Archive for May, 2009»
The Graveyard Poets On the GRE
The GRE may ask you to associate a certain poem or author with the graveyard poets, but aside from that I wouldn’t spend too much time studying them. Just note the obvious characteristics, such as allusions to death, decay, graveyards and so forth. It may sound trite, but this will usually work.
The most common graveyard poet on the GRE is Thomas Gray, whose Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard (1751) is very likely to appear on the test. Here’s an except:
The curfew tolls the knell of parting day,
The lowing herd wind slowly o’er the lea
The plowman homeward plods his weary way,
And leaves the world to darkness and to me.
Now fades the glimm’ring landscape on the sight,
And all the air a solemn stillness holds,
Save where the beetle wheels his droning flight,
And drowsy tinklings lull the distant folds;
Save that from yonder ivy-mantled tow’r
The moping owl does to the moon complain
Of such, as wand’ring near her secret bow’r,
Molest her ancient solitary reign.
Listen to the audio file of Elegy Written in a Country Churchyard, and be able to identify it when you see it.
The Graveyard Poets
The so-called “Graveyard Poets” were a number of pre-Romantic English poets of the 18th century characterized by their dark meditations on mortality and frequent use of death imagery. Their poems often contain an element of the ’sublime’ and uncanny, and display an interest in ancient English poetic forms and folk poetry. They are often considered precursors of the Gothic genre.
The GRE may ask you to associate a certain poem or author with the graveyard poets, but aside from that I wouldn’t spend too much time studying them. Just know what to look for so you can identify the genre and take an educated guess at the author. if you do see a graveyard poem, chances are it was written by either Thomas Gray or Robert Blair. Here’s an excerpt from Blair’s poem “The Grave,” which is pretty typical for the genre.
Robert Blair (1699-1746)
The Grave (excerpt)
While some affect the sun, and some the shade.
Some flee the city, some the hermitage;
Their aims as various, as the roads they take
In journeying thro’ life;–the task be mine,
To paint the gloomy horrors of the tomb;
Th’ appointed place of rendezvous, where all
These travellers meet.–Thy succours I implore,
Eternal King! whose potent arm sustains
The keys of Hell and Death.–The Grave, dread thing!
Men shiver when thou’rt named: Nature appall’d
Shakes off her wonted firmness.–Ah ! how dark
The long-extended realms, and rueful wastes!
Where nought but silence reigns, and night, dark night,
Dark as was chaos, ere the infant Sun
Was roll’d together, or had tried his beams
Athwart the gloom profound.
The Graveyard Poets include Thomas Parnell, Thomas Warton, Thomas Percy, Thomas Gray, James MacPherson, Robert Blair, William Collins, Thomas Chatterton, Mark Akenside, Joseph Warton, Henry Kirke White and Edward Young. James Thomson is also sometimes included as a graveyard poet.
Give your eyes a rest! This GRE literature podcast contains audio books of everything you’ll need to read for GRE subject test – so you can study in your car, in the bath, at the gym or wherever you bring your ipod. The audio books appear at the end of the posts, along with helpful notes, links and other information. Just scroll down to view the most recent posts, or find the authors you want in the categories section on the right. If you want to download the audio files, just left click on the file and select “save link as.” Or, for easiest listening, subscribe to the podcast. I’m working in roughly chronological order, and updating several times a week. Enjoy!
Ben Jonson – To Penshurst
Ben Jonson’s “To Penshurst” is a classic example of an estate poem, a term the GRE Literature may want you to know. This form, which became fashionable in the 17th century, describes a landscape attached to a noble house and typically becomes a meditation upon the relationships between nature & culture. Here’s the opening- read the full text of “To Penshurst” here.
TO PENSHURST.
Thou art not, PENSHURST, built to envious show
Of touch, or marble ; nor canst boast a row
Of polish’d pillars, or a roof of gold :
Thou hast no lantern whereof tales are told ;
Or stair, or courts ; but stand’st an ancient pile,
And these grudg’d at, art reverenced the while.
Thou joy’st in better marks, of soil, of air,
Of wood, of water ; therein thou art fair.
Thou hast thy walks for health, as well as sport :
Thy mount, to which thy Dryads do resort, 10
Where Pan and Bacchus their high feasts have made,
Beneath the broad beech, and the chestnut shade ;
That taller tree, which of a nut was set,
At his great birth, where all the Muses met.
When dealing with 17th-century poetry, it may be helpful to classify poets as cavalier or metaphysical poets, as this distinction often appears on the GRE literature. According to The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia:
“The foremost poets of the Jacobean era, Ben Jonson and John Donne, are regarded as the originators of two diverse poetic traditions—the Cavalier and the metaphysical.”
A brief comparison of these authors will give you a pretty good idea of their divergent styles. While Johnson’s poetry is generally light or humorous in style, secular in subject, and often deals with love or sexuality, Donne’s is characterized by subtle argumentations and “metaphysical conceits,” often dealing with the soul or religion. Several metaphysical poets, especially John Donne, were influenced by NeoPlatonism. One of the primary Platonic concepts found in metaphysical poetry is the idea that the perfection of beauty in the beloved acted as a remembrance of perfect beauty in the eternal realm. (See John Donne – A Valediction Forbidden Mourning).
metaphysical poets
George Chapman
John Donne
George Herbert
Andrew Marvell
Saint Robert Southwell
Thomas Traherne
Henry Vaughan
*sometimes considered metaphysical poets:
* Thomas Carew
* Abraham Cowley
* Richard Crashaw
* Edward Herbert
* Richard Leigh
* Richard Lovelace
* Katherine Philips
* Sir John Suckling
* Edward Taylor
* Anne Bradstreet
Cavalier poets:
Ben Jonson
Robert Herrick
Richard Lovelace
Thomas Carew
Sir John Suckling
Benjamin Jonson – (1572 – 1637)
Benjamin Jonson was an English Renaissance dramatist, poet and actor, and is generally considered to be the most influential of the cavalier poets. He was also a contemporary, friend and rival of Shakespeare. For the GRE Literature, you may need to know the following:
Plays:
Volpone
The Alchemist
Lyric Poems:
“His Supposed Mistress”
“To the Memory of My Beloved Master William Shakespeare”
“To Penhurst”
“On My First Son”
Here’s the audio recording of Jonson’s poem “His Supposed Mistress.” More to follow, as soon as I find them.