Poetry devoted to the description of specific places
Topographical poetry or loco-descriptive poetry is a genre of poetry that describes, and often praises, a landscape or place. John Denham's 1642 poem "Cooper's Hill" established the genre, which peaked in popularity in 18th-century England. Examples of topographical verse date, however, to the late classical period, and can be found throughout the medieval era and during the Renaissance. Though the earliest examples come mostly from continental Europe, the topographical poetry in the tradition originating with Denham concerns itself with the classics, and many of the various types of topographical verse, such as river, ruin, or hilltop poems were established by the early 17th century.[1] Alexander Pope's "Windsor Forest" (1713) and John Dyer's "Grongar Hill" (1726/7) are two other often mentioned examples. In following centuries, Matthew Arnold's "The Scholar Gipsy" (1853) praised the Oxfordshire countryside, and W. H. Auden's "In Praise of Limestone" (1948) used a limestone landscape as an allegory.
Subgenres of topographical poetry include the country house poem, written in 17th-century England to compliment a wealthy patron, and the prospect poem, describing the view from a distance or a temporal view into the future, with the sense of opportunity or expectation. When understood broadly as landscape poetry and when assessed from its establishment to the present, topographical poetry can take on many formal situations and types of places. Kenneth Baker identifies 37 varieties and compiles poems from the 16th through the 20th centuries—from Edmund Spenser to Sylvia Plath—correspondent to each type, from "Walks and Surveys", to "Mountains, Hills, and the View from Above", to "Violation of Nature and the Landscape", to "Spirits and Ghosts".[2]
Common aesthetic registers of which topographical poetry make use include pastoral imagery, the sublime, and the picturesque. These latter two registers subsume imagery of rivers, ruins, moonlight, birdsong, and clouds, peasants, mountains, caves, and waterscapes.
^Aubin, Robert Arnold. Topographical Poetry in XVIII-Century England. New York: The Modern Language Association of America, 1936, p. 3.
^Baker, Kenneth, ed. The Faber Book of Landscape Poetry. New York: Faber and Faber, 2000.
and 24 Related for: Topographical poetry information
Topographicalpoetry or loco-descriptive poetry is a genre of poetry that describes, and often praises, a landscape or place. John Denham's 1642 poem "Cooper's...
landscape poetry, Shanshui poetry, developed in China during the third and fourth centuries A.D. Topographicalpoetry is a genre of poetry that describes...
Norwegian poet of his generation, writing both baroque hymns and topographicalpoetry. Dass was born at Northern Herøy (Dønna), Nordland, Norway. His father...
"Railway Poetry'' elevated Taiwan's railway culture to the realm of poetry and contributed to the unique aesthetics of “topographicalpoetry” in Taiwan...
of subjects, but scholars have noted in particular her topographicalpoetry and political poetry about the Napoleonic Wars. Lickbarrow lived in Kendal...
Descriptive poetry is the name given to a class of literature that belongs mainly to the 16th, 17th and 18th centuries in Europe. From the earliest times...
largely composed the poems himself, drawing in part on traditional Gaelic poetry he had collected. The work was internationally popular, translated into...
specific place, especially including buildings prominently, it is called a topographical view. Such views, extremely common as prints in the West, are often...
conquests, but most of Rochester's poetry is a parody of an existing, Classically authorised form. He has a mock topographical poem ("Ramble in St James Park"...
awkward transition from the conventions and diction of 18th century topographicalpoetry. Charlotte Smith's "To the River Arun" recalls the connection of...
(1741). Other works include A New Description of Merryland. Containing a Topographical, Geographical and Natural History of that Country (1740) by Thomas Stretzer...
early 17th-century England. The genre may be seen as a sub-set of the topographical poem. The model for the country house poem is Ben Jonson's 'To Penshurst'...
well as humans. Hologram gun projects 3-dimensional grid laser-light topographical maps. Use of his holograms often fool the Decepticons, which helps the...
Scholar-Gipsy "Matthew Arnold, 'The Scholar Gipsy,' and the Cumnor Hills" – a topographical essay by Dick Sullivan Critical study by R. A. Jayantha Glanvil's story...
behind him a prolific collection of poems, lyrics, prose, and essays. His poetry had enduring popularity and influence in China, Japan, and other areas in...
mostly poetry, much of it published by his own small press, Albion Village Press. He was (and remains) connected with the British avant garde poetry scene...
1991). Roman Poetry: From the Republic to the Silver Age. SIU Press. ISBN 9780809316946 – via Google Books. Samuel Ball Platner, A Topographical Dictionary...
sonnets : Vaudracour and Julia: and other poems. To which is annexed, a topographical description of the country of the lakes, in the north of England". London :...
and wrote the first natural history of Norway as well as an important topographic study of Norway. The seventeenth century was a period of meager literary...
Topographical Verse for England and Wales (1943) edited with John Arlott Hero or Fool? A Study of Milton's Satan (1944) Death in April (1944) poetry Selected...
Bulgaria's geographic coordinates are 43° N 25° E. The most notable topographical features of the country are the Danubian Plain, the Balkan Mountains...
story-telling through epic poetry was inspired by the Kosovo battle and folk tales rooted in Slavic mythology. Serbian epic poetry in those times was seen...
Poetry Wales website. Poetry Wales. 2010. Retrieved 25 November 2010.; "Planet: The International Magazine for Wales". Poetry Wales website. Poetry Wales...