Romantic Poets is back and this time, I’m coming to you from the Lake District! Currently I am staying in a cottage in Ambleside as part of my Early Career Fellowship with Wordsworth Grasmere. Couldn’t be more RPW than that!
This week we are featuring two poems by Dilara Kalkan. Dilara is currently pursuing her Master’s degree in English Language and Literature at Atatürk University, where she is in the early stages of her thesis. Her research is centered on the legacy of Romanticism in contemporary literature, with an emphasis on the work of the second-generation Romantics.
She has a special admiration for Mary Shelley, whose influence she explores both academically and creatively. Dilara curates the Instagram page @odetoshelley, a personal project dedicated to Shelley’s life and legacy, where she shares reflections, archival findings, and connections between Romanticism and the modern world.
Dilara has published one paper and completed her undergraduate studies with honors. She is grateful for the opportunities to share her work, including an upcoming presentation at the Feminist Enlightenment Politics / Feministische Aufklärung und Politik conference, and a roundtable she will be hosting on Villa Diodati for the BARS Digital Events series in Autumn 2025.
She is deeply interested in languages, literature, and cultures, and enjoys learning from different perspectives through travel and study. Writing in English as a second language, Dilara finds creative energy in exploring themes such as identity, memory, and storytelling through a Romantic lens.
Ode to Shelley: Written in the quiet shadow of my own struggles, this poem is both a whisper of gratitude and a vow of remembrance. Mary Shelley’s courage, her ability to write through ruin, to speak through sorrow became a lantern in my darkest days. In turning to her, I found not only words but a way forward. This ode is my offering to the one who taught me that grief, when held in ink, can become something enduring.
ODE TO SHELLEY Opened her eyes unto a great Loss, A strong little Girl she had to emboss, Bloomed in the Dark and the Light; She gave her words Life. O' Mary! The Fairy! This world is so Dreary! Yet thy pen and bravery light up this path of uncertainty! Child of two unique parents, Not a society-pleaser, instead hers is a voice that transcends, Found her strength at the tip of the pen, Taught the world at eighteen, Frankenstein's end. O' Mary! The Fairy! The wind doth carry My sorrows away, whilst leading me to the day I hope to call happy! Bringing back the dead ones, Only possible through writing lines, I aim to hail the soul of Thee Whilst hoping the world shall see. O' Mary! The Fairy! Writing is my clarity! For this, I owe thee much, for the inspiration thou hast brought!
Ode to the Nameless Creature: For over two centuries, readers have asked: who is the real monster: Frankenstein or the being he made? But perhaps the question is not who, but where. Perhaps the creature sleeps within us all, buried beneath civility, unreachable yet never truly gone. This ode is addressed to that forgotten voice; the one we deny, the one we fear, the one that, like Mary Shelley’s creation, only ever wanted to be seen.
ODE TO THE NAMELESS CREATURE Oh, the Nameless Creature! Where have you gone? Or are you here? Do you feel alone too? Like I am so used to. It's not the looks that make one a Monster But, still I need an answer! Why couldn't you listen to your gentle side? Was it too concealed, a secret to hide? We all have Monsters in us, they say If one makes it apparent, will the others stay? Alas! Life is not a game to play! It's getting too dark, please led me the way. Oh, the Nameless Creature! Is that your shadow that I see? You don't turn back no matter how hard I scream Maybe after all, this was a bad dream...
We thank Dilara for sharing her work with BARS and would like to remind you, the reader, to reach out to the BARS Comms Team if you have anything you’d like to submit to our blog (including your poems, other creative/critical writing, and art)! I’m off to explore Grasmere Waterfall Walkways…