Context Flashcards
1
Q
Who wrote ‘The Manhunt’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Simon Armitage
- This is written by Simon Armitage but is narrated by the soldiers wife, Laura. Sometimes, this poem is referred to as ‘Laura’s Poem’
- It is about a soldier who served in Bosnia initially as a peace keeper. However, he ended up fighting on the mission and got badly injured, physically and psychologically.
- The poem narrates the wife of the soldier trying to get to know her husband again after he returns home, harbouring those injuries and psychological ‘scars’ as a result of his traumatic experiences.
2
Q
Who wrote ‘Sonnet 43’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Elizabeth Barret Browning
- Browning eloped to Italy with her future husband Robert Browning to escape from her father’s disapproval.
- She wrote this sonnet for her future husband as a part of a series of sonnets called ‘Sonnets from the Portuguese’ published in 1850.
- This title was based on Robert Browning’s affectionate nickname for her ‘my little Portuguese’.
- Browning used these poems as a secret way to express her deep love for him.
3
Q
Who wrote ‘London’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by William Blake
- Blake’s poem suggests that such poor living conditions could inspire a revolution and change the streets of his own capital city.
- Although Blake was religious, he was highly critical of the church as he felt that the Church of England was not doing enough to help the children of London, who were forced to work in dangerous and terrible conditions.
- Blake was heavily inspired by the French Revolution.
- Blake wrote and illustrated two volumes of poetry, which explored the state of the human soul. The ‘Songs of Innocence are positive poems which focus on childhood, nature and love, whereas the “Songs of Experience (including “London’) look at how that innocence is lost, and how society has been corrupted.
4
Q
Who wrote ‘The Solider’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem is written by Rupert Brooke
- At the beginning of WWI, people were idealistic and naive about war, viewing it as something noble and heroic.
- Brooke’s poem about war and death are romanticised and optimistic perhaps because this was written before people were really aware of senseless slaughter and futility of battle.
- This is a very patriotic poem viewing dying for your country as something comforting.
5
Q
Who wrote ‘She Walks In Beauty’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Lord Byron (George Gordon)
- Byron was a Romantic poet who had a notorious reputation for his lavish lifestyle, wild behaviour, and scandalous affairs.
- By many, he was regarded as ‘mad, bad and dangerous to know’
- In this poem, Byron describes how he was awestruck by the unstable beauty of a woman he met at a ball whom he perceived as beautiful inside and outside.
- The woman was in mourning and wearing a black dress set with glistening spangles, which caught Byron’s attention and inspired him to write the poem.
6
Q
Who wrote ‘Living Space’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Imtiaz Dharker
- Dharker was born in Pakistan and brought up in Scotland (her poetry focuses a lot on religion, faith and culture).
- In this poem Dharker writes about poverty and living conditions in the shanty towns and slum areas of Mumbai (Bombay) in India.
- Mumbai is home to to 22 million people, 70% of these people live in slums where there is limited access to food, electricity, clean water or opportunities for education.
7
Q
Who wrote ‘As Imperceptibly as Grief’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Emily Dickinson
- In this poem, Dickinson writes about her initial regret about the passing of time and the changing of seasons.
- Dickinson was raised in a strict Puritan household, and she became a reclusive woman who did not leave her home for 30 years.
- A lot of her poems focused on nature and, like this poem, the passing of time.
- This poem was published after Dickinson’s death.
8
Q
Who wrote ‘Cozy Apologia’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Rita Dove
- In this autobiographical poem, Dove expresses her love for her husband, John.
- This poem, written in 2003, refers to her struggle with society’s opinion about whom she loves as an African-American woman.
- This poem was written during Hurricane Floyd, which ripped along the Atlantic and killed many people (she wrote this poem from her home, where she was sheltering).
9
Q
Who wrote ‘Valentine’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Carol Ann Duffy
- Duffy used this poem as a way to criticise the conventional and clichéd symbols of romance and relationships.
- In this poem, Duffy explains why an onion is a more appropriate symbol of love than other stereotypical gifts.
10
Q
Who wrote ‘A Wife in London’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Thomas Hardy
- This poem was written during the time of the Boer War in 1898.
- This poem is about a wife in London waiting for news about her husband, who is fighting in the Boer War in South Africa.
- The Boers were farmers who rebelled against British rule in the Transvaal in northern South Africa in a bid to re-establish their independence.
11
Q
Who wrote ‘Death of a Naturalist’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Seamus Heaney
- Heaney was an Irish poet who wrote about the themes of childhood, Ireland, rural life, nature, and politics.
- This poem describes the memories of a young boy who has been collecting frogspawn from a flax dam.
- At first, the narrator seems enthusiastic about the sticky frogspawn. However, as they narrator grew, they found the frogspawn disgusting.
- Heaney’s poem could be described as the loss of childhood innocence and is largely seen through the eyes of a small child. At a deeper level, it could be interpreted as suggesting how our adult identities are formed.
- Death of a Naturalist is based on Heaney’s childhood in rural Northern Ireland.
12
Q
Who wrote ‘Hawk Roosting’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Ted Hughes
- This poem is written from the point of view of a hawk as he sits at the top of a wood.
- When this poem was first published, it was quite controversial.
- The image of the hawk sitting on top of the world controlling everything with the threat of violence made people think of a Fascist dictator - the symbol of Nazism was an Eagle standing on top of a wreath.
13
Q
Who wrote ‘To Autumn’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by John Keats
- In this poem, Keats describes the richness and wonders of the season of autumn.
- ‘To Autumn’ was written in 1819 on an autumn evening after Keats returned from a walk near Winchester.
- Keats compares autumn to a female goddess as during this time, seasons were often depicted as women in European art.
- He suffered and died from tuberculosis.
- La flâneaur: someone who walked through a city, watching, but not participating in the things they saw. This allowed the viewer to experience and analyze city life from a detached or external viewpoint.
14
Q
Who wrote ‘Afternoons’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Philip Larkin
- This poem describes young mothers watching their children as they play.
- Larkin was famous for creating detailed observations about everyday life and relationships.
- People often thought his poetry was rather negative and miserable.
- His life was quite restricted as he never married, had no children, never travelled abroad, and worked as a librarian in Hull for 30 years.
- In the 1950s, after war, women were expected to stay at home doing domestic chores, and most were forced to quit their jobs once married and had children as the were viewed as the primary carers.
15
Q
Who wrote ‘Dulce et Decorum est’? And give key pieces of context about this poem.
A
This poem was written by Wilfred Owen
- This poem describes a gas attack in the trenches during WWI.
- Owen fought in WWI. In 1914, at the start of the war, people were very naïve and excited.
- The war was expected to be over by Christmas, but instead, it lasted for four years. As a result of this, propaganda was needed to recruit soldiers, and Jessie Pope wrote the poem ‘Who’s For the Garne?’ to encourage young men to enlist by comparing warfare to a game.
- Wilfred Owen wrote ‘Dulce et Decorum Est’ in response because he wanted to show the brutality and horrors of war.
