Lit history:

Question 1

Medieval Poetry (5th–15th Century)
Key Features:

Answer 1

• Rooted in oral tradition
• Themes: heroism, chivalry, courtly love, religion, morality
• Forms: ballads, allegories, epic poetry
• Language: Old & Middle English
• Example Writers: Geoffrey Chaucer (“The Canterbury Tales”)
• Heavy use of symbolism and poetic devices

Question 2

Renaissance Poetry (16th–17th Century)
Key Features:

Answer 2

• Revival of classical learning and humanism
• Influenced by Greek and Roman works
• Emphasis on individualism, nature, beauty, and love
• Popular Forms: the sonnet, pastoral poetry
• Notable Figures: William Shakespeare, Edmund Spenser
• Use of metaphor, elaborate language, and new poetic forms

Question 3

Augustan Poetry (1700s)
Key Features:

Answer 3

• Satirical and formal style
• Inspired by classical Roman poetry
• Favored wit, order, and rationality
• Critical of social norms and politics
• Example Poets: Alexander Pope, Jonathan Swift
• Known for heroic couplets and restrained emotion

Question 4

Romantic Poetry (late 18th–mid-19th Century)
Key Features:

Answer 4

• Reaction against Augustan rationalism
• Celebrates emotion, imagination, and nature
• Themes: individual experience, beauty, the sublime
• Key Poets: Wordsworth, Coleridge, Keats, Shelley, Byron
• Focused on personal reflection, often idealized nature
• Language closer to common speech

Question 5

Victorian Poetry (1837–1901)
Key Features:

Answer 5

• Explores social issues, morality, faith vs. doubt
• Themes: industrialization, gender roles, empire
• Influenced by Romanticism but more realistic and narrative
• Writers: Alfred Tennyson, Robert Browning, Christina Rossetti
• Reflects changing society and critiques its moral failings
• Often dramatic monologues or narrative poems

Question 6

Modernist Poetry (Late 19th–Mid 20th Century)
Key Features:

Answer 6

• Break from tradition, reflects disillusionment post-WWI
• Themes: alienation, identity, fragmentation
• Influenced by Freud, Marx, science, and war
• Form: free verse, stream of consciousness
• Writers: T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, H.D.
• Dense with symbolism, experiments with form and voice

Question 7

Postmodern Poetry (Mid 20th Century–Today)
Key Features:

Answer 7

• Reaction to Modernism
• Embraces fragmentation, irony, intertextuality
• Challenges authority, questions meaning
• Often political, playful, or self-aware
• Poets: Allen Ginsberg, Adrienne Rich, Charles Bukowski
• Mixes genres/media, may abandon narrative structure entirely

Question 8

Medieval Poetry - centuary:

Answer 8

5th–15th Century

401 - 1401

Question 9

Renaissance Poetry century:

Answer 9

16th–17th Century

1501 - 1700

Question 10

Augustan Poetry century:

Answer 10

18th centuary

1700’s

Question 11

Romantic Poetry century:

Answer 11

late 18th–mid-19th Century

1780 - 1832

Question 12

Victorian Poetry century:

Answer 12

19th century

1837–1901

Question 13

Modernist poetry century:

Answer 13

Late 19th–Mid 20th Century

1890 - 1950

Question 14

Postmodern Poetry century:

Answer 14

Mid 20th Century–Today

1901 to 2000’s