Grade 12 Poetry
Genres
Renaissance
- Influenced everything from politics to religion
- Intellectual and artistic shift
- New ideas and knowledge being discovered
- There was a lot of experimenting and questioning
regarding politics and religion
- Knowledge accessible to people easily
- Inventions
- William Shakespeare
Elizabethan Era
- Named after Queen Elizabeth I
- England had peace and prosperity under rule
- English sonnet: 3 quatrains and couplet
- Peace and prosperity under her rule for England
- Love/ royal court
- Italian sonnet: Octave and sestet
Caroline Era
- Civil war between Royalists (Cavalier Poets) and
Parliamentarians
- Living in the moment, romantic love rather than heavy
topics. Used as propaganda to promote king
- Short lyrical straightforward
1. Loves Farewell – Michael Drayton (Elizabethan)
2. No longer mourn for me when I am dead – William
Shakespeare (Elizabethan)
3. To Althea, from Prison – Richard Lovelace (Caroline
Cavalier)
The Romantics
- Literary, artistic, musical, and philosophical ,movement
- Principle concerns
o Elevation of emotion and imagination over reason
o Nature over city
o Equate with greed and evil
- Emotion and religion over science and reason
- Mystical and supernatural
- Individualism
- Imagery/ Lyrical rhyme scheme/rhythm meter
1. To the Night – Percy Bysshe Shelly
,The Victorians
- Named after Queen Victoria
- Very strict
- Sexual restraint
- Literature went through strict conditions
- Favoured realism
- Under her reign, there was peace, nationalism, education,
science, medicine
- Overcrowded slums, Industrial revolution (social changes)
- Victorian and Romantic comment on same issues however
Victorian uses less description
- Religion, faith lowering, science increasing
- Classism and poverty
- Voice of women writers was heard
- Central theme: good and evil
- Nostalgia, looking back at the good old days before
revolution and technology
1. Ulysses – Alfred, Lord Tennyson
2. My Last Duchess – Robert Browning
Modernism
- Begin of modern age
- Questioning religion and human place
- A development of previous poetry eras
- Rejection of classical forms of expression
- Objectivity and commentary on society
- Emphasis on change and innovation
- Inspired by political turmoil: war, revolution etc.
1. The wind begun to rock the grass – Emily Dickinson
2. Dulce et Decorum Est – Wilfred Owen
3. Nobody loses all the time – E E Cummings
4. Refugee Blues – W H Auden
Late Modernism/ Postmodernism
- Controversial
- Skepticism and doubt replace reason and certainty
- Morality and ethics are personal, not traditional
- Unity instead of division
- Rejection of positive portrayal by modernism
- Sensitivity to politics and power
- Subjective
, - Believe objectiveness is impossible to reach as everyone
has own experiences
- Paranoid
- Dark humor
- Does not follow rules, rebellion
1. Assassination – Don L Lee
Southern African Poetry
- Colonial literature
- Apartheid (critical and protest) (non-whites were not
allowed to take part in literature and expression)
- After apartheid, writer’s attention was New South Africa
however New South Africa is not as positive as it sounds.
Does not live up to Rainbow Nation.
- Racism, poverty, corruption, division
1. The Cry of South Africa – Olive Schreiner
2. Penguin on the Beach – Ruth Miller
3. Nightsong City – Dennis Brutus
4. Touch – Hugh Lewin
5. Portrait of a loaf of bread – Mbuyiseni Oswald Mtshali
6. Lost or found world – Mongane Wally Serote
7. I have my father’s voice – Christopher van Wyk
8. The Tenant – Na Ncube
LOVE’S FAREWELL
, MICHAEL DRAYTON
Author
Elizabethan and Jacobean poet who supported Queen Elizabeth
I.
Humble background.
Wrote odes (lyrical poems).
He favoured pastoral and idyllic historical themes.
Background on poem
Number 61 out of 63 sonnets in his album “Ideas”. A series of
the progress of an imagined relationship. The sonnet is about
an ending relationship with the twist being that the relationship
is only dying, it is not dead yet therefore it can still be revived.
This could reflect the poet’s life as he never won his true love’s
heart which makes this poem more relevant.
Themes
1. Love
2. Faith
3. Passion
4. Innocence
The soft, tender love of a true lover for an unresponsive woman
shows soft yet deep sense of farewell.
Purpose of the poem
To expose the mind of a lover who hopes of being with his
loved one forever.
Analysis
Line 1: the dash shows that the interlocutor tried to respond to
the speaker but was cut off or ignored. Making this a one-sided
conversation. Also, in Line 3. It looks as if we have interrupted a
private conversation.
This is a dialogue.
Speaker: let us kiss and part
Interlocutor: nay (rejects his offer)
Structure
Lyrical poem
,Rhyme scheme of ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
English sonnet – 3 quatrains and rhyming couplet (4 lines each
for 3 stanzas)
Iambic pentameter
Quatrain 1:
In the first stanza, we see that the speaker is glad to let go of
the relationship. He is relieved to be “free” and remove himself
from the relationship “cleanly”. The repetition of “glad”
emphasises his supposed happiness with their separation.
Exaggeration could emphasise that he feels the opposite. He
does not blame his former lover for falling out of love.
Quatrain 2:
In the second stanza, the poet suggests how they should
behave when they meet again in the future; polite and
disregard any love they had in the past. Cancel all vow and
loves promises. Forever farewell. “shakes hands forever” – end
off on good terms.
Quatrain 3:
In the third stanza, the poet now personifies Love and how Love
is dying. “last gasp, pulse failing, faith is kneeling, bed of death,
closing up his eyes”. Peak of emotional experience. Faith is
weakening. Hidden meaning of his faith in love and how he
wants to be in the relationship still. Very melodramatic scene.
Hyperbole exaggerates his words which end up revealing his
true feelings. Through hyperbole, poet is expressing feelings.
Rhyming couplet:
This reveals speaker’s true feelings. Love and the relationship
are dying however it is not dead yet, therefore there is still a
chance they could “recover” from this. Volta, twist. Sudden
change in heart. If partner is willing, then they will recover.
Tone
Stanza 1 and 2: tone is determined, decisive, confident,
dismissive, straightforward.
Stanza 3: tone is now softer, mellow, sad because Love is
personified as dying. Starts to true feelings.
Couplet: rushed, sudden change, contrasts everything said in 3
quatrains. Shows he is not over her yet.
,Mood
Line 1 2 5 7 – imperative mood: giving instructions. Interlocutor
is ignored. One sided conversation.
Stanza 3 – indicative mood – love’s death is being stated (facts)
Couplet – subjunctive mood – hypothetical situation, imaginary,
a maybe, no guarantee. The tone of rushing through is adds to
its hypothetical aspect.
“would’st” “might’st” – uncertainty
Pronouns
“us” “we” “I” in first stanza emphasizes them splitting.
“our” “we” show plural form, revealing his true feelings of
wanting them to be together.
“thou” instead of “you” emphasises that the fate of their
relationship lies in the partner’s hands
, No longer mourn for me when I am dead
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE
Author
We know very little of him. Known as “The Bard” – professional
entertainer. This title recognizes his stature.
Background of Poem
Speaker contemplates own mortality and is addressed to a
figure known as the “Fair Youth” or romantic love.
Do not mourn my death
When you hear the funeral bells
Tell the world I have passed away
I am leaving to live with the worms
If you read this
Do not remember the person who wrote this because I love you
Forgotten in sweet thoughts
Because you are thinking of me will make you sad
When you read this
When I am covered in clay and dirt
Do not speak my name
Let your love to die with me
Otherwise people will wonder why you are so sad
And will be make fun of you after I am gone
Theme
Love of a man for a woman
He is about to die and is informing wife to live without him and
to be happy without him, he does not want to be the cause for
her sadness and wants her to stop loving him when he dies. His
love for her is so strong, that he is willing to give up their love
for her happiness. (Universal theme as many can relate)
Analysis
Line 1: instruction to reader to not mourn for his death
Second quatrain gives reason as to why he wants to be
forgotten, as his memory would only bring pain.
,Line 12: “let your love even with my life decay” – let your love
die when I die
Line 13-14: Rhyming couplet: another reason – speaker is afraid
that the reader might be mocked for grieving over his death
(shift in tone and perspective).
- The shift is that during the rest of the poem, their private
relationship is being discussed but all of a sudden in the
rhyming couplet, their relationship perceived by the
outside world is stated.
- Gives poem appearance as it were an unfinished
monologue
All 3 quatrains reinforce the message of the poem that the
reader must forget the speaker. The rhyming couplet, though
changes its perspective, it too reinforces the message
HOWEVER
This poem could be taken as irony because if you write
something, you are leaving a permanent indentation which
forces the reader to remember you, ultimately forcing the
reader to actually not forget them.
This poem is different to Shakespeare’s other poems where he
believes that love conquers all boundaries even death. He usual
sonnets also have an altered meaning in the rhyming couplet
but instead this poem’s rhyming couplet reinforces the
message.
Structure
English/Shakespearean sonnet ( 3 quatrains and rhyming
couplet with ABAB CDCD EFEF GG
Figures of speech:
A sense of hopelessness and sadness is conveyed throughout
the poem
Line 1: “No longer mourn for me” – assonance
The long ‘o’ sounds prolong the sentence and show how
moving on and forgetting someone is a difficult and long
process.
,Line 2: “surly sudden” – alliteration
Creates sense of menace
Line 4: “vile world, with vilest worms” – alliteration and
repetition
Repetition of ‘v’ emphasis of cruel world and death.
Synecdoche:
1. Uses word “line” to represent whole poem
2. Uses word “hand” to represent himself/poet
This synecdoche shows the distance between poet and reader
and evidently the distance that comes after death and from
forcing their love away.
, To Althea, from Prison
RICHARD LOVELACE
Author
Cavalier poet from Caroline Era. Supports the king. Celebrated
happiness and finer things in life. Born in wealthy family.
Arrested. All his poems have purpose. (Love and politics)
Analysis
Spoken from personal experience
Poet believes that he is (mind) free despite being captive in
(physical) prison.
Poem is a rebellion towards parliament
1. Continues to support king which is the reason why he was
imprisoned
2. Believes his mind is free, an opposition to prison system
(containment)
Title
Allusion as we think it is a letter to his lover however the poem
only mentions his lover in the first stanza. The rest of the poem
is about celebration, pleasure of flesh and supporting the king.
Althea (beautiful woman) could be an expression for poet’s real
lover Lucy before he went to prison.
Themes
1. Imprisonment and freedom
2. Politics and religion
3. Love and relationships
4. No one can imprison a human mind
