The Renaissance Poetry

1484-1660

Petrarchan Conceits

A fanciful comparison of two apparently very different things.

Love may be compared to a baited hook.

Petrarch

Addressed many poems to a woman identified only as Laura, a proud woman of ideal virtue and beauty who remains totally indifferent to the poet.

Petrarchan Sonnets

Fourteen lines Rhymed iambic pentameter Two stanzas Eight lines in first stanza (octave) Six lines in second stanza (sestet) abbaabba cdecde

The Octave and Sestet

The octave describes a situation. The sestet describes a change in the

situation (turn). Sometimes the octave presents a problem

and the sestet a solution or even another viewpoint.

Sometimes the sestet intensifies the octave’s problem with no solution.

The English Sonnet

Spenserian Shakespearean Iambic pentameter Three four-line stanzas (quatrains) Concluding couplet abab bcbc cdcd ee

The Faerie Queene

Romantic and chivalric epic Allegory: each leading character in the twelve projected

books was to embody one virtue or quality; taken together, they would characterize a truly noble person.

Holiness, temperance, chastity, friendship, justice, and courtesy

Nine-line iambic stanzas has only three rhymes (ababbcbcc)

The last line’s extra foot makes it hexameter (alexandrine), and often sums up a stanza or finishes it off with a striking image.

Carpe Diem

“seize the day” Urges living in the present moment,

especially in pleasurable pursuits.

Pastoral Poetry

Set in idealize countryside Characters are often blends of the naïve and

the sophisticated.

Metaphysical Poetry

John Donne Intensity of intellect Self-conscious invention Bold emotion Rhythm and sounds based on spoken

(colloquial) English Like figuring out the solution to a riddle

Metaphysical Poetry Speaker

Speaker frequently sounds blunt and angry, or he broods to himself, or seems to be thinking out loud.

Sometimes the speaker seems to be lecturing the woman he is addressing.

Brings into poem ideas from books, especially from philosophy and theology.

Brings images from everyday activities and trades and from learned disciplines like law, medicine, and science.

Neoclassical Poetry

Followed classical standards and forms Valued classical ideals of order, reason ,

balance, harmony, clarity, and restraint.