Poets' conceptions of their roles in society can be fairly consistent for long periods of time or may
change rapidly in a
decade or two. The difference between the idea of a poet's function as conceived by the Romantic era and the Victorian period provides an example of significant
change. The paper shows that not all the supposed members of any school of
poetry share every aspect of the predominant theory of poetry in their generation. It shows that neither John Keats (1795-1821) nor Matthew Arnold (1822-88) is entirely typical of his era. But, especially because Arnold reacted against Keats--among others--in specific, articulated ways, a comparison of their ideas of their role as poets in this paper demonstrates how such changes take place and the effect they have on the poetry that is written.