Love poem- context

Question 1

Who so List to hount I knowe where is an hynde- Sir Thomas Wyatt

Answer 1

• Wyatt was a politician, poet, esquire in the king’s court (influential)
• Rumoured to have had relations with Anne Boleyn, he was arrested and watched her execution from his cell
• Similarites between Henry VIII and Ceasar: became leaders young, influential in politics, tyranical leaders

Question 2

Sonnet 116- William Shakespeare

Answer 2

• This sonnet is part of a series believed to be addressed to a young man
• The concept of male friendship at the time meant that men were expected to be one anothers soul mates becuase they were on the same intellectual level- platonic love

Question 3

The Flea- John Donne

Answer 3

• Donne was a diplomat and worked in court, he ran away and married his boss’ niece but was arrested and became devoutly christian
• He became a dean and his sermons were known for their eloquent and powerful nature
• He was a metaphysical poet, typically using conceit, hyperbole, metaphors, and argument
• Critical viewpoint on the female voice in the poem “her silent voice booms”- Amanda Boyd

Question 4

To His Coy Mistress- Andrew Marvell

Answer 4

• Marvell was one of the cavalier poets and a member of parliament throughout a period of political turmoil
• Initially he wrote for Cromwell, then for Charles II “The Merry Monarch” who brought a time of indulgence and pleasure following on from Cromwell’s puritanism
• He wrote to entertain other men of court, typically wrote satirical, humourous and metaphysical poetry

Question 5

The Scrutiny- Richard Lovelace

Answer 5

• Somewhat a leader of the cavalier poets
• Born into wealth, spent his life being admired by women, had the typical cavalier image- sociable, fought for the royalists, concerned with pleasures of the moment
• Carpe diem poem- sieze the day
• A feminist reading of this poem would see him as selfish, but his behvaiour was more socially acceptable at the time (patriarchal society)

Question 6

A song (Absent from thee)- John Wilmott, Earl of Rochester

Answer 6

• Subverts expectations of love poetry- normalises infidelity
• Cavalier poet during the restoration period- when Charless II returned from exile and brought with him liveliness, drink, freedom and vivacity
• Wilmott was a courtier of King Charles II, he was known as a drinker, gossip, satiricist and despite being married, had many mistresses
• He was known for his explicit, filthy poetry which was later censored
• The poem touches on the madonna whore dichotomy

Question 7

The Garden of Love- William Blake

Answer 7

• Early romantic poet, painter and engraver
• His thinking was atypical of the time, he attacks the shortfalls of the Anglican church in a highly religious society
• He was devoutly christian but rejected the ideas of the church (making him a dissenter)
• Unconventional thinker- rejected the link between sex and sin
• In traditional English villages, the green (“garden”) was owned by everyone and was to be used for events, it is also associated with fertility and life

Question 8

Song (Ae Fond Kiss)- Robert Burns

Answer 8

• Burns is a Scottish hero and the national poet, each year Scotts celebrate Burns’ night
• He was a pioneer of the Romantic movement
• He advocated for a Scottish identity within art, hence writes in a Scottish dialect
• He was in love with a woman called Nancy (platonic love), she was of a higher class so unattainable, they exchanged many passionate love letters, although he did continue to have affairs with others
• Nancy left the country to travel to Jamaica to reconcile with her husband but remained faithfully in love with Burns, this poem was his parting gift to her

Question 9

Remember- Christina Rosetti

Answer 9

• Rosetti was an influential female writer of the 19th century, she was born into an intellectual family from whom she had pre-raphaelite influence
• She experienced a breakdown and “religious mania”, she fell in love many times but rejected them due to them not matching her religious criteria
• She lived a very sickly life, sufferring from graves disease
• This poem was written at a time of personal illness and was addressed to a lover
• Also was written in a time of national mourning following Prince Albert’s death, death was an obsession for Victorians

Question 10

The Ruined Maid- Thomas Hardy

Answer 10

• Hardy wrote many novels about the plight of the rural poor and idea of fallen women (common trope in Victorian literature)
• The perception of female honour was wrapped up in ideas about virginity and fidelity
• Hardy was a realist, influenced by the romantics, critical of the declining industrialised society
• In Victorian England there was a moral panic about prostitution and women using their sexuality to gain freedom, this poem uses satire to question the impossible middle class standards

Question 11

At An Inn- Thomas Hardy

Answer 11

• The poem may relate to his affair with Florence Henniker who he met when his marriage was in trouble, the affair lasted 30 years yet she rejected his advances
• He had a troubled marriage
• The setting of an Inn implies a sense of fleeting movement/ links to affairs, in this era, it would be inapproperiate for a man and woman (unmarried) to go to an inn together

Question 12

La Belle Dame sana Merci. A Ballad- John Keats

Answer 12

• Title traslates to ‘the beautiful lady without mercy’
• He wrote this poem in 1819, a year of love and loss for him, his brother had recently died of TB, he was nearing his own death (also TB) and his relationship with neighbour Fanny Bawne was at a climax
• 2nd generation romantic poet, believed in emotion, the power of nature and real love
• Wanted to revive the medieval genre, hence the ballad form

Question 13

She Walks in Beauty- Lord Byron

Answer 13

• Byron was described as ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’
• He was a leading Romantic poet in the late 18th century- rejected conventions and moral standard, however due to society at the time would have a deep rooted fear of hell- hence he admires her purity
• Popular with women- came from a wealthy, titled family, married a rich woman with whom he had a child, but went on to have many affairs includng his half-sister and Mary Shelley’s sister
• This poem is a personal response to him seeing a beautiful woman at a party, she is in mourning (widow) yet he admires her purity and beauty
• The sublime (typical Romantic feature)- overwhelming sense of awe and wonder

Question 14

Non Sum Qualis Eram Bonae sub Regno Cynarae- Ernest Dowson

Answer 14

• Title translates to ‘I am not as good as I was under the reign of good Cynara’
• Dowson was part of the decadent movement of the late 1800’s in Europe (mainly France) which centred around denying yourself nothing, enjoying excess and pushing art’s boundaries
• When he was 22, he was introduced to Adelaide Foltinowicz who was 10/11 years old, he fell deeply in love with her, he deemed this his most important relationship, it was NOT SEXUAL, when she was 15 she had a relationship with another man and this left him horrified
• At the time, society’s perception of child sexuality was different, girls were sexualised from a younger age and child prositution was at an all-time high in Britain