Basic Literature

Epics     Epics in literature What is an "epic"? ·        A long narrative poem ·        written in heroic couplets ·        involvement of characters is massive in number ‘extensively descriptive ·        length is extensively large ·        there is great interaction between mortals and immortals             Ex: there is a guardian God for every Epic ·        mostly Epic hero's fate is decided by immortals ·        so many super natural elements   Mock epics ·        long narrative poem ·        same structure to the epics ·        written in heroic couplets ·     ...

Holy Sonnets:Batter my heart, three person'd God John Donne   This is one of the most beautiful sonnets of Donne written in a petrarchan verse( ABBAABBA / CCDCCDC). The poet here is and afflicted lover of God who is hurt because he is deviated from the holy path to sinful path. He urges God to ravish his body and make chaste. The poet prays to God in his threefold capacity as the father, the son and the holy ghost to batter his heart. So God should overthrow the poet and bend his force to break and, blow and make him new and free from sins. Themes religion - the subject of the poem is religion. love - speaker's love to the god more than spiritual way. sex violence - violence is a way in which the speaker imagines God manifesting his love. warfare - warfare makes up the major extended metaphor. repentance - poet repents and say that he had committed many wrong deeds in his life; unless God forgive him he wont be happy. man faithlessness - the sonnet also goes deeper into the fai...

  Metaphysical Age * A branch of philosophy that tries explain the natural world, and the mankind's place within it. It asks questions such as; is there a God? what is my place in universe? what is my reason for existing? * John Donne was the leader and the founder of metaphysical school of poetry. Topics and themes Metaphysical = combines thoughts (or metaphysical speculation) with feelings. Heavily intellectualized; Poetry has been inspired by a philosophical conception of the universe and the role assigned to the human spirit in the great drama of existence. Profound areas of experience especially about love, romantic and sensual; about human relationship with God. The external perspective, and, to a lesser extent, about pleasure, learning and art. Problems of religion. Justice in corrupted world. Characteristics of metaphysical age. Language is colloquial and conversational. Critical about previous poetic era. Physical love becomes a main and popular topic. They criticize the u...

   Sonnet 141 by William Shakespeare. Introduction Sonnet 141 is addressed to the so called dark lady, the mistress, the subject of the Shakespeare's final 28 sonnets of the complete 154 sonnet sequence. Sonnet 141 is one of several sonnets that explore the theme of "eye against the heart" the rational mind against the emotional core. It focuses on the struggle between the speaker's sense and his heart. He knows his lover is not the most beautiful to look at; she hasn't the voice or smell or touch but nonetheless he's her tormented slave. He doted on her because he is religiously devoted, a nothing of a man without her. She is the cause of pain yet she makes it worthwhile. Overview Tone - confessional  theme - there are other reasons to attraction than physical features. narration - 1st person / written to the dark lady Lets study the poem  In the first quatrain, *** Shakespeare introduces a love which is beyond physical attraction. *** *** The speaker's o...

 Sonnet 73 by William Shakespeare. Introduction William Shakespeare was an English poet, playwright and actor. He was born on 26th April 1564 in Stratford-Upon-Avon. In the poem, Shakespeare invokes a series of metaphors to characterize the nature of what he perceives to be his old age. Lets study the poem  In the first quatrain,           he tells the beloved that is age is like a "time of year", late autumn, when the leaves have almost completely fallen from the threes, and the weather has grown cold, and the birds have left their branches. in the second quatrain,          he then says that his age is like late twilight " as after sunset fadeth in the west ", and the remaining light is slowly extinguished in the darkness, which the speaker likens to " death's second life " in the third quatrain,           the speaker compares himself to the glowing remnants of a fire. which li...

Themes in Shakespearean sonnets.              Many important themes have been dealt by Shakespeare in his artistic works. The "time" is one of them. Effect of time                In general, Shakespeare dealt with idea of time and its adverse effect on the man, his life and poetic collection. Therefore, in the sonnet-18, the poet laments the possible effect of the time and destruction of the fair youth's beauty. Platonic love               Shakespeare wrote 154 sonnets as a whole. 126 sonnets were addressed to the faith youth, 26 were dedicated to the dark lady and remaining were of the conventional type. The lack of explicit sexual expression in the sonnets for the fair youth has led many critics to characterize this relation as an evident example of platonic love. Religious references               Shakespeare inferred ma...

  Shakespeare in sonnet writing. (Examples are granted from “sonnet-18”) Introduction                         Shakespeare’s sonnets have almost all the poetic points to be discusses and criticized. Right from one issue to the other, each and every element of his poetry deserves special focus such as: the structure, form, devices, rhyme scheme, rhythm and the thematic concerns.   ·        Structure . Sonnet 18 is an example for typical Shakespearean style. Comprising three quatrains in Iambic pentameter ending in a heroic couplet. (ABAB CDCD EFEF GG)   It follows the tradition of dividing the sonnet in to two parts.   ·        The object of the sonnet. The poem (sonnet 18) begins with a philosophical/poetic question to compare “thee” (poet’s friend / fair youth).   ...

  Sonnets  Introduction What is a sonnet ?           Basically a sonnet is a fourteen-line poem written in Iambic pentameter. What are the types of sonnets ?           There are two types of sonnets; Petrarchan and Shakespearean. Features of two sonnet types  I will talk about the topic "Shakespeare in sonnet writing" in my next article. thank you !