Context Flashcards
To Autumn
*Written by John Keats in 1819
*He was an iconic (🤘) British Romantic poet
*He wrote 6 odes (praise poems) and this was his last one
*The poem praises autumn, describing its abundance, harvest, and transition into winter
*He lost a lot of his family to TB
*Last major work that Keats completed before his death in Rome, in 1821, where the 25-year-old succumbed to tuberculosis.
Composed Upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802
*Written by William Wordsworth in 1802
*He was born in the Lake District surrounded by natural beauty. This affected his writing
*Inspired by democratic ideology of French that drove their revolution
*William Wordsworth is considered the most prominent English Romantic Poet
*Wordsworth’s poetry focused on nature and the relationship between man and nature
*The title marks a specific place and time—a viewpoint over London’s River Thames during the Industrial Revolution
*He wrote this on his way to see daughter (who he hadn’t seen in a decade). He could’ve been thinking of change and how quickly time passes, wanting to save the moment by writing it down
London
*Written by William Blake in 1974
*He grew up and lived in London (contrast to Wordsworth)
*This is more negative view on London than “Westminster” because of Blake’s familiarity with it vs Wordsworth’s outsider view
*Blake respected religion but loathed organised religion
*He tried to use poetry to bring about change
*Was a controversial and rebellious figure at the time
I Started Early- Took my Dog
*Written by Emily Dickinson in around 1862.
*This is the Victorian era
Where the Picnic Was
*Written by Thomas Hardy in 1914
*It was written in response to the sudden death of his wife in 1912
*He felt bad/guilty about the distance between them towards the end of their marriage
*As a result of this the poem explores loneliness and abandonment
Adlestrop
*Written by Thomas Edwards in 1917
*He was influenced by Romantic poetry
*He wrote the poem during the war which changes the meaning of the poem from a random train station to a moment of peace and tranquillity
*He was killed in action in 1917- giving a different tone to the poem
Home Thoughts From Abroad
*Written by Robert Browning in 1845
*Browning was a Romantic- nature had a large impact on his life and therefore poetry
*He wrote this whilst in the North of Italy, missing his home-England
*Brownings wife was an invalid for most of her life and they moved to Italy in hopes of extending her life, away from the smoke and pollution in London
* The poem was actually written in the year before they moved. Browning was visiting Italy to consider the move
Stewart Island
*Written by Fleur Adcock in 1971
*She was born in New Zealand, moved to England when she was 5, during WW2. She then moved back to New Zealand at 13 but has since moved back again to England in her late 20s
* Her early nomadic existence has had a major part to play in her poetry
*Many of her poems are written from the view of an outsider, tending to include everyday events with a dark twist
*a lot of her poetry is autobiographical- based off her struggles
Hurricane Hits England
*written by Grace Nichols in 1996
*Grace Nichols was born in Guyana and moved to England in 1977
* Was an immigrant and didn’t feel like she belonged and felt far from home until this hurricane hit
* hurricanes are very common in West Indies but not at all in England, where she lives.
Nothing’s Changed
- Written by Tatamkhulu Afrika in 1994
*The poem talks about the apartheid in District Six near Cape Town and his feelings upon returning to District Six
*The apartheid caused racial segregation
*It “ended” in 1990 but Afrika wanted to show it was still there and his anger
*Born with Arab father and Turkish mother he could’ve been classified as white but chose to fight with the black people of South Africa
Postcard from a Travel Snob
*Written by Sophie Hannah in 1996
*Her northern upbringing played an important role on her writing
*she is passionate about the class divide- having been at the recieving end of it growing up
*Grew up during the Margret Thatcher era where the north suffered massively from her tearing them apart pulling funding and making them unemployed
*Most northern industry was lost and she made close to 4 million people jobless
*Hannah would have developed a real sense of pride in her upbringing and would fight against those who oppress the north and their pride
*Riots of 1995 would’ve made her feeling like the poem was a necessity
In Romney Marsh
*Written by John Davidson in 1920
*Romney marsh was written in a very unsteady period- after WW1.
*Written in appreciation of Romney Marsh: Romantic landscape poetry
Romney Marsh went through a lot of development
*Davidson killed himself and this poem could reflect his feelings of depression at times
Absence
*Written by Elizabeth Jennings in 1956
*Captures the isolating pain of grief
*British Poet known for her clarity
