AO4 Context Marks

Question 1

Contextual points for Robert Frost

Answer 1

Seen as celebrating bucolic (rural) tradition at a time of growing industrialisation; feeling of being a bit safe and possibly sentimental; values of capitalist, patriarchal America; two different tendencies conformity and extravagance; setting traditional meters against natural rhythms of speech

Question 2

Contextual points on Tennyson

Answer 2

Popular poet of his age; admired for poetic musicality; fell out of fashion in the 20th century as jingoistic (overly patriotic; rediscovered through Marxism and Freudian approaches

Question 3

Contextual points for Birdsong

Answer 3

Unfashionable topic; muted response; concerned about sex and lack of morality; a sense of Stephens coldness; split opinion of fragmented narrative; criticised for English nationalism

Question 4

Contextual points for DH Lawrence

Answer 4

giving a voice to the working class, especially miners; growing disillusionment with industrialisation, humans divorced from nature, concerned about celebration of masculine power, stereotyping of women; conventional storytelling, glorification of sex; innovative use of psychological themes; distinctive application of heightened realism