V4 - w 44 listening Henry VIII and poetry

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 4

Today's objectives

Listening  & Socio-cultural knowledge (England/church/religion)

Listening H5 exam

Poetry

The Six Wives of Henry VIII

• Henry VIII ruled England for 36 years (1509-1547), presiding over the beginnings of the English Renaissance and Protestant Reformation. 
  

• Tumultuous romantic life, rather than his politics, that have kept him in the spotlight.
  

• One of the most famous and fearsome kings in English history. 
  

• Voracious appetites – for food, wine, power and women. 
  

• He went through 6 wives and for them triggered seismic changes in the religious and political landscape of the nation. 
  

• Women's fates were in the hands of this fearsome King
  

• First wife was Catherine of Aragon (1485-1536): Demoted for.......... (find out in the listening exercise)
  

Henry took the throne in 1509, at age 17. Six weeks later, he married Catherine of Aragon, daughter of King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain and the widow of his elder brother, Arthur. From the moment young Henry took his nuptials, he obsessed over continuing the Tudor line. Of multiple pregnancies and several births, the only child to survive was Henry and Catherine’s daughter, Mary, born in February 1516.

Catherine remained at Henry’s side for 23 years and is even thought to be the only woman the king ever truly loved. “Henry viewed her as a model wife in every respect bar one… her failure to give him a son,” says Tudor historian Tracy Borman. Frustrated at the lack of a male heir, Henry’s eyes wandered.

He had a brief extra-marital affair with Elizabeth “Bessie” Blount, one of Catherine’s ladies-in-waiting. In 1519, Bessie was taken in secret to the Essex countryside where she gave birth to Henry Fitzroy, Henry’s only acknowledged illegitimate child.

By the 1520s, Henry had developed a fondness for Anne Boleyn, another lady-in-waiting to the queen, and eventually sought the Pope’s approval for an annulment. “He argued that his marriage to Catherine was invalid because her marriage to his brother Arthur had been consummated, but she always contested this,” Borman explains. When the Pope refused Henry’s request, the king divorced Catherine against the will of the Roman Catholic Church and established the Church of England—ushering in the Reformation.

Catherine died at Kimbolton Castle, as a princess not a queen, on January 7, 1536.

Anne Boleyn (c. 1501-1536): The Union That Sparked Reformation, Beheaded

Anne Boleyn

Robert Alexander/Getty Images

Anne and her sister, Mary, spent part of their childhood in the France court. Mary returned to England sometime around 1520 and had a brief affair with Henry. Henry then became smitten with Anne, but she refused the king’s advances. She had no interest in being a mistress. When Henry sought an annulment from his first wife to marry Anne, Rome refused. So the king broke away from the Roman Catholic Church and formed the Church of England.

READ MORE: How Henry VIII's Divorce Led to Reformation

Henry and Anne wed in January of 1533, and Anne gave birth to their first child, Elizabeth, in September the same year. Henry remained hopeful Anne would give him a son, but after a series of stillborn births, Henry lost interest in his wife. When he took a mistress, Anne became enraged. “On one occasion, her sister-in-law, Lady Rochford, was banished from court when she and Anne had plotted to remove an unnamed mistress from court,” says Tudor historian Elizabeth Norton. Desperate to end the relationship, Henry accused her of adultery and treason and had the marriage annulled.

On May 19, 1536, Anne was beheaded for her alleged crimes. She is by far the most studied of Henry VIII's wives, but much of her life remains a mystery, including the terms of her execution. “Although we know that Henry annulled his marriage to Anne two days before her execution, we do not even know the specific legal pretext,” says Norton.

Many historians believe Henry fabricated the charges against Anne.

Jane Seymour (1508-1537): Died After Giving Birth to Male Heir

Jane Seymour

Imagno/Getty Images

Days after Anne’s execution, Henry married his third wife, Jane Seymour. Jane had served as a lady-in-waiting to both Catherine of Aragon and Anne Boleyn. Anne Boleyn’s and Jane Seymour's mothers were first cousins, who shared the same grandmother, and were raised together for a time. “Anne did not stand meekly aside when Henry's interest in Jane became apparent. We know from sources that the pair came to blows on more than one occasion at court,” says Norton. On October 12, 1537, Jane gave birth to Edward VI and died from complications of the birth several weeks later. At the wishes of the king, Jane is buried at St. John’s Chapel alongside him.

Anne of Cleves (1515-1557): Strategic, Six-Month Marriage

Anne of Cleves

DeAgostini/Getty Images

Henry stayed a bachelor for two years, until his chief minister suggested that he seek a European alliance and marry one of the sisters (Anne and Amelia) of Germany’s Duke of Cleves. Henry requested the women’s portraits and found Anne to be the more flattering of the two. When Anne arrived in England on January 1, 1540, Henry was shocked that she looked nothing like the painting. He tried to halt the wedding, but because the arrangement had progressed so far, they married on January 6, 1540. Anne, the so-called “ugly wife,” accepted a divorce and generous settlement six months later and lived in peace as the “King’s Sister” until her death in July 1557.

Catherine Howard (1523-1542): Treasured, Then Executed

Catherine Howard

Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty Images

Henry married 19-year-old Catherine Howard—a lady-in waiting to Anne of Cleves—in July 1540. By this time, he had become overweight and unable to walk. Said to be delighted with his rambunctious new bride, Henry showered Catherine with gifts and called her his “rose without a thorn.” But less than a year into their marriage, rumors of infidelity surfaced. With enough evidence that she had been at least promiscuous, Catherine was executed for adultery and treason at the Tower Green on February 13, 1542.

Catherine Parr (1512-1548): Peacemaker Who Outlived Henry

Catherine Parr

DeAgostini/Getty Images

Henry married his sixth wife, Catherine Parr, in July 1543. A spirited and educated widow, when Catherine showed an interest in Protestantism, Henry had her arrested. She managed to avoid the fate of her predecessors, bringing stability and peace to the court, while serving as a kind and caring stepmother to Henry’s children. 

Of all Henry’s wives, Borman says Catherine Parr had the most influence upon the widest variety of areas including court culture, religion, the role of women and the education of Henry’s children. “She also persuaded Henry to restore his daughters Mary and Elizabeth to the order of succession and acted as Regent when Henry went to war with France,” Borman explains.

Catherine died in 1548, a year after Henry’s passing.

BY CRYSTAL PONTI

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Words

Dissolve/absolve = huwelijk ontbinden

Consumate marriage = met elkaar het bed delen om kinderen te krijgen 

Child bearing = kinderen krijgen

Questions listening

1) What country did Henry the VIII's first wife Catherine of Aragon come from?

2) Which religion did she have?

3) Why was Henry the VIII disappointed with Catherine?

4) What was the name of Catherine's only child?

5) What did Catherine help this child & the country with?

Questions listening

6) Which reason did Henry VIII give for trying to annul their marriage?

7) Why did the pope decline to absolve Catherine and Henry's marriage? (Catherine provided a reason for not absolving their union)

8) What did Henry the VIII do after the pope refused to dissolve their marriage?

9) What is the rumor regarding Catherine of Aragon's death?

10) What did Henry VIII do with regard to religion?

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Poetry

po·em

/ˈpōəm/

noun

 a piece of writing that has a highly developed artistic form (condensed artistic writing)

& uses heightened language and rhythm to express an intensely imaginative interpretation of the subject

has the nature of both speech and song 

has metaphors, symbols and other literary devices

has meter, rhythm, rhyme, and stanzas

Poetry test period III

Know:

• Literary devices in the back of Poetry booklet
  

(what is alliteration, a metaphor, rhyme schemes etc.)

• Fully explain poems & titles in booklet
  

• Use literary devices to explain poems
  

• Be able to point out/give examples of literary devices in poems
  

Hair today, no her tomorrow - p. 10 - 11

Read the poem together.

1) The poem does not have a rhyme scheme. In what form has the poem been written?

2) Why do you think the poet chose this form?

3) What is the play on words in the title? Explain.

4) When does she confess her adultery to her partner? 

5) What exactly did she do? 

6) Who does the hair belong to?Why does he advise her to leave? 

Hair today, no her tomorrow - p. 10 - 11

Read the poem together and answer the questions below in pairs - 15 min.

1) The poem does not have a rhyme scheme. In what form has the poem been written?

2) Why do you think the poet chose this form?

3) What is the play on words in the title? Explain.

4) When does she confess her adultery to her partner? 

5) What exactly did she do? 

6) Who does the hair belong to?Why does he advise her to leave? 

Hair today, no her tomorrow - KEY

Read the poem together.

1) The poem does not have a rhyme scheme. In what form has the poem been written? - dialogue

2) Why do you think the poet chose this form? - I said/she said is repeated on and on to create awkwardness in their conversation when they both confess their affairs to each other

3) What is the play on words in the title? Explain. - Hair - play on words for "her", She discovers a long black hair and when he doesn't deny cheating, she confesses and he eventually fully confesses cheating, meaning she is gone tomorrow/the relationship has ended

6) Who does the hair belong to?Why does he advise her to leave? 

Hair today, no her tomorrow - p. 10 - 11

4) When does she confess her adultery to her partner? When he doesn't deny the cheating ("I'll explain"; "A pity, I said")

5) What exactly did she do? She slept with several of his friends.

6) Who does the hair belong to? Why does he advise her to leave?  The hair does belong to a woman, because the cat is white and so he actually did cheat on her as well

A Silly Poem - p. 6

What is the pun/play on words in this poem?

To what famous play does the poem refer to?

Explain in full - name of play/characters/author

Listening - H5 2012