Contexts of British Poetry 1660–1925
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AP English Literature and Composition › Contexts of British Poetry 1660–1925
In pious times, e’r Priest-craft did begin,
Before Polygamy was made a Sin;
When Man on many multipli’d his kind,
E’r one to one was cursedly confin’d,
When Nature prompted and no Law deni’d
Promiscuous Use of Concubine and Bride;
Then Israel’s Monarch, after Heavens own heart,
His vigorous warmth did, variously, impart
To Wives and Slaves: And, wide as his Command,
Scatter’d his Maker’s Image through the Land.
Who is the author of this poem?
John Dryden
Sir William Davenant
John Milton
Thomas Shadwell
Edmund Spenser
Explanation
These are the opening lines of John Dryden’s political allegory Absalom and Achitophel, a book-length poem concerning the rebellion of Absalom against the Biblical King David.
Passage adapted from John Dryden's Absalom and Achitophel (1681)
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
Who is the author of this poem?
William Blake
William Cowper
John Keats
Christina Rossetti
Matthew Arnold
Explanation
This is “The Tyger,” one of the best known poems by the English poet William Blake (1757-1827).
William Cowper wrote John Gilpin (1782), John Keats wrote Poems (1816), Christina Rossetti wrote Goblin Market (1862), and Matthew Arnold wrote Empedocles on Etna, and Other Poems (1852).
Passage adapted from William Blake’s Songs of Experience (1794).
What dire offence from am'rous causes springs,
What mighty contests rise from trivial things,
I sing — This verse to Caryl, Muse! is due:
This, ev'n Belinda may vouchsafe to view:
Slight is the subject, but not so the praise,
If She inspire, and He approve my lays.
Say what strange motive, Goddess! could compel
A well-bred Lord t' assault a gentle Belle?
O say what stranger cause, yet unexplor'd,
Could make a gentle Belle reject a Lord?
In tasks so bold, can little men engage,
And in soft bosoms dwells such mighty Rage?
During what decade was this poem published?
1710s
1610s
1660s
1760s
1810s
Explanation
The poem was originally published in 1712, and revised versions were released in 1714 and 1717. Even if you didn’t know this, you could rule out the other decades because none of them fall within Pope’s lifetime (1688-1744).
Passage adapted from Alexander Pope’s The Rape of the Lock, I.1-12(1712; ed. 1906)
Thou still unravish'd bride of quietness,
Thou foster-child of silence and slow time,
Sylvan historian, who canst thus express
A flowery tale more sweetly than our rhyme:
What leaf-fring'd legend haunts about thy shape
Of deities or mortals, or of both,
In Tempe or the dales of Arcady?
What men or gods are these? What maidens loth?
What mad pursuit? What struggle to escape?
What pipes and timbrels? What wild ecstasy?
The author of this poem wrote all but which of the following works?
Prelude
Lamia
Endymion
Hyperion
“Ode to a Nightingale”
Explanation
The Prelude (1850)is a semi-autobiographical work by William Wordsworth. Lamia (1820), Endymion (1818), Hyperion (1819, unfinished), and “Ode to a Nightingale” (1819) are all works by John Keats.
Passage adapted from John Keats’ “Ode on a Grecian Urn” (1820).
Tyger! Tyger! burning bright
In the forests of the night,
What immortal hand or eye
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?
What collection is this poem taken from?
Songs of Experience
Songs of Innocence
Songs of Eagerness
Songs of Ecstasy
Songs of Ecclesiastes
Explanation
William Blake wrote both Songs of Experience and Songs of Innocence, but “The Tyger” is from the former collection. (The other titles are invented.)
Passage adapted from William Blake’s Songs of Experience (1794).
She walks in beauty, like the night
Of cloudless climes and starry skies;
And all that’s best of dark and bright
Meet in her aspect and her eyes;
Thus mellowed to that tender light
Which heaven to gaudy day denies.
What is the other name of the author of this work?
Lord Byron
Lord Tennyson
George Eliot
“Man Without a Spleen”
C.S. Lewis
Explanation
George Gordon was commonly known by his baronial title: Lord Byron.
Alfred, Lord Tennyson wrote Poems (1842), George Eliot wrote Middlemarch (1874), and C.S. Lewis wrote The Pilgrim's Regress (1933).
Passage adapted from “She Walks in Beauty” (1813) by George Gordon.
On either side the river lie
Long fields of barley and of rye,
That clothe the world and meet the sky;
And thro' the field the road runs by
To many-tower'd Camelot;
And up and down the people go,
Gazing where the lilies blow
Round an island there below,
The island of Shalott.
What is the form of this poem?
Ballad
Sonnet
Sestina
Villanelle
Pantoum
Explanation
A ballad is, traditionally, a long narrative poem that often contains detailed descriptions of characters and/or a love story. Sonnets, sestinas, villanelles, and pantoums all have very specific rhyme schemes that “The Lady of Shalott” does not adhere to.
Passage adapted from "The Lady of Shalott," first published in Poems by Alfred Tennyson(1833).
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Frà Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance…
When was this poem published?
1840s
1810s
1850s
1830s
1820s
Explanation
The poem first appeared in 1842 in Browning’s collection Dramatic Lyrics. Remembering Browning’s birth date (1812) may have helped rule out the earlier decades.
Passage adapted from Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," from Dramatic Lyrics (1842).
That’s my last Duchess painted on the wall,
Looking as if she were alive. I call
That piece a wonder, now: Frà Pandolf’s hands
Worked busily a day, and there she stands.
Will’t please you sit and look at her? I said
“Frà Pandolf” by design, for never read
Strangers like you that pictured countenance,
The depth and passion of its earnest glance…
The author of this passage was married to which famous Victorian writer?
Elizabeth Barrett
George Eliot
Lady Caroline Lamb
Lady Charlotte Elliot
Christina Rossetti
Explanation
Elizabeth Barrett, known as Elizabeth Barrett Browning after her marriage, married Robert Browning in 1846. As a result of the elopement (she kept the courtship secret), she was disinherited by her family.
George Eliot was a novelist, and the author of Middlemarch (1874). Lady Caroline Lamb wrote Ada Reis (1823), Lady Charlotte Elliot wrote Hours of Sorrow Cheered and Comforted (1836), and Christina Rossetti wrote Goblin Market (1862).
Passage adapted from Robert Browning's "My Last Duchess," from Dramatic Lyrics (1842).
O, my luve’s like a red, red rose,
That’s newly sprung in June:
O, my luve’s like the melodie,
That’s sweetly play’d in tune.
As fair art thou, my bonnie lass,
So deep in luve am I:
And I will luve thee still, my dear,
’Till a’ the seas gang dry.
Who is the author of this poem?
Robert Burns
George MacDonald
Hamish Henderson
Alasdair Gray
Iain Banks
Explanation
This is “A Red, Red Rose,” one of the most famous and enduring poems of the poet Robert Burns (1759-1796). It is technically a song and was based on traditional Scottish music, but it is often reprinted as a poem.
George MacDonald wrote Phantastes: A Faerie Romance (1858), Hamish Henderson wrote Elegies for the Dead in Cyrenaica (1948), Alasdair Gray wrote Old Negatives (1989), and Iain Banks wrote The Wasp Factory (1984).
Passage adapted from "ARed, Red Rose" (1794) by Robert Burns.