance from the waves that chide below …Įnglish Romanticism wasn’t entirely dominated by men, although it’s true that names like Wordsworth, Coleridge, Shelley, and so on tend to dominate the lists. To the tall cliff, with starting pace or slow,Īnd, measuring, views with wild and hollow eyes Charlotte Smith, ‘ Sonnet on being Cautioned against Walking on a Headland’. Variously interpreted as being about guilt over the Transatlantic slave trade, about Coleridge’s own loneliness, and about spiritual salvation, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner remains a challenging poem whose ultimate meaning is elusive.ĥ. The poem is one of the great narrative poems in English, with the old mariner recounting his story, with its hardships and tragedy, to a wedding guest. The idea of killing an albatross bringing bad luck upon the crew of a ship appears to have been invented in this poem, as there is no precedent for it – and the albatross idea was probably William Wordsworth’s, not Coleridge’s (Wordsworth got the idea of the albatross-killing from a 1726 book, A Voyage Round The World by Way of the Great South Sea, by Captain George Shelvocke). Simple minded.Written in 1797-8, this is Coleridge’s most famous poem – it first appeared in Lyrical Ballads. I am sorry my master -If I have insolently attacked the kingdom of MenĪ senile fairytale, the freedom of women in our countries

The Eastern man - and forgive my insolence - does not understand women If I smash the complaints blocked for centuriesįrom the domes of the Harem in the castles Manufactures the delicate crown of the Eastįor I write and the sword is behind my doorĪnd beyond the room is the sound of wind and howling dogs Practices suppression, upon the emotions of women The silliest thing we carry, my Master - are namesĬonfiscate dreams from the treasure chests of women Has a stupid woman before me, written to you? Nizar Qabbani died in London of a heart attack at the age of 75 Read more → His second wife, Balqis al-Rawi, an Iraqi teacher whom he had met at a poetry recital in Baghdad, was killed in a bomb attack by pro-Iranian guerrillas in Beirut, where she was working for the cultural section of the Iraqi Ministry. One couplet in particular - 'O Sultan, my master, if my clothes are ripped and torn it is because your dogs with claws are allowed to tear me' - is sometimes quoted by Arabs as a kind of wry shorthand for their frustration with life under dictatorship. Qabbani's later poems included a strong strain of anti-authoritarianism. His writing also often fused themes of romantic and political despair. Qabbani was a committed Arab nationalist and in recent years his poetry and other writings, including essays and journalism, had become more political. He had lived in London since 1967 but the Syrian capital remained a powerful presence in his poems, most notably in 'The Jasmine Scent of Damascus.'Īfter the Arab defeat in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, he founded the Nizar Qabbani publishing house in London, and his became a powerful and eloquent voice of lament for Arab causes. Thereafter, he expressed resentment of male chauvinism and often wrote from a woman's viewpoint and advocated social freedoms for women. The suicide of his sister, who was unwilling to marry a man she did not love, had a profound effect on Qabbani. He earned a reputation for daring with the publication in 1954 of his first volume of verse, 'Childhood of a Breast,' whose erotic and romantic themes broke from the conservative traditions of Arab literature. Through a lifetime of writing, Qabbani made women his main theme and inspiration. His work was featured not only in his two dozen volumes of poetry and in regular contributions to the Arabic-language newspaper Al Hayat, but in lyrics sung by Lebanese and Syrian vocalists who helped popularize his work. Qabbani was revered by generations of Arabs for his sensual and romantic verse.

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