Showing posts with label AS2 Poetry. Show all posts
Showing posts with label AS2 Poetry. Show all posts

Sunday, 1 March 2009

"Verses on the Death of Dr. Swift"


This is the full version with notes from Rutgers University. 
http://andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Texts/verses.html

Also, here's a discussion on one of Jonathan Swift's most biting satires, "A Modest Proposal". It is very helpful for understanding the historical context of this poet and writer, particularly the importance of pamphleteering during the early eighteenth century.

Thursday, 25 September 2008

Scarborough Fair - the historical background

This poem is not included in Section 2 of the Edexcel Anthology, however it still fits in well with the other ballads and there are also some useful notes in this interesting rendition of this old ballad although it would be wise to question some points. In most versions it is the male who sets a series of impossible tasks as tests of love to be passed on by a third party to a female. In this version the female gives her list of impossible tasks in her tests of love. Both versions represent the medieval obsession with faithfulness in love and fear of cuckholdry. It was their equivalent of "the battle of the sexes".

About Me

I teach Film, Media and English Lit.