Love in Literature Examples from Poetry. Love as a Theme in Literature Not always about “happy”...
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Love in Literature Examples from Poetry
Love in Literature Examples from Poetry. Love as a Theme in Literature Not always about “happy” love Sometimes tragic, sometimes about the LOSS of love
Love as a Theme in Literature Not always about happy love
Sometimes tragic, sometimes about the LOSS of love Sometimes about
sex rather than love Sometimes about admiration, flirtation, or
regret Sometimes more about the IDEA of love than love itself
Sometimes about the complexities of love, and therefore can be
difficult to interpret Often contain lots of imagery, and often
nature imagery
Slide 3
Elizabeth Barrett Browning wrote How Do I Love Thee in 1850,
and it remains on of the most well-known and often quoted love
poems in English. She and her husband, poet Robert Browning, had
what seems to be a bit of a real- life love story. She was a
fragile and sick woman who was forced to live at home with an
extremely controlling father, but wrote beautiful poetry. He was
the famous poet who fell in love with her poems and wrote
passionate, scandalous letters to her, eventually convincing her to
run away with him. They married and spent the rest of their lives
travelling in Europe and writing poetry. They had their ups and
downs, but by all accounts a very happy and successful
relationship.
Slide 4
Bonus Shakespeare! "Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day
p.504 This poem, along with the other Shakespearean sonnet that we
read for class, is part of a sequence of sonnets that Shakespeare
wrote. There are 154 of them in all. This is number eighteen. The
point of this sonnet cycle and Elizabethan love poetry in general
was twofold: the poet was to praise the beloved, of course, but
showing poetic skill and wit (which for the Elizabethans meant
skill with language and putting together ideas and images in a new
and startling way) was an equally important goal.
Slide 5
"Shall I Compare Thee to a Summer's Day Questions In "Shall I
Compare Thee to a Summer's Day," why is the summer's day not
adequate for comparison? What is it that makes the subject of the
poem (the "beloved") immortal? What is the "problem" in this poem?
Where is the "turn or shift? Sonnets almost always include a turn.
Why does the poet use nature images in this poem? How is this a
poem about love? Compare this poem to the Shakespearean sonnet you
read for homework. How are they similar? Differeent?
Slide 6
The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (p. 693) and The Nymphs
Reply to the Shepherd p. (699) Both of these poems are pastoral
poems. This means that they idealize and romanticize life in the
country as pure, carefree, and idyllic (peaceful). The Nymphs Reply
was written in direct response to the first poem. Poets who were
familiar with each others work would often respond to one another
in this way.
Slide 7
Pastoral Paintings
Slide 8
Questions for Passionate Shepherd and The Nymphs Reply The
Passionate Shepherd to His Love How does the shepherd depict the
life that he is offering his beloved? What does he do to try to
convince her to come be with him? Does this romanticized view of
nature detract from the poem as a "love poem," or add to it? The
Nymphs Reply How does the nymph answer the shepherd's offer? Why?
How does the speaker in this poem put "her" own twist on the ideas
in "The Passionate Shepherd to His Love"? Do you see any
similarities between this poem and "Shall I Compare Thee or any
other poems you read for homework?
Slide 9
Tonight I Can Write" p. 695 By Pablo Neruda We move forward in
history several hundred years here, but many of the themes, if not
the treatment of those themes, remain the same. What
differences/similarities between this poem and the other do you
notice? How does the attitude toward love in this poem compare to
the others we read for today? Look at specific lines in them poems
as you make your comparisons. See also What My Lips Have Kissed p.
638 by Edna St. Vincent Millay
Slide 10
Essay 1 Questions? Review the Prompt together.
Slide 11
Essay 1 Extension! I am giving everyone an extension on Essay
1. Original due date was this Thursday, March 13. NEW due date
gives you the weekend to work on your essay and improve it. Essay 1
is now due on Tuesday, March 18.
Slide 12
How to Submit to TurnItIn.com 1.Go to
www.turnitin.comwww.turnitin.com If you already have an account
from another class, skip to step 5 2.Click Create Account at the
top right. 3.Look down to the link that says Student 4.Click
Student and then create a new student account Use the class ID:
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heres how to enroll in a class:
http://www.turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/enrolling-in-a-
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http://www.turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-training/enrolling-in-a-
class 6.Detailed Instructions on how to Submit a Paper:
http://www.turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-
training/submitting-a-paper
http://www.turnitin.com/en_us/training/student-
training/submitting-a-paper