The Portrayal of Rural Life in 18th Century Poetry Essay

Discuss the portrayal of rural life in one or more of the passages. In this essay I will be exploring the presentation of rural life in eighteenth century poetry, by studying the poetic conventions of anti-pastoral poetry and more particularly by analysing `The Threshers labour by Stephen Duck. I will approach the issue by first of all addressing the meaning of pastoral poetry, and more specifically what pastoral poetry meant to eighteenth century poets, before looking at the meaning of anti-pastoral as opposed to pastoral. I will then perform a close reading of Ducks `The Threshers Labour as a challenge to the traditional pastoral form. The traditional subject of pastoral poetry was that of life in the country, particularly†¦show more content†¦The Victorian poet Mathew Arnold changed his pastoral view of nature in his poem Dover Beach written in 1851. He realised that the `natural world can no longer be constructed as a land of dreams, but is in fact a bleak battle for survival without divine purpose (Gifford, 1999, p120). This is the essence of anti-pastoral poetry, to write about the realties of rural life rather than indulge in the `beauty of the country with no reference to the hardship of country life. `The Threshers Labour (1736) is Ducks depiction of the hard realities of country life that would not be found in traditional pastoral poetry of the period. Duck had previously worked as a thresher and so had experienced the hardships of the trade. Manual labour is the central subject of the poem, which immediately places it as anti-pastoral, as opposed to traditional pastoral poetry of the period such as that of Popes Windsor Forest, that depicts the `beauty of county life. This is perhaps why this poem encounters problems of genre. As Sambrook states: The Threshers Labour is one of the earliest eighteenth-century poems to belong to no recognised literary kind....pastoral, anti-pastoral, counter-pastoral, georgic, anti-georgic, or plebian georgic, `The Threshers Labour has been called all of these, but still there remains no critical consensus. (Sambrook, 1993, p) As this quote suggests, Ducks poem cannot easily be placed into one set of poetic conventions. However I plan to showShow MoreRelated Comparison of the Portrayal of Nature in Blake and Wordsworth1518 Words   |  7 PagesComparison of the Portrayal of Nature in Blake and Wordsworth One of the most popular themes for Romantic poetry in England was nature and an appreciation for natural beauty. The English Romantic poets were generally concerned with the human imagination as a counter to the rise of science. The growing intellectual movement of the 18th and 19th centuries placed scientific thought in the forefront of all knowledge, basing reality in material objects. The Romantics found this form of world viewRead MoreIndian English Novel17483 Words   |  70 PagesIndian novels which were merely patriotic gained a rather contemporary touch with the coming of Mulk Raj Anand, Raja Rao and R.K.Narayan. The social disparity of India which was aptly described by Mulk Raj Anand in his Coolie, the imaginary village life with its entire unedited realities in R.K. Narayan`s Malgudi Days and last but not the least the aura of Gandhism depicted by Raja Rao in his remarkable novel Kanthapura portrayed a whole new India. The need of the `foreigners` depicting IndiaRead More One Significant Change That Has Occurred in the World Between 1900 and 2005. Explain the Impact This Change Has Made on Our Lives and Why It Is an Important Change.163893 Words   |  656 PagesPerspectives on the Past, edited by Susan Porter Benson, Stephen Brier, and Roy Rosenzweig Also in this series: Paula Hamilton and Linda Shopes, eds., Oral History and Public Memories Tiffany Ruby Patterson, Zora Neale Hurston and a History of Southern Life Lisa M. Fine, The Story of Reo Joe: Work, Kin, and Community in Autotown, U.S.A. Van Gosse and Richard Moser, eds., The World the Sixties Made: Politics and Culture in Recent America Joanne Meyerowitz, ed., History and September 11th John McMillian