Edexcel GCSE English Time And Place Poetry

To Autumn

Romantic Era
Keats suffered from tuberculosis, which claimed his life in 1821 at the age of 25
"To Autumn" is an ode - formal and ceremonious

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

Romantic Era
William was on his way to visit his daughter, Caroline, during Peace Of Amiens
Petrarchan sonnet (14 lines) - 1st 8 lines situation, last 6 lines resolution/reflection

London

Industrial Revolution
French Revolution
Songs of Experience (Collection)
Four quatrains with a regular ABAB rhyme scheme
Iambic Tetrameter

I Started Early - Took My Dog

Ballard Form
American Civil War
When Emily Dickinson died, her sister found 1800 poems in her bedroom
Emily never married but had relationships with men and her best friend Susan Gilbert - who later married Emily's brother

Where The Picnic Was

Victorian Era
Eminent Poet
Thomas Hardy's wife (Emma) dies in November 1912
Picnic was when he and his friends and Emma went to have a picnic in summer 1912

Adlestrop

Written in 1914 after World War 1 started
Reflecting on past memories
Train unscheduled stop at Adlestrop
Died in 1917

Home Thoughts From Abroad

Robert Browning was a pre-eminent Victorian poet and playwright
He and his wife (Elizabeth) moved to Italy in 1846 so hopefully her health could improve

First Flight

First collection of poems published in 1978
Poems deal with historical events and social change
U.A. Fanthorpe witnessed development of international commercial flights and holidays abroad

Stewart Island

Fleur Adcock was born in New Zealand in 1934, moved to England when she was 5
Family returned to New Zealand when she was 13 then in 20s moved to England
Struggles with national identity - reflected in poems (written from perspective of outsiders)
Stewart Island - 3rd largest Island of New Zealand
Adcock does not like New Zealand

Presents From My Aunts In Pakistan

Moniza Alvi was born in 1954 in Lahore, Pakistan (Pakastani Father and English Mother)
Brought to England as a baby
Returned to Pakistan after writing this poem in 2000
Felt torn between 2 cultures

Hurricane Hits England

Grace Nichols was born in 1950 in Guyana (Caribbean)
Immigrated to UK in 1977 and now lives in Sussex
1987 England experienced Hurricane winds
She now feels at home in Guyana and in England

Nothing's Changed

Apartheid - Legal Racial Segregation (1984- 1994)
Ended apartheid when Nelson Mandela became president
Tatamkhulu Afrika was born in Egypt in 1920 (Egyptian Father and Turkish Mother)
Moved to South Africa as a very young child
District Six (Once a multi-cultural neighbourhood yet was whites only in 1960s)
Was a member of African National Congress (ANC) party and therefore was arrested for terrorism in 1987
After apartheid there was still segregation
Black communities made up largest majority of country's population

Postcard From A Travel Snob

Sophie Hannah was a contemporary poet who was born in 1971
She likes package holidays
She finds it amusing for people to "go out of their way to have an uncomfortable time"
This poem is mocking those people
1950: Post war holiday boom
1954: Changes to International Civil Aviation allowed more tourism
2004: Holiday market grows by 2/3s
2012: TUI announces strong profit increase

In Romney Marsh

John Davidson was a Scottish Poet 19th century/ 20th century
He committed suicide in 1909
He really liked Romney Marsh which is in South East England
It is rich with culture and historical landmarks and looks nice

Absence

Written in late 1950s
Elizabeth Jennings is famed for her clarity and directness
Elizabeth Jennings is part of The Movement (Simple, conventional poetry)
Collapse of British Empire less British influence over world geo-politics
The Movement tried to prove importance of traditional English poetry compared to modern American poetry
The Movement were not anti-modernity but opposed to modern literature

First Flight

"Plane moves. I don't like the feel of it. In a car I'd suspect low tyre pressure."

First Flight

"A sudden swiftness, earth slithers Off at an angle."

First Flight

"This is rather a short hop for me"

First Flight

"We have come too high for history. Where we are now deals only with tomorrow, Confounds the forecasters, dismisses clocks."

First Flight

"My last trip was Beijing. Know where that is?"

First Flight

"You call it Beijing, like me. Go on, say it."

First Flight

"Mackerel wigs dispense the justice of air."

Absence

"I visited the place where we last met."

Absence

"For under all the gentleness there came An earthquake tremor."

Absence

"Fountain, birds and grass Were shaken by my thinking of your name."

Absence

"There was no sign that anything had ended And nothing to instruct me to forget."

Absence

"The thoughtless birds that shook out of the trees, Singing an ecstasy I could not share."

Where The Picnic Was

"Where we made the fire, In the summer time,"

Where The Picnic Was

"I slowly climb Through winter mire,"

Where The Picnic Was

"And scan and trace The forsaken place Quite readily."

Where The Picnic Was

"Yes, I am here Just as last year, And the sea breathes brine From its strange straight line"

Where The Picnic Was

"But two have wandered far... Into urban roar Where no picnics are, And one--has shut her eyes For evermore."

To Autumn

"Seasons of mists and mellow fruitfulness, Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun; Conspiring with him how to load and bless"

To Autumn

"The sitting careless on a granary floor, Thy hair soft-lifted by the winnowing wind;"

To Autumn

"And sometimes like a gleaner thou dost keep Steady thy laden head across a brook;"

To Autumn

"While barred clouds boom the soft-dying day, And touch the stubble plains with rosy hue; Then in a wailful choir the small gnats mourn"

Home Thoughts From Abroad

"Oh, to be in England, Now that April's there"

Home Thoughts From Abroad

"While the chaffinch sings on the orchard bough In England - now!"

Home Thoughts From Abroad

"And after April, when May follows, And the whitethroat builds, and all the swallows!"

Home Thoughts From Abroad

"The buttercups, the little children's dower, - Far brighter than this gaudy melon-flower!"

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

"Earth has not anything to show more fair:"

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

"The City now doth, like a garment, wear The beauty of the morning"

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

"Ships, towers, domes, theatres, and temples lie Open unto the fields, and to the sky;"

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

"Never did sun more beautifully steep In his first splendour, valley, rock or hill;"

Composed Upon Westminster Bridge

"Dear God! The very houses seem asleep; And all that mighty heart is lying still!"

London

"I wander thro' each charter'd street, Near where the charter'd Thames does flow."

London

"In every cry of every Man, In every Infants cry of fear, In every voice:"

London

"The mind-forg'd manacles I hear"

London

"How the Chimney-sweepers cry Every blackning Church appals,"

London

"How the youthful Harlots curse Blasts the new-born Infants tear And blights with plagues the Marriage hearse"