Reading recent commentaries on the difficulties of teaching English literature in general, and the Romantics in particular in modern classroom contexts, (with the issues of short attention spans, and AI shortcuts to the fore) prompts me to mention a resource I have built up, of song settings of lyrics by Keats, Shelley and Byron – which perhaps have the potential of at least sparking an interest in their work, and providing a way in for secondary students and perhaps even university students.
For example, one of the songs, ‘Rise like Lions’ edits together lines from Shelley’s post-Peterloo writings and hopefully captures the sense of crisis after Peterloo and Shelley’s response to it. The imagery focuses on the events at Peterloo and then traces the historical shift to the achievement of full voting rights in 1928.
Another, ‘Paradise of Exiles’, is introduced by Benjamin Zephaniah and features excerpts from Shelley’s works in 1821, beginning with lyrics from
‘The boat on the Serchio’ dropping in on him as he sails the waterways near San Giuliano di Pisa, highlighting his prescience in anticipating the ‘Earthrise’ photograph with lines from ‘Hellas’, and finishing with lines from Adonais.
Benjamin also features on two other recent videos, designated as ‘Poets United Across Time’, one describing the build-up to the writing of the Ode to the West Wind in Florence, together with a song ‘Wild Spirit’ that features lyrics from the Ode, and then an introduction to Byron’s Don Juan, with Benjamin reading extracts from the poem’s opening, and giving an idea of Byron’s humour and lightness of touch.
Byron’s political side , in particular his intervention in Greece, is evoked in the song ‘Marathon’, which combines lines from ‘Don Juan’, ‘Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage’ and his Genoa journal and is accompanied by images from Marathon itself, giving a sense of the poet at the scene. If that sparks an interest in Byron’s eventual intervention in the Greek War of Independence, there is also a full telling of the story in an hour long YT video, which traces the poet’s progress from Ravenna to Missolonghi. and gives insights onto Italian and European history. Shelley’s life and work also get this more extended treatment, in ‘The Still Unfolding Life of Percy Bysshe Shelley’, with his life narrated by Benjamin and many of his works featured in song.
Lately, watching on as The Beatles have inexorably risen in cultural stature and significance I’ve begun to see the Romantics as a similar cultural force in their own time. There’s a video on this, ‘The First Fab Four’, with Leigh Hunt telling how he was part of the group, and a short trailer which gives the gist of the idea in a two minute timeframe. Maybe that imparts a modern frame of reference – and could reorient perceptions of the Romantics?
As a writer rather than a musician, but one with a keen sense of how music can contribute to communicating words and ideas, I’ve tried to do something relatively modest with the songs, using a folk-rock format to communicate the poets’ words in a way that highlights their work and stays true to the tone of the original pieces. Hopefully they could be a useful way in to their work, from secondary school to university. Lyrics, and commentaries on the songs are also available.
The Romantic playlist can be found at
and my new website is at www.johnmwebster.co.ukAny feedback would be appreciated and can be sent to webstjohn@gmail.com
——-
John Webster