AP Literature Poetry Unit

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AP Literature Poetry Unit
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Medieval Period

• 1066- 1485

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1066

• Battle of Hastings Harold the Saxon, the King of
  England was defeated by William the Conqueror,
  the Duke of Normandy

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Changes brought by William the Conqueror

• Due to a more European business exposure, England
  became stable and very powerful
• People trained to be soldiers, lawyers, doctors
  etc.
• In addition to English (Middle English) the
  people spoke Norman and French

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Religion

• Played a great role in the lives of the Medieval
  people- All people wanted to attain Heaven
• Latin was the official language of the church
• Abbeys and Monasteries were built

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Christendom

• Commonwealth- a spiritual and cultural empire
  uniting men of different nationalities, different
  languages and different regional ways of life
• This basically refers to countries in which
  Christians make up the majority of the
  population, or the world wide community of
  Christians

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Feudal System

• Based on land holdings
• Vassals or overlords owed allegiance to a noble
  or king

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Feudal System
          Ki

   T Barons were the most powerful and wealthy noblemen, they received their fiefs directly from the King,
           Bishops
   The Bishop had as much power as a Baron. They ruled over all areas of the church including the priest ,convents and monasteries. The collection of taxes made Bishops extremely rich.
             Lords

• Everyone knew his place
• The only way the common man could advance was
  through the church
• Priest, Bishop, Cardinal, Pope

             Peasants
   The peasants were at the bottom of the feudal tree. They were the workers who farmed the land to provide food for everyone. Sometimes they were given a piece of land to farm in return for their labor on the lords land.
 
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Life of Medieval Period

• Austere- No modern comforts
• Travel was very difficult
• Difficulty and harsh life was made up for in
  church splendor
• Priests preached that life on earth was less
  important than life after death

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Life of Medieval Period

• The Crusades A series of religious wars to
  save Jerusalem from Turks (Muslims)

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Chivalry

• The definition of chivalry today means the
  conduct of a mannered and sensitive man toward
  women
• In the Medieval period it was part of the code
  that knights were sworn to live by along with
  courage, justice, mercy, generosity, faith,
  nobility and hope

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Chivalry
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Chivalry

• This idea joined with romance in literature
• Feature fairy enchantments, giants, dragons,
  wizards, sorceresses
• Seen in stories like King Arthur and his
  Knights, King Charlemagne and The Conquest of Troy

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Black Death

• 1348- Plague hit 1/3 of England died

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Canterbury Tales
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Chaucer

• Born into the rising middle class in the 15th
  cent.
• Was trained for a career in the court of King
  Edward III
• Served in the army, held several governmental
  positions, and evenrtually married a lady of the
  court.

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Canterbury Tales

• One of the 1st books ever printed.
• Chaucer planned 120 tales, 2 told by each pilgrim
  on the way to the shrine and 2 on the return
  trip.
• Before his death, he completed 22 tales and 2
  fragments.
• CT comments on the people and problems of this
  time period.

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Before the Selection Begins

• Archbishop Becket was murdered in 1170 by 4
  knights of Henry II.
• King Henry and Becket had a longstanding feud.
• Thinking the King wished Becket dead, 4 knights
  went to Canterbury to commit murder.
• The King was too late to stop them Becket was
  later canonized as a Saint.

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The Genre

• Canterbury Tales is an anthology of popular taste
  in the Middle Ages.
• These varied groups viewed the purpose of
  literature to be both entertaining and morally
  instructive.
• During Chaucers time, the more literature
  stressed the moral and instructive aspects, the
  more it was regarded as high literature.

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Wife of Baths Tale

• Trial by Ordeal
• Set in the time of King Arthur
• Another example of the flawed romantic hero our
  knight commits rape, but ultimately proves
  himself to be worthy.
• The story centers around the male-female
  relationship. The Wife of Bath claims to be an
  expert in this area.

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Pardoners Tale

• Exemplum Teaches by example
• Rioters fail to see the prophesy that death
  awaits them under the tree
• Allegory Death is a character, possibly the
  mysterious old man
• Irony of the story It is a sermon told by a
  greedy, corrupt church official.

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The Nuns Priest Tale

• Beast Fable
• Mock Epic Poem
• Satirizes epic poetry of the past while teaching
  a valuable lesson about pride

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The Millers Tale

• Farce A story involving low humor, including
  bodily functions, improbable situations, nudity,
  etc.
• Still teaches a lesson dangers of pride and
  immorality
• Stands in opposition to the Knights Tale, which
  exemplifies the code of chivalry

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17th-18th Century and the Restoration
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General Mood of the Time

• The early 17th century was a time of political
  insecurity and religious controversy.
• The optimism of the Elizabethan era changes to a
  mood of uncertainty, skepticism, and even
  pessimism.

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Poetry during the Elizabethan Era

• The typical Elizabethan poem used verbal patterns
  to delight it had ideal sentiments and witty
  descriptions

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Shakespeares Sonnet 18

• Shall I compare thee to a summer's day?Thou art
  more lovely and more temperateRough winds do
  shake the darling buds of May,And summer's lease
  hath all too short a dateSometime too hot the
  eye of heaven shines,And often is his gold
  complexion dimm'dAnd every fair from fair
  sometime declines,By chance or nature's changing
  course untrimm'dBut thy eternal summer shall
  not fadeNor lose possession of that fair thou
  owestNor shall Death brag thou wander'st in his
  shade,When in eternal lines to time thou
  growestSo long as men can breathe or eyes can
  see,So long lives this and this gives life to
  thee.

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New Types of Poetry

• Metaphysical appeals to the mind instead of
  emotions. These poems are usually short and deep
  with meaning. They also make use of the conceit
  an extended metaphor relating surprising things.
• John Donne is the most revolutionary within this
  group.

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New Types of Poetry

• Cavalier Often expressed an attitude of carpe
  diem or seize the day.
• Ben Jonson is the leader of this group.

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Similarities between Cavaliers and Metaphysicals

• Poetry is lyrical, personal and universal.
• Deals with topics such as honor, death, love,
  loyalty, etc.

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Political Troubles

• King Charles I is beheaded in 1649. this ends
  the civil war in England and begins the Puritan
  Commonwealth under General Oliver Cromwell.
• Under Puritan control, England embraces a stern
  moral code.

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Background on Puritans

• A Separatist movement to purify the Anglican
  church began under Elizabeth I
• By 1620 some frustrated Puritans immigrated to
  the American colony of Massachusetts.
• Puritans eventually gained the upper hand back in
  England.

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Background on Puritans

• Puritans gain power in Parliament by 1642.
• Led by General Oliver Cromwell, Puritans fight a
  civil war against Charles I and his forces.
• Puritans capture Charles I and behead him.
• Cromwell established the Puritan Commonwealth.

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England under the Puritans

• Class structure is transformed. Puritans rise
  from the middle class and take control.
• They considered the Anglican Church to be full of
  sin and excess. They also believed it to be
  unconcerned with the needs of the common man.
• They emphasized the individual religious
  experience and relied on the Bible as the chief
  source of guidance.
• Puritans were unwilling to give religious freedom
  to others.

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Puritans Lose Control

• They had no powerful successor when Cromwell dies
  in 1658.
• In 1660 they gave in to popular demand for a
  monarch.
• Charles II, son of Charles I, becomes King.
• This is known as the Restoration.

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John Milton

• The greatest of the 17th century writers.
• Work reflects his Puritan beliefs.
• Paradise Lost is an epic poem that tells the
  story of Genesis.

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Alexander Pope

• The subject of his poetry is human nature and
  everyday life
• Poetry discusses politics, economics, education,
  public taste, and the arts.
• Criticizes the values of the upper class through
  use of satire.

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Neoclassical Poetry

• Preference for heroic couplets recalls the
  great poetry of previous ages
• Intellectual experiences rather than emotional
  ones
• Power of imagination

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The Rape of the Lock

• Pope was asked by a friend to write a poem to
  reconcile two feuding families.
• The argument started when Robert Lord Petre cut
  off a lock of hair from the head of Arabella
  Fermor without her permission.

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The Rape of the Lock

• A mock epic poem
• All conventions of the epic poem are used for
  comic effect

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Characteristics of an Epic Poem

• Great battles
• Heroic characters
• Intervening gods
• Long journeys
• Dire consequences
• Elevated language

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Thomas Gray

• Considered a poet who predates Romanticism
• Elegy moves away from Neoclassical form
• Poem still follows a pattern, but differs from
  the rhyming couplets seen in works by
  Neoclassical writers
• Depicts nature and the common life
• High degree of emotion in the poem

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Thomas Gray

• Represents a transition from the Neoclassical
  couplet of Pope (Rape of the Lock) to the more
  expansive Romantic form.
• The diction of the poem is precise and polished,
  much like other Neoclassical works. However, the
  focus on nature and the common man resembles the
  Romantic poetry that would come later.

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The Romantic Movement

• Mostly a rebellion against the social and
  artistic values of the 18th Century
• Embodies a desire for freedom and individuality
• Romantics were influenced by the revolutions in
  America and France middle classes develop a
  sense of independence and become more powerful

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Neoclassical Era Vs. Romantic Era

• Neoclassical
• Expresses general truths of Nature by appealing
  to mans reason
• The purpose of art is to teach and delight by
  reflecting eternal truths known to all
  right-thinking men
• Art should strive to hold a mirror up to Nature,
  to be objective and impersonal
• Wit is the poets gift to accomplish these
  tasks through the stylistic rules of the
  Classical poets and philosophers of Greece and
  Rome

• Romantic
• Poetry is a form of individual expression it
  reveals the unique thoughts and feelings of the
  poet
• The content of the poem is momentary and
  subjective
• The poet writes, not to teach, but to reveal the
  poets mind
• Poetry is a momentary window into the soul of the
  poet
• Poetry is never IMPERSONAL, but can be
  TRANSPERSONAL poet becomes a visionary who sees
  spiritual truth

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Neoclassical Era Vs. Romantic Era

• Neoclassical
• Emphasis on reason
• Love treated as a game of socio-sexual aggression

• Romantic
• Emphasis on strong emotion
• Love regarded as the most intense and important
  of human faculties it ranges from spiritually
  sublime to erotic desire to self destructive and
  perverse

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Neoclassical Vs. Romantic

• Neoclassical
• Fancy a poetic gift that emphasizes clever
  imagination, but never distorts the poets clear,
  rational view of the world.
• Fancy allows poets to make-believe (sylphs in
  Rape of the Lock)

• Romantic
• Imagination a poetic gift, not only over
  language, but the individuals mind so that the
  poet can perceive the world differently and more
  intensely than others.
• Imagination allows the poet to become a
  visionary, seeing spiritual truths and patterns
  in the universe that lie beyond the bounds of
  reason

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Neoclassical Vs. Romantic

• Neoclassical
• Nature is eternal and universal through laws
  created by God.

• Romantic
• Nature stands in opposition to urban life it
  stimulates the imagination and leads to the
  discovery of transcendent truths

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Robert Burns

• Poetry embodies the philosophy of primitivism
  or the idea that the people of the countryside
  are more noble than the civilized people of
  urban areas.
• Country people are closer to nature and are
  uncorrupted by cities

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Robert Burns

• Known as Robbie to the people of Scotland
• Poems covered a vast range of topics
  philosophy, politics, nature, and love
• He is the national hero of Scotland
• Writes in the dialect of the Scottish people.
  Many believe his poetry embodies the Scottish
  spirit.

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William Blake

• Opposed tyranny and avidly supported the goals of
  the French and American Revolutions
• Exalted imagination and individuality

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Songs of Innocence and of Experience

• Experience is equated with the world of adults
  recognizes the presence of evil and hypocrisy
• Innocence refers to the world of children
  spontaneity, energy, and vulnerability

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The Sick Rose

• O Rose thou art sick.The invisible worm,That
  flies in the nightIn the howling stormHas
  found out thy bedOf crimson joyAnd his dark
  secret loveDoes thy life destroy.

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Samuel Coleridge

• Poems are far removed from everyday life
• He wanted to take the supernatural and the exotic
  and make it believable
• Fell asleep after taking opium and dreamed about
  the Chinese emperor Kubla Khan
• Wrote down lines of poetry when he woke up and
  produced the poem Kubla Kahn

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In Xanadu did Kubla KhanA stately pleasure-dome
decreeWhere Alph, the sacred river, ranThrough
caverns measureless to manDown to a sunless
sea.So twice five miles of fertile groundWith
walls and towers were girdled roundAnd there
were gardens bright with sinuous rills,Where
blossomed many an incense-bearing treeAnd here
were forests ancient as the hills,Enfolding
sunny spots of greenery.But oh! that deep
romantic chasm which slantedDown the green hill
athwart a cedarn cover!A savage place! as holy
and enchantedAs e'er beneath a waning moon was
hauntedBy woman wailing for her demon-lover!And
from this chasm, with ceaseless turmoil
seething,As if this earth in fast thick pants
were breathing,A mighty fountain momently was
forcedAmid whose swift half-intermitted
burstHuge fragments vaulted like rebounding
hail,Or chaffy grain beneath the thresher's
flailAnd 'mid these dancing rocks at once and
everIt flung up momently the sacred river.Five
miles meandering with a mazy motionThrough wood
and dale the sacred river ran,Then reached the
caverns measureless to man,And sank in tumult to
a lifeless oceanAnd 'mid this tumult Kubla
heard from farAncestral voices prophesying war!
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The shadow of the dome of pleasureFloated midway
on the wavesWhere was heard the mingled
measureFrom the fountain and the caves.It was a
miracle of rare device,A sunny pleasure-dome
with caves of ice!A damsel with a dulcimerIn a
vision once I sawIt was an Abyssinian maid,And
on her dulcimer she played,Singing of Mount
Abora.Could I revive within meHer symphony and
song,To such a deep delight 'twould win meThat
with music loud and longI would build that dome
in air,That sunny dome! those caves of ice!And
all who heard should see them there,And all
should cry, Beware! Beware!His flashing eyes,
his floating hair!Weave a circle round him
thrice,And close your eyes with holy dread,For
he on honey-dew hath fedAnd drunk the milk of
Paradise.
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Questions

• What is the mood of the poem?
• What qualities does this poem share with dreams?
  How does it differ from reality?
• What ideas about creativity and recreation does
  the poet bring out in the second part of the
  poem?
• Many people feel a sinister and foreboding about
  Kubla Khan. Find 10 words that give the reader
  that impression.

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Percy Shelley

• A free-thinking young man who often found himself
  at odds with convention
• After three years of marriage , he found that he
  was not in love with his wife, Harriet Westbrook.
  
• He fell in love with Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin.
  Shelley proposed that the three of them live
  together.
• Harriet did not agree to this. After Shelley
  eloped with Mary, Harriet killed herself.

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Shelleys Poetry

• Shelley writes of the ideal.
• Through his poetry, he envisions humanity as it
  should be.
• Shelley believed that with liberation mankind
  would achieve perfection.
• Ozymandias presents the idea that, with the
  passage of time, even the most powerful rulers
  will be forgotten. The fear they inspire will
  evaporate, leaving only aging ruins behind.

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Definition!

• Ode A complex, often lengthy poem with a formal
  style and a serious subject.

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John Keats

• Lost both his mother and brother to tuberculosis,
  a disease Romantics called consumption.
• Worked as an apprentice to a doctor and attended
  medical school.
• Did not finish his studies when he decided that
  his true calling was to become a poet.
• At 23, he met Fanny Brawne, the love of his life.
• Shortly after becoming engaged, Keats began to
  show signs of tuberculosis.
• Died in Rome at the age of 26.

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Keatss Poetry

• Perhaps because he was most attuned to the
  transitory nature of life, Keatss work often
  emphasizes the intensity of experiences in the
  present.
• Poetry revels in sensory imagery.
• Epitaph reads Here lies one whose name was writ
  in water.

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Matthew Arnold

• Poetry is characteristic of the Victorian Age.
• This period was fraught with religious, social,
  and scientific conflict.
• Many people believed they had to choose between
  science and faith a conflict still in debate
  today!
• Darwinian theory forces people to view the
  natural world as hostile.
• Dover Beach expresses the uncertainty of the
  time one can no longer find comfort in the
  natural world. The Sea of Faith is now
  irrelevant.
• Arnolds answer to this problem is to seek solace
  in in personal relationships.

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Thomas Hardy

• Considered by many to be the last great poet of
  the 19th century.
• The sadness in his work may stem from his
  upbringing in southwest England a bleak, remote
  region.
• Hardy was also a member of the generation in
  recovery from the optimism of the Industrial
  Revolution.
• Hardy looked at nature not as a pessimist, but as
  one who saw endless energy and constant change.

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G.M. Hopkins

• Sprung Rhythm All feet in a poetic line begin
  with a stressed syllable and contain a varying
  number of unstressed syllables.
• Inscape The patterns in nature that reveal both
  individuality and commonality. This, he
  believed, was evidence of Gods hand.

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