Renaissance Country House Poetry
Country house poetry is a sub-genre of Renaissance poetry and was first written during the seventeenth century. It was closely linked to patronage poetry, in which poets (sometimes outrageously) flattered patrons in order to gain sponsorship and status. At this time, many houses were built in the countryside as a display of wealth, and as a retreat for the courtier when overwhelmed by the court and city life. Country houses were not, originally, just large houses in the country in which rich people lived. Essentially they were power houses - the houses of a ruling class. As such they could work at the local level of a manor house, the house of a squire who was a little king in his village and ran the county. They could work at a local and national level as the seat of a landowner who was also a member of parliament. Basically, people did not live in country houses unless they either possessed power, or, by setting up in a country house, were making a bid to possess it. Country house poems generally consisted of complimentary descriptions of the said country house and its surrounding area which often contained pastoral detail, and praised cultivated nature. The purpose of the central part of this essay is to assess the effectiveness of Renaissance 'country house' poetry as social criticism.
Country house poems were written to flatter and please the owner of the country house. Why did poets do this? Until the nineteenth century the wealth and population of England lay in the country rather than the towns; landowners rather than merchants were the dominating class. Even when the economic balance began to change, they were so thoroughly in control of patronage and legislation, so strong throu...
... middle of paper ...
...ely that people read country house poetry to be provided with political or social insights, so it is likely that many of the allusions were lost on the majority of readers.
Endnotes
1 The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse 1509-1659, p.420
2 Ibid. p.420
3 Life in the English Country House, Mark Girouard, p.7.
4 The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse 1509-1659, p.420
5 Ibid.p.421
6 Ibid.p.421
7 Ibid.p.421
8 Ibid.p.421
9 Ibid.p.422
10 Ibid.p.422
11 Ibid.p.422
12 Ibid.p.422
13 The Description of Cooke-ham, Renaissance Verse, p.414.
14 The Penguin Book of Renaissance Verse 1509-1659, p.417
15 Ibid.p.418
16 Marvell's "Upon Appleton House", Robert Markley, p.91.
Bibliography
Mark Girouard. Life in the English Country House, Yale University Press, 1978.
Maclean, Landry and Ward. The Country and the City Revisited, Cambridge University Press, 1999.
Even though they were both progressives, the two presidents had different paths in mind for the future of the United States. Their different perspective and priorities were evident in their speeches: New Nationalism by Roosevelt and New Freedom by Wilson. Wilson's New Freedom looked to the destruction of all trusts to promote economic competition and permit small businesses once again to flourish. While the federal government was to use its power on a one-time basis to bust all trusts, the federal government was to have no role in regulating business. Any regulation would have to be done by state governments. This contrasted markedly with Roosevelt's New Nationalism,...
Swarthmoor Hall and the Lifestyle of a Wealthy Country Gentry Family in the Early 17th Century
...ples rather than the selfish materialism that they believed had animated their predecessors’ programs”(millercenter.org, n.d.). While Roosevelt believed more in the philosophy of “Speak softly and carry a big stick”, Wilson hoped “to cultivate the friendship and deserve the confidence of the Latin American states” (millercenter.org, n.d.).
lust. To his Coy Mistress is a pure lust one even though in parts may
There were severe conflicts between the City party and the Country party in 18th century Britain. The Country party, mainly composed of gentry, was based on landed interest and the City party made money through trade and was based on moneyed interest. The Country party passed the Landed Property Qualification Act to maintain their power. However, this act merely encouraged more men of wealth to buy country estate, in many cases displacing old landed families who truly represented the ¡°landed interest.¡±[1][1] We can see this changing of power through these two works, Roxana and Emma. Daniel Defoe was born in London, so he naturally engaged in City party. Roxana¡¯s background is mainly city while that of Emma is the little country society called Highbury. As we can see the difference of the background of two works, we can also find some different attitude toward City and Country in these two works. I will write about these differences in point of the conception of gentleman, rank and different attitude to City lives.
Roosevelt, who became president after William McKinley was assassinated, was a devoted member of the Republican Party. Despite being the youngest president ever to hold the office, he had substantial political experience. Roosevelt’s political experiences range from being governor of New York, New York City Police Commissioner, a member of the New York State Assembly, and Assistant Secretary of the Navy. Roosevelt fit right in to the mold of a progressive president due to the similarities of their beliefs. Just as Progressives had a belief that each local and state government had an extended role to play in controlling public welf...
Jane Austen's novels at first glance tell a story of romance set primarily within the landowning society amidst country estates, and their cultivation of tea parties, social outings, and extravagant balls; ladies sashaying in flowing gowns through precisely decorated rooms, and men deliberating over their game of whist. The storybook romance usually unfolds in these familiar settings, and inevitably involves the conflict of two lovers separated by differences in social class, and the resulting influence of the diverse societies they revolve in. Although these superficial aspects of Austen's stories are protruding at the seams, underneath the skin of these well-clothed dramas lie serious moral issues afflicting the culture of England during Austen's life.
...ished in real society. It is through of the eyes of Chaucer the pilgrim, and through his tendency to use long words, complicated sentences and paragraphs, attractive mannerisms of expression and absurd situations that the parodist features can be easily identified and then analysed. Expressions like “men should not be too serious at a game” shows how everything is being softened so as not to bother anyone, but amuse them and invite them to read, for later inspire the sense of criticism – satire. Chaucer the poet is “therefore a man who takes it upon himself to correct censure and ridicule the foolishness and vices of society and thus to bring contempt and mockery upon anomalies from a desirable and civilized norm”. Thus, Chaucer’s collection of parodies actually conveys a satire: a protest, a sublimation and refinement of anger and indignation of the medieval times.
Physical surroundings (such as a home in the countryside) in works of literary merit such as “Good Country People”, “Everyday Use”, and “Young Goodman Brown” shape psychological and moral traits of the characters, similarly and differently throughout the stories.
Mesopotamian and Egyptian religions shared two key similarities: polytheism and priestly authority. The religions in Mesopotamia and Egypt were both polytheistic. Their religions were polytheistic because Mesopotamians and Egyptians could not explain many things in that occurred in their lives. Therefore, they assumed that there are different gods for everything. This means that the religion had many gods for different things. In Egypt and Mesopotamia, priests were part of the upper class and were very important in the daily lives of civilians. Priests were part of the upper class because they were thought to have the ability to communicate with the gods. In Mesopotamia, the priests held the highest authority in the religious structure. Egyptian priests were not as powerful in government as Mesopotamian priests were, but they still had significant power. Egypt’s highest religious and military leader was encapsulated in the position of pharaoh. The pharaoh was at the top of all social classes and was considered to be a god-like figure.
Chaucer utilized satire throughout the Canterbury Tales, and he illustrated as much about his culture, and especially curteisye, with his satire as he did with the stories and characters themselves.
During the poem the speaker does not address his readers. The readers are simply overhearing a man assessing the society in which he lives as he daydreams about what is could be and yet what it is not. It is evident that his goal is to get the readers to look down upon this society which is so caught up in daily routine; prohibiting anyone from having freedom of imagination. This detachment that is created between the speaker and his readers incorporated with the boring monotone at the very beginning of the poem gives the readers a negative impression of the society before they begin to analyze the actual words of the poem.
Thomas Hardy wrote about society in the mid 1800's and his tales have rural settings in the fictional name he gave to the South-West of England, Wessex. The short stories reflect this time and the author also demonstrates the class division in rural society - rich and poor - and the closeness of the communities. Almost everyone belonged to the 'labouring classes' and worked on the land.
Colvile, Derek. Victorian Poetry and the Romantic Religion. Albany, NY: State University of New York, 1970. 34-42.
Geoffrey Chaucer was a on a mission when he wrote The Canterbury Tales. That mission was to create a satire that attacked three major institutions. Raphel displays, “Medieval society was divided into three estates: the Church (those who prayed), the Nobility (those who fought), and the Patriarchy. The General Prologue to The Canterbury Tales is an estates satire.” Chaucer wanted to shed light on the institutions that were taking advantage of the everyday man. Chaucer does this by making up tales about certain people that she light to the undercover world of the institutions. In The Canterbury Tales, Chaucer uses satire to attack the Church, the Patriarchy, and the Nobility.