English Poetry Level III

1. English PoetryLevel III 17th-Century Poetry 18th-Century Poetry Romantic Poetry

2. The Poets

3. England in the 17th Century • Elizabeth I died in 1603. • King James VI of Scotland became James I of England. • He began a new dynasty-the Stuarts. The Stuarts: • James I (1603-1625). • Charles I (1625-1649). • Commonwealth (1649-1660) [England became a Republic]. • Charles II (1660-1685) [England restored to Monarchy] RESTORATION. • James II (1685-1688). • William III & Mary II (1689-1694). • William III (1694-1702). • Anne (1702-1714).

4. James I (1603-1625) • Because he was already the king of Scotland, he united Scotland with England & Wales. • He ordered the translation of the Bible (the Authorized Version). Two major problems which started immediately after his accession: RELIGION & MONEY Religion: • He tried to force Catholics to go to Protestant churches. • Gunpowder Plot (5th November 1605). Guy Fawkes burnt alive. Money: • James wanted to ignore Parliament and raise money by claiming divine right. Divine Right: Kings were Viceroys of God.

5. James I’s Picture

6. Charles I (1625-1649) • Charles continued his father’s policies. • He thought it beneath his dignity to consult the parliament. • The Parliament was determined to maintain the Constitution according to which it alone had the power to grant money. • The Eleven Years’ Tyranny (1629-1640) [Charles dispensed with Parliament]. The English Civil War (1642-1651) • Many people in Parliament were puritans, who wanted a simpler style of worship without bishops & formal ceremonies. • Charles decided that bishops should rule the Scottish Church, but its followers refused and created an army to attack England. • There were more disagreements and fighting began.

7. Charles I’s Picture

8. The English Civil War (continued) • The Civil War was between the Royalists (known as Cavaliers) who supported the King, and Parliamentarians (known as Roundheads) who supported the Parliament. • The Roundheads were Puritans. Their leader was Oliver Cromwell • The Cavaliers were defeated and Charles was executed. But his son escaped from Cromwell’s soldiers by hiding in an oak tree. The Commonwealth (1649-1653) • After the execution of the King, a republic was declared, known as the Commonwealth of England. The Protectorate (1653-1658) • A new constitution made Cromwell Lord Protector for life. He had power to call and dissolve parliaments.

9. Oliver Cromwell’s Picture

10. Cromwell’s Death & The Restoration • Cromwell maintained peace and order at home and raised the prestige of England abroad. • After his death (1658), he was followed by his son Richard. • Richard was forced to resign in 1659. • A year later in 1660 Parliament restored Charles II as King.

11. The Puritans • The puritans made themselves odious by their bigotry, narrowness, austere living, and stern morality. • They closed the theatres and frowned upon dance, music, the arts, and other innocent pleasures. • Ironically, the freedom fighters became tyrants. • Ultimately, they were hated by the people in general who were happy to get rid of them.

12. The Puritans

13. Cavalier Poetry Poets: Ben Jonson, Richard Lovelace, John Suckling, Thomas Carew & Edmund Waller. The Cavaliers were fervent admirers of Ben Jonson The Tribe of Ben They are Cavaliers in the sense, not only of being Royalists, but in the sense that they distrust the over-earnest, the too intense.

14. Poets

15. Characteristics of Cavalier Poetry Regularity in form & simplicity & clarity in sense. Paganistic in spirit and expresses the hedonistic philosophy of “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow you die.” Celebrates wine, women, and song. Lyric is the dominant form. Poets avoid the subject of religion.

16. Characteristics of Cavalier Poetry 6. Mirrors the moods and temper of the age. Indeed, it reflects the triviality & frivolity of the life of the times. 7. Poets of this school find the various beauties of nature united in the beauty of their respective beloveds. 8. Poets are great lovers of nature. They observe nature minutely and describe it with feeling. 9. Poets enjoy the casual, the amateur & the affectionate poem written by the way. 10. Uses direct colloquial language expressive of a highly individual personality.

17. Ben Jonson: Song to Celia Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I will pledge with mine; Or leave a kiss within the cup, And I'll not ask for wine The thirst that from the soul doth rise, Doth crave a drink divine; But might I of Jove's nectar sup, I would not change for thine I sent thee late a rosy wreath, Not so much honoring thee As giving it a hope that there It could not withered be; But thou thereon didst only breathe And sent'st back to me, Since when it grows and smells, I swear, Not of itself, but thee

18. Song to Celia: Meanings Pledge: promise. Doth: does. Divine: heavenly. Jove's nectar: a drink if someone takes he/she will gain immortality. Rosy wreath: bouquet of roses.

19. Song to Celia: Summary The first stanza (lines 1-8) is a metaphor comparing love to an ethereal elixir. The poet uses the words drink, cup, wine, thirst, and nectar to enhance his trope. Jonson bends the connotation of sup in Line 7. Ordinarily, the word means to eat the evening meal—that is, to have solid food for supper. The second stanza (lines 9-16 ) focuses on the hope that the love of Celia and the poet will thrive, like the wreath, which continues to grow and send forth fragrance. 

20. Song to Celia: Theme Love

21. Song to Celia: Form & Structure This poem is made of two stanzas of eight lines each.It is made of three sentences: • Sentence 1: lines 1 to 4. • Sentence 2: lines 5 to 8. • Sentence 3: lines 9 to 16. Stanza 1 focuses on the elixir of love. Stanza 2 focuses on a wreath sent to Celia by the poet. Rhyme scheme: abcbabcbdefedefe

22. Techniques Metaphor: The first stanza is a metaphor comparing love to an ethereal elixir. Personification: The thirst . . . doth ask Alliteration:kiss, cup; drink divine; rosy wreath; thou thereon; smell, swear

23. Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress Had we but world enough, and time,This coyness, lady, were no crime.We would sit down and think which wayTo walk, and pass our long love's day;Thou by the Indian Ganges' sideShouldst rubies find; I by the tideOf Humber would complain. I wouldLove you ten years before the Flood;And you should, if you please, refuseTill the conversion of the Jews.My vegetable love should growVaster than empires, and more slow.An hundred years should go to praiseThine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze;Two hundred to adore each breast,But thirty thousand to the rest;An age at least to every part,And the last age should show your heart.For, lady, you deserve this state,Nor would I love at lower rate.

24. Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress But at my back I always hearTime's winged chariot hurrying near;And yonder all before us lieDeserts of vast eternity.Thy beauty shall no more be found,Nor, in thy marble vault, shall soundMy echoing song; then worms shall tryThat long preserv'd virginity,And your quaint honour turn to dust,And into ashes all my lust.The grave's a fine and private place,But none I think do there embrace.

25. Andrew Marvell: To His Coy Mistress Now therefore, while the youthful hueSits on thy skin like morning dew,And while thy willing soul transpiresAt every pore with instant fires,Now let us sport us while we may;And now, like am'rous birds of prey,Rather at once our time devour,Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.Let us roll all our strength, and allOur sweetness, up into one ball;And tear our pleasures with rough strifeThorough the iron gates of life.Thus, though we cannot make our sunStand still, yet we will make him run.

26. Meanings Mistress: lady, manager, caretaker, courtesan, sweetheart, lover. coyness: reluctance; playing hard to get. Ganges: River in Asia rubies: Gems Humber: River in northeastern England vegetable love: love cultivated and nurtured like a vegetable so that it flourishes prolifically this state: This lofty position; this dignity. Time's wingèd chariot: In Greek mythology, the sun was personified as the god Apollo, who rode his golden chariot from east to west each day. Thus, Marvell here associates the sun god with the passage of time. marble vault: The young lady's tomb.

27. Meanings quaint: Preserved carefully or skillfully. dew: The 1681 manuscript of the poem uses glew (not dew), apparently as a coined past tense for glow. transpires: Erupts, breaks out, emits, gives off.   slow-chapt: Chewing or eating slowly.  Thorough: Through.

28. Summary In response to a young man’s declarations of love for a young lady, the lady is playfully hesitant. But dallying will not do, he says, for youth passes swiftly. He and the lady must take advantage of the moment, he says, and “sport us while we may.” Oh, yes, if they had “world enough, and time” they would spend their days in idle pursuits, leisurely passing time while the young man heaps praises on the young lady. But they do not have the luxury of time, he says, for “time's wingéd chariot” is ever racing along. Before they know it, their youth will be gone; there will be only the grave. And so, the poet pleads his case: Seize the day.

29. Theme Carpe diem (meaning seize the day)

30. Characters • Young Man: He pleads with a young lady to stop playing hard to get and accept his love.  • Young Lady: A coquettish woman. 

31. Setting Probably someplace in England (the native land of the author), perhaps in northeastern England near the River Humber.

32. Form This poem is written in the form of dramatic monologue in rhyming couplets.

33. Techniques Hyperbole • I would/Love you ten years before the Flood. • And you should, if you please, refuseTill the conversion of the Jews. • An hundred years should go to praiseThine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; • Two hundred to adore each breast, • thirty thousand to the rest; • An age at least to every part,And the last age should show your heart. • And yonder all before us lieDeserts of vast eternity.

34. Techniques Simile • while the youthful hueSits on thy skin like morning dew. • Now let us sport us while we may;And now, like am'rous birds of prey. Conceit Vegetable love

35. Robert Herrick: To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, Old Time is still a-flying: And this same flower that smiles today Tomorrow will be dying. The glorious lamp of heaven, the sun, The higher he’s a-getting, The sooner will his race be run, And nearer he’s to setting.

36. Robert Herrick: To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time That age is best which is the first, When youth and blood are warmer; But being spent, the worst, and worst Time still succeed the former. Then be not coy, but use your time, And while ye may, go marry: For having lost but once your prime, You may for ever tarry.

37. Meanings Rosebud: the beginning stage of a rose flower Ye: you A-flying: passing quickly The sooner will his race be run: shortly the sun’s journey will finish Setting: sunset Prime: youth Tarry: to stay somewhere for longer than expected

38. Form Lyric poem Rhyme scheme: abab cdcd efef ghgh

39. Theme Carpe diem: Living life to the fullest

40. Techniques Metaphor: Rosebuds: opportunities specially opportunities to win a husband. Time: a flying creature Flower: maiden Sun: lamp

41. Techniques Personification Flower: (only humans can smile) Sun: he & his

42. Techniques Alliteration And this same flower that smiles today The higher he’s a-getting

43. Richard Lovelace: To Lucasta, Going to the Wars Tell me not, sweet, I am unkind, That from the nunnery Of thy chaste breast and quiet mind, To war and arms fly. True, a new mistress now I chase. The first foe in the field; And with a stronger faith embrace A sword, a horse, a shield. Yet this inconstancy is such As you too shall adore; I could not love thee, dear, so much, Loved I not honour more.

44. Richard Lovelace: To Lucasta, Going to the Wars Nunnery: convent Chaste: pure, celibate Foe: enemy Embrace: accept, believe in Inconstancy: infidelity, betrayal

45. Form This poem is called a song. It is lyrical in nature. It is made of three stanzas. It is very much like a letter in which the poet tells his mistress, Lucasta, that he is leaving her to follow a new mistress, the war. Rhyme: ABAB CDCD EFEF

46. Themes Love Duty Honour

47. Techniques Metaphor foe in the field: mistress

48. Metaphysical Poetry The term "metaphysical poetry" is used to designate the work of 17th-century poets who were part of a school of poets using similar methods and who revolted against the romantic conventionalism of Elizabethan love poetry, in particular the Petrarchan conceit. John Donne was the acknowledged leader of these poets. John Donne, George Herbert, Andrew Marvel, Henry Vaughn The Tribe of Donne

49. Poets

50. Metaphysical Conceit A "metaphysical conceit" is a far-fetched and ingenious extended comparison (or "conceit") used by metaphysical poets to explore all areas of knowledge. It finds telling and unusual analogies for the poet's ideas in the startlingly esoteric or the shockingly commonplace -- not the usual stuff of poetic metaphor. Examples: • Crashaw's comparison of Mary Magdalene's tear-filled eyes as "Two walking baths; two weeping motions / Portable and compendious oceans." • Donne's comparison of his union with his lover to the draftsman's compass in "A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning."