Robert Southey

1 8.2

An English Romantic poet who lived from 1774 to 1843 and worked with Wordsworth and Coleridge

proper noun

: Robert Southey

Robert Southey was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1813 until his death.

Examples

The works of Robert Southey are important contributions to English Romantic poetry.
Many students study the correspondence between Robert Southey and William Wordsworth.
The famous English Romantic poet, Robert Southey, wrote many notable poems.
Did you know that Robert Southey was a close friend of Wordsworth?
Robert Southey was Poet Laureate of the United Kingdom from 1813 until his death.
Many students study the correspondence between Robert Southey and William Wordsworth.
The works of Robert Southey are important contributions to English Romantic poetry.

Surface Forms

Robert Southey main

Morphology

Robert + Southey

This is a proper name referring to a specific person; knowing the constituent words 'Robert' and 'Southey' does not allow a learner to infer biographical information (that he was an English Romantic poet) because names are referential and not compositionally meaningful. Proper names are arbitrary labels across languages, so the MWE's meaning is not derivable from its parts and would be unpredictable to a B1 learner.

Etymology

Robert Southey was an English poet in the early 1800s who became the official 'Poet Laureate' and wrote poems about nature and popular children's stories. Think of him walking by the lakes with Wordsworth and Coleridge, writing about the countryside, and that's why his name is remembered for those poems and tales.