So it has been a while since I last read any romantic poetry, it’s not usually the sort of thing I enjoy. I find it can be a bit too maudlin for my tastes, a bit too emotional. That’s not to say I don’t like or appreciate emotions, just that having something solely focused on emotion can often be boring or alienating. I need some sort of narrative, a context that will help me understand why the emotion is happening. I can’t just read a poem about someone being sad and connect to them immediately, I need some sort of explanation as to why they are sad.

That’s one of the reasons I liked Lyrical Ballads. It offered some background information on each of the characters introduced, and made them seem plausible. It was easier to empathize with their trial and tribulations after knowing some things about them. One of the best examples of this (in my opinion) is we are six, which is so much more powerful knowing the context and where the characters are coming from.

I definitely need some information about the characters in order to empathize with them, but how about you guys? Did you like the background information, and how each poem featured distinct “characters,” or did that take away from the overall emotional impact of the poems?

edit: i forgot to tag this!!! jeez i am bad at using this blog