The Evolution of British Poetry

A detailed Summary of The Evolution of British Poetry

Throughout the literary history of the Renaissance, a gradual but dramatic change in the poetic style of the time becomes apparent. From one contribution to another, the rebellion between the poetic styles is evident. Early Elizabethan and Jacobean poetry demonstrates the love that mankind shares and the universal truths that the people of that time held so dear. On through the neoclassical and romantic eras, the style becomes centered on personal delight and warmth. This paper intends to follow and describe this evolution of British poetry.

To introduce a change, one must institute a type of first standard. The Elizabethan literary type did just that. Elizabethan poetry centered on love and personal relationships between people, "come live with me, and be my love and we will all the pleasures prove." (The passionate Shepherd to His Love, L. 1-2) They were, as well, deeply rooted in universal truth. These poems were often about the quest for love and its brutal "slap in the face" attitude. With the Elizabethan style of poetry, we see a serious side to British poetry.

The serious side to the Elizabethan era gave birth to an entirely new way of writing poetry. The Neoclassical era

The romantic era was a result of many factors. The main factor for the romantic era was the industrial revolution. Upon the building of factories, cities became larger and more crowded. People used the romantic poetry as a means of letting their minds wander instead of their bodies. This fact truly separates this era from the rest. The romantic way of life has become so sought after that entertainment is the number one moneymaker in the world today.

Neoclassical poets rebelled against the writing of traditional things such as love and relation ships and instead wrote about untraditional things like self-enlightenment and the idea of proverbs. Neoclassic poetry suspects that the reader is more in tune with his or her brain rather than his heart. The poems were intended to reach a more educated population, "with to much knowledge for the skeptic side." (An Essay on Man, L. 5)

These changes did not occur abruptly and over night! They were a result of ever changing "mini" eras. In between the Elizabethan era and the neoclassical eras, we see different contributions such as the Cavalier, Metaphysical, and the puritan contributions. Cavalier poetry played off Elizabethan poetry in the aspect of love but turned it into chivalric love. After that, the Metaphysical contribution grew further from the Elizabethan era by introducing abstract and supernatural though into the poetry. And finally, the last chang

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Approximate Word count = 962
Approximate Pages = 4 (250 words per page double spaced)

Category: English