Poem Context Flashcards
La belle dame sans Merci
Born in 1795
Written 1819
Died in 1821 age 25
He was aware he was dying while writing this poem
He had experience his mother and brother to tuberculosis
This connection and awareness of death in his own life is reflected in the poem
Romantiscim -a rebellion of the heart against the head .The power of nature
A child to his sick grandfather
Romantic poet -focusing on emotion, believe in innocence of children
Dramatic monologue
The poem is the narrators path
To acceptance of their grandfather inevitable death
She walks in beauty
It is about a women Lady Ann Wilmer Horton who was married to a cousin
Written in 1814
Romantic poetry-emotion, nature
Gender in 19th century -women were idolised ,virtues,pure
Lyric prom-set to music
A complaint
Romantic poem-power of nature
This poem could be talking about a lover, but it could also be about a friendship. Wordsworth is focusing on how it feels to lose any kind of close connection.
the title “a complaint”is very informal
. The title contrast, the poemsintamacy
This disconnection reflects the separation between the two friends.
Published 1807
He was an opium addict left to Europe to get better
Neutral tones
Written 1867
Narrative poem
Neutral Tones is focused on an earlier, failed relationship.
We see a relationship that has stagnated (stopped moving) and frozen. It is like the stillness and lack of vitality (life) in the winter setting of the poem.
Known for work regarded as pessimistic/bleak
Autobiography?
Sonnet 43
1801-1861
Written 1850
Christian beliefs
Sonnets are traditionally written as love poems, so Barrett Browning’s choice of form is not unusual. But her sonnet does not follow the rules of the form. Even though it seems to be expressing a perfect love, the poem’s form does not try to achieve perfection.
The poem also expresses female desire and longing in a very open and unashamed way. This was uncommon for the Victorian era.
Suffered from poor health throughout her life
Farther threatened to disown her if she got married
She wrote 44 sonnets
They wrote poems and letters when they couldn’t be together
The poem weren’t meant to be published
My last duchess
Published in 1842
Based in 15th century
Dramatic monologue from the dukes perspective
In this poem, the speaker is a self-obsessed Duke who is speaking to an unknown companion. Browning uses this form to emphasise the Duke’s selfishness and arrogance.
My Last Duchess is a very unclear poem. Browning shows rather than tells his audience that the Duke is arrogant, jealous and self-obsessed through the way in which the Duke tells the story of the painting and his wife.
Based on his wife who died under suspicious circumstances.he was chief suspect
He had 3 wives in total
1st date -she 1st date-he
The poem deals with miscommunication.
The two-poem structure makes a physical barrier between the two people. They are both stuck in their own heads – and end up letting each other down to try to impress the other. Modern poem
Thoughts spoken out loud
Modern views about loving relationship
Dramatic monologue
Valentine
Postmodernist-challenges themes that are seen as universal truth
Written 1993
Feminist
First women to be poet laureate
Openly gay
Valentine argues that conventional love imagery is untruthful and misleading. Duffy wants to create a realistic and possibly darker representation of love.
One flesh
Written in 1966
Roman Catholic
Associated with ‘the movement’-embracing traditional form and content but focused on realism
The poem deals with physical separation - the separate beds, and the gradual emotional separation over marriage.
Jennings has written the poem from the perspective of a child reflecting on what she views as her parents’ failing marriage.
The poem deals with themes of regret and longing.
The narrator explores Romantic conceptions of love and marriage that argue that a marriage must be passionate to be successful.
I wanna be yours
Performance poet
Written 1982 with backing music
Punk poet ,he toured with joy division .Punk song where shirt ,minimising,fast
i wanna be yours is a poem that treats intense feelings in a lighthearted and comical way.
Working class-Salford
Distinctive voice
Influenced by Beatnik movement of the 1950s agains literacy tradition
Loves dog
Written 2008
Jen had field wrote this poem in response to the poem”a view of things”
Modern poem
All amount effort and deliberation off love
Post modernist poet,challenging ideas of poetry of love
Lack of rhyme and rhyme ,they have non traditional views of love
Nettles
Modern poem
Fought in World War II, very critical to war
Six children, but two died – he is a parent
Autobiography?
The manhunt
Bosnia 1992-95
Eddie beddos -severely injured,ptsd
Laura beddos (speaker in the poem)
explores the impact of war on not just the returning soldiers, but their partners.
The narrator is exploring all of the changes that war has brought to their partner’s body, both physically and mentally.
The poem is intimate and private, but ultimately reveals that the narrator may never truly understand what the soldier has been through. Still, they must now adapt to the new normal.
My farther would not show us
She is antiarpheid
Political poet
Modern poet
South African
She was distant when her farther died
The narrator is angry with her father for hiding away when he was ill. But she is also angry at him for not preparing her for his death.
The concept of grief is complex - it is more than just being sad that someone is gone. You lose the future with that person and your memories are changed by the fact that they are gone.
