context for the poetry Flashcards
0-100 in terms of trauma for these people
1
Q
A wife in London
A
Thomas Hardy
- Written in the Victorian period in 1899,
- shortly after the outbreak of the Boer War (more than 120,000 British and Imperial casualties, including 22,000 dead lasting from 1899–1902)
- The poem focuses on the impact of war on those at home, exploring the far reaching impact of war on ordinary individuals who are powerless to those in control
2
Q
Death of a naturalist
A
- written by Irish poet Seamus Heaney (1966).
- It talks about a young boy’s fascination with frogspawn and how he learns of the hasher realities of nature.
- Heaney’s poem examines the loss of childhood innocence and wonder.
3
Q
Hawks roosting
A
- Hawk Roosting’ was written by the British poet Ted Hughes (1960 collection ‘Lupercal’)
- It’s a dramatic monologue from the viewpoint of a hawk showing it cool/ calculating nature and its indifference to the passing of time
- explores primal instincts and the natural order
4
Q
Excerpt from the prelude
A
- by Romantic poet William Wordsworth and is taken from his autobiographical epic poem. (an epic is just a longer poem)
- He worked on the prelude all through his life and it was published after he died in 1850
- This section captures childlike joy, freedom/ independence and connection between humans and nature.
5
Q
Mametz Wood
A
- Mametz Wood’ is a poem by Welsh poet Owen Sheers (2005 collection Skirrid Hill)
- about the Battle of Mametz Wood, a significant event during WW1 (nearly 4000 soldiers from the Welsh Division lost their lives)
- Sheers explores the tension between nature’s ability to heal and the enduring scars left by human conflict.
6
Q
The Manhunt
A
- by the contemporary British poet Simon Armitage (2003)
- It explores the emotional aftermath of war and its impact on relationships, particularly focusing on a partner or wife’s perspective (biographical as about a real peacekeeper stationed in Bosnia in the 1990s)
-The poem suggests that the effects of war extend far beyond the battlefield, deeply affecting those who must “hunt” for the person they once knew in the changed individual who has returned.
7
Q
to Autumn
A
- John Keats written in 1819 as the last of 6 odes written that year
- He was one of the most well known romantic poets hence showing his great love for autumn
- It is the only ode in the collection where each stanza is 11 lines long instead of 10
- He died at 25 of TB which meant that many of his poems before death compared beauty to death
8
Q
Dulce et Decorum est
A
-Wilfred Owens (published post humourosly in 1918)
- Owens was diagnosed with PTSD in 1917 but chose to return to the front lines in 1918 where he died a week before then end (was awarded a military cross for his bravery)
- He was an English teacher in France and decided to enlist after seeing injured French soldiers so he was unknown during his life but showed the reality for soldiers
- The title is a shortened version of a common phrase found on war memorials and tombstones meaning “It is sweet and proper to die for one’s country”
9
Q
The soldier
A
- by Rupert Brooke (1915) who who wrote 5 sonnets abot war
- Enlisted in 1914 but never saw active combat (died in April 1915 due to a mosquito bite)
- The soldier was read as part of the easter Sunday sermon at St Paul’s Cathedral
- summarises the British public’s view when war broke
10
Q
Ozymandias
A
- sonnet written in 1817 by Percy Bysshe Shelly
- Shelly was a radical romantic poet who was anti-establishment, a pacifist, an atheist and he was heavily inspired by the French revolution
- he could of had a life of privilege s he was from a wealthy family however he dropped out of uni and eloped with a 16 year old
- The title of the poem was the Greek name for Rameses II/ Rameses the Great (tyrannical, expansionist pharaoh)
- Shelly may have been critiquing the monarch George III or even the rise and fall of Napoleon
11
Q
London
A
- written by William Blake in 1794 whom was born and raised in London
- Rejected organised religion due to the church not helping those in need
- was considered mad (said to have had intense spiritual experiences)
- An early romantoc poet
- London was published in 1794 in a collection called ‘Songs of
Innocence and Experience’ which explored how people became corrupt
12
Q
Living space
A
- written by Imtiaz Dhaker in 1997 a Pakistani film director who grew up in Scotland (has made several documentaries in India- supporting women and children)
- About Dharavi (Asia’s second largest slum with 1.2 million people and characterised by 4000 people having to be treated for typhoid and diphtheria each day)
13
Q
Afternoons
A
- written by Philip Larkin in 1959 and published in the 1964 collection called ‘the Whitsun Wedding’
- poems were often about everyday situations about the lives of strangers (never married nor had any kids) - lived in a flat overlooking a park and walked past it each day to work
- post war everyone was expected to fall back into traditional gender roles (husband earner who didn’t take care of children & wife as the home maker)
14
Q
Valentine
A
- published in 1993 in the collection Mean Time about mostly damaged or irreconcilable relationships
- Inspired by the Liverpool Poets of the 1960susing plain language to be more accessible
- wanted to reflect ‘real people’s experiences’
- Uses a conceit (metaphor that compares 2 seemingly unrelated things in a surprising way
15
Q
Cosy Apologia
A
- Written in 2003 by American poet Rita Dove
- Married fellow poet Fred Viebahn whom she dedicates this to
- Set during Hurricane Floydd (Sept 1999)- killed 85 people
- an apologia is a poem defending somone
16
Q
Sonnet 43
A
- Written by popular romantic poet Elizabeth Barret Browning published in 1850
- she was a lifelong Christian
- the poem in about her future husband with whom she eloped and lived an egalitarian marriage in Italy
- Published her sonnet in the collection Sonnets from the Portuguese as to be taken more seriously however they have b
17
Q
She walks in Beauty
A
- written romantic poet Lord Byron in 1814 about a women he saw in a party who was mourning (she wore black sparkling dress)
- He led an extravagant lifestyle with many tempestuous affairs and relationships
- was a Greek war hero for their war of independence against the Ottomans
- this poem was part of a collection ‘Hebrew Melodies’ meant to be set music of a religious nature
18
Q
As imperceptibly as grief
A
- was publish post humorously (as they were her private poems) but was originally by Emily Dickens
- She lived facing a graveyard for most of her younger years facing a graveyard and watched 5 of her friends be buried there
- was a puritan in New England (often had very rigid religious beliefs
- was influenced by the metaphysical poets of the 17th century
- The poem is an extended metaphor explores the almost unnoticeable passing of time through the metaphor of the changing of the seasons.
