Love poetry Anthology - THEMES

Question 1

Themes

Infidelity

Answer 1

• Several affairs within novel
• Male unreliability
• Female vulnerability
• Breakdown of genuine connection
• A SONG: Absent from Thee - Earl of Rochester
• The Scrutiny - Richard Lovelace
• Non Sum Qualis - Ernest Dowson

Question 2

THEMES:

Unattainable love/ Barriers to love

Answer 2

• Range of barriers: class, wealth,status.
• Inevitability of Gatsby’s failure to achieve Daisy.
• Inevitability of Myrtle achieving Tom.
• Garden of Love - William Blake
• Ae Fond Kiss - Robert Burns
• Absent from thee - Earl of Rochester
• Whoso List to Hunt - Thomas Wyatt

Question 3

THEMES:

Social Class

Answer 3

Fitzgerald’s criticism of 1920s society
wealthy upper class excessive lifestyles
false optimism of the American Dream
Working class/self made dreams fail, only the wealthy prosper

Whoso List to Hunt - Sir Thomas Wyatt
Ruined Maid - Thomas Hardy
At an Inn - Thomas Hardy

Question 4

THEMES:

Lust / Sex

Answer 4

Desire exists for wealthy white men only
women/lower class men cannot access it or achieve their desires

The Flea - John Donne
To His Coy Mistress - Andrew Marvell

Question 5

THEMES:

Time / Enduring love

Answer 5

Gatsby’s love for Daisy becomes an obsession over time with idea of her/her wealth/what she signifies.
Past affects the characters – they cannot turn back time but nor can they fully sever themselves from their past.

Sonnet 116
Remember

Question 6

THEMES:

Love and Isolation

Answer 6

Love is isolating, creates loneliness rather than connection.
Characters’ romantic relationships are isolating
(arguably platonic love, Nick and Gatsby, is the exception).

Cynarae - Ernest Dowson
Whoso List to Hunt - Thomas Wyatt

Question 7

THEMES:

Destruction/pain

Answer 7

Violent deaths of Gatsby, Myrtle and George suggest that romantic love inevitably ends in destruction.

Whoso
Ae Fond Kiss
La Belle Dame

Question 8

THEMES:

Idealised

Answer 8

Gatsby idealized Daisy
she is a symbol of wealth/status.
Fitzgerald’s criticism of the lack of genuine connection in the 1920s.

She Walks in Beauty
Sonnet 116

Question 9

THEMES:

Love and Gender

Answer 9

Daisy – vacuous, Jordan – dishonest, Myrtle – promiscuous.
The women in the text are never portrayed positively.
Myrtle’s death as a result of the patriarchal structures oppressing her.

She Walks in Beauty
La Belle Dame
The Ruined Maid