Revision – Interesting Literature

A Short Analysis of Tennyson’s ‘The Lady of Shalott’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809-92) wrote two versions of ‘The Lady of Shalott’. Tennyson’s poem ‘The Lady of Shalott’ exists as both a 20-stanza poem published in 1832, and the revised version of 19 stanzas – which is the one readers are most familiar with – which was published in 1842. The poem, partly inspired by Arthurian legend (hence the presence of the knight, Lancelot) and partly by the epic sixteenth-century poem The Faerie Queene written by Edmund Spenser, remains popular, although the precise meaning of the poem remains elusive. So, a few words of analysis about this enchanting poem may help to clarify things.

A Short Analysis of Keith Douglas’s ‘Vergissmeinnicht’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Keith Douglas (1920-44) described his poetry as ‘extrospective’, a neat coinage designed to dovetail with the more usual introspection of much English poetry. Douglas, who was killed during the invasion of Normandy on 9 June 1944, aged just 24, is now regarded as one of the greatest British poets of the Second World War, and ‘Vergissmeinnicht’ is one of his most celebrated poems.

A Short Analysis of Philip Larkin’s ‘Send No Money’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

How we should analyse Philip Larkin’s poetry depends on what phase of his career we’re dealing with. In ‘Send No Money’, Larkin examines the gulf between our expectations of the world and the somewhat less satisfying realities the world provides us with.

A Short Analysis of Tony Harrison’s ‘Timer’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

Stephen Spender (1909-95) said of Tony Harrison’s series of elegies for his parents that they were the sort of poetry he felt he’d been waiting his whole life for. ‘Timer’, which was published in Harrison’s 1981 collection The School of Eloquence, is one of the most famous of these. You can read ‘Timer’ here; in this post we’re going to offer some notes towards an analysis of Harrison’s poem.

A Short Analysis of Christina Rossetti’s ‘Good Friday’

By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)

‘Good Friday’ was published in Christina Rossetti’s 1866 collection The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems. The poem is about Rossetti’s struggle to feel close to Christ and the teachings of Christianity, and to weep for the sacrifice he made. Below we offer a short summary and analysis of ‘Good Friday’, focusing on its language and meaning.