poetry AO3

Question 1

How so list to hount

Answer 1

• lived in the court of Henry V111
• Admired Anne Boleyn ( not known whether they had a relationship or not )
• Hunting was a large part of Renaissance Court.
• Killing one of the King’s deer was considered treason.

Question 2

Sonnet 116

Answer 2

• unusual in the sequence of sonnets because of its detached tone.
• about the concept of love whereas the other sonnets look at the dangers of lust and love.
• other sonnets were written to the The Young Man and The Dark Lady.

Question 3

The flea

Answer 3

• probably written to amuse male friends in court.
• Donne studied law - used it to build persuasive arguments.
• Donne was born catholic but converted to Church of England.
• Chastity was highly valued at the time.

Question 4

To his coy mistress

Answer 4

• written during the civil war.
• the idea of making the most of their time fits with the death that surrounded the writers.
• Ideas in the poem contrast from Puritan attitudes of the time.

Question 5

The scrutiny

Answer 5

• Cavalier poet - portrayed life in the court of Charles 1.
• Lovelace was a soldier and courtly poet.
• he was never married.

Question 6

A song absent from thee

Answer 6

• Wilmot was part of Charles II’s court.
• Involved in a lot of scandals.
• the restoration of the monarchy in 1660 saw an explosion in debauchery and high living in court.

Question 7

The garden of love

Answer 7

• Romanticism - ideas of freedom, imagination and creativity are key.
• rejected formalised religion - believed it was used for social control.
• Dissenter - rejected doctrines of the established church.

Question 8

Ae fond kiss

Answer 8

• based on Burns’ relationship with Agnes McLehose. They had an epistolary relationship.
• McLehose was married but lived apart from her husband, their relationship would have been controversial.
• they were permanently separated when she moved to the West Indies to attempt reconciliation with her husband.

Question 9

She walks in beauty

Answer 9

• Byron was known for promiscuity and scandal.
• the poem was inspired by the sight of his cousin Anne Wilmot, wearing a black gown brightened with gold spangles.
• Romanticism - beauty = being close to nature.

Question 10

La belle dame sans merci

Answer 10

• His mother died of tuberculosis and his brother also had the disease.
• Keats also had the disease and may have known he had it when he wrote the poem.
• the poem could therefore reflect his impending death.

Question 11

Remember

Answer 11

• Rossetti had Graves’ disease which made her an invalid.
• Victorian era - high mortality rate. prospect of early death was quite real - especially for Rossetti who was ill.
• written when she was 19.

Question 12

The ruined maid

Answer 12

• Victorian era - virtue and virginity were synonymous. Sex outside of marriage would lead to ruination.
• lack of independence for Victorian women - Amelia is independent, but only through prostitution or being mistress.

Question 13

At an inn

Answer 13

• thought to be about Hardy’s relationship with Florence Henniker.
• they kept up a lifelong correspondence by letter.
• his sexual advances were refused by Florence ( he was still married to his first wife and she was a devout Christian).
• Victorian era - virtue=virginity

Question 14

Non som qualis

Answer 14

• personification of the clichéd notion of a drunken poet.
• his poems are often melancholic.
• met Adelaide Foltinowicz in 1891.
• she declined his marriage offer when she was 12 but he continued to pursue her for the next six years.
• Drowned the pain of his unrequited love with wine and women.