Tag Archives: History of Poetry

The History of Fictional Prose – Part 2: The printing press and entertainment

09 Monday May 2011

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History of Fictional Prose

We have been exploring the emergence of literature, and fictional prose in particular.  How ‘symbols’ and ‘pictograms’ changed to words which recorded ‘fact’ in part 1.

Tales and myths, previously handed down through generations by word of mouth, became documented.  Then civilisations started to experiment with different writing styles and we left it last time with the introduction of a writing ‘frame’ as seen in One Thousand and One Nights.

What was still lacking, however, was the first true written work of a single piece of prose fiction.

A boost was made to prose-writing in 1455 with the introduction of the printing press to Europe.  Other forms of printing had already come to existence around the world but this introduced mass printing and ensured printed material became available to a larger population, not just the privileged few.

Unlike poetry, which had rhythm and rhyme to assist in its’ recount, prose was not easily remembered and therefore needed to be written down.  The printing press ensured prose a future and more people started to experiment in the longer-style of writing, with little or no ‘structure’ as seen in verse.

William Caxton was the first to publish a book in English in the late 15th century – this was not a work of fiction but the translation of a History of Troy.  Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales and Malory’s Le Morte d’Arthur are included in the works he published in England.  Again, these are collections of tales, not a single piece of continuous prose.

During the early modern period we see the likes of William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe writing plays for entertainment rather than education, so fiction as we understand it nowadays was starting to take shape.

Spanish author Miguel de Cervantes had ‘The Ingenious Gentleman Don Quixote of La Mancha’ published in two parts 1605 and 1615.  It is widely regarded as turning point in fictitious writing.  Again, it is written around several ‘stories’ of his exploits but these have no relation to historical figures – genuine fiction.

Early English novelists include John Bunyan, Daniel Defoe and Jonathan Swift, all born in the 17th century.  Indeed, in many circles, Daniel Defoe is credited as being the first true English fiction novelist with his work ‘Robinson Crusoe’ (published in 1719) – a fictional autobiography.

The history of fictional prose has been a difficult one to trace.  Works we now find ‘laughable’ were believed at the time.  Imagination was not encouraged in the early years – most written material was historical or religious.  It took a few brave authors to step out of the shadow; include emotions in their work.

Then we have the second obstacle of actually writing prose.  Poetry was in existence in oral form for millennia.  This slowly became documented and verse was formed.  An extended piece of writing was a long way off when written word was first introduced.

Tales were written, then collections of stories.  Gradually the expression of writing grew.  It was not a quick process.  One thing is widely accepted – we would not have experienced the joy of novels without the invention of the printing press.

Denny Bradbury is a modern-day fiction author and poet.  ‘The Reunion’ is a fictitious novel exploring a year in the lives and emotions of five friends. She is also promoting her new novel, Borvo, which is an extraordinary historical-fiction novel around King Alfred.

To read part 1 of my article on the History of Fictional Prose click here

Laura Scott

To purchase one of Denny’s books please click on the images below or contact Denny directly at email denisebradbury@btinternet.com.
The Reunion Denagerie of Poems by Denny Bradbury

A History of Poetry: Part 3 – The hard truth and freedom to express

18 Monday Apr 2011

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Poetry has existed in many forms over many millennia.  Some styles have broken away from the ‘traditional’ of their time, whereas others have stood the test of time and which transcend the various poetical eras.

From the Babylonians to Ancient Greeks, Romans to Medieval Europe, Renaissance and Romantics, poetry has reflected views of the time as well as influenced them.

During the Victorian era, the traits started by the Romantics such as personal emotions (varying extremes from sadness to euphoria) and conflicting attitudes to religion versus science, really took hold.  Writings were seen to highlight the contrasts within the Industrial society and the political status of the Empire.

Lord Alfred Tennyson described beautifully the contradiction of the ‘heroic’ attitudes of imperial conquest and the questionable decisions taken in ‘The Charge of the Light Brigade’:

“Forward, the Light Brigade!”
Was there a man dismayed?
Not tho’ the soldiers knew
Someone had blundered;

(The Charge of the Light Brigade, Lord Alfred Tennyson)

‘The Cry of the Children’ by Elizabeth Barrett Browning is a moving piece exploring the use of children in factories and mines.  Again, she contrasts the idyllic life children should lead with the harsh reality of life, questioning, too, whether god actually exists to allow such hardships and injustice.

Oscar Wilde is another poet who emerged in the late Victorian age; and his poetry often targeted the rights’ and wrongs’ of the times: his poem ‘The New Remorse’ is an example of forbidden love.

Aside from the new ‘topics and emotions’ expressed during the Victorian era, experimental meter also came into practice during the 19th century:

Walt Whitman was an American poet who often used free verse where strict rhyme, rhythm, and specific techniques were not required – although often incorporated to allow a structure.

Gerard Manley Hopkins introduced ‘sprung’ rhythm to poetry – again, breaking away from the strict form of ‘running rhythm’ as he saw it to a freer form, albeit still encompassing a beat.

‘The child is father to the man’.
How can he be?  The words are wild.
Suck any sense from that who can:
‘The child is father to the man’.

(The Child Is Father To The Man, Gerard Manley Hopkins)

The honest and sometimes brutal outlook of life in the Victorian Era made way to the Georgian writings, war and yet another romantic wave.

This was but a short period in the history of poetry, often seen as the stepping stone between Victorian and Modern.

Yet it was during this time that DH Lawrence and TS Elliot made names for themselves.

Reject me not if I should say to you
I do forget the sounding of your voice,
I do forget your eyes that searching through
The mists perceive our marriage, and rejoice

(A Love Song, D.H. Lawrence)

Imagist poetry was a form to emerge during the Georgian era.  This style was thought to be a rebuff against abstract language and romanticism – an attempt to bring poetry back to ‘exact’ interpretation.

The apparition of these faces in the crowd;
Petals on a wet, black bough.

(In A Station Of The Metro, Ezra Pound)

This poem from 1913 is exact and to the point and describes the Imagist views perfectly.

Another style emerging around the same time as the Imagist was Surrealism.

A style brought to the fore by French poets, finding a launch-pad in Andre Breton’s ‘Manifesto of Surrealism’ (1924).  Poetry moved away from rigid writing within strict rules to ‘dream-state’ interpretation and accessing the subconscious mind.

Modern poetry has taken its’ own form.  There are no strict rules you have to follow – if you desire, you can return to the ancient styles of rhyme and meter, finding heroes in current affairs.  Alternatively, look to free verse where anything is accepted as long as you are true to yourself.

Take a look at poet from the present – Denny Bradbury varies her poetic styles yet you can see influences dating back hundreds of years.  Read through ‘Denagerie of Poems’ and explore life through her eyes.

There is a poet in all of us – when will it be your time to set yourself free?

Laura Scott

A History of Poetry: Part 2 – A language for all and romantics unleashed

11 Monday Apr 2011

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We have previously ventured back in time to explore the humble beginnings of poetry, taking us to approximately 3000 BC.  It transformed from being a tool to record history in an oral fashion to the ‘art’ form explored by the Greeks and Romans, where Muses had their part to play.

The story continues in the Medieval Age.

A change was encountered in people’s religious beliefs from ‘polytheism’ to ‘monotheism’, several gods to the single Lord.  This idea was also mirrored in the preferred topics for poetry.

Myths and legends, although still fascinating to tell, were increasingly replaced with prayers to and praises of the one God.

Poetry was becoming an art form for those who were educated or in the company of wealth.  Latin became the only language within Europe in which poetry was written.

That was until English poet Geoffrey Chaucer dared to use vernacular language in the Middle Ages.  Known as the father of English Literature he was one of the first poets to be buried in Poets Corner of Westminster Abbey.

Despite the change to the English language, the topics, rhyme and rhythm used in Latin were still evident.

Whilom, as olde stories tellen us,

There was a duke that highte Theseus

Of Athens he was lord and governor,

And in his time such a conqueror

That greater was there none under the sun.

Full many a riche country had he won.

(The Knight’s Tale, Geoffrey Chaucer)

Denny Bradbury also makes use of couplet rhyming stanza in her poem ‘Thoughts of Love’ (Denagerie of Poems, 2009), although rather than describing a tale of a gallant knight, it explores the heartache of love.

Poetry in the form of Sonnets had been used since the 13th century however it did not come into its’ own until the Renaissance period.

Described as a poem of 14 lines with a specific rhyme and structure, it evolved over the centuries – Petrarchan Sonnets (Italian – c. 13th century), Shakespearean (English – c. 16th century), also Modern Sonnets to name but a few varieties.

‘Together Apart’ (Denagerie of Poems, 2009) shows Denny’s exploration into the world of sonnets.

Blank-verse (unrhymed) also came into strength during the 16th century with poets such as Henry Howard and Christopher Marlowe.  William Shakespeare also used blank-verse in his plays.

One such example of blank-verse from the 17th century, and a style which was copied in the 18th century, is John Milton’s ‘Paradise Lost’:

Of Man’s first disobedience, and the fruit

Of that forbidden tree whose mortal taste

Brought death into the World, and all our woe,

(Paradise Lost: Book 01, John Milton)

The Romantic Era emerged in the 18th and 19th centuries, where personal feelings became unleashed.  It was an attempt to escape the rules of science and strict ways of life.  WilliamWordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge led the movement with their collective works ‘Lyrical Ballards’ (1798).  Blake, Keats and Shelley are but a few poets to emerge in this era.

In mist or cloud, on mast or shroud,
It perched for vespers nine;
Whiles all the night, through fog-smoke white,
Glimmered the white moonshine.”

(The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Samuel Taylor Coleridge)

Poetry has never stopped progressing, adapting all the time to the needs of its creators.  We are still to encounter the Victorian Era, Surrealism and Imagists.  Between now and then, however, I leave you with words from Denny Bradbury:

The countryside is redolent

With stories, loves and lives unspent;

People passing, what’s their story?

Ignorance finds the path to glory.

(Heathland, Denagerie of Poems, Denny Bradbury, 2009)

Laura Scott

A History of Poetry: Part 1 – From humble beginnings to words of the Gods

01 Friday Apr 2011

Posted by in Poetry

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It is a rather difficult task explaining the progress of poetry. Although changes are evident between the authors of Ancient Greece, such as Homer, and those of medieval England (Chaucer); the romantics to the breakaway routes of free-verse in the Victorianera, its essence remains the same.

Poetry in one form or another has its roots firmly planted 6000 years ago.

Creators of ‘poetry’ at the time did not see it as a romantic art form as many see it today.  Around 3000BC poetry was merely a tool – a means of communication, of storytellingand explanation.

The earliest written work found is the ‘Epic of Gilgamesh’, a Sumerian legend datingback to the 4th Millennium BC.

Enkidu had defiled his body so pure,his legs stood still, though his herd was in motion.  Enkidu was weakened, could not run as before,but now he had reason, and wide understanding. (Epic of Gilgamesh, translated by Andrew George).

The later introduction of rhythm and rhyme enabled a more memorable form oforal record-keeping. It is believed the ‘lyric’ dates back to this era, where rhythmic storytelling was first added to music – to be accompanied by a ‘lyre’.

Short musical lyrics began to change into long narratives with the likes of Homer in Ancient Greece. The introduction of the written language aided greatly this transition asstories no longer needed to be easily memorised.
Look now how mortals are blaming the gods, for they say that evil comes from us, but infact they themselves have woes beyond their share because of their own follies.  (The Odyssey, Homer).

Subject matter of the time tended to relate to the gods and of heroic storytelling.

Although written several thousand years later, poet Denny Bradbury incorporates amodern-day twist to the exaggerated heroic storytelling of the Greeks. Her poem ‘Nunon the Tow Path’ from ‘Denagerie of Poems’ takes a quiet approach to heroism – everyday people affecting the lives of others without question.

Unlike Denny, however, the ‘poets’ of Ancient Greece believed themselves more as translators to the gods (accepting the gift from Muses) than authors in their own right.

Roman poetry was for the most part a continuation of the Greek style. Yet here we start to see an introduction of philosophy and an attempt to blend gods and scientific understanding. And since ’tis thou aloneGuidest the Cosmos, and without thee naught is risen to reach the shining shores of light, Nor aught of joyful or of lovely born, Thee do I crave co-partner in that verse which I presume on nature to compose(On the Nature of Things, Lucretius, translated by William Ellery Leonard)

Poetry in a form continues to change and blossom with every new external influence. We leave it here questioning the power of the gods. They weren’t put there to be remote but to the wise were portals to represent the power of gods and light to earthbound mortals

(Still Standing, Denagerie of Poems, Denny Bradbury, 2009.)

Laura Scott