Context of TGG + Poetry Flashcards

You may prefer our related Brainscape-certified flashcards:
1
Q

Whoso List To Hunt - Typical literature

A
  • Whoso was written in the 1530’s by Sir Thomas Wyatt.
  • Love poetry in the renaissance was typically about courtly and unrequited love. According to pilkington courtly love “may perhaps have been the greatest change in Western culture between the fall of Rome and the great rise of the Renaissance”.
  • Courtly love put women on pedestals and glorified amorous passion in a way that was anathema both to Classical civilization and Christian salvation.
  • The woman was the dominant figure because men had to become fit for a lady.
  • The courtship of a woman was portrayed as a battlefield for men, with the prize being the female.
  • In whoso list to hunt, Wyatt strictly follows the Petrarchan sonnet form, which demonstrates his practice of elevating the English Language to a higher status associated with European languages.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
2
Q

Whoso List To Hunt - Historical + Wyatt

A
  • He was a courtier and diplomat in the court of Henry VIII, which gave him a powerful position (but not more powerful then the king).
  • Wyatt’s poems were circulated around the court.
  • The Christian Church was collapsing and political correction was ambiguous and taboo which meant that many poets at the time used extended metaphors to create allegories to protect their status and position.
  • It is suspected that the poem is based on and alludes to an affair Wyatt had with Anne Boleyn, which the poet was imprisoned for in May 1536.
  • He was good at introductions the personal perspective to english poetry, and involved his own experiences for the first time.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
3
Q

Sonnet 116 - Typicality of literature.

A
  • Sonnets originated in Italy in the 13th century and spread throughout Europe.
  • The sonnet reached England due to Sir Thomas Wyatt’s ‘Whoso list to hunt’ in the 1530’s, however it started to gain popularity in the 1590’s.
  • Petrarchan sonnets we’re popular in European courts partly because their focus on the speaker-lovers experience of their desire and inner struggle.
  • They often talked about unrequited love.
  • Normal sonnets are arranged ABBAABBA followed by a seset rhyming CDECDE or CDCCDC. However, Shakeperian sonnets are organized differently,
    containing three quatrains, typically rhyming ABAB CDCD EFEF and conclude with a couplet GG.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
4
Q

Sonnet 116 - Historical + Shakespeare.

A
  • Sonnet 116 was written in the 1590’s.
  • It was written in queen Elizabeth’s reign in which she supported the arts, literature and poetry.
  • He was living in an uncommon time where there was peace in terms of conflict and wars.
  • Because people were less focused on external turmoil, people were able to focus on matters of the heart.
  • Sonnet 116 is considered one of the Fair Youth sonnets which were addressed to an unnamed young man, rumored to be either Earl of Pembroke or the Earl of Southampton. Shakespeare writes of the young man in a romantic and loving way - which had lead to people suspecting that they had a sexual relationship between them (or it could be platonic love).
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
5
Q

The Flea - Typicality of literature + the metaphysical poets.

A
  • The metaphysical movement was a group of people who shared the same ideology on metaphysics and try to relate spiritual phenomena to reality, they also ask serious questions about the nature of existence and the universe. It has a number of characteristics; use of strange paradoxes and puns (comparing lovers to objects or concepts is known as conceits), witty, religious imagery, carpe diem themes, complicated and intellectual arguments, scientific imagery, and colloquial language.
  • Often they had a ‘carpe diem’ or ‘momento mori’ attitude.
  • They had ways of wearing different forms, structures, and languages.
  • They explored passionate feelings with clever intellectual argument + delighted in display of intellectual thought by using language that has energy and viality.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
6
Q

The Flea - Donne + Historical context.

A
  • The Flea was written by John Donne in 1590 and published in 1633.
  • Donne was a metaphysical poet and knows as a ‘great lover of women’.
  • He was born catholic but was a priest for the anglicon church (protestants) - this showed that perhaps he wasn’t as traditional in his attitudes to religion?
  • Fleas were a large problem during the 17th century and therefore a reason why John Donne may have used it is so it can relate to everyone despite their social class.
  • While The Flea isn’t a traditional love poem, it deals with themes that align with love therefore it could be argued that Donne is satirizing conventional love poetry, he does this by creating a poem which is self-consciously silly and strange.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
7
Q

The scrutiny - Typicality of literature.

A
  • The cavalier poets were a school of English poets during 1620’s and the 1640’s that came from the classes that supported the King during the civil war.
  • Lovelace was considered the leader of these poets.
  • Cavalier poetry different from other forms of poetry through it’s used of; strict rhyme schemes, regular meters, and clear forms.
  • Instead of tackling issues ljke religion, philosophy and the arts it focused on the pleasures of the moment such as drinking and sensuality - expressing a ‘carpe diem’ attitude.
  • It also celebrated beauty, nature, fellowship, honour, and social life.
  • This meant the poetry was often about having sex with women and gaining material wealth which results in cavalier poetry having a triumphant tone.
  • Despite being royalists, they rarely wrote about political or monarchical affairs, aside from references to battle and honor.
  • Their use of tight structures and classical references displays their intellect and erudition.
  • Further characteristics include; metaphor, fantasy, and platonic
    love.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
8
Q

The scrutiny - Historical context and Richard Lovelace.

A
  • Written in the 1640’s by Lovelace before the beginning of the bloody civil war between the puritans and royalists.
  • Puritans advocated for the country to adopt more radical protestant faith. Charles I opposed them and inlisted on the more
    conservative doctrines of the church of england.
  • The puritans won the war and executed Charles I in 1649.
  • The poem is aimed at other men who want to ‘play the felid’.
    Focused on lust over love and forces the listener into a passive position through the dramatic monologue.
  • This poem is political was well as personal because this was when the cavaliers were fighting for sexual liberty.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
9
Q

The Garden of Love - Typicality of literature

A
  • The garden of love is part of a collection ‘songs of innocence and experience’.
  • His poems in innocence were positive in tone and celebrated love, childhood, and nature.
  • However his songs of experience looked into the negative side of the church, modern life, views the modern condition as dangerous and corrupt, promoting poverty, child labour, and prostitution.
  • The garden of love was central to the ‘songs of experience’ and it marks a transition from childhood to adulthood.
  • “And binding with briars my joys and desires” (AO3), briars refer to the thorns that Jesus was hung up with and what his crown was made out of, which roman’s used to mock him. Using the churches own religious symbol as an oppressive tool to get the speaker to conform and submit is HYPOCRITICAL.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
10
Q

The Garden of Love - Historic context and Blake

A
  • William Blake was a romantic poet who published his work ‘the garden of love’ in 1789.
  • Both his parents were dissenters, protestant christian’s who separated from the church of England in the 17th and 18th centuries.
  • His childhood revolves around the arts; attending drawing school and then working as an illustrator painter and an engraver while working at a print shop which was were some of his first poems were released.
  • Blake was devoutly religious, though he held reservations on organized religion, publicity expressing criticism of the church of England to many of his peers, and exemplified ‘the garden of love’.
  • He found his inspiration in the bible and religious texts.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
11
Q

Song (Ae Fond Kiss) - Typicality of literature.

A
  • Traditional Scottish ballad form.
  • Typically, Scottish colloquialism was seen as ‘improper’ and therefore it was frowned upon in poetry, however Burn chose to use it to perhaps make it more appealing to lower classes? It also makes it more direct (written for HER) which makes it more vaunrable.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
12
Q

Song (Ae Fond Kiss) - Historical context and Burns

A
  • Robert Burns was a Scottish poet and wrote many famous poems in Scottish dialect as well as english.
  • Burn grew up in a middle class countryside but had a good education.
  • He was married with twins but rarely left his wife to live with his love in the west indies.
  • Burns had a secret love affair with Anges McLehose, who was estranged from her husband but still married.
  • They used the names ‘Clarinda’ and ‘Sylvander’ in their letters to cover their real names.
  • During their love affair she rejected his physical advancements, they only ever communicated through letters, so he had a child with her maid instead.
  • ‘Ae’ translates to ‘one’. Each letter symbolizes a kiss because they did not have a physical relationship.
  • An interpretation for the title could be ‘one last kiss’.
  • However, Anges moved back to Jamaica to be with her husband in 1791 which made Burns heartbroken, which made him write Song (Ae Fond Kiss).
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
13
Q

She walks in beauty - Typicality in literature.

A
  • Byron’s poem is a lyric poem which often was expressive and in a freestyle way, they often talked about love and grief.
  • The poems was written during the romanticism movement.
  • Writers wanted to reject the cold unemotional rationalism of enlightenment culture and instead used a more emotional and subjective view of the world.
  • The romantic writers would also follow enlightened values of protesting institutions and sources of power (church / monarchy / army), and use their work to comment on society and how it should be reformed.
  • They used everyday language to make it accessible to all, which could be a reaction to the industrial revolution as they’d express their dislike of urban life and embrace of nature.
  • They’d look at larger general themes of love, loss, and grief, rather than a specific focus on an individual.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
14
Q

She walks in beauty - Historical context and Byron.

A
  • Written in 1814 by Lord Byron.
  • Byron was a romantic poet who was frequently seen in public scandals; he is considered by many to be the first ‘celebrity’.
  • After having an illegitimate child with his half sister, Byron married Annabella Milbanke. However, they divorced he moved to lake Geneva in 1816.
  • The poem is said to be written about Anne Beatrix Wilmot who looked beautiful in a dress at a party of one of his friends.
  • Her dress was said to be black and have rimstones on it (which link to the stars).
  • Although Byron must’ve felt attraction for Anne, he was unable to pursue this attraction as she was married to his cousin - Sir Robert Wilmot.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
15
Q

The Ruined Maid - Typicality in literature.

A
  • The victorian period was kown to be carefully censored, straight, and exacting in standards.
  • Hardy passionately opposed these constraints in his work.
  • Victorian poetry had a constant return to themes of isolation and loss of innocence as well as romantic love and social injustice.
  • Victorian poetry always had a moral purpose and intended to oppose and object to the unfair social and political systems in England.
  • Victorian poetry was also highly idealistic and tackled issues of love, truth and justice. Which includes the oppression of women in society. This can be seen in ‘The Ruined Maid’ as it reflects on the role of women in society and especially on their reliance on men.
How well did you know this?
1
Not at all
2
3
4
5
Perfectly
16
Q

The Ruined Maid - Historical context and Hardy.

A
  • Thomas Hardy wrote TRM in 1866, and was considered a Victorian realist who examined the social constraints on people who lived in Victorian Britain.
  • He experienced high Victorian decorum and the awful destruction of World War 1 which means that his work was often read to be justifiably angry and pessimistic.
  • Victorian England experienced many changes. Advances in technology resulted in greater factory production and accelerated growth of European economies.
  • This saw the creation of large amounts of wealth which mostly benefited the ‘middle class’.
  • The victorian period was extremely strict in terms of permitted sexual relations; sex was not only discussed which meant the victorians were uninformed and emotionally ill at ease about sexual matters.
  • There was a moral panic over prostitution because it beckoned visible female freedom from social control.
  • Darwins new theory of evolution opposed challenges to the church.
  • Lots of farms and peasants lose their livelihood moving into the cities in search of employment.
  • Hardy was influenced by his rural upbringing where he experienced the suffering in TRM.
  • Hardy’s friend WIlliam Barnes was interested in rural identity which had a influence on him.
  • Hardy became passionate about the denouncement of sexual hypocrisy and misogyny.
  • The poem was published at a time where there were lots of divisions between the rich and poor (as well as men and women).
  • Femininity was demonized and exploited by men with not remorse.
  • Queen Victorians rule was paradoxical for women. She was the first to hold power and was loved and successful, but in order to be respected she had to maintain a strict mode of feminine decorum, which is reflected in Victorian society.
  • There was a double standard where women could’t express their sexuality outside of marriage but men could do whatever.
  • Women having sex outside of wedlock was rejected from society, and many women were forced into prostitution.
  • Becoming the mistress of a rich man in the city may appear desirable to a starving farmworker - but there’s always the unnerving prospect that he’d cast her aside.
17
Q

At an Inn - Typicality in literature

A
  • The Victorian period was known to be censored, straight, and exacting in standards. Values such as religion, morality, evangelist and personal improvement took root in Victorian morality.
  • Hardy opposed these constraints.
  • Sex was not openly discussed which meant that many people were factually uninformed and emotionally ill at ease about sexual matters. Many moral panics about prostitution took place.
  • Victorian poetry had a constant return to themes of isolation and loss of innocence as well as romantic love and social injustice.
  • This is seen in At An Inn where it looks into the phases of love (young new love that is exciting transitioned to disappointment).
  • Victorian poetry always had a moral purpose and intended to oppose and object to the unfair social and political systems in England.
  • Victorian poetry was highly idealistic.
18
Q

At an Inn - Historical context and Hardy.

A
  • Thomas Hardy wrote At an Inn in 1898.
  • He was considered a Victorian realist, and looked at the social constraints on the lives of people in Victorian Britain.
  • Many of his works were angry and pessimistic.
  • His work revolves around that tragedies caused by social circumstances. (Eg, Victorian society prevents the speaker from acknowledging and serious potential for the blossoming of such a love).
  • Many of Hardy’s readers still believed that the world was created by an all-powerful and loving god. However, Hardy was agnostic and he questions the influence of much greater forced as a means of explaining the intensity of emotion, which highlights his desperation to understand the situation.
  • It is suggested that ‘At an Inn’ is based on the relationship Hardy had with Florence Henniker.
  • She is the ‘rare fair woman’ mentioned in his other poem ‘Wessex Heights’ and he writes about their platonic relationship.
  • It seems that Hardy wanted more then friendship and even suggested that he fell in love with her for 30 years until her death.
19
Q

The Great Gatbsy - F.Scott Fitzgerald.

A
  • He wrote TGG in the 1920’s.
  • He went to a New Jersey boarding school and was not very academic but enrolled at Princeton University. However, he dropped around and joined the army towards the end of World War 1.
  • During the war he met Zelda Sayre and fell in love with her and asked her to marry him. She agreed but her desire for wealth, leisure, and luxury made her delay the wedding until he was successful.
  • He was known for his alcoholism and extravagant lifestyle which included many parties.
  • Zelda had an affair and his romantic dreams were crushed.
  • In 1930, Zelda had her first nervous breakdown and after she recovered the couple ended their relationship.
20
Q

The Great Gatbsy - The Real Gatbsy

A
  • A lot of Fitzgeralds work is auto-biographical and Gatsby’s character is heavily influenced by his life. (He idealizes wealth, falls in love with a woman who he marries out of his social class).
  • When Zelda gave birth to their daughter she said “I hope it’s beautiful and a fool - a beautiful little fool” which is similar to Daisy’s “I hope she’ll be a fool - that’s the best thing a girl can be in this world, a beautiful little fool”.
  • Much like Gatsby, Fitzgerald suffered a lot of sadness in his endless pursuit of happiness.
  • This poses the question of why his killed Gatsby; in killing off Gatsby and keeping the Buchanan alive, he reveals his partialness to the upper class.
  • Fitzgerald never felt enough for Zelda which reflect Daisy and Gatsby’s relationship.
21
Q

The Great Gatbsy - WW1 + The Jazz Age

A
  • War shook a lot of people because it was the first war of it’s kind.
  • The 20’s were a time of growth and prosperity with a lot of cynicism and corruption, which gave birth to the Jazz Age.
  • The extravagence of Gatsby’s parties reflects the lavish and golden decade.
  • During this time, there was a clear ‘status quo’. ‘Old money’ ruled whilst ‘new money’ tried to climb the social ladder and ‘no money’ were excluded.
  • It was ‘no money’ that bared the brunt of the ruthlessness of the ‘old money’. (It is Myrtle who is killed + George kills Gatsby, who was a part of the ‘no money’ before climbing the social ladder, before killing himself).
22
Q

The Great Gatbsy - The Lost Generation

A
  • Gertrude Stein, an American writer, referred to the Lost Generation of the post-First World War world.
  • This generation had felt powerless and saw life as pointless in the aftermath of the great war.
  • These feelings of isolation and loneliness and filled with alcohol and indulgence.
  • Many were pessimistic, which is why Gatsby stood out with his “extraordinary gift for hope”.
23
Q

The Great Gatbsy - Flappers and Freedom.

A
  • Liberated young women were known as ‘flappers’.
  • They subverted social and gender norms with short skirts, short hair, and makeup (reinventing themselves).
  • Also, the 19th Amendment enacted in 1920 gave women the right to vote and thus their independence.
  • This is seen with Jordan Bakers name; both Jordan and Baker being a make of car which suggests a lack of femininity, as well as her job as a professional golfer which subverts all tradition of femininity.
  • However Mrytle is the opposite and conforms to the idea of femininity. She uses her sexuality to clib the social ladder. However, she still does desire a sort of emancipation from the life given to her which was a common desire for women to have back in the 1920’s. (Daisy’s quote about her daughter being a beautiful little fool).
24
Q

The Great Gatbsy - The American Dream

A
  • The American Dream was advertised as the ‘land of opportunity’; a place where if you worked hard enough, you would be successful and wealthy regardless of social background.
  • Many people migrated to America to seek these opportunities.
  • However, people such as Fitzgerald rejected this idea of The American Dream as challenged it’s possibility.
  • Throughout the text, Gatsby personifies The American Dream and the desire for it.
  • But, he does not achieve The American Dream despite being more invested in it’s promises then other characters.
  • Whilst wealth was a means of getting Daisy, Daisy is a proxy for wealth and Gatsby’s American Dream.
  • Myrtle is an example of the failed American Dream. She shows her frantic desire for wealth in a lower class and clings to the idea, despite it’s cold and hard metal killing her.
  • Gatsby’s car is a symbol of this American Dream as it is assocaited with a “restlessness” and “power” (Parkinson, 1988).
  • Myrtles death is seen as the product of the American Dream.
25
Q

The Great Gatbsy - Media and the Mass Market.

A
  • The Great Gatsby is written against the backdrop of exponential growth in commodities available for purchase, which opened more possibilities for advertisement.
  • Advertising was everywhere.
  • One symbol of this advertising is the eyes of Doctor T.J Eckleburg, who symbolizes the power of advertising in 1920’s America and the tensions between reality and appearance. (The billboard is seen as a symbol of religion too).
  • Products had brand names that voiced reliability when the products were on the shelves. Advertising technique created a desire for commodities which reflected the tastes of the nation and the lifestyle that the 1920’s created.
  • Finance companies loaned people money to buy these products.
  • Many fell into debt but the high consumption levels kept the American economy healthy.
  • The decade was known for it’s mass culture.
  • People read mass-circulation newspapers and magazines like the “Town Tattle” that Mrytle reads. This fast moving media also included more populatority in the film industry and in photography.
26
Q

The Great Gatbsy - Conspicuous Consumption

A
  • Wartime advances in science and technology gave birth to cars, refrigerators and radios.
  • America’s economy thrived as people bought more and gained more and became a nation of early consumerism.
  • The term ‘conspicuous consumption’ was coined by Thorstein Veblen and he used this to critique the rise of power in American of wealthy businessmen who displayed their wealth through pretentious mansions and behavior.
  • Veblen believes that this was wasteful and it implied increasing poverty for the lower classes.
27
Q

The Great Gatbsy - Prohibition and Organised Crime

A
  • In 1919 there was a law passed in America that made it illegal to manufacture sell or transport alcohol.
  • However, some gangsters sold alcohol to secret bars called ‘speakeasies’ for a great profit.
  • This was known as bootlegging.
  • The illegal economy was organised by powerful gangs of criminals who also gambled.
  • Gatsby is involved with Meyer Wolfsheim which places him in the underworld of gangs and gambling.
28
Q

The Great Gatbsy - Race and Prejudice

A
  • Thousands of immigrants arrived in America to pursue ‘The American Dream’.
  • This led to tension and prejudice between the different groups.
  • Older established immigrants who came from Northern Europe identified themselves as American, but they felt uncomfortable because with the arrival of new immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe.
  • In 1924 the immigration act was passed which restricted the number of southern and eastern Europeans moving the the USA.
  • Despite slavery being abolished, African Americans were still treated as second-class citizens.
  • These ethnic minorities had many stigmatization’s about them which is reflected through Wolfsheim’s character.