Literary TypesUnderstanding Setting and Context

Setting The setting of a literary work is the time and

place in which it occurs, together with all the details used to create a sense of a particular time period and location.

Poets often create setting by using sensory details, or words and phrases that describe how things look, sound, smell, taste, or feel.

ContextIn literature, context refers to the conditions

in which the poem occurs. Interpreting a poem within its historical

context requires that you have some knowledge of the time period in which it was written or of the events it describes.

Cultural context is less dependent on a time period than on the culture of the poet, speaker, or subject of the poem.

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