What's Old is New Again

Peacock divides poetry into four distinct ages to mark their differences in content and style, but ultimately all four ages choose the same subjects about which to write.  The Iron Age poets, considered barbarians by Peacock, conveyed told of great battles and feats of their contemporaries through the oral tradition.  This is evident in the ancient world as Peacock pointed out and among more recent English poets.  Specifically, I like to think of Beowulf if we want to refer to the Anglo-Saxon period or the Irish poems we read earlier this year for a more Romantic age.  The Golden Age tells of heroes and gods of the past-- possibly the same ones that those bards in the Iron Age depicted.    The Golden Age focuses on a more technical and scholarly element than the Iron Age, but despite the elevated style, the subject matter of the two remains similar. The same can be said of the Silver Age, but the subjects are viewed in a new light-- a more personal one.  "Thomson and Cowper looked at the trees and hills which so many ingenious gentlemen had rhymed about so long without looking at them at all, and the effect of the operation on poetry was like the discovery of a new world" (Peacock).  Often Silver Age poets imitate the heroic, historical Golden Age poetry but add more polish and reflection to it.  Finally, the Brass Age loses much of the polish of the Silver Age, as if it has begun to tarnish, and returns to the more bardic tradition of the Iron Age.  The Brass Age tells of the same histories as the other ages, but in a more personal, way as if through the eyes of the man who watched the fall of the Roman Empire.  For example, "Lord Byron cruizes for thieves and pirates on the shores of the Morea and among the Greek Islands" which tells of the minute parts of history rather than the grand story of civilizations as the Golden Age or even parts of the Silver Age does.  I'd like to end by saying that these ages are cyclic and contain much of the same subject matter, even if it is indirectly, which promotes the continuation of the poetic tradition and allows for more growth.