Love SongThink of a song that expresses

what love means to you.

Part 1: Write down the lyrics as much as possible from memory and/or paraphrase them.

Part 2: Explain why this song is meaningful to you and your understanding of “love.” Select some favorite lines and/or words and explain why you like them.

Renaissance Poetry

A. Courtly love poetry

B. Pastoral poetry

C. The sonnet

or Verse

Love Song Pt. 2

Compare the two songs played in class. What is the tone of each?What kind of love, or what perception or truth about love, is being expressed?What was the purpose?What lines are especially effective or poetic?

All forms of lyric poetryThe term lyric comes from the Greek word lyra, a musical instrumentRefers to poems that were originally sung and accompanied by musicRetain the form and musical quality of a songUsually short poems that express personal feelings

Can be contrasted with epic poetry Not long—usually shortNot narratives—lyric poems don’t tell a storyNot about a hero doing great nation-saving deedsAbout the internal, private thoughts and feelings of the individualNot written in 3rd personWritten in the 1st person

Subject matter of lyric poems usually is love, loss of love, doomed love, unrequited loveLater subjects expanded to include religious and philosophical themes, reflections on nature, mortality and the passing of time, youth, loss of youth, loss of innocence

A common feature is the refrain—a line or several lines that repeat throughout the poem, either exactly or with variations (similar to the chorus in a song)Made up of stanzas and linesUsually has a fixed rhyme scheme Usually has a regular meter, based on the number of syllables and stress

MeterRefers to the number and pattern of beats or stresses in a line of poetryIn other words, it’s a way of describing rhythmFoot is a term used to the pattern of stressed and unstressed syllablesThere are 4 different “feet” or types of rhythm:

1. Iamb--unstressed, stressed (galloping horse)

2.Trochee--stressed, unstressed (beating heart)

3.Anapest--unstressed, unstressed, stressed

4.Dactyl--stressed, unstressed, unstressed

We can also talk about the number of feet in a line.Tetrameter=4 feetPentameter=5 feetHexameter=6 feet

Courtly Love Originated in the courts of medieval FranceModeled on the feudal relationship between a knight and his liege or lordBut this was a relationship between the knight and a courtly lady, a lady above him in status (usually the wife of the lord)

Idea of this relationship was an ennobling, ideal, platonic love (at least in the beginning)

The knight’s love for the lady inspires him to heroic deeds (keeps him in line)

Courtly love found its expression in the lyric poems sung by troubadours

Courtly Love

Courtly love poetry

A popular theme of such love poetry was unrequited love—love that is ignored or rejected. Usually the rejected lover is portrayed as desolate and anguished, totally in the power of the beloved.

Sir Thomas Wyatt(1503-1542)A diplomat in the service of Henry VIIITraveled widely; responsible for bringing various forms of Italian lyric poetry to England

“My Lute, Awake”

In the style of the native English dance song, a lively and forceful kind of verse written to be sung to the accompaniment of the lute

Queen Elizabeth1533-1603

Daughter of Henry VIII & his second wife, Anne BoleynWell-educated, well-read, multilingual & wrote poetry Queen of England for 45 yearsA glorious period in English historyKnown as the “Virgin Queen”; she never married

“On Monsieur’s Departure”Composed sometime between 1568 & 1570

Structure:Rhyme scheme:Meter:Speaker:Subject:Apostrophe:Paraphrase:Purpose:Tone:Figurative Language

→Paradoxes:

Review How does “My Lute Awake” fit the characteristics of courtly love?How does “On Monsieur’s Departure”?

Compare and contrast the portrayals of unrequited love in both poems. Think especially about the attitudes of the speakers, or the tone, of each poem.

Journal: Courtly Love

After completing the Venn Diagram, answer the following questions: What are your overall impressions of courtly love? Do you see any influences from the courtly love tradition in our society today? How does the courtly view of love compare to how we see love, romance, and relationships today?

Pastoral PoetryPastoral comes from the Latin word

pastor, meaning “shepherd”Presents an idealized view of the life of

shepherds and of country or rural life in general

Common topics of pastoral poetry include love and seduction, the value of poetry itself, death & mourning, the corruption of the city vs. the “purity” of country life

Pastoral Paintings

“The Passionate Shepherd to His Love”

by Christopher MarloweForm/structure:Rhyme scheme:Meter/Rhythm:Speaker:Apostrophe:Purpose:Tone:Imagery:Figurative

Language:

“The Nymph’s Reply” by Sir Walter Raleigh

Form/structure:Rhyme scheme:Meter/Rhythm:Speaker:Apostrophe:Purpose:Tone:Imagery:Alliteration/Assonance/Consonance:

Pastoral Ponderings

Do the seasons and/or age affect how likely people are to fall in love?

Do you believe an ideal love is possible? Does all love necessarily have its time when it must end?

Who do you identify with more--the speaker of “The Passionate Shepherd” or the speaker of “The Nymph’s Reply”? Explain.

The SonnetLength: 14-linesSubjects: of a lyrical nature—a focus on personal feelings and thoughtsMeter: Iambic pentameter (lines containing 5 metrical units, each consisting of an unstressed syllable followed by a stressed syllable)Structure and rhyme scheme: a particular structure and rhyme scheme, Patrarchan or Shakespearean Originated in Italy; comes from the Italian word meaning “little song”Francesco Petrarch (1304-1374)—Perfected the Italian form of the sonnet

The Petrarchan Sonnet2-part structure: an octave

(8 lines) followed by a sestet (6 lines)

The octave had an abbaabba rhyme scheme

The sestet had a cdecde or a cdcdcd rhyme scheme

Typically, the octave describes a problem or asks a question & the sestet gives the resolution to itThe 9th line consists of a “turn,” signaling the move to a resolution or a change in tone or mood

The lovelorn Sir Thomas Wyatt (of “My Lute, Awake” fame) introduced the sonnet to the English court

English poets modified the Italian form to better suit the rhyme-poor English language

Though Shakespeare was not the first English poet to write sonnets, he used the form with such distinction that the English sonnet came to be known as the Shakespearian Sonnet

The Sonnet

Shakespearian Sonnet

3 quatrains (4 lines) followed by a rhyming couplet (2 lines)Rhyme scheme is abba cdcd efef ggMeter is iambic pentameter

The first quatrain introduces a situation, which is explored in the next two quatrains

A turn, or shift in thought, occurs in the third quatrain or in the couplet

The couplet often brings resolution and closure

The couplet may be thought of as the “punch line”

Shakespearian Sonnet

Francesco PetrarchBorn shortly after 1300 in Italy; died in 1374Studied law, classics, & finally entered the service of the ChurchOn Good Friday in April, 1327, he saw Laura for the first timeFell madly in love & proceeded to write 366 sonnets to her

LauraNot much is known about her but she is believed to have been Laura de Noves, a married womanChances are they never even spoke She died in 1348 of the plagueHe died in 1374; many of the sonnets were written after her death

Edmund SpenserBorn to a relatively poor

London family but managed to work his way through Cambridge University

Established literary connections there and began his poetic career

Served the nobility throughout his life in whose households he met many other court writers who were promoting the new English poetry of the Elizabethan AgeExperimented with verse forms His most famous work is the poetic romance titled The Faerie Queen

TP-CASTT

Title

Paraphrase

Connotation (Figurative Language)

Attitude/Tone

Shifts (in speaker, tone or mood)

Title (again)

Theme

Title

Ponder the title before reading the poem (what does it say to you, what associations come to mind, what predictions can you make about the poem)

Paraphrase

Translate the poem into your own words

Connotation

Contemplate the poem for meaning beyond the literal level (look at word choice—which words have a very specific connotation—and look at use of figurative language

Attitude/Tone

Observe both the speaker’s and the poet’s attitude (tone) toward his/her subject matter

Shifts

Notice shifts in speakers and in attitudes

Title

Examine the title again, this time on an interpretive level

Theme

Determine what the poet is saying