Absent from thee Flashcards
Who wrote this poem?
John wilmot
What is the structure of the poem?
Four stanzas arranged into quatrains following iambic tetrameter
Which quotations in this poem parallel the great Gatsby
- “The straying fool”
- “Once in a while, I go off in a spree and make a fool of myself” Chapter 7 Tom
- “Absent from thee, I languish still”
- “He had thrown himself into it with a creative passion, adding to it all the time decking it out with every bright feather that drifted his way” Chapter 5
Give some synopsis of the poem
- The speaker establishes that without their lover, they are weak with longing, “Absent from thee, I languish still”
- Speaker has a unique perspective on infidelity, only when he returns to her will he be faithful
- Form of a love poem and religious language to satirize traditional ideas of love and religion. Wilmott puts emphasis on lust
Give some context of the poem
- Restoration in the united kingdom, 1660
- political settlement, “a divinely ordained miracle”
- The repression felt by the people was lifted and swung to license, there was a sense of freedom
Give some context on the poet
- Courtier of king Charles II’s restoration court
- “The best English satirist”
- poetry was censored during the Victorian era due to his libertinism
-nihilistic atheist
writer of the filthiest versa
What is the significance of the title of the poem
- Intimate and private
- Creates a great sense of the lover’s absence
What is the significance of the opening of the poem?
- Expectations are subverted
- Dramatic in his description
- “languishing” speaker recalls the “palely loitering” knight of ‘La Belle Dame Sans Merci
- Tone changes here and the reader begins to question the nature of the relationship
- Consonance moves quickly from flattery to annoyance. Makes his voice untrustworthy
What is the significance of the structure of the poem
- 4 stanzas arranges into quatrains
- clean, classic love poem structure
- Reader gets a witty and lustrous man who wants to persuade his lover into allowing him to sleep around
What is the significance of the metre
- Iambic rhythms, common in English poetry resemble a heartbeat
What is the rhyme scheme used and what is its significance
- ABAB
- Musical essence
- Half rhymes hint at the incompatibility of the poem’s romantic style and the unromantic message
Give some analysis of the speaker
- Sounds insincere and unloving
- Lascivious
- Manipulates the language of love poetry
What figure of speech is used in the following sentence and give its significance
- “Absent from thee, I languish still”
- Emphasis on “thee” makes the poem intimate and alerts the reader to the poem’s superficially romantic nature
What figure of speech is used in the following sentences and state its significance
- “When, wearied with a world of woe”
- “Faithless to thee, false, unforgiven”
- Alliteration creates a dramatic effect
- repeated ‘w’ sounds draws the readers attention to the speakers sincerity
- Alliteration is over-the-top
- “world of woe” recalls the Christian phrase “vale of tears”. The sombre religious Imagery is at odds with his indulgence in sexual desires
What imagery is used in the following sentences and state its significance
- “The torments it deserves to try”
- “Once more wandering from that heaven”
- “I fall on some base heart unblest”
- Religious Imagery
- Highlights the sacred nature of the speaker’s relationship
