Context of TGG + Poetry Flashcards
1
Q
Whoso List To Hunt - Typical literature
A
- Whoso was written in the 1530’s by Sir Thomas Wyatt.
- Love poetry in the renaissance was typically about courtly and unrequited love. According to pilkington courtly love “may perhaps have been the greatest change in Western culture between the fall of Rome and the great rise of the Renaissance”.
- Courtly love put women on pedestals and glorified amorous passion in a way that was anathema both to Classical civilization and Christian salvation.
- The woman was the dominant figure because men had to become fit for a lady.
- The courtship of a woman was portrayed as a battlefield for men, with the prize being the female.
- In whoso list to hunt, Wyatt strictly follows the Petrarchan sonnet form, which demonstrates his practice of elevating the English Language to a higher status associated with European languages.
2
Q
Whoso List To Hunt - Historical + Wyatt
A
- He was a courtier and diplomat in the court of Henry VIII, which gave him a powerful position (but not more powerful then the king).
- Wyatt’s poems were circulated around the court.
- The Christian Church was collapsing and political correction was ambiguous and taboo which meant that many poets at the time used extended metaphors to create allegories to protect their status and position.
- It is suspected that the poem is based on and alludes to an affair Wyatt had with Anne Boleyn, which the poet was imprisoned for in May 1536.
- He was good at introductions the personal perspective to english poetry, and involved his own experiences for the first time.
3
Q
Sonnet 116 - Typicality of literature.
A
- Sonnets originated in Italy in the 13th century and spread throughout Europe.
- The sonnet reached England due to Sir Thomas Wyatt’s ‘Whoso list to hunt’ in the 1530’s, however it started to gain popularity in the 1590’s.
- Petrarchan sonnets we’re popular in European courts partly because their focus on the speaker-lovers experience of their desire and inner struggle.
- They often talked about unrequited love.
- Normal sonnets are arranged ABBAABBA followed by a seset rhyming CDECDE or CDCCDC. However, Shakeperian sonnets are organized differently,
containing three quatrains, typically rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF and conclude with a couplet GG.
4
Q
Sonnet 116 - Historical + Shakespeare.
A
- Sonnet 116 was written in the 1590’s.
- It was written in queen Elizabeth’s reign in which she supported the arts, literature and poetry.
- He was living in an uncommon time where there was peace in terms of conflict and wars.
- Because people were less focused on external turmoil, people were able to focus on matters of the heart.
- Sonnet 116 is considered one of the Fair Youth sonnets which were addressed to an unnamed young man, rumored to be either Earl of Pembroke or the Earl of Southampton. Shakespeare writes of the young man in a romantic and loving way - which had lead to people suspecting that they had a sexual relationship between them (or it could be platonic love).
5
Q
The Flea - Typicality of literature + the metaphysical poets.
A
- The metaphysical movement was a group of people who shared the same ideology on metaphysics and try to relate spiritual phenomena to reality, they also ask serious questions about the nature of existence and the universe. It has a number of characteristics; use of strange paradoxes and puns (comparing lovers to objects or concepts is known as conceits), witty, religious imagery, carpe diem themes, complicated and intellectual arguments, scientific imagery, and colloquial language.
- Often they had a ‘carpe diem’ or ‘momento mori’ attitude.
- They had ways of wearing different forms, structures, and languages.
- They explored passionate feelings with clever intellectual argument + delighted in display of intellectual thought by using language that has energy and viality.
6
Q
The Flea - Donne + Historical context.
A
- The Flea was written by John Donne in 1590 and published in 1633.
- Donne was a metaphysical poet and knows as a ‘great lover of women’.
- He was born catholic but was a priest for the anglicon church (protestants) - this showed that perhaps he wasn’t as traditional in his attitudes to religion?
- Fleas were a large problem during the 17th century and therefore a reason why John Donne may have used it is so it can relate to everyone despite their social class.
- While The Flea isn’t a traditional love poem, it deals with themes that align with love therefore it could be argued that Donne is satirizing conventional love poetry, he does this by creating a poem which is self-consciously silly and strange.
7
Q
The scrutiny - Typicality of literature.
A
- The cavalier poets were a school of English poets during 1620’s and the 1640’s that came from the classes that supported the King during the civil war.
- Lovelace was considered the leader of these poets.
- Cavalier poetry different from other forms of poetry through it’s used of; strict rhyme schemes, regular meters, and clear forms.
- Instead of tackling issues ljke religion, philosophy and the arts it focused on the pleasures of the moment such as drinking and sensuality - expressing a ‘carpe diem’ attitude.
- It also celebrated beauty, nature, fellowship, honour, and social life.
- This meant the poetry was often about having sex with women and gaining material wealth which results in cavalier poetry having a triumphant tone.
- Despite being royalists, they rarely wrote about political or monarchical affairs, aside from references to battle and honor.
- Their use of tight structures and classical references displays their intellect and erudition.
- Further characteristics include; metaphor, fantasy, and platonic
love.
8
Q
The scrutiny - Historical context and Richard Lovelace.
A
- Written in the 1640’s by Lovelace before the beginning of the bloody civil war between the puritans and royalists.
- Puritans advocated for the country to adopt more radical protestant faith. Charles I opposed them and inlisted on the more
conservative doctrines of the church of england. - The puritans won the war and executed Charles I in 1649.
- The poem is aimed at other men who want to ‘play the felid’.
Focused on lust over love and forces the listener into a passive position through the dramatic monologue. - This poem is political was well as personal because this was when the cavaliers were fighting for sexual liberty.
9
Q
The Garden of Love - Typicality of literature
A
- The garden of love is part of a collection ‘songs of innocence and experience’.
- His poems in innocence were positive in tone and celebrated love, childhood, and nature.
- However his songs of experience looked into the negative side of the church, modern life, views the modern condition as dangerous and corrupt, promoting poverty, child labour, and prostitution.
- The garden of love was central to the ‘songs of experience’ and it marks a transition from childhood to adulthood.
- “And binding with briars my joys and desires” (AO3), briars refer to the thorns that Jesus was hung up with and what his crown was made out of, which roman’s used to mock him. Using the churches own religious symbol as an oppressive tool to get the speaker to conform and submit is HYPOCRITICAL.
10
Q
The Garden of Love - Historic context and Blake
A
- William Blake was a romantic poet who published his work ‘the garden of love’ in 1789.
- Both his parents were dissenters, protestant christian’s who separated from the church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
- His childhood revolves around the arts; attending drawing school and then working as an illustrator painter and an engraver while working at a print shop which was were some of his first poems were released.
- Blake was devoutly religious, though he held reservations on organized religion, publicity expressing criticism of the church of England to many of his peers, and exemplified ‘the garden of love’.
- He found his inspiration in the bible and religious texts.
11
Q
Song (Ae Fond Kiss) - Typicality of literature.
A
- Traditional Scottish ballad form.
- Typically, Scottish colloquialism was seen as ‘improper’ and therefore it was frowned upon in poetry, however Burn chose to use it to perhaps make it more appealing to lower classes? It also makes it more direct (written for HER) which makes it more vaunrable.
12
Q
Song (Ae Fond Kiss) - Historical context and Burns
A
- Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and wrote many famous poems in Scottish dialect as well as english.
- Burn grew up in a middle class countryside but had a good education.
- He was married with twins but rarely left his wife to live with his love in the west indies.
- Burns had a secret love affair with Anges McLehose, who was estranged from her husband but still married.
- They used the names ‘Clarinda’ and ‘Sylvander’ in their letters to cover their real names.
- During their love affair she rejected his physical advancements, they only ever communicated through letters, so he had a child with her maid instead.
- ‘Ae’ translates to ‘one’. Each letter symbolizes a kiss because they did not have a physical relationship.
- An interpretation for the title could be ‘one last kiss’.
- However, Anges moved back to Jamaica to be with her husband in 1791 which made Burns heartbroken, which made him write Song (Ae Fond Kiss).
13
Q
She walks in beauty - Typicality in literature.
A
- Byron’s poem is a lyric poem which often was expressive and in a freestyle way, they often talked about love and grief.
- The poems was written during the romanticism movement.
- Writers wanted to reject the cold unemotional rationalism of enlightenment culture and instead used a more emotional and subjective view of the world.
- The romantic writers would also follow enlightened values of protesting institutions and sources of power (church / monarchy / army), and use their work to comment on society and how it should be reformed.
- They used everyday language to make it accessible to all, which could be a reaction to the industrial revolution as they’d express their dislike of urban life and embrace of nature.
- They’d look at larger general themes of love, loss, and grief, rather than a specific focus on an individual.
14
Q
She walks in beauty - Historical context and Byron.
A
- Written in 1814 by Lord Byron.
- Byron was a romantic poet who was frequently seen in public scandals; he is considered by many to be the first ‘celebrity’.
- After having an illegitimate child with his half sister, Byron married Annabella Milbanke. However, they divorced he moved to lake Geneva in 1816.
- The poem is said to be written about Anne Beatrix Wilmot who looked beautiful in a dress at a party of one of his friends.
- Her dress was said to be black and have rimstones on it (which link to the stars).
- Although Byron must’ve felt attraction for Anne, he was unable to pursue this attraction as she was married to his cousin - Sir Robert Wilmot.
15
Q
The Ruined Maid - Typicality in literature.
A
- The victorian period was kown to be carefully censored, straight, and exacting in standards.
- Hardy passionately opposed these constraints in his work.
- Victorian poetry had a constant return to themes of isolation and loss of innocence as well as romantic love and social injustice.
- Victorian poetry always had a moral purpose and intended to oppose and object to the unfair social and political systems in England.
- Victorian poetry was also highly idealistic and tackled issues of love, truth and justice. Which includes the oppression of women in society. This can be seen in ‘The Ruined Maid’ as it reflects on the role of women in society and especially on their reliance on men.
