Unseen Poetry Context

Question 1

When was the Renaissance era?

Answer 1

16th-17th century

Question 2

Features of Renaissance Poetry

Answer 2

many written in iambs, themes from classical mythology

Question 3

16th/17th century context

Answer 3

With the consolidation of Elizabeth’s power, a genuine court sympathetic to poetry and the arts emerged. Encouraged emergence of poetry aimed at and often set in an idealised courtly world

Question 4

When was metaphysical poetry common?

Answer 4

17th Century

Question 5

Features of metaphysical poetry

Answer 5

characterised by impatience, conventional forms of expression, adoption of startling innovations, unexpected/unusual metaphors, tendencies to write about deep philosophical issues

Question 6

Carpe Diem Poetry

Answer 6

17th century - preoccupied with the passage of time and unpredictability of death

Question 7

When were the Cavalier Poets?

Answer 7

17th century

Question 8

Who were the Cavalier poets?

Answer 8

distrust the over-earnest and too-intense, accept ideal of the Renaissance Gentleman who is at once a lover, soldier, wit, man of affairs, musician, and poet, but abandon the notion of him being a pattern of Christian Chivalry

Question 9

Features of Cavalier Poetry

Answer 9

written chiefly for entertainment at court, focused around idea of Carpe Diem/ pleasures of the moment

Question 10

When was the Restoration Era?

Answer 10

1660-1688

Question 11

Restoration Era context

Answer 11

Restoration of the monarchy occurred in 1660, and the accession of Charles the 2nd signalled an explosion in debauchery and high living, especially at court

Question 12

Restoration era poet

Answer 12

John Milton - wrote at this time of religious flux and political upheaval, seen as last major poet of English Renaissance but major poems in Restoration e.g. Paradise Lost

Question 13

Features of Restoration era poetry

Answer 13

Satirical verse became popular

Question 14

18th Century/ The Augustan Age

Answer 14

contemporary admiration for the classical world extended to the poetry of the time

Question 15

18th century poets

Answer 15

female poets began flourishing in the 1790s

Question 16

Restoration era poets

Answer 16

female poets began to emerge but kept out of print publication due to disapproval of “feminine forwardness”

Question 17

Sentimentalism

Answer 17

late 18th century movement, new emphasis on sentiment and feelings of the poet, became fashionable to feel deeply

Question 18

When was the Romantic movement?

Answer 18

late 18th century - early 19th century

Question 19

Features of Romantic poetry

Answer 19

emphasis on emotional and imaginative spontaneity, importance of self-expression and individual feeling, religious response to nature, capacity for wonder, reverence for childhood innocence, interest and concern for the outcasts of society e.g. tramps/beggars/obsessive characters /the poor

Question 20

Romantic poets

Answer 20

the poet was seen as a visionary figure with an important role to play as prophet in both religious and political terms, poets began attempting to use “language of the common man”

Question 21

When was the Victorian Era?

Answer 21

1830-1901/ 19th century

Question 22

Features of Victorian /19th century poetry

Answer 22

lyric poetry, mixture of abstract escapist style and more realistic love and style, identified emotions of isolation, despair and pessimism, idealised view of nature, religious scepticism and devotional of mystical faith, using sensory elements to describe abstract ideas

Question 23

Victorian Poets

Answer 23

Struggled with a loss of faith but still a high sense of morality. Enthralled with classical and medieval literature, loved heroic stories and courtly attitudes .Writing tried to encourage more noble actions/attitudes

Question 24

Female Poets in Victorian Era

Answer 24

significant accomplishments of female writers e.g. Christina Rossetti and Elizabeth Barrett Browning

Question 25

Late 19th century

Answer 25

Fin de siecle - period of degeneration but also hope for a new beginning, feelings of ennui cynicism and pessimism and a widespread belief that civilisation leads to decadence

Question 26

Ennui

Answer 26

a feeling of listlessness and dissatisfaction arising from a lack of occupation or excitement

Question 27

Techniques of 20th century poetry

Answer 27

open poetic form/free-verse, discontinuous narrative, intertextuality, borrowing from other cultures and languages, enjambment, unconventional metaphors, fragmentation, colloquial idiom, irony

Question 28

Features of 20th century poetry

Answer 28

experimentation, innovation, freedom of themes, realism including topics of prostitution, war, slum-dwellers, complexity and psychological profundity

Question 29

20th century context

Answer 29

2 wars and danger of 3rd - cast gloomy shadow on poetry. Known as the “Age of Anxiety”. In spite of material prosperity, tension and anxiety were inseparable from modern living. Combined with decline in religiosity = disillusionment in poetry

Question 30

When was Modernism?

Answer 30

1901-1945

Question 31

Features of Modernist Poetry

Answer 31

questioning past, experimenting with new forms, fragmentation of human experience, new perspectives on the world

Question 32

The Imagists (a strand of modernism)

Answer 32

wanted to refine the language of poetry in order to make it a vehicle for the exact description and evocation of mood - experimented with free/irregular verse and made the image their principal instrument