Romantics (No Not That Kind)

The Romantics, a BBC documentary, is not about the kind of romance you are thinking about. The documentary is about the time period following the French Revolution and the American Revolution  which caused a change in thinking known as The Romantics.


In the documentary, the narrator talks about three poets from this movement. The documentary not only gives the information clearly but the portrays of the poets and reconstruction of the events keeps the watcher interested. Sure its a little freaky when they make the narrator seem like a member of Ghost Hunters International but the spooky effect adds to the general feel of the documentary. 


The first poet mentioned is Samuel Taylor Coleridge who despite being a great poet, struggled with opium addiction. In the documentary they act out how he wrote a poem about Kublai Khan based on a vision he had while being high. As soon as he was himself again he started writing it but lost the vision. He was able to complete the poem after having another trip to high land. I wonder if his method works not only with writing poetry but also with taking exams. Say one this Thursday?


Next in the documentary were John Keats and Percy Bysshe Shelly. John Keats used to be a surgeon (no anesthesia) but then decided to devote entirely to poetry. Its interesting to see how he would add what he knew about the human body to his poems. He lived away from the spotlight and lived a calm life. He died young of tuberculosis and become more known after death. Shelly on the other hand was known for his crazy views. He was an atheist and published Necessity of Atheism in which he talks about how can he believe in a God there is no evidence of.  He also lived a pretty scandalous life since he believed he didn't have to be tied down to his wife. His poems are pretty dark and deal with these topics that were controversial for the time.


The last poet discussed in this part of the documentary was Lord Byron. What was interesting about Lord Byron was that instead of being kind of underground like the others, he embraced his popularity. He became kind of the first celebrity. He was also of the upper class and no one expected someone from the aristocracy to become a poet. Despite being very well liked, he was criticized by others like Shelly and with celebrity-hood came false rumors that threatened his reputation. Still his poetry was very appealing to everyone and he managed to fight off the rumors.