The Spirit of the Age
Year 12 English | |[pic]
Poetry Resource Booklet
THE
SPIRIT
OF THE AGE
Preface
The Spirit of the Age
Within this anthology is a selection of poetry from a range of historical periods, geographical locations, cultural origins and artistic movements. The poets and poems that have been chosen provide readers with an insight into their worlds and experiences, and the ‘spirit of the age’ in which they lived. Poets speak as individuals about intensely personal reflections, but can also represent the views of the social groups to which they identify and belong. The language within a poem will reveal more to the reader when we explore the influences on the poet. These influences can include the cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or groups, along with the general ambience and socio-cultural mood of an era. Each poet offers a unique voice that also reveals something of the general social experience of their specific time and place.
Part 1 - ENGLISH POETRY
Page 4
Part 2 - AMERICAN POETRY
Page 14
Part 3 - WORLD POETS
Page 22
Introduction
The politician wants men to know how to die courageously; the poet wants men to live courageously.
— Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo, Nobel lecture, 1959
Poetry tells the truth.
W. H. Auden argued that "In so far as poetry, or any other of the arts, can be said to have an ulterior purpose, it is, by telling the truth, to disenchant and disintoxicate".
Poetry links reality and imagination.
Walt Whitman advocated a democratic poetics of open, all-embracing forms and a politics of inclusion. "All others have adhered to the principle that the poet and the artists form classes by themselves, above the people, and more refined than the people; I show that they are just as great when of the people, partaking of the common idioms, manners, the earth, the rude visage of animals and trees, and
Poetry Resource Booklet
THE
SPIRIT
OF THE AGE
Preface
The Spirit of the Age
Within this anthology is a selection of poetry from a range of historical periods, geographical locations, cultural origins and artistic movements. The poets and poems that have been chosen provide readers with an insight into their worlds and experiences, and the ‘spirit of the age’ in which they lived. Poets speak as individuals about intensely personal reflections, but can also represent the views of the social groups to which they identify and belong. The language within a poem will reveal more to the reader when we explore the influences on the poet. These influences can include the cultural, intellectual, ethical, spiritual, and/or political climate within a nation or groups, along with the general ambience and socio-cultural mood of an era. Each poet offers a unique voice that also reveals something of the general social experience of their specific time and place.
Part 1 - ENGLISH POETRY
Page 4
Part 2 - AMERICAN POETRY
Page 14
Part 3 - WORLD POETS
Page 22
Introduction
The politician wants men to know how to die courageously; the poet wants men to live courageously.
— Italian poet Salvatore Quasimodo, Nobel lecture, 1959
Poetry tells the truth.
W. H. Auden argued that "In so far as poetry, or any other of the arts, can be said to have an ulterior purpose, it is, by telling the truth, to disenchant and disintoxicate".
Poetry links reality and imagination.
Walt Whitman advocated a democratic poetics of open, all-embracing forms and a politics of inclusion. "All others have adhered to the principle that the poet and the artists form classes by themselves, above the people, and more refined than the people; I show that they are just as great when of the people, partaking of the common idioms, manners, the earth, the rude visage of animals and trees, and