Robert Southey is one of the British lakeside poets. His works are full of passion and romance, so he is called a romantic poet. In his youth, he was a radical, romantic, and advanced poet, but in his later years, he became a literati for politicians and was despised by other poets. Robert Southey was born in a cloth merchant family. He was exposed to the works of Voltaire and Rousseau from an early age, so he was particularly interested in romantic poetry. He was a very radical person when he was young. While studying at Westminster School, he wrote an article against corporal punishment of students in the school, and was later expelled for this article. After being admitted to Oxford University, he became obsessed with the French Revolution and wrote poems to praise Joan of Arc in France. After meeting Coleridge, the two also planned to build a utopia in the undeveloped American forests. From these experiences of Robert Southey we can see what a reforming person he was in his youth. What no one expected was that a man who was so radical in his youth would become pedantic and follow the trend as he got older. He later became the favored literati of many politicians, using his pen and words to attack fellow literati writers. In order to please the rulers, he wrote "The Vision of the Judge" to praise George III, and even attacked Byron, Shelley and others, saying that they were Satanists. He himself was awarded the title of Poet Laureate. Robert Southey's contribution to the poetry of romantic literature was very great. Although he became unreasonable in his later period, his outstanding works cannot be erased.
?Charlotte is a famous British female writer who wrote the world-famous "Jane Eyre". Southey is a famous British poet. He is one of the pioneering writers of British Romanticism. In 1836, Charlotte wrote a letter to Southey, and Southey wrote back to Charlotte. So what did Southey write in his reply to Charlotte? Why is this reply so famous? In Southey's youth, he was a poet with great reform ideas. He admired the French Revolution and studied and studied this topic crazily during college. His praise of Joan of Arc in the Holy Maiden also made many people think that he was a reforming and advanced poet. In his youth he was indeed such a figure. But in his later years, he changed beyond recognition.
The French Revolution, which he once admired very much, later became the content of his criticism. Poets who had once been like-minded became the targets of his attacks. He used to reject British capitalism and was therefore at odds with the Communist Party. However, in his old age, he turned out to be the go-to poet for the Communist Party and politicians. He became pedantic and stuffy. In December 1836, Charlotte was still only 20 years old. She loved literature and admired Southey, the famous romantic writer and poet. Charlotte selected the most confident poems from her own works and sent them to Southey, expressing her admiration and hope for guidance. So what did Southey write in his reply to Charlotte? In Southey's reply to Charlotte, he did not have any encouragement at all. Southey said that literature should be a male realm, not something Charlotte should be involved in, let alone women. These pedantic words later became known to the public, and people's respect for Southey gradually decreased.