English literature is now considered a seminal figure in the history of both the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. Among his most important works are "Songs of Innocence" (1789) and "Songs of Experience" (1794) "and profound and difficult 'prophecies' ", such as "Jerusalem: the Emanation of the Giant Albion" (1804–c.1820). After Blake, among the earliest Romantics were the Lake Poets, including William Wordsworth (1770–1850), Samuel Taylor Coleridge (1772–1834), Robert Southey (1774–1843) and journalist Thomas de Quincey (1785–1859). However, at the time Walter Scott (1771–1832) was the most famous poet. The early Romantic Poets brought a new emotionalism and introspection,
Robert Southey "The Doctor". He also wrote on political issues, which led to a brief, non-sitting, spell as a Tory Member of Parliament. Robert Southey was born in Wine Street, Bristol, to Robert Southey and Margaret Hill. He was educated at Westminster School, London, (where he was expelled for writing an article in "The Flagellant" attributing the invention of flogging to the Devil) and Balliol College, Oxford. Southey later said of Oxford, "All I learnt was a little swimming ... and a little boating." Experimenting with a writing partnership with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, most notably in their joint composition of "The Fall