In the 17th century Britain a ’new wave’ of poets emerged, the one that would later be labelled the metaphysical poets. They had a very unique style that is very energetic, paradoxical, often enough to completely boggle the reader, and in a way entertaining for the way they hid their real point at times. How many times have we thought of them innocent, often thinking them to be saints and such? Certainly, in a way they are, but to enjoy reading them we have to be fully aware of the possible peiorativeness of their poems. But it’s not the only thing they wrote about. They also criticized the society although less likely. In my contrastive analysis I chose to analyse Richard Lovelace’s works, and make an attempt to assess what he was. Richard Lovelace’s personality is just as unique as his works are. He was a royalist until death, and while others preferred ’liberty and freedom’, the Parliament, Lovelace still …show more content…
First he talks about liberty as something that is birthright property, and then asks the question if there is anything that’s your own. Either this is a mark that some, like him, were robbed in the Civil War, robbed of something that was important for them. If Lucasta is both Liberty ,in its allegoric meaning, and Lucy then it is a moment of of life. Lucy was probably wedded by the time Lovelace wrote the poem in the prison. Reformation is shown like it was a two-edged sword, both as one that protects, and as one that strikes its foes. First Reformation, and just the religious one, even more a political one, is something that it had its time right then. But a Reformation given by the wrong man, is ’Like Watches by unskilfull men Disjoynted, and set ill againe.’ The reformation of his era is strongly critized in this poem even in the preceeding line: ’As to reforme were to ore'throw ;’ And then the Public Faith (Public opinion) is critized being ’banke-rupt of her
" That he speaks of homosexuals and heterosexuals is secondary to his idea that all men deserve to live openly, which involves expressing emotions. Men expressing themselves emotionally can be seen in plenty of other places. If one listens to the radio, they are bound to hear a number of songs about sex, and probably an equal number about love or other emotions. All sung by males. The same is true of other mediums of pop culture, such as movies and television.
But he does not simply dispel the myths of early 20th century gay life, he also details such myths to...
.... Some passage sof Melvilles writings adress all forms of sexuality. There are passages in Moby Dick and as well as Billy Bud were you can best see it. In recent years, Billy Budd has became a center in the field of legal scholarship, also known as law and literature.
...ways to learn the arts of passion and to express their emotions. Hints about homosexual attraction among women, especially within the same family compound, suggest that it was not considered abnormal or unhealthy. Young girls might have an opportunity to observe
The topic of homosexuality has always been one approached with caution due to its taboo nature derived from its deviation from the heterosexual norm. Traditionally, and across several cultures, homosexuality has been successfully discussed through normalizing the behaviour through heterosexual representation. Gender reversal or amplification of feminine qualities of male characters have often been means by which authors are able to subtly introduce the foreign idea of homosexuality and equate it to its more formal and accepted counterpart, heterosexuality. The works of Shakespeare and Li Yu have assisted in exposing homosexual relationships while still maintaining them under the heterosexual norm, whether it be through direct or metaphorical representations.
I do not know how without being culpably particular I can give my Reader a more exact notion of the style in which I wished these poems to be written, than by informing him that I have at all times endeavored to look steadily at my subject; consequently, I hope that there is in these Poems little falsehood of description, and my ideas are expressed in language fitted to their respective importance. Something I must have gained by this practice, as it is friendly to one property of all good poetry, namely, good sense; but it has necessarily cut me off from a large portion of phrases and figures of speech which from father to son have long been regarded as the common inheritance of Poets.
...e had erotic thoughts about several men. During his student years at Harvard, he was attracted by a young man named Martin Gay about him Emerson wrote poetry with recharged sexuality thoughts. He also had several affairs with women throughout his life, ignoring his wives.
Halperin, David. "Is There a History of Sexuality?." The Lesbian and Gay Studies Reader. Ed. Henry
Homosexuality remained illegal in most parts of America until the 1960s, but Ginsberg refused to equate his Gay identity with criminality. He wrote about his homosexuality in almost every poem that he wrote, most specifically in ‘Many Loves’ (1956) and ‘Please Master’ (1968), his paeans to his errant lover Neal Cassady. Ginsberg’s poems are full of explicit sexual detail and scatological humour, but the inclusion of such details should not be interpreted as a childish attempt to incense the prudish and the square.
Modernist writings have always been hailed for its nuanced relationship with sexuality. This paper looks at the ways E.M. Forster, one of the modernist writers on the fringes, deals with the discourses of sexuality different in ways different from other high modernists against the backdrop of the socio-cultural milieu which was extremely intolerant to homosexuality through his novel Maurice, written in 1913-14 and published posthumously in 1971. To what extent Forster’s homosexuality and his novel on same sex love negotiate with other homosexual writers and activists of the period? The mere fact that Maurice was published posthumously shows the grim situation of homosexual men and women of the time. Now our job is to closely look at the novel and situate its transgressions and liberation in the larger context of same-sex writings of the early twentieth century.
During the 18th century, two great companions, William Wordsworth, collaborated together to create Lyrical Ballad, one of the greatest works of the Romantic period. The two major poems of Lyrical Ballad are Wordsworth’s “Lines Composed a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” and Coleridge’s “Frost at Midnight.” Even though these two poems contain different experiences of the two speakers, upon close reading of these poems, the similarities are found in their use of language, the tone, the use of illustrative imagery to fascinate the reader’s visual sense and the message to their loved ones. The speaker of “Lines Composed of a Few Miles above Tintern Abbey” is Wordsworth himself. He represents Romanticism’s spiritual view of nature.
Within the novel, however, the word "homosexual" is never used. If it were, perhaps, then such a homoerotic interpretation as this would be redundant. There are, however, certain, rather ambiguous, words that Stevenson uses that have Victorian homosexual connotations.
A critical analysis of Oscar Wildes only novel would yield that it is in fact a homosexual allegory of doomed, forbidden passion. The relationship between Lord Henry and Dorian, as well as Basil and Dorian is, clearly Homoerotic and must’ve shocked Victorian society.
This quote addresses directly the primary difficulty of the issue. The terms gay and lesbian are useful in literature in that they allow a group of people who have been marginalised and even persecuted to become visible. They enable a way of life and a set of identities, harmonious or conflicting, to be presented, to be questioned, to be understood and accepted. As categories they create ‘space’ in which there may develop a more evolved understanding of texts and they also create a genre within which many lesbian and gay writers are comfortable with being placed. A gendered reading of a text can reveal undercurrents and depths which might otherwise not be apparent. These categories also make ‘space’ for the author within the text which leads to a closer tie between the author and the reader in the reading process.
"The Poetry of William Wordsworth." SIRS Renaissance 20 May 2004: n.p. SIRS Renaissance. Web. 06 February 2010.