Robert Southey’s journey as a poet was marked by a continuous struggle between his creative impulses and financial necessities. Initially, his output was driven by the need to support himself and others, resulting in many ballads and metrical tales written for newspapers and magazines. Over time, while his desire to create something enduring clashed with economic realities, Southey’s identity shifted from that of a poet to a historian.

The Early Years: Creative Tensions and Financial Needs

In the early stages of his career, Robert Southey wrote numerous ballads and metrical tales for the Morning Post, often motivated by financial necessity rather than creative inspiration. This was a reflection of his broader struggle to balance personal artistic desires with the demands of earning a livelihood. Southey's poetic ventures were frequently driven by economic pressures, such as the need to support both his family and that of his friend Samuel Taylor Coleridge. His workload included writing reviews and articles for magazines and penning verses for newspapers, highlighting a constant tension between creative pursuits and financial obligations.

During his career, Southey made significant efforts to preserve time for his literary endeavors, which he deemed more worthy of his talents. As long as he could maintain this division between meaningful poetry and what he considered 'hackwork,' he felt he could continue without humiliation. However, over time, the energy required for this balancing act diminished, and by 1820, he considered himself more a historian than a poet, as the commercial viability of his poems waned.

The Last Collected Edition and Self-Assessment

In 1837, shortly before illness incapacitated him, Southey prepared the last collected edition of his poems. This task allowed him to reflect on his body of work and critically assess it. He regarded Joan of Arc, written at nineteen, as lacking in merit but acknowledged it as the beginning of his poetic development. Conversely, he saw Thalaba the Destroyer as a turning point where he matured poetically, choosing to let his imagination roam freely, resulting in a work with varied rhythmic structures and spontaneous melody.

In Thalaba the Destroyer, Southey used blank verse that defied traditional structures, allowing the rhythm to follow the natural flow of his imagination. He disrupted typical iambic patterns with sudden shifts to trochaic or dactylic rhythms, exemplifying his experimental spirit. Lines like "Lo! underneath the broadleaved sycamore/ With lids half closed he lies,/ Dreaming of days to come," illustrate this innovative approach.

Religious Epics and Poetic Ambitions

As a schoolboy, Southey aspired to write epic poems based on the world's major religions, which he viewed as mythologies. Thalaba the Destroyer explored Islam, while The Curse of Kehama delved into Hinduism. The latter work saw a return to rhymed verse, marking a compromise between the unstructured blank verse of Thalaba and the symmetry of traditional English epics.

Among Southey’s other epic endeavors was Madoc, initiated before The Curse of Kehama but delayed due to his belief in its significance. Published in 1805, Madoc featured a pleasing melody and fluent narrative style, though it received the least favorable reception of his long poems.

Roderick, the Last of the Goths: A Triumph of Structure and Theme

Despite Madoc's lackluster reception, Southey continued his epic ambitions with Roderick, the Last of the Goths, which succeeded due to the harmony of its versification and theme. The poem examined themes of subjugation, moral grandeur, and tragedy, captivating contemporary readers with its narrative of a virtuous monarch's downfall due to a momentary sin.

The narrative detailed the consequences of the king's sin—a brutal battle lasting eight days, his escape and...