William Wordsworth's Preface to Lyrical Ballads

Line 26: I have said that poetry is the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings: it takes its origin from emotion recollected in tranquillity: the emotion is contemplated till, by a species of reaction, the tranquillity gradually disappears, and an emotion, kindred to that which was before the subject of contemplation, is gradually produced, and does itself actually exist in the mind. In this mood successful composition generally begins, and in a mood similar to this it is carried on; but the emotion, of whatever kind, and in whatever degree, from various causes, is qualified by various pleasures, so that in describing any passions whatsoever, which are voluntarily described, the mind will, upon the whole, be in a state of enjoyment. If Nature be thus cautious to preserve in a state of enjoyment a being so employed, the Poet ought to profit by the lesson held forth to him, and ought especially to take care, that, whatever passions he communicates to his Reader, those passions, if his Reader’s mind be sound and vigorous, should always be accompanied with an overbalance of pleasure.

Wordsworth explains that every good poem should express some sort of feeling that is conveyed through the words of the poem. Poems are conceived from emotions about a topic or issue in a poet's mind. The reader should get a sense of the emotion being expressed through the mood of the poem. In William Blake's Songs of Innocence and Experience, there are clear moods that each poem takes on. For example:

Laughing Song

When the green woods laugh with the voice of joy,

And the dimpling stream runs laughing by;

When the air does laugh with our merry wit,

And the green hill laughs with the noise of it;

When the meadows laugh with lively green,

And the grasshopper laughs in the merry scene,

When Mary and Susan and Emily

With their sweet round mouths sing ``Ha, Ha, He!''

When the painted birds laugh in the shade,

Where our table with cherries and nuts is spread,

Come live & be merry, and join with me,

To sing the sweet chorus of ``Ha, Ha, He!''

This poem clearly gives off a happy, light and cheerful mood. The poem uses images of laughter and lively scenes to show a upbeat and positive feel to the poem.

Keat's Odes

"Bards of Passion and of Mirth" allows us to get a better understanding of the Keatsean view of the poet's function by explaining that a poet's wisdom should be used as a guide that people can use to better understand the human soul and the world around us. This is explained in lines 25 to 27, "And the souls ye left behind you/ Teach us, here, the way to find you,/ Where your other souls are joying." The souls left behind symbolizes the poet's knowledge that he leaves behind in his poetry for people to read and interpret. The poem asks people to use the poet's knowledge as a guide that will eventually lead their souls where the poet's souls are resting in heaven.
The poems seem to link beauty and pain together which can be linked backed to the Romantic idea that life is based on experiencing opposites. Beauty would be the good and pain is the bad but they are intertwined because we can't go through life without seeing one or the other. We need to experience pain to see the beauty in life and vice versa.
In "Ode on Melancholy" on line 21, Keats says of melancholy "She dwells with Beauty-Beauty that must die;". This means that there is sadness around beauty that is only seen when beauty fades away. Both beauty and pain are always present in life but we usually see one or the other at certain times. This is also true for melancholy and joy. Neither emotion is permanent and as humans, our emotions are constantly changing.
The Romantic belief that human experience is often characterized by pain is true to the extent that painful experiences can be very difficult to deal with for a long time. Once a person experiences something painful, it often increases a person's fear that they may feel that pain again. For example, when someone close to you dies, just the thought of losing someone else can bring you immense pain. Even though life has pain, in a way it allows people to relish happiness even more when they find it due to the hardships they had to go through to get it.
In "Ode on a Grecian Urn", Keats uses a piece of art to display idealistic romantic love which contrasts with the reality of love. The image on the urn represents one moment in time that will never move forward so in a way the love of the man and woman will never fade. This is explained in lines 19 and 20, "She cannot fade, though thou hast not thy bliss, For ever wilt thou love, and she be fair!". This quote also explains that the woman and man on the urn will remain forever young and fair. They will always desire each other because they are stuck in a moment in time. They will never experience the pain of heartbreak or losing love but they will also never share a kiss and move forward in their relationship.
Keats shows that always desiring something or someone can bring about a very idealistic view that becomes a more realistic view once we get what we desire.Continuously wanting and longing are inevitable human traits because it gives us something to strive for and look forward to. We can't help longing for things even if we know they are not attainable because they can help us escape our everyday realities but they can also hurt us if we are not careful. It is human nature that once we get something, we find something else to long for because what we don't have always seems more desirable.

The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Samuel Taylor Coleridge's "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner" is a poem where the Mariner shares his experience which taught him a valuable lesson with a wedding guest. The poem is broken down into seven different sections which in a way makes it feel like a short story. Coleridge seems to have used a great deal of symbolism to showcase his strong belief in Christianity. He made multiple references to God, heaven, hell, repentance and prayer throughout the poem. The Albatross is the sea bird that leads the sailors back on course and is seen as a good omen. It symbolizes nature's beauty or in a religious context, one of God's creations. In lines 63 to 66, Coleridge states, "At length did cross an Albatross,/ Thorough the fog it came;/ As if it had been a Christian soul,/ We hail'd it in God's name. " The Mariner basically describes the bird as a creature made by God. The spirits from the South Pole that follow the Mariner in his journey home seem to be passing judgement on him which can be seen as another Christian symbolization. In lines 399 to 410, Coleridge says:

"Is it he?" quoth one, "is this the man?
By Him who died on cross,	400
With his cruel bow he laid full low
The harmless Albatross.
The Spirit who bideth by himself
In the land of mist and snow,
He loved the bird that loved the man	405
Who shot him with his bow."
The other was a softer voice,
As soft as honey-dew:
Quoth he, "The man hath penance done,
And penance more will do."	410

The spirits explained that the Mariner had killed of one God's creations and faced penance for it which is voluntary self-punishment or repentance in order to atone for some wrongdoing and should continue to do so. The Mariner's wrong doing was not respecting and killing one of God's creations. In a way, it was human nature that allowed the Mariner to kill the Albatross because it is in our nature to do things before we think of the consequences. His prayers could not be heard until he realized the beauty that lied within all of God's creations which he finally saw with the water snakes. When he killed the Albatross with his crossbow, he thought nothing of it and felt no guilt over hurting something innocent which is why he was given a test of sorts to teach him a lesson. Lines 141 and 142 state "Instead of the cross, the Albatross/ About my neck was hung." The Albatross was hung around the Mariner's neck as a punishment or a cross he had to bear until he realized his mistake. The Albatross finally did fall off when he admitted to his wrongdoing.
The Mariner is rescued from the sinking ship by the Pilot and encounters the Hermit on it. The Mariner asks the Hermit to shrieve him which means to question. The Mariner then told the Hermit everything that had happened on the ship and what he had done. I believe that the Mariner needed to confess his wrongdoing to the holy man because he finally felt guilt and regret over killing the Albatross. It freed him in a way to confess. He still carries around that guilt which is why he shares his story with others such as the wedding guest so that they will not make the same mistake. The lesson that the Mariner learns is summed up in lines 615 to 618,"He prayeth best, who loveth best/ All things both great and small;/ For the dear God who loveth us,/ He made and loveth all.` The Mariner learned that man should love all things that God has made just as God loves all things that he has made. This lesson is emphasized above all other things in the poem.
Romantics and Coleridge in particular believed that each individual has their own personal vision and should have the freedom to express it. The power of imagination allows people to do this. Coleridge focused on showing a journey of the Mariner's change in feelings and his realization of nature's beauty. This poem fits the romantic view that people should put importance in their feelings and natural things above other things. It also shows the power of the mind because the way you think can restrict you from seeing the beauty of things around you or free you from guilt, pain and sorrow. The Mariner experienced both in the poem and due to his change in thinking, was able to repent and learn his lesson.