English Studies: Changing Historical Perspectives (Poetry)It Is Important to be aware of a poem in relation to its context; ultimately, however, what is more important is that a poem comes to life for a reader through the significance of its ideas and the success of its poetic technique.
Discuss in relation two poems of your choice.
A poem can be enjoyed on many levels, on one level, like music, the words have a pattern and rhythm that play on the senses. Before one even divines the meaning of a poem one may recite it and feel the beauty, power and weight of the words. A poems structure is like scaffolding, beautiful in its self while at the same time being the backbone on which the meaning of the poem hangs. Informed poetic technique allows all the senses to become involved as one is invited into a deeper engagement with life.
Portrait of John Keats by his friend Charles Brown...
Illustration of poem "To Autumn" by John Keats, pa...
English: Page 2 of John Keats's manuscript for the...The mark of good literature, be it drama, poetry or narrative is that one puts down the text and says ÃÂThat is how it really is.ÃÂ It may not be the readers own personal truth but it touches on a deeper truth that underpins what it means to be human and all its various manifestations. I for example, have no real experience of being so alienated that I would identify with a bedraggled house plant, an idea Theodore Roethke explores in his poem ÃÂThe GeraniumÃÂ. Nor have I ever been moved by nature to the degree where I felt an almost sensuous connection to it as John Keats does in his ode ÃÂTo AutumnÃÂ. I can still identify, however, with what it means to be alienated in the 21st century and I feel fortunate to live in a part of the world where the colour, scent, texture and...