Poems Throughout History

Renaissance What is distinctive about Renaissance art?

Renaissance Word renaissance means “rebirth”-refers to renewed interest in Classical thinking-ancient Rome and Greece Humanism: worked to harmonize Bible and the classics-the goal is to attain virtue! Invention of the printing press-for the first time work could be published and read! Protestant Reformation: the Catholic Church was starting to lose its absolute power King Henry and Elizabeth: great importance was placed on the crown The Sinking of the Spanish Armada: England is at its peak. Pastoral Poems: focus on the idealized form of nature-the rise of the lower classes Poems often followed metrical patterns and specific forms to help build credit to the art behind the creation of works

Renaissance Review “Blow Blow Thou Winter Wind.” How does it fit with its historical context? Blow, Blow, Thou Winter Wind Blow, blow, thou winter wind Thou art not so unkind As man's ingratitude; Thy tooth is not so keen, Because thou art not seen, Although thy breath be rude. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship if feigning, most loving mere folly: Then heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly. Freeze, freeze thou bitter sky, That does not bite so nigh As benefits forgot: Though thou the waters warp, Thy sting is not so sharp As a friend remembered not. Heigh-ho! sing, heigh-ho! unto the green holly: Most friendship is feigning, most loving mere folly: Then heigh-ho, the holly! This life is most jolly. William Shakespeare

Romanticism What is distinctive about Romantic art?

Romanticism Imagination over intellect: all that matters is how we see the world Industrial Revolution: move from agriculture to harsher working conditions in factories Aftermath of American and French Revolution: England is starting to lose its power Social Idealism: the idea that success is truly possible-optimism Focus on the child-like sense of wonder: seeing the world as full of possibilities Emphasis on lyrical ballads: poems often read as songs exclaiming about the wonder of the word

Romanticism I wandered lonely as a cloud by William Wordsworth I wandered lonely as a cloud That floats on high o'er vales and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, A host, of golden daffodils; Beside the lake, beneath the trees, Fluttering and dancing in the breeze. Continuous as the stars that shine And twinkle on the milky way, They stretched in never-ending line Along the margin of a bay: Ten thousand saw I at a glance, Tossing their heads in sprightly dance. The waves beside them danced; but they Out-did the sparkling waves in glee: A poet could not but be gay, In such a jocund company: I gazed---and gazed---but little thought What wealth the show to me had brought: For oft, when on my couch I lie In vacant or in pensive mood, They flash upon that inward eye Which is the bliss of solitude; And then my heart with pleasure fills, And dances with the daffodils.  William Wordsworth Iambic tetrameter

Victorian What is unique about Victorian art?

Victorian Era Focused around Queen Victoria-the reform act of 1832 The rise of the middle class: middle class was gaining and wanted to showcase their authority Prim and proper: common modes of etiquette Literature focused on the possibility and desire for social advancement Going back to classic forms-showcasing the beauty of art

Victorian: Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold The sea is calm tonight,  The tide is full, the moon lies fair  Upon the straits; on the French coast the light  Gleams and is gone; the cliffs of England stand,  Glimmering and vast, out in the tranquil bay.  Come to the window, sweet is the night air!Only, from the long line of spray  Where the sea meets the moon-blanched land,  Listen! you hear the grating roar  Of pebbles which the waves draw back, and fling,  At their return, up the high strand,  Begin, and cease, and then again begin,  With tremulous cadence slow, and bring  The eternal note of sadness in. Sophocles long ago  Heard it on the Agean, and it brought  Into his mind the turbid ebb and flow  Of human misery; we  Find also in the sound a thought,  Hearing it by this distant northern sea.

Victorian: Dover Beach by Matthew Arnold The Sea of Faith Was once, too, at the full, and round earth's shore Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled. But now I only hear Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar, Retreating, to the breath Of the night wind, down the vast edges drear And naked shingles of the world. Ah, love, let us be true To one another! for the world, which seems To lie before us like a land of dreams, So various, so beautiful, so new, Hath really neither joy, nor love, nor light, Nor certitude, nor peace, nor help for pain; And we are here as on a darkling plain Swept with confused alarms of struggle and flight, Where ignorant armies clash by night.

Modernism What is distinctive about modernist art?

Modernism The Aftermath of the War: marked by disillusionment The rise of Civil Rights Movements: giving minorities a voice Breaking all the rules: a direct break in previous forms of art—stream of consciousness, lyrical sonnets, satire, etc. Cubism: questioning the whole by breaking it into pieces and starting again

Modernism: Telephone Conversation by Wole Soyinka The price seemed reasonable, location              Indifferent. The landlady swore she lived              Off premises. Nothing remained              But self-confession. “Madam,” I warned,  5         “I hate a wasted journey—I am African.”              Silence. Silenced transmission of              Pressurized good-breeding. Voice, when it came,              Lipstick coated, long gold-rolled              Cigarette-holder pipped. Caught I was, foully.  10         “HOW DARK?” . . . I had not misheard . . . “ARE YOU LIGHT              OR VERY DARK?” Button B. Button A. Stench              Of rancid breath of public hide-and-speak.              Red booth. Red pillar-box. Red double-tiered              Omnibus squelching tar. It was real! Shamed  By ill-mannered silence, surrender              Pushed dumbfoundment to beg simplification.              Considerate she was, varying the emphasis—              “

Modernism: “Telephone Conversation” by Wole Soyinka “ARE YOU DARK? OR VERY LIGHT?” Revelation came.              “You mean—like plain or milk chocolate?”  20         Her assent was clinical, crushing in its light              Impersonality. Rapidly, wavelength adjusted,              I chose. “West African sepia”—and as an afterthought,              “Down in my passport.” Silence for spectroscopic              Flight of fancy, till truthfulness clanged her accent  25         Hard on the mouthpiece. “WHAT’S THAT?” conceding,              “DON’T KNOW WHAT THAT IS.” “Like brunette.”              “THAT’S DARK, ISN’T IT?” “Not altogether.              Facially, I am brunette, but madam, you should see              The rest of me. Palm of my hand, soles of my feet  30         Are a peroxide blonde. Friction, caused—              Foolishly, madam—by sitting down, has turned              My bottom raven black—One moment madam!”—sensing              Her receiver rearing on the thunderclap              About my ears—“Madam,” I pleaded, “wouldn’t you rather  35         See for yourself?”