Narrative theory and Romantic poetry (Charlotte Turner Smith, William Wordsworth, John Keats, Lord Byron)

The Romantic period in English poetry is usually seen as predominantly concerned with the development of the lyric, but narrative experimentation is a more significant characteristic of the poetry of the period. “Lyric” poetry and “narrative” poetry, which are generally considered distinct modes, can be treated as points on a continuum of narrative; using narrative theory in this way leads to a revised sense of the particular accomplishments of the Romantic poets. Charlotte Smith helped begin Romanticism with the highly specialized narratives of her sonnets and explored the limits of poetic narrative in Beachy Head. William Wordsworth conceived the role of the poet as something based on the writer's narratorial position as much as specifically poetic language. A major characteristic of John Keats's late verse is the centrality of the narrative differend in his poetic discourse, assuring that interpretations of “Ode on a Grecian Urn” and The Eve of St. Agnes, among others, can never be stable. Lord Byron, in Don Juan, created a narrative form that is fractal, and the poem has a kind of order that has only recently become recognizable. These four poets have no specific narrative technique in common, but all of them demonstrate, in their highly individual ways, the significance of narrative experimentation in different genres of poetry during the Romantic period.