English society of Chaucer's time
Most people in the English society of Chaucer's time, about 600 years ago, viewed the world in a similar way and accepted the same beliefs. People then believed that behind the chaos and frustration of the day-to-day world there was a divine providence that gave a reason to everything, even though that reason wasn't always obvious. When you've got faith in an overall system like that, it's easier to accept and understand the world around you. People in Chaucer's society could feel, at least much of the time, a sense of security about the world, knowing that it was following a divine plan. They trusted the system they believed in; it was true, and they felt no need to question it. So behind all of Chaucer's satire and social put-downs in the Canterbury Tales is an unshaken belief in a divine order. It's easier to make fun of something when, underneath, you know you take it seriously. Also, as Chaucer knew, it's easier to write for a group of people who at least roughly share the same set of values, whether they be a cook, a parson, or an upper-class prioress. Those values were represented in the medieval world by two structures: the class system and the church. People believed both setups were established by God, and each went unchallenged. A peasant, like Chaucer's Plowman, wasn't "upwardly mobile" as in our society, and didn't aspire to become a knight. He may want to buy
An examination of the sonnet from Petrarch to Browning.
Kunal Shrivastava 20/05/2003 An examination of the sonnet from Petrarch to Browning. A sonnet is a poem, which traditionally contains the subject of love. The creator of the sonnet was a man named Francesco Petrarca who was usually referred to as Petrarch. Petrarch wrote many of his sonnets based upon himself, and his lover, Laura. The conventional format of a sonnet contains fourteen lines, and is segregated to illustrate two arguments. Every sonnet takes the conventional format of fourteen lines, although the way the arguments are split up, may be different. For example, Petrarch and Elizabeth Barrett Browning's sonnet both take the format of an octave and a sestet, whereas Shakespeare's sonnet takes the format of three quatrains and a rhyming couplet. The arguments usually comprise of love juxtaposed against its opposite. For example, love versus hate, and love versus death. I have chosen to compare three sonnets. I will compare the subject of their sonnet, the form of the sonnet, and the way that they depict their argument in their sonnet. For example, how they have set out the sonnet, and their use of language. I have chosen to compare, Petrarch's, "XLL," and Shakespeare's, "Sonnet 138," and Barrett Browning's, "XLIII." The three sonnets that I have selected all contain the subject of love, but do
According to what principles, and for what purposes, do Twentieth Century women-writers revise and rewrite fairy tales? You should illustrate your answer from at least three stories.
According to what principles, and for what purposes, do Twentieth Century women-writers revise and rewrite fairy tales? You should illustrate your answer from at least three stories. Fairy tales of the Sixteenth to Eighteenth Century were created as traditional narratives advocating gender roles and employed as a means of preserving the established patriarchal order. Traditionally, termed as 'old wives' tales' the stories became female, oral narratives. However, the male rewrites of Perrault and the brothers Grimm led to a prevalent masculine orientated message. Such campaigning for the male agenda begged a feminist response in the Twentieth Century. Through her collection of fairy tales, The Bloody Chamber, Angela Carter, Recovered a female tradition of story telling obscured by the popularity of such male adaptations as Charles Perrault, the brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen.'1 Carter embraces the subversive potential of the fairy tale and undermines the fixing of gender roles and natural laws through focusing upon the intermediate grey areas between the masculine and the feminine, childhood and adulthood, animal and human. The impact of the feminist perspective has served to revolutionise a genre that only appears to be impartial and uncomplicated through its categorising as a mode of story telling aimed at children. The feminist perspective has
Compare the ways in which the poets express strength of feeling in "Spring" and "Holy Sonnet 10"
ENGLISH COURSEWORK Compare the ways in which the poets express strength of feeling in "Spring" and "Holy Sonnet 10" "Spring", written by Gerard Manley-Hopkins, employs the ideas of the beauty of the season. Manley-Hopkins introduces references to his faith, portraying a religious approach. The feelings experienced within the sonnet are very intense, and the reader becomes progressively more engrossed amid the lines of the sonnet, as the poet delves into the peril that spring might be spoiled, and the innocence of youth might be lost. Manley-Hopkins addresses the Lord, in the hope that all sinning might cease forever, and hence the beauty of the season of spring might be maintained eternally. "Holy Sonnet 10", written by John Donne, similarly refers to the poet's faith. The strength of the feeling shown here is colossal, as Donne challenges to address Death as a coward. The sonnet is powerful, as Donne dares to think Death to be weak and feeble. The poet is so confident within his faith of God, and his apparent belief in the afterlife, that he is self assured that no harm will come to him from this one vain beast. Death will eventually be overcome; it is nothing to fear. The poet's feelings are vivid, and dangerous, and the reader is thrown into a reverie of shadows as such immoral thoughts are taken in. "Spring", a Petrarchan sonnet, contains an octave, which sets the
Chaucer's Models of Authorship and his Anxiety of Influence in the Prologue to the 'Legend of Good Women.
Chaucer's Models of Authorship and his Anxiety of Influence in the Prologue to the 'Legend of Good Women. There is no doubt that Sir Geoffrey Chaucer placed immense value upon the integrity and accuracy of his work. This is clearly evident in the poem, 'Chaucers Wordes Unto Adam, his Owne Scriveyn', where he reprimands his scribe Adam for his negligence and over zealousness in copying texts he has given him. 'But after my makyng thow wryte more trewe, So ofte adaye I mot thy werk renewe, It to correct and eke to rubbe and scrape, And al is thorugh thy negligence and rape.' (Chaucer, 'Adam' 4-7) It is a short, yet passionate poem as it succinctly illustrates the intense ferocity Chaucer felt toward Adam for altering his creations; as demonstrated when he calls down a plague upon poor Adam's head! Chaucer's preoccupation with the transmission of texts that are of quality and 'trewe' spills over into another of his works, prologue to Legend of Good Women [G Text], in which he examines the whole concept of his responsibility as an author in a more holistic fashion. This essay seeks to discuss how Chaucer felt about his accountability as an author, translator and mediator of texts and the influences that fashioned his subjectivity as a writer. It also seeks to explore the anxiety that Chaucer displays in the prologue as to his justification as an author and his
The Sonnet
The Sonnet Explore aspects of the sonnet tradition through reference to a range of material you have studied The word 'sonnet' comes from the Italian word 'sonnetto' meaning little sound or song. A sonnet is a special type of poem. The sonnet is always 14 lines long and usually expresses the poets' personal feelings or thoughts; most often connected with love or death, which are two of the most basic aspects of human existence. The poem generally uses rhyme and metre to organise the poet's ideas in a formal way. There are several different types of sonnets which all accomplish this in a slightly different style. The Italian or Petrarchan sonnet was originally developed around 1350 by Petrarch, an Italian poet (1304-1374). Petrarch had fallen madly in love with a woman named Laura, but she was a married woman and refused to become his mistress. Petrarch wrote poetry expressing the idea of courtly love and conveying his own misery and his slavery to the love of Laura; a love denied. His verses contain accusations about the fickleness of love, the timeless quality of art and the hopelessness and devotion of eternal love. The Italian sonnet is divided into two sections by two different groups of rhyming sounds. The first eight lines are called the octave. This has two four line units that rhyme in the same way. A b b a, a b b a. The remaining six lines are called the
Explore aspects of the sonnet tradition through reference to a range of material you have studied?
Explore aspects of the sonnet tradition through reference to a range of material you have studied? A sonnet is a 14-line poem with each line having 10 syllables. It originated in the 13th century and was introduced into England in the 16th century by Sir Thomas Wyatt. The Petrarchan (or Italian) sonnet characteristically consists of an eight-line octave, rhyming abbaabba, that states a problem, asks a question, or expresses an emotional tension, followed by a six-line sestet, of varying rhyme schemes, that resolves the problem, answers the question, or resolves the tension. The rhyme scheme for the sestet is cdecde. For instance, Wilfred Owen uses the first eight-lines to describe how deaths at war are laid to rest and the sestet to describe how the same thing is done back home (Anthem for Doomed Youth). The rhyme scheme for the sestet is cdecde. This is how the famous poet Francesco Petrarca, thus why it is named the "Petrarchan Sonnet" chose to write his sonnets. However William Shakespeare, a famous English poet, used another sonnet-rhyming scheme his is as follows: The first twelve lines are made up of three quatrains (blocks of four lines linked by rhyme). The last two lines form a rhyming couplet, e.g. a rhyming pair: abab, cdcd, efef, gg William Shakespeare is often considered the greatest writer of English literature that ever lived. By 1594 he was a
Critical appreciation on Shakespeare's
Assignment no1 Assignment Submit date: Subject: "To his love" Sonnet no "cvi" 106 Object: Write a critical appreciation Teacher: Mrs. Kaukab Tariq Class: BA-1 (a) Student: Madiha Idrees Motiwala Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616, English dramatist and poet, b. Stratford-on-Avon. He is considered the greatest playwright who ever lived. He is also a sonneteer. His father was John Shakespeare. In 1582 Shakespeare married Anne Hathaway, eight years his senior and pregnant at the time of the marriage. They had three children: Susanna, born in 1583, and twins, Hamnet and Judith, born in 1585. In 1594 Shakespeare became an actor and playwright for the Lord Chamberlain's Men, the company that later became the King's Men under James I. Until the end of his London career Shakespeare remained with the company; it is thought that as an actor he played old men's roles, such as the ghost in Hamlet and Old Adam in As You Like It. In 1596 he obtained a coat of arms, and by 1597 he was prosperous enough to buy New Place in Stratford, which later was the home of his retirement years. In 1599 he became a partner in the ownership of the Globe theatre, and in 1608 he was part owner of the Black friars theatre. Shakespeare retired and returned to Stratford c.1613. He undoubtedly enjoyed a comfortable living throughout his career and in retirement, although he was never a wealthy man.
Analysis of Sheakespeare's Sonnet 73 "That time of year thou mayst in me behold"
Karabelas Libby Karabelas Mr. Wood AP English Literature and Composition 31 October 2012 Aging Through Symbolism When William Shakespeare wrote his sonnets, a group of 152 poems in all, he focused heavily on the concept of decay over time (CITE). Sonnet 73, “That time of year thou mayst in me behold”, was certainly no exception. In this poem Shakespeare uses metaphors to describe his aging process, invoking three mental pictures of how he interprets this decline. It is clear throughout the poem that the message pertains to the impermanence of youth. But in the last couplet we see that, specifically, Shakespeare is discussing his decline with a loved one, and presuming that this sorrowful loss will strengthen the love they feel. William Shakespeare was not a simple-minded man; that was to be sure. He shows through his complex writing style and use of several simultaneous figures of speech that he is a skillful and creative writer. Indeed, as one of the most well known writers in history, Shakespeare would naturally be adept at conveying his feelings. He is obviously a sensitive, emotional person; his topic displays the inner workings of a highly reflective mind, keenly focused on his mental upset about his aging. It’s a matter of opinion if this intense focus is just a product of his self-pity and introspective nature, or if the worry is more focused
Consider the sonnet as a verse form. With examples compare the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets and show developments in this form to the twentieth century.
Lara Finnegan 20th January 2000 Consider the sonnet as a verse form. With examples compare the Petrarchan and Shakespearean sonnets and show developments in this form to the twentieth century. The first sonnets were written by a Sicilian lawyer named Giacomo da Lentino, during the first part of the thirteenth century. The form soon became very popular and was publicised through the works of many well-known Italian poets, such as Cavalcanti, Dante and Petrarch, thus becoming known as the Petrarchan sonnet form. It soon spread through Europe and finally to England during the sixteenth century, through Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey, who developed it slightly. Soon after, Shakespeare realised the limitations of such a strict format and therefore developed and changed it further, creating the Shakespearean form. However, not everyone agreed with his indifference towards tradition; John Milton and Wordsworth soon reverted to the strictly disciplined Petrarchan form again, preferring it to the relatively 'free and easy' style of Shakespeare. Through time, many poets have experimented with different styles and techniques, and by the twentieth century, writers such as Elizabeth Jennings wrote such undisciplined poetry that it could only be recognised as a sonnet by the
