The Evolution of British Poetry

The Evolution of British Poetry

Throughout the literary history of the Renaissance, a gradual but dramatic change in the poetic style of the time becomes apparent. From one contribution to another, the rebellion between the poetic styles is evident. Early Elizabethan and Jacobean poetry demonstrates the love that mankind shares and the universal truths that the people of that time held so dear. On through the neoclassical and romantic eras, the style becomes centered on personal delight and warmth. This paper intends to follow and describe this evolution of British poetry.

To introduce a change, one must institute a type of first standard. The Elizabethan literary type did just that. Elizabethan poetry centered on love and personal relationships between people, 'come live with me, and be my love and we will all the pleasures prove.'; (The passionate Shepherd to His Love, L. 1-2) They were, as well, deeply rooted in universal truth. These poems were often about the quest for love and its brutal 'slap in the face'; attitude. With the Elizabethan style of poetry, we see a serious side to British poetry.

The serious side to the Elizabethan era gave birth to an entirely new way of writing poetry. The Neoclassical era was a time of reason and though. It was more formal than the love induced poetry of the Elizabethan era. Neoclassical poets loved the classic form of literature with its stri...