Context

• When We Two Parted Context


  Lord Byron (1788 - 1824)

  > Romantic poet

  > Thought to be about his affair with Lady Webster - doesn't mention her name

  > Broke off affair to save her reputation but she had another affair with the Duke of Wellington later

  > Written in jealousy and hurt
• Loves Philosophy Context


  Percy Shelley (1792 - 1821)

  > Romantic poet

  > Shelley left his pregnant wive

  > Ran off with Mary Shelley

  > Wrote in favor of atheism
• Porphyrias Lover Context


  Robert Browning (1812 - 1889)

  > Famous Victorian poet (important for attitudes towards women and class)

  > As a poet, focuses on morbid, twisted, psychological states

  > Porphyria would be seen as a 'fallen' women as she flattens her sexuality

  > Changed from 'Porphyria' to 'Porphyria's Lover' later on (significant as expresses it illicit nature - reason behind the murder?)

  > Poem always printed with another poem about a psychopath - suggest nature
• Sonnet 29 - 'I think of thee!' Context


  1806 - 1861

  > Victorian Poet

  > Suffered from illness for most of her life

  > Addicted to pain killers

  > Famous in her time as well

  > Married Robert Browning

  > Controlling father who refused to let her married; her and Robert Browning had to keep their relationships a secret
• Neutral Tones Context


  Thomas Hardy (1840 - 1928)

  > Famous for the pessimistic tone in his writing

  > Both a novelist and a poet

  > Faced many disappointments in his personal relationships (and would go on to face even more

  after Neutral Tones was written and published)

  > Written in 1867 but not published until over twenty years later in the collection Wessex Poems (lends an even greater degree of distance to the incident that is recalled but also adds importance to the theme of memory)
• Farmers Bride Context


  Charlotte Mew (1869 - 1928)

  > Wrote this poem during the 19th century

  > Based her story in a farming community

  > Marriages often organised according to convenience, rather than love.

  > Mental illness affected the writer and her family, and could be considered a source of inspiration for the depiction of the bride in the poem
• Walking Away Context


  Cecil Day-Lewis (1904 - 1978)

  > Poetry was nature/personal experience as main theme

  > Brought up by this father as his mother died very early in his life
• Letters From Yorkshire Context

  Maura Dooley (1957 - )

  > Born in Truro, Cornwall in 1957 and grew up in Bristol.

  > Worked in Yorkshire for a time and has lived in London.

  > Details in the poem which suggest it may draw on personal experience, but we can't assume this to be the case.
• Eden Rock Context


  Charles Causley (1917 - 2003)

  > Places are significant in his poem as a way of recording events

  > His work is characteristic by its simplicity - he uses similar forms to children poems but often has deeper meaning

  > His father died when he was only fifteen
• Follower Context


  Seamus Heaney (1939 - 2013)

  > Major poet of 20th century - won a Noble prize

  > Eldest son of a large farming family in Ireland

  > By becoming a poet he feels guilty that he didn't carry on his fathers work
• Mother any Distance Context

  Armitage is perhaps reflecting on

  his own relationship with his

  mother

  Reader reflects on their own

  relationship with their parent and

  how as children we want

  independence as well as support
• Before You Were Mine Context

  Carol Ann Duffy (1955 - present)

  > Poems address issues such as oppression, gender and violence

  > Scottish poet and playwright

  > Appointed British's Poet Laureate in 2009
• Winter Swans Context


  Owen Sheers (1974 - present)

  > Poems often focus on landscape and the people who live in them

  > Often explores history, idenity and difficulties people face in the simplicity of life

  > Welsh poet and grew up in the countryside of south Wales
• Singh Song Context


  Singh Song (1966 - present)

  > His poems often explore the experience of immigrants

  > Grew up in 1980's during a period of widespread racism in mainstream media

  > Poems often challenge representations of Indians
• Climbing My Grandfather Context

  Andrew Waterhouse (1958 - 2001)

  > Worked on a farm when he was young, and studied the environment at college

  > Poems follow a theme of family relationships

  > Committed suicide at 42 in 2001