Unseen Poetry Context Flashcards
When was the Renaissance Era?
16th - 17th Century
Features of Renaissance Poetry
Many written in iambs
Themes from classical mythology
16th/17th Century Context
With consolidation of Elizabeth’s gov a genuine court sympathetic to poetry & arts emerged - emergence of poetry & arts = encouraged & often set in idealised courtly world
When was metaphysical poetry common?
17th Century
Features of Metaphysical Poetry
Impatience
Conventional forms of expression
Adoption of startling innovations
Unexpected/ unusual metaphors
Tendencies to write on deep philosophical issues
Carpe Diem Poetry
17th century
Preoccupied with the passage of time & unpredictability if death
When were cavalier poets?
17th century
Who were the cavalier poets?
A group of royalist poets who wrote poetry which portrayed life in the court of Charles I
Cavalier Poet traits/ context
Distrust the over earnest & too intense
Accept ideal of Renaissance gentleman who is lover, soldier, wit, man of affairs, musician,
But abandon the idea of him being a pattern of Christian Chivalry
Features of Cavalier Poetry
Written for entertainment at court
Focused around idea of Carpe Diem / pleasures of the moment
When was the Restoration Era?
1660-1688
Restoration Era Context
Restoration of the monarchy = 1660 & the accession of C2 signalled an explosion in debauchery & high living especially at court
Restoration Era Poet
John Milton - wrote at this time of religious flux & political upheaval, seen as last major poet of English Renaissance but major poems in Restoration e.g., Paradise lost
Features of Restoration Era Poetry
Satirical verse became popular
Sentimentalism
Late 18th century movement, new emphasis on sentiment & feelings of poet, became fashionable to feel deeply
When was the Romantic Movement
Late 18th century - early 19th century
Features of Romantic Poetry
Emphasis on emotional & imaginative spontaneity
NBance of self expression & induvidual feeling
Religious exposure to nature
Capacity for wonder
Reverence for childhood innocence
Interest & concern for the outcasts e.g., tramps/ beggars/ obsessive charas / the poor
Romantic Poets
The poet was seen as a visionary figure w/ NB role to play as prophet in both religious & political terms
Began to attempt to use “language of the common man”
When was the Victorian Era?
1830-1901 / 19th century
Features of Victorian / 19th Century Poetry
Lyric poetry, mixture of escapist style & m realistic love & style
Identified emotions of isolation, despair & pessimism
Idealised view of nature
Religious scepticism & devotional mystical faith
Using sensory elements to describe abstract ideas
Victorian Poets
Struggled with a loss of faith but still a high sense of morality
Enthralled with classical and medieval literature loved heroic stories & courtly attitudes
Writing tried to encourage more noble actions / attitudes
Late 19th Century
Fin de siecle - period of degradation but also hope for new beginning
Feelings of ennui cynicism & pessimism & a widespread belief that civilisation leads to decadence
Ennui
Feeling of listlessness & dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation / excitement
Techniques of 20th century poetry
Open poetic form/free verse
Discontinuous narrative
Intertextuality
Borrowing from other cultures & languages
Enjambement
Unconventional metaphors
Fragmentation
Colloquial idiom
Irony
Features of 20th Century Poetry
Experimentation, innovation
Freedom themes
Realism including topics of prostitution, war, slum-dwellers, complexity & psychological profanity
20th Century Context
2 wars & danger of a 3rd - cast gloomy shadow on poetry
Known as “Age of Anxiety”
In spite of material prosperity, tension & anxiety = inseparable from modern living
Combined with decline in religiosity - disillusionment in poetry
When was Modernism?
1901-1945
Features of modernist poetry
Questioning the past
Experimenting with new forms
Fragmentation of human experience
New perspectives on the world
The Imagists (strand of modernism)
Wanted to refine the language of poetry to make it a vehicle for the exact description & evocation of mood - experimented with free / irregular verse & made the image their principal instrument
