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Early 17 th c. Verse

This unit explores the contrasting poetry of the "Cavalier Poets" and the "Metaphysical Poets" in the early 17th century, examining their different characteristics, themes, and stylistic devices. Topics include religion, politics, love, and the use of metaphysical conceits. Famous poets such as John Donne, Andrew Marvell, Robert Herrick, and George Herbert are discussed. The unit also delves into the themes of carpe diem and pastoral poetry.

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Early 17 th c. Verse

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  1. Early 17th c. Verse • A Tale of Two Schools? • “The Cavalier Poets”---Sons of Ben • John Donne and the “Metaphysicals”

  2. Some Traditional “Cavalier” Characteristics • Balance//Parallelism • Polite Courtly Diction and Tone • Octosyllabic Couplets and Caesurae • Example—”Still to be Neat” (p. 1444/)

  3. Still to be neat, still to be dressed, As you were going to a feast; Still to be powdered, still perfumed: Lady, it is to be presumed, Though art's hid causes are not found, All is not sweet, all is not sound. Give me a look, give me a face, That makes simplicity a grace; Robes loosely flowing, hair as free: Such sweet neglect more taketh me Than all the adulteries of art; They strike mine eyes, but not my heart.

  4. “Metaphysical Poets” • Origin of term • Some characteristics • Colloquialism (Jonson: “Donne, for not keeping of accent deserved hanging”) • Intellectual complexity • Argumentation • Anti-Petrarchanism • Metaphysical conceits (discordia concors—harmonious discord)

  5. How I’ve Organized this Unit • Religion, Politics, Love • Elegy 19 (p. 1283/1393) • The Two “Schools”

  6. John Donne

  7. John Donne • Jack Donne/Dr. Donne • Keep track of poetic persona

  8. “The Flea” (p. 1263/1373) • Argumentation • Metaphysical conceit • Mixture of secular and religious language

  9. Secular/Religious language • The Canonization (p. 1267/1377) • The Relic (p. 1280/1390)

  10. “A Valediction: Forbidding Mourning”(p. 1275/1385) • Blending of religious and secular • Colloquial, intellectually complex, argumentative

  11. Carpe Diem Poems • Herrick: “To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time” (p. 1659/1762) • Trochaic tetrameter • (Trochee: stressed, unstressed) • Flow, movement • Classical sources

  12. Carpe Diem • Marvell: “To His Coy Mistress” (p. 1703/1796) • Iambic tetrameter couplets • (iamb: unstressed, stressed) • Begins with familiar courtly elements—hyperbole, blazon • A darker turn

  13. Jonson, “To Penshurst” (p. 1434/1546) • Sidney family home • Country house poem • How is this poem structured? • Shaped through description of the estate • Awareness of social hierarchy • (peasants to king—Jonson’s background) • Time also adds order • Negative contrast—classic Jonson?

  14. Lanyer “Cookham” (1319/1436) • Elegiac (ll. 7, 9, 14, 128) • How do pastimes differ from “Penshurst”? • (line 161) • Virtuous women (l. 81 ff) • Preserving the estate through poem (lines 205-210

  15. Open Review Session/Q and A • Sunday 12/8 • WLH 2205 from 2:00-3:50

  16. Marvell • An Horatian Ode p. 1712/1806 • What’s an ode? An Horatian Ode? • Historical situation • Cromwell as a force of Nature • Depiction of execution • Comparison to Rome • Whose side is he on?

  17. Marvell • Bermudas p. 1698/1791 About a group of Puritan exiles What’s left out of this poem?

  18. Donne’s Holy Sonnets • Calvinism • Sonnet 1: 1295/1410 • Sonnet 9: Direct Address to God p.1296/1412 • Sonnet 10: Personifying Death • P. 1296/1412 • Sonnet 14: Violent relationship to God • P. 12971413

  19. Herrick: Corrina’s Going A-Mayingp. 1658/1760 • Archbishop Laud • The Book of Sports • May Day • Elements of Carpe Diem/Pastoral

  20. Herbert: The Collar p. 1619/1720 • Shifts in voicing • Shifts in tense • Order and outburst—expressing spiritual struggle • Children of God • Multiple meanings of the title

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