WILLIAM WORDSWORTH – I WANDERED LONLEY AS A CLOUD (1815)

The poem comes from a personal experience and it’s centred on the act of wandering = poetic motif.
We know that he was not alone: his sister Dorothy was with him, but he wrote her out (I – romantic egoism).
He describes a moment of intense communion with nature.
Nature is also a teacher of the individual. The poet brings back the flowers in his mind and they are with him in his room.

Felicia Hemans – The Homes Of England (1827)
She was more popular than WW.
Her poems are easy to memorize, they can be sung.
In this poem every stanza is a scene of different types of houses: the Aristocratic home, the Merry home, the Churches, the Cottages, and in the last stanza there is the final celebration where the houses become a fortress to defend the nation

A.E. Housman – A Shropshire Lad (1896)
He was a professor of Greek literature at Oxford but he also developed a career as a poet. He wrote in an old Victorian style, but there is a kind of nostalgic atmosphere (dark moods, pessimism).
The poem is about nature and the English countryside. Nature is seen through the eyes of the boy. There is nostalgia.
This book of poems was read by soldiers during WW1.

Rupert Brook – The Soldier (1914)
WW1. He says he will die soon.
Idea of England, landscape, fighting for the nation and sacrifice.

Rudyard Kipling (1865-1936) - The Glory Of The Garden (1923)
The Glory of the Garden is connected with the Gardener’s daughter and Between the Acts.
1st stanza:
He makes explicit the metaphor England – garden which was implicit in Tennyson.
2nd stanza:
Description of garden & gardening.
3rd stanza:
The garden is not made for contemplating, but for being useful all together. It is a COMMUNUAL ACTIVITY. Working in the garden is contributing to the development of the nation, but it’s also a spiritual activity.
4th stanza:
Biblical garden and the garden of Jesus Christ’s parable in the vineyard. He says that everyone can have a task, everyone can do something to make the vineyard develop and then everyone will receive an equal reward. So by working for England you’re also working for your spiritual salvation.