Anthology Poems - Form + Structure + Context + Key Quotes

Who so list to hount - Wyatt

FORM + STRUCTURE

- Petrarchan Sonnet

- 14 lines - octave + sestet

- Rhyme Scheme: Octave - ABBA x2

Sestet - CDDC EEE

- Octave: describes the hunt + the speaker's exhaustion + obsession.

- Volta line 9: turns from personal experience to a broader warning.

- Sestet: reveals the women is unattainable - claimed by power

Who so list to hount - Wyatt

KEY QUOTES

"But as for me, alas, I may no more"

- caesura + emotive language convey his deep exhaustion from his pursuit.

- unrequited love, tone of sorrow + hopelessness

"Noli me tangere, for Cesars I ame"

- Symbolism + alludes to the latin - "Do not touch me" - its a reference to King Henry VIII, implies that women are Kings property.

Who so list to hount - Wyatt

CONTEXT - Tudor Era

Literary - Wyatt was responsible for introducing the Sonnet form into English Lit + translated many Italian sonnets into English

Historical - Poem is believed to be written about Anne Boleyn (Henry's 2nd wife)

Biographical - Wyatt was a courtier + diplomat in the court of Henry VIII

Sonnet 116 - Shakespeare

FORM + STRUCUTRE

- Shakespearean Sonnet

- 14 lines: 3 quatrains, 1 couplet and 10 syllables

- Iambic pentameter

- Rhyme Scheme: ABAB CDCD EFEF GG

Sonnet 116 - Shakespeare

KEY QUOTES

"Love is not which alters when alteration finds"

- Paradox implies that love cannot be real if it changes, emphasises unwavering love.

Love "is the star to every wandring barke"

- Metaphor comparing love to a navigational star.

- Alludes to the North Star used for navigation, pole start stays in the sky in the same place, guides sailors

Sonnet 116 - Shakespeare

CONTEXT - Renaissance Shakespearean Era

Literary - Sonnet form was extremely popular. Personification of time is influenced by the Renaissance practice of looking back into the classics for inspiration.

Historical - The constant + steadfast love presented reflects the conventions + marriage of Elizabethan era. Divorce was not an option for most so marriage was for life.

The Flea - Donne

FORM + STRUCTURE

- Dramatic Monologue

- Shifts between iambic tetrameter + pentameter

- 3 stanza 9 lines + rhyming couplet gives a conversational, playful tone, reinforcing the speaker's charm + wit.

- Metaphysical style, full of wit, logic + unexpected comparisons

- Structured tightly, each stanza is a verse in a debate

Rhyme Scheme: AABBCCDDD

The Flea - Donne

KEY QUOTES

"It sucked me first and now sucks thee"

- tactile imagery emphasizes the physical interaction between the flea and their bodies

- suggesting a shared experience

"the flea's death took life from thee"

- "thee" is a part of the rhyming couplet suggest finality in his arguement.

- suggests that her 'honour' is as insignificant as the flea's death

- In the Jacobean period death was a euphemism for organism e.g. petit mort

The Flea - Donne

CONTEXT - Jacobean Era

Literary - metaphysical style uses extended conceit (flea) to explore seduction.

Ironic abundance of religious references due to Donne's role as Dean of St. Pauls

Historical - reflects tension between spiritual + physical love in post-Reformation England

Biographical - Donne was a courtier turned clergyman. Catholicism debarred him from studying a degree. 1621 became Dean of St Paul.

The Scrutiny - Lovelace

FORM + STRUCTRE

- Cavalier Dramatic Monologue

- 4 stanzas, cinquains

- Rhyme Scheme: ABABB

- Alternates between iambic tetrameter and iambic trimeter

- feminine ending

The Scrutiny - Lovelace

KEY QUOTES

"Ev'n sated with variety"

- creates the image of greed + selfishness

- reinforces the idea that the speaker's exploration is more about satisfying his own desires + self-assurance rather than truly needing to experience other before committing.

"like skilful mineralists"

- simile comparing himself to a geologist, objectifying women by suggesting they're treasures to be "un-plowed", referring to virginity.

The Scrutiny - Lovelace

CONTEXT - Civil War Period

Literary - cavalier poetry often light witty, focused on love + honour

Historical - Anti puritan poem which advocates sexual liberation, women are presented as conquests.

Biographical - Lovelace was not only a poet but a soldier and royalist who fought on behalf of Charles I during the English Civil War as the leader.

A Song (Absent from thee) - Wilmot

FORM + STRUCTURE

- Dramatic Monologue

- Quatrains 4 stanzas

1. suffering in absence

2. torment for temptation

3. desire for peace in her love

4. fear of losing love + salvation again

- Iambic tetrameter gives a steady, reflective rhythm

- Rhyme Scheme - ABAB

A Song (Absent from thee) - Wilmot

KEY QUOTES

"Absent from thee I languish still"

- hyperbole + 1st person voice, implies suffering + decay

- emphasises the speaker's emotional dependency one love, while also introducing conflicted tone of the poem.

"The straying Fool 'twill painly kill"

- metaphor refers to himself, presenting his infidelity as foolish but inevitable

- shows inner conflict - he recognises his own destructive desires but feel unable to resist them.

A Song (Absent from thee) - Wilmot

CONTEXT - The Restoration Song

Literary - combines religious guilt with sensual longing. Uses satire + irony in exploration of love + fidelity.

Historical - The message is one of infidelity typical of the Rake persona of the Restoration theatre.

Biographical - he wrote both religious + erotic verses

The Garden of Love - Blake

FORM + STRUCTURE

- Allegoric lyric

- 12 lines, 3 stanzas -regular stanzaic for 3 quatrains

- Rhyme Scheme: ABCB

- Irregular meter

The Garden of Love - Blake

KEY QUOTES

"sweet flowers"

- natural imagery to represent life being replaced by images of death, presents the church critically

- use of natural imagery is predominant in Romantic poetry as they believed nature as the dwelling place of God

"And I saw it was filled with graves, And tombstones where flowers should be"

- natural imagery - beauty of life (flowers) have been replaced by death + decay (graves) - clear metaphor for how religious restrictions have destroyed natural joys

The Garden of Love - Blake

CONTEXT - Romantic I

Literary - use of natural imagery to represent love + God, juxtaposed with deathly, restrictive imagery of the church + organised religion showcase Blake's Libertarian beliefs.

Historical - Use of natural imagery reflects the Romantic belief that nature is the dwelling place of God.

Biographical - He opposed institutional control. Blake lived during the Industrial Revolution, when people were moving away from nature + into controlled, structured systems - mirrored in the poem.

Song (Ae fond kiss) - Burns

FORM + STRUCTURE

- Lyric poem

- 6 stanzas quatrains

- iambic tetrameter- not consistent, cyclical structure

- Rhyme Scheme AABB

Song (Ae fond kiss) - Burns

KEY QUOTES

"Ae fond kiss and then we sever"

- suggests intimacy + tenderness

- juxtaposition of love + finality highlights the painful contrast.

"Fare-thee-weel, thou best and dearest!"

- archaic farewell intensifies the emotional gravity + timelessness of the parting

- direct address increases intimacy + tone

Song (Ae fond kiss) - Burns

CONTEXT - Romantic

Literary - The Georgian Romantic believed in the expression of sensationalised emotion. Scottish dialects + personal tone reflects Romantic ideals of sincerity + passion

Historical - Reflects Romantic emphasis on personal sorrow + emotional intensity

Biographical - Wrote about parting from Agnes Maclehose. Known for expressing personal emotion.

She Walks in Beauty - Byron

FORM + STRUCTURE

- Blazon poem, focused on personal emotion + admiration

- 3 stanzas sestet, 8 syllables

- Iambic tetrameter - gentle rhythm enhances peaceful, graceful mood

- regular stanzaic form

- Rhyme Scheme: ABAB - steady + flowing, mirrors calm + balanced tone

She Walks in Beauty - Byron

KEY QUOTES

"She walks in beauty, like the night"

- similes implies grace + beauty which extends beyond physical, comparing her to the night adds a sense of mystery + unconventional beauty - generic use of "she" reinforces this

"one shade the more, one ray the less"

- juxtaposition + sibilance emphasises the perfect balance, compliment one another

She Walks in Beauty - Byron

CONTEXT - Romantic II Georgian

Literary - Georgian Romantics believed that poetry should convey spontaneous, strong emotion. Abundance of natural imagery typical of Romantic poets who believed it was through nature that humans were closest to God.

Historical - Reflects Romantic admiration for feminine beauty + emotional depth.

Biographical - Poem is unusually gentle for Byron. Inspiration came from the wife of his cousin, Mrs Anne Beatrix, he was struck by her unusual beauty , the next morning he wrote the poem.

Remember - Rossetti

FORM + STRUCTURE

- Petrarchan Sonnet

- 14 lines, 3 quatrains, 10 syllables

octave - speaker urgers to be remembered after death

sestet - she comforts the loved one, saying it's okay to forget it it bring peace

volta - happens at line 9 emotional shift - "Yet if you should forget me for a while"

- ABBA envelope rhyme scheme

Remember - Rossetti

KEY QUOTES

"Remember"

- repeated 5x + gradually moves across the line throughout the poem from being the 1st word 2 times to the 5th word of the final line.

- repetition shows the concern with being remembered and then shows her coming to an acceptance that she won't be remembered.

"Yet if you should forget me for a while"

- gentle shift - volta - acceptance, shows selflessness, prioritising loved one's happiness over her memory.

- oxymoron, highlights the emotional conflict the speaker is feeling

Remember - Rossetti

CONTEXT - Victorian Era

Literary context - Petrarchan sonnet use to convey selfless affection.

Historical - Feminist themes run throughout her poetry. 1st Female to publish under her own name in her life time. The Victorians were preoccupied with death. Queen Victoria famously mourned her husband for 40 years.

Biographical - Rossetti suffered from Graves disease + spent much of her time unwell. She was fearful of dying.

La Belle Dame sans Merci

FORM + STRUCTURE

- Ballad, employs 2 narrative perspectives

1. passer-by

2. knight

- ABCB rhyme scheme

- 12 quatrain - reflects 12 month of the year, reinforces the inevitability of decay + renewal - cyclical structure of the year

- alternating with tetrameters + trimeters

La Belle Dame sans Merci

KEY QUOTES

"I see a lily on thy brow"

- death imagery

- symbolism, lilies are white, like his face, when you die, traditional funeral flower = lily

- suggests impending death

"And there she wept and sighed full sore"

- she's manipulating the knight's sympathy

- the lady's emotional displays are manipulative as she ultimately abandons the knight.

- shows that her expression of sorrow were not genuine.

La Belle Dame sans Merci - Keats

CONTEXTS - Romantic II

Literary - uses ballad form + supernatural elements to explore fatal attraction + emotional ruin.

Keats believed poets had no fixed identity, adopting various roles—seen here in the shifting voices of passer-by, Knight, and Fairy.

Historical - Abundance of death imagery which Keat's was preoccupied by as he lost his entire family by his 20s + died aged 36.

Biographical - suffered from tuberculosis, died young after tragic love affairs.